Author's Note: I started with Fil because he lived through Kuro's attack and because he was the first Ancestral Tree that Ori takes a skill from. The majority of this chapter happens before the attack, which I think would have been odd to start the story with. So, even though it is first chronologically, I have placed it second.
"Tatsu used to climb the mountains high atop Sorrow Pass… When her brother's torch faded, she fell to the mists, where she lost her path"—Sein
Looking out onto the Valley of the Wind from so high up was exhilarating. The pace of her heartbeat while looking down plunged her mind into fantasies of heroism. Tatsu wanted to leap, to fall past the Misty Woods and the Valley of the Winds down to the cold glades that laid below, then climb all the way back up just to do it again.
Tatsu turned back to the blustery Sorrow Pass.
But today happened to be the first day of Tatsu's apprenticeship. No more climbing for sheer joy; those days were behind. At least she had her own brother as her mentor. Atsu stood beside her, holding a blue, flaming torch that kept the creeping fog from the Misty Woods at bay.
"Today, we will be training against a batch of Hoppers that were caught while on patrols," he explained. "Captain Ilo will be there to oversee all the new apprentices training. Although, it is not as much 'training' as it is an assessment of skills."
Tatsu nodded excitedly. "I bet I'll take on the Hoppers the fastest. How many Hoppers can you take on at once?"
"I don't know," Atsu admitted. "And I hope I never find out my limit. Now hurry, or we will be late." Atsu bounded up stone walls, occasionally losing his grip or hitting himself in the back with his thick tail.
Tatsu giggled. She trekked after him, yet with much more ease. Climbing up walls was no difficultly for her. She could just run up them, after all.
Sorrow Pass was like a maze. Tunnels of dust and stone came one after another. Wooden bridges connected some caverns too far to jump through. Little green plants grew within the cool air and water of the caverns.
Tatsu leaped up and landed on a final ledge of warm ground.
Atsu tumbled behind her. "We're here…Sorry about the delay."
Spirits gathered in pairs of student and mentor, surrounding a clearing. An array of frog-like creatures gurgled and bounced inside a wooden cage on a ledge leaning over the spirits.
"Good," a stout, bright Spirit said at the back of the circle. He stood up straight, his chin raised. The Spirits revered Ilo, captain of the Spirit Guardians. It was he who had led a single patrol to defeat an army of one hundred Decay manifestations and the patrol had only suffered a single casualty.
Tatsu quivered excitedly. She grinned at Atsu, who was now sitting up and trying to look refined, most likely to make up for his embarrassing entrance. He returned the smile with one of signature, kindly warmth.
"Let us begin," Ilo announced. He was settled on a rock high above the rest, cage next to him. A Spirit who was perched on the ledge released the cage latch and let a single Hopper bounce out into the clearing encircled by the spirits.
One fearful apprentice faced the Hopper. He did not manage to fight it off, and returned to his mentor. More came…and they all failed as well. Another Spirit stepped forward. He succeeded and returned to his mentor, named Nir, who congratulated him profusely. More came, but no more succeeded until a Spirit called Leru managed to slay a Hopper. The semi-circle applauded her.
It didn't feel like a long time until it was Tatsu's turn to face the Hopper.
She had been burning with excitement before, but now nerves clamped her every joint. Atsu nodded encouragingly beside her. She stepped forward tentatively, but when she reached the center of the circle, she grounded her paws and scrunched up her face into what she assumed was an intimidating glare.
Captain Ilo nodded and waved his tail, signaling the Hopper to be released.
It was upon Tatsu in mere moments. She kicked at it, sending it toppling until it crashed into the stone wall. It came at her again, but she was prepared and dodged. She swung her tail, which missed, but landed another blow onto the Hopper's back. This, however, made way for it to spring up and ram her in the stomach. Tatsu thudded against the stone, but recovered in seconds.
The other apprentices' tests had seemed brief to Tatsu. Hers felt like an eternity.
Tatsu landed serval good blows on the Hopper, but apparently her legs were less powerful than she assumed. The Hopper sprung at her again. She groaned as her fur met stone for the tenth time.
"Tatsu!" Atsu shouted. "Do you need to—"
"No!" Tatsu cut off Atsu, jumping up, her head swimming. "I'm fine." But as she stepped forward, she swayed, her vision dancing.
