The Graceful Archer
"He woke up as the first,"
"Because he had a strong thirst"
"To see his world illuminated."
"So he beheld the warm light of the sun…"
"His first day on Niwen has begun."
The wind gently moved every leaf. Treetops softly glowed with an orange tone as the first rays of sunlight hit their surface. Only a few minutes ago, something else was the only light source softly illuminating the grass. The little spirit had woken up just recently to watch the sky get brighter. Soon, the beautiful glowing sphere that was the sun showed itself and slowly floated up over the horizon and lit the clouds. Its light dazzled his eyes, forcing him to cover them with his arm. Time to get up and explore his new home, the great village!
Except for the birds that were already filling the atmosphere with their soft choir, Ori was the only one who woke up this early. Apart from the gentle sounds of mother nature, there was silence in the village. He slowly walked past the still little houses, softly touching their wooden supports as he passed by. Eventually, he arrived at some kind of monument made of stone, decorated with twinkling gemstones that shone in the morning sun. Two faces were engraved in the polished stone with evident skill and care, the big orange beak of a bird, and the monkey-like old face of a 'weapon master,' both of which seemed strangely familiar to Ori. Near the base of the monument, a short inscription read, "May these kind souls live forever. They helped the gleaming hero to save our land." He laid his paw on the stone. Somehow, he felt the memories flowing out of it and finding their way into his mind, causing his soul to glow from within.
As Ori turned to walk away from the monument, a loud, crisp sound hit his ears: the sound of something hard knocking against wood. It must have been a bird with a sharp beak, building it´s nest in a trunk somewhere. It sounded like "Tokk." Maybe that was also the name of the bird engraved on the stone tablet. Ori wasn't sure why, but it felt right. He didn't think about it too hard, because it was probably impossible to find an answer as to why that was. From there, he climbed on the roof of one of the little houses and observed the center of the village. The only movement thereafter was a few birds and insects flying around. In particular, a butterfly with lemon-colored wings that shone in the sunlight flew right towards him. Delighted, Ori stretched out one of his paws for the butterfly to land upon. It landed on his tiny finger to rest its wings, allowing him to feel the weight of the insect balanced on its tiny legs.
Eventually, with his heavy tool on his shoulders, the old Gorlek was the second outside. On a normal day, he would continue the never ending work of fulfilling the order of one of the many residents of his masterpiece, the great village. The clients were still mainly mokis, that had never changed. The most common orders included making sure that the village was safe for children by removing the native toxic thorn tendrils, building swings for the little ones, majestic climbing frames for the older kids, restaurants for the village's legendary soup, and finally benches for the older generations. He was the chief foreman and mayor of his village for about forty years now, ever since the gleaming hero had helped him fulfill his work.
Slowly, the whole village started to come alive. At first, just one door opened, but it was quickly followed by a second, and soon doors all throughout the village were swinging on their hinges. From one door, Ori noticed the little moki Raiki come out, so he jumped down to meet him. When Raiki saw the little spirit, a happy smile showed on his face instantly. "Good morning Ori! How long have you been up today? Did you really get up with the birds?" The spirit smiled and nodded. "I guess you don´t need much sleep for a newborn. That's…incredible!" Raiki laughed, excited to spend time with the cute spirit. He was just about to explain his plan for today when a very quiet growling came from his friend. Diagnosing the problem, he laid his ear on Ori´s belly and smirked. The little spirit was a bit confused as to why anyone would do such a thing, but Raiki, without losing his smirk, remarked, "There is nothing inside you yet, right? Don´t worry, you can have breakfast with us. Only if you want to, of course." Ori glanced back toward his own house. As long as he didn't leave the village, Naru probably wouldn't be concerned. Satisfied that he would be okay, he nodded and they both vanished into the moki family's little house.
Shortly after Naru woke up, she noticed that someone was missing. "Ori?" This time, saying his name wasn´t as strange as before, and she began to accept the name as it was. "Where are you, my child?" Beginning to get concerned, she began to look around, but couldn't find him anywhere in the house. "Gumo! Our child is gone!" she called, thinking to get Gumo on the hunt sooner rather than later. The round creature shifted in his hammock and tiredly said: "Don´t worry too much about him. I think he can handle some things by himself. Besides, I don´t think he even left the village, he won´t be in any danger." Disappointed in two creatures now, Naru continued to push, "But Gumo! He's still a baby! He was only born last night!" she said, appalled that anyone could take missing children so casually. Gumo sighed, climbing out of his hammock and following up with a stretch. Resigning himself to a quick job, he responded, "Fine. If you really are that concerned about our boy, I will look after him. I´m sure he's just with his new moki friend. Now please, calm down." Naru took a deep breath. "Very well. I will gather some fruits for us now."
