Ori and the decayed land

Chapter 10: The loss of a great ally

Ori and Sein got off the centre of the spirit well and continued moving west.

The trio soon came to some water "It seems we'll need to swim again." Sein said while looking at the water "Yeah. Let's hope that the Strength of the forest is on the other side." Ori replied before diving into the water with Sein and Seir following behind. Ori and Sein swam through the water before they came across odd, purple-coloured spikes "These look like the same spikes I saw back at the Wellspring's mill." Ori thought. The three surfaced and went onto land. It was then that a Moki approached the trio with a worried expression "Something is wrong with Kwolok, please hurry!" the Moki quickly said before running off.

The trio quickly followed the Moki and saw Kwolok as well as a small blue light "The Strength of the forest! Kwolok found it!" Sein said happily while Ori saw that the Moki was right, and something was in fact wrong with Kwolok. Ori saw that Kwolok's eyes were silver instead of the standard blue "That Moki was right, there is something wrong with Kwolok." he told Sein and Seir.

The Strength of the forest began to float down towards the trio before Kwolok lashed out his tongue and ate the light before he went under the surface of the water. "No!!" Seir yelled. Soon, the same thing that the trio saw at the top of the mill came out of the water with Kwolok in its grasp "That thing has done something to Kwolok!" Ori spoke in realisation.

Kwolok, with the creature controlling him began to chase the two spirits and floating light as they began to make haste in the opposite direction. The creature blocked the path that the three took with a thorny appendage which caused the three to panic "We're trapped here!" Sein said while Ori was franticly looking around for a different path before returning his gaze onto the thing controlling Kwolok.

Ori felt his anger towards the creature begin to rise "You will not stop us from saving Niwen, you Foul presence!" he yelled at the Foul presence before summoning a bow of light with an arrow and took aim as he pulled back the string of the bow. He then let go of the string causing the arrow to shoot forward towards the foul creature. The arrow hit the Foul presence causing it to retaliate by using Kwolok's body to attack Ori as Kwolok shot some type of projectile toward the spirit. Ori quickly bashed them at the Foul presence above Kwolok which injured it even more.

While Ori was fighting the Foul presence, Sein and Seir were still looking for a way out but found nothing "There's no way out! We're stuck here with that thing!" Sein said distressed before both her and Seir were grappled back by something as a projectile landed exactly where the two were. "That was close." Seir said with Sein agreeing "Yeah. But who shot that projectile." Sein replied before looking behind her to see that Ori was fighting the Foul presence.

Ori breathed a sigh of relief that both Sein and Seir were ok before turning his focus back onto the foul creature "You're going to pay for that!" he said to it before a small sphere of light surrounded Ori like he was going to do a charge jump, but he shot towards the purple thing in golden light and went right through it as the Foul presence released a shriek of pain.

It was then that Kwolok began to try and fight back control of his body as he was trying to hit the Foul presence with his webbed feet. The three noticed this "He's trying to fight back!" Sein said before she shot her spirit flames towards the Foul presence.

Ori saw that Sein began helping him after seeing that Kwolok was trying to fight back which made him smile slightly before he got back to helping Kwolok. Ori soon began using his spirit flame as he made his way towards Sein and Seir. Ori felt slightly fatigued from all the fighting that he did but kept going even pushing himself to his limits as he and Sein shot their spirit flames at the Foul presence with some flames combining into royal green just like what happened back in Misty woods during their journey in Nibel.

The Foul presence finally fell off Kwolok as it was hit by two spirit flames from Ori and Sein which freed Kwolok. Kwolok pinned the Foul presence to the ground before he crushed it, killing the vile thing instantly.

The three approached Kwolok and saw that he was badly injured "Kwolok you're badly injured. We need to help you." Ori spoke to him.

Kwolok looked at Ori "You already have helped me, both of you have. Your lights grow, you two. The Strength of the forest... is safe. We may not be able to undo all the damage, but we can still give Niwen a second chance. Find the wisps... bring them together again. And the Moki... Watch over them for me. Watch over this land. You three may be the only ones who can." Kwolok weakly told the trio before he closed his eyes.

Ori approached the great toad with his ears drooped downward, pointing to the ground "We will Kwolok. We will look after the Moki and Niwen..." he said with sadness as he began to weep.

Kwolok's body soon began to glow brightly and flake away before he was gone and freeing the Strength of the forest.

And just like that Kwolok was gone...

Ori fell to his knees with his head in his paws as the Strength of the forest went to Seir and merged with her, which made her light and glow become slightly gold. Sein noticed that Seir was now slightly gold "Sis! Your light, its slightly gold!" Sein said surprised "That's good. Just two more wisps to go." Seir replied.

Sein looked over to Ori and saw that he was on his knees and head in his paws, so she approached him "Ori? Are you ok?" Sein asked. Ori turned to face Sein with golden tears freely falling down his cheeks "I... don't know anymore. On one hand, I'm happy we got another wisp. On the other hand, I'm saddened that we lost Kwolok." Ori replied to Sein.

Sein began to hug Ori in an attempt to comfort him with Ori imminently returning the hug as he began to sob "That's it. Let it all out, Ori." Sein said softly. Seir floated over to them "Once we bring back my light, everything will be fine, Ori." Seir said "She's right, Ori. Everything will be fine." Sein agreed with her sister. Ori eventually stopped sobbing and looked into Sein's eyes "Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you two." Ori said to Sein and Seir as he smiled slightly.

Ori soon noticed Seir's light "Your light! Its slightly gold!" he said with surprise "I'm aware, Ori. We just need two more wisps until I'm whole again." Seir replied. Ori soon lit up with hope "Well, where do we go to next?" Ori asked. "How about Baur's reach?" Sein suggested "Baur's reach is closer from here than Windswept wastes." Seir added. Ori took in the information as he thought "We should head to Baur's reach then. Its closer as Seir said and we could get two wisps in one day." Ori said to Sein and Seir. "It is decided then. We are going to Baur's reach." Seir said before the trio went back to the spirit well.

The trio made it to the spirit well and Ori and Sein used its light to recover. "Much better. How do we get to Baur's reach?" Sein asked "We'll need to head north from Wellspring glades. We'll use the spirit well to warp there." Seir replied to Sein.

Both spirits nodded and Seir began the warping sequence with the three disappearing in a flash of light.