He woke with a jolt, inhaling sharply, his heart pounding and covered in sweat. Hyperventilation kicked in as he looked around with the wide eyes and expression of being in shock.

He slowly got control over his breathing and mental state, managing to process what was around him; he was in a jungle of sorts. Tall narrow trees with large-leafed branches, most of which were at the tops, fighting for the sunlight with the other trees. The ground was covered in plant life, large leafy bushes, broken branches and a network of roots. The air was heavy and humid but surprisingly the temperature was not too bad, especially considering that he currently wore a simple attire of a black T-shirt, pants and shoes. His blonde hair was still in its short ponytail.

With a pained grunt the man forced himself to his legs, first now noticing the strange swirling pattern on the ground and the cleanly cut hole in the canopy leading down to it. Almost like a column slammed down from the sky, cutting all in its way, digging a swirly pattern on the jungle floor and depositing him here before fading away.

He had so many questions, so many things started spinning in his mind. Where was he, how did he get here, who did this and why. He could remember what he thought was the last few days; summer break and living alone had him going shopping for groceries, he was going to make dinner but on the way back home he... he got run over?

Pondering this for a few minutes the images came back to his mind, like playing back an unskippable cutscene he could not do anything but watch as he was crossing a road a moving truck driven by a black-haired man with a goatee swirled around something in the road, ending up on a straight path for him. He managed to get out of the way initially but the driver actively aimed for him and... Well, you don’t win against a truck with only your body.

“So... I died...” There was clear disbelief in his voice. The thoughts kept spinning; how could he be dead if he was alive now. He clearly was alive, a pinch to the stomach and failed attempts to wake up only cemented the facts. But if he was alive, where was he now? How did he get here?

Did he survive the truck but was later brought out and dumped in the woods? This also sounded unlikely, there were no jungles anywhere near home.

Pondering this for a few minutes he ended up inhaling deeply, holding his breath for a second before exhaling all the way.

“No use stressing about it” Though not talking to anyone in particular it seemed to be a reassurance for himself more than anything. His thoughts were actually quite logical; Either this was a dream and anything he did was of no consequence, or whatever happened had already happened. He just had to make the best out of it and try to get back home.

Looking around a third time he found that from every direction he could walk, one had a little path leading away from this area, shrugging to himself with a sigh, he started walking.

Having walked down this path for quite some time, he couldn’t really do much but take in the scene. Had this been a planned hike it would have been rather nice. Though highly humid the temperature was kept in check with a gentle breeze. The scenery was dense jungle but a welcome change to the concrete jungle he normally called home. Though he only had one set of clothes and no signal on his phone, he hoped for friendly civilization at the end of this path. Not to mention that he was getting hungry and thirsty. He was on the way to make dinner back... before this, after all. He was decently hydrated before this but the movement and humidity was getting to him, so this was becoming a problem. Though he was in acceptable shape his breath was getting heavy and strained, not hearing the sound of running water he didn’t trust his luck at going for various plants or fruits in the jungle either. He didn’t have many other options than pushing on.

Shortly before he was planning to take a break the path led him to a larger clearing, walking to it he saw that it had a cottage placed in it. There was some bamboo-like construction that went off into the jungle, running water came through a gutter-like structure it made. The cottage itself appeared to be made of various jungle plants, mainly larger trees for the support structure and a mixture of almost plank-like wood pieces and mud to make the walls, the roof appeared to be thatch. The building itself seems to be around a 6 by 7 meters, one story construction.

Around the cottage were a lot of simple constructions, looking like a simple bathtub; hollowed out from a large tree stump, a washbasin and other simple amenities.

Feeling a bit out of place, he walked around the building to find the door, which was simply on the other side of it.

“Hello?” A bit hesitant to raise his voice. He didn't want to just bang on the door in the middle of the jungle.

“Anyone home?” Still uncertain he walked to the door and knocked on it. “I’m somewhat lost”.

Honesty is always the best way to go, especially when intruding.

The door flings open and a young woman is standing inside.

“For the last time, Geof, I’m not in*” Her loud and aggressive dismissal stops itself as she realises that the intruding man was not the Geof that she expected, and that he almost fell over from the sudden opening of the door.

“Oh. Oh! It’s you!” She proclaimed in excitement. “Finally, after all this time, please, please come in!” Eagerly she invites him into her cottage.

The young woman looks to be around 16 years old, clearly an albino with white hair in a round bob-cut, her eyes seem to be blue but has a hint of red in them making them slightly purplish tinted. Her attire fits the mental image of a monks’ garb, though also white in color. It’s loosely fitted to her with some wrappings tightly fastening it around her wrists, waist and near her ankles.

“It... well.. What?” He was incredibly taken back at this reaction. He would definitely have remembered someone like her, but she reacted like she knew exactly who he was. Perhaps it was something that happened in the blank time between the supposed truck-incident and waking in the jungle?

In the confusion he acted on auto-pilot, gave her a nod bow and apologised for the intrusion as he entered as requested.

