The Obsidian Tale
Episode 16
[Opening 2 music]
[Opening 2 music]
~ ??? ~
Three group members: Lydia, Forrest,
and Leo, peacefully made their way through the streams of fresh air and
stillness.
Leo took a deep breath as he watched
the doves fly by.
“Ah,” He smiled with his eyes
closed. “Doesn’t it feel great out here?”
Lydia saw faint buildings to her
left. “Those are… buildings from the Town of Igor?”
Forrest was quiet. [Music 1.4]
“The Town of Igor is east of Kyrie,
is that right?” Leo asked.
Lydia nodded. She didn’t show much
enthusiasm or any expressions still, but she could at least remember her
travels properly.
“Yes. It was beautiful.”
“From what I remember, I think I
know where we’re going,” Leo said. He took a granola bar out of his bag and
then he chewed onto the tip.
Leo spat his granola bar. “Th-That
was too sudden,” He said quietly.
Right away, she stopped crying as if
her emotions were still uncontrollable.
Leo gave a sigh and the he turned to
Forrest who seemed quiet for once. “Forrest, how are you feeling?”
Forrest had his bazooka cube thrown
onto the boat. “Terrible.”
“Why is that?” Leo wondered. “And
don’t throw the cube on the boat. This boat could be unsanitary!”
“Didn’t you see what I did? I used
the bazooka to destroy a whole city and the underwater stuff. I didn’t know it
was that strong. I broke Rha-des-sia’s pretty land.”
Leo swished his hands to the left
and then to the right alternatively.
“Eheh… you don’t need to worry about
that. In some cases, it helped us! It could even show the Gammel army that
you’re a strong boy!”
“But was it a heroic thing to do?”
Lydia remembered what Jess told
Forrest back at Kyrie before they split. “Forrest, I think Jess was trying to
tell you that being a hero doesn’t mean always doing what you think is right.”
“Lydia is correct- Or, well, Jess.
Whoever she is. My point is, being heroic means you have to take chances and do
what’s most convenient for the long run when you actually do do the right thing.”
Forrest chuckled a little.
“Did I say something funny?”
“You said doodoo. Hehe.”
Leo blinked several times. “Um…
Well, I mean…”
Lydia uncontrollably slapped Leo in
the face. “How nice. You’re so good with children,” She said emotionlessly.
Leo almost fell off the sailboat.
“What kind of flattery was that?!” He whined without showing anger.
Once he sat back up, he grabbed the
toy bazooka cube. “Forrest,” Forrest finally looked at him. “I’m sorry that I
haven’t given you this myself. I was in a hurry, you see.” Forrest had no idea
how to respond. “Instead, I’m going to start over.”
He
sat forward and reached his arm out towards Forrest with the cube, “This is for
you.”
Forrest blushed. “Huh?? Y-You don’t
have to give it to me twice!” He made a soft smile.
“I want to. And please, cherish it.
Don’t shame it onto the ground just because you used it to destroy some little
landscape.”
Forrest grabbed the cube. “But…”
“All you have to do is control the
flame that was thrown into it. Simple stuff. Here, actually…!” Leo grabbed the
cube and then he summoned the bazooka.
“What are you doing??”
Leo turned away and he grabbed
something out of his pocket. Forrest and Lydia stared at each other, listening
to a few squeaky noises in between Leo and the bazooka.
“Tada!” He turned around and then he
showed Forrest the bazooka. There were large letters written on the bazooka
with permanent marker.
“Whoa! ‘KABOOM!’,” Forrest giggled.
“I like it so much!!!” He began laughing rather loudly. “Thanks, Mister
Leonardo!!”
“Eheh, no! You can just call me
Leo!”
Lydia coughed. “I thought royal
families were stingy, but it looks like Leo is a giver.”
Forrest began to cry as he hugged
onto Leo’s trench coat. “Thank you so much. This makes me really happy. I
haven’t had a gift this great since… I don’t remember actually…”
He was right. It has been several
years since his parents had disappeared, and even then, he was too young to
remember specific events that he had with both his mother and father.
How Much Wood Would Forrest Chuck?
