Silent City

16. The Nailsage

 All of Hornet's senses had been heightened at the moment she dropped into Hallownest. She just wanted to take everything in. The forgotten crossroads has always been one of the more bland areas of Hallownest, but right now, it seemed more interesting than it had ever seemed. A rickety sign, held together with ropes and nails stood to her right, arrows pointing every which way on the signpost. She stood atop a raised, stone platform in the middle of a large room with two exits on either side. One led to the Black Egg Temple, she recalled, and the other led to a tall shaft which then led to Greenpath.

The room was relatively barren, except for a few bugs skittering around on the floor. She heard Ghost land quietly behind her, and then the Hollow Knight, who landed roughly on their knees. She looked back at them, still taking in all of the room.

The three of them stood there for a while, drinking in the scenery. Hornet noticed a few areas of infection near the walls and the ceiling, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was during the height of the Radiance's influence, right before she helped Ghost defeat her.

She looked over towards the exit to Greenpath, and held out her hand to Ghost. She felt a piece of paper being dropped into her hands and she took it and opened it.

Her immediate urge was to go return to Greenpath, since that's always been her favorite place in Hallownest, but she knew the best idea would be to first find the remaining uninfected citizens of Hallownest. But it wouldn't hurt to go revisit it, would it?

She tucked away the map into her pocket, and motioned for her siblings to follow her. Ghost kept up with her, but the Hollow Knight was slow. They got faster as she walked on, but they kept having to use a unique ability of theirs, something they learned training from the Pale King— a short-distance teleport.

Pilgrim's Way was about the same as Hornet remembered it— but all of the infected animals had almost disappeared. Occasionally she'd come across the random vengefly, but they were so docile that she didn't need to take them down.

When they got to the first bench in Greenpath, Hornet told the Hollow Knight and Ghost to stay there unless they wanted to come with her into Greenpath. Considering both their lack of an ability to "want" anything, she left them there. She'd come back to them, obviously, but she wanted, just for a moment, to see a good bit of Greenpath again.

Greenpath was relatively the same as she remembered it, but once again, there was a sad lack of animals in the area. It meant less reminders of the Radiance and the infection, which was good, but it felt so barren and unwelcoming. The air was moist and the greenery was lush and colorful, but it didn't feel right without the sounds of squits and mosskin around every corner. Most of the time it was disturbingly quiet. She didn't know if they had all gone into hiding, or if they had just all disappeared. She hoped it wasn't the latter.

Other than that, however, she was pleased that the plants and lush greenery in this area of Hallownest hadn't vanished. She zipped through Greenpath for a while, appreciating all of the plant life that was so lacking in the city above. The air was cleaner down here, she noticed, and fresher. She couldn't smell smoke, or a fresh layer of industry on top of it. Nature had taken back everything that was built near here, and she appreciated it greatly.

She found herself in the Stag Station after taking in nearly half of Greenpath: the bell was still hanging there, and the bench was overgrown with moss. Vines creeped up the walls around her, and hung from the ceiling in thick coils. The gate to the Stag station was open, but she didn't ring the bell, despite being slightly curious if someone or something would actually answer. She didn't want to disturb anyone, and she had no need of a stag right now.

Still, standing here made her nostalgic of Hallownest's old architecture. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed it compared to the human's structures. She walked around the station for a moment, until she decided to return to her siblings. She was wondering how the Hollow Knight was faring. Unlike Ghost, she knew that the Hollow Knight wasn't completely Hollow, which is why their eyes weren't entirely dark, and also because they couldn't contain the Radiance. They had probably been exploring the idea of thought during their time in that city, but she wasn't sure how far they were. As far as she knew, they still couldn't speak, but they were clearly capable of some emotion.