Chapter Text
While they didn’t exactly take pleasure in the act of killing, the knight felt deeply satisfied when their new spell tore through the armored bug’s defenses and the way to Greenpath was finally clear.
Everything was so green! Plants flourished all around, green covering the gray rock and then overtaking it. The air was warm and humid, smelling of life and water, such a contrast to the Crossroads’ cold and dusty atmosphere. Waterfalls hissed somewhere unseen, and light filtered in from somewhere high up.
The ruins in Greenpath were crawling with moss and vines, foliage overtaking the ancient structures and winding through the cracks. While the place was equally crumbling and abandoned, the knight felt like this was a marked improvement over the desolate relics they’d seen before. At least something was alive here.
Below the path came the sound of bubbling liquid. Ahead, there were gaps in the path where the stone had given way and fallen away. The knight paused at the edge and looked down, curious as to what was there.
They almost mistook the bright green-blue liquid for water. It was clear enough for them to see straight to the bottom and count the little stones that had settled there. However, they could hear the quiet hiss as bubbles rose to the surface, and the mist that hung low over the surface burned when they leaned too close.
Acid?
“I can hardly believe those dusty old highways led to such a lush and lively place!” Quirrel exclaimed from behind them. “It seems the further we go, the more the foliage overtakes the stone around us. Quite beautiful, don’t you think?” He paused beside the knight and peered over their shoulder. “It seems even such a welcoming place as this has its dangers. I would do my best not to fall in, if I were you. That acid would burn through a bug like me, but I can only imagine the damage it would do to a shell as soft as yours.”
The knight looked up at him. Did Quirrel realize exactly how morbid some of the things he said sounded?
Apparently not, seeing as he was quite cheery as he stepped around the knight and jumped over the break in the path.
The knight was quick to catch up, walking at Quirrel’s side in favor of running ahead. They wanted to enjoy this place.
They also didn’t want to fall into the acid and find out what it did to them.
The terrain shifted from stone to squishy moss and the knight paused to test the different ground. It felt springy underfoot and damp with condensation. A good feeling, for sure.
That is, until a nearby bush came to life and promptly bit them.
Magic crackled in the air, exploding outwards as the knight jumped back in alarm. The spell burned through their attacker, leaves burned away by the blast, leaving behind a blackened shell.
What???
“Are you alright?” Quirrel asked from a few paces away. He too had jumped when the knight let loose their spell.
The knight took a deep breath and pointed at the shell of their attacker.
The wanderer considered the burnt shell and then looked around. “It seems even the docile mosscreeps have become aggressive.”
The knight stared at him. A bug disguised as a bush just attacked them!
“These leaves are pretty, but they make for much better camouflage than the stark rock of the Crossroads. We should probably keep an eye out for other hidden dangers.”
Right!
As it turned out, Greenpath was beautiful, but the creatures were just as terrible! Maybe even worse, since they could hide. At least the crawling things in the Crossroads had the decency to skitter out in the open.
The knight glanced around in case there was another evil bush bug. Mosscreep, Quirrel called it. Were there any other clumps of green nearby big enough to hide a mosscreep?
“Hallownest is perfect for vigilant explorers like us,” Quirrel continued, carrying on ahead. “So tense and thrilling. In this place, you're either alert or you're dead.”
With that in mind, the knight let themself fall into step beside the taller bug. They let him take the lead so they could keep an eye on the shrubbery. They wouldn’t be fooled twice.
There were other new bugs to encounter, more and more turning up the further the two wanderers walked. In addition to the mosscreeps, there were larger moss-covered bugs that burrowed underground to ambush. There were Quirrel-sized bugs that were covered in green. Some charged when the knight got close. Some shook and then exploded into orange.
The first explosion wasn’t hard to dodge, but the knight was taken by surprise when the shell exploded again after the living bug fell to their nail.
“Some bugs do that,” Quirrel said unhelpfully as the knight tried to pat the orange powder out of their cloak. It burned terribly where it touched them.
Lesson learned: some bugs exploded into clouds of orange both during life and after death.
“Perhaps there’s a bench nearby,” Quirrel added, sounding a bit more sympathetic. “Then you can properly clean your cloak.”
The knight really hoped so.
They turned to the path ahead, ready to keep going, when a flash of red caught their eye.
Up ahead, there was another bug standing on a tall ledge. She wore a red cloak and held what looked to be a very thin and sharp nail. Her mask was pale white with two slender horns and seemed to encompass her entire head the way the knight’s did. Her eyes were dark and unreadable as she stared down at the two travelers.
“Oh!” Quirrel said, following their gaze.
Before the knight could even think to respond in some way, she turned and ran off deeper into Greenpath.
They needed to follow!
The knight didn’t wait for Quirrel’s input and ran toward the ledge she’d been standing on. It was higher than they’d realized, and even when jumping as high as they could, the edge remained just out of reach from their fingertips.
“I’ve seen her before,” Quirrel said. “She’s something of a protector of the kingdom, standing guard against those who seek to desecrate the remains.”
The knight looked at him. They hadn’t thought Hallownest had a protector, especially after all this time. Hadn’t the kingdom been empty and in ruins for over a hundred years? What was she protecting?
“I don’t know anything else about her, aside from the fact that she’s quick to draw her needle and just as quick when fighting with it. We might be wise to tread carefully if she’s patrolling this area.”
Even so, the knight needed to talk to her. They couldn’t explain why, but they absolutely had to hear what she had to say.
