Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

How long has it been, they wondered; How long since they took their sibling’s place? They wondered still. Chains dug painfully into their sides, but they had long since grown used to the cutting pressure, grown used to the dull pain. Each second passing by letting them feel just a little less. Was this what their sibling had been going through?

They felt a bit sad, now that they had time to think about their actions, they realized that there was so much they had left behind. Their sister Hornet, now probably stuck in limbo once more, watching over a dying kingdom. Dirtmouth, where the few townsfolks left would surely miss them by now… or maybe not, they hadn’t spent that much time with them now that they thought about it.

“Could you stop thinking so loudly? I’m trying to sleep.”

They looked inward, and saw the moth god, The Radiance, lounging on a pile of pillows. It surprised them somewhat, could she sleep? Wasn’t she already in the dreaming world? How did that work? Why did she need so many pillows when she had so much fluff on her body that she probably felt like a cloud?

“I- What? I’m not that fluffy!” They doubted it, “Oh come on! First Grimm, now you! And, just because you were wondering, sleeping doesn’t necessarily need dreams. I need rest too, you know.”

That made sense, they thought. Most living things needed rest, gods weren’t counted out. They wondered what it would be like to be a moth… maybe they’d be as fluffy as The Radiance? If they could choose, they’d certainly want to be. What would it be like to fly? They had managed to acquire wings, but they weren’t much- only allowing one flap before needing rest. Maybe they could ride on top of Radiance to fly? Hopefully, the sexy moth lady wouldn’t mind-

“What did you just call me?!”

Huh, they thought they had made their thoughts private?

“You can’t. I just didn’t tell you so that I could spy on you. I didn’t think that you’d just- you-” They heard a loud inhale an exhale, odd since neither of them needed to breath, “I did not think that you would… comment on my appearance. In any case, why would you even think of me that way?! We’re enemies!”

It’s either fall in love with the moth lady they’d spend the rest of eternity with or fall in love with the pile of void and cloth that is now their sibling. They chose the moth.

“…Fair.” Radiance grumbled, hugging a few pillows.

Plus, they weren’t lying when thinking about how nice she looked. Maybe it was because they hadn’t seen that many attractive bugs in their life, or maybe it was because of the fact that she was a god. Either way, they could see the appeal.

“I-” Radiance stumbled upon her words, trying and failing to say something. Maybe that bright blush had something to do with it. “Shut up! I’m going to sleep now. Also, you should figure a name out for yourself, it’s annoying to not have one for you.” She turned around and sank into the pillows. They wondered just how she could sleep when constantly emitting light.

She’d asked them for a name. They thought back to all their travels, to the various names and titles they’d been given. Traveler was a common one, but not all that special. They should choose something else. A thought came to them, of something they’d been called by only one person before.

From now on, they would be Ghost.

Time passed, and Ghost grew bored. There was nothing to do! Well, nothing other than annoying Radiance; They were pretty sure she didn’t appreciate it. Still, it was rather interesting when they talked with one another. They could see a bit into the mind of the moth, see why she did what she did. Unfortunately, they still had yet to receive any answer to that particular question. She didn’t seem to want to tell them why the infection had been created. Years had passed by now, or maybe just a few days. It was hard to tell time in here. Time… well, that gave them an idea for their next conversation.

“Time?” Radiance gave them a confused look, all the while playing with a rather nice sounding harp. “What do you mean by time?”

Time, could they travel through it? Was it possible to go back or forward?

A high note played, “Well, not really. Not only would it need a large amount of power- which I have in spades, obviously- but you’d also need something out of time to anchor yourself to. Wyrms can look into the future, I guess, but that doesn’t actually go through time. It’s more like taking in all possibilities they can think of and making an extremely accurate guess.”

An anchor? Why would anyone need that? Couldn’t you just use all that power to fling yourself exactly where you want to?

This time, a low note, “You’d think so, but…” Radiance shook her head, “Think of time like an extremely fast river, without any borders to catch onto. No matter how much strength you have to launch yourself to another part of the river, it’ll never be accurate. You could overshoot drastically and find yourself in a spot where you die immediately or undershoot and waste all that power.”

Oh. Guess they did need an anchor. Well, that sucked, Ghost would rather like being able to slap the Pale King in the face for what he had done. They felt the distinct approval of Radiance in the back of their mind. It felt nice to finally have someone agree with them on something. Even Hornet had been a bit… well, she hadn’t really disagreed with anything they did at the very least. Now, back to the anchor problem. How could they get anything out of time? Oh. Wait. Wasn’t the void considered timeless or something?

“It is. However, our only source of void at the moment is you. Going back in time using you as our anchor would force my being to become linked and woven with yours in such a way that it would become almost impossible to separate us. It’s debatable if we’d even be a separate being at that point- well, maybe our minds could stay separate somewhat. But, still, that’s a rather large risk and-”

Ghost didn’t mind, the both of them wanted to slap the Pale King, right? So no matter what happened, they would still do that. They saw Radiance, swimming in a sea of pillows, with her mouth hanging down in disbelief.

