The Obsidian Tale
Episode 34
[Opening 3 music]
~ Sheywood – southern exit ~
Another hour had passed and the
group made their way to a new portion of the woods after placing subtle tracks
nearby specific trees. It took them a while to strategize which way was best
and it needed some teamwork, yet the group had trouble working together due to
a few banters between each other.
“At last!” Leo shouted. He bent over
the bright, green grass right outside Sheywood. “A clean place to rest on!”
“It’s a good thing we’re out of there.
Nothing can be worse than that,” Forrest said with a yawn. “Where to next?”
“The jungle,” Hazel answered
immediately.
“Awwwww!!”
Rina headed for the nearby bridge up
ahead. Past the bridge was a bunch of fog, but they could see the silhouette of
the jungle. Eagles were flying all over the place from up above the fog. [Music 5.1]
“Is this worth the effort of a
mythical tale?” She questioned them all. “I repeat: this is a complete waste of
time. We have no idea what we’re doing.”
“It’s something though,” Hazel said.
Felix scratched his head. “Rina,
you’ve been a little jumpy ever since we left Vector. Is there something
wrong?”
“That’s because you guys keep
believing in some stupid tale! Why else would I be so angry?!”
Lydia took a step forward. “Rina,
could it be about your-“
“And,” Rina interrupted her, “you
decided to bring a killer along.”
“Viola is NOT a
killer!” Lydia argued.
“You two need to stop arguing! This
has been going on for hours and it needs to stop right this instant,” Hazel
said angrily.
“Be quiet old woman!”
Hazel gasped. She said nothing and
only showed disappointment. Rina stopped as well as she continued onto the
bridge without saying much. Lydia’s nose began to burn. She knew she was going
to cry from the argument.
Felix patted her on the shoulder.
“Lydia…”
“It’s fine. I’m okay. I know I’m
doing the right thing bringing Viola along with us. I just know it.”
“Alright. Let’s just get through
with this walk and get to the Mirror Lands. Maybe we can clear all this up by
then.” [End music]
~ Li’Opa Jungle – northern island ~
Lydia first ran in after seeing a
bunch of colored flowers mostly containing dark red, yellow, and purple. [Music 34.1]
“This is so pretty!” Lydia clapped
her hands together. “Oh, it makes me feel so much better… I’m at ease.”
Leo knelt down to grab one of them.
“The purple Duranta Repens,” he said.
“Viola, would you like one?”
Viola grabbed one as she looked into
it. “What kind of lunch break are you making?”
Leo had a sweat mark run down his
cheek. “Uh, what?! These flowers aren’t edible!”
“That’s a shame. All of these
vegetables look scrumptious, don’t you agree?”
Leo fell to his knees in
disappointment. “She thinks these plants are food…”
Hazel pulled a red flower from
another plant. “A Christmas Cactus?
You know, these flowers do not often belong in the same habitat.”
Forrest pointed at the top of a tree
bark. “Look! Weird birdies!”
“Those are toucans,” Hazel said. “I
saw a few amazon parrots while walking in too. This place’s atmosphere does
seem very different compared to the inner continent east of here.”
Forrest took out his cubed bazooka.
“Can we keep one?”
Rina kicked the cube out of his
hand. “If you want a dead parrot, then go ahead. Otherwise, don’t cause a
commotion around here. The people of Taujiko are very sensitive to noise and
change in their lifestyles.”
Warren yelped. “Wuaaaah!!!!”
Felix took out his crescent blade.
“What is it, Warren?!”
Warren shivered. “Another bunny.
This one is albino with red devilish eyes!”
Forrest ran towards it. “What are bunnies
doing here?!”
Leo squinted his eyes. “Do bunnies
even belon-“
Suddenly, the bunny grew large teeth
and its entire body grew by two times the amount. Hazel quickly shot its body
before it could pounce on Forrest.
Lydia screamed. “Eyaaah! What is happening
here?”
“Failed projects,” Hazel answered.
“This bunny must have used its senses to escape the Sheywood and made it here.”