“Look!” Lydia pointed at the mist
ahead. Her emotionless voice trembled. [End music]
Leo stood up immediately.
“Goodness!” He called out loud. “It’s… bigger than I have imagined!”
Forrest tilted his head. “What are
those floating white thingies?”
“White clouds that are somehow able
to float at lower levels,” Leo answered him. “This place… It’s…”
Lydia and Leo said at the same time,
“The Lake City Prima, home of the most beautiful luxury and artifacts in the
world.”
Forrest began jumping
uncontrollably. “OOH! OOH! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!!!”
The sailboat began ravaging forward
and back due to Forrest’s excitement, causing Lydia to fall to her knees and
Leo to completely fall off the boat.
“Oh, woops!” Forrest chuckled.
~ Lake City Prima – South Gate ~
“I hope this will be the first place
that won’t be destroyed because of our existence,” Lydia said without emotion.
Leo felt guilty. “Ah… I can only imagine
what your adventure was like before I came along.”
Lydia suddenly fell to her knees,
crying. “It was horrible! We always had to run, and townspeople got hurt along
the way!”
“Look what you did,” Forrest whined.
“But I…!”
“Welcome, welcome, newcomers!” A
girl called from a nearby pole that was stuffed under the water, sticking
itself into the giant, floating rock. [Music 6.1]
Forrest headed for the front of
their small sailboat. “Who said that? Do you two see anyone??”
They could hear a clinking noise and
it became louder in an instant. A girl fell from the top of the pole and down
onto the water with a giant, silver platform. Water splashed all over Forrest
and Leo.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m new at
work here and I can never get this stupid machine right. Oh well! You can get
washed up at our hotels! It’s only several thousands of gold per night, hehe!”
Forrest cried. “Darn it… Something
tells me she did that on purpose just to take our money.”
“Oh, oh! Newcomers, right?! I need
to give you a tour!”
She was just as ecstatic as the
passport girl from the Town of Igor, only this time she wore a blue suit that
squeaked with each movement.
Forrest faced directly upward and he
could see a few people riding along a magnet rider that stuck out from the
rocks.
“Whoa… Leo, Leo! I want to go on
there! Can you take me?!”
“Wha? But shouldn’t we go find those
shards for Felix and Rina?”
“I know, I know. But we should take
this time now to play for a few minutes before it’s too late.”
Leo shrugged. “Well, I don’t see a
problem with that. Assuming that the other two went to South Ouli Brye, they
are probably having a blast at its awesome markets and inns. And… of course the
amazing pubs, if they are old enough, that is.”
“Rina is not,” Lydia answered.
“Well then let’s assume they’re
having some fun anyway,” Leo said as the three of them docked their sailboat
and stood onto the platform.
“All aboard to the Lake City Prima,
where fun and enjoyment will always prosper!”
“You just used similar adjectives to
describe this place. Unprofessional,” Lydia said bluntly.
“What?” The blue-suited girl became
irked.
Forrest tried to jump and cover
Lydia’s mouth at the same time.
“Sh!!!” He chuckled in guilt. “We’re
sorry. She’s a little tired.”
It took about five minutes to reach
the depths of the rocks which of course, felt very high up from the Rhadessian
ground level.
As they made their way to the
Primarian ground level, two jesters on each end did a cartwheel down the path
and a red carpet was rolled further away into the distance for the three group
members. Some of the workers blew streamers and microphones were being used to
cheer in the newcomers.
Forrest became shy. He hid behind
Leo throughout their entire walk down the red carpet. A little boy tried to
take a picture from the side and Lydia kicked him in the face.
Forrest gasped. “Lydia!! What are we
going to do with you when Rina is not here??”
“He bothered me,” She said without
care.
Leo began stretching. “Ahhh… This is
exactly how I imagined Lake City Prima from the books and magazines.”
“You mean they’re like this all the
time?” Forrest became red from embarrassment. He was being showcased to crowds
of happy people for the first time.
The worker chimed into the
conversation. “Yes! Our duty, as workers, must welcome new visitors to make
them feel at home and enjoy their stay here.”
“To drain our money,” Leo joked.
