Author's Note: Since I have already done a lot with Ilo and his journey trying to restore Nibel alongside Fil, Ano, and Reem, this chapter goes back in time to tell how he became the Captain of the Spirit Guardians. The last scene is in the present.
"Ilo was the stoutest of all the spirits, the most powerful ever seen... Now here he rests, turned into an Ancestral Tree."—Sein
Ilo had curled up under the roots of a dark willow. His tail was swept in between his legs, his eyes gliding to the other fresh Spirits who were frolicking in the grass of Hollow Grove. It was a sunny day, one that should have made him happy.
"Ever gonna get out from under that tree, Ilo?" a young Spirit taunted as it passed by.
And so even though the sun shone and the breeze blew, Ilo was not happy by the slightest standards. He curled in tighter, looking out to the fields of Nibel that stretched far and wide.
I'm going to run through those fields someday, Ilo thought. I'm going to climb the mountains and swim through the rivers. Someday I'm going to have seen all of Nibel and I'll be the most respected of all Spirits. No one will laugh then, because I'll be able to jump just as high as the rest and fight as fiercely as the Spirit Guardians.
But even with these thoughts in his head, Ilo did not climb out from beneath the tree roots. If anything, he sunk deeper inwards so that only his glow lit up his beady eyes from underneath the shade of the small willow.
Ilo did not change much as his Light grew older and stronger. He delivered messages, helped tend to trees, and learned about the ways of Nibel. A few days before the Spirit Guardian test, Ilo strode alongside one of his friends.
"So," the Spirit next to him asked, "what job shall you have a mentor for?"
"Well…" Ilo trailed off. Announcing his ambitions was foolhardier than believing that they would come true. "I was thinking of becoming a Spirit Guardian. They earn lots of respect you know, and I think I can handle responsibility well—"
"You, a Spirit Guardian?" the other Spirit sneered. "Ilo, look at the state of your Light! You're barely even luminescent. Why would you ever choose to be a Spirit Guardian when you can spend all day by the Spirit Tree writing peacefully. Sounds like the type of thing you would enjoy."
"I don't really like reading or writing that much," Ilo muttered quietly, walking ahead a little way.
"What about a gatherer then?"
"That's boring. And I'm not good at jumping."
"Exactly. You're not good at anything physical. Just drop it, Ilo, apply for something reasonable. It would be disrespectful to burden a mentor with your lack of potential." The Spirit rolled her eyes.
"Who says I have no potential?" Ilo growled, turning round on his friend.
"Everyone who's ever met you," she said.
Ilo sniffed. "Just you wait! Someday Nibel will bow to me!"
The other Spirit started laughing. It wasn't even a nice laugh. It was a long, sickening laugh. One filled with sharp edges instead of jovial happiness.
Ilo turned and fled across the soft green fields. He tried to pay attention to the sound of the bellowing wind. The feel of the soft grass against his paws. The sight of the magnificent sunset that spread across the lands above.
It was useless though. Ilo collapsed where the Spirit Caverns met the soil of Hollow Grove. He breathed heavily, with tears, frustration, and exhaustion.
I don't care what she says, Ilo thought rebelliously. I'm going to apply anyway. And if I don't get in, I'll march up to Sorrow Pass myself and force the guardians to take me.
It was several days later when a host of Spirits gathered in front of the four leaders that guided Nibel: Captain of the Spirit Guardians, Tamashi; Head Transcriber, Chie; the Supervisor over the Gatherers, Kichi; and the Lead of the Engineers, Jukuren. The four sat below the Spirit Tree, looking out at the applicants.
Ilo sat huddled in a group of Spirits applying to be Spirit Guardians. If they passed, they would receive a mentor who would teach them the ways of protecting against the Decay. After three years of training, they would become full-fledged Spirit Guardians, a position that could never be removed until death.
