Predator

Breathe. The cold, damp air of the cave rushed through his lungs as they slowly expanded and contracted. He was awake, but confirming that was difficult. His eyes were open, yes, but the void was all there was to see. And yet, he felt something underneath him, supporting him. He was alive, but how? The void was a fall to certain death, landing on a hard stone floor at terminal velocity was not going to be a survivable incident, especially when unconscious and unprepared. Something had saved him, something soft, like an elastic blanket. It was lined along his whole back, covering his spine all the way up to his head.

He took a moment to calm down and organize his thoughts a bit. Someone evidently wanted him to survive the fall. Perhaps it was the author of the journal himself? Did he already know that someone was trying to follow him? Whoever it was, he needed to find out. "Hey! Who's out there, where are you?" Ori trailed off as he realized that something was missing. The firefly was gone! It must have lost him when he fell. Again, he was doomed to be alone in this cave. "Come back!" he cried. "It's so dark down here!" There was no answer. Only the constant rumblings of the cave showed to comment. "No, no, no! This can't be…" Like before, tears of loneliness began to fill his eyes, but he wasn't going to be taken by emotions now. He had to be strong right now, he only had himself to rely on. "I'll have to find him!" he exclaimed, determined to see light again. He tried to get up, but his tired body refused his orders to move. Was it really so late? He would normally be sleeping now, as after all, it was the middle of the night. Or wait, could a new day have started already? What time was it anyway? There was no way to trace the flow of time down here.

It was a little confusing, however. He'd been far more tired than he was now, Kiri's training had pushed him beyond limits he'd never even knew he had. Currently, his muscles weren't even weak, so why wouldn't they get up?

Oh.

Panic rushed through his chest like a ghost, he was sticking to the floor beneath him! The elastic material wasn't a soft blanket or mattress, it was a gigantic web! His breath became shallow, his heart banged against his rib cage, and the panic shot through his head like lightning. It got worse when he turned his head to look below him, the web was spun over a massive sea of deadly thorns. It was spun almost directly above them, preventing him from cutting himself free if he didn't want to end up impaled. Even if he could avoid direct contact, he wouldn't be able to crawl on the underside of the net, there just wasn't enough space between it and the spikes.

But what other options were there? His attempts to struggle out and run across the top were fruitless, there was no way he would be strong enough to tear through the sticky rope. To make matters worse, his worst worries were confirmed when he heard a distant hiss and the web began to shake underneath him with the footfalls of a crawling creature. A very, very large crawling creature. He could torture himself endlessly with mental images of the predator coming towards him, ready for its next meal. Time was already a sensitive subject, and soon it would reach and devour him whole. He just couldn't let that happen! He wasn't anyone's prey!

What other options did he have? Struggle only made his situation worse. He tried to calm down, that was the only way he would possibly escape. While he may be stuck along his back, he could move his right arm. It simply rubbed right across the sticky net… no, it wasn't actually sticky there. Only the area directly underneath his body was caught, the rest of the web was most likely structural and used for getting around rather than capturing prey. That had to be useful information! Now, what could he do to take advantage of that? There was only one viable option left.

He focused his light, concentrating on finding a fitting picture. It had to be something useful to him immediately, and trapped in the web like he was, it was going to need to be able to pull him out. Options and shapes disappeared from his view until there was only one remaining. A rope, of course! Ori would have slapped his forehead in the new obviousness of the solution had he had the time to do so, but a mild groan had to suffice for now. He stretched his arm to the ceiling, his paw parallel to its rough surface. Instantaneously, something very long emerged from his paw with a flash of brilliant blue. It shot high into the unknown and stopped abruptly with a sharp clanging of ringing metal. A quick tug with his other paw ensured that it was a firm connection, more than enough to hold his light weight. He may as well have been hitched to somewhere on that stony ceiling.

Now that he had something to hold on to, he wasn't going to fall into the spikes below. Not wasting a moment, he summoned his blade to his paws with bluish lightning and swung the weapon as hard as he could. It worked! Almost too well, actually. The net lost its tension and weakly sank down into the spikes, large sections of it collapsing as it couldn't hold onto the stony walls anymore.

