Ori and the decayed land

Chapter 7: Acquiring the eyes of the forest

Once Ori and Sein were ready, the trio went back through the darkness and took the newly opened path back to where they were and took the other path.

The three soon found themselves in a big area full of webs "Of course it had to be webs." Ori spoke before he and Sein fell down a hole that they failed to notice "Ori! Sein!" Seir yelled before following them. Ori and Sein fell into some webs which stopped them from hitting the ground by a few meters "Whew. I can't believe we were saved by a web of all things." Ori spoke "Agreed. But it appears that we are stuck." Sein replied as she tried to move. Seir soon reunited with the two spirits "Oh thank the light that you two are ok." she spoke with relief "Yeah. But we're stuck." Ori replied.

The three soon heard a voice "Oh. Seems like my web has caught something." the voice sounded feminine. Ori soon sensed a big dark, corrupted presence nearby "Who's there?" Ori called out trying not to show any fear. A giant spider with glowing green eyes soon approached from the darkness bearing sharp fangs with yellow venom dripping from them "Knowing me is none of your concern you weak spirit. The only thing you need to know is that I'll make your death quick and painless like the other spirit that came here." She spoke. Ori now knew who the spider was and knew who she was talking about "Mora... You caused Lora's death!" Ori began to raise his voice as he spoke as his anger began to rise. "Yes, I did. Too bad she got away though. And how do you know my name, you pathetic spirit." Mora replied "Like I'll ever tell you. And don't you DARE call us weak. We survived a lot of things, and you will be another thing we'll survive..." Ori spoke with a menacing tone which even scared Sein a little.

Ori's pupils soon flashed gold as the web that he and Sein were stuck to soon combusted into golden flames which caused the two to drop from the now burning web with Ori landing safely with his eyes closed. "YOU DARE USE YOUR LIGHT ON MY WEB!!" Mora yelled at Ori and lunged at him.

Ori's eyes soon shot open as a shockwave of golden light pulsed through the area which knocked Mora away from him.

Seir could sense the great power emanating from Ori "By the light... Ori's spiritual power is off the spiritual chart..." she spoke amazed and dumbfounded "Wait what?" Sein replied confused "Look at it yourself, sis." Seir told Sein to which Sein did just that and expressed the same amazed and dumbfounded expression "Holy light..." Sein spoke with her eyes widened.

Ori soon turned to face Mora dead on with his paws ablaze in his familiar golden light "I'm stronger than you think, Mora!" Ori said in a raised voice as the flames on his paws turned into light bursts. Ori soon threw the light bursts at Mora and hit her directly causing her to hiss in pain before she began to shoot blobs of her venom towards Ori. Sein and Seir saw this "Ori! Move!" they said but he didn't move. Sein and Seir soon saw Ori catch all the blobs that Mora shot at him. The blobs combined into one whole blob before it was changed into a big light burst that surrounded Ori's entire paw before he threw it back at Mora, hitting her directly and causing more pain to Mora.

Both Sein and Seir were shocked by this, with Seir being more shocked than her sister. "How did he do that?" Seir asked unable to understand what she just saw "I still don't know, sis." Sein replied also unable to completely understand. Mora was also quite shocked which Ori noticed "I did tell you. You may know the old me as Orin, but you haven't met the new me." Ori spoke before disappearing in a flash of light which shocked Mora and Seir even more.

Ori soon appeared behind mora and formed the spear, but he wasn't holding it like he would usually. It was floating. Ori then did a throwing motion which caused the spear to fly towards Mora and hit her, injuring her even more.

Mora soon turned around and looked at Ori "If I can't beat you, then I'll crush you!" she loudly spoke before repeatedly hitting the ground with her legs which caused multiple rocks to fall. The trio noticed this with Ori returning to Sein and Seir "We need to go!" he said as he grabbed Sein by the waist and Seir in his paw and began to bash upwards using the rocks.

After a few minutes of bashing, Ori made it to where they were before he and Sein fell "Ok we're back here." Ori spoke as he landed and letting go of Sein and Seir.

Mora soon showed up and became enraged to see that the three were still alive "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DIE!!" she screamed before a curtain of darkness fell over the area. Ori and Sein activated flash which helped them see where Mora was. Ori quickly summoned his spirit edge with the golden flames helping to light up the darkness even more. Ori soon ran up and began to slash at Mora with the sword of light causing her to hiss in pain once more before Ori summoned the hammer and swung it, hitting her directly on the head.

The darkness around them soon faded as Mora fell to the ground.

Ori was panting as he saw something that was glowing green on her head fade "Did... I do... it..." he spoke while panting before falling to the ground himself. Sein was extremely worried about Ori as she quickly went up to him "Ori!" she called out to him "Don't worry. I just used a lot of spirit light." Ori replied as he slowly stood up with the help of Sein.

Ori soon looked at Mora once more and noticed that she wasn't moving "Don't tell me I... accidently..." he started before feeling sadness and guilt, replacing his anger and rage. Soon, a spiderling approached Mora which made Ori realise that Mora was a mother, making his feeling of guilt worse "What have I done..." Ori thought as he began to break down.

Both Sein and Seir imminently saw Ori begin to sob and weep as he fell to his knees so, Sein embraced him in a hug, which Ori accepted. Sein soon saw Mora begin to move "Hey, Ori. Mora's moving." Sein said to him which made Ori look to see that Mora was in fact, moving "Oh thank the light." Ori spoke relieved.

Mora opened her eyes revealing that the glow of green was gone "Thank you... spirit. I am freed from the corruption that clouded my mind. Now the darkness that has laid over these depths can lift." Mora thanked Ori "You're welcome I suppose." Ori replied. "We all need light to provide balance. Even those of us beneath the surface. If it remains fragmented, it will dwindle and die forever." Mora informed the trio which made Ori and Sein look at Seir "That means we need to hurry..." Sein said worriedly. "That is correct, spirit. All of Niwen will suffer as mouldwood has if you don't acquire the other pieces. You must stay strong, you two. Even as the decay grows, your presence brings us hope. Go forth and find the wisps." Mora told the three.

Soon a bright flash of light came from one of the webs, revealing another blue floating light "The eyes of the forest!" Seir spoke before the eyes of the forest merged with Seir. "Ok, that's two. Three more to go." Ori spoke. "Then go. And collect the rest. Bring back the light." Mora said to the three "Don't worry, we will. We will bring back the light." Ori replied before the three left the area.

The three went back to the spirit well without worrying about the darkness "It's nice to not worry about the darkness." Ori spoke with Sein nodding "Agreed." she replied as they reached the spirit well. Ori and Sein used its light to regain that spirit light that they used during the battle with Mora when she was corrupted "I really needed that. I ended up using most, if not all my spirit light." Ori spoke as he sat down.

Ori, Sein and Seir soon noticed that it was starting to turn to night "Night is approaching." Sein said "Yeah. Where will we stay, though?" Ori asked. "How about in the Wellspring glades?" Seir suggested "Well, there are huts there." Sein said. "But those are the huts for the residents." Ori pointed out. "I could see if I could get Grom to build us a hut." Seir spoke. The name Grom rang in Ori's head "Yes, Grom! He's a Gorlek. He can build it if we ask him!" Ori spoke "I suppose it wouldn't hurt. But how do we get there? We haven't used the spirit well there." Sein said. "I have a connection to all the spirit wells in Niwen. I can warp us to the Wellspring glades." Seir spoke up before she flew to a spherical shaped slot on the bottom of the well. Ori and Sein stood in the centre as Seir commenced the warping process, Ori and Sein soon began to float and spin before the two spirits and Seir disappeared in a flash of light.