But if they were rejected, they would be assigned to one of the other groups, most likely becoming Gatherers, as the selection of Engineers and Transcribers was as strict as the selection of Spirit Guardians.
The applications began with the Gatherers. Ilo watched, thoroughly bored, as Spirits slowly made their way through a course, not unlike the corridors of Spirit Caverns, to retrieve Life and Energy that they stored in bags.
Please, Ilo thought. Spirit Tree and all the Spirits Before and the Great Tree that Was and Is, please, don't have me doing this my whole life!
When the trial ended Kichi, a lean Spirit with a strong light, spoke to his assistant.
"All contenders have passed!" the assistant announced.
"Not much of a surprise," a Spirit near Ilo muttered.
Still, Ilo shook as the welcomed applicants sprinted over to a field that was designated to the Gatherers. Potential mentors engaged in conversations with them. One Spirit was given many pats on the back. Ilo guessed that one had been the highest scoring applicant, but he hadn't really been watching.
The Transcriber applicants went next. This test was exceedingly boring because the Transcribers were writing on paper for most of it. Some flipped through notebooks, but that certainly wasn't exciting enough to take Ilo's mind off his test.
Remember, you've got to be strong and swift, Ilo repeated to himself. You can't just spend all your energy at once, but you still need to use a good amount to excel, even if you're tired at the end.
The papers were collected from the Transcribers and brought to Chie. She looked over them and whispered something to her assistant.
The assistant began calling out the names of the Spirits who had passed. He ended with, "…and Veyl, our Head, Chie, would like a word with you." A Spirit dashed to the side of the Head Transcriber. Many Spirits rushed to the field that was reserved for the Transcribers, but that was only half the group. The other half slowly marched to a field in the back where they were left to consider their options.
Ilo became nauseous at the sight of the rejected Spirits. He could imagine himself taking that lonely walk to the back field.
The next test was for the Engineers. The applying Spirits, only a dozen, were given stone pieces, gears, crystals, and various other materials. This test was interesting to watch as beams of Light randomly glowed on and off, but confusing. And now that his test was next, he had no interest in Light shows.
The field the Spirits waited in before their tests was still surprisingly full. They're all waiting for the Spirit Guardians test, Ilo realized. He felt he couldn't stand anymore and sat down on the grass. If he wasn't mistaken, his very Light trembled.
The Engineer test finished. Only one applicant was received, and instead of running to a field, the Spirit ran directly to meet Jukuren.
"All those who are applying to be a Spirit Guardian, come forward!" Tamashi's assistant announced.
Ilo stepped forward along with maybe seventy other Spirits. Out of all these, Ilo thought, looking to all the bright lights, why would I ever be picked? Everyone was right. I shouldn't have ever applied for this. I could've had at least a sliver of a chance if I applied for Transcriber or even an Engineer. Now I'll just be a Gatherer forever.
"In this test," Tamashi's assistant explained. "You will travel through this course,"—he gestured to the complex the Gatherers had used earlier—"while running from the Decay and acquiring as many of these blue flags as possible." He held up a deep blue fabric that danced in the wind.
Ilo's entire body was riddled with tremors. His ears flattened against his head and his eyes widened. All the other Spirits' Lights were so strong. He didn't stand a chance.
"When I blow this horn, the test is over," the assistant said. "And when it is over, you should stop completely and not move a muscle. Ready…go!"
The mass of Spirits dashed forward into the course, Light trailing behind them. Ilo was one of the last to follow.
Ilo darted for an easy flag that lying on the floor, but another Spirit grabbed it first. So, Ilo looked to the higher chambers of the complex where there were a good number of flags, but he would have to climb.
Ilo summoned his strength and tried to scale the wall. Halfway up, he fell back onto the floor with a thud. He glanced further ahead where there were plenty of flags on the ground, but they were being snapped up by competition faster than he could run.
So Ilo tried again. His arms burned as he progressed up the wall, his Light straining inside. Finally, he rolled over onto a ledge and snatched a blue flag tethered between several plants. Ilo sighed in relief.
