The Obsidian Tale
~ Shiu Jo - entrance ~
“My name is Hazel Hayashi. I request
to speak with the chief.”
“Hayashi?! You mean, the Hayashi family that left over twenty
years ago?”
“Yes. I did not come here for your
surprise. I must speak with the leader immediately.”
“Right this way, miss! The rest of
the group must stay out here.”
“What? Why?” Felix questioned him.
Hazel interrupted him, “It’s okay. I
will speak to the chief myself. Everybody here seems to be fine, so the source
of this tower must be at some other portion of this continent.” She then took a
glance at Viola, and then back at everybody else, “Keep an eye on each other,
alright?”
“Oh, uh, yeah,” Felix said.
Lady Pria, Felisse, and Professor
Talbot were with the group as well. Talbot began toying with his scanner. Lady
Pria said to them in a nonchalant manner, “Seems we are not invited.”
Leo grinned. “You told me that you
were born here, didn’t you?”
“That may be true as I have learned
the art of suppressing magic energy here, but I left rather early to speak with
the royal family of Lament. From there, I began to learn magic altogether
around the same time I journeyed with Hazel and Warren.”
Viola giggled. “You may be
suspicious. Your entire past seems rather confusing, and it would be easily to
soil your heart into chemical energy.”
Lady Pria clenched her teeth. “How
dare you speak to me that way. For all we know, you could be the culprit as
well.”
Felisse gasped. “You two need to
calm yourselves. We cannot lose trust in each other at a time like this. I did
not want to come here in the first place, but seeing as Warren is persistent, I
had to.”
Leo squinted his eyes at her. “What
makes Warren so important to you that you had to follow along?” Felisse began
to blush, and Leo knew the reason. “Uhm, never mind. You can keep that to
yourself.”
“Got it!” Talbot said, shaking the
scanner. “I have a clearer silhouette of that figure, and guess what? The
culprit is on this continent, as it says.”
“That would also confirm that the
tower is here somewhere,” Warren claimed.
Leo pointed at the silhouette. “Look
at that. The culprit has long hair.” [End music]
Lady Pria and Viola began to look at
each other without showing signs of surprise. [Music 11.2]
Felix said to Viola, “I-It can’t be,
right? It has to be Floir since she’s the only other person who is not with us,
but has long hair.”
Viola took a step forward with an
immediate serious reaction. “No! Lieutenant Floir would never deceive her
duties to protect Rhadessia.”
Talbot shrugged. “I could have sworn
the silhouette had short hair before… Oh whatever.”
Lady Pria shrugged. “Someone is
being suspicious here. Could you be supporting the culprit?”
Warren watched the hair fly
carefully within the silhouette. “It could also be Lionel’s sash.”
Leo sighed. “Then at this point,
this silhouette is just another blob…”
Felix took sight of everybody’s hair
and garments. “Well at least for now, we can cross out a few of us from the
list.”
Warren pointed at Viola and Lady
Pria, “As much as I trust you two, we are going to put you on the list for that
silhouette just because it rings similarities.”
“I highly doubt that Viola is the
culprit. By now, it’s pretty obvious to trust her,” Felix smiled. Viola also
gave him a slight smile of relief.
“And what about that Lionel fellow?”
Lady Pria reminded them.
Felix nodded. “Him too. We also
can’t forget about Floir. Viola, I know this is hard on you, but I trust that
the four of you are not culprits. We just need some leads here.”
Viola only nodded before someone
from outside the town began screaming.
“Help!”
Everyone began shifting their eyes
towards the woman who tripped. Behind her was a mutated man ready to claw at
her.
With Lady Pria easily taking care of
the monster, the woman stood up with grief.
“Thank you so much!” She began to
cry. “I don’t understand. We got closer to the cavernous spring like we do
annually, and a few monsters began coming out of that cavern!”
Only about five other townspeople,
including her husband, made it right behind her.
“What?!” Felix shouted. “We have to
go to this spring. The tower has to be there along with the culprit.”
