He woke with a jolt, inhaling sharply, covered in sweat and heart pounding. He needed a few long moments to try to steady his breathing. Slowly starting to get control over it and the chaos that was his mind was in, he calmed slightly.
As he came to his senses he started being able 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 cylinder shaped blade slammed down from the sky, cutting all in its way, digging a swirly pattern on the jungle floor before depositing him here and 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 were 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 movie in his mind 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 his way, 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 got a better look at the place: There wasn’t that much in the sense of grass but mainly smaller leafy plants, green moss covered trees and all in all it was pretty dense, save his little open area. An odd thing was that though this place was mainly bark-covered trees there were the odd patches of bamboo as well. He finally found that from every direction he could walk only 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. He only had one set of clothes and no signal on his phone, no matter how many times he put it on plane-mode or rebooted it, 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 happened, after all. He was decently hydrated before but though he was on a path it was not exactly paved, so the movement and humidity was getting to him. He was in acceptable shape but his breath was getting heavy and strained. Not hearing the sound of running water that didn’t seem like an option. 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 into it he found that it had a cottage placed in it. There was some bamboo-like construction, some horizontal bamboo on stilts, the horizontal parts were bamboo that was split along the length, it 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 6 by 7 metres (~20 by 23ft), one story construction. Around the cottage were a lot of simple constructions, things like a simple bathtub which was basically hollowed out from a large tree stump, a washbasin and other 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 flung open and a young woman was 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 swinging 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 seemed to be around 16 years old, clearly an albino with pale skin and white hair in a round bob-cut Her eyes were blue but had 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 colour. It was 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 was 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 larger 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, 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 realise 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 mage and martial artist in training and I was given a prophecy and visions about you.” She smiled happily and was rather ecstatic.

“Err... Gilliam Gibson.” 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 hopefully make sense in the end.” She seemed to realise the situation but continued anyway.
Which was surprisingly fine, Gilliam couldn’t do much more than just sit there and continue being confused anyway.

“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.

She started explaining, pointing at maps and showing drawings. Explaining that they were in the continent of V’ida, the other side was Albion and some neutral kingdoms in between. Proceeding with a weird mist in the middle that might do weird things... Albion was run by their religion, and V’ida was run by mages?
That didn’t feel right.

There was a war because Albion saw the mages as a force to fear that needed to be snuffed out or controlled... and V’ida disliked Albion because of some fanatical obsession with religion. Because of their focus on magic a mage rose in social rank in V’ida right away, and in Albion this was based on their religion and dedication to the people.
There was more to her explanation but since Gilliam could barely follow what he got, she went through so many things. From her pointing and explaining he understood roughly where they were as she pointed on the map. But he was still hung up on the magic thing. This became even weirder when she confirmed that there was a dome of.. crystal? That was covering the known world. This was an amusing fact given certain groups of people back home and their beliefs.

She moved between topics and explanations so fast that it was hard to follow, she had clearly prepared for this but in her overpreparation it all ended up feeling a bit too... rehearsed and fake. Not to mention that there was no time to actually go into depth in any subject.

Gilliam was still sitting there, doing a bad job at absorbing this while nodding sagely, though his face was the utter definition of disbelief during the whole explanation.
Magic, Dragons, Dwarves. This all sounds like a game or any fantasy media.

“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 and not others.”
As she explained this as the most normal thing ever, Gilliam could not help himself from looking at her in an almost rude, eye rolling, way. She didn't seem to notice and continued 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 a book for you. That’s what most of this is; better explanation for the things I just explained for you.”
She gestured towards the books, scrolls and mountain of information she placed on the table. She almost looked like she expected to be graded for her performance.

The only grade she got from Gilliam was a gaze mixed with being overwhelmed and disbelief.

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to believe me right away, I should prove it! Come, come with me!” Not missing a beat in her command she grabbed his hand and started pulling him through the main entrance and back into the clearing in the jungle outside of her house.
“Now, how high would you say that the human limit for jumping is?”

Glliam narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow, 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 metres (~9.8ft) or something?” He was clearly not certain about this number and guessed based on what he had seen on various shows.

Not really waiting for an answer, Angela focused 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 metres (~98ft).

Gilliam’s eyes grew large; this is impossible, that jump is 10-15 (~32-50ft) metres or something. There is no way anyone can do that unassisted. He looked around, almost expecting to find some wirework or a trampoline under the ground, but he was standing on the same ground and she was inside with him a minute ago. Everything he could see and observe explained that this is indeed real, but it doesn’t make sense.

Landing without effort before walking over towards a thick tree at the edge of the clearing. Again she focused for a few seconds, inhaled deeply and let out a single short shout as she stepped forward delivering one punch to the metre diameter thick tree. Immediately as her fist made contact it cracked the tree all the way through, but the tree still seemed to stand.
She let 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 looked a bit ashamed at her lack of mastery, Gilliam was 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 screamed; Overwhelming, though he didn't say it out loud. He struggled 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... can use magic?” The tone of his voice screamed 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 don't require you to hurt yourself punching trees.”
There was a bit of a sheepish smile growing on her lips, she tried to force it away but failed.

“And.. what is that?” His voice broke a tiny bit in the question, he recomposed himself to complete it properly but it’s clear that the idea of not hurting himself to find out things was 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 didn’t wait for Gilliam’s answer, she darted to the cottage before her sentence was properly completed, after a short minute and the sound of something falling down inside she came back out with a book in hand.

She opened it to a bookmarked page and handed 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 there is no danger.”
She had an odd hopeful look in her eyes as she handed him the book. Gilliam took the book and had a glance at its contents.

“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 kept reading and suddenly something just clicked in his mind, an image of strange runes formed in his mind alongside some other information. The explanation of the flow of mana, for some reason this alien concept also just made sense; like trying to use a limb you don’t have, it's still something you can imagine. He did some simple movements with his left hand as he focused with certain mental images like the book told him to.

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