Gumo did not need to look further than a few meters, because he could already hear the excited voice of a hyperactive moki child. He was very sure that anyone that excited was talking with Ori. Sure enough, when he took a closer look at the small meadow, he could see the excited gestures of the moki sitting across from the little spirit. "Oh, the youth in all its glory. I knew he didn´t leave the village." Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, he stood close enough to hear the moki´s words and smiled.
"I've never had a spirit guardian as a playmate before. I thought they were doomed to remain a legend when the last of them sacrificed himself to become the new spirit tree, but now you´re here. You even have the exact same name. It's almost like I'm playing with the gleaming hero himself." Ori giggled, noticing just how much Raiki liked him. Continuing, Raiki said, "I need to tell you a story!" The little spirit came closer and began to listen carefully. "My father once held the title 'Mokk the brave.' He told me about a very useful tool that the gleaming hero once gave to him as a sign of encouragement. It was a perfect stone to build structures with, like the old Gorlek does. Unfortunately, when he visited his former home, back in the Silent Forest, he lost it. He told me that, if I was brave enough to find it, I would be allowed to help him with his work. Personally, I think it´s funny to watch him try to build anything." He made a pause to take a deep breath and build suspense. The eyes of the little spirit widened in curiosity. "Now, I need your help, Ori. You glow so bright that you could be my personal light. It´s very dark in the Silent Forest, so dark that you can even forget the time in there like I did last night. Do you want to accompany me and see if we can find that stone?" Ori didn´t know what he was getting involved with, but it sounded exciting, so he nodded. "Awesome! Let´s hope we don't get swallowed by the forest." With that, they set off on their adventure.
They were far from home by now. Entering the complete silent part of the forest again, Ori was seized by the fear of the unknown due to his status as the only significant light source. Although it was in the middle of the day, it was dark as midnight here. Raiki was too excited to be scared, though. He was very sure that they would find that perfect stone soon. The little spirit, however, remained rational and did not like the foreboding atmosphere. It felt like he had broken a rule his mother had never gave him. She probably wouldn't allow him to pass through this area at all, and she would have her reasons, one of which being the danger he felt coming from all around him. Unfortunately for Ori, he was still incapable of telling Raiki that he wanted to leave this place, and so only one word came from his lips, "Wait…" Undeterred, the sassy moki pulled his arm and gave Ori an indignant stare. "'Wait?' Are you serious? We are so close, we can´t just leave now!" complained Raiki. "But…" Ori said with a scared voice. Exasperated, the moki explained, "Don´t be afraid. I've been here hundreds of times and nothing's ever attacked me. Believe me, it´s not dangerous here." The little spirit wasn´t sure of that at all. He had a strange feeling that something could shoot out of the darkness and violently pull him into the bushes, where he'd never be found again. He listened very closely, determined to hear any danger break the silence before it could make an attack. The young moki, however, wasn´t afraid at all, still looking around in hopes of finding that perfect stone. Musing to himself, "Hmm…It must be here somewhere…" he carefully widened his eyes in order to see every corner of the area. "I wonder, maybe I could smell that stone?" Ori, beginning to panic, wanted to end this foolish venture very quickly so that they could finally go home. Thinking he might be able to do a better job than the hopeless moki, he jumped into a bush right next to him. His light going out, Raiki was initially confused. "Ori? Where did you go?" Turning around, the moki and saw no trace of the spirit. He began to get a little concerned, as he was older than him and was responsible if he got hurt. Now, the spirit was nowhere to be seen. He had lost him.
Certain he couldn't have gone very far, Raiki called out, "Please tell me before you go vanishing like tha—" Stunned, he couldn´t trust his eyes. The little spirit stood right in front of him, holding nothing less than a very special tooth-shaped stone in his paws. Indeed, it was actually the stone Raiki was searching for. Incredulous, it was Raiki's turn to struggle with words. "Ori—you—you´re amazing! You'll have to show me how you did that later. Now let´s get out of here, I know you´re scared."
At last, they were on their way back home, away from this accursed place. They had only made a few steps towards the exit, however, when suddenly Ori froze and stuck his arm in front of Raiki. The little spirit stood frozen in terror and from Raiki's perspective, it looked like he was just about to run for his life. "What…what´s wrong?" asked Raiki, who was beginning to become scared as well out of mutual fear. Something was definitely wrong. "Wait—" Ori said again with his high-pitched voice, adrenaline driving it even higher. "Do you hear something?" The young moki poised himself to listen carefully to every sound, but all he could hear was silence. Wait! Together, their breathing halted as suddenly an aggressive rustle come from the bushes right next to them, rapidly increasing in volume. Time seemed to slow as their hearts throbbed five times every second. Unsure of what to do, Ori grabbed a stick, grasping it as tightly as he could in his paws. Both children, the reality of their mortality making itself evident to them, began to shiver in fear as their bodies refused to move any further.
