The Radiance knew a fight was coming. At this point, it was obviously inevitable. The fate of all vessels drawn to return to Hallownest was to face their greater sibling or fall in the attempt. Not one of the dozens which made the trek had ever even reached their goal. And yet, this time was different. The most recent of the Pale Light's creations was preparing. The manner in which this unique vessel is preparing is evidence in itself of a mind, a will, consciousness. They were drawn by instinct, but they continue to act beyond it. While she certainly did delight in realizing that yet another of the Pale Light's creations was a failure and that his tortuous sacrifice once again was not at all what he intended, that feeling was gone. This new vessel was the most powerful by far. It could use the instinct to replace their greater sibling as a driving force. It is motivated. It uses the better parts of being both mindless and mindful. It can utilize the unending motivation and strength brought on by pure instinct, and the reasoning and problem-solving skills of pure thought. If she believed in prophecy, then this would be the vessel to end her and the revenge she wrought upon a dead kingdom.
The Radiance is not mindless, she is proud of this fact. Everything she has ever done has been driven, perhaps by cold rage, but never by fear. She reasons with herself, "The spike of doubt driven into my being is misplaced, it must be. Despite the vessel's obvious ability, it cannot reach me. There is no reason to fear. Given the absolute worst, it can only replace my current prison. All other routes to me are closed, and it cannot comprehend how to open those paths. And should it succeed in defeating the Pale Light's most precious creation, then I can break its mind with far greater haste than its barely conscious greater and pass this obstacle. What is a maggot to the ground it crawls miserably upon?"
And so, she watched.
And she waited.
She watched and waited as the vessel continued its forsaken quest. There was little else to do. Her influence continued to expand as she observed through the eyes of her husks the world the vessel traversed. It continued on, refining itself. It refined its blade from a crumbling piece of scrap to a fine point, sharp enough to pierce a god. It refined its strength from nothing to a shriek so loud it could pierce dream itself. It refined its walk to a dash that could phase through anything like the night itself. And most importantly, it refined the Dream Nail to its awoken state.
The Dream Nail being passed onto the vessel stung like blades in her eyes. The last of her creations, passing on the final heirloom of her people to be the blade to strike The Radiance down? It was a grievous insult. Despite the pain aching her soul from such a betrayal, she did not feel rage subsume her. She could easily reclaim it once her grand plan achieved fruition. However, the passing of the Dream Nail reignited the emotion she had reasoned away.
The Radiance felt a twinge of fear. The Dream Nail was many things, a powerful tool. It could harness the old energy of dreams. It could peer into the minds of those it struck. It could even harness soul for the user. Some of the moths of old even theorized that it could be used to teach young grubs at an accelerated pace. The only thing preventing it from being used widely as such among her moths was the fact that its use was imperceptible to all but the most mentally fortified individuals, requiring years upon years of training just to even be aware that someone was peering into their mind. Few mortal beings ever achieved this.
But beyond all that, and the most critical threat to her, it could bring its user into the dream realm. It could be the key to reach The Radiance. However, she once again reasoned with herself, "There is still no reason to cower away. In spite of this development, I am secure. I will move my husks to work harder, and those ancient crossroads are now fully within my influence. My power grows with theirs; they cannot hope to meet it. They cannot hope for anything. All that must be done to ensure safety is to continue as before. There is no great threat here. What use is a key if there is no lock to insert it within?"
And so, the chase continued. The vessel moved towards its final goal of defeating the Radiance, gathering tools, materials, charms, and even the Sentinel-Princess as an ally. All who were aware of the unfolding journey could see it coming to a close. The vessel was wrapping up its final preparations. It was scrounging for a few scraps of geo to purchase some charm from a vendor in the crossroads, pouring through the edges of the world in the old waterways. There was some irony that the final pieces to save the old kingdom were to be found by scrounging through its refuse. And while digging through those old passages, the vessel found something.
In the furthest reaches of the waterways was a place where the strangest pieces of garbage collected. There were chests of wealth thrown in with scraps of rock. There were ornate decorations which once must have cost a limb or two. There were shreds of silken tapestries. The best and the worst of the world all churned together and left to rot. The junk pit was the final destination of everything born of Hallownest. And evidently, the same might be said of the vessel. For within the junk pit, the vessel found something.
The Junk Pit is the final resting ground for many things, despite that, it is still strange to find a coffin standing near the back wall of the pit. It might once have been beautiful, an ornate bronze. It was built with carvings like those of a beetle's elytra. At the center of the cover was a mask, marked and indented into the front. Two large round eyes, with the edges curving up into the pattern of the surrounding carvings, seeming to form a temple at its peak. Truly, this coffin was a masterwork, even as the ages have taken their toll upon it. No shine in the metal nor finer detail remained. However, something strange crisscrossed upon it.
Chains bound it closed, with a heavy lock upon them. The vessel gazed upon them slowly. These chains were obviously not placed on the coffin when it was made. They lacked any of the intricate detail that was a hallmark of the rest of it. The lock at its center was rather plain and simple. Nothing impenetrable from the outside, but it could certainly hold the lid shut. The vessel was supposed to lack a mind, and yet something compelled them to search deeper within.
They rummaged through their possessions yet could not produce a key to crack it with. After searching the junk pit for the lock's match and coming up with nothing, they resolved to come back to this find. Drawing forth the dream nail, the vessel plunged it into the ground. A circle of golden sparks and essence flowed outwards, creating a ring of power. With the dream gate established, they trotted off to search for a key.
