The Obsidian Tale

Episode 19
[Opening 2 music]

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~ Yucan Tempa – Entrance ~

Felix and Rina were stuck at the Yucan Tempa’s bottom entrance. Above them were mountain paths that led to a coffee shop, followed by a station for chairlifts. The other side of the Lennox territory was just around the corner, and the two teenagers could return to the Gammel grasslands at last. Ace and Moilin made their way to the Yucan Tempa as well, and they arrived with a few Ouli Brye civilians who planned to pilgrimage through the area for vengeance against the Gammel army.

“Out of my way,” a familiar voice was heard. [Music 19.1]

Moilin was struck by surprise. “My dear, Garnett! What are you doing here?”

Garnett turned to him. “Daddy, I thought you didn’t want to interfere with the Gammel army? Did you lie to me?”

“I just… didn’t want you to get hurt.”

Garnett took out an axe that was slightly larger than before. “Don’t be stupid. I’m already strong on my own. I learned from Ouli Brye’s best academy.”

“I should have never signed you up for self-defense classes. Now my own daughter is putting herself in danger. Please, turn back, Garnett.”

Rina pouted. “You know, for a rude girl like you, I’m surprised you care to stop the Gammel army from causing more harm.”

Garnett stabbed her axe onto the dirt. “Shut up, beast. I only care for Gammel’s destruction. They thought they could fool me with King Nader and his betrayal. This is revenge, not because I care about the destruction of Ouli Brye.” She took a step forward. “By the way, I could have sworn you two were being chaperoned by an old lady. What happened to her?”

Rina and Felix became silent.

Garnett suddenly chuckled. “Did she die? Hehe… ahahaha!! You two couldn’t even keep an elder safe. What are you doing here, thinking you can protect and save those who are victims of the Gammel army? How pathetic!”

Felix clenched his fists. “Hey! It’s not like that at all! It’s because we…”

Rina whispered to herself, “Because we were arguing like little kids. Suspenders, just let it go.”

Felix’s heart sank. “But… it’s as if we’re the ones responsible for her death. It has been in my mind ever since.”

Ace interrupted them, “Garnett, that is enough. Although I do not understand the situation you are all going through, I will allow Garnett to fight alongside with us. She does not cause any harm to Lennox, and we need as many fighters as we can get. That is, if it is okay with you, Sir Moilin.”

Moilin was sweating now. “Erm… I-I guess it is okay. But Garnett, promise me you will be okay. I have anticipated this for quite a long time.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m always fine. I’ll go up ahead to sneak around and see if there are Gammel soldiers already in the Yucan Tempa.”

Felix stopped her. “Wait, I have one more question.” [End music]

“Ugh, what the hell do you want now?” [Music 17.2]

“I remember when we first met. You were so kind, but you were also the angriest once you found out that we traveled with Lydia.”

“So what? I just hate her guts. Her similar hair color, her body movements, everything. The only difference is our eye color.”

Rina thought about it carefully. “That’s true. Lydia’s eye colors have gone blank since she lost all those shards. As each shard returned to her, her eyes were slowly returning, but not fully.”

“Who cares. I just get so angry whenever I sense that she’s nearby. I can even sense that she’s still alive somewhere but it pisses me off that I don’t know where.”

Felix gasped. “What?! How do you know that?”

“It’s only a gut feeling. Now let me be.”

As she walked away, Rina glared at her. “Suspenders, I feel like something is very fishy about her. She’s not just some random fighter growing up in Ouli Brye. There has to be something more to her, and I need to know.”

Felix said to Moilin, “She’s your daughter, right?”

“Yes…”

“Was she adopted?” Rina asked.

Moilin shook his head. “Well, yes. But…”

An explosion occurred at the top of the chairlift station, but it was difficult to see through all the mist up above them. Many of the pilgrims began panicking.

“What audacity!” Ace said, running up ahead. “We will have to discuss this later.”

