Warning: This story involves scenes of impalement and death of a cute protagonist. If this is not your thing then stop reading now. This story may also contain minor spoilers from the game Ori and Blind Forest. You have been warned!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ori and the Blind Forest. Ori and the Blind Forest is property of Moon Studios, Microsoft Studios, and Nordic Games.

Ori and the Hollow Groves

The journey through the Hollow Groves was proving to be more treacherous than Ori had thought. The path was riddled with withering trees that rendered navigation on the ground nearly impossible. Fortunately Ori had become quite adept at climbing, and was able to scale the trees to move through the dying treetops.

The treetops were not without their dangers though. Ori had to watch his step on the rotting branches, lest they snap under his added weight. There were also clusters of thorns and dark pustules scattered about, but as long has he kept his distance, he didn't need to worry. Unfortunately there was more lurking within the treetops than simple environmental hazards, as Ori would soon learn. The light spirit passed by a seemingly normal dark growth, stopping on a branch to survey the thicket below. While he was looking for a safe way to get down, a slurping sound caught his attention.

"Ori, behind you!" Sein warned.

Ori turned around to find that the mass of darkness was not a mere growth; It was alive and slowly slinking towards him. Ori focused his energy through Sein, firing a beam of concentrated light at the approaching blob. The creature's body burst violently as the light cut through it, seeming to defeat it instantly. But that was quickly shown not to be the case as two smaller wads of goo spawned from the explosion and continued their advance towards Ori. The creature had not been destroyed; It had merely been divided into smaller swifter parts.

Surprised by this, Ori fired another panicked beam at one of the smaller sludge balls. As before, this only split the ooze into two smaller parts. How many times could this thing divide?! These tiny blobs were light and elastic, allowing them to bounce along the tree branch, making them much faster than their larger counterparts. Ori was getting overwhelmed. He wasn't yet proficient enough to harness his light at high speeds or to hit multiple targets at once. The two smallest blobs launched themselves at Ori, prepared to overtake the light spirit. Ori fired one last beam, finally destroying one of them, but he couldn't recharge fast enough to finish the other one. It slammed into Sein, carrying the tiny ball of light over edge.

Ori cried out in alarm, spinning around and reaching down in an attempt to rescue her. But he was too slow, and could only watch in wide eyed horror as his friend was carried into the forest below. He didn't have time to mourn his loss though; The approaching slurping sound reminded him of the predicament he was in. He got back to his feet and faced the remaining slime, that was still making its way towards him. Its movement was slow, but without Sein, Ori was defenseless. He had no way to fight back, and he had nowhere to run. He nervously backed away from the advancing sludge, moving out onto a decrepit old branch. With his attention focused solely on the threat in front of him, he failed to notice the branch creak under his added weight. He continued to step back, placing more and more strain on the rotting branch, until... SNAP! Time seemed to slow down for the light spirit as his foothold fell out from under him. His vision was forced skyward as he fell backward, allowing him to see the freshly fractured branch grow more and more distant as he plummeted towards the ground below. Ori shut his eyes, dreading that moment when he would me kiss the cold hard forest floor. It felt like an eternity passed, but at the same time, it was all too short. And then it happened...

Stabbing pain shot through Ori's chest and right leg, causing the poor light spirit's eyes to shoot open. He tried to release a cry of raw agony, but he couldn't seem to find his voice. He weakly lifted his head to inspect his body, and his eyes grew wide as he was greeted with the most horrifying thing he had ever seen. A large pink spine was sticking clean through his chest, impaling the unfortunate light spirit on its length. Ori could only stare in silent horror as his mind refused to accept what his eyes could plainly see.

He tried to lift his left paw to touch the spike, as if feeling it would confirm that his eyes were not playing tricks on him. However as he attempted to move the paw, he found it held fast by a warm viscous substance. A similar warmth seemed to have enveloped his legs and tail, and through the haze of pain, he could a tingling sensation spread across his trapped limbs. As the initial shock started to fade, he finally began to realize he was not laying upon the cold hard ground. But instead it seems his body was partially submerged in a sickly pink ooze, much like the one that had attacked him on the treetop, except much bigger. Despair welled up in Ori's mind as he managed to piece together just how dire his situation was; Fate had dealt him a cruel hand, and he had fallen right into the clutches of the very type of thing he was trying to escape. Impaled, trapped, and helpless, he could not longer deny the terrifying truth in front of him. He was going to die...

Ori spent his last moments in absolute agony. White hot pain flared from the gaping wounds in his chest and leg; His limbs and tail stung mercilessly as they were eaten away by the blob's caustic body; And finally his lungs burned as the poor light spirit found he was unable to draw breath. His only mercy was that his suffering would be short lived. His body simply couldn't endure the shock being placed on it. He began to tremble violently in the throes of death, weakly reaching up with his right paw, a final desperate plea to any gods that may be watching to save him from this torment.

One final shudder ran through Ori's body before it fell still. His paw fell limply onto his chest, which no longer rose or fell with breath. His head lulled lazily to the side, his eyes now void of life, staring blankly into an endless abyss. He was gone; All that remained was an empty vessel; A lifeless body that would serve as nothing more than food to the gelatinous mass. Over time, the body slowly sank into the viscous ooze, where it was broken down and absorbed by the blob, helping to fuel its monstrous growth. Eventually no trace of Ori remained, save for a small tuft of fur stuck to the end of one of the creature's spines. It was the only sign that the light spirit had ever existed, and a reminder of the gruesome fate he had suffered.