Waking up after being vaporized by a nuclear explosion wasn't exactly what I expected out of my death. But then again, waking up in a post-apocalyptic Earth was even less of what I could've imagined. If I had to be reborn, why not in the world of that harem novel I was reading? That world was fun, light-hearted, full of cute girls, and less likely to kill me at every turn.
But no. Fate decided I'd be thrown into Horizon Zero Dawn, a universe full of giant killer machines, AI systems that want humanity gone, and a mysterious force out there actively trying to wipe out the remnants of human civilization. Yeah, that's what I woke up to.
This world is brutal, but also breathtaking. Machines that look like massive dinosaurs roam the land, their eyes cold and unblinking, ready to tear anything apart that moves. The AIs are all trying to destroy humanity, while immortal humans plot to bring about total destruction. And to top it all off, the last survivors of humanity have regressed to a stone age, cobbling together survival from the wreckage of the old world, wearing scraps of metal and machine parts.
Maybe I should just call this the Aloy Stone Age? A world full of chaos, with the faintest glimmer of hope left, hanging on the shoulders of a few chosen people. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those chosen ones. I'm just a Nora outcast.
No, I'm not Aloy, the fearless heroine who's out there fighting machines with a bow and the fate of the world on her shoulders. I'm just some random kid who cracked a bad joke about an old woman, the High Matriarch of the Nora tribe, to be exact. That joke? It cost me my life in the most ironic way possible.
Let me rewind for a second. I'm only ten years old now. But I wasn't always this way. I used to be someone else, someone who made a bad joke about the High Matriarch's age, and then paid for it. He didn't survive the shock. The Matriarch declared me a follower of the Metal Demon. One misstep, one wrong word, and boom. I was dead.
And now I'm here. Stuck in this messed-up world. My parents? They didn't even look back when they cast me out. No goodbye. No second chance. Just a ten-year-old kid, thrown out into the wild with a bow I didn't know how to use and twenty arrows, and nothing else to my name. I didn't even get a proper farewell.
The gate to Mother's Heart slammed shut behind me. And with it, the last vestige of what I once knew.
I'm alone now. No family. No tribe. No safety. Just me, my bow, and the machines waiting to turn me into scrap.
What a messed-up day.
And you know what? Maybe it's not even that surprising. After all, I was just a cog in the machine back in my old life. A corporate drone with no real purpose, just working to pay the bills and pass the time. But now? Now I have a chance. A chance to carve out a new life in a world that's teetering on the edge of destruction.
Sure, I'm not the hero. I'm not Aloy, the one destined to save the world. But I do know this world. I played through both Horizon Zero Dawn and its DLCs. I know the machines, the tribes, the corrupted AIs, the entire storyline. I know how things are supposed to unfold, what challenges lie ahead. But here's the catch: none of the game's systems are going to help me the way they did in the game. There's no superhuman strength, no inventory screen where I can pull out the perfect weapon at the right moment.
No. This is real life, and I'm stuck in it. If I survive long enough, maybe I can make a difference. Maybe I can do something, something that'll keep me from being just another outcast, another victim of this broken world.
But survival isn't going to be easy. I'll have to rely on my knowledge of the world, my wits, and the little skills I have. And most importantly, I'll have to keep my head down. The machines are ruthless. The bandits are ruthless. Even the tribes aren't all that kind to outsiders. I don't know how long I'll last, but I have to try.
Bread in, bread out, Noir. You've survived worse. You survived the Federation nuking the planet. You survived being nothing more than a pawn in a soulless system. You can survive this, too. Just keep moving. Keep your bow sharp. Keep your wits sharp.
"Hello, world," I whisper, gripping my bow. "Here I come. Ready or not."