You wanted to free the people of Hallownest. Minds for ourselves, free of the grip of the Light. The ability to choose, decide our own fates, and be united by individual strengths. How ironic, then, that in this supposed quest for liberation from a single ruler, you yourself became the new light the people turned to.
In the end, they were all as moths… seeking guidance and direction, because they remained as weak as ever in will to govern themselves and make their own decisions. Is this why you hid yourself away in exile? To force them to become their own beings even though they continued to see you as a god? Was it shame?
I have heard your name spoken in whispers of adoration. And I have seen the remnants of the atrocities you committed against the Void… in your desperation to stall the inevitable that you had no way of defeating yourself.
“No blazing kin. Only one light shall shine against the dark. The Wyrm becomes beacon, minds expanded, to yield, to devote. Eternity in promise and charge in progeny cursed.”
The Hive and the Mantis Tribe stood long after the fall of this kingdom because of their leaders, leaders who faced all manner of encroaching evils to protect their home, the ones who depended on them for protection… for guidance. Even the creatures of Greenpath had their faith in Unn to guide them.
Even now, after all I have learned, I can’t bring myself to hate you. You were great, and then diminished. And then you were alone. You were left alone to face the Light all by yourself for a second time; who else but you was capable of it? You did it once before, you could do it again, right? Is that what they thought of you?
But you had already given so much of yourself to ensure Hallownest’s survival for so long. What was there left?
… There was still a shred of hope. And also…
There was something else…
… Why did your old shell relinquish this to me? You left it specifically for an heir. It wasn’t on your smaller body, when you became the Pale King. Did you foresee this?
I wish you were still alive. I wish I could speak. Then maybe I could ask you for the whole story, in your words. I wish I knew what it was that you intended for Hallownest’s future from here.
I do know one thing: I am not hollow. My time here in Hallownest has taught me such compassion, pity…
I would not have made for a suitable vessel at all. I suppose I can only hope that I can continue to be a symbol of hope instead. I owe it to them.
I am their king now, after all.
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