Lady Pria smiled. “See? Told you it
wasn’t me.”
Viola easily ran through a bunch of
townspeople who appeared with rakes and mops. For her, it was tough to fight
back without having to hurt others. Both sides of her spear had pointy ends and
one of the only ways to knock out any opponents was to deflect their gardening
weapons with the handle of her spear. Sometimes, she would kick them away if
they came too close.
The main group made their way to the
springs after about an hour of rushing through the enemies. Talbot threw
several knives onto the floor in front of multiple mutants. Rocks and grass
began to work their way against the enemies, grazing their clothes and skin
until they became defenseless. Lady Pria did the same but without the effort of
a knife. Felix and Leo were on par with each other, slashing and punching any
monsters who got nearby.
The Albino Culprit
From behind, the group heard a shing! sound.
“Stop right there,” the guard said.
Leo scratched his head in confusion.
“What’s going on now?”
“You are all under arrest for
suspicion.” His eyes began glowing and his body emitted dark aura around him.
Likewise, a bunch of other soldiers from outside the town began doing the same.
Felisse snapped. “No! You do not
suppose the townspeople are victims already?!”
Suddenly, the woman and the rest of
her group began glowing as well. “It is far too late. All of us came from the
spring previously, and none left safely.”
Felix froze. “That means everyone
is… infected by the chemical energy. They’re all capable of being controlled by
Magnus!”
Warren took out his hammer. “We must
fight together in order to stop these mutants!”
Felix closed his eyes. “But they’re…
still human. We can’t kill them.”
Leo tapped his shoulders. “Felix,
you have to understand that for this many people, it’s far too late. We can’t
cure all of them at once, and we don’t even know how long they’ve been
infected.”
“After all,” Lady Pria added. “Their
transformation proves it is already too late.”
“But!” Felix stopped. His fists were
shaking, but he was able to take out his Crescent Blade. “Fine. We’ll do
whatever it takes to stop them.”
“A wise choice,” Viola said.
“Putting what must be done over morals is something we sometimes cannot
surpass. As for me, I have a plan.”
The group began to defend themselves
against a hoard of mutated soldiers and civilians. After tens and almost a
hundred enemies, Viola made her way into the town.
“Head for the springs! I will find
Hazel.”
Felisse jumped. “We cannot have just
Viola enter the town!”
Lady Pria agreed. “That just makes
her even more suspicious – attacking Hazel when she is most vulnerable.”
“Believe what you will, but saving
her is our most important cause right now. Aside from Leo, she makes a great
tactician.”
As she left, Leo blushed. “Viola…?
She really thinks of me that way instead of some helpless drunk?”
“This is no time for soft moments!”
Warren concluded. “We must fight!”
“Alright,” Leo said. The group
continued their battle towards several hundreds more who were coming from a few
lower and upper hills that were far away. With Lady Pria, they were sure
capable of defending against all the soldiers at once.
~ Shiu Jo – central temple ~
There was one large temple in the
center of the town that obviously looked like the chief’s whereabouts. As soon
as she arrived, she smashed the door down and saw Hazel’s mouth taped and ropes
were behind her back.
With the tape being removed, Hazel
laughed. “Nice going!”
“How surprising that one of our
smartest members got tied.”
“That was part of the plan.”
“Oh?”
“It would have been worse if I
suddenly lashed out here. As you can see, my bow and arrows are deadlier than a
spear that can deflect. Therefore, it would be tough for me to fight back. I
have already finished my investigations just by looking around.”
“So you knew at least one of us
would come for you.”
Hazel shook her head.
Viola turned around. “Do you have
any leads yet?”
“The culprit is not in this town. He
or she must be heading for the springs, or is already there.”
“Why is it not the townspeople?” [Music 37.1]
“The townspeople are usually passive
and friendly. They keep their independence by avoiding war. All of their hearts
may be weak and controlled by Magnus, but none are clever or strong enough to
reach the third tier of the hierarchy. It has to be someone of lieutenant
importance.”
