Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph1 Ch2: The Empty Vessel

The knight took the hand of the mysterious boy, and got to their feet. They looked up, and stared into the boy's eyes for a few seconds. They had a paper bag over their head, similar to cloth, but this time it was a bag. And they had a long brown coat over them, with two eye holes looking at it with a very similar hollow gaze. The boy reminded it of itself in a way. It didn't have much of a purpose, it hid it's face, and they just seemed hollow in general. Just like them.

"Hello?" The boy said. "My name is Mono, what's yours?" they asked.

The knight didn't know how to answer. It had no voice to do so. not only that, it couldn't think of a way to respond because it had no mind to think. Luckily it didn't need to do so, because two loud, *Reeaah!* came from behind Mono. The knight looked, and saw two little weavers, making their way towards both of them, walking on their silk. Mono ran to the back of the room to try and hide, but the knight leapt forward, drawing it's nail, and delivered two swift blows to the first little weaver, orange bubbles of infection, bursting out of them, then pogoed on top of the other one until it fell to the ground.

The Knight landed, then made it's way to their companion, who was staring in shock.

"Wow, didn't know you knew how to fight so well," Mono said.

The knight put it's nail behind it's back, and gave a shrug to Mono.

"Anyway, you never told me your name," Mono said.

The knight just stared at him.

"Can you not speak?"

The knight shook it's head.

"Oh, so that's why you weren't telling me," Mono realized. "Well, I need to ask, you wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you?"

The knight walked over, and held out it's map for Mono to see. Mono studied the map for a while, then spoke. 

"Hallownest?" He asked. "It that the name of this place? Hallownest?"

The knight nodded.

"And where are we?"

The knight pointed to a section of the map, titled "Deepnest"

"Deepnest huh? Do you happen to know a way out of here?" Mono asked.

The knight nodded again, then started to walk out of the room, moving it's arm, motioning Mono to follow. Mono jogged up to the knight, and the two walked out of the room. The knight noticed it was dark, and decided to take out it's lumafly lantern, but for some reason, it was gone! and not just that, all of it's charms were gone too! Suddenly, a light came from behind it. It looked, and saw Mono holding some sort of torch, which was showing light in a certain direction.

"It was getting a little dark, so I figured I'd turn this on," he said.

The knight nodded, and then motioned for Mono to follow it. The knight walked through the tunnels, and came face to face with a stalking Devout. Mono backed away, shivering. the knight looked at it's companion to see what was wrong.

"I am NOT going near that thing," they said.

The knight shrugged. It understood. besides, it was just a Stalking Devout. To most travelers, they can be deadly enemies, but to those who are trained and well-equipped, they are just a simple punching bag. The knight walked towards its enemy, with it's nail at the ready. the Devout noticed it's approaching enemy, and opened it's mask to yell out. The knight struck the devout while it's mask was open, then dashed away to avoid the creatures swings. The devout backed away, and once it's mask was open again, the knight unleashed a shade soul right towards the creatures face, obliterating it.

The knight made their way over to Mono, and motioned them to follow. At first they were hesitant, but once they saw that the Devout was defeated, they nodded, and followed the knight. The two of them made their way through the beast's den, defeating the Little Weavers, and Stalking Devouts along their way. Occasionally, the knight would look back at it's companion to make sure they were okay. Deepnest was not a place for a boy like them, and the knight wanted to make sure they stayed alive. It wasn't the first time they had lost a companion. 

Memories of Cloth came back to the knight. She was so eager to prove herself, so determined to become strong, so brave in the face of danger. Yet she was brought to an end by the Traitor lord. The knight felt sorrow in her demise, but not that much because of some closure from her spirit. She was happy up there, and the knight wished her the best of hope, to find Nola. 

The memories faded, and the knight snapped back into reality as it guided Mono through the beast's den. They came to a turn, and the knight remembered why it had come here in the first place. It was to make sure of something. It climbed up ledge, and came to a room, where there was a sleeping figure, atop a stone bed. The figure was none other than Hera, the beast. Hera was one of the three dreamers, and in their sleep, they created a seal which contained The Hollow Knight inside the black egg. The seal was made to contain the infection, but the infection managed to escape containment, and was now in the kingdom of Hallownest. Now, the knight had to break the seal, in order to get to The Hollow Knight, and take it's place. 

Without further hesitation, the knight struck Hera with it's dream nail, and was teleported into the dream realm. There, floating atop the stone floor, was Hera herself. The knight struck Hera with their nail several times, until she was weakened enough for the knight to absorb. It began to focus it's energy, and the essence of Here was sucked into the knight's hollow shell.

Meanwhile, at the temple of the black egg, a mask disappeared, and a radiant scream rang out from inside.

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Part 2 is done! Note, I still have school, so I might not upload daily. be patient, and I'll see you in the next chapter.