Saturday, November 22, 2014

Episode 08 - Forest of the Damned

The Obsidian Tale

Episode 8
[Opening 1 music]
~ Silver Forest – northern portion – near the waterfall ~


            Finally, we get to see the natures of the world of Rhadessia. First, we experienced what it was like in a village, and then a city, followed by a town. Now, Felix is out to experience the world in its natural habitat for the first time. Well, it wasn’t much of a good experience for Felix as he was-
            “Faaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllliiiiinnnnggggg!!!!!” Felix shouted from the bottom of his lungs while being tossed into a large pool of water.
            Falling underwater, he could see Rina holding Lydia towards the surface while Forrest was last to drop. In an attempt to do the same as Rina, Felix tried to swim his way towards Forrest who was struggling against a rock.
            As the group of four reached the closest surface possible, they could see the four mountain lions pawing their way out of the water, but they were struggling.
            “Leave them. They’ve caused us enough trouble,” Rina claimed as she helped wring out Lydia’s long hair. [Music 5.1]
            “I…” Lydia began to sob.
            Forrest gasped. “It’s okay! We will be fine.”
            “No, it’s not that. I just…” Lydia began crying barbarically. “My hair is so wet, it must have slowed you all down! If only I had it shorter, we wouldn’t have to waste time drying it out!”
            “Really?” Felix rolled his eyes.
            “Rina, please, give me your knives! I must cut my hair!”
            “What the hell?!” Rina jumped away from her. “You are not cutting your hair.”
            Lydia suddenly said calmly as shook her head, “That is okay. I am beautiful with my long hair anyway.”
            “Wha- That was a sudden change of mood,” Felix said in awe.
            She headed towards Felix and then she punched him in the face for no reason.
Felix’s nose began to bleed and Forrest hid behind the nearest tree in fear. [End music]
            “You two better get used to this. She does it all the time.” Rina headed towards a shallow path that was a clear indicator to the other side of the forest. [Music 8.1]
            Their walk was rather quiet. Lydia occasionally wandered off to smell the flowers or to touch the tree barks, but Rina disallowed her in doing so. Felix and Forrest were walking closest to each other, but even they didn’t speak much. Felix seemed very worried for his mother while Forrest wanted to return to Kyrie for his own friends. After about an hour of walking, the sun was setting.
            “Should we take a rest? It’s getting a little dark now,” Felix suggested.
            “Who made you leader? Sheesh.” Rina continued walking.
            Lydia knelt down and she began to cry. “I’m so sorry, Rina… I’m getting tired too.”
            “Great. You lose your shards and you somehow have a limited amount of energy. I wish you lost your sense of exhaustion.”
            “Seriously, lady. It’s-“
            “HEY. It’s RINA. Get it right.”
            Forrest hid behind Felix. “B-But, we are tired.”
            Rina closed her eyes, proving her impatience. “Look, you dumb idiots. I’ve told you SEVERAL times that I’m not going to let any of you slow me down on finding those shards. I’m going to say it one last time: STOP FOLLOWING M-“ Her stomach interrupted her with the loudest rupture.
            Felix and Forrest began chuckling together while Rina was blushing.
            “Why don’t we go search for food and then sit somewhere?” Felix suggested.
            “Just one break only,” Rina commanded.


