The Obsidian Tale
Episode 23
[Opening 2 music]
[Opening 2 music]
~ Bafuul – stairway ~
As mentioned moments before, Bafuul
was as wide as a town, slightly smaller than Troiya itself. The moment you pass
the slight cemented road between Troiya and Bafuul, you would reach the
entrance of the jailed town. When entering, there lies a kiosk and a bunch of
doors and staircases going down. The staircases are what leads to the jail
cells. For Lydia, there was a special room downstairs for her to rest in before
the day goes on when they decide to start the extraction. [Music 11.1]
Lydia followed Viola down the
staircase. The only thing lighting the room were candles after every few steps.
“Um, can I ask you a question?”
Lydia asked kindly.
There was no response. Lydia faced
the ground in disappointment, wondering what to do next.
“Hey, your name is Viola, right?”
“Was that your question?”
“Oh, no, no. It wasn’t.”
“What is it?” Viola did not bother
to turn around. Her voice echoed in determination, but it sounded somewhat soft
at the same time.
Lydia smiled. “Um, I just wanted to
know if we have met before.”
There was no answer again.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to
answer that. It’s just that your hair and that friendly smile-“
Viola made a sudden gasp. “I don’t
know what you’re talking about.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have never met you before in my
life. I had no idea you were the Obsidian until my predecessor, Lieutenant
Floir, mentioned you.”
“Is that so…”
“Now if you would please stay silent
until you get to your room.”
“Mmph…” Lydia gave an uncomfortable,
disappointed look, but Viola did not bother to turn her head. [End music]
~ Troiya – northern market ~
Meanwhile, Rina and Forrest were
able to get through the guards, surprisingly. However, they had to be quick or
else any soldiers from their previous journey spotted them as Lydia’s
travelers. Forrest constantly talked, but Rina was too busy thinking about
Lydia and her safety.
Finally, Rina’s ears reverted back
to Forrest.
“Hey Rina, where do you think they
put Gammool armor?”
“It’s ‘Gammel’, idiot. The only
place would be… around here? As a town created for military storage, I wouldn’t
be surprised that they would be here in the marketplace. At the same time,
they’re serving the army, so it shouldn’t be for sale.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“Oh that’s right.” Rina began to
think to herself. “We also need to go to a laboratory that Leo mentioned
before. It must be here in Troiya. Now where would that be?”
“Rinaaaaaa~ Are you there?” Forrest
asked the blank-spaced Rina.
Aside from that, from nearby, a girl
was yelling out loud with her short, husky friend, and a long, slim man. [Music 4.1]
“Love potions for sale!! They woke
really well, I promise! Come get them here!”
Rina recognized her from Ouli Brye.
Forrest pointed at her, “A love
potion? Hey Rina, if you take a potion, maybe you’ll become nicer!”
“Oh shut up. Say one more insult and
I will make sure you’ll get sent to Bafuul unarmed.” She headed towards the
girl. “She is the same merchant girl,
though.”
Forrest jumped. “Whoa! You’re
actually gonna buy one!”
Rina shook her head. “Nope. They
have military outfits on to disguise themselves as Troiyan merchants. And when
they’re the weakest links when it comes to us needing those outfits, you know
what I’m going to do?”
“Uh oh…”
The merchant girl waved at Rina.
“Hey you! You seem to be everywhere!~ Come get a love potion! I guarantee this
one will work!”
Rina slammed one hand against the
table and she used her other hand to point at the merchant with the same branch
as before, “Listen, I heard someone in the back alley is trying to compete with
you with love potions.”
“GASP! Are they really?!”
Tedd, the short and stocky friend,
whined. “That’s not good at all!”
“Most definitely not good!” Zedd,
the tall and slim friend added.
Rina smiled. “Yeah, and guess what?
Their potions… have designs on them.”
“ULTRA GASP! We need to start
designing our potions. Zedd, Tedd, you know what we have to do-“
Rina interrupted them. “No. That’s
not it. Why try to design it when you can go into the alley and stop them? Here,
I’ll help you stop them!”
“Really?! That’s totes awesome!
Let’s go, friends!” The merchant girl raised her index finger into the air
which indicated… their motto?
