Chapter 7: Ozin

1

School started on the 1st of March and it was actually Sammy who encountered Ozin first that afternoon. It was no surprise that June and Ben were put in separate classrooms. Sammy only went to kindergarten for an afternoon because of typical Switzerland laws. Sammy was taken by surprise when somebody grabbed him by the collar from behind and yanked him into an empty and hidden alley. He gasped as Steven, still walking to the supermarket unnoticed, slid out of view as one would on a speeding train. The hand seemed to come from a very far distance. Sanny swore he was flying in the air. He had just enough time to snap his neck to the side to see his kidnapper's face. He was uncertain of what they looked like in the dark. The figure looked short, barely taller than him, but the eyes glowed in the dark and Sammy could make out his emerald-green pupils. Sammy was going to scream as loud as he could but the person shot out his large, wormy hand and muffled out his vocal exclamations.

'Shh…' said the figure and gestured Sammy to do as he was told. The figure shot a look behind his shoulder and out onto the open street. 'Listen, I don't have much time,' he said quietly with an accent. 'Your sister is in danger, fatally so if we don't do anything about it. In about ten minutes, she and Ben will be caught in a shooting and she will be shot. You must persuade Steven to go get them right now. They were leaving school at the moment and it might already be too late… I'll try my best to intervene. They're five blocks away so run last! We need her... Don't ask me how I know this. I'll explain in-depth and thoroughly later… if there is a later. Go NOW!' And with that, Sammy's vision blurred and the next thing he knew he was back to where he was twenty seconds ago… sitting on the sidewalk and panting.

Steven turned around startled. 'Did you fall, Sammy?'

Sammy looked up and met his eyes. Steven helped him to his feet, puzzled.

'Help her… we need to… Leisburg Street… must… go… now!' rasped Sammy, terrified as a premonition of an explosion and windows shattering to pieces appeared before his eyes, shockwaves shaking the entire alley.

Steven wasn't sure what he was saying but took off with Sammy anyway as if anything were to happen to June and Benjamin, it would haunt him for the rest of his life.

2

'I definitely prefer the German class,' said June, when she met up with Ben after school.

'Definitely Danish for me,' said Ben. 'although I think I just liked the teacher.' He smiled wryly.

It was a rather hot day despite it being early March. June was actually sweating on their way home. Eventually, she had to stop to rest on a bench on Leisburg Street. 'At this rate, my whole body is going to feel miserable, not just my leg.' Taking off her sweatshirt, revealing a T-shirt similar to the one she'd always worn up until the tsunami. A couple walked past them, looking quite merry. Wish we could be like them. She thought, and then: why are Steven and Sammy running towards us? Indeed they were in a state of panic. Then she heard some shouting across the street, and Steven shouted, 'June! Ben! Duck!'

Duck? June was startled—it didn't sound like Steven at all. As she dropped down she caught a glimpse of a person dressed in a bush costume. Or did I just hallucinate all that? She wondered but soon was cut off because many things happened at once.

First, multiple gunshots rang out in the alley, and people promptly began running and screaming in horror; Second, June and Ben were encased by a giant bubble in the blink of an eye. Then the bubble launched itself along with her and Ben backwards and threw both of them off the bench. But even as it bounced, a grenade landed within a metre of them. It exploded, and the shockwave of the explosion harmlessly rebounded off the shield. If only had the flying shrapnels and debris not punctured the sphere, popping it, and making them both feel the power of the weakened shockwave, then things would have been almost epic. June flew through the air, and just before landing, she swore she felt someone gripping her shoulder to try and stop her fall.

She inhaled sharply before her wrist connected with the concrete. She saw it bend, she felt the joint slide, and she heard a loud snap ringing in her ears as she shrieked in agony.

When she came to, she was surrounded by Ben, Sammy, Steven and a weird-looking man, who was examining her closely. 'Who- who are you?' she asked weakly.

'Later, young lady,' replied the man. 'I'll answer questions later. Now, tell me where it hurts.'

'I think my wrist is broken,' her eyes began to water as he pressed rather hard, feeling for 

the dislodged bone segments.

'Looks not too bad,' he concluded. 'But I don't have enough energy for a quick fix, but I'll do the best I can 'til we go back home where there's some actual equipment.'

The man conjured some ice out of thin air and moulded the ice and secured it onto her wrist, which had already begun swelling.

'Cryo-cast,' he explained. 'Keeps it in place while relieving pain, while not cold enough to cause tissue damage. Perfect.'

