The Obsidian Tale
Episode 21
[Opening 2 music]
~ Loomin – eastern dock ~
Lydia, Forrest, and Leo had just
landed on the docks of Loomin. Forrest ran out first, boasting about how he ate
the most due to Ekaja’s amazing cooking skills. Leo followed while pacing
himself, hoping to digest the food properly. Lydia turned around as she gave a
bow. [Music 20.1]
“Thank you so much for the meal,
mother.”
“Anything for my sweet little daughter,” Ekaja chuckled,
ironically being much shorter than Lydia. “Now, are you sure you will be safe
from here? Throughout the ride, you told me about your adventures, but seeing
that you have only four of the seven shards, you might need a little more
protection with the help of Leo and even Forrest.”
Lydia patted her own head. “Ehehe,
don’t worry about me. I’ve made it this far with and without my friends’ help,
I think? But, I’m sure I will be okay this time.” She gave a sigh. “So, you’re
really heading to the Village of Saradeli with Clyde’s parents, aren’t you?”
Ekaja turned her head towards the
top deck of the ship. Mr. and Mrs. D’Alonzo were swapping insults to each other
as a joke and laughing barbarically. Maybe they were just drunk from the extra
booze that they had in the ship?
“Yes, and I will be taking care of
them.” Ekaja gave a proud smile.
“That sounds like a nice thing to
do, mother!” Lydia gave Ekaja a hug, “I want to come back to the village and
visit you sometime soon if that’s okay! And by then, I’ll try to get all of the
shards back and be just the way you found me years ago.”
Ekaja tried not to shed any tears.
“Don’t you worry. I will always love
you, no matter what happens.” As she gave a friendly nudge to Lydia's forehead, she headed back into
the ship and Lydia waved goodbye to Clyde’s parents before they sailed off.
The moment Lydia turned around, she
accidentally watched Forrest throwing up into the nearest trash can after all
of that running. Leo had his palm against his forehead in shame. [End music]
Now after all that rejoice, the group had not noticed the sight of Loomin itself. Almost the entire town was clustered in debris and broken buildings. The only sounds that could be heard were the crows cackling in between the brown-leaved trees. The clouds were shrouded in the darkest gray and you could sense a slight rainstorm coming. [Music 21.1]
Now after all that rejoice, the group had not noticed the sight of Loomin itself. Almost the entire town was clustered in debris and broken buildings. The only sounds that could be heard were the crows cackling in between the brown-leaved trees. The clouds were shrouded in the darkest gray and you could sense a slight rainstorm coming. [Music 21.1]
Lydia placed her hand against her chest. “The… town here feels a bit gloomy. What happened?” She suddenly started to cry.
Leo panicked. “Hey, don’t let this town get into your head!”
Lydia wiped her tears away. “S-Sorry… I still can’t control that part of me yet. It’s just that this town makes me a little frightened and it causes me to cry. At least, that’s how I feel.”
Forrest tip-toed his way in front of her. “So what shards are we looking for here?”
Lydia shook her head. “From what I remember when Rina read the book of shards back at the Town of Igor, I think we are missing the Courage, Love, and Instinct shards – Orange, Red, and Green in that order.”
“How do you control your sadness?” Forrest asked.
Lydia placed a finger on her lips as she looked up at the blackened clouds. “Um… all three seem to be relevant, so I’m not sure. With Courage, I can have the power to control sadness. With Love, there is no point in being sad. And with Instinct, I’ll directly have control of my actions.”
After each ‘caw’ from the crows, the group could barely hear footsteps from afar, yet nearby at the same time. After all, they were the only noises echoing across the town. Leo dragged both Lydia and Forrest behind a broken pillar that used to be some sort of monument for a church.
A Gift for Rina
The Massage Artist
Leo moved his head from each end of
the pillar, hoping to find where the footsteps were coming from. Lydia pointed
at a large man in a blue army jumpsuit. It was of Gammel attire, but as a
previous, worn-out model. It looked like a tight jumpsuit that was probably uncomfortable
for his large and built body. [End music]
“There,” she whispered.
Forrest had his bazooka cube ready
in case if the large man was a part of the Gammel army. Of course, his armor
represented one of the leaders of Gammel, but it was charred at the same time.
Forrest sneezed and the cube inflated into the bazooka toy.