Zedd grabbed the entire merchandise
stand in front of them and Tedd tossed Zedd up into the air, allowing Zedd to
climb above Tedd. Tedd began walking into the alley. With Zedd, then Tedd, then
the merchandise above them in one long column, the merchant girl followed them.
Rina said slowly, “What… the hell?”
This must have been the infamous motto for migrating their goods.
Forrest still stood there, worried
about what Rina was going to do. He watched as they disappeared into the alley,
waited about ten seconds, and heard a fireball explode the alleyway.
Rina peacefully stepped out with
three military outfits, hoping nobody noticed.
Some civilians watched but did
nothing.
A soldier ran up to her. “I heard a
commotion in the alleyway. Is that crazy Garnett girl out of control again?!”
“I stopped her. Why don’t you go
check yourself?” She lied. “(I’m assuming she made it out safe, but I wonder
where she is?)”
Forrest scratched his head. “Did you
just… take their clothes?”
Rina dropped all three garments onto
Forrest which caused him to fall onto the ground.
“Yep. Don’t worry. They had their
original clothes under it, so I didn’t undress them all the way. Anyway, we
should wear these and go back to Suspenders and the other guy.”
“His name’s Master Leo!”
“Yeah, yeah, I got you.” [End music]
...forest, Forrest. Forests...
...forest, Forrest. Forests...
Angry Face
~ Bafuul – isolated bedroom ~
“This is your bedroom,” Viola said.
She held the gated door open for Lydia.
As Lydia entered, she could see a
comfy bed made of purple cotton. There was a desk and paper with a feathered
pen and a mirror in front. There was only one window, but it was a view of the
underwater essence right outside. The only air that came into the room was
where she was standing, and a large vent from above. Lydia felt it would be a
clever idea to sneak out through there. [Music 1.4]
Lydia took a step in. “This room is
not as bad as I thought.”
“Is that so?” Viola’s majestic voice
was difficult to decipher in how she really felt. You could barely tell if she
was questioning Lydia’s sanity or if she was actually just asking a question.
“Yeah!” She ran towards the bed with
happiness. “I’ve never felt so… free in such a long time! Even when I visited
the meadow the other day, I was a little stressed by what happened to my
adoptive father, and I had trouble watching my mother feel so lonely. The only
time I had a break was… I don’t even remember.”
Viola stood in the room as well. She
watched herself in the mirror.
“I don’t even know why I’m telling
you these things, Miss Viola. I shouldn’t be telling any Gammel soldier about
where I went while I was running away. I just feel safe in here, and also safe
to tell you anything.”
“Why is that?”
“Hehe. I’m not sure. I can just
sense the kindness in you, that’s all.”
Viola clenched her fists. “I beg to
disagree, Obsidian.”
Lydia pounced on the bed. “It’s
strange to have a room like this in a jailing town, isn’t it?”
Viola shrugged. “I’m supposed to
stay here and keep watch. We do not want you to make any suspicious moves.”
“I see…” She turned away. “(I feel
like I should rest a little since I haven’t had a good rest in a while, but at
the same time, I don’t want my friends to be the ones saving me. I have to be
strong and save myself. What should I do?)” [End music]
~ Troiya – northwestern entrance ~
Back at the Troiyan entrance near
Aria River, two strange soldiers appeared nearby the gate. Well, they were Rina
and Forrest. Rina had Zedd’s lengthy outfit in her backpack while she herself
wore the merchant girl’s garment. The strange thing was that Rina still left
her backpack on – before putting on the vest. Rina had a cap on and she had a
hunchback under her vest like a turtle shell.
“Rina, why won’t you take your
backpack off? You look a little weird…”
“Obviously because they would
recognize I’m the same person, idiot.”
Forrest’s helmet was extremely loose
and it slid to the side of his face. He was wearing Tedd’s round and short (yet
still long) garment. The sleeves were about six inches past his fingertips and
his pants dragged onto the ground like a potato sack.
Forrest smiled. “I feel like a
grown-up already! They’re not going to believe I’m a boy with this outfit.”
