I was panting like crazy, exhausted after running FIVE fucking miles. Damn you Tatsu, I'll get you back for this.

Apparently, Tatsu thought that it was funny to carry me off into the night and leave me there to run back. As I reached the river that passed through the grove, I stopped to take a drink. I cupped my hands together to draw some water and pour it into my mouth. As I looked around, I could see the tree close by. And by close, I mean a mile or so away. Eager to get my revenge, I continued my trek back towards where I knew Tatsu would be.

Oh I am going to get you back for this Tatsu. Mark my words. I will!

The past few weeks have been annoying to say the least. "Overexertion is a bitch." Truer words have never been spoken. I was bedridden for a week with a massive headache. My limbs felt like lead and my entire body was sore. Atsu and Tatsu came by regularly to eat or just talk with me. They were the reason I didn't go crazy.

The second week of my incapacitation was slowly walking around the cave. Their house was quite expansive. The cave stretched back way into the darkness, but they had a wooden divider in the form of a root with a door wedged underneath it. Tatsu told me that when she went to explore the depths, she wandered around for hours before she found her way back. She described it as suffocating, and that is an understatement.

Normally our light that emanates from our bodies can reach at least a few feet, it can help us traverse in tunnels, traverse dense forests, or find each other when we get separated. But back in this tunnel, it barely reached half a foot before dissipating to this Darkness.

I had asked Atsu if anyone had explored the cave in its entirety, he had quickly shut down that question with a warning," Kid, that darkness is not easily traversed by spirit-kind not even counting all the dangers that could lurk down there, but eventually the darkness will consume you completely and your light will be snuffed out. Effectively killing you. So please promise me that you won't try to explore the back without effective backup light sources."

Noticing how worried he was I quickly promised too never do so. He smiled back, and said, "But I could design a light source for you to use when you are better so you can go explore the caves, but You would need to be better trained in combat before I allow you to do so."

While I had wanted to explore the caves, the revelation that simple darkness could kill me was scary.

Week 3 was better than the last two weeks, my body was almost back to what it used to be before the incident. The majority of this week was spent with Sein up in the branches of the Spirit Tree. Something about their light healing the ruptures in the fabric of my soul. Apparently overexerting yourself with spirit light caused tiny tears in the various layers of your soul, one of the reasons to never do it again.

Sein's light had a sort of healing effect on souls, one of the reasons they have defended Nibel so well. Their light can either fix or tear open holes in someone's soul. This was one of the main reasons for creating the spirit race, while Sein could talk to the local lightless population, they could not react violently unless the entirety Nibel was threatened. The destruction of one's soul is a purely heartless thing to do if one's territory wasn't threatened, and to do so would incite the surrounding Spirit Trees to… take care of the rogue.

According to Sein, one of their kind hasn't been destroyed in a few hundred years and that was when the rogue had their emotions get the better of them when there was an uprising against the Spirits that descended from them by the native lightless.

They had decimated the uprising only leaving a single member of their species alive before they had gotten their emotions under control. By then, though, it was too late. The native lightless had their souls eviscerated beyond recognition… They were dealt with swiftly, and their territory had gotten surrendered to another until another could be created out of the will and nurture of the native spirit tree.

Sein and the Spirit Tree are connected closer that I could even imagine, it is like their souls, have fused but have stayed separated. One cannot exist without the other, and if one loses their connection then they both cannot regenerate energy. The mechanics of their bond is much like a laptop, if it is plugged in you don't need to worry about running out of power. And when it is disconnected from the power source then there is a limited supply of power remaining.

The Spirit tree acts as a conduit for spirit energy constantly keeping the flow of energy from becoming stagnant, Sein can piggyback off of that circuit of energy to direct towards the threats and continuous cleansing of Nibel of corruption.

The corruption Is something that Sein rarely touches upon, but when they do it is with great fear. The corruption exists outside of the reach of the Spirit Tree's cleansing light. It does exactly what it is named for, it corrupts anything that is alive and either turns it to stone or uses it to spread.