“What? Really?” It didn’t sound that bad, “Alright… I don’t mind much either, not like there’s much left for me in this world anyway. With no one alive, there’s no one to remember me. This will most likely use most of my remaining power to do, so brace yourself. I should be able to recover once back in the past, what with having more followers, but it still won’t be pleasant.”

Light gathered around them, void clinging onto it desperately, it pressed into their body, their soul, and burned. They were wrapped in layers upon layers of light, silk like layers of glowing threads creating an odd cocoon. It burned hotter than acid and brighter than lava, it was light made physical, and it was the opposite of void. It burned, it burned, IT BURNED.

Their vision grew dark all the while light filled their view- the oddest contrast possible. Ghost wanted, needed, to scream out into the air; To let out the pain and suffering into the world. They couldn’t. Just as they were about to pass out, they felt something, felt a contrast to their body and soul that had never been before. Light and Void woven together into threads of darkness that lit up the world and then formed their body, soul, and mind. Their back tore, light blooming and forming into new appendages threaded through previously existing abilities. Cloak was shed and replaced, a now cream-colored coat of fluff acting to protect them from the elements. Horns reformed and grew longer, three spikes now decorating their head.

This really hurt.

The Pale King worked quietly in his office, signing off on different projects and spendings. Some new benches were being installed, and they needed the appropriate pay for the ones that would work on them. He sighed, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his face. He had a terrible headache today, probably because of him not having slept for the last five days due to nobles pressing him on the infection issue. The thing had started a few years ago, first as just a few out of place bugs… but then it grew to a full-on plague. It stole minds and replaced them with instincts, driving once friends into death battles for their own lives.

He had already increased funding to the Soul Sanctum by fifteen percent this year alone for them to research ways to solve the problem. While they were working on that, he was putting into motion his own plans, created a pure vessel to train to maturity. No mind to think, No will to break, No voice to cry suffering… No cost too great. He looked behind himself, at the vessel standing in front of the door, protecting him by his order. He shuddered at those empty eyes, unseeing yet looking.

He was just about to order it to send a message to the ground floor, when the floor started to tremble. An earthquake shaking the earth like the steps of a giant. This, he recognized, was something rarely felt. This was more than the earth shaking, no, this was the birth of something new, the birth… of a god. The ground had trembled the day he had ascended to heights previously unknown, the earth had shaken and bowed to him. And now another was doing so in his own kingdom.

He rushed to the windows, uncaring of the times he almost tripped, and looked outwards. He spread his senses far and wide, he perceived and- Light and Void mixed together, Light and Void grew into one being, one god, one divine. It rose higher and higher up, it shone upon the land and yet made the shadows seem all the darker for it. Another of his senses, one of higher beings and gods only, shook him. His own sense of time stretched and thinned, space ruptured and yet stayed in place. This being, whatever it was, had made not only the earth bow, but also time itself.

With a shuddering breath, the world righted itself, and a beam of light frowned. The Radiance felt her domain tear, felt one of its parts fall away from her and into the hands of another. The realm of the unconscious, of those dreaming of dark, tore itself away from its master and into the hands of another. That was fine, The Radiance had no need for that particular part of her powers… but how had another being taken control of dreams? Even if it was only a small part of it, it shouldn’t have been possible, only those born to her parents could have been, and they were long dead. Perhaps her brother, Grimm, had gifted some of himself to a mortal? That did not explain why her own powers were dragged into it, but it made far more sense.

She frowned, someone else was entering this war, and she had no desire for it. She crushed another mind under her power, let it rise into mindless servitude, and took all of the worship now given. That newborn god could try to interfere, but she’d crush them, destroy them. They had no worshippers, no power, they wouldn’t be able to fight. In fact, maybe this could play into her favor, let the Wyrm panic and search for a useless god. It would only increase her own power.

Shades looked up, their dark forms staring without expression at the ceiling above. The Void sensed a new shade, and yet an old shade. The Void felt the union of light and dark, and felt the connection through time made within it. It twisted their arrival, twisted their destination, and landed them in the abyss, on the edge of the endless sea. It could tell, the new yet old shade was more than Void now, it was filled to completion, the hunger sated. It didn’t think, and yet it couldn’t help but give a slight gift to the one who had traversed time. A part of itself, the beginning of a true anchor, the gift of permanence.

Today, earth, time, and void bowed to a new god. Or, rather, gods.

Chapter Text

“-Ghost! Wake up! We need to get out of here!”

Ghost was taken out of sleep rather rudely; They were quite comfy at the moment. But no, the screaming moth in their head just had to interrupt such comfiness. It was quite a bother. They rolled on their side, getting a bit more comfortable and- wait, they could turn?

“Yes. You can turn around. We time travelled, remember? In any case, we need to get out of here! This place is not good, not at all and I won’t spend a single second longer than I need to in here!”

