I love that the left front figure in the first picture is chiselling the artist's signature into the wall.

looks like MTG card art from like Sixth edition and nearby years. Nifty

i wonder what makes it different from surrealism

I'm not educated in art, so I may be way off, but to me it seems like a difference in scope. Surrealism presents you will a completely surreal universe, while this presents you will a single surreal element in an otherwise realistic setting.

Reminds me of gai’shain from Wheel of Time.

Nobody in real life would do stonework while wearing pristine, brand new white clothes, so yeah the categorization checks out.

Magical Realism is the water turning into people wearing white clothes.

Surrealism is water turning into an army of ducks invading the kingdom of clocks made out of ice cream

Unrealism is water running uphill and turning into diamonds.

Too-Realism is water flooding an apartment and wrecking everything.

Hope that clears it up for ya.

Maybe they're spirits?

that's not what surrealism is.

surrealism is a marketing term invented by andre breton to sell "draw whatever comes to your mind" as something genius. it has no specific style or aesthetic.

That would cover the magical part.