The little spirit had to hold his tail high to avoid the sharp spikes. It was particularly invigorating and fear-inducing when he turned his head down to see that his backside wasn't even a full inch above his doom. However, the net finally fell loose from his body and he launched into the air at tremendous speed, the rope pulling him upwards with a great deal of force. He held his breath, startled by the wrenching sensation and setting his belly tingling with the rate of his accent, but everything went by too quickly for him to even think about what was happening. Within the blink of an eye, he had hit the ceiling, right where a glowing blue plant had taken its place. Reflexively, he clung to its stamen and narrowed his eyes, having expected the worst only seconds ago.

It took a moment to get used to the light again, but as he carefully opened his eyes, he could behold the timeless abyss watch him back. An odd new position, he hung from the ceiling like a spider ready to drop on its prey. It was a great vantage point, and looking around, he saw a whole ocean of these blue plants illuminating the ceiling with their soft bluish light. The sight was beautiful, a glimpse of hope between the danger and fear the cave had in abundance. It was enough to cast a small smile across his face.

Alas, the moment was not to last. Something terrible tore the silence apart with a piercingly loud screech from deeper down. Ori dared to look, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw a pair of two yellowish glowing orbs staring right back at him, shining with an evil aura. "Are those… eyes?" he asked the air in a shivering voice, as if there were someone else to hear him. The darkness made it hard to determine exactly what they were, but they began to move upwards along a wall while being accompanied by a strange crawling noise that sent a wave of nausea through his body. Then, they… no, it came closer.

A frantic search in every direction started, he needed to find somewhere to hide. Unfortunately, it was too dark to make out anything, and he was forced to move from his spot. His heart beat violently as he tried to maneuver around the ceiling, clinging at these blue flowers. Every new grip hurt as his paws cramped in dread. Thank the Spirit Tree these leaves were strong enough to support him! Yet as he continued, the yellow orbs that signified his doom were closing in, and he moved way too slowly to keep out of their reach forever. While they may both have been able to climb walls, the skill level they had in doing so differentiated drastically. What now? "I'll have to try it again!" he thought. His instincts fought violently against these kinds of suicidal thoughts, and he hesitated to let go of the plants, but there was nothing else he could do. With a massive effort, his will forced his paws away from their weak string of safety and he began to fall. Immediately, he tried to re-imagine that picture from earlier, and this time it happened almost automatically. The soft glowing rope shot forth from his paws and clung to one of the flowers, rapidly dragging him forward. Right before he hit the plant, he let go and shot another rope to hook onto another plant, beginning his supple swinging through the cave. His crazy plan was working! Swinging through the cave was far faster than the creature's scuttling behind him, and his hunter let loose an aggressive hiss as it noticed its prey edging closer to escaping its fangs.

There! A small opening in the side of the walls of the cave, it had to be his best chance. So far, it was the only way out of this room. The only problem was how the sea of blue flowers ended prematurely, leaving a gap between their edge and the opening. The only way across would be with a much larger swing than he had been using to reach the edge. He shifted his weight forward with all the strength he could offer, his choice had already been made for him. The familiar tingling came back along with the incredible speeds the swing had, and when he was sure to reach the edge, he let go. The entire world seemed to slow down as his heart thundered through the air.

The wind blowing past his face stopped abruptly as he landed with a quiet thud on his hooves. While he may have gotten out of the web room, the chase wasn't over yet. The being behind him was able to climb even slippery walls without assistance, and it would cross that gap very quickly indeed. He was so certain of this that he didn't even bother to look behind him as he ran off into the unknown labyrinth. Definitely a mild oversight on his part, his method of escape only lead him further into the realm of evil.

