The Obsidian Tale
~ Lament – city walkway ~
Leo’s clothes were pampered in dust
and sweat but he didn’t care about the lack of sanitation at this point. He
wanted to protect the city as best as he could.
“You still up?” Leo asked Warren.
“Sir, I assure you that I was
top-notch in the Gammel military unit!”
“Heh, well, nobody says ‘top-notch’
anymore, old man.” Leo punched one of the beasts in the face and it was hard
enough to knock it down.
“I have defeated the same numbers as
you have. It looks like we both are a tie!” He smashed another beast on the
face. “I do say you are quite skilled with just brass knuckles.”
Leo began to laugh. Warren noticed a
flying beast was coming closer.
“Behind you!”
Leo turned around but it was too
late. The flying monster’s sharp, large claws were coming closer. He only
closed his eyes, hoping that he would hopefully survive this somehow.
The large beast fell to the ground
with a shrill cry. The two of them noticed a familiar man with his scythe.
“A gryphon has nothing against me,”
Lionel said. He spun his scythe around. “Where are the rest of the beasts?”
Leo was surprised. “You’re that one
guy I met at Ouli Brye’s castle!”
“It has been a while. I still see
you’re still sticking your nose into other people’s business and you somehow
came here.”
“Where have you been?!”
“Spare me the sweet talk.” Leo and
Warren became quiet. “I’ll tell you anyway since you asked kindly. It was that
damn trouble-child’s fault! What was his name, Felix??”
Warren tilted his head. “Since when
was Felix bad?”
“It doesn’t matter! He knocked me
off the chairlift back at the Yucan Tempa! I barely survived and made my way to
Troiya very slowly. The moment I reached the Bafuulian bridge, Professor Talbot
already came from the prison with some ugly, sad face of his. He told me to
stop fighting for the Gammel army and follow Bailey and Argus to Lament.”
“What?!” Leo said in a panic.
“As much as I want to destroy you
all, the situation has forcibly been changed. Talbot told me all about Gammel’s
true plans. He ordered me and Floir to pretend and join the two children to
come and destroy Lament while Clyde makes his way to the top. The moment we got
here, the children were distracted and I snuck away and started killing these
beasts.”
Warren scratched his head. “Why
didn’t you stop the children a long time ago when you had a chance?”
“Oh that? Good point, hehe. I
partially forgot about that. I mean, I kinda wanted to see Lament myself
anywa-“
“You suck!!” Leo shouted
hysterically.
~ Lament – castle entrance ~
Bailey was still charging up and
Hazel refrained from aiming her arrows towards the young one. She tried to aim
for the legs but a bunch of swords were in the way.
Finally, the swords were no longer
vertical. They were horizontal… and all of them were facing Forrest!
“B-Bailey, stop! You don’t want to
do this,” Forrest was about to cry. “I’m supposed to save you!”
“I’ve had enough!!” Bailey’s voice
slightly echoed into a unisex, demonic voice.
“That’s not natural at all!” Hazel
commented. She ran towards Forrest, pushing him out of the way as the swords
were all flying towards her at once. Fifty swords, this time.
It felt slow to Forrest. He slowly
turned his head, knowing he was going to die at that moment. Hazel had wrapped
her arms all around Forrest with a small amount of tears flowing out of her
eyes. The two of them fell and only one sword barely sliced across Hazel’s
back. It only grazed her, luckily!
She tried to hold in the pain
without yelling. Bailey gasped. “I missed? But how?!”
Argus looked around. “What in the
world just happened?! Who altered the sword’s directions?!” [Music 7.1]
“I did,” Professor Talbot said. He
fixed his new aviators. “The power of wind, baby.”
Forrest coughed. “Ew. I never expected
a nerd to say something like that.” He suddenly became serious. He pushed Hazel
away and then he examined her carefully. “Are you alright?!”
“I-I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
Forrest moved his hand away from
Hazel’s back and there was a small amount of blood. “You need a doctor!!”
Argus clenched his fists. “Professor
Talbot, what the hell was that?!”
“Watch your language, kid. Or should
I say… Ma-“
“Don’t you dare!” Argus slashed
through the ground and a stalagmite was rolling closer towards Talbot. Talbot
jumped away and then he canceled the attack with his own earth magic.