Pushing aside the bushes, several slimy, snail-like creatures with a color that screamed evil revealed themselves. "These—these must be 'the last of them' that my papa warned me about—they survived in this terrible darkness. Ori, maybe they sensed your light. One thing's certain, we should never have come here—what shall we do?" The creature's appearance not only turned his stomach, but also awoke Ori´s very mind. Suddenly, he could hear a new word in his head, one he'd never heard before: "The decay…" Out of time to dwell upon it further, the eyes of the little spirit widened to a size they'd never reached before. When they could grow no more, he grabbed Raiki's paw and began to run for his life, dragging the moki behind him. The creatures may have been slow, but a whole group had surrounded them by using the bushes as cover before they had been noticed. In position now, all of them jumped down simultaneously, surrounding them. Out of options, Raiki yelled, "We´re trapped!" The slimy creatures began to close the distance, coming at them like a wall of fire. If that wasn´t enough, even bigger kinds of insects landed outside the circle with a thud so loud that their eardrums whirred. There was no hope of escape anymore. Only a miracle could help them now.
Beside the indescribable fear of getting slaughtered, Ori felt his belly begin to tingle again, not from fright alone, but also a strange feeling that someone else was around, like they weren´t alone. He looked around hastily, hoping for that miracle, but he couldn´t make out anything past his sphere of light. Suddenly, a bright flash of light flew through the air with a violent hiss. That exact same second, a bluish glowing arrow pierced the skin of one of the uglier slimy creatures. Then two more met their fate, as did another three after that. A true rain of arrows hit their targets one by one. The little spirit watched in awe as their foes fell and dissolved into the air. However, the remaining evil creatures still had the will to fight and pounced at them with a shriek. Yellow, black-striped creatures ran towards them, their claws hissing through the air as they barely dodged each swipe. An arrow hit one of the creatures in the head, but they weren't dying quickly enough. "This won´t end well!" Raiki yelped, but by now he'd had enough time to come up with an idea. "Let´s climb this tree!" he yelled, pointing to a broad trunk riddled with small holes. He then took the little spirit by the paw and climbed up to a branch where the creatures weren´t able to follow them. "That was close!" he said with a sigh of relief. The remaining dangers were taken out one by one by the flashing arrows, and eventually all of them were eliminated. "We had a real guardian angel…" Raiki breathed. Ori could see a bluish light jumping through the branches, so he jumped down to follow it. Out of breath, Raiki struggled to follow. "Ori, where are you going? Wait!"
Ori arrived at a small lake, shimmering in the light of the sun coming through a little gap that let light through. When he slowly closed the distance to the water, a glowing creature jumped down right in front of him.
He couldn't trust his eyes, it was a spirit guardian! It was a beautiful one. She had a round-shaped head with an acute chin and long, black eyelashes. Her tail was longer than his own, and she had more fur than him. Her arms were thinner, and her paws were as soft as a flower. Her ears were smaller, placed right on the top of her head in a thin pattern.
"When he met Aria for the first time…"
Meanwhile, while Ori was stunned into inaction, Raiki caught up to his friend, stopping short the second he caught a glimpse of the new guardian. "Ori…she´s just beautiful!" said the moki in awe. He'd had no idea how magnificent a spirit guardian could look. Neither of them were quite sure how to thank their gorgeous savior.
"His wonderful sister…"
The little spirit carefully drew nearer to her and stretched out his arm. Behind him, the motionless, defeated creatures dissolved into a dark dust that blew away in the air.
"She took down the forest´s grime."
She grabbed his paw and pulled him into a hug. Ori was touched by this act and blushed through his fluorescent fur.
"All on her own…"
Her majestic weapon vanished in her paws.
"With her mighty bow."
They stopped hugging and smiled at each other, their paws still resting on each other's shoulders. Speaking directly from his heart, Ori pronounced merely two words: "Thank you."
"It was true sibling love."
"H-hey…you two." The moki stepped closer to them. "I´m very sorry Ori. I was selfish to bring you here with me. Finding that stone became all I cared about. You were the one who found it, but I forgot about your safety. I forgot that you had just been born last night…I—" He never finished his sentence, as he felt a warm light touch him. It was Ori, who was giving him a warm hug with a smile on his face. "You—you really forgive me?" asked Raiki. "Are you sure?" The little spirit looked into the moki's eyes and nodded. "Thank you, Ori…You´re the best friend I've ever had." Raiki´s happiness was evident across his whole body. Tears of joy rolled down his cheeks. "Well then…let´s get back home. Our parents are probably concerned about us." He turned to the spirit beside Ori. "Ehm…what´s your name, actually?" asked Raiki, realizing that they didn't hadn't actually learned the name of their new best friend. "Aria." she answered in a soft voice. "What a beautiful name. Ori, you can be proud to call her your sister!"
"May they grow up together as a family."