The figure nods just before it swings its hand through he air, tearing open a portal to an old, old room. “Then our quest begins. I will teach you the basics of magic.”

Jonson draws back. “Alright, teach me all you got.” The two turn to enter the portal, and Jonson stops short.

“Why me?”

“Mmm?”

“Why did you save me of all those people?”

Chaos grins. “You’re the only one that would have actually died, the others downstairs would have been ‘logged out’ to their respective worlds.”

Jonson stares into the portal blankly as he attempts, and fails, to understand. “…What does that all mean? What’s ‘logged out’?”

“All in good time, young man, but first we begin with the practical magics. We must hurry to save the world, after all.”

After a moment, Jonson submits to a nod as he steps into the portal. “And who are you?”

“Just an old man who has a lot of space,” the figure says as they pass through the boundary of swirling abyssma into a well cozied wizard’s study.

All manner of magical instruments sprawl out with half-finished cups of tea lain out in chaotic formations upon study tables. The natural sunlight from above the evergreens shine through the window. They’re inside a tower, Jonson realizes.

“You’re back, sir!” A horrific, well no, actually pretty cute, black and white bipedal creature says as he dances around in celebration. Jonson can’t quite believe what he’s seeing, it’s no more than a meter high, has antennae, and is waving around a frying pan.

The figure nods as it reaches over to finish off one of its many not-quite-gone cups of tea. It speaks up with the dainty teacup still wrapped among its blacker than pitch fingers. “Not for very long, I’m afraid. I do believe I’ve found him, dearest Cooking Minion.”

Cooking Minion’s ecstatic movements quickly dies down to a crass crossing of the arms. “Oh, the one spoken of in the legends?”

Jonson jolts. “Wait, you’re kiddi-”

“He certainly is the one,” the figure says as he puts down his teacup with one hand and removes his hood with the other. Great antennae raise from his simple cloth hood. It is the face of a monstrosity, something beyond the demons and the angels, Jonson is certain, and yet with something still resembling the mortality of a man- a living challenge to the universe’s laws of possibility. “I have the utmost faith that our young apprentice here will be more than enough to separate the worlds and regenerate the boundary between them.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Separate… the worlds?” Jonson shakes his head. “Are you… sure it’s me that’s supposed to be doing this?”

“Cold feet?”

“Very cold, sir!”

The figure nods in admission. “I do not blame you. What we are about to partake in will require motivation of the very highest order, but should you greet it like one of your inn-guests, then you shall meet the requirements of a true hero one lesson at a time.”

Jonson nods as he looks around and finally notices that there’s no door in this room. “The hell?”

The mysterious figure laughs good-naturedly. “Dear boy, this is a protected chamber, even than window is well-guarded. There are passages out, they are simply protected from the casual gaze.”

The young man feels a chill down his spine. “Are we… in danger?” Jonson asks.

The figure’s great, wide grin, somehow stretches wider. “At all times.”

Jonson shakes his head. “I…” He takes a deep breath - he knows this is all he has going for him now. “Okay! Danger be damned. Let’s do this!”

The figure laughs. “Wonderful. Cooking Minion!”

The little minion fires off a jaunty salute. “Overlord, sir!”

“Fetch one of those delightful cheese plates for the young man. It’s hard to concentrate on an empty stomach, you know,” the figure says, returning the salute with a facetious looseness, like a lazy commander.

Cooking Minion fires off his own salute with such over-animated fervor that Jonson cannot help but chuckle. “O’ Captain, my Captain! Right away!” At that the minion rushes off somewhere else into the tower, and the figure has Jonson sit across it at a short table.

“Your first book is on the disciplines of the spirit, by R.O.Stens,” the figure says as it passes it over.Jonson creaks open the musty tome. The language inside is remarkably plain and easy to understand. “Not really what you’d expect from a tome about learning magic.”

The figure scoffs. “It’s been enchanted to be easy to understand. Most wizards are in fact terrible writers.”

“That’s… surprising,” Jonson says in a mix of nervousness and fascination. “So how much are we going to practice? How long will we be here?”

“Time is of the essence,” the figure says as it sips another cup of tea. “You can consider this an accelerated lesson, as we’ll be out in only a few hours. The magic I’m going to teach you would take most practitioners a few decades, but I pride myself to be quite adept at many things, including teaching.”

Jonson nods, not really quite believing it all just yet. “So be it then… thank you… uh… what should I call you?”

The figure shrugs. “Chaos, I suppose.”

Jonson’s not from the same world that “Chaos” is from, so he does not make the immense connection of meaning that he would if otherwise, but he has to admit, there is a certain edgy coolness to the name. “Doesn’t really seem to fit you.”

Chaos shrugs, his antennae laxing to the sides a moment lazily. “I didn’t pick it. The people I once terrorized gave it to me.”

Jonson draws back slowly in his seat. “…And we are saving the world, right?”

Chaos laughs, his widened black jaws just large enough to accommodate a whole person. “Yes! Yes we positively are saving the world. You don’t need to read too far into that; that includes its people and nations as well.”

The young initiate-mage sighs gently in relief. “Gotcha.”

“Now, read!” Chaos waves his hand to the book in a shooing motion. “Ask me if you have any questions. I’ll be here as long as you are.”

And at that, Jonson begins learning the craft of the wizards. Chaos shows him the way to focus one’s mind, draw mana, and use one’s magic signature effectively and perfectly the first time. Rather than struggle with the rigors of personal, self-led study for years and years, Jonson is able to cast a spell in only an hour’s time.