“They won’t believe you’re a boy not
because of that outfit, but because they’re
simply morons. Now let’s go talk to them and get through.” [Music 5.1]
As Rina saw the same guards, she
waved to them and spoke with a deep voice so that she didn’t sound like the
same ‘old woman’ from before. “Hello there!”
One of the soldiers turned around.
“Ah, are you here to take watch?”
“Yo!” Forrest spoke without thinking.
Rina dragged Forrest’s helmet down
to his face. “No, we are not here to take watch. We heard there were some uh,
injured soldiers outside the town,” she answered.
“Did you hear that?!” The soldier
said to his partner. “Our soldiers are in danger! I’ll go check it out and you
can keep watch-“
“NO. No, don’t do that. We were ordered to bring them in. You
two stay right where you are.”
“Well, if you say so.” The soldier
tried to calm down.
As Rina and Forrest were walking by,
the other soldier stopped them.
“Waaaait a minute… Hold it right
there.”
Rina stopped.
“Your back…”
Rina turned around. “It’s-“
Forrest interrupted her. “It’s a
giant tumeer.”
Rina kicked him. “Tumor,” she
corrected.
“Tumor,” Forrest corrected himself.
“A tumor?! You should get that
checked out!” The soldier commanded.
“I will, but not right now. We are
focusing on our brethren soldiers first!”
The two men began to cry.
“You soldiers love your comrades
that much before your own health? You are both sacred souls from the heavens
above! Thank you for being such lovely allies!!”
“Yeah, yeah. Bye,” Rina said rudely
as she walked away.
Forrest raised his hand. “See ya
around, lads!” Rina kicked him again for saying something nobody would ever say
today.
The soldiers watched them walk away,
and one of them said to the other, “By the way, wasn’t that guy’s outfit a bit
too long?”
“Beats me. I’m just doing my job
being a guard here. And phooey, I make a great guard.” [End music]
~ Bafuul –
isolated bedroom ~
After about several long minutes,
Lydia was getting bored of watching fish pass by the window. She swung her legs
into the air while relaxing herself on the bed. Both Lydia and Viola were quiet
since their last conversation when they barely arrived.
“So, Miss Viola, tell me about
yourself. Where are you from?”
“Born in Lake City Prima.”
Lydia giggled. “Hey, we were there
the other day! Lucky you, being born in the nicest place in the world.”
“Luck can vary as you live onward.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was born there, not raised
there.”
Lydia said slowly, “Oh, I’m sorry. I
didn’t know. Where are your parents?”
Viola said nothing.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk
about it. I shouldn’t have asked.”
Viola said angrily, “Why do you
insist on saying things nicely? I know you want to dish out answers from me. I
have nothing to say to an Obsidian.” [Music 23.1]
“’An Obsidian’?” Lydia repeated,
finally triggered. She rose her voice, even to an intimidating woman as Viola,
“Do you not understand the situation?” She looked angry this time. “You treat
Obsidians like we are monsters. We are
human, just like you. We grow feelings, and we show it through emotion,
just like humans do!”
Viola looked at herself in the
mirror, but Lydia could not see the reflection at her angle.
Lydia continued to speak. “Look, I
know what the freaking army wants to do with me. They want to use me as an
energy source for their own evildoings when they could have at least used my
energy for the better good. Instead of preserving the world, I know they’re using it to increase their
military unit. Do you not see what is happening in your own military?!”
Viola turned around with tears in
her eyes. “You think I don’t know what our own military is doing?!?! HUH?!”
Lydia gasped.
“I DO know what’s happening! But tell me, Obsidian, what the hell
would you do in a situation where you have no family, no friends, and no one
else to look up to besides the people who are already there for you – the
people who happened to be doing such things? I grew up differently, and I will
live it differently. I choose to help the Gammel army because they raised me as
their own, and they protected me up until this day. Don’t you realize that? You
side with those who have been there for you since the day you sprouted out of
lonesomeness, and that’s because you feel like you owe your life to them. There
is nothing more to it than that!”
Lydia closed her eyes. She shook her
fists. “What kind of friends – what kind of leaders and role models would they
be if they brought you into the wrong direction? There is clearly a distinction
between right and wrong, regardless of who you side with. You should know the
difference and decide your own path.”
