The Obsidian Tale
Episode 4
[Opening 1 music]
[Opening 1 music]
~ Village of Saradeli – south district – path to Kyrie ~
Going back to the main group, Rina
had Lydia powerwalk with her through the small tunnel in between Saradeli and
Kyrie. Good thing too – it was about a two-mile walk! [Music 4.1]
Without looking behind herself, Rina
said aggravatingly, “Are you seriously still following me?”
Felix was behind her. “I’m
coincidentally going the same way. Once I get to the city, we can finally
separate.”
“Ugh, why can’t you just stand over there
and wait until I’m out of your eyesight. I’d prefer that than some loser
Suspenders kid following me all the time.”
“What did you say?!”
“You heard me.”
“And why did you come to my house?”
“Because I was going to ask your mom
if she was ready to leave. I guess it was a waste of time too because she chose
not to leave!”
“Ergh, you’re a jerk, using people
like that!” Felix said.
Rina suddenly stopped as she let go
of Lydia’s arm. “What did you say?” Now she was into the argument. “You have no
idea how much we’ve been through. We were being chased by soldiers, and it’s
still happening. I don’t have time to play nice.”
“Can’t you see? I’m in the same
situation now!”
“Well too bad for you. Deal with it
your own way,” Rina said while Lydia was trying to lick the walls. “L-Lydia!
That’s not food!”
Felix began walking past the two
girls, “Well I want to see the city life and I don’t have time to wait behind
you either. I’m walking my own pace.”
Rina grabbed Lydia again as she
headed off. “Well then we’re going too!”
Lydia’s hand slipped away from the walls,
leaving rocks fall in trails behind her. The two teenagers were racing each
other, and Lydia was being dragged along with them without any emotions, just
like a doll.
~ Kyrie – north district ~
Entering the city, both Rina and
Felix were still quarreling with each other. Their voices rose along the
streets and the city folk watched them.
“Well maybe if you weren’t so ugly,
I wouldn’t have felt as sorry for you.”
“What?! You’re being crazy! I
wouldn’t have let my best friend lose
his memory on account of my responsibilities!”
“Oh don’t you pull Lydia into this!”
“Give us food,” a higher-pitched
voice appeared in the dark alleyway beside the three teenagers.
Rina, still not having to turn her
back to Felix, asked, “Why did you change the damn subject?”
“I didn’t!” Felix yelled in
frustration.
“Then why did you just ask for
food?!”
“Give us food…” The voice repeated.
Rina finally turned around to speak
directly to Felix. “Shut the heck up already, you annoying piece of-…” [End music]
A little boy with light blue hair frowned in front of them. He had goggles hung along his neck and his yellowish cape was tattered in dust, turning it slightly orange. His gray shorts were also shredded as if he had them for several years. For some reason, he looked as if he was capable of pulling a cynical smile, but he looked extremely disappointed. Rina and Felix
tilted their heads slowly, finding it strange that some random child appeared
out of the… blue.
“Uhhhhh…” They both said
speechlessly.
Rina gave an evil grin. “You have to
say the magic word if you want some food.”
Felix noticed the boy’s face which was
filled with dust. The boy frowned and then he slowly turned around in
disappointment. He suddenly made a mean expression behind their backs as if he had a change of personality.
“Excuse me? I was talking to you!”
She shouted at him.
Felix stood in between them. “Wait…
This is serious,” Felix said, knowing how difficult it is to barely survive on
his family’s own crops.
“What’s this gotta do with me? I
need to find those shards!”
“Then go already! I’ll help him on
my own.”
Rina made a slight gasp. He shooed
her away for once, so she pouted in anger.
“Fine, but you’re not going to be
able to help without any money. Remember: you left the village without any
money and food. Where will you start off?” She asked rhetorically as she began
leaving. “Come on, Lydia. We don’t have time for this idiot.”
~ Kyrie – north district – alleyway ~
Felix could barely see the alleyway
but he was still able to follow the boy to the middle of the alley, noticing
two other children with him. Felix watched as a younger boy cried while a
darker-skinned girl tried to comfort him. The blue-haired boy looked at Felix
without saying anything.
Felix knelt down in front of them.
“Hey… What’s going on here?”
“We live here,” the boy said with
his high-pitched voice.
“Really? What about your parents?”
The dark-skinned girl said
immediately, “We don’t know. That’s why we’re here!”
