Vessel

The Watcher

With our newfound tolerance from the siblings, we managed to leave the abyss with our lives. We just needed to visit and defeat all three dreamers. The closest of the three, was Lurien. He was locked away in his tower, guarded by the six fierce watcher knights. This was going to be interesting.

The stag quickly took us back to the city, apparently as anxious to leave as Hornet had been. We disembarked at the king's station, and thanked the stag for the ride. Now it was time to go all business. All we had to do was make our way up a tower filled with infected guards, culminating in a fight with the six watcher knights, before entering Lurien's mind and killing him! Simple enough.

From king's station, it didn't take long to find Lurien's tower. There was a reason he was known as the watcher, and his tower loomed above all other buildings.

Making our way to, and through the tower, was simple enough. There were the occasional heavy sentries, but they were slow, didn't bother to chase us, and were surprisingly easy to avoid. Otherwise, the only other enemies were light ones, like the rich husks of the eastern part of the city.

We weren't too far from the top of the tower now. All that remained, were the watcher knights, and the longest elevator ride in Hallownest. In the room before us, we could see our foes, six watcher knights, which were really just big rolly pollies.

I remembered something else about the room. So while Mala and the knight walked into the room, I used my mantis claw, albeit with some difficulty, and managed to end up in a small room above the watcher knights. I stepped forward and cut the rope of the chandelier. Unfortunately, I was standing on said chandelier.

I crashed right in the middle of the watcher knight slumber party, crushing one with the chandelier, and flopping on my face. Good thing the watcher knights were already dead. There were however, several orange butterflies floating around above us. I wonder why they're here.

Some of them started to flutter down, before four other groups did the same. Each group of butterflies found their own watcher knight and flew in through empty eyes, or at least where their eyes had been. The watcher knights all rose, one by one, until five of them were now staring at me.

Mala wasted no time in launching a vengeful spirit, hitting one of the knights and fortunately drawing their attention. A couple of them walked toward the knight, while another two rolled after Mala. The one that had been hit by the vengeful spirit however, was seemingly locked on me.

Fortunately, rolls were much easier to avoid on a three dimensional plain. I sidestepped the attempt to run me over, before trying to take advantage of the vulnerability of the watcher knight opening back up. But there was a problem. Bumbles BOUNCE!!! It slammed into me, launching me backwards. It would have knocked the air out of me if I had lungs.

The watcher knight rolled back towards me, forcing me to roll out of the way. I had a very dumb idea. And that meant I was definitely going to try it out.

The watcher knight came rolling back, this time facing the top of my head. I pent up as much frustration as I could. When it was only a few feet away, I screamed. The abyss shriek exploded out, taking the watcher knight by surprise. It was now or never! I charged the watcher knight.

Meanwhile, Mala was busy dealing with two. They vaulted over a roll, pogoing the next. They turned and hurled a vengeful spirit at the watcher knights. The one that got hit, flew into the other. Mala rushed forward with their pin. Two in one.

It sat up at the last second, blocking my attack and getting back on it's feet. The watcher knight then went on the offensive again. It's broad strikes were easy enough to deflect, or avoid if needed. This was a fight that I actually might win, as long as the knight didn't take it from me... again.

Speaking of the knight, they had thrown all caution to the wind. They recklessly hurled themself at a watcher knight, swinging their nail like a maniac. Somehow this was working, and when they shadow dashed through the watcher knight, they were able to easily get the kill from it's blind spot.

The other watcher knight didn't seem to like this new development. They attacked the knight, trying to keep the pressure on them so they couldn't do the shadow dash again. The poor watcher knight didn't even realize that it ha doomed itself. It never new Mala was behind it.

Back over where I am, I had gained an advantage and was pressing it for all its worth. I started to prepare for my trump card, and when I had enough energy, I used the cyclone slash. The watcher knight's nail was thrown away before my nail reached them.

I did something useful! Cue the confetti cannons and trumpet fanfare! There was no time to dwell on my not being a failure, because we had one other matter to deal with. We made sure that no other watcher knights were getting up, and made our way to the elevator.

I hit the switch, starting the elevator. This was by far, the tallest elevator in Hallownest. Occasionally, a statue of Lurien could be seen. The knight had made a game out of hitting the statues as they went by. Needless to say, it was a long boring elevator ride.

At the top, there was a wide open room. There was a telescope overlooking the city, although it was mostly useless due to the heavy downpour of rain. Lurien himself, lay asleep on his slab. By his side, and fully awake, was Lurien's loyal rich servant. The knight wasted no time in using the dreamnail on Lurien.

His servant attempted to stop the knight, but Mala pointed their pin at him. "Don't." The servant was clearly offended that such a worthless life form would question him. "The master's seal, MUST remain unbroken! Have you any idea what will happen?!"

"We have every idea of what will happen when the three dreamers are no longer. It is the only way to save Hallownest from this infection." Mala replied. "You wish to release the hollow knight! It holds not the infection from us, but from the world!" His servant was clearly shocked by this development.

"The infection is only here because it has chosen not to move on yet. Soon, Hallownest will simply be the first in a long line of kingdoms to fall. We have to stop this infection before then. And we will stop it at it's very source."

The servant made another attempt to stop the knight, prompting a quick, painful blow from Mala. It was far from lethal, but it would keep him in place for a while. At long last, it happened. Lurien faded out of existence before our eyes. The knight stood, as though they had awoken from a pleasant dream.

"Who are you bugs?! Why would you do this?!" The poor servant seemed furious yet terrified at the same time. "We, are vessels. Among us, is the true Hollow Knight, the real Pure Vessel. And who, may I ask, are you?" Mala answered.

"I- My name is Evol. I have helped this kingdom through it's many struggles. However, I have gone mostly unnoticed, due to my relatively small impact. I was lucky enough to be recognized by the king himself, and master Lurien, to become his overseer, or the watcher watcher, if you will."

"Well, Evol, we have other matters to attend to. Should you wish to, you may join us." Evol seemed almost offended by the offer. "Three lowly vessels?! I would never stoop, much less that low! And especially not after this!" Mala waved a simple goodbye and turned to leave. We followed them, and left Evol to his superiority complex.

That's it for this chapter! The first dreamer has been slain! That does mean unfortunately, that Vessel is drawing closer to its end. I've got the lineup mostly planned out, and I'm going to do something a little different with this story, or at least different from the other ones I've read. Speaking of Hollow Knight stories, it's been a while since the last spotlight, so I think I'll do that. Repentance, by @Mrs_Kindle follows the reader, a soldier of the king, who was tasked with ending the lives of impure vessels, in the aftermath of presumably the embrace the void ending. I'm not far into it yet, but from what I've seen, it's a fantastic story, dealing with heavy guilt, and self loathing. On top of that, I've never seen a Hollow Knight story through this lens before. All in all, check it out! I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter!

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