The stranger turned around
immediately and he grabbed onto the handle of his weapon. Leo noticed that the
sheath was rather large, probably about a three-by-three foot cube of mass.
“My bazooka can handle this!!”
Leo covered Forrest’s mouth as soon
as possible, but the cautious man stood up, about six-foot seven. His nametag
was carved as ‘Warren Oxner’. For a lieutenant-looking individual, he didn’t
look confident at all. He had an emotionless look on his face as if he was
ready to fight for no cause. [Music 18.1]
Lydia gasped. “Wait, something is
not right about him.” She appeared from of the pillar.
“Stay away from this grave,” He
said. His voice was deep, yet you could hear the harmless cry from deep within
his speech.
“Lydia, what are you doing?!”
Forrest whined.
Lydia gave a bow from afar. “My name
is Lydia Yager. I mean no harm.”
“Yager? Quite unusual.” The tall
man’s hand peered away from the handle of his weapon. “Where are you from?”
“I used to live in the meadows
nearby. But… it's no longer a safe zone. I am here in search of something important.”
The man had no response to her
explanation. He turned back to the grave. “Please keep away from this grave.”
“For the past twenty years, I have
returned to her grave on her birthday. I… loved her so much. During the weeks
before she passed away, a massive destruction broke out by our very own Gammel
army, but it was kept in secret. This place,” he became enraged. “This place
was used as a research unit for a sacred source called the Obsidian!”
Lydia gasped. “What do you mean?
What did they achieve with this research?”
The man continued to speak, “So far,
they were able to learn how to extract energy from an Obsidian. I do not know
where this person is and where she went, but the Gammel army wanted to throw
her away at first not too long ago. After they realized that the Obsidian can
regain energy and even sprout more energy from newer memories, they decided it
was a better idea to kidnap her and extract more energy – constantly until the
day she dies.”
Lydia became silent.
“I objected to this idea. I felt
there could be other ways to sprout life to Rhadessia, but they insisted. Even
my lieutenant partner, Felisse, objected to my ideas. In the end… the Gammel
army decided it was best to drop me from the title completely.”
Forrest and Leo appeared from the
pillar and the large man did nothing.
“Now, I am merely nobody, waiting
for his own death where he can live in peace with his beloved woman whom he was
supposed to live with for the rest of his life.”
Lydia took a step closer.
“Lieutenant, I…”
“Do not call me ‘lieutenant’ any
longer. I do not deserve that title.” [End music]
“Mmph…” Lydia stumbled in her words.
“May I at least know your name?”
“My name is Warren, Warren Oxner.”
Lydia shook her head. “Mr. Oxner,
tell me something. You know about the genocide that happened seven years ago,
yes?” [Music 14.1]
Leo tried to stop her. Since that
incident, Leo and his royal family were to never talk about anything as tragic
as that. “Lydia, we’re not supposed to talk freely about such
a thing-…”
Lydia uncontrollably punched his
face. “I want to know! I have to
know.”
Warren answered her, “You want to
know why the Gammel army created a genocide even knowing the Obsidians were a great
source of energy?” Lydia was eager to listen. “That is because the Gammel army
wanted to monopolize their own army against the Lennox and Winstel armies. The
research center of the Gammel government was intelligent enough to extract
every Obsidian energy and kill off any remains. That way, only their army would
have the energy to help bring life to Rhadessia. In doing so, the rest of the
world could see Gammel as the hero in bringing continuous life.”
Forrest scratched his head. “But
wouldn’t everyone think they’re evil for killing off the Obsidian people or
whatever?”
“The Obsidians live on an isolated
land far west from here. No regular human was allowed in that city, therefore
anybody outside the city had no idea what was happening. At this point, some
believe that the Obsidians are still alive and most of the educated believe
that they are dying out due to a plague.”
Lydia was almost in tears, but she
knew now was not the time to do so. She tried to control herself.
Warren gave a grim chuckle. “But,
now that I am out of the military, there is no point in worrying about politics
and all. I am waiting for the end, hoping that if there is some end to Rhadessia with the lack of Obsidian energy, then at
least I will not die alone.”
The group of three had nothing else
to say.
“Hah, I do not even know why I am
telling a bunch of children about how I feel. I apologize in advance.”
