Vessel

Void United

It was time to go back to the stag station and head to the city of tears, one last time. Of course the knight had other plans. They walked the opposite direction, forcing us to follow them. They quickly traversed back to the abyss. I wasn't sure why they had gone there. It was an awfully somber place.

The knight stood in the doorway. There was nothing to see, but they looked around anyways. It was incredibly strange. Without warning, the knight started to descend into the abyss. With no other choice, me and Mala followed them into the abyss.

Making our way down was not difficult. Even the shadow creepers had given up on this desolate place. They had probably climbed the wall and out the door they went. But of course, the bug question, was what had made the shadow creepers leave?

At the bottom of the abyss, the knight once again halted. They scanned the area before a few angry siblings attacked. Fortunately, they were still easy to deal with, but they seemed to be more aggressive than normal. It was only then, that I noticed the knight was holding the kingsoul. That would explain it.

The knight kept walking, forcing us to follow and protect them. Siblings kept popping out of the ground. Mala seemed to be pretty good at blasting them out of the sky with vengeful spirits. Well there went the one thing I was useful for.

The knight stopped, in a seemingly normal spot. There was nothing particularly interesting about the area. The knight kneeled, rubbing the ground with their nub hand. The ground gave way suddenly, causing me to jump a little. I think Mala laughed at me. How rude. Three guesses what the knight did. They jumped in the hole without any hesitation.

As for what the inside was like, imagine a cave. Except the cave is really claustrophobic. And it's also really dark. And the whole thing is constructed from the skulls of your dead siblings. Needless to say, it wasn't a fun place to be. The siblings kept coming, forcing us to act at every turn.

We managed to reach what looked like the end of the cave. The cavern widened, but not by much. There, in front of us, was the knight's egg. With no hesitation, they hit it with their dreamnail. I had a thought. Maybe I could do the same thing, and help them! I grabbed the dreamnail and swung. I wish that I had never picked up that dreamnail.

My eyes opened. I was... home. I was lying in my bed. How had this happened? I was home! It was at that moment, the two kidnappers walked into my room.

Time seemed to flash forward. I was in the field. Yet somehow I could see. What was going on? The kidnappers picked me up. Time flashed forward again. We were in the car. I could see still. I was watching out the window, wondering what would happen when we arrived.

Then there was the unmistakable "HOLY SHIT!" The car stopped abruptly. I looked out the windshield to see Hornet's needle embedded in the front of the car. The car was basically doing a backflip. I flew out through the window I was sitting by, landing in the car's path. It rolled, bouncing just enough to avoid crushing my skull completely. But I couldn't feel any of it.

Hornet spoke, and this time, I understood her. "Oh Wyrm, what have I done?! I didn't know that humans had advanced this much!" I wanted to say something, anything. Just to have some communication. But I couldn't speak a single word.

Hornet knelt by my side. She checked my neck for a pulse. "Ok, I have to do SOMETHING. But what do I do?! I don't know what medicines work on them! Lifeblood? No! Even some bugs can't survive lifeblood. What else, what else?! Oh. I know it will work. But I don't know how to undo it. He's dying! I'm sorry human, but I have no other choice! She placed her hand on my forehead. She started muttering in Hallowese, and she poured a strange green liquid on my face.

I could do nothing but stare up in terror. Slowly, I started to realize what was happening. I was turning into a vessel. Soon, the transformation was complete. Hornet stood and opened up a portal into Hallownest. "Uh, let's get you somewhere you'll be safe. Probably safe. Maybe safe." She picked me up and went through the portal.

My conscious didn't follow. Time flashed forward again. I was at a funeral. Odd place to be. Then I started to notice things. There was my mom. Beside her, my dad and my sister. Everyone there was my family. Except for the one or two friends I had. It hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. This was MY funeral.

I tried to scream. I wanted to let them know I was alive, that I was ok, not to be upset, but my screams never became sound. I was forced to watch my own funeral. They had never found my body, so it was assumed I had been eaten by a bear, or wolves, or something like that. I had to sit idly by, as my coffin was lowered into the ground. They all thought I was dead! I had to do something! Anything! But I couldn't move! I begged "PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!!! I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!!!"

My vision faded to black. Soon, I could see again. I picked my head up off of the skull it was resting on. The knight was also waking up. "Are you ok?" Mala asked, tentatively. I looked up at them and nodded. The void tears streaming down my face likely said different. Mala seemed to pick up on it, but didn't push the subject any further. Instead, they attempted to cheer me up. "Vessel, do you have a name?" I didn't want to give my real name, as they might be able to guess my other worldly origins. I shook my head. Mala seemed to be in deep thought for a moment, before speaking again.

"I will call you Durst. Durst is an honorable name, the kind of friend you want on your side." Boy did they read me wrong. My original plan was to cut in front of the knight at the last second, my second plan was to let them do the heavy lifting while I got the win, and I was worthless in a fight.

Finally, we noticed the knight. They were holding what was once the kingsoul. It was now the void heart, uniting the void under their will, and allowing them to challenge the radiance. Things were about to get a lot more interesting. There wasn't much else for us to do in the abyss. The siblings gave us no further trouble on our way out.

Sorry about how dark that got. I had the idea for it at about the same time I got to it, and it was much more interesting than me and Mala sitting around doing nothing. Either way, I hope you enjoyed, and didn't unfollow me while reading, and if you're still here, I'll see you in the next chapter!