His relief didn't last though as a Hopper slammed him in the back. Ilo shouted as the creature bit his shoulder. His breathing quickened, and he forced himself to turn and kick the Hopper off.
His kick barely moved the fiendish creature, but it was enough to break its hold. Ilo dashed through the upper levels of the course. He grabbed as many flags as he could before another Hopper sprang from the lower level and crashed into him.
After climbing the wall and fighting off the earlier Hopper, Ilo's Light was very tired. Even so, through the trembling of his body that must look like he was having a seizure, he tackled the Hopper, pushing it to the ground then kicking it back to the lower levels.
Finally, Ilo thought, making for another group of flags. But before he reached them, the blast of a horn ricochetted throughout the course complex.
"Please make your way out of the applicant complex and line up before Captain Tamashi," the assistant projected. "Do not touch any more flags. If you do, you will be disqualified."
Ilo nearly crawled out of the complex, a sad five flags drooping in his paws. He looked to other bright Spirits who must have held as many as fifteen flags in their paws. These Spirits marched with their heads high.
At last, Ilo stood in a great crowd of Spirits, all silent as stone. Three who had tried to cheat by taking flags after time were escorted to the back field.
At least when I go there it won't be for cheating, Ilo thought pitifully.
Before them, seated on a large, smooth stone, was a Spirit with the brightest Light Ilo had ever seen. She was almost so bright you couldn't make out what she looked like. Even her brown eyes seemed to glow, illuminating the stone with yellow rays mixed with the blue of her Light.
Her assistant walked up to her. She whispered to him for a long time. There was a time during which the assistant muttered back to Tamashi. Finally, the assistant began to call names.
"Nir…" the list began. It went on for a while. Almost twenty names had been read when Ilo decided to sit down, even if in a minute he would wander to the back field. Despite his heavy heart, he joined in the clapping that was given to the accepted Spirits.
"…and Ilo!" the assistant announced as he reached the end of list.
Ilo stopped mid-clap. Had he heard that right? He looked around. Nearly every Spirit held more flags than him, had brighter Light than him, looked more imposing than him. Surely, he had heard wrong?
"All chosen Spirit Guardians, please head to the north field," the assistant said. "All others, please make your way to the back field where high-ranking Spirits will help you consider your options."
Ilo sat in the grass for a moment as Spirits began to file both ways. Which way was he supposed to go?
"Are you coming?" Tamashi's assistant asked, stepping over to Ilo.
"Am I supposed to?" Ilo asked. "I mean, did I really get in?"
"What Tamashi says goes," the assistant said with a shrug.
Ilo nodded, then grinned and stood up. Thank you, he thought, looking to the Spirit Tree. He joined the multitude of Spirits accepted into the Spirit Guardians.
Less than a week later, Ilo was given a message to meet his mentor in the Valley of the Wind. He strode to the spot with a spring in his step. Somehow, he had done something to place himself in the Spirit Guardians' ranks.
Maybe it was how I fought off the Hoppers, Ilo thought as he trooped through underbrush. I didn't see too many Spirits doing that.
A little way ahead of him, there was a small cave nestled between two old and rough trees. Ilo sprinted, tripping over a log and nicking his tail on a sharp stone. He picked himself up and threw himself into the little cave.
It's really light in here for being a cave, Ilo thought. He took a few steps forward, then saw the source of the glow.
Tamashi was sitting on a rock, beady eyes watching him. "That wasn't too slow. You're only five minutes late."
Ilo lost his wits for a second at the sight of Tamashi. The Spirit who had delivered the message had said his mentor would be waiting in the cave for him. But he recovered quickly, saying, "Is that a good time for my first day?"
"I'm afraid it's definitely less than average," Tamashi said, striding over to Ilo. "But you could have done worse. The first apprentice I ever had completely forgot the day she was supposed to meet me."
