Jack continues through the next two weeks trying to master the methods to using magic, while also balancing a job and avoiding social interaction. In the middle of the night one day, he's standing outside with Naris just outside of his house. He's practicing learning the mentality needed to use magic. After failing like usual, Jack turns to Naris and asks "I don't get it. What exactly am I supposed to do?".
"You're supposed to align your intentions, cognition and focus on the specific type of effect the magic would produce" Naris says. "Your intentions have an effect on the material world that forms over time. The way you perceive the world molds the world. The way you want to perceive the world shapes how you act, which is where your cognition comes in. You have to align you cognition and be conscious of your own faults and strengths. Doing this will allow you to be more honest with yourself within your intentions, which then brings us to focus. If you can focus on what you want, while also focusing on the specific effect you will have on the world, you can shift that into magic with this charm you drew. The charm is like a tiny gateway that pulls Endoindustria from an internal dimension. This Endoindustria is the fuel for magic".
"Where does it come from?" Jack asks.
"All in due time" Naris replies, "for now, focus on the task at hand".
"I can't do it though!" Jack proclaims, "I can't comprehend how to do it!".
"Are you afraid of something inside yourself?" Naris asks. "Are you hiding something from yourself that you do not wish to face?".
Jack fell silent for a moment, as he did not have the answer to that question. Finally, Jack says "I don't know...".
"You have to learn to face yourself" Naris says, "if you wish to truly know yourself. You can't understand your own cognition if you don't know about yourself. Be more honest, Jack".
"... Right" Jack replies.
"Let's take a break for now" Naris says, "and pick up again tomorrow".
Jack went to bed and woke up the next day. He had the day off of work, so he didn't have much to do. When he got hungry, he searched the house for food that he could cook, but he didn't find much. "I shouldn't eat the last of the food" Jack says to himself, "I should leave the rest of the food for mom, since she's the one who paid for it. I don't want to leave her hungry too". Jack uses his cell phone to see how much money he has left in his bank from work, and after deciding he had enough to be able to spend a little money on some food, he left the house and took with him a skateboard and his headphones to listen to music from his phone. As he leaves the house, one of his neighbors is sitting on the front porch. The man sitting on his porch looks at Jack as he passes by.
"Still living with your mom?" The man asks. "And you're how old?".
Jack stops putting his headphones in his ears and looks at the man sitting on the porch. "Do I know you?".
"That doesn't matter" the man says, "what matters is that you're burdening your poor mother by being lazy. You living with your mother at your age puts extra weight on her shoulders".
"Why do you care?" Jack asks.
"Because" the man says, "your laziness makes you a burden to people like your mother and therefor a burden to society. If you got a real job and moved out and stopped being so lazy, then-"
"Mind your own fucking business please?" Jack says as he puts his headphones on and starts selecting music on his phone. Before Jack starts listening to music, he can hear the man say "you'll never amount to anything in this world". After the music starts playing, Jack sighs to himself and continues walking down the road. When he exits the neighborhood, he drops his skateboard and rides on it for a couple miles to the store. As he's riding, Naris appears to his left. Jack takes his headphones out to hear what Naris has to say.
"Well that was quite a rude human" Naris says.
"I'm used to it" Jack replies. "It's not that I refuse to get a better job or anything, it's just there is no better job that will accept me. I've already lost my previous home, which is why I moved back in with my mom... it's just that most humans are mean like that. It's why I don't socialize".
"A pitiful, but perhaps wise decision" Naris replies. "These roads don't seem busy even though there's human living nearby, why is that?".
"These roads are the backroads" Jack replies. "Backroads are secondary streets. The place we live in is rather rural since it's just outside of the city. Not many people travel down these roads".
"Seems like a good place to clear your mind" Naris says, "why don't you try taking your time and clearing your mind? It might help you with your cognition".
"Perhaps" Jack replies.
Jack spends the rest of the trip trying to clear his mind as he goes to the store. On his way back, he spends his time reflecting about what the man had said and then reflecting on himself as a person. When he finally arrives back home, he says to Naris "I think we should pick up from where we left off last night".
"You're eager to practice today" Naris says, sounding impressed.
"I just want to keep going until I can accomplish at least something" Jack says. "I won't let that man be right about me: never amounting to anything".
