Hornet woke to another tremor, feeling rested. She shot up to look around to see if the cause of the tremor was near, but just saw The Hollow Knight still sleeping on the bench.
They looked so peaceful, lying there.
She stretched before picking up her needle and going to wake The Hollow Knight.
She shook the knight gently by their shoulder, which seemed to wake the knight instantly.
They didn't shoot up, they just lay there looking around, as if they were confused as to how they got there.
"You were out for quite a while there" Hornet said softly.
The Hollow Knight slowly got up, Hornet noticed their movements were a lot slower and segmented than before.
She chuckled, "Don't worry knight, I imagine this is your first time getting some sleep in a while, you should feel better in a few minutes"
Hornet looked around, she couldn't see any reason to stay.
"Come" She said to the knight, "Lets go back to the surface… Unless you have any other detours to make" She quickly added.
The Hollow Knight just stared at Hornet.
Hornet assumed by the fact that they weren't running anywhere as their way of saying 'okay'.
Hornet started off slow with a walk, The Hollow Knight following next to her.
Seeing the wonder in their eyes as they looked around at all the plants and bugs in the gardens. It seemed more then idle curiosity or a need to learn about their environment, they seemed interested in the flora.
They had massive, sharp, mood swings. Seeing the knight look at and touch a plant, only to look back up and start walking straight forward.
They walked onwards, through the gardens and into the fog canyon.
She pitied the knight, seeing them look around at all the beautiful colors, unable to comprehend why one would like to look at them.
She also wondered how it worked in their head, what was it like to think without emotion as some sort of motivator, to react to situations completely unfeeling and empty.
They still possessed a basic mind though, following orders and the ability to complete an array of well-versed attacks.
Hornet was thinking about them, trying to think of a way she could get them to feel something for more than a few seconds.
Jiji seemed well versed in manipulating the mind, maybe she could offer some assistance.
Nevertheless, she must still make it back up to the surface, preferably with the company of The Hollow Knight.
It was cold inside their own head, The Knight shivered and curled up.
The lights were back, the eyes of their other self-shining down on them.
It spoke. A voice called out from the eyes, deep and gravely.
All it said was, "They cannot know".
A few seconds after it said this, little statues of Cornifer and Mato appeared under it.
The Knight looked up at the eyes in awe.
"Look in their minds" It said as black tentacles came up from the ground into the statues' heads, "and remove the memory that lies within"
The Knight continued to stare blankly.
"You still have much to discover young one, the void can open paths to the impossible. However, you must complete the journey by yourself"
And with that, the eyes disappeared into the darkness.
The Knight was scared still, but now they were confused as well.
This thing that came to them, they didn't know why, but some inner instinct was to listen to them.
The void inside resonated with the voice in some way.
They felt the lucid grip of reality take them, and they were pulled out of their own mind.
They woke to see Cornifer just as he was, like no time had passed from when The Knight had fallen over.
Cornifer stopped in his tracks and a confused expression appeared on his face.
"A-are you okay?" Cornifer asked, the tone in his voice conveyed more confusion than worry.
The Knight nodded and sat up straight, moving each of their limbs caused the ground to shake a little.
The Knight looked down at Cornifer, the words of those eyes echoed in their heads.
They couldn't control themselves. It wasn't another being inside them, it was them.
The Knight found themselves making rationalizations for what they were about to do. 'It wont hurt him' They kept on saying to themselves.
They lifted Cornifer up with their one hand and hovered the other hand over his head.
"Great, now we can go-" Cornifer stopped his sentence when he saw the eyes of The Knight.
Normally they would display some sort of emotion, but now, it was blank.
The hand above Cornifer's head turned into a mass of tentacles, which seeped into Cornifer's head before he could say anything.
The Knight could see Cornifer's mind, it was visualized in front of them.
Memories all around them, the feelings that he felt when he lived through those memories.
The Knight had complete control.
They found the most recent memories of the past few hours.
It was like The Knight grabbed the memory with their hand and ripped it out completely.
The Knight put Cornifer down gently, since whatever The Knight did to them caused them to fall asleep.
As they sat there looking down at the sleeping bug, the rationalities they made suddenly started to fade, the weight of what they could've done to one of their only friends set in.
They were horrified of what they did. Looking down at their hands, sharp and clawed, shaking slightly.
They slowly got up, worrying what else they could do to Cornifer.
Looking down at him, they turned around and walked away.
Their instinct told them to go to Mato, maybe he could help them.
The voice of those eyes echoed around them. The Knight couldn't stop thinking about what it was, and why they felt so compelled to listen to it.
They walked to Mato; their steps were lighter than before.
Kneeling by the entrance to his cave, they knocked a few times on the floor.
While they waited for Mato, they had a thought, they just needed to do it to Mato as well, then the problem would be solved.
More surface level rationalizations were whirring around in their head, convincing themselves again to rip the memories of the truth out of Mato.
A small voice inside of them was calling out to them, trying to get them to realize what they were about to.
However, a void buried it, similar to the void that used to bury their emotions.
Their demeanor changed, their eyes were blank and their movements robotic.
The little voice inside them could do nothing but watch.
Mato came out and looked to his side.
He was about to open his mouth to greet The Knight, but he saw the way they were looking at him.
The bright glowing eyes just staring at Mato.
A few silent and drawn out seconds past until The Knight grabbed Mato, which seemed to take the Nailmaster by surprise.
"W-what are you doing?"
Mato looked up at The Knight with a distressed look, which was met with the same blank stare.
The void tentacles started to seep onto Mato's head. Mato wriggled around to try get out of their grip.
Which is when The Knight felt a massive pain in that hand.
A slash cleaved The Knight's hand in two.
The Knight pulled back in pain, letting out a roar.
Mato landed by the Gorb statue.
"What has happened to you little one!" Mato shouted at the eyes. "Why this violence?"
That little voice inside The Knight still trying to claw its way out.
To that voice it was like The Knight was being puppeteered.
The Knight pulled themselves back, their broken hand molded into a sharp, curved blade.
Their body turning into a mist which surrounded Mato.
To the Knight, it was like they were intoxicated with some sort of drug, they just saw Mato as a nuisance and the memories inside as a threat. They didn't know why, they just knew that it was.
"I'll come and get you my pupil!" Mato said as he threw off his cloak and pointed his nail at the eyes, "I'll rid you of this demon!"