June stared at him, eyes out of focus, as the little man performed his magic. 'Phew, I'm sweating and thirsty.' he wiped beads of sweat off his forehead as he helped June to her feet. She was sweating too— from the heat and the pain. Ben was luckier more or less—he had only landed on his side and grazed his knees, but nothing was broken.

'We must leave now," said Steven sternly. 'This is no place for us to be at.'

Later that same day, all of the gangsters were taken care of and sent into custody. If you weren't there, you'd swear nothing had ever happened.

3

After they went back home, the green man took some time looking out of a window, then stood muttering to himself for ten minutes whilst glancing around the house. finally, his eyes landed on the carpet floor, a light purple with yellow dots stitched together. He panned at them and asked a question.

'Consent?'

'What?' they said simultaneously.

'What I mean, is do you give consent for me to perform magic on these two kids, or not?' He pointed at Ben and June, speaking an accented German they could understand well.

'Magic? Like healing and flying that kind of stuff? You can do that?' asked June, both fantasised and excited.

'Not quite. Healing is a practical term, syphoning is the more accurate definition for this occasion,' explained Ozin. 'Oh yeah, by the way, my name is Ozin.'

'Osen. Nice name.'

'I came from an ancient part of this world,' announced Ozin solemnly. 'Ok, it's not actually that ancient, but it is from a different dimension. I am a hermit, the only kind of person that can use magic and traverse between the ether. The German Realm and the Alpine Realm. I have come to you because of-' he paused and licked his dry lips. 'Man, I'm thirsty, does anyone have water?'

June would imagine screaming right now, seeing a magical being in front of her, casually talking like it was a normal day. But she didn't. There was something familiar with the Alpino. It's as if he had been there all her life. Now how could that be?

'Oh that,' said Ozin, giggling. 'Is because I put a bit of something inside of your drinks.'

'Wait, you drugged them?' demanded Steven, looking disbelievingly at Oben, he pointed a finger at Ben and June, who felt their stomach churn a bit.

'You too, I may add,' said Ozin calmly, pointing a finger at him. 'It's harmless really, benzodiazepines so you wouldn't be screaming your lungs out while I'm trying to make my point. If I hadn't done that, what do you think would happen?

'Your brains will go into shock,' concluded Ozin.

'What's the point that you're making?'

'Now, don't be in a rush, young man. I'll explain in a minute, it will all make sense from then on. Now, to the current problem—would you like to be healed or prolong your pain?'

June didn't need another prompt. Her wrist felt like it might explode. 'I'll do, Vennligst.' she pleaded. Almost instantly, the white-hot burning sensation came to a halt, replaced by a weird feeling of nothingness. Nothing at all. She watched in awe as the cryo-cast glowed white and liquefied into pure energy. The energy lingered for a few seconds before exploding in the air silently into golden sparkles. The air was instantly filled with the aroma of lilies and steam. When the steam clouds lifted, June looked at her wrist, which still had the shape of the cast engraved into her skin, except the pain was gone and she could move it freely. She looked at Ben, whose grazes were replaced with faint red markings of flesh, and that was about it.

Wow, nice trick. She thought. I have a feeling I haven't seen the last of this.

'Of course you won't be. Silly girl, getting yourself into the middle of a shooting. How could you?'

More shock from June and Ben. June because the small leafy man just read her mind; Ben because the words sounded more like an insult. He resisted the urge to punch him, but not yet, things aren't clear enough. There's more.

'You can read my thoughts,' said June, her voice trembling.

'Hmm… let's see. Regeneration, transmogrification, teleportation, levitation. Ooh I wonder what's missing alongside those,' said Ozin sarcastically. Then he softened. 'I apologise for being a jerk. I was desperately trying to find the ones who could save the world. I had a bit of a mental breakdown there. Gosh, my emotional intelligence rating is going to go into the negatives. This is bad… sorry.' he muttered furiously while bowing down on the floor.

'Hardly,' said June, helping him up. 'But I have a question—did you mention saving the world?'

'I am so sorry,' he said again.

'Forget that. I forgive you,' said June patiently. 'Did you mention something about saving Earth?'

'Earth? No no no,' snickered Ozin. 'No. I need you to save my world. The Alpine realm. It's currently facing a crisis, affecting all of the species there. The Talismans had been missing. A few years ago during a stormy night, a bolt from heaven struck the Tower of Oblivion, damaging the infrastructure that held the Talismans.'

'The Talismans?'

