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The calm serenity of the Palace Grounds would give bugs peace whenever they came near it. It was a symbol of hope and where their God Kings were housed. Where eventually little godlings would grow up. Yes, despite her annoyance, the Gods were expecting more kids to despite many suffocated and cracked corpses right under them -and bring betterment to the Land of Hallownest.
The land that was wrongfully taken from the Radiance.
She held in her grumbles, not wanting anyone to notice she was on her way to the Palace Grounds. The elevator to the Palace was semi-packed, filled with citizens of many classes coming to conduct their business either with retainers, business officials, or even with the King himself. The elevator was slightly rocky, but way better built than the other elevators
There were a few royal knights guarding them all. If they were paying attention, then they might have noticed the slight orangish glow inside of the ruby helmet. They might have noticed the burning smell of concentrated soul coming from the body she is possessing.
But everyone thinks she is trapped forever in a living corpse that is decaying this very second.
She smiled at both the king's stupidity and his death that she has been planning out for months. She was extremely lucky to find a body that hid her influence well from those around him. The body was also extremely fit but damaged. Unable to fly but able to make a full dash.
The only problem she had to deal with was this bug's family. He was quite attached to them and them to him and would have noticed him acting strange. So she had to infect him within hours. It is fitting that he would get infected first as his family- her once devoted children worked side by side with the King, giving him all of her weaknesses.
The elevator jolted to a stop and the doors of the elevator opened up. The radiance looked up and could already see the pale glow of the grounds. It sickens her.
The guards started escorting everyone, making sure none of them stepped out of line. Right at the elevator entrance, there was a security checkpoint ahead and the Radiance could see the guards taking away any weapons or anything that looked like a weapon. The Radiance slowly started unbuckling the holster that held the bug's sabers. She was completely aware that she couldn’t bring physical weapons, that's why she needed to find a bug that could summon the amount of weapons she would need.
She tried not to laugh when the guard simply took the weapon and placed it in storage. They aren’t even giving her a second glance. The guards soon let them through the hallways which were getting brighter with every step.
And the King wasn't suspecting a thing.
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Anxiety ate away at the King as he worked through his papers. This wasn't unusual though as he felt like he was always stressed about something, whether that be with the Kingdom or with his personal life.
Orrin sighed as he placed one of his hands on the slight bump of his abdomen. He shouldn’t be thinking this way about them. He just hopes they are strong enough to live.
He looked down and away from the corner of his office. Just a couple of years ago, the Pure Vessel would stand there, waiting for orders, but now it held the forgotten light. Its sacrifice allows Hallownest to live.
A sharp knock pulled Orrin out of his thoughts.
“Come in,” The King spoke, and a retainer entered.
“Your Highness, your court will be open shortly,” The retainer spoke.
“Very well, we’ll be out there in a short bit. You are dismissed,” The King spoke. The Retainer nodded and left the room, leaving Orrin alone. He simply sighed, got up from his spot and picked his robe from the chair. He buttoned the robe, adjusted it so he wasn't showing, and made his way out of the office and towards the throne room.
The hallways had many retainers scurrying around, preparing for the day ahead. Many Kingsmolds were guarding the hallways, though Orrin thought having four in each hallway is just too much. There aren’t many warriors that can defeat a Kingsmold so easily.
Usually, he and his Root would be at court, listening to their citizens' concerns. But Ida was in her garden today, so she won't be attending. Orrin suspected that today wouldn’t be such a busy day.
Soon enough he got to the throne room which was one of the few rooms in the palace that didn’t glow. The room was covered head to toe in pitch-black fabric that weaved in the direction of the throne, making him the focal point of the room. Multiple Kingsmold guarded the long room to the throne. Once he got comfy in his seat, the retainer came into the room.
“Your Majesty, shall I start bringing citizens?” The Retainer asked.
“Yes, you may,”
So then court began.
One by one, citizens came in, telling him their distress and their wishes to better their lives or lives around them. Despite the complaints, Orrin appreciated this task. It felt like it had been so long since he could interact with his citizens. Despite the massive decisions he has made for the better of the entirety of Hallownest, it felt nice listening to personalized problems.
