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progenycursed · 5 months ago

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Chapter 4.5

The pale king stood watch over the palace from his perch on the empty balcony. The cavern stretching above, it’s distant gems reflecting the palace light, his light, appearing as stars deep underground. The palace fanned out over the majority of the cavern floor. Though much of it was hidden in mist, he could sense every building, every mind, every footstep or dropped plate, every speck of soul and essence drifting into the air. Though he gave his new body sight, it was never his first means to see the world. He was always distantly aware of how many and who was in the palace at any given time. So he felt the moment the White Lady entered the cavern below.

The setae along his body curled into his carapace. The thick binding he covered himself in was all that stood between the floor and certain destruction by means of his tail burrowing into it. She hadn’t been to the palace in sectors. Though they were always connected by their shared soul, he always missed when she was near. A feeling even his dread for what was to come, could not fully stamp out. Though it did muffle it severely.

He knew his mind would spiral into that dread if he let it. And the White Lady was not the fastest when it came to movement speed. Plenty of time to spiral to a place he did not wish to go again. Instead, he opted to think about their history.

Their relationship was a unique one in many ways. It was uncommon for a higher being to tolerate other higher beings. Unheard of for them to actually like each other.

The mortals saw them as a romantic couple, but neither of them had the capacity for that kind of love. Both of their kinds left their partners after mating. As it wasn’t a partner, it was a threat to the survival of their offspring.

New born saplings were expected to take care of themselves the moment they emerged. Their siblings just competition for resources, including what little attention their parent was willing to provide. A second parent would only steal resources from the saplings.

A new born wrym was costly, requiring constant food, attention, and safety for hundreds of cycles. And worship meant little to the bottomless stomach of a fledgling god. The requirements for two adults and minimum of two offspring, would lead to environmental devastation. Condemning any nearby civilization to die if it wasn't consumed already.

His parent had been unique. Earth-Shaker had enough power and territory to feel confident in raising two offspring simultaneously. Having a newborn even when their last offspring was still a juvenile with many hundreds of cycles to go before full independence. They were all very close, they taught him how to hunt, gather, subjugate, and fight. For his first hundred cycles he had never been alone.

He knew what is was to love a parent, a sibling, even followers. But no idea how to love the way the mortals thought how he loved the White Lady. It had been lost to Hallownest history how their relationship first started. Yet he remembered vividly. She annoyed him, at every moment she could, with her constant offer to breed with him.

But she was persistent, and patient. She grew on him, sometimes literally. They could spend days together. One talking about their new interest while the other not only listened, but engaged. Understanding and asking questions. They began to enjoy each others company, even in silence. The White Lady even lessened her ‘offers’ to breed. They built Hallownest together. Became the inseparable monarchs of a thriving civilization.

Until recently.

“My wrym,” her voice rang like wind through leaves. She walked onto the balcony, her bindings draping across her form like a dress. A cluster of her roots erupting from the back, complimenting the crown of elegant branches that defined her silhouette.

Her soul curled around him like her roots, prying into any cracks it could find, any hint to what he was feeling. He’d closed himself off so much for this plan, she couldn’t feel his emotions anymore then the vessel could. Even her essence pressed against his, like a warm embrace inviting him to relax.

“My root,” he rushed out as he turned away from her. Causing a guilt that weighed down his stomach to mingle with the anticipation that was churning his insides. It was a sickening combination. He was grateful his foresight had warned him not to eat. Not like he’d done that in cycles anyway.

“You requested my aid?” She joined him in gazing out over the cavern.

Though she stood next to him, it felt as if the chasm itself stood between them. Like the void on his hands, like the Radiance within the minds of their people, their relationship had been tainted. Being the monarchs they were, they had come up with the plan together. They were in it together, but he was the one to enact it. He was the one who knew how to fight, the one who could create the spells and glyphs to hold their ancient enemy. The god of the mind, capable of sensing the thoughts and emotions of any creature no matter how small. Something a vessel needed to lack for the plan to work.

It was just a vessel. Yet he still found himself here, brought low by primal instincts that he still couldn't stamp out. He shouldn’t need to bring her into this. She shouldn’t have to suffer like him. He could feel her gaze bore into him. He couldn’t meet it. Not with what he needed to request.

“I ask that you check the vessels purity,” he curled into himself. Even beneath the bindings, his tail dug into the stone floors.

A pause. He could only image what thoughts she hid behind her eyes.

“Who performed the tests?” She finally asked.

“I did.” He remembered watching as the vessel stood motionless for arks when given the puzzle sphere. It hadn’t even looked down at it after he left. The way it threw itself at Drya for even longer. Only stopping when it’s body failed it. Void shivered on and off all the way to the springs, but underneath there was nothing. No curiosity, no irritation, no heartbeat, no muscles, no organs, no breath, no soul, no hint of anything alive within.

It was just a vessel.