The Gorilla Beast


How to Ask a Question


            It was becoming nightfall now, and the group of four rejoiced. The men returned with a pack of fruits ranging from apples to oranges. Lydia sat around, watching Rina play with firewood. [End music]
            “We’re back!” Felix said proudly. [Music 1.4]
            Forrest tried to copy Felix’s footsteps, but he only tripped and dropped his stack of oranges. Rina snickered at him, telling him to be as quiet as possible. She became concerned with the amount of smoke dispersing from the flames of the firewood.
            “I don’t think having a campfire is a good idea. Maybe we should scrap it,” Rina said to both Felix and Forrest.
            “But it’s cold out here!”
            “Would you rather have me heat you with a nice fireball?”
            Felix stood in front of Forrest, “You don’t have you make him feel bad every time you talk.” He noticed Forrest wanted to cry.
            Rina blasted the firewood with flames. “Alright, fine. If you ever get in trouble, this will not be my fault. I hope you two can stop your complaining already.”
            Forrest ran towards Rina with a hug, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Rina-lady!”
            Rina blushed. “H-Hey! Get the hell off of me, you freak child!”
            Felix handed two apples to Rina but she only snatched it away without giving thanks. Felix, being used to this type of behavior, smiled and sat next to Forrest.
            “So, Mister Felix! Wanna play a game?”
            “H-Huh? What kind of game?”
            “Let’s see who can finish an apple first. The winner takes an extra orange!”
            Felix laughed. “Ahah, I’ll have you know that in my hometown, I was known to be the biggest eater.”
            “Really? Hey wait, how about you tell me what’s it like in the village? Was it fun?”
            Felix shook his head. “Of course! Well, at times it gets a little repetitive. My mom and I would always work in our backyard, harvesting crops. It gets tougher during Winter season.”
            “How is that fun?”
            “You didn’t let me finish. I used to play a lot of tricks on the market sellers in the central plaza and they would always get mad at me. And, don’t forget the ladies,” Felix chuckled, elbowing Forrest on his right arm.
            Rina rolled her eyes. “Did you get that audacity from Clyde?”
            Felix blushed from her assumption. “What?! No!” He then tried to whisper to Rina, “I was just trying to make Forrest feel better.”
            Rina pouted. “Talking about girls to a little boy shouldn’t make him feel better.”
            “Who is Clyde??” Forrest asked.
            “A pervert,” Lydia answered.
            “No, he’s not a pervert. He’s one of the most well-known chivalrous guys back at the village,” Felix rephrased. [End music]
            Rina began laughing. “Ahah, that’s right! Saradeli must be producing all you strange children.”
            “That’s not nice,” Forrest said to her. “Mister Felix is such a good guy!”
            “Yeah well, he isn’t so smart. I would have gotten more shards at this rate and Lydia would be just fine without him!”
            “Do you really think I’m slowing you down?” Felix became slightly insecure now. He waited for an answer but Rina didn’t respond. [Music 8.2]
            “Why don’t you answer him, Rina lady?” Forrest waited, but after a few seconds, he said to Felix out loud, “She’s not very nice at all.”
            Rina stomped her foot. “It’s because I’m so worked up with trying to save Lydia, okay?! She’s…”
            Both Felix and Forrest stopped. They listened carefully this time.
            Rina looked away. “You won’t understand. Having only one friend throughout your whole life, being caved into a home for several years, and not being able to see your real parents? Yeah, that’s nothing like how Suspenders can live with his mom and how Forrest lives with three friends. Everything is like a blur for me, and the reason why bad things kept happening before is because nobody would take me seriously. I was too passive and they treated me like a child.”
            “Rina…” Felix said with guilt.
            “What’s even worse now is that my only best friend can’t even remember who I am. She doesn’t even remember who she is! It’s frustrating because even I don’t know if I’ll ever find those seven shards, yet I keep telling myself to keep going. Come on, how stupid is it to strive for seven little shards when it could be anywhere in the world? Funny, right? Maybe it’s better to just stop right now.”
            “Rina! Stop,” Felix ordered. “You’ve already gotten two shards and it was pretty quick in my opinion.”
            Rina pouted with anger. “So what? It was by luck. And besides, I saw it myself. When those seven shards scattered all over the world, some flew far away, and some fell into neighboring areas like Kyrie. We’ve only gotten through the easy parts. They could be as far as the other side of the world for all I know. Maybe, maybe even down the ocean!”
            Felix stood up with pride. “Then I’ll help you find them!”
            Rina gasped. “What? Don’t be daft. You’re just going to slow me down like the usual. You should just go find some safe place to live in for the rest of your life.”
            Felix chuckled a little. He thought about it carefully.
            “That was my initial thought. Right now, my main goal is to save Clyde from that stupid expedition that the leader of the Gammel army was talking about.”
            “I think her name is Floir,” Forrest interrupted.
            “Yeah, her. Well, once I get Clyde, maybe we can help you collect those shards. Even if I slow you down, at least Clyde is known to pick up the pace real quick.”
            “You mean I’ll have to deal with that flirt for the rest of this quest? Hell no. You two should just go back to your peaceful village lives. Leave. Me. Alone.”
            Felix clenched his teeth and fists, feeling rejected after offering help. He began shaking and Forrest felt frightened.
            “You don’t know how hard it is to live in a village either, okay? I have no idea what happened twenty years ago with the poison in Saradeli, but ever since then, we were known to barely live on our own. Sure, we have fun moments here and there, but doesn’t everybody have them too? My mom and I have waited years for our dad to come home… but he never did!! You might have thought it was stupid of me to barge into that battleship just to look for my dad-“
            “Yeah, that was pretty stupid,” Rina interrupted.
            Felix’s voice rose: “But my strive to find him has accumulated. I couldn’t leave the village on my own. I was scared! He just left. He disappeared without an answer besides ‘I’m going to work for the government’. Do you know what it’s like to have a family member run away without a clear reason why?!”
            Rina’s heart skipped a beat. Her eyes widened and she had nothing more to say. She turned away. [End music]
            Through the awkward silence, Forrest began to add his own input. “I miss my friends too…”
            Felix and Rina still looked away without reacting to his speech.
            “Spencer, Sydney, and Jess…” He recalled. “Spencer was so shy and was always scared to fight for justice. Sydney was a little taller, so of course she picked on him for being a scaredy-cat. Jess was our leader. She…” Forrest began to cry as he remembered one of the biggest memories he has had with her.

