*Ding-dong.* The sharp chime of the doorbell cut through the quiet house, echoing cleanly from the front entryway.
Anjali wiped her hands on a towel and hurried to the door, pulling it open with a warm, welcoming smile.
Three people stood on the porch. Arjun looked as refined and neatly put-together as always, standing beside his beautiful wife, Anita, whose youthful features made her look like she was in her early twenties. Standing right next to them was their lovely daughter, Riya, her eyes bright with a spark of immediate mischief.
"You came right on time," Anjali said, stepping forward past the threshold. She pulled Anita into a tight, affectionate embrace, catching the faint, sweet scent of perfume mixed with the rich aroma of chocolate wafting from her own kitchen. "I just finished making a fresh batch of brownies."
Anjali pulled back from the hug, her smile widening as she looked down at the young girl. "Rohan is upstairs in his room. You can head straight up there, Riya."
Anita gave Anjali a deep, knowing look, a soft grin playing on her lips. She turned her eyes toward her daughter and gave a firm, encouraging nod. "Go on, go play with him."
From inside the house, Vikram stepped out into the main hallway, his face lighting up with genuine delight as he spotted the guests. He moved forward briskly, extending his right hand toward Arjun and locking into a firm, solid handshake.
"Come on in," Vikram said warmly, stepping aside and gesturing with his free hand for them to follow him into the comfort of the living room.
Upstairs, Riya marched straight up the steps to the first floor, her footsteps brisk and deliberate. She stopped right outside Rohan's door and, without offering even a courtesy tap, shoved the heavy wood open with a loud, ringing thud.
Rohan was completely glued to the glowing television screen, his thumbs blurred as they flew across the plastic buttons of his video game controller. The sudden, violent crash of the door hitting the wall shattered the quiet room, instantly shattering his focus.
His thumbs jerked in a blind panic, but the split-second distraction was fatal. Two bright, flashing letters burned across the monitor: *GAME OVER*.
A sharp spike of irritation flared hot through Rohan's chest. He snapped his head up, his jaw tight as he glared toward the threshold to find the culprit who had ruined his flawless run.
"So it’s you," Rohan muttered, his voice dripping with an edge of sharp annoyance. "I was wondering who could possibly be rude enough to just barge into someone’s private room without even bothering to knock."
Before he could finish his complaint, the plastic controller was violently ripped right out of his tight grip. It rose into the air, levitating off his palms and floating completely out of his reach.
Even the heavy ceramic bowl of popcorn resting on his lap began to lift, defying gravity as it drifted smoothly across the bedroom.
Riya reached out and caught the floating bowl with casual grace. She pinched a piece of popcorn, popped it into her mouth, and chewed slowly, a smug, triumphant grin spreading all the way across her face.
"I told you I’d give you a piece of my mind the next time I came over to your house," Riya said, her voice teasing as she swallowed. "How dare you sit there and make fun of me back then?"
Rohan crossed his arms tight over his chest, his natural stubbornness flaring right back up to meet her challenge. "If you had just asked me nicely, I actually would have given you an answer."
Riya’s eyes narrowed into a thin, dangerous squint. She didn't bother wasting any more words on him. Instead, her lips began to move rapidly, a quiet, rhythmic chant spilling out as she cast an incantation.
Rohan blinked, confusion clouding his mind as the air around him grew heavy. Before he could even begin to register what she was planning, Riya completed the spell.
A sudden, intense tickling sensation exploded through Rohan’s entire body.
A sharp gasp burst from his throat, quickly turning into a breathless laugