Chapter Text
Hollow was in the Black Egg, chains holding them up off the ground. How long have they been here? Weeks? Months? Maybe even years? When in a state like this, time is barely even comprehensible, much less measurable. Their mind was a constant haze of orange mist and golden light blinding their vision. They couldn’t think clearly anymore, and any thought that came into their head was annihilated by the light. They felt so scared, so alone.
Well, they knew they weren’t alone, but it didn’t make them feel better. Especially when their company was an evil goddess who tortured and killed innocents for years, with no good reason to.
They missed their freedom, or what little freedom they had before. They had to be a Hollow vessel, and they weren’t allowed to show any emotion, but at least they could move around, they could see clearly, and they could be loved. They missed the Great Knights. They missed their sister, their mother, and their father. Though their father tried to never show affection, they could always notice how their father would act. The way he smiled when Hollow mastered a technique, the occasional times that the King had to stop himself from patting their head, and, most of all, the way he hesitated from chaining them up after Hollow absorbed the Radiance into their mind. Hollow swore that they heard him crying as he left the Egg. They wish that they never had to do this duty, that they could’ve lived a happier life with their family. Now, for the sake of others, they had to sacrifice themselves.
What hurt most was that they knew that they have already failed. They were only pretending to be hollow. The moment that the Radiance tried to force her power out of them, they would likely crumble. The only thing they could do now was try to hold her back with sheer willpower alone.
Actually, speaking of the Radiance, she had been pretty tame with how she has been acting toward them. When she was first sealed, she retaliated against Hollow (and nearly got the King killed), but then she just, stopped. She showed barely any aggressiveness, and the most harm she was doing to Hollow was through the effects of infection. Maybe she was planning something, or perhaps she was tired. She may even just be feeling bad for her actions.
The thoughts left in their head quickly vanished when they felt an aching pain in their head. Before they could do anything, the light completely blinded their vision, and all the feelings in their body became an impossible-to-comprehend blur. With all the power in their body, they pushed against this force, and was barely able to regain their sight. They rapidly blinked, trying to clear their vision a bit more, until they felt something shatter around them. After this, they noticed that they were able to move a bit more, as their chained body swayed side-to-side. This slight feeling of relief was cut off, though when they felt their arm start moving.
Without them trying to.
The arm began to slam against the chains, and Hollow began to panic. The Radiance. Was this her plan to whole time? To wait until they were unprepared before she struck? After large amounts of clanging, the arm managed to break through the chains, resulting in Hollow falling down, as if they fell out of a cocoon. They crashed against the floor, lucky enough that they didn’t land on their nail, and they tried to get up, before noticing that they couldn’t move their legs either. After a few seconds, their legs moved on their own, as they stood up, and a voice entered their head.
“Finally.” The voice spoke, as a cruel laugh escaped it. “Now, it is time to put everything in motion.” Before Hollow could even think about what that meant, their arm grabbed their nail and they felt their legs begin to walk forward, to the entrance of egg. Any sense of reassurance was gone, as they fell into a state of pure panic. As this went on, the voice began to laugh, laugh at them. It didn’t take long for them to reach the exit of the black egg, which was still blocked with the seal. Though Hollow felt slightly calmed when they remembered this, they were interrupted as they felt the aching pain in their head again, and the voice spoke once again. “Oh, foolish king. Did you think a simple seal could stop me?!” Hollow’s vision was instantly clouded by the orange mist again, and this time they couldn’t clear it from their vision. Despite this, they felt their arm raising up and, and a burning sensation enveloped their hand. Before long, the burning feeling flew off their hand as they heard a large blast in front of them. Afterward, the orange mist cleared from their vision, and they saw what had happened.
The seal that blocked of the Black Egg was broken open.
Dread creeped into Hollow’s body, as they walked out of the egg, nail clenched tightly in one hand. The voice laughed one last time, before speaking to them again. “Now, my vessel, I think it is time for a little...family visit.”