Vessel

Truth

I walked over to Hornet, who seemed like whatever she had to say, was rather important. I stopped just short of her, and she started talking. "Vessel, I... I know who you are." How exactly that was possible, I had no idea. Luckily, she elaborated.

"I was there on Earth. In the older days of Hallownest, we would frequent Earth, for it's valuable resources. I was there to see if we could perhaps relocate any surviving citizens."

It seemed like Hornet had just happened to be there, but it still didn't explain exactly what happened to me, so she continued.

"It was my first visit to Earth. I didn't know what the black and yellow path was. A large object barreled toward me. I thought it was a predator, and tried to kill it before it could kill me. Only, it wasn't a predator. It was like a metal stag beetle. You were flung from it."

I was dumbfounded. I sat down, trying to understand it all, but Hornet continued.

"When I saw you, I tried to help, but I don't know anything about the way you humans function, or if any medicines I had would have worked, so I did the only thing I knew. I... turned you into a vessel. It has happened before, and I learned the technique, but... I do not know of any way to reverse it."

The area behind us, started to shake, as large rocks fell from the roof of the cavern. Hornet only said one more thing, albeit hesitantly.

"Vessel, I know that I have no right to ask anything of you, but please, do stay with your friend. They are very important to the survival of our world."

I thought about everything for a moment. The more I thought about it, the clearer it became, that in fact, Hornet had every right to ask something of me. She had saved me from being kidnapped and possibly sold, or killed. And when the unknowing rescue, ended in me dying, Hornet had kept me alive. And so, I stood, and made my decision. I handed Hornet the note.

"I will stay with them. I owe you more than you know, and this is the least I can do."

Hornet seemed surprised, that I had accepted her request, but didn't seem bothered by it. The cavern behind us, was really collapsing now, and the knight hadn't returned yet. Hornet stabbed her needle into the roof of the cavern we were in, and went after the knight.

Soon, the cavern completely collapsed. Naturally, I thought I had just watched Hornet and the knight die. But the thread of Hornet's needle, was still moving. Soon, Hornet appeared, out of the ashy rubble, holding the knight.

I went over to see if they were alright, but got almost tackled, from behind. Two arms wrapped around me, and squeezed like they wanted to see if my head would pop off. I couldn't turn to look at my attacker, but Hornet took care of the problem.

"Curth! Get off of him!" Curth, reluctantly, let go. Turning to face Curth, I found, yet another vessel. They had a wide head, with large horns, and a large crack, on their head. Somehow, they had an actual expression on their face: happiness. The cloak they wore, was clearly too long for them, but Curth didn't seem to mind it.

Hornet apologized for the vessel. "I'm sorry, this is Curth. I didn't kill them when we met, and now they follow me around like a tictic pup. Maybe I should have taken the chance I had."

Curth wasted no time in waddling over to Hornet, and hugging her, as well. Hornet was clearly annoyed, but made no attempt to free herself from Curth's hug. Curth also tried to hug the knight, who had just awakened, but Hornet picked them up by the cloak.

Realizing that she couldn't say much else with the knight present, she said "I'm sorry vessel." And she used her needle to grapple away, Curth in hand.

That's it for this chapter! The truth has been revealed, so I hope you liked the twist there. I gave you guys clues at the very beginning. The story's really about to get going, so buckle up kids. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter!