Chapter Two
Winged Spirit
Ira recovered enough to go back to the spirit tree, but not alone. Ori decided to accompany her to make sure she is safe, as well as try and make another friend.
"Bye Naru," Ori said.
"Be safe, and see you soon." Naru hugged Ori in her large arms. After recent events, she was still a little afraid of losing her child. However, she also knew that worrying over him every second wouldn't help him. The least she could do is tell him to be safe.
"I love you Naru." Ori and Ira said there farewells as they walked disappeared over the hill.
"So is Naru like a mother to you?" Ira asked.
"Yeah, and Gumo, he's almost like a big brother to me. Even though they are not physically related to me, I feel that they are my family," Ori remembered being with Naru, eating fruit, building the bridge. A dark presence seem to stir in one of the memories. He shuddered.
"Ori, what is it?"
"Nothing, it's nothing," he said. A glowing red ball shot right towards them. With out any time to think, Ori latched onto the projectile and launched into the air sending into the other direction, but he didn't realize that Ira was right behind him. He couldn't slow down as he went through the air. He collided with her knocking them both to the ground just in time before another ball of light hit them.
"Ira, are you okay? I'm so sorry."
"Y-yeah, Ori look out!" Ori grabbed Ira and climbed up the wall. Another ball of light shot down under them. Ira hung on to Ori for dear life. She had not expected to suddenly be dragged up the side of a wall! He crawled along the side with Ira hanging there swinging side to side. "Ah!" Ira screamed. Her grip had slipped and was now hanging onto Ori's leg. The sudden jerk made him painfully slide down the wall. He managed to regain his grip on the wall, but not without severely scratching up his fingers, but that didn't matter to him. "Ira, hang on!"
"I'm trying!" A ball of lot rockets into the wall causing into to shake. She squeaked. Ori looked around the room.
"Ira, I need you to let go." Ira's eyes narrowed. "Please, you need to trust me, I would never hurt you on." The wall rumbled again. Ira's grasp slipped a little more. Ira looked back down, and then back up at Ori. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Her hand opened causing her to fall. She fell through the ground and landed in a pile of leaves. This was one of the hidden sections of Nibel. A furry ball of light landed beside her. "Ira, are you okay?" Ira nodded.
"How did you know about that?"
"I've seen a lot of this place. Plus I've learned to see through the illusion," Ori stated.
"Maybe you can take me exploring around this place."
"Gladly." Ori took her hand and that began walking down the secret tunnel. Light shone through the fake wall, illuminating the area around them. He walked right through it causing it to slightly ripple. When they emerged, the ancient Spirit Tree's shadow cast over them. Ori smiled at the light positioned on top of the Spirit Tree. "It's good to you Sein," he whispered.
"Who?"
"Sein, she is the..."
"Light and eyes of the Spirit Tree? Yeah we know about her."
"It's good to know that she is well." Ori looked around and saw a great many of Light Spirits. One with wings started running towards them, a slightly panicked expression on her face.
"Ira! There you are, where have you been, we've been looking all over for you." The Sky Spirit sighed with relief. "It's good to know that you are okay. Who's this? I haven't seen him around before," She asked. "Are you an explorer like her?"
"Well, I guess you could say that. What's your name anyway?"
"Osiri. What's yours?"
"Ori." Osiri's eyes widened.
"No way, your Ori? The Ori."
"Uh..."
"Ira, I'm jealous. You are so lucky to have him." The two Forest Spirits turned bright red.
"I-It's n-not like that," Ira stuttered. "I just got injured and he helped me."
"Really? That's too bad. Honestly, I think you two look cute together." Ori began to get really uncomfortable at this point. He began to nervously scratch his neck. "Hey, you should meet a few of my other friends. You've already met Ira." She nudged Ira causing her to bump into Ori. Ira gave her a death glare as a blush formed across her face. Ori just stood there, unsure of how to act or respond. "I'll go get them," she said as she took to the skies. When she was out of earshot, Ira looked at Ori still slightly red.
"A-about what she said earlier. Um…" Ira tried to think of something to say that wouldn't possibly offend him.
"Let's just not talk about it right now."
"Yeah," Ira agreed. They stood there awkwardly fiddling for a moment. Finally Osiri arrived the tension.
"Oduro," Osiri said motioning to the male Water Spirit. He a little taller than Ori, his fur at the tip of his ears and the scales at the tip of his tale was colored a light blue.
