I do not own The Legend of Zelda or Hollow Knight

Skirmish with Hornet

Link braced for impact as the woman in red charged, sword and shield in hand. He was never one to underestimate an enemy, but he had defeated a god on his last adventure, so he thought he could handle this battle. He was the hero of time, after all.

The red woman suddenly stopped mid-charge and hurled her sword like a javelin. Link, decidedly not caught off guard, simply blocked it with his shield, deflecting it harmlessly to the right. The sword was apparently attached to some sort of rope, however, as the woman simply yanked it back into her hands. Link, still thoroughly not surprised by these twists, simply got out his bow, nocked an arrow, and fired in one smooth motion. The woman, however, did seem to be surprised by this, as she let out a yell before being struck square in the side. This did not deter her, however, as she removed the arrow and charged again.

"Okay, she's a tough one," Link said to himself, getting his sword-shield combo back out. He, again, wasn't surprised by this. He'd fought plenty of enemies with what seemed like supernatural endurance before, and this woman had a warrior's stance. She approached him and began a horizontal swipe from his right to his left. Link blocked with his shield again, angling it to send the swipe over his head, leaving an opening for him to strike, and he thrust his sword right into her abdomen.

It should be noted that Link's sword was the finest work of the greatest smith in Termina. Gilded with gold and razor sharp, and his mirror shield could deflect any energy-based attack back to the sender, so when the woman, whose body, Link now realized, was completely black, was stabbed hard with his gilded sword, it did some damage. She was stunned for just a moment, then leapt backwards and into the air a considerable distance, landing with a light thud.

"I am Hornet, the protector of Hallownest," she told him, "it is clear to me now that you are powerful enough to proceed. Enter this ancient and sacred kingdom, but beware, Hallownest accepts only the strong." She threw her sword up to one of the ledges in the cliffs, it embedded itself into the rock, and using it much like a grappling hook, she swung up onto the ledge, "Good luck, green creature," she finished, before swinging onto the top of the cliff and disappearing over the edge.

"'Green creature', really? 'Green creature'?" Link said disdainfully. He looked the cliffs over again and got out his hookshot. "Worth a try," he said before pointing it just above the lowest ledge and firing it. The hook shot out it a long arc before latching onto the stone and beginning to pull him upward. He swung towards the cliff face, because gravity, and began to run up the wall as the contraption pulled him along. He reached the outcropping of the ledge and jumped up onto it. "What do you know, it worked," he said, aiming the machine again.

When Link made it to the top of the cliff he was surprised to see a well lit, slowly inclining path with small stairs running up the whole way. At even intervals on the right side of the path was a series of poles with strange glowing orbs on either side. The poles were what looked like iron bent into intricate, curving patterns. He began wandering down the path. Eventually he came to the end of the path, where the stairs stopped at a sheer drop.

Far beyond the cliff face, Link could see another lamp lit trail leading to a bundle of lights Link could only hope was a town. Far below him was another landing, but this one was walled in. He thought he could see a door on the wall in front of him down there. Without skipping a beat, he jumped, spun around, and drove his sword into the cliff wall behind him, substantially slowing his descent. He slid all the way to the bottom into a circular chamber about twenty feet in diameter. Across the room was an empty doorway surrounded by a pile of rubble that Link assumed must have been the door at one point. He walked through, then proceeded to pass under about five more doors that had been smashed in a similar way, passing by the corpses of two huge bugs that looked like a cross between an ant and an armadillo.

"Something came through here recently," he whispered to himself, "this place feels too quiet."

He walked into another large chamber filled with floating stone platforms as well as more bug corpses, this time including winged creatures as well. Above his head and behind him was another tunnel. Link could do a few impressive jumps and flips, but he was in no way a parkour artist, so instead of jumping up all those platforms he used his hookshot to grapple his way up to the ledge. He walked through the tunnel, pausing to look at a strange egg shaped rock, and came into yet another large chamber filled with platforms and littered with corpses. He passed through in the same way he did the other room, then came to a split. To his right was a paved path, and to his left was a small chamber with strange plants. They looked like the cattails that grew by Lake Hylia, but instead of a sausage (as Link thought of it) on the end, it had a blue, butterfly shaped...thing on the end. He walked into the chamber, and noticed that his boots suddenly felt wet. He looked down to see a puddle of bright blue liquid on the ground. He knelt down to examine it, dipped his finger in it, and tasted it. It was a little tingly, and made him feel the slightest bit rejuvenated. "Interesting…" he said, then stood back up and headed down the other path.

The road was rather smooth and straight. There were a few gaping holes, but he bypassed these by swinging over them with his hookshot. He came to another doorway with a smashed door, but this time it was huge, four times his height at least. Next to it was another round stone. This gave him pause, and he decided to look closer at this one. On in were a bunch of strange, arcane carvings that he couldn't interpret. He looked at it a while longer, then walked out the doorway onto a strange stone balcony on the side of the cliffs. From this closer vantage point he could see that the bundle of lights from earlier was, in fact, a town.

"Yes!" he cried, "I'm saved! Maybe someone there can tell me where I am, and what all this 'Hallownest' stuff is about."