So far, all that Sein and the others around the globe that have found that repels the corruption is their light, but in some extreme cases it has been troublesome trying to eradicate the corruption from where it has been festering for a long while. Although the only reported case of this happening was when the rogue was eradicated, and their territory was left semi-lightless for many years.

Sein was very helpful in getting to know how much our world has changed over the millennium. They seem to really care about each and every inhabitant in their territory. From the smallest bacterium, to the Ginso tree that provides fresh water to the whole of Nibel. They ensure each and every one of these organisms are protected from the outside threat.

They had me start to use my light again after almost a week of basking in the warmth of their light. It was painful but not overly so. Like using a muscle that has been overworked the day before. Sein said that it was required to make sure that the light pathways from the soul to the body aren't stunted. It was a necessary step to make sure that I didn't lose the connection.

I stood on a ledge of the Spirit tree's trunk watching the clouds pass over the distant sea that stretches over the horizon. I was mesmerized by the ocean waves and how they lapped against the sandy beaches. A river running from the top of the Ginso tree flowing out and down into the forest below hydrating the land for the trees around it. The sun was three quarters of the way across the sky now. The trees below swished in the wind as the soft humming of spirit light vibrating with the currents of the wind.

"This has to be one of the best sights that I have ever seen."

"It is just beautiful isn't it?" Sien piped in from where the light was radiating from.

I turned to face the bright ball of light, "Yes it certainly is. It is a shame that many of my kind didn't get a chance to see it."

They dimmed ever so slightly at the mention of the humans, but brightened a few seconds later, "You'll just have to do it for them. Experience what they could not, and live for what they would have wanted."

"Yeah… Thank you Sein. Not just for fixing my over exhaustion, but for everything. I don't think that I can express enough gratitude for what you did for me."

"It was just an experiment, I didn't know if it was going to work.", I got the distinct feeling like they were blushing, "I don't think I could do that again, whatever let me past the veil before is not letting that happen again. I am sorry for not getting more human souls out of that place."

"No, don't be sorry! What you did was next to impossible." I smiled slightly, "I'm just glad you got me before that Thing got me."

I turned around to gaze upon the beautiful surroundings once more and we stood there in silence for a while before they said, "You should be ready to go back down to your friends. Atsu and Tatsu have really taken a liking to you."

"Yeah they are pretty cool."

"Just know that I will always be here to listen should you need it."

I just smiled at the motherly ball of light before running to the edge to begin my climb down.

Jumping from branch to glowing hole to another branch I gazed down to where a bunch of creatures were going about on their daily business and shook my head. Jeez, what has my life become.

As I trudged my way up the hill towards the opening of our home, my hooves dragging through the dirt and my eyelids drooping slightly. I smiled slightly, I had finally gotten back.

Suddenly, a loud bang occurred from within the house followed by a groan of annoyance. My heart pounding with the sudden fright, I rushed to the doorway.

"What the hell?" I said while looking at the destruction that had just occurred. It looked like something exploded in the center of the room. Scorch marks and stone flakes are everywhere. My eyes glanced around at the destruction one last time before landing on the culprit. "Are you ok Atsu?"

"Oh yes just peachy!" he replied while pulling out a sheet of parchment with a whole bunch of symbols on it. "That should have worked. Why…? Oh never mind I figured it out. Anyways, are you ok? You look exhausted."

"Well I should be fine with some rest."

"Awesome! I almost have that light that I promised you done, well once I build another one that is." He motioned towards the center of the room and smiled jokingly. "My last prototype was… lets just say indisposed."

I tiredly smiled back, my exhaustion from earlier coming back twice fold. "Well I'm going to go to bed"

"Oh, Ok! Goodnight."

"Goodnight"

A/N:

I have regained motivation to continue on with this story

Thank you for Inspiring me to write more and I promise not to abandon this fic

Any more reviews with advice for previous and new chapters in the future would be greatly appreciated