Glowing in the dark was both a curse and a blessing down here. On one hand, he could see where he was going without having to bring a light, but on the other hand, every creature down here could easily spot him with even mediocre vision. It was trivial for anything else to find him down here, and the hunter was no exception. It wasn't long until he heard the terrible thin legs crawling down the corridors behind him. A bolt of shock shot through his body and he tried to increase his pace even further, but being faster than the predator didn't help at all when he was faced with a dead end. The labyrinth was unforgiving, and there was no way back; the hunter was too close and blocked the only path left to him, trapping him in a corner. When it was certain that its prey was completely unable to flee, it froze, preparing for the fight. Only its hissing breath could be heard, but it was enough to start his whole body shivering. Now he could see what that creature was.

A spider, three times bigger than he was and proud owner of eight yellowish glowing eyes as well as two terrible long fangs sprouting down the middle of its maw. Each of its legs was peaked with a razor-sharp blade that reflected the spirit's light, flawlessly sharpened and ready to eviscerate at the lightest touch. His conscious mind could feel his right paw summon his blade automatically and his knees assume a defensive stance. Every limb, every organ, every tiny hair atop his skin knew that there was no other way around, this was another fight to the death.

As soon as the predator realized that its prey was ready to the fight, it let out a squeaky, ear-piercing scream and hissed sharply as a tactic to frighten the little spirit, causing him to shiver even more in dread. It had done this a thousand times before, it was ready and knew all the tricks. However, Ori didn't let his fear distract him. This would be the worst time to become unfocused, death was certain if he couldn't think clearly during this encounter. The spider reassessed its opponent, pleased to be fighting more of a challenge than its usual meals. It was going to enjoy this. Suddenly, it gave a short hiss and lunged towards the prepared spirit. He already knew what to do, and he reflexively rolled to the side in an effective dodge, just like Kiri had taught him. The spider smashed into the wall behind him, and it presented an opportunity to deliver a strike to the side. The scenario wasn't perfect, though, and at least one of the spider's eight eyes saw his blade driving forward, because one of its eight blades stood right in its path, deflecting the sword with a loud clink and shooting sparks of light in all directions. The parry was followed up with a push against his arms, opening the spirit's posture. Another blade on a different leg zoomed in at the same moment, but he managed to jump backwards right before it hit him and landed painfully on his back. His mobility was great, however, and he ignored the pain to roll back up to meet another forceful swing coming at him. It hit his sword with such a weight that his arms were flung to the side, and he quickly made up his mind to not attempt to block any further swings. The spider was so much stronger than him, and each of its attacks was ever more impossible to block than the last. He was forced to back off and jump behind with every swing of his opponent, never having an opportunity to strike back with a swing of his own. His breath came in shallow and rapid gasps as he desperately tried to get a decent parry on just one of the incredibly powerful attacks, but each attempt either missed entirely or ended with a loud clink and a flash of light. He simply had no chance against this level of strength with his standard techniques.

If he wasn't going to score a hit in the usual way, he needed an alternative. He looked around his environment, trying to find anything that may shift the balance in his favor. All he could find was that the room was awfully tiny for his opponent, while he was more than small enough to fit comfortably. It was an advantage he had to use, but how? He planned for his counterattack as he tried another hopeless swing and roll, positioning himself just out of the spider's radius. One of its legs hissed through the area he just at with a deep humming noise and such force that the ground shook almost as much as his heart did. Yet it was an opportunity! It hissed angrily with its miss and bent its eight nasty legs for a lunging strike. Now! While the spider leaped in a mad final strike towards the spirit, he jumped into the air at the last second and avoided the attack entirely, letting his opponent smash into the stony wall behind him for a second time. He used the extra time he was given to land on the back of the spider and run his sword along its abdomen with as much force as he could muster. It screamed in pain so loudly at this that his ears almost went numb.

