The Obsidian Tale
~ Vector – courthouse – third floor ~
Argus jumped. “Whoa! That’s my BFFF,
Bailey!”
Lydia tilted her head. “BFFF?”
“My best freaky friend forever!
Duh!”
“You two know each other?” Felix
asked.
“Yeah! Man, that kid is so cool.
Bailey would make an awesome lieutenant, way better than me too. I should say
hi.”
Rina grabbed Lydia’s hand. “While
you do that, we’re leaving!” She headed for the window.
Lydia gasped. “We’re not taking the
elevator?!”
“Nope, we’re jumping right out. We
need to get out of here as soon as possible!”
Felix panicked. “But jumping through
a window three floors high?! That’s insane!”
Hazel followed her. “Just wait for
it.”
Rina created a windy aura that
brought her to float in a 45-degree angle. “Is anyone coming with me or not?”
Leo shrugged. “I have no
objections.” He knew the elevators could be a trap. Argus seemed too nice and oblivious for the Gammel
government.
“Fine!” Felix said.
Argus closed his eyes. “You’re going
to break out of here… The lieutenants are not gonna like that.”
“Toodles, loser!” Rina said to him
as they jumped off together.
~ Vector – courthouse – entrance ~
While falling down, Rina’s energy
was depleting quickly because she couldn’t contain the weight of all five at
once. Almost reaching past the first floor, Rina decided to drop Felix as the
rest of them flew down safely. Felix’s face fell flat onto the grass below.
Forrest turned to his side. “MR.
FELIX!! It’s good to see you!”
A Little Reunion
Bailey was shocked. “Wh-What is
happening?” The child took out a rapier weapon.
Rina grabbed onto Forrest’s
forehead. He continued to run even if he was stuck in one spot in front of her. [End music]
“Let me go, let me go!”
“First of all, what THE HELL are you
doing here? We left you back at the village!”
“And leaving without saying byebye
wasn’t nice at all!” Forrest whined. “You can’t stop me from saving Bailey. I
need to protect him from the Gammel army-“ [Music 30.1]
“I already told you, Forrest!”
Bailey interrupted. “You don’t need to protect me. I have made my decision to
serve the Gammel army!” Forrest frowned. The rest of the group became serious
as well. Bailey went on, “They brought me in and taught me what it is like to have real parents. Parents don’t leave you. They stay and protect you until you
are old enough to blossom on your own. Don’t you realize that you’re just
taking my freedom away by acting like some kind of hero?”
Forrest’s heart sank. He was feeling
hurt from unintentionally insulting Bailey’s honor along with the fact that
Bailey thinks Forrest is some kind of wanna-be hero.
“But Bailey… my fortune said you’re
going to die if I don’t help you!”
“Fortunes are CRAP! I don’t believe
in them, ever!! They only give you hope, and in the end, your high expectations
will go down the drain because of it. You’re happier without some stupid
fortune getting in your way.”
Lydia stood closer to Felix. “I-I’ve
never seen Bailey so angry before.”
“So please, leave me alone!” Bailey
stabbed the rapier into the ground and a bunch of other holographic swords
appeared all around the child.
Hazel took a step back. “This is not
something we should be staying for. We must run!” Hazel, the bravest and most
knowledgeable member of the group decided it was time to run, even from a
child.
Leo grabbed onto Forrest, “You have
to come with us. Clearly we can’t leave you out of our sight. Come on!”
“No! I can’t until we get Bailey out
of here!”
Warren began to follow along. “The
docks have been blocked and the fastest way to escape from here is the
shoreline.”
Bailey threw a holographic sword at
Forrest. It slashed across his cheek.
Forrest’s eyes opened widely. He
suddenly froze at the fact that he was just about to die at that very moment.
Leo continued to drag him away. About
ten swords appeared, and then twenty, and then thirty. It was impossible to
fight Bailey at the moment, so the group began to run towards the northwestern
shoreline towards the outer continents. [End music]
~ Vector – northwestern shoreline ~
Reaching the northwest portion of
Vector, the group made a quick stop by the edge of the shore after destroying
anything that got in their way. Rina was crouching down and feeling slightly
exhausted from her excess use in magic again. Everyone turned around, looking
at the partially-destroyed city. They had hoped to find Master Magnus only to
find a random student lieutenant in the courthouse along with a depressed
Professor Talbot.