"Yo," he greeted casually.
"This is Lidra," Osiri gestured towards the other Sky Spirit. His eyes were unlike any Ori has seen. The blacks(if he was human the "blacks" of his eye would be the "Whites" of a normal person) of right eye was dark green and the left was light blue. His wings were a little less than twice the size of Osiri's. He was shorter than Oduro, but still taller than Ori.
"Hi there, nice to meet you," he held out his hand for Ori to shake. He hesitantly did so, and came to realize that he was stronger than he looked. He shook Ori's entire body, and slightly lifted him in the air. After than, he slapped him on the back, in a supposedly friendly gesture, but he ended up knocking the dizzied Ori over. "Oops, sorry about that." He lifted Ori back up on his feet.
"And this is, Uvia." The water spirit smiled shyly, her small grin was filled with sharp teeth. The scales at the side of her face that made up her gills were slightly pink, her eyes were also tinted pink. She didn't have fins across her arms and likes like Oduro, but she did have webbing and sharp claws on her hands, her tail had fins as well. Her white pupils were slightly elliptical. She looked up at Ori shyly.
"H-hi," she stuttered nervously.
"Everyone, this is… wait for it," Ira said adding some drama to it. Ori's eye rose(Cause they don't have eyebrows). "Ori!" They all stared at him, slightly wide eyed. Even some of the nearby Light Spirits looked at him. It became dead silent.
"Ori? You're Ori?" A Light Spirit in the crowd scoffed in disbelief. He marched up to Ori, his he was almost a foot and a half taller than Ori. "You're puny, I could take you on easy."
"Hey, leave him alone Boro," Osiri defended. He just shoved her out of the way. He leaned in real close to Ori. After seeing what Boro had done to his new friend, his nervousness had completely disappeared, he was now glaring at Boro. "If you are Ori then prove it. Fight me, if you can beat me, then I will believe you." Ori could tell that Boro had darkness inside of him. His eyes were completely black which was terrifying. His fur was darker than anyone else's, more grey than the fluffy white. "Well, do you accept?"
"Boro, back off!" Lidra shoved the bigger jerk of a Light Spirit away. "Leave him alone." His once happy goofy expression had faded when Boro had showed up. Boro glared at him, then back at Ori. Boro charged at Ori only to be shoved again by Lidra.
"He's not going to stop," Ori said. "Unless he gets what he wants." Ori walked in front of Lidra.
"What are you doing. Boro doesn't mess around."
"I'll be fine, besides. I can't sit and watch people get hurt for me." Lidra nodded. He stood back and cleared room for the possible upcoming fight. "Hey Boro, I don't want to fight. I was never much of a fighter, but I do what I have to if it means protecting the things I love. This forest is precious to me. And when it started dying, I did everything in my power to save it, as Naru did for me. If you try to hurt my friends, I will defend them. It's me you want to fight."
"You got that right, I do want to fight you, and prove how worthless you are!" Boro charged at Ori. His fist raised in the air. Ori Simply dodged it. Boro kept up attacked, but he never was able to land a hit. He was getting angry, the anger seemed to fuel him some how and cause him to go faster. Ori was beginning to have trouble dodging Boro's ruthless assault. It was only a matter of time before he would get a lucky hit. Ori jumped away from Boro. Boro jumped after him, but when he got close, there was a ripple in the air and the next thing he knew, he was flung towards the ground while Ori gained more hight. Ori pulled off a large black bird feather he had wrapped around his arm and safely glided towards the ground. When he finally landed, he wrapped the feather back around his arm. Everyone stared at the feather. The only way he could have gotten that feather was from Kuro.
"That feather, where did you get it?"
"Kuro," Ori said darkly.
"So you really are Ori," another Light Spirit said. Boro's glare turned into a sadistic grin.
"It's been a long time since I've had a strong Light Spirit," Boro rasped. His form began to change, the light evaporated leaving darkness in the shape of a Light Spirit, a Shadow Phantom. It's form pulsated like a heart beat. Then it suddenly liquefied into the ground. The Light Spirits began to run as the darkness grew.
"Ori! Grab my hand!" Osiri hovered above him. He jumped and tried to grab her, but he missed. He fell through into the shadow. Its consistency was the same as tar. He tried to swim out, but he only became entangled in darkness.. The last thing he saw was Ira's horrified expression before he was completely engulfed in shadow.
