Chapter Text
The first thing I realised was the darkness, the all encompassing nothing around me that still yet felt comforting. Like I belonged amidst the nothing.
The second thing was that my mind while fuzzy could still recall that before I was unconscious was getting rear-ended while waiting for the light to turn green.
Hopefully I hadn't lost my sight, but if that were the case why do I feel like I am floating, envelopped in something cold yet warm?
I hear nothing.
It wasn't panic that I felt, but... I feel something uncomfortable, attempts to move make me feel like I am underwater, or maybe even worse than that. There feels like there is more resistance than just being in water.
The thoughts, they were accelerating, where am I? What's going on? I should move.
I'm not breathing.
That was the thought that got me to push harshly, flailing limbs that felt all too alien as a brief moment of panic became an overwhelming, all encompassing state of mind with nothing else left.
Thunk
The sound was muted and dulled by the liquid around me, but the direction was still clear. So I did anything to hit at where it was, instinct and self-preservation being the only things that drove me before the dull thuds became something sharper, like that of something crac-
The rush of air felt freezing upon my body as I tumbled out of something, the slimey liquid around illiciting an attempt to groan from me in disgust.
Only there was no sound.
Panic slowly subsided in one way as I no longer felt like I was at risk, and even as I tried to breath I discovered that I could but not in the way I knew.
Something upon my sides was letting out the most subtle hisses with each inhale and exhale, and looking down made the panic ebb once more. This wasn't me. This isn't me.
Nonononono.
Standing wasn't as difficult as one may imagine, but taking a step meanwhile was and sent me tumbling onto my side. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would and left me upon my side where I could now see the pristine black reflecting me.
Pure white of head, pure black of body.
Seconds passed as it sank in, I knew what I was. Probably where I was too.
What the fuck.
A few deep inhales and exhales later and I felt... oddly calm about this, managing to sit up. Is this just a really lucid dream while I am in a coma? I remembered being rear-ended but I doubt that'd have injured me enough, though I can't remember anything after that. Maybe there was another part to the accident? Clearly I also remember... me. So... what's going on?
An attempt to pinch my unusual body dispelled any thoughts of this being a simple dream, I only had little nubs but after getting a little bit between two of them and squeezing the pain was very real.
...Am I actually an isekai protagonist here?
Well, I did believe in reincarnation, but I wasn't quite expecting this.
I pray to whatever the hell is out there that I didn't inherit the same troubles mentally as I did before, seriously if this IS Hallownest I don't think they'll know what Antidepressants are.
I guess I'm lucky that right now I must be on one of my 'good days' if I am going to have them, so only time will tell. Maybe that's why I'm not panicking as much as I probably should be.
...Like, I can't do anything about this. If it's a coma this is a dream and hopefully I'll wake up? If I'm dead...
Well... I can only hope what's left behind can make peace.
It felt terrible to think that, but... I can't really do anything about this. I'm not all-powerful and can't demand that I return to life as I was.
At least it wasn't my fault.
Another deep inhale. Right, I'll unpack that later when it next comes to mind. Next step, let's pay more attention and look at what I look like if this is going to be me.
Hmm. Mmm.
Well, I'm not Ghost or Hollow that's for sure, my eyes(eyeholes?) seemed a little more... oval than round, not necessarily a problem. The horns were the real big surprise though.
I've got two coming out of... well I'm not sure where it is on a vessel but I guess the side of the 'jaw' towards the rear, maybe beneath where the ears would be on a person, they jutted downwards then forwards. Not so far down it got in the way of tilting my head down though. If anything I think when I'm looking ahead they'd actually be further out than my shoulders.
Secondly, there was then another three ontop of my head, the central most one angled forwards and up. The other two emerged from more halfway back on my head and sloped backwards a bit more. Pretty unqiue mask shape I suppose from what I knew of vessels. I also had noticed what I guess were their cloaks ingame, it seemed to be emerging from around the back of the neck roughly. I could fiddle more with this later. But I guess it was sort of like 'hair'. Could probably be trimmed away without trouble, or be used as a natural cloak. Neat. Oh and mine seemed to be almost like overlapping leaves or scales visually.
