The Obsidian Tale
Episode 39
[Opening 3 music]
~ City of Celestia – lower entrance ~
Reaching closer to the entrance,
they could see the potential positive atmosphere that would have existed if
Celestia was still alive. All they could see now were destroyed buildings, even
worse than Loomin. All of those who have fallen, have been buried. Some under
buildings and some under dust that piled up after seven years.
Forrest and Lydia closed their eyes.
Felix tried to ignore this as best as he could.
“This is horrible…” Lydia said. The
only thing she could hear was the running water by the water mill. Suddenly, a
spark of reminiscence occurred in her mind. She saw herself running past the
roads as a young girl where she stood today. She was running for her life. She
remembered exactly what it was like. “Celestia was on its way to destruction. I
just ran away. I was weak.”
Hazel squeezed two fingers together
after touching a building’s brick wall. “I can sense the fear that happened
seven years ago.”
“Yeah. It was really terrifying.”
She made a gasp, quickly running towards a certain path down the road.
“Wait, Lydia!” Felix called out.
The group followed her for countless
minutes, asking her where she was running to. It seemed she was following the
same exact path that young Lydia had taken on the way out of the city, but
backwards.
~ City of Celestia – Lydia’s house ~
Rina paused the moment she saw a
completely trashed building in front of Lydia. “What the heck is this place?”
Lydia was shaking. She wanted to
cry. “This was… where I lived with my mom and dad.”
Viola looked away in shame.
“I remember,” Viola said. The group
turned to her. “I remember standing at this very spot with Lieutenant Floir. We
followed orders from Master Magnus who we thought was a positive leader at the
time. He told us false facts about the Obsidians, claiming that they have been
hogging all the energy, causing Rhadessia to fail. Lieutenant Floir was quite
angry. Her parents did not live very long due to a mix of Obsidian energy with
certain chemicals from all over the world. Master Magnus blamed the Obsidians
that their objective was to procreate a mass number of beasts. Me being the
follower, decided to go with here. I watched her destroy house after house, human
after human. I could tell she didn’t want to, but she only sought revenge. It’s
hard to control yourself when you lose loved ones. Then, we arrived at this
building.”
Lydia took a step onto the center of
the clattered bricks. “The living room.”
Viola pointed at her, “And that is
where I stood with the lieutenant before she decided it was best to expose of
the entire house.”
Lydia continued the story, “My
parents pushed me in the room and they tried to lock the door. I could hear
them screaming, ‘No! Please, stop it!’
and their hands were moved away from the slightly opened door. I had no idea
what was happening. Then, it happened…” She closed her eyes. “I-I heard…
gunshots. Two of them. Their voices stopped, and then ‘boom’, two bodies fell
to the ground.” She turned to the blue stuffed animal from below. [Music 1.1]
“Yes,
mommy?”
“Your
daddy and I want to give you something for doing well in school.”
“How
do you know of my grades?”
“We
asked your teacher about your grades but it looks like we can trust you now.”
“Mommy,
I’ve changed. I’m trying harder in school now!”
“We
know, we know,” She smiled. “Anyway, we want to give you… this!”
Her
mother swished her hand forward and Lydia saw the most beautiful, fluffy, blue
teddy bear that she had always wanted for her birthday. Lydia screamed and she
began to jump in tears.
“Mommy!!
Mommy, I love it!!”
“And
come outside to the kitchen! Your daddy made your favorite breakfast!”
Lydia’s
father placed a plate of strawberry pancakes with rich honey syrup. “Your mom
and I remembered how much you loved watching the plays about the friendly
bigfoot. What did they call him, the blue-horned monster of the swamp?”
“Something
like that…” Lydia felt embarrassed, knowing that he was way off.
Lydia grabbed onto the blue teddy
bear, dusted and slightly burnt from the fire. “I’m surprised it hasn’t
completely burnt away.” She sighed. “I was holding onto this with my life. I
quietly took a peek into the living room and I saw my mother’s hand on the
floor. I didn’t want to look at the rest, so I ran into the closet. My parents
tried to lock the door and protect me, but it was too late.”
Viola added to her story, “I watched
as Lieutenant Floir felt a suspicious presence from the bedroom, and so she
went in. It was a good minute until she came back out and said to destroy the
entire house.”
“I heard them, and I ran out as
quickly as I could. I jumped out the window and I fell onto the floor, all wet
from the garden that we just watered. As soon as I stood up and ran, the house
exploded. I fell again, turning around… and watching as my house was set on
fire.”
