Vessels and Tears (Archived Version)

Option A: Home

ֆօ ʏօʊ ɦǟʋɛ ɖɛƈɨɖɛɖ...

ʟɛȶֆ ɦօքɛ ʏօʊ ʍǟɖɛ ȶɦɛ ʀɨɢɦȶ օռɛ...

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You watched the two fight a little more, before turning to Radi. She was watching you very very carefully, as if to make sure you weren't about to do anything risky. You met her eyes and then looked back at the hole, where Ogrim waited patently for you both to follow him. You grabbed Radi's hand and dragged her to the hole and Ogrim descended so you both could get in too. The two females could handle it, they were strong and smart.

The hole was incredibly dark, but Radi glowed in the dark so you all could see more than two feet ahead of you. You caught up to your siblings, who were quiet. "Are you sure we should've left Dryya and Ze'mer to fight off a literal GOD?" Flower asked quietly to you and the others after a while. You shrugged and replied "I'm sure that they can handle it."

Hegemol readjusted himself on Broken's head and sighed, muttering under his breath. The halls were cold and dark... and why did it feel as if the walls were getting smaller and smaller?

You began feeling claustrophobic, and you certainly weren't the only one. Radi was shivering in discomfort and Broken was walking really fast, as if trying to outrun the strange feeling of inescapable fear that suddenly had overtaken the group. Isma was beginning to sense something was off as well but, rather than remaining quiet, pointed it out. "Somethings not right here guys," Flower nodded in agreement and Ogrim stuttered out "Y-yeah but what?!"

You ran face first into a wall. Your oversized vessel head bonked off the solid stone, causing you to stumble back. "Dead end?!" Hollow moaned angrily. Isma looked sick all of a sudden and used Radi for support, clutching her head. "You ok kid?" Radi asked, and Isma shook her head. You all waited for her to explain what the problem was but in vain, as she said nothing other than "Danger..."

She gasped, her eyes going wide and she began to hyperventilate. "Dude, what the heck?!" Hegemol asked, genuinely looking concerned. "W-we need to get out of here!! NOW!!" She managed to say before running back the way you all came. You all stood there for a second. What was wrong with her?

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. "WHAT THE-" Radi began before Hegemol yelled over her. "EARTHQUAKE! Everyone, SCATTER!" You all didn't hesitate. Ghost ran the fastest out of all of you, and you heard the sound of rock breaking. You dared to looked back and saw that the tunnel had begun to collapse.

You looked up to see cracks extending all over the roof and some of the tunnel ahead began to fall apart. You and your siblings dodged between falling rocks, and Broken nearly got crushed by one. How had Isma known that something bad was about to happen?

You decided that you had more immediate things to worry about. Was the tunnel this long on your way in? You only barely remembered.

The breaking rock was deafening at this point. You couldn't hear anything other than the crushing sounds of the rock breaking above your head. You couldn't even hear Flower screeching very loudly due to being trapped under a rock. You couldn't hear Ogrim yelling at you to run faster. You couldn't hear Radi warning you of the rock above you.

You realized too late what was about to happen. When you looked up, you saw a wall of rock coming down to crush you. This was when you realized that it was over. This was the end. You braced yourself for impact as the rock landed on you.

Black flooded for vison and pain filled for being, lasting for a split second before everything went dark. Horrible, painful dark.

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You shot up, breathing heavily, clutching a blanket in your hands. You didn't recognize your surroundings at first, but as your eyes adjusted to the light you realized... you were at home. You caught your breath and tried to make sense of what just happened. Just a second ago you were in a mine as the world collapsed around you...

Your breath caught in your throat. You were HOME. Home at last. You honestly felt bad about the fact that your weren't happy about it. You were home, yes, but because you were home you weren't in Hallownest. And that meant that you had died. Rift had died. You were just (Y/n) now.

You got up on shaky feet and looked outside, realizing it was morning. You opened your door and stepped into the hall, past your siblings room. You saw your parents watching TV on the couch in the living room and knew that you needed to know what day it was. You stepped out into the living room, calling out to your parents. "Mom? Dad?" They turned to you and waved. "Hi dear." Your mom said, waving before turning back to the TV.

"What day is it?" Man it was weird to hear your own voice again. "Its August 20th. Why?" Your voice caught in your throat. It was Saturday?! Not only Saturday, but the Saturday before the day you got kidnaped?! WHAAAAaAAAT?

"Nothing." You stuttered out, tuning back to your room, where you grabbed your Nintendo Switch and turned it on. Sure enough, you has Hollow Knight open. You reopened the game and saw Little Ghost sitting on the bench right before The Hollow Knight boss in the Black Egg. You felt a tear slowly slide down your cheek as you left the area and went into the Infected Crossroads. You went to the stag station and chose to go to the Ancient Basin.

An overwhelming sense of rue filled you as you got off at the station and sat on the bench that you had originally sat at when Pale tried to commit suicide. After nearly an entire five minutes you entered the Palace Grounds. You nearly started crying over what you saw. It was exactly the same as what it was before you got kidnapped. You put the Switch away and wiped your tears away. It was over. It was all over. There was no going back now. You had killed Rift. And this was the price to pay for your foolish actions.

You bit your lip and left your room, going into the bathroom to look in the mirror. You were... you. Well, almost. You verbally shrieked as your hair glowed and when it stopped, there were horns, just like those of Rift, on your head. Yout touched them gingerly and sighed. Oh boy, this was going to be fun to explain...

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ʏօʊ ʄǟɨʟɛɖ.

ʏօʊ ӄɨʟʟɛɖ ȶɦɛʍ

ɦօա ƈօʊʟɖ ʏօʊ?!

...

ʏ'ӄռօա, ʏօʊ ƈǟռ ǟʟաǟʏֆ ʝʊֆȶ ɢօ ɮǟƈӄ ȶօ ȶɦɛ ʄɨʀֆȶ ƈɦǟքȶɛʀ ǟռɖ ɖօ ɨȶ ǟʟʟ ǟɢǟɨռ. ɨȶֆ ռօȶ ȶօօ ʟǟȶɛ. ȶɦɛ աօʀʟɖ ɦǟֆ օռʟʏ ʝʊֆȶ ռօա ɖɨɛɖ. ֆօ ʏօʊ ƈǟռ ʀɛʋɨʋɛ ɨȶ ɨ ɢʊɛֆֆ. աɦɨƈɦɛʋɛʀ ʏօʊ ƈɦօֆɛ, աɛ աɨֆɦ ʏօʊ ʟʊƈӄ.

-ɨֆʍǟ ǟռɖ ʟʏʟɨȶɦ