Chapter Text
Re: Hollow Knight
I’ve had this idea in the back of my mind for a long time. I toyed with making a comic out of it but the longer I procrastinated it, I realized that it would eventually just be put so far on the back-burner I’d never put the ideas down on anything.
This is obviously canon-divergent, and to me it’s more of a ‘What if…?’ story. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I did imagining it up!
Prologue:
What Dreams May Come
Long ago, at the edge of our world, a creature of great wisdom let out its last breath. The world was still all around, as though mourning the creature’s death. Days passed slowly, nights crawled by, till the great white body began to flake away. But in the crumbling, decaying remains of its innards, a small round egg rested. Using up every ounce of power stored in its great body, the creature, the Wyrm, made sure that it would be born anew.
So he felt no confusion when his eyes opened once again, engulfed in the darkness of his new body’s shell. With push and hit it cracked open, revealing to him the light of a new day. A new world.
His.
His heart ached for it and his power reached out. This land would be his. The other bugs that rest inside...they were his as well. Far into the future, his mind stretched as he worked to make his dreams come true. The dreams that would alight in his mind’s eye. Of Stags and Trams. Servants and Warriors. His.
His. His. His.
Everywhere he went, the bugs around him would gain clarity. Their eyes once clouded by instinct now swam with thoughts. Their own thoughts. Their own feelings! And oh, how glorious it was! All thanks to him! To their King!
Easily, he accepted their praise. Their worship. Those most loyal and most skilled were kept close at hand, to help in building their home. Their...Hallownest.
But at the pinnacle of perfection, as he rested with his Queen, the one who adored him most of all, was when the cracking began. Someone, somewhere, was remembering.
Remembering something that was best left buried.
Something that was refusing to remain so. That threatened once more to come to light, and bring all bugs with it.
So the King began planning. Discussions with his Warriors and secrets whispered with his Queen. There was a way. Surely there was. But every time something changed, and he’d sleep, the future stayed the same.
Until one night.
One night when the shadows whispered in his ear.
When the Void called for him.
Many days passed before he made up his mind. With reluctance, the King made his way down to the depths of Hallownest. Passed seals that only his brand could open. He held no fear of the void.
So alone he went.
Plans were already in the making to harness the darkness. What better weapon to the light, that pure darkness? But these whispers piqued his interest. What was it that the depth of the world wanted? To beg to be left alone?
His only concern was what was his. The darkness be damned.
The light from his body, ethereal and otherworldly, cut through the black as he made his way to the bottom. The whispers grew louder, half a deep rumble of disapproval, the other a sweet melody of compliance.
He hated it.
Once he made it to the lake of darkness, of inky black sludge, he watched for only a moment as black tendrils sliced and withered in the air.
“Speak.”
For normal bugs, to hear his voice would have them on their knees, bowing and praising their King. The darkness, however, responded by thrashing twice as hard. The whispers seemed to laugh at him, as though he were beneath it.
His eyes narrowed into the black, and with a swish of his cloak, he turned around to leave. His curiosity was satisfied, there was nothing worth his time here.
Alliance.
The word suddenly echoed in his mind, stilling his movement. Silence chased after it for so long, the King thought perhaps he was merely hearing things. Rest hadn’t been as fit, after all.
But then the black tendrils latched onto the shore he lapped at, bubbling figures melted into one slowly pulling itself up to him.
Disgusting.
But he waited. Waited with a hand on his nail.
We know who you are. And we know what you’d do. We were here before you, and we’ll be here after. We were here before the light, and we’ll be here long after.
Strands of oozing black liquid dropped from what he could only guess were mouths. Opening here and there, though the voice was very clearly echoing in his head.
You would think to use us, and you will fail.
One long tendril reached out as though to stroke the King, but as it reached closer to his shining light, a sizzle started at its tip as though it were burned. However, the thing made no motion as though it hurt. No cry of pain. It merely continued to stroke at the air as a mother would her child’s cheek.
We would think to join forces, and we will win.
“What do you mean?”
You seek a vessel. We’ll give you many. Give birth to your shells, give life to our children, and the void will stand behind you. With you, with your mate, we can do the one thing we never could.
“...Birth?”
We can bring life from our nothingness. Life that will travel your world. Life that will grow and feel and fight for you. Life that will grow old and return to us.
It then dawned on the King. Both sides wanted nothing more than to use the offspring forged through the Void. One to contain the infection the light brought to it, one to use them to see the world for itself.
But if he could instead concur the light...let the little Voidlings run around as they pleased for their, hopefully short, lifespan, his kingdom would be better off for it.
Perhaps this could work.