The Obsidian Tale
~ Checkpoint – eastern wall ~
Warren bowed to them shortly after.
“I am ex-lieutenant, Warren Oxner. May I speak with Lady Felisse?”
“Heh! An ex-lieutenant? You no
longer have any business here!”
Warren stood in front of him, tall
and angered. Felix and Lydia were slightly nervous as they have never seen him
look so angry before.
“You don’t scare me,” The soldier
said.
Warren grabbed onto the collar of
the soldier who was over an entire foot shorter than him. Now the fodder soldiers began to squeal.
“Let him be,” A woman called from
the gate. Her voice sounded solid and mighty, as expected from a lieutenant of
the Gammel army. She wore a blue, thin coat that resembled her past secretary
position. Her overall under the coat was black and elastic.
“Warren Oxner?” She continued with
her firm tone. “What business do you have here?”
Warren bowed to her as well. “Lady
Felisse, I assure you of the details about Gammel’s conspiracy.”
“Oh? I am not directly affiliated
with the government nor the other lieutenants. My personal job now is to stand
guard for this Checkpoint.”
Rina rolled her eyes. “Hah. It’s not
like people come here to go to that crappy place you call ‘Vector’. They gave
you the trashiest guard duty.”
Warren called out to Rina without
turning around, “Please show your respects to Lady Felisse.”
“Er… okay?” Rina pouted, looking
away.
Warren took a step forward. “M’lady,
you have to believe me. The government is planning a worldwide takeover using
Obsidian energy. From what you already know, you might think they’re using the
energy to replenish the world, but that is not it at all!”
“What are these load of lies for? To
get back at the government for expelling you?”
Warren grabbed onto his steel
hammer.
Felix gasped. “W-Wait a minute,
Warren. Are you sure fighting here would be a good idea?” [End music]
“We must get through, Lady Felisse.” [Music 9.1]
Felisse pulled out a broadsword from
her side sheath. The sword’s aura was wrapped in blue and you could even see
such aura spin in circles on its own all around the blade.
Warren stopped for a second. “What…
is that?”
“A sword filled with poison and
hatred.”
Lydia panicked. “That blue light –
how is it floating around the sword on its own?” She began shivering. “That’s
impossible!”
Hazel answered her, “It is quite
possible. As you may know, blue poison was already mixed in with the Obsidian
chemicals back at the Mago’Ria Fey. This woman must have connected such essence
with the blade.”
“But how?” Leo asked. “How can you
combine a weapon with just plain ‘essence’, especially poison?”
“Professor Nell – She must have
collided with this Felisse chick at one point. There is no other way,” Rina
revealed.
Felisse agreed. “Ah, so you have met
Professor Nell. She is quite the kind woman, you see. She is in full support
with the Gammel government for replenishing the world, as do I.”
Warren clenched onto his steel
hammer. “You do not understand! If you do not trust me or believe me at all,
then let us go on our way without your help.”
“You’re giving me no other option
here, Sir Oxner. I suppose I must stop you here and now!”
Warren said to his group, “Everyone,
make your way to the other side! Leave Lady Felisse to me!”
The group ran ahead and Felix was
the last of the five.
“But that poisoned sword!”
“I shall test my ability to fight
against it. If I am a worthy soldier, then I will survive through the poison
throughout this battle. Do not worry about me. You worry about yourselves and
stop the Gammel government in Vector!”
Rina was second-to-last. She
stopped, almost about to ask Felix to hurry it up.
Felix sighed, but he had to go
ahead. “Warren… thanks so much. Even for someone who was in the Gammel army, I
can honestly feel that I trust you!”
Rina made a slight gasp from that
last comment.
Hazel was busy using her bow to
shoot the soldiers up at the gate before they could ready their guns. Leo had
his brass knuckles ready while Lydia carried her flail in case any soldiers
appeared up close. Rina stopped to the side of the gate where a slight basin
flowed underneath the Checkpoint bridge. She used her earth powers to create
small land-stalagmites from below. The group of five began jumping over the
rocks and onto the bridge past the gate.
