Chapter Text
No cost too great...
No mind to think...
No will to break...
No voice to cry suffering...
Born of God and Void...
You are the Pure Vessel...
You are the Hollow Knight...
~~~~~~~~~~
Stale, dusty air filled a dark chamber hidden deep underground. The only light shining in was from an open elevator shaft leading to the surface world some 50-or-so meters above.
What lies behind the darkness remains unseen. More so where this place is even located.
Though, it only takes time until someone stumbles across this place. On purpose or not.
Deep inside a forest, two figures walked past the dense vegetation, pushing some out of the way while others being gone right through them.
One of them was a woman, roughly in her 20s. Her hair was short, it's colour a deep shade of red and maroon. She's roughly around 5'6" in height, with a relatively balanced build (like not too fat nor skinny). She wore a black coat with dark green highlights and a grey turtleneck beneath. She had brown eyes and light skin. In her hand was a stylus pen and a tablet.
As for the other figure, it's hard to determine what exactly they are, but there are some things to note.
Firstly, they are completely covered by a grayish-black suit with a gas-mask to cover their face. Second, they stood tall (for Malaysian standards) at 5'8" and has a skinny appearance. Third, they have a large container strapped to their back length-wise (like across the shoulder instead of down the spine) covered in metal playing with black highlights all around.
They don't speak, mostly due to the fact that it can't, but also because it doesn't need to.
The two walk past an especially dense bush before stopping infront of a rundown facility, most likely owned by the city some few kilometers away from here before being abandoned. The door to get inside had been overgrown, blocking any attempts of entering whether they have permission to or not.
Having brought some stuff with them, the redhead pulls out a machete and started cutting at the vines blocking the doors eventually cutting enough of them for the other person, the lanky mute one, to pry the door open (yeah he in that sleeper build fr).
Being an abandoned facility, it obviously has ran out of power, resulting in dust collecting everywhere among other things (like the place being covered by total darkness)
The woman pulls out a flashlight and enters the building, followed closely by her companion (who may or may not be a robot by how the eye holes on it's mask glow). The two go from room to room, checking every nook and cranny for... something...
Eventually, the masked one signals the woman about something they found, and after some trekking through vines and debris, they arrive to it.
A deep chasm, most likely a collapsed elevator shaft, leading into the underground section. Due to the lack of stairs, they are forced to go down there.
The woman pulls out her stylus and taps on her tablet. Right after she presses it, the container on the elusive person's back opens up and out comes a flood of what looks to be black sand.
She presses the tablet again, and the sand began to move like a swarm. It crossed past the hole, and then covers it up like a carpet.
As it turns out, these weren't grains of sand, but rather, bugs. Tiny robotic bugs.
She taps another button on the tablet with her stylus, and the cover tensed into a stable surface. The two steps onto the swarm of tiny bugs and, with another press, sends them down into the darkness.
[The bugs act as essentially an elevator for the two, just so they don't have to jump down and possibly die on impact with whatever might be down there, whether it's concrete, or the remnants of the collapsed elevator.]
After a little bit of waiting with a side of black, they arrive to the underground complex, which was a LOT darker than they thought. Not even the flashlight the woman brought in was enough to even light up the place. Makes sense since this is like an entire building beneath the surface.
The duo make their way through the complex, making sure not to accidentally cause the entire place to cave in on them. Considering how no man would have the balls to be down here, whatever they're searching MUST be important (cuz otherwise this'd be complete bullshit).
Eventually, they arrive to a large chamber. A single, collapsed elevator shaft stood(?) at the back of the room, the light from the surface barely shining through.
The room itself looked much older than the rest of the building, with ancient markings, among other things, being prevalent across the chamber. This entire facility may have been built to study this place, though it's unsure why they want to study it. Perhaps because of the signals from this place?
Pieces of concrete, chains, and metal lined the floor of this large room. Dust floated and settled all over. Broken lights hung from the ceiling, barely holding on by a few wires. Ventilation shafts were completely busted, leading to hazardous levels of air pollution, forcing the redhead to wear a gas mask herself just to survive being down here (funny how only now did she decide to wear some kind of protection against the fumes and toxic gas).
Continuing into the chamber, the two began looking around, the soft beeping of some kind of detector the redhead brought being the only sound keeping this place from being completely silent.