Ori leaped back to the ground to examine his handiwork, most importantly to examine whether or not his attack had dealt any serious damage to his enemy. He immediately assumed a defensive stance upon hitting the ground to protect himself, but oddly enough, the spider didn't move at all. It clearly wasn't dead, however, and instead it began to emit a dark purple mist around its body while the chitin itself turned into the blackest color Ori had ever seen, darker than even the void he had fallen through to get here. He could sense how anxiety was slowly crawling back into his poor body, and there was nothing he could do about it. His mind went blank, wiped clean of any reasonable thoughts as the very incarnation of darkness itself slowly turned its head towards the terrified spirit. He could have peed himself in fear had he not already done so in the water before when the spider released its worst hiss yet, an aggressive "voice" that sounded as if it had been squeezed violently and chased through infinite suffering at the same time. Its eyes glimmered with a bright red glare, and every single one looked as though it were a ball of purest evil. What little left of Ori's mind that remained in control screamed at him to not look into these holes of terror, and to run as fast as he could away from them. The cursed vision finally showed him the truth, the kind of vulnerable little prey animal he really was and marking his face with the essence of helplessness and dread while destroying any focus he had on keeping his weapon intact. All he could do was act as if a mighty rope had pulled him, dashing off as fast as he could in whatever direction he was facing. No matter if it were the right way out of this hell or not, all he wanted to do was escape!

He zoomed through the caverns as fast as he could, all while hearing every nasty step the spider took. He didn't dare look back, the orbs would be the end of him if he did. His breath had gotten even heavier as his heart shot burning blood throughout his body. Luckily for him, something lost its support in the shallow ceiling and smashed to the ground right behind him and right before the spider, cutting off the pathway between them and making it impossible for the spider to reach its prey. One boulder did land on his vulnerable tail, and he let out a brief scream of pain as a result, but his chaser was blocked. For now.

Finally, a moment of respite. His eyes darted from side to side, scanning for possible ways to continue, maybe even allow logic to find a way out of this cavern. He could still hear the horrible steps of his chaser echoing through the darkness, and it probably knew its own nest perfectly, so it was only a matter of time until it found him. Only one way appeared in front of him, though. He began to run again, but as soon as he did so, he heard a hiss come from a distance, followed by very fast steps that were getting louder! His hooves were too loud against this stone floor; the spider could hear its prey running for its life. The horrible steps came closer and closer as he ran. There! Another corner revealed itself in front of him. He lowered himself and tried to move as silently as he could to that spot. The fight against his instinct to run away was intense, but he eventually made it to the corner. Just as he did, a very loud thud from very close by echoed off the walls of the cave, followed by a hungry hiss. His fear pushed him flat against the wall in a desperate attempt to hide. "Oh dear father… I never should have come down here!" he whispered to himself in a shivering tone. Every disgusting step terrified him more than the last while the creature searched for its prey. All he could do was hold his breath to prevent any sound coming from him as he squeezed his eyes shut.

Silence.

His violently narrowed eyes carefully opened again. He looked to the left. Then he looked to the right. Nothing. His head slowly moved back to the middle and, of course, beheld the terrible black face of that spider, now hissing loudly and hungrily jumping towards him in a finishing move. There was nothing he could do. It was too late to roll away, his fate was sealed. "What a terrible destiny," he thought with his last moments alive. He let out his last scream of fear at impending death.

But nothing actually happened. Was he already dead and his mind was just playing terrible games with him in the end? Was that even a thing that happened? The ear-shattering appearance of the black monster violently pulled him back to reality as it zoomed towards him with incredible speed. As it got close, it began to rapidly spin its legs in a circular motion, transforming itself into a giant saw blade. Ori couldn't trust his eyes, it couldn't possibly get worse than this! His mind worked quickly this time, the only way left out was to run. However, after only a few meters he had to stop again. The black abyss of the first room gaped before him, blocking any hope of going forward. The spider stopped spinning and bent its legs again. He knew what it was trying to do, this was his last chance! He couldn't roll to the side like usual, instead he had to use that perfect moment while it was in the air to dodge its blades. The spider lunged directly at him, and he attempted his plan. A roll forward, dodging through the spiny fence of blades, and he found himself right behind its legs. The spider hadn't expected that turn, and it had no chance to try again. It fell down, down, down as its sharp legs tried to find support on the edge and failed with a deafening scratch, finally ending with a violent squelching, piercing noise as the spider fell into the black abyss. Ori wished he had covered his ears as to not hear the cruel fate the spider had to suffer, but as it was, the sound was burned into his mind forever.

