"Where… am I?" The king asked as he awoke. Feeling the rough stone beneath his feet, he looked around, finding himself in the Eternal Crossroads.
He couldn't remember where he should be, but this certainly wasn't it.
The situation continued to grow stranger as he noticed the patches of pitch black rock and foreign architecture—long overhangs and straight angles—uncannily jammed into the Hallownest-made surroundings like a flood of separate memories.
As he began to get his bearings, he noticed how large the cavern he was in was, he noticed those three masks above an arch, and realized where in the Crossroads he was with sinking dread.
Looking back, he saw the Black Egg Temple standing before him, a deep orange crawling out from its windows.
"What… No! I didn't! I didn't!" He shouted, trembling at the sight of veins of orange surrounding the structure.
Rushing forwards, he found himself met with the Dreamers' seal, fully intact despite its apparent failure.
"Wander!" He called out as he threw himself against the door, finding it more fragile than it should be.
At that moment, he felt like that must mean something, something that he wasn't realizing. But he had his own child behind locks in this place, there wasn't time for pondering such trivialities.
Once the noworkshw broken pieces of the door flew forward from his force, he hurried into the void black temple, pushing ahead even as he felt its effects starting to drain him.
"Wander!" He screamed out again with growing fear as he entered the central chamber of his own creation.
His gaze snapped upward only to be met with two pale eyes staring back down, suspended in the darkness above.
White. He noted, once again that nagging feeling that he was missing something came back, but he was still in too much of a rush to linger on it.
His hope strengthened as each of the chains anchored to the ground broke apart under the power of his spells.
Limping forward, exhausted from both the rapid spells and the draining aura within the temple, he weakly carved through the last chain with a soul lance.
And yet, he heard nothing hit the ground.
"Wander? I—I'm sorry for putting you in here I just…" He said, his voice faltering as he was met with no reaction other than those same colorless eyes staring at him.
All six, to be specific.
Then he panicked, thought he had put three hopeless vessels in those chains. Even with his memories now clouded with guilt, he still couldn't for the life of him remember putting one, let alone three of them in the temple. And then it finally hit him that whatever was up there couldn't be Wander.
The gears of his mind—attempting to give him some other insight—were cut short when a grotesque roar reverberated throughout the Crossroads, loud enough to be heard for miles.
"Wh—what are you?!" He screamed as the darkness above showed itself to be more living than usual, spilling out onto the floor, eating up any trace of light it could grasp.
A roar echoed throughout his mind a second time as the thing above threw itself towards him, writhing darkness closing in at his feet.
"No. No. No no NO!" He yelled as those eyes finally reached him, and everything, for a moment, fell silent.
"Wyrm?" He heard a familiar voice call, a slight worry in its tone.
"White?" He called, memories of the sleeping and waking worlds still muddied.
"Oh, you just seemed so terrified in your sleep. I put you here, by the way. You shouldn't be sleeping on the floor." She stated as he noticed the dust coated mattress beneath him.
"Thanks." He nearly held back the words of gratitude before remembering that unlike his subjects that he must appear flawlessly correct, flawlessly strong for, this was just his wife.
"What have the scouts found?" He asked.
"Well…"
After stepping through the labyrinth of different rooms in the foreign ruin—made from rock and odd, sturdy plant stems, along with other strange new materials—the cities sentries found their way outside, only to stagger back from the blazing light.
"W—what is that?" One of them mumbled, terrified at the ball of light high above, glaring down onto the land.
"No! It can't be her! She can't have followed us." Another shouted, running back to the safety of the ruin.
"But she's right there! We need to get out!" The first replied, attracting the attention of the teacher herself.
"Who's here? Answer me!" The scholar shouted as she flew from shelter, being met with her answer as the same light the rest had seen washed over her.
"Now hold on! We must approach this scientifically." She shouted, trying to verbally drag the guards back outside.
"What's scientific about this, she's right here!" Another screeched, falling further back into the structure.
"SHUT UP. I'M THE ONE WHO COLLECTED THE 'REPORTS' FROM THE INFECTED ABOUT SEEING SOMETHING LIKE THIS." She yelled over the panicked whispers of the sentries.
Every whisper and yell, nigh one, ceased.
"Ha. She's got the same way of making people shut up as the rest of the librarians." One whispered, barely audible.
"As I was saying, there are several differences, mainly in the unexpectedly important factor of light color." She explained.
"Every one of them that described seeing her in a form similar to what is above us talked of her furious orange and gold coloration, and how the entire landscape of their dreams would be washed in it. They also mentioned that they would always hear her voice trying to convince her to join her own cause." She continued, "This orbs color actually more closely mirrors our own king, as it and its light are pure white. Also, I cannot be the only one that has noticed it has done absolutely nothing so far."
"So? Are you just going to stand there until your mind is overwhelmed with the blight?" One of the sentries asked, clearly unconvinced.
"Yes, if for no other reason than to prove that it is not dangerous, or at the very least not her." She stated, anger and stubbornness growing in her voice even as one guard tried tugging her back.
Another sighed, exasperated.
"I suppose I'll try and see if your assistant can get you to realize how idiotic this is." They stated, stomping off to go find him.