Viola clenched her fists. “Then it
has to be… Lieutenant Floir or Lionel…”
“Correct.”
“In that case, let’s get out of here
and catch up with the group. We must make our way to the springs!”
“Got it!”
~ Soma Springs – entrance ~
Like whack-a-mole, Warren was easily
able to push forward as usual, but his running speed was a lot slower than the
rest due to the heavy mass of his hammer. Felisse stood beside him with her
shortsword, making sure to protect the group.
Warren noticed that Felix and Leo
were being surrounded by a dozen enemies. “Look out!”
Felix only slashed away one of the
soldier’s weapons. One after another, they began piling onto him like zombies.
Leo was under the same threat. Talbot and Lady Pria were able to stop the monsters
from biting Leo, but Felix was in trouble. It wasn’t until an arrow struck
through several of the enemies’ heads at the same time.
Felix quickly pushed them away as he
began stuttering. “They… they weren’t normal! Not even ‘mutant’ normal!”
Hazel kicked one of the monsters’
back. “Their hearts were weak enough to form a mutation where they no longer
feel human at all.”
“So they… become zombies?” Leo
stared at one of the eyes which was completely whitened.
“Precisely, you can say. We are
lucky that the other two lieutenants cleared the rest of the towers, or else
the whole world could have been what these were.” Hazel headed into the
springs. “We must press forward.”
Warren knelt down to pray for the
soldiers. “May you rest in peace.”
Leo sighed. “It’s a good thing
Forrest wasn’t here to see this… I don’t think that kid needs any more trauma
in his life.”
“Yeah,” Felix said. “But… is it
really too late to heal these mutants? I mean, there was me and Bailey. We…”
“Deep within Bailey, I could see a
strong heart that postponed the mutation in her body. It is no wonder why we
were able to save her.” Hazel said to him.
Leo agreed. “And as for you, Felix,
you were controlled from the moment you were reborn. You didn’t take any
chemical energy at all, so you’re a different story. You only used chemical
energy to strengthen your chakrams, not your body.”
“But still, I want to stop Magnus
without these people getting hurt.”
Warren began to follow Hazel into
the springs and Felisse followed along. Lady Pria watched the group before she
headed her way.
“Felix,” Leo patted his shoulders,
“at narrow times like this, you have to figure out what is more important in
the long run. Stopping Magnus is our first priority, and he is only using these
people to stall time. I know exactly what Hazel is doing. She is rushing into
the springs because she knows that in order to stop this mess, we have to
target the core.”
Felix said nothing as he knew Leo
was right. There was no time to worry about pawns as the king was still on the
loose, like Leo’s very own chess example. [End music]
Near the first few halls of this
cavernous spring, there were a couple of enemies that the group easily passed
through. Viola placed her fingers across the dusty floor. [Music 59.2]
Seductive Taunts
Natural Ways of Fishing
~ Soma Springs – southern platform ~
“The ground here feels like it used
to be some kind of stationary village.”
“Yes, several hundreds of years ago,
people used to live in this spring in rebellion to those in Shiu Jo.
Irrelevancy aside, there used to be a lively spring here.” She pointed at a
well with no water access except for the small opening across a bridge that led
through a river.
“Why was there a rebellion? Shiu Jo
must have been a small community back then on this lonely island,” Felix
claimed.
“Rebellions can occur through
personal self-righteousness,” Hazel said. “Both of the groups from Shiu Jo and
the Soma Springs had their own point of views on how to save water and food
resources, simple as that. Eventually with the help of Obsidian energy
replenishing the world, they were able to use as much as they could, and
eventually formed together. Those who used to live here were invited to Shiu
Jo.” She closed her eyes in disappointment. “But now…”
Warren was on his knees so he could
pray for Hazel. “My condolences to your nation.”
“It’s fine. I wasn’t very close to
them anyway. The family I grew up with came along my journey early on. That’s
why my mother is at the Grandine Hillage.”
“And your father?” Felix asked.