“How the hell?!” One soldier shouted
by the inner side of the gate.
Running down the bridge, Rina casted
a light aura of wind all around the group so that bullets could not accurately
go through. Hazel pulled her arms out of the sphere-shaped wind aura as she
began shooting the soldiers with her bow. When a few decided to come closer
with swords, Leo and Lydia had their turn to fight along with Felix who had his
crescent blade ready.
With the aura of wind, the group
made their way safely to the other side of the bridge which was about half of a
mile. By that time, the group became naturally exhausted from that speedy run.
Rina was most tired due to the fact that she had to spend a lot of wind energy
for five people. If Warren was included, her energy would run out before they
reached the other side of the bridge. They gave a slight glimpse of the gate
near Warren and Felisse. The gate was only cracked, but you could see smoke
coming out of the gears to the side. [End music]
“I hope Warren is okay,” Lydia said
in fear.
Rina continued to create stalagmites
on the rocks next to the bridge. Once the group hopped on, they tried to make a
run for the forest-like patches off to the side of the road in between Vector
and the Checkpoint.
Felix, Lydia, Leo, and Hazel made
their way into the forest area while Rina casted a large wind blast that sent
all of the soldiers flying. With this, they could buy time to escape and hide
somewhere further away from the Checkpoint. Now
she can rest.
~ Vector – southeastern entrance ~
Bro Moments
“What building should we head for
once we get inside?” Felix asked.
Hazel thought about the blueprint
carefully. “From what I remember when visiting Vector, they have a bunch of
business such as law and banks. This city is one of the most modern places
besides Lake City Prima and Wiserheim from the Winstel continent.”
Leo cringed. “Ergh. It seems most of
the soldiers in there would know who we are compared to those in Troiya.”
“Quite likely to be true, Leo. Now,
at this point, we really need to hurry as time is running out for both Clyde
and Bailey. Master Magnus’s plans are far ahead of ours, so we can only make a
relentless assault by entering their main courthouse and getting to the top
floor. This would make their plans unpredictable.”
“That sounds like a short
infiltration. I’m in,” Rina agreed.
“Short, hm? The courthouse has about
twenty floors. I’m sure you would enjoy that,” Hazel teased.
“Eugh,” Rina said in disgust.
“As much as I don’t like barging in
and prefer to sneak around, I also don’t think we have much time. Besides, the
soldiers and city folk in Vector will only think of us as the bad guys for a
few minutes until we stop Master Magnus. Then, we can do all of the
explaining.”
“Right,” Lydia added, “we would be
notorious for only a few minutes and that won’t be a problem with me as long as
we get to explain to them the truth as soon as possible!”
Leo sighed. “I’m a bit ashamed of
myself for agreeing to barge in without a tactic, but it seems with little time
we have left, rushing would be the only option. Warren can meet us later. I’m sure
he knows where we’re headed.”
“Ready to run towards the entrance?
We’re going directly to the ‘king’s lair and checkmate him’ without losing any
rooks. Got that?” Hazel said, making a chess reference to the group. [End music]
Everyone nodded and the long battle
began. [Music 32.1]
~ Vector – passage to the courthouse ~
“Nice, Hazel!” Leo commented.
Felix felt slightly queasy at the
sight of human blood. He was still not used to seeing people on the verge of
dying left and right.
As they continued to run, Rina said
to Hazel, “That was good, but I would have just exploded them right off the
bat.”
“Heh. Well, we’re not here to kill
people. We’re here to stop anyone from being able to fight us.”
“That’s not fun at all,” Rina
whined.
Passing the entrance, civilians
began to run away from the main streets and in between alleyways, assuming
terrorists have attacked. Several dozens of soldiers had their guns ready.
“Rina, will you be okay with using
more magic?”