Lydia stepped closer. She tried to give
him a hug but she had trouble wrapping her arms around him. “Mr. Oxner, there is hope out there. We can find a way
together. You are not a bad man, and the Gammel army is wrong to think of you
that way. And, please don't give up on life. It's a beautiful world out there and I know there are people who wish you to live onward for them.”
“Wh-what?” Warren began to blush,
surprised that a young girl would try to lecture him. “Just… who are you?” Lydia’s
hug was warm – in contrast to the Loomin atmosphere.
Lydia took a step back. “I am the
last Obsidian remaining.”
Warren’s eyes widened. He began to
shake with concern. “Y-You?”
He fell to his knees as tears
dropped into the soil. “Dear Obsidian, please, please lead the world into
continuous harmony! The Gammel army had no idea how quickly their extracted
energy was depleting after using it for research and armies. However, the world
itself needs your help!”
Lydia was surprised. “I-I can’t do
that! I’m just a teenager.”
“Just because you are a teenager does not mean your opinions do not matter. You
can save the world, but at the same time… it would cost a lot of energy from
you. It would be terrible to ask for such a thing from you, but in a time like
this when there is still energy left in the world, I…”
Lydia held out her hand. “Mr. Oxner,
at this point, I don’t know what I should do to help save the world from its
dying source of energy."
Forrest questioned the situation.
“But, as long as Lydia is breathing, the world can be saved, right? How was the
world doing when many of the Obsidian people were still alive?”
Leo patted Forrest on the head. “Now
you’re thinking! However, you forgot that Lydia is just one person.”
Lydia grinned. “And the only way for
the world to prosper a little longer, I must be a sacrifice. I think merely
existing does give off energy, but my
death can help extract a large amount of Obsidian energy. But still, it would
be limited.”
Leo shook his head in
disapprovement. “Lydia, we can’t do that! You realize that even if you
sacrifice yourself, then the world would prosper only a few years longer, not
forever.”
Lydia panicked as she raised her
voice, “Then what am I supposed to do?! I didn’t choose to be born as an
Obsidian, and now everyone is depending on me to help save Rhadessia itself!
This world is going to die soon, and maybe I can help make it last a little longer.
In those extra years needed, maybe they can actually find something that can
keep Rhadessia alive – new technology! I’ll be the bridge of all this!”
Forrest began to cry, realizing that
Lydia would have to be a sacrifice.
Warren interrupted them. “We first
need to retrieve the shards that the Gammel army has. It’s the last source of
energy remain.” [End music]
Lydia turned to him. “Wait a minute…
that’s it! It would be a long shot, but it’s worth a try. If we get all the
shards, I will be complete and back to normal. However, I’m willing to lose a
spec of my energy for someone like Professor Nell. Maybe, just maybe she could
help find an extra source of energy!”
“Who’s Professor Nell??” Forrest
asked.
“From what I remember, she is the
sweetest and perkiest scientist ever. She lives in the Town of Igor. I would
love to see her again!”
“I’m afraid that is not possible,” a
familiar voice was heard from nearby.
Guns began to click. They were ready
to be shot from each end of the small graveyard. Gammel soldiers had snuck
their way in the vicinity of the group of four, and the only person that looked
notable from everyone else was Floir! [Music 7.2]
“Do not move,” Floir commanded.
“Gladly enough, we did not take too long to find you raspy lot.”
“What did you do to my friends?!”
Forrest asked angrily.
“They are still in Bafuul. Listen,
children! We overheard your little plan. There is no chance to get those shards
now. The red shard is being researched on while the orange shard has been moved
to a laboratory in Troiya. However, the research is almost complete, so there
is no time for you to get them!”
Lydia began to cry uncontrollably.
“What are you even trying to accomplish with them?!”
Floir chuckled. “To save the world,
of course.” She turned to a few soldiers, “Take that rotten ex-lieutenant to
Bafuul. We don’t need any more men leaking information about the Gammel army.”
Forrest whined. “Mr. Lieutenant!!”
Warren shouted at Lydia, Leo, and
Forrest, “Do not take another step! This issue is my responsibility.”
Lydia clenched her fists. “But why?!
You’re going to prison! You need to fight back.”
Warren sighed. “I do not deserve
vengeance.” He peacefully agreed to walk away from the crowd with a few
soldiers.
Floir took a shiny green object from
her pocket. “Now, where were we?”