“N-No! We enjoy new faces!”
Leo became sarcastic with her, “Oh
it’s fine.~ It’s a win-win situation as long as you take our money, and we continue
to enjoy our stay in return. Even if your goal is to drain money, at least
you’re doing a good job at it.”
The worker turned red. Forrest could
imagine train noises and smoke coming out of her ears in embarrassment.
“Q-Quite the charmer, you are!” The
worker blushed like a tomato. “But I assure you we love our newcomers!”
“You love me?” Leo continued with
his sarcasm.
Forrest pushed Leo forward. “I
didn’t know you were sarcastic and flirty, Leo. Let’s just keep going! I don’t
want to cause a scene at another city.”
“I was just playing with her, heh. I
don’t really want to be a ladies-man but they keep coming to me.”
The worker stopped. Her shift was
over to introduce them to the city as now they are within the Lake City Prima.
“Bye! I-I hope you can actually play
with me next time we meet!”
“N-No thank you!” Leo fell to the
ground in surprise. [End music]
Forrest became confused. “What does
she mean by ‘play with me’??”
~ Lake City Prima – Central Plaza – Road to Entertainment ~
Down the red carpet, the group of
three party members entered a large plaza that looked like a park filled with
several different plants. [Music 16.1]
Leo sniffed one of them. “Ah… baby
sycamores. They’ll grow into nice trees someday.”
“You mean they are growing a tree
indoors??”
“It wouldn’t seem weird knowing how
amazing this place is.”
“Hm, maybe you’re right.” Forrest
noticed that everyone was walking around casually, almost each of them not
alone. They all had families walking together and the like.
Leo noticed that Forrest was
suddenly not feeling so well.
“I wonder what happened to my mom
and dad?”
“You don’t know?”
“I really don’t. They just…
disappeared and never came back. I thought they abandoned me, but other kids
had the same problem too. I wanted to find an answer, but I was and still am
just a kid. I can’t just go around asking people at this time. Even when I
become an adult, it will be too late. They would have forgotten those parents
by now.”
“But the gov-“
Leo quickly closed Lydia’s mouth.
“Does he even know that the Gammel army had something to do with those
parents?”
Lydia shook her head, not knowing if
he knew.
Forrest wiped his face. “Right now
is not the time to think about it though! Hehe. See? Everyone is so happy, so
we should be too!” He noticed one person in particular – another child standing
in front of a tall man in a cloak.
“Huh??” Forrest became confused.
“That girl doesn’t look happy though.” The child that Forrest saw was actually
frowning.
‘Frowning’…? The child’s eyes were
slanted upward and dark bags were under the eyes, followed by dirt from the
beige outfit.
Leo said quietly to himself, “That’s
strange. This person must have grown up to be demented if their eyes are
naturally slanted upward.”
“Which girl? He looks like a boy,”
Lydia said.
“Nuh uh. That’s a girl for sure.”
“But his clothes make him look like
a boy.”
“But what about her hair?”
The child turned to them with
demented eyes and a crooked frown. Forrest gulped in fear as he was startled.
Leo shrugged. “Or this child could
be genderless. Who knows?”
“Is there such thing?” Forrest
questioned him while pretending that they were not staring.
“Of course. If they feel that gender
is not what defines who they are, then that is fine to them and we should understand
that.”
“Hrm… I don’t get it, but I’ll
probably get used to it. I still think she’s a girl! But then again, Lydia’s
guesses are always right…” He turned back to the child. “H-Hey, that kid is
gone. A-And so is the cloaked person! Where did they go?”
Leo was stumped. Even he thought
something was going in between them behind all of the joyful city.
“We shouldn’t think about it too
much. You said you wanted to have fun, right?”
“Oh yeah! Even I forgot, hehe! Let’s
start with the magnet riders!!!”
“We have to pay for those!”
Forrest and even Lydia looked at
him, waiting for the signal.
“Oh… and I’m right here.”
“Cool!! Don’t worry. I’ll pay you
back when I can!”
The pre-teen and the teenager both
ran together towards the nearest magnet rider.
