Hollow Knight: Hallownest

The remains of the broken bridge were piled up alone in the open space of the town of Dirtmouth. As they had not been maintained for a long time, the sharp fractures had been polished into rough sections by the sand and stones carried by the strong wind, and most of them had sunk into the ground like withered petals.

The sky was no longer crossed by a gray line across the two mountains, but for those who wanted to come here to admire the once glorious Holy Nest, their thoughts were cut short.

There is no elevator, Howling Cliffs... no, it should be called Howling Cliffs now.

If you want to enter Dirtmouth directly from the cliff, you need to jump directly from a cliff that is more than dozens of meters high. Even for a ranger with certain skills, falling from this height without any cushioning, the ending is not surprisingly that he will be smashed to pieces, not to mention ordinary tourists.

The path leading into Hallownest, located on the cliff, has not been visited by bugs for a long time.

But for Quiruo, this was just a similar step to the previous journey. Not to mention falling from the mountainside, as long as he had a bone nail, he could fall to the foot of the mountain unscathed even from the top of the mountain.

"So... familiar..."

The desolate scene was in full view, and Quirrell slowly raised one hand in front of him, "touching" the town from a distance.

Ever since he set foot here, he felt an inexplicable throbbing in his heart. This feeling had never appeared before during the entire journey since his memory was interrupted. It was as if this piece of land had an extraordinary meaning to him.

"Is this throbbing feeling my true self, or is it..."

The hand moved to the top of the head, took off the white mask and held it in the palm of the hand. Quirrell looked into the pair of empty eyes and murmured:

"You are the one causing trouble. There must be something more important to you here."

He had talked to the mask like this more than once during his travels. He didn't know why, but when he was confused, he could always relieve his anxiety by talking to the mask for a few words, as if it had magical power, although the mask never responded...

At this moment of absent-mindedness, the mask seemed to have heard his thoughts and flashed again.

"Ok?"

Quirrel frowned slightly. Since he approached this place called Holy Nest, things were no longer the same as before. He thought that the end of the guidance was on the land under his feet, but he didn't expect that there would be another change at this time, and the flashing light became much stronger.

According to his past experience, he went down through the piles of rocks and jungles, avoiding the Uma Oma floating in the air, until a building hidden in the long grass appeared in front of him, and a long-lost sense of familiarity suddenly surged into his heart.

"Uh-"

Along with that familiar feeling came a sharp pain as if my head was being torn apart.

Kui Ruo originally thought that he had already gotten used to this pain, but he never expected that this time it would be more fierce than ever before. It was like a bone nail was being screwed in his head, almost making him faint from the pain on the spot.

By the time the pain faded away, Quiruo's clothes on his back were almost completely soaked by the cold sweat, but his chaotic memory became a little clearer.

"Teacher's archives... Archives?"

"Teacher...Teacher..."

The intermittent murmurs kept repeating, and he always felt that he was about to grasp that ray of inspiration. As long as he remembered a little more, tried harder to remember a little more...

Quirrell's face was twisted into a ball, painful and hideous. He wanted to try to take the initiative, but the more intense tearing sensation he felt in return forced him to give up.

In that case, seeing certain things would bring back certain memories... He rested for a while at the station, and only stepped into the teacher archives after his spirit had returned to normal.

Acid tanks, experimental equipment, archive bookshelves...everything here made him feel the same pain as when he stopped in front of the museum before. He even fainted on the spot a few times. This was far less than the dozens of steps from Dirtmouth to the Misty Canyon, but the time it took was several times longer than the former.

If it were during a journey, Kui Ruo would never allow himself to faint without any preparation, but it was different here.

Although those floating creatures looked innocent and harmless, his heart had always resisted contact with them, as they were definitely not good creatures. But even so, his subconscious mind still felt that he could relax and entrust himself to them.

Kui Ruo didn't understand and just thought that the mask on his head was working. After all, he was also following its guidance.

Before crossing the last acid pool, he saw an extremely huge floating creature. This creature gave him a stronger sense of oppression, but also a more familiar feeling.

It didn't make things difficult for itself, as if it surfaced just to confirm, and then gave way.

So, he stood in front of the huge jar and took off the mask on his head.

It flashed faster than ever before, as if it was extremely restless and wanted to return immediately to where it was supposed to be.

Quirrel raised it and pointed it towards the jar.

He didn't know why he was doing this, but he felt he should.

The light on the mask stopped flickering and blossomed to its zenith. It was at this moment that Quiro realized that the weight he was holding was gradually decreasing. He barely opened his eyes in the face of the strong light and discovered that the mask was disintegrating into imperceptible particles that were melting into the jar.

Click——

The acid tank was still intact, but suddenly a crisp breaking sound was heard by my ear. Not long after, a slender figure slowly emerged from the acid, floating quietly in it, with his eyes closed and a peaceful face.

Snap...

A tear suddenly fell to the ground. Qui Ruo looked down, but found that everything in front of him was blurry.

Ah, are those my tears?

But why should I cry?

"I say, you are really too arrogant. You actually dared to sneak out without the teacher's permission?!"

"You are such a grown-up boy, but you are still so reckless. Be careful!"

"When you grow up, you will be able to help the teacher, so don't worry now."

"Go ahead. If you feel tired, come back and rest. The door of the archives is always open for you."

"From now on, you have to call me teacher, do you understand?"

......

Scenes of memories emerged before my eyes, and big tears kept hitting the stone surface, splashing drops of tears called memories.

Qui Ruo raised his head and cried:

"Teacher, I, I..."

"I am back."