Destroying the city without a
complete victory was what they least wanted, but the only thing they could do
from an impossible Bailey was to run away. Most of the debris left behind
caused the soldiers to focus more on the city than to chase after the main
group.
No one was there to give orders and
follow the lot. Why were there no responsible lieutenants at the courthouse?
Why was Master Magnus missing?
“Let’s stop for a minute. What is
happening?” Warren asked them all.
Hazel began to summarize with her
own opinions, “Throughout the information that was given, I have come to a
conclusion. I apologize for not speaking sooner, but there is a reason why I
didn’t speak.” [Music 17.2]
The group began to listen to her as
she went on.
“There is quite a suspicion with
that Argus that we met.”
Leo agreed with her. “Being near
him… I felt a very strong essence, but I couldn’t wrap my fingers around it.”
“Right,” Hazel said. “I knew right
off the bat that he was suspicious, but we will figure that out later. He tried
to stall time for Clyde to reach the Mirror Lands first, Rina was correct about
that. You see, Argus suggested to avoid the docks and head for the shorelines
because it would take us longer to reach the Mirror Lands directly. Furthermore
to their advantage, they know the route that we are taking once we start at the
shoreline.”
“Shouldn’t we mess up their plan by
going to the docks instead?” Lydia suggested.
“At this point, is it not probable
to go back into the city without getting in trouble.”
Forrest examined the city itself. It
felt the same as Kyrie, only more governmental-oriented. There was peaceful
civilian life yet there was a feeling of being watched by the government up
close.
“I personally do believe in the
floating city of Lament,” Hazel added.
Rina said angrily, “How are you all
believing in such a myth?! I say we forget about the Mirror Lands.”
Felix stomped his foot. “But Clyde
is going there anyway, so we need to stop him!”
Lydia also went along, “He has… the
last shard, Rina. We have to go, we just have to!”
Rina clenched her fists. “I just
think this is a stupid idea! Why aren’t you all listening to me?!”
Forrest began to cry. “I didn’t want
to come back and see us all get mad at each other.”
Rina looked away. “Whatever. I just
can’t believe my own best friend is siding with Suspenders on such a mythical
belief.”
Hazel glanced over at Rina’s
expressions but she said nothing about it. Instead, she went onward, “That is
enough, you three. Right now, our only path is west towards the outer
continents. On this map, it seems we are headed through the woods and into the
jungle. Afterwards, the next place with civilians is a tribal village called
Taujiko.”
Lydia was shocked. “T-Taujiko!
That’s where… I met Rina.” Rina, still angry, said nothing.
Leo checked the map. “Might I add
that right to the east of Taujiko is the Mirror Lands?” He looked closer into
the map, “That’s strange. The island just stops there. There is nothing beyond
the little area.”
Rina sighed. “See, there is
nothing.” [End music]
“I believe there is something,” a
newer voice appeared from the shoreline. Everyone stopped. [Music 33.1]
Warren turned around first.
“L-Lieutenant pupil, Viola Santa Lucia?!”
Viola waved to everyone with a lack
of expression but a slight smile.
“Hello everyone.”
Felix and Forrest gulped at the same
time. Leo, on the other hand, began to blush.
Rina placed her hand onto her
forehead, “What is it this time?” She looked into the woman’s eyes closely this
time. “Wait a minute… you’re-!”
“Viola Santa Lucia,” She said again,
even after Warren had already mentioned her full name.
Rina rolled her eyes. “That’s not
what I was trying to go for!”
“You can just call me Viola.”
“I KNOW THAT. Are you being
serious?!” Rina became frustrated with her sarcasm.
“Does it look like I’m joking?”
“Stop that!!”
“Stop what?”
“UGH!”
Lydia interrupted them. “Miss Viola!
Why have you come here?”