Leo said in shame, “Aw… It’s like I
have to take care of two children. But then again, they remind me of my early
years…”
~ Lake City Prima – Tour of the City ~
It has been several hours since the
group of three left the central plaza. The magnet riders were one of
Forrest’s favorites, but Lydia felt sick without letting anyone know. Of
course, it was because no one knew she was feeling queasy. She had no emotions.
The Colossal of Eternal Death
After the first few magnet riders, they arrived at
an animal zoo where they spent about two hours looking a snakes, monkeys,
lions, and porcupines. The main attraction for Lydia was the parrot.
A zookeeper held a parrot on his
arm. “Come right up! Speak to Perry the Parrot! It will repeat what you say!”
Lydia stood in front of it. “I like
the taste of wood.”
“Raaawk! Ilikethetasteofwoooood!”
Half of the audience clapped and the
other half sounded confused by her statement.
Forrest tried to stop her. “Lydia,
we should skip this one.”
“The Gammel army is a consp-“
Leo covered her mouth. “She has no
idea what she’s talking about, heh!” Once Lydia stopped shuffling away from his
mouth, Leo moved away.
“Cities get destroyed every time I-“
Forrest laughed barbarically.
“GAHAHAH. OH YOU’RE SO FUNNY. Did you all hear that?! She’s so good at jokes!”
The city folk were looking at each
other in silence at first and then they laughed along.
“Hey you’re right, she is pretty
funny. I like her!” One man said.
“And she’s hot!” Another man called
out from nearby.
Lydia kicked him on the face.
“Creep.”
Forrest panicked, laughing out loud
even more. “HAAAAHHAAA!! OH STOP IT
YOU, YOU’RE TOO FUNNY. OKAY. LET’S GET OUT OF HERE.”
Forrest dragged her away and Leo
followed. A few children were whispering to each other behind the parrot.
“Raaawk! Whataweirdo. Whataweirdo!”
The last stop they made was the
mini-lake during the sunset. This was rather short as they did not want to stay
long. It only reminded them of wanting to have picnics with a real family or
with a full group of friends. They wanted to copy some of them who illegally
fed ducks while the guards were sleeping on the job, but there was not much
time to waste as they were getting exhausted.
The last place they visited was the
Le Petit Place de Prima which was one of the fanciest places in Prima to eat
in. Throughout their journey, it was time they had the best meals of all, but
Forrest took a simple bread and cheese meal because he enjoyed them back at
Kyrie for years in the past.
Food of Le Petit Place de Prima
Still, it was much better than any meal he had tasted before. Wonder what would it be like if he tried something actually fancier? [End music]
~ Lake City Prima – Eastern Plaza – Inn ~
It was dark but there was still a
lot of noise out at night! The same amount of screams from magnet riders and
comedic showcases were still brewing. Forrest skipped his way through a thick
bridge over a running fountain and river water. You could even see the Moon’s reflection
shining against the flowing waters. [Music 16.2]
“So, so, where are we going next,
Leo?!”
“I’m going to book us an inn. Are
you getting a little sleepy?”
“Aw, I don’t want to go to bed.”
“You haven’t slept during proper
hours and at your age, you need to.”
“Leo, I thought you were coooool.~” Forrest’s
voice rang in a specific tune. “Pleaaaase?”
Lydia suddenly fell to the ground.
She began snoring.
“That was fast…” Forrest rolled his
eyes. “Darn it. I guess we have to sleep…”
Leo managed to order a room with
three king-sized beds.
“Ah! What a day huh?”
“Yeah it was, but we have to stay
quiet for Lydia.”
“I’m awake now.”
“What?! Just a second ago, you
knocked out!” Forrest shouted.
Leo turned to his right, facing the
walls and a lamp. “We could try to sleep well for this night. Who knows what
may come for the next several days?”
Forrest whined. “I guess you’re
right…”
Forrest tried to close his eyes and
only a few hours later, time already reached 12 AM. He opened his eyes, having
trouble sleeping.
Leo noticed him shuffling around.
“Forrest? Have you been sleeping at all?”
“Not much…”
“I’m up too,” Lydia interrupted
them.
