Forgotten-ENG

2.Dessert

Ozan had not imagined this. When leaving his native village hidden in the forest, he had planned to travel, explore the world, and above all, train to become one of the best wind manipulators among the magi. This proved quite challenging coming from the village of Okoï, the only magus village exclusively inhabited by plant manipulators. The village elders were astonished when Ozan unlocked his powers. Apart from the fact that they awakened much later than usual, leading everyone to believe Ozan might not have any powers at all, it was extremely rare to obtain powers other than those of one's parents' elements. The elders then taught him to manipulate ambient mana, but they were quickly helpless, as each element was manipulated differently. So, Ozan set off towards Potalu to begin a long initiatory journey.

Accustomed to his quiet forest, he was taken aback upon entering the city. It lived up to its name. Large stone circles filled with a thin layer of violet matter floated everywhere, oscillating between a kind of cloud and a slow-flowing cascade. These portals seemed very ancient. Some displayed decorations around the stone circle, while others were so damaged that the carved runes were no longer visible, a mark of a very ancient civilization whose language had been lost. Odd because, according to what was known about Potalu, the city was built around these famous portals. There was no other civilization. A mystery surrounded these portals, and Ozan would have loved to learn more. But absorbed as he was by these portals, the rest of the city interested him little. Such densely populated places were inconvenient for magi. They mostly lived in small, isolated villages in nature, close to their element. So, civilization, all the tall buildings in Potalu, all of it restricted their magic.

Ozan was preparing for the next leg of his journey when the famous congress gathering world leaders got the better of him. Honestly, delaying his departure for a day to see the processions of different heads of state, learn more about the various races populating this world, and maybe even have the chance to meet the Supreme Magus... one day's delay is negligible for an initiatory journey; one must seize the opportunity! And that's how, a few hours later, Ozan found himself during a brawl with a cyborg, a strange rune-covered man, a Valkyrie, and a mountain of muscles with a small head. Enough to regret delaying his departure.

He had enjoyed the festival and observed the processions coming from the four corners of the world. From the Isse religious to the artists of San, passing through the fighters of Rai and his friends from the forest, the animagi. It was a beautiful sunny morning, a light fresh wind flowed through the streets of Potalu, and after the parade, Ozan headed to his inn to have a meal and then continue his journey. After a few minutes of wandering, a dull noise was heard, and the ground began to tremble. Without hesitation, he rushed toward it, determined to help those in need. He slalomed through the panicked people fleeing the area and arrived in a square. It must have been magnificent normally, but now, about twenty guards lay sprawled on the ground. Some were buried under rubble, their armor crushed by large stones, while others seemed to have arrived after the explosion to rescue the first ones, but they too were unconscious. As the dust settled, Ozan saw the scene more clearly. The district's barracks had been destroyed by the explosion. An alarm bell rang in the distance, and two men fought amid the debris. A young soldier unleashed a flurry of sword blows on his opponent, chaining kicks and thrusts, giving his all, but he was no match... In front of him stood a bald man, dressed in a simple sleeveless jacket without any closures, revealing an astronomical number of tattoos on his brown skin. His skin was almost entirely covered, forming a unique overall work of art on his body. A nearly hypnotic greenish glow emanated from him. But his physique wasn't the most surprising. He parried all the soldier's blows... bare-handed! One hand behind his back, the other straight like a blade, he effortlessly countered the opponent's attacks, then, slipping under the soldier's guard, he delivered an elbow strike that finished off the poor soldier. He then turned towards Ozan, who remained stunned by what he had just witnessed. Then, hearing other soldiers approaching, he fled. Some guards arrived and began to clear their buried comrades. At the same time, a woman literally fell from the sky next to Ozan, snapping him out of his stupor.

-Are you okay, kid? What happened?" the woman asked him.

Now that Ozan had awakened, he noticed she was in full armor, and, more importantly, she had a pair of silver wings behind her. She was one of those famous warrior women, a Valkyrie. Ozan absolutely had to appear strong! It was said they threw useless men from their floating islands...

-A man attacked the barracks! he replied. Take care of the wounded, I'll handle him. He continued, starting to run.

A bit audacious to give orders, thought Ozan, but she'd be much better at clearing the rubble than me... And then, if I do well, I should be able to catch up with him. He began to clumsily climb some debris to gain height and almost slipped on a stone.

-So even young men give orders to women here... And they wonder why their armies are so weak... said the Valkyrie to herself before starting to clear the debris.

Once atop a mound of stones, Ozan closed his eyes, concentrated, and visualized all the air currents flowing into the surrounding streets. He had already trained for this in the village, but there, with all the tall buildings, Ozan struggled. He drew from deep within himself, giving everything he had left of energy, and even before opening his eyes, he shot into the air like an arrow.

-I did it! he exclaimed upon opening his eyes.

But as soon as they adjusted to the speed, Ozan saw that he was heading straight for the tattooed man. He had traversed the entire street in an instant and collided with him at full speed, carrying him with him in a dusty roll. They passed through what seemed to be a swinging door, then collapsed, hitting a wooden piece of furniture. Ozan got up with difficulty, a sharp pain in his ribs and a warm liquid flowing from his temple. He was completely dazed, and a dull whistling sound echoed in his skull. Staggering, he moved away from the debris of what seemed to be a wooden table, then slipped and fell into some kind of mush. His head gradually stopped spinning, and the whistling subsided. They had landed in an inn and had apparently destroyed a table, ruining a man's meal who was rather angry. And that was an understatement.

In front of him stood a man in his fifties, a grizzled crew cut due to his age, and most striking of all, the contour of his right eye was entirely metal. He had grabbed the tattooed man by his jacket, then violently threw him against the back wall. Ozan didn't understand everything he was saying, but he guessed it wasn't compliments. Then he raised his left arm towards the ceiling, and as his sleeve slid down, Ozan discovered a metal claw in place of his hand. Then, with a clinking sound, the claw started moving and spreading to make way for a cylinder, also made of metal. Once the clicking was done, the cyborg lowered his arm again, then began to tremble, and a yellow light began to appear at the end of the cylinder? It was a cannon! Ozan had heard during Baru's procession that they had managed to produce energy thanks to a ore present in their land and had made weapons out of it. The tattooed man, on the other hand, had hit the wall and was starting to get up. As he looked up at the cyborg, he saw him at the last second fire a projectile and barely had time to cross his arms in front of his head. His tattoos began to glow again, and he took the shot head-on, crossing the wall to reach the street. The cyborg followed him outside, and Ozan followed suit. Outside, people had gathered around the tavern but dared not approach. It must be said that two people had literally burst inside, and a few seconds later, one of them had even gone through a wall and been propelled into the street. It didn't inspire confidence to approach. Yet, as Ozan stepped out and saw the cyborg and the tattooed man silently facing each other, a man broke the silence.

-What's this commotion? Are we having a tavern brawl without me?

Opposite the two adversaries, a man had emerged from the crowd, advancing. A man... more like a monster! He easily stood at 2.50 meters tall, probably weighing a ton of muscles. Ozan had already seen Rai's fighters; they were all very muscular, but this was way beyond human possibilities.

-Well, what are you waiting for? Shall we fight, or shall we have a beer? Personally, I'm not very thirsty...