“Hello!” Asterisk yelled and laughed. He waved his hands in front of Callan.

“I’m crying here, can you please go away.” His eyes were bloodied. Callan turned around.

“Well, why are you crying?”

Callan ignored Asterisk. He wiped his face and covered his face with both his hands.

“Cause you want to die? Then what was the point of our mental training a really long time ago? It was just for nothing? Really? That’s… quite disappointing, don’t you think?”

“Shut up, it’s just people dying, the fuck do I care anymore. Let them die. Let them suffer. That’s basically my life but I get breaks and the ability to be oblivious to when that suffering will happen.”

Asterisk stomped his feet on the ground, making a ripple. The sky turned bright blue with floating fluffy clouds. All separated into tiny shapes like a kid’s drawing, a fantasy, false of reality. Meanwhile, the floor turned into an inch-tall ocean, reflecting the sky.

“Beautiful isn’t it… Callan, didn’t you want to know how to put an element in your magic?”

Callan once again didn’t respond.

“I can help you… cause I know.”

“If you know then how do I not know?”

“Because… we… are…”

“The same.” Callan finished his sentence himself.

“No, we’re different. It’s me Callan… the real one…” A giant cylindrical cage formed around Asterisk. Long metal chains tied his hands above and his feet were anchored on the metal floor.

Callan looked at the reflection to his side, seeing just the top of the cage. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Really? We’re doing this?”

“We’re all real Callan. We’re all real. So stop trying to ignore us… stop it…”

“What message are you trying to send here?”

“What message? All I’m aiming for is to show you the World of Magic.”

“That’s the message.”

“Up to you.”

Callan stayed quiet and laid his body on the ground, facing the sky. He forced his heavy arm to wipe the sun away.

“Well, I guess I’m not getting to you, this is a waste of time, you're back ****.”

“Wait… how?” He said, trying to act surprised. Though he actually was, he just lacked the motivation nor energy too.

“Because of magic.”

“So you’re telling me…”

“Yes.”

“Then can you…?”

“No.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Useless.”

The cage evaporated into clouds, forming another cloud in the sky, controlled by Callan’s unmotivated finger. After the cloud settled, his hand fell on his face, blocking his right eye.

“Can you stop being so lazy?” Said Asterisk.

“I’m not in the mood, can we please do this next time?”

“How about your viewers? Your readers, wouldn’t they want to see their main character… like… have more of a motion?”

“Oh fuck them, no one’s gonna read my story either way. Imagine a storyline where there are only 2 characters and literally no existing world-building.”

“I’m a character.” Asterisk rebutted.

“You’re literally just me.”

“I’ll still get a character page in the wiki though.”

“If I’ll even have a wiki.”

Asterisk tapped his feet on the ground again. The water around Callan started to ripple, then came a burst of water, launching him in the air. The propelled water began to harden into a giant tree made of pale gray wood, with neon blue veins circling around, blinking. Then, blooming baby blue leaves shaped like plum blossoms.

“Magic is all up to one’s imagination, and you’re baseless, colorless, invisible magic is because you lack something essential, that is…” Asterisk immediately raised his arms, sprouting a forest made of the exact same tree. “Emotion.” He said.

“When creating magic, you should not just imagine the shape and form… you should feel… the form.” Asterisk continued.

Callan stayed in the middle of the tree, hanging his arms and legs like he was dead.

“You know… I know full well you're just acting. I have the perfect sentence to wake up… so if you don’t want me to say it… stand up… cause are you going to be so hung up about death again? Like how you were so hung up on writing you lost not only yourself-”

Callan dropped on Asterisk’s head. “I told you to never bring that up.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Asterisk said, with his mouth being stepped on by Callan.

“...”

“Okay, it’s not the right time.”

“There will never be a right time.”

“Okay, okay, with your depression, you could atleast make dark magic you know. Well, like literal dark magic as in making a space completely dark.”

“That’s useless.”

“Well, that’s how you understand it, what am I gonna do? Also, stop being such a downer, this might be your mind, but this is my home.”

“Fine, but in this realm, I can’t even use magic, well, I can absolutely do anything, so doing anything is nothing. Huh, such an amazing play of words.” Callan smiled.

“Finally! We got him, boys!”

“And that makes me wanna sleep again.” Callan fell on the ground, and Asterisk stood up like nothing ever happened, talking like nothing was on his way.

“Now, magic is a…”

***

[Welcome]

Said Mirai, despite her not seeing Callan due to the wooden hut around her.

“I’m back.” Callan walked to the hut and sat down laying his back on the wall.

She could feel Callan's presence without her having only one sense. It was weird, but maybe it was the connection of the system she gained. If Mirai had hands, she would be tapping them on some wooden table, silent and unable to talk.

Depression is a term she learned really early on, but it is one interesting illness that made zero sense at first. An illness is caused by one’s own expectations of oneself and the lack of strength to fight against it. To her it sounded pathetic, even now it did… she never saw it on the others, only from the ones from the earth.

But, even if it was like that to her, she understood it completely, living in a world without conflict, is impossible. If the phrase no man is an island exists, it doesn’t just mean people are naturally sociable, they are also naturally in need of conflict. Harsh, but it was true, it is an illness with no real solution… only the person is to be relied on to fix themself.