Rina laughed. “Don’t worry! I’ve
never felt any stronger before! The old innkeeper back at the Grandine Hillage
extracted all the Obsidian energy from me.”
“Interesting… But, let’s not overdo
it,” Hazel commanded as Rina started off with a small aura of wind.
By the plaza, a seven-foot man
appeared with a large stone club and a steel jaw equipped to his face. He tried
to punch the entire group with his weapon but everyone jumped off to the side.
Rina, Leo, and Felix were on the left side while Lydia and Hazel jumped to the
right.
Rina reactivated her aura as soon as
possible.
“Lydia, Hazel!!” Felix called.
The rest of the soldiers were aiming
for Lydia and Hazel who were now completely open. The large man raised his
stone club and Rina raised her hands to taunt him.
“Come and get some!”
“Rina, what are you doing?!” Felix
gulped.
Leo followed along with Rina,
already understanding what she was trying to do. The angry man uncontrollably
aimed his stone club at the group. Leo quickly pulled Rina and Felix by their
collars and jumped away. Rina still had her hands focused. The ground crackled
apart, causing the ground to shake and most of the soldiers became out of
balance.
Lydia and Hazel easily made their
way back to the main group as they continued further down the pathway towards
the courthouse.
Hazel shot an arrow at the large
man’s pants. His pants ripped and… fell…
“Oops, I missed?” She said
sarcastically as they continued to run.
The group of five reached the
marketplace now. All the city people hid in bars, apartments, and hotel
buildings. Only the soldiers remained.
Hazel continued to strike her way
through with her bow and arrows. Leo was hasty enough to avoid any gunshots and
jump his way towards the enemies like a gymnast. Lydia could barely do the
same, but she relied more on Rina’s wind aura. Felix was getting lucky
throughout his run as his crescent blade was wide enough to block most of the
gunshots. Some struck his clothes but that was not the biggest concern at the moment.
Rina used her remaining hand to grab her knives. Throwing them through the aura
gave the knives some wind energy. Catalyzed together, the knives flew past the
soldiers – some even falling over because the knives emitted too much wind.
As most of the soldiers were down,
Rina made her wind aura disappear for a second so she could make her next move.
“Fire… BALL!” She shouted as she
emitted a large ball of flames in front of her palms. It was larger than usual,
but hey, we can’t complain. She has been getting stronger.
The front door exploded from the
fireball. Both Felix and Lydia ducked from the debris.
“You can’t just destroy a
courthouse!” Felix panicked. [End music]
“Enemy territory – don’t care,” Rina
stated. She ran in and the rest of the group followed.
~ Vector – courthouse – first floor ~
Clyde turned around and he noticed
that Felix was in front of the group this time.
“My, my, what a surprise that you’ve
made it all the way here.”
Felix clenched onto his crescent
blade. “Clyde! What are you planning now?”
“It seems the shard’s energy is not
efficient enough.” He had the final, red shard in his grip. “We have to take it
to the land far, far away from here.”
Lydia took a step forward. “What you
have… it belongs to me!”
“Clyde, it seems they are the ones
who have been trying to stop you this whole time,” the boy said.
“Yes, they are very problematic,”
Clyde responded.
“What?! Clyde, you know me!” Felix
began to shout, echoing the entire glass room. “I get it. You’ve consumed
Obsidian energy, and you need to stop what you’re doing. We don’t have to
fight.”
“Obsidian energy only makes us
stronger and with the shard, I can finally use it to save the world. I will
replenish Rhadessia by going to the land
unknown. I hear it contains immense amount of magical energy that no other
has seen before.”
Rina squinted her eyes. “Magical
energy? What place are we talking about here?”
“Have you ever heard of a mythical
place called Lament? It’s filled with people who can use magic powers. With
their help, they can alter the Obsidian energy.”
