Part 1

Who would’ve known that during the trio’s escape from the pursuers, the rain they used to hide from them would become so strong that it had made Ali’s body soaked to the brims forcing him into a state of mud.

When the rain eventually died down, Ali was able to slowly return his body back to his original shape but by then he was already separated from his companions.

Hoping to be able to reunite with his friends, he had eagerly waited till the sun had set but who would’ve guessed that after a short while another heavy rain came down, and this time it lasted the whole night.

It was only until the next day did the series of misfortunate event stopped but because of the harsh rain, Ali’s body state was reduced to only his core left standing. Unable to search for his friend he could only slowly try to rebuild his body back to its original state.

In the process of recovering himself, Ali was unable to notice that near him was a cactus spirit that had been observing the strange actions of his in fear.

“M-m-monster!” The spirit shouted.

As a golem imbued by the magic of Eterna they were able to sense spiritual creatures, and so hearing the cries of a young boy out of nowhere, Ali crystal core flashed a light trying to identify its surrounding.

“Mo-monster! Where!?” The crystal core with sands crawling towards it spoke out.

Hearing a voice coming out of the crystal the spirit was astonished by what he had just witnessed. Noticing that the strange crystal had no hostility the spirit slowly came close to it in order to understand what was in front of him.

“Strange how is this rock talking?”

“Rock? I’m Ali, not a rock! Golem, not a rock!” Ali furiously replied insulted by the fact that someone had identified him as a mere stone.

“Golem? Ali? Is that your name?” The spirit looked towards the strange shiny rock that was slowly being covered by the sands around him.

“Yeah!” Ali shouted before remembering the common courtesy taught by his mother. “What is your name?”

It was the first time anyone asked of his name and somehow it had made the spirit feel very warm. However, remembering a certain memory of the past had made him feel quite depressed.

“My name… is Zafar.” The spirit weakly replied.

Sensing a negative feeling from the spirit, Ali shone a light from his core towards Zafar.

“What’s… wrong?” His monotone voice came with no warmth but somehow for Zafar he could sense the concern from the golem.

It had been a while since he had a conversation with anyone and maybe due to that Zafar was able to open up and spoke about his problems to the strange golem beside him.

As time passed Zafar began to vent out everything he had been bottling up. Throughout all that Ali silently listened as he mends his broken body back into place.

“Now I’m just waiting for Ori to come back…” Zafar concluded his story to the golem who had already rebuild his body. “I wonder if it was just a lie…”

Processing what he had heard from the spirit Ali began to think deeply on his situation trying to find any ways to help.

“Thank you, Ali.” Zafar looked at the golem who had been listening to him and was truly grateful for his action, not only that he could see that the golem was thinking hard for him trying to help him, that very thought made Zafar quite happy.

“Zafar, my mother always said… to help others out when they are in trouble.” Ali dusted his body and stood up as he looked towards the small spirit.

“Let’s go… together… and search for your friend.” Ali formed a giant smile as he stretched out his hand towards the spirit.

Zafar felt touch by the kindness the golem gave to him, but knowing full well of the situation he had he felt despondent at the hope before him.

“I can’t Ali…” His voice carried sorrow, “Unlike you, I’m a spirit. I can’t go far from my body.”

Looking at the spirit as he points towards the cactus at the center of the group Ali couldn’t help but be confused.

“Body… spirit?” With a puzzled voice, Ali went towards the cactus and observed it hoping to get an idea on how to help the spirit.

“You’re quite a strange golem Ali,” Zafar called out to Ali who was endorsed in analyzing the cactus and the sand beneath it.

After observing the body of Zafar, Ali knew what to do. Glancing towards the floating spirit he decided to propose a solution.

“Zafar… why don’t I take your cactus body… and place it on my back?”

Ali pointed at his sandy back and further explained. “I can… change my back into something… suitable for you to live in.”

The proposition was a surprise to Zafar but having heard of the idea he couldn’t help but feel hopeful. He glanced at Ali’s back as he changed the property of it with the sand beneath them.

“C-can it work?” Zafar couldn’t help but feel nervous knowing that the possibility of the idea might succeed.

Ali smiled at the spirit who looked more alive than before. “Let’s try…”

Slowly pulling the cactus from the ground, Ali carefully planted it on top of his back. After several adjustments in order for the cactus to be rooted properly in a strong position, Ali began to walk around with the cactus on his back.

Word’s couldn’t describe how amazing it was for Zafar as he saw the scene before him. At first, he felt some pain when his body got outrooted but after getting planted back again the pain he felt was relieved and he knew that there were no issues in his main body.

“Ali! Y-you’re amazing!” Zafar shouted with glee as he began to dance around Ali who had his cactus body at his back.

Hearing the praises coming from the spirit he met Ali couldn’t help but feel good as he laughed monotonously with his big body. “Mother always say I’m amazing…”

“I… I can’t believe you could solve an issue that…” Zafar looked at the scene which simply solved everything he and Ori had struggled to do. “I… feel so conflicted…”

Looking at the tears the spirit spilled, Ali couldn’t understand what was going on with Zafar. “Zafar… you should… look ahead… not back.”

“Ahead?” Zafar wasn’t quite sure why Ali spouted something quite random but the more he thought about it the more he realized the deeper meaning.

“You’re right.”

Zafar looked ahead to the horizon that he had never ventured and he looked at the golem who had helped him. “Ali, you are a pretty smart rock.”

“I think I should stop waiting… Instead, I’ll search for Ori.” Zafar gave a wide smile as he mustered up all his motivation.

Gleefully humming he stared at a faraway place purely thinking about his friend which he had never given up.

