Albert's small apartment was cluttered with notebooks, half-drunk coffee mugs, and a laptop buzzing quietly on the desk. Today's task: gather voices from the past - the people who'd lived through the first months of magic's arrival, when the world seemed to teeter on the edge.
His first call was to Helena, a retired paramedic who'd seen it all firsthand.
"I remember," Helena said, voice shaky, "people running through the streets, eyes wide with fear. Hospitals overwhelmed - not just with the sick but with those affected by magic they didn't understand. One moment, a man would be fine, the next, his wounds would glow faintly... then heal or sometimes worsen. No one knew what was happening."
Next, Albert spoke with Jorge, a city council member who'd been caught in the middle of the political chaos.
"The laws were a mess," Jorge sighed. "We had no framework for this. Suddenly, anyone could do something... impossible. People scared the government wouldn't control it. Riots broke out. Some tried to exploit magic; others just wanted to survive."
A young student, Marina, shared a different view.
"At school, we were confused. One day, lessons were normal. The next, our teacher made plants grow in class - like, real green vines climbing the walls. It was beautiful, but strange. I think that's when people started wondering if the world was changing for good or bad."
Albert scribbled notes, piecing together these snapshots. The picture was chaotic, yes - but also filled with wonder and fear tangled tightly.
Later, he recorded a conversation with Raul, a farmer outside the city.
"Magic saved us, honestly," Raul said, gravel in his voice. "Droughts ended early, crops grew strong. But it wasn't all sunshine. There were accidents. People trying things they didn't understand - fires, storms. We were learning, but it was a dangerous lesson."
Albert saved the recordings and sat back. These voices weren't just memories. They were the first threads in a tapestry of a world forever changed.
He began typing again:
"The early days were marked by fear, confusion, and a desperate hope. A world caught between what was known and what was suddenly possible. And for those of us trying to tell the story, the challenge was clear: to understand magic, we first had to understand ourselves."