Everything was well.
As he sent the citizens back after listening to their concerns, a pang of uneasiness hit Orrin. His throat knotted up as his abdomen tingled. Orrin huffed as he rubbed his stomach.
“It must be boring in there for you,” Orrin chuckled. “We’ll get some deserts after this alright?”
The King's eyes went upward at his next citizen. He could barely see movement in the dark making his way towards him.
Rust color armor made its way to the throne, the walk of the bug with a barely noticeable uneven step. The helmet had wide petrified horns as the loose cloak flowed with every movement of his body.
Soon Orrin's light touched the bug, exposing them fully as the bug finches at the light. Though he kneeled down to the ground, their knees were shaky.
“Your Majesty,” the bug spoke, his voice rough and weak. His helmet was down, seemingly unable to look the king straight in the eyes. “Thank you for allowing me to speak with you.”
“Any citizen is welcome to speak with us. So tell me, wait ales you enough to come here,” Orrin's voice echoed through the room.
“I appreciate this opportunity for you to grant my wish,” the bug spoke and he now stood up.
Suddenly a golden glow illuminated from behind the bug.
Before Orrin could even react the golden light zoomed through the room. Orrin didn’t even know what happened until all of the Kingsmolds collapsed to the ground. Void splattered onto the floor as the echo of the pale armor bounced across the floor.
The king gasped as stood from his throne and he immediately summoned his swords. The golden glow made its way back to the bug, and Orrin could tell that it was nails. Three more appeared from behind the bug. He swayed back and forth until he looked up for the first time.
Orrin gasped as his blood ran cold, now seeing his glowing orange eyes.
The Radiance is here.
“I wish for you to die,” the voice said, now echoing with her influence. Raw gurgling laughs came out of the bug as the nails flew towards Orrin. Orrin immediately bolted away as the golden swords screeched, embedding themselves in the hard metallic palace wall.
“Come back here!” The bug screeched, as he summoned sabers in his hands and summoned more nails behind him before making a mad dash towards the King.
Orrin gasped as more nails came in his direction. He dodged them as he rushed out of the throne room from a side hallway. Nails embed itself into the frame.
“ This can’t be happening! This can’t be happening! She is supposed to be trapped! How did she get out! ” Orrin was panicking. His plan was foolproof! There was no way she should have gotten out! How was this possible?
“I swear to the old gods Grimm if this is a fucken nightmare-Arggg!” A nail rushed right past him, slicing his shoulder. Liquid soul spilled from the wound, blending in with his pale robes.
“This is no dream, Wyrm. Isn’t this what you foresaw!” The Radiance laughed with renewed energy from the fear that the King was emanating. Slight tears came out of his eyes but pushed them back as his lungs burned. As the footsteps behind him got louder and heavier, panic and fear seized Orrin. Off the reflective walls, the red armor could be seen trailing behind him.
Orrin sees a crossroads of hallways. He couldn’t run straight or the Radiance would surely catch up to him or send more nails in his direction. And he can’t fight lest he hurts the little ones.
As he was preparing to make the sharp turn, a gaggle of retainers appeared in front of him. They turned to see the commotion.
“My King what-” The retainer's eyes widened as two glowing nails curved past the king and sliced the retainers. As quickly as they were bisected, they plopped on the floor as hemolymph and guts spilled onto the floor. Shocked terrified gasps barely made it out of the retainers as they quickly lost themselves in the pain.
Orrin repressed a fearful gag, slipping on the blood, and weakly turned the hallway. If this bug was able to kill these retainers so easily, then he could kill Orrin right now.
But Orrin knew that the Radiance was simply playing chase with him, relishing in his feat until she got bored.
He was prey for the first time.
He desperately tried to call out for help, but his voice wasn't able to make any more sounds other than panicked breathing.
As he saw the sight of more Kingsmolds up ahead, but before they were able to react, the sabers curved to the sides of Orrin, slicing and destroying the study contraptions.