Ilo nodded.
"Today," Tamashi said, "we are going to learn how to focus on our light."
Isn't that what a Transcriber does? Ilo thought. However, he said, "Yes, ma'am."
"Sit and focus," Tamashi said, beginning to pace around Ilo. "Try to look inward on your Light. Tell me if you see anything. Oh, and at the end of the exercise, you will tell me exactly how strong your Light is as well."
Ilo hesitantly nodded and closed his eyes. He tried to "focus inward."
"Now," Tamashi said, "as Spirit Guardians we must be prepared to give everything up for Nibel. All the Four Callings are revered, but out of them we are the ones who give the most of ourselves. That is why we are so respected. Our honor does not, like some believe, come from our strength. It is because we push ourselves to the limit, and the final limit culminates in the moment we sacrifice our Light for Nibel. Do you understand this, Ilo?"
Ilo felt the tip of his tail prickle at Tamashi's speech. "Yes."
"Good. This does not mean the other jobs are not important." She sighed. "We make that mistake far too often. If it were not for the Transcribers we would lose connection with the Spirit Tree, for they alone can hear the occasional thoughts. If there were no Gatherers, we would starve. And if Engineers, little though they may be, did not exist, we would never advance. You know this as well?"
Ilo thought for a moment. Now, yes, he knew, but to be honest he had never thought of it that way before. "I'm afraid I hadn't ever thought about it that way before now."
"That is the way with many," Tamashi said. "Open your eyes, Ilo."
Ilo opened his eyes. Tamashi had sat back on her rock.
"Did you see anything?" she asked, gazing at the stoney ceiling.
"No," Ilo admitted.
"Do you know how strong your Light is?"
Ilo grimaced. He'd felt nothing except, well, his Light in the time she had been talking to him. "No."
"And that is the point," Tamashi said. "Most of our applicants can properly 'see' into their Light and nearly all of them can give me a description."
Ilo's heart sank. Had she brought him here just to be humiliated before he was rejected?
"I did not pick you for your talent, though," Tamashi said.
"Then why?" Ilo asked.
"Right before the test, you looked like the most terrified Spirit I'd ever seen."
Did she just pity me? Ilo thought, disappointed.
"But you entered the test anyway," Tamashi continued. "And after you had expended nearly all your strength climbing, a Hopper attacked you. You barely had anything left, but you did not give up or call for help. You fought with what little you had left. And when it was time to leave the complex and you were among the lowest scorers, you did not try to cheat. In fact, when you could have sulked as the names were called, you clapped instead."
"But…if I have no talent in fighting," Ilo asked, "why would any of that matter?"
"Because in the hands of a good mentor, physical strength, agility, power, and focus are all easy skills to master," Tamashi said. "But resilience, perseverance, and bravery cannot be taught by mere Spirits. We either are born with these or earn these through scars. I would much rather have an apprentice who knows these three things than one who can master the typical attributes of a Spirit Guardian."
Ilo nodded, feeling slightly better.
"Now," Tamashi said, "try to hit me with a blast of Light."
"Huh?" Ilo asked.
"You heard me," Tamashi said, standing up off her rock. "Hit me!"
Ilo stood up as well, very confused. He tried to focus and then let out Light. All it did those was fling him backwards into the wall. He sat up dazed.
"We have a lot of work to do," Tamashi observed as she offered a hand to help him up.
The wind blew harshly and a putrid stank flowed up from the bowels of Thornfelt Swamp. Ilo paced in front of a troop of Spirits who cowered inside of a small alcove in the swamp.
"What are we going to do?" one of the huddled Spirit Guardians asked.
"Wait until the scouts get back," Tamashi said. She was climbing a tree root to poke her head out of a hole in the wall.
"What if they don't?" another terrified Spirit asked.
Tamashi was quiet. Ilo knew that she would never take such questions lightly, or answer with confidence that everything would work out.
