Chapter Text
{{Born from two and cared for by one was the gendered child.
Existence made for dreams anew to carry on as an heir.
Protector of ruins once held so high, her image weaved by silk
She who saved a hopeless kingdom and regained their strength, now on a road to which one knows not her fate.
Our land now free of silk that binds, we rebuild and remake.
For the one who saved us on lowest days, our home is now safe.}}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The dead lands of their world, unknowing and gruesome to all that trek on its path, and now it was the path that she was taking at this very moment, she had just left the kingdom of Pharloom freeing it from the silk that puppeteered the corpses of pilgrims while making others go wild and mad. All of it reminded her of the infection in her home land, but now she knew the truth, and she helped every bug there, yet even then she still left when she was deemed as a hero.
A hero of the whole of Pharloom, it would make most feel proud, and have a sense of belonging, but she knew, she knew that these moments of glory wouldn't last forever, she experienced the fall of a kingdom first hand, it was when she was first birthed after all, the fall of the kingdom of Hallownest and when the dreamers were laid to rest eternally.
Yet unlike Pharloom, Hallownest was far beyond fixing as almost all of its people had ended up dead due to the spread of the infection, and she even experienced it first hand, seeing the bugs of the kingdom be driven mad and turned into soulless husks of their former selves, ones that returned to their instincts.
Then the infection halted, the black egg was sealed and all was fine, but even she knew that this wouldn't last forever, and it didn't. The infection began to spill out and turned its surrounding a glowing orange.
The little ghost who had followed her throughout greenpath wanted to stop the infection, not through a will of its own, but because that was its entire purpose, to contain the infection, to be bound up in chains and to be enclosed in the black egg.
But instead, it sought out the deeper truth, it sought out to confront its past and change the future, and so the infection was over.
All the time as she trekked this path she wondered if Hallownest could've gone on just like Pharloom if the ghost came sooner, but it wasn't something she cared for now, she wanted to find somewhere else where she could live more normally, while Pharloom was a choice, she was it's hero.
If she stayed, it would be likely that they'd try and appoint her as a leader of sorts, and even despite her royal heritage, it wasn't what she desired, and so she told everyone, she told them that she would leave to find a new place, each and every single one of them understood, but one came closer to her, Sherma.
She had seen the small bug throughout her journey of the vast land of Pharloom, playing music believing that his faith would help him climb up to the top.
He came forward towards her, his gaze all so gentle, as his soft voice rang out.
“Red maiden, you are leaving Pharloom? Where are you going, is this land not holy enough?”
“That is not the reason for my departure, Pharloom is indeed a holy place, yet it is not where I desire to live. I am grateful for being offered a place to live, but I must leave.”
She remembered Sherma grabbing onto her cloak, before pulling out a bell carved out of wood, and giving it to her.
“If you are leaving then, I want you to have this, you've done so much for me and for Pharloom.”
It was saddening seeing the child pull at her cloak, and even give her a gift, so with a heavy heart, she told him that maybe one day, she'd come back, and see Pharloom and its people once more.
But she knew the truth of her words, more than likely she wouldn't come back, she had a much longer lifespan than other bugs, and the idea of seeing the bugs of Pharloom pass from their age wasn't something she didn't want to deal with, not again.
Yet the wooden bell now in the safety of her cloak made her doubt her own mind, whenever she had to make a stop she'd take it out and look at it once more, reminding herself of the child and Pharloom.
It was a small comfort in the harsh winds she continued to press against to find a new home, but it wasn't all too lonely on this path, occasionally she'd run into another bug, searching for a place to go.
She would always tell them to head to Pharloom as it was the most safe place out there, but very rarely she'd find ones who wanted to go to Hallownest, to which she'd tell them that it wasn't a safe place and instead to head to the kingdom of Pharloom.
Some asked how she knew the way to such a place, after all someone who lived there a long time would know the exact path to take, and to that she'd always say.
“I once journeyed there, I went through all the places all just to climb to the very top towards the citadel, my journey was long and hard, now I know the place all too well”
All who asked would pry no more after she told them that, and they'd continue on their journeys towards new lives and new homes.
