Ori and the Spirits Within: Revitalized

Chapter 10: Light in the Night

The day progressed towards its eventual conclusion, the sun having descended halfway towards the horizon. After checking up on her home and making sure everything was as she remembered, Ku flew out of Swallow's Nest and headed back east, remembering the reason she wanted to travel to Nibel in the first place. While this trip was certainly to help Ori with his memory problem, her reasons were more... personal.

It didn't take long for Ku to find the place she was looking for, a small crack in the side of a small mountain sitting near the Forlorn Ruins. Given her previously defective wing and the elevation of the little cove, Ku was never able to visit this place before, even though she really wanted to. But now, she had the ability, and courage, to see this place once more.

She landed right beside the large crack in the mountain and walked in, seeing what this place was actually like. There were bits of straw littered all across the floor and a few crumpled leaves and bits of dust scattered around. The main thing Ku looked at was a small cove within the cave, a circular one with more straw in it than before. This place was barren, but... this was her first home.

Even though she was still unhatched, laying within her egg, she remembered small pieces of her time within. She remembered the faintest voices around her, one mature tone and three younger ones. It was hard for her to remember what they were saying, given both the length of time and inability to even speak, but... there is one day that is clearer than any other.

Again, the words were a miss to her, but she remembered this... feeling coming over them... a magical one. She didn't hear the mature voice, but the three voices were right beside her... whimpering... pleading to something. Those cries dragged on for minutes before they abruptly ended, leaving her in the still silence. The mature voice eventually came back to the nest, and it sounded... heartbroken and spiteful. She remembered the loud screech the voice made as it flew farther away.

Remembering these things, Ku fell into the nest of straw and began crying softly. That's the only memory she has of them... her true family. It was certainly not a happy one, but... it was a memory nonetheless. She learned what happened on that day much later in her life... when her mother, Kuro, was gone. What she did, why she did it, and... though it didn't mean much, she forgave Kuro for those actions...

Especially considering how the story ended...

Days had passed since the death of her siblings when she felt a new sensation come to her, this one warm. It... kept approaching, becoming more and more violent. She didn't know what was going on, but she felt the warmness eventually touch her wing... engulfing it. Right as that happened, she felt another massive wave of magical energy surge throughout the land, immediately knocking her unconscious.

The burning stopped, but... the damage was already done.

Ku lost her family before she even truly met them, leaving her only somewhat clear memories of them being the anger and fear she heard on the day of her siblings' death. She had lost her siblings to a careless mistake, and her mother in a selfless attempt of redemption, a sacrifice so that her last child may live on. Gone before she could even see their faces, remember their voices... or anything that wasn't death and dismay.

"*sniffle* M... Mom... *sniffle*"

The owly simply wept into the old, straw-filled nest. She didn't know what else to say, what words to speak into the atmosphere, hoping some remnant of her mother was there to hear her woes. She just... mourned, letting out her emotions in the place where she was born. She wished that this pain would go away, but it lingered in the back of her head for years. Now being in the place where it all happened, she felt like she could at least have a little closure on this part of her history...