The Hopper crouched down, its eyes vicious and hungry. Tatsu curled her limbs together, hoping to lessen the impact of the upcoming attack. The Hopper bolted upwards into the air. Tatsu couldn't help shuddering.
Another Spirit darted in front of her and kicked the Hopper down to earth. The creature went limp as it impacted with the ground. The Spirit did a flip then landed paw first on the stone.
Tatsu was too tired to be angry at the interrupter. Her legs and arms buckled beneath her. She closed her eyes and hung her head. The Spirit who had kicked the Hopper picked her up and carried her away from the applauding crowd.
Soon Tatsu felt cold winds and soft sand underneath her. She opened her eyes to see plants and the group of Spirits only a few yards away. Vines crawled down from the stones above onto Tatsu's nose.
"Next up…" Tatsu could hear Captain Ilo's faint voice.
"Tatsu?" Atsu sat beside her, worry in his words. "Tatsu? Are you alright?"
Tatsu shook her head, but grinned up at her brother. "You took on that Hopper well."
"Yes, I did… You, however, will need some personal training sessions."
"Taught by who?" Tatsu said. She gazed up at the stone ceiling of Sorrow Pass, and then back to Atsu.
"Me, of course," Atsu answered, batting Tatsu's ear with his furry paw.
"Then I know it'll be fun at least," Tatsu said with a sigh.
Atsu smiled. "Don't worry, Tatsu. I will be your mentor until you're ready to protect yourself. No matter what."
"After that?" Tatsu asked, sitting up.
"Well," Atsu said, staring at the winds that bellowed through the caverns. "Then we'll see where the wind takes me."
Tatsu did not slack off on Atsu's training instructions. Every day in the early morning, the afternoon, and at dusk as the sunlit forest faded to a navy blue, Tatsu strained her muscles training. For two whole years, Tatsu kept this routine under Atsu's watchful gaze.
Tatsu leaped out of the way as a Hopper charged her. She fell to the ground, rolled, dodging another Hopper, then kicked the first. "Gotta be faster than that," she taunted. She swept her tail under the two encroaching Hoppers, knocking them to the floor.
"Good job," Atsu encouraged. He laid on a ledge next to a cage emptied of its Hoppers. She had taken out all of the twelve set upon her except the last two she currently fought.
"Thanks," Tatsu said, dodging one of the Hoppers. "But I'm not as good as you."
"Only nearly," Atsu replied with a smile. The winds of Sorrow Pass howled through the cave and made Atsu's fur wave, especially the tufts on his head.
"Hey! Grass head, watch this!" Tatsu called. She dodged the other Hopper, then climbed all the way up the wall until she was hanging upside down on the ceiling. Then she curled up into a ball and let go. She fell onto the Hoppers, which went limp when she crashed upon them.
"Very nice." Atsu frowned. "But I don't think 'grass head' is a very respectable name for your mentor."
Tatsu laughed and scampered up to Atsu's ledge. She threw her arms around him in a hug. Atsu patted her back.
"You've improved a lot."
"Thanks." Tatsu relented her hug and sat down.
"I think now it may be time for you to join the Spirit Guardians." Atsu sat up straighter, lifting his head.
"You don't need to be so formal." Tatsu smiled. "We're brother and sister."
Atsu nodded. "Yes, we are indeed."
"To me, Atsu, you will always be my brother first, and my mentor second."
"I won't be your mentor much longer," Atsu pointed out. "We'll both be Spirit Guardians soon."
"Working side-by-side," Tatsu said. "It'll be—"
"Atsu?" A Spirit had just entered the training cave. "You sent word that Tatsu is done with her training?"
Tatsu looked to her brother quizzically.
"Today was indeed our last session," Atsu addressed the Spirit. He turned back to Tatsu. "I sent word to Captain Ilo yesterday."
It's nice to have someone who trusts my skills so much, Tatsu thought.
"Good," the Spirit at the opening of the cave said. He climbed up to the ledge where they were sitting. The Spirit was panting like he had run a marathon. It was a long way from Hollow Grove to Sorrow Pass.
"Is there a problem?" Atsu asked.
"No," the Spirit said. "You've done lots of work by the Misty Woods, and you are the opportune choice for this job. At least that's what Captain Ilo said, or more what my mentor said he said and told me to relay to you."
"I haven't done too much," Atsu said, curling in slightly. "I've never been inside the woods, actually."
"The transcriber records say you've done twelve patrols along the border," the Spirit said. "Sorry. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Ano. You wouldn't know me. I'm not even two months old yet. I was just sent as a messenger."