'Well, as far as I know, they were made fifty thousand years ago by the ruling hermit kings—Gorowrath I and Ozin III (not to be confused with myself). Gorowrath came from the Nomadrian desert of the Great North-West, and Ozin came from the south of the Alpine plains. Both kings had the desire to conquer the Rocky Plains east of the Vessel River, as it had mass amounts of amethyst crystals that were used in crafting the most magical items. So the two lords agreed on a duel on this exact day fifty thousand years ago, bringing on everything that they'd got. So for this, Gorowrath created the Talisman of Wisdom and the Talisman of Truth; Ozin III made the Talisman of Power, which was cast into the outer core of the Dearest Volcano. Anyway, I'm getting off-topic.

'They both tried to awaken their accessories. Gorowrath managed to awaken the Talisman of Wisdom during the duel but failed to do so for the Talisman of Truth. Ozin III managed to awaken the Talisman of Power to its full potential and overpowered Gorowrath. Just before Gorowrath was about to be slain, a gap cracked open in the sky and a bolt from the heavens struck the earth before them. Instantly, Ozin III and Gorowrath agreed on peace between the kingdoms, and the Talismans anchored that protection until they were destroyed, which was practically impossible.

'But the peace did not last. After Gorowrath passed, the Nomadrian kingdom was hampered by sandstorms and droughts. More and more refugees migrated into Alpine and the latter king, Sebastian the Fifth ordered the construction of the Tower of Oblivion to guard all three Talismans from further erosion. That was 40,000 years ago. From then on, the Nomadrian kingdom fell, and the remaining Nomadrians were forced to settle in the Northern Villages, across the Barrier River. Time went on, the Talismans remained in the Tower of Oblivion, and the Talisman of Truth remains unawakened.

'But 15,000 years ago, the Talisman of Truth was awakened violently, blowing a crack between the Hood Mountains. The energy was so powerful it filled an entire lake with water in 3 days—lake Paradisën. Anyways, the person who did this was the lord of blazes and ashes Ashfang, the looming figure that resides in Hellfire Crater. It's a tragic story really. He was born an Albino-Demon Hybrid and grew up orphaned because his mother was executed for cross-breeding and his father was eaten by other demons. His name was Hassan in his first life. Some Alpinos kidnapped him and threw him into the Dearest Volcano, and he died hating the world. A few days later he was revived as a vengeful shadow that decimated the city of Demonspit. Turned out he had more magic than anything mortally existent. With this power, he could destroy the Alpine realm as a whole. It's a relief that he hasn't materialised and only resides near the Hellfire Crater now… Anyway, I'm getting off-topic again…

'He awakened the Talisman of truth accidentally when he was reborn and knocked it off its stand. Almost instantly, the ground shook and Lake Paradisën rose 5 metres, breaching the Golden Bridge and flooding half of Venton. Luckily, there was someone on guard that night and he managed to insert it back in before it caused any more commotion. It stayed fine after that, until about a year ago, another bolt from the heavens struck the Tower of Oblivion which shook the stand and went in the direction that they flew off to when they came off, which is undetectable… for now.'

"Undetectable?' asked Steven, 'But what does this have to do with us?'

'Because Germans contain iron in their blood. This iron is attracted somewhat to the Talismans. During a full moon, a specific human with enough synph would be able to track the location of one of these three Talismans, and you three –' he looked at Sammy, June and Ben solemnly. 'Has more synph than anyone in the world.'

'So… what is this, uh… synph?' asked Ben, who had a bit of a daydream as his brain processed all of this information.

'Synph is the measuring unit of luck-based events that have happened, and the measurement of the relationship-' Ben blushed. '-Of each other.'

'Example.'

'An actual example is say, you jumped off a cliff and you had 0.000001% chance of surviving, and you did. Therefore your synph is 1,000,000 after adding. However, remember that mortality rates don't count towards synph because it's natural selection. Things that seem to be the best outcome when it happens is your synph quantity... 'Relationship and bond also add to your synph. Some people have telepathic connections with each other, even if you didn't think so, but this is on the blurrier side of things.'

'We survived a fjord tsunami,' dazed June.

'Exactly. I think with the best possible outcome too,' agreed Ozin.

'But I still don't quite get… why are we involved in this mess.'

'You're smart to call this a mess, June.' replied Ozin. 'But have you not figured it out yet? The reason for the instability of the separated Talismans is that they were created in the first place. The Talismans are like skyscrapers. If they're well-built and secure, then everything remains normal. But if one of them topples and drops, wouldn't the consequences be too terrible to bear? Not to mention the casualties that it would cause. And that's exactly what's happening right now. The damaged structure of their magic had already caused more natural disasters and changing climate than Germans could ever cause. And since the Alpine realm has an open gate that leads straight here, the residual magic that was corrupted spreads across realms like cancer. According to my calculations, this had already happened on the earth…' He put a hand on her lap and lowered his voice. 'And people had already been affected.'

