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Light bounced off of the bright blue water, illuminating the top of the cave. Droplets glimmered as they fell from the ceiling and caused the water to ripple lightly. Waves gently lapped at the makeshift pier, swaying back and forth, only giving the slightest of touches before pulling back.
There was something universally relaxing about watching the water, Steven found. Something about the gentle rocking of the waves, the way that light twisted on the surface, the way that the water seemed to absorb any sound was just so calming to him. It was something he was grateful for; after Spinel’s attack on Beach City, he found himself more stressed with reconstruction efforts, and having this moment of respite was helpful after a long day. His companion, though silent, offered some strange comfort just by being there. The silence was even welcomed--Steven didn’t really feel very talkative whenever he visited this place. These visits didn't happen every night, but often enough.
Steven’s astral projection sometimes brought him to strange places, but never places this strange. Whether they be the dreams of humans or Gems or even of his late mother, his powers at least brought him to somewhere or someone that he was familiar with to some degree. He was not at all familiar with this underground lake, or the strange bug-creature sat beside him who stared endlessly out across the water. The feel of the wooden pier beneath him, the sound of shifting rocks from elsewhere in the cave, the loneliness hanging in the air, all of it was foreign to Steven.
He took a quick peek at his stoic companion, who did not take their eyes off of the water. They were possibly one of the strangest things that Steven had ever met--which, now that he thought about it, was quite the accomplishment. They were wrapped in a tattered cloak, and a tiny blade, with intricate carvings, was strapped to their back. Their body beneath the cloak seemed to just be pure black, not flesh or bone but black, with little nub arms and legs, and their horned head appeared to be a hard chitin shell with a crack between their void-like eyes. They didn’t blink, and they didn’t speak, which made Steven wonder if they could even do those things at all.
But it didn’t matter whether or not the little bug friend could blink or speak. Their mere presence was oddly comforting. Despite the two of them being, for all intents and purposes, strangers, they shared these rituals with one another, of just sitting next to each other and marveling at whatever place they happened to meet at.
---
The first time Steven appeared in this strange place, he was atop barren cliffs, with the howling wind pushing him toward the edge. Dreaming… yes, he was dreaming. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep. Strange, though--he normally wasn’t this lucid in dreams. The cliff sides were broken and eroded, though deep, purposeful lines carved into the sides told an ancient story that had long since rotted away.
Little bugs flitted around in the winds, their wings occasionally pulsing with bright electricity. They almost seemed to light a path across some of the fragmented stone, and Steven gasped as he looked up. The trail of the lightning bugs led upward, twisting around the floating chunks of rock that created a path up to a much longer ledge. Steven kicked off the ground and shot into the air, effortlessly bounding across the stone, up, up, up into the sky. Gray clouds hung overhead, but the lightning bugs glimmered against the dark.
When Steven finally reached the top, he was surprised to find that he wasn’t alone. (Now his lucidity made sense, this wasn’t his dream.) Sitting on a silver bench at the edge of the cliff was… someone? Some thing? Something with a white head and two curved horns with the tips notched, facing the edge and looking down at whatever was below.
Step, step, step. Steven took careful steps towards the other, not wanting to startle them. Still, one of his sandals clip-clopped against his foot, and the creature sitting at the bench turned to face him.
Steven didn’t know how long they looked at each other, staring down each other’s eyes. There was something weird about the creature’s eyes; they both were and were not empty. They lacked any kind of light, any kind of visible eyeball, and Steven was rather sure that they were simply holes in the creature’s head. A splintering crack went down the middle of their face, dividing their face in half. Yet, the other moved, clearly not empty, and once Steven pushed past his shock to give a sheepish smile, the creature tilted their head ever-so-slightly, almost curious.
“Um… hi!” Seeing the other’s lack of hostility, Steven (awkwardly) stood by the bench, fingertips idly pressing together as he tried to figure out what the hell he was doing. “Um… is this your dream? Sorry, I-I didn’t mean to just show up like this--”
The creature nodded, and seeing them now from a different angle, they looked something like a beetle to Steven. Something about the horns made him just think ‘beetle.’ Was this creature some type of bug? He had never seen a sapient bug. The other was clearly not a Gem; there wasn’t a Gem that Steven had ever seen before that even slightly resembled them. But what were they, then?
