Dawn arrives, as the light reaches the camp. Aaron felt himself being shaken by something.
"Wake up Aaron…"
He hardly registered the voice, he is too comfortable right now to get up.
"Wake up…come on…"
"…no thanks…want to sleep more…" he mumbled.
He heard a sigh as he hears the crunching of leaves fading…then it rapidly grows louder and louder until…
"WAKE UP ARRON!"
"AAAAAHHHH!"
Pain erupts from his stomach as he jolts upwards, seeing the culprit standing on him, smiling mischievously.
"was that…*Wheeze* really…necessary?"
"Yep! You wouldn't wake up! So, I had to find a way to get you up."
"*groan* you are very lucky you're cute."
"I know." Ori said with a cheery smile.
Alright, now Aaron is up and awake. As he gets ready for the day, he decided he would rather save his rations for later, since he doesn't know when he and Ori are going to find more food to ration. He does, however, feel parched. So he took out his canteen for a sip. Mindful that Ori is now under his care, he offers some water to her, which she gratefully accepted.
"Hope we are going find some water soon, I don't have much left. "
Sein then rose from her resting spot and floats towards him.
"Don't worry Aaron, as soon as we restore the element of water in the Ginso tree, we will have plenty of fresh clean water to drink."
'Oh yeah, we are going that tall tree to cleanse Nibel's waters, but how can a tree produce clean and fresh water? Does it perhaps recycle the water by cleaning it through some means?' he thought. Regardless… that is their objective for now.
Eventually, Aaron and Ori are ready to go on their journey to the Ginso tree.
"Are you two ready?" asked Sein.
"Yeah, we're ready." Aaron answered.
"Then let us proceed."
They then set off, through Hollow's grove, to find and cleanse the Ginso tree.
Throughout their journey, they both come across a few occasional enemies, one of which is those bullfrogs. Aaron of course is not in the mood to fight, so when the frog jumped to attack, he deployed the same tactic as before as jumping head-on towards it and then plunging his trusty knife into its chest as it bursts into light.
"You didn't have to fight that one Aaron, I could have simply repelled it." Sein said.
"Maybe so, but I can't just let you do all the work, I may need to help with a fight like the one back at the glades where we found you. Besides, with danger around every corner, I need to learn how to fight as well."
"Hmm…that is true" Sein hums.
But then, a large orange glowing slime monster with spikes projecting out of its body. It screeches at their presence and slides it slides towards them.
"Ok, that thing I can't fight!" Aaron shouted.
"Sein! Is there anything we can do to fight it?" Ori asked frantically.
"Yes, there is! Stand back you two!"
Sein commanded, as she gathers up energy as the sludge monster approaches, when it was close enough Sein expanded all the energy gathered into an explosion, incinerating it into a crisp.
"Woah… that was amazing Sein!" Ori said.
"Thank you, Ori, it is my duty, after all, to guide and protect…"
"OOOWWW!"
Sein and Ori turned to see Aaron with a tiny spiky slime latching on his leg.
"You missed a spot…"
He carefully picked it and threw it on the ground and then proceed to crush it with a nearby stone.
"…hope it wasn't poisonous…" he said.
"Don't worry Arron. The glowing of that decay was merely a defence mechanism to intimidate and ward off any threats."
Aaron has some doubts, but Sein did claim to be the 'Wisdom of the spirit tree' so he takes her word for it. Further on, they come across an unstable wall of debris, blocking the way. But then Sein charged up her attack and destroyed the wall, allowing entrance to a cave.
Into the cave they all went, exploring deeper into a cave until they come across a ledge, where thorns greet them at the bottom. '
'We need something to cushion those spikes, otherwise, we can easily guess what will happen.' Aaron thought. Upon looking up he had a minor heart attack.
"Oh god eww, is that a spider nest?"
A giant rock that's is covered in egg sacs, that is alive and moving. No doubt this is a nest of large spiders. Aaron is not a fan of spiders, they terrify him.
"Ori! That rock up there where the nest is hanging! If we can destroy it, we should be able to cushion the fall and allow us to proceed through!" Sein said.
"…you sure you want Ori to get near that thing? It looks very much alive…" Aaron said.