“Does that mean Taujiko is in
danger?” [End music]
“Impossible.” She headed towards the
next island. “This jungle is divided into three parts. The upper island - the
central islands that band together, and the lower island that is connected to
the crescent-like peninsula with Taujiko. I would say it’s most dangerous on
the upper island where we stand right now. It’s best to move quickly.”
Leo patted his own head. “Ah, this
jungle doesn’t seem as friendly as it looks.”
~ Li’Opa Jungle – central islands ~
The way to the next bunch of islands
were quite interesting. Each little island was only several feet long and they
barely connected to each other with under one foot of water level in between
one and another. It was like jumping from one island to another without landing
in water from a videogame, at least that’s what it felt like. Only Leo knew
what it was like as a young child who got to play at a shallow lake. The rest
didn’t have much luxury and time for such things.
Forrest came to a stop. “Oh man, I’m
hungry.”
“So that’s what the growling came
from,” Felix chuckled. “There should be some good fish around here. Right,
Hazel?”
Hazel pointed at Warren, “That’s his
forte. He used to love fishing.”
Warren smiled. “On-point there,
madam! I remember getting the best fish here, but it came with a risky price.”
“And what’s that?” Leo asked him.
“I forgot.”
Both Forrest and Felix fell to the
ground in disappointment from the underwhelming answer. The group heard
growling again.
Rina began to complain. “Shut that
loud stomach of yours!”
“It wasn’t me this time!” [Music 19.1]
A few leopards appeared from a
nearby island filled with trees.
Lydia shrieked. “Oh no!!”
“H-Here kitty, kitty!” Forrest
slowly walked up to them.
Hazel took out her bow. “Don’t even
try to talk with them!”
Felix panicked. “You said there
weren’t any mutated monsters in the central and lower areas!”
Rina shouted. “Damn it! Why can’t we
ever kill something legitimate?!” She wanted to attack the leopards that
appeared in front of them.
“We don’t want to change the
foodchain here in the jungle. The members of Taujiko will be angry,” Warren
replied.
“They’re coming this way!” Felix
jumped away from the island and onto another with Forrest.
Leo grabbed onto Viola’s hand.
“Let’s go!”
“Oh, what a gentleman,” She said,
flattering him.
Hazel and Warren stormed ahead
together while Rina and Lydia were forcefully put together on a separate
island. Meanwhile, Forrest and Felix believed they were safe from danger now
that the leopards from earlier avoided jumping across water. [End music]
“Phew, we did it!” Forrest laughed. [Music 4.2]
Suddenly, two tapirs appeared by
their end of the island.
“Yuck, what are those?”
Felix shivered. “They look like
uglier versions of anteaters…”
One of them slowly walked up to
Forrest. Forrest couldn’t move due to fear, but it was okay. The tapir nudged
Forrest by the stomach with its nose. It made a strange moose noise.
Felix became confused. “Do these
things really make such noise? I don’t remember-“
“Ehahahaha, HAHAHA! Get them off of
me!” Forrest fell to the ground and the large tapir, just as big as him, began
licking Forrest’s face.
Felix sighed. “Geez… I really hope
the others are okay. We need to get to them quickly somehow. If only we had an
easy ride across the islands…”
Forrest suddenly stood up. “I have
an idea!!” The tapir continued to stare at him peacefully and with a smile.
On a separate island, Warren wiped
his forehead from sweat. “Goodness, it looks like we made it safely. Hazel, are
you alright?”
Hazel was facing the other way, but
she was shivering for some reason.
“H-Hazel? It is okay. There is no
need to be afraid anymore.”
Hazel turned her head with an evil
look on her face. She suddenly turned around and a gray bunny was peacefully
lying in her hands.
“WUAAAAH!!! BUNNY!!!”
“Ahahaha! This is exciting to
watch!”
“Get it away, get it away!!”
Meanwhile, Leo headed for the edge of
the next island. He looked into the water as he said to Viola, “I think I can
stay like this for a while.”
“What, alone with me?”