“--um, my powers kind of let me wander into people’s dreams, I-I don’t mean to do it…”
The creature only looked up at him with those unblinking eyes, and after a moment of (still awkward) silence, the creature turned their gaze back to the cliff’s edge. They scooted over away from Steven before sitting neatly back down. His smile softened into something more genuine, less forced, and he, cautiously, sat down next to the other.
“Oh - thank you!” Steven opened his mouth to continue his (now painfully awkward) small-talk with the creature when his eyes caught what the other had been looking at the whole time.
Though barren rock stretched on infinitely, just below them was a town wreathed in fog, with other little bug creatures roaming around their little houses. There was a small road straight through the town, and tall street lamps that offered fuzzy light outside of the buildings. Beyond that was a sheer cliff face, reaching up higher than even they were, and something pink glowed from a couple cracks in the rocks. The top of the cliff, though, glowed a strange white, and sharp rocks stuck out at the top like a crown.
“Whoa…” Fog replaced the air in his lungs as the view stole his breath, and his eyes grew wide to take in all that he saw. “It’s beautiful…” Perhaps not ‘beautiful’ in the traditional sense, but there was an eerie type of beauty to the bluish-gray stone and the slow flickering of the lightning bugs. Steven turned to the bug sitting next to him with a curious look of his own.
“Do you live here?”
The bug nodded.
…
…
…
“Um… do you mind if I sit with you for a bit longer?”
The bug turned their face to look at Steven, almost as if to try and tell him something with those wide black eyes. But they turned back to overlook the town--no turning him away, no apprehension. Steven rested his elbows on his knees, leaning forward and taking in the crisp air.
…
…
…
“My name’s Steven, by the way.”
…
…
…
“Um… what’s your name?”
The bug shifted slightly, body stiffening, and they slowly looked up at Steven and shook their head.
Steven’s brow furrowed. “You… don’t want to tell me? I-it’s okay, if you don’t, I just want to make sure--”
The bug shook their head, faster now, before they placed a hand on their chest--the hand was only a round, black nub, with no visible fingers. Pressing a hand to themselves, they shook their head.
Steven’s eyes widened, and his voice hushed. “You… don’t have a name?”
The bug’s hand fell from their chest, and they seemed to deflate in their seat. Once again, they slowly shook their head.
“Oh… Well, that’s okay! We can find something to call you!” Steven ‘hmm’ed and held his chin in his hand as he looked the other up and down. The bug watched with their head cocked to the side.
After a moment’s thought, Steven snapped his fingers, eyes alight. “Oh! I know! What about ‘Ghost?’ ‘Cause you kinda look like a ghost, with the white head and the cloak…”
At the name ‘Ghost,’ the bug perked up, and they nodded excitedly. Steven grinned down at them.
“Alright - Ghost it is! Nice to meet you, Ghost!”
That began their occasional dream meetups, where Steven and the bug he called ‘Ghost’ would sit together and overlook the places that Ghost seemed to live. No talking, other than a ‘hello’ from Steven. Just them and the views.
Wherever Ghost lived, the lands were varied and beautiful. Sometimes they appeared in a luscious garden, overgrown with thorns and glowing white roots. Other nights they sat by a lake of bubbling green acid that the two of them could touch without worry of being burned. Sometimes they overlooked some crystal mines, sharp pink crystals like teeth lining the cave. Other nights they appeared in a forest of bubbles and fog, watching shapes form in the air. Once they appeared to be in a cemetery, and though the air was heavier over them that night, they took comfort in each other’s presence.
One night they appeared in a raining city with water running through the bottom, and Ghost stood in front of a statue of four other creatures. Three of them looked very similar to each other, with only the masks to differentiate them, but Steven was focused on the tallest figure. It almost looked like a bigger version of Ghost--the dark eyes, the curved horns with the small notches, the cloak. Ghost stared up at the statue, completely unfazed by the rain drenching them. Something about their stance made Steven’s blood turn cold, and a lump of ice formed in his stomach. Maybe that was someone Ghost knew. Maybe it was one of their family. Regardless, Steven sat wordlessly beside them, and perhaps halfway through their shared dream, Ghost sat down next to him.
Even with his powers, Steven couldn’t read in dreams. But somehow, when he took a look at the plaque of the statue, he knew what it said:
“Memorial to the Hollow Knight.”
Whatever was below it was scratched out.
All of the places that the two ended up were always so barren --all except that town. Everywhere else was completely devoid of sapient life, and that made Steven wonder about what happened in Ghost’s waking life. So many things about Ghost made Steven wonder: who and what were they? What was this place that they lived in? Where was it?