“All of them?” Her roots began to reach across the floor. He wanted to reach out, to feel the comfort in her touch. He curled tighter into himself.

It was just a vessel. A dead body dictated by void, only the imprints in its mask and lingering fragments of animalistic instincts left untouched. It was just a test.

His claws tore into its skin like silk. Deep gouges digging through its mask with little resistance. It was flung back into the spring. Its waters unable to heal the wounds before it had to crawl out.

It was just void. No different than what already stained his claws. Yet he could still feel its blood on them. Still feel the stains after countless washes as the sensation seemed to burrow into his carapace.

“Which was missed?” She kept her voice level, diplomatic. The voice of a Queen addressing her court.

It was just a vessel. An empty container to imprison the Radiance. It stood before him, shivering from fatigue, void spilling from its many wounds, quickly staining the front of its cloak.

It was just a test. A simple movement, a small pressure, and data. All he had to do was reach forward with razor sharp claws…

“The final phase of the pain test,” she must think him weak. At least he could be confident that she wouldn’t attack him like any other higher being would.

She shifted, her regal tone slipped. Concern and warmth slipping between the formalities. Something he hadn’t heard in what felt like an age. One the sickening lump in his abdomen told him he didn’t deserve.

“But that test must be performed to appraise the vessels reaction to extreme stimuli,” Her hand brushed across what most bugs called his forehead, across what only a higher being of light could see. A single scar where his light shown a little darker.

“I know,” he pulled away. He still remembered that day, that vessel, that lesson. “But I was unable to complete the task.”

It was just a vessel. An empty mask filled with his antithesis. The emptiness that would consume him with as much vigor as his nemesis if given the chance.

“It just looked so…”

It starred up at him.

It was just waiting for orders.

Shaking.

It was just fatigue.

Bleeding.

It was just a test.

Waiting for what he would do next. Helpless to stop it.

It was just a c-

“Please,” his throat felt dry. “As it’s other creator, as another god of life, you may have a different connection than I. You may sense something I can not.”

It wasn’t his, it was just a tool.

Her roots wrapped around his tail, gently prying it from the floor and curling around it. Her soul reaching for his. Sympathy, concern, longing. How could he ask this of her?

When she next spoke, it was no longer as the queen, but as his root. “Do you truly believe there could be a mind within?” He could feel a flicker of hope within her soul. He was ashamed he put it there.

“Or is there another reason for this doubt?” The flicker dimmed, tempered by cycles of disappointment. Cycles waiting above an empty cradle that would never be filled. Her roots coiled around his tail, holding it tight.

It was supposed to be a vessel. A means to save his people from a tyrant who lost a popularity contest he wasn’t even aware was happening.

“I…” Yet he could not stamp out the false hope, the doubt, that it could be more than just a vessel.

“I need to know for certain.” He was selfish, foolish, cruel even for asking this of her. He was supposed to be better than this. The price was his to pay.

Her soul reached forward again. Trying to connect like they had before this bleak plan. He pulled away. She didn’t need to know how close he was to failing. How much he wanted-

Her roots tightened around his tail “I can do this for you,” she whispered.

A tension released from his body. One he didn’t know he had been holding. Yet his chest felt heaver than ever.

“Thank you,” he wanted nothing more than for all his feelings to burrow into the abyss and die. It already felt like much of him had.

She didn’t let go right away. Didn’t move to leave the palace, return to her gardens. She just stood by him and watched the mist swirl in the cavern around them. He missed this, wanted her to stay with him more often, to be as open with each other as they used to. But he couldn’t ask that of her. To share a home with a creature that wore the face of her dead child. Not after what she had been through.

“Do you think it possible?” Her voice quiet, with a flicker of hesitation. He dared to glance up to her. Her eyes were distant. “That the void could do what we could not?”

It was a thought that had been in his mind since the first vessels crawled out of their egg within the abyss. One that reasserted itself with every vessel that failed. Feeding a hope that shouldn’t have been there. One that should have died when the first ‘pure’ vessel did.

Even in its final moments, with all the evidence that created doubt, he never sensed a mind. Never felt emotions. Never heard a sound out of them in reality or dreams.

“Which would be the brighter path?”

A bitter laugh caught in his throat, only silenced by the tightness in his chest. The void opposed time, it was immune even to his foresight. Blanketing everything it touched in a fog of uncertainty and shadows. The brightest paths were the only clears ones, the ones that fell to the Radiance. The only chance for the kingdoms salvation lay within the darkness. In paths he couldn’t clearly see.

If it was more than just a vessel, then the kingdom was doomed. Tens of thousands would succumb to her plague of mind, would be lost to her dream forever. Everything he and Root worked for, wiped from the world. But they would have a child.

It should be an easy decision. A choice with the clearest of outcomes.

Yet some sick part of himself held on to that vain hope.

Maybe she would find something. Maybe it could be more than a vessel.

