The Hyena (memory)

This article is about Bayek's genetic memory. You may be looking for the Order of the Ancients member.

The Hyena was a virtual representation of one of Bayek's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan in 2017 through the Portable Animus HR-8.

Description

Bayek traveled to Giza to track down the Masked One known as the Hyena. First, he had to speak with one of Apollodorus' informants, Mered.

Dialogue

• Bayek: If I am to find the Hyena, I must first speak to Mered, Apollodorus' contact. He's a merchant somewhere in this marketplace.

Mered, Apollodorus' contact.

Bayek found Mered at his stall in the Giza market.

• Mered: Welcome to Mered's Wares, traveler. Well? What do you think?
• Bayek: Junk.
• Mered: Be off, then.
• Bayek: Ah, I haven't finished.
• Mered: Are you blind? I've nothing left to show you.
• Bayek: But you've much to tell me. About the Hyena.
• Mered: Ah, funny. As it turns out, that happens to be the most expensive thing I'm offering.
• Bayek: Hm, funny indeed.
• Mered: Delivery upon payment. Do you have enough to barter with me?

Bayek paid Mered 100 drachmae.

• Bayek: Here, your absurd fee. Now what can you tell me?
• Mered: The Hyena... is not her real name.

Bayek asking Mered for information on the Hyena.

Bayek glared at him.

• Mered: Hahahaha! Easy, easy! A poor attempt at humor, I'm afraid. Her name is Khaliset.
• Bayek: Where can I find her?
• Mered: A favor. Some customers of mine took my horse after a dispute. Their camp lies in a quarry just south of here. Take my men, retrieve my horse, and I'll give you what you came for.
• Bayek: Agh, how you found yourself in Apollodorus' company escapes me.
• Mered: You'll get it for me... if Apollodorus wants my continued service...
  A favor for a favor. My mount, for the Hyena's location.
  Give my men a hand. They'll know exactly what to look for. It'll be easy.
  Get going, before those bastards do something stupid with my mount.

Bayek rode to the quarry with Mered's men.

• Warrior: You are friends with Mered?
• Bayek: Argh, barely. He is a necessary ally.
• Warrior: Mered rarely keeps protectors as allies. He doesn't trust authorities. But he pays well. And very few pay at all here in Giza. Cannot trust the sand in your hand.
• Bayek: What can you tell me of the Hyena? This Khaliset girl?
• Warrior: Ha ha! We speak one word, and we are Hyena food. Nice try. Come on! Be on guard, we have a horse to retrieve.

Bayek found the horse at the quarry, held by bandits.

• Bayek: This must be Mered's horse. He neglected to tell me his "customers" were bandits.

Bayek retrieved the horse and returned to Mered.

• Mered: You're back! Well, look at this!
• Bayek: You failed to mention it was in the possession of bandits.
• Mered: Slipped my mind! Hmm... good. Stronger than mine.
• Bayek: I thought you said it was yours...
• Mered: Ahem, yes! Yes, of course it is! You've done good by me, my friend.

Mered delivering the information he promised.

Mered sat down.

• Bayek: Then you'll deliver as promised.
• Mered: My word is my word... but I've one more thing to ask of you.
• Bayek: Ack, I'm done with your games.
• Mered: All right... the Hyena lives in a cavern just over those hills. Day and night, she roams the desert, collecting silica. Precious tear drops of the gods. What has happened to those who have interfered is best left unsaid.

Bayek saw a vision of Khaliset wandering the desert with a group of hyenas. She held a lump of silica while standing in front of a pair of prisoners.

• Bayek: If I find you've led me on another futile chase, it won't be my words that hit your ears.
• Mered: A thousand promises. I have no reason to defy you. Don't die out there. (laughs)
  Khaliset takes shelter in a cave in the hills behind Menkaure.

If Bayek mounted the horse he'd just brought Mered.

• Mered: Hey! That's my horse!
• Bayek: You can't steal something already stolen, Mered.

Khaliset's lair

Bayek rode his way to Khaliset's lair.

• Bayek: So this is the Hyena's lair. No sign of Khaliset, though. Mered was telling the truth. I need to figure out where she went.

Bayek explored the lair. When he approached a cage, a voice cried out.

• Prisoner: I do not want to die!
  Help! Help me! Please!
  Do not... do not let her take me!
  Please! Get me out!

Bayek released the prisoner.

• Prisoner: Mercy. Thank you, Medjay.
• Bayek: The Hyena. Where is she?
• Prisoner: I do not know. I am... I'm the only one left! She took the others away hours ago!
• Bayek: Took them where?
• Prisoner: She kills them! I know it! She... she... her hands. Oh, gods! Her hands are so bloody.
• Bayek: Peace, friend. You are free. I will deal with Khaliset.