Hornet would pull out the wood bell from her cloak, looking at it once more, the craftsmanship was amateur but she understood, after all Sherma was a child, but even if it wasn't made the best, it was intentions and feeling that made it special.
Not long after pulling the bell out, the wood would begin to clack together as the wind would grow violent and harsh, she attempted to stand her ground, ensuring that she wouldn't fall onto the ground.
It was strange that now all of a sudden the speed of the wind grew as it usually would be much calmer the times she chose to continue to journey, so why now all of a sudden?
But then, her hold on the bell would falter as it would be flung by the air, straight forward in front of her, she couldn't lose this gift, so she began to run towards the bell as it continued flying and clacking as the air came in and out of it.
However she was a skilled hunter, and a little wind wasn't going to stop her from catching her prey, so she would rush forward, chasing the bell as her dress would blow in the hard winds.
Each step she took she inched closer and closer towards the bell before finally taking a leap and grabbing onto it. Her skirt would balloon out to ensure that her fall was safe but the wind carried her forward before her feet returned to the ground.
This entire occurrence wasn't something that she expected to happen, the wind becoming harsher, her grip failing her when she's never let something go unless she actually wanted to let it go.
How embarrassing of her, a skilled hunter would never have something slip out of their grasp this miserably, she was lucky that there was no other bug around to see her.
She quickly stuffed the bell away once again to ensure it wouldn't start flying once more, but even then the clacking of the wood continued on as she began to trudge forward.
For every step she took, the wind would push her back another. It was a meaningless struggle that she was going through. She needed to get to a place to stay till the strength of the wind dies down, but around her there was none.
The last place that there was an area she could stay at until she could continue moving was most likely miles behind her by now, so she was stuck taking steps as she'd get pushed back.
At this point she was growing tired fighting a battle with something she couldn't even attack, her legs began to grow wearier by the second, it was inevitable that she would eventually be knocked down to the ground.
All the while her struggles continued, the woods clicking and clacking would become more and more violent, its sound being the only other thing accompanying her besides the wind.
Hornet would drop to the ground in defeat as she would attempt to stand the ground she was now directly on, but even as her cloak touched the ground the bell continued its call.
As she felt herself being pushed back once more the wind suddenly died completely. It was odd, the wind would slow but never stop, but now, it had just done so.
She began to breathe heavily, her arms and legs shaking as she tried to regain her composure, even if it was relieving that she could finally have rest, it also was unnerving, as the once loud wasteland had now grown quiet.
Her cloak that was once constantly flowing as the wind grazed against it was now no longer drifting along.
After regaining her composure she'd stand up, but instead of the sands and small specks of life she'd usually see, there right in front of her was instead a glow of white light.
A… pale light, words that many writers back in hallownest would use to describe whenever someone saw her father, the Pale King.
Even though he was her father, she had no real memory about him, the only things she ever did know about him during her childhood was that he was her father, and that he was the one who ruled over hallownest.
So now as she saw that ‘pale light’ as they described it standing right before her very own eyes, it felt somewhat relieving even if she had never seen it before.
She continued to gaze into the light, she expected to see something inside of the light, but inside there was nothing, it was just more light.
She began to step forward towards the light all the while with each step she took, a strange warmth would surround her, a warmth that would grow hotter the further she went in.
Hornet looked back towards where she had come from, but now as she looked back, the light was now also behind her, she couldn't see what was behind her any longer.
There was no going back at this point, all that was there for her was going forward, so she began to take more steps deeper inside of the light as it grew hotter and hotter the deeper she went in.
The heat began to become suffocating, but she had to go on, she had to go forward and onto wherever this light would lead her towards, but then it suddenly grew cold and dark.
The cold wasn't something she was bothered by, but the darkness, the darkness that had now just replaced the bright light right in front of her, was somewhat frightening.
She couldn't falter though, so she steeled her nerves before running forward deeper into the darkness all the while the ground underneath her made small splashes each time she lifted and put down her legs.