“That’s absurd! Eheh. I mean… Well,
let’s just cross and get to the other side.” He held out his hand for her.
“Come with, m’lady?”
“Sure.”
He took a step into the shallow
water first, but it was unexpectedly deeper than he expected. He tripped into
the water and he panicked. “Ahh! Damn it! NO!!”
Viola crouched down onto her knees
in the calmest manner. “Can you not swim?”
“It’s not that! This water could be
unsanitary!!”
Viola shrugged. “Bugger.”
He suddenly stopped squirming in the
water. “Wait, if I really couldn’t swim, why did you just sit there and watch
me?!”
Viola only giggled at him. [End music]
Rina held out her hand for Lydia as
well. “Are you okay?” [Music 2.2]
“Y-Yeah… Hey Rina, I just wanted to
say I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier.”
“For earlier? Psch, please. That’s
nothing. I guess I got carried away too.”
“But why? What’s wrong?”
Rina looked away. “I don’t know.
It’s just that the Mirror Lands…”
“I think I know what you’re trying
to say. I won’t force it out of you, Rina. Just know that we are always there
for you, okay?”
Rina sighed. “Lydia, you are my best
friend. Nothing is going to change that. Sure, I’ll get angry sometimes but
it’s because of my personal issues. It’s not you at all.”
“Do you really not believe in the
myths of the Mirror Lands? I mean, people besides us grow up without learning
magic. It must be weird and surprising for them to see you use it. If magic is
believable, can’t myths be the same?”
Rina didn’t respond to her question,
but she went on with her own thoughts, “We’ll just have to find out. Look, we
have to get out of here together. There are a bunch of islands and we have to
figure out which one gets us to the end. With all of these trees and rocks in
the way, I can’t see a damn thing on the other side unless we walk around.”
Lydia began to follow her down each
island. At least she was able to gain some closure with Rina. [End music]
~ Li’Opa Jungle – southern island ~
After about a good thirty minutes,
both Rina and Lydia arrived at the end of the island first. Hazel and Warren
appeared about a minute after, and then Leo and Viola came by after another ten
minutes. [Music 14.2]
Rina yawned. “We’re all finally
here.”
Lydia became worried. “What about
Felix and Forrest?”
Rina shrugged. “Oh well. I didn’t
like them much anyway.”
“Rina!”
“What? I’m joking.”
Hazel sat down on a rock with a
content look on her face. “It seems you two got along while we separated.”
“There are more important things in
life than to yell at each other,” Rina said. “It’s a waste of time and it’s
better to get along with people you care about most.”
Lydia nodded. “That’s what love is
all about – loving your friends so much that you would risk your lives to help
and save them from these predators.”
“Leo,” Viola turned to him, “This
must mean I love you.”
Leo turned as red as a tomato. You
could even hear the choo-choo’ing coming out of his ears.
“WH-WHAT?!”
“Because I would risk my life for
you as a friend.”
“Oh…”
Rina grinned. “Peh,” She began
talking quietly, “She barely even knows us. Trying to sweet talk with us until
she gets the perfect chance to kill us?” [End music]
Lydia didn’t want to argue with her
this time, but she wholeheartedly disagreed with her. [Music 9.2]
“We’re here!!” Forrest called.
Warren turned around, “There you ar-
WHAT ARE THOSE?!”
Forrest jumped off of the tapir.
“These weird thingies offered a ride across the islands. Sorry that we’re last.
They were kinda slow.”
Felix was carrying the smaller one
on its back. “I didn’t get to ride one because I was too big. This little baby
kept making ugly cries and I realized it wanted a ride on my back.”
“Um… that’s kind of random…” Lydia
said with a nervous laughter. “They look kind of scary.”
“Nah, they’re kinda cute once you
get to know them. Lydia, meet Billy. The little one’s named ‘Booby’!”
“Sir Winter, I do not think it would
be clever to call it ‘Booby’,” Warren said.
“Why not?”
“Well…”
Hazel interrupted him. “I think it’s
a fantastic name. Felix, give Booby a little kiss.”
