Enter the Dragon
Chapter 4: Unn's revelation…
Turpin wandered along Greenpath, his old joints aching from the effort, as he searched for who Unn had requested he find. Turpin, being the oldest and wisest of the Moss Knights, was tasked by Unn herself to bring the Burning One before her.
And while he didn't understand what she meant by 'burning one', he continued searching in earnest. Deciding that the best place to start, would be where the Pale King's roads first begin crossing into their territory, and work his way back.
It was while walking down the path, towards the crossroads, that the noticed a noise, that was out of place. A slight, whooshing sound, like air being pushed and pulled through a narrow opening, so light on the air he almost didn't catch it. But, knowing every sound that comes naturally within their home, he followed his ears, walking past a pair of dense, thorny bushes, and eventually came upon a large green mass.
Said large green mass, was shifting about, and after squinting his eyes, Turpin finally realized what he was looking at. He was looking at a bunch of mosscreeps, all bundled together around something. Or someone.
Upon stepping closer, several mosscreeps turned their eyes towards him, staring him down, as the shuffled closer together. Whispering out "It's alright, I'm not here to harm. I just want to see what's underneath ya, ok?"
Several mosscreeps chirped in response, before dispersing, opening up a hole for him to see what they were crowding around. It was a bug, a winged bug, curled up to sleep, which was the source of the noise, as it's breath came in and out of the small pair of nose wholes on it's face. It's black lens covered eyes were a bit creepy, almost appearing to be staring at him even in sleep, but what really drew his attention was the glowing charm held in one of its hand, a metallic hoop with looped string forming a net like object, glowing with the power of soul.
Humming a bit to himself, he sits down, reaching out to shake the bug awake. Upon touching the stranger's carapace, he pulled back, the feeling of warmth, unnatural warmth, coming from the bugs shell. Reaching out again, he felt along his shoulder, his eyes widening as he felt the burning heat coming off the stranger.
How on earth was he alive? His carapace emitted more heat than even the warmest bugs he had ever felt. At that level of heat output, Turpin would have keeled over and died from organ failure, and yet, this bug breathed with no issue, sleeping soundly like there was nothing wrong in the world.
"So that's what she meant by burning one…" he grumbled to himself, getting up and stepping away, sitting back down across from him, watching and waiting for him to awaken. He knew that bugs whose sleep were disturbed tended to be quite aggravated, and he'd rather wait for him to wake up naturally.
As he waited, several of the mosscreeps had returned, crawling back into place, getting as close as possible to the warmth emitted by the burning one's body. And so, Turpin waited.
Slowly, the dawning need to awaken dragged Ray's consciousness back to alertness, opening his eye's, the first thing he notices is the feeling of being covered, like being sheltered in a heavy comforter.
Slowly sitting up, he realizes that he's been covered by mosscreeps, who chirp and whine upon him moving, climbing off of him as he sits up. Blinking the spots out of his eyes, stretching his joints, the bones popping sound muffled beneath his carapace, and notices he's not along. Sitting across from him, is a moss knight, sitting cross legged, staring at him.
"Um, hello?" Ray tentatively asks, standing up as the mosscreeps scatter at last. The moss knight startles, apparently having fallen asleep itself, and stands up, stepping forward as Ray collects his things, saying "Greetings, burning one. You're presence has been requested by Unn, and I am to escort you to her."
Giving him a look of confusing, Ray responds "Requested by Unn?" while finishing setting up his cloak, hiding the majority of his form from view, standing up at his full height, putting him just slightly taller than the moss knight.
"Yes, burning one. Please, Unn is waiting." the moss knight answers, turning away, walking back to the main path. Yawning, Ray starts after him, following behind him stretching and popping his leg joints before catching up.
After a few minutes of walking Ray asks "Why are you calling me the 'burning one'?", keeping pace with the moss knight. The moss knight simply responds with "That is what Lady Unn calls you, and judging by how much heat you emit, it is an accurate moniker."
"Ah, I see. I suppose to most bugs, my body puts out dangerous levels of heat." Ray says, looking around while following, taking note of the route in comparison to his knowledge of the in game Greenpath. From what he remembered, it was a fairly straight shot through Greenpath to the Lake of Unn, which is where he assumes his guide is taking him.
Turning back to the moss knight, Ray asks "May I have your name?"
