"Vessel, " the Pale King, his child snapping to attention as they walked through the eternal crossroads, a mob of guards and retainers surrounding the two, "What shall I call you now that your original purpose is void?" he asked, internally laughing at his accidental joke.
The 'hollow' knight pondered for a moment, before looking up at him and just staring, seeming to realize something.
"What? Oh… can you write?" the king inquired, handing them paper and a quill.
"Learned from watch you write. My old name was purpose, new name should be new purpose." they wrote back.
"What is your current purpose then?" he asked, and at that they seemed to think frantically.
"Don't know. Failed old purpose, made everyone leave and feel sorrowful, failed, what do now?"
"Ves—child, please don't blame yourself for not being hollow, you cannot control that." the king quietly reassured, "Honestly, I do not know why I thought could create something both living and hollow, and feel terrible guilt for the attempts I made and threw away."
"Will throw me away?" they questioned.
"No! Just because you could not achieve your old goal does not you cannot find a new one." he told them.
"But then what is new purpose? New goal?" they inquired once more.
The kings mind pondered what their name should be as they continued marching up through Hallownest. Pure? Shade? Soul?
"Wander." he stated, "You're wandering into the wastelands with us and discovering yourself."
"Wander!" they wrote in enthusiastic agreement.
"They look so happy, is that their new name?" Monomon giggled.
"Yes. Greetings Monomon. So you and your assistant finally caught up to the rest of us." he said.
"It's hard when you have to convince each other to not take all of the tablets and scrolls in the Archive with you." she joked.
"Hey, it was mostly you that wanted to do that!" Quirrel yelled, somewhere behind them.
Even though they haven't encountered any real threats, Dryya still felt on edge.
Maybe it was because it's been so easy, the infected that threatened her group so far had been easy to wipe out.
Speaking of said group, she still thought they were lucky that the low number of guards had managed to protect everyone thus far. It was just her, the White Lady, a large number of civilians, and a single group of city guards.
At least in Deepnest she knew what was putting her so on edge, but here in the Eternal Crossroads, she had no idea.
And she heard it, a scythe blade spinning through the air behind her.
She whipped around and lunged below the projectile, spotting the mantis traitor that had thrown it, its eyes brimming with infection.
As she dashed forward to the other side of the projectile, she leaped and then slammed her lance down into the traitors face before it could strike back. "Attackers! Run!" she screeched as she withdrew her lance, the mantis falling limp to the ground.
She scanned the room, there were a total of 3 other infected mantises that had jumped out from the tunnels around them, and she could hear the tremendous foot falls of something else, most likely the Traitor Lord himself.
Glancing behind her, she saw the guards were forming a rough wall behind the group fleeing towards the chain which led to the town above.
Looking towards her, one of them then screamed "Watch out!"
She spun around, sending a punch square to the chest of the traitor rising their claws behind her. As she drew back her lance to finish the stunned mantis, she heard something slam onto the ground near her, the Traitor Lord himself.
As a traitor fell dead again, the remaining two weaker mantises rushed towards the city guards.
One of the traitors drew close, lunging forward with a flurry of blows in the hopes that a few of them would hit. The second leaped far above them, slamming their claws down and
unfortunately hitting one of the guards, shattering the shell of their head.
As one guard fell, another threw his spear forward through the mantises body; Although it hit, the mantis still landed on its feet and lunged forward, claws outstretched, before being swiftly met with another spear strike.
Then, the Traitor Lord charged forward, launching Dryya to the side and rising his claws above some of the city guards.
As Dryya clumsily fell to the ground, pain overwhelming her body, she looked towards the Traitor Lord, preparing to stab him from the side before he could complete his attack.
One guard quickly plunged his spear into the last weaker traitors head before he, along with several others were thrown across the chamber from the weight of the lords claws.
In the lords charge and attack, although it was successful, he hadn't realized it would give Dryya ample time to get behind him and impale his back.
Stomping back around, the lord prepared to smash his claws down onto a Dryya far too close to him.
Just as she prepared to leap away, she realized just how much her legs had been damaged from the earlier impact with the ground. And she realized with sinking dread that she couldn't run fast enough.
And then that dread cleared when she saw a metallic blur fly towards the mantis, a enormous needle that impaled it. But, even struggling to stand up, much less attack, the mantis still stood as razor sharp threads erupting around him, digging into shell.
"End him!" she heard the beast queen of Deepnest roar from further down the tunnel.
She didn't need to told twice, and with the last of her strength slammed her lance into the Traitor Lords face, finally ending the battle as he fell to the ground.
"How should we organize the group? Would there be scouting groups, a group that keeps watch as everyone else sleeps, maybe a group that tests different foods to check if they're safe to eat? There's so many possibilities!" Monomon questioned excitedly, continuing to list off more and more ideas.
"Monomon, I ask that you calm down, although those are certainly good questions." the king noted.
"We might as well figure it out now, since we're waiting for the others anyway." Monomon said, a knot forming in the kings stomach as she mentioned why they were still waiting.
"I'm still rather concerned about them, the other portion of Hallownest and Deepnest should be here by now. We shall send scouts." the Pale King stated.
"Good idea. I suppose just the cartographer and a guard or two should work." Monomon replied.
"They could very well be late due to an attack Monomon! Just a guard or two is not enough." the king shouted.
"Sire, someone's climbing up the chain leading into Dirtmouth!" a guard notified.
"Who comes up, Herrah, white?" he called out as the chain rattled.
"Both." he heard a guard yell as one by one, the guards flew out, two carrying their wounded fellow guard.
"We were attacked by infected mantises your majesty, they have all been put to rest, but Brom here and Dryya have been severely injured." they told him.
"Healers!" he called, "Yes, your majesty." they replied as they ran to the injured guard.
Soon the chain shuddered as white roots wrapped around the well, pulling the queen and the stoic knight held in her roots upward.
"White! Good to see you, how injured is Dryya?" he greeted.
"I'm fine…" Dryya stated, the adrenaline not having worn off quite yet.
"Your legs are half broken, but do not fret, we can go without an active knight for a while." the queen reminded as the chain rattled again.
The tunnel up to Dirtmouth filled with the sounds of a shaking chain, the pitter patter of many legs against the walls, and the shouts of nobles demanding to go up first.
Then the chain swayed one last time as the queen of Deepnest climbed onto the surface, tiny spider in her arms and massive needle on her back.
"Everyone, is anyone currently missing or unaccounted for?" the Pale King questioned.
Vespa surveyed her bees from above the charm used to anchor her spirit, seeing that all were accounted for.
Herrah too counted her subjects, her Weaverlings, midwife, her daughter, and a few others.
And the king counted his as well; the city guards all seemed to be here along with the nobles and workers, Ogrim and Dryya were here, although the other great knights were missing or unfortunately lost, Lurien and Monomon were present, Quirrel was teaching Wander how to write more skillfully, the residents of Dirtmouth were accounted for, and a few others—some not part of any particular kingdom—were also in the group.
"Everyone is accounted for. Although we are leaving this land behind, always remember that we still have our own cultures and our own people to keep our kingdoms alive, even when the physical constructions of them have fallen. Now, onwards into the Wastelands!" the Pale King boomed, flying above the crowd below.