“Please don’t take us away!! We’re
scared of soldiers!” The younger boy shivered. One of his lenses was broken but
he still wore them. It was as if he could only see with one eye. The little
girl had bushy pigtails. Both of these children had beige overalls. They looked like sacks of potatoes! The only other difference between the two was that the young boy had a blue cape while the girl with the pigtails had a green cape.
The older boy with his yellow cape
pointed at the door next to a dumpster. “The bakery usually throws out their
leftover food every night. It’s really good stuff!” He gave a crooked smile.
“But last night, the bakery didn’t
throw it out. The workers must have kept them all for themselves,” the younger
boy said with a whiny shriek.
Knowing that it has been night time
for a while since the Saradeli incidents, these children must have not eaten
for almost a whole day. An older girl appeared with only three apples wrapped
in paper towels.
“Hey! Get away from them!!” she
commanded, looking at the large crescent blade attached behind Felix’s back.
She seemed to be about only a year
older than the blue-haired boy. This time, this girl had two brown ponytails on each end of her head that hung down past her shoulders. Being the oldest-looking and also the strongest, she had a twig on her hands, ready to fight back. Her stern armor was just plastic put together to make her look fearless. Aside from the other three children, this young girl had a red cape behind her back.
“W-Wait, I’m not here to hurt you!”
Felix almost tripped on his back.
He
stuttered several times, even scared by the girl who was many years younger
than him. Felix stood by a distance to make sure he was not going to get
attacked. The oldest girl ignored him and gave each of her friends an apple,
but she had nothing for herself. The boy with glasses ate immediately while the
girl with pigtails gave her friend a hug.
“Gee thanks, Jess!” The blue-haired
boy said happily.
“Oh Forrest, just eat before you die
of starvation,” she patted him on the head.
It was strange, really. Felix could
see her angelic smile when she talked to her friends – a smile that revealed
sweet kindness, but she was very aggressive towards strangers like Felix. This
almost reminded him of Rina – how she’s very protective of her best friend
while insulting him and Clyde.
From a distance, Felix said to the
girl, “Your name is Jess?”
Jess looked at him with hawk-like
eyes. “Yeah, so what? Are you going to turn me in now?”
“N-No! I don’t want to. I just
wanted to know what’s going on because I only came here city not too long ago.”
“Hm, weird. Not many new people come
around here,” she said.
Felix shuffled into his pockets.
This time, he remembered to bring some coins unlike back in the village. He
took the only two coins out.
“I know this isn’t much, but you
guys can have it.”
Jess glared at it. “This much won’t
get us anything.”
The younger girl said to her, “Any
cent counts though.”
Jess sighed. “Sydney… I guess you’re
right. Maybe we can save it to buy a new pair of glasses for little Spencer here,
heh.”
“Yay!” Spencer said feeling
exhilarated.
“Do you have food too?” Forrest
begged, looking up to Felix, literally.
Felix, being about over a foot
taller than Forrest, became guilty.
“I-I’m sorry, I don’t have anything.
Even I’ll get hungry if I don’t do anything for a few more hours.” He sat down
against the wall opposite to them.
Jess sat closest to Felix in order
to protect her three friends. She watched him to make sure he does nothing to
them.
“We don’t have any more apples for
you. I only found three by a tree.”
Felix chuckled. “It’s okay. I don’t
need it.”
Forrest bravely sat next to him.
Jess seemed quite uncomfortable about that.
“Mister, what will you do now?”
Forrest asked innocently.
“Me? I planned to move here, find a
job, and then just start from there. Sounds simpler than it actually is…” He
looked up at the only light left: the moon in between the alley balconies. “I
want to visit my mom when things calm down.”
“Did you get into a fight with
her??”
“Haha, maybe.” He looked away in
shame. “I don’t know whose fault it was, to be honest. I just wanted the best
for us and so did she, but we had different views. It’s okay though. I promised
to come back and protect her if things go wrong.”
Jess had a twig in her hands. She
spoke to him, “You said you wanted to get a job?” Once Felix nodded, Jess
continued, “Well, have fun with that. Nobody ever wants to hire children like
us so we have to wait for years.”
Sydney got up as well. She raised
her hands towards the sky as she started talking in a melodic voice, “One day~
I’m going to get a job at the bakery! Then, we get to eat all the bread we
want!~”
“Mmmm!” Spencer chimed along.
“Wait a minute,” Felix had an idea.
“Why don’t I go apply now? I look old enough for them to consider hiring me.”