As Bailey was creating more swords,
Talbot quickly threw his knives at Bailey’s aura, causing the child to be
interrupted. Bailey’s form slightly reverted. [End music]
“Why have you turned on us?!”
“I started to realize what you were
doing ever since I came to Bafuul after Lydia and the group escaped. The Gammel
government only needed me to mass-produce chemical energy for more armed
forces. You know how I started to notice this? I saw my own scientists change
right in front of my very own eyes. Their skin, their eyes, their bodies…
Everything. The moment I went to Bafuul, I noticed quite a few of the fallen
soldiers were on their way to such treachery. At that point, I noticed that my
research had done nothing to replenish the world yet. Not one little trace.
‘Why?’ I asked. The government only used me to create a disastrous world in
which I had not originally looked forward to!”
“Ergh! You imbecile!” Argus clenched
his fists. “You’re going to pay!!” He raised his heavy blade again.
~ Lament – castle summit ~
“Clyde!!” Felix yelled from the
bottom of his lungs. “This ends now!” He had his crescent blade ready. He saw
Lady Pria tied together, but his main focus was to stop Clyde first.
“Oh. You have no hesitations this
time?”
“I’m not here to kill you. I’m only
here to stop you.”
“Still, what a tragic thing to say.
Very well, it looks like there is still some chance for you. I’ll fight you. I
want to see how much stronger you are since we parted ways in the Village of
Saradeli.” He took out his rapier. “Remember how scared you were from a simple
man’s death? Remember how flimsy you were with a rapier? I want to see you
struggle!” He quickly flew towards Felix. It was like he didn’t even need his
feet to catch up to Felix!
Felix quickly guarded with his
crescent blade. He pushed Clyde away and then he spun, emitting a heavy slash
all around him. Clyde jumped up and then he fell back down with a kick to Felix
on the face.
Felix was knocked over but he picked
himself up immediately. Clyde tried to stab him through the chest but Felix
made a quick slide to the left. Over and over, Clyde had done the same thing,
and so did Felix. Felix could barely dodge all of his rapier’s movements.
“I see it!” Felix was able to know
where his rapier was moving this time. He kicked the rapier blade away from
himself and then he tried to slash Clyde with his crescent blade.
Clyde’s shirt was now tampered.
“Heh! Interesting!” He said, stepping back. “You really did grow stronger.” A
darker aura appeared all around him this time. “However, so did I.” He began to
float and his hair started growing lowlights of white, just like Bailey’s. “You
know, I’ve always been stronger than you, Felix. When you become tougher, so
will I.”
Instead of running or flying towards
Felix, Clyde suddenly turned into a ray of light and it flew towards Felix.
Felix could barely deflect this ray of light. Clyde turned back into his normal
human body and the two of them were up close, face-to-face. Clyde gave him a
smile and then he gave a simple push forward.
Felix flew backwards onto the castle
walls. It slightly broke apart and Felix fell off to the side. He held onto the
ledge with only one hand. “Urgh!!!”
“I told you, Felix Wolfram. I am always stronger.” He walked closer to
Felix who was struggling to make his way back up to the summit. He stomped onto
Felix’s hand. “Man, don’t you think we’re kind of high up here?” Felix said
nothing as Clyde began to laugh. “I mean, if someone were to fall, they would
die immediately. Here you are, struggling by the ledges. It would be a shame…
if you fell!” He then kicked Felix’s hand off the ledge. [End music]
“AHHH!” Felix fell, his voice was
slightly disappearing in the distance.
“Oops. Looks like I win, yet again.” [Music 13.1]
Lady Pria said with anguish, “You
monster!! You’re not getting away with this!”
“I won’t?” He raised the vial closer
to the sky as he walked closer to Lady Pria. “Why won’t I?” He smashed Lady
Pria’s feet harder this time and a large bolt of thunder appeared from the sky.
“You have summoned the forbidden power of lightning! Marvelous!”
Lady Pria coughed. “AGH!!!”
“All I have to do now is throw this
as high as possible and it will shatter. The lightning will strike it and then…
kaboom! The energy will spread all over the world. One little throw and the
entire world will replenish!”
“You’ve lost the meaning of the word
‘replenish’!” An angelic voice was heard from where Felix was last standing.
Clyde turned around with an unamused
look. “Who are you?”
Faris had the stone in her hand. “My
name is Faris Nora, second daughter of Queen Loetta Nora.”