"Well, hello, and welcome to Nibel, Ano," Atsu said with a smile that hardened soon after. "What is this 'job' you're talking about?"
"A Spirit Guardian who's staying with the Gumon, Leru," Ano said. "She's just sent word that the Gumon are willing to let us hide their seal. Captain Ilo said that he wanted you to hide it within the Misty Woods."
"What?" Atsu asked, jumping up in surprise..
Atsu was no doubt surprised at the dangerous mission. Tatsu was surprised the Gumon had finally agreed to hide the Gumon Seal, key to the Element of Wind. The Water Vein was hidden in the Moon Grotto, and the Sunstone was hidden above them in Sorrow Pass. The Gumon had been arguing over hiding the seal for years.
"I know it probably sounds crazy, but captain Ilo says that the Water Vein and the Sunstone are too obviously hidden. He figures if the Gumon Seal is hidden well, then we Spirits shouldn't have to relocate the others. And you crafted the torch that repels the mists," Ano explained succinctly. "Now that your student has finished her training, will you do it? We can leave immediately, if you want."
"I…" Atsu looked to Tatsu.
Tatsu nodded energetically. "Promise you'll observe everything so you can tell me what the inside of the Misty Woods looks like!"
"I will," Atsu replied to both Ano and Tatsu's requests.
Ano nodded, leaped off the ledge, and hurried to the entrance.
"See you soon," Atsu whispered, giving Tatsu a tight hug.
"Pick a good hiding place," Tatsu giggled.
"I will." Atsu released the hug and followed Ano out of the cave entrance.
Tatsu sat down on the floor. Atsu hiding the Gumon Seal? Now they would be working side by side after Atsu came back, and he would be famous. Tatsu grinned. Would there be anything she'd ever enjoy more than working with her brother?
A week later, Tatsu stood in a line of Spirits, all heads turned to Captain Ilo. This would be Tatsu's first day as a Spirit Guardian.
"It is important to patrol all areas of Sorrow Pass at once," Captain Ilo said, "so no enemies will pass our borders. But working alone, Decay can easily take a Spirit. That is why we must learn to send up our Light as a flare. I know some of you have received this instruction before, but because of the newest to our number, I will explain it."
Tatsu listened intently. This was her first day on the job and she was not going to mess up.
"The first step is to focus on your Light," Ilo explained. "This is not too hard as we can sense our light the strongest, followed by siblings who have fallen from the same branch."
Like Atsu and I, Tatsu thought.
"The second step is to push your Light up to the sky. Everyone, try it now. It may be easier to focus if you close your eyes."
Tatsu closed her eyes tight. She concentrated on the Light inside of her. It was like a little flame burning not in her body, but in her soul. She grasped it and forced it up and out of her.
Tatsu opened her eyes to see a great beam of Light flowing out of her. Several Spirits around her conjured beams too.
"To stop the flare," Ilo said. "Simply grasp your Light and reclaim it."
Tatsu reached out to the Light she had sent out and did as Ilo said. She took the Light and sent it back inside her.
"I see some of you did not manage to send a flare out," Ilo addressed. Three of the Spirits had indeed not been able to send their Light up. "We'll help you."
The Spirits helped the three that had not been able to send their Light up. In less than a few minutes, with the joined help of all of them, the three Spirits had sent their own flares.
"Wonderful," Ilo said. "When you spot Decay, send your flare up and keep it until the matter is dealt with. Those of you already assigned routine routes may start. I will assign other routes to those who remain."
Twenty of the Spirits started off on their paths.
"Tatsu," Ilo said.
"Y-yes." Tatsu felt like she was glowing. She was receiving instructions from the captain of the Spirit Guardians.
"Atsu has often mentioned your excellent climbing abilities. You should take the top of Sorrow Pass."
"Yes, sir!" Tatsu nodded to the other Spirits and ricocheted up the walls. She had never climbed so fast before. The cliff face whizzed by underneath her as she ascended the walls. When she reached the very last level of the caverns, she turned down the tunnel to her right.
Even at midday her energy was still flowing. She paused to rest a moment beside a wall. She slumped down, breathing heavily. She felt a sense of peace. This was where she was meant to be. A Spirit Guardian, defending Nibel to the last—
"Ack!" Tatsu cried. Her Light, it was hurting. She felt as if someone had poured water on the flame. Her Light was shrinking. But when she closed her eyes and focused, all the Light that had been there before still lingered.