“And take my dream away?!” Sydney
panicked.
“No, no! Just for now, I’ll try to
get the job. Once I do, I can take all the leftover bread and give it to you
guys. That way, you can have food every
day!”
Jess’s eyes widened. “What? Why do
you care so much?”
Felix explained to them about how
difficult it is to live in the Village of Saradeli. It was tough having to live
off of your own harvest with no outer support besides trading with other
villagers. As soon as Felix finished, Jess started to understand without
trouble. The other three children were already distracted in their own
conversations.
“I see. You know, mister-…”
“Oh, I’m Felix by the way!” [Music 1.1]
“Okay, Felix. Sorry about jumping
into conclusions with you earlier. It’s just that a bunch of soldiers lured us
into some kind of gold mine, but not an actual gold mine. They offered free
money, and our parents went with them. The next day, both the soldiers and all our parents disappeared at the same
time. We’re not the only kids. This happened down at the very sunny trading
city called South Ouli Brye.”
“How did you end up here?”
“We barely made it. The forest in
between is kind of dangerous, and it took wonders and effort to climb up a
steep cliff beside the waterfall. We also tried passing even further to the
village that you live in, but we heard stories that it was protected by some
creepy bear monster.”
Felix remembered his walk with Lydia
and Rina. Besides their feud, it was a safe walk.
“Er… That’s disturbing,” Felix
commented. [End music]
The bakery’s back door opened and
one crate was thrown into the dumpster. The three children stood up and
rummaged into it without hesitation. Jess, on the other hand, watched them.
“You don’t want any bread?” Felix
questioned her.
“I do, but I want them to eat before
I do. I don’t need to eat.”
Felix noticed that she was quite
skinny despite her independency.
“You need to eat to,” Felix
suggested, but Jess only ignored him.
Spencer began crying. “Aww… There’s
only two pieces!”
“We’re unlucky again,” Sydney said.
Felix shook his head. “Just two?
Shouldn’t there be more?” The children were silent, not being sure of what he
was claiming. “I’m going to check something out really quick.”
~ Kyrie – north district – Bread Loaf Sandwiches ~
Entering from the bakery’s front
door, Felix could see the sign "Bread Loaf Sandwiches”. He began to question why the bakery's name involved three different ways to define bread, but that's not important.
“Umm, excuse me?” Felix kindly asked.
A worker took alert especially now that it is
closing time. It’s also not often people come this last minute.
“Do you have extra bread that you
guys are throwing out?”
“Only customers are allowed as long
as the pay.”
“I just saw you throw the leftovers
out.” Felix took sight of a bag of colorful, tastier bread as compared to the
two plain breads at the dumpster. “That’s a lot of leftover bread. Why don’t
you sneak some out for me?” He gave a wink, trying to use the same sneak
methods from Saradeli’s marketplace.
“That’s… a little weird.”
“It was going to be trash anyway,
right? You might as well give it to people who really need it.”
“Look, mister. You’re old enough to
get a job. If you want food, you better deserve it by earning money yourself.”
Felix clenched his teeth in
frustration. “They’re not for-…” He paused.
Of course, maybe the people in the
bakery resented the children because they were such hassles and freeloaders
over time. Eventually, they would not want any affiliation and liability with
them.
“Do you have some kind of
application then?”
“Uh…” The worker stuttered. “We’re
not accepting applications at the moment.”
“Can you ask your boss at least?”
“What I say is the truth. Either you
leave now or we will have to call against you.”
Felix turned away. “Geez… Cranky
butt.”
~ Kyrie – north district – alleyway ~
As the night continued, Felix could
only return with the news of failure. The children were disappointed. Even Jess
showed her disappointment, but at least she understood Felix’s struggle.
“So what now?” Forrest sat, eating a
half-loaf of bread while the other two younger orphans ate the rest.
Felix yawned. “I could still look
for a way to help you guys. I’ll be right b-“
“No, you’re tired. You should stay,”
Jess said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. We prioritize sleep over
hunger.”
Forrest said to him, “Besides, when
we’re sleeping, we forget that we’re hungry.”
Felix gave a sigh. “Oh… I guess
you’re right. I’ve been through a long day, so I’ll sleep for the night here
too, if that’s okay?”
“Where else can you go?” Jess asked,
suggesting that he was allowed to stay with them. [Music 4.2]
Sydney ran to Felix first in an
airplane motion, “Woohoo! I get to sleep next to him first!”
