The little spirit had just woken from a sleep that seemed eternal, and suddenly everything is clear again. What just happened? Was it a nightmare? No, it much more than just a nightmare, it was real, but, ethereal.

"Ori? Thats my name?" The spirit never knew, but in the voice of the great tree he understood that he had a name.

Naru never named her son, Ori grew up without caring about being known as the son, or Naru's son, he never met many people, he always lived close to his mother in his nest without ever having gone further, making him not care what is the name itself.

Ori was well and healthy, but he did not know where to go, the darkness was expelled by daylight, but he was still as lost as he was in the darkness.

Ori looked at the path he had taken, the trail of white flowers and the big tree surrounding the horizon, the thorns that he had to squeeze through, where was his home ... He didn't dare to go back, all that was left was to move on, he ventured ahead in the unknown forest, the forest of Nibel.

Starting with the first steps, his agility was restored and ready to run marathons, Ori ran ahead, reaching the Sunken Glades, exploring the place a little, it wasn't very scary, there was a lot of flora covering the place with a purple atmosphere, it transmitted tranquility, there was nothing to fear, Ori faced a small hill, obstacles, platforms and spikes were in the path and he knew he needed to avoid spikes, he jumped over them getting to the platform and reaching the top, managed to climb a small hill that could be difficult without his agility, at the top there was a path, but it was blocked, it seemed to be several fungi with thorns, Ori didn't give him a chance to test whether it was harmful or not, he just walked away and went the other way. Down the hill, there was a passage downwards, a considerably wide hole without much depth. "What do we have around here?" Asked himself as he descended, he came across more of those fungi again, still avoided contact, "It's everywhere, what are these purple balls anyway?"

The path was venomous and the water was the same color as those fungi, completely purple, there must have been a lot of them below the water, Ori just avoided the small lake by jumping on the floating trunks continuing ahead, not knowing what to expect, he needed to trust that somewhere, he could find something, something that could save him from the fate he previously lived.

He came across a small cave, there was light on the other side of the tunnel, it was possible to pass quickly and reach the other side, he started to run, dodging fungi and other parts that seemed dangerous, until a rock wall blocked him, it had many holes and didn't seemed too thick, there was light from the on the other side, an exit looks like, looking through the holes, a big bang shook the cave behind Ori, ""WOW" Ori gasped, it was a small rino, carrying a bone armor that covered his body, he was preparing to charge. "Who are you? What do you want?" asked Ori in fear. The animal had the scent of danger, hitting its hooves hard on the ground to frighten its prey, the creature shakes its head and advances in an unrestrained charge, Ori was afraid, but his instinct only made him jump out of the way, he repeated this process several times, until Ori had an idea, "Come here! Hit your head here! " positioning himself and provoking the little beast, without hesitation he advanced once again towards Ori, which made him simply jump out of the way, the beast hit his head on the wall and opened the passage, the beast turns around and faces Ori again, just to be surprised by an avalanche of rocks that crushed him. Ori immediately ran to the stones and removed them from the top of the rino, at least the ones he could move, but blood was flowing under Ori's hooves, he knew he shouldn't continue, it was too late, all he had to do was continue, just continue, without looking back. Ori leaves in the direction of what may be his destination to reach the spirit tree, just a few steps away, he was still in the Sunken Glades, it was a dead end, great walls of stone and trees blocked all surroundings, was it a waste of time…? But in the other end of the area,, there was something there, it drew attention, was it a light? Ori approached slowly. A small sphere, it emitted a weakened light, Ori decided to take the sphere in his hands, he raised it, Ori did not find the sphere strange, nor its light or energy emanating, it was actually quite familiar, he had already felt this energy before. While holding the orb, he noticed the sphere was absorbing his light into itself, seemed it was feeding on Ori's light to revive, Ori let the sphere do its thing and when it was finally charged, it floated higher, out of reach of Ori's hands, adding energy to it in a huge flash.

"My strength returns, I am awake once more"

Ori watched the orb in silence, without moving a muscle.

"I am Sein, the eyes and light of the Spirit Tree, I thank you for restoring me kind spirit, may I know your name?

The little spirit would remember the tree calling him by ''Ori''.