Okay what about... well I am breathing, but...
I have no idea on how vessel biology works and I only have headcanon, as did most of the community. I guess I get to discover what ones are real for myself, yay.
Still getting up again did reveal to me how my body was definitely not exactly well proportioned. If anything looking at the reflective shell of what must have been my egg more or less confirmed the proportions were pretty much the same as Ghost had been ingame from all the times I had seen gameplay of it.
I only played Silksong, not the first one. Now that's going to bite me in the ass when it comes to the map.
Hooray for past decisions.
No... it wouldn't help as much as expected anyway, 2d versus 3d is an immense change and means things are likely several magnitudes bigger. If anything I shouldn't expect everything to be one to one either from what I do remember.
Okay, let's work out walking first one step at a ti-
...This might take a bit I thought as I had decidedly kissed the floor again.
- - -
Okay, I might not really have the ability to track time but that didn't take as long as I thought it would. My body still feels... well foreign I guess is the best explanation. Foreign and maybe a bit too vulnerable for my liking, still I have been able to begin walking around, I can lift and dip my head as I want. Pretty certain I indeed don't have a mouth. I don't think I need to breath but I do feel better doing so, even if it is with spiracles instead of a mouth or nose.
I also hadn't seen any other vessels, but with the lack of masks and the many unbroken eggs around I can only guess I hatched early. So before... that event. Not sure how long I'd have, or if this technically makes me the eldest sibling... actually that was the concept behind one of the stories I read wasn't it? Hmm... well I was an only child, so that's just another thing on my list of first experiences this time round isn't it?
Hahaha.
I'm so fucked.
Though the passage I had been following finally opened up to what I supposed is the 'surface'. No bodies... no hundreds or thousands of masks. Just many eggs, by the looks of it a chasm up above and-
Sibling hello!
If I still had a voice I'm quite sure the White Palace would have heard the scream, I'm not even sure if I had a heart but I'm pretty sure something in me was beating at mach fuck.
Still not that I was not currently dying of shock, I could see the one that greeted me. Not a vessel I'd recognise, I can also see just a few scant other white masks amidst the darkness. So... hard to say who's eldest, but I guess I'm not a premature birth.. well hatching.
Hello?
It didn't really feel like talking per say to them, the way I responded was like projecting intent at them, and the way they responded felt much the same. They weren't using regular sentences per say, but I could parse the meaning and feelings behind what they meant.
New sibling! With no shortage of elation I could pretty much grasp they were excited to have another sibling, and now that I actually perhaps focused on it a bit I can feel the others approaching. Huh... No wonder this one found me then.
I softly tilted my head at the ones approaching and then looked above. Let's see if I can get my meaning across.
Curious of up there, anyway up?
As half a dozen around looked over me they were looking between themselves and I could already feel the muddied mixture of 'no' and 'don't know' from the several of them. I wonder if there is a safer path up, I don't see floating platforms so I guess in reality they might jut out from the sides of the chasm.
Why sibling up?
Curious. Want to find out.
Not exactly the whole truth, but I am not lying either. It'd be entirely fake to say I don't want to know just what Hallownest would look like, just how so many beings in it are. Would be.
If sibling go, could go together?
I'd pause to look at the one that suggested that, they were maybe a smidge shorter, their horns more like a veritable mass of branches. This one must really take after the White Lady huh?
Only if safe. I projected what I hoped was concern towards them as I decided to start investigating the area around, and perhaps it's because I've outwardly expressed a desire to look but it seems the others were following, or at least watching based off four who were staying near where I had emerged from the tunnel. They appeared to be playing with each other when I looked back, chasing one another. Maybe they were playing tag?
God they are adorable.
Still there were two with me, one who I guess I can call Twig for now, and the other who I noticed only had one eyehole now. Not even centrally located, mostly because where the other eye would be was a giant horn that seemed to emerge not just from there but the entire side of their head.
Guess I'll call them cyclops anyway... well in my head, maybe later I'll think of a better name for them.
