Ori and the Spirits Within: Revitalized

Chapter 9: The Link

Sein and Ori both entered the moderately sized treehouse within the Spirit Tree, allowing Ori to take a look around. He noticed a small table with two chairs in the corner, tidy with only a couple plates on it. There was a desk on the opposite end of the treehouse, covered with a menagerie of books and papers. He also noticed two white couches for people to relax on, one double the size of the other, both made from rudimentary wool. There was also this miniature, wooden chandelier hanging from the ceiling, holding a couple of small, unlit candles. He saw a small porch on the opposite end of the treehouse, one that had a convenient gap in the leaves of the Spirit Tree to allow some sunlight in. Aside from all of that, there was a small cabinet, little drawings on the walls, and a neatly kept nest in the corner, one that Ori assumed Sein slept in.

"Here, take a seat," Sein spoke up, motioning Ori towards the larger of the two couches.

"A-Alright..." he nodded back, plopping down on the soft wool as Sein did the same on her smaller couch. "I know it's... been a while since we-?"

"I know," Sein nodded, giving him a quiet smile before fading into a more serious expression. "But... I need to know everything that's happened since you left. Can you tell me that?"

"W-Well... I can try my best," Ori shrugged, knowing that there were going to be a few gaps. Still, Sein sat back and listened as Ori told her everything he knew...

...

"Huh..." Sein muttered after Ori finished explaining his story. "So, the Spirit Willow has been revived..."

"Yeah," Ori nodded.

"But... Seir wanted to bring you back, but given the nearly impossible task of recreating your body, he said that he asked me for help with it?"

"Yeah? But... you don't seem to know that..." Ori stated.

"W-Well that's because I never knew you had given yourself to the Willow," Sein replied. "Seir never talked to me about reviving you. Plus, even if he did want my help, I wouldn't be able to hear him. Only beings tied to the Spirit Tree can communicate with one another."

"But... you are, aren't you? Ku said you were pretty much the same as Seir."

"I... used to be. I was originally the catalyst of the Spirit Tree, but... I decided to give that power up and become a spirit instead..." Sein replied.

"But... why?" Ori asked.

"I, uh... th-that's... n-not important," Sein said, attempting to divert attention away from that topic. "We need to figure out what's going on, because you don't seem to remember me at all."

"Yeah, because Seir said my memories are repressed and that they would come back bit by bit..."

"That's... not how it works, Ori," she explained.

"Eh? It doesn't?"

"W-Well, it could, but... a-alright, let me explain," she sighed. "When we talk about souls, we don't just mean the life they carry. When we manipulate souls, we are moving the entire essence of a person. Their emotions, personality, mind, all of it. If Seir transferred your soul into a new body that looked and sounded like you and nothing went wrong during that process, then you should remember everything that happened."

"So... what would qualify as something 'going wrong' in this scenario?" Ori asked.

"Well, it could be caused by mishandling the process, but if that were the case, you would practically be a new spirit and wouldn't be able to walk or talk or anything at the start. That wasn't the case, right?" To that notion, Ori shook his head. "Ok, so something else happened. But what...?"