For the entire day the feeling persisted. As if she had lost part of her Light, yet she knew her Light was full. What was wrong with her?
Tatsu threw scrolls aside that she had retrieved from Hollow Grove, sifting through the documents the transcribers had written about Light discrepancies. Most of them had been about the way Ancestral Trees grew out of the Light of particularly powerful Spirits. There were some that dealt with rogue Spirits whose Light had weakened since abandoning the Spirit Tree. None yet had mentioned pain, or a feeling of absence within a Spirit's Light. Tatsu sighed. She had been digging through the documents in her training cave for at least two hours. Apparently, the transcribers had a lot of time on their hands and loved to write papers on the same subjects.
Tatsu turned over another scroll. A paragraph suddenly stood out to her:
In the case of Spirits that have fallen from the same branch, a rare incident, there seems to be a connection between the siblings. If one Light is bolstered by the blessing of an Ancestral Tree, the other sibling's Light will also respond, if in a minor way. There have been several recorded incidents of this…
The scholar, Fil, continued with boring evidence and research. Research was important, but Tatsu would rather get to the knowledge the research produced.
…Likewise of these records, when one of a pair died, the other sibling's Light "ached" and felt as if their own Light disappeared as well…
The scroll thudded onto the floor, metal against stone echoing in the dark training cave. It rolled to the wall, and there it remained as Tatsu sat petrified, unable to speak, unable to move.
Atsu… He… Tatsu tried to pull herself together. He couldn't have! He's the bravest, strongest, best Spirit ever! The Decay wouldn't, couldn't, have killed him.
But the symptoms in the scroll had described exactly how Tatsu had felt earlier. So that meant… Tears spilled from Tatsu's eyes and off her nose.
Scrolls spilled over the stones as she bounded out the entrance. The winds of Sorrow Pass bellowed outside, ruffling her fur. She fell far, barely noticing her surroundings. She only noticed when the Misty Woods stretched out before her, and the Valley of the Wind stood behind her.
The Misty Woods was oddly not as foggy as Tatsu had been warned. She tentatively stepped inside. She had no idea what she was doing. Just that Atsu had gone in here and he hadn't come out yet. And was probably…
Tatsu kept back her well of tears. The strange darkness was accompanied by glowing plants. Gurgles and growls sounded in the shadows as Tatsu climbed and leapt. She cut herself on spikey plants several times.
All thoughts of Nibel and the Spirit Guardians had been lost by the time Tatsu crawled up a tree and laid on her back, panting. She looked to her left, and saw what looked like a curving tree without branches or leaves. A torch lit the lantern, the Shrouded Lantern that could prevent the mists… Atsu's torch. And beside this a small flower grew. A flower that connected strongly with Tatsu's Light.
"Atsu!" Tatsu cried running over to the flower. "Impossible…" Tatsu's sobbing screams echoed through the forest.
This mission was unachievable to begin with, Tatsu thought. How could the Spirits have handed Atsu such a task? Did they not care if he died?
Tatsu looked to the burning torch and to the flower. I'm never going back, she thought bitterly. They can't treat me and my brother this way! The Gumon Seal sat on a pedestal under the Shrouded Lantern.
I don't even care if it was for a good reason! I'm never going back without Atsu. We're siblings. And now that he's gone, I will stay here all my life.
Tatsu crawled, tear-stained, to Atsu's small beginnings of an Ancestral Tree. She placed her paw to it and sucked in the Light from it. The flower disappeared, but the Light rested within Tatsu. She could feel how similar it was to hers, but not quite the same. She could recognize Atsu's Light so easily.
Tatsu turned around and faced the lantern. She was never going back, and intended no one to find her.
Tatsu gripped the torch, Atsu's Torch that he had made with his own dear Light, and pulled it out of the Shrouded Lantern. Mist swirled around Tatsu, dancing just out of her reach as she lowered the torch. The torch faded in her grip and she let it fall to the floor and roll away.
Fog quickly bathed the woods, but Tatsu decided she liked it that way. No one could see her; no Light of the Spirit Tree could find her. She was left only with Atsu's Light and her own.
