Chapter Text
The wind blew, whistling past their ears. The moonless, starless night casts a forever darkness across the land, as they travelled through the tough terrain and rocky mountains, the weight of their nail on their back not slowing them down any. They finally come across a ledge, the lights of a small town in the distance. The drop would be long and hard, but they knew they’d be fine, they’ve survived worse.
The Knight’s black eyes scanned the fall below. They discovered from a young age that large falls did nothing to them, unlike other bugs. To be fair, they weren’t like most bugs anyways, they weren’t even sure they were a bug. Their white hair and pronged horns weren’t unordinary, but they weren’t common either. It didn’t help that they lacked a voice and the ability to emote.
As they stared down the drop, their mind wandered back to the cry that had called them here, to the Kingdom of Hallownest. The cry for help, filled with such pain and suffering, that they started their journey through the Wastes immediately. It had struck a sense of familiarity in them, though they had no clue why.
With that final thought in mind, they walked to the edge of the cliff. Their journey here had not been pleasant, the mere thought of it caused them to shiver. Despite not having a need to breathe, they took a large breath before jumping. They were eager to be in a place where they didn’t have to look around every corner, or be cautious of every little thing in the dark, and they thought Hallownest would be that place. Oh, if they knew how wrong they were.
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They landed with a large thump. After taking a small moment to get up from their crouch, they looked around. They were in quite a large area, surrounded by rocks and all sides. Well, all sides except for right in front of them, and right behind them. In front of them was the startings of a hallway, but it was blocked by a stone door, so they checked behind themself first. Behind them was a small room-like area, light leaking through a tunnel at the top. In the midst of the small room was rock, in which contained geo, the currency of Hallownest and surrounding areas.
‘A geo rock,’ they remembered it being called. They had come across a few on their travels here. Eager to get the geo, they took out their nail and swung at it a few times until all the fossil-like rocks came loose. They scooped up all the geo and put them in the pouch attached to their waist.
Looking up, they inspected the tunnel at the top of the room. Sure, they could jump high enough to get into the tunnel, but they had no way of doing anything other than just falling back down again. Letting out a mental sigh, they moved on, turning and walking back out of the small room.
They walked up to the door on the other side of the hole. Pushing against it, they could feel it give in a little bit. Pulling their nail from their back once more, they swung at the frail door, watching as it crumbled into small pieces.
Walking past the pieces of rubble, they continued to do this two more times until there was a larger gap between them and the next door, a small creature crawling across the floor. The Knight remembers seeing them before, both before the drop and far before they even entered Hallownest’s borders.
They remember some of the travellers they met calling them crawlids. They also remember them being quite tasty. While not having a need to eat like most other bugs, sometimes they indulged in it, even if just to taste something nice.
They remember how apprehensive they were at first, to eat the crawlid, as it was a bug, just like them. It wasn’t until the travellers informed them about the different levels of sentience bugs could have, that they ate it. It was interesting information to learn, that some bugs had a mind to think, while others didn’t. They thought about that a lot.
The crawlid in the present with them, like every other crawlid they had come across, wasn’t really a threat. So they just stepped over it, and let it continue to crawl it's way wherever it pleased.
They continued on, breaking open the fourth door and passing another crawlid. It must be miserable, they thought, only being able to mindlessly crawl around your entire life. They felt a little sorry for it. They walked past it and broke one last final door before entering a room much larger than the hallway they were currently in.
They were in a tall room, but not as tall as the hole. Looking up, the Knight saw six floating platforms. To possibly any other civilization, seeing floating platforms would be shocking and maybe even super-natural, but for Hallownest they were a common occurrence. With all the magic all over, it was quite simple to make them float.
They jumped on the first, longer platform cautiously. Once they realised the platform wouldn’t move they stood up all the way and continued their way up. Jumping up the next five platforms, they entered a small hallway. After jumping up a few steps and narrowly missing a falling stalactite, they could see another room at the end of the hallway.
As they started to walk to the room, a large tablet in the wall lit up, around it seemed to be a bright, white, floaty substance. Intrigued, they looked closer to read to.
