It's the real deal, baby! As for the mechanics of it . . . well, we can't get too deeply into that just yet, but think of it like this: patches have been downloaded. The nature of those patches will be revealed in due time.

That being said, characters definitely don't remember anything about the wellspring of magic! They also won't know that they can do magic until they start Doing Magic. It's gonna be a fun time for everyone.