Ori and the light of Nibel

Chapter 22: Three weeks later

Three weeks have passed since life was returned to Nibel. Ori had recovered from the events of the blindness, but it had left him mentally scarred. He told Naru about his relationship with Sein which Naru just consoled Ori. Ori told her to not worry about it.

It was a nice day; some spirits were playing games while others were just chatting with one another. Ori was helping Naru with collecting fruit from the trees that were around their home since he liked helping his family whenever they needed help. "I appreciate your help, Ori." Naru said with gratitude "You know that I like to help whenever I can the most, Mum." Ori replied with a smile. After a while of collecting, they returned to their home with baskets of fruit.

Ori was thinking about his journey with Sein before remembering about Lost grove "Can I go exploring for a while, Mum?" Ori asked her "Sure you can, Ori. Just be safe." Naru replied "With the abilities I have. You know I'll be safe." Ori replied before hugging her.

Ori soon went into the Sunken glades, where his journey with Sein began "Man. This doesn't really bring back good memories." Ori spoke to himself as he came across a cairn. Ori looked at it and saw Black root burrows on it with an arrow pointing towards the spirit well in the Sunken glades.

Ori went to the spirit well "So the entrance of Black root burrows is here?" Ori said with a questioning tone before seeing a path that was up a wall. "It must lead to Black root burrows." he said before climbing up the wall to the path.

Once Ori reached the path, he saw a statue of what looked to be like Naru but it had big horns on its head and looked male. "Interesting..." Ori spoke before continuing into Black root burrows.

When Ori entered, it was reasonably dark but thanks to the light returning, Ori was able to see "Wow... That's a lot of thorns." he said while looking down a pit that he walked up to. He soon took a running start as he soon jumped off the edge and pulled out Kuro's feather and began to glide to reach a wall. Ori latched onto the wall and climbed up it to a ledge with a Crawler on it. Ori summoned his golden flame sword and killed it.

Even though the light has returned, Nibel was still quite unsafe. Ori soon came to a shrine of some kind "What is this?" he asked himself before he saw a bowl-shaped holder in the shrine "A Light vessel might go in here." He soon came to the realisation and formed a light vessel of his own. Ori put his newly formed Light vessel onto the shrine.

It soon rose before lighting up Black root burrows in light "Ahh. Much better." Ori said before seeing an ancestral tree. Ori's ears drooped "Hey, Eki..." he spoke with grief. Ever since the Spirit tree's light was mostly fused with Ori's, he would know whose ancestral tree they came across though, it only happened once before with Nir. Ori walked up to Eki's ancestral tree and placed a paw on it, absorbing his light.

Ori has acquired dash! Ori can use dash to quickly move out the way of obstacles!

"A dash? I kind of already have a dash." Ori spoke remembering his speed ability.  He soon headed down a hole that was in the ground.

Once down, he found himself in an area with two Consumed Crawlers; A small dark purple slime that sits attached to a ceiling and drops down if anything is under it as well as five Crawlers. Ori used his speed ability to dodge the Consumed Crawlers and used his golden spirit flames to kill the Crawlers. "Ok. They're dealt with." Ori said before coming across some unstable ground "This should be the entrance to Lost grove." he spoke before stomping and heading downward.

Ori came to an area with a laser, a Crawler, and a Hopper. Ori took out the Crawler and Hopper with ease and dodged the laser into an opening with a waterfall and some blue mushrooms. A Rotten Beetle soon began rolling towards Ori only to be bashed into the laser, killing the beetle. Ori soon came across a spinning device with four lasers coming from it "Ok, all I need to do is dodge the lasers by using the cover. Should be easy enough." he said and got through it without a problem.

A Darkwing soon spotted Ori and dived towards him only to be killed by Ori's golden flame sword. Ori soon climbed up a wall where a statue of Naru could be seen "Wow... there's even a statue of Mum." Ori said with wonder.

He continued to explore the Lost grove before coming to a hole in the ground. Ori looked down the hole to find another ancestral tree "Oh... Sol..." Ori said before jumping down the hole.

Ori soon landed next to Sol's ancestral tree and went up to it, and soon placed his paw on the tree, allowing Sol's light to enter his body.

Ori has acquired light burst! Ori can use light burst to throw a ball of light at enemies and unlit lanterns!

"Light burst? Again, I already know how to use it." Ori spoke before going to explore more parts of the Lost grove.

Ori soon found himself in the area he saw in his vision three weeks prior "Wow... this place is more beautiful seeing it first-hand." Ori spoke while taking in its beauty "If only Sein could see this right now." Ori said before seeing the cave. Ori imminently knew what this cave was "Mum's old home! I found it!" he said before entering the cave.

When Ori entered, he imminently saw a statue of some kind "What is this statue? It looks like the same being that was at the entrance of Black root burrows." Ori said to himself. He then looked around the cave before seeing what he could assume was a bench "I could see if Gumo could fix it up." he said before he continued to look around.

His sights soon caught something that resembled a cooking station "Well, at least there was a way to cook." Ori said before seeing another path up a wall. Ori soon climbed the wall and followed the path to a spirit well. "There's a spirit well in this cave? I wonder if Mum ever knew about it." Ori wondered as he stepped in the middle and activated the well as the light flow into his body.

"It might be time for me to head back now." Ori decided and used the warping ability of the well to go back to Sunken glades.

Once he was back in the Sunken glades, Ori went back to Swallow's nest. When he got back, he was greeted by Gumo "Welcome back, Ori. Enjoy your little adventure?" he asked Ori "Yeah, it was great." Ori replied with a smile.

Ori saw the Spirit tree in the distance as he was in front of the entrance of his home "I really miss you, Sein." he thought before entering his home.