“And that’s when you ran…” Felix
concluded. “Lydia…”
Lydia dropped the teddy bear onto
the ground. “The teddy bear should stay here,” She claimed. “I don’t want to
think about my past again. It was horrible.”
Rina gasped. “But that’s!”
“I’m too old for this kind of stuff,
right?”
“I mean…”
Hazel glared into Lydia’s eyes. “I
want to look into this city more. Should we take a look around?”
Warren scratched his head. “Erm, I
think we should be careful. Maybe pair up.”
Viola agreed. “Master Magnus could
appear at any second. It is best you be careful. I suggest we come back to this
area within an hour.”
Forrest tugged onto Warren’s pants.
“Protect me!”
“Fine, but don’t make fun of my
bunnyphobia!”
Leo stood close to Viola. “Care to
accompany me?”
“Sure.”
“Yes!!”
Rina rolled her eyes. She noticed
that Felix looked concerned for Lydia’s sadness, so Rina chuckled. “Hazel,
let’s go look around. I kinda want to know more about Celestia, and I assume
you know something about this place, yet again.”
“Hah. You’re on,” She responded.
Lydia turned to Felix, “I guess
we’re going to look around too.”
“Oh- Uh, um, sure!”
As the two of them walked away, Rina
snuck behind a tree and onto the fallen house. She took off her backpack,
grabbed the blue teddy bear, smiled at it, and then placed it into her
backpack. [End music]
~ City of Celestia – central park ~
Warren was taking a straight path
down a narrow street with Forrest. Forrest, however, ran all over the place. He
ran left and right, past Warren several times, pretending he was shooting
enemies with his BB gun. [Music 9.2]
“Pew pew! Take this! Take that!!
Nyahahaha!!” He began choking on his own saliva.
“Mister Winter, are you alright?!”
“Aiy… agh… I’m okay! I was um,
pretending that the enemy got me!”
“That is a relief. I thought you
were choking.”
“This hero never chokes!” He
laughed. “Hehe! I remember the last time I played ‘hero’ with my friends… It
was back in Kyrie before any of this happened.”
Warren stopped the moment he saw the
park. “What was it like having to play with friends at a young age?”
“Huh? Um… It’s fun. Well, for me, I
didn’t have any parents. None of us did. We just played when we felt like it,
but Jess sometimes forced us to read from the libraries. She thought ‘normal’
kids had to study and go to school. Still, it was really fun with them!”
“Don’t you wish you could do that
all the time?”
“I guess, but I’m getting older. I
have to take care of bigger things in the world like stopping Master Magnus.”
Warren looked away. “Mister Winter,
it is best to cherish your moments and elongate your time with your childhood
friends as long as you can. When you grow older, you will find that having the
amazing child life would be impossible to return to.”
Forrest shrugged. “Eh, it’s okay!
I’d rather be an adult!”
“But…” Warren did not want to argue
with him.
“Don’t you feel the same?”
“I…” Warren looked up into the sky,
“wish I could be a child again.”
“When did you start your adventure
with Hazel??”
“When I was nine, almost ten years
old.”
Forrest grinned. “That’s three years
younger than me.” He noticed that Warren seemed to lack a childhood compared to
Forrest. “Oh, I get it!”
He ran towards both the sand and a
swinging airship for children to ride. “Warren, come here!”
“What? Why?”
“Have you ever tried riding these?!”
“N-No. I have never seen such
machinery.”
“It’s not a machine! It’s just made
of… um… something I don’t know of and I don’t care. Come sit on it! This is a
child’s favorite ride!” [End music]
~ City of Celestia – Old Damascus’ Bar ~
Leo and Viola headed to the closest
intact building they could find. Leo checked the sign at the top. ‘Old
Damascus’ Bar’… [Music 33.1]
“Do you drink?”
Viola shrugged. “Not much.”
“I wonder if the wine here is good.
If you don’t want to drink, you don’t have to.”
“I will drink. However, is the
alcohol here any good after seven years?”
“Some are still good! I hear the
Golden Banana Steams last for over a decade!”
Viola yawned. “Alright. It’s time I
needed a relaxation anyway. The Gammel army never lets you rest.”
Leo laughed. “You’re on!”
Ten minutes later, Leo began
spinning around the chair inside the bar.
“Another, another!” He said. He
pushed the cup onto the table but it leaned over. Viola paused, unsure if she
should pour another shot into his cup. “It’s okay. This is only our eighteenth
one! Are you feeling dizzy yet?!”