"I'm sure I will be fine Aaron! They're just spiders." Ori said.
She jumps on his back, followed by a jump to a nearby wall, as she climbs towards the nest, bringing Sein along with her. Sein then charges up and destroys the rock, dropping the nest down to the hole, providing a platform to jump on. They then jumped down, (with Aaron carefully climbing down as to not break his legs from the fall) as he then landed on the nest. The spider silk was dangling around, but it gave Aaron an idea…
He then gathered up some silk to the best of his abilities and stored it in your bag, saving the silk for later.
"What are you doing with that silk Aaron?" Ori asked, puzzled.
"Just an idea I'm going to try out later, see if it works or not."
Aaron quickly then jumped off the nest before a spider decided to jump on him. He then quickly spot a shadowy four-legged(?) figure, as it jumps away.
"Did you see that?"
"See what Aaron?"
"There was some weird… 4-legged spider there in the distance."
"…Aaron, are you scared of spiders?" Ori giggled.
"NO! nononononono! It's not that! I'm just… cautious! That's all!" he stuttered.
"Sure, you were" Ori said with a grin.
Aaron groans in defeat. He won't be able to change Ori's mind now. Reaching another purple lake, they hop from platform to platform until a large spider from the ceiling comes down and hisses at Aaron as he screamed in response. Sein then comes to his aid and blasts away the spider before it attacks him. Ori and Sein then just laughed at him. Aaron's reaction was just too funny.
"What? Spiders were never that big from where I'm from!"
"Maybe so Aaron, but I have to admit, your response was quite… amusing." Sein responded.
Never has Aaron felt so humiliated… This is why he hates spiders…
Unknown to them, a certain black figure from earlier, chuckled at the commotion. It then hurries off, it has some preparations to make…
After an hour of traveling, they come across a sign with strange writings on it. One path points to' Thornfelt Swamp' which is where they need to go. Aaron was surprised that he can read it considering that he has never seen this writing before, but he then reminds himself that it is because of Sein's gift that he can understand their language and writing.
"Alright! We should be close to that Ginso tree!" Aaron exclaimed.
"Indeed, it shouldn't be long now." Sein responded.
Further on, they come across some traps where a wooden pole is covered in wooden spikes swinging from the ceiling in a tunnel. The traps weren't difficult to avoid since it was rather slow. After a few dashes and slides, they all passed the traps and exited the tunnel.
"Who made those traps? And who activated them?" Aaron asked.
"I am not sure, but whoever is responsible may be nearby." Sein said.
Through the tunnel, they then see the Ginso tree just up ahead.
"Ori! Aaron! We are here! Soon, we will be able to restore Nibel's waters!"
"Finally! At least I can finally refill this canteen, almost have no water left."
"Hey Sein, what's that weird person over there?" Ori asked.
Aaron and Sein looked ahead to see a four-legged monster pulling a blue stone out of the door of the Ginso tree. The creature noticed their arrival and ran off with it!
"HEY! COME BACK HERE!" Aaron ran after it, but it was too late. It got away.
"That's the Gumon from the Forlorn Ruins! He stole the water vein! We must get it back!" Sein exclaimed.
They chased after the thief, as they all see him jump from branch to branch with the water vein in its grasp. He then jumped into the entrance of the ruin as he quickly pulls a level shutting the door behind him, shutting everyone out. Aaron pounds at the door with his fist, angry at how time is being wasted because of that 4-legged spider. Luckily, the door seems damaged and could be broken down if hit hard enough.
"Sein, think you can blow up this door?" Aaron asked.
"With pleasure" Sein replied.
Aaron and Ori stepped back to allow Sein to do the honour and charged up and destroyed the door. They all then ran in into the grotto, as they see the gumo jumps in shock as he jumps down a ledge, jumping up before a LASER BEAM shoots out and then disappears. The gumo then jumps down and jumps safely and then runs off.
"I…don't even..." Aaron stutters, turning to Sein.
"Why is there, F***ING death beams just shooting out down there! This makes no sense!" Aaron yells.
Sein is slightly taken back from your response but calmly said "I am unsure as to why these beams occur, but they might be caused by the decay due to the forest going blind."
