Chapter Text
With a flutter of his little wings, Sly charged towards the little vessel, attempting to capture it and bring back the peace of their hike. However, little Ghost narrowly escaped his grasp, dashing away to give Quirrel a hug. Although they could not speak (because ‘no voice to cry suffering’), vessels could make faint noises due to the void inside their bodies; right now, Ghost sounded like a weird, content cat as Quirrel gave them headpats. Sly was currently quite upset with the shorter vessel, as they (presumably) promised him to not wander off, and yet they went off the trail with Hollow anyways. Perhaps it was time to teach Ghost the same discipline he had taught the nailmasters? No, that seemed too harsh of a punishment for a small creature like them…and besides, the Daughter of Hallownest wouldn’t be pleased if she found out about it Sly thought to himself as he tried to get the pale siblings to focus on their original plan.
“My apologies! These two tend to wander off. Come along, let's go see Mato!" he said to Quirrel and his ant friend (Tiso?), before departing with both vessels and journeying to Mato’s den. It had been a long time since Sly last saw the nailmasters, but he still remembered their final moments together as a group (or ‘family’ as Sheo called it) before going separate ways. Oro and Mato had been bickering and fighting each other more often than usual, Sheo was keeping to himself and Sly kept replaying Esmy’s fate in his mind. These three factors resulted their final meeting being…awkward, to say the least. Mato would not speak to Oro, ignoring all of Sheo’s attempts to solve their feud.
“Did I ever tell you two about Esmy?” Sly asked, not expecting an answer as he knew the vessels could not talk. Even so, he continued with his story. “Well, Esmy was a peculiar fella. When I first found them, they were roughly the same height as you.” he glanced at Ghost, who did not reply, before continuing. “Esmy couldn’t talk, but they tried to. It always sounded like a grunt every time they wanted to speak, but something is better than nothing, am I right? Anyways, they looked just like you two, with the same hollow eyes and pale complexion. I could’ve sworn they emitted some sort of pale light! Just like our late king. Hey, now that I think of it, you two also resemble the Pale King!” It was true, Hollow and Ghost did have a striking resemblance to Hallownest’s patriarch, but Sly remembered that they were the siblings of Hornet, who is the child of the Pale King, so it would make sense if they were, too, related to the late monarch.
“Ah, I’m getting ahead of myself here, aren’t I? Well, let me get straight to the point. One day, I asked Esmy to show me their old home. Seems like a normal question, right? Well, it turns out, their home used to be an abyss full of violent floating creatures! No wonder their cloak looked worn out when I first found them!”
…
Sly paused, contemplating whether or not he should tell Ghost and Hollow how Esmy died. He decided against the thought, and asked Ghost if he could borrow their map. One glance at the paper told Sly he had to endure Esmy’s tale again, as he saw that they were right outside Mato’s den.
“Right, if you two want to know more about Esmy…you could ask Mato to tell you about our final…adventure together.”
Ghost stepped inside the small shelter first, followed by Hollow and Sly. Mato exchanged bows with his pupil and his old master before offering them a cup of tea.
“Mato, this may be an unusual request, but would it be alright if you could tell these two about Esmy’s last moments with us? I understand if it’s too painful for you to relive, but I’ve already told them most-”
“Understood, master.” Mato exclaimed before bowing to Sly again. He poured the two vessels some tea before clearing his throat.
“Alright, so, Esmy….ah, yes, I remember them clear as day. Well, here it is.” pulling himself together, Mato started his tale. “Well, it was just an average day in the Crossroads. Master asked Esmy where they used to reside, as we never knew where they came from. It was a long journey, let me tell you. Me, Sheo, Oro, and Master had to venture the Kingdom’s old capital and use a sketchy looking elevator. Long story short, the elevator crashed and we were all injured from the fall, but Esmy guided us through the strange, ancient-looking basin and we all managed to explore some of the place. There was this strange door with a fork-like symbol on it, but it couldn’t be opened so we opted for the small crack in the wall. Unfortunately, me and my brothers were too big to fit, so only Esmy and Master managed to slip through. Whatever was behind that door must have been terrible, because Master ran out yelling at us to evacuate! Remember, Master?”
“Yes, I remember very well, Mato.”
“Anyways, we ran and ran for ages before Oro had the bright idea to turn around and stall everyone. At that point, we realised Esmy wasn’t with us, so we searched all over the basin to find them. Me and Oro found them battling a strange ghostish creature, but that stupid oaf prevented me from rescuing them! He said it was ‘too dangerous’.....” Mato practically growled the final part, his frustration and resentment for Oro on full display. He looked as though he was on the verge of angry tears, but despite that, he continued. “I couldn’t see most of it, but the ghost creature grabbed Esmy’s small horn and pulled them back! Apparently their grip was as strong as a god’s, because Esmy’s horn was ripped straight off their head! Then Oro dragged me back to our meeting spot, and we never heard or talked of Esmy ever again. Unless you count this occasion, of course.”
While Hollow’s gave all their attention to Mato’s story, Ghost was busy with a little book that they were looking at. With a curious glance, Hollow looked over at one of the pages and saw something…odd, to say the least. It was a drawing of what seemed to be one of their kin, with two big horns on one side of their head and a hole oozing Infection on the other. It was the exact same description as Esmy’s, only, this vessel had been infected by the Radiance. Taking a closer look, Hollow made out the words Broken Vessel at the top of the page, with a description that read “Shattered corpse, reanimated by infected parasites.”
Hollow didn’t question their sibling, but in their mind they questioned how Ghost managed to get a picture of another vessel, let alone one that looked like this Esmy that the Nailsage and Nailmaster were talking about. They had to dig deeper….maybe they could ask Hornet when she gets back to Hallownest?