Lydia was astonished. “Where did you
get that shard?!”
Floir rolled her eyes. “We’ve
learned to track these shards with a detector. Do you not realize that our
scientists are clever enough to anticipate the separation of shards?”
“Nope.”
“Not really.”
“Same here.” All three of them
replied.
“Silence!!” Floir shouted,
continuing her point. “We were actually lucky the shards did not float away
from this continent.”
Leo readied his fists. “They have
the rest of the shards!”
Floir stopped him by commanding a
few more soldiers to aim their guns towards him. “Ah, ah, ah~ I wouldn’t move
if I were you. Come to Bafuul with us and we will not shatter this shard.”
Leo whispered to Lydia, “She’s
bluffing. They need the shard to do more research.”
Lydia was trying her best to refrain
from crying.
As two soldiers were heading closer
towards Leo in order to handcuff him, Leo made a sneaky counterattack by
elbowing the soldier from behind. The soldier in front of him was gripped by
both hands and used as a shield. The soldiers were startled at how quick Leo
was. Forrest grabbed Lydia and dragged her behind Leo.
“Tch! My, aren’t we quick about
things?” Floir was frustrated.
The rest of the soldiers continued
to aim for the group.
The soldier that was held hostage
began to panic. “N-No, don’t shoot!”
Leo whispered to Forrest about some
sort of tactic and Floir decided to command every soldier to shoot anyway.
Leo dropped the soldier flat onto
the ground before anybody could get shot. A split second later, Forrest’s
bazooka cube inflated which helped negate the bullets for a few more seconds.
Forrest used his small handgun to aim for Floir’s hand.
Floir’s shoulder pad was grazed!
“Dang it, I missed!” Forrest panicked.
In surprise, Floir dropped the shard
and Leo ran across the graveyard. He skipped the grave that Warren held dear to
him and the soldiers shot every other grave in an attempt to catch Leo. As
Floir was about to pick up the green shard, Leo was right behind her and the soldiers
hesitated to shoot.
“I’m sorry for doing this!” Leo
rudely pushed her aside as he stole the green shard. As all the soldiers
focused on Leo and Floir, the two other group members had already made a run
for it.
Floir stood up. “You bastard! Your
own friends left you and now you are trapped. Put your hands up in the air-“
“Damn it!!!” A soldier yelped.
Everyone turned to him who was now
handcuffed.
“Heh, good job, Forrest!” Leo
thought to himself as he ran off during the distraction.
“RRRAAAGH!!!!” Floir exploded as she
said in a shrieking voice, “GET THOSE DAMN RUNTS!!!” [End music]
~ Aria River – northern point ~
After a while, Leo was able to catch
up to Forrest and Lydia, but what was in front of them was a large mass of
water streaming at an angle towards Troiya. Forrest took a step into the
shallow water and luckily, it was only a foot tall.
Forrest frowned. “I don’t know if we
can actually run in this.”
“They’re over here!” One soldier
called out.
Leo jumped ahead. “Well there’s no
time to be thinking about that now! Let’s go!” [Music 4.3]
Slowly running down the shallow
streams, a soldier tried to shoot Forrest by the leg but he missed. In shock,
Forrest accidentally dropped the shard.
Leo picked up it. “I got it!”
“Phew, thanks!”
“I think I ran out of ammo!” One
soldier said.
“Hey, same here! We’re gonna have to
tackle them down for Lieutenant Floir’s sake!”
Lydia clapped her hands. “Perfect!
They ran out of bullets.”
For several minutes, the group of
three were successful at running and keeping their distance away from the
soldiers. There were about seven left while a few other soldiers lost their
tracks. The water was getting deeper and Forrest could barely move onward. Leo
slowed down for him.
“Lydia, catch! I’ll help Forrest.”
Lydia yelped, “Huh?! But I can’t
ca-“ The green shard flew past her and she accidentally slid forward. She
rolled and eventually her bottom was doing the sliding. She screamed in a
panic. “AHHH!!!!”
“Crap, that’s not good,” Leo said.
The closest soldier grabbed Forrest
by the shoulder but Forrest inflated his bazooka which pushed him off the
tracks of the river. Once Forrest put his bazooka away, Leo dragged him down
the deeper water streams. The six soldiers continued to ‘run’ towards them.