            A young girl arrived at the top of the waterfall. She began to tie her hair into pigtails, but she contemplated on just leaving them dangling downward instead of outward. She turned around and helped three other children. [Music 8.3]
            “Phew! A-Are we the only ones left?” She asked.
            Spencer and Sydney were next to land above the waterfall. Forrest was last, and he didn’t react much. He felt emotionless while Spencer and Sydney were in tears. What just happened?
            “So we don’t know what happened to everyone else, huh…” Jess sighed.
            Sydney hugged Jess as tightly as she could. “I’m scared! What happened to mommy?! What about daddy?!”
            “I don’t know where my parents are either. We will find out ourselves!” She was prideful, but she could not impress Forrest who only stood far away from the group of three. “You there. Come here.”
            “W-Why? What if you steal me away just like those mean people did to mommy and daddy?”
            “I’m just a little girl. I won’t hurt you,” Jess said as she began grabbing something in her backpack.
            Forrest almost fell backward, down into the waterfall due his surprised suspicion on Jess. Jess dropped her backpack and she ran as quickly as possible to grab Forrest away from the waterfall.
            Forrest pushed himself forward as he fell on top of her. Jess began to laugh, confusing all of the children.
            “Hey,” Sydney checked Jess’s backpack, “What do you have here?”
            Jess blushed. “H-Hey you! I’m supposed to take those out myself!”
            Spencer began to cry again. “She has a meanie weapon gun!”
            “No! It’s not like that.” Jess snatched her backpack away from Sydney. “They’re just capes… of the four main colors: red, blue, green, and yellow.”
            Sydney had her hands beside her hips. “And why do you have those?!”
            “Because… I was going to share them with you all. My daddy told me they’re symbolism of bravery and that each color has its own story.”
            Spencer and Sydney crept closer. “Sym-bol-is-m???” they said together.
            Forrest slowly crept closer, feeling curious about these so-called symbolism of bravery. Spencer grabbed the blue cape while Sydney held onto the green one.
            “That blue one is for you.”
            Spencer blushed. “M-Me?! Really?! What does it mean?”
            “Blue marks the sailing sea. Deep down inside you, you know that fighting crime can be found through smooth, calm conversations, and that in order to win, you must call for a proper and mature treaty of some sort.”
            “This boy isn’t calm at all,” Sydney joked. Spencer wanted to cry again.
            “And you,” Jess pointed at Sydney’s green cape, “Green represents nature and its peacefulness. You must erase yourself of all stress and bring in a new world of acceptance.”
            “Wow, cool!” Sydney giggled. “What does it mean?”
            Jess shrugged. “Even I don’t know. My daddy tells me that all the time before I go to bed though. Oh, yeah, and yellow!” Jess handed a yellow cape to Forrest.
            Forrest still said nothing. He seemed shy.
            “Yellow stabilizes between the heart of what is right and what is wrong. However, what seems ‘wrong’, can be the right thing to do. When your most loved one may fall, like a crackle in the ground, you will learn to pick yourself up no matter what.”