~ Lament – castle entrance ~
At the castle entrance, Leo, Warren,
and Lionel finally made it safely after defeating the last few beasts. Rina and
Lydia were also at the entrance, barely opening the door from the throne room.
“Is everyone alright?!” Lydia said
with a panic.
Rina looked around quickly. “Where’s
Viola and Suspenders?!”
They suddenly started hearing a yell
from up above.
Rina looked up, unimpressed. “Oh.”
She closed her eyes as she used her wind magic effortlessly to soften his
landing.
Felix fell face flat onto the ground.
“Urfhggh…”
Leo's Opposite
Lionel pointed at the sky. “Look up
there! Looks like a storm is coming.”
Argus began to laugh hysterically.
“Eheheh… HAHAHA! Finally! I get revert back to my true form!”
“True form?” Hazel gasped.
Argus was floating upward now. His whole
body began to glimmer in a bright, yellow light. “I, Master Magnus, cannot be
stopped now!”
“Master Magnus?!” Forrest, Lydia,
Leo, and Warren all shouted together. Felix did too, but all you could hear was
‘Mffrr Mgguhhh?!’
“It’s too late. The aura of the
grand Obsidian chemical energy has begun! The world will fall before me!”
Rina began to pray. “No. It’s not
over yet. There’s still the Stone of Concealment. My amazing sister is going to
use it and dispel this energy!”
“What did you say?” Argus said with
anger.
Professor Talbot took a step
forward. “NO!”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Stone of Concealment must NOT
be messed around with! Sure, it can dispel the energy but there are two
conditions! One, whatever it has already affected, will not be dispelled. For
example, you can’t revert the energy within Clyde and Bailey. Only whatever
energy is left in the sky will be gone.”
Rina shrugged. “Good. We’ll just
have to kick this Magnus guy’s butt, capture Clyde and Bailey, and we’re done!” [Music 37.2]
“And two, the Stone of Concealment
works as a bomb detonator.”
The entire group made a huge gasp.
Rina froze. Her heart stopped. “No…
No, this can’t be. You’re lying. Why should we believe you?”
Lydia had her hand on Rina’s
shoulder. “That is horrible…!”
Professor Talbot closed his eyes.
Well, you couldn’t tell from his aviators. “Such an explosive side-effect makes
sense if you’re trying to revert this
much energy from Obsidian power. We may be enemies, but I can at least tell you
this honest truth…”
Rina began covering her face in
disappointment. “Faris… You knew all along, didn’t you? You knew that this was
going to happen, so you volunteered to use it rather than me!” The sky started
altering and she noticed that Faris was flying above the summit. “Come on,” she
said to herself with frustration, “fly up there, Rina. Use your wings to fly
and stop her!!” While she was whimpering, tears began sliding down her cheeks.
Her voice was trembling. “Go! GO!!!”
Her small wings could not even raise
her. Rina fell to her knees.
At the summit, Faris was flying
above Clyde. “Your deeds are over!”
Clyde clenched his fists. “What do
you think you’re doing?!”
“With this stone, I can stop it!”
She flew closer to the blackened sky. She began to think to herself as she
closed her eyes, the wind ultimately flying through her hair. “Rina… I’ve
always looked up to you. You were truly an older sister to me, and I’ll love
you – forever.” She pressed the detonator.
“NO!!!!!!!!!” Rina watched as one
large portion around the sky exploded. You could see the chemical energy revert
back to its pinkish form. “No, NO, NO!!! NO!!!” She began punching the ground
uncontrollably. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!!”
A feather fell to the ground first.
She looked up and noticed that Faris was barely able to fly down towards her. [End music]
Faris softly fell onto her knees and
parts of her wings were broken and shattered. Rina quickly crawled towards her,
holding Faris on her lap.
“Faris, please listen to me!”
Faris slowly opened her eyes. A small
blood stream poured out of her mouth. “Rina… You’re actually here.”
“Tell me you’ll be okay!”
She began to cough. “I’m so glad
you’re safe.”
“Who cares about me! Stop worrying
about me. We need to get you to a hospital, quick!” She cowardly turned to the
main group, looking into the eyes of each of her friends. “Please, we need to
find a doctor. Somebody heal her! Somebody, anybody!” Through all that, not
even Lydia or Hazel’s healing abilities could fix this.
