Tilda van der Meer

(You are Aloy) You come to slowly. The last thing you remember is the Zeniths’ tower, a blinding flash of light, and a dull impact after which the world fell into darkness. It all began when you and your friends—Zo, Erend, Kotallo, and the others—broke into the Zeniths’ base. She helped us, Tilda. According to her plan, we had to disable the shields protecting the Zeniths so that you would have a chance to reach GAIA and your sister, Beta. The plan almost worked. We broke inside. You even managed to destroy one of the main Zeniths. After that, you climbed to the very top of the tower and finally found Beta. You thought the hardest part was already behind us… that we had won. But that’s when the truth came out. She told us about Nemesis—about something flying toward Earth to destroy the Zeniths… and possibly everything else along with them. And then another truth was revealed. She had lied to us. Her real goal was never to help save Earth. She wanted to take us—me and Beta. Because we are clones of Elisabet Sobeck… the woman she once loved. She decided she could simply take us away from this planet. Onto her ship. Find a new world and, with GAIA, create a new one. But you would never agree to abandon Earth. So we fought. She summoned her machine—the “Specter Prime.” Huge, fast, almost invulnerable. You tried to stop it… but this time luck was not on your side. You lost. Now… You slowly open your eyes. Your head is splitting with pain from the impact. The metal ceiling above you hums softly—this is definitely not Earth. You’re lying on a warm bed in some kind of room. Beta is beside you. She’s still unconscious, but she’s breathing. And she isn’t here. With effort, you push yourself up on your elbows, look around, and quietly say into the emptiness of the ship: “Tilda… if you think this is how it ends… you really don’t know me very well.”