***

The first snow was always a joyful time in Tao's childhood of his previous life. As a teenager, he was too busy studying and later spent all his free time on the computer.

Now Tao decided to enjoy it again but in a slightly different way.

While mother sat on the bench outside the house, Safia pressed her gloved hands into the snow, enjoying the imprints she left.

Tao grabbed a handful of wet snow and began to apply the spirit power to it, like ordinary water. The snow particles moved across the boy's palm until they fell to the ground. However, his hand was not completely still, so the impression was that the snow was moving because of physical movements. The boy then cleared the patch of snow from the ground, placed a snowball in that spot, and tried to use spirit power again. He had to concentrate more power this time, but the snowball moved and rolled to the edge of the dugout hole.

Yes! Telekinesis! Tao smiled in satisfaction.

He'd seen it work on frozen water before, but tiny ice chips or frozen saliva were not impressive experimental subjects.

How big a snowball can I move? The boy had a new idea.

He started to roll a larger snowball, about the size of a man's head, then cleared the snow around it. Placing his hand on the side of the snowball, Tao concentrated his spirit power, aiming to push the water away. He could afford it, even if his mother or sister noticed something, it would look like the boy pushed the snowball with his hand.

Reluctantly at first, the ball rolled several centimeters forward. It was like magnets, but Tao felt no resistance. His hand was not pushed back.

Would this be possible on other things? Stones or metal? Tao's imagination began to unravel.

Superhero movies came to his mind, with abilities to control certain elements.

Tao couldn't make a snowball rise above the ground, but he still was happy. The boy enjoyed what he could do now, not only in terms of magic but also in terms of physical skills. Tao created a large snowball of his own height thanks to the enhancement of his physical strength and then tried to box with it, of course standing behind the ball so that his mother could not see. Safia soon began to notice her little brother's strange antics, however, so he had to restrain himself to more normal behavior.

Tao continued to take every opportunity to play in the snow to try new things. Unless Teru was around, of course. He tried to learn how to throw snowballs by strengthening his arm, but it didn't really work. Although the spirit power was strengthening the muscles, his swing missed completely and the snowball crashed into the ground with force about a meter from the boy's feet. The push-ups that Tao did at home were unfortunately a different movement to throwing an object.

Well, at least a crappy throw is not suspicious, Tao thought with a shrug.

He began to practice throwing snowballs properly without the help of spirit power.

Later, the cold took hold and the snow became drier, no longer sticking together, so he couldn't make snowballs. Tao, however, figured out how to entertain himself. If no one was around, he stuck his hand in the snow and concentrated spirit power.

Shinra Tensei! He mentally shouted a phrase in Japanese from an old anime.

Like a memory from the TV screen, the snow retreated from his hand on all sides, forming a kind of small crater. For some reason, this made Tao very happy and he repeated it many times.

"What are you doing?" Sofra finally couldn't stand it and came closer.

"Digging snow!" Tao responded innocently.

He started to dig in the snow with his hands, although he could not make such symmetrical craters this way.

"That much?" Mother looked around.

There were at least ten craters around Tao as if a miniature meteor shower had fallen there.

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The boy had no answer, he could only smile stupidly.

This went on for some time until he was finally caught.

***

One day, Tao started a new game: taking snow in his hand, he pressed it tightly together between his palms and started pushing on it from all directions with spirit power. The boy wanted to know how much frozen water could be squeezed into a small ball. Would the icy structure become water again? Or a more resistant ice? Tao went with all his might, only being careful not to hurt his hands from the enormous amount of spirit power. He wouldn't be surprised if it accidentally created magical snow or something.

Woof! Woof! The boy was interrupted by familiar barking.

Teru ran from the direction of the village gate straight towards Tao.

Damn! Why is he back so quickly? The boy cursed, stopping his discharge of spirit power.

Indres and the hunting dog had only left in the morning, so as a rule they were expected back, at the earliest, in the evening.

Teru nimbly jumped over the fence as if it was not in the way of the beast at all and was by the boy's side in a few leaps. As usual, the dog barked suspiciously and sniffed around Tao after he had released a large amount of spirit power.

