Ori saw her body, motionless in the moonlight, and he knew the worst had come to pass.
"No," he uttered quietly. "No! I can't lose you again!"
He rushed over to his owlet friend, hoping in vain to at least see the rising and falling of her chest.
Nothing.
He dejectedly sat down beside her, and the true gravity of the situation hit him like a ton of bricks.
"I...I can't save you," he whimpered to himself. "I can't!"
She was a creature of the dark, so he knew he couldn't use regenerate to save her life.
"You...you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our light," he said, full of guilt.
Ori knew from day one that Ku's defective wing was a direct result of his father calling out to him. If it weren't for the protective shell of her egg, she would've been burnt to a crisp too!
"...I'm sorry, Ku!...I wasn't strong enough..." he sobbed. "...I wasn't strong enough to correct our mistake!...I'm sorry..."
When Shriek attacked, he thought it was best for the two of them to put some distance between each other, but neither he nor Ku could have expected the floor under them to be so fragile! By the time the deformed owl broke it under Ori, there was no way for him to react in time.
Suddenly, he noticed shadowy figures gathering around him, and he immediately got defensive. He drew his spirit edge and started slashing it around.
"No! Stay back!" he yelled angrily. "Don't touch her!"
It was then that he noticed they were all just Moki, and he started to cry.
"Get away from her!" he yelled through tears.
They didn't budge, for they could see right through him. His sword dissolved in his trembling paw as he let out another sob.
"Get away!" he said before dropping to his knees.
It was no use. He was just saying words now. Nevertheless, they approached and started comforting his sad, glowing form.
. . .
The memory faded, and Mint once again looked down at Fir's disfigured form.
"Fir?" she sobbed, shaking his body. "Fir! Get up! PLEASE!"
"Mint...he's-" started Keo.
"NO HE'S NOT!" she interrupted, whipping her head around and revealing her teary pupils. "I still see him breathing! He's not dead!"
"I know!"
Keo practically had to tear her off of Fir's body.
"No! Nohooo!" she squealed, fighting against him. "Why won't it work?!"
He forcefully spun her around and held her at arm's length.
"Mint, listen to me! It was a bonding experience!"
"...What?!..."
"We've all seen the other animals do it, but we don't do it to reproduce. We don't even do it for pleasure! It was purely a bonding experience and nothing more!"
Mint stood still in his paws, confused but still crying.
"What do you-?"
"When you both climaxed, did anything come out of him and go into you?"
She thought about it for a moment, before shaking her head.
"No."
"Then there you go...he didn't do anything irreversible! The only way more of us come into this world is by falling as leaves from Spirit Trees and Spirit Willows…"
Mint was still confused. She pointed at Fir's body behind her.
"But...what does that have to do with-?"
"He thinks he impregnated you...because he doesn't understand."
Her eyes widened in horror. She knew where this was going.
"He's ashamed of what he did," said Keo. "So he's refusing your call to heal him."
"No."
"He wants to die."
"No!"
She tried to tear herself away again, but Keo caught her.
"And it's not just you he's refusing!" he snapped. "It didn't work when I tried it, either!"
Mint's eyes were sealed with tears. She didn't even want to open them.
"Please don't blame yourself," said Keo. "I should've been more clear...I assumed you both knew when I really, really shouldn't have! This is all my fault, okay?"
"...S-so that's it?..." she said through sobs. "...There's nothing we can do?..."
"I didn't say that."
Finally, she willed herself to open her eyes and look at him.
"There may still be time," he continued. "But we can't teleport unless all three of us are conscious, so we'll have to hoof-it back! Even if showing them the fang won't work, maybe we can find a healing plant before they find us."
Keo was right: all hope wasn't lost. Regardless of whether the other spirits would be willing to help Fir, if there was one place where he could be healed, it was Niwen.
"But Mint," he said. "We have to move, now! I'll carry him."
"*sniff*Okay," she breathed.
. . .