The inside of the cottage was simple, it’s easy to see that considerable time was put into making this as nice as possible given its materials. There were most things you could need in a place like this; a small coat-room you entered from the main door, inside from that was a large sitting room that doubled as the kitchen in a corner and had a good stone area for a fireplace on the other side. There was a simple door leading into a closed room as well as some curtains of sorts leading into another.

“I have waited for this, please let me get the stuff!” Without waiting for a confirmation or explaining anything she started scampering around her home, gathering books, some scrolls and other various objects.

The table he sat down at originally had some cups and a plate on it, they were quickly removed and the table was soon mostly covered in the various objects she had collected.

“Now.. I... No... Let me start properly.” Appearing to realize herself being rather flustered she sort of snapped back to reality and noticed her guest’s visible confusion.

Clearing her throat and recomposing herself as she grabbed her fist with her other hand, giving him a proper bow.

“My name is Angela Sizoc. I am a martial artist in training and I was given a prophecy and visions about you, and your place in the world.”

“Err... Gilliam Gibson, you can call me Gil” His voice was very uncertain, he didn’t even get up from his chair, bow back or reach out his hand. He just sat there and looked at this young woman in a slight disbelief.

“I understand that this might sound... odd.. But it will all make sense in the end.”

Gilliam couldn’t do much more than just sit there and continue being confused.

“First of all, you are in the world of Lisica. This is not your normal world. I don’t know the circumstances on just how you got here but I know that you are in our world now. The prophecy tells that you will do great things, but not in detail. It explains that you are from a different world and there is much you do not know. I’ll try to explain some of it now... And for simplicity’s sake, hold your questions to the end!” She clearly seems to enjoy this a bit, and it appears that she has had plenty of time to prepare for this, given the collection of maps, books, scrolls and other devices that she placed on the table during her frantic collection moment.

Gilliam slowly nods and clearly doesn’t seem convinced.

“I don’t know the details on the world you come from, but this world is a world of magic, monsters, dragons and various races.” As she explains she rolls out a map on the table, accidentally knocking over some books, as they crash into the floor she ignores them and continues explaining on the map.

“This is the world of Lisica, the eastern landmass here is Albion, they are a theocracy following the God of Light, the rulers are various ranks of their religion and their pope is a king of sorts. They see arcane magic as something to be controlled with fear and force, or snuffed out, and their own divine magic as a gift from God himself. This mentality has them at an almost perpetual, and passive, war with V’ida, which are the two major landmasses to the west.”

Pointing out the major two landmasses to the west she ignores the two isles between said landmasses.

“V’ida is the opposite of Albion, they believe that their Arcane magic are gifts from the Dragon gods. The emperor’s family are sorcerers with close ties to their draconic blood. Their hierarchy is based on magic, so if you are a mage you immediately count as a noble. Depending on what kind of mage you are you enter an elitist group with its own laws and rules. A mage’s say is absolute to non-mages. They dislike Albion for their fanatical focus on a single religion and their distaste for Arcane magic.”

Moving the focus to the collection of landmasses between the eastern and western ones she continued her explanation.

“The seven isles in-between are known as the Neutral Kingdoms. They don’t belong to one single kingdom and are largely individualistic. Even so they are halfway controlled by Aloth-”

She points at the third island from the top in the mid section and continues explaining.

“Aloth is controlled by a merchant family and their trade legion, they have enough pull in the world that they can force a lot of things to happen, but keep themselves neutral in any conflict not directly affecting them. The Dwarves have their own landmass at the south.”

Her finger circles around a hazy, cloud-like area in the center of the map.

“Though not only in the center, The Mist is a magical.. Things... That is not properly understood yet but affects anyone coming into contact with it in various and unpredictable ways. The general logic is to avoid it completely.”

Gilliam is still sitting there, absorbing this and nodding sagely, though his face is the utter definition of disbelief during the whole explanation.

Magic, dragons, Dwarves. This all sounds like a game or fantasy novel.

“We are currently in this area.” she continues explaining as she puts her finger along the eastern coast on the lower V’idan isle.

“Though most of it is still unpopulated by the V’idan people, it is still part of the kingdom when it was taken over some time ago. Mainly it’s populated by the Half beasts as this was their land many, many years ago. They came to this world through mutation from a meteor that landed in Valito a thousand or so years ago, over time they became their own people and the landmass turned into a jungle. This let them remain quite tribalistic and though V’ida has populated the coast along the north and east, the major of the isle is still unconquered jungle. The Half Beast king rules but answers to the V’idan Emperor. So it’s a bit of a strange situation.”

A bit of an embarrassed smile is clearly forced. One can easily tell that she’s not super sure about details and that she is more or less mentally reading a prepared speech.

Pointing to a very thick border around the whole world, she drags her finger along it.

“Around the whole world there is a cube, a dome, a barrier or whatever you want to call it, it is a cube shaped crystal wall.. And roof. Nobody has been able to go through it, scrying, teleportation, digging under it, finding holes and damaging it, everything has failed. We don’t know what is on the other side or who put it there.”

