The Obsidian Tale
Episode 24
[Opening 2 music]
[Opening 2 music]
~ Troiya – eastern sector - laboratory counter ~
At the front desk of the laboratory,
Rina and Leo had to do all the talking. If Felix or Forrest spoke, that would
have been quite odd on their part due to their shared garment. The woman was
wearing a long, white coat, similar to Professor Nell back at the Town of Igor.
Forrest was on top of Felix under the Gammel military costume and he pushed his
goggles up.
What Forrest saw in another room
were a bunch of scientists fixating a bunch of chemicals. However, this
laboratory had about twenty rooms, so looking through all of them would be a
hassle! [Music 21.1]
“Reason for visiting?” She said with
an uninterested attitude.
“We have been requested to view all
rooms for chemical safety. Normal procedure,” Leo said.
The woman tried to smile but she
looked bored. “Ah, so you’re the health inspector. He must have come early this
year. I wish Santa Claus came early this year. That bastard never shows up.”
The main group looked at each other
with confusion. As the woman fumbled with her papers, Rina and Leo gave a
discreet high-five below the counter.
“Your call number is 37. Go sit
somewhere until we call you.”
Rina bowed to her. “Thank you.” She
peacefully sat down. She then whispered to Leo, “Number 37. Hope it won’t take
too long.”
The woman called out for number 16
and Rina quickly stood up.
“Oh heck no, I am not waiting that
long.” Rina said to the group. “We have to hurry up and get the shard so we can
save Lydia!” She then snapped her fingers. “Oh! And I’ve got just the idea.”
Rina stood by the counter again.
“Excuse me, miss? Would we get priority if it is an emergency meeting with
Professor Talbot? I’ve been sent from uh… Let’s see… Oh, Lieutenant Floir, to
talk to him!”
“Lieutenant Floir? That’s strange.
Usually, Master Magnus does all the ordering when it comes to Professor Talbot.
Very well. If it is an emergency, he is in room 12. If you happen to lie to me,
then I don’t care. I hate this job anyways.” She gave them a laboratory map.
Rina bowed again. “Thank you very
much. We will be on our way.” As she turned around, the woman noticed her
hunchback.
“The hell is that?? Oh well.” [End music]
Expired Snacks
~ Troiya – eastern sector - laboratory room 12 ~
In Room 12, the group of four
entered without permission and the only others in the room were Talbot and two
of his scientific servants. Talbot turned around with green aviators shaped
like up-side down triangles on each eye lens.
“Ah, good to see you three have
showed up! Or, should I say four?” [Music 7.1]
“Crap,” Forrest whispered. “I think
he knows it’s us!”
Professor Talbot gave a sarcastic
chuckle. “Welcome to one of the main laboratories of the Gammel government.
Today is the day when I can finally see my research do some work!”
Rina squinted her eyes. “You never
got to see your own research do stuff?”
“Hah. I like the way you treat my
work. This ‘stuff’ is very sensitive, so Master Magnus didn’t want me to risk
myself being too close to Obsidian energy. It took me a lot of persuasion for
him to let me see it for once.”
Felix said to Rina, “Does he know
what happens to humans and animals after they consume Obsidian energy?”
Rina only shrugged.
Professor
Talbot continued, “It seems your group is growing larger every time I see you.
We got Felix Wolfram, the ex-farmer from the Village of Saradeli.”
“What?” Felix took off the Gammel
military outfit. “H-How do you know my full name?”
Talbot ignored him. “Forrest Winter,
an orphan who once lived in Kyrie for approximately seven years with his three
friends-“
“Only these friends of mine here
should know that!!” Forrest whined.
“Leonardo Van Roy, one of the sons
of royalty from Ouli Brye who worked as a tactician under the Lennox army. I’ve
got something interesting to tell you.”
Leo tilted his head. “It’s expected
that everyone knows much about me, but that last part you mentioned… Now that’s
new.”
“And Rina Nora, oho, don’t get me
started with you.”
Rina swiftly took off her Gammel
armor and she readied her hands. “I’ve gotten stronger since the last time I
saw you! Give us the shard back or else you’re gonna get it!”
“First of all, who told you about
this laboratory?”
Leo turned to Rina and gave her an
expression of grief, indicating that Warren’s Gammel informational leak was no
trap since Talbot was just as confused.
Rina wanted to thank Warren for
this, but now was not the time. She angrily gripped her palms together.
“Well, what’s it going to be?!” She
asked in hostility.