Grumbling slightly, Ghost got up and stood on their feet. Something felt… off, they weighed a bit more than they remembered. A quick look around showed them just what had the Radiance so concerned, they were down in the abyss and right next to the sea of void. They really didn’t know why she was panicking; They were a being made out of void, no need to worry about it. Even if the Void seemed to press down on them, to take away sensations.

“…Ghost. Just… look at yourself.”

They looked down and found a rather interesting detail, their cloak had been replaced with an extreme amount of fluff. Probably the reason why sleeping on literal dead bodies didn’t feel too bad. A quick look over their shoulders made Ghost stop for a moment. They had wings. They had proper, functional, fluffy, wings. They were a golden color, shining brightly like they remembered the Radiance’s own had done. But, in a rather striking difference, the wings had dark veins of black spreading all over them- like a rock about to break. They liked them quite a bit. Oh, wait, maybe that was why the moth was scared. They weren’t just void anymore, were they?

“Finally, you understand!” They could see the radiance, in their mind, throwing her wings up, “Now let’s get out of here, I don’t want us to die so quickly. I have no idea where to go so you’ll have to do it without my guidance.”

Ghost felt some measure of amusement; There was no need for her to guide them when they had memorized every path in Hallownest. They sent what could only be the mental version of a headpat to the nervous moth, ignored the offended look she gave them, and quickly made their way to the first of the platforms… Only to find that jumping wasn’t as easy anymore. Apparently, adding a bunch of weight makes you heavier, who would’ve guessed?

“Okay, alright, I’m done with this. I’m just going to…” Ghost felt something akin to a shove as they lost control of their body, “Here, I’ll fly us out. You can get this weird body back once I’m done.”

Well, that felt odd. Their vision shifted, and it was like looking through a window into the outside world. They saw themselves look around, go back a few steps, and then run into a leap that took them high up into the air, wings catching on air. They went up and up, dodging and weaving in between floating platforms. They could tell just how much joy Radiance was feeling, could tell just how happy she was to be flying with an actual body once more. They quite liked seeing her happy. Unfortunately, the flight soon came to an end as they reached the top of the abyss, setting down onto the metal platform.

The felt another push and- Back in their body. “There, we’re up. You can have your body back.” She seemed tense… Maybe she’d like being in control from time to time? “Ghost. We’re literal mortal enemy, and you’re considering lending me your body.” They spent a bit of time thinking over the decision, and then nodded, certain. Not like they could keep her from taking control if she wanted to. “…Alright then. Thank you, Ghost.” It was no problem, they thought. In fact, it could even prove to be relaxing to not have to constantly worry about where they were going. Letting the sexy moth lady take care of it was a good way to rest up.

“Would you please stop calling me that?”

Now! Onto the door! Ignoring the disappointed sigh from Radiance, they looked at the giant door locked with a seal. They weren’t exactly strong enough to break it… An idea came to them. They focused, concentrated, and let loose a beam of light that split the door open. Nice to know that they shared powers now.

“That was the worst light attack I’ve ever seen. You wasted so much power…” Something like a groan came from the moth, “If you need my powers, just ask me. I’m way more experienced, I should be able to bring the cost down by a massive amount.”

They stepped out of the abyss, and into the ancient basin. The presence of the Void finally disappeared from their senses and let them fully process what they could feel and sense. A moment passed, and then another, and then they realized just how good they felt. Their body as healthy as it could be, their mind as sharp as possible. A little ‘oh’ was made from their moth companion.

“Oh. Oh wow. Ghost, it seems congratulations are in order. I hadn’t been able to tell up until now, with the Void pressing down on us… but you seem to have ascended to godhood. Or, in fact, it’s more likely that we have ascended, combined as we are.”

Ghost pondered a little, on the implications of such a grand event, of being a god, of holding such tremendous power. They wondered about how complex such a thing was, how godhood was so vaguely defined and how it could never truly be. And decided that they didn’t really care. At least, as long as they did not require worshippers to survive. That would suck.

“I- …okay, sure, just disregard being a god. Not like you now have powers beyond mortals understanding… So, what now? Do we go beat up the Pale King? I would rather like that.”

Sadly, as much as they wanted to make their father suffer for having murdered hundreds of thousands of their siblings, they couldn’t do that just yet. They had another goal in mind; They needed to protect their sister, Hornet. Right now, she was probably a very young child and therefore was quite vulnerable. Sure, she had lived in their own time, but now that they were changing things, they didn’t want to take any chance. Plus, Deepnest wasn’t under the Pale King’s rule, and therefor was a safer place to hide in and plan.

A moment of silence passed, and then, “You just want to see what Hornet was like as a child.”

