Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph1 Ch29: The Tower of the Black Egg

The knight walked with Mono, into the tower. They walked through orange and magenta light for a while, but as they progressed, the light turned white. They continued walking, and they arrived inside the tower. The knight looked around. This  place looked familiar. It felt familiar. The white glow, the white matter of the floors and walls, and especially the dream catcher particles. It was a recreation of the White Palace.

"This place looks a lot more different than the last time I was here," Mono said, gazing around.

The knight proceeded to move along with Mono, and it found itself reliving the experience of the White Palace again.

The first room they entered was filled with vines, covered in thorns. The knight looked around for a while, and developed a plan of action. It leapt onto the nearby platforms, and swerved around the vines. Mono followed the knight through the vines, and the two came to a wall. Using the mantis claw, the knight helped Mono climb the wall, and onto the next platform.

However, there weren't any more platforms along the area. The knight looked around for a bit, and spotted a lever on the other side of the room. It pointed it out to Mono, and with that, Mono glitched himself. He walked across the thorns, and pulled himself up to the lever. He pulled it, and a path of distant platforms opened up for the knight.

The knight hopped along the path, and met up with Mono at the end. They continued walking, and came to a dead end. At least that's what it seemed like. Once they stepped on a stone, doors around them closed, and the stone accelerated up to the next floor.

Ahead of them were three bugs dressed up in white attire. Mono pulled out his ladle, ready to fight, but the knight stopped him. Mono tucked his ladle away, and the knight walked right up to the bugs. Once he got close, the bugs instantly stopped talking, and bowed to the knight. Mono walked past as well, and the two friends faced their next challenge.

A swarm of wingsmold hovered around a series of platforms, leading to the next elevator. The knight walked along, up to a wingsmold, blocking the path. The knight leapt up, struck the wingsmold with its nail, and landed on the next platform. The wingsmold reformed, and the knight signaled for Mono to come over.

Mono looked at the wingsmold for a while, then gathering his courage, he leapt up, struck the wingsmold with his ladle, and the recoil sent him to the next platform. After that, Mono didn't have any more trouble crossing over the wingsmold.

At the end of the path, a tall figure holding a large weapon stood in front of them and the elevator. A Kingsmold.  The knight drew its nail, and approached the kingsmold. Once it got close, the bug stomped its weapon on the ground, and threw it at the knight. The knight jumped over the spinning weapon, and Mono ducked. The weapon circled right back to the kingsmold like a boomerang, and it charged.

Working together, Mono and the knight took down the kingsmold, and stepped onto the elevator. They zoomed up to the next floor, and the knight heard the familiar sound of spinning saw blades. The next floor was filled with spinning saws, and spikes moving up and down.

The knight stepped into the room, and began making its way across the room. It jumped around the saws, waited for the spikes to go off, then jumped across, waiting for the saws to move across the room, and then it ran all the way to the other end of the room.

It looked back, and saw Mono move around the saws, then onto the platforms with spikes, but as he jumped across, he tripped, and fell down. He managed to grab the ledge of a spike less platform, but he couldn't pull himself up. The knight jumped back onto the platforms, dashed through the moving saws, and made it to the ledge just in time. It grabbed Mono's hand, and pulled him up to the platform.

They made their way to the end of the room again, this time, together. The knight helped Mono scale a large wall, and once at the top, they faced the barrage of moving saws and spikes. Mono glitched himself to run through it with ease, but the knight had to carefully time its dashes and jumps to get across the room.

It dashed through the first wave of saws, leapt under the platforms covered in thorns, used the monarch wings to jump over the spikes, and finally, it swerved around the saws ar every corner to reach the other side to meet Mono.

Together again, they took the elevator up to the next floor,  where nothing but a black, empty hallway awaited them. As the two friends walked through the hallway, glowing pillars  of light appeared around them, and the floor glowed as they walked on it.

They continued walking to the end of the hallway, where a bench was waiting for them. The knight looked at Mono, and they both had the same idea. They sat down on the bench and rested up.

"I guess this is it, huh?" Mono said. "Once we continue, we'll bring down the tower, and this adventure will be over."

The knight nodded.

"It was pretty scary, but, also kinda fun," Mono said, leaning back on the bench.

The knight remembered the adventure the two of them had. Finding each other in deepnest, rescuing Mono from the hostile bugs, fighting the hunter, making rancid stew, the tower of love, the hospital and the doctor, the Nailsmith and soul sanctum, and especially the fight with the Thin Man. It all lead up to this. They would face the hollow knight, and the knight would contain the infection, becoming the new vessel.

Suddenly, the knight realized something. If it was going to take the hollow knight's place, then it wouldn't be able to see Mono again. The seal of binding would activate, immobilizing it, and it would never be able to see Mono again. No more adventures with him, no more conversing with him, no more time with its greatest friend. Did it really want to make that sacrifice?

"Well, I'm ready to go," Mono said, standing up. "Ready to end this tower once and for all?" He asked the knight.

The knight nodded. It did want to make this sacrifice. After all, it confirmed this itself. If it had to choose between saving Mono's life, ot it's own, it would choose Mono. It would be worth the sacrifice, to save the life of its friend.

The knight got off the bench, and it walked along with Mono towards fate. Towards the end of this adventure, ready for what had to be done.

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Yep! I had it in me to write another chapter. When you're riding in a car for a long time, with only your phone and laptop, you might as well do something productive.

And by the looks of this chapter, things will start getting exciting as we enter the final chapters of phase 1!

Stay tuned, and I'll see you in the next chapter!