"Ilo?" she asked.
She's asking me again, Ilo thought, a bit uncomfortable. Ever since he had been made the second-in-command two months ago, Tamashi had been asking him for advice more than he would have liked. It wasn't that he didn't want to take charge; it was just that he didn't think he had the necessary skills.
"I think we should head back for some more Engineers and Guardians," Ilo said, stopping to look commanding in front of the group of Spirits. "But this time, we all go with the Engineers. And they don't try to block the water immediately. First, they should put up scanning devices."
Tamashi nodded her agreement.
"But that's only if the scouts don't return," Ilo added hastily.
The Spirits continued to hide inside the small, almost cave like, room. Eventually the pattering of feet echoed from above and two small Spirits leaped down into the midst of their friends.
"News?" Tamashi asked.
One of the Spirits sighed. "News, but you're not going to like it. The source of Decay creatures in the water seems to be coming from somewhere inside the Ginso Tree. Now, I think we can flush the creatures out by pulling the Water Vein and forcing the tree to empty itself of all water."
"We should have the Water Vein hidden anyway," Tamashi said.
"But once the Decay is out," the Spirit warned, "it'll all be out. These Snappers we've been spotting in the waters, they can't be the worst there is in there. There could be Mortar Worms, Spitters, maybe even a few Rammer Beetles. And, worst of all, lots of these things."
"Alright then," Tamashi said, jumping off the root. "All of us should march to the Ginso Tree. We'll pull the Water Vein and fight whatever comes out."
The Spirits muttered their agreements. They began to file out of the alcove. Ilo went last, checking the alcove one more time, then hurried after Tamashi and the other Spirit Guardians.
The group stopped before the Ginso Tree. A Spirit went forward and put his shaking paws on the Water Vein, then pulled it out of the socket that was carved into the tree. As soon as it had been drawn, water began to pour in rivers out of the mouth as the Ginso Tree began to empty itself.
And with the water came every Decay manifestation that the scout had anticipated., though mostly Rammer Beetles, their massive, scaled bodies charging at any Spirits nearby.
It was amazing just how fast the first Spirit died. A Rammer Beetle charged, hit the Spirit, and then a second beetle charged, and the Spirit was gone. Spirits dashed and attacked everyway, but a minute later only a few beetles had gone down.
Ilo fought among the best of them. Many years of training had elevated him to the brightest in the Spirit Guardians and to the position of Second-in-Command. He soared into the air, then smashed back down with tremendous force, completely dispatching a beetle.
The fight was long. Ilo felt several Lights flicker out around him.
Tamashi's Light had always been very strong. He could feel her moving around the battlefield, taking out Rammer Beetles, annihilating two Spitters in one single slam. She cut through the air like an arrow and shone above the battle like a miniature sun.
Until that sun went out.
It happened in a moment. Less than a moment. Ilo turned around as he had felt Tamashi's Light jerk. A Rammer Beetle had slammed her against the Ginso Tree. Her Light, so strong, so solid, vanished as she burst into a shower of blue sparks.
"No!" Ilo cried.
No one else knew why he was yelling at first. But then the group realized that their sun had stopped shining.
What some of these Spirits did next, Ilo hated them for. As he ran at the beetles with every ounce of strength Tamashi had trained into him, several Spirits split off and fled.
This rage gave Ilo extra anger to harness as he silenced the rest of the Decay amongst his loyal Spirit Guardians. But in such a fray of anger and combat, he did not have time to wipe away his tears.
Spirits from all corners of Nibel gathered beneath the boughs of the Spirit Tree, silent and solemn faced. The sky, though cloudless, had faded from blue to grey. The wind blew harshly against the Spirits' fur, not flowery in scent as usual, but bland and stale.
Sitting in the same positions as they had on that fateful day Ilo had been chosen as Tamashi's disciple were the other three leaders of the Spirits. Chie sat with scrolls before her feet. Two assistants now stood at Kichi's side. Jukuren stared blankly at the ground with hollow eyes.