Professor Talbot gave his usual
smirk of a grin. “Hmhm, you have managed to steal almost every shard that we
previously owned. Why should I make it any easier this time around?”
Rina stomped her foot. “You stole
that from Lydia which technically belongs to us!”
Felix opened his arms. “Why don’t we
negotiate?”
“Negotiate?” Talbot became
interested.
Rina placed her arm in front of
Felix. “No, that is a terrible idea. And how did the Gammel army even find all
the shards before we did?”
Talbot took out a machine as large
as a calculator from his coat. “This was a device created seven years ago; it
is called the Obs Version 1.7. The Obsidians’ existence managed to increase
fire control at the Frolix Volcano. However, when they disappeared, their
energy might have been held by the Gammel army, but none was preserved to
protect the world of Rhadessia itself.”
Leo was shocked. “So the Gammel army
intended to be selfish with the Obsidian energy?!”
“I suppose so, but my works have
been very successful since then. I only follow orders. You see, this machine I
have here was used seven years ago to detect any last energy. When we used it
on the Frolix Volcano, the machine was modern enough to show all of the energy
from the recent genocide of Obsidians – but one silhouette still remained – the
silhouette of a young girl.”
Forrest jumped. “That must have been
Lydia!”
Professor Talbot agreed. “Exactly.
The only evidence we had of her survival from the genocide was one little
strand of hair that was not burnt during the fire in their hometown. We tried
to duplicate the energy too. We have created a similar body almost exactly to
Lydia, but when the duplication woke up, she broke through the ceiling like a
crazy killing robot machine.”
“What happened to her??” Forrest
became interested.
“She was never heard from again.
Nobody reported her random appearance and her energy could not be detected
because her life form was not from the original source – Lydia.” [End music]
In discomfort, Rina asked, “So hold
on, are you telling us there is another Lydia out there?” [Music 17.3]
“There was, but she must have rot away
by now after seven years. The point of mentioning this story is to let you know
how much Obsidian energy can do to Rhadessia. We have managed to test it on
animals and humans alike!”
Rina stomped on the ground again and
a stalagmite appeared all around Talbot.
“How… dare you do that to the nature
of this world!” She shouted. “You know
it would forever affect living beings like the Terraineous and possibly your
damn Gammel military units, yet you continue to do research on them?!”
“Like I said, I only follow orders
from Master Magnus. And, if it happens to bring me fame, then so be it. Master
Magnus did promise that you can revert the Obsidian energy.”
Rina disagreed with him. “You’re a scientist. You should know more about this research compared to him.”
As
for the stalagmite that Rina previously created around the professor, Professor
Talbot barely moved his hands but he managed to shatter all of it like the
crackles of ice. He then casted a wind element all around the main group.
Forrest covered his eyes. “Wh-What’s
happening?!”
“A tornado!” Felix answered.
“Everyone, cover your eyes!”
Rina slowly created a large dirt
wall in front of the group in order to cast off the tornado.
The two scientists next to Talbot
began to panic.
“Professor, what should we do?”
Talbot took a step forward. “Take
the exit and alert the members in Bafuul!”
Forrest snuck to the side of the
barrier and he shot at the door. It took him several times as his aim was not
perfect, but he managed to break the door knob by the time the scientists got
closer.
“Go!” Rina commanded.
Felix ran off to the other side of
the barrier to throw Talbot off. Talbot tried to throw a splash of water at
Felix which caused Felix to use his crescent blade as a means of negating the
attack. The splash of water moved like a spike, bouncing off the crescent blade
and and shattering a line of chemical fluids sitting on the table.
“What have you done?!” Talbot
slightly panicked. “You have no idea what that will do!”
As Leo made his way towards Talbot,
some of the chemicals began creating smoke in the entire room. Leo could barely
see, but he managed to grab Talbot by the collar. [End music]
“Where is the shard?!”
“Y-You already shattered about half
of it!” [Music 24.1]
From the smoke, Rina could see a
faint glitter near the cabinets behind Talbot. It must have reacted to the
Obsidian energy from the chemicals. The shard was shining bright orange!
Leo pushed Talbot to the ground and
he made a run for the shard without trying to breathe in the smoke. Both of
Rina’s hands were busy, so she was the only person who could not cover her
nose. She only had a few more seconds before she was unable to hold her
breath. Meanwhile, the scientists by the doorway accidentally inhaled. They
fell to the ground, yelping for help as if they were set on fire!