"They thought the Radiance had followed us, possibly grown stronger. And they didn't wake me up?" He interrupted.
"You've told them to 'not interrupt your slumber for any reason' before." She chided.
"I… I suppose that is a fair point." He stated, holding back his own rebuking.
"As I was saying…"
"I fully agree that it is generally a bad idea, but I agree with her point that we should see if it does anything." Quirrel stated, walking a gentle conversational line between not angering the Teacher or the guards with his words.
"Oh come on, light color shouldn't be something that matters so much." They replied.
"You'd be surprised, most higher beings have a color that is linked with them extremely closely, and their influence, magic, and aura rarely deviate from. The Pale King has a pale white, the Queen an even brighter white, the Radiance an orangish gold, and Unn an acidic green." He informed.
"Well, would you look at that, she's not dead yet. Shocked, I am." The guard stated as they crossed into the light that still reminded him far too much of that which flooded the eyes of the infected.
"I've been sitting here for several minutes and the only thing unusual is a slight warmth, which is to be expected from something this bright." She said, a slight reminder of her previous anger in her voice.
"Also, I've seen a few animals in the distance, we could dissect one and see if it is infected." She suggested.
"Sure. What do they look like? Also we should make sure they are animals, not beings of higher thought." He noted, figuring that if they were, it certainly wouldn't make a good first impression.
"They are quadrupedal, with fluffy white fur covering most of their bodies. They appear to subsist on the moss that covers the ground here." She taught.
"Quirrel, would you mind investigating?" She asked.
"Sure, I'll try to get as more information about the general area as well." He stated, just now starting to take in how foreign the landscape truly was at her mention of it.
Quirrel had always been entranced by Greenpath, a notable splotch of green and wilderness right next to his bustling kingdom. However, it had been small to begin with, and had only gotten smaller with his majesties reign, this place, however… the green only ended at the ocean, and even that seemed at least a mile away. Here it stretched out, bright and vibrant, gently rustling in the occasional breeze.
There was some odd beauty to the overgrown ruins nearby, he could almost see, almost feel what they must have been like in their prime, and yet now they somehow seemed more breathtaking collapsed. He wondered if Hallownest would look like that some day.
Judging by the apparent warehouses and massive variety of strange objects, he could only assume this area had once been a hub of trade, which could explain why one of the gateways in the bridges linked to it.
When he thought about the bridges, he began to think again about the possibility of those strange beings being presumably responsible for this kingdoms ruin. It almost seemed like a eerie mirror to the current state of the original Hallownest, the land claimed for so many years.
A shame, too. This land had a beauty great enough that despite the direct messages of its destruction around him in the form of decayed, ancient buildings, he still felt like he saw only wonders.
He already felt excitement well up in him at all the new things around, especially the abandoned fields of crops. He could write and catalogue about them and help his fellow bugs at the same time if he could figure out how to get the fields in peak condition again.
Speaking of restoration, there was one part of the ruins that was bothering him.
Near the edges of the landmass, a relatively small island, he discovered, was a complete ring of hastily made defenses.
It was mostly fences forged from that same type of rough stem, a bit decayed, but otherwise intact. There were also a few large stone walls, seemingly made and partially patched up over and over throughout the years.
He couldn't help but wonder why exactly this place needed defenses, and the seemingly hurried state of some of them only worried him more.
Eventually he found his true objective, spying one of the fur coated beasts nearby, straying far from its herd.
First he observed them, watched the way they acted, and came to the conclusion that they were mere animals and unlikely to be dangerous on their own.
He didn't particularly like hunting, even if he had gotten used to raw dead animals after doing a dissection or two, but he knew this time it was crucial he examined one and checked it for signs of that terrible blight.
The fact that the creature ran from him when he got near already showed evidence that it wasn't infected, seeing as most of those that were showed extreme aggression.
It was relatively easy taking one down, he even realized that their species were likely farm animals before the area fell considering how shocked they seemed at his attack.
He examined it and confirmed that it was healthy. Well, he wasn't sure what was considered 'healthy' for these animals, considering how alien their shell-less bodies were, but nothing seemed out of place or horrifically orange.
With the orb of light far above practically confirmed to not be the Old Light, he realized that the warmth and light from it could be rather useful. He could certainly get used to it, he figured. Thanks to it, he could see for so much further on the surface than back in Hallownest or the wastes.
Once Quirrel got back and confirmed what she suspected, Monomon was smug to a degree indescribable in words, at first.
That smugness quickly turned to excitement when he handed her the bag of various things he had found in the surrounding area.
So many new things to research and put to use!
The first was a nail, modified with a crescent above the handle and forged from something similar to pale ore. She also noted that it had a faint, clearly mystical shimmer to it.
Some of the others included a rod connected to a long rope, ending in a razor sharp hook, along with several unknown metals and gems.
"Intriguing. What is occurring now?" The king asked.
"Everyone is exploring and organizing the area, nice to see how hope is washing over them again after… the infection and all that." The White Lady stated, recalling the enraged glares of the blighted.
"Are you aware where Monomon is? If that weapon is imbued with magic I would like to investigate it." He asked.
