Vessel

Archives

After explaining to Mala who Quirrel was, we marched into the teacher's archives. The inside was much more vast than it appeared on the outside. We found ourselves in a massive open room, like lined with bookshelves, all filled. In strange patterns across the floor, were occasional acid pits, likely for jellyfish enjoyment.

In the middle, was a massive tube, stretching from floor to ceiling, filled with glowing acid. There were a few benches scattered around it, likely for reading. This place was nothing like it was in the game. I was at a complete and utter loss for directions.

"I... I seem to remember this place. Why would it choose to call out to me? Why now?" Quirrel's speech caught me by surprise. I'd almost forgotten he was there. He did seem to remember the way though, so that was helpful at least. We followed Quirrel, and hoped for the best.

The next room was filled with jellyfish, mostly of the smaller variety, but there were a few larger ones. We had to hold onto the knight to keep them from attacking the oomas. There were a few ooma shaped objects on the ground with no tentacles. They were highly explosive if I remembered correctly.

We reached the end without any knight based explosions, and came to a fork in the road. Quirrel couldn't recall which path led where, so we split up. Mala headed off with the knight, and Quirrel was with me.

Conversation was nonexistent, mostly because I couldn't speak, and had run out of paper in my notepad. Needless to say, it was incredibly awkward. Since I was behind him, I decided to practice with my nail. He wouldn't notice. My nail clanged against the ground. I had swung it just a bit too far on my downstroke. Quirrel turned and saw this.

"Practicing?" Slightly embarrassed that I had been caught, I nodded slowly. "No harm in that, perhaps I could help." And so, Quirrel started teaching me nail techniques. In all reality, I actually wasn't bad with a nail, since I had been practicing with it practically everywhere. Quirrel was just better. Far better.

Within ten seconds I had been disarmed. "You need a better grip on your weapon. It's very easy for an enemy to take it away from you. Perhaps on the same subject, you've been disarmed, and your opponent still has their weapon. What now?"

I sized up Quirrel, and quickly realized that he would outrun me. Retrieving my nail wasn't an option. I got ready for a fist fight. "Good, but if your opponent is slow, you can always retrieve your nai-" He was cut off by me tackling him, throwing his weapon aside.

Quirrel simply rolled and kicked me into the air with both feet. I somehow managed to land on my feet out of sheer luck. "Well done, I wasn't expecting that. We should probably keep going now, so get your nail." I retrieved my nail and followed him.

Our path ended in an open room, filled mostly with acid pools on the floor, bigger than any we had seen previously. At the far end of the room, was a door. "Yes, I remember now. This is the path to her. Let's get your friends." We quickly found Mala and a knight that looked like they had just walked face first into an explosion. Oh wait...

"Did you find anything?" Mala asked. "We did. Monomon slumbers not too far past the room at the end of our hallway. Please, follow me." Now reunited, our group returned to the massive acid pool filled room.

Inside, there were several ledges, precariously attatched to the walls that lined the sky high room. I wondered why they were there. The acid started bubbling. Quirrel was naturally curious and took a look over the side. A massive jellyfish erupted from the pool, hitting Quirrel, and throwing his nail onto a high ledge. Uumuu had awakened.

Uumuu was a massive threat, with control over it's electric powers, and a nearly invisible bubble around its core. The only weapon capable of stopping Uumuu, was currently sitting on a high ledge. Quirrel started to climb up to get it.

Uumuu noticed the warrior and pointed a tentacle at him. We needed Quirrel to reach his weapon, so I tried to buy him some time. I threw my nail at Uumuu. The blade hit it's bubble and bounced off harmlessly. Uumuu slowly turned toward me, tentacle still outstretched. It was clear now that it was arcing with electricity.

An electric laser flew toward me. I rolled out of the way, as Uumuu once again turned its attention to Quirrel. Mala and the knight had already started to climb as well. Mala threw a vengeful spirit at the massive jelly.

Uumuu was pinballed around the room before hurtling toward Mala. It bumped them, sending Mala flying. Fortunately they caught themselves on a lower platform. That left the knight, slightly higher than Mala had been, and Quirrel, still trying to reach his weapon. I started the climb as well.

Uumuu wasn't oblivious to our attempts to reach it. It shuddered before releasing a scream that sounded like the cracking of a whip on a low budget animated TV show. Swarms of lumaflies emerged from holes in the room's walls. They circled the room, occasionally arcing off of each other before they split into three groups and came after us.

Spells and nails were useless against them, as the swarms could easily split at any given moment. All we could do was run. I leapt off of my platform as a swarm went over. Mala leapt over their swarm, onto the next platform. The knight, jumped at Uumuu, taking the jellyfish by surprise.

Now on top of Uumuu, the knight attempted to cut through the bubble while Uumuu violently tried to shake them off. The lumaflies returned to Uumuu and attempted to kill the knight. Quirrel was almost there. Just one more platform.

I was at eye, or, energy core level with Uumuu now. I decided to try and draw it's attention. I waved my arms around, eventually drawing it's gaze. I screamed, creating a powerful mess of wraiths above me, imbued with the power of the void. Uumuu took notice.

Having decided I was a threat worth it's time, Uumuu shot an electric beam at me. I managed to stay on the ledge I was on for the first few beams, but eventually I was forced to jump to another. Uumuu finally managed to throw off the knight, and charged me.

I heard a battlecry that was easy to recognize. "KUSSAH!!!" Quirrel fell from above, nail in hand, and hit Uumuu's bubble with more force than any hit I'd seen in my time in Hallownest. Uumuu's bubble shield shattered, revealing its vulnerable core. From the other side of the room, Mala hurled a vengeful spirit.

The knight returned from the ground level they had fallen to, nail drawn. They reared back and slashed at the core that was now flying towards them. The strike connected, causing Uumuu to shake violently. It let out a final scream before exploding, leaving no trace it had ever been there.

The door at the end of the room, slowly opened. Quirrel looked over at the newly available room. "Monomon should be just beyond this room." With that, we all made our way down, from various heights, and walked through the door. Yet, Quirrel seemed almost saddened by this.

Sure enough, the next room contained a large glass tube, lined with gold. In the acid filled tube, we could just make out the form of Monomon, floating in the acid. "I remember now. I play the final role in Monomon's protection." Quirrel removed his mask hat, holding it up to the tube.

A previously invisible barrier flashed into view before it shattered. Quirrel's Monomon mask also shattered. He collapsed onto the floor. "Don't worry about me. I'm just starting to feel my age a bit, that's all." The knight drew their dreamnail and slashed at the tube. They toppled over, fast asleep.

Slowly, Monomon faded away, and the knight awakened. The second dreamer was gone.

That's it for this chapter! Yes I did just completely gloss over what happens to Quirrel in the game, but I didn't feel like writing that scene, and would much rather keep him alive, and just hanging around somewhere. Fight me. I've never written a story that's gotten this far before, so it's strange for me. On one hand, I can't wait to write the ending, because I think it'll turn out really well, but on the other hand, I've had a lot of fun writing this story, so ending it is going to be a bit sad. Either way, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter!

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