The crazy adventure

Feel free to add on to the story as much as you like!

Rules:

What you write has to be at least a bit related to the previous thing

What you write has to be related at least a bit to Hollow Knight

Chapter 1:

It was a calm day. Elderbug was there, just standing still by bench like usual. Elderbug lived a very uneventful life in Dirtmouth, until now. He usually didn't get involved in other peoples buisness, but today he had to.

It turned out Cornifer had an egg in his house. It was one of his. He told Elderbug he had to guard the egg while he was underground mapping. Elderbug accepted. He didn't know what would be so bad about watching an egg for a few hours. But just as Cornifer approached the well underground, a whole bunch of creatures bursted out of the well. The first thing they saw was a tasty, defenseless egg. Elderbug had to defend, somehow...

Unfortunately, Elderbug has crippling arthritis and as soon as he went to smack one of the beasts with his cane, he broke his back and collapsed on the ground. The beasts slowly picked apart his shell, consuming him alive before eating Cornifer's egg. How did he lay an egg? How would I know!

Chapter 2:

When he awoke, Elderbug felt as though his belly had been twisted into a knot. He was disoriented and extremely lethargic, with no idea where he was - but the pain! Pain branched across his back like lightning, spreading to each corner of his body like a tidal wave of fluoroantimonic acid mixed with a hint of Gruzzer milk. He wanted to gasp, but pain exploded in his thorax, silencing him immediately. He wanted to cry, but pain exploded behind his eyeballs, and his tear ducts were locked shut. "Oh! Life is but dust in the wind compared with the bitter and unyielding torment that awaits me! I was a good bug in life, and always strove to protect the innocent. Will no one deliver me to my final rest?" He thought, and the plea was heard.

Within the blink of an eye, Elderbug found himself graced with the presence of an enormous and marvellous entity. This entity, Bobbi bill (which by the way, is based on the Hawthorne Shield Bug) was the ruler of the infinite cosmos in all their eternal beauty. Elderbug could not comprehend, within his tiny, fragile, primitive mind the true scope of this creature, but he still knew that he beheld a primordial and exceptional beast. Then it spoke.

"YOU, TINY THING, WHO DARES DISTURB MY REST. I SHALL FEAST ON YOUR SOUL AND FILL IT WITH THE SPAWN OF THE ABYSS"

And Elderbug was no more.

Chapter 3:

When Stephan awoke, the barrel he was trapped in having been torn to pieces, he nearly fell back to sleep. Slowly but steadily though, he sat himself upright and took in his surroundings.

The caverns were eerily silent. Where had everyone gone? He recalled that there had been a significant increase in guardsmen while he toiled away with his research. Where were they now? Either they were all extremely lazy, or something had happened. But what? He tried to squint through the mind-fog, but to no avail. So hard had he attempted to think, that his head responded in kind with a dull ache. One that would only intensify the more he thought. Instinctually, he reached out to grasp for something he could scoop up the spare gruzzer milk with. The substance would relieve his pain, albeit temporarily.

With a jar of gruzzer milk in hand, he wandered for a time before discovering the Crossroad stag station. And soon enough, he found himself in Dirtmouth, the fading town. But as he stepped outside, he caught sight of something peculiar. A hoard of bugs, surrounding the body of another.

The creatures turned from the poor bug’s body to him, and Stephan knew he had messed up. Despite the mind-fog, something about those orange, blazing eyes were able to bring a distinct memory to light. One of pestilence. Of chaos. Of tragedy. The dead walking, hungering, hunting for whoever was foolish enough to cross their path.

When Stephan snapped back to the present, it was barely in the nick of time. He had nearly been trampled by an incoming husk; it had leapt at him while he wasted time reminiscing. He narrowly dodged the attack and summoned a ball of soul to take care of them. They went down quickly, spraying their orange liquid insides onto the floor. Stephan cringed at the sickeningly sweet odor it emitted.

Briefly, he felt a pang of remorse for the bug - what was once a bug, that is. But he had little time to reflect, as the other infected husks would soon befall him.

When the dust settled, all that was left was him and the stranger who laid upon the ground. They resembled the common bugs who he had seen countless times, going about their business in the depths below. But something was different about this one… A black liquid oozed from their eye sockets. The body spasmed and trembled as the bug - the *thing* - slowly arose. The creature turned to face him, but when Stephan looked into their gaze, he saw nothing.