Chapter 6
It didn't take long to find the Stag Station, which I then used some of the Geo we'd collected to get the bell to show up, me then ringing it. And after this, we only waited 10 seconds until the stag steed came through, which made Hornet gawk at him.
"Oh my word... Oleander?!" she asked, me smirking at how he had a name. And the old stag looked at Hornet with a smile.
"It's been far too long, young Hornet... and why are you so far away from your roots?" he asked.
"I forge my own path. I know how to kill the Radiance at its source, and we need to restock on supplies before going further. Can you take us back to town, by chance?" Hornet asked.
"I can do that easily. And who's this young wyrm? She looks quite small for a wyrm," he said, me knowing he had to know something about me.
"I'm uh.. Holly. Holly Nigh. You might know my mother, Aria," I said, him then gasping at that.
"You're the former princess of these lands?! The last I'd seen you, you were just a wee baby. And back then, you were more bug than human," he said, me being surprised at that.
"Huh... how could that be, though? Did I have a bug-like look before I went to school or something?" I asked.
"I saw you myself, and you had a carapace, but only on your face. And you molted at least once before you went missing. And when you molted, you looked more like what a human would, but only slightly," Hornet said, me blushing at that.
"Yet you were more than willing to attack me when we first met... that must mean you didn't recognize me until I said my name, right?" I asked, her nodding at me.
"You look a lot different now than back then. But enough of that, would you like to go to Dirtmouth and restock on supplies? It's been a while since I've been there, so seeing a familiar place will be good for these old eyes," Oleander said, me smirking at that as we then hopped on his back and Zote sat in between myself and Hornet, the females of the group.
"A slightly uncomfortable seating, but not the most uncomfortable I've ever had. The worst was when I accidentally slept on a rock with a gem as my pillow," Zote admitted as the trip only took 2 minutes until we reached the station in Dirtmouth, us then disembarking, getting a lift on the elevator, and opening the door to let us out in town, me then noting that Myla's place was, indeed, right next to the bench, with Sly's place right next door. Different design than in the game, but I'll let it slide, since this wasn't a game now. It was my original home. I then had us go to Myla's house, where we saw that she was sitting on a chair and looked to be writing things into a journal... or trying to.
"Oogh... bury my mother pale in... smite? No, no! Ugh... those stupid voices... even though they're gone, now I can't remember the song!" Myla said as I also saw that there were some crumpled bits of paper on the ground as well.
"Myla?" I asked, her then jumping in surprise and holding her pick in a combat form before she saw me and recognized my voice.
"O-Oh, s-sorry Holly... please don't s-sneak up on me like that," she said, me smirking and nodding at her as she then noted my extra team members. "Oh, who are your new friends?"
"This is Magga, my trusty Mace Knight. Hornet, the Knight of Deepnest. And Zote, who is the Knight of Life Ender," I smirked.
"How did you know I come from Deepnest?" Hornet asked.
"And what is this Deepnest?" Myla asked with a tilted head... which meant that most of her body tilted.
"Ahem... as its name suggests, it's very deep in the kingdom. It is the one that's gone into some of the most ruin, with the disease corrupting the bugs to be some of the creepiest and scariest to fight. Skincrawlers, giant Garpedes, and this one dangerous foe, my father, Nosk," she said, me being surprised that Nosk was considered her father, considering he was by far one of the biggest surprise fights in the game... while also being one of the easiest, minus the freaky winged form that was exclusive to the Pantheon.
"And how did you know about Deepnest?" Myla asked me.
"Well... because this used to be my home, apparently," I said... as I then remembered something. That, when I was an infant, my mother showed me Deepnest as an example of where NOT to go, just because the bugs there were former convicts of the kingdom, and they could kill me if they wanted to.
"Wait... you used to live here? But then... w-what do you mean by that?" Myla asked.
"My mother... she was the former queen," I said, Myla gasping at that. "But here's the thing. The source of the disease isn't a wyrm, nor is it my mother... but it was caused by her, even if inadvertently. See, she married the king of this land, who was a bug. And the result was me, meaning I'm a princess... but the source of the disease, a goddess of bugs called the Radiance, was seeking wrath on this land because she forbids wyrms and bugs to be together in romance, let alone have children. So, my mom somehow took me and her to a different dimension... the rest is history," I said, Myla nodding at that.