“Despite our original meeting going less than favorably, I would like to try talking to her,” Quirrel added thoughtfully. He leaped easily up to the ledge she’d been standing on. “I wonder where she went?”
The knight tried again to jump up. Again, their hands fell just short of the edge.
“Are you wanting to follow?” Quirrel asked, looking down at them.
Did he not see the knight try? They did so again, this time taking a running leap. The added momentum only served in nearly sending them careening into the acid when they missed the ledge and then kept falling forward.
“I see.” At least Quirrel had the decency to look a bit sheepish. He knelt and held out his hand. “Try again, friend.”
The knight did so, this time much more successfully when Quirrel grabbed their hand and swung them up onto the ledge.
Once on solid ground, the knight ran forward, racing down the path they assumed the bug in the red cloak had followed.
The road was no longer even, the stone crumbling more and more, leaving large gaps that dropped into the acid. Vines crept across the path, red thorns snagging on the knight’s cloak when they ran too close. Waterfalls rushed in the distance, mist rising into the air in glistening clouds.
Snap!
The knight jumped in alarm, stumbling forward and away from whatever had slammed shut behind them. What just happened??
When they looked back, a massive plant was slowly opening its jaw-like leaves. The green went back to lying flat, nearly invisible amid the rest of the foliage.
Equal parts confused and horrified, the knight carefully stepped closer. When nothing happened, they drew their nail and prodded at the limp leaves.
Snap!
The leaves slammed shut like a giant mouth. The knight barely had time to withdraw their nail before they lost it to the plant’s great maw.
So whatever was making the bugs attack them was also affecting the plantlife. The kniht would just add that to the unending list of things trying to kill them. Even the plants were out to get them.
It occurred to the knight that they left Quirrel behind even after he’d asked to keep traveling with them.
Oops.
Well, he was tall enough. If he really wanted to catch up, it would only take him a moment.
The knight returned to their chase and more of Greenpath flashed by in a vivid blur. They only slowed long enough to avoid falling into acid or thorns or to slice through the bugs that refused to leave them alone when they ran past.
Who was that other bug? She looked like…
An image flashed in their mind, but the knight couldn’t place it. A million questions flew through their head and something told them that whoever that bug was, she had answers.
When the knight finally slowed to a stop, they were completely alone.
The brightly lit cavern they stood in was smaller than others, the green pressing in on all sides. They could hear things moving through the shadows but weren’t sure how to place the noise. Was Quirrel still following them? Had they caught up to the bug in the red cloak? Or were they surrounded by enemies?
Their surroundings were very beautiful. It was hard to tell where the light came from, but it lit up the plants that arced overhead and clung to the cavern walls. There were fewer ruins here, the terrain interrupted by natural rises and valleys.
Flowers dotted the grass, tiny splashes of color against the green, and more mosscreeps wandered around, chirping as they went. As long as the knight left them alone, the fuzzy green bugs ignored them just as the spiky bugs in the Crossroads had.
Maybe they should go back.
The knight turned, looking back the way they came.
Except… which way had they come by? Did they jump down from that rise? Or climb up from that darker passageway? Wander in from the path to the right?
Where was Quirrel? Was he still catching up, or did he decide to go off on his own after all?
The knight would feel guilty, but again, Quirrel wouldn’t even need to run very hard to keep up with them.
Seeing as nothing was immediately attacking them, the knight took a moment to consult their map.
Then they realized that they hadn’t updated it since sitting on the bench in Dirtmouth and it looked like the parchment only had room to finish mapping the Crossroads anyway. They’d need to find Cornifer again or return to his shop if they wanted to avoid getting hopelessly lost in Greenpath.
As pretty as the place was, they didn’t intend to wander there for the rest of their life.
Something moved close by, and the knight hastily stuffed the map back into their cloak so they could draw their nail.
That same flash of red disappeared through a darker tunnel surrounded by hanging plants and mossy rocks.
The floor evened out as the knight gave chase. The ceiling was lower there, blocking the light and draping the way forward in shadow. The ground was cold and damp beneath their feet. At the end of the passageway, the light returned, bright green indicating another open area.
Eager to get back to the warmth and grass and moss, the knight didn’t realize the path ended in a sheer drop.
They didn’t fall far, landing lightly on smooth stone. Green surrounded the gray and large stones rose like crumbling pillars. What looked to be words were carved around each. The knight couldn’t read what they said.
The masked bug in the red cloak stood at the other side of the space. She didn’t look up when the knight took a step closer, but her needle rose in a swift arc, the sharp point stopping them from taking another.
At her feet lay the body of another bug, one that looked eerily similar to the knight themself. Its mask was cracked, and a nail protruded from the center of its chest.
Did she kill it?
“Come no closer, ghost,” the cloaked bug said, reclaiming the knight’s attention. “I’ve seen you, creeping through the undergrowth, stalking me.”
Well, they wouldn’t have if she’d just stopped running.
“This old kingdom… a terrible thing awakens. I can smell it in the air…”
Did she mean whatever the knight had heard cry out earlier? Did she know what it was?
The knight realized they had no way of asking.
“I know what you are.” The cloaked bug finally looked up. Her mask was as complete as the knight’s, eyes cold and dark. Her needle still pointed toward them. “I know what you’d try to do. I can’t allow it…”
What they are? What they would do? What was she talking about???
Before them, the cloaked bug (the protector of Hallownest, Quirrel had called her) leaned back into a fighting stance.
A name flickered in the knight’s mind: Hornet?
The knight had just enough time to draw their nail before she jumped up, needle held high and poised to end their adventure there and then.
“Shaw!”