Ori and the light of Nibel

Chapter 3: Arriving at the Spirit tree

(authors note) G'day Orifan18 here. I'm here to tell you that this chapter more specifically paragraph 2 might have some sensitive topics like depression and possible hint's of suicide. If you feel this way please get help. You are not alone. Feel free to skip the paragraph if it's too sensitive for you. Anyway that being said, let's begin. (There'll be this gap between this and the actual chapter because I don't know how to add a line in-between it.)

There was silence when the duo saw the small tree. Ori was confused and turned to Sein to ask what it was only to see a saddened expression "Are you ok, Sein?" he asked as his ears slightly drooped for seeing his friend in this state. Without a word, Sein began walking to the tree as Ori could've sworn that he saw blue tears form in her eyes. Sein began speaking, her voice evident with sadness and grief "The light of the Spirit tree lives in all of us. He is the reason we're alive, he's the reason we grew. When he called out to find you, many years past... We were attacked, wounded, and killed by our foe. Now these Ancestral trees are all that's left behind. Come closer now and feel the light of Fil, the spirit inside." Ori was shocked at what he heard.

He soon approached Sein "I feel like this is my fault." Sein looked at him a little surprised to hear him say this "None of this is your fault, Ori." she tried to soothe Ori, but inevitably failed. "But it was. If only I followed the light when the Spirit tree called out to me this wouldn't have happened!" Ori half shouted then began walking away "This place would've been fine without me..." Ori said quietly but Sein managed to make out what he said, making her upset at his words "Does he even know what he's saying?" she thought as she went after him "Please don't say things like that!" she cried. Hearing this made Ori feel sad for her even more than he already was "I'm truly sorry about my words. I feel like I just make things worse." he apologized to her as he stopped walking. Sein caught up soon after "You don't make anything worse. Just know someone cares about you, Ori." she said, comforting him.

Ori soon looked over to Sein as she began to hug him again to try and comfort him, making Ori calm down almost immediately to the soft touch of her fur. Ori felt that unknown feeling again and what he could assume were butterflies in his stomach "Yep. I definitely have a crush on her." he thought as he tried his best not to blush. He was broken from his thoughts when he felt something land on his shoulder when he looked, he saw Sein releasing a few tears, he also saw that he subconsciously wrapped his arms around her "Hey, it's ok. Guess we both experienced tragedies." Ori said as he let go of Sein. But she didn't let go of him, still shedding tears onto his shoulder. "Well, this is unnatural for her." he thought.

Ori soon picked Sein up bridal style, surprising her "If you're going to keep crying on my shoulder then I might as well carry you." he told Sein as a slight blush covered both their faces "He is so adorable when he blushes" she thought, her blush slightly darkening into a deeper shade of blue from what she just thought. Ori had a little smirk when he saw that the blush on Sein cheeks deepen "And you joke about me having a crush on you." he said to her, which she replied with "Oh sh-shut u-up." with a little grin on her face. Ori carried Sein back to the ancestral tree "Well, anyway we still have a Spirit tree to get to. So, let's 'feel the light of Fil' however we do that." Ori spoke in a questioning tone "I do believe that we only need to put one of our paws on Fil's ancestral tree." Sein spoke.

Ori soon reached the ancestral tree and put Sein down on her hooves "Thank you for carrying me, Ori. Even if you didn't need to." Sein thanked Ori "Well, I need some way to repay you for helping me when I need it." he replied as the duo approached the glowing tree. "So just put a paw on the tree?" Ori asked to make sure. Sein nodded and they both put a paw on the tree, Fil's light flowing into their bodies.

Ori and Sein have learned Wall jump! Ori and Sein can use wall jump to jump off walls and reach higher platforms!

