Ori and the Outlander

Chapter 3: Spirit Caverns

"Remind me again, why am I carrying you?" "Because it's fun!" "Fun for you but not for me." "Oh, come on! I am not that heavy! And besides, you are taller than me! You can handle it!"

Ori and Aaron are busy arguing with each other while he is carrying her on his shoulders while Sein follows close behind, amused by their small bicker.

"It doesn't mean that I should be carrying you all the time, you were literally doing gymnastics in the caverns back there!", he said referring to how Ori did front flips and backflips when she jumped onto those logs. "Sein! You agree with me, right?"

"Well... it is true of what you said about Ori."

"Thank you."

"But Ori still has a point."

"Hey! I thought you are on my side!"

"Thank you, Sein!"

"You are so spoiled Ori..." Aaron grumbles while Ori just giggles and happily watches the world go by on his back.

Aaron deduced earlier that Ori seems to be as young as a child. Makes sense considering how young she sounds; how mischievous she is when she knocked him over in the caverns and the fact that he is currently giving her a piggyback ride as he traverses through the forest. How old is she by human standards?

Sometime later, they all come across a small wooden bridge with a door with a missing block on it. This door is exactly like the door from that mystic cave Aaron was in.

"Hey look! I remember seeing this door before, they needed a key of sorts to unlock them."

"You are right Aaron. Those are spirit gates. They were built for protection before the days of decay. This gate leads us to the spirit tree through the spirit caverns, we must find the keystone!" Sein exclaims.

"Do you know where the keystone could be?" Ori asks.

"The keystone should be nearby, we look for it!" Sein said.

Backtracking, Aaron came across a small tunnel, hidden by a boulder.

'Maybe the key is in here?' he thought, as he pulls the boulder out of the way to look inside. He then sees the keystone by the end of the tunnel, but it is too narrow for him to get in. Perhaps Ori can get it?

"Yo, Ori! Get over here! I found the keystone, but I need your help!"

"...Yo...? What kind of language is that?" Sein asked, "Sounds weird too." Ori adds in. "Oh... sorry, I should have figured that you guys might not be familiar with slang. It's our way of saying hey." Aaron explains.

"That's... an unusual way to greet someone..." Sein responded.

"I... *sigh* look, let's just forget this and get the key ok?". Ori then went into the tunnel and climbed back out with the key in hand. They all then went back to the door, inserted the key as the gate unlocks itself.

The gate opens, and they continue trending on through the spirit caverns, in search of the spirit tree. Coming to another gate, Aaron sees that there is a path that leads into a deeper part of the spirit caverns, where the key could be hidden. They all then started climbing down, deeper, and deeper into the caverns.

Past through some thorny bushes, Aaron spots some purple sludge with yellow eyes with spikes sprouting on its back. 'What the hell is that thing?'. The sludge was then alert to his presence and made threatening hissing noises, showing its spikes on its back, warning him to back off. "Sorry! Sorry!" he said as he quickly backs away from it.