“Is this conversation even
age-appropriate?!” Felix shrieked.
Morbid Descriptions
Moments later, the group decided to
do one little bonfire for the night. Rina placed a bunch of small logs all
around the fire. Each long log could fit two seaters. [End music]
“Two of us can sit on each log. This
should be enough.” She said.
Forrest counted. “But there are only
three logs and eight of us.”
“Great. That one time you decide to
do math is when you’re trying to correct me. Look, Lydia and I can sit here.
Leo and Suspenders can sit over there. Warren and Hazel sit on the third log.
You can sit on the floor.”
Leo gasped. “What about Viola?”
Rina pointed at a log at the edge of
the island. “She can sit over there so we can keep watch on her.”
“That’s very discriminatory,” Leo
sighed. “She’s a human being too.”
“Would you rather have us half-tired
and have her kill us when she can?”
“But Rina-“
“It’s fine,” Viola said. “I like the
water anyway.” She calmly headed for the log furthest away from them.
Forrest watched her leave the
group’s vicinity. “She sure is nice.”
Felix turned to Rina, “Are you sure
about this?”
“It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Let’s just get some rest for the night.”
Forrest was okay with sleeping on
the floor. He was used to it anyway. On the plus side, he got to cuddle with
the two tapirs.
Hazel sat down on her log. “Thanks
for the help on the logs and campfire. Warren is coming soon with the fish.
Let’s have a great dinner and continue our way to Taujiko. It should be easier
from here.”
A Cooperative Plan
In the middle of the night, everyone
besides Hazel and Lydia were asleep after a good dinner cooked by both Leo and
Warren. Lydia sat up as she began rubbing her eyes. [End music]
“Can’t fall asleep?” Hazel
whispered.
“Not really. How is Viola?”
“She’s just sitting and staring into
the water.”
“She’s not sleeping? But we’ve had a
long day! I’m going to talk to her for a bit.”
Hazel nodded. “Alright, stay safe.
If something happens, I will be right awake for you, okay?”
Lydia bowed to her. “Thank you.
That’s very kind.”
Reaching the shore, Viola didn’t
bother to turn around even knowing someone came to surprise her from behind.
“Hey, Viola?”
“Yes, you may sit. There is extra
room for two.” [Music 34.3]
“Oh- uh, thanks. Hehe.” She turned
to Viola who was still staring blankly into the water. “What are you doing?”
“Staring at the water.”
“No- I mean, fine. That’s what I was
asking for but I didn’t expect you to answer it like that.”
“How would you want me to answer
that question?”
Lydia became confused. “Never mind.
So, can I ask why you came with us? Just out of curiosity.”
“No reason. I just felt like it.”
“Just like that?”
“Yes.”
“I see. Um, I’m sorry that some of
us seem overprotective against you. They’ve been betrayed before by Clyde, so
they’re afraid of it happening again… But don’t worry. I believe you.”
Viola shrugged. “It doesn’t matter
if I am untrusted. I understand. It still seems interesting being around the
group. It's a completely different atmosphere than in the military."
Lydia giggled.
“What did Clyde do?” Viola asked.
“He was Felix’s best friend, but
ever since he consumed Obsidian energy mixed with chemicals, he had gone a
little crazy.”
“Lieutenant Floir persuaded him as
well, no?”
Lydia looked into the water with
her. “I don’t know, but if that’s true, then I wouldn’t be surprised.” Viola
was silent. “What is your relationship with Lieutenant Floir?”
“I mentioned before that I am her
pupil for becoming the next lieutenant in her place. Not much can be said about
us two.”
Lydia gave a slight smile. “Oh well.
You don’t have to explain anything if it’s unnecessary.” She began to lie down
with a yawn. “If I get up, I won’t feel as sleepy anymore…”
Viola continued to stare into the
water until she started to hear a light snoring. She finally turned away from
the water and noticed that Lydia was sleeping next to her. Lydia was
comfortable enough to sleep next to somebody who grew up and vowed to work under
the Gammel military. It seems Lydia was the only person who trusted an enemy
like Viola. This made Viola almost have tears in her eyes, but she bottled
herself up and continued to stare into the water for the rest of the night… [End music]
~ Taujiko – northern area ~
The group made their way to the exit
of the jungle after they had woken up from one of the best sleeps since the
Grandine Hillage. Most of the teenagers and adults couldn’t sleep well
throughout their planning at the Village of Saradeli.
