Ori and the Stranger

Chapter 11

     Ori slowly opened his tightly shut eyes, shaking in fear. Blitz still had his arms wrapped around Ori's body, but his grasp was weakening. Blitz let out a raspy groan, and his arms limply dropped off of the young spirit on his chest and to his sides.

     Ori shot up, eyeing Blitz with great concern. "Blitz?! Are you okay?!" he asked, clambering up higher on Blitz's chest to get a better look at his face, though it was obscured by the helmet. "Blitz?!" Ori asked again, a little more panicked.

     To Ori's absolute relief, Blitz weakly lifted an arm, and placed it limply over Ori's head. "I'm... hurt. But I'll live," Blitz rasped, his arm falling limply to his side again. He exhaled slowly and painfully, writhing around slightly in pain. Ori nodded, but still felt worried about Blitz's condition. Blitz had certainly proven himself to be resilient, but the young spirit couldn't help but feel anxious for his new friend's wellbeing.

     Ori decided to scan their new surroundings. They were in a massive cavern, on a wooden dock at the base of an underground lake. The water was still putrid, but didn't look nearly as bad as the other bodies of water Ori had encountered. Several waterfalls poured down onto the lake from openings at various points on the cavern's walls, exploding white mist out in all directions and rippling the water in the lake. Fluorescent mushrooms sat in clusters all over the cavern, illuminating the area around them in green light. The rest of the cavern was dark, but not pitch black. At the center of the lake sat an island, and on the island rested a large wooden structure, likely the rogue Gumon's dwelling.

     The Gumon landed at the far wall of the cavern, cackling tauntingly at Ori. Though Ori noticed that the Gumon cast a slightly guilty glance at Blitz's injured form, as if it thought it had gone too far. Still, it leapt backwards into another tunnel, disappearing into the darkness.

     Blitz weakly raised his head, glaring at the Gumon as it vanished into the tunnel. "When I get my hands on that thing, I'll-" he couldn't finish his sentence, as he let out another pained groan and dropped his head again. He was clearly in great pain, unable to even raise his head for too long.

     Ori placed a reassuring hand on Blitz's shoulder. "Don't worry," Ori reassured Blitz, speaking warmly and gently. "I'll get the water vein back. Then I'll come back for you."

     "I'll watch over him, Ori," Sein said, hovering above Blitz protectively. Blitz gave Ori a weak thumbs-up, and Ori nodded before dashing off after the Gumon.

     Ori followed closely on the Gumon's heels as it dashed down the winding, branching stone tunnels. The Gumon cackled as it fled, clearly finding this whole situation quite entertaining. Ori felt greatly annoyed at its antics. "Stop this!" Ori yelled at the Gumon between pants. "We need that water vein to save Nibel! Just give it back!"

     Either the Gumon didn't hear Ori, or it simply didn't care; the ladder was likely the case. Though Ori was certainly faster than it in terms of raw speed, Ori wasn't used to dashing around in tunnels, frequently running into walls. The Gumon, on the other hand, seemed quite experienced, allowing it to nimbly navigate the tunnels and move faster than Ori could. Still, Ori was just barely fast enough to keep the Gumon in his sights.

     After a short while, Ori rounded a corner to find himself standing inside a chamber, two open stone gates on either side. The Gumon stood in the center of the chamber, casting Ori a grin before stomping his feet hard on the stone floor. There was a rumbling, and the ground shook violently. The Gumon then cartwheeled out the gateway on one side of the chamber, and it shut behind him. Then, the gateway behind Ori shut as well, trapping the spirit inside the chamber. The rumbling grew more violent, and worry began to bubble up inside of Ori.