Leo grinned. “Same here. I guess I’m
thinking a lot about Ouli Brye right now.”
“Really? What’s wrong?”
Leo cupped his head with both of his
hands. His green hair slid to the side. “It’s just… I’m here having fun, but I
bet my best friend, Ace, is having difficulty trying so hard to restore the
city. I told him I’m leaving to seek out the Gammel army, and here I am wasting
time.”
“You think this was a waste of
time??” Forrest began to cry.
“N-No! I didn’t mean it like that!
I’m actually glad I had this night to relax with you two. But, I also feel
guilty not doing much.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll get to it. For
now, let’s spend this last night relaxing.”
Leo began to chuckle. “One last
night to relax, yes?”
“Yep, yep! Why do you ask?”
“Forrest, do you want to stay up?”
“Oh boy, I would be so happy to!
What do you have planned?!”
“I know it’s 12 AM, but who cares. Let’s
go! I’m taking you to the place where I like to spend my time in most!”
Forrest began jumping on the
perfectly clean bed. “YAY!! I can’t wait! You’re the best fake-dad I could ever
have!”
“D-Dad?!” Leo blushed.
“Does that make me the daughter?”
Lydia asked without emotion.
“S-Stop it! I’m not that old!” Leo
wanted to cry. [End music]
~ Lake City Prima – Northeastern Plaza – Auction House ~
By the eastern end of the city, Leo
took them to an auction house.
“What’s this??” Forrest pointed at
the large building. [Music 4.1]
“I remember having one of these in
South Ouli Brye. It’s called an Auction House.”
“Octin house? What’s that for?”
“Auction,” Leo kindly repeated for
him, “And it’s for people who bet money for something that they really want.
Like a bazooka. You start off at a low price, say… one gold, and people will
keep calling out numbers at a higher price until no one can beat them. It’s
great, I promise. I used to go all the time and win all the cool prizes!”
Forrest became uninterested. “Aw,
that sounds like rich people stuff…”
Leo reached the bulletin board.
“It’s different here. They actually display the prizes on the board before the
auction starts. In Ouli Brye, the prizes are a surprise, so it would be
terrible to bet all your money on an item, and then the second item happens to
be much more amazing.”
“That’s kind of like gambling, huh?”
“Exactly!”
Lydia pointed at the last prize at
the bottom. “There are three grand prizes, and the third says… ‘Violet Prism’.”
“What does that mean?”
Two girls in nice, red dresses
appeared before them. They both seemed a little… tipsy.
“Oh, you’re aiming for the Violet
Prism too? I hear it shines very bright. It would look good in my household!”
“I want it, though!” The other girl
said. “I want to give it to my boyfriend.”
“Girl, your boyfriend doesn’t even
like you.”
“What did you say? He loves me!”
Leo stood in between them. “Ladies,
please calm down. What is this Violet Prism exactly?”
“I don’t know. Did you read the
pamphlet? It gives detailed descriptions of the items for tonight. Here is
ours. Next time, be prepared if you’re going to the auction house, big boy.~”
As the two girls left, Leo began
reading the pamphlet. “Hm… Brass Knuckles made by the best blacksmith in Lake
City Prima – that’s the first prize. The second one is a BB gun extension, best
for your children’s full enjoyment. That doesn’t sound safe at all.”
Forrest jumped in happiness. “Ooh! I
want it, I want it!!”
“Er… I’ll try to get it. The last
one is the Violet Prism, recently found several days ago. Its bright light
reveals tremendous energy emitted by the sacred eradicated race.”
“What does that even mean??” Forrest
tilted his head. [End music]
Lydia’s heart began pounding faster.
“It’s coming.”
“Huh? What’s wrong, Lydia?”
“I can feel it getting closer.” She
suddenly faced the auction house with her body walking closer to the front
door. “It’s here, the violet shard.”
[Ending 2 music]
~~~
On the next episode, we will find out how the main group will get the violet shard. That should be the fourth one by now, right? Based on the next episode's title, you can guess money will be spent, but how will it be spent? The violet shard is the third item on the list, so what are the first two? Will Leo spend money on those? Find out next time on The Obsidian Tale!
~~~
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