            “Since then…” Forrest concluded, “We became much closer. We told our names, and even Jess told me I became less shy. We were so eager to find out what happened to our parents too, so we claimed there was a bad guy involved!” [End music]
            Felix patted Forrest’s shoulder. “Ah, so that’s why you want to be a hero!”
            “Uh-huh!”
            “So what was the red cape about?”
            “Jess’s cape? Um… I can’t remember. I think it was about how to contain her rage, and she has. I guess the story of the cape came true for her so far!”
            Lydia said to them, “But your yellow cape story – did it come true yet?”
            Forrest gave a short gasp and Rina laughed, “Hah! These cape stories sound like total bullcrap to me.”
            Forrest said angrily, “Shut up! Jess’s dad told her these stories and she kept them dear to her! Her dad is gone, so we can never find out if it’s true or not.”
            “Well, it’s like any other bedtime story. It’s just some fairytale.”
            “Okay, you two!” Felix stopped them. “We shouldn’t fight at a time like this.”
            There was silence.
            “Is this the first time we have ever bonded together?” Lydia asked bluntly.
            Rina had her legs crossed. She pouted again and then snickered. “Tch! Bonding? Nobody has time for bonding. Once the next morning hits, we’re leav-“
            She suddenly heard snoring.
            Forrest gawked. “Ehehe… Lydia already fell asleep.”
            “But she was talking like five seconds ago…” Felix finished before the group decided to stop talking and rest on their own…
~~~
            “…dia…” No answer. “…ydia… Lydia!” [Music 2.2]
            “Yes, mommy?”
            “Your daddy and I want to give you something for doing well in school.”
            “How do you know of my grades?”
            “We asked your teacher about how you were doing, but it looks like we can trust you now. You are doing perfect!”
            “Mommy, I’ve changed. I’m trying harder in school now!”
            “We know, we know,” She smiled. “Anyway, we want to give you… this!”
            Her mother swung her hand forward and Lydia saw the most beautiful, fluffy, blue teddy bear that she had always wanted for her birthday. Lydia screamed and she began to jump into tears.
            “Mommy!! Mommy, I love it!!”
            “And come outside to the kitchen! Your daddy made your favorite breakfast!”
            Lydia’s father placed a plate of strawberry pancakes with rich honey syrup. “Your mom and I remembered how much you loved watching the plays about the friendly bigfoot. What did they call him, the blue-horned monster of the swamp?”
            “Something like that…” Lydia felt embarrassed, knowing that he was way off. [End music]
            Lydia blinked. Suddenly, she was standing at a faraway distance from her home. She watched as flames burst from inside-out.
            Nearby, she could hear a husky voice call out, “Viola Santa Lucia. You are ordered to track down anybody who is seen as an Obsidian. This will be your first mock-mission. Do not fail me.”
            Lydia ignored her as she watched her house fall slowly from the crackling flames. “No… No…! NO!!!”

            Lydia sat up as quickly as possible.
            “Nightmare?!” Lydia said to herself. [Music 8.4]
            She turned around and noticed that a soldier was about to stab her. He could have shot her, but he didn’t want to wake the others. Lydia kicked him in the genitals, but oddly enough, Lydia was the one who screamed and cried. Felix, Rina, and Forrest woke up immediately and noticed that the flames of the campfire had dispersed and only smoke was rising upwards.
            The soldier whined, rolling around the floor in pain. The group of four made their way into a random opening closest to them as they kept running without thinking much. They were under attack and Rina regretted having to make a campfire the night before.
            Throughout their run, Rina missed several times when she threw her knives while at the same time, bringing the knives back to her grip with the help of fire synthesis.
            Rina was in the front of the line, having to swipe her hand in front of everyone.
            “Sh! I hear their ugly clinking armor coming closer. We have to hide.”
            Lydia was about to cry, but Rina tried to silence her immediately by covering her mouth. Felix turned around and he noticed a small opening in between two boulders.
            “Let’s hide in here!” Felix suggested.
            The group of four made their way in between the boulders. [End music]


An Obvious Fit


            After about several seconds of silence, Forrest commented on the space around him, “Hm, I didn’t think this would be so roomy.”
            Lydia coughed. “It’s like living as a giant bear within rocks.”
            Rina rolled her eyes. “That makes no sense at all!”
            Forrest grinned. “I heard the bear wasn’t that mean many years ago. I don’t know why though.”
            Rina covered his mouth. “Okay, stop talking!”
            The soldiers sounded as if they were getting closer. Rina pushed everyone back by impulse and the three of them fell. Rina took a step back the moment she saw a soldier’s leg standing only about a foot away from her face.