And why did Steven’s powers bring him here?
He never really understood his powers. In theory, he did, but in his heart, he knew that his powers sometimes just acted of their own accord. It was frustrating, endlessly so. Even after all this time, he still didn’t have control of his powers.
But maybe, just this once, he won’t question it too much.
---
The Knight didn’t dream. At least, so they thought.
Even a Vessel needed rest to some degree, so the Knight followed Hornet’s example of trying to sleep. It was difficult, to try and teach themself to sleep and convince themself that nothing was going to happen to them while they were asleep, but they somehow managed.
At first, it was like losing hours within the span of a second. One second they were staring up at the ceiling while it was morning, and then the next second it was evening. Sometimes Hornet woke them from their rest when they swore they had just laid down. It was jarring, but the Knight felt a bit more energized through these rests, and they were willing to get used to the feeling.
But then they started to dream.
These dreams weren’t in the dream realm; they couldn’t be. The Knight killed the Radiance, the origin point of the dream realm. No, these dreams just seemed to be creations of the Knight’s own mind, and the simultaneous fear and excitement they first felt at realizing that they were dreaming shot them awake.
Their dreams were simple: just recreations of the various points of Hallownest. But these places were free of bug corpses, of bright orange Infection. These places were what the Knight hoped to make them in the waking world. Slowly, but surely, Hallownest would be restored not to its former glory, but to a new age. The Knight liked to look out and simply watch the various areas of Hallownest that they never had the time to really look at before. The kingdom, their kingdom, now.
And then, the strange, fleshy Wyrm appeared.
The weird Wyrm was extremely colorful, wearing pink-and-blue garb of unknown fabrics, as well as strange foot wrappings. He spoke in a language that the Knight both did and didn’t understand--perhaps it was the dream that allowed them to go beyond their languages. The Wyrm was friendly, and called himself “Steven.” The Knight remembered that Wyrms were stronger than the average bug; perhaps that is why Steven could enter their dreams. But all Steven seemed to want to do was gaze at Hallownest with them. The Knight didn’t see much danger in that.
The Knight had no true name, but when Steven suggested that he call them ‘Ghost,’ warm joy filled their chest. Ghost! That was the name Hornet gave them! They liked that name!
The Knight quite liked Steven. Though he didn’t say much, having someone there was… nice. Part of them wondered when he was going to be killed in some imaginary fight with them against the Traitor Lord, or whether he was going to disappear after helping free Monomon, or sacrifice himself to the nightmare realm to stop the Grimm Troupe. The Knight felt some tightness in their chest when they thought of that. They didn’t want that. They wanted Steven to stay.
Steven understood them, somehow. There was barely a word spoken between them, and the Knight was meant to be an empty Vessel, but Steven somehow understood them. When they were frozen in front of the statue of their Sibling, warm and cold clashing in their body, Steven sat next to them. He said nothing, he did nothing. He simply sat there and waited for them. He didn’t leave them alone, and the Knight wasn’t sure whether they wanted to be alone to begin with.
They came to a decision on that by the time they sat down next to Steven.
The Knight wasn’t sure where Steven came from, what kind of Wyrm he was, or what he was even doing here to begin with. He mentioned his ‘powers’ put him into people’s dreams, but he didn’t at all seem connected to the Radiance. Perhaps he came from somewhere far away, and whatever remained of the Radiance called him here? Perhaps, perhaps not.
The Knight just hoped that Steven would stay.
---
Something smashed into Steven’s face, and with a yelp, he shot up. He wasn’t in bed; no, he was dreaming now. He was lying on something brittle and sharp, and the ground shifted and clattered as he got to his feet. It was so dark… He could barely see anything.
When his eyes adjusted to the dark, he screamed.
He was surrounded by the bodies of bugs. Not just any bugs; bugs like Ghost. For a moment, one horrifying moment, Steven thought that Ghost was one of the many shells, or maybe even the one that hit him. But each one on the ground was unique in their horns, and none of them looked like Ghost.
Crash, crash, crash. More bodies fell from above. Chunks of rock floated above him, up into the darkness, with shells shattering upon impact with their edges as they fell down. But there was one speck that was moving up.
“Ghost?!”
Steven pushed himself up into the air, higher, higher, after Ghost. Ghost didn’t hear him; they just kept jumping upward, occasionally sprouting a pair of wings to give them extra jump height. They clawed the sides of the rocks, dashed and jumped and fluttered to keep moving upward.
A voice, deep, unearthly, made Steven’s skull rattle.