Ace took the nearest microphone as he began calling out to all of the Lennox soldiers to stay in their groups. Felix and Rina watched as several hundreds of soldiers grouped into ten each, marching forward in straight lines. Moilin had to follow beside Ace throughout the entire mission.

Felix took out his crescent blade. “I guess we’re following along. We have to stop the Gammel army before they create any more wars.” [End music]

Rina stopped. “Something is off about this too.”

As everyone was either running up ahead or running away, Felix and Rina were still standing in the middle.

“What do you mean?”

“You said we have to stop them from creating wars. However, the Lennox army is also being forced to continue the war in an attempt to stop it. With King Nader’s betrayal, I’m sure the Gammel government is not that idiotic. They’re going to try and tell the whole world that the Lennox army keeps starting the wars.”

“What?! Where did you get that idea from?!”

“Think about it. The Gammel army wouldn’t just take over land directly. There is a motive, and they do it in secret. You think a smart tactician would say, ‘hey, let’s bomb the Yucan Tempa station and let everyone know we did it!’?”

Felix ran up ahead. “Well doing something is better than doing nothing. I say we go up anyway and maybe we can working around this. First off, we have to find a way to get up there without getting injured.”

Rina stood in front of the mountain path. “There are a lot of soldiers going up this path. They will only slow us down until we get to the coffee shop.” Her hands gripped onto the rocks nearby. “This may cost a lot of energy, but with this ability, the path to the top should be short.”

“Wait, what are you doing?” [Music 19.2]

Rina molded the rocks together and she threw them against an adjacent road away from the main path.

“Kind of like rock climbing, only you get to actually run on them,” Rina said in excitement. “Try and catch up with me because I’m not able to use that much energy on newly-learned elemental magic.”

The S-Grading Scale

~ Yucan Tempa – Mountaintop – Coffee Shop ~

After several minutes, Felix and Rina were able to make it to the coffee shop at the top of the mountain path. The first and quickest soldier squads would barely make it to the top, followed by Ace and Moilin.

“How did you two get up here?” Ace asked.

Rina was on the ground, breathing heavily. During this time, a few civilians were still making their way out of the coffee shop due to the explosion on the other side of the chairlifts. The station sounded a loud fire alarm and some of the workers had to evacuate.

Ace said to his soldiers, “No matter. For now, squads one and two head up to the station. Three and four should stay here. Squad five should head into the coffee shop and double check for any more civilians. The rest can follow me behind the first two squads!”

Felix held onto Rina’s shoulders, “Hey, can you get up?”

“What does it look like I can do, idiot? I’ve spent a lot of energy!”

Felix tried to carry her on his back. “Fine, we’ll just have to pause for a little bit. You need your rest.”

“Ergh… I can keep going!”

“No you can’t! Don’t push yourself.” He tried to take her behind the coffee shop so she could rest. “Look, I’m going to check the coffee shop and help evacuate the rest of the people in there. In the meantime, you should take a break and we can continue going towards the station, okay?”

Rina coughed. “F-Fine…”

Felix tried to stay calm. He headed into the coffee shop from the back door. Luckily, nobody seemed to remain in the coffee shop, not even the workers nor the owner. He said to the soldiers, “There’s no one back here. It should be clear!”

“Thanks for helping us,” one Lennox soldier smiled.

Another soldier from the front door called out, “Hey, there’s still someone here under the table!”

His partner crouched down. “Come on, little child. We won’t hurt you.”

Felix headed to the table, waiting for the child to appear. “Who is it?” He knelt down and looked carefully.

It was an angry boy which Felix had seen before.

“Remy!” Felix called out. The soldiers stayed quiet. “Remy, what are you doing here? It’s several miles away from South Ouli Brye!”

“Th-The strange woman in my dreams thanked me, and gave a last request before I completely healed up.” [End music]

“Lady Pria?”

“Yes! That was her! That’s her name!” [Music 10.1]

“What did she say? What did you do?!”