Viola took out her lance. “You stay
quiet!”
The alarm suddenly sounded from the
ceiling and Lydia quickly covered her ears. She made a short yelp and Viola
stood up from the chair beside the mirror.
“An infiltrator has entered the
vicinity! I repeat, an infiltrator has entered the vicinity!!” The alarm came
from a loud speaker, supposedly.
Viola grabbed her silver lance and
she twisted it in her grip before leaving the room. “I must help protect
Bafuul!” Before she took a step, she turned to Lydia. Lydia only returned a
look of concern.
Viola pointed her lance towards
Lydia’s head which scared her. Lydia closed her eyes and then her left hand was
cuffed to the wooden pillar from the corner of the bed.
Lydia opened her eyes again only to
see that she was stuck!
“H-Hey! Why are you doing this?!” [End music]
Viola took a step away. “You are to
stay in this room unharmed! Stay down!”
Lydia watched her haste her way out
of the bedroom. The only thing that bothered her was the alarm.
“Oh… Rina, everyone, where are you
all?”
~ Troiya – northwestern entrance ~
Twenty minutes ago, Rina and Forrest
had left Troiya to combine groups with Felix and Leo again. Upon returning to
the gate, there were… three people instead of four. After all, the merchant’s
group was one person short for Rina’s group to use the garments.
Rina was still in the same garment,
but for the other two…
“Something seems different,” one
soldier said. [Music 14.2]
“Weren’t you traveling with a short
soldier?” The other asked.
Rina shrugged. “I dunno what you’re
talking about. He’s been here the whole time and he was never short.” She
pointed at an extremely tall and bulky man with… goggles?
“Ho-ho-ho!” The deep and raspy voice
came out of the super, seven-foot tall man. “It is me. I just felt like
crawling earlier but now I feel better.”
Under the garment was Forrest’s legs
clenching against Felix’s neck. Forrest almost tipped over but Felix had to
follow his movements. Well… they were a bit lopsided half the time.
“…Is he okay?”
Rina laughed. “Hah! He’s always like
this when he’s giddy. He’s just glad that our friend is okay.” She stuck her hand
out to Leo who was wearing Zedd’s tall armor, “He wasn’t that injured after
all.”
“I see. Well, you better take that
man to the inn so he can rest up.”
“Good idea, thank you.” Rina began
walking and dragging Leo along.
Forrest was still making hand
motions to show how heroic he looked, but the two soldiers were staring in
confusion. Why were his hands so high up?
By the gate, Forrest let a loud rip
from his bottom and Felix began squealing in disgust while moving
uncontrollably.
“AUGAuhuahhaA!!!” Felix panicked.
From what the soldiers saw, the
seven-foot soldier’s stomach was feeling quite queasy.
“Are you alright, sir?!” the left
soldier asked.
Felix began running past the gate immediately.
“Everything is super fine, misters!”
Forrest shouted as they ran towards the central plaza of Troiya.
The soldier on the right felt
concerned. “His stomach must have hurt so much that it started growling and
sounding like an actual human being.”
“Yeah man! I hope that man will be
okay!” [End music]
~ Troiya – central plaza ~
From the center of the town, you
could see almost everything! This particular landscape was quite simple to
navigate as the center went slightly uphill. A fountain let out four streams of
water through each of its corners and down a very narrow river. Each river had
its own bridge for civilians and soldiers to cross to the next areas.
The sun was already up and by then,
the entire group was getting a little hasty. [Music 22.2]
“Something tells me waiting for
nightfall was a useless tactic,” Felix claimed.
“It helped for a little bit. I don’t
think some of the soldiers who should have recognized me, saw me,” Rina
replied.
“That was a rush though, wasn’t
it?!” Forrest jumped off of Felix but he was still hiding within the garment.
Felix clenched his fists. “Why did
you even do what you did earlier?!”
“I couldn’t hold it in!”
Leo stood in between them. “We have
to worry about what’s more important. Lydia is in danger. From what Warren told
us, Lydia will be spared, but at a high cost.” He summarized the situation to
Felix and Rina who were not at Loomin during the Gammel informational leak.
“And what is that cost?” Rina said
hastily.