Viola walked closer to all of them.
“I belong in Vector, why else?”
Hazel took out her bow while Rina
readied her hands. Warren stopped them. “Hold it. We must question her first
before we make another move.”
Viola placed her face closer to Leo,
“Nice to meet you.”
Leo was extremely red. He could
smell her fresh scent of rose perfume. “Uh-uhm, it’s nice to meet you too.”
Forrest was tugging behind Leo’s
coat. Viola crouched down to give out her hand. Forrest hid to the other side of
Leo’s body.
“My, what a friendly group you
have,” She said sarcastically.
“What do you want?” Rina rudely
asked.
“Nothing much. I just wanted to come
along, that’s all.” Felix and Forrest shrieked again. Viola gave a light
chuckle. “Hmhm, I have nothing better to do right now anyway.”
Hazel glared at her. “You’re making
that suspiciousness really obvious.”
“I know of a way to the Mirror
Lands. All you have to do is bring me with you.”
“What do you get out of it?” Rina
questioned.
“The enjoyment of having to see you
all happy, what else?”
Forrest pointed at her, “Big meany
liar!!”
“Those are big…” Leo commented, followed by a punch to the face by Rina. [End music]
Lydia looked into Viola’s eyes well.
What she saw was something different from the obvious suspicion. She had her
own suspicions over Viola as well, but there was something… something deeper
within.
“Let’s take her with us,” Lydia
commanded.
Rina, Felix, Forrest, and even Hazel
made a little whiny sound. Warren wanted to, but he still respected most of the
members of the Gammel army. As for Leo, well… you already know. [Music 18.1]
“I think it would be a fun idea. She
seems nice, right? And, she knows the way past the Mirror Lands.”
“Are you out of your mind, Lydia?
First, you want to go to the Mirror Lands, and now you want her, a member of
the Gammel army, to come with us? We both know who she is. You should know
better.”
Lydia finally began to raise her
voice. “Rina, I can make my own choices too. I will trust this woman.”
“She tried to kill you before!”
“WHAT?!” Felix said in the angriest
manner possible.
“That’s right, Suspenders. This
woman tried to kill us seven years ago. She was the one who appeared at Taujiko
when Lydia and I first met. She was a part of the Obsidian genocide.”
Lydia fumbled a little but she tried
to continue, “But… it’s different this time. People can change. In fact, yes,
she might have been at the genocide incident, but we don’t know how many people
she killed. It could be none!”
Hazel began walking past the
shoreline. “Alright, if you really believe so, we will have to keep watch on
her.”
“I’m really disappointed in you,
Lydia,” Rina said. She walked ahead with attitude.
Forrest ran ahead and he turned
around to stick his tongue out at Viola. “Mleeeh!!!”
Viola didn’t show any disgust in his
immaturity. She only smiled. Warren said to Lydia, “Miss Yager, would that be
okay? I have no direct objections, but I want only the best of your safety.”
Lydia nodded. “It will be fine.”
“Seems good to me. Welcome to the
group!” Leo said without thinking twice.
As Leo, Warren, and Viola went
ahead, Felix was the last to remain with Lydia.
Felix said to her, “Hey… Rina could
be right. Are you sure about this?”
“Rina can think all she wants. I
think it’s time to make my own decisions, and I feel this would be the right
choice.” Felix stared at her until she broke down a little. She wanted to cry.
“But I’m not a hundred percent sure.” She covered her face as she began to
weep. “Felix… I don’t know what to do. The reason why I wanted her to come
along was because she said she knew the way to the Mirror Lands. I really want
to catch up to Clyde and take that shard, and I would do anything to find the
easiest way, even if it means bringing a Gammel lieutenant with us.”
“Lydia…”
“I’m desperate, Felix! I’m scared.
At the same time, we had a talk back in Bafuul. She yelled at me, and she
couldn’t open up. Sometimes I feel that she doesn’t need to have a reason to
join us. She just feels like it.”
“I understand the dilemma, Lydia.
It’s just, if I were to serve the Gammel army for several of years, I wouldn’t
suddenly choose to travel with the enemies – us.”