Ghost chose not to respond to the spot on assumption from Radiance and began walking straight out into the basin. However, they very soon noticed something quite odd… the place was clean. There were no stray bugs trying to kill them, no dangerous spikes, nothing. The place was just a boring maze of tunnels. That was quite boring, after living their entire life with a nail in hand, ready to attack, this felt… too quiet. Speaking of nails, they reached to their back and found absolutely nothing. Dread filled Ghost as they remembered one important fact from their imprisonment into the temple of the black egg. When they had been chained up, sealed away, they had dropped their nail. They really wanted the ability to speak right now, if only to let out their frustrations in a tangible way.

“You know,” began the strangely attractive moth god in their head, “You- stop calling me that- you could make a new nail for yourself. You have, as previously stated, powers above those of a mortal. You are a god now. A higher being.”

Ghost looked down at their hands, thoughts swirled into being, ideas given and discarded. They asked a few question to Radiance, how do they make something physical? How do they make it permanent? Was it like their other spells? And slowly but surely began to understand the process. They reached within their body, within their soul, and drew it out. It twisted and shifted into the vague shape of a nail, an outline at most.

Now, to fill it in. They thought about using the void, but it was too unstable, it needed something present to keep it in place and anchor it. Instead, light slowly grew in the mold, flowed like a liquid and yet kept its shape like a solid. Right as it began to properly change and shift into metal, they slammed void into the weapon, forced it into the light and let it coat every inch. It solidified, became metal, and slowly patterns started to emerge. Hundreds of little swirls and waves made it look like water frozen in movement. Darkness made it almost too dark to see, and yet light made it the brightest thing in the room.

“Once again, a terribly inefficient use of light magic. You could have just done a lattice shape with the light and then filled it in with void. The void would’ve had something to hang onto and there would have been less light used up.” Radiance let out a small sigh, “I guess I can’t blame you; I have been using it for my entire existence while you… are at your first interactions with it. I do remember it being somewhat of a struggle at the beginning.”

Ghost nodded, it was in fact quite difficult to use such magic. It was so… different from the void, less malleable, more rigid. It had preferred shapes and forms, preferred positions, void never had any such problems. They climbed up a wall, jumped off, flapped their wings once, and found themselves in a rather familiar area. A large tunnel with metal structures forming complex machinery. The tramway that connected to Deepnest. They took out their pass, put it in the slot, walked into the newly unlocked door, and pressed the big glowing button that indicated the dark passages of Deepnest.

“What are you doing Ghost? Aren’t we supposed to go see Horne-” She let out a slight shriek as the tram suddenly moved and gained speed, “WHAT IS THIS DAMNABLE CONTRAPTION!? GET US OUT OF HERE THIS INSTANT GHOST!”

Ghost fell down, clutching their sides, they might not be able to laugh out loud, but they could certainly get quite close. They could feel and see the Radiance trembling within a pillow fort inside of their mind, warily looking out.

“This isn’t funny!”

They sent another headpat her way and saw her flinch before relaxing a little. It was cute. Of course, as soon as they thought that she immediately frowned and turned around in her pile of fluff and pillows. They sort of wanted to cuddle with what resembled the greatest amount of comfiness. And maybe, just maybe, they really wanted a hug. The tram slowed to a stop, and they stepped out into Deepnest. Oddly enough, they glowed just enough that they didn’t need to take out their lantern in order to see.

“What… was that thing. It screeched and moved on its own! It doesn’t have a mind, it doesn’t have legs!”

Ghost tried their best to explain, but being unable to speak and being forced to rely on shaping their thoughts into coherent streams was a bit difficult. In the end, they at least managed to get through that the trams weren’t dangerous, and that should they ever go back on, they’d send plenty more headpats towards her. She did not acknowledge that last part.

They walked slowly, jumped over pits filled with spikes, avoided spiderwebs, and overall had a whole lot of difficulty traveling. Truly, Deepnest was a hostile place to all outsiders. More than once, Ghost had to slice through a few bugs that had tried to attack them- but their new nail was sharper than any other blade they’d used. It felt quite satisfying, tearing apart those that had given them trouble before.

“So, what do you plan on doing after making sure Hornet is safe? Hopefully we’ll slap the Pale King hard enough to knock him unconscious. But, apart from that, what will we do?”

Ghost had a pretty simple plan in mind, actually. Wander around and help people, find the next crisis to get rid of, kill a god or two. Simple stuff. They heard a slap, and saw Radiance with her wing to her face. She probably didn’t approve of the plan. Oh well.

“Of course I don’t approve! You can’t just wander around hoppi-” A scream rang out in the caves, high pitched and not too far away. “Oh, come on!”

They turned at incredible speed and immediately began running towards the source of the sound. Jump, flap, slice, they used their sizable experience in exploring dangerous areas to avoid enemies and quickly approach a familiar looking place. Fuck.

“Ghost, what is it?”

They recognized this place, recognized these walls and tunnels. They remembered crawling after shadows and familiar faces. They felt and saw broken silk, tied up individuals blocking their way from time to time, all of them dead. Another scream, this time pain lacing it. They had to go faster. Up, down, left, right, they went in all directions and still did not feel any closer.

