Chapter Text
The Temple of the Black Egg, the prison made for the infection plaguing the fallen Kingdom of Hallownest, was a final desperate act by the now long-gone monarch. Inside the source of it all, caged by the monarch inside what was thought to be a perfect vessel.
Chain tight in armour and robes, then in tight soul imbued chains, the vesel was hanged atop it.
Yet the vessel was unable to hold the tide, for it wasn't truly hollow, and the light had something to corrupt.
Still, even then, the simple idea remained right inside the eldest living child of the king.
He wanted to protect this world his father created...and even as the infection poured out of his shell and fractured his mask...as in time it ate at his being, even as his left arm slowly fell due to the pus of infection struggling to break out.
And maybe, maybe if he would impose his will long enough, he would be hollow enough to hold it just a little longer...maybe father...would finally cure it...so he kept repeating the same words.
The Hollow Knight - N-n...n-...n-n...no...w-wi...w...w-wi...i...i...il...
The Hollow Knight - ...t-t...to...b...b-br...br...re...re-a...a-ake...
Yet the rattling of the infection is quieter now, as if distracted away...not gone...never truly gone...maybe father was making progress?
Yes, that must be it finally...he promised, didn't he?
H-he...pro-promised...so...jsut a bit longer...
The Hollow Knight - N-n...no...vo-v...
Again, the pain was worse...it screamed it was back, only to throw a pain scream...the puss grew and erupted once more...then quiet again...
The Hollow Knight - N...no...vo-voi...
As if the first one wasn't enough, this scream was wilder than he had ever heard of the being he caged within himself.
The Hollow Knight - ...voice...t-to...c-
Again...it wasn't a scream...nor a screche...it was a wail...of pure suffering...
The Hollow Knight - ...to cr-
Again and again, each time he heard it as it went quieter, smaller, broken and raged...it was...
The Hollow Knight - ...suffering...
Then it became too quiet...
The Hollow Knight - ...
Too quiet, so...so quiet, he didn't realise the infection was slowly turning from golden and orange of the light to pitch tar...the void...to a point...it felt familiar...like he could sink into it...and never return...
The Hollow Knight - ...n-no....not today...not now...
Father is waiting, father... finally van-
A scratch so much more different from the one he heard as the infection died, couse by the single mention of father, a roar...of thousands of voices as the same time growled at him for daring to mention the pale moarch...then they wailed like the infection...it hurt, it hurt so much...it felt like something truly vital had been disconnected from him, but...something else was on his mind...
The Hollow Knight - "F-fther...father...i-it is gone...I...need...t-to..."
The struggle was weak, pathetic, not worthy of a vessel trained by the best a kingdom had to offer. He hoped Father would forgive him for that...and his standing...the pain barely registered as the chains snapped and he was face down on the floor.
Yet before presenting himself to father, he needed to make sure at least one thing was true...so with all his strength he plunged his remaining hand into where the infection broke his shell...it was as painful as it should be...but he endured...as he tried his best to search for a sparkle of the infection.
Nothing...nothing...just the black tar of void his father called a part of him...he was pure...of infection...so father did it...or it escaped...but it wouldn't wail of suffering if it did? Would it?
No. He needed his father, he needed to hear his quest and more than ever...he needed to see the kingdom he saved and the pride radiating on his father's shell.
Grubeling to himself and using his nail to prop himself up in the vessel managed to make his way to the exit of the black egg, and what strength he had left clobered it with his pure nail and body, till it finally crumbled.
The Hollow Knight - May father forgive thou insolence, mere vesle, but I couldn't wait anymore, I endured for too much. I need to see...his victory.
Yet there was a bug...smaller, not that there were many taller than her outside of mother...maybe Dryya or Hegemol...or did he outgrow them, he could barely remember them when he was no more than a hatcling.
But enough of reminiscing, there was a bug standing there, armed...yet looking at the mask...not the one above...with two pairs of eyes...no the that was truly with the face...not that he cared much for the finery of masks, but the eyes and what lay behind them, no orange, no glow...n-no no infection...
The Hollow Knight could barely hold his relief together as he knelt, his legs finally giving up as much of the adrenaline running out. The knight didn't realise his only arm had let go of the nail and came to his chest as a broken laugh escaped...almost deaf to his own ears as he fell down fully at the knees of the uninfected bug.
The Pure Vesel felt the world going black, no, his eyes getting heavy as he collapsed, his weary mind finally giving in not to the darkest of void, not to the light of infection, but to the purest sleep he could muster.