The prisoner left.

• Bayek: Where is Khaliset taking captives? And why?

Bayek found a small encampment.

• Bayek: Someone has made this their home.

He found a letter to Khaliset.

A Message to Khaliset

Khaliset,

It has been long since we have heard from you. We had expected more relics by now. None of the previous items were of any use.
I have sent on more drachmas for you, should you need to purchase any items from the markets. We prefer to cast suspicion elsewhere, until we can show our hand.
If the silica is running dry as you claimed it has been, we will need to find a new location. We expect you to scout for one.
Send your reply through our usual channels.

The Snake.

• Bayek: A letter. The symbol of the Snake is on it. Khaliset is clearly working with the Order. And they don't know she took some of this silica for herself. What was worth the danger of crossing the Order?

Bayek found Khaliset's bedding.

• Bayek: This is where Khaliset slept, protected from sandstorms. The lotus flower of rebirth. She must have picked these for a reason.

Bayek noticed a caged hyena.

• Bayek: Now why would one of her loyal beasts be caged?

Drawings depicting of the Great Pyramid's internal chambers.

Inside the cage, Bayek moved a brick from the rear wall and found a drawing of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

• Bayek: Khufu's tomb. She has detailed every crevice. Ah, she has not finished. That is where I will find her. I will head to the pyramids.
• Khaliset's Drawing: A drawing of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, most likely made by Khaliset. She seems to have drawn attention to something beneath the tomb.

Bayek approached the Pyramid of Khufu, noticing hyenas outside it.

• Bayek: Hyenas... Khaliset must be inside.

He entered the pyramid, and explored deeper. Khaliset noticed him, calling out.

• Khaliset: You! Who dares enter here, where silence has befallen her?
• Bayek: A Medjay who has treaded many dunes to find you. Hide if you must, Hyena, but this tomb will not protect you.
• Khaliset: I demand that you stop here. Turn back now, and I will excuse this intrusion.
• Bayek: Siwa was an intrusion.

Bayek ventured in further with Khaliset taunting him.

• Khaliset: Foolish man, I am Iset, possessor of magic, the gods live here, not you!
• Bayek: What sort of mischief is she entertaining?

Bayek found a hole in the floor, and climbed it down.

• Khaliset: Be gone! Osiris cannot be disturbed!

The hole led to a passage, with a trapdoor. Bayek passed it.

• Bayek: This trap door, what is it protecting?
• Khaliset: Heathen! The wakeful one is asleep. Go no further, or I will drench these arid plains with your blood!

Bayek encountering the vault

Bayek reached a room below the tomb containing ruins with a strange architecture, wrought of black stone.

• Bayek: What is this place? A tomb beneath a tomb...
  Is this where you hide, Hyena?

Climbing down to the floor of the strange room, Bayek found a number of silica fragments, and large spots of blood.

• Bayek: What gruesome madness happened here!? A dark place with a window to the gods. What kind of ritual is she performing?

Bayek inspected a corpse.

• Bayek: Still warm. And this ceremonial knife. This was a sacrifice.

Bayek inspected a set of symbols.

• Bayek: Hrm... Khaliset drew these symbols here. Was she trying to figure out their meaning?

Bayek inspected a set of offerings.

• Bayek: Offerings to Osiris. Protector of the dead.

Bayek inspected a sarcophagus.

• Bayek: This sarcophagus is decorated with goddesses of the mother. Strange symbols are marked all over it.
  I think I know what dark deeds Khaliset was after here.

In his mind, Bayek reconstructed the scene.

• Bayek: Khaliset was doing a ritual. She began by calling to Osiris with these offerings. She used a knife to sacrifice her captives. She collected their blood for some dark purpose. She was attempting to learn these strange symbols. She must have found them in this room. Once she knew the symbols, she carved them here. And ended the ritual with a final prayer over the sarcophagus. Khaliset must be trying to bring someone back to life. But just who is buried down here?

The mummified corpse of Khaliset's daughter.

Bayek opened the sarcophagus and saw the mummified corpse of a child.

• Bayek: Child...

Khaliset snuck up on astounded Bayek with her hyenas.

• Khaliset: My child!
• Bayek: You lost your child?
• Khaliset: I haven't. Her rest is temporary. You have intervened in her reawakening.
• Bayek: And yet, you aligned yourself to the Order. Ravaged this tomb. Khaliset—
• Khaliset: Don't you dare say my name! My name does not merit your lips, you who have dishonored her! I am a good mother! Hiyaah!

Khaliset threatening Bayek.