Finally, finally, they arrived into an arena all too familiar to them. And right there, in the middle of a raised platform, stood a creature they had long despised ever since they had met it. Nosk. It stood tall, loomed over its target, its victim. And Ghost saw red. Both literally and metaphorically. Hornet, their little sister, was pressed against a wall, breathing harshly and crying.

“This thing deserves to die. Painfully.”

Ghost fully agreed.

Chapter Text

Hornet laughed out loud in joy, shellwood needle in hand as she ran through the dark caverns of Deepnest. Finally, she had managed to escape from her mother and was able to go out and have fun in the area outside the village! For some reason, she had kept insisting that it was ‘dangerous’ or some other nonsense like that. Nothing had happened yet, the bugs she encountered either bowed to her like in the village or ignored her. She jumped over a pit, flipped in the air, and landed on the other side without falling over.

“Hah! I did it!” Her voice echoed in the large space. If it hadn’t been for her mother being so distracted by a message from her father, the king, then she’d never would’ve been able to escape her.

She bent down and looked back into the pit and at the hundreds of bugs crawling around, hungry for another meal. She slowly extended an arm towards them, a bit uncertain on whether they’d recognize her as the princess and got her answer quite quickly when one of them tried to bite her. She pulled her arm back swiftly and sighed, if that was what her mother thought as dangerous, she would have to seriously reconsider her title as ‘Herrah the Beast’. In the corner of her eyes, a shadow moved, she turned around swiftly eyes narrowed. Nothing was there. She rubbed her eyes, maybe she should go home, she was getting pretty tired…

Of course, she was now stuck on the other side of the pit, and she wasn’t at a height advantage… guess she needed to find another route home. Oh well, it shouldn’t take too long, not with her as the princess. But… something didn’t feel quite right, like someone was looking at her. The way back to the village surely shouldn’t take long, right?

Step after step, she went deeper into the caves, a chill on her back. She kept looking over her shoulders, uneasy. Her instincts were screaming at her, and yet nothing was around. Slow steps turned fast and into a run. Her mother had always told her to trust instincts, and now wasn’t the time to go against her advice. Surely, she would soon find a path back home soon, surely, she was just imagining things right now and would soon be safe.

Her eyes caught a familiar shape in the dark, it sort of resembled her mother… She turned right around and ran towards her. She’d be safe soon enough. She wanted to call out to her, but her voice caught in her throat and didn’t want to come out. Hornet just had to catch up, she didn’t even care why her mother was all the way out of the village right now. She turned a corner, lost sight of the pit, and forgot all about keeping track of where she was.

Her breath started to come in sharp, exhausted as she was. She needed to get to her mother, she’d protect her. Just, need to go faster… quite a bit faster actually. Had her mother ever been so quick? Her chest really started to hurt now, like someone had thrown a rock at her, she really wasn’t used to breathing so hard.

And then, finally, her mother had stopped running, had stopped and instead looked at her with that smile of hers, the smile that held her safe. She slowed down, did her best to breath at a slower rate, and slowly made her way to her mother. There, she’d be safe. A crack rang out in the silent room and Hornet froze. Her mother still smiled ever so sweetly , but a giant sac of some sort of orange liquid -the Infection?- had replaced her entire lower body. More cracks, each letting out a wet and disgusting sound, like a head being slowly crushed into the ground.

The smile, once so sweet and safe felt more like a grin, a grin at the new meal on its plate. Legs sprouted, dark as the shadows, each one barbed with hundreds of little needles. Simply touching the creature was to invite an unimaginable amount of pain onto one’s body. A moment passed, the air still and flat, tense. And then the beast lurched towards her, barely leaving her the time to jump out of the way. Hornet let out a scream, tearing itself out of her throat. This wasn’t her mother, nor anyone else she knew, no, this was what her mother had warned her of. The dangers of Deepnest, who was she to think that she would know them better than the literal queen of the place?!

She dodged out of the way once more, vision narrowed and out of focus. Her instincts were barely keeping her alive, and something else she didn’t really understand, almost as if she understood just what movement the creature would make before it did. It screamed, and let out some of the liquid contained inside its body. Her eyes widened, and she barely managed to avoid it. She saw an opening, the creature was recovering slightly from the attack it had made, and she closed the distance as quickly as she could. A strike from her wooden nail hit the shapeshifter right in its torso.

For a moment, Hornet felt pride fill her, felt herself truly enjoy getting a hit in- no matter how insignificant it was. And then it tackled her into a wall, knocking her breath out of her in a scream. Her head hit the rock with painful force that left her disoriented for a few seconds. When she finally got back to her senses, the battle was over; There it stood above her, saliva dripping. She was dead, she knew it, all of her instincts told her so, and even that weird prediction of movements knew it. It leaned it slowly, so slowly, as if to truly savor her despair.

But then, from behind her doom, light bloomed into existence. It filled the room to the brim and burned her eyes slightly from its intensity. A glowing ball struck the creature, sending it to the side. Her eyes widened at the sight of her savior. It looked oddly similar to the pure vessel she so often bothered; They had three spikes on their head, glowing wings and a coat made out of a strange material she hadn’t ever seen before… why did it look so soft and squishy?