What about Forrest? Well, while
covering his nose with the military garment that was left on the floor, Forrest
watched in horror as the scientists were turning into ravaging beasts. Their
clothes were ripping apart and their entire body was forming into a shape of a
beast that looked much like wolves. Blood splattered and limbs were either
separating or twisting in different directions. However, they were not
necessarily wolves, nor any species known to man. Their vibrant howls were like angry, zombies spoken through a large speaker that echoed the entire laboratory. Arms were uneven, legs had
spikes, and you could no longer see both eyes from one of the mutated beasts. They
were… their own mutated species.
Talbot fell to the ground. With eyes
wide open and hands covering his nose, he tried his best not to react. This was
the first time he had ever seen his research done its work at maximum volume.
One of the mutated scientists
swiftly jumped towards Rina’s barrier, clawing it at an unbelievable speed.
Rina closed her eyes, wondering if she was going to get killed at that moment
by the scientists, but Professor Talbot had one hand open to scatter the entire
room with a large wind of energy.
Professor Talbot controlled his wind
magic to break through only the ceiling and one side of the wall behind him.
Rina could no longer hold her breath and as soon as she let go of the barrier
to cover her nose, Felix had to hack away the mutated scientists. With the
smoke clearing up thanks to Talbot’s wind, Leo made his way back to the front
door to grab Rina and make a run for it. Professor Talbot had no choice but to run
the same direction as well. Luckily, the smoke completely dispersed towards the
sky and nobody else was affected. [End music]
~ Troiya – eastern sector – outside the laboratory ~
Outside the laboratory, the group of
four immediately removed their garments from the Gammel military. Professor
Talbot splashed a large amount of water above the main group before he decided
to completely run away. As Leo expected, the water was used to help purifty any
amounts of chemicals lamented onto the group’s skin or clothing. The group was
astonished, but they had more important matters to take care of. Rina was
coughing after barely being able to hold her breath, but besides the constant
coughing, she felt intact. [Music 14.1]
Felix’s body was slightly shaking at
the idea of having to kill the mutated scientists.
“They… they were bleeding,” Felix
said to them. “It was just as frightening as back in the Yucan Tempa!”
Forrest grabbed onto Felix’s arm.
“It was scary… But they weren’t human from what I saw. It’s okay, Mr. Felix…”
Forrest tried not to cry.
“Is it, really?! Did you all see
what happened to those poor scientists?! They only followed orders just to make
a living, but instead… they stopped living. It’s like they didn’t get to choose
when to live. When Obsidian energy is not used properly, is that what happens
to them?! What will happen to Clyde if he’s been holding on all that energy for
that long?!”
Rina was lying beside the tree with
Leo checking the temperature of her forehead.
“She seems okay. She just needs a
little break from using all that magic,” Leo commented. “As for Clyde, he may
be okay. If you think about it, the scientists mutated only because the energy
was mixed in with other chemicals. And, it was rather immediate.”
Forrest was tapping onto his bazooka
cube. “That meanie scientist guy! Water got into the cube and it’s not opening
rightly!”
“Leave it to dry,” Leo suggested.
“The stain will only be temporary.”
“Why did he even throw all that
water at us??”
Rina could barely speak, but she was
able to respond to him. “That Talbot guy… he was trying to protect us.”
Both Felix and Forrest gasped
together.
“Some of the debris from the smoke…
they stuck onto our face and clothes. With water, it would surely make any
small specks of… chemicals… unable to go haywire.”
Felix sighed. “Phew! That’s a
relief…”
“Why did he help us?? We are his
enemies.”
“Hazel-“ Rina suddenly coughed.
Felix tried to finish the sentence
for her, “I get it now… Hazel told us about Talbot’s history and how he turned
into a greedy man. Perhaps maybe his heart preceding the Obsidian incidents
were still there. I don’t think he was trying to kill us – ever.”
“If he attacked us, it was to slow
us down??” Forrest asked.
“Exactly! Look, Lydia is our
priority right now, so sitting here talking about all of this won’t do us any
good.”
“H-He’s right,” Rina added. “Let’s-“
She began coughing again.
Leo stopped her. “No. You’re in no
condition to move on. We have to give you some rest, Rina!”
Rina slowly stood up. “I can handle
it. Don’t worry about… me!” She was limping towards the bridge leading to
Bafuul. “Please, let’s hurry – to get Lydia back!”
Felix agreed with her. “Leo, I don’t
want to rush Rina, but this is her choice, and we all know that Lydia will be
in a lot of danger if we don’t hurry.”
Leo turned to Rina. “But…”
Felix clenched his fists with
certainty. “Hey, maybe a good walk can help Rina recover!”
