Ori and the light of Nibel

Chapter 15: Cleansing the element of winds

When the spirits entered the ruins, Sein began to speak "The Forlorn ruins... Here's where the Gumon live. They build miraculous structures and infuse them with the light of the Spirit tree, which keeps them safe." they soon notice the frozen bodies of the gumon "...Oh no... These Gumon were frozen, unable to escape! When the element of winds lost its light, these ruins must have turned into their grave..." she added with grief in her tone. A moment of silence was made to remember the Gumon before they both began to shed tears.

After the moment of silence was done, Ori began to speak "Let's go and cleanse the element of winds. This is for the Gumon." Sein heard this "Agreed, we must do this for the Gumon." she agreed. They both imminently came to some floating rocks with a light orange hue to them. Ori touched one only for it to burn his paw upon the touch "Ahh! That burns." he said while shaking his paw. "Its best if we double jump over them then." Sein replied. Ori nodded and they both double jumped over to a safe piece of ground with a vessel of light floating above it.

Sein looked at it "The Gumon were crafty inventors. They had foreseen a bright future that never came... Look at this Light vessel, they were able to store the light of the Spirit tree within!" she said. Soon the Light vessel began to fly around sporadically before going to the ground and releasing a tiny mini explosion, turning white in the process. "Well, that happened." Ori said as he went up to the light vessel "Be careful this time, Ori. I don't want you to burn yourself again." Sein told him "Don't worry I'm being careful." Ori replied.

Ori soon touched the light vessel but unlike the floating rocks, it didn't burn but rather felt warm and welcoming. "Well, it's not burning me." Ori said as he picked it up causing a bubble of light that's warm to the touch "Wow. I missed the feeling of the Spirit tree's light." Sein said while she felt the warmth of the light. "Hmm... I think I could do something with this." Ori spoke out loud "Like what?" Sein asked. Ori didn't say anything as he began to focus which made not only him but also the Light vessel to radiate a golden glow "Wow..." Sein was amazed at this. She soon noticed that the Light vessel was shrinking "Is he absorbing it?" Sein thought before it was fully gone. Ori had absorbed the Light vessel "That should do it. We should continue to where the element is." he said "Wait. What did you do to the Light vessel?" Sein asked "Oh, I absorbed it. I should be able to reform it with the Spirit tree's light." Ori answered her question. Sein nodded in understanding, and they began to walk and find the element of winds.

They soon came to a curved gumon structure, "How do we get up there?" Ori said while looking up "Perhaps try walking on this gumon structure?" Sein suggested "Well, it seems to be the only way forward." he replied. Ori began to walk on the gumon structure only to walk onto the wall "Uhh... Ori?" Sein had a shocked and confused expression on her face "Yeah. I understand what's happening." Ori replied while heading back to Sein.

Once he was back with Sein, they both walked onto the wall and jumped over some icy spikes to soon walk onto the ceiling "Do you know how to get back down to the ground?" Sein asked "Well, not really. But maybe if I get rid of this bubble we could fall to the ground?" Ori answered.

Ori dispersed the bubble causing both spirits to fall to the ground with a *thud* "Well, at least it worked... Ow..." Ori managed to say as he got up and offered a paw to help Sein up. Sein took Ori's paw "Thank you. But please be careful when you do that. We could end up getting more injured than that fall or worse dead." Sein told him. Ori nodded "I understand." he said as he reformed the bubble to keep warm as well as to walk up the wall again to some moving glowing pillars. They walked up to the pillars "Ok. We'll need to time it correctly." Sein informed Ori. Ori nodded and they went as the two long pillars were going up, making it through without harm.

They soon walked onto the ceiling once more, "It appears we'll need to traverse the ceiling again." Ori said. "And there's Forlorn Crawlers." he added. Sein killed the Forlorn Crawlers making their bodies fall onto icy spikes. Ori and Sein looked at the creatures of decay on the spikes "I don't want to end up like that again." Ori said "Agreed. Let's keep moving. T0he element of winds awaits." Sein stated. Ori would nod in agreement, and they would continue moving.