“No cost too great.”
“Who…?” Steven rested on one of the floating rocks as the voice continued, but Ghost continued their climb.
“No mind to think.”
“No will to break.”
“No voice to cry suffering.”
“Born of God and Void. ”
Steven jumped higher and higher after Ghost, until he saw them hanging on the edge of a broken platform. Something glowed white ahead of them. Steven floated higher as Ghost tried to pull themself up. On the platform was another bug, almost identical to Ghost, except the notches on the standing bug’s horns were slightly lower. Another bug, glowing white with sharp horns like a crown, tilted their head toward the smaller bug and walked out through the exit. The standing bug followed after, and then stopped. Steven blinked, and everything changed.
The white glow outside turned sickly orange. The small bug was no longer small, and was bigger than even the bug with the crown of horns. Now it looked exactly like the creature of the raining city’s statue, but its shell was cracked, its arm was missing, its cloak was torn apart.
That voice returned.
"You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams."
"You are the Vessel."
"You are the Hollow Knight."
Chains shot out from the orange mist and wrapped around the bug, and Ghost desperately tried to pull themself up onto the ledge. The tall bug turned; its eyes were that same sickly orange.
Ghost’s hands slipped.
“Ghost!” Steven dove after Ghost and reached out, grabbing the bug safely in his arms. Ghost looked up at Steven as Steven cradled them; their body was trembling. Steven’s expression softened to one of worry, and he slowly floated down onto one of the rocks.
“H-hey - it’s okay, Ghost, I’ve got you…” Despite lacking fingers, Ghost gripped onto Steven’s shirt tightly, and, after a moment, they pressed their face into his chest. Steven once more took to their regular silence, but his hand gently pet Ghost’s head.
He wasn't sure what he just saw... but he knew he had to be there for Ghost.
---
For a moment, the Knight thought they were back in the White Palace.
Such a bright light came from down a gray corridor, but it completely lacked any kind of detail. The Knight could hear the sounds of struggling, and their body turned cold upon recognizing one of the voices.
Steven.
Crystals grew around their feet, and they blasted forward down the hall, only coming to a screeching halt upon entering the room.
Steven was being held in the air by a mass of white arms, with one of them lifting up his shirt to show that a pink gem was embedded in his stomach. He struggled to break out, snarling and growling and flailing, but the arms were rigid. He was faced with a mass of white light, and from the light came a deep, ethereal voice.
“Come on out… Pink… ”
Massive black claws slowly grew from the blinding light, the index and thumb being the longest and sharpest. Steven’s anger swiftly turned to fear, and his struggling turned frantic.
“No - no, don’t! Don’t!”
Fire flared in the Knight’s chest, spreading to their arms and legs, and they jumped up in the air and shot a mass of black Soul toward the claws. The claws retracted with a screech, and before Steven could even process what had happened, the Knight fell in the air slightly, aimed, and shot another bout of magic. The Shade Soul crashed into the structure of hands, and they shattered like rock. Steven screamed as he fell, and the Knight dashed, dashed, dashed forward toward him. Steven twisted in the air, and--
“Ghost?!”
Something about seeing them made Steven hold out his arms and scrunch up his face, and he fell slower, and slower, until he landed safely on the ground, light as a stray leaf. He collapsed to his knees, sitting on his legs. Steven’s eyes were wide and glassy, and he ran a hand through his hair as he gasped for breath.
The light returned to his eyes soon enough, and the Knight stood patiently in front of Steven. The blinding light was gone, as were the sharp claws, leaving the two of them alone. Steven blinked once, twice.
“Ghost? You… saved me?” The Knight was a bit too small to carry Steven as he had them, so they settled for wrapping their tiny arms around his knee. Steven blinked again, before he broke into laughter. Easily he scooped up the Knight and hugged him close, a gesture that the Knight swiftly returned.
“... Thank you, Ghost.”
They weren't sure what they just saw, but they knew they had to be there for Steven.
---
This time, though, it was just the two of them, by the lake. No tyrants trying to rip out gems, no divine-powered Infections, no feelings of worthlessness, no thoughts of what was wrong about them. It was just Steven and the Knight, watching the water, reveling in the silence between them.
That silence was gone for just a moment, when Steven felt something on his knee and let out a small noise of surprise. His surprised expression softened, though, upon seeing the Knight resting their head against his leg. Steven smiled and gently placed a hand on the Knight’s head, and the two let the time tick past without another sound.