“But our clothes!” Forrest
exclaimed. “All of the soldiers will know it’s us.”
“Then we’ll have to protect Rina and
make our way through the bridge.”
“That is a reckless assault, Felix!”
Leo shouted. “It would be almost impossible!”
Felix smiled. “If you have any other
idea to save Lydia on time, I will be glad to take it into consideration.”
Leo was reminded from what he said
to the group before entering the laboratory.
“If you have any better idea, I will be glad
to take it into consideration.”
Leo
looked away. “Ergh… stumped by my own words. Clever choice, Felix.” [End music]
Felix nodded. “Exactly. Let’s just
try it and see what happens. Besides, I’m dying to see what this Bafuul place
is all about!”
Forrest jumped with pride. “Me too!”
As the group began walking, Forrest took a look at the laboratory. “Sorry
people-working-there! Blame that Talbot guy!”
Some of the civilians looked
heartbroken at the sight of a broken building, but now was not the time for the
main group to feel guilty about their infiltration.
The Extra Hand
The Flavor of Lamb
~ Troiya – eastern sector – bridge towards Bafuul ~
Felix and Leo both
helped Rina behind their shoulders. Forrest turned his head back and forth,
making sure no soldiers were to catch them by surprise. However, they knew what
was in front of them. There were plenty of soldiers waiting for them to arrive
towards the Bafuul entrance and one of them seemed quite familiar. His long
hair was still tied in a ponytail but the blond shades were a little faded reflecting
against the morning sun. The most noticeable change in him was a gray shade
hovering in between his eyes. He looked energetic and ready to battle, but deep
inside him, you could sense that he was exhausted and in need of sleep. [Music 13.1]
Felix stopped. “Clyde?!”
Clyde began walking further ahead
from the soldiers, closer to the main group.
“It’s nice to see you again, Felix
Wolfram.”
“Tell me, what are you planning to
do? Why are you siding with the Gammel army?”
“It’s simple. The Gammel army is
using the Obsidian energy to help preserve the world.”
“That’s not true!” Felix retorted.
“Are you just accepting everything the government says?”
“What other plans do you have? The
Obsidian is our only hope.”
“’The Obsidian’? Have you forgotten
her name?! It’s Lydia, and we need to save her!”
Clyde held onto his sheath, ready to
pull out a rapier. “Felix, that was when I had no idea who she was back at the
village. The fact that she is refusing to help save the world proves her
selfishness. We don’t need that kind of mentality from the only person who can
save our damned world!”
Felix was ready to grab onto his
crescent blade as well. “But what about her feelings? She’s going to feel a lot
of pain because the Gammel army will absorb her energy each day. Weren’t you
fine with her before you found out she was the Obsidian? That doesn’t need to
change!”
Leo followed up with his remark, “I
assure you that as each day passes, Lydia’s energy will be reproduced simply by
living. The fact that her mind is able to contract small bits of personality,
it can be crystallized into a shard. Basically, whenever she gets a chance to
show change in her personality, it will start back to square one at the end of
the day.”
Forrest agreed. “It’s like her mind
keeps going back in time because it keeps getting erased. I want to know
Lydia’s full personality!”
Clyde closed his eyes. There was
silence beyond the bridge and he moved his hand away from his rapier. Felix
gave a sigh of relief.
However… Clyde turned around and
walked past his own soldiers and towards Bafuul.
“Why don’t we have the soldiers take
you all into prison? I do not need any more pep talk from supporters of the
selfish Obsidian.”
“What?!” Felix clenched his teeth.
“Clyde, why are you doing this?!”
Forrest almost tripped after turning
around. “W-We were distracted! Some soldiers appeared behind us!”
By the waters from the left and
right sides of the bridge, two steel walls were rising. Leo quickly tried to
climb above, knowing that they were going to get trapped. Oddly enough, the
steel walls were flaming hot as if they were kept in an underground tunnel of
over two-hundred degrees!
Leo jumped back onto the bridge,
yelping from the heat. Forrest began to whine as well. “Auurrgh… We’re
completely surrounded!”
The group was struggling and Rina
tried to speak. “No one… should touch my-…”
From afar, the group could hear
Clyde call out to the soldiers, “For the whiny girl in the middle, just leave
her damn backpack on if you want her to stop yelling.”
Rina suddenly stopped talking.
Forrest took out his cube but Leo stopped him.
“Stop,” Leo whispered.
“Awwww!”
“There is no way out of here at this
point. It’s best that you keep that cube in your pocket and they will only
assume it is a toy. When we get into prison, they will confiscate any weapons
that we have except that ‘toy’.”