Since Mint had only recently learned how to teleport, backtracking through an area didn't feel as weird as it might have otherwise. Even though she had never taken this route backwards, it wasn't the most complicated thing in the world to do.
That being said, every step felt treacherous, especially when slowed down by Keo hefting around Fir in a fireman's carry. But then came a spark of hope: a healing plant, glowing green on a log!
"What is that doing way out here?" whispered Keo.
"We might be getting close to home," Mint whispered back. "The spell might not work, but maybe we can heal him with that!"
"Okay, but be careful. The corruptions around here could use that as bait."
Mint just turned and stared at him with a disbelieving, and almost pleading, look.
"You heard me," he said. "I'm not risking getting ambushed while he's like this! Go grab a life orb and bring it here, where we know it's safe. I'll stay by Fir, just in case."
"You want me to go all by myself?!"
"I wouldn't ask you to do something that I couldn't do myself! Now hurry! We've wasted time as it is!"
With a sigh of both frustration and worry, Mint scurried over towards the plant. Heeding his warning, she slowed to a tip-toe as she came near it.
Grab it quietly, then leave. There's no need to-
*rustle**rustle*
Mint's ears twitched at the sound of disturbed bushes behind her, which was followed soon after by a verminous hissing.
Snapper ambush!
Instinctively summoning her spirit arc, she whipped around and fired three arrows at a trio of the vile creatures! Unfortunately, because her reflexes were dulled by malnutrition, only two were hit, leaving Mint with a pit in her stomach as the last one violently tackled her to the ground.
Her spirit arc disappearing upon losing focus, the lone spirit guardian squealed in pain and terror as the remaining snapper grabbed her neck and started to repeatedly smash her head into the dirt.
Luckily the ground wasn't made of anything harder or she'd have lost consciousness!
Finally, the corruption settled on simply pinning one side of her head to the ground and using its free claw to stab her repeatedly in the stomach.
Screaming in pain and terror, Mint's instincts took over, and before she knew it, she'd sliced it in half with her spirit edge! Continuing to hyperventilate as its carcass fell limp atop her, she kicked and shoved it off in disgust.
That had to be the last one. She quickly broke the glowing, green pod and carried away the singular life orb it produced.
"Are you alright?" asked Keo as she stumbled down next to Fir, having helplessly watched the whole ordeal.
She immediately began rubbing the life orb against Fir's body.
"I can heal myself later," she replied breathlessly.
"Are you sure? You know regenerate can't heal poison, right?"
"I'm not poisoned! Quit worrying!"
It was working! The bones in Fir's arms and legs began to right themselves, and open wounds began to seal shut, but something else was off. The moment Mint felt a nauseating dizziness fill her head, she knew Keo was right. She looked down at the stab wounds on her stomach and saw the skin around them turning a corrupted purple.
It was festering, and fast! She felt her arms go numb and, unable to hold it anymore, the life orb slipped out of her paw and rolled to the side. She wanted to vomit, but because she hadn't eaten anything since last evening, all she did was gag between sobs. It didn't just hurt, it burned! The corrupted poison was so opposite to her very being, that it was practically dissolving her from the inside out!
Keo snatched the green ball of life and tried to put it up to her stomach, but she pushed it away.
"Give it to him," she croaked.
"Mint-"
"Give it to Fir!"
"Mint! You're no good to him dead!"
She just glared at him with a mixture of sorrow and anger.
"Please!" he said desperately. "I'm not losing you both!"
He was right: there was no other option. That choice was gone the moment she got stabbed with venom. With misty eyes, she grabbed the life orb and swallowed it whole.
The burning sensation was gone instantly. In less than half-a-minute, the nausea was gone, the wounds were gone, and Mint could feel her arms once again. She snatched Fir's paw and tried to heal him again, only for the spell to be blocked once more. She could no longer hold back her anger.
"DAMMIT FIR!" she shouted, throwing his arm into the dirt.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked on at his now mildly disfigured form. Her breathing, fast and shallow, slowed into sobs as anger turned to sadness.
"Don't you feel my pain?" she said in a heartbroken tone of voice. "You're hurting us!"
