The City once held a tall-but-simple fountain at its center.
The Pure Vessel had never seen this. They had heard of it, spoken in front of them between palace retainers, mentioning that it was too simple in design; the Pale King in all His wisdom had plans for making it more impressive once He had time to consider such things. The Vessel had no need to listen. They paid attention only for the sake of the King, if there were orders passed along, and after it was clear that was not the case, never a moment longer.
The Oldlight sank burning blades into their mind to better rend it to Her liking, and they were forcibly linked the other Infected, but the reanimated by their shattering scream had never wandered from their engrained paths through the square. The memories of they who saw it after its construction were too muddled by fear and simple-minded urges to have given them any functional idea of what it became.
Their final gift of World Sense became unreadable through the layers of agony, and remains so with their incapability to wield Soul, another side-effect of the sickness that tunneled through their being.
There is no warning.
(There never could have been enough, even if there had been.)
Passing the landmark by, the Hollow Knight tilts their head to check for something their horns might strike, and is met with another Hollow Knight unbroken staring into the ruins above their head.
They stagger sideways as though from a blow. This only brings into focus that there are other figures, faces staring in what even they can read as reverence, the Dreamers all, differentiated by nothing but their masks.
Staring up at the Pure Vessel, the Hollow Knight.
They're abruptly viewing the Fountain from lower, staring from upon sharp knees that spark with pain. There is no time to articulate their thoughts to make sense internally, only churning WRONG warping smothered anger and apathy into an icy shard plunged through their chest.
MEMORIAL TO THE HOLLOW KNIGHT ------ In the Black Vault far above. Through its sacrifice Hallownest lasts eternal.
Blinded by nameless horror, the wreck of what the statue long since became frantically claws their heaving shell away away away--
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The Pure Vessel had never seen this. They had heard of it, spoken in front of them between palace retainers, mentioning that it was too simple in design; the Pale King in all His wisdom had plans for making it more impressive once He had time to consider such things. The Vessel had no need to listen. They paid attention only for the sake of the King, if there were orders passed along, and after it was clear that was not the case, never a moment longer.
The Oldlight sank burning blades into their mind to better rend it to Her liking, and they were forcibly linked the other Infected, but the reanimated by their shattering scream had never wandered from their engrained paths through the square. The memories of they who saw it after its construction were too muddled by fear and simple-minded urges to have given them any functional idea of what it became.
Their final gift of World Sense became unreadable through the layers of agony, and remains so with their incapability to wield Soul, another side-effect of the sickness that tunneled through their being.
There is no warning.
(There never could have been enough, even if there had been.)
Passing the landmark by, the Hollow Knight tilts their head to check for something their horns might strike, and is met with another Hollow Knight unbroken staring into the ruins above their head.
They stagger sideways as though from a blow. This only brings into focus that there are other figures, faces staring in what even they can read as reverence, the Dreamers all, differentiated by nothing but their masks.
Staring up at the Pure Vessel, the Hollow Knight.
They're abruptly viewing the Fountain from lower, staring from upon sharp knees that spark with pain. There is no time to articulate their thoughts to make sense internally, only churning WRONG warping smothered anger and apathy into an icy shard plunged through their chest.
HOLLOW KNIGHT
------
In the Black Vault far above.
Through its sacrifice Hallownest lasts eternal.
Blinded by nameless horror, the wreck of what the statue long since became frantically claws their heaving shell away away away--