Viola grinned. “I don’t feel
anything. I think we should have you refrain from anymore alcohol intake.”
Leo placed his chin onto the table.
“Awwww… Don’t be such a meany weeny…”
Viola chuckled. “You are a silly
man.”
“This reminds me of the time when I
started drinking… Bahah…”
“Oh?”
“Yeah…” Leo started frowning as if
he was almost bi-polar. “My parents, even royalty, argued almost every day. My
dad never had time for his wife nor for myself and my mom thought he was too
busy focusing on his job to protect the city. I was only a young teenager at
the time and I started drinking early.”
“How illegal of you,” She joked.
“Heh… Well, I drunk my heart out
until they were not in my mind anymore. I couldn’t stand their bickering.”
Viola looked into her shot cup. “But
no matter how much they argue, there must be a reason why they stayed.” Leo
stopped and listened as she went on, “They argue for a reason – to compromise
and find the best optimum way to love each other. There is a reason why they
have not separated yet, and that is because they love is strong enough to
connect the strings that they banded together.”
“Yup. I wonder what it’s like to
have parents when you are an adult… I sure wish they were here, you know? I
still had lots to ask them.”
Viola chuckled. “Teenagers and young
adults have the most amount of curiosity, I presume.” [End music]
~ City of Celestia – Celestia’s Research Center ~
Hazel clapped her hands together. [Music 17.1]
“Yes! A library from the Celestian
city!!!” She began to squeal.
“Geez, old woman. I’ve never seen
you so high-pitched before. It’s kind of disturbing.”
Hazel turned around. “You don’t
understand. You get to learn about the world’s society even through ancient
history! And the science behind what people call ‘Obsidians’ and their
connection with the Avians is just purely stimulating!”
“YAWN. I still don’t see what’s so
fun about research.”
“What I’ve learned about the Avians…
is that they’re born with the ability to use magic.”
“So what?”
“You grew up with magic, so it feels
like nothing interesting. From a regular human like me, it is fascinating to
see magic being used.”
Rina shrugged. “You’re just like
Professor Nell. She’s so nerdy about these kind of things, you know?”
“I took an interest to these kind of
these when I finished my journey. I began asking myself questions like ‘why did
this happen?’ and ‘why did that happen?’ I started to put the pieces together
and realized all of the artifacts that led to my adventure twenty years ago.
Having to learn about what the Celestians learned must be breathtaking.”
“Celestians?”
“The proper and polite term of
‘Obsidians’.”
“So Lydia is actually a Celestian…
That’s pretty interesting.”
“Right?! Now, help me find the
section about the Avians! There must be a reason why they co-existed with the
rest of the world before and why they started hiding themselves in the floating
city!”
Rina thought about it carefully.
“Hm, that’s true. I’ve never really thought about why we started living in a
floating city or how it even came about. Maybe it’s time I should look into my
history.”
Hazel giggled. “I knew you liked
research!”
“Sh-Shut up!” Rina blushed. “It’s
not research. It’s ‘learning about my own history’.” [End music]
Mysterious Artifacts
~ City of Celestia – Seablue’s Eatery ~
Lydia held out her hand towards a
building in front of Felix and herself. “Behold! My family’s favorite
restaurant!” [Music 35.1]
Felix gasped. “A restaurant?! Whoa!”
“What’s wrong? It’s like you haven’t
seen a restaurant, silly!”
“I-I know. I’ve seen plenty on our
journey. We barely had any at the village so it’s interesting to see an actual
place where people can just sit and eat stuff that other people make for you.”
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
Felix laughed. “N-No, it’s fine!
What’s it like inside?”
Lydia held his hand. “Come on, let
me show you!”
They ran inside. Felix was blushing
at the fact that she grabbed his hand instead of his arms.
Inside the restaurant, Felix picked
up a glass cup. “You know, we just drink out of wooden bowls in the village.”
“That sounds really nice actually.
Living in a village, you all must know each other well.”
“It’s not that great, really. You do
something wrong and then…” He began to mock an old man’s raspy voice, “They all
come to git ya!”
Lydia began to giggle. “Hehe! That’s
so funny, Felix. City life isn’t that great either.”
“But you have money to eat at a
restaurant like this?! That’s so awesome!”
