Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph1 Ch30: The Hollow Knight

The knight walked with Mono, through a tunnel of orange and magenta light. The tunnel was long, and every step they took, felt like a step towards capture. The Signal Tower that had merged with the temple of the black egg seemed to have some sort of imprisonment effect the more you stayed inside it. It was fitting in a way. The very thing that the knight and Mono were walking to was in fact, imprisoned.

The orange and magenta light came to a stop, and the central room of the temple revealed itself. There, bound with four sets of chains, and protected by a seal of binding, was the last obstacle the two of them needed to face. The Hollow Knight. The knight walked closer to them, and the two knights locked eyed.

Both had no mind, both had no will, both had no voice, yet they still understood each other. The Hollow Knight knew what had to be done, and so did the knight. The knight walked over to the first chain, and broke it apart with its nail. Mono noticed, and broke the second chain with his ladle. The Hollow Knight watched the two as they broke the chains, it's eyes glowing a bright orange.

Then, the knight destroyed the final chain, and the Hollow Knight fell from its confines. It looked up at the knight, then grabbed its nail, leaned back and gave a radiant roar to the two of them. The Hollow Knight bent down, and gave three long strikes with its nail. The knight dashed through, and Mono glitched himself. Mono ran up to the Hollow Knight, and struck it in the head,where it's shell was cracked.

Angered, the hollow knight crouched down, and thrust itself forward, its nail straight ahead. Mono ducked away from the attack, and the knight gave a few swift strikes to the Hollow knight's main body. It turned around to face the small knight, and the two clashed their nails together, parrying and striking at each other.

The Hollow knight jumped into the air, and slammed down to the ground.  It leaned back, ready to give a few more strikes, but Mono was ready. He leapt up to the Hollow knight, and slammed his ladle into its head, expanding the crack further. The Hollow knight leaned its nail down to parry, as Mono readied another strike.

Quickly, the knight dashed over to Mono, and pushed him out of the way, taking the Hollow knight's hit. It swiftly got back to its feet, and struck the Hollow knight several times with its nail.

The Hollow knight roared in anger, enraged at the knight. It leapt to the other side of the room, and something strange happened. From the hole of where it's right arm was missing, bubbles of infection swelled up, and started shooting at the knight. It swerved around, avoiding the blasts, and fired a shade soul at the infected knight.

The Hollow knight leaned down, and thrust its nail toward the knight, but it simply dashed through. Mono ran over,and once the Hollow knight turned around, he bashed them in the head with his ladle. The Hollow knight jumped into the air, and slammed into the ground, and small flames came up from the ground.

Knowing what was going on, the knight pulled Mono away, as the flames burst up, striking the knight.

"Are you okay?" Mono asked his friend.

The knight nodded, but three of its six masks were gone. But half health or not, it was not going to stop fighting the Hollow knight. More infection bubbles swelled up in the Hollow knight, and blasts of orange infection flew at the two of them. Mono glitched, and the knight dashed through, and the Hollow knight thrust itself forward.

The blade of its nail struck Mono's arm, and the Hollow knight hit him away. The knight clashed nails with the Hollow knight, but it fell to the ground after it was struck by the Hollow knight's nail. Towering above, the infected knight raised its nail to finish the job.

"NO!" Mono yelled.

Suddenly, the Hollow knight stopped. Its nail never swung down. It stared into the hollow eyes of the knight, standing very still. The knight stared back,and the two vessels locked eyes. Suddenly, bubbles of infection burst from the Hollow knight's chest. It was then, the Hollow knight's nail came down. But not into the knight, into itself. The Hollow knight stabbed itself with its nail, bursting the bubbles of infection.

The knight got back up, and suddenly the bubbles grew. The Hollow knight was lifted off its feet, and its body slammed into the ground, towards the knight and Mono. It fell to the ground, and more bubbles swelled up, and shot at the two friends. Mono and the knight ran up to the infected Hollow knight, and struck it with their weapons.

The bubbles grew, and the Hollow knight was lifted into the air once again. This time, a rain if orange infection burst out from its chest, forcing Mono and the knight to swerve around, attempting to dodge the blasts.

The Hollow knight fell to the ground again, and leaned back, ready to deliver another three strikes to the two of them. But it only gave one, and fell to the ground. The infection swelled inside of it again, and the Hollow knight raised its nail to stab itself again. The knight realized that this fight wasn't between them and the Hollow knight, but it was between the Hollow knight, and the infection. It always had been.

The knight ran up to the Hollow knight, and started striking it several times. The infection swelled up, lifting the Hollow knight's body into the air, and started slamming it down, with brute force. The knight managed to avoid the slams, but the Hollow knight slammed into the ground on top of it once it was off guard. Mono ran up to the Hollow knight, and slammed his ladle, one final time into the cracked shell of the Hollow knight.

The Hollow knight screamed out, and infection began to spew out from its body. The knight struggled up to its feet, with only one mask of health left. The Hollow knight was weakened. The infection was exposed. The knight knew what had to be done next.

"It's over," Mono said, panting. "We need to get out of this place, it's gonna collapse!"

The knight slowly walked towards the Hollow knight.

"What are you doing?" Mono asked, stopping his friend. "It's over, we can leave....right?" He said, looking at the knight.

The knight shook its head. This needed to be done. It wished it could find a way to say it, a way it could tell its friend its inevitable fate, but it couldn't. It looked back at the Hollow knight, and continued walking towards it.

The Hollow knight saw the knight approaching, and struggled to hold its nail towards the knight. The knight understood why. The Hollow knight greatly, desperately wanted to be the one to contain the infection. More than anything, that's what it wanted to do. But it couldn't. The infection was breaking through. The knight had to take its place. As much as it didn't want to, there was no other choice. The knight hesitated to step forward, and face its destiny as the next Hollow knight.

Then suddenly, a glimmer. A small glimmer. A glimmer of hope. From the hole in the Hollow knight's cracked shell, a single dream catcher particle flew out. The knight eyed the particle as it faded into the air. Was it possible? Was there another way? One dream catcher particle turned into two, then three, then four, and suddenly the Hollow knight's shell burst open, and several dream catcher particles flew out, into the room.

The knight saw it. Another way to end this. A way to end the infection for good. A way to avoid its fate, a way to stay with Mono. The knight stepped forward, this time without hesitation. It drew the dream nail, and stabbed it into the Hollow knight's shell, widening the rift between reality and the dream realm. A large burst of dream catcher particles exploded out from the dream nail, and the knight fell into the dream realm, determined more than ever, to put an end the infection once and for all, and to stay with its best friend Mono.

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Okay, I have this huge rush of adrenaline in me, so I'm going to keep writing these chapters. I don't know when it'll stop, I might even finish Phase 1 today who knows? All I know is this is my longest chapter yet, and I'm determined to make the next one even longer. So sit tight as we enter the final battle in Phase 1 of Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares.

Next chapter coming soon ;)