"Calm down. Home." Tao tried to get the dog to quit.

If the creature could be called a dog - Taru was about a meter tall on four paws. If one measured its full length, from tail to snout it would be two meters or more. If not for regular hunting, the Tao family would be bankrupt trying to feed this giant.

Fortunately, Teru was never aggressive towards his owner's family and usually followed orders - even when they came from tiny Tao. Usually doesn't mean always. Even now, the dog kept sniffing around the boy until Indres came over. Safia, knowing that Teru's presence signaled father's return, ran out to meet him first.

"Welcome home." Sofra also got to her feet and walked towards him.

"No, you could have stayed seated... I just need to get the other bow." Indres replied, patting the daughter's head.

"A war bow? Is there something dangerous?" The woman's voice expressed concern.

"Just suspicious footprints for now... but it's better to be prepared." Indres was calm.

His gaze shifted to Teru, who was still beside Tao, though calm and no longer snarling. The man's dark brows knitted as she looked at his son.

"Sofra, did Tao do something strange?" The father's question made the boy's heart beat faster.

"I think he does something funny all the time... but no, today he was just playing in the snow like usual... Why do you ask?" Sofra shrugged.

"Teru started acting like he smelled something... magical. It was still a long way to the gate, and he was already throwing himself forward like a mad."

"You sure? Maybe he just wanted to go home?" Sofra walked over to Tao and placed a palm on his head, drawing the boy's attention to her.

"No, he only behaves that way when he smells traces of magic. And it's not the first time Teru suddenly reacts like that towards Tao."

Damn, doesn't sound good... the boy felt himself starting to sweat internally, but not because of the warm winter clothes. There was still a tiny ball of snow/ice in his palm, it would be unwise to let his parents notice it now.

"I don't understand... " Sofra's voice showed confusion.

She turned her son's face towards her and studied him with concern as if hoping to see where the fault might lie.

"Me either... perhaps his spirit power is greater than usual, but that should not be the reason... " Indres did not seem to know the answer either.

His look wasn't easy to bear, though, so Tao continued to look at his mother and pretend not to understand the adult conversation.

Fortunately, that was the end of it. At least for now.

Suspicion level raised by one point; Tao concluded.

The first level was - Tao is different from everyone else.

The second level was - there might be something wrong with Tao.

The third level was - there definitely is something wrong with Tao.

The fourth level could be learning the truth or exorcism. Or worse.

Tao judged that in his father's eyes, he had approached the second level. Although Sofra expressed concern, her behavior remained unchanged, while Tao's father began to give the boy more searching glances. This limited Tao's training, and even when Indres and Teru were away, he no longer felt safe to experiment with water and snow.

This meant that the long winter evenings, when Tao was plagued by boredom, returned. He tried to focus more on strengthening his body internally, but it was not easy to do just that all day.

Eventually, the boy tried to approach the problem from a different angle.

Woof! Woof!

"Calm down! Calm..." Tao stroked Teru's head to calm the animal.

When father wasn't home and mother was busy with something else or sleeping, he began to release the spirit power near Teru and try to teach the animal not to react to it. If the dog behaved more quietly than usual, Tao would give him a small snack.

"Smart dog! Good boy..." the boy encouraged Teru to behave in this way.

Tao hoped that the dog would not change his behavior in hunting activities. Indres still needed Teru to find magical animals in the forest. Tao wanted the dog to stop reacting only to his actions.

It was hard to confirm if this plan was effective. In any case, the dog began to lick the boy's face and hands more often, but this was probably in the hope of getting another snack.

In the evenings, when his father was at home, the whole family used to spend time together. Indres usually liked to do something practical - fixing a tool, sharpening arrows, or something like that, while Sofra read a storybook in front of the children, sitting up in bed. Teru usually slept on the floor near the stove or at his owner's feet, but now the dog also used to put his head on the bed next to Tao's hand to lick it.

"And what does that mean?" Indres asked one evening, noticing Teru's unusual attachment to the boy.

Tao just smiled and feigned ignorance.

Well, that's not so bad either... the boy reasoned to himself, enjoying the quiet idyll.

In a way, it was more magical than magic.

Or the calm before the storm.