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The Hollow Knight hung there in the dark, suspended in the air by chain and seal. The “temple” it was locked within would more accurately be called a tomb. The great king thought it possible to throw all his problems behind a door, lock it, then throw away the key.
Unfortunately for all his vast knowledge, the king was mistaken…
The Hollow Knight was in constant agony, in multiple ways to be specific. Now obviously holding an angry burning god within its body was extremely painful, but the goal it was assigned was somehow worse. How was a sentient creature even meant to not think? The concept of not wanting to think was a thought in and of itself. The Hollow Knight would mentally scorn itself every time it realized it was thinking, and would then spiral as it realized it was continuing to think.
Do not think…
Do not speak…
Do not hope…
Do not…
…
The Hollow Knight hated itself, and it hated itself for hating itself. It could feel something leaking from its being. It could feel wispy tendrils of essence escaping the void within its shell, and leaking out into the world. The Hollow Knight knew it was failing its job… and its only purpose for existing…
The Hollow Knight knew what was at stake, and that only made its failure sting even more. It knew people were dying because it was broken, and that with every thought it had Hallownest marched closer to oblivion.
The Hollow Knight wondered where its father was right now, and what he was doing. It had been so long since the ritual had been performed and it had been locked in the temple. The Hollow Knight hoped its father wasn’t too disap-
Do not think…
Do not speak…
Do not hope…
Do not…
…
The room of the core of the temple was extremely dark. If a bug with eyelids were to stand in the room as it was they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between having their eyes open or closed. The Hollow Knight didn’t know why the room was so dark, but it wasn’t supposed to care, so it did its best to bury the thought. The Hollow Knight was brought around the kingdom in its adolescence, and it had learned a good amount about how bugs lived. One practice it had gotten oddly attached to was something called “crying”. From its perspective crying was a way for beings to expel their misery through some sort of internal liquid. The Hollow Knight has often wondered if it could cry, and if that would make its miserable existence easier. But it would always remember to scold itself for thinking before burying the thought.
Do not think…
Do not speak…
Do not hope…
Do not…
…
The Hollow Knight had long lost track of time since it had been locked away. Obviously if it bothered to keep track that would be a thought. The Hollow Knight knew it wasn’t ever truly empty. But it had seen what would continue to happen to its siblings if it wasn’t hollow. And father had decided it was fit for the task, and he couldn’t have been wrong… could he? No father couldn’t be wrong… it was all its fault, it was the one that wanted to be a hero…
Do not think…
Do not speak…
Do not hope…
Do not…
…
So years went by, and then decades, and then almost a century…
Do not think…
Do not speak…
Do not hope…
Do not…
…
Everything seemed to be “normal” before it happened. The Hollow Knight hung in the air, doing its best to not think. But then out of nowhere, everything went bright. The only thing the Hollow Knight could see was light. It felt its whole body swell and bloat, and for a moment it was scared the light within it would tear itself apart to get out.
BURN
KILL
DAWN SHALL BREAK
A deafening echoing voice screamed within the Hollow Knight over and over. The Hollow Knight did its best to swallow the noise, but it just couldn’t. The Hollow Knight tried to focus the void within it to suffocate the noisy light, but that was a mistake… The Hollow Knight let out a silent scream as its arm popped, and went numb. Or… was it even still there? The Hollow Knight was scared and hurt, but it tried to keep its mind quiet. The Hollow Knight realized something was attempting to wrestle control of its body from itself, and it didn’t take very long for it to succeed. The Hollow Knight tried to stay calm as something took control of its body and tried to break free of its bindings. But the chains held, and all that power had to go somewhere. The power from the thing that controlled it screamed through its body, the force of which cracked its shell.
Do not think…
Do not speak…
Do not hope…
Do not…
…
Void leaked out from within the shell of the Hollow Knight, and the liquid crawled over the eye socket of the shell and rolled down its face. The Hollow Knight was finally able to know how it felt to cry, and it didn’t feel any better…
Do not think…
Do not speak…
Do not hope…
Do not…
…
The Hollow Knight was able to wrestle back control of itself momentarily, and it couldn’t even focus on not thinking due to the pain. Its whole body hurt, and it couldn’t even feel one of its arms anymore. The Hollow Knight wanted to scream, but it had no voice to cry its suffering.
Do not think…
Do not speak…
Do not hope…
Do not…
…
The Hollow Knight had a sobering moment of mental clarity. It couldn’t even acknowledge the pain it was in anymore, but the realization it was coming to hurt more.
Father knew I was going to fail…
Father knew I wasn’t good enough…
Father knew I was broken…
Father knew I was going to suffer…
Father…?
Why…?
As the pain flooded back into focus, the Hollow Knight began to sob void. It cried and cried and cried, until its will was completely broken, and the Radiance was free to use the Vessel’s body in any way she could. The Hollow Knight may have still been physically alive, but that day it died inside…