How go up? Cyclops inquired, and I'd look towards the wall. I could see some of the platforms that existed, but I can also see other traits that wouldn't have been noticeable ingame. Textured regions of rock, little areas one could stand and so forth. Not easy by any stretch of the imagination but... well I would say I did rock climbing before but I was a kid when I did that. So that really didn't count.
Still I gave them my response.
Climb.
- - -
I don't know how long it has been, what I do know is this is actually a little terrifying alongside thrilling. Especially with making sure the other two coming with me are safe too. Thnakfully they don't seem to be overly reckless like I suspect a certain vessel would be. Though I wonder if the call of the light would make them more so with that compulsion and order it had seemingly brought with it.
Well, I don't actually know how far it is to the top. A little intimidating won't lie.
But I certainly feel we've gone quite far, as when looking down(with great care to not fall off) I see the other few below. Actually I think they've been joined by one or two more in this time so far? They were watching now, and even if the 'link' I felt towards them was certainly distant I could still feel it.
And they almost seemed to be encouraging it, cheering me and the other two here on... they really were just actin' like children who were seeing the 'cool kids' do something dangerous.
Right, back to focusing on the climb.
Do you both see that?
I pointed towards a small gap, I had mostly been going around the side of the chasm and seeking out many safe rest points on the way up. Then climbed slowly and methodically rather than rushing into it. I've had to backtrack once or twice due to finding no way to continue and try a new path. But... well so far this slow and steady method has meant I haven't fallen. Nor have they.
It's sort of like when I drove or got immersed in something in my last life, even with other things weighing on me I just... feel fine. Able to sort through it slowly while focusing on the task at hand.
Yes! Was the combined response.
We go there.
The small leap wasn't hard, I had discovered early on that I and by extension the others could jump real good. The difficulty was grabbing onto it with the right timing, still it got easier as I had gone. And thankfully at the apex of our jump it was especially easy to manage. Less so when going down.
Now to clamber up a bit more, it feels like it has been sloping over my head into an overhang. I think that's a good sign, with any luck this one is towards the top and not the lifeblood door that I think is at the half way point.
Seeing as I've seen no evidence of it I can't really say and gauging just how much further the ceiling goes has been impossible.
Another ledge, not quite enough to be comfortable just standing on it but I don't think I'm at immediate risk of falling and Cyclops just climbed up, and there's Twig.
I gave a small thumbs up and sent what was approval towards them, and received a fuzzy happiness in return. Then I leaped again onto the nearby platform, relatively safe jump. They followed, and then I noticed just above.
It is the top.
Holy shit I did it without dying and so did these two.
Well if we manage the last jump.
Be careful, big jump. If fall try to make sure land safely.
I put the thoughts and received a nod from Twig and what I swear was an eyeroll from Cyclops. Still I took a small running start and hup.
Oh god it's all in slow motion.
I wasn't even expecting to be able to have the wind knocked out of me but landing with what I guess is my stomach to the platform certainly achieved the feeling, as I'd cling on with my spiracles 'wheezing' before I dragged myself up.
Sibling fine?
I'm fine. Be careful.
I'd roll over to turn myself to look back at the edge I just climbed up, and then Cyclops went for it, and they fell slightly short, their little nubs that would one day be claws barely clinging on. Luckily their fat ass horn which was probably why they didn't quite make it was also easily grabbed and pulled. They'd thus tumble up ontop with me.
Then finally it was Twig's turn, and they cleared the jump flawlessly compared to either of us.
Was it wrong to feel envious? I feel envious.
Still now that I've recovered and don't have to worry about them possibly failing anymore I was able to finally turn around... and be met with a giant door, no surprise there.
To walk up to it and touch it achieved absolutely nothing, still I could see how this platform was more or less as far as I could get. Hmm... people always suggested that Vessels got out through Deepnest somehow, considering the Nosk lair that certainly seemed true. Though if I did things right maybe that'd not be necessary, nor any deaths?
Sibling?
Oh, I was lost in thought and turned to them. While Twig seemed to be looking around at the spots up above, it was Cyclops addressing me.