Ilo had tried to bury himself in the crowd, hanging back not in fear this time, but sorrow. Yet his bright Light gave him away as Spirits stepped back to give him space. Space wouldn't help, though. What material act or possession could help the aching in one's Light?
For Ilo there would be no solace for a very long time.
A call like that of a bird sounded and the sea of Spirits parted before Ilo, making a path to the three leaders.
Chie looked up, holding a scroll between her paws. "Tamashi made it clear in her Testimony of Last Wishes that she wanted you, Ilo, to be the next Captain of the Spirit Guardians.
"This means taking on the responsibility that guides our protection, guarding the Spirit Tree with the lives of yourself and your loved ones, and upholding the laws established by the Spirit Tree."
"Yes," Ilo said with a nod. "I can do these with the help of the Spirit Tree's Light."
"Good," Chie said, putting the scroll down. "Then here I, Chie, record this event with the confidence of Kichi and Jukuren. By the last Captain, Tamashi's, wish and by the will of the Sprit Tree, I name you the next Captain of the Spirit Guardians."
She bowed with the other two leaders. "All welcome Ilo, Captain of the Spirit Guardians, successor to Tamashi, our newest strength and protector!"
Ilo marched through the lines of Spirits to the vacant place where Tamashi had first looked over him and his generation with her insightful eyes. He prayed, hoped, that he would be a leader as great as she was.
Later, as the sun started to set and the Spirits to disperse, Chie strode up to Ilo.
"Tamashi's Ancestral Tree is fully grown now," she said. "Most successors decide to take up the previous captain's Light and it is well within your right to do so."
"Yes, I am aware of the tradition…" Ilo looked over the forests to the Ginso Tree that sprouted out of Thornfelt Swamp.
"I need to know if you wish to take her Light," Chie explained. "The Restoration of Lights will be here soon, and if you do not wish to take up her Light it will be given to another Spirit instead."
"I…" Ilo trailed off, thinking of what taking Tamashi's Light would mean. Once he took her power, he'd no doubt be the most powerful Spirit in Nibel. But this wasn't what made him hesitate. It was the fact that those who took up another's Light received a message from the deceased Spirits.
"I will," Ilo decided. "In fact, I'll go tonight."
"Very well," Chie said. "The guards will let you through."
And so Ilo headed off to trek through the fields of Hollow Grove flecked with the last rays of sunset. He passed through the silent corridors of the Spider Nest, and none of the creatures asked him about permission when he passed through the main room, perhaps because they saw his ears folded back on his head and eyes set determinedly ahead.
Under the starlight, Ilo saw the blueish glow that marked Tamashi's resting place. It was surrounded by five bright Spirits.
"Halt! Who are you?" one of the Spirits asked. "Wait…Ilo!"
All the Spirits quickly bowed before him.
"We're glad to see you," another Spirit said. "Sorry we couldn't be at the ceremony. I assume you're here for Tamashi's Light."
"Yes," Ilo replied, stepping in-between two of the guards. He strode forward and rested his hand on the solid bark of the tree. It shone with a brilliant Light, warping the night to day just like Tamashi herself had.
Ilo accessed the Light inside the Ancestral Tree and time stopped. He was suddenly suspended in a void where the only Light came from his own.
But then, from above, a rift ripped open in the darkness. Beyond it shone a peach-hued sky with fringes of blue. Out from this rift a familiar Spirit descended, her Light reaching all the way down to Ilo who seemed dozens of feet below her.
"Ilo," Tamashi said. "I wondered if you might take up my Light."
Ilo couldn't speak; he didn't trust himself too. He simply smiled and gave a confident nod.
"Well then," Tamashi said, "heed my words, Ilo. Of all the lessons I have taught the one I want to remind you of is bravery. Bravery, Ilo, is not as many define it. Those naïve Spirits call it having no fear. But what is there to admire in someone just because they don't feel something?