Hazel froze. “He… died from the war
twenty years ago on my first journey.”
Felix became silent. This was a
direct parallel to himself, he assumed.
“Hey,” Leo whispered. “I hear more
enemies coming.”
Hazel silently pointed at certain
boulders for the group to hide behind, and each pair took a side. Felix was
with Leo while Hazel was with Viola. Lady Pria floated upwards, hoping nobody
would look up. Warren and Felisse stuck together and Professor Talbot jumped
into the well.
“Was that necessary?” Felix asked
Leo.
“For a brilliant scientist like him,
I had no idea he would do such a thing,” Leo responded.
“Ow!” Talbot yelled. The spring was
only about five feet high, and his feet banged against the bottom. A few
enemies noticed him as they began to jump into the well.
Hazel’s walkie-talkie turned on as.
“Bzzt. We have detected an unexpected large beast roaming near Kyrie and it is
out of control! Man your forces, everyone! I will be on my way.” [End music]
Hazel tried to turn it off. “Damn
it, Gunther.” [Music 9.1]
Viola said without panic, “Oh my. It
seems something is stirring back at the village.”
Hazel grinned. “But we are so close
to the tower!”
“We have to save him!” Felix ran,
barely thinking about the consequences. Leo was forced to follow along now that
the enemies spotted them.
Hazel and Viola took a separate path
while Warren and Felisse were left behind, waiting for an opportunity to follow
along. It’s too bad that Warren is huge, really. Everyone can see him.
Professor Talbot threw a fire knife
behind him and onto the ground. There was a firewall that blocked the enemies
from coming through, but some had the audacity to just run past it. Now they
were in flames.
“Eagh!” He panicked as he threw a
water knife at them. He used the river water to help bundle a large amount as
he splashed them. There was too much water, however. It struck him too. “Why is
this happening to me?!” He cried as he was floating away with a bunch of
zombie-like enemies in the same water pool.
Felix and Leo were right behind this
mess, followed by more enemies like a simultaneous train of allies and foes.
Oddly enough, there was a dead end
for Professor Talbot. He turned around as he struck a wind knife in between
himself and his foes. “You want to fight me? You’ve made a huge mistake!”
“Drop your weapons!” One of the
mutated soldiers said. It was as if he had two voices speaking for him.
Felix and Leo were also surrounded
further back. They were facing back-to-back, making sure nobody got nearby.
“I don’t get it!” Felix shouted. “If
this is a dead end, then where is the tower?”
“It is here,” a strong, stern voice
was heard from far away.
“Lieutenant Floir!” Professor Talbot
shouted.
Lionel had his scythe ready as he
stood right next to her on a platform up above the whole riot.
Hazel and Viola were further back
and Lady Pria was floating above them.
Viola tried to move forward, but the
soldiers stopped. “Miss Floir, please tell me you are not a part of Magnus’
group! I thought you vowed not to join his force.”
Floir paused for a moment, and then
she gave Lionel the eye. “Oh, but I changed my mind.”
Leo became frustrated. “Tch, so they
betrayed us in the end…”
Felix raised his crescent blade.
“Damn it all! The both of you are on
their side?!”
“Precisely,” Floir said. “Soldiers,
stand back from the enemies. Lionel will take care of them. I will take you all
back to Shiu Jo to celebrate.”
All of the mutated humans began to
cheer. It was a bit awkward, really. Can you imagine seeing a bunch of
zombie-looking humans with hearts and feelings, and with a personality still?
Felix wanted to fight back, but Leo
gave him a slight kick to the leg to indicate that now was not the right time
to retaliate.
Once Floir left with the mutants,
Lionel raised his scythe at the main group. “Alright, show’s over.” [End music]
Professor Talbot gave a sigh. “Phew,
I knew it.”
Viola had her hand over her chest in
disbelief. “Hold it right there. What is going on, lieutenant?”
Lionel whispered, “Shhh! Don’t talk
so loudly, idiots. You can thank us later. We told some awesome lies to the
soldiers back there, didn’t we?”
