The Final Ascent#

Hornet’s path to the Sacred Citadel is long and merciless — a pilgrimage through ruins and blood.
Every step upward brings new trials, and at the gates of the citadel stands her final challenger:
The Last Arbiter, the kingdom’s holy guardian.
He wields a massive meteor hammer, each swing echoing with divine weight.
The air trembles under his judgment.
But Hornet is no longer the frail prisoner from the story’s beginning.
Her silken power now hums like a living song.

When the Arbiter falls in a blinding explosion, the gates to Pharloom’s deepest secret finally open.
And as Hornet crosses the threshold, awe mingles with dread.
The Citadel is magnificent — towers of ivory and gold, crafted with impossible precision —
yet beneath its beauty lies a sterile silence, the stillness of something long dead.

The Return of Lace#

In that hollow grandeur, a familiar voice greets her.
Lace appears once more — but this time, she does not draw her blade.
Her words cut sharper than any weapon.
She mocks Hornet’s struggle, calling her climb pathetic and graceless,
unworthy of an audience with a god.

With bitter pity, she warns Hornet:

“At the summit dwells She Who Breathes Worlds.
A single sigh from Her can snuff out all your hope.”

But Hornet is no longer bound by doubt.
Her voice is calm, resolute.
She has seen through the illusions — the kingdom’s glory, the pilgrims’ faith, the web of curses.
All of it leads back to the same truth:
Even gods can fall.
And those who crown themselves divine are often the most hollow of all.

Unmoved by Lace’s words, Hornet declares that she will face whatever waits at the top —
not as a vessel or a weapon, but as herself.

The Fall Beneath the Citadel#

Fate, however, has other plans.
Before she can confront the deity, disaster strikes —
a sudden elevator collapse sends her plunging from the golden halls into the abyss below.
When she awakens, the glittering veneer of the Citadel is gone.
She finds herself in its true heart — a factory of blood and toil.

Here, endless rows of bugs labor like machines, fueling the Citadel’s splendor.
Their confession machines chant a mockery of faith:

“Your repentance is received.
Continue your work, and salvation shall follow.”

Even this hollow absolution requires a coin to play.
The citizens are forbidden to eat, to drink, to rest —
their lives are consumed, thread by thread, until nothing remains.

Hornet realizes the truth —
the Sacred Citadel’s brilliance is built on the corpses of its believers.

The Song of the Citadel#

Climbing from the factory’s depths, Hornet reaches a vast chamber — the Sanctum of Hymns.
Here, she learns that to confront the being at the summit, she must awaken the Citadel’s Core Mechanism,
and to do that, she must gather three sacred melodies held by its highest keepers:
the Conductor, the Architect, and the Administrator.

Thus begins Hornet’s perilous traversal through the inner sanctum — a labyrinth of riddles and ruins.
In the Whispering Archives, she encounters the proud Librarian,
a scholar who hoards knowledge like treasure and guards it from the unworthy.
In the Grand Hall, she meets Ballador, the bedridden Conductor,
a man broken by age and regret, who laments the Citadel’s corruption and gifts her his melody as penance.

Each melody she claims peels away another layer of Pharloom’s hypocrisy.
The Citadel’s grandeur is nothing but decay draped in silk.

With all three melodies united, Hornet activates the ancient elevator to the summit.
It ascends endlessly, carrying her toward a chamber blanketed in white blossoms.
There, awaiting her, is Lace — one final time.

A Mirror of the Self#

Their duel is fierce, desperate, and sorrowful.
When Lace finally falters, she confesses the truth:
She is no creature of flesh and blood.
She was woven — a being made entirely of silk by the Mother of Silk,
created for a single purpose, then abandoned when she failed to fulfill it.
Her existence, she says, is meaningless —
and only death can grant her peace.

Hornet stands in silence.
In Lace’s pain, she sees a reflection —
the same tragedy that once defined the little knight of Hallownest.
With quiet compassion, Hornet speaks:

“I have seen one like you — hollow, yet whole.
Even in emptiness, there lies a soul.”

It is a moment that pierces time — a bridge between Hollow Knight and Silksong,
a reminder that life’s worth is not given by creation, but chosen by will.

When the battle ends, Lace falls — not as an enemy, but as a sister freed from her curse.
Now, nothing remains between Hornet and the truth at the summit.

The Mother of Silk#

At last, Hornet reaches the Cradle, the Sacred Citadel’s highest chamber.
There she beholds the being who rules Pharloom —
the Mother of Silk, the true weaver goddess.
Her body is vast and divine, composed entirely of glistening silk threads.
She is the origin of the weaver tribe, the architect of all Pharloom’s tragedies.

Here, a truth long buried is finally revealed.
The Mother of Silk’s madness began with a desire — a mother’s longing for a perfect child.
She first wove Lace from pure silk, but Lace’s hollowness enraged her.
To sustain Lace’s existence, she enslaved the weavers, forcing them to spin endlessly.
To justify her cruelty, she invented the lie of pilgrimage —
a false religion that turned hope into servitude.

Now, she sees Hornet — the perfect fusion of flesh and silk.
Her intent is clear:
Hornet will be the vessel, the womb through which the Mother will birth her ultimate heir.
There is no room for mercy.
The time for words is over.

Hornet raises her needle.
The Battle of the Weaver Goddess begins.

This story is a retelling inspired by the world of Hollow Knight: Silksong,
crafted to explore its themes of destiny, creation, and self-determination.