“W-What??” Felix became shocked at
the sudden trample of children.
“No fair!” Spencer wanted to cry
again.
Forrest sat on the opposite end,
alone. Jess sat next to Sydney, giving Felix a welcoming smile to let him know
that this is a normal procedure to the children especially when sleeping out at
night in the cold.
Felix shrugged. “I guess it’s not so
bad living out here like this,” he thought to himself. [End music]
~ Kyrie – north district – alleyway – the next morning ~
Starting from nine in the evening,
the children along with Felix slept all the way until eight the next morning.
It has been a while since he had slept this long. Usually it was the ‘boring
wake up, work in the fields, help his mother cook, eat, and then sleep’
routine.
Felix raised his arms as he yawned.
Spencer fell over and hit his head on the floor while Sydney was trying to
continue sleeping on his lap. Forrest was still resting alone on the opposite
side.
“Man… that was a good sleep!” Felix
said out loud.
Spencer fixed his glasses, well…
half of it at least. “I need more sleep…”
“More?” Felix repeated. “Hey, where
is your friend, Jess?”
“She doesn’t usually disappear
without telling us. Maybe she just took a walk,” Forrest said.
Sydney puffed out her bushy
pigtails. “I bet she didn’t expect us to wake up this early! Hehe!”
From a faint distance, Felix could
recognize a few soldiers running back and forth. It was hard to see since it
was a narrow alleyway. You could barely see them running from the left end to
the right end in only a split second. There were, however, a tremendous amount
of footsteps brewing on the outskirts.
“This doesn’t look good.” Felix
grabbed onto his crescent blade. “I have to find her!”
As he pulled out his blade, Forrest was
struck in awe as compared to his two other friends who were frightened.
“Coooool…” Forrest stared blankly,
almost drooling.
“Okay, you three: stay right here.
I’m going to find Jess.”
“Wait, let me go with you!” Forrest
began jumping in happiness.
“Why? It could be dangerous.”
“My heroic ten-den-cies are finally
coming to life!” Forrest had trouble pronouncing some of the bigger words in
our known vocabulary.
“Uh… what?”
“He keeps thinking everything is a
heroic game.” Sydney had her hands beside her hips. “So lame.”
Forrest grabbed onto Felix’s shorts.
“It’s not lame! Mr. Felix, tell her it’s not lame!”
“Well, it could be fun depending how
you work with it,” Felix said, hoping they would buy his half-assed answer.
Forrest pointed to his two friends,
“You two promise that you’ll stay here. We’ll be back!”
Spencer hugged Sydney in fear. “O-Of
course we’ll stay. I’d rather not leave anyway.”
“Aw man…” Sydney frowned.
“Everyone’s leaving…”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be back, and with Jess!” Forrest encouraged them.
Felix agreed with him. “He’s
right. But Forrest, remember that it is
also dangerous out there, especially at this time. There are soldiers.”
Forrest took out a BB gun. “I’m
ready!”
“For real?”
“I found it in the dumpster. It’s
useful for catching birds.”
“W-Why do you need to shoot birds?!”
“Oh it doesn’t matter. Let’s go, Mr.
Felix!”
~ Kyrie – north district – outskirts ~
The outskirts seemed noisy. Felix
noticed Forrest’s amazed expression which indicated that these types of commotions
don’t normally happen in Kyrie. This city acts just like the Village of
Saradeli in terms of peace, but economically, they are different. Knowing not
every soldier has seen Felix, it was partially safe for him to barge out and
walk casually as if he was a regular civilian.
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“You know, Mr. Felix, we don’t blend in very well.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because, you have that giant weapon
in your hand. That’s not suspicious at all.”
“Oh crap, I forgot!”
A Gammel soldier from behind made a
loud ruckus about Felix using Gammel weaponry. Some of his army of men were
following along.
Felix slapped his own forehead.
“Damn it… I forgot. Ugh, it’s time to run and find a hiding spot!”
Forrest aimed his BB gun at the soldiers.
“We don’t have time for that. We have to fight back, and then find Jess!”
Felix grabbed Forrest’s right arm.
“What are you, crazy? We have to run!” Felix pushed Forrest to the front so
that the crescent blade can do all the ammunition guarding.