The moss knight continues walking for a few minutes, seemingly ignoring the question until he answers "My name is Turpin, the Wise, burning one." Ray snorts, replying "Well, Turpin, my name is Ray. And you don't need to keep calling me burning one, I do have a name."
After that, the conversation came to an end, Turpin seemingly not interested in talking, and Ray too engrossed in taking in the sights and sounds of Greenpath to care, mentally mapping out the area as much as possible.
Soon, a small congregation of mosskin began filtering out from hidden grottos and homes, whispering amongst themselves before following along behind them, keeping a respectable distance between them and the 'burning one' that was going to meet with their deity.
After nearly a full cycle of walking (much like the Crossroads, Greenpath was much, much larger in person than what was shown in game), they made it to the Lake of Unn, where a smaller group of mosskin had already gathered, parting before Ray and Turpin as they walked to the edge of the pier hanging over the Lake.
Turpin gestured for Ray to wait, walking out to the very edge, taking a bow and speaks out "Lady Unn, the burning one has been brought before you, as commanded."
After a few moments, the surrounding area briefly shakes, a large mass ascending to the surface of the lake, breaching the surface to appear before them. Ray, for his part, was slack jawed at how, massive, Unn was.
Unn wasn't just a massive snail. She was THE, massive snail, that the description of massive snails were invented from. Towering above them by several hundred feet, Unn was an apple green color, with light green highlights crisscrossing her skin.
Leaning forward until her face was even with the pier, Unn spoke, in an almost whispery voice, very unlike what Ray was expecting "Burning One, step forward."
Ray steps forward, lowering his hood down, exposing his head for the rest to see, looking Unn in eye. Once at the edge of the pier, Unn lowers one of her eye stalks down to directly in front of his face, before lightly pressing it against his forehead, forging a connecting between minds.
Unlike with what the Radiance attempted in the dream world, Unn's connection to his mind was far less invasive, a simple communication channel between minds, instead of a digging spike.
"I have been awaiting you, Burning One, since you awakened in the land above. The void below, calls for you as well, it's intentions unknown to me, but I must know. What is YOUR intentions here?" Unn speaks, her voice much clearer in mind speech than in the physical realm. Pulling up his memories of what he knows, Ray responds, "My intentions here is to stop the infection, before it is too late." and pushes images of a fallen Hollownest towards Unn, showing the infected mosskin, deserted crossroads, bugs so grossly infected they burst apart into explosions, and other images related to the infection.
"I come bearing a gift, one that can, if not cure the infection, then at least halt it from reaching you.", pulling out my dream catcher, presenting it before Unn and the crowd of mosskin, as Ray continues "It won't save those already fallen to the old light's thrall, but it can keep her dreams from reaching you entirely."
Unn, brief glimpses of her thoughts touching Ray's mind before disappearing, finally responds after a few moments mulling over his words "If that is your purpose for being, then you have my consent. And my blessing."
Unn pulls her eye stalk back from Ray's face, disconnecting from his mind, a light green light shimmering appearing between her stalks, briefly blinding Ray, before dimming, showing a charm. Said charm floats down to Ray, before lashing into motes of light, disappearing into him, felling like a rush of pin pricks across his carapace before disappearing. Unn then submerges back underneath the lake, disappearing from view shortly afterwards, leaving Ray slack jawed.
A tiny, green sigil appears upon his forehead, briefly burning brightly before fading, becoming almost imperceptible to the naked eye. Upon turning around, Ray found all the mosskin bowing before him, each of them recognizing the Mark of Unn branded upon his mask, marking him as the Prince of Greenpath.
Ray, was very confused by this behavior, not realizing he had a brand upon his mask, gesturing to the Turpin, saying "There's no need to bow to me, I'm not you're ruler. Now come, before I leave, I need to show you how to make dream catchers." Upon those words being spoken, several moss knights stood before me, asking "What do we need to do?" in unison.
Blinking, Ray responds "Firstly, I'll need flexible reeds and long grass shoots. While my original dream catchers are made from hoops and string, those materials I assume are rare here, so more simpler creations will have to do."
The moss knights do a deep bow, before turning to other mosskin, giving out orders, as Turpin says to Ray "So, Burning One, what is the first step?"
Smiling, Ray responds "Firstly, we'll need to create a hoop, similar to one of these" while pulling out a metal hoop and begins the process of showing the mosskin how to create dream catchers.