Felix closed his eyes. Forrest
watched her, unsure if this was the ‘Rina’ he had known since Kyrie. Lydia was
in tears.
“No, it’s okay. It’s already too
late.” Faris slowly held onto Rina’s cheek, wet with tears. “Aw… You’re really
beautiful, Rina, even if you do cry. Don’t you forget that.”
“Please, don’t say anymore. You’ll
only make your body worse!”
“Hehe,” she still managed to crack a
smile. “There you are again, worrying about others. I’ve heard from your
friends that you act like you don’t care about anybody. You don’t have to hide
it. I can't even feel the pain anymore because I get to see you.”
Rina shook her head, ignoring the
compliments. “We’re supposed to eat at restaurants more often together! I was
going to take you out to go fishing more often, remember that?! I said to
myself to teach you more magic! I promised this, Faris! I promised we’d be
inseparable sisters. Please don’t go!!” She gripped onto Faris’ hand.
“That’s alright. Knowing you wanted
to do all that is good enough for me. All I ever wished for – was to see my
sister again, smiling.” She slowly pointed to Lydia with her other hand. “You
have another sister to fulfill those activities with. Don’t stray away from the
world, and don’t even shed another tear for me. Always give a smile to others. Stay strong,
just like the Rina I’ve always known. That’s all I ever wished for. Can you
give me one more smile?”
Rina’s heart sank. She tried her
best to crack a smile, and that she did.
Faris giggled. “Thank you… Rina.
That’s what I’ve always wanted to see… Remember, I will forever… support you,
because I… love… y…”
She suddenly stopped. Her eyes
slowly closed and she let go of Rina’s grip.
“Faris?” Rina asked. “Faris…?” She
grabbed onto her hand again, “No, no! Wake up!” Rina turned to the group and started yelling. "Somebody, call the doctors! Anybody will do! We can still save her. She can't be gone!!" She turned back to Faris, placing her ear close to
Faris’ heart but she heard nothing. “Please, wake up!” She was barely able to
speak this time. She constantly checked to see if her pulse was still beating,
but nothing came up. “It should have been me… I should have taken your place!”
The surroundings were quiet, and all you could hear was her. “Wake up, wake up,
wake up, wake up!” [End music]
The group had not noticed that both
Argus and Bailey had already disappeared. Rina turned around with anger.
“MAGNUS!!! YOU’RE GONNA GET IT!!!!!!!!” Her voice roared throughout the entire city and the civilians became silent from the shock. It felt as if an earthquake just hit the city of Lament.
Due to the dispelled energy, parts
of the pink sky was left blackened and rain came falling down. There was
nothing more to say from the group…
~ Lament – courtyard ~
The courtyard was only off to the
side of the castle, still being covered by rain. Previously, the king had already reached the summit of the
castle but nobody was there any longer. He could see the remnants of Felix and
Clyde’ battle, along with the burnt ground below Lady Pria due to the
lightning.
This time, at the courtyard, both
the king and queen stood beside the grave lamented for Faris.
All throughout Rina’s life, she
hated wearing clothes that made her feel a bit more on the effeminate side, but
this time, she vowed to wear a veil and a dress all for Faris. Well, she kind
of had her original attire underneath anyway. She didn’t shed tears this time,
nor did she frown. She had a smile on her face, hoping she could put her true
feelings under a rug.
“Rina? Aren’t you supposed to be
sad?” Forrest rudely asked.
“Nope. She told me to stop crying
and to give a smile. That’s what she wanted, and I’m doing it for her.”
Lydia tilted her head in confusion.
“Rina, it’s okay to feel whatever you want to feel.”
“I said I’m fine.” She knelt down to
place a bouquet in front of the grave. “She’s in a better place now. She
doesn’t have to deal with strict parents, and now she can be set free.”
The Truth behind Rina
Rina looked up at the summit and
remembered how her father mentioned the lightning powers that she hadn’t
learned yet. Then, it hit her. Where did the lightning come from? “Pria?” she
randomly spoke. She made a curious expression as she walked away. “I will be
back. This ceremony is going to continue for two to three more hours anyway.”
Rina began to run this time and
Lydia tried to grab onto her. “R-Rina?!”
~ Lament – castle summit ~
As Rina entered the summit, she
looked around and noticed the dark mark next to the large fan. She took a deep
breath.
“Lady Pria, I know you’re here.”
