No Emotions to Feel

Ch 3 : Silent Goodbye

Only the two vessels knew what had happened to the smaller, and both never indicated to anyone else that something went wrong. The small vessel composed itself before The King entered the room, and he didn't see any difference.

He did, however, notice that the two were getting closer to each other.

The King didn't know what to do.

He could continue letting them stay close together until their ends, or he could separate them to ensure their hollowness.

There was only so much time left before The Pure Vessel would be sealed.

There wasn't even a proper name given to the child that would save Hallownest, not that it would care since it was pure...

He knew what he had to do, The Pure Vessel must remain pure after all. He didn't know what he'd do if his plan failed. There was no other option.

— — — — — — — —

The last day...

The small vessel was given an opportunity to meet its half-sister. This would be the last time the child would visit the palace, seeing as Herrah could not watch her properly while preparing for the sealing.

In fact, she was brought over to the training grounds to watch the vessels spar so the Dreamers could focus.

She was accompanied by Monomon's young aprentice, Quirrel. Both watched the spar in awe, one having not seen their new skills, and the other having never seen a fight at all.

Eventually the fight ended, the smaller vessel just barely claiming the win by releasing a burst of soul that hit anything surrounding it. Both siblings then straightened their posture and turned to the spectators.

Quirrel smiled and walked over to the vessels with the child, "What a fight! Both of you have already surpassed me, and it hasn't even been that long!"

Both siblings gave a slight nod of respect, they saw Quirrel as a teacher since he (after Monomon finally convinced The King) had taught them a couple techniques.

"This is Herrah's daughter" He gestured to the small girl holding his hand, "The Dreamers are having another meeting, so she'll be wandering around with me until they're done"

The vessels bowed to her, and Quirrel broke into a one-sided conversation with The Pure Vessel. The smaller one focused on the girl, who was staring right back at it.

The half-spider was in awe. She had never seen a spar like that before, and the small fighter had beat the big one! She heard from a weaver that she would one day visit The Hive to get some training, but she never imagined how cool it looked.

Not only that, but the winner was only a little bit bigger than her and was about the same age! She wanted to fight like that, to win like that.

The small vessel's final move was imprinted in her mind, one day she would learn that.

The princess had finally found someone she looked up to.

— — — — — — — —

The vessels had been separated that same day, and it had been hard. Both siblings knew that they only had so much time together, but they didn't expect to be separated before one of their deaths. There was a presence creeping towards them, staying away from the siblings as long as they were together. It was threatening to get them now, they both knew it.

But there was nothing they could do.

Despite the urge they had to stay close, they could not show it. The only thing they could do was spend their last endurance-training session together. The King had left them alone, seeing it was the least he could do, but not knowing they wouldn't actually practice in his absence.

So the siblings sat, side by side, for hours.

The small leaning on the pure, both living in the time they had left while anticipating the end of it.

Finally, the small vessel was escorted out of the castle.

There were no goodbyes to say, no comfort to show, no way to express their discomfort.

The Pure Vessel watched as its sibling walked away with a guard, wishing it could follow.

The only thing the small vessel could do was flash a glance back to its sibling right before the doors closed behind it.

And the weight of solitude consumed their being.