Chapter Text
The Knight, seeming to have had enough time to recover, stood fully. It gazed down at the ground below it. There was what looked to be broken pieces of a large bridge strewn across the ground. A few brave plants held out in the rocky ground, being blown every which way by the wind. It took a step back from the edge, then took a leap of faith, plummeting down. The landing was hard, but it managed to recover just as fast as when it had fallen earlier. Taking no more time to recover from the fall, it began to traverse the rubble. As the Knight grew further away from where it had fallen, the scattered rocks grew sparser, and the light from the town grew brighter. Finally, it passed the first house. The architecture was similar to that of the houses from the cliff earlier, sporting the same spiral patterns. An iron bench lay in the middle of the place, intricate patterns formed by the metal. A voice cut through the night…was it even night? It was impossible to tell.
“Ho there, traveler,” The voice said. The Knight turned to face it. A hunched over bug with a dull white mask and tired eyes met its gaze. “I’m afraid there’s only me left to offer welcome. Our town’s fallen quiet you see.”
The Knight stepped forward to listen, tilting its face up to look at the taller bug.
“The other residents, they’ve all disappeared. Headed down that well, one by one, into the caverns below. Used to be there was a great kingdom beneath our town. Its long fell to ruin, yet it still draws folks into its depths,” The bug continued. His voice was a low rasp, and his hunched form shook with every word. “Wealth, glory, enlightenment, that darkness seems to promise all things. I’m sure you too seek your dreams down there.”
“Well watch out. It’s a stictley(how tf do you spell it??) air that fills the place. Creatures turn mad and travelers are robbed of their memories. Perhaps dreams aren't such great things after all…” He finished.
Not wasting another moment, the Knight turned and walked to the bench, intent on getting some actual rest, not just a few moments of recovery after a fall. It collapsed onto the bench, its little legs not managing to reach the ground. The only sounds filling the air were the whistles of the wind and an occasional grunt from Elderbug. A few hours passed in silence, with the Knight just sitting and recovering from its earlier adventures.
Finally feeling like it had rested enough, the Knight hopped down from the bench. Not too far away from it, just past a small cluster of houses, a well was set into the ground. Surely it was the same one that Elderbug had mentioned earlier when he spoke to the Knight. The town, Dirtmouth, stretched out into the distance, but the Knight had no intentions of exploring it. It walked towards the well, speeding up into a speedwalk as it grew closer. One of the houses it passed had a note nailed to the door, although it couldn’t be bothered to read it.
(translation: I’m way too lazy to make a new save file to see what it says)
There was a small staircase leading to the well, and a few rocks detached from it as the Knight walked, tumbling down through the broken wall of the well. It reached the structure, and gazing down into it revealed only darkness. Clearly, it would be another long fall to get down to wherever it leads. The walls, once strong, were now a crumbling mess. A rope was attached to the top, most likely used by travelers sane enough not to jump into a potentially dangerous and dark well. Briefly, the Knight looked up to see what lay ahead of the well. There was a long path leading to what looked like a hut set into the rocky cliff. It didn’t seem like anything relevant, so the Knight stayed where it stood, right by the well. It took one more moment to assess the well, then jumped into the well, falling into the darkness.