“Well, when a family is too lazy to
cook, they just come here and eat together. We go almost often, with this place
being the one we go to most. It’s just not as satisfying having to eat food
made by others than by your own family, you know? You get more of that home
feeling when families are closely related. Dinner at home – you get to bond
with your family with the food you all make. In the city… it’s less personal.”
“Were your parents close to you?”
“Oh yeah. The times when they’re not
talking to me is when I’m at school for seven hours per day.”
“Whoa! School lasts that long
here?!”
“Of course! Lucky you though. You
get to stay with your family and bond with them more often… You must have…
loved them so much by now.”
Felix tilted his head. “What? Don’t
you love your parents too?”
“I do. But, I wanted to love them
more. I wish I could love them as much as I could before it was too late. But,
I know they wouldn’t want me to dwell into that too much. I bet they want me to
find new things to love, you know?”
“I get what you mean, heh.” There
was an awkward silence. “H-Hey, Lydia?”
“Hm?”
“I just… well…” Felix stumbled and
Lydia stared at him.
Lydia suddenly realized what he was
thinking. “UH- UM, AHAHA! Let’s go! I think it would be an hour by the time we
get back! HEHEHE.” She ran out the restaurant and Felix gasped. He followed,
hoping she didn’t realize anything. [End music]
~ City of Celestia – Lydia’s house ~
After said hour, the entire group
made their way back safely. Well, Leo was busy vomiting in the bushes nearby.
Everyone else looked happier than when they split apart. [Music 4.2]
Forrest and Warren were the last to
return due to the fact that there was no clock nearby to alert them to return
within an hour. It’s interesting as to how these clocks lasted seven years
considering they required batteries.
“Hi!” Lydia waved. “Did you two have
fun?”
Forrest opened his arms. “Yeah!
There was this huuuge park, and, and, and! It was amazing!! There were rides
like space ships, giraffes, and even a giant bunn-“
“Don’t speak of that part!!” Warren
shouted.
Lydia and Felix began to laugh
together.
Rina smiled as well, but it was more
of a smooth and warm smile. “I got to learn about the Avians’ history. My
parents… have gone through more than I had ever imagined.”
“It was nearly fantastic!” Hazel
said with her jumpy voice.
“Excuse me?”
“The learning process, not what
happened!” Hazel corrected herself. “We even took a few books if that is okay.”
Lydia nodded. “Well, I’m sure our
people would love to educate others from all around the world, so they wouldn’t
mind a few borrowings.”
Viola patted Leo’s back. “I suppose
we had an amazing time too.” She continued to smile while Leo kept vomiting and
emitting disturbing noises.
“How is she so calm?” Rina said with
disgust.
Unidentified Islands
A Pre-Victory to the Success
Lydia turned to Hazel, “So, we’re
pretty much done here and there is no sign of Magnus. What is next?” [End music]
Hazel checked the map. “I guess
Phar-“
“No, no, no, perfect timing
actually,” A voice said from afar. There was laughter following his statement.
Everyone turned to him. [Music 39.2]
“Magnus!” Everyone yelled besides
Viola.
“I cannot let you soil my own
research on the Obsidians!” He yelled with a demonic voice, a voice that
sounded as if two people were talking. He appeared to have semi-long, spiked
out hair that flowed down to his shoulders. One eye was a normal black color,
but the other was highlighted in red as if he wore brand new contact lenses. Magnus' face was covered in black scars, shaped like tattoos. He
had wings, but they were dried and bat-like, some scathed in visible bones. He
had a torn cape and light armor.
The ground began to crackle. The
aura around him caused him to float upwards and slide everyone back. Rina tried
to cast a lightning magic but it just bounced out of Magnus’s aura. Hazel tried
to attack with her bow and arrows but it only broke her arrows.
“That man… He has gotten too
powerful!” Viola shouted.
“Duh! Since the time I left Lament,
I had the ability to teleport here in an instant and intake as much Obsidian
energy as I could from the remaining corpses and waters! By the way, I kept some
with me. I guess I don’t really need… THIS anymore.” He took out the
half-broken red shard.
Lydia gasped. “The last shard!!” She
tried to step forward.
“Nuh-uh-uh! I’m not going to be like
those dumb people who use it as a hostage and hope you do what I say. I’m going
to…” He squished the shard and it shattered. The pieces fell to the ground and
he stepped all over it. “Soil it! Disintegrate to pieces!”
Rina tried to remember what ‘red’
meant. “The Love shard!!”
Lydia’s eyes opened widely.
Forrest was on his bottom. He
frowned. “You mean Lydia can never love again?!”
