Ah… This is weird…
My head hurts so bad, but I don't feel any pain in my body like the last moment.
Why is it so cold? Why do I feel like I'm wearing nothing but fluffy fur and have weird smells?
The world suddenly turns into darkness.
Huh? What?!
Oh! My bad… I didn't open my eyes, so it was dark. What a dummy.
When my heavy eyelids slowly open, the brightness from outside lurks through the darkness. I can adjust my visual perception; the next is my sense of hearing.
"Expel-simus!" The voice of someone is shouting, then a moment later, a breaking sound which is not an object. I'm not sure how to explain yet it's not something I should care about, compared to the last scene I saw: The red Ferrari of my loved one drove at high speed and the high light hit me. The speed of a supercar caused the organs to collapse into pieces. Blood spills everywhere. And now I end up here, like this.
The surrounding environment is obviously different from what I am familiar with. High-rise buildings and houses that were once built with bricks, cement, and shiny mirrors are replaced with wood and rocks as if this is the past era. I can't tell what year it is but it's not giving any sense of modernity that I know.
Hm?
I think I'm standing up now. Why… my eyes level is short like this?
I slowly turn my head to the nearby puddle; the truth is revealed before my eyes.
A dog… A corgi dog!! A dog with big butts!? For real!?
"What the hell!?" I can talk!? "A… Ah… Ah!!"
"Hi, Tom. Welcome to Caronia – the magical world. My name is 'Philosopher' I'm your assistant in this life. Nice to meet you." A voice in my head is speaking which I can't see the resource of it, until a hologram window appears before my eyes.
Welcome to your second life: Caronia the Magical World
"S… second life?" I repeat the message I see. There's a ton of questions in my head now. "So… that jerk hit me dead already?"
"I can tell that it was an accident. He did not intend to hit you. He was too carried away with your wife's oral treatment of that part of his body. Your body was blown away to the garbage truck and, Unfortunately, you got crushed by those tires of the truck until dead." The lifeless voice of the Philosopher explained with no expression. What she said is far from ordinary, yet a machine doesn't have feelings anyways.
"Geez… what a tragic death!" I imagined the death of the past life while stooping down the floor.
I was an ordinary low-level salaryman in the leading company in the country. Living in a society of capitalism is bad enough – working my ass off from day to night, stuck with my luxury-addicted-lifestyle wife who once was the Star of University. It got worse when she cheated on me with the vice president and did a night-time job as a solicitor, her clients are male with various type, but she dared lie to my face "I got to do overtime." Ha! Life like that was like a dog. And now, I'm a dog. What a tragedy.
"Ah… forget it. Good thing that this new life I don't have to worry about that woman anymore." I let out a big sigh then lie down on the cold floor made with bricks. With a great nasal sense of dog, I can smell some unpleasant scent. "Can I call you 'Phila' instead? So, writer won't hurt his wrist that much and readers are comfortable to read your name out loud."
"You can call me whatever you want, Tom. I wouldn't mind but I must disagree on your assumption that readers will be lazy like you."
"You have a smart mouth, Phila." I roll my eyes when responding to the sarcastic words from her. A moment later, my stomach that covered with fluffy fur is growling for food. "What a hassle to reborn into an animal and must find food to survive by myself. Where can I find something to eat around here?"
"Walk out of this alley then beg for food. That should do it." Phila responds instantly as if she already prepares for this question. "If you met good person, they would give you a piece of bread, but bad person will react otherwise."
"Yeah… that's enough. This is what they called a tough life." I decide to walk out of this dark alley. My eyes observe the area and see many houses built with brick are layout symmetrical and neat. People here wear dark color cloaks and have unwelcome faces. When the wind blows, I can see a long stick clipped under the belt. Living in a magical world, that must be a wand.
Reborn in the world like this but cannot use any magic. What a shame to be born.
"Hey! Another pair is battling now! Let's check it out!" A voice of someone and running steps passes by my face quickly.
