Alex arrived at his favorite hangout spot, a small park with two swings, a slide and a sandbox. It is where he would usually hang out with his friends and drink. His brow furrowed immediately. I bet even my friends have magic now, he thought. The world was reeling in a chaos Alex just simply could not relate to, barely an hour ago the world was plunged into something new and yet, something that was wanted by everyone, power. If Alex had remained in his room playing his favorite computer game, he wouldn’t have even noticed that the world was changing in its entirety.

“What a load of crap,” he muttered to himself. In an instant, outside the control of any person in this world Alex had become the most inferior person on this planet. As he sat, pushing himself resentfully on the swing, he saw a small figure heading toward him at a high speed. Closer inspection revealed this figure to be a dog, some kind of Labrador, Alex didn’t know; he didn’t care for dogs. Upon seeing it headed for him he bounced off the swing and climbed up the ladder of the slide. Please just leave me the hell alone, he begged over and over in his head, but to his dismay the dog ran straight to the foot of the ladder, panting heavily with its tongue hanging loose and tail waggling wildly. Does it want to eat me or play with me? Alex thought, before something very unexpected occurred.

“Friend! Friend! Friend!” The dog kept half shouting and half barking, as it began to take small jumps where it was standing. The scenario was so ludicrous Alex nearly fell from the top of the ladder from laughter. It seems magic has allowed this dog to speak English, or maybe it’s magic is allowing me to understand it? Oh god I’m not Dr. Doolittle am I? Thoughts began assaulting Alex’s mind at a pace he wasn’t used to. Anxiety and adrenaline began pumping inside of him and he began to feel nauseous. This dog, rather than the world panic itself made Alex realize just what exactly was going on.

“Even the dogs get magic! I swear I’ll punch that Cthulhu wannabe pixie in its metaphorical throat!" Alex yelled. The being that made its way to Earth didn’t exactly have a form, but more so assaulted everyone’s minds, at least that’s what he gathered when this chaos first ensued. The yelling made the dog more excited, to which it began to yell “Play! Play! Play!” And bit into the metal ladder of the slide. The dog immediately went flying back a few feet, seemingly not anticipating its own strength as it tore one of the steps of the ladder clean off. Alex panicked, a lot. He wasn’t the type who spent a lot of time outside, he didn’t exercise much and his stamina matched that of a particularly lazy sloth. His only saving grace was his high metabolism kept him light on his feet, which was a trait he had no doubt was about to come in handy. The dog reoriented itself and locked eyes with Alex once more, becoming immediately excited again and biting the next rung of the ladder, this time much more tentatively, before pulling it away with ease. Alex had to make a choice, either hide atop the ladder and inevitably get eaten or torn apart within minutes, or make a break for it and inevitably get eaten or torn apart within seconds. The prospect of either outcome sent a chill down his spine but he knew what he was going to do; he has always turned his back on his problems.

Steeling himself and taking a few generous lungfuls of air, he willed his body to prepare to jump and run. He focused on that feeling of adrenaline, his heart pumping so violently and his body shaking in anticipation. The dog bark-spoke and took another bite, to which Alex jumped and sprinted faster than he ever has before, doing all he could to not scream, as he knew it would be a wasteful expenditure of his energy. He hopped over the waist-high wooden fence that surrounded the park, continued to sprint but risked a look over his shoulder to see if the dog pursued him. The sight Alex was behold to at any other time would have been considered hilarious, comedic and something he’d expect to see in a movie. The dog, rather than jumping over the wooden fence, simply ran straight through it, shattering it and sending splintered wood at a high velocity in many directions. The dog let out a mighty powerful “Play!” As it run after Alex, who was doing what he could to not curl up and cry.

“Bad dog! No play! Leave me alone!” Alex yelled out, but the dog seemed to just get more excited and eager. Worst day of my goddamn life, Alex thought.