Chapter 2
Upon reaching Dirtmouth, I saw that the town was a straight street with very few houses, just like in the game. And only one resident was in town as of right now, that being the greeter, aka the unnamed elderbug.
"Well, hello there. And what might you be, little one?" he asked, me deciding to lie.
"Uh, I'm a humble bug looking for adventure," I said, lying big time. And the elderbug smirked.
"I see... and I'm assuming that the hair of the wyrms behind you is supposed to mean you are a bug?" he asked, me then realizing... he was right. My hair was a dead giveaway.
"Fine... I'm a wyrm, aka a human. I didn't want to scare anyone by them finding out that I'm someone that bugs hate," I said, him chuckling slightly at that.
"I've been here many years, young one, and I can tell that you are not only young for a wyrm, but you are also one of pure heart... though if I may be so bold to ask a couple questions, what is your name and why are you so small?" he asked, me smiling at that as I decided to just take off my helmet.
"My name is Holly. Holly Nigh. And I'm so small because, for some reason, some kind of orange puss sent me from my house to the outskirts of this town, shrinking me to bug size in the process," I explained, him smirking at that.
"I've heard of that as well... something involving the former king of this land and his beloved wife being the cause of the orange infection. It infects the poor fools who are down underneath the town. So long as you're in the open air, you'll be safe from its influence. Just be careful not to do anything you may regret. I have no clue if the infection can harm wyrms, but it is something to keep in mind if you wish to be daring enough to go down there," he said, me nodding at that.
"I understand your concerns, mister, but I need to get back to normal size and back home. I need to go to college in the morning and I can't be stuck here, you know? Besides, I don't want to wait until this infection spreads above the ground and into the air," I said, him nodding.
"Don't say I didn't warn ya. By the way, you may call me Elder Bo. I'll see you soon, I'm sure," he said, me nodding at him as I then went down below and proceeded to search to the east first, going forward for a bit and shortly finding some different bugs that wanted a piece of my hide. I had to deal with the husks, the crawlers, and some vengeflies, but with my stronger thumb-based style, none of them lasted more than one hit. I collected their goo as I went forward until I then found the first room to the east with a bench, that being the one with the Gruz Mother. She was insanely fat with babies, and after she tried to charge me, I then proceeded to slash at her underbelly as she flew above me, a bunch of the orange puss emerging from her in the process. She then tried to slam the top and bottom of the small room to attack me, which I dodged and then slashed at her some more. And after roughly 19 slashes, I managed to finally slash at her wings to make her fall to the ground, making her dazed long enough for me to plunge the nail into her head, killing her! And shortly after, her babies burst from her body, and I had to kill all of them.
I felt bad about it, but I knew that they were also infected... or I should say that most of them were. I soon saw that one of them was flying next to me and started to gently nuzzle me, not having any red eyes or any infection at all! And even when a bit of orange juice touched it, nothing happened. It just nuzzled next to me while flying and I looked at it in confusion.
"Um... hi little guy/girl. How are you not infected?" I asked, the baby fly then simply landing on my head with a smile.
"Momma... momma shield," the baby said, the voice sounding like a little boy. "You shield... shield from orange. Pwotect me," it said, me smiling at him and nodding.
"Of course, I'll protect you, little one. I think I'll call you... Barry," I smiled, him giggling as he then simply hid himself somewhere where I knew he'd be safe, that being in my black armor, right in my chest area. "Just don't bite me," I smiled.
"Mommy shield," Barry said before he then started to sleep, me smiling at that. Sure, it was weird that a baby enemy was on my person, but he sounded and acted so cute! Almost like a little toddler! I then went forward some more and found something good. I found a charm on the ground called the wayward compass, the godsend of the charms!... Too bad I didn't have a map or a charm notch yet. But then I heard the lovely giggling of Mother Salubra coming from the east. I walked in that direction before knocking on the outside. And that made her stop giggling.
"Who's there?" she asked, me speaking.
"A certain someone that wants to talk... knocking is polite, after all," I said, the mother poking her big head out of the house and looking at my human face with surprise, before gaining a giant smile on her face. "I know, I know, I look weird, right?" I frowned.