The realisation hit her like a train, her face grew paler than ever. Her legs felt weak—in fact, her entire body felt shaky. Her hands fell onto her lap and Ozin's hand. 'It was the tsunami,' she whispered.

'You see now?' said Ozin sadly. 'Even as far as your home country had been affected by the magic's influence. The world is in peril. Nowhere is safe. Not if you do something about it, at any rate.' Just then, a lightning bolt flashed and struck a tree outside their window, the tree caught on fire and burnt. They watched in horror as the charred trunk fell on top of a car. The car was instantly set ablaze.

'The- the sky- the sky was clear a second ago!' stuttered Sammy terrifyingly, as just then dark nimbus clouds drifted over their heads, and all of a sudden it began to snow harshly, putting out the fire caused by the lightning strike bare moments ago, hot steam emerged from the burnt wood as it managed to cave in onto the car roof. 'I knew it,' swore Ozin under his breath, as he saw people in the wrecked car screaming for help and gasped. The snow was coming in at full force now. It was as if the sky was collapsing on them, the outside was blinded by the density of the snow, making it harder to see by the minute.

Steven, who was also looking down, spoke frantically, 'At this rate, the people in there are going to get buried!'

'We must help them, Steven!' started Sammy. 'They're gonna suffocate… Junie? Where are you going?!'

Panting for breath, June sped down the stairs, grabbing a fur coat with one swift jerk, followed closely by Ozin, swung open the front door and ran across the knees-deep (waist-deep for Ozin) snow towards the other side of the road. The wind howling deafened her ears, and the precipitation blinded her eyes—but she didn't care, no one was going to die today on her watch. She's had enough of death and destruction.

June planted one foot on the crushed tire, mustering all of her strength, and lifted the trunk many inches off the car. It was excruciating to watch and more excruciating to do, her hands bled from the frozen, rough bark. She gritted her teeth, struggling to hold, and suddenly wondered what the hell Ozin was doing. 

Osen, on the other hand, didn't wish to be spotted, so he didn't cross the road and instead hid behind one of the bushes on the opposite side of the road. He mumbled some strange words, and, just as June couldn't hold any longer (later, in the house, Ozin would say to June, 'Now that, my dear, is synph. And oh yes talent.'), Ozin raised a hand and lasered beneath the tree just by the car door, making the door relieved of its duties and falling clean of its frame.

The white and green laser travelled long and far and knew exactly what to do. After it severed the car door it shot up into the sky, straight into the thunderheads above. For a few seconds, the sky was lit up by a blinding blue light and a loud rumble. The sky darkened then brightened gradually to a pale blue sky, the only evidence of the clouds ever being there was the the hail and snow on the streets that had promptly stopped and the tree that had caught on fire.

Speaking of which, June found herself cushioned by the cold snow on the ground after she rested a bit. Her hands were burning from the scrapes and looked up into the sky, exhausted. Her foot was still planted on the car tyre and beside her hands, she didn't seem to be hurt.

She tried to get up and realised she was pinned to the ground by the tree trunk which had fallen on her after she stopped pushing. She was too tired to move.

I'm going to die was the intrusive thought that came to her mind and she laughed bitterly.

A mysterious force danced around her and she felt – literally – an invisible pocket of air squeezing between her and the tree was lifted, tossed back to where it came from.

After another minute or two, Ben and Steven hauled her up, and with the help of Ozin, sent the people in the car home through one of Ozin's memory wipes so they didn't remember anything.

Exhausted, with too much information to take in ('Oh yeah, the thunderheads the day before the tsunami were also caused by the magic disruption, including the factory that exploded.' 'Wait, you mean that was too, caused by the Talismans' 'Yep, that's right.'), June sank into a deep sleep that night and dreamed of absurd events to cover up the effects of the dose that Ozin cast on them. It went by something like this: The day that the Faley affair happened, in fact, didn't happen at all. Instead, the reason why they couldn't go surfing was because of the high wind conditions. The next day they went surfing as normal and the sky was clear. They went over to the Steaming Bridge and there was no tsunami at all. They went to Steven's house for dinner that night and discovered that Ben Faley was Steven's cousin… Everything faded and it was now 5 years later. Everything she had known was taken away, by a lurking darkness that devoured and withered away all of the trees, and mountains, and slowly, engulfed her as a whole.

She woke up. It was still early in the morning and the sun hadn't risen. She turned to her left and gasped. She had almost forgotten that Ozin existed. She had thought that yesterday was all a dream, and today, she wasn't going to go on a crazy journey to another dimension, which would be their home for the next 17 years (technically).