Location: The Abyss
Hollow opened the large door into the Abyss, Ghost trailing close behind him, their sibling still struggling in their grip, making loud, unintelligible sounds. Whatever the Pale King did to them would have to be reversed. As they entered the Abyss, the Shade Lord rose to greet them.
"You have returned" The Lord of Shades said in an enthusiastic tone And you have brought one of your siblings with you, hmmm... weren't there 5?"
Hollow Spoke up "We only saw three, but they got away, if we pursued, we wouldn't have captured any"
The Lord of Shades nodded with an understanding tone, it was better to get one child of the abyss, then none. The Shade Lord turned his attention to the sibling in Hollow's tendrils, their struggling having ceased when they saw the massive creature before them.
"Hmm, this one is different" The Shade Lord observed in a concerned tone, what happened to his poor sweet child.
Ghost spoke up this time "We no know what happened to them, but they wear white like the King, and speak with their face instead of through void."
"We also have no idea what they are saying, whatever it is, it isn't in a tongue I have ever heard before" Hollow added
The Lord of Shades slowly took the small sibling from Hollow, which caused a renewed round of kicking and screaming. However, the Shade Lord wasn't deterred, and no amount of resistance would stop him from helping his children. The Shade Lord took time examining them, he didn't want to remove the white clothing, out of fear that it may be something akin to a vessel shell, and he didn't know how to safely remove it.
The Lord paused, some new signals were coming off the sibling, it was coming from their soul. They were much fainter than the void, but they were still there. The Shade Lord was shocked at what he saw. This sibling's soul wasn't pure void, not by a long shot, in fact void appeared to only be a small part of their soul.
Their soul was equally made up of void, essence, soul, and even nightmare flames. They all appeared to be in equilibrium with one another, none winning over the other, it was a chaotic but strangely stable soul. Now the Lord was pissed, who would dare dilute their children so much, oh this had to be fixed immediately. First, the Lord had to find a way to communicate with this child, so he took a small dive into their mind, nothing too invasive, that would have been rude.
They found that they were a she, and she spoke a language known as English, an interesting name. The Lord looked at this….. Julia, as she called herself, who appeared to be in a state of shock, well, now is as good a time as any for first impressions. If Julia stayed here any longer, the panic would increase as she doesn't know that this is her home, and where she belongs.
PoV: Julia
HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT that thing was massive, and it was holding her in the palm of it's hand. Julia was frozen in fright, which was only amplified by her mind feeling like something that felt icy, and dark…. Somehow wormed its way in. Julia was once more shocked when the thing spoke to her.
"Hello Julia, my child, I have many things I would like to discuss" The words from the massive creature before her startled and confused her.
"What… what do you mean my child, how do you know my name, what are you, who are you-" Julia was stopped by the Shade Lord putting a massive finger on her lips.
"Shhh child, as for your first question, why wouldn't I call you that, all things of void are my children, and you need help, I am not certain what has happened to you, but trust I will fix it"
As the Shade Lord explained, Julia got more and more confused, first of all, what in the mother of fuck was void? Second, what happened to her? What was this self proclaimed Lord of Shades on about.
It was here that Julia noticed a bunch of black figures started appearing around them, they seemed to come from below, as well as a bunch of small versions of the thing that just kidnapped her were climbing up to them.
"As for your second question, I took it from your mind, a rather strange name I must admit, and I may change it later, just so yo-"
"Im sorry, YOU WHAT!" Julia went from scared, to mad, how dare this thing look into her head, the most private of places. Then she remembered that this thing could crush her in the palm of it's hand, and mentally kicked herself for the outburst.
"Yes…. I had to know the way you spoke, or communicating with you would be near impossible, now for who I am, I am the Lord of Shades, though don't think of me like that, more of your parent"
"I'm a grown ass woman" Julia muttered, she was not enjoying being belittled.
"Number one, language, number two, how old are you, miss, grown woman" The Shade Lord said in the way a smug dad would.
"226 technically" Julia half seriously half jokingly said, this appeared to have surprised the Shade Lord
"226?... Ha ha ha ha ha, funny, though that would make you even older than I am, which… is highly unlikely"
"It wasn't a lie, oh self proclaimed Lord of Shades" Julia was confident enough in her own safety judging by how the thing acted like a dad, to be a bit snarky.