“HOW DARE YOU!!” Rina tried to cast
earth magic, followed by wind, water, and fire. Nothing was working at all.
They all just bounced off his body. Rina tried to save her lightning magic, or else she would have been exhausted sooner.
“What are you going to do now, Obsidian?”
Magnus scoffed at her. “You are weak without all the shards!”
Lydia closed her eyes. “Why… Why?”
She wanted to cry. “This can’t be happening! Why on Rhadessia would you do such
a thing to people like us?” She suddenly thought about it carefully. “I can’t
take it anymore!” She covered her face for seconds, tearing up. Master Magnus
only watched with a smirk on his face. “No…”
Instead of having trouble standing,
Lydia stood tall and proud this time.
“You’re wrong. I’m not weak.” She
said angrily. “I’ve made it this far. I got six shards with the help of my
friends, but I didn’t really need the
shards to be who I am. I realize that I have been the original Lydia all this
time ever since I left Bafuul. All my friends, the people standing here, Ekaja,
and everyone else…! They taught me what love is all about!”
“What?!” Magnus shrieked.
“Love comes from the heart, not from
the mind. What you just shattered was my mind’s
interpretation on what love should be. However, all of that was taken away and
I had to learn love through a fresh start. These friends… they taught me what
love is really about. Love happens
when you would go out of your way and sacrifice yourself to save your friends.
Love is when friends laugh together, journey together, trust each other! If
your bond is strong enough, then…!”
Everyone began to smile, except for
Magnus of course.
The entire ground below Magnus began
to crackle apart. “You are starting to piss me off! You think the power of love
can fix anything?! Then take THIS!!!!” He opened his palm and shot a large ray
of light towards Lydia.
“Lydia, NO!!!!!” Felix shouted. He
used all of his might to stand up. This time, he didn’t think about blood,
gore, nor death. All he wanted, no matter how painful it took, was to protect
Lydia from the ray of light. With barely any time left, he quickly made his way
to stand in front of her.
“Felix?!”
Felix had his arms open in front of
her. He turned around to smile at her, “I’m sorry, Lydia… It’s just that I…”
The ray of light struck Felix and
both he and the light disintegrated.
Lydia could see him vanish quickly,
but it seemed so slow in her eyes. She could see his tears before he had
disappeared.
“I’m
sorry…” She heard him one last time.
From what Lydia saw, everything else around Felix became pitch white. She could see a teardrop run down his cheek with a condescending, sorrowful smile. She could tell he was disappointed in himself for not being able to protect her without sacrificing somebody along the way. And just like that, he vanished. She blinked again. “Felix? Felix!” She looked around.
“No…! FELIX!! Where are you?! NO, NO, NO!!!”
“Mr. Felix...?" Forrest's heart sank. "Mister... Felix???" [Music 39.3]
“Mr. Felix...?" Forrest's heart sank. "Mister... Felix???" [Music 39.3]
“Hahahaha! Did the power of love
save him? I don’t think so! Now, is
it going to save the rest of you?” Water began to appear from between the
ground. Some other parts looked like the abyss. Water poured in and Forrest could
barely see that the stream of water was leading into an eternal nothingness.
The ground began to split between
the remaining seven group members. Lydia fell to the ground. “No…!” She watched as Celestia was being obliterated to pieces this time. It felt like a rewind to her, only this time much worse.
Forrest began to cry and Rina
panicked. Warren tried to grab Forrest but the ground below himself was pushed
upward by several feet above. Viola grabbed onto Lydia, the person sitting
closest to her while Hazel held onto Leo. The rest were isolated into their own
little island of dirt. They all began to call for each other, but it was too
late. They were being sent too far apart from each other. Lydia was crying as
well. She only sat upwards, not knowing what to do anymore.
“Face eternal damnation, little
runts! My true strength begins now! Gyahahaha!”
The entire ground around them
shattered and everyone was slowly making their way, falling into either the
abyss or the ocean.
“SUFFER! SUFFER, LITTLE KIDDIES!
HAHAHA!! AAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!” [End music]
[Ending 3 music]
~~~
On the next episode of The Obsidian Tale, everyone separates completely. This is by far a lot worse than the two separate groups of volume 2. Now, we will have to deal with everyone living on their own after a whole month timeskip. The story will shift to Lydia alone, as the main character. She questions if she is able to handle the future on her own without her friends. Will she be able to do it on her own? Find out next week!
~~~
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