CHAPTER 1 (The Unusual Beginning)
A story would be told and remembered for centuries to come, upon this special spirit, the spirit that brought hope to Nibel and all around.
It began on one of the typical spirit celebrations, the Light Ceremony, which reminds us of the beginnings of darkness, and the success of Ori's mission to bring back light into Nibel and create balance. One of the spirit leaves started to shake violently as though something had possessed it and changed its colour from a pale blue to a shade of golden yellow. It was a spirit leaf like no other.
All the spirits, who were celebrating, was suddenly shocked at what was happening and stopped for a moment. They stared as the golden leaf drifted and fell down to the ground. After touching the ground, the golden leaf shone brightly turned into a light spirit. The spirit had two floppy ears, two ears that looked like horns and had paws. She had a small body and her fur was white with a sparkling tinge of a golden colour.
When she opened her eyes, her eyes were gleaming a pale light blue, and surrounding her eye were faint golden lining. The spirits decided to name her Espe (pronounced "Asp") , meaning hope, to commemorate this day where there was still hope, even when darkness thrives around Nibel, when Ori brought back hope to the forest, restoring the lights.
Espe was taken care of by the Elder Spirit Guardians who would meditate near the Spirit Tree as she thought that she was unique. She lived in a part of the village where she lived close to the Spirit Tree.
She was also very friendly to other spirits who would visit and play with her. The spirits liked to play with Espie as she was caring whenever someone got hurt and loved to interact with spirits who were shy.
Being well known all over the Spirit Tree village, she was nicknamed the "Golden Spirit" due to how she was born, and the golden lines on her forehead. Yet, Espe felt that she was an ordinary spirit as she did not develop any unique abilities like other youngling spirits did.
While she played with other spirits, she got a nickname 'Espie' from her best friends, which was how they normally pronounced her name. She decided to get permission from the Elders to change her name. After she had been allowed, she became excited about her new name.
They played around the Spirit Tree, playing games like the Light Orb Catch and Tag. To Espie, her life as a Light Spirit seemed quite ordinary, seeing no that she had not developed any special abilities over the years. However, her ordinary life was going to turn extraordinary.
When the summer winds blew, Espie and her friends were playing a usual game of tag when the sky suddenly glowed. They were in awe as they looked up at the glowing light and saw a faint silhouette of the figure. This figure was an Elder Spirit that could fly.
The spirit told Espie, "You must find the Valley of Dreams, the source of all the spiritual energy for Nibel and other regions,on the outskirts of Nibel for you to know better about the situation before darkness dawns on the next solar eclipse." After that, the spirit dropped a scroll in front of Espie.
"This would guide you there and the points you see on the map is the other spirit communities that you are going to pass by. For now, I'll leave it up to you for your adventure. I am Celestia and I will be at the Valley of Dreams, waiting for you. Farewell young one."
In a sudden flash, the spirit disappeared and left the spirits all around stunned rooted for a moment.
"Hmm… I would need preparation before starting my long journey to the Valley of Dreams," Espie told all her friends, about it and started preparing. Some of her friends wanted to follow her and prepared themselves for the journey ahead.