~ Kyrie – central
district ~
The biggest commotion at the moment
would be in the central district. Here, the famous statue of a man named Kyrie
had been place beside two water fountains, also surrounded by several healthy
trees and large fields. The city folk were circling the area, distracting some
of the soldiers who were ordered to stand as close as possible to the center.
Felix and Forrest rummaged into the
group of civilians in order to hide from the soldiers. Felix had his weapon
behind his back, wondering if he should invest in a weapon sheath in case of
hiding his identity.
Reaching the center, Felix saw Jess
on a top tree branch. Some soldiers were shooting and aiming for the branches
below her.
“S-Stop it right now!” Jess ordered.
“No, youuu stop it!” A soldier yelled childishly.
A generic civilian nearby agreed,
“Like, totally, this is getting soooo annoying. Can you just like, shoot her in
the face or something?”
Felix stood in front of the
civilian, “What is wrong with you? She’s just a little girl!”
Standing out in the open, everyone
could see him, even the soldiers who recognized him back at the battleships.
After a few whispers, Felix was going to become their next target.
Forrest watched them and then he
asked Felix, “What’s going on?”
“There’s the fugitive!” one soldier
whispered. [Music 4.3]
Some civilians began screaming while
Jess could see Felix and Forrest from above.
“Fugitive…? Isn’t that a bad person?”
Forrest took a step away from Felix. “You?”
Felix became guilty. “Um, well, I
just…”
Forrest shook his head. “No...
You’re not a hero at all, are you?”
“Forrest, listen, it’s just a
misunderstanding. It’s not my fault.”
“The soldiers have this thing called
‘operative power’. They choose who’s right and wrong!”
Felix scratched his head. “Don’t you
mean ‘authorative power’?”
“Whatever! Either way, you’re a bad
guy! I can’t believe we let you sleep with us!”
An old woman from the front of the
crowd shrieked, “You slept with an
under-aged boy?!” She said to Felix, comparing their heights and guessing their
age differences.
Felix jumped. “WHAT?! It’s not what
it sounds like! I’m innocent!”
“Wow. A criminal and a creep. What a guy,” a soldier
commented.
“Hmhm, this is interesting.” A
familiar mad scientist appeared from the crowd, but Felix didn’t recognize him.
After all, the strange man only confronted Rina and Lydia. He went on, “It is
thanks to those trail of rocks you left us back at the little cavern.”
A large fireball flew from above one
of the buildings nearby. It was Rina who stood proudly with Lydia.
“You have something that I really
need, give it to me!” She jumped down while grabbing Lydia in the empty,
surrounded lot nearby Felix.
The fireball struck the central tree
which made Jess drop whatever shiny blue object that she had. After Rina and
Lydia purposely fell on top of Felix, Rina ran as quickly as possible to
collect the shard. The soldiers were more in awe than they could shoot.
“What do you think you’re doing?
That shard belongs to me!” The
scientist yelled.
The Shard Possessors
As Rina and the scientist were
running towards the falling shard from opposite ends, loud banjo music was
playing in the background by a band who wanted to dramatize the scene.
Everything went slow motion now and as a result… Rina barely grabbed the shiny
blue shard!
She was about to run back to Lydia
but the scientist grabbed her leg as she tripped.
Rina gasped. “Oh no you didn’t! Nobody trips me!” She kicked the
scientist on the face as she stood up and headed for Lydia.
Once she opened her palms, the shard
shined even brighter. It floated into the atmosphere with a loud yet pleasant
screeching noise.
Rina began smiling like a maniac,
“It’s one of the shards! I finally got one. Finally! I wonder what it is?!” [End music]
The shard seeped blue light into
Lydia from above and it took about a good ten seconds. No one interrupted. They
wanted to see what was happening as well.
As the light stopped, the shard had
disappeared and Lydia’s eyes were less blank, but the majority still existed.
Rina jumped, shaking her fists in
anxiety. “So? So?? Which shard did you get, Lydia?!”
Lydia pointed at Felix, “Apparently,
that boy is a creep.”
There was an awkward silence for a
few seconds, until…
“WHAAAAAAAAT?!” Felix howled so loud
that his voice echoed throughout the whole city. Birds even flew out of the
trees on the outer districts…
[Ending 1 music]
~~~
Next time on The Obsidian Tale, will we find out what the shard is?! Felix and his friends will somehow escape this mess but how long can they keep this up? Where will they go to next? Now that the new children are in the story, how will their roles be played throughout the entire series? Let's find out on the next episode of the Kyrie Escapees!
~~~
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