Yes?
What now?
Well, that was a pretty good question.
I'd tilt my head and brought up one tiny little paw to the bottom of the mask, emulating an in thought posture to them before I decided to reply.
I stay here, want to go back down?
Cyclops looked back for a moment, then back at me and then Will go back reverberated across the void link.
Only to straight up jump off to my shock.
YOU FUCKING IDIOT
I sent that through the void before I even realised as I'd dash to the edge and watch them fall, and fall... and fall. Till I heard ever so distantly their landing. The silence of the abyss at least had that advantage for now. Tension was bleeding through me until through the void link down there I felt so faintly.
What does that mean?
Oop, well shit. I'd have to project hard to convey to them from here but I tried regardless.
Tell you later.
I was not going to tell them later.
Still Twig seemed to be finding themselves not wanting to look around much longer, and even as the very thought of 'don't you dare' formed they had already jumped off in the same fashion as Cyc had. Again a distant echo, and no sound of a crack. That felt... good at least.
They were probably fine, and probably telling the others that there was just a closed door up here and that we can't go anywhere.
...I don't feel like making that climb again, so let's just... sit down, process everything and wait for the Pale King.
Try and formulate a plan to communicate to him that I am not hollow, that none of us are.
Oh and a new name for Cyclops, shortening it to Cyc... hmm, not bad. Let's mess with that a bit more.
- - -
Well, I did have to admit it was boring waiting here, but I could still communicate with them distantly, I had decided to call 'Cyclops' Sig for now, depending how they felt latter they might change it themselves into another form.
Why sibling not come back, there more new siblings here.
Waiting for something.
There was a soft wave of confusion from more than just the sibling that asked, still it didn't seem like they'd question my choice. As for the Pale King... well I had my own headcanons but I had no idea what he'd be like. Expressing to him that I am not Hollow wouldn't be hard, but expressing that none of us down there were was trickier. I can't write in whatever language Hallownest uses, I have no idea if I'll even understand what he says.
But... if I can get him to follow me down perhaps without demanding others climb up, maybe. Juuuust maybe I can make him see all of us down there. And probably 'suggest' to the others that they should hug our 'papa'.
The image of the Pale King swarmed by countless vessels with affection was pretty funny, enough that I involuntarily had my body shake. Approximation of a laugh I guess.
Though to explain why I am up there already, hmm... well that might come later I suspect. But I suppose it'd be good to have an answer ready, I guess I could say I had a form of foresight, but it was just something I had in the egg till I hatched. It'd explain why I can't see in the future now, and I can use that to explain why it is seemingly so strong and saw things he likely didn't.
Maybe I can spin it as a one and done thing, and that now I won't see anything more. I can only try to avoid the horrific end I did see.
In a way I guess I technically am not lying on that.
Well thinking on it, I suppose he has still done some fucked up shit. But desperation certainly can drive anyone to questionable acts, and I suppose the 'road to hell is paved with good intentions' applies here too.
Afterall, he and the White Lady are I suppose playing it as they are making a sacrifice themselves so that others don't to save the entire Kingdom. I understand where they are coming from, but I certainly still at least understand why some people think he is irredeemable. Still... I guess that's how it is, sometimes your choice can be ever so horrific even if made with good intentions, like sacrificing a few to save the many.
Though I guess the amount of siblings I have down there is growing to be a lot.
I can feel the void links, even if they are a bit muted by virtue of distance from the bottom of the Abyss to the top.
As for myself, well I remembered my name from my last life but it doesn't feel very befitting of well... Hollow Knight in general, so I suppose I can go with 'Grey' from my main digital handle I guess.
Though my attention was taken when I heard faint sounds not from below, but ahead of where I was sitting. I wasn't expecting to be so nervous but... well I guess it makes sense I might die again(would I wake up if I did? Was this yet a dream?)
A soft slap to the sides of my mask with my tiny paws was enough to snap me out of that line of thought before it could get out of control, focus on the now. A lot is riding on this.
I've got a God to persuade.