He desperately tried feeling the Kingsoul, unable to connect with it under the panic he was under. He just had to hope Ida could feel that he was in danger.
He soon saw a hallway balcony up ahead and he desperately turned to the railing, wanting to try and warn whoever was in the room below.
Orrin's eyes widened in both relief and desperation.
It was four of the Great Knights, all calm and almost unaware of the commotion that was going on.
Hegemol immediately turned his helmet as the other three didn’t realize what was going on, and the King could immediately tell that Knight knew something was deeply wrong.
Just like the two other times, the golden swords curved past Orrin and sharply turned- cutting his face before the blade hurled towards the Knights. Hegemol with godly speed, unsheathed his mace from his back before deflecting the sword. The rest of the Knights immediately became silent and unsheathed all of their weapons.
Before Orrin could do or say anything, the harsh loud footsteps boomed as he was yanked to the ground.
The king yelped as the bug gripped onto his tail, claws penetrating through the thick hide as liquid soul was trickling down to the ground, blending in the ground.
Orrin desperately looked up to see the bug, saber in hand while looking down upon him with vicious eyes before he started chuckling.
“I’ll make sure to show your ‘Pure Vessel’ this,” The Radiance chuckled. Her influence on the bug is stronger than ever. Before Orrin could even react, the saber stabbed into the abdomen.
The King's breath expelled out of his lungs in pain. His thick hide was resisting the blade as soul quenched from the wound, spilling out of him and onto his robes. Before his body could process the pain, the saber stabbed him again but this time it was straight in his chest.
Blood pooled in his lungs as tears built up in his eyes. As he coughed soul from his mouth, his life and regrets flashed before his eyes. He desired
The Radiance swung the saber over his head, preparing to slice Orrin's head. But the arm jerked, unable to move.
“What the-” Before the bug could finish the statement, green vines wrapped around him as he was viciously pulled away from the king.
Orrin's vision was slightly blurring as chaotic static filled his vision. He could hear commotion and soon Ze’mer and Hegemol came into his view.
“We need to stabilize before che’ can move him,” Ze’mer’s voice strained.
“Aggg!” Orrin gurgled out as painful pressure was pushed into the wound on his chest. Ze’mer pushed into the wound with ripped cloth, lessening the bleeding. She did the exact same thing with the wound in his midsection and shoulder as Hegemol held the struggling King, looking back at Isma and Ogrim struggling to restrain the assassin.
He was tightened with thick, thorny vines that he easily broke from, not even being affected but the poison lacing them. Isma kept trying to pile them on the assassin, leaving room for Ogrim to strike him right in the chest. Everyone could hear the armor and bones crack with every strike.
But it seemed like the assassin was getting stronger.
“My King! My King! Please stay awake! Ze’mer, bring them to the ‘jars’. Towards safety,” Hegemol spoke, trying to keep his cool and using code words so it would be difficult for the assassin to find the king.
Ze’mer sharply nodded as she quickly and gently picked up Orrin, before bolting. His head limply leaned back, barely seeing the assassin escaping his bindings, before summoning more swords and attacking three of his knights before Ze’mer adjusted her grip on him, not wanting him to see in violence behind her.
The Knights' footsteps were sharp and fast with increasing urgency.
She didn’t have to look behind her to know that the assassin was getting out of her bindings and slicing toward her fellow Knights. She knew that she had to run as fast as possible or the assassin would surely find her at the king.
The King's pained breaths motivated Ze’mer as she could feel him weakly hugging his stomach. Before she could think any more, she saw a red reflection on the walls.
“You think you can hide from me !” The assassin’s voice boomed, reverberating throughout the walls. Ze’mer could hear the gurgling infection seep out of his mouth as his steps got quicker. “I won't let you get away with this! You took everything from me !”
Ze'mer knew that she couldn't keep up for much longer, she would need to defend instead of run away.
In a few swift motions, Ze’mer took many long strides before placing the King leaning against the wall. He weakly looked at her, before she quickly turned and sheathed her nail.