Aaron does NOT want Ori to go near those things! These things are absolute death traps! They are way more dangerous than those slow-swinging axes from earlier! Ori is shivering by the sight of these things!
Unfortunately, there is no other way to get past them, if Aaron could copy what that gumo did, he should be able to dodge them without a scratch.
"Ori, climb on my back, I'm going to get us past this trap."
"Aaron? Are you sure you can run past this?" Sein asked.
"Are you sure Aaron? I'm not sure if we can get past this…" Ori asked, shuddering.
"If I just copy what the gumo did, we should be able to get past this without a scratch"
"Umm…if you're sure…"
Ori is still unsure of Aaron's judgement but trusts him, nonetheless. He crouches down, allowing Ori to climb on as Sein hovers close behind, as he watches the beams. He takes a deep breath then waited…until…
*Bzzzzt*
He jumped down, running, and then jump down latching on a platform ducking before the beam fires above him, he then times his jump with the beam below as he jumps down, running down the tunnel and then do a run-up on a wall as the beam fires and disappears. He then guns down the last stretch, diving up to the last ledge just in time before the laser beam fires again.
"Whew! Now that was close! You guys ok?"
"We're fine! I'm just shaken." Ori responded.
He then puts Ori down as they continue to run after the water veil thief. The moon grotto was filled with wooden spikes all around as they all had to jump over them while fighting off any pesky monsters that choose to attack them. After a few twists and turns through the grotto, they finally caught up with the thief. Ori spots the Gumo and chases after him, approaching the bridge. But she didn't notice the lever by the Gumo…
"Gumo! Give us back the water veil!"
"Ori wait stop!"
But it is too late, the Gumo pulls the level collapsing the bridge as Ori falls into the pit.
"Ori NO!"
His heart pounding, he thought she would perish from the fall. But down at the bottom, he can see rocks and dirt kick up as Ori crashes to the ground but gets up unscathed. He mentally slaps himself, Sein did explain the Spirit Guardian's ability to tank long falls with ease but damn that was quite a drop! Anger then installs him as he remembers the culprit for this.
'When I get my hands on that bastard…where did he go?'
The Gumo was nowhere to be seen. he then spots him climbing down the same pit before jumping off ahead, as Ori gives chase after him. Looking down, he sees no possible way to get down and join the chase. So how can he help Ori now? He refuses to stand around and do nothing, he needs to figure something out.
Looking across the bridge, Aaron debates that maybe he should start from getting across to catch up, but how? He looks around, he found some vines, but there is nothing to hook them into, besides, how is he going to thread and secure that vine to be reliable enough to swing?
He begrudgingly sat there on the ledge thinking. As he ponders, he sees that there is a waterfall down where Ori fell into. Is the water deep enough to cushion his fall? Testing his theory, he grabs a huge rock nearby and throws it down to the waters below.
It lands in a big splash, seems like it is deep enough to cushion his fall. He took a running start and jumps down, making a huge splash as he lands in the waters.
As he resurfaces, he noticed that the waters here, unlike the others, are clean and devoid of any purple corruption. He refilled his canteen after deducing it to be drinkable.
While some people would think to boil it before drinking it, Aaron is confident that if the waters here managed to avoid being corrupted, it should be safe enough to drink. Then again, why are the waters here clean? It does not make any sense...
Looking ahead, he sees a bunch of pillars moving and crashing into each other with a loud bang. Aaron hopes that Ori didn't get crushed by those pillars. He studies which pillar would be safe to stand in and which isn't as he plans his next course of actions through the pillars. Eventually, he got out running through an open Spirit Gate that Ori must have opened. Through the gate, he sees a dead body of some weird monster that he can't describe except it is like a large worm.
"Damn, Sein you really put a dent on this thing…"
The corpse shows evidence of serious burn marks that Sein scorched this monster to oblivion. At least this proves that Ori is still alive. This Place however leads to a dead end, so he ponders his next move. It seems that Ori and that Gumo had gone upwards, but he doesn't have anything that can help him climb these walls. He needs an alternate route.
Aaron then remembered these buildings by the waters. He then heads back and starts swimming towards a tall wooden building with lights as he sees a ladder that allows him to climb on. He then runs around through the building, going past through bridges and going from room to room as he makes his way up to the top.