Remy appeared from the table. “She said thanks because some girl came by to learn magic under her. Now the girl can help save Lydia. Another thing she requested was to leave South Ouli Brye and find the woman who has been taking care of me. That’s no one else but Hazel!”

Felix’s eyes opened widely. “Huh? But she’s… she um…”

Remy became excited. “And so I left to the Terrain Valley on my own. Her request had hints on where I should go and what I should do but all I did was fall into some black pit. This large beast fell next to me and-…”

Rina came in from the front door. She could barely stand.

“Suspenders, we have to move on! Some of the Gammel soldiers already made it outside the coffee shop.”

“Damn it! Remy, come with us. It’s not safe here.”

Remy shook his head. “No! Part of the request was to stay here and wait for her!”

“Hazel is…” Felix could not say it in front of Remy. “You just have to believe me. It’s not safe to just stay and wait here. You’ll die.”

A few Gammel soldiers shot most of the fifth squad in the coffee shop. Felix tripped onto the ground. His eyes widened from the sight of blood and fallen soldiers in front of him. Remy began to cry. Rina blasted a fireball at the Gammel soldiers and then she fell onto her knees again.

“Suspenders, get up…!!”

Felix closed his eyes, shaking the fear out of his head. “A-Alright, Remy, we really need to get you out of here!” He forcefully grabbed onto Remy’s wrist.

“But she’s not here yet!” Remy shouted out randomly.

Leaving the coffee shop, the two teenagers along with Remy could see Moilin being trapped by what looks like a giant scorpion machine. Some of the Lennox soldiers have already fallen and Moilin was the last man standing. He had no weapons to fight back and all he could do was wait to be slashed into pieces by the scorpion machine. Felix had his crescent blade ready. [End music]

“Help!” Moilin pleaded. He must have been left behind from the main army and Ace. [Music 15.2]

“What the heck is that?!” Felix panicked. The scorpion turned around.

It screeched, causing Felix to stay defenseless. He had to drop his weapon to cover both of his ears. Meanwhile, Rina could see a few Gammel soldiers slipping by and making their way down the mountain path. None stayed with the scorpion since it was a killing machine.

Felix picked up his weapon as he tried to slash the scorpion’s claws with his crescent blade but there was only a clink! sound. Felix was pushed back and the scorpion almost sliced Felix into pieces. With a pierce to the ground, the floor crackled, proving that the scorpion was horrendously strong.

Remy stood beside Moilin, crying.

“Suspenders, t-take that thing… towards the path going down to the bottom level of the Yucan Tempa…!”

Felix knew what she was about to do. He agreed with her as she began distracting the scorpion while running towards the mountain path going down.

“Hey ugly, over here!”

The scorpion continued to screech and Felix still ran while covering his ears. Eventually, he was able to make it in between the mountain path and the scorpion.

“Duck under!” Rina shouted as she could barely move her arms.

The scorpion was about to attack again but Felix ducked under the machined body. Before the scorpion could stab into the ground, Rina manipulated the ground below the scorpion machine. It was slanting downward now as it began to roll away. Rina could hear a bunch of Gammel soldiers screaming in fear.

Felix laughed. “Nice! Using their own weapon to stop the Gammel soldiers. Now that’s smart.”

Moilin was about to run up ahead. “I must catch up to Ace!”

“Isn’t it dangerous?!” Felix said.

Rina slowly made her way towards Remy. “It’s not safe… to go down. The only way is to go up while protecting them.”

“Ergh… If that’s the only way, then we should go up with them,” Felix grinned.

~ Yucan Tempa – Mountaintop – Chairlift station ~

The station was only about half a mile away from the coffee shop. Heading into the station, the group could see Ace sitting against the activation machine. He held onto his stomach while facing the ground in disappointment.

“Ace! There you are!” Felix quickly made his way to the falling soldier. “Are you alright?!” He moved Ace’s hand to reveal a large cut created by the scorpion.

“I’m fine… It’s only minor. If all goes well… I’ll have Moilin take me to the bottom of the Yucan Tempa where there should be some infirmary. If not, then we can easily make it back to Ouli Brye, no sweat.”