Clank-
She quickly blocked the two sabers, pushing her nail back the sabers attempt to slice her head off as if the weapons were simple scissors. She could see the hung infections glow in the bugs eyes as he stared right into her. The glow barely illuminated the scarred, burned face of the bug. Its face was expressive as the puppeteer seemed to not ever had a physical body.
The screeching of metal in quick succession as the nail hit nail, the two bugs entered a battle. Weak coughs came out of Orrin as he glanced at the commotion.
He needed to get out of here.
“Aaggg!” Orrin hissed out in pain as he rolled in his stomach in an attempt to crawl away. He sobbed as he felt shards of dull pain in his abdomen.
He could feel more cracks with every movement he made, trying not to think about what he was doing right now. Though it doesn’t matter how he moves now, the eggs inside of him are dead.
Tears came out of his eyes as he moved inch by inch. The slashes of nails motivated him to move, hearing the pained grunts of his knight as the saber's slashes just got quicker.
Krrrack-
The sound of metal shattering echoed through the hallway and large chunks of pale metal flew ahead of Orrin. It was only one second later until a loud smack of a body fell onto the ground. The only sound left was two pained grunts. One coming from the King and the other from the bug.
Limping footsteps were now quickly heading toward Orrin with anger and frustration. Orrin desperately tried to close the distance, but a metal boot stomped and held the King's tail down. The spiked bottoms cut onto his hide.
Metal hand aggressively grabbed onto Orrin's shoulders and flipped him around. Before Orrin could even react, the assassin straddles right onto the King's stomach- making him whimper in pain before sickly claws made their way around his neck and placed amounting pressure on his neck.
The effect was immediate as Orrin was unable to even get a smither of air through his throat. Tears escaped his eyes as he weakly placed his arms on the assassin's forearms, making one last attempt to save his life.
Orrin could feel the assassin’s arms shake as he placed more pressure on the King’s throat. The amount of anger that The Radiance held was immeasurable to the amount of damage she is doing right now.
The Radiance grinned as she was the King pathetically squirmed, trying to escape his faith.
“Yes, die wyrm. Look into my eyes and see me take your life-” Quick footsteps followed behind the assassin, making him stop for only a second.
Before he could even turn, a slash of a sharp nail cut straight through his neck. The Radiance weakly gasped as she felt that the head that was attached to the neck was sliding off.
Infection leaked out of the wound as the head slipped off, the helmet with the head still attached to it echoing through the hallway.
Orrin's vision cleared as the body limply fell off of him. The greedily but weakly gasped for air as he caressed his through. A figure immediately came into his view, kneeling beside him before he felt thin but strong hands across his body.
“Come on my king, please stay awake for just a bit longer. My Lady is almost here,” Dryya urged her king as she readjusted his wounds. She would never think that anyone would try and get so close to assassinating the King. Thank her Lady for her intuition.
She tried not to think about the headless body next to him, leaking an infectious color that she thought she wouldn't ever see again. She tried not to think about the soft shards or barely developed calcium protruding from his stomach.
She tried not to cry as she heard a heartbreaking sob coming from behind her as roots quickly slithered to the King, pushing the assassin's body aside.
“My love,” Ida could only speak as she saw the awful state her husband was in. Orrin’s eyes widened as sobs overtook him.
“I-i-I failed… I f-fa-” A pained cough took over him as his sobs became louder. Ida’s roots gently wrapped around him, caressing him.
“My Knight, asset the damages she has done to Palace. Check on your fellow Knights and for the ones who can get up, get the tests back out and make sure the infection hasn’t spread to anyone here,” Ida commanded.
“Yes, My Lady,” Dryya said before immediately getting up and going over to Ze’mer who was barely functional with blood covering her. This left Ida and Orrin in their own world.
“The v-v-vessel wasn’t pure … the vessel wasn’t pure,” Orrin sobbed. Ida couldn’t hold her sadness anymore and sobbed with Orrin, embracing him.
The Plan was foolproof. The seals and plan would have worked. The only reason how she could have infected the assassin is if the Vessel wasn’t pure. Orrin sobbed at the horror and realization that he doomed his Kingdom and Vessel.
“What have we done?”