A nail appeared in their hand, dark as the night, yet emanating light brighter than fire. It looked a bit too big for the hands of her rescuer but was held without trouble. The creature charged towards its attacker, set on getting rid of the intruder, but found itself surprised as they jumped straight over it all the while cutting all the way across its back.

Hornet watched in awe as they flapped their wings once to get out of attack range, and then fell back down to pierce the beast’s skull with the nail. It fell down to the ground, dead. But, as if in a final attempt at killing the both of them, infection exploded outwards from it in a deadly wave. Her savior quickly reached her and stood over her, a dark fluid that absorbed all light breaking forth from them to combat the orange glow.

And then, finally, it was over. She brought her legs close and felt tears fall, relief washing over her. Maybe she didn’t know who had saved her, but it was bound to be better than being torn apart.

“Hello?” A voice pierced through her mind. It sounded so melodious and safe, like a campfire providing warmth. She glanced up at the only other bug in the room.

“Good, you can hear me. I am…” A slight stall, “Soleil. My friend here can’t really talk so I have to do so for them using… a special trait of mine. Their name is Ghost.” Ghost bowed low, wings flaring behind them. “What’s your name?”

Her tears slowed somewhat, and she warily spoke, “…Hornet.”

“Alright, now Hornet, you’re injured, and we need to get you to someone better capable of healing you than us. Would you be willing to let us carry you to the nearby village in Deepnest?”

She really didn’t want to be carried back, what would the others think of her, the princess, being carried around? She tried to get up, but as soon as she was somewhat straight, a wave of dizziness hit her and made her fall back down. Reluctantly, she nodded, “Okay…”

Ghost set their nail on their back, made sure it was properly attached, and then slowly approached before taking her into their arms. The grip was surprisingly gentle, almost as if they were scared to hurt her. She was brought close to their chest- which felt a bit ridiculous as they were only a bit taller than her- and she felt something she hadn’t expected. Instead of hard shell or armor, she was met with something soft and puffy. This was… odd. There were no creature in Deepnest that had something even remotely similar to it; Down here it was all about survival and being soft certainly wasn’t part of it. And, surprisingly, she found that she quite liked the texture and leaned further into Ghost.

Ghost held their little sister in their arms carefully, she may be resilient, but she was injured right now, and they weren’t about to take any chance. Sure, she may not know of the fact that they were related, but that wouldn’t stop them from treating her as the sister she was. Thoughts passed through their head, first relief over having saved Hornet, and then confusion over why she had been in the Nosk’s den in the first place.

“I am wondering about that too. Usually, the past shouldn’t change all that easily...”

Huh, really? They were pretty sure that if they hadn’t come in right now, Hornet wouldn’t be alive, so something must’ve made her go here in the first place.

“Yes, really. Changing the past isn’t easy. Let me explain it, it’s actually rather simple. So, you remember my river example for time, right?” They nodded, “Okay, so, imagine that as time moves, and the present continues to change, the river carves its way through rock and dirt in order to continue its path. Now, when we go back in time, we also bring back all of the water with us. Trying to change the past is like trying to change where that water will go, the path has already been carved so that’s the path it should take.”

Then, how had they been able to change everything so drastically?

“I have no idea, the only idea I could get would be another God using their power to force the river onto a new path, but that shouldn’t be possible- no one could’ve seen our arrival and prepare accordingly.”

Ghost frowned as best as they could without being able to move their face. So someone had interfered with their time travel and had helped them… who could it have been? They did their best to see who could’ve done so, who would have had the motivation to do so, but came up blank. They abandoned the fruitless endeavor and instead began thinking about something else that made them chuckle slightly. Why had the Radiance introduced herself as Soleil?

“I- I couldn’t just say my name! She’d be scared! I just gave her my birthname that’s all…” A moment of silence passed, “Plus… Did you see that Nosk? It’s infected. And, well, I’m certain that you would be able to tell if I was inside the minds of others right now.”

Ghost tilted their head, confused for a moment, before realizing just what Radiance- Soleil meant. Guess they had to become a god killer now. That could prove to be difficult. Plus, maybe they could kill that shitty Radiance and let Soleil take over her stuff. Though they had no idea of how to do so.

“…You want to kill past me? That is… something.” Conflict spread from her, “I… don’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, she is currently in a rage and killing everything around her. But on the other, she’s still me- she could still be better.”

Ghost shrugged, not like they could do much about it. If they had to, they would kill the past of version of Soleil, if only to make sure their twin wouldn’t have to be imprisoned. They gave Soleil a headpat, and continued walking towards the distant village with Hornet in their arms.

Chapter Text

Herrah The Beast, a title and a name in one- a name which would make the strongest of bugs tremble in fear. She was rumored to be a bug so strong that even the Pale King would have trouble fighting her one on one. Parents told their children of her, told them that if they didn’t want the big and mean beast to eat them, they had better do what they were told. For the folks of the city, that’s all that she was, scary stories.