“Her energy will constantly be
consumed to help preserve the world.”
“One girl alone?!” Felix took a step
back in astonishment.
“Exactly. Now, what confuses me is
if just one girl can preserve the world by so much, then where did all the
energy from the other Obsidians go? There was a whole civilization of them.”
Rina stomped her foot. “Those
idiots! The answer is simple. The scientist nimrods put too much energy into
other humans and monsters. We met a woman named Hazel who told us what the
Gammel army was doing with the energy. Suspenders and I ran into a huge demonic
monster named the Terraineous, but apparently it used to be friendly, until…
the government used it as a test subject with Obsidian energy.”
Forrest tilted his head. “Then what
would happen if this energy thingy was used on a human?”
Felix turned away. “Clyde…”
“How do you know for certain that
they used the energy on your best friend?” Leo wondered.
“Because! Clyde would never betray
justice. The Gammel army is clearly doing something wrong here and he should be
able to see that. Even more, he wouldn’t betray me – I’m his best friend. I
remember back at Ouli Brye when he first turned against us, he briefly spoke to
me about how we had a lot of things to catch up on. I still wonder about that –
that’s why I want to talk to him. Maybe at the same time, I can find my dad.”
Forrest raised his hand. “And I want
to take my friends back! They must be at the Bafoon place!”
“Bafuul,” Rina corrected him.
“Anyway, besides standing around and worrying about what will happen to our
friends, maybe we should actually figure out a plan to get into Bafuul and get
going.”
Forrest tried to find Leo from
behind the garment. “Hey Leo, didn’t that big Warren guy say something about
the shard being in this town??”
Leo snapped his fingers. “Oh, that’s
right! From what Warren said, one of the shards is in a laboratory here in
Troiya, while the last shard should be in Bafuul.”
Rina squinted her eyes in suspicion.
“Who exactly is this Warren guy and why is he telling you all of these
convenient answers?”
“He was expelled from the Gammel
military force. It must have been recent if he knows this much about the shards
and the government’s plan.”
“Are you sure we can trust this
man?” Rina questioned him.
Forrest pulled the garment from the
ground and he looked up at Rina. “We saw everything with our own eyes. That
Floir lady took him away and was sending him to jail.”
Rina almost kicked his face on
purpose. “Well maybe they’re just setting up an act so we can believe them.
They’re probably netting us into a trap once we get into that laboratory.”
Felix interrupted her. “What you’re
saying makes sense, but what other leads do we have about the shards? Luckily
for us, we have Gammel outfits on, so we’re one step ahead of their trap if
they have any.”
Rina was stumped this time. “Hmph… I
see you do have a point. So, that means our next destination is the laboratory.”
Leo pointed downhill to the eastern
portion of Troiya. “How about over there? It’s pretty close to the bridge and
walkway towards Bafuul, so everything would be convenient for us. After we
sneak in to the laboratory and get the shard, we might have to rush our way
towards Bafuul.”
“Is that your plan? Sometimes even I
love barging into things, but this idea is straight-up reckless.” Rina
questioned him. “Shouldn’t we save Lydia first and then get the shard?”
“As a tactician, we take into
consideration of time and distractions. You said Garnett rushed in to distract
Troiya and Bafuul, yes?” The group listened further. “That should buy us some
more time to get the shard which could soon and likely be destroyed first
before Lydia. If you have any better idea, I will be glad to take it into
consideration.”
“Tch. Nope, none right now,” Rina
said.
“Then it’s settled. We will be
heading for the laboratory to get the sixth shard for Lydia. We barely have
time left, so let’s move it!” [End music]
As the group of four had their plan
ready, they had little time left before the shard in Troiya would be destroyed,
along with the fact that Lydia will be used for more Obsidian energy.
[Ending 2 music]
~~~
On the next episode, the main group will finally fight back! As last mentioned, they will be heading for the laboratory where Talbot is visiting for his research. However, a formidable truth sparks once the group sees what Obsidian chemical energy can do to a human! At the same time, Lydia is also struggling to break free from handcuffs, but she cannot leave the room - which will be flooded soon! What will she do? Find out on the next episode of The Obsidian Tale!
~~~
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