"Sounds like the proper motivation" Naris replies, "now hold this paper charm in your hand. We're going to practice creating fire. Focus on the air molecules moving around faster and faster, as if you were creating energy between the oxygen molecules".
Jack focuses for a few minutes in silence, and after a long wait, a small fire appears hovering over Jack's right hand. Jack looks down, excited and happy that he had finally done it. His excitement caused him to lose control, and he dropped the fire on the carpeted floor of his mother's house. The carpet began burning, and Jack leaped into action to put the fire out. The fire easily went out, since it was only a small fire, and Jack's panic turns into laughter.
"I did it!" Jack says, ignoring the fact that he almost burned down the house.
"Good job" Naris says, "now we move onto the next step. You're going to learn more types of elemental magic until you get the hand of casting magic. Then you'll begin learning many other forms of magic".
"How many forms of magic are there?" Jack asks.
"Countless forms" Naris replies, "and it'll be impossible to learn them all, but it would be possible for you to create a new type of magic".
Days had passed, then weeks, then months. Jack spent most of his free time with Naris. The two of them grew close, as Naris teaches Jack all about magic. After elemental magic, Jack learned buff and debuff magic. Then he began to learn things like digital magic and illusion magic. Before long, Jack started trying to teach himself magic while he wasn't with Naris, at times like on break at work. Other times when Naris didn't seem to be around, Jack would try to create new forms of magic. He had hoped to learn the art of magic really fast, and he had hoped to create a magic all of his own. Maybe then, someone somewhere would be proud of him. Although, tried as he might, he had so far failed to create his own form of magic.
After many months, at the start of autumn, Naris had come up with a test for Jack. "It's about time you start using stronger magic" Naris says, "but to do that, you'll need stronger access to Endoindustria. To compensate, I'll have you try to open these sort of non-material rifts to the endo realm. There are several different types of charms, much bigger charms and you'll have to channel energy through it. Doing so will test your ability at handling Endoindustria, as well as bringing the relationship between your world and the endo realm closer. When the two realms become closer, there will be more Endoindustria in your world, so you can depend on me less for channeling Endoindustria. Eventually, you'll be able to perform magic a lot easier".
"Where should we draw the giant charms?" Jack asks eagerly.
"They'll need to be somewhere that won't be disturbed" Naris says. "These charms aren't normal charms. They're akin to summoning charms, in the sense that it essentially brings another dimension into your reality, but not enough so that the world itself will change in any noticeable way. Disturbing it will cancel out the effort, and you'll have to start all over again".
"Sounds easy enough" Jack replies "I can find a few good places. There's several forests around here".
"That'd be adequate" Naris says.
And so, Jack and Naris go to the nearest forest just outside of the neighborhood. Jack draws the charm on an open piece of land and spends four hours channeling Endoindustria. After four hours, the charm begins to glow with a bright light. The light then turns into heat, and the charm is then burned into the ground.
"The first one is done" Naris says, "feel any different?".
"Not really" Jack replies.
"Good, you're not supposed to" Naris replies.
"This is our world colliding with another realm?" Jack asks.
"Did you think it'd be scarier?" Naris asks.
"No, I just... didn't know what to expect" Jack says.
More days pass as Jack practiced more magic with Naris. After a few days, Jack spent the day alone and decided to continue practice. He sat at the edge of a pond, and focused on feeling the Endoindustria radiating from the large summoning charm. After a while, he could feel a pull on his body, as if the Endoindustria was pulling on his soul. When he opened his eyes, he noticed that he was in fact pulling Endoindustria out of the surrounding environment. The endo realm slowing coming together with the real world was bringing lots of Endoindustria into existence. Because of this, he was now surrounded by this energy, and he learned how to absorb it. Later that night, he met with Naris again and told him about his new discovery.
"That's absorption magic" Naris says, "and I forbid you from further practicing it".
"What? Why?" Jack asks.
"It's too dangerous" Naris replies. "If you get too greedy, you'll take more than you can handle. The Endoindustria will kill you".
More time passes as Jack continues practicing magic with Naris, as well as completing more summoning charms. Each time a charm was completed, the time to complete a charm was shortened. Because of the Endoindustria growing in the real world with each new charm completed, it became easier to channel the energy into the charms. All the while, Jack also continued practicing absorption magic on his own in secret. Eventually, Naris and Jack went to go complete one last summoning charm.