"Wow... s-so cool... I'm talking to a princess right now!" Myla smiled widely.
"So... what do you know about Deepnest, Holly?" Hornet asked.
"That, before I was sent away, it was seen as dangerous even then. It was where former criminals were sent to. Mom took me there when I was 9 months old to show me one of the areas I should never go to," she said, Hornet sighing at me.
"You're not wrong... I hate that," she said in defeat.
"Have you been hearing the voices lately, Myla? Or did my breath do the trick?" I asked.
"Oh! Ever since then, the voices have all but vanished!... But then I forgot about the song that my mother sung to me... I can only remember part of the first verse, and that's it!" she said, me sighing at that.
"All I can give you a hint to is this. The song in question is related to the tale of the Pale King and the Wyrm Queen... because my mother is actually partially blind," I said, her being confused before then gasping.
"That's it!
~ Bury my mother, pale in sight!
Bury my father, his eyes shut tight!
Bury my sisters, two by two!
And when you're all done, let's bury me too! ~
...
Wait a minute! You have sisters?!" she asked after, me sighing and nodding.
"Yes... and each one was made after my mother took me away, for fear of the Radiance's wrath. They were born with no soul, no mouth, and no emotion. Thousands of failed attempts were discarded and thrown away while one was chosen to contain the Radiance in a seal... but as we can clearly see by this ruined kingdom, it backfired," I frowned. Myla then gulped and looked at my frown as I simply hung my head.
"Oh my... that's terrible... how could someone make a song based on that?" Myla asked.
"To warn people, most likely. A lot of similar songs in my world do the same thing. This one song, Ring Around the Rosie, talks about a plague where people couldn't stop it and just dropped like flies... er, no offense," I said, Myla sighing at that.
"You really should choose your words carefully. That wasn't a good analogy," she frowned.
"Sorry... can you blame me? I'm used to coercing with other wyrms. It's kind of an otherworldly experience, pun intended, to be the same size as and talking to bugs," I said, her nodding at me.
"Still, I found something on the way back I think you might like," she smirked as she handed me something surprising. It was a heart that looked to be made of crystal. It didn't take a genius to know what it was, so I simply took it... and when it connected to my hand, it then was sent directly into my chest! "WHAT?! Where'd it go?!" she asked as I felt it conjoining to my heart and I felt... stronger. Stronger and faster.
"I think it was the fabled Crystal Heart!" said a voice I was surprised to hear as Sly appeared from behind us.
"Crystal Heart?" Zote asked.
"What's that?" Magga asked.
"A fabled heart that used to belong to a wyrm that loved jewels. Her death resulted in the nearby cliffs of the kingdom to be turned into gemstones," Sly said.
"And you know about it how?" I asked.
"I've studied these lands for years before moving in, and that was before the kingdom fell to ruin. Nearly everyone who was a shopkeeper jumped ship, but I stayed... since I have some allies down below," he said, before sighing.
"Who are they?" I asked him.
"Their names are Oro, Sheo, and Mato. They are Nailmasters that study day and knight perfecting Nail Arts... they live in the lower parts of the Hollow Nest... could I ask if you could try to find them on your travels and see how they're fairing?" he asked, me smirking and nodding at the little gnat.
"Gotcha, I promise I can do that. And hey, maybe I could learn something from a master of the nail. Especially with my dextrous thumbs," I smiled, which made him nod at me.
"Speaking of, did you come here to visit my wares?" he asked, me nodding as we then went to his shop, and we saw that it was very full of items and that only a few would interest me.
"Which items interest you, per chance?" he asked as I felt my instincts point to three things. The Stalwart Shell, the Simple Key, and the Vessel Fragment, me having enough Goo for all of them from the bugs we'd been defeating. And when we did so, I still had enough to add up to 100 Goo, which made me smirk. Sure, it was weird saying Goo instead of Geo like I was used to, but it was probably some kind of mistranslation by whoever made the game.
"I wish you good luck down there," Sly said, me nodding as we then left and only when on the back of Oleander, we started to converse again.
"So... do you recall anything else during your short time here? Or is the part of you being in Deepnest the only one so far?" Hornet asked me, me then thinking for a good long while... before I did recall one thing. The voice of the Pale King, which sounded a lot like what my mom said he sounded like. Strong, yet calm, with a bit of a gruffness to show how strong he was.
