The Blade's keeper (Hollow Knight x reader)

|0| New or just forgotten?

Title: |0| New or just a forgotten memory?

In wilds beyond they speak your name with reverence and regret,

Nobody's POV:

You could still feel the wind up here, the mask that clung to your carapace doing nothing to stop the breeze from entering your eye sockets. The heights of this strange place providing a great view of this absolutely desolate town and dead atmosphere, you could somehow feel the depression from this height.

Impressive.

And....

Yeah, no. That's just sad.

Shaking away the melancholy feeling, you took out your nail and jumped fron the strange cliff with the lamp post conveniently placed at the seemingly top of this hollow land. Proceeding through the tunnels of King's pass, how you know the name of this unfamiliar place is an enigma on its own, until you reach a place that seemed to have been broken off at the ledge judging by the rubble distantly below. You still couldn't remember how you got here besides the faint memory of being thrown through the air by harsh winds and dust storms. You could bet your last few geo that there was dust somewhere in your eye sockets and clinging to your black sclera. Thinking about it made your eyes twitch like how the mention of lice makes you scratch your scalp despite not having the infestation.

Once you neared the bottom of the ruined cliff face, you could now make out the ruins of what used to be a staircase littering the ground nearby, you dug your nail into the stone wall and slowed your decent down, grunting from the impact as you jumped the last few meters.

It seemed almost darker down here somehow. There was still plenty of light from the lamp posts that spaced out every couple of meters but it wasn't the light that was the issue.

Something felt.... wrong, almost.

The air was sick in a way.

You shook your head before you thought about it anymore, your nail clipped to its holder on your side as your legs carried you into the depressing little town, a small bug sitting on the bench with a map being of the first things you noticed besides an old man that shook in your presence for reasons neither of you could really tell, and a pair of houses that were dimly lit from the inside with a large building accompanied by a large arch for a doorway.

Back to the small bug, though, they seemed confused as their inky fingers scratched their shelled head and they tilted it to the side in thought. You disregarded the old man since he seemed to be shaken by your sudden appearance anyways.

Sitting on the bench, you looked over the bug's shoulder to peer at the papers, which seemed to be of a couple of maps stuck together with a larger one acting as a sort of center point, similar to the spine to a book; the paper open for more to be added and folded easily with the three others already present being able to fold into one easy to carry piece.

Dirtmouth, The Forgotten Crossroads, and Greenpath.

Huh.

The maps seemed simple enough with their markings, basic tunnels and rooms with a couple of ink smudges and drips around the corners as well as some places that seemed to hold more important bits as they had some illustrations to make it easier to know what was there, small pins marking where more benches lay and these strange little purple stag heads. Perhaps a station?

You picked your head up when the papers were moved a bit to find the little bug staring you down intently, making you widen your eyes slightly under the shell on your head, not all that dissimilar to the one they bore being it covered your entire head as well; a few hairline cracks along the sides and deep gashes on the cheeks from battles you don't remember fighting could be seen with closer inspection. You had similar scars on your body to the cracks on your mask, too, pale against the black carapace and long since healed. One even looked like a brand of some sort but you never really minded it since it didn't hurt! Seemed to be from a long forgotten past anyways.

You hadn't realized it right away but they had moved the map so you could see it better, seeming to hope you could make more sense of the twisting labyrinth on the papers. Taking the initiative, you held out your hands and shook them with your head.

"I'm sorry, I'm not all too sure either. I just got here. Maybe if you tell me what you're looking for we can go look for it together?"

They seemed to process your words before they sat the map down on the bench between you and held up their hands, their small fingers a bit on the sloppy side of signing from being so tiny but the point was more than understood as your nonexistent brows rose in understanding.

"Trying to find where the next place down is. Can't find the correct tunnel."

So that's why they looked confused!

"Oh! Well! That settles it then! Let me get a some map supplies of my own and I'll come help you! Lets me explore the area and help you at the same time, two vengeflies with one swipe. That way with us both having a compass we can find each other on our maps should we be separated. Sound good, little one?"

The little bug seemed to brighten up at this, though their masked showed no emotion their small body spoke for itself, their head nodding furiously before they folded up the maps together and stashed it away in their cloak. Jumping up off the bench, they grabbed your hand and tugged you to the house to your left, from the view of the bench anyways, the small building having a sort of glasses above the frame making you chuckle.

You were about to ask what was important here but the question soon had an answer when the short building revealed to be the map shop! Splendid! Now you could get your maps!

The shopkeeper seemed to perk up when she heard the door open but soon deflated when she saw the two of you, a sigh leaving her lips before she welcomed you in. Was she expecting someone else? Though she was bent onto the counter, the shop a bit too short for her, though you couldn't blame her. You were crouching a little as well in the small place.

"Sigh. Hello, my name is Iselda and welcome to the Cartographer's shop. What can I get for you today?"

The little bug tapped on the current maps, which seemed to be nearly exact copies of their own, maybe they helped fill out the map? They also pointed at other tools needed for mapping and some pins to help keep track of the safe places. The price wasn't too bad for the amount but you came up a bit short with everything being a bit more than you had on you currently. The little bug didn't seem to mind as they put the rest on the counter after standing on their little feet to reach the top properly.

"Thank you for the business." The lady, now named Iselda, bid goodbye as she slumped back down again while you both walked out back to the bench to get your maps situated and your charms fastened to your belts after you set the two compasses to keep track of both of you on both maps.

You filled out whatever else was on their map onto yours with your brand new quill and ink set and let it dry as you examined the many corridors before pointing at one blank space down at the bottom of the forgotten crossroads.

"How about we try here? It looks like there's a way there, maybe it leads to the next area? There also seems to be a place at the bottom of greenpath as well, not to mention some blank areas too."

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HEYA, YA BUTTS, ITS MEEE. I AM BACK WITH A NEW BOOK AND maybe motivated to write again. I dunno. But yeah. Hope y'all enjoyed this little chapter. See you soon in the next update!

Waffle out~.