"Yes, seems she has claimed some out of the way room downstairs as her quarters." She told.
Walking through the ruined building—now bursting with life once more—he examined the foreign nail, particularly the magic somehow bound directly onto its form
Usually spells flowed through the air in the state of pure soul, but here was one forced to wrap around the blade, something he had never witnessed. As he looked closer, he could see that the spellwork wasn't even pure soul, but rather had some physical component to it, presumably what made it so difficult to pry from the metal.
He wasn't quite certain what it was meant to accomplish, but he figured he could find that out later. Putting it against his back with his personal dagger, he began to ponder the future of… New Hallownest.
"Really the best you can come up with?" He thought to himself.
Apt names aside, it seemed the basic needs of the populace weren't much of an issue, but there were certainly some problems and plans he needed to work out.
Some of them were more narrow and approachable, such as trying to stop Hallownest and Deepnest bugs from aiming at the others throats. Like the weaver and noble he heard yelling at each other about some misunderstanding or another in a far off area of the structure.
Others were broader and easier to mistakenly slip up on, like making sure that he had an open-mindedness to go with his foresight. The lack of it had admittedly blinded him from how disastrous the vessel plan had been, not even mentioning the countless that were kill—abandone—no, 'unfortunately lost' in his attempts. He told himself that they had simply been discarded due to their failure, no reason to be guilty. But that excuse couldn't wash away the despair creeping through his shell, nor the memories of one vessel after another tumbling down—no! He had to start work on some thing, or try uncovering the history of this place. Yes, that sounded rather engrossing.
It was a fair assumption that the mindless bodies they had encountered on the bridges were either the cause or the effect of whatever felled this kingdom. Considering the eerily familiar looking substance dripping from their jagged carapace and the tablets warning, he inferred that the former ruler must have done something that allowed the void to overtake and spread throughout otherwise biologically normal inhabitants.
So the ruler tampered with void and it led to their kingdoms ruin. This wasn't exactly doing a good job at taking his mind off the vessels.
Regardless, considering he hadn't before seen something like the sphere of light others had seen, it would make sense that it would have been put in the sky to assist in stopping the spread of this issue.
Ah, that must be its origin, constructed by a ruler as a attempt to keep their kingdom from ruin.
"Quite impressive a construction, I must say." He thought to himself, completely unaware of the Suns natural origin.
Speaking of the Sun; he soon found himself under its light, gazing around at the citizens of Hallownest exploring the nearby ruins.
His gaze drifted throughout the area, scanning each structure for anything that else that proved intriguing.
Quickly he noticed a large tower of stone not far in the distance, moss climbing down its walls and strangely shaped windows adorning its sides that went far above any other building in his surroundings.
At first he assumed it to be a simple, if impressively large watchtower, but once he grew closer, he noticed the strangely colored light within, coming from something further back in it.
He was stunned for a moment when he saw the beautiful windows within—made from some colorful, light changing crystal, presumably similar to the windows in the bridges.
Upon a closer inspection, he realized that they were more than simple windows, but rather depictions, art.
Stepping onto some raised platform of stone, he saw that there were four windows, one high above, two to the side, and one much further down. Each except for the bottom window had a shelf in front of it, littered with what he presumed to be old offerings to some greater power.
The highest window depicted that same glowing orb as he saw above, shining its light through a calm blue sky.
The second, to the right and below the first, showed a large ball covered in blues and greens with an empty sky behind it.
The third, to left of the second, portrayed another sphere, this one dotted with pale white and dark grays. The sky behind was filled with tiny dots of light, their brightness eclipsed by the main spheres.
The fourth, at eye level with him, made him stagger back.
Gazing upon the glass, he saw six white eyes, glaring at him from the crystal surface.
He looked away, the eyes within the illustration filling him with some nearly primal fear.
The portrait showed a pitch black entity with the aforementioned eyes, high above a burning city, wreathed in disaster.
The sharp, twisted edges of its body reminded him of the living corpses the group had encountered on the bridges.
What proved without a doubt that the being depicted here should be feared, however, were the long faded protective runes that encircled the piece of art.
The king watched as the orb of light above—ah, he should really give it a name—floated down past the horizon.
He was both worried at the departure of the… luminosity, considering how its light covering the land had been a great assistance. Although, considering it didn't seem to actually impact with the ground, instead going behind it, he assumed it would loop around and show itself once more soon.
With his worries dwindled, he finally had a chance to appreciate how beautiful its retreat was. It casted a wonder of colors, mainly reds and pinks, across the moss he sat on and the ocean close ahead.
He suddenly felt something bump into him. Looking down, he only found Wander, now sitting at his side.
"Hello Wander. Where have you been all this time?" He asked.
"Inside. When the light was brighter, it made me all itchy." They wrote in response.
"That makes sense, hopefully it can't cause you any harm." He said.
"Well, I suppose everyone should be getting to bed now, it's been a dozen or so hours since we all left Pasture Valley." He stated, picking them up and heading back to the large building which housed the portal.
As he left, he could hear many things all around him: The pitter patter of Wander's footsteps, the chatter of his subjects ahead, and subtle splashing of the ocean behind him.