The Radiance does not feel panic. However, it would be accurate to say that she experienced fearful realization. Though the vessel does not know it yet, but the coffin they had discovered is the silver nail to a beast's heart. While the Radiance had certainly never paid even the slightest thought to the Godseekers, she understood what they were and could do. Their residence in Godhome and the challenges the wrought could bring allow eligible beings to ascend to Godhood. And in spite of the fact that this vessel is a wretched abomination and an afront to nature, its lineage descends from three separate deities. If anything can ascend, it can.
And so, she began to plan out how to respond to this new threat, "The threat this upstart vessel grows every moment, they are at the precipice of discovering the only way to reach me. I should have driven those bastard Godseekers from my realm when I was at my prime! But it is better not to dwell upon the failures of the past and to instead look for what must be done to ensure the future. I must snuff out this being before they can open that blasted box. And yet I cannot attack them directly and they continue to make shreds of my followers. For all that it can do, the Realm of Dreams can only barely scrape the surface of the Physical Realm. The fact that I even was able to find the vessel's discovery was a stroke of luck in itself, the only thing allowing my notice being one of those stray Funglings meandering through. And yet, my luck appears to be wearing thin. Once they return through their… … It cannot be that simple? Though I cannot strike at them while they traverse a dream gate, they merely skim through the Dream Realm, would I be able to blow them off course? A surge of essence would overpower the dream gate, the entrance and exit becoming blurry and undefinable while the power flows through them. I would have to truly focus as much energy as possible to blast them as far away as possible. If they land in Hallownest and realize that the gates are at my whim, they would no longer utilize them, not a necessity but a convenience. I have but one chance to ensure eternal victory over the Pale Light."
And so, with a plan in place, The Radiance waited. The vessel journeyed onward, her tracking its every move through the eyes of those who were in her sway. It exited the waterways and made its way throughout the City of Tears. For hours, every moment an age to the watching deity, the vessel overturned each and any stone. Rooting around in the hope of finding a needle in a moss pile. Eventually, as it seemed about to move on to the Kingdom's Edge, something caught the vessel's attention.
Just barely shining with moisture upon it, a key lay in a pile of rubble. This is exactly what it needed. They stared at it for the briefest of moments before pocketing it and exiting the building. It stared up at the ceiling of the great cavern, water pooling in its eyes. Then, it drew the Dream Nail and began to call to the dream gate.
The Radiance observed through a winged sentry perched high above. This was now her time to strike. The vessel entered the Dream Realm, beginning to skim along to its destination back in the junk pit. Her thoughts slowed, her concentration peaked, every husk in all of Hallownest slowed as her influence briefly receded everywhere. All her power and might was focused into one path at the surface of the Dream Realm. Like a colossal wave, massive amounts of energy focused into one spot. Anything based upon the power of dreams was perfected, beyond any limits previously known. Exactly what the Radiance wanted. Like an invisible wall, the dream currently transporting the vessel was boosted and its destination blurred away. All throughout the Dream Realm, a deafening sound between a crack and tear occurred.
The Vessel was perplexed, as much as they could be. Typically, a trip through a dream gate was a brief and boring journey. However, something strange had occurred this time. As they were moving, it felt as though the world had turned on its side, a great lurch forcing them to the side a great way. Then, everything suddenly shone far brighter than anything they had seen before. Utilizing a dream gate is like floating through a tunnel made of golden essence. However, something changed this time. However, before they could think about the cause of this difference, the vessel suddenly was dragged forward at immense speed, as if they had taken off with the crystal heart. They traveled for ages, riding a wave of dream essence. Suddenly, they saw the darkness denoting the end of the tunnel they were traveling through. They rocketed forward and then suddenly stopped. It was strange, they did not land upon the floor in front of that strange coffin.
They could not tell where they were actually, because they were no longer in a cave. They could not even tell if they were in Hallownest, for they were far above the ground. Instead of being deposited at the foot of the coffin, they were spit out by the dream gate far, far into the sky. The air was crisp and cool, far different from the decaying stench that plagued the waterways and the junk pit especially. As they began to fall, they soared downwards through enormous clouds. Powerful gusts of wind bullied them around, occasionally even stalling their fall for a moment. Chunks of ice fell with them, receiving the same battering as the vessel. Frequently, loud cracks and distant booms would fill the air, leaving the vessel defeaned for an instant each time. These loud sounds were always accompanied by strikes of light across the sky, forking out in every direction to flow from one area of the clouds to another. They could feel the powerful charge in the air that these lights carried, they were not dissimilar to those charged lumaflies that could be found in the archives. It was a stroke of luck that none came near enough to scorch the vessel. Eventually, the vessel had reached the bottom of the massive storm and fell through. They could see the ground far below, quickly rushing up to meet them. The vessel braced themselves for impact.
A small explosion kicked up swamp matter. A nearby pair of cranes flew off, startled. Something big in the water turned away and swam into the inky night. The vessel slowly gathered themselves and dug their way out of the small crater they had created. Falls never hurt them, but the mud had pulled them in and nearly entombed them with their impact. As they pulled themselves together, the line of storms passed. The clouds parted enough for light to shine down from above. A cool steam filled the air and many bugs in the reeds buzzed loudly.
The vessel gazed at their environment, the light from a large disk in the sky illuminated their surroundings. Mud, water, and plant life stretched in all directions, seemingly to infinity. The terrain was beyond just unfamiliar, it was alien to anything in either Hallownest or the wastes beyond. The Vessel found themselves in a new world.