The first day in my new home in this new world was disappointing and amazing at the same time. Seeing what my new body looked like in a mirror hanging on the bathroom door for the first time was the disappointing discovery. The boy that I saw in the mirror had bright orange hair and a face speckled with freckles from cheek to cheek that had not a scar, wrinkle, or crow's feet in sight. Hazel eyes stared back at me with the intensity that could be considered my own. Chalk-white smooth skin covered his body, and his arms and legs were no bigger than twigs on a tree. I really could not believe that this was my body now. I was less intimidating than one of those rats with fur I saw on a rope walking in front of an old lady on the street. My ego was broken more and more the longer I stared at the mirror. Later that same day, my ego was set aside when I discovered how sweet, cold, and delicious ice cream was when I sank my spoon into the white frosty dessert and put it in my mouth. It was like my senses had never truly known pleasure when it came to food. Sure, I've had meat from several creatures, all with its own unique flavor, and yes, I have had several types of custards, but none of the foods I had back in my home world could have ever compared to this. Later, after I was done eating everything out of the bowl, I discovered a big black reflective box called a TV, and when my new dad activated its power, colors and loud noises exploded from it, making me jump in my cushiony seat. I was amazed, to say the least, finding out thousands of different worlds were all in this tiny box on our wall and it could all be activated by a click of a button. After observing a bizarre world with happy talking creatures that looked way different from this reality, I stroked my chin, forgetting I no longer had a beard, and thought it might not be such a bad fate to be born into a commoner's home in this world.
After a few weeks of going back and forth from school to home Monday through Friday, the car no longer seemed to be as terrifying as it once was. I also got to observe my peers and learn some of their names. David, an eight-year-old scrawny boy with dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes, seemed to be the bully of my class. He also seemed to be the leader of a bunch of children that followed him like sheep and listened to his every command. Sasha, a girl with light blonde hair and sky blue eyes, was a girl that liked to pretend to be good, to please her elders and show everyone that she was not capable of harm. However, I saw the other side of her: while most were not paying attention, she would steal pencils, erasers, and other small objects and get others blamed for it. Oh yes, I thought she was definitely in her early years of becoming your common everyday petty thief. These two children made my almost mind-numbingly boring days in class a bit more interesting.
David led his five friends towards their imaginary enemies, ducking and hiding behind playground equipment, screaming out orders to flank their enemies, and started to mime an imaginary object he was holding and started making popping noises from his mouth. Most of his other friends mimicked what he was doing minus giving orders, while one of the boys screamed, "Take cover!" while pretending to pull something off an object and throwing it. They all ducked and covered, and the boy let out a big boom from his mouth, throwing up woodchips, scattering them in the air. I watched all of this in fascination, knowing the boys were reenacting something I had yet to learn about.
Suddenly, a girl out of nowhere came running in front of them, throwing something imaginary at them, screaming gibberish gleefully. David stopped miming the object and went from dominating something imaginary to looking at something real with disgust and annoyance. He walked up to the girl, pushed her down, and screamed in her face.
"Go away, freak!" he screamed with rage in his voice. "No one wants to play with you. This territory is only for soldiers, not for dumb girls that want to play magic!"
Magic? Did I hear him right? The girl sniffed and wept out a tear before getting up. With woodchips falling out of her long brown hair, she screamed, "I curse you!"
"Protectose," I reflexively whispered, making a warding gesture with my hands before remembering I still did not have any magic abilities. Luckily for me, it seemed no curse was thrown by the girl, but for the briefest of moments, I felt the faintest breath of magic—real magic. My jaw dropped slightly. After weeks of not being able to sense magic from any person and after studying several objects like the school bell and the TV and coming to the sad conclusion that I would never be able to harness the hidden powers that made them work, I was beginning to lose hope and started to consider the possibility that the gods had exiled me to a world without magic. Now my heartbeat drummed loudly to the rhythm of knowing I was about to take my first step in getting back to my home world.
The bell rang, letting everyone know recess was over, and I made my way over to the girl that was still picking woodchips out of her hair, rubbing her face, and making sniffing noises. I stood by her, feeling for any presence of magic in her, and confusingly, there was none. Had I made an error in judgment? Was David the one that gave off the slight magic discharge? I thought about catching up to David and checking to see if he was indeed the one, but I thought better of it, considering I had my final class with him and I could always check then. Besides, I only saw the girl during recess and lunch and didn't want to wait until the next day to talk to her.
"What do you want?" she said, still sniffling. Apparently, while I had been in my thoughts, I must have been staring at the weeping girl and looking like a fool.
"Uh, hello, miss. My name is Ed—I mean Jimmy, and I, uh, well, you see, I was wondering if you knew about magic?"
"Hey, you two!" Mrs. Zacharias screamed from a distance, obnoxiously making "get over here" gestures, commanding me like I was a dog. The girl ran as fast as she could towards the teacher, ending the conversation between us before it even began. I gritted my teeth and began to jog towards the teacher, hating myself for not disobeying her. Gods knew that when I got my magic back, the first thing I would do is get revenge on her for this moment.