Turpin sat beside his fellow moss knights, twining reeds into the required hoop shape, contemplates the current series of events.
After showing the gathered mosskin how to create the simple dream catchers, Ray had departed, saying he'd return at some point in the future, and to simply spread as many dream catchers as far and wide as possible.
Ray, the Burning One, was a strange one. He didn't walk like an insect, didn't talk like one either, and the amount of body heat he emitted would have been lethal for any normal bug. His footsteps were almost silent, the soft thuds being the only indication of his movement, something that those with lesser hearing would surely miss.
Despite the strangeness of it all, the Burning One had been marked as Unn's champion, and new leader of Greenpath, until he either died or the mark was revoked. And judging by how Ray acted, he didn't even realize he had been branded.
Smirking to himself, Turpin debates telling him the next time he sees him but thinks against it. Better to let him learn it himself.
Unn sat quietly at the bottom of her lake, the pull to sleep again nagging at her mind as she reviewed what she learned from her interaction with the Burning One. For one thing, the Burning One was completely honest in his intentions, but it was the memories of what he was before being brought to the land of Hollownest, that really shook Unn.
The Burning One, who's mind burned as bright as a sun, was fortunately unskilled in the mental arts, and when Unn connected to his mind, his every thought and feeling was bared before her. And she had quickly read through his memories, learning everything Ray was.
His mind was both a burning wildfire, and a booming thunder storm, thoughts and ideas blasting back and forth at all times, his every decision weighted before execution. Even his body operated at a higher frequency than most bugs, absorbing information at a rate that rivaled even a gods.
Unn was thankful that whatever force it was that brought Ray here, had picked a being who was both honest and kind to a fault, for if Ray were to turn his mind to more destructive pursuits, there wouldn't be many who could stop him.
But the revelation that most shook Unn, was his factual belief in the gods of Hollownest. Much like the other gods, her power was derived from worship. The rulers of Hollownest gained power from worship, the Radiance gained it through worship, even Grimm gained power through much the same method. And Rays belief in the gods of Hollownest, powered by the strength of his mind, caused even her, to notice a substantial increase in strength.
Unn would have to wait and see, how nature took its course, and whether the Burning One could alter the fate of Hollownest, that had been shown so clearly within his mind. Regardless of what happened, it would be the most interesting thing to happen in Hollownest since the defeat of the Radiance, in quite a long time.
Deep below Hollownest, in the depths of the abyss, the void churned. The Voidbeast, sitting in it's ancient throne, subtly moved, shifting ever so slightly. Within, it's ancient mind turned, thoughts and plans millennia in the making, were finally coming to fruition. The hybrid had made it's introduction to Unn, and achieved her blessing.
Only one more piece was needed to bring things to it's planned conclusion. And so, it focused it's mind, controlling the very void itself.
Far above the abyss, in the Archives, an empty bookshelf, in a far off corner, began to darken. Tiny, minuscule drops of void began to coalesce, forming a small puddle in the center of the shelf, churning until a form began to rise up out of the puddle. After forming the shape of a book, the void evaporated, leaving behind an ash grey book, the symbol of the King's Brand emblazoned upon it.
Not a few moments later, a masked weaver by the name of Hornet, walks past, scanning for documents, spotting the grey book alone on the shelf, and moved towards it, her curiosity pulled by the symbol on the front, and it's apparent importance, being alone in the restricted section.
Unbeknownst to her, her attention was drawn to it not by her natural curiosity, but by the Voidbeast, calling out to the void within her, demanding she take a look at it.
It's newest move done, the Voidbeast settled back down, letting it's ancient mind slow down and rest. Now, things would move as it had planned. And the hated light would meet its end.
AN: And there we go. Ray has met with Unn, who, being a nature Goddess, is fairly straight forward when it comes to dealing with mortals. All she really cares about is the care and well being of her subjects. One of the things about mental communication, is that it's impossible to lie. And as far as Unn is concerned, Ray's intentions put's him as the perfect leader to lead the mosskin in the coming trials ahead. Which, I'm sure will be quite the headache for everyone involved. Especially Ray, since he hasn't even realized he's been branded yet.
Also, yeah, the Void, under the control of the Voidbeast, is doing things. Things that will be very important for later.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, and peace out.