            Rina whispered to them, “Stay quiet.” There was no answer. “Yeah, just like that.”
            She turned around. “What the-!” Her companions were completely gone!
            Rina tried to reach into the darkness, hoping her hands could at least locate one of them but she realized the extra space that she was given. She began taking a few steps into the darkness, further away from the soldier.

~ Silver Forest – southern portion – secret pond ~


            After a small moment, Rina was able to find Felix, Lydia, and Forrest. They were in awe at what they were seeing. In front of them were dim lights of green. Bubbles were levitating from a small pond, and then they popped like a humid sauna. Some of the plants glowed in the dark as well, all of the same color: light green. 
            Rina shrugged. “Kay, enough of this extremely random scene. I think we should find a way out of this forest as soon as possible.”
            Lydia took a step back. “I… I sense a very strong spirit nearby.”
            “Lydia, what are you talking about? I’m right here!” Rina joked as she tried to find her way out. [Music 1.3]
            Suddenly, a half-transparent woman appeared above the pond. She had light, magenta-colored hair with beads tied in several braids along her hair. Her long, orange and foreign dress ran down her entire body, completed with green elf shoes. She looked rather mythical and unreal to them.
            “G-Ghost!!!” Forrest fell, crawling behind Felix’s left leg.
            “Well, she’s pretty,” Felix commented.
            Rina rolled her eyes. “I didn’t know you were into older women. You’re just like Clyde, I swear.”
            Felix blushed. “I-I was just complimenting her looks!”
            “Welcome, travelers. My name is Lady Pria.”
            “L-Lady PRIA?!” Felix knelt down as he prayed to her. Forrest did the same, realizing that maybe this woman was of an ancient spirit.
            Rina headed closer to the pond. “Who the hell are you?”
            “Rina! She’s like a queen of the world!”
            “Oh nuh uh. That’s what you would call ‘Mother Rhadessia’. And this woman ain’t no Mother Rhadessia.”
            Lady Pria began to fall into tears. She sniffled, trying to wash away her tears with her soft hands.
            “Is she crying?” Forrest asked innocently.
            Felix panicked. “You angered her!!”
            Lydia was also innocent in this case. She asked Lady Pria, “Why are you crying?”
            “B-Because…” Lady Pria could barely speak because she was so heartbroken. “It’s just… hard to fathom the sight of weak human beings.”
            “Well, that was underwhelming,” Rina answered. “Let’s go. She’s weird.”
            As Rina turned around, a fireball literally five times larger passed above Rina’s head and it dispersed in an instant before it struck the walls. [End music]
            Forrest screeched and Felix bowed up and down several times, “We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we’re sorry!!!”
            Rina slowly turned around. “What… the hell was that?”
            Lydia had her index finger on her mouth. “It looked like very strong magic to me. She was also able to control it to disappear at her will.”
            “Like I said: I am Lady Pria, master of elemental magic.”
            Rina became serious. Her face showed eager and interest in the woman. “Lady Pria, is it?” Lady Pria shook her head as Rina asked, “Where did you learn that magic?”
            “The same way you learned yours,” Pria said kindly.
            “She has a nice ex-ter-ror, but she can pack a powerful magic attack! I say it’s over level 99!” Forrest yelped.
            “Shut up, kid. I think you meant ‘exterior’ by the way.” Rina turned back to Lady Pria, “How did you know I can use magic?”
            Lady Pria giggled. “I can sense it in your spirit, of course. However, you are not strong enough. The next time we meet, I may actually teach you a different elemental magic.”
            Her visible appearance vanished and Rina tried to run after her, only to be stopped by the pond.
            “W-Wait! You’re saying you can teach me more magic?!”
            Pria’s voice was still there, however. “By the way, your aiming sucks.”
            After the silence, Forrest asked her, “What aiming?”
            “I think she meant Rina’s crappy throwing skills with her knives,” Lydia said bluntly.
            “Lydia, be quiet! We don’t talk about that.”
            A green light flashed past everyone, indicating the exit to this pond. With the help of Lady Pria, maybe now they can finally find a way to escape the forest without getting caught. Who was this mythical woman, though?
[Ending 1 music]
~~~
On the next episode, we're finally getting out of the wretched forest! As we head on closer to Ouli Brye, the teenagers make a stop at the wrong direction as they end up in... an isolated house? There is only one person inside, and he looks quite homeless! The strange thing, the entire interior part of the house looks clean. What's going on?! Find out next week on The Obsidian Tale!
~~~

0 comments:

Post a Comment