She knew it was a selfish thing to say, but it truly felt like Fir had lost his will to care. There was nothing else she could say, so she opted instead to bury her face into his chest as she broke down and cried.
. . .
Once Mint had calmed down enough for them to walk again, it wasn't long before they had finally reached the edge of the dark forest. Niwen. Home, in all its lush and colorful beauty, was finally back in sight.
"Keo? Why are we so...different?" she asked.
The question seemed to catch him off-guard.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"No other creatures glow like we do, no other creatures are born the way we are, and now even...even…"
"...That is different?"
"...Yeah…and I just don't get it!"
"Why does it bother you? I always thought those things were sort of proof that we're special."
"Sure, but…"
She sighed.
"...remember when I told you about how I ventured into these woods alone?"
"Yes."
"It's all because of that shard merchant we saved. She was scared of me...of us!"
"I remember."
"Doesn't that worry you? The fact that we can't relate to them? We hold so much power and influence in the forest-"
"-that they think we could wipe them out at any time?"
"Couldn't we?...Might we?"
"Well, come to think of it, I've never really been friends with someone who wasn't a spirit guardian...and I wouldn't have thought the Elders might have been abusing their power until they willingly tried to kill you..."
"Not to mention they were the ones who taught us that all other creatures are inferior!"
"But...aren't they? Zar even mentioned it right before your execution."
"He implied it, but that's not the point! Superior or inferior, the forest needs all of its inhabitants in order to thrive! Everyone...is necessary…"
"So, what are you trying to say?"
Mint pulled out yellow-eyes' fang.
"As good as an idea it may be," she started. "I think it's only a last resort...as painful as this is to say, I don't think we can trust any other spirit."
"But who else are we supposed to go to?" Keo asked.
"...There was one creature dad met who could see him wherever he went...so long as he was within Niwen…"
Keo donned a skeptical look.
"I don't know how he was able to do it, but if he's still alive, then maybe he'll answer a call for help...and arrive before any other spirits can..."
. . .
"Motaaay!" Mint whispered into the brush, practically hissing. "Motay, if you can hear me, we have an injured friend and we need a place to hide! Please!"
"This is ridiculous!" said Keo. "No creature can hear you, Mint!"
"Shhh! He can!"
"Even if he could, what reason would he have to help us?!"
"I said, shush!"
Keo still began mumbling to himself anyway.
"How is a chameleon even supposed to-?" he started, before being interrupted by the mad rustling of the undergrowth in front of them. "Whoa!"
Out slithered an ocean-blue chameleon with glowing orange eyes that looked less-than-pleased.
"Who are you?!" he asked.
"M-Mint!' Mint stuttered. "My name is Mint. I-I'm the one that called...you...are you Mot-?"
"Motay has been dead for years," he interrupted. "The only other spirit who knew him was your father, and he's never talked to any of you...no spirit has ever sought him out before or since...how do you know his name?"
"I-I received his memories from the light...please, our friend needs help."
"Likely story!" he hissed. "Why should I help one of you?! Go get one of your glowy-buddies to heal him!"
"They won't!" said Keo. "They wanna kill us!"
"Why would they-?...wait...I recognize you three! One of you stole the spirit tree's light didn't you?!"
"Yes," said Mint, a smile finally coming to her face. "You saw!"
"It was you!" he said, pointing at her. "Which means...is that what happened when it zapped you?"
"Yes!"
The chameleon breathed a heavy sigh as he looked over at Fir's unconscious body.
"Okay, I'll take you to our hideout," he said. "We grow our own healing plants there. He'll be okay, just follow me!"
Mint could hardly contain her joy and relief as he scuttled away.
"Thank you!" she said, scurrying after him. "Thank you so much!"
"This just worked," Keo deadpanned as he picked Fir back up. "There's no way this just worked!"
As the four of them grouped up and started to make their way through defilade, the chameleon realized he'd forgotten to introduce himself.
"The name's Taeguk, by the way," he said.