Eventually, five of the soldiers
caught up with Leo and Forrest. This was no surprise as Leo was busy trying to
support Forrest. The sixth man already went ahead to catch Lydia.
Leo punched one of the soldiers in
the gut while Forrest tried to open his cubed bazooka. Without time, another
soldier grabbed Forrest from behind. The two of them struggled and fell down
the stream together. Leo followed along, ignoring the rest of the men.
The river knelt horizontally for a
short period. Lydia grabbed the green shard which was stuck by a moss rock
nearby the shallow river. “Thank goodness, I found it!”
“Yoink!” One of the Gammel men stole
the shard from her.
Without thinking, Lydia gave him an
uppercut from below the chin and he flew up. She kicked his stomach as he was
tossed into the sudden river stream that had a 45-degree angle. The man let go
of the shard and Lydia could barely catch it without having to accidentally
jump off as well.
She rose the shard towards the sky
as soon as possible. The shard was filled with green aura and Lydia’s whole
body was engraved in green. Even Forrest, Leo, and the soldiers could see the
light from afar. Lydia had her eyes closed, feeling the essence of green flow into
her. Once the light stopped, Lydia opened her eyes and she felt a bit more
complete! Suddenly, her collar was being tugged! [End music]
Floir appeared by surprised with her
hand gripped onto Lydia’s collar.
“You think you could get away from
me?”
“S-Stop it!” Lydia struggled with
her, but it was too difficult to push herself away. She relied on her lack of
instincts to uncontrollably punch and kick Floir away, but it seemed the
Instinct shard had already been instilled into her.
With the five remaining soldiers,
four were chasing Leo and one was still struggling with Forrest. The Gammel
soldier stole the cube from Forrest while they were rolling in a mud puddle. [Music 3.1]
“Hey! Gimme that back!!!”
“It’s mine now!”
“What are you, twelve?!” Forrest
grabbed the cube.
“And how old are you?!” The man stole it back.
“Probably older than you!” Forrest
whined as he took the cube again.
“That makes no sense at all!” The
man retaliated by taking the object.
“Jess told me not to say bad words,
but if I could, I would say so much to you right now!” Forrest kicked him in
the unmentionable area as he retrieved the bazooka cube! The man stopped at the
mud and Forrest kept running.
Forrest turned around and he quickly
opened it to blast the rest of the soldiers away.
Leo ducked into the mud. “Hey! Watch
where you’re shooting, Forrest!”
Two soldiers were blasted off the
river and the other two ignored Leo, aiming for Forrest. Forrest tried to shoot
again but he was losing his balance from the slippery stream of water. Leo
grabbed the second soldier’s leg and he tripped into the mud. Leo stood up as
he used one leg to step on the soldier’s back. The man’s face was in the mud.
Forrest and the last soldier stopped
running as they watched. The only sounds heard was the river and Leo’s
out-of-character barbaric laughter.
“BA-HAH-HAH-HAH! You fell for it!”
Leo continued to step on the soldier’s back after each word he said. “You.
Can’t. Beat. Me!”
Forrest said slowly, “Leo… um…”
“Oh that’s right!! The green shard!
I’m on my way, Lydia!!” Leo suddenly ran ahead and the soldier remembered what
he had to do.
Forrest was pushed back as the
soldier rushed past him. Without enough time, Leo accidentally tripped over
Forrest and the two of them were rolling down the stream, eventually falling
over the 45-degree angle of water. The last soldier stopped, hesitating to jump
down just for a green shard.
The two of them screamed in fear.
“WE’RE FALLING!!!!!!” They said
together.
"Again?!" Forrest added before his voice faded away while remembering how he fell from the Silver Forest waterfall.
"Again?!" Forrest added before his voice faded away while remembering how he fell from the Silver Forest waterfall.
Leo screeched. “This isn’t how I
imagined our success!” He concluded. [End music]
It’s too bad they fell down the
river for nothing. It seems the green shard already returned to Lydia.
[Ending 2 music]
~~~
On the next episode of The Obsidian Tale, it seems things are finally picking up. Felix and Rina are now headed to Troiya... with Garnett? How awkward! Meanwhile, Forrest and Leo have both fallen down the Aria River which is right next to Troiya. What will happen to Lydia now that Lieutenant Floir took captive of her? Let's see what the two- no, three groups, will do on the next episode!
~~~
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