"Alright.. If you are really that old, tell me, when was the battle of blackwyrm" The Lord seemed cautiously optimistic. Though, during the pause he did transmit Julia's tongue to the other vessels so they could understand and speak with her.
"I am sorry, I don't know what that is, I was in stasis for 200 years and-" The Lord Shushed her again.
"Look, my child, judging by the condition of your soul, it is clear you have been through a traumatic experience, and your mind is looking for ways to rationalize some terrible truth. I will work on a way to fix you, but in the meantime, why don't you play with your siblings, they have been excited to meet you"
As if on cue, a small three horned 'void' creature smaller then the one that kidnapped her, but larger than it's accomplice hopped on to the Lord's hand. The Lord himself giving a joyful look to the admittedly cute thing.
"Hello siblin- I mean Julia" It corrected itself, and appeared to get embarrassed at it's mistake
"Uhh, uhm, my name is Lost, cause of that time I got lost in the ancient basin…." Lost put his hands to his face, and let out an embarrassed groan.
"I uhhh, wanted to know if we could play"
Julia was silent, she didn't know what to say, the thing was cute as hell, but they didn't seem to understand that they were not in fact siblings.
"Uhhh…. Listen…. Lost, you seem nice, and im sure your a really good kid" Lost seemed to perk up at that
"But… How do I put this? I don't think im your sibling… not that I dislike you-" Lost cut Julia off again
"Lord was right… you need our help, how could you forget that you have siblings?" Lost was angery, what did that pale king do to this poor vessel, she didn't even know who her family was! Lost's anger for the Pale King raised exponentially.
"I was an only child… ki- uhm, Lost" Julia tripped over her words a bit and Lost looked back confused, in fact, every void creature looked at her with a hint of confusion, Shade Lord included, along with the two that kidnapped her.
How could she be an only child? Did she not notice her siblings surrounding her?
"I must go now and think of a solution, but Julia, you are never alone, you aren't an only child, and the ones who put these ideas in your head are going to pay… mark my words"
The Lord was trying to sound reassuring, but to Julia, it was intimidating.
The Lord Turned to Hollow and Ghost and mentally whispered "Make sure she doesn't leave, I don't want her hurting herself more" Ghost and Hollow nodded, they would make sure Julia was safe, including from herself.
Shit Shit Shit shit shit shit shit shit, Julia was internally panicking, at least the Lord was gone for now, as it appeared to melt into a black pool, but now thousands of these void things were watching her. They looked at her like she was a mentally deranged mental asylum patient.
Julia began thinking to herself "Ok Julia, you need to get out of here, but you also need to slip past the literally thousands of void creatures that will probably try and stop your escape" Julia began formulating a plan, what if she were to start the game of hide and seek? She could force all the void creatures to scatter into areas far away from her, and with them gone, she could escape. It was crazy but it just might work.
"Hey, uhhhh…. Siblings!" The Void creatures came closer, and uttered in unison
"Yes?" It caused a slight ringing in her ears, but she pressed on
"Why don't we play a game of hide and seek? I seek you hide" She yelled praying to what ever god was out there that this worked.
Thankfully for her, it did, with vessels chanting excitedly and happy that their new sibling was finally accepting them.
"Ok, Ill cover my eyes and give you all to the count of ten, ready? 1… 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6.. 7.. 8.. 9.. 10" When Julia opened her eyes the void creatures were gone, she smirked to herself, it was much easier than she thought it would be.
She jumped over to where the big metal door was, it was slightly ajar, she made the opening a bit larger and tried to squeeze out.
Suddenly a black mist appeared behind her and Hollow jumped out of it, grabbing their sibling around the waist and pulling her back.
"NO!" Julia yelled, her chance at escape dashed before her eyes, her struggling against the void creature would prove futile.
"Leaving the Abyss is dangerous… I do not want you to get hurt, sibling" Julia began crying, she felt as though she lost control of the situation. What more could she tell these things? She clearly wasn't one of their siblings, yet no matter what, they just revert to claiming that she in fact is. It was just too much for her.
Hollow rubbed her back, humming a soothing toon, many of the other vessels began coming out of hiding to support their sad sibling. Hugging her, patting her, singing to her, they tried everything, and they will try harder to make her feel better. What they didn't know was that they were the reason for her tears.