As she went further and further in, the sounds of echoing of each splash became quieter and quieter until…
Creeeekkkkk
SLAM!
Hornet would run out as a slam of a door came from right behind her as she ran straight into something that wasn't there
“AAAAAH-”
Whatever she had run into fell onto the ground with a loud thud as she slid on the floor with her needle making a loud screeching sound as it went against the floor.
She would quickly get up and put her needle in her hand before pointing it directly at the strange being now straight in front of her
“W-wait dont hurt me! Please don't hurt me I didn't even mean to bump into you, hahaha-”
The strange green creature recoiled back in response to having a weapon pointed directly to their face as any sensible being would, but she cared not about his apology
“Where am I?!”
Hornet began to walk closer towards the green creature, her needle steady as she did so.
“I-I CAN TELL YOU! Just- (huff huff) don't hurt me! Please I won't do ANYTHING to you, just don't point that thing right at me!”
Hornet would lower her needle as she kept it towards the side of her body, even if this thing said it wouldn't cause any harm, she knew not to trust anyone so easily.
“I will not cause you any harm if you simply tell me where I am and what you are.” Her voice was firm and assertive, she did not want it to try anything, and her needle was sure telling it exactly what she wanted.
“A-ah! Yes yes I can tell you I can absolutely tell you!- You're in Castle Town and I'm a Ruddin! T-there miss, is that enough for you to put that thing away?”
Hornet huffed a little before placing the needle on her back once more.
‘Castle Town’, it wasn't a place she had ever heard of before, and it wasn't even a place she's heard of being mentioned by any sort of journal or book, and a ‘Ruddin’ wasn't a type of bug she had heard of before.
“Your answer suffices, here, I do apologize for pointing my weapon at you, where I come from, most I meet aren't the most kind to strangers so I must always be ready to attack”
Hornet would offer her hand to the Ruddin on the ground, lifting it up right and onto the lower half of his body before dusting off her cloak.
“Thank you, and I understand, you always have to make sure your safe, y'know- hah-” The Ruddin would clear it's throat
“L-look even if we got off on the wrong foot, it's fine, and since you're new around here, I could show you around the place, I'd be more than happy to! Hehehe-”
Hornet watched as the Ruddin shuffled around, it was very clear that her immediate intimation stuck with it, and while it wasn't really her intention, it could help make sure that it wouldn't try anything.
“I’d be rather grateful if I had a look around at this ‘Castle Town' you speak about, it's been long since I've run into actual civilization”
“Yeah yeah I can do that for you! Just follow me, and don't talk to those guys over by those big flashy signs, just ignore them!”
The Ruddin would begin to slither along forwards as Hornet would follow behind it, slowing her steps to ensure she didn't pass it.
“So what exactly do you mean by-”
The Ruddin would put a finger up towards hornets not existent mouth attempting to shush her before responding in a whisper
“Look, you do not wanna talk to those guys, they are REALLY annoying and their deals suck, just trust me on this!”
It was rather rude that Ruddin shushed her, but if it was right, it would make sense on why it wanted to keep her quiet, she was after all not one for scammers either, so she continued to follow behind all the while looking at only the Ruddin so she wouldn't even have to take a glimpse of them.
“Aaannnddd, here we are! Right in front of you lies the rest of castle town! It's quite a sight to behold is it not? It used to be smaller than this, but it's been growing bigger every day due to Prince Ralsei and the lightners efforts! You also came at a good time, a new batch of darkners from a new dark world just settled in, so if you need Ralsei for anything, I'd say it'd be best to talk to him right now- u-uh miss?”
Hornet stared onwards at the town right in front of her, it was unlike anything she had seen before, most places she went, things were more worn down, but this, this looked new and bright. In front of her was many more of what she believed to be the Ruddins fellow kin all doing different things. Some were talking to one another, others were leaving buildings all joyous, and then were few playing around with one another, it was
Strange.
However as she tried to walk forwards and towards into the town, a pain would course through her body before she suddenly collapsed onto the ground.