“Can I bring Billy and Booby with
me?!”
“Heck no!” Rina yelled.
“Aw… I guess this is goodbye,” He
began to sniffle. As he was saying his goodbyes, the rest of the group examined
the nearing village. [Music 34.4]
Upon entering the village, it was
almost exactly the same as how Lydia and Rina remembered it.
“Rina, look! The little bunny
monument is still there!”
“Bunny?!” Warren’s heart was racing.
Immediately, the native villagers
began to slow down and they started staring. The two tanned girls from behind a
family hut alerted the chief and Felix began to notice that they were being
unwelcomed.
A young boy with a shark tooth
necklace began throwing rocks at Forrest. “Get out, get out!”
The chief appeared out of his hut
and he was almost just as how Lydia remembered him.
“Chief! There you are!”
“The Obsidian and her friend have
returned?!” He said in a panic.
Forrest hid behind Leo. “Gee… They
sure don’t like us.”
“Leave this place at once.”
Lydia frowned. “Wh-What do you mean?
Don’t you remember us?”
“You outsiders have caused enough
trouble.” He noticed Viola’s hair color was similar to the little Gammel girl
from seven years ago who searched for both Lydia and Rina. “Peh!”
Hazel appeared in front of the
group. “Then would you at least let us borrow one of your boats to get to the
Mirror Lands?”
“If it means to get you out of here
as soon as possible, use our cheapest ones!”
“We’ll take anything as long as we
can get there. We have no business staying here,” Hazel said.
“Good, now leave!”
Lydia sighed. “Hrm…”
Rina patted Lydia’s shoulder. “It’s
fine. Ignore these ignorant bastards.”
“LEAVE!”
“Fine, jerk,” Rina said as she began
to walk away towards the boat.
Felix also said to Lydia, “We came
to get to the Mirror Lands. We can worry about this later, okay?”
“I… guess so,” She said softly. “Our
main goal is to get to the Mirror Lands.”
Rina shuffled a little in between
Leo and Lydia. She seemed a little uncomfortable. [End music]
~ Mirror Lands ~
Hazel examined the map carefully.
She could see no other island except the Mirror Lands which just stops at where
they landed. [Music 21.1]
“Hm, there is nothing beyond this
point.”
The group headed towards a lonely
monument at the center of the little island.
“Alright, let’s go. I don’t see
Clyde. There’s no point in staying here,” Rina suggested. The group of eight
could clearly see the monument fully colored and blinking. There was a lot of
dust on the machine but they could clearly see finger markings clearing out the
dust from the buttons.
Leo glared over at Rina. “Hey, you
know full well that the machine was recently used…”
“Is it? Oops, hehe. I didn’t realize
that.”
“Yes you did,” Hazel corrected her.
“What’s your problem? I didn’t
know.”
“Rina, what’s really going on here?
You’ve been very suspicious the closer we got to this island and to the
machine.”
The machine began to light up. There
was a small ray of light floating upwards into the sky.
“The myths,” Warren said, “state
that you need something really special – something directly valuable to the
floating city. The fact that this machine is acting up says something. One of
us has something that belongs to the floating city.”
Everyone checked their pockets but
nothing came out. Forrest pointed at Rina’s backpack, “Hey, you probably have
something! Go check!”
Rina clenched her fists. “Why are
you accusing me of such things? I don’t have anything!”
“Or perhaps Rina really doesn’t have
anything,” Hazel suggested.
“Thank you,” Rina responded.
“Take off your backpack,” Hazel
commanded. [End music]
“What are you saying?”
“Do it, now.”
“Huh? I don’t need to.”
