Ori and the decayed land

Chapter 16: The light restored

The three spirits walked through the entrance of Windtorn ruin with Seir floating by them. They looked around and saw there was a path east of their location "That's the only path there is. It seems to lead somewhere." Ori told the other three "Let's see where it'll lead then." Sein replied curiously with the others agreeing and began to follow the path.

The four quickly came across a giant picture of the Spirit willow with Seir glowing brightly with golden light "What's this?" Orin asked as they all looked at it "Seems to be a mural. There's text here as well." Ori answered as he saw a piece of stone with some writing on it "What does it say, Ori?" Seir asked him as Ori approached the stone.

Ori cleared his throat as he began to read "Across many lands, it is always the same. For every spirit tree, a light. And for every light, a tree. Always existing in balance. The light alone is nothing without its vessel." Ori then stood back from the stone. "That's all there was on it. Maybe there's more?" Ori spoke curiously "We'll find out if we keep moving." Sein answered as they agreed and kept going down the path.

they came to a patch of sand, so they burrowed with Seir in her sister's paw before they burst out of the sand "I hate how the sand gets stuck in our fur." Ori complained "You'll live." Orin replied with Ori releasing an agitated sigh.

They soon came to another mural with the Spirit willow looking like she was at her last bit of life with the sky a deep purple colour and Seir shown as the five wisps scattering across Niwen. "Another mural. And there's some more text here too." Seir pointed out the stone with text to the three.

Ori walked up to the stone and read the text "But while light is eternal, no tree can last forever. When the willow grew old and her branches barren, she could no longer care for her light. It shattered and the light became mere wisps of what once was." He read out loud. "That's it for the text. There should be another one along this path." Ori said before they continued trekking the path.

The four made their way down the path to come across another mural with... a lot of dead spirits and one who looked like they were suffering "Oh my god... These must've been the spirits of Niwen." Sein spoke with a paw covering her mouth.

Orin looked at the mural and began to hyperventilate as memories from the shattering began to play in his head, which the other three noticed "Orin are you ok?" Ori asked "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Orin replied. Ori looked at both Sein and Seir "Please try to help him while I read the text." He spoke to them they agreed and went over to Orin to help him.

Ori went to the stone and began to read the text "The Willow's children, the spirits of Niwen, suffered in the decay. The land was buried in darkness and ruin. The spirits were no more, and all seemed lost." Ori went back to the three, with Orin looking slightly better. "That's all it said. Let's go find the next one." Ori told the three, with them agreeing and going down the path once again.

They soon came across another mural that had the five wisps surrounding a spirit that had white and gold fur. "Wait is that... me?" Ori spoke surprised. "It has your white and gold fur, so it has to be." Sein replied visibly surprised as well.

Ori soon saw the stone with text on it and walked up to it "But it was foretold that hope would come. Hope would open our eyes to see through the darkness. Hope would return the memory of what was forgotten, and bring us strength when we were weak. That is how the world heals. That is how the cycle continues." Ori read before he stood back from the stone, looking at the mural. "I don't like where this is going." Ori thought as they continued further down.

They came across another mural, but it was broken "This mural is broken." Orin pointed it out to the others "It may be broken, but the stone isn't." Ori replied as he walked up to the stone, which had text. "The gorlek builders knew that all things broken could be pieced back together. Here they protected the most fragile wisp, the Heart of the forest." Ori read, which made the four of them feel happy that they had found the location of the last wisp. "It's here! We found the Heart of the forest! Seir will be whole once more!" Sein spoke happily as shimmering blue tears of happiness could be seen falling down her cheeks. "Yeah! Niwen will have its light once more!" Orin replied with the same happiness.

Ori looked at the broken mural and despite how broken it was, he noticed that there was a big glowing tree on it "Why would the last one show what I can only assume is me on it then show a glowing tree on this one..." his thought's trailed off as the pieces began to fall into place "Do I... become a spirit tree to save Niwen..." he thought, his eyes widening as he came to this conclusion.

Ori began to panic which got the other three's attention "Ori? Is everything ok?" Sein asked with worry "This mural has a spirit tree in it." Ori replied as he turned to face both Sein and Seir. "Since I know you two are the lights of both Nibel and Niwen, please tell me. Does a spirit need to become one with the light to create a new tree to hold the light and keep the land protected?" Ori asked them visibly stressed "Yes, a chosen spirit needs to merge with the light in order to become the vessel for the light. Why do you ask?" Seir explained to Ori "The last mural had what I can only assume was me with the wisps then this one has a spirit tree. Does that mean... I'm going to be the one that brings back the light by... merging with you and turn into the spirit tree that's on the mural..." Ori felt his heart break as he explained this to both Sein and Seir.

Sein's heart didn't just break, but it shattered into pieces when Ori explained it to her and Seir "N-No! There must be another way! I don't want to lose you, Ori!" Sein said as she began to break down into tears and sobs. Ori approached her and began to hug her with Sein imminently hugging back "I hope there's another way." he replied, also tearing up.

Orin watched as Ori and Sein hugged each other as he began to think "Ori shouldn't merge with Seir. He has a family that would be saddened that they would never get to see him again, especially his daughter Solas." Orin soon came to a difficult decision. "I'll do it." Orin said, which caught the attention of Ori, Sein, and Seir.

The three turned to Orin with shock and surprise on the two spirits faces "You're willing to merge with Seir to replace me?" Ori said shocked "Yeah. Think about it. Ori you have a family back in Nibel who would be saddened when they find out that you had to merge with Seir to save Niwen, especially Solas. I don't want to imagine how upset she would be knowing that she wouldn't get to see her father again." Orin explained to Ori.

Ori began to think as he saw his family, including Solas have saddened expressions with both Naru and Solas having tears freely falling down their faces "You're right, Orin. But what about you, though? I hope you know what you're leaving behind by doing this." Ori replied. "I do know what I'm leaving behind. But I must- no I want to. For Niwen. For Kwolok. And for a special spirit I hold dearly close to me. We should get the wisp we didn't come all the way here for nothing." Orin spoke with placing a paw on his chest when he spoke about this special spirit.

Ori, Sein, and Seir were a bit shocked to hear Orin mention that he had a special spirit that he held close to him "I think I know who he holds close to him." Ori thought with a little smirk of his face.

The three spirits and floating light continued down the path and came to a statue, it was built to look like a gorlek, it had four arms, and three eyes. "Is this it?" Sein asked. The statue's chest began to move as the four arms moved upward as the Heart of the forest, the final wisp floated out of the statue "The Heart of the forest!" Orin spoke as the four wisps surrounded the Heart of the forest before the five wisps merged, causing a mini shockwave and a flash of golden light.

The three spirits soon looked and saw Seir. She was whole once more "I am whole once more. We must head to the Spirit willow, she can tell us what to do next. But the only path to her is-" Seir was cut off by the sound of rumbling around the four. "Did anyone hear that?" Ori asked "Yeah. What was that?" Sein asked.

A gigantic worm showed itself and roared at the four "There's your answer, Sein! We need to run!" Orin said with Ori, Sein and Seir agreeing.

They quickly turned back to where they came from and fled with the gigantic worm beginning to pursuit them...