The Encounter


Above roared a screaming sky letting loose a relentless fire of destruction and torrent of rain, accompanied by a strong wind ripping trees from their roots and flinging them about. Blasts of lightning killed the peaceful wooden beings, twisting off their branches only for them to fall and crush everything beneath them. No sane mind would dare risk even a second out in the horrible spectacle of the storm. However, not all minds were necessarily given a choice when they were forced out there, and even less of one when they were trapped there.

A rumble shook Ori's gut, not from hunger, but from an indescribable dread of something he was not yet aware of. Ori desperately hoped that he wouldn't find out exactly what that thing to be dreading was, and that yet would be forever an if. That the feeling he felt was a lie, not that it ever had been before. "Instead," he internally rationalized, "perhaps the feeling was instead a reaction to the emotionally-shattering death of…my sibling." The crime played before his eyes once more, like it had been nonstop ever since leaving the scene. "No!" he chastised himself, realizing an error in his thoughts. "That thing wasn't my sibling. It was a dangerous monster that had to be stopped. It merely bore a great resemblance to one of our kind." Unfortunately, the sinking feeling in his gut led him to believe that whatever it was, it wasn't the last of its sort. And just as that thought ended, the telltale cracking of dead wood and the hissing of fiery snakes, along with a loud and overly aggressive rustle in the bushes just off his intended path seemed to confirm it.

Ever protective for his moki friend, Ori summoned his shiny blade and pointed its peak towards the dark green fibers. Waiting.

Seeing the game was up, it didn't take long for the hunters to tip their paw. Hundreds of little glowing things of varying heights, builds, weights, and bodies walked forward. One thing they all shared, however, was that same emotionless expression from before. It wasn't just from the bushes ahead of them that they came, either; that would have been too lenient. No, the wall of shiny fur and flesh surrounded the duo from both sides as it slowly enclosed around them. An instinctive drive pushed the two back-to-back as they tried to maintain any form of defensive formation while Mori readied himself with a particularly hardy stalk he had found lying on the forest floor.

Then, just as the wall was getting closer and closer to fighting distance, it stopped.

Above them, trees prevented the heavy raindrops from hitting the ground, so the only noise was the fine droplets falling from their drenched and dripping fur. The aura of light around Ori and the false spirits grew brighter until not even the sun could have illuminated their surroundings any better. Seconds passed in near silence, with only the wind to break it when it found its way around the barrier. The horde had them; the horde had captured them. Their prey was sitting in their trap.

Nothing seemed to be happening, and the inaction was grating. Clenching his sword ever tighter with each passing second, Ori moved closer to his friend. While he may be caught, it was doubtful that the false spirits wanted anything to do with a lowly moki. It was the least he could do to help him escape. Leaning in to discuss his plan, Ori whispered, "Mori… get out of here!" He dissolved his weapon for easy access later to create a ladder with his paws. Mori's eyes widened as he started to protest, "Ori, I couldn't…" But his friend wasn't having any of it. He was more than certain that this was the only way to keep the moki safe. "Trust me."

He didn't have the time to argue, and so Mori did as the spirit suggested. He placed one paw onto his friend's supporting paws, fearing it may be the last time he ever did. Ori closed his eyes and focused, building all the strength he could in his paws. He waited a couple of seconds until he was sure he was ready, and threw.

With a loud cry, the small moki became airborne, flung far higher than any natural being of Ori's size could have done. Before the moki was able to realize exactly what was happening, he landed on all fours in the soft bushes almost on the edge of the sight range the storm permitted. He glanced back towards his friend, but knowing there was nothing he could do, he put his trust in Ori's abilities and used the opportunity to run away.

And with that, Ori was alone. Again.