Seeing the wholesome feeling coming from Zafar, Ali couldn’t help but remember the envious scene he saw when he looked at Amir and Saleh.

“What’s wrong Ali?”

Ali looked at the cheery spirit, he felt a sense of affinity with the spirit as he realized how close they became. “I was wondering about my companions…”

“Hmm? Are you also waiting for someone?” Zafar looked seriously at the golem.

“No… I got lost…” Ali embarrassingly spoke out his situation but upon hearing this Zafar looked nervously at him.

“T-then we should help find your friends!” Zafar suggested, “I’ll help scout ahead!”

Seeing the energetic spirit running around trying to help scout the area made Ali felt touched. However, he remembered that Zafar was also searching for someone.

“We… should find your friend first Zafar…” Ali spoke out.

However, with a smile, Zafar looked back at Ali and shook his head disagreeing with his suggestion.

“You’ve already helped me. It’s time for me to help you. Isn’t that what friends do? I remember Ori telling me that. What about your mother?”

“Besides maybe your friends knows my friend? The more help the better right?”

Hearing the innocent answer from the spirit Ali nodded as he remembered the same advice from his mother long ago. He then looked towards Zafar who was staring at him with no ill will.

“Friends… I like that.”

Part 2

Slowly walking through the desert that Zafar had never ever seen. It was safe to say that he was the most excited as well as the most nervous out of the two.

Of course, he had the urge to hurry and find Ori as soon as possible but he knew that he had no idea where to start. Thinking of that made him feel despondent, so instead of going in circles, he believed he should help out Ali instead and maybe he could find some clue to where he should head to.

“Ali, you’re pretty amazing for a rock.” Zafar stared at Ali who walked slowly in a mechanical way towards what he had identified as ‘north’.

“Not a rock! Ali… is a Golem.” Ali monotone voice was clear and clean, though it sounded apathetic but the way he expressed with his body made it feel very expressive.

Zafar grew accustomed to the incoherent and strange way that Ali spoke. To others, the way Ali spoke could be considered dumb, but because Zafar had interacted with him for a while he understood that Ali, although slow at times, is no way as stupid as people seem to think.

“A golem? Ori never spoke about that.” Zafar replied, “Are all Golems like you?”

“No… other golems… are quiet. They are… boring.” Ali frowned remembering the golems that were working in the underground.

However, when he remembered a scene between a golem meister taking care of his golem and how both of them looked close to one another he couldn’t help but feel a sense of envy.

“Some… are nice though… they have good friends.”

Picking up the weird mood Zafar glanced at the golem walking with a sense of loneliness. He wondered whether something was bothering Ali.

“Ali, do you miss your mother?” Zafar asked curiously, he remembered Zafar talking about family and the word ‘mother’ was one relating to it, but he never did get any of it.

Hearing the question made Ali stopped walking for a moment. Slowly he looked far away and nodded his head before continuing to move.

“Should we go find her after we find your companion?” Zafar asked sincerely wanting to help his friend. However, Ali just continued walking without answering back.

Zafar understood that something was wrong and maybe because of that he stopped trying to pursue the topic. Instead, he started to banter about anything trivial in order to take their minds off the last conversation.

It wasn’t as if they were close friends, so both of them didn’t know much about the other. They were only together because of their kind personality which made them want to help one another.

Zafar hoped that slowly they could become closer. He wished it in his heart but he realized unlike Ori who was great at making friends, he didn’t know how to make friends at all.

It was the first time in his life that he was interacting with someone else besides Ori. Ali wasn’t proactive like Ori but he was kind and friendly, the only problem was both of them was quite inexperienced at making friends.

Zafar looked through the horizon as the sun began to set. A sight so beautiful came before him shifting his mind towards a different direction.

“I wonder what lies beyond there,” Zafar spoke in a calm voice but his eyes looked towards the north with excitement. “I wonder what lands are there, what creatures and what new things could be discovered.”

“I don’t… know.” Ali began to feel mesmerized by Zafar’s words, as he himself began to look beyond the horizon. “I’ve… never been… there.”

Maybe it was because Zafar was caught in the moment as he reminisces the times when Ori spoke of the unknown that he unconsciously repeated how Ori had enchanted him to a world he had never seen.

“Ali… let’s become adventurers!” Zafar spoke excitedly as he remembered Ori’s words. “Let’s venture to the unknown, find excitement in the corners of the world, find a place in the world where we belong, where we will never be lonely. We’ll have so much fun.”

“Adventure? What about… your friend?”

“That’s part of the adventure! We can search for him along the way! I’m sure I’ll find him!”

Ali thought deeply about the invitation. It was the first time he could feel as if he had a heartbeat, it was the first time he felt inclined to seek something and do something with his own will. He had always just let the flow of time pass by him, as he moved from one place to another in a haze.

Yet this time he felt like he wanted to follow this cactus spirit, the pure look of excitement truly made him curious as to what the spirit was looking towards.

He had always thought that the world wasn’t anything different, but as he listened to the spirit persuading him he felt maybe there was something out there in the world that could give him that much happiness.

“Do… you not want to?” Zafar spoke dejectedly after waiting for Ali to respond. “I… guess I was getting ahead of myself…”

“No… I want to go…” Ali spoke nervously but slowly he began to feel enthusiastic. “I want to follow you and find something I want to do!”

He finally remembered what his mother had asked of him during their last farewell. She had told him to seek a place in the world for him to live happily. He had always thought that living at the same underground place was where he belonged, but after thousands of years, he had never once felt joy as big as this.

“Let’s be adventurers Ali.” Zafar smiled as he realized how he had shared his friend’s dream with another. He couldn’t help but feel glad to find another friend in this large world.

“All right…” Ali nodded as he looked at the excited spirit.