Khaliset loosed an arrow at Bayek, but he dodged it, as he did her second arrow. As he rushed towards her, she used a smoke bomb.

• Khaliset: You are no match for me, desert scum!

Bayek chased after her once the smoke had cleared, hearing her taunts.

• Khaliset: You are no different than any of the others who have come before you!
  Come! Fight me if you must. Then your blood will be part of my daughter's resurrection.
  I will bury you in the sand, fool.

Bayek left the tomb and confronted Khaliset outside the pyramid, where a sandstorm was raging.

• Khaliset: Now, I will show you what happens to those who desecrate my daughter's tomb! Hiyaah!

The Hyena fighting the last Medjay in the middle of a sand storm.

Khaliset loosed an arrow, but Bayek dodged it again. Khaliset disappeared within the smoke of another bomb. She kept up her taunts, firing arrows at Bayek, again and again.

• Khaliset: Hathor, protect me from this defiler.
• Bayek: I have come only for you, Hyena. The gods need not be involved.
• Khaliset: You have infringed upon Eshe's place of rest, trespasser. The gods are already involved. And so you will find the same fate as all other trespassers. Death by my hand.

Bayek found Khaliset, but she disappeared into the smoke again. This repeated, time and again.

• Bayek: You are in pursuit of the impossible, Khaliset. No measure of magic can bring our children back.
• Khaliset: My child will come back through the powers of Those Who Came Before.
• Bayek: Only the gods came before.
• Khaliset: Some came between the gods and us. It is their gift.
  You cannot defeat me, Medjay! Come and face me!
  My heart bleeds without my Eshe by my side. Be thankful. Your blood will help bring her back.
• Bayek: Your daughter is dead, Khaliset. Nothing will return her. Nothing can.
• Khaliset: I will save my daughter no matter the cost. Enough of your pointless words!
• Bayek: Then heed my weapon instead, Hyena.
• Khaliset: Hahahahaha! This is who they send after me? The bugs on my beasts are fiercer!
• Bayek: You would be best to give yourself up, Khaliset. I know your pain.
• Khaliset: You know nothing of my pain!
• Bayek: No child would want this from their parent, Hyena!
• Khaliset: Do not speak of what my child wants!
  You fight like a man without passion!
  Lay down your weapon. It will be faster that way.
  Are you ready to be part of something greater than yourself, Medjay?

Bayek facing Khaliset in the Animus' Memory Corridor.

Eventually, Bayek landed the final blow, and killed Khaliset. In her final moments, she and Bayek stood in a pool of water.

• Khaliset: Do I walk among the dead now?
• Bayek: A just end. You defiled the dead and enabled the people who killed my son. All on a selfish whim.
• Khaliset: No! I gathered the silica for them—it powered the magic stone of Those Who Came Before. You saw it, didn't you? The symbols only needed to be learned.
• Bayek: It is not meant for us.
• Khaliset: It makes no difference now. I wanted to protect my daughter in life and death. I have done neither...

Khaliset being pulled into the dark waters of the Memory Corridor by her hyenas.

In the vision of her final moments, hyenas approached Khaliset, baring their teeth.

• Khaliset: Osiris! Please grant me a reunion. She walks alone in the Field of Reeds! Am I to remain in the Duat forever?!

Khaliset was pulled into the water and darkness by the hyenas.

• Khaliset: I just want my daughter back... please!?

As Khaliset disappeared into the Duat, Bayek looked at a bloodstained feather in his hand.

• Bayek: May you find your daughter in the afterlife, Khaliset. May the Lord of the Duat guide you.

Sometime later, Bayek returned to Mered to inform him of Khaliset's death.

• Mered: You have returned... alive.
• Bayek: You have your horse, and the desert is free of the Hyena. Why so disappointed, Mered?
• Mered: Ah it is nothing. I bet that you would die within those walls, Medjay. You come out, I lose money. Ah! I know. Maybe you can throw a corpse in there for me? We both win!
• Bayek: I pray this be the last time we meet, Mered.

Bayek met with Mered several more times afterwards.

• Mered: Did I tell you of the time I ate a scorpion? I have no feeling in my mouth whatsoever.
  Thanks again for that horse, friend. But... had to sell him on.
  One time, long ago, I chased the Hyena down myself. But you're not interested in that! You're interested in Mered's wares!
  I had an unbreakable sword! I thought of you, but, another buyer came around. Business.
  I bet you wish you could work for ol' Mered, eh Bayek? Think of the life! But, no, he's already got his men.

Outcome

Bayek assassinated Khaliset, ending her terror over the people of Giza.

Gallery

• 
  The marketplace where Bayek met Mered