“This looks major though!”

“I’m a leader. I can take care of it, heh! But, Garnett went up onto the chairlift. According to the radar, only one Gammel soldier remains up ahead, but on a chairlift coming from the opposite direction. The traveling direction of these chairlifts work like an accumulator.”

“What do you mean?”

“The chairlifts move in a complete circle, there and back. For example, at one point, two chairlifts going the opposite direction can meet for a split second next to each other before it splits apart again. You can imagine a race where one person decides to run in the opposite direction, and he would eventually reach the other man.”

“How do we catch up to Garnett then?!”

Moilin headed for the machine. “There are several chairlifts. I can help activate an inactive one for you and hasten its speed. Right now, Garnett is using the chairlift that exploded from earlier. Therefore, it is stuck at a fixed speed and cannot function properly with this machine. The chairlift that you and your friend will be on will be controlled by us. If you can catch up to her, you can save her before the chairlift decides to break completely and fall out of the lining!”

Felix panicked. “She could fall off with the whole chairlift?!?!”

“Yes, now hurry! It is fine that we cannot cross on the chairlift. You two must go on ahead.”

Remy agreed. “It works for me too because now I’m safe with these guys,” He pointed at Ace and Moilin. “I can wait for her to come and you two can go on ahead on your journey.”

Ace said slowly, “If anything, once I heal, I’ll try to make it to the Gammel lands. If not, I can try to send a letter by pigeon.”

Felix had to think about their new plan. “Hm… Fine. Please protect Remy. Rina and I will go on the chairlift and you will control the speed to catch up to Garnett’s chairlift!”

As Rina reached inside the chairlift, Rina complained, “Damn it. Let’s just have her dead already and move on.” She was half-joking, apparently. [End music]

~ Yucan Tempa – Mountaintop – Chairlifts ~

Once Felix helped drag Rina into the chairlift, it began moving downward. The two of them could see through the window: another chairlift moving slower than their own, at the same direction. Another chairlift from afar was moving upward to the left of them. [Music 19.3]

Sleep-Walking?

“Garnett!! Can you hear me?!” Felix had his hands cupped around his lips.

The lift on the other side was getting closer and Felix could see a man appearing from the top. Felix ran for the ceiling deck so he could do the same.

Rina tried to stand up. “The heck are you doing, Suspenders?! You’re going to fall off!”

Felix examined the situation carefully. “It’s Lionel!! I think he’s going to strike Garnett’s chairlift when he gets really close. We have to do something or else she will die!”

“But you’re going to die. Stop being reckless!”

Felix suddenly thought about what he would look like if he were to get killed. The thought of blood must have frozen him for a second but he tried to shake that out of his head. He reached the top of the chairlift, wondering what to do next.

“Rina, stay in the lift. It’s only going to get stuck behind Garnett’s chairlift right?”

“What are you thinking of doing?!”

Garnett appeared at the top of her chairlift.

“You’re from the Gammel army, aren’t you?! I saw you at North Ouli Brye!”

Lionel laughed. “Ah, nice seeing you again, freak!”

Garnett turned around. “What the hell?!”

Felix was getting really close to Garnett’s chairlift now. “Garnett, you have to come to our chairlift. Yours might collapse anytime soon!”

“I don’t care. I’m going to take revenge on those damn Gammel soldiers if it means I die!”

“Well if you die now, you won’t be able to take revenge on the rest of them!”

Lionel took out a boomerang – the detachable end to his scythe. It had sharp blades on the edges, and it was amazing that he was able to throw it and have it returned without prickling his own hands. He did have good eye-hand coordination with the small handlebar left on the boomerang.

He threw the boomerang at Garnett’s chairlift. One corner began to slant off.

“NO!” Felix shouted.

Garnett almost tripped but she stood perfectly still afterwards. Unlike anybody else, she had perfect stances which was kind of strange. No human could easily recover from a slanting chairlift like that.