They came to a dead end with the only way forward is to drop "We'll need to drop again." Sein said, "Looks like it." Ori replied. Ori made the bubble vanish and they dropped towards the ground. This time they rolled to absorb the impact "Ok, we didn't get hurt this time." Ori said "Yeah. But this is no time to stop. Let's continue." Sein replied, Ori nodded. They soon began walking once more.

*One hour later*

The two spirits have explored most of the Forlorn ruins, collecting four keystones along the way, and activating a spirit well. They managed to make it to a ledge that had icy spikes on the wall "I'm glad we didn't land in those." Ori said, a little exhausted from dodging multiple orange lasers "Agreed. I see the spirit gate over there." Sein said while pointing to the gate.

They went to the gate and put the keystones in, it soon glowed and opened revealing a shrine down a set of floating rocks "Down there. There is a shrine for the Light vessel to be placed in." Sein informed Ori about the shrine. Ori nodded and they both went to the shrine "Ok. I'll try to reform the Light vessel now." Ori said and began to focus. After a while, Ori managed to reform the Light vessel and put it into the shrine. The shrine began glowing as multiple rocks began to form a bridge. "This shrine must have powered all they had built. Look at it now, look what it did!" Sein said to Ori.

While this was going on however, Gumo entered the ruins and looked around before seeing the frozen bodies of his kind "Oh no... I thought they all got out safely..." Gumo said in a saddened tone.

Ori and Sein soon went back up and crossed the bridge, jumping over some icy spikes and finding another frozen gumon "I wonder if Gumo knows of their fate. I hope he can forgive us, that we live and they are gone." Sein spoke in a low and saddened tone. "I hope so..." Ori replied. "The element of winds should just be above us." Sein informed Ori. He nodded, and they managed to head upwards without being hit by two moving lasers.

The spirits climbed up to a large opening surrounded by icy spikes "Something tells me this could go wrong." Ori thought as they jumped from one floating rock to another.

They soon reached a stone-like structure that was cracked into three pieces with ice covering it "The element of winds lies before us, stored in the heart of this place" Sein began speaking as Gumo climbed into the same area where both Ori and Sein were. "These ruins are all that is left of the Gumon, reminding us of their fate. Losing the ones that he loved, Gumo is the last of his kind." when Ori heard this, he knew he had to do this for the Gumon "Ori, we shall bring back the light! For Nibel and the memory of the Gumon, let us restore the element of winds!" Sein spoke with determination "Yeah! For the Gumon!" Ori said with the same determination.

Ori soon used the Spirit tree's light on the element causing the ice around it to break and the three pieces to come back together and glow orange. Gumo heard everything that Ori and Sein said "They're doing this in memory for my kind. I need to repay them, and I know how." he thought and went to the Light vessel and pulled it out of the shrine causing everything to collapse.

Ori and Sein saw the place beginning to collapse "Quick! The feathers!" Ori said to Sein "We'll ride the wind current to find a way out." He told her "Ah, I see. Got it." she replied, and they began to ride the currents of the wind.

Soon icicles started falling as well as gusts of wind coming from the walls. They dodged the icicles and the gusts only to be stopped by a breakable wall. A Mortar worm soon appeared and shot its projectile at the two spirits only for Ori to bash it into the wall, breaking it. "Quick move!" Ori said as two big boulders fell from the roof, nearly crushing them. They ran to another wind current and began to ride it with the feathers. They went into a gap in the wall as two big boulders fell, with two more following behind.

The spirits looked around to see that the only way was down "We might find an exit down there!" Sein told Ori "Well, worth a shot!" he replied. They went down to see a path surrounded by icy spikes. They went through as gusts of wind came from the walls, threatening the two spirits. They managed to get through it as a boulder was wedged free by the force of the wind. This however, caused another big boulder to fall. The spirits managed to make it to a safe spot as it passed them. When they looked up, they saw an opening. They took no chances and ridden the wind current out of the collapsing ruins.

They landed on the ground. They were breathing heavily as they felt the adrenaline rush through their bodies. "We made it out alive." Ori said "Yes, we did. How about a little rest then try and figure out where we are?" Sein suggested. Ori agreed and they began to rest from the escape with their tails intertwined and in each other's arms, snuggling for warmth.