Ghost, right now, felt more like they had stumbled into a very different story from what was told by word of mouth. Because, currently, they weren’t in the presence of the feared leader of Deepnest. No, they were in the presence of a mother scolding her daughter all the while almost crying in relief at seeing her precious child safe and sound back home, despite the few injuries the little girl now wore.

They had arrived at the edge of the village with Hornet in hand and had been practically dragged all the way to Herrah’s home in order to get the princess back to her mother. It had actually been somewhat difficult to pry the girl off themselves with how hard she was gripping the fluff they wore; She seemed disappointed at the loss.

Herrah let out a long a suffering sigh and turned towards them, Hornet was gripped tightly withing two of her arms while the other two prepared some kind of tea. “I must… thank you, for finding and rescuing my daughter. She is far too young to deal with the beasts outside of the village and still needs a significant amount of training to learn how to do so.”

Ghost would forever thank the fact that they could finally communicate with others, even if through proxy of Soleil. Being able to simply… hold some form of conversation that wasn’t simply listening or needing to gesture wildly to get their point across was incredible.

“It was of no problem to us; We simply heard a bug in distress and did as any other would have.”

The ruler froze for a moment, before taking a quiet sip of her tea, “Is there any particular reason you refer to yourself in the plural? It isn’t very common, after all.”

“Oh, well there’s two of us. I’m Soleil, the one talking to you. Ghost is who you can see in front of you. You could say that I am the voice and they the body.”

Herrah nodded, as if all was right in the world, and slapped away one of Hornet’s hands from the various treats on the table; Apparently, her punishment for sneaking out was that she couldn’t eat anything sugary for a few days. “Then let me rectify my previous statement, I thank the both of you. I must admit, seeing outsiders offering such kindness at someone from Deepnest is a rarity.”

Hornet turned away from her mother, looked at Ghost, and with an absence of shame began talking in the saddest voice they had ever heard. “Ghost… Could you please bring me a piece of honey bread?” They could practically feel the intensity at which she was hoping for the sugary treat. And that look in her eyes… it was almost too much for them to bear.

Ghost did want to give a sweet to her, truly, but it wouldn’t do to simply give her what she wanted… An idea bloomed within their head, and they couldn’t help but want to laugh out loud despite their inability to do so. They leaned forward, took the bread, and quickly passed it through the void that made up most of their body. The exposure was brief enough that none of the harmful properties of the void could come into play, but it was more than long enough to leach out any of the actual flavor from the bread. Hopefully, the little girl wouldn’t notice the slightly gray tint on the food now offered to her.

Hornet, of course, did not spend any time actually observing the food. Instead, she bit right into it, excitedly awaiting the taste of honey to spread in her mouth. Ghost was able to see in real time how her body slumped, and the disappointed look that came over her. They prodded Soleil for the final and most devastating hit.

“Does it not taste good? We can take it back if you want.”

Hornet shook her head, “No! No, I’ll… I’ll eat it. It’s good!” As if to prove her point, she took another, if smaller, bite out of the bread.

Herrah, sensing the opportunity of drilling yet another lesson into her daughter's head, spoke in a casual tone, “See Hornet? You shouldn’t let others handle your food so easily. While right now we can be certain that no one here wants you dead- by the fact that you were saved by them and that I’m your mother; If someone malicious had been the one handing you that food, you could’ve been poisoned.”

The child simply nodded, as if talks of assassinations were simply another part of life and took another bite from the bread. She had apparently forgot the fact the taste was still missing… and glared at the food in her hands.

The queen of Deepnest looked back towards them, “Well, I do think it’s starting to get pretty late, how about going to sleep?” She threw a slightly concerned look towards her daughter, “I think today has been… an exhausting experience for all of us. Don’t worry about finding where to sleep, you can take my guest room.”

“It would be rude of us to reject such a kind offer, we’ll rest up here for tonight and figure out what we’ll do next tomorrow. If you could simply tell us where the guest room is?”

“Of course.”

And so, it was only a little while later that Ghost found themself sitting atop a soft yet sturdy silk hammock. They had been expecting a bed, but they guessed that spiders probably felt more comfortable in silk suspended high up in the air- as odd as that may seem. However, they did have a rather pressing concern on their mind, one they felt rather embarrassed by.

What is it, Ghost?

They looked down towards the floor, a metaphorical blush covering their cheeks. Truly, the problem they had was probably nothing to be embarrassed about, but it still was to them- especially with the dream goddess in their head. The fact was, they didn’t know how to sleep. They had certainly tried before, but their body, their mind, simply didn’t let them. The few times they had been invited to sleep over at someone’s place, they had been unable to say no and had then been forced to simply… wait in silence.