“Higher beings, these words are for you alone.
Your great strength marks you amongst us. Focus your soul and you
shall achieve feats of which others can only dream”
Then, they heard what could only be described as a whisper in their ear;
Collect soul by striking enemies. Once enough soul is collected, focus the soul and heal.
They had heard other bugs talk about soul before. It seemed to be some sort of substance all living creatures had, a life source of sorts. Soul seems like it's a fickle thing, being able to be handled by some, but not others. The Knight wondered if they would be able to handle it.
Walking past the tablet, they walked into another large room, just like the last one, but slightly taller and a bit more narrow. Another six platforms were littered around the room. In front of one of the first platforms was a large fly. As the Knight walked forward, they caught the attention of the fly.
It started towards them. Raising their nail, they swung a hit at the fly when it got close enough. Strangely, unlike the green hemolymph of other bugs, the fly bled a weird, plazma-like orange. There was a faint glow coming from it and it smelled sickly sweet.
The Knight stepped over the now dead fly, cautious and unsure. They didn’t know anything about the oddly coloured hemolymph, but they had a feeling that it wasn’t just because of the region they were in.
They continued upwards, over the multiple platforms. They came across another vengfly, but it was quickly killed by a falling stalactite. They jumped up a few more levels, before finding a room to their left.
In it, was a glowing, blue cocoon. It looked ethereal, surrounded by little blue butterflies. It was also moving, beating like a heart. Curious, the slashed the cocoon open, the blue liquid spilling out. With it, also came two little creatures.
They were tiny, barely coming up to their ankles. They looked like bubbles, filled with bright blue liquid. They ran around on small legs, very intent on getting away from the Kight. Unfortunately for them, the ledge at the door stopped them from getting far.
Looking closer at the liquid, they realised what it was. It was a substance called lifeblood. They had tried it before on their travels, just in a different form. It tasted quite delicious and it also had the bonus of healing properties.
They grabbed a small jar from their bag and poked a few holes in the lid. The Knight picked up the scrambling lifeseeds, and put them in the jar. Looking at them frantically running around made them feel a little bad, but better in their jar then out in the wild.
Putting the jar back in their bag, the Knight walked out of the room. They jumped across the gap, hopping over the crawlid crawling there. Walking up the step there, they broke another door there before continuing.
The Knight walked a few more steps before the ground crumbled and fell. While it wasn't a long fall, it caught them by surprise. After they landed, they took another minute to look around. Sure, it was annoying that the route they wanted to take was currently unavailable, but it wasn’t the end of the world. There was another route ahead they could see.
Unfortunately, that other route had a spike pit they would have to cross. With a running start, they jumped from one platform to another to another, avoiding the falling stalactites, before landing on solid ground again. The Knight climbed up a few more steps before coming across a wooden support.
Taking their nail, they hit the support beam three times before it broke. Moving out of the way of the small, falling bits of debris, the Knight jumped up the hole it had created in the stone. Looking back, they could see the gap that had crumbled previously, and they looked at it in distaste. Hundreds of years, and it decided to fall just as they needed it.
Moving forward, they spotted a very large door made of more stone. The Knight headed towards it, as they knew it was their way out. They were almost to the door, before another strange tablet lit up. On it, it read:
“Higher beings, these words are for you alone.
Beyond this point you enter the land of King and Creator.
Step across this threshold and obey our laws.
Bear witness to the last and only civilization, the eternal Kingdom.
Hallownest”
Slowly, they walked past the final tablet towards the door. It wasn’t in the best condition, they could see bits of light shining through the cracks in the door. Taking their nail, they swung it at the door, bits of stone and dusty falling from it.
Hitting it more times, larger pieces of debris fell from the door. Determined, the Knight continued on, even as dust and rock crowded around them. With one final hit, the rest of the door crumbled and fell.
Stepping through the large arch way, the Knight came to a ledge. There, they could see the lights of the town they had spied earlier from the cliffs. From above, the town looked empty, abandoned. The Knight took their mask from their bag and slid it over their horns and on their face, ready to start their new adventure. With one last look behind them, the Knight jumped.