The short beeps turned into long droning noise as they arrive at the very center of the room. On first sight, it looked like nothing. Just a clear view (if you can even call it that) to the other side of the chamber and thus, the broken elevator. But the atmosphere changed the moment they looked up.
There, hanging from the ceiling, bound by chains, was something. Something big. It's stature from there alone looked like it could dwarf the taller of the two.
On it's face, if it even has one, was a mask. One that was the complete opposite to the scenery around it. It was painted with white, and made with potentially bone and keratin. The shape itself was that of the mandibles of a stag beetle, albeit the mandibles were the mask's horn and it's face was completely blank, safe for two completely empty eye holes (as in whatever was behind those holes felt empty, not that it was actually empty).
It body was covered by steel armor, clearly worn down by time with the rust and cracks on it. Along with that, on it's chestplate, was a symbol. A seal. That of a crowned... thing, with 3 pairs of moth-like wings pushing outward from the center of the elliptical symbol. From underneath the armor, a cloak hung loosely over it's chained body. Speaking of that...
It's body was covered with plates of black steel, with the exception of the shins and forearms, with those being covered with whiter metals.
The hanging figure was motionless. Yet it's pulse was still alive, albeit barely. The chains wrapped around it like a second skin, not giving it a chance of moving. Seeing as pulling on it doesn't seem to be able to loosen the binds, the redhead ordered her companion to release the microbugs again.
This time, they weren't meat to carry or move, but consume.
With a press of a button, the swarm lunged at the chains wrapping around every link. Then, the woman pressed her tablet once more, and the bugs began glowing a hot, melting red. Soon enough, the chains began weakening.
[So basically, the bugs are kind of a mix between termites and honeybees. They not only eat through things (which includes wood, rock, metal, and even flesh), but also cook/melt them with heat (like how honeybees take care of Giant Asian Hornets, by basically cooking them alive with their body heat)]
After some tense waiting, the chains gave way, and with a loud thud, the figure crashed onto the floor. The bugs retreated back into the container, while the redhead approached the unconscious figure.
It didn't seem to budge with the first few pokes, but it soon woke up. At least, it seemed to. There wasn't much life behind that mask anyway.
It seemed to have noticed the woman's presence and stepped back. Not sure if it was due to fear or just shock from seeing someone after so long, but the woman was very much surprised by it's reaction.
After a long staring contest ("stare into the void, and it will stare back"), the tall figure regained it's composure and stood up. Even while hunched, it towered over the woman at 7'5" tall (or 230~ cm).
After a bit, it looked to it's side, onto what looks to be two metal poles molded into one another to make an improv sword (one shorter pole melted into the crossguard while the other being the blade itself), and pulls it out of the ground.
Despite being made out of the same material as it's armor, it seems as though the blade was less effected by time. Even the coiling carvings on it were still visible. There were cracks on the blade, but they weren't as noticable as the ones on it's armor.
After checking it's blade, it looked to the redhead, who's a mix between worry and wonder. Like, she worries that it might attack her, but also filled with wonder by the thing before her.
The two stared, one filled with awe, the other with nothing.
Then, it bowed.
The tall knight bowed.
Why...?
~~~~~~~~~~
After a long runback, the team emerge from the facility, covered in dust and other things.
Now under direct sunlight, the woman can clearly see the knight's features.
For some reason, it had long, silky hair that seemed to absorb all light. Not only that, the eyes were now visible, albeit barely (the mask extends pretty far out, so the shade it gives sorta blocks the eyes). The pupils and irises were completely black, with no other colour being able to be seen.
She also noticed how the knight looked malnourished. Makes sense considering how long they must've been trapped down there, but still odd.
The team of 3 continue walking through the forest with the intent of going back to where they came from (excluding the new guy). That is, until the tall one stopped.
The woman, confused and uneasy, approached the still figure with caution.
Did it sense something? She wondered.
Suddenly, it collapsed onto the forest floor with a loud thud. It's heavy armor denting the dirt beneath. The woman had been far enough to get crushed, but still close enough to be able to quickly inspect the unconscious knight.
It became very clear that this fella had passed out from dehydration/starvation, and needs help ASAP.
With her quick thinking, she goes in her backpack and brings out some rations and water to feed the fallen one.
Her efforts managed to keep it alive, but it was still needing help.
So, they rushed to their place of origin, not realizing what they're brining with them might not be of this world.
~~~~~~~~~~