"Don't you dare follow him!" he shouted at the unknown creatures. He re-summoned his blade, free to swing it without fear of accidentally hurting his friend. The spirits did nothing. Ori wasn't about to let them have the first move, and with a tremendous amount of determination he swirled his sharp blade in a ring and disposed of a ring of spirits surrounding him. As their bodies shattered and dissipated away, he jumped into the air and landed another strike into two spirits standing closer together than the rest. They separated from each other for only a moment, but it was all Ori needed to run through the gap and turn to his enemies, no longer surrounded. Now he controlled where the fight would happen, and used the short period of shock among them to scan for weapons. To his shock, not a single one of them was armed with so much as a rock, while he carried his battle-proven sword to defend himself. With nothing he needed to defend against, the situation called for a spear, and so that's exactly what he made. Pointing the peak at his opponents, he shouted his demands. "Don't. Come. Closer." He felt as though he finally had some level of control over the whole situation, the first bit of control he felt in well over a day. "Who are you? Why are you attacking me?" The spirits gave no answer at first, and he was about to put this all behind him when he heard a whisper coming from somewhere deep in the crowd. It was quite similar to the guardian's before, but at the same time entirely different. It had an entirely different message to say.

Their chatter built further, and it all meshed into an unintelligible mash of words of which Ori couldn't make out even a single word, much less the message. Despite the lack of any words, however, the speech did form some kind of choir-like rhythm. A dark choir. Their voices fell into key together, singing in deep tones and giving Ori a hair-raising anxiety incomparable to anything he had ever felt before.

Then, as the song entered a new verse, the false spirits did something so completely unexpected Ori couldn't help but stand dumbfounded as he watched. They copied the same movement he had used to fling Mori to safety, and now several of them were flying directly towards him. It was all the little spirit could do to let loose a frightened scream at the sudden change of events before the crowd managed to bury him underneath, their many paws pulling him in all directions while the biggest reached around his neck. He quickly freed himself with a swift few pokes and swings of his weapon and got up to immediately begin running, not stopping to catch his breath. Climbing up a nearby tree, he used the advantage to jump off with his hissing weapon and crush everything beneath his hooves. More of the false spirits dissolved in the air like clouds vanishing after a thunderstorm like the one Ori was too busy fighting to notice anymore.

An eardrum-shattering boom of a lightning bolt hit a nearby tree and violently ripped one of its many massive branches off, letting it fall into the battlefield and add a new blazing obstacle to the mix. It crashed into the ground, eliminating a large crowd of Ori's enemies that couldn't get out of the way in time. Only a few were left, but they didn't seem even capable of considering retreat. The little spirit bravely approached them, closed his eyes, and swung the tip of his spear through the air. They were all gone now, finally.

"Mori!" he called out into the unknown, dissolving his weapon back into a shimmer of sparkling dust. No answer came back from the forest. "Mori! Where are you?" he called again, hoping against hope that he may see his friend. Not even a muffled echo returned to clue him in on the direction his friend had fled, and he couldn't even remember the direction he had gone. He was alone. Again.

His hooves scuffed over the cold grass, his earlier determination almost completely gone. He couldn't even remember his original goal, blown away like the rest of his life in the strong winds around him. The raindrops pattered the top of his head while his ears drooped like a dying flower, too heavy from the water to keep up for long. Weakly, he continued on his seemingly never-ending path, repeating "He is going to be okay" over and over to himself. It was all he could do to keep even a semblance of hope alive, while his legs shook beneath him like rubber. Still, he kept his relentless pace forward.

Ahead of him lie a wide meadow no longer covered by the shelter of the trees. The rain pattered even harder on his sensitive skin like cold icicles digging through his flesh.

Not even close to his destination, his father looked farther away than it had when he started. The reality that he was lost in the giant forest, alone and hungry, finally registered. He fell to his knees on the verge of crying and giving up. "Where are you?" he sobbed quietly. The long grass of the meadow blocked his vision, and it was though he was encased in the green fiber. Lonely and caught in his own thoughts comparable to the thunderstorm above him, he let his emotions loose into the wet ground beneath him and lost track of time.

After reaching an emotional catharsis, he finally had both a calm enough mind and body to assess his situation properly. The little spirit got up again to peer over the whole meadow of high grass. His body twitched strongly as his hooves stood rooted to the ground as his vision transfixed on one particular figure far on the horizon.