Professor Talbot appeared from
further behind. “I suggest that is not a way out of this.” Both groups turned
to him. He fixed his new, green aviators shrouded in red, vibrant light. Does
he always get a new aviator every time he clashes with the group? Talbot
continued his introduction, “The energy in Lament is protected by the royal
family. They also know that when mixed with Obsidian energy, you will get the
same results as a flawed test subject.”
Felix turned to Rina, “This magical
place… Do you know anything about it, Rina?”
“No way! I’ve been learning weak
magic through reading books back at the Meadow. I don’t even trust Clyde and
this professor runt with their mythical crap about this Lament place.”
The boy next to Clyde tugged onto
his sleeves. “Um, wouldn’t it be a good idea to try it out anyway? How do you
know for sure, Professor Talbot?”
“I have done research on the place
in which you call ‘Lament’. It is a floating city that moves from place to
place each year, and right now, it resonates easily with the Mirror Lands
nearby. The Mirror Lands is the easiest way to get to the floating city. Nobody
believes this as no regular human being has tried to resonate with the Mirror
Lands. The floating city never flied near it before.”
Clyde said to the boy, “Argus, we
have to go there.”
Professor Talbot sat down on one of
the seats nearby. “I will have to tap out on this.”
Clyde showed him the shard. “Don’t
you want to witness the power of the shard’s energy at Lament?!”
“There is something that I realized
all too well by now…” He sighed. “Shards are no longer my place to meddle
with.”
Felix, Rina, and Lydia all gasped
together. They were surprised by what they were hearing especially since this
man had been trying to take the shards from the very beginning.
“You see, after doing so much
research on each and every shard, I have come to the conclusion of no longer
analyzing them carefully. They only brought destruction to my fellow scientists…”
Felix remembered the laboratory back
at Troiya. “Your friends – they turned into monsters...”
Clyde ran off to the side of the
building. “If nobody is going to try it, then I will! I will find Lament on my
own, and nobody will stop me!” He used his rapier to stab through the glass
window. [End music]
“Clyde, wait!!” Felix yelled.
Hazel readied her bow, but Professor
Talbot had his knives ready.
Leo grabbed onto Hazel’s shoulders,
“You shouldn’t move.” He eyed Professor Talbot and Hazel began to realize it
would have been a mistake to strike Clyde.
Felix fell to the ground. “Why… Why
does he keep running away?”
Lydia clenched her fists. “That
shard is the last one left too!” [Music 32.2]
Argus held out his hand, “It seems
Professor Talbot here decided to opt out for good. May I give you a tour of
this place?”
Rina rolled her eyes. “What the hell
kind of suggestion is that? We’re your enemy. Don’t you know that?” She then
pointed at Professor Talbot. “And what is up with this guy? All the sudden he’s
becoming pessimistic about everything?”
Lydia grinned. “Did something happen
back at Troiya with the professor?”
Professor Talbot shook his head. “It
is nothing. Just know that I will no longer be chasing after you. This is
goodbye.” He began to walk away.
The group was quiet this time. Why
did he stop all of his research? What happened to him before?
“And who the hell are you?”
Argus laughed after listening to
Rina. “I’m a lieutenant-in-training. They put me on minor guard duties here in
Vector’s courtyard. It’s really great!”
Leo scratched his head. “I don’t
think he realizes what’s going on in the Gammel government…”
Rina disagreed. “No, this is
definitely a trap. No one this kind is going to offer a bunch of infiltrators a
tour to a damn courtyard. We’re leaving.”
Felix slowly got up. “Fine, but
we’re heading to the Mirror Lands!”
Hazel looked at the map. “If it’s
located above the Mirror Lands, then Lament should be west of here. We can take
a boat.”
Argus shrugged. “You’ll get caught
by the higher lieutenants by the docks. It’s better to sneak through the
shoreline and through the jungle.”
Lydia clapped her hands. “Thank you,
Mr. Argus!”
Argus smiled. “No problem.”
