No One Believes in Magic Anymore

Calvin studied magic for years, convinced it was more than just parlor tricks. No, he would search for real magic. He tried casting spells or enchanting items to no avail. Just as he was about to give up, he stumbled across an old shop downtown. He hadn’t remembered seeing it before, but something about it felt...different. Inside, he saw all sorts of items he had only read about: orbs that could grant wishes, potions that could allow someone to fly, and so on. He grabbed as much as he could and brought it to the counter before handing the clerk his credit card.

“Sorry, cash only,” The clerk shrugged.

Calvin dug through his pockets and dropped a $20 in front of the register, “What can I get with this?”

The clerk looked through the items Calvin brought up, “This cloak, I guess.”

Calvin grinned. He recognized it from his readings. It was a transformation cloak. You simply covered yourself with it, concentrated on a person, and you would be transformed into them. It wouldn’t have been his first choice, but he figured buying some magic would be better than nothing.

He planned to just run to the ATM to get out as much cash as he could and then return to the store. However, every machine in the area seemed to be down. He had some cash at home. It’d take a little while to get there, but he could rush back and return to the store before closing.

He got back home and grabbed a jar from under his bed. He was about to rush back out when he paused. He had a perfectly good magical cloak here; it would be a shame not to use it right away. He stood in front of a mirror, covered himself with the cloak, and thought about his friend Miranda. When he first started studying magic, she laughed at him so hard. It seemed like an appropriate choice for his first transformation. Sure enough, as he removed the cloak from his head and let it drape down his arms, the reflection staring back at him was now Miranda’s. Calvin wanted to examine more in detail, but he knew he didn’t have the time; he needed to get back to the store. He began to start putting the cloak back over his head in order to transform back, but it was disappearing in his fingers. He was shocked. He had never read anywhere that the transformation cloak was for one use only. Now he needed to get back to that store even quicker!