Felix scratched his head. “Oh that’s
right! Rina never took her backpack off before. Except when Lydia found it at
the Hollow Cav- Hey wait…” He suddenly paused.
Lydia said nothing. She could only look away, feeling guilty of already knowing.
“Lydia knows about this too, doesn’t
she?” Hazel asked.
Rina took a step forward. "But...!" Her eyes were wide open but they were also squinted, the same face you would give if you tried to defend yourself - knowing you were wrong. Rina closed her eyes. Her hair covered the upper half of her face. “I give up…”
She grabbed onto the straps of her backpack. “I…” She slowly turned around as
she removed her backpack. There really was nothing in her backpack, however… [Music 34.5]
The entire group opened their eyes
widely, except for Lydia who already knew. What they saw were two little,
bright, white wings flapping outward from Rina’s back. The whole group was
speechless. It felt like they were speaking to an angel from up above.
“Huh?!" Forrest gasped.
“Geh?! H-How is that possible?!" Leo shrieked.
“Oh my," Viola said bluntly.
“Huh?!" Forrest gasped.
“Geh?! H-How is that possible?!" Leo shrieked.
“Oh my," Viola said bluntly.
“You knew,” Felix said. The group
turned to him who was slightly surprised and angry at the same time. “You knew
that the myth was true. You knew that Clyde was going to come here
successfully, yet you lied to all of us that this was all fake.”
“Hey, I just…”
“You knew Clyde had the shard and
that he was going to use it for something bad, didn’t you?! Even knowing he
could possibly help destroy the world, you still managed to lie about all of
this?! How selfish can you be?!”
“Felix, calm down!” Hazel said,
trying to grab onto his shoulders.
“Shut up!!” Felix shouted at her as
he turned back to Rina, “You didn’t care at all. You don’t care about Lydia,
and you even destroyed my garden! You’re just some self-centered liar that
doesn’t deserve to be around other people, RINA!”
“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT IT’S
LIKE, FELIX!” She yelled from the bottom of her lungs. “I RAN AWAY FROM HOME.
MY MOTHER HATES ME BECAUSE I’M NOT LIKE MY SISTER, AND MY FATHER PATRONIZES ME,
EVERY, SINGLE, DAMN, WAKING, MOMENT OF MY LIFE. He treats me with the mindset that women should stay in the house and do nothing but drink tea with each other while the men are out protecting the lives of others. I DO care about Lydia. I was
meant to be her guardian, but I just keep messing up. I don’t want to come back
to my family yet especially when Lydia is incomplete. They’ll know I have
failed! They’ll think I’m just some loser child who was only a mistake! They’ll
say it all over again!”
Leo was shocked. “Again?”
The path leading upward created a
light staircase. It was almost transparent, but you could magically walk upon
the steps.
“Just… leave me alone.” She began to
cry as she quickly ran up ahead. She couldn’t fly either. Her wings were too
small to pick up her weight especially at her age.
“Rina!” Lydia called. “Please,
wait!”
The group followed along except for
Hazel and Felix.
“What have you done?!” Hazel yelled
at him.
“I don’t care. She put herself above
everyone else.”
Hazel tried to control herself.
“After she revealed all that, you’re still angry with her?”
Felix shrugged. “It doesn’t matter
what she says. Nothing can justify all the lies she had been giving us this
entire time. She says she cares about Lydia, then how come she had to lie about
Lament regardless of her family?!”
Hazel turned away. “You are
comparing apples to oranges! Perhaps she prioritizes her fear towards her family. That doesn’t mean she prioritizes her lies
over Lydia.”
“Whatever…”
Hazel only shook her head in shame
as she went on without him. [End music]
[Ending 3 music]
~~~
Next time on The Obsidian Tale, we're finally going to learn more about Rina! Who is she exactly? Coming up, we will see both of Rina's parents, and her sister that Lydia talked about once before. What kind of parents are they? How are they going to react to Rina's return? Lament is an isolated place from Rhadessia, and like Taujiko, the Avians will not like the humans' visit. See what happens on the next episode!
~~~
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