Each room served a different purpose, one seems to be a workshop with many blueprints and plans, one room seems to reserve for food storage, one room has a large container that serves to contain water with a bucket and a bridge that leads to the waterfall.
Aaron then finally finds the bridge that allows him to reconnect with the path that Ori and the Gumo went. He then starts climbing by running up and grabbing onto the ledges and pulling himself up. Eventually, he found Sein and Ori busy staring upwards.
"There you are! Finally, I caught up with you!"
Ori jumps in surprise and turns around to Aaron behind her.
"Aaron! How did you get here?" Ori asks in amazement.
"It wasn't easy, but I jumped down to that river near where you fell. Had to do a marathon of running to catch up with ya. So where is that Gumo now?" Aaron asked.
"He just climbed up there, I'm not sure what he is doing right now."
A mechanical sound of a lever is made with a crash and a rumble then emits from the grotto as rocks then start falling from the ceiling! Must be another trap of his. They all then start jumping from platform to platform, with Aaron pulling himself up on ledges of platforms while Ori climbs up the walls with speed. They each took a turn to jump from gap to gap, mindful of the boulders falling as they near the top.
The grotto shakes harder as the crashing grows louder, time is running out! With one last jump, Aaron and Ori reached the top as Aaron finds a lever and pulls it, stopping the grotto from collapsing.
They then find the gumo trapped with a boulder crushing his legs, preventing him from running away.
"You got nowhere to run now…" Aaron announces to the black spider-like creature as he cracks his knuckles to intimidate as he takes out his knife, he is going to enjoy getting even with this freak. The gumo stares at him eye wide as he struggles to get away as he approaches him as the gumo closes his eyes, waiting for his inevitable demise.
"ARRON STOP!"
Aaron slowly turned around, seeing Ori Latching on his arm.
"Don't hurt him!"
"Why? He put us… YOU through hell and back! He made us go through all those death traps with those axes, the laser beams… HELL! He even collapsed the bridge with YOU on it! If anything, he was trying to kill you and you want to let him go? He has the water veil!" Aaron argued. Ori shuddered but remains strong.
"He doesn't deserve to be hurt! Arron, you can't do this! We need to help him!"
"HELP HIM?! How do you know that he won't stab us in the back and run off again with the veil? How do you know we can trust him?"
"Because I believe that he CAN be good, and he can prove it!"
"And what makes you believe that!"
"YOU DID ARRON!"
…what…?
"What… do you mean?"
"Aaron… yesterday when we first met…I was all alone with no one to help…when I called out for help and you came…I was scared…I thought you were going to kill me. You looked so scary with those clothing…I didn't know what would happen." Ori tears up.
"When you came and comforted me, I was in disbelief. When you got mad at me when I started climbing for the first time, I thought you were going to hurt me, but you were just scared for my safety."
He… is not sure what to say…
"While I was chasing that Gumo, when I demanded why he stole the veil, he said he needed it to cleanse the waters of his home. He is just trying to survive Aaron…"
So that explains the clean waters here.
"Holding grudges is unhealthy Aaron." Sein joined in. "Can you find the heart to forgive him? Just like Ori forgave you?"
He hates this... he hates this so much. How can he forgive someone who tried to hurt or kill them? Kindness and forgiveness were not something Aaron was so familiar with back in his world. Hell, Ethan was his only friend he can trust.
Aaron looked at the Gumo, still shivering as his eyes meet his own. Can he justify killing something…no…someone that is trying to survive?
…
He puts his knife away.
"I hope I'm not making a mistake forgiving him…"
Ori similes at Aaron's response as she starts pulling the boulder, freeing him. The Gumo falls backward and starts moving away. Ori then takes a few steps forward and calls out to him. And then, the Gumo came back with the water veil and pushes it towards Ori, maintaining distance from Aaron. He glances at Aaron one more time before jumping away.
"See Aaron? He can be good! We just need to give him the chance to prove it." Ori said.
Aaron said nothing. He didn't expect that Gumo to willingly return the water veil. Did he do as redemption? For forgiveness? Or did he do in fear of the consequence of what he would do to him?
Either way, they got back the water veil and it is time to take the journey back to the Ginso tree.