Ori and the Stranger

Chapter 19

     Ori finds himself standing in the middle of a meadow. The sun warms his body, and the green grass gently sways in the wind, and multicolored flowers dot the field around him. He looks around, confused as to where he is exactly. As his eyes adjust to the light, he sees trees. From between the trees, he spots a shape approaching him. He feels a jolt of fear run through him, but that fear quickly dissipates as he recognizes the shape's round, stubby body. As the shape steps into the light, Ori feels a massive surge of emotion and joy as he sees Naru's smiling face. His ears and tail perk up, and he gasps.

     "Mom!" Ori squeals with joy, scrambling over to Naru and leaping into her arms. He relishes the feeling of her strong, gentle arms wrapping around him in a warm embrace. He nuzzles into her as though his life depends on it. "Mom..."

     "My sweet little Ori," Naru whispers in a motherly voice. "You have been so brave... I'm so proud."

     Ori doesn't respond. All he can do is press himself against his mother, never wanting to leave her embrace ever again. After a while, Ori finally manages to look up into Naru's eyes. "But... but mom... how? How are you..." he asks, before burying his face into her body again.

     "Shh..." Naru responds, gently stroking Ori's head. "It's okay. I'm here now."

     Ori starts to sob a little, overcome with so many different emotions at once. "Mom..." he says in a shaky voice. "It's been so scary..."

     Ori feels Naru lifting up his tiny body so that he is eye level with her. Her face seems saddened.

     "I know... and I'm so sorry..." she says in a sad voice. "But you have to keep being brave for me, okay? I believe in you. You can do this."

     "What? What do you mean? Aren't you coming with me?" Ori asks, beginning to feel worried. Just then, he notices that Naru's body is beginning to fade. He gasps with fear, and clutches himself more tightly to Naru. "Wait! No! Come back! Don't go!" he begs, tears beginning to stream down his face.

     Naru sighs in sadness, and places Ori on the ground. She begins to walk back into the trees, still slowly fading away. Ori desperately chases after her, his tiny face contorted in sadness. He wraps his body around one of Naru's legs, but he's so small he can't do anything to stop her. He continues to beg and beg as Naru fades away. But ultimately, his efforts are useless.

     Within moments, he's left alone, laying on the ground and clutching his arms to his body, sobbing.

~~~~~~~~~~

     Blitz nearly passed out from the incredible force of Kuro's talons grasping him, violently wrenching him out of the air. He hung limp in the massive owl's talons for a moment, dazed. Eventually, he came to his senses, and looked around.

     As his vision cleared, he found himself terrifyingly high in the air, at least as high as the top of the Ginso Tree. The ground below him was passing by at an equally terrifying rate, as he found himself being carried over the Spirit Tree and towards the glades where he found Ori. He winced as he felt the massive talons squeeze his body. The pain, the blurry vision, and the wind screaming in his ears left him confused and overwhelmed, but he knew he had to act fast.

     He squirmed a little, managing to free one of his arms before Kuro's grip tightened even further, and started maneuvering it to retrieve his sword. It wasn't easy considering the position his body was held in, but he eventually managed to grab the hilt. He drew the sword and jammed it into Kuro's ankle. He felt the owl writhe in the air, letting out a screech of pain. Her claws tightened and loosened, before eventually letting go. Blitz found himself in a freefall, the ground rushing up to meet him.

     He didn't have any time to plan his landing, as he was already crashing through the canopy at terminal velocity. He tucked his body into itself, and prepared to roll when he hit the ground. The timing would have no room for error, and it was the only chance he had at not dying. As he hit the ground, he tucked into a roll. The roll was incredibly fast, and dispersed most of the momentum of the fall, and his armor absorbed additional momentum, just enough to make the fall non-lethal. But it was still pretty painful.

     Blitz felt waves of pain shoot through his body as it came to a stop. He heard the loudest thump he had ever heard in his life, and then all was silent. He lay still, panting and wheezing as the pain made itself known to him. It was complete agony, so bad that Blitz couldn't even think.

     As the blistering agony slowly turned into an intense soreness, Blitz managed to find the strength to limp to his feet. He stood unsteadily, looking around at his new surroundings. He was standing in the middle of a clearing in a forest of loosely clustered trees, all rotten and barren. Some of the trees had strange Xs carved into their trunks. Through the trees, he spotted a small, dried up river with a dull bridge built over it.

     But he couldn't go anywhere just yet. As he stood up, the pain spiked and Blitz was forced back down into a sitting position. He clutched his body tightly, taking in deep breaths as the pain slowly eased. After a while, he tried standing up again. His body throbbed and ached, but he could manage to stand, albeit wobbly, on his feet. He slowly limped his way over to the bridge, and crossed it. The trees on the other side all had Xs etched into their trunks, and at the end of the small trail that connected to the bridge was a cave.

     Blitz stumbled into the cave, breathing heavily and leaning on the walls for support. The cave seemed to have been fashioned into some sort of home, with two beds made of dry plants, and several woven baskets full of rotten fruit. And at the end of the cave, slumped down on the floor, was a corpse. It was large and covered in purple fur. Its body was stubby and wide, with a small head and a white face. It was obviously dead, but it didn't seem like it died a long time ago, as decomposition hadn't quite set in. That explained the larger bed, but not the smaller bed. As Blitz looked around the cave, he spotted a shape near the smaller bed. It was masked by dust, and so Blitz stumbled to it and wiped the dust away. Under it he saw a drawing obviously made by a child. It was a drawing of two creatures: the one on the left was a drawing of the creature who now lay dead on the floor, and the other was unmistakably a drawing of Ori. As he stared at the drawing, the pieces began to click together in Blitz's head. This was Ori's home. And that dead creature to his left was Ori's mother.

     Blitz feels a jolt of dread and sorrow. He could only imagine how it felt for the tiny child to lose his parent. But he also feels a sense of admiration. Despite being so young, fragile, and losing his guardian, little Ori had managed to push past his grief for the better of his home. Not many are capable of doing that. But still, Ori didn't deserve this.

     Blitz couldn't stay there anymore. He left the cave, and limped over to the dried up river. But it wasn't actually dry. Blitz saw a small trickle of clean water at the very bottom, which was slowly but steadily growing. Blitz looked to his left, and he saw the Ginso Tree. It looked green and healthy, and several huge waterfalls were billowing out of its crown and into the forest below. The trees around it were also turning a healthy green. He felt pride, seeing that all of the danger he and Ori had gone through were starting to pay off.

     Then he remembered he and Ori had been separated, and his pride quickly turned into worry. As brave as Ori was, he was still young, small, easy prey in a rotten forest full of bloodthirsty creatures. He had to find him before he got hurt. Blitz limped down the side of the river, figuring that it would lead him to the Ginso Tree, and hoping that Ori would be nearby.

     There was a rustling from behind Blitz. He didn't bother turning to look, as he was far too focused on getting back to his spirit friend. From behind the wounded man, in the rotten undergrowth, a pair of unblinking yellow eyes watched him.