"This will be the last one" Naris says, "for once this is done, the two realms will exist within the same plane of existence. You'll then have enough Endoindustria to teach the world how to use it efficiently".
"What about you?" Jack asks, "what are you going to do when this is all done?".
"I'll go on about my own business" Naris says, "my job here will be complete".
However, things wouldn't go as planned as the final charm was finished. When the charm was fully charged, the charm was burned into the ground like usual, but the ground soon began rumbling. As Jack looks over, he finds Naris, who used to be no larger than his own hand is now a giant whose head reaches the heavens. Naris grows into a long serpent-like creature that appears as if it's body is made of jet black smoke that grew larger and larger until a giant beast hails over the heavens.
"You damn stupid fool!" Naris hisses, "In your selfishness, you've only helped me achieve my goal alone, and now you will face ruin". Jack stares up at this creature, first in shock, then in awe. "I've taught you everything you know. I've given you everything and I will take it away!" Naris howls.
"Not everything!" Jack shouts as he raises his arms in preparation. He was shaking with fear and confusion. Just when Jack thought he found someone he could befriend, he was betrayed.
"What are you planning?" Naris scoffs, "magic? Please! Magic is uselsss against me! You may be the only human so far who knows magic, but have you forgotten who gave you magic? ME! AND I CAN TAKE IT AWAY!".
Siran just raises one of his index fingers and gestures at the beast to challenge him, all while uncontrollably shaking. Naris grows angry and throws walls of black magic and pure force at Jack. Jack digs his feet deep into the earth, and begins absorbing the magic and body of Naris as well.
"You!" Naris howls, "You trickster! You damned fox! You brat!" As Naris yells, more of its body is absorbed and this strange light forms on Jack's back. The light forms into a new shape, similar to a charm, but not any Jack was familiar with. Without warning, Jack suddenly feels a sharp pain and the light carved itself into Jack's back, forming a mark that will become a permanent scar on his skin.
"I curse you!" Naris yells, "I curse you with a new appearance that you will never shed! This is your curse! Your punishment for your trickery!".
Jack stops absorbing Naris's body and collapses onto his knees as he vomits blood, then collapses onto his back. "This is the end for you!" Naris howls as his giant fist hurls towards Jack's weakened body. The fist meets the earth with an impact strong enough to cause an earthquake. But when Naris raises his fist, Siran's body was nowhere to be found. Just blood, and a lot of it.
Time passes as Jack then finds himself in a white void, seemingly floating through nothing as visions flash through his mind. Many voices ring through his ears all at once until all the voices seem to say the same thing. "Wake up!".
Jack wakes up and looks around this endless white void. There was no one to be found anywhere. "W-where am I? What happened to Naris?" Jack asks.
A woman's voice is heard this time, as she says "Naris was never your friend, human. As for where, you're in Valhalla. I need to speak with you".
"...what?" Jack asks. "Valhalla?".
"You can call this the endo realm" the voice says, "for this is the world that exists within your world. Some may think of it as the realm of the gods. My name is Gaia".
"Gaia?" Jack asks. "Wait, you mean goddess of nature, Mother Earth Gaia?".
"The very same" Gaia replies.
"Where are you?" Jack asks, "I can hear you, but I can not see you".
"And you never will be able to see me" Gaia says. "Your human mind can not comprehend the integrity of this realm, so right about now, probably all you can see is light and nothing else. You must be Jack, the one who assisted Naris in his quest to conquer the realm of mortals".
"Assisted him?" Jack asks, "No! All I did was use charms to bring magic to life!".
"Those were not charms" Gaia says, "nor were they summoning spells. Those were seals. Seals that were put in place to separate mortals from the immortal. Thousands of years ago, all gods left Earth in the hands of humanity, and we retreated to a realm of our own. That's what this place is. The energy we use to create, called Endoindustria, fills this place up. The Endoindustria you're familiar with is an inactive and less efficient form of real Endoindustria, which appears as a black smoke. While our world that may appear as just white light is made purely of reactive Endoindustria. When you use magic, you were really borrowing a microscopic piece of our power. As punishment for releasing the seals, I bestow upon you a quest".
"A quest?" Jack asks.