Lydia wiped her nose with her
sleeves. “I know, I know. But like I said, she just seems different from all of
them. I haven’t actually seen her, you know, kill someone.” [End music]
Felix was shocked at what he just
heard. He had a blank face for the longest time after realizing something that
was so obvious. Lydia said nothing more as she headed on, slightly disappointed
to think that even Felix was questioning her. Felix knew she had a point
though. Nobody has ever seen Viola kill any
human before. Who is this woman, exactly? [Music 14.2]
Gammel Reunion
Informal Conversations
~ Sheywood – eastern portion ~
The full group of eight headed into
the next part of the islands. They were slowly leaving the old continent at
last even through that long journey being left behind. Rina, Forrest, and Hazel
were constantly keeping watch of Viola. Usually, Hazel would be in the front,
but she stood behind Viola towards the end just to make sure nothing was done.
In front of them was Sheywood, a
completely new place that most (besides Hazel and Warren) had not seen before.
The entire woods was blackened, but there were holes of light coming from
between the trees up above. I’d like to add that the trees are abnormally tall,
possibly two to three times taller than any natural habitat in the original
eastern continent. The group was now straying away from the Gammel army’s
continent and the only thing to worry about now is Viola and Clyde.
Leo nudged Hazel by the arm. “Psst,
how far is it to the Mirror Lands?”
Hazel checked the map. “From what I
remember, it should be almost the same distance as from here to the Opel Plains,
possibly farther since the path to the land is not as straightway.”
Forrest turned around with a whine.
“Aww… That’s so far.”
“No more whining, little boy. You
chose to follow us.”
Rina also turned to her side, “Why
did you even come along anyway?”
“Because I love you guys! Heehee!”
“Gross,” She responded. [Music 5.1]
“But really, it was to save Bailey. You
can’t take me away from this mission that I
have to do. It’s my choice!” The group began to listen to him. “You can’t
just take all the re-spon-si-bi-lity…?” He began to wonder if he said that last
word right. “to save Bailey! I want to talk to him and persuade him, but he
just doesn’t get it.”
Lydia giggled. “Maybe this Bailey
kid wanted to come along, but decided not to because of loyalty. That child wanted
to stay loyal to those who showed acceptance.”
“But we accept him, right?”
“Well, the Gammel army came first.
Bailey put his or her trust into the government because they showed love.”
“Love?”
“When two people love each other,
they begin to become inseparable and will always protect each other no matter
what. They never lie nor stray away from one another.”
Rina was still at the front of the
group but she didn’t bother to turn around. She had a concerned look that
nobody could see.
“Right, Felix?”
Felix blushed. “Why me?!”
“I dunno. Just felt like
double-checking with whoever is standing the closest to me.”
Leo laughed. “I wonder why?~”
Felix turned around. “I wouldn’t
talk if I were you!” He said, pointing to him and Viola who were walking a bit
too close to each other.
Leo gasped. “Wh-What?! I’m just
making sure she doesn’t make a move, that’s all!”
“Was that it? Oh my. I thought we
had a spark going on. I guess not,” Viola joked without expressing much.
“W-Wait a minute, no! That’s not what
I meant! Ugh!” He slapped his own forehead pretty hard by accident. “Ouch...” [End music]
~ Sheywood – central portion ~
It has been over an hour and Felix
has been noticing the same tree with a slash mark on it about three times. He
paused for a moment as he began to wonder if they were going in circles.
Hazel snapped her fingers. “OH
right! I forgot to mention: Sheywood is highly known for its maze-like field.
It’s not really a maze, but hey, if you can basically walk anywhere then it’s
pretty much a place that you can easily get lost in.”
“Augggggggh, whatever,” Rina
groaned. “Things just can’t get any worse, can it?”
Forrest took a step back. “Um, um,
uh… I think it just did.” [Music 24.1]
Three animals (?) appeared in front
of them. They were beasts, but looked almost nothing like animals nor humans.
They were just… three-legged, seven-foot tall monsters that looked as bad as
werewolves.