Rina stopped them. “No, no, and no!
We are NOT going to take that route. If he suggests to go to the shoreline,
then it’s a trap! Besides, this Mirror Lands and Lament stuff sound like just a
myth. We shouldn’t waste our time.”
“Well,” Hazel said, “I personally
believe there is such a place. From what I learned on my adventures twenty
years ago, there is always something within the impossible.” [End music]
“Your adventures are outdated, old
woman.”
“What did you call me?!” Hazel
screeched in the background. She tried to reach for Rina’s hair but Leo and
Felix grabbed onto each of her arms.
Rina continued while ignoring her,
“Right now, let’s just take that tour with this kid. It will give us more
insight on the Gammel army, and if it is indeed a trap, then I have just the
plan to get out of it.”
Argus could care less. “Eh, all the
lieutenants are gone anyway so touring new people won’t get me in trouble.
Let’s go!”
Elevator Talk
~ Vector – courthouse – third floor ~
“And this is my favorite coffee mug!
They even gave one for someone like me. How cool is that?!” Argus began
wiggling his body in happiness. [Music 4.2]
Rina slammed her hand onto the
table. “Alright, this is a waste of time. I didn’t need to have a twenty minute
discussion on how great your job is, or how great the plants have been growing
here, or how your papers are organized compared to others! I know what you’re
doing here. You’re stalling just so Clyde can reach the Mirror Lands ahead of
time.”
Hazel glared at her. “I thought you
don’t believe in such things, so why complain if he’s going there before we
do?”
Rina stopped.
“Are you saying you believe in the
myth too?~” Felix joked.
Rina punched him in the face. “Shut
it, Suspenders! Anything bad can
happen when Clyde is involved. He consumed Obsidian energy and it’s not being
catalyzed in his body properly, therefore he will eventually turn into a
monster if nothing is done for him.”
Felix started to worry. “Don’t say
things like that! We’re going to find him. We’re not going to find Lament then.
We’re going to the Mirror Lands as well for the purpose of catching Clyde.”
“Why are you guys concerned so much
against the Gammel army anyway?” Argus questioned. “I thought everyone looks up
to them.”
Lydia frowned. “It’s because the
Gammel government is a conspiracy that is too obvious to be true. They’re not
using the Obsidian energy to save the world. They’re using it to increase the
army units. Clyde doesn’t believe that at all.”
“Where did you guys get this
source?” Argus said as he began looking through his binoculars. [End music]
“We saw it with our own eyes. It has
only been used on humans and
animals,” Leo said.
Lydia shivered. “And from what the
lieutenants have been telling me… They don’t care about my well-being at all.
They just want to take my energy aggressively and use it for their own selfish
needs. Our very lives are the proof.
We lived through every waking, terrifying moment ever since the Gammel army
chased after me.”
“Ah, well lucky for you, Clyde could
be wasting his time. I overheard the higher lieutenants say that Lament isn’t
real and they only needed Clyde to go far away because he would only get in the
way.”
“Is that so?” Hazel questioned.
“Yep yep! So anyways, I’m noticing
two strange people outside the courthouse through my binoculars here.”
Rina swiped the binoculars out of
his hands. “Give me that!”
Felix and Lydia saw through the
device.
“Hey, it’s Warren!” Felix said
happily.
Lydia was worried. “He looks very
injured, but he can still walk. We need to hurry!”
Leo pointed at the person next to
him. “Is that… Forrest?!”
Everyone but Rina shrieked. Argus
shrieked as well, but only to resonate with them – just for fun.
[Ending 3 music]
~~~
Next time on The Obsidian Tale, Warren and Forrest make a return, and it looks like they made it through alive on their own! Well, not anymore. It seems they've got company - people who might be far more stronger than the Gammel lieutenants we've experienced. It's not because of their natural abilities, but because of consumed chemical Obsidian energy?! Find out what happens on the next episode!
~~~
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