"I'm Ori"

Sein stopped for a moment, "you're the Ori he was so crazy after…" Sein said in low tone.

"Sorry..? I didn't understand, but first things first, who are you, how did you end up here?" Ori asked the floating orb of light"

"I already told you, I am Sein, the eyes and light of the spirit tree"

"The spirit tree? That one who made the shine through the forest? Oh I remember! You are the light that sits atop of it!"

"Listen Ori, much has happened and I don't blame you, during that night, I had found you and would bring to the tree, but we were attacked, many of us suffered a great blow and I was weakened and thrown away here when her grip loosened"

"Attacked? How? Who could just- " Ori was interrupted

"Shh, did you hear that? They followed you ".

"What?"

Screams and grunts emerged from the branches of the surrounding trees, they jumped instead of walking, they were creatures of the forest, victims of the decay.

"What are they? Monkeys? What do they want?"

"There is no time to explain, Ori I'll take care of the offensive, but I need you to take me close to our enemies to attack"

"Take you closer ?! Are you crazy- "

One of the monkeys jumped on Ori, barely managing to dodge, he fell to the ground with the shock wave and another monkey jumped to kill. For an instant Sein floats in front of them and releases a beam of light on the monkey, burning him to dust. The other monkeys take a step back, realizing this isn't a simple easy prey

"On your feet! Or you will be killed here!" Sein shouted worried.

Ori was quiet, kneeling down and shaking, scared once more about almost dying again

"Courage! You must have courage Ori! Courage for your forest and your mother! Have the courage to fight for your home! Fight before everything is lost…"

Ori remembered the times he had with Naru, his adoptive mother. Sein words did some sort of impact on him, still scared, he stood up, still shaking a bit.

"We are in this together, wherever you go, I will follow you, take the defensive, avoid their attacks, I'll blast them, just approach so that I can reach, you don't need to attack, just stay alive. Can you do it?"

Dominated by fear he fought himself before answering Sein, He needed to remember hope, the spark that lifted the darkness, his mother…

...

"My son, if you find yourself in a pinch, promise me you'll run back to me, okay? Outrun the danger, you're so quick all the time, just run and nothing can ever hurt you".

...

With a shiver running down his spine he shouted.

"OF COURSE!" as he sprints around the monkeys, his speed made them hesitate when to jump, they couldn't get it right, they started to jump randomly trying to hit the spirit.

"Watch their patterns, do not let them hit you!"

It became easy to dodge, they were too slow to follow, Ori had this on his hands. Each missed jump were an opportunity to Sein. After there just one left, the remaining monkey retreated.

"The last one ran away Ori, he will come back later, always stay alert".

"Understood" replied Ori".

After their victory, Ori pauses to catch his breath, Sein hovers closer and says, "Great job my savior, you saved us both"

Ori was conflicted.

"Sein, it was you that day, you emanated that energy, it was your energy".

Sein takes a bit of distance, ""All light will return to me one day", these were the words of the spirit tree" we all make part of him, when our time arrives, we return to him, that applies to all living creatures and plants"

"Why he wanted me back? Why is it wrong to live with my mother? Was it his doing to let the forest wither and let her die of hunger? Ori was overflowing with emotions. Sein didn't not know how to answer.

"Ori, listen, we did not want Naru to die, she was an important ally when the spirit tree was but a sprout. We never wanted that fate to hit her or the other creatures."

"What do you know about her?!" Ori demanded to know.

"There is much I have to tell you my dear, this is not the place to chat". Sounds of other animals could be heard nearby. "There is a place I want to show you, where I can explain to you what happened to our forest, lets us go to the spirit tree"

Ori calmed down.

"I'll go, can you guide me?

"Certainly, remember Ori, we are now bound, wherever you go I will follow, for I cannott move freely as you do, I must remain close to you, a source of light, otherwise i'll lose my energy and fall onto the ground weakened".

"It must be hard for you... " Ori felt pity for Sein.

"Don't worry, with you I have nothing to fear. The shortest path to the spirit tree is through the spirit caverns which is close from here".

"All right, Let's go"

The spirit tree, his creator, Ori would maybe discover his destiny, his purpose, and why the forest is not the same anymore.