When Corrin opened his eyes, he was in a large circular room. He figured that the white stone tiles that covered the wall and floor were the same as what was on the walls of the cave. In the middle of the room was a stone statue of a large hooded humanoid figure with a pair of outstretched birdlike wings coming out of its back. The figure wore a robe and its hands were outstretched and holding something.
Approaching the statue cautiously, Corrin became intrigued by what was in the statue's hands. It was a large golden book, but the design on the cover of it was mesmerizing. On the cover, there was a slightly protruding circle in the middle. In the circle, there were ever-shifting narrow beams of light of every conceivable color emanating from the middle, pulsing every few seconds. It looked like a…trapped galaxy. Corrin realized that this book was the source of his attraction. On the exterior of the book, Corrin noticed that every inch was covered in the same symbols that he saw on the double doors. Except these symbols were glowing and constantly moving around on the book.
Thinking of the doors, Corrin took a step back and took a closer look at everything else in the room. It was practically empty. There was a lot of open space aside from the statue. Corrin walked once around the statue and asked himself a question:
"Where are the doors?"
Corrin didn't see the doors that had pulled him to the room he was in. Similarly, and more importantly, he didn't see an exit out of the room. It was just him, this statue, and whatever was in its hand.
Approaching the statue once again, Corrin reached out and touched the book.
His surroundings immediately disappeared and he was instead in a place of complete whiteness. This time, however, there was someone else here. In front of him stood a tall man with long snow-white hair that fell down to his back. He looked to be in his late-twenties and he wore white robes with more of those symbols he had seen earlier embroidered on them with a golden thread. The only other source of color that Corrin could see came from his eyes. His eyes didn't have pupils or irises, and instead of being all white they were bright gold.
The man blinked.
"Hello," the man said.
"Are you the one who made this weird-ass cave?" Corrin asked bluntly.
The man coughed and answered, "Uh, in a sense, yes? I must say that I'm surprised that that was what you decided to ask me first, though."
"What do you mean in a sense?" Corrin continued, ignoring the second half of what the man said.
"Wow, very stubborn I see. Well, anyways, it is fairly difficult to explain. I am the one who created the realm you were in before, the room with the statue of the Daelin in it. However, the cave was there before the room, and the room only decided to settle there for the time being." The man responded.
"…huh?"
"What part are you confused on?"
"Um… the room I was in before…you called it a realm?"
The man sighed.
"Yes, that room is actually a different realm from where you originated from and I am its creator."
"Okay, right, yeah, got it. Different realm. What's a Daelin?" Corrin asked confused.
"Daelin is a race of winged humanoid beings, they are the original inhabitants of this continent. Aren't you going to ask me who I am?" the man asked clearly a little irritated.
"No, I'm still confused about what you said earlier. How can the room decide where to settle?"
"…alright, I will try to explain to you the best I can," The man said, a little troubled at Corrin's response. Basically, when I initially created the realm, I created it for a different purpose, which was to be my workshop. However, certain events transpired and it became my…home."
"Okay, so where are we right now?"
"Inside my Soul Heart."
"Your what?"
"My Soul Heart. It is a container that holds my soul and consciousness outside of my body."
Corrin just stared at the man blankly.
"…right. That makes sense." Corrin said dryly, and followed that up by asking "So who are you exactly?"
"Ah, finally! I have prepared this speech over many centuries for the person who would one day find me, and you are him! My name is Ophion Osiris, The Original Warlock, Grand Sorcerer of Humankind, Runesmith, Elder Thaumaturge, Arch Sage, Median of Man and Magic, and Greatest Wizard to Ever Live! You may kowtow to me and beg me for my guidance in your life and I may begin to consider your request!"
"…"
"…"
"You took several centuries to come up with…that?" Corrin asked with a hint of disgust.
"Um…yes…I did." Ophion said much less confidently.
"Alright…moving on from…whatever that was. So you used magic to make both of these realms I assume?" Corrin queried.
"Well, technically they aren't both realms, we are currently in a part of my soul, but yes I used magic to materialize both."