Felix stomped his foot. “You mean
you fooled them into thinking you’re on their side?!” [Music 25.1]
“Duh, pea brain. Lieutenant Floir
just lured all the monsters away so she can kill them without hurting you guys.
But don’t think we’re on the same side. I still owe you a beating for throwing
a bitten apple at my head a looooong time ago.”
Felix became nervous. “Geh! You
remember that?”
“I have to say though, you’re
wielding a full-blown weapon instead of some lame ol’ apple. You’ve improved,
just a little bit.”
“A little bit?!”
Lady Pria shrugged. “Oh well, so I
guess they’re both not the silhouettes we’re looking for.”
Hazel turned to Viola, “And you
aren’t either.”
Everyone began to turn to Lady Pria.
“You?” Leo asked.
“Me? Oh my… It looks like my cover’s
been blown.”
Felix jumped. “So you are the silhouette!”
Hazel stopped them. “Hold on. You
are joking.”
“What makes you think that?”
“You got your seventh holy magic
from this spring. You’re the one who basically created such a thing, so why
would you let someone like Magnus use this sacred place as his monster ground?”
“You got me again…”
Felix was frustrated this time. “You
know what? Let’s just find the spring. Maybe the actual culprit will show up.”
Lionel slashed the limp boulders
from behind Professor Talbot. “The room right ahead of us is where stuff gets
created. You can see all of the embryo-looking mutations on the sides. Floir
and I managed to lie our way through the springs and told everyone that we were
helping Magnus.”
Hazel hesitated for a moment while
the rest of the group entered the next room. “Hold on!”
As soon as Hazel spoke, Leo was the
only other person to take a step out. “I get it now,” he claimed. “Magnus is
powerful enough to know our every move. Why would he simply let us enter the
direct room where monsters are being ma-“
Suddenly, the broken wall between
the last room and the springs were blocked by steel bars.
“Ah! Darn it. When was there a
lock?” Lionel frowned.
“You mean you came in here without
taking precautions earlier?!” Felix shouted at him.
Viola said calmly, “The lieutenants
sure are relentless, but can still get clumsy…”
Felix squinted his eyes. “Not this time.”
Leo tried to punch the steel bars
but it was not budging. Lady Pria was murmuring something to herself.
Talbot turned to her. “Are you
feeling okay?”
“Nobody messes with my spring…” She
said, feeling anguish.
Hazel took a step back. “If none of
us are the silhouette, then that would mean…!”
Warren was thrown against the ground
with a rope tying his hands on his back. Two soldiers were on each end from
him.
“I’m sorry that it turned out this
way,” Warren said in disappointment.
Lionel rudely pointed at him, “So
those generic soldiers are this ‘silhouette’ you keep talking about?!”
“No,” a woman interrupted them. [End music] Felisse appeared behind Warren with a gun in her left hand, pointing at Hazel
and Leo. Her right hand had a shortsword as usual. “I came here to put an end
to all of you, besides Warren.”
“What?!” Felix yelled.
“You all defy Magnus’ motives and
reasonings, and then you disregard his humanity. That clearly makes you all
terrible, terrible people. I must
eradicate any terrible person out there except for Warren, who I shall save for
Magnus.”
Hazel tried to take out her bow but
Felisse flickered the gun, threatening to shoot if Hazel moved.
“What does Magnus want with Warren?”
“Magnus wants a particular type of
person in his team. A strong man – with the weakest heart. And I was the
perfect decoy to reel him in.”
[Ending 5 music]
~~~
The group is in a heated moment now! With Felisse basically trapping them all within the springs, nobody from outside would be able to reach them. Will there be a sacrifice in order to stop Felisse? What made her heart sink so low enough to be controlled by Magnus himself? With this quarrel, let us hope that those back in the Village of Saradeli can survive on their own. See you next week on The Obsidian Tale!
~~~
<- Go to Episode 58 - The Seventh Tower
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