Tatsu didn't know how long she had lived in the Misty Woods. It could have been only a month, but more likely a few years. At times, she would set out to find life and energy to restore her and Atsu's Light. A couple hours or a whole week might pass before she returned to the cracked tree that was her hiding place. The forest changed, constantly rearranging in new ways. Even after an innumerable amount of time living here, she could not easily navigate the patterns in the forest's many corridors.
Tatsu zipped up a wall of glowing mushrooms, spun around to meet another wall, then bounced back again. She ran to a life plant. She absorbed it and felt herself immediately rejuvenated. Another path stretched before her, lined with trees and glowing plants, yet dark and secret as all the paths in the forest.
Something creaked behind Tatsu and a Hopper jumped out at her. She thrust herself into it, and it fell limp. Tatsu had decided the Misty Woods weren't as free of Decay as the Spirits had previously thought. The Decay did live in here, but it would never get out. Luckily, she had Atsu's bit of Light to strengthen her.
She had still left the Gumon Seal on the Shrouded Lantern's pedestal. She didn't care if the Decay took it. That was Nibel's problem. Atsu had died for it, so it was no longer up to him, and Tatsu would stay in the Misty Woods forever.
Tatsu turned around and leaped down the new path. The trees bent over her like an arch. There must have been more glowing plants than she saw, because the woods lightened the more she traveled down the pathway.
The trees stopped appearing and…Tatsu couldn't believe it. The Valley of the Wind was before her, Sorrow Pass above.
She was about to turn and leave when she saw Lights floating in the sky. Like the flares she had been taught to send many years ago on her first and last day as a Spirit Guardian. It doesn't have to be the last, a little thought inside her said.
Suddenly, several of the Lights disappeared. Groups kept disappearing until the sky was blank with only Sein lighting up the sky. Had the celebration ended? But then Sein's Light disappeared. The wind stopped flowing a few seconds later as Tatsu stood staring at the spot where the Light of her kin had been.
Were they all…dead? Surely, they had just put out their Lights. Maybe the Spirit Tree had died and they were trying to save it. Tatsu looked down to the waters below that led to Forlorn Spires. The wind had stopped, and the waters would stop in several days. No one knew what would happen if Mount Horu was not working properly.
Tatsu gazed to the Valley of the Wind. Perhaps the Spirits needed her. She had survived the deadly Misty Woods so far, so what trouble could water and wind be? I can go back, she thought. I can save Nibel from death.
Why? another voice, resentful, argued within her. Why should I go back when Nibel sent my brother to his grave? Now the Spirit Tree will suffer the same fate. He will watch his children die and then die himself. Isn't that what I want? I want Nibel to suffer!
But Atsu's mission was important for a reason, the other voice returned. How could I think like that?
Tatsu stood there, thoughts tangled, as she wavered between wanting the Spirit Tree dead and wanting to save its life. The Misty Woods provided its own life and energy. Why should she help? Surely other Spirits were working on the problem.
And if not…for the better. I will never go back; even if I seal Nibel's fate, I will not return. The Spirits lost me the day they sent my brother to accomplish an impossible task.
Tatsu turned and ran back into the Misty Woods without even a glance at the Valley of the Wind. The Misty Woods were her home now.
Tatsu wasn't sure what had changed her after she saw the dying Lights, but her Light weakened. She used enormous amounts of strength to climb now. No amount of life or energy she found helped. It was as if a portion of her Light had been taken.
A quote from a scroll she had read years back floated to her mind:
"…was this; that Spirits who work against the Spirit Tree's Light harm their own Light. They have faith that their own Light will be enough, but that Light comes from the Spirt Tree's Light and is inseparable. These Spirits are harming themselves."
So, if she was remembering correctly, she was attacking her own Light. Tatsu decided she didn't care even if it was true. At least she was still with Atsu.
She crawled into a cave, wobbling. Inside, she found herself surrounded by various creatures of the Decay. They turned to her.
The only thing that kept Tatsu from running was her own stubbornness. She readied herself for attack, and it came. The various dart-like quills, kicking legs, and slams into Tatsu's body came faster than her reflexes.
Soon the Decay left, and Tatsu remained as a small, regretful flower growing into an Ancestral Tree.
"Heed my words, Ori. Remember that Nibel's Light is the goal and even death is worth protecting it. In my time as the Spirit Tatsu, I was gifted in many ways: climbing, fighting, sending up my Light as a flare... But I let the extinguishing of the single flame of my brother distract me from the bonfire that was endangered—Nibel. Do what blindly I refused to do; restore Nibel and fight even to the death."