As the boomerang returned to Lionel, he followed on by throwing a rope with a hook on it. It clenched onto Garnett’s chairlift and now all three chairlifts were going the same direction downward. Felix made a sacrifice. The chairlifts seemed far, but they were close enough for Felix to hop on.

“Suspenders!!” Rina called out.

Felix’s fingertips grabbed the end of the chairlift. Lionel became frustrated with them.

“Why aren’t you giving up?! It’s already over! Look at your chairlift. Why do you even fight for revenge? We are only following orders from the Gammel government.”

Felix crawled to the top of the chairlift. “Are you only going to follow orders? What about your own opinions?”

“The Gammel government claims: with the Obsidian energy, the world can be preserved.” [End music]

Felix clenched his fists. “Even if that may be true, is that what they’re using the energy for?! You don’t even question it and you accept anything that’s thrown to you!”

Lionel gasped for a second, but he became even angrier. “Shut up! You don’t know the decisiveness of our military situation. You’re just a teenager!”

“You don’t look that much older than me!” Felix said.

Garnett stomped her foot. “You two are already getting on my nerves!!” [Music 2.1]

Lionel threw his boomerang again. “Let’s just end this now then!”

Felix ran in front of Garnett. He guarded with his crescent blade and Garnett’s eyes widened.

The boomerang abruptly returned to Lionel but he could not control his weapon’s balance at this point. The boomerang struck the wires of the chairlift and the lift began making loud noises like two metal bars clinking together.

Felix let out his hand. “We can work this out, you know? You don’t have to die. You don’t have to fight. Maybe we can work something out and understand the situation together!”

All three corners on Lionel’s chairlift was cut loose from the cable wires now. Lionel was holding on to the ‘top’ of the chairlift that still remain on the railing.

“Heh! I don’t need some stupid pep talk from a teenager. I have my own reasons for following orders. When you have nowhere else to go… then it’s just ‘Goodbye, kid’.”

Lionel threw his boomerang at the cable wire above him.

“NOOO!” Felix yelped.

The chairlift crashed against Garnett and Felix’s chairlift before it fell down into the forest patch below them.

“Why?! Why did this have to happen?!”

Rina pointed at them, “Look out!!”

The front chairlift’s last hook was breaking apart and it was about to collapse!

Felix grabbed onto Garnett’s hand. “We have to jump to the other lift!”

Garnett slapped his hand away from her. “There’s no more hope. You need to stop!”

At that moment, the chairlift was close to falling. A few more seconds later, the chairlift’s hook completely broke off.

Garnett was ready to plummet to the ground. She was about to scream, but a hand grabbed onto her wrist. She looked behind her and she noticed that Felix detached his crescent blade’s handle and then he reattached it, interlocking with the cable wires. The two of them were gliding down now. [End music]

Felix gave a huge sigh. “Phew…!!!!”

Rina began to chuckle after seeing that his success was such a close call. “Heh, that loser… He did it.”

Garnett was about to cry. Her eyes turned red with tears. “Why? I don’t understand…”

Felix smiled. “It’s because nobody deserves to die. I can’t handle seeing another person die because of some pointless war.”

Garnett looked away as she blushed. As Felix continued smiling, the chairlift from behind suddenly slapped him on the back.

Rina rolled her eyes. “He totally forgot our chairlift was right behind them. Way to act heroic, Suspenders.”

Luckily by this time, the chairlift was very close to ground level. The three of them could now safely reach the floor – finally returning to the Gammel lands…

[Ending 2 music]

~~~

On the next episode of The Obsidian Tale, we return back to Lydia, Forrest, and Leo! This time, they are headed west - a place where Lydia and Rina lived in right before they arrived at the Village of Saradeli in the beginning of the story. It seems they were not the only two living together. They've had... the same parents...? Find out what's really going on in the next episode!

~~~

<- Go to Episode 18 - Power of Earth Magic

Go to Episode 20 - Tribe of the Taujikans ->

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