Another spirit guardian.

Only one person came to his mind. "Kiri?" his little mouth asked quietly. It should have been impossible for the far off spirit to hear him. Of course, when their ears moved upward and zeroed in on his direction, an ice-cold shudder of fright shot down Ori's back.

This wasn't Kiri.

The spirit was different from every other being he had yet encountered. While he could feel Kiri's aura of peace and calmness from far away, whoever this person was emitted something else, something much darker. Although the far-away spirit didn't show any outward signs of aggression, Ori could already tell that this spirit was fighting the urge to attack him. Instead of they typical two, four long, very sharp ears rose from the spirit's head like deadly blades. The tail, maybe two times longer than Ori's, was hardly distinguishable from a weapon as it's peak formed into a spear. No hooves supported them, instead replaced by two additional paws that supported them on the grassy ground they were standing on. A wolf on two legs.

Ori's concerns built further and further, and when they reached their climax while the thunderstorm increased in its intensity, the frightening thing began to talk directly to his mind from across the field, its mental breath carrying with it a calm voice and barely-restrained aggression.

"Nobody could imagine the inequity that strained the soul of this innocent child."

Ori knew the spirit was talking about him, since there was nobody else around for him to be talking about. His mind threw new questions on the nature of what exactly the wolf-spirit knew. What kind of inequity was he talking about? Was he talking about the night before, with the cave monsters eager to eat him? It seemed silly to tie the experience to his soul in particular, terrible as though it was. Was it something else? And what would that something be? The lightning and thunder eased for only a moment as the wind calmed and the rain weakened. It was as though they too were listening to the mysterious spirit's message.

"I'm here and willing to free you from this malice. To release you from suffering in the eternal darkness and let you take in the nourishing peace you deserve. Yet… I'll have to undertake a deed to make that happen. An act I'm sure I will regret even after an uncountable number of winters. Something… horrible."

It sounded as though the spirit choked on the last word as he spoke it. Ori's breath grew heavier with the being's speech as he internally debated on whether to run now or finish listening.

"You will try and fight it, I am sure. I fully accept your resistance, if you do so. However, you must understand that it is the only way to save the world from the claws of darkness."

His tone quieted and sorrow washed over his voice.

"Tell me little one… what have you already done for this land? What unimaginable torments and dismal experiences did you have to suffer through? Two forests you have saved. For Niwen, you gave your own life and ability to touch your family… you sister. Such devotion to rescue your loved ones and a land that you didn't even call home.

His voice returned to the colder tone of before.

"A soul filled with such onerous memories, filled to the brim with the trauma of sacrifice and loss couldn't bear the force of the eternal vessel anymore. I will give you freedom. I will give you comfort. I will give you warmth."

With a loud inhale to bear the words he was about to say, his voice reached the climax of darkness as his aggression broke its feeble dam.

"In heaven."

Not even moments after finishing his speech did he quickly turn to Ori, two sharp, shiny blades emerging from his upper paws and crackling with powerful bursts of energy.

And suddenly, he was there. A loud gasp came from Ori's mouth as the fierce ends of the blades collided with the wet floor he once stood upon before dodging the deadly swing.

Quickly getting up, there was nothing left for him to do other than try to prevent that mysterious spirit from cutting him into oh so many pieces. Every strike that fell upon his weapon felt like a giant sonic wave that blasted his body backwards as the air filled with the sound of clashing metal and the tones of dying sparkles of light. "It will all be over soon," the spirit breathed as he took a break from his attacks and backed away. The moment of brief peace didn't last longer than a few seconds though, as he drew forward again with an elegant pirouette that made his next strike even more powerful. The tremendous force exerted by his blows almost reminded Ori of the giant spider back in the cave. Quite possibly a ton of force from the massive sword slashes banged and collided with his own weapon, and flung his arms to the side. He was forced onto the defensive, and he knew he wouldn't take the torture much longer before making what would be his last mistake.