“Mutated human beings due to the
chemical reaction of Obsidian energy,” Viola said without showing any signs of
fear.
“How can you say that so calmly?”
Lydia asked. She took out her flail. “They look very frightening!”
“Here they come!” Felix shouted as
the three monsters began to pounce.
The formation was Rina, Warren, and
Felix in the front. Forrest and Lydia were in the middle while Hazel, Leo, and
Viola were in the back. As all three of the large beasts pounced at once, Rina
ducked and Hazel ran off to the right, hoping not to leave Viola out in the
open to strike anyone in the group.
Two more began to appear off to the
side landscape of the group, leaving a total of five now. Forrest took out his
cubed bazooka as it inflated. He was ready to blast them all away, but it was
hard to coordinate with a bunch of other comrades nearby. Now that the group
grew to eight members, it was harder to fight freely.
One monster knocked Lydia down after
being lightly struck by a flail. The flail didn’t seem to strike them hard
enough. Meanwhile, Leo had his brass knuckles ready to attack, but up close, it
would seem tough after seeing how big their mouths can get. Their teeth were horrendously
sharp.
Warren slashed one of the four while
Hazel struck through another with her arrows. Felix barely attacked one of the
beasts, but his eyes were closed the entire time. Rina casted a fireball at one
of the unattended beasts nearby. At the same time, Viola only stood at the same
spot that she had always been standing on.
One of the monsters jumped up above
her, ready to slice her into pieces. She simply struck a lance through the
monster. It slowly slid down her lance and blood marks splattered across her
face. Felix and Lydia watched from afar. [End music]
After a few more seconds, the rest
of the group finished their battles with the other four beasts. [Music 33.2]
“That was fun,” Viola said as she
had a napkin in her back pocket to wash her face.
Lydia was on the ground, breathing
heavily from the exhaustion. “How did you manage to do that?”
Felix was slightly shivering. “They
were partially human beings, weren’t they?”
“They are no longer human,” Viola
commented. “All they are, are mindless beings only ready to strike the
innocent.”
Lydia turned to Felix with a
whisper. “Okay, so she technically still hasn’t killed a human yet.”
Felix began to fear Viola. “Yeah,
but she can get really scary without having to try.”
Rina patted her pants after
accidentally falling onto the ground at one point. “Nice going, Gammel
lieutenant. Where did you get such skill? Killing off so many people?”
“Maybe,” Viola said. It sounded as
if she was only joking.
“Er…” Rina stopped. She turned away.
“Hmph. You may have helped us, but that proves nothing. You’re only helping
until you get us to the Mirror Lands to betray us.”
Forrest agreed with her. “Yeah! The
evil lady is right! You’re gonna betray us!”
Viola said nothing.
“Guys, let’s stop. Yelling at her
now isn’t going to do anything. I think we should just keep finding our way out
of here before more start to show up.”
Leo sneezed. “Egh… The Sheywood was
used similarly to the Mago’Ria Fey. It’s terrifying to think that the Gammel
army would just throw any failed beasts into this large span of the woods. It
would make sense since they would have trouble finding their way out of the
woods.”
“What do they eat??” Forest asked.
“Each other,” Warren said bluntly.
Forrest began to cry. “Noooo!!!!”
Hazel yawned. “Now, now, Warren. No
need to scare the child. The beasts only feast on humans who happen to travel
through here and get lost.”
“NOOOOO!!!”
Parts of the group began to laugh
nervously, but Rina and Felix didn’t. Rina was too bothered while Felix was
slightly traumatized at the fact that he could easily be killed by a beast who
was once human before. At least now he figured out why the same tree had slash
marks on them. [End music]
[Ending 3 music]
~~~
On the next episode of The Obsidian Tale, the group of eight are finally a full team, but can they really work together now that Viola has joined the group? She may have joined very late as compared to the previous seven, but because of her, the entire group is arguing with each other. Is Viola really trustable? The whole episode will build on their first ever bonding moment before the big surprise at the end of the episode. Watch out, you're in for a MAJOR surprise!
~~~
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