The Deepnest was never silent, one could always hear the scuttling, crawling, and creeping of its countless fearsome denizens. As such Ghost needed to always keep their guard up, nail ready and listening for even the smallest sign that something is amiss. They made their way deeper, the light of their Lumafly lantern revealing the twisted surroundings of this place. They heard it then, the telltale sound of digging, a Dirtcarver. It was coming from ahead of them, just behind a corner. Ghost readied their nail, slowly approaching, yet right before they reached the source of the noise there was a loud crack and a screech. Ghost hesitated for a moment but approached nonetheless, curious as to what just happened. Soon the light of their lantern illuminated the back of a cloaked figure, kneeling on the ground as their dark nail pierced the shell of the Dirtcarver, its legs kicking pathetically and twitching before it stilled.

The hooded figure let out a breath, then turned as it noticed the light behind it. There was a pause, both sides seemingly contemplating what to do next. The figure then stood up, pulling their nail out of the dead creature before speaking up, the voice revealing them to be male. "If you don't raise your nail against me then I won't raise mine either."

Ghost lowered their nail, head tilting slightly as in question.

"I suppose it is rather unusual to see another bug down here. Well, one that doesn't try to immediately kill you." He then moved over to the wall where a dead Deepling lay impaled by a few throwing knives. Ghost hadn't even noticed it before. "What are you even doing down here? I doubt this is a place for you." The stranger said as he removed the knives, cleaning them on his cloak before putting them away somewhere inside it.

Ghost just waved their nail around a bit, not in any threatening way but enough to demonstrate they knew how to use it.

The stranger paused, tilting their head in contemplation. "You're not really the talkative type, are you?" He waited for a few moments to see if Ghost would reply, yet spoke again when that didn't happen. "I see, well, whatever you might be looking for down here, as long as you don't get in my way we should not have any trouble with each other." With that the stranger started walking off, deeper into the dark, bearing no light of his own. "Farewell, silent one."

***


Ok soooo, it was really a matter of time before I start making Hollow Knight OCs of my own and here is the first one to be introduced. Or well, not really introduced as not much about him is revealed, but everything needs to start somewhere. I'm hoping to make a series out of this but definitely not all with watercolor, as fun as it is I don't have enough paper for what I have planned and I'd rather make it digital, buuut while I'm still waiting for my tablet I'm making due with other media.

Since I need to save my watercolor paper I opted for cutting it in half to have more sheets available, as such this was painted on A5 format. Was tricky but I think it still turned out good, tho there are a few things I would have liked to fix. While painting I also realized how Deepnest was a mistake due to it literally being made out of insect husks, but well, decided to cut a few corners there otherwise this would have taken forever. I think the place is still recognizable enough.

I plan at least one more introductory piece like this for another character. That one will be a bit more friendly though. XD


"Stranger" © me
Ghost/Hollow Knight © Team Cherry