The moth’s surprise made itself present in their mind, as expected, but something caught them off-guard, concern. Oh, oh. You… you never slept before? Never dreamt? That’s- No. Tonight I will make sure you sleep; You need proper rest. Come on, lay down and I’ll put you to sleep.

Ghost slowly, shyly, laid down in the hammock. They sank down into the soft silk; Their weight being easily supported by something that must’ve been made to handle much heavier creatures. As soon as their head was no longer being actively held up, their vision grew dark- or was it lighter now? In any case, their vision slowly dulled and lost meaning until their consciousness faded away into an ever-distant dream.

Soleil let out a soft sigh. To learn that Ghost, someone who had worked so hard, had never even had a nap… it struck her deeply. She prided herself in her domain, her reason for being, dreams- and to learn this new fact was an insult to everything she stood for. Everyone deserved rest, everyone needed rest. She slowly stroked the top of Ghosts head as they slept, grateful for being able to force them into the dream realm in order to let them sleep. A frown tugged at her face as she saw something odd on her wingtips. She brought them close, examined them, and shock spread through her. Dark, darker than dark, Void. It stained her feathers like ink and spread in a vein like fashion.

She peered deeper into the feathers, into herself, and found a slight reassurance. The void wasn’t consuming her at all, in fact… it seemed like it was trying to coexist with her. She supposed it made sense, with how deeply connected both her and Ghost were, but it still made a shiver pass through her. She let the wings drop and went back to taking care of Ghost. She couldn’t do anything about it now, so worrying about it would only make her panic for no reason.

Another sigh made its way out of her. It was so quiet now, without Ghost’s thoughts constantly distracting her from her own messy head. An idea made its way into her mind, and she considered it for a few moments; Sure, things were quiet right now… but she could escape the silence if she wanted to. Despite her situation, she was still the one in charge of dreams and so could look into any of them. A slight thrill made its way through her at the idea, what would Ghost be dreaming about?

She peered and saw. It took a moment for the image to clear up, and then a few seconds were spent processing the scene she now bore witness to. It was herself but… Confusion grew in her as she took in the image. It was indeed her, the majestic moth in all her glory. But why, why was she tied up in all that silk? Even more confusing was how those strings kept the moth suspended without any way of freeing herself- without teleporting that is. A door opened, which she was pretty certain hadn’t been there moments before, and Ghost walked through it. What would they do? Surely, they would free her any moment now.

Soleil rushed out of the dream as quickly as she could, a heavy blush covering her face and a heavy dose of trauma now forced into her mind. She had known that some mortals had dreams that resembled those kinds of things, she would have to be blind to not know but she had never actually looked into any of them before. To say that seeing herself inside one of those dreams was surprising would be an understatement. Why did this have to be Ghost’s first ever dream?! At the very least, she now knew why they kept calling her a ‘sexy moth lady’ even if she would have much preferred not knowing.

She took a deep breath, did her best to calm down. She took a few steps away from Ghost’s sleeping ‘body’ and tried not to think about anything she had seen. A shiver passed through her; She hadn’t even known that it was possible to use a nail in such a way. Thankfully, a distraction quickly made itself known to her. Usually, she was the one in control of the dream realm, of the parts that looked closest to physical. But now, her island had grown a brand-new pathway made out of black bricks. It went out and away into the bright sky, between clouds, and eventually far enough that she couldn’t tell where exactly it ended.

Curiosity overtook her, and she followed the path. And soon enough she found something rather odd, the path led out of her realm and into the Void that isolated this little piece of the dream realm. She cautiously stuck out a feather into the darkness, only for nothing to happen. A bit more confident, she stepped out into the black and followed the barely visible path. It took a long while, but it eventually led to something new, something familiar.

Soleil looked at this new piece of the dream realm; It too slowly being surrounded by void and was being torn apart from the greater whole. Instead of the usual stones that made up the place, she found an island made of silk, so much silk that it resembled a cocoon. And in the middle, a figure that she had seen only a few hours earlier today. Hornet was trembling, dreaming, and had a haze of red essence surrounding her. She was in the middle of a nightmare.

Ink dripped upon silk parchment; Words were slowly written with precision. Herrah wasn’t the best at writing, given the fact that Deepnest hadn’t needed her to ever do so, and so she had to write slowly to produce something readable. This particular letter was addressed to the Pale King, and it was about a rather peculiar individual she had met- Herrah crossed out a few words, individuals, there were more than one being in there. Of course, she didn’t put in everything, didn’t say everything. She didn’t tell him about just how much they resembled the pure vessel, didn’t tell him about that odd brightness that contrasted the Void in their eyes. It wouldn’t do to lose a potential ally, and that was without taking into account the fact that they had saved her daughter. Killing a Nosk wasn’t the easiest thing to do, and doing so for her daughter made it all the more impressive; Compassion wasn’t a common occurrence in Deepnest.

She conveniently forgot to mention that they had spoken to her inside her mind. The Pale King would have to wait before finding out about that particular trick. After all, influencing minds in such a manner was something only gods could do.