Forrest was about to cry. “B-But I
don’t want to go to jail!”
“It will only be for a second,” Leo
said. “Let’s pretend to fight back so that they don’t think we’re on to
something.”
Felix sighed. “Is accepting the fact
that we’re going to prison really okay?”
“There are times when you can still
fight back at the most gleam moments. We should at least give this a try. At
the same time, there is an infiltrator in the prison so maybe that can be
advantageous to us.” Leo felt determined, but what made him so sure about this
plan? Will Garnett’s distractions be useful? [End music]
Felix took out his crescent blade
but he only threw in the slightest bit of effort to fight back. “Okay. Here
goes nothing!”
~ Bafuul – isolated bedroom ~
Lydia placed herself on the bed
while being handcuffed to one of the pillars next to her. She watched as a
small crack from the window spewed water. The ground above her still sounded
like a small battlefield which started to worry her. Any more battles and the
window could explode, causing the flood to appear faster. She was almost in
fetal position in order to kick her handcuffs apart, but it was not working at
all. [Music 19.1]
“I can’t just sit around and wait
for my friends to save me. I have to save myself and hurry!” She suddenly began
crying. “N-Not right now…!” Her tears were still uncontrollable. After all, she
still needs two more shards.
She jumped off from the bed and a
splash of water flew up to her legs. Ignoring it, she tried to bend towards the
drawers.
“The keys, where should they be?”
She kicked and thrashed each drawer, breaking them apart. “Thank goodness some
martial arts skills paid off.”
An explosion could be heard from
above. The bed bounced a little and the window shattered more. The vent from
above became loose and it dropped onto the floor. Lydia began to panic more
this time, and she still couldn’t find the key.
“Could Viola have taken it?!”
As the drawer broke apart, several
make-up materials slid into the water: napkins, lipstick, scissors, eyeliner,
and some tongs. She broke the drawer next to the entire table and only clothes
were shown: shirts, scarves, and hats.
Lydia turned to the ventilation, and
then back at the scarf and scissors.
“I… I have an idea!”
She was able to use her feet in
order to collect the scissors. She tried cutting the handcuff connector in the
center but no progress could be made for breaking it apart, but she could see
scars, very light scars.
Lydia became frustrated. “No… I
won’t make it in time. I need to make this sharper!”
She grabbed the ventilation lid as
she used its edge with the scissors. She rubbed both ends together and after
about five long minutes, she was able to make the scissor blades a little sharper. [End music]
As a result, the handcuffs were
still not able to budge especially on time. The water was flowing towards the
same level of the bed sheets, and Lydia had to lift her legs onto the bed. [Music 10.3]
Lydia was in tears now. “Is there
any faster way to break free?! If I don’t get out of here in thirty minutes or
so, I’m going to die. I won’t be able to help save the world!” She let all her
tears out this time. She screamed in shock that her life was going to end at
that very moment. “I’m so useless! I can’t protect anyone at all!”
She looked at the scarf on the
ground. “If only…” She thought about her journey: running away with Rina,
meeting Felix and Clyde, receiving the first shard in Kyrie, taking the flail
in Nell’s lab, falling into the Silver Forest, being saved by Leo at the train,
getting kidnapped by Floir at the Ouli Brye capital, adventuring through the Lake
City Prima, yelling at an entire crowd of royalty, revisiting her mother,
having the pep-talk with Warren, and then being taken to Bafuul’s basement with
Viola. She turned to the doorway. There was silence, except for the water
running through the windows.
Nobody’s footsteps could be heard.
With all hope lost, she was to die and nobody would be able to reach her in
time. She closed her eyes, giving a huge sigh of giving up. She shook her head.
“No. There is still a way.” She grabbed the scarf and she wrapped it around her
left wrist. She took the scissor and pressed its blades against her arm. “If
saving the world means so much to everyone and even to myself, then it doesn’t
matter if I lose something valuable. It doesn’t matter if the Gammel army wants
to use my Obsidian energy. As long as it helps preserve the world, then so be
it! As long as I survive, then…!” She closed her eyes, ready to slice her hand
away from the handcuffs. “H-Here goes nothing!!” [End music]
[Ending 2 music]
~~~
Next time on The Obsidian Tale, what is Lydia doing?! She's about to cut off her own arm in order to survive and protect her friends? And of course, no story can't go without a prison escape! How will the main group do it their own way? Will they make it in time for Warren, Jess, Sydney, and Spencer altogether? Find out on the next episode!
~~~
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