"Oh, not at all, little lady. It's been ages since I've seen another Wyrm, let alone one as adorable as you!" she smirked, me being confused.
"You mean you've seen one before?" I asked.
"I used to be a part of a flea circus almost a decade ago. Very fun performing tricks with other bugs for the reward of blood. Then the troupe master died, so we dispersed. I took residence here, since this kingdom was once teeming with life. Then the king dabbled with the forbidden relations of being in love with a Wyrm, which spread her infection to anything and everything... the queen perished before the infection got really bad, and the king disappeared shortly after sealing the infection away... but even then, it still finds cracks to seep out of. Too many adventurers in these walls have succumbed to the infection," Salubra said with a bit of somberness at the end, before then looking at my chest and smiling. "But that's a story for another day. I see you've managed to find a young one. Freshly born, even!"
"His siblings and mother were infected with some orange goop, but even after it touched little Barry here, it didn't harm him at all. Almost as if he's immune," I said, Salubra looking at me before then giving me a small kiss on the face... a very long one. And afterwards, I felt slightly drained, but then saw that she had what looked like a red thing in her abdomen. "Did you just suck my blood?" I asked.
"No, no, I sucked some energy from you. To see what's up with you. And when I did? I now know why the young gruz is immune to the queen's disease. You yourself have immunity to that infection, so it must've rubbed off on the young one shortly after birth!" Salubra smiled, me being surprised at that. "I can also sense you also have a disease of your own, though thankfully, it isn't harmful to our kind. A virus that the wyrms refer to as the common cold," she said, me being surprised at that... before then sneezing out loud out of nowhere and getting a bunch of snot in my nose.
"Oh great... first I get shrunk to the size of a bug, and now I get sick. If it weren't for the fact that I'm immune to this infection, I'd think I'm a bad luck charm," I said, Salubra smirking at that... and then giving me 4 different charm notches!
"Use these with any charms you may find, and you can become stronger. You'll need more strength in order to rid this place of an infection that only you can stop. And don't worry about me, darling. I know how to fight it. It tries to eat away at you and get inside your head, to make you lost in your own desires. I have no such desires, so it's only a meagre annoyance to hear the voice from time to time," she said... and almost as if on cue, I suddenly heard something in my head.
"You want to go home?... Then I can help with that... just let us help you..." the voice said, sounding like a culmination of female voices that were slightly distorted. I then frowned at that and looked at Barry. He looked to be struggling in my chest.
"Bad voice! Bad voice! No want that!" Barry shouted as he then flew out of my chest, and I smiled at how he looked a bit surprised before then looking at me. "Mommy... who bad voice?" he asked, me sighing at the cuteness, but knowing I had to tell him in a way he'd understand.
"The bad voice wants to steal you away from me. To make you want to hurt me. You don't want to hurt your momma, do you?" I asked, him then speaking afterwards.
"No, no want hurt mommy shield! Mommy save me from bad voice! Save more, please!" he said, me looking at Salubra and smiling.
"Then that's just what I'll do, Barry. I'll try to save as many as I can from the bad voices," I said, him smirking at me and then flying into my armor again.
"Would you like a charm for the road, deary? It may help in your travels," Salubra smiled as I saw that she had the charm for collecting the goo like a magnet.
"Yes please," I smiled as she then gave it to me and then poked her head back in her room. "Be a dear and say hi to Sly for me? He's nearby and I know he'd like some company," Salubra smiled, me nodding at her.
"I'll do just that... but first I have to ask, if there might be any food that I could eat around here?" I asked.
"The goo, maybe?" Salubra asked, me looking at it and being disgusted at the look of it. Barry then took a little bit of it and cooed a bit.
"Tastes good, huh?... If I die, you take care of him," I said, Salubra nodding as I then took a bite of it and... was dumbstruck. The taste felt so weird, yet so delicious! Almost like a mixture of chocolate milk and sourdough pretzels! And the texture tasted like donut holes... so weird! "Huh... I'm surprised. Tastes like chocolate milk and pretzels. A conflicting flavor that works well... huh. Didn't think that currency could taste good," I admitted.