"I want you to fix what you have started" Gaia says. "I doubt a human could fix the broken seals, but the real matter at hand is Naris. He used you to access an unlimited source of power, and now runs rampant in your world. You must defeat Naris, and stop the world from being destroyed".
"But how can I do that?" Jack asks. "That's impossible!".
"That's your problem to solve" Gaia says, "for we can not interfere. We left the Earth in the hands of you humans, now you must prove your competence".
"Wait, how long have I been asleep?" Jack asks as he realizes what happened. He remembered seeing Naris attack him, but then he suddenly woke up here. "How'd I get here?" He asks.
"I pulled you here" Gaia replies. "As for how long you've been asleep, would you prefer the time in our world, or human time?".
"Human time... please" Jack says.
"It's been over a year" Gaia says. "Your world is a mess, and every minute you spend here, your world is further destroyed. Obviously you haven't noticed your appearance yet".
"My... appearance?" Jack asks as he looks at his hands. The area beneath him becomes a reflective pool, much like a liquid mirror. Jack leans in close and sees that his skin has become a dark ash like color. As well as his hair has turned a silvery white, his finger nails had grown into small claws, the sclera of his eyes (the whites of his eyes) had turned jet black, his iris on both eyes had turned a bright glowing red, and what looked like very short horns had grown on his forehead. "W-What happened to me?" Jack asks.
"You've been cursed with a spell similar to a shapeshifting spell" Gaia says. "Naris has changed you into an appearance that will not be familiar in the human world. It's likely he expected you to find a way to escape death... that or he felt pity for you and allowed you to escape. It's also likely that his reason for changing your appearance like this is to make it harder for humans to accept you if you try to help them".
"So is Naris... from this realm?" Jack asks.
"That is correct" Gaia says. "When I pulled you into this realm, I had to save your life. You were dying from the sheer amount of Endoindustria you absorbed into yourself, so to counteract this, I intricately fused the Endoindustria into your body. Your body now uses the Endoindustria as another source of energy to live off of, as well as the Endoindustria in your body is so high in quantity, that it's preventing your body from aging".
"Does that make me... immortal?" Jack asks.
"In a way" Gaia says, "you can no longer die of aging, but you can still die by any other means. Enough of the chat, it's time for you to go. But before I send you back, I'm curious. Since you've been here and now know about the existence of gods, what do you think about religion and afterlife?".
"I'm not religious" Jack says, "and seeing the existence of gods doesn't change that. I don't think of religion as believing in one's own ideas, but merely believing in someone else's ideas. However, you said this is the realm of gods before, so I guess this still doesn't answer whether or not there is a such thing as an afterlife".
"Clever human" Gaia says, "and would you like to know about the possibility of an afterlife?".
"Not really" Jack says. "It's mind boggling enough to hear that gods exist, and I'm still wrapping my mind around that. But at the same time, I think there's things we humans do not need to know. Although I don't follow a religion, I'm not looking forward to fighting for the sake of religion. Leave that a mystery".
"I think you're my new favorite human" Gaia says. "Time to send you back. Perhaps, we'll meet again".
When Jack wakes up, again, he finds himself in the forest near his neighborhood where he lived. When he looks over towards the neighborhood, he finds the area barren. No more houses, no more backroads, no more people and no more family. Everyone was gone. Jack fell to his knees in shock. The world was in worse condition than he first thought. However, Naris was nowhere in sight. Only part of the forest remained, but was slowly dying as the grass around the first seal slowly turned black. Suddenly, a group of people armed with rifles and backpacks full of food and canteens came across Jack. They pointed their firearms at Jack in response to his appearance. To them, he seemed to not be from this world.
"Who are you?" A man asked Jack, "we saw you come from some sort of portal, so you must be from the place that beast is from. Answer us or we'll be forced to shoot!".
Jack put his hands up in surrender. "I can't tell them my real name" Jack said to himself. "They won't possibly believe me if I told them I'm from here. I have to think of something". Finally, Jack stood up as he said to them "I'm... Siran. I've come to this world in order to fight off the beast known as Naris".
"Is he from your world!?" The man demanded.
"That is... correct, unfortunately" Jack replies. "That's why I've come to help. It's my... responsibility".
"And your full name?" The man demands.
"It's just... Siran" Jack replies.
"Well Siran" The man says as he lowers his weapon, "this mess better be fixed before we're all annihilated. Otherwise, the death of this world is on your hands".