"How many of those titles did you actually earn?"
"None but the first one, that one was deserved!" Ophion said with a harrumph.
"Okay, Mr. Greatest Wizard to Ever Live, riddle me this: if you are so high and mighty and powerful then why are you stuck in this place?" Corrin asked, clearly irritated by Ophion's arrogance.
"Wait, I never said I was stuck here, how did you know that?" Ophion asked clearly confused.
"You said you took centuries to write that speech. I figured that anybody with the title 'Grand Sorcerer of Humankind' would have better things to do with their time than to come up with corny speeches. Unless, of course, that was all they could do, because they were trapped."
Ophion looked at him for a while before saying, "Okay yes, technically I am trapped here. However! I just needed someone to enter this realm and then I would be home free! And that's exactly what has happened now!"
"Why couldn't you get out by your own and why do you need me?"
"Well, again, this question is a bit difficult, but, um, well, you see, basically…I've lost most of my magic."
Corrin once again stared at Ophion blankly.
"How does the Median of Man and Magic lose their magic?" Corrin asked, not very pleased.
"Ah, that is a great question! I have no idea." Ophion said with a smile.
Corrin was not amused. "How do you not know?"
"Well, I did not only lose most of my magic, but a significant part of my memory was removed as well. I can only remember most things up until I was 25.
This confused Corrin, as Ophion appeared no older than 30.
"Wait, do you remember how old you were before you lost your memories?"
"Yes," Ophion answered, "I believe I would have been around 239 years old. I can remember my birthday and what day I lost my memories so it's simple math really."
"Oh…that's…quite old." Corrin sighed.
"So what exactly do you remember?" Corrin asked.
"Well, by 25 I had already begun learning the runic alphabet. Those symbols that you hopefully saw on the doors you entered this realm are runes. They are the written foundations of magic, and I am the one human who came to understand them. They originated from the Daelin and I was able to comprehend them after my lengthy studies of magic and conversations with the Daelin. However, I can only recall some of them. I know most of the foundational runes and some ideas for their uses, but everything else surrounding them is foggy. Before I learned the runic alphabet though, I learned magic. At least, I learned a decent bit of magic."
"Damn. Well, this is quite the interesting situation." Corrin responded.
"Oh? Is it?"
"Yes. You see, you and I aren't terribly different. I, too, am a victim of memory loss. Except, I have retained none of my memories and all I can remember is my name. It's Corrin by the way."
"I see."
They both stood there pondering for a while until Ophion spoke up again.
"So, if you don't have any memories, does that mean you don't know anything about magic?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"Ah! Would you like me to explain?"
"Yes, that would be nice."
"Alright, where to begin…well, firstly, there are three types of magic. First, there is Chanting Magic. Ordinary human mages use chants to activate magic. These chants basically tell the surrounding mana around them how to act according to the specific spell. Chanting Magic is still difficult, however, because the magic words spoken must be spoken completely correctly and infused with a mage's will in order to make the surrounding mana cooperate. It also does take quite a while to get the hang of chanting, and learning all of the necessary magic words is quite the ordeal." Ophion explained.
"Wait, you said ordinary human mages use chanting magic, so are there other types of mages that aren't human?" Corrin asked.
"Yes. There are also several other races who practice magic as well as magical creatures. They all use Natural Magic. It is given this name because this is how magic was initially supposed to be used, and it is its most natural form. Magic is an inherent part of the world, but the ability to channel it into spells was only created by the Daelin, to my knowledge. The original magical creatures were created the Daelin, so they are naturally gifted with the ability to wield Natural Magic. Other races that use Natural Magic are either related to the Daelin or Magical Creatures. However, humans are different. Humans have never been particularly close to magic the same way the Daelin, magical creatures, and many other races are, so they were never able to naturally comprehend Natural Magic. The only way for them to have learned it would be to have been taught by one of the Daelin, but humans had never been close to them, and had nothing to offer them in exchange for their teachings." Ophion answered.