Alice sat there in shock for a while, the rustling of the wind and occasional creaking of the cart were the only sounds for a while before Isaac sighed and stepped off the driver's seat onto the small platform lining the sides, he makes his way towards the door and opens it. Isaac walks in apparently unbothered by the now howling of the wind which causes Alice to wince and attempt to shield her face as her hair gets blown into a tangled mess. With a soft click of the door closing the cabin is once again silent, Isaac sits down opposite of Alice and raises an eyebrow as he looks at her with a puzzled expression.
Isaac: "What, so you're out of sarcasm already?"
Alice is quiet for a while seemingly trying to process the situation
Alice: "How... is this even possible, what is that thing pulling the cart?"
Isaac: "Slipstream is a cloud serpent, and as the name implies it... lives in the clouds, because y'know... it flies?"
Alice: "I can tell that much you old fart, i mean how is it flying without wings, can it use magic too or something?"
Isaac: "Yes and no, to a magical beast magic is innate, they don't have to try, their bodies are so suffused with magic that they could be considered one with it, cloud serpents are a tier 3 magical creature, i raised this one from an egg"
Alice: "Okay i guess i get that, what does tier three mean exactly?"
Isaac: "It means two tiers above one and one tier above two"
Alice gives him a flat look as he chuckles to himself a bit too much, clearly thinking he's funny
Isaac: "Basically, the closer you are to the center of the continent, the stronger the concentration of magic, your little hick town is tier zero along with every other coastal city and settlement"
Alice: "Okay so... if the coast is zero, where does the center end at exactly, tier ten or something?"
Isaac: "Thirteen actually"
Alice: ".... they couldn't have made it a cleaner number?"
Isaac: "Oh i'm so sorry kid, where's your degree in the applied studies of miasma and leylines, oh wait you don't have one and yet here you are with your attitude"
Alice: "Right... okay then so what's at the center or whatever?"
Isaac: "Ehhh... some people say it's the source of magic, some people say it's a god, mostly we know it as the pain in the ass that sends waves of murderous magic beasts that require constant waves of people sent to the meat grinder to keep them back"
Alice: "... wait what so there's a war against magical creatures? since when has this been happening?"
Isaac: "As long as anyone can remember honestly, the blood war isn't taught in schools all the people sent there just get a fun surprise comprised of tentacles and claws" Alice just looks confused for a while before he breaks the silence again "Oh and that's where you get sent if you know magic by the way, a single caster can be worth a thousand soldiers, which still isn't a lot since the death toll at the front is way more than that daily"
Alice: "Okay no no no, now i know you're bullshitting, there's no way that many people can die every day and none of us hear about that"
Isaac: "You honestly don't know how small your life actually is do you? Isaac throws his arms out in a grand gesture and says "This world, is massive, by carriage, you wouldn't be able to move across this land in a century, and that's not counting the murderous beasts kid, all travel of any note is magical, even the thousands that die every day aren't even a dent in the population, the mere act of sending tens of thousands to their deaths is actually a net positive for the mega empires due to the sheer value of the magical materials acquired, and even the-" Alice holds out her hand and just stares at him for a while "What..."
Alice: "Are you actually this long winded that you were about to give me a lecture on the entire history of this stupid place? I'm not listening to all of that! look, i don't really care, if you're going to talk that much at least talk about something interesting like magic"
Isaac: "Well with an attitude like that you're certainly a natural born sorceress if i've ever seen one" his expression seems to be a mixture of bemusement and annoyance.
Alice: "Aaaaand i'm guessing that isn't the same as a mage by that tone you just excreted out of that hole you call a mouth"
Isaac: "Indeed, there are technically three basic disciplines that branch out, they describe how you best use magic kid, like your aptitude, but you aren't limited to only one"
Isaac leans in, holding the palms of his gauntlet up wards he begins to mutter, a bright flash and his wrists are enveloped in rings of light decorated in runic writing, above his palm an image appears, a non distinct figure with a staff firing a bolt of flames and one beside, an overly muscular man flexing
Isaac: "A sorcerer is one that uses magic using their willpower, stubborn and hotheaded they can cast magic quickly and tend to be rather flashy, a sorcerer's spells are simple but the result is power on demand"
Alice points in with her finger into the light hologram and looks rather curious as she pokes the image of the absolute unit of a man.
Alice: "... and that big buff guy there is that also a ma-"
Isaac: "Quiet kid that's for next lecture" The scene changes, now showing two other figures, a robed male who's arms are covered in complex runes appear to be transforming a wooden staff into a snake. A female warrior is by his side wearing leather armor and wielding a sword who's blade is made entirely of aura and crackles with electricity "A wizard is a scholar, they study magic, they may not be able to cast spells immediately like sorcerers but wizards can create and cast spells of infinite complexity, enchant objects, it's more work for a larger payout" and with that he closes his palms and the runes fade, he looks to Alice as if he's waiting for something
Alice: "You said there were three disciplines..."
Isaac: "I said technically three"
Alice: "Okay then what's the third called?"
Isaac: "It's called unchained kid."
Alice: "..... and... what does it do?"
Isaac: "you don't DO anything, you're corrupted by magic and in ninety percent of cases you lose your mind"
Alice: "Oh.... kay, and how does one end up studying to be an unchained or whatever?"
Isaac: "you don't, you fuck something up or something fucks you up and the magic basically melts your body and you become like an insane magic zombie"
Alice: "You know i'm going to keep asking so just show me already"
Isaac: "..... " He sighs and begins the light show again, holding his palms up two figures appear, one is a person holding their right arm who is wreathed in green flames, the black charred bones still being visible, she appears to be in agony. The other figure is entirely engulfed, a hulking mass of grey flesh and no eyes with veins of icy blue magic crossing over it' entire body with pulses of magic flaring out of the empty eye sockets, "When a creature is corrupted by magic and survives they are called unchained, similar to animals they are one with magic, however this almost always ends with the entire creature being engulfed, most lose their sanity completely and must be put down"
Alice: "Magic skeletons, that's awesome, so some people do survive it right? least you seemed to imply that with what you said" She's grinning at this point and Isaac just scowls back as the light images fade"
.Isaac: "Kid this isn't a joke, i'm looking out for you because of my friend, and if you do something this stupid that causes you to die, then i'll kill you"
Alice: "... wait that doesn't make any se-"
Isaac: "And then i'll pay to have you revived so i can kill you again, do you understand me?" Isaac points at her as he gets up angrily and heads towards the door, glaring back at her "Get some rest, you have a long day tomorrow and if you're tired i'll make you train until you're not" before Alice can even answer the roaring air from the door opening drowns out anything she wanted to say before he steps out again, the door shuts with a slam and Isaac takes his place at the driver's seat... though this time he slides the shutter of the window between them closed.
Alice just sits there looking confused for quite a while, but as she looks out at the night sky and watches the clouds roll by with the tops lit by the moonlight, she shrugs and lays down on the seat which luckily was comfortable at least. Laying there looking up at the ceiling she thinks for a while, well, her entire life was basically uprooted and flipped upside down in one day but... for some reason knowing life might just be a bit more exciting than simply working cleaning the bar for the rest of her life in a tiny down... it put a small smile on her face which stays there as she slowly drifts off to sleep.