"No. Bravery is experiencing dreadful fear and pressing through anyway. It is stepping into a course knowing you will fail, taking up the position of captain even if you are afraid to let me down, and attempting to revive Nibel even though all the odds may be against you.
"In my time as the Spirit you knew, Tamashi, Captain of the Spirit Guardians and your dear mentor and friend, my Light was the strongest. But what made my Light strong was not training. It was fulfilling my duty and taking it upon myself to brave."
Ilo felt tears form at the corners of his eyes. He did not wipe them away.
"You are brave, Ilo," Tamashi said with a smile. "Continue being brave, and you may have made a name for yourself when we speak again."
Tamashi's Light brightened until her core burned Ilo's eyes like the sun. The blue mass of Light came out of her and journeyed down to Ilo. He burned when it hit him, shining radiantly against his white fur.
He looked up to Tamashi one last time. She no longer radiated the blue Light of the Spirits, but a wisp-like white light, and she herself reflected like a pearl. She soared back up into the rift and a bright Light flashed.
The next thing Ilo knew, he was on the ground surrounded by the five guards. Tamashi's tree glowed bright behind him.
"Woah," one of the Spirits muttered.
Ilo looked down at himself. He was magnificently bright now. Brighter even, then his mentor had been. So bright, he could harbor the Light deep inside of him as to not blind those around him.
Tamashi had been powerful. But now, Ilo was even more than she had ever been.
Years later, Ilo trekked back through Thornfelt Swamp. The Ginso Tree was closed and his own disciple was surely dead inside. Tamashi's Ancestral Tree had long burst to let out the last Light she possessed unto Nibel.
The swamp was crawling with Decay and the waters were purple and black; Ilo hadn't drunk water for days now. He only dared to sit underneath a leaf and hope dew would drop onto his dry tongue.
He over looked a glade that once had been clean. He climbed upwards, vaguely remembering the way.
At last, he came to a small alcove that had been the Spirits' safehold in the distant past, the other time the Ginso tree had stopped pouring out waters. He stepped over the threshold. He recalled all the Spirits that had huddled between the rocks on that day long ago when Tamashi had died. He could almost trace his pacing footsteps. He looked up to see the root Tamashi had hung onto now rotted and dry.
Ilo sat down next to a wall and looked up out of a large hole that caved in since his last visit. Well, Tamashi, I have done as you have said. At least, I hope that I have. I hope I've been brave like you wanted. He had led the last Spirits to try and restore Nibel. Fil had died on a mission. Ano had died to save Ilo and Reem. Ilo had taken up Reem as an apprentice, but Reem, too, died trying to restore the Element of Waters.
Now, there was no one left to help. Ilo had done everything he had been trained for and more.
The beating of massive wings sounded in the distance. Ilo's breath caught, remembering the fierce, burning, white eyes of the owl that had attacked the Spirits. There would be no escaping it as a lone Spirit. But even if Ilo could have fought it off, there wouldn't be any escape from the rest of the Decay, starvation, and the perils that had slowly grown in Nibel since the Spirit Tree's fall.
Out of the skylight swooped a beast of feathers and claw. Ilo's eyes widened as its talons gripped him by the chest. But this was only surprise, not fear. For once, Ilo decided not be "brave." Reem and Tamashi were both waiting for him.
His Light burst peacefully. And not long after the owl swooped away, a flower with luminescence bright as Sein's burst forth from the earth.
"Heed my words, Ori. Or I should say the words my mentor, Tamashi, said long ago. I can say nothing new or more important than she said to me at the Ginso Tree's base. Bravery, resilience, perseverance. These are the skills that will truly guide you as they did me. In my time as the Spirit Ilo, I valued the protection of Nibel above all else. Do the same. Be brave, dear Ori, and restore Nibel!"