Uncountable heartbeats passed by as he sensed his breath slowly normalize and his nervous wreck of a body calm down again. Finally, he could focus on his real task: finding that torch and bringing it to the entrance. How should he continue? With the spider out of the way, his real foe was still present. The darkness hounded him at every turn, and it hadn't stopped just because he'd killed a spider. He slowly edged over the cliff into the abyss and dared a look down, but the only thing he could sense was the cold yawning coming from the blackness beneath him, providing absolutely no way forward.

Suddenly, a light erupted from the pit, shining so bright that it almost blinded him. But unlike almost everything else so far, this light was warm and comfortable, the complete opposite of what a dark evil pit should produce. Something deep within his mind whispered that he wouldn't have to draw his blade, so he stood still and watched the light rise from the abyss and stop directly in front of him. For some reason, the light invoked a sense of reverence as it got closer, until that feeling reached a crescendo when the light began to talk to him.

"Brave child. Don't be afraid, I won't try to hurt you," spoke the light. Its voice echoed very softly off the walls of the cavern and found its way deep into Ori's soul. "You've freed my spirit from that empty, hollow body. Once, I served the spirits as a loyal guardian of their sacred temple. That was ages ago, and I lost my purpose when my beloved spirits vanished. While I aimlessly wandered my cave for many years, something evil disturbed my mind, and I was powerless against it. It began to slowly devour my soul, slowly robbing me of my will. I became a monster, hunting any prey that was unfortunate enough to find its way into my lair."

The light made a long pause, like it was searching for what to say next. "But then, salvation. You came and freed me from that evil curse. I thought the age of spirits had ended forever, gone with no hope of return, but you, little one, gave me hope." The light began to shine brighter, expanding with every passing second. "Now, let me illuminate your path forward. Open the gate to the temple and restore what once was, what was taken away from your kind." Suddenly, the cave filled with a soft light extending outward from the core, chasing the darkness away from every corner, eradicating it from even the smallest crevices. The feeling when it hit Ori was cold but comfortable as it ran down his spine and up his tail, filling him with a new sense of purpose and dedication. He beheld the true beauty of hope illuminate right in front of his eyes. "I will leave you now… Don't let darkness befall you, little spirit." With that, the light faded away and left a bluish glowing stick with a bright flame at its end hovering mid-air. It hovered directly into his tender paws and only then did he realize what he was looking at. His eyes widened, it was the torch he was looking for all along.

Much unlike before, with the light spreading throughout the cave, it now seemed calm and peaceful. No dangerous monsters lurked around every corner, even the thorns at the bottom drew back from whence they came. Plants began to glow in a soft tone as they grew into lush, leafy versions of their former selves, illuminating the once cold and stony walls. Ori couldn't take his eyes off the magic unfolding in front of him, it was basically everything he had ever wanted from this cave. It was like every evil creature he'd ran past, every glimpse of the darkness that threatened his sanity, every deadly trap he had pushed through had simply faded away. As he marveled at the sights before him, he noticed a new path that hadn't been there before. It was a path consisting of pure light, leading all the way to where the gate was in an impossible fashion that was evidently the result of powerful magic. When he tested the surface with one of his hooves, it was as solid as stone. It even emitted a slight magical ring when he touched it, like his steps conducted a chorus of instruments.

The path took him all the way to the gate without incident, and he attached the torch to the left side. It began to glow brighter, casting a strange pattern on the marble surfaces. A bright light shot across from the other side of the room, the torch had summoned its counterpart, already slotted into place. Then, the great door opened in a majestic manner, welcoming the little spirit into its home. He didn't know what awaited him inside the temple, but he took a deep breath and passed through the gate, resolving to finally determine what lay at the heart of this infernal cavern.