Pria appeared from behind the fan.
“Oh phew, it’s just you. I had to hide because your father would have seen me.
You know, I just experienced the weirdest thing. Some random person came up
here and helped free me, and then left… Her and her purple hair… Only I can rock that look!”
“I see,” she said calmly.
“You’re not going to yell at me this
time?”
“I have a request.”
“Hm??”
“Teach me lightning magic. I’ll take
my time and will avoid using other magic elements to cheat throughout this
test.”
Lady Pria was astonished. “Why is
this all the sudden?”
“I’m going to grow stronger to
protect the ones I love. This time, I’m going to make things right. Nobody will
die by my faults from here on!”
Lady Pria nodded. “If this is what
you wish for, then I will gladly teach you lightning magic.” [End music]
~ Lament – courtyard ~
Almost three hours later, the group
of six along with some of the Gammel members sat in the audience. Well, they
kind of sat apart from each other since there was still some rivalry going on.
Once the ceremony was coming to a
close, Mrs. Nora grabbed onto an envelope. “For the final portion of our
ceremony, we would like to present this envelope to Rina Nora.”
There was silence. Nobody stood up.
“Rina
Nora? Is Rina Nora present?”
“Over
here!” Rina ran from the side. She had her original outfit on. There was no
veil nor a dress. She had on her usual clothes and she was sweating.
Mrs. Nora made an elegant gasp.
“Miss Rina!” She softly tugged onto Rina’s sleeve, whispering to her, “You
haven’t even shed a tear. What is the matter with you? And put that dress back
on!”
“Save it,” Rina interrupted her
while slapping her hand away. “Give me that.” She snatched the envelope away
from her mother as she read the front side. “To: Rina, From: Faris…”
She quickly ripped the sleeve of the
envelope as she began to read it. [Music 8.3]
“Dear
beloved sister, Rina, I wrote this and requested mother to send it to you in
case I do not get back to you. I just wanted to say that I regret we could not
become close sisters in the past. I’ve always looked up to you, and I was
always jealous. I watched daddy teach you fire magic and mother forced me to
stray away from it. She wanted to become an elegant woman just like her. I
wanted to learn magic too! I wanted to catch fish and eat what I deserved. I
wanted to play kickball with you because well, I’ve always seen you play by
yourself. How fantastic would it have been to have an actual opponent?”
Rina frowned. The main group began
eying each other as she continued to read. “You
know, the moment I saw you come back, I knew you were my sister. I recognized
and remembered her, and trusted her. And that trust served us well. That man
really did try to destroy the world, and I knew you were honest about it from
the very beginning. My sister would never lie. I knew about the detonator, but
I did not tell you. Your life was worth living and I wanted you to see it all. I
want you to live on. You don’t need to be the princess. I know your mother
requested it several times but you hated it. You should be your own self. Be
who you want to be. Grow up, fly and be free. The Rina I know would never give
up. P.S. I left my necklace in the envelope. Please wear it to know that I will
always be there with you. You can do it – I believe in you. Love, your younger
sister, Faris.”
Rina pulled the necklace out of the envelope without any
emotion. “Fly and be free…” she
repeated. “Faris… I’m not going to cry.” She then turned to the grave next to
her. “I really wish I could be with you longer too. I regret what I have done,
and I will live up to it. I will make sure I stop Magnus, for you! I…!” After
putting on the necklace, she gripped onto the letter and drops of water fell,
mixing in with the letter, spreading all over the sheet.
She began to cry this time. “I’m
going to live on! And I will keep my promises!”
Lydia wiped a teardrop away from her
own eye as her head leaned onto Felix’s shoulder. He blushed. Felix slowly
placed his hand over Lydia’s other shoulder to comfort her. He knew now was not
the time to think about Lydia as they were all sitting in solidarity for Rina
and Faris.
The rain slowly stopped and the sun
was coming up this time. Rina turned to the large audience in front of her with
a determined look on her face.
“We
are going to be the change that innocent civilians seek. This is the start
of a new world.”
[Ending 3 music]
~~~
Next time on The Obsidian Tale, the main group finally makes their way out of Lament, the floating city. With Rina's arc ending at last, how will her character act like from now on? What will the main group do about Magnus? Does the group even have a way to find him? One of the most questioning situation comes from Viola: where did she go and why did she disappear? Find out on the next episode!
~~~
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