"Where am I?" Jack thought to himself. He had never seen such a view in his life, after gathering his thoughts he decides to ask around which proved to be tougher than expected "Excuse me! Sir?" "Hmph!" "What?" Confused Jack tried again "Ma'am? Can I ask you a question?" "Get away from me!" Startled, Jack backs off. He tried again and again yet no one would talk to him, he was confused. "Why is this happening?" he thought, on the verge of giving up a man cloaked in green approaches "You... You're new here, aren't you?"
Jack slowly turned around and answered "Ye-yes... What is it? What do you want?" ready to run at the first sign of danger he readies himself as the man replies "Well if you don't mind an old man slowing you down I'd be happy lend a hand" he unveils his cloak only to reveal a happy old timer with a sagging face and a golden smile
Jack let his guard down and let go a sigh of relief
"Yeah, I'd like some help" "Well ok then! What do you want to know?" "Well let's start with where is this place?" This old man seemed to almost jump for joy as the young man hung on every word he said following him as he walked along "This is the Town of Cecil one of the smallest towns in this country, but well known for its powerful mages" "Mages?" "Yes Mages my dear boy! You must have been thrilled by the time you cast your first spell! Every young man and woman has an adept use in magic, it runs in our blood and it has been apart of our lives from the very beginning" "Can you tell me more? Like how is magic real? How does it work?" "Steady your heart young one, I'm surprised you have to ask. Looks like someone never paid close attention in class" "Yeah well..." Jack had no answer, for he had no clue that magic existed or that even this place existed, a town called Cecil? Mages? Something that exists in fantasy was there right before his eyes "Well nevertheless! I will tell you, magic isn't exactly all straight forward, every one can use it but that doesn't mean it's easy. Magic like all things has a certain difficulty to it, understanding it in concept is easy but actually doing magic is another thing entirely" "How so?" "Simple, Magic is the manifestation of one's soul essence. To perform magic you must first understand your soul, in other words you must understand who and what you are. You must have purpose to use magic"
Jack's curiosity grew more and more, with each passing moment he hung on the old man's every word about mages and magic. "Wow... I had no idea magic was so demanding" "It is, magic is draining to use"
Jack thought "Then why do you use it?" The old man says simply "Magic connects us to ourselves, it helps us grasp what we are, who we are, what we are meant to do, it is our purpose and belief that we can be better. That is why magic is important to us, surely you must feel the same, no?" then Jack thought about it carefully and he never thought about what it could mean for himself, for the longest time he was alone, he never felt the need to search his soul for anything, he never knew his purpose, why he was the only one left alive after that night or what to do after the fact it happened. He just never had to face his feelings before. "Yeah, I think I do" he said with no certainty. Hiding away was all that he knew "So tell me more, what about the country?" "The country? What is there to say? Hmmm... It has changed quite a bit since my time, but there are some things I still do know" "Like what?" "Well before the division of the land there was a war that involved the gods and the humans" "Oh?" "The humans were one whole nation at one point and under the leader of the legendary heroine Zashara she raged against the gods and wanted full control of fates string bringing a war to the humans she had " loved" but the gods hatched a plan to divide the land and seperate the humans from each other" "What happened next?" "Well one day the gods sent their most devious creator to poison the minds of the humans, this sent Zashara to attack early. The battle was so intense it broke the land in 3 continents" as the old man was walking with Jack they had reached a tall buildings entrance "Ah, were here"
Jack befuddled he asks the old man "Where is here?"
"This is the towns public library, anything you need to learn is here. I'm afraid with my memory being as shoddy and old as I am, I may not be able to tell you everything, I hope you find the answers you seek young one" Jack frowned a bit. The old man, the only person to approach Jack in this foreign land was sending him away. But he knew it was for the better "Thank you, and I never did get your name" "Oh that's ok, just repay the kindness I've shown to someone in need and you will be fine. Now run along" Jack took note of the man's words and went inside the towns library
As Jack roams around the large halls, his eyes are captured by the absurd number of books on the walls. Each shelf sagging under the weight of these tombs housing knowledge unrivaled, as his eyes continue to wander he crashes into a random person "Woah!? Oof" "Sorry! Sorry! I wasn't paying attention" "Yeah no kidding, You made me drop all my books!" "Sorry miss"
Jack felt bad so he tries to help pick up her books "Thats the last of em" "Well thank you I guess, Is there anything you need?" Jack looked at her a little closer "Are you? The Librarian?" "No, I'm just the assistant. Niora Graveson, currently mage in training so don't expect to much" "You're a Mage? That's so cool! Well I do have one question, where can I find books on Cecil's History?" "That would be on the 2nd floor, just look for the red sign that says history near the end of the room"
"Thank you" Jack heads up the winding stairs to the second floor to enter a big wide room, as he looks around for a red sign he spots it and heads down the hall.
He picks out several books that may have information on getting home. "History of Cecil, The Mage of Icroatia, and Magic Doorways and Portals: The Complete guide to Displacement Magic" as he reads each book, each one goes into further detail about the stories the old man's said before "Cecil was the Husband of the Towns Founder Lucius Marin great grandson of the first few mages who discovered magic, for many generations the best and most capable mages came from the Town of Cecil" Jack continues reading about the Town with some events he would rather not read "What in the- Ho! That's a guys butt! Moving on!" with his face as red as a tomato he moves on to the next few books until he finally reached the thinnest book in the library almost pamphlet like this book housed only 20 pages. Each page only explaining small concepts of portals and other theories, he would find nothing helpful in the book until the last page that says "Only the most experienced and powerful magic users are capable of making a portal to other lands, even then perhaps it would only fit one person"