"Just don't eat all of it, because you'll need to save a lot to buy certain items," Salubra smiled, me looking down to Sly's house and then back at her.
"Should I let Sly see my face without the mask?" I asked, Salubra smiling at me.
"I'd ditch the mask entirely. It gets rid of your uniqueness, after all. Also, hard to hide all that flowing hair," she said, me smiling.
"Yeah... you're right. I just don't want people to attack me. I already had one person do that," I admitted.
"Then they were unaware of true beauty," Salubra said, me smirking at her.
"Thanks, but I'd rather be with my own species than a bug of any kind... but I'll keep in mind that you think I'm beautiful," I smiled, Salubra giggling at me.
"Fare thee well, young Holly," she said, me looking at her and speaking.
"How'd you learn my name?"
"Your essence told me." I then facepalmed myself shortly after. "Do come back if you find more charms and I'll give you some more notches," she smiled at me, which I nodded at.
"Thanks, and good luck, miss," I smirked.
"The name's Salubra, little one. Good luck, friend," she giggled before then going back into her little hut. I then looked down to the house where Sly could be found and then simply walked over, needing to slay a singular bug husk that was already infected and was looking to be banging on the door to get to the Nail Master. I then spoke to get his attention, as the door was locked.
"Hello? Anyone in there?... Miss Salubra said I should visit you," I said, the door then opening with a small nail coming out with a hat and shaking, much like what Hornet did earlier when I met with her. "I'm not a threat, I promise," I said, him then finally coming out of the house and looking at me and my face in surprise.
"Oh my! A uh... a human, huh?" he asked, me being surprised at that.
"Huh... odd. You're the first bug person that's called me by the name I'm used to, as opposed to calling me a wyrm," I admitted, which made Sly smile.
"Well, it should be obvious as to why, little miss human. I'm a gnat, and though we're very small, we know more about humans than most other bugs, including how they talk and stuff," he said.
"Just wanted to let you know that though I don't harm bugs or want to kill them... uh, how do I put this... when I'm full-sized, me and almost 100 percent of humans hate the kamikaze style of the gnat, always dive-bombing our eyes, mouth, nostrils and ears. Just don't do that with me and I'll be okay," I smirked at him.
"No offense taken. It just depends on the gnat in question. I'm smarter and wiser than most, as my kin are usually near-brain dead, even in the realm where humans thrive," he said, me looking at him in confusion. "Yeah, I didn't understand it at first, but I can tell just from looking at you that you come from a different world where humans are much more common and where bugs are much different than our kind," he said, me being surprised at him saying that.
"You can tell that much?" I asked, him nodding.
"Yes, because that stupid disease keeps talking to me to try and get me to turn. And it's trying to tell me that you are dangerous, but I'm not nearly that dumb. If you really wanted me dead, I'd know by now," he said, me nodding at that. I already was hating that disease.
"Oh, but you will learn to love me. After all... I am your only ticket home," the voice said, me frowning at the voice.
"Lies. Nothing but lies is what its feeding us," I frowned.
"Unfortunately, I don't know why I think this, but I feel that in order for you to go back to your own world, you'll need to defeat the infection from the former queen. Then you'd kill two bugs with one nail. You save the kingdom of Hallownest, you get back home," Sly smiled at me.
"Hopefully you're right. But I just have to try and find out how to save certain other bugs in this place before the infection consumes them... I really don't want them to be hurt if they aren't infected yet," I said.
"Then maybe you could take this to help you out," Sly said as he happened to give me something amazing. The Lunafly Lantern, his most expensive item! I smiled at the kind offer, seeing that Sly looked to be pleased as well. "If you want any more of my wares, come meet me in Dirtmouth. Now that the way is partially cleared, I can go back to set shop up." I simply smiled and gave him a small handshake, him happily sharing it with me.
"I'm very grateful for this gift, Sly," I smiled. And indeed, I was. It meant I could go rescue one of the sweetest and most innocent girls in the entire game. And wouldn't you know, she'd be found just a few rooms close by.