"A wall jump, huh?" Ori said with a little amazement "It appears so. Let's use this to get out of this hole and continue finding those keystones." Sein said with Ori nodding in agreement. They soon got out by using their newly acquired skill and continued to search soon coming to a ledge that was too high for them to reach "Hmm... we can't reach it and there's no walls that could... help..." Ori's voice trailed off as he saw a boulder "Ah huh. I have an idea, please stay here." he told Sein as he headed towards the boulder. Sein was a bit confused until Ori pushed the boulder next to the ledge "Ah, I see now. You plan to use the boulder to get up the ledge." Sein said in an understanding tone "I'll admit. I like his quick thinking." she thought.

Sein soon felt something that she's never felt before, it felt warm, and she soon felt butterflies meaning one thing... "Am I starting to have a crush on Ori?" she thought then shook her head quickly to focus on the task at hand. "Yep. Now, come on. There might be a keystone up there." Ori said as he jumped on the boulder only to barely dodge a Hopper. Ori immediately noticed that his movement was a bit faster, and he felt something different about his body when he dodged the Hopper "Well, this is new." he thought as Sein killed the Hopper with her spirit flame. He looked at his paw to see what he could assume were small golden lightning bolts coming from it "What the heck?" Ori thought. It soon went away as Sein approached Ori "Did the Hopper get you?" she asked, Ori shook his head "No. I'm fine. Again, thanks to you." he answered with a grateful smile making the strange feelings that Sein was experiencing stronger "Yep. I am beginning to have a crush on him." she thought then they continued and got up to the ledge.

Once the duo made it up, there were three rotating spikes and a boulder. Ori was the first one to see the keystone "I see the keystone. We'll need the boulder to reach it." he stated. "There are gaps in-between the logs that hold the spikes. We can use that to get passed them." Sein pointed out getting Ori to give an understood nod. Ori pushed the boulder in-between the logs of the rotating spikes and they both made it safely and got the keystone "One down, one more to go." Ori said with a cheerful smile.

Seeing Ori like this made Sein fall for him even more "I just hope that he feels the same." She thought as she destroyed a set of thorns. They soon found themselves back at the hole that Ori fell in "The other keystone must be on a different path." Sein spoke, which Ori gave a nod in agreement "Yeah let's go back the way we came we might be able to find a path that leads to the keystone?" he questioned as he pointed the way they first came from "Well, it's worth a shot." she replied, and they went in that direction. The duo soon found a path that led straight to the second keystone, but a Crawler came into view, which was killed by Sein's spirit flame "There's the second keystone." Ori said as he ran up to it and picked it up "Great. Now, let's head back to that spirit gate, so we can continue." Sein said and they went back to the stone gate and put the keystones in.

The spirit gate lightly flashed and opened allowing the duo to pass. Once passed, they used wall jump to get up a ledge "We'll be using wall jump a lot here as well as collecting more keystones it seems." Ori said while looking at a keystone. Sein gave Ori an understood hum and they began to wall jump and collect four keystones.

They wall jumped and dodged fiery projectiles as they made it to a Spirit gate with four slots "Good thing we collected the keystones." Ori said while he placed in two and Sein placed the other two in the slots. The gate flashed and opened "The Spirit tree should be just up ahead, Ori." Sein told him and they went through.

It wasn't long before they found the dormant Spirit tree "Wow... it's so tall!" Ori said in awe while Sein only giggled a little from his child-like reaction "Yes but it appears that during our journey here it has become dark. We should sleep and regain our energy." Sein spoke, which made Ori confused "Didn't you say that the spirit wells will recover any lost energy?" he questioned. Sein nodded "Yes but it only recovers spirit light, the Spirits energy. Not physical." she explained "Ahh. I understand now. Come to think of it, I am a bit tired from the walking." Ori said while beginning to lay down on a piece of nearby bark that fell off a tree "Will you be ok with that?" Sein asked "Yeah. I slept on a hand-crafted bed that Naru made me before well, this. So I shold be fine with this." Ori said and gave her a thumbs up. Ori's eyes soon closed, and he drifted off to sleep. Sein saw the sleeping Ori "He is so cute." she thought, now well-aware that she loved him. She grabbed another piece of nearby bark and laid down next to Ori and fell asleep soon after.