Gilliam’s eyes react to the explanation of the dome, he couldn’t help himself from thinking that his world is a full sphere but there are people who believe that it is both flat and has a dome around it. There is an odd sense of irony to find himself in a world where this is apparently a fact.

“Now, about magic.” she puts the map away and uses a few seconds to look for a book, which she opens to a bookmark made of a dried leaf.

“There are seven elements; Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Aether, Dark and Light. Most mages have access to one or two, in a few cases three or more but that is rare. Even then they don’t always have extreme control over it, I for one am a Light mage, but I can only heal myself, not others.”

As she explains this as the most normal thing ever, Gilliam could not help himself from looking at her in an almost rude, eye rolling, way. She doesn’t seem to notice and continues her prepared explanation.

“I don’t have too much knowledge in magic, I can only do my own so if you want more information about this I have prepared books for you. That’s what most of this is; better explanation for the things I just explained for you.”

Gesturing towards the books, scrolls and mountain of information she placed on the table she almost looks like she expects to be graded for her performance.

The only grade she receives from Gilliam is a gaze mixed with overwhelmed and disbelief.

“Oh, some of the visions did show me that you would not just instantly believe all of this, so I should prove it. Come, come with me!” Not missing a beat in her command she grabs his hand and starts pulling him through the main entrance and back into the clearing in the jungle.

“Now, how high would you say that the human limit for jumping is?”

Glliam narrows his eyes a bit, is this a trick question? Is she going to break some world record to prove to him that magic is real?

“I don’t really know... Unassisted I’d guess... 3 meters or something?” He’s clearly not certain about this number and guessed based on what he had seen on various shows.

Angela focuses for a few seconds before she crouches and kicks off, soaring to a height around halfway to the jungle canopy, which looks to be about 30 meters.

Gilliam’s eyes grow large, this is impossible, that jump is 10-15 meters or something. There is no way anyone can do that unassisted. He looks around, almost expecting to find some wirework or a trampoline under the ground, but he’s standing on the same ground and she was inside with him a minute ago. Everything he can see and observe explains that this is indeed real, but it doesn’t make sense.

She lands without effort and walks over towards a thick tree at the edge of the clearing, she focuses for a few seconds, inhales deeply and lets out a single short shout as she steps forward, delivering one punch to the meter diameter thick tree. Immediately as her fist makes contact it cracks the tree all the way through, but the tree still seems to stand.

She lets out a dissatisfied click of her tongue.

“I’m still in training, so I couldn’t bring it down properly with one blow” Though she looks a bit ashamed at her lack of mastery, Gilliam is nothing short of amazed. That blow should not only shatter her fist but her slender frame could never deliver this level of power.

“This is all... just.”

His mind screams; Overwhelming, though he doesn’t say it out loud. He struggles with grasping this, he’s clearly in a dream. It has to be, this doesn’t make sense... Unless what she says is true?

“The visions didn’t explain where you are from or what your world is like, but they did show me that you would struggle with accepting this. I cannot show you my magic... But you might be able to use some yourself.” Her warm smile is oddly comforting, all things considered.

But this just raised more questions.

“I... Am able to use magic?” The tone of his voice screams confusion, although with a tiny sliver of hope. Who doesn’t want to be able to use magic?

“Possibly. The visions don't show exactly what you are capable of doing. And the prophecy only explains that you will have great power. This might be in martial arts, swordsmanship or even something else. I don’t know but there are ways to test that doesn’t require you to hurt yourself punching trees”

There is a bit of a sheepish smile growing on her lips, she tries to force it away but fails.

“And.. what is that?” his voice breaks a tiny bit in the question, he recomposes himself to complete it properly but it’s clear that the idea of not hurting himself to find out things is a good place to start.

“The books I have, one of them contain novice introduction magic, even new mages who have never learned are usually able to create a magic light. If you just do as the book tells you to, and if you have the gift, you should be able to manifest a light. That will show you both if you can wield magic and that this is real.”

Like before she doesn’t wait for Gilliam’s answer, she starts running to the cottage before her sentence is properly completed, after a short minute and the sound of something falling down inside she comes back out with a book in hand.

She opens it to a bookmarked page and hands it to Gilliam.

“I hope you can read this, I’m honestly glad that we speak the same language... But if you can read this, try replicating what the book tells you to. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail, so no danger.”

She has an odd hopeful look in her eyes as she hands him the book. Gilliam takes the book and takes a glance at it.

“You have a point... if this is another world it’s a bit odd that I can understand you... And that I can understand the book, it’s no problem at all reading this. Actually, it makes a staggering amount of sense..”

He keeps reading and suddenly something just clicks in his mind, an image of strange runes form in his mind alongside some other information. He says some odd words and does some intricate movement with his left hand as he focuses like the book told him to.

At the last movement a small orb of light forms above his hand, glowing brightly. His uncertainty is blown away by its glow as his face changes from a mix of emotionless and disbelief into nothing short of extreme glee and curiosity.