Poof! Something just passed over my head. When I look up, I see a witch rides on a broomstick in the same direction as the other wizards. I'm eager to see what's magic battling looks like in this world. If this was a movie, the protagonist must follow along those witches and wizards without hesitation. I'm not familiar with four-leg running so I stumble a lot. It doesn't hurt that much at first, I later realize that I'm slightly bruised. Finally, I reach to the battleground where mages are crowd around and cheering the pairs. I can hear the deafening roar accompanied the chaotic clash of magic force, sending burst of multicolored light flying every direction but me — in these short legs form — can't see anything.
"These people wear cloaks. I can't see anything!!" I complain and bare my fangs with frustration. Ah! I got an idea. "Phila! Can you take me up to see the battle?"
"Yes, I can." Phila calculates the possibilities of finding a satisfactory outcome in a short time. "Unlocked: High jumping skills."
"Huh?" I furrow my eyebrows and ask a new question. "What did you just do!?"
"I unlocked skills for you. Now, try the high jump." As usual, she answered with a monotonous voice, leaving me no choice but to try as she suggested. I lowered myself with all fours before using the hinds to spring upward with all my might. A crimson aura surrounds me as I am ascending, the wind howled past my creamy-colored fur as I soar higher and higher.
"Agh!! This is too high!!" I scream in terror. My body stops in the Cirrocumulus atmosphere and gradually descends from the sky. My dried eyes witness the tiny village below getting bigger.
The second death is coming to me in no time…
"As the protagonist of this novel who rebirths into a dog… this might be the end of me." I speak to myself with sorrow, even though I've been here less than an hour. "I can break the fourth wall like Deadpool movie… Well… this is the magic world after all."
Goodbye… The world that I have known in a short period, but I have so much fun.
"Fer-ma-le!!" I hear the shouting voice of a woman from somewhere. My body is about to fall to the ground yet stopped in the air. All the witches and wizards look at me with surprise as if I'm a miracle for them.
"Did it just jump in the air!?" An old witch points her index finger at me. She has a large ugly nose.
"How!? It's not even a magical creature!" Another wizard joins as he leans his face close to looking at me with a serious expression. "I guess we have to register this one as a new magical creature."
.........
In a heartbeat, I got locked in a cage to somewhere I can see only animals. I feel alienated to the others which are all magical creatures, not an ordinary big butts corgi like me. I don't know what to do then I crouch down, looking through the cage in this unfamiliar place. I guess that I'm inside the pet shop of this village, according to the time —-. Believe me, everyone in this village calls me by one name 'magical dog' for sure. So, they put me on sale in the pet shop, but I don't dare to guess the price tag.
"You can use magic, huh? You don't even look like a magical creature at all!" A hiss voice from nearby cage which appears to be a small-sized dragon. Its red fire-blazed eyes, smoke breath from its nostrils like old man's cigar. This dragon doesn't seem to scare anyone. "Your face is too dull, short legs, too tiny and have no magical sense! What are you!?"
"Yeah. I'm not a magical creature." I'm reluctant to talk back to the dragon. "Just... an ordinary corgi dog."
"Ha! You low-life creature! Just a pup, don't you dare declare a war with me!" The small dragon growls and threaten me with a small fireball. The size of fireball is not scary for me at all, I'm only surprise to see a dragon in the flesh – it's not so different from lizard that can breathe fire.
I decide to not give any interest to the dragon. I turn my head against the wall and lie down on the cold stiff floor. I fall asleep in a moment later.
"Tom, I suggest we must get out of here immediately."
"Huh? How?" I wake up with heavy eyelids from drowsiness and stand on my four feet. "How to get out of this place, Phila?"
"You must do something to elevate your level, then I can't help unlocking the remaining skills of yours." The calm voice of female-AI answers my question. It makes me feel more furious from got waking up during late night... No... This is morning already.
The morning sun, a gentle intruder, streamed through the windowpane, revealing the room's depths. As the vision cleared, the surroundings took on the semblance of a menagerie, a pet shop in disarray. Upon closer inspection, a sign affixed to the wall, its letters reversed, spelled out 'PET SHOP.'
If only fate were as generous with lottery numbers.
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To Be Continue Ep.2