THE MOMENT
"Oh, that reminds me..." Linda suddenly changed direction toward the magic district. She and her best friend Karen were strolling downtown, gossiping and window shopping like they did most Sundays. It was a lovely day with a clear blue sky and a cool Fall breeze in the air, and the subject turned toward the upcoming Holidays. "...I need to pick up some Pixie wings." The sentence made her smile internally. It would've been considered nonsense when she was a child, but then the Magic District appeared one day when she was in her early teens. Now in her 40s, she and the rest of the world had grown accustomed.
It wasn't just in her city; centralized Magic Districts appeared in countries across the world all at the same time. Magical trade flourished, then became normalized as people interacted with it and time passed.
"Oh, great idea," Karen nodded. "I should restock on manaberries. Cole's been trying to train up his Max MP in the hopes of getting into the Academy." She took any opportunity to mention that her son had magic, and Linda couldn't blame her. If she'd had any kids, she would've been over the moon if they were born with the gift too.
"He's growing way too fast." Linda smiled as she let Karen glow with pride for her son. "I can't believe he's ready for high school. I still remember him only as tall as my knee, firing off those first sparks."
"Out of business?" Karen came to a sudden stop outside their favorite shop just as Linda saw the sign.
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!
EVERYTHING ON SALE! was printed in large letters and plastered on both windows of the small apothecary.
"Them too?" Karen glanced at the shop next door, and it had similar signage. They'd been walking and talking without paying much attention. Once they looked, they saw almost every shop had a sale going on.
"Well, let's take a look." Linda nodded and pushed in the door as a chime jingled overhead.
"Ladies!" Sarah, the owner, greeted them with a big smile. "I was hoping you'd stop by today. What can I get you?"
"Manaberries for my son. He's been going through them fast; you know how exhausting magic is," Karen said, and Sarah grinned. She reached under the counter and lifted out a wooden milk crate loaded with prepackaged dozens of manaberries.
"Oh, I know," she said. "I hope these will help Cole; all for the price of one," she added.
"You've got a deal!" Karen was eager to pay, and Linda approached the counter with a question.
"What's going on?"
"Be with you in a sec," Sarah said. She finished the exchange with Karen first. "I kept these on ice, hoping you'd show up," she explained to Karen. "You should get them home fast, then maybe come back for some more shopping."
"Oh, you're absolutely right!" Karen nodded as she pulled out a black Traversal card. She dropped it on the floor. It opened a round black portal, and she grabbed the crate as she stepped on it. "Be back in a jiff," she said as she began sinking into the black hole.
"Top secret," Sarah winked at Linda the moment they were alone and leaned over the counter to talk in hushed tones. The store was empty at the moment. News of the sales hadn't spread very far, and it was still early in the day. "To keep it short, this is the last day of the Magical District being here," she said. "For all of them across the world."
"What? What do you mean? What's going to happen?"
"Time's up." Sarah shrugged. "It's not supposed to be widely known, but remember how the Magical District just appeared?"
"Yeah," Linda nodded. "One day, a chunk of the city, in many cities, was replaced by a high-fantasy version of the same chunk from another timeline. The same people lived here, with the same relative memories and lives...," she said.
"That's the official story," Sarah replied. "It's all technically true, but the bigger secret was, we all knew it was temporary. I'm not sure of the exact reason, but it seems to be a way to kind of 'kickstart' magic on different Earths. To this world, the change happened instantly, but everyone who lived and worked in the chosen district had a bit of an orientation. I don't know how much I can tell you, but those involved have the ability to stop time. We were given a chance to learn about magic, and then we were put back here into new replacement districts."
It almost sounded unbelievable, but the fact was the districts changed overnight. This was just one possible explanation for an impossible thing that actually happened, and Sarah seemed sincere.
"So... it was only temporary?" Linda asked to keep the conversation moving. She got the impression Sarah was in a hurry to finish her explanation before Karen came back.
"We were told that much, though not told how long it would last. We got the word this morning; this is the district's last day here. But magic will continue to exist, and there've been plenty of companies dipping their toes into magical supply. So, it feels like we're kind of done here."
"What's going to happen? Is the old city going to come back? What about the people?"
"Nothing like that." Sarah shook her head. "That starts getting into secrets I really can't share, but consider this something like a 'test run'. We were chosen randomly, but we accepted the job. We're moving on to try it on other Earths. That's the biggest secret by the way," Sarah nodded. "It's not just different timelines; there's a whole multiverse." She slid a transparent glass card across the wooden counter to Linda. "That'll help you explore if you want, or you can visit my next shop, wherever that is," she smiled as the door jingled again.
"That was quick! How's Cole?" Sarah asked aloud to make sure Linda knew who walked in. She discreetly slid the card into her pocket and smiled.
"He's out getting some exercise right now," Karen replied as she arrived at the counter again. "I told him to go run and tell everyone about the sales going on here." The door chimed again, and this time Linda turned to see some familiar faces walk in. "Naturally, I told everyone too," Karen beamed.