He wanted to answer her, tell her something reassuring, but he didn’t know what would do that. His foresight couldn’t help him, his instincts couldn’t be silenced, his emotions couldn’t be hidden. Not from her.

“I do not know,” it was all he could say.

She shifted to move closer, but stopped. Instead, she just squeezed his tail once more. He was grateful, her gentle touch, her comforting presence, would break the last strands of resolve he had left for this plan. He couldn’t afford to break, Hallownest couldn’t afford him to break. No matter what it cost him, he had to save his people.

#progeny cursed #hollow knight #pale king #hollow knight pale king #progeny cursed pale king #hollow knight white lady #white lady #loooooorrrreee

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littleladymab · 5 months ago

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Bold the Facts!

HELLO I got tagged in a "Bold the Facts" meme by @mysticstarlightduck (You can read her post over here!) so here is Liam Barker aka Sir Galahad from Knight Lite :)

yeah he's a bit of a Good Boy(TM)

Personal

Financial: Wealthy/ moderate/unsure/ poor/ extreme poverty

Medical: Fit/ not applicable/ moderate/ sickly/ disabled

Class: Upper/ middle/working/ unsure / other

Education: Qualified/ unqualified/ studying/ other (*He's finished an undergrad but is going to law school next year)

Criminal record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes/ no/ has committed crimes, but not caught yet/ yes, but charges were dismissed

Family

Children: has a child or children/ has no children/ wants children eventually/cannot have children (*he wants to be the cool uncle, but does not want children of his own)

Relationship with family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s)/ has no sibling(s)/ sibling(s) is deceased

Affiliation: Orphaned/ abandoned / adopted/ found family/ disowned/ raised by birth parent(s)/ not applicable

Traits+ tendencies

Extroverted/ introverted/ ambivalent

Disorganized/ organized/ in-between

Closed-minded / open-minded/ in between

Calm/ anxious/ in-between/ highly contextual

Disagreeable/ agreeable/ in-between

Cautious/ reckless/ in-between/ highly contextual

Patient/ impatient/ in-between

Outspoken/ reserved/ in-between/ highly contextual

Leader (reluctantly)/ leader (gladly)/ follower/ in between

Empathic/ vicious bastard/ in-between/ highly contextual

Optimistic/ pessimistic/ in-between

Traditional/ modern/ in-between

Hard working/ lazy/ in-between

Cultured/ uncultured/ in-between/ unknown (depends on the culture)

Loyal/ disloyal/ unknown/ highly contextual

Faithful/ unfaithful/ unknown/ highly contextual

Beliefs

Faiths: Monotheistic/ polytheistic/ atheist/ agnostic

Belief in ghosts or spirits: yes / no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in an afterlife: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care/ in a matter of speaking

Belief in reincarnation: yes/ no/ don’t know/don’t care/ in a matter of speaking (*IT'S KINDA HARD NOT TO WHEN YOU ARE A REINCARNATION LMAO)

Belief in aliens: yes/ no/ don’t know/ don’t care

Religious: orthodox/ liberal/ in-between/ not religious (*he grew up thinking he was obligated to be religious when he found out he was Galahad, but stopping that was one of his first steps towards differentiating the two of them)

Philosophical: yes/ no/ highly contextual

Sexuality & romantic inclination

Sexuality: heterosexual/ homosexual/ bisexual / asexual / pansexual (*most likely demi, but also is a huge confused shrug)

Sex: sex repulsed/ sex neutral/ sex favorable/ naive and clueless (*'naive and clueless' has a connotation i don’t really care for especially in his context, but he’s also never really put thought to it)

Sexuality: adventurous/ experienced/naive/ inexperienced/ curious

Potential sexual partners: male/ female/both/ agender/ none / all (*"(stressed and confused noises)” is the answer for this, he’s not really thought about it at all before gael or past gael)

Potential romantic partners: male/ female/ both/ agender/ none/ all

Abilities

Combat skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Literary skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Artistic skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Technical skills: excellent/ good/ moderate/ poor/ none

Habits

Drinking alcohol: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ tried it/ alcoholic/ former alcoholic turned sober (*he’s half french……. It’s wine all the time)

Smoking: tried it/ trying to quit/never/ rarely sometimes/ frequently/ chain smoker

Recreational drugs: tried some/ never/ sometimes/ frequently/ addict

Medicinal drugs: never/ no longer needs medication/ some medication needed/ frequently / to excess (*honestly he probably should be on something…)

Unhealthy foods: never/ special occasions/ sometimes/ frequently/ binge eater

Splurge spending: never/ sometimes/ frequently/ shopaholic

Gambling: never/ rarely/ sometimes/ frequently/ compulsive gambler

(It's an open tag, but @bottlingsound might have one for Temmy!)

#knight lite #a lil miss tag #a lil miss meme #a lil miss original #he's my good white knight galahad and it is both a blessing and a curse to him #as a 22yo boy in modern day

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