"I... can remember the king... my dad... his voice. I remember something he said to me. 'You are destined for great things, little Holly. One day, you will rule this kingdom with fairness and grace.' I can't place when I heard that, but I remember he said that to me when I was still younger than a year old..." I said, Zote smirking at me before speaking.
"I feel bad for you, Master Holly. You barely have any memories of your time spent in this kingdom when it was at peace..." Zote said, me sighing at his notion.
"I know, and I hope to ask my mother intently why she never told me... and if we could live in this world again... I'm sure that, if the Radiance can be defeated, we can also save all the citizens that have been infected by it," I said, Hornet sighing at my words.
"But to do that, we'll need to weaken the seals that were made to further seal off the Radiance... and that means we'll need to slay my mother," Hornet said, me frowning at her.
"We don't have to slay her, Hornet. There's another way," I said, which made her confused.
"How do we unseal it while not killing her?" she asked.
"It's not easy to explain... but I know of a person that should live out to the eastern end of the Forgotten Crossroads, only accessible from the tram or by going through the crystal mountains. We don't have anything to work the trams as of right now, so we'll need to resort to going through the crystal mountains to reach him. And before we do that, we'll need an upgrade in the form of a special spell that can break through thin layers of dirt called the Desolate Dive," I said, that making Magga light up a bit.
"I believe I've heard of a bug that knew of that trick! It lived in the King's Station, down in the Royal City!" he said happily.
"But to get there, we'll need to go back to Greenpath and then move through the Fog Canyon and through the Fungal Wastes before we can reach the City of Tears. And it's in that city that-" I was about to say... before I got a flash of a memory return to me. "It... was in that city... where I had my first birthday... it was also when I first noticed what I called an 'orange bubble'..." I sighed, which made Hornet surprised.
"You remembered something like that?... Maybe you could remember how you went to the other dimension with the queen in the future?" she asked, me sighing at that.
"Ahem... maybe... but that's where we'll also find the bug in question that knows the Desolate Dive," I said with a frown. Mainly because the voice of the Radiance spoke to me again.
"Listen to me, you will perish, one way or another. If not by my infection, then by those I control. This kingdom will pay the price!" the Radiance said in my head, me frowning at how the voice sounded an awful lot like a stuck-up rich girl. "I HEARD THAT!"
"Why'd you just wince, Master Holly?" Zote asked me.
"Because the Radiance spoke to me again. And she's FINALLY cut the act. She's now saying that I'm going to perish, and this kingdom will pay the price. And when I thought of how she sounded like a stuck-up snobby rich girl, she shouted "I HEARD THAT" in my head. So yeah, we need to beat her at her own game and she's going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at us," I said with a frown. And what was the first question after?
"What's a kitchen sink?" Oleander asked. I then simply looked at Hornet with seriousness.
"Hornet? Can you take your hand and slap me in the face? I'm tired of doing it to myself all the time," I frowned, her nodding and doing so, which stung a lot, but I did ask for it.
"I'm assuming it is something you're used to, isn't it?" Magga asked.
"A device that can provide clean, running water with a single twist of a nob. A necessity for human society," I said.
"I think I can remember we were going to try and make plumbing back in the day... but then the Radiance showed up," Hornet frowned.
"Well, at least now I know it could happen... reminder, when I defeat the radiance, bring tons of water supplies to assist in rebuilding the kingdom. First order of business, make plumbing," I said, her nodding at me as we then finally reached the Greenpath. "Thanks for the ride, Oleander," I said as we got off of him and he nodded at me.
"Keep in mind to activate the other Stag Stations, young princess. If we can activate the lot of them, I may be able to remember where the Stag Nest is. It's been ages since I've found it on my lonesome, you see," he said, me nodding as we then proceeded due east.
"According to the map, we need to descend downwards to reach the Fog Canyon, then proceed due east towards the City of Tears," Magga said.
"Let's go, then. And hopefully we won't get any more visits in our heads," I said. We had quite a long road ahead and we needed to complete the game wholly while saving as many innocents as I could... I was NOT going to let any of the good people of this world get killed and I would try to avoid killing the infected as much as possible.