"An enemy, aggressive and relentless in his strikes, will eventually become a victim of his own fury. They tend to neglect their defense. Use the opportunity to strike!" Kiri's previous advice echoed through his mind. He waited for the perfect chance to strike back, hoping that it would come before he failed.

And there he saw it. His opponent became a victim of their own power as Ori's weapon was flung back with the force of the incoming attack just to make a quick circle in the air and push his enemy's sword down. Their sights crossed much like their blades.

A sparkle of determination made its home in the child's eyes. He looked up to the person that stood head and shoulders above him. Viewed from up close, the spirit looked even more foreboding than from afar. Even with the frightening appearance, though, Ori showed no fear. Not anymore.

Suddenly an invisible force forced him to the ground, and there was nothing he could do about. He only saw the legs of his opponent straddling him. Ori's eyes blinked in fright and he quickly rolled to the side to let the incoming blade sting deeply into the dirt. It almost impaled his body on its second attempt, but he let his blade drive through his opponents legs with a brief warrior's cry that caused his opponent to scream in pain and loose his balance. To prevent another strike on his person, he kicked Ori's body through the air. The child quickly rolled up and brought himself into his deep, stable stance drilled into him through hours of practice. Many inches of ever larger raindrops separated the two from each other as each looked deep into the eyes of of their enemy. They slowly circled around an invisible point between them, Ori focusing all of his attention on the slighted twitches of his enemy in an attempt to gauge what his next action was going to be. The circle became smaller as they drew closer to each other. A small failure in his enemy's composure allowed the child to foresee his enemy's attack and used the foresight to parry the attack and deliver a forceful kick to the head. A fierce combo of slashes followed from all directions. First came several from the side, before a pirouette on the other and a slash from above that was barely blocked, until eventually the unknown spirit's guard broke like a shattered pane of ice. Ori's next move was to zoom towards his enemy's chest with the peak of his weapon first. Victory was so close, but alas, air was the only one who screamed as his attack hit nothing. Ori hadn't even realized what happened before his opponent kicked him heavily from the side across his shoulder. Another swing with one of his many blades mowed the high grass beneath Ori, forcing him to jump. While the child was in the air, another kick sent him sailing across the field.

Landing with a grunt, Ori rolled in the mud caused by the heavy rains a few times before getting up again, only to see the mysterious spirit creating two spears, one already in the air on a path directly blocked by his body. Fast reactions saved him as the first hissed by his head so closely Ori could have shaved with it, and the second whizzing past his flanks at a similar distance. Several more spears flew past him into nowhere, disappearing behind him before even touching the ground. He didn't have time to ponder on how a spirit could possibly do anything at the level his opponent was at, and as such he struck the last spear down with his weapon and sprinted as fast as he could towards his opponent.

All it took was a quick, subtle movement with a leg and Ori was face down and blinded by mud again. Thinking fast, he rolled as far away as he could to dodge an attack from behind his back. Using this opportunity, the child tried to land a hit anywhere he could, but the strike was parried and the spirit jumped backwards. "Let's end this quickly," he stated from his cold mouth as his jump carried him high into the dark sky. The air howled as time stood still. Ori felt a terribly painful strike on his blade knock it from his paws. Before he could consider his next action, there was silence, and an incredible, unbearable ache in his chest. His eyes filled with an ocean of tears as they stared horrified at his opponent's face. Then a cold darkness overcame him, and a blackness, far darker than any color he saw before swept through his vision.

He lost.

"Never would I have thought it would come so far..."

Carefully bringing Ori's body to the ground and pulling the blade out of his chest, a tear ran down the spirit's cheek as his face remained emotionless.

"When a spirit fights one of their own kind"

"Well fought… Ignited one," he spoke. "There is so much power within you… I can save this land, I always keep my word." His paws moved away from Ori's cold body.

"A threat they now are"

"We will see each other again, ignited one. Very soon." With his monologue over, the mysterious spirit turned away from the dead child. A bright flash of light filled his body, growing brighter until eventually vanishing into the darkness of the thunderstorm.

"Niwen needs us more than ever before."