The black egg loomed before the group. Isma, Hegemol, Dryya, Zhe'mer, and Ogrim stood by the king's side as he finished prepping the Hollow Knight's chained armor.
This was it.
The five great knights kneeled at the king's call before both he and the pure vessel entered the black egg. Alone.
As the two made their trek through the near-infinite path towards the chamber, the hollow knight could not help but glance at their father, who only stared down at the floor with his back hunched and his wings drooping. It was as if all the weight from holding his head high constantly in front of those who loved and trusted him came crashing down on him all at once. But he knew if he were to feign confidence, no one would fall into despair from the likeliness that this plan was going to fail.
All because he believed he would be cold-hearted enough to treat his carapace and blood to be nothing more than an object devoid of emotion.
But he was wrong.
Oh, so wrong.
He was not heartless, nor was his child.
The hollow knight hesitantly reached a hand towards him only to immediately take it back. 'No, I'm not supposed to feel. I'm not supposed to think. I'm not supposed to speak…'
'Do not…'
The pale king did not notice this, nor the inner conflict that stewed in the pure vessel's mind.
Although it felt like an eternity for the king and the knight, they finally reached the entrance to the main chamber. They stood there for a moment, gazing at the large antechamber with mixed feelings. When the hollow one went to enter, however, the pale king did not follow. Noticing this, the hollow knight stopped and turned to their father-figure expectantly.
The pale king gazed up at them with empty eyes before finally shaking his head. "I'm afraid this is as far as I go."
The hollow knight's breath hitched, suddenly feeling a tight, strained sensation in their gut. They didn't expect that they would enter the final phase alone.
'Stop. You're not supposed to feel!'
Their grip tightened on their blade, and they bowed their head in understanding. Waiting for the instructions that…would be the last they would hear from their king.
Their father.
"Listen to me," The pale king sighed, "I cannot stay here for too long. This chamber was made out of void to further weaken the Radiance's influence while you are here, and although we are made up from different light, I too am affected by its power."
They tried so hard not to express their worry. 'Then why are you here?!' They wanted to ask.
The king lowered his head and a low chuckled escaped him. "You're probably wondering why I'm here then, right?" The king sighed, looking upon his brand in deep thought. "I was always able to read the signs from bugs very easily, it's easy to predict what they say, how they feel, how they think…"
The pale king trailed off and his eyes grew dark. "I don't know if it was my fault after you came to the palace or before any of you were placed in the void but…I knew you weren't pure."
The hollow knight's eyes widened as they completely lost their grip on their nail, letting it fall to floor with a lout clatter. They didn't know what to say, what to expect, if they should do or say anything at all. Their purpose was to be pure and even though they weren't, they tried so hard to be. They tried so hard to fit the role their father gave them.
To protect the kingdom. To protect Hallownest. To protect their loved ones.
Void started to leak out of the hollow knight's eyes which they immediately started to rub away, hoping their father wouldn't see, but they knew better than that.
The pale king's eyes softened, as if in relief. "Don't cry, my hollow knight. I'm not mad at you," He paused as he leaned against the wall, starting to feel the full effects of the black egg consume him, "I'm mad at myself. I'm mad at what I had done to you and so many more."
The hollow knight went to run to their father to help him when he raised his hand to stop them. "Don't worry, once I finish what I have to say, I'll begin the ritual to summon the Radiance and you will take it from there."
The hollow knight was very reluctant, but not enough to disobey their father.
"You may not have been a pure vessel; devoid of thoughts or feelings." The pale king smiled. It was a smile the hollow knight hadn't seen in a very long time. "But you were still pure to me."
The hollow knight blinked, feeling the void leak once again, but this time they just let it flow. They would rather focus on that smile a little longer before having to obscure their vision again, even if only for a moment—they were worried if they did, they would never see it again.
"I have nothing left to save Hallownest; I have no more plans, no more options…no more time. You are all Hallownest has left. You are our last hope, my hollow knight." The king bowed his head. "I wish I could've found a better solution, but I have nothing left to give…except you. I'm so sorry."
Glowing orbs of white gathered in the corners of the pale king's eyes. "I told myself that there was 'no cost too great' for the protection and preservation of Hallownest, but I was wrong, so, so wrong." They bowed their head. "As a king, my job was to give everything away for the sake of my kingdom. I've done all I ever could, my job is finished. But my role as a father has not…"
Soul-filled tears streamed down the king's face. "I'm here because I wanted to say goodbye and to part you with my final gift." He held out his hands to his chest and shaped his claws to form an orb. A bright, glowing orb of white surfaced from his chest and formed together in his claws before he projected the ball of light to the hollow knight. The small ball collided with the hollow knight's head before absorbing into its shell.
At first, the hollow knight felt very uncomfortable as the light absorbed itself into its being, the void inside themselves writhing in agony until the light disappeared into the black, soothing the void inside once more.
They examined themselves, trying to see what changed when they turned their attention back to their father, who was wiping away the excess soul from their eyes with their sleeve. When the king looked back, the hollow knight suddenly noticed how weaker he looked.
"I gave you a piece of my foresight, with it you can be able to see anything and everything going on in the kingdom while you are locked away. Though, unfortunately, it may be limited, and it will take time to master, but I'm afraid that's all I can give."
The king sighed and weakly straightened himself again, pushing himself away from the wall. "It's time, prepare yourself my pure vessel."
The hollow knight couldn't believe it, all this time it believed that if it were to act out, if it were to show itself as anything but void, the pale king would reject them—maybe even kill them—but over time it felt like it knew the king wasn't capable of it. Despite this, however, it never thought that their father would not only accept their individualism, but also show enough love and care that he would impart such an important gift to them.
As much as they wanted to say 'thank you' or express their gratefulness in a hug, they knew they were out of time. They wiped the void from their face and grabbed their nail off the ground. They gave their father a determined look, ready to begin their final fight and fulfill their role as the infection's containment.
The pale king returned the look, although much less ambitious than their child's, before he gathered the last of his energy into another ball of light. But this time, he shot the ball of light into the air before exploding into what looked to be a white essence derived of symbols from many different types of dreamcatchers.
The entire chamber lit up as it was shrouded in a dream-like mist. Then white lines and etchings appeared all over the room until it converged onto the only exit of the chamber, a protective barrier appearing before the pale king. He placed his claw on it and looked into the chamber with a distant look in his eyes.
"The stage is set; I must now take my leave before the black egg completely drains me."
The hollow knight only nodded in response, wielding their nail upright and shifting themselves into a battle-ready position.
The pale king weakly smiled a sad smile, muttering quietly to themselves as they turned away. "Goodbye my child."
Everything faded to black then, but not before a piercing cry of the radiance echoed throughout the dream.
The hollow knight awoke with a start, only to realize it was still on the stag. It didn't realize it fell asleep. They turned to look back at the other two passengers to find that the pale king had dozed off while Ogrim shared a quiet smile before making a 'shh' gesture. Although he immediately looked a little flustered upon realizing that asking the hollow knight to be quiet—even if it was a joke—might be a little insensitive.
The hollow knight gave them what looked to be comforting smile before turning back around to face forward. Fighting the urge to fall asleep again.
The radiance's cry echoed in the pale king's mind.
The king sat on his throne, surrounded by both dream essence and the void. They waited in silence, waiting for the source of the infection to fall for his crudely set trap. When she would come to the wyrm's palace, he will purposiley aggravate the already loose void in his laboratory and have the void consume them both in a last-ditch effort to save Hallownest, his kingdom, and his child.
He waited and waited, but she never came.
The pale king was suddenly struck with a sense of horror, starting to doubt if she would come at all.
In an act of desperation, he screamed for her, calling for the Radiance to come and claim his palace and his life, but she didn't answer.
This was bad. If he waited too long the void will consume him and only him. His sacrifice would be in vain, and the hollow knight will be forced to endure the pain for the rest of their lives.
He screamed again, flaring his wings as he mustered all the energy he could into his being. But his body spasmed as he was suddenly overcome by a gregarious coughing fit. He covered his mouth as he continued hack whatever his body was rejecting. After his coughing stopped, he gazed down into the palm of his hand to find black specks of void.
As if responding to the pale king's call, void tendrils sprung up out of the gaps and cracks in the walls and floors. They circled around his throne and began to close in on him.
It was over.
He had failed.
He had failed his kingdom, and his family.
Tears of soul landed on the black vines, absorbing into the dark as the pale king's light faded. He wrapped his ethereal wings around him in shame as tears cascaded his vision.
His world was being consumed by the darkness.
He couldn't help but chuckle darkly, as he thought of his Root and his Pure Vessel, silently apologizing for his failures.
"No cost too great." He mocked with an empty smile, before allowing the void to swallow him whole.
The pale wyrm awoke to find Ogrim helping the hollow knight down from the stag to the nearby bench. When Ogrim went to grab the sleeping wyrm he was surprised to find him awake.
"Ah, you're awake! You must have been very tired!" Ogrim commented, offering his uninjured claw to the former king. "Have any good dreams?"
The wyrm felt like he was in a daze but accepted the round knight's assistance. "Hmm." He hummed, slowly slithering to the tall knight on the (very small) bench, opting to stand by their side for the moment until they fully regained their senses.
They subconsciously grabbed onto their cloak as Ogrim's playful question finally resonated with them, though for some reason it left a bitter taste in their mouth. "A dream…?" He tried to remember what he dreamt about, but nothing resurfaced. "If I did, I certainly don't remember it."
Ogrim laughed it off. "Don't worry, I'm sure it was nothing then."
The hollow knight patted the wyrm's crown in assurance. The wyrm felt flustered when the taller knight started petting him, making him feel like he was being babied, but nonetheless accepted the kind gesture, albeit in gruff silence.
Remembering what took place, before he fell asleep on the stag, he turned to look up at the tall knight, which made them stop petting him. They shared a glance. The pale king looked up at them as the hollow knight cocked their head to the side in question as the king felt overwhelmed and quickly looked away.
"W-we should get to the hot springs as soon as we can." The pale king squeaked as he hurriedly slithered past the confused hollow knight and towards the exit. "Allow me to continue being the lookout."
Sensing the trepidation from the king, Ogrim laughed and softly agreed, winking at the hollow knight—which only caused them to be even more confused.
While the knights prepared themselves, the pale wyrm walked out into the crossroads and glanced around, noting how very 'blue' the caverns were compared to the stark grey of the old basin they were at previously.
He walked to the edge of the platform and browsed around, searching for signs of possible danger when a flash of red cruised by him, a little too close. It happened so fast that he stumbled backwards and fell on his bottom.
Furious, he instinctively shouted. "Hey! Watch where you're going!"
The red figure stopped mid-flight and landed against one of the platform's sides. The figure, kind of resembling the hollow knight, gawked at the pale wyrm in stunned silence. The two locked eyes, both of their gazes stern yet confused.
However, as quick as his anger came, it was diminished, and he was left feeling anxious from the strange bug staring at him. "I-I mean, just…be careful." He muttered as he broke eye contact.
Without warning, the red bug hopped the platforms at a lightning speed before landing directly in front of the wyrm, causing him to stumble backwards again as the bug brandished a needle.
The expression on their face changed greatly, from stunned shock to malicious intent as her gaze bore into his. The pale wyrm flinched from the sudden mood change.
Then she started charging.
The pale wyrm yelled, holding out his hands as if to block the attack.
The bug stopped in her tracks.
The wyrm spared a glance at the intruder who was surprised to see her staring at him in shock again. Maybe the bug noticed the knights behind him? But when he turned his head to look behind him, the knights were still not there. How long does it take to leave the room?
He turned back to the confused (and maybe malicious) bug who has now lowered their needle, a look of distraught and confusion masking her face.
"What in the world is…" She muttered.
Shaking her head, as if to clear her conscious from ridiculous ideas, she pointed her needle to the pale wyrm again, but didn't move this time. She glared at him, as if she had a bone to pick with him.
His gut churned as he realized that this might be another bug that 'knows him' that he doesn't remember, or something along those lines. He still wasn't too sure himself.
"You…I thought you left." She spat, her words filled with venom.
As a last-ditch effort to make sure he was the one she was talking to (and not some imaginary bug), he raiseed his brows and points to himself in question.
"Yes you!" Hornet yelled. "How can you not-"
Her eyes widened and her gaze was now fixed on something past the wyrm. The wyrm turned to find both knights finally making their appearance from the station.
"Sorry about the wait, we- Oh." Ogrim stopped himself once he realized someone was pointing a weapon at the former king. Ogrim was about to move into action when he realized who it was. The hollow knight, however, went to immediately rush over to the pale wyrm only for Ogrim to stop them. "Woah, easy. You are no shape to make sudden moves right now, let me handle this."
Hornet, ignoring the chatter and the pale wyrm, sheathed her needle and ran over to the very injured hollow knight. She cupped her hands under their mask and placed her head against theirs. "Dammit, I'm so sorry I. This is all my fault, I shouldn't have-"
The hollow knight pushed their head against Hornet's in assurance, void tears streaming down their face in relief that she was okay and that she wasn't mad at them anymore.
They stayed like that for awhile, Ogrim allowing them their brief peace while the pale wyrm watched in helpless confusion.
When the two finally pulled away did Ogrim break the silence, "I'm sorry for interrupting, and I'm sure you would want an explanation for how injured we are princess, but we need to get to the nearby hot spring as soon as possible."
Hornet nodded, though not without sparing a glare at the confused former king. "Agreed, I would really like an explanation for all of this."
The pale wyrm winced, begrudgingly holding his hands up in surrender. "As long as this one does not skewer me, I'm fine with the arrangement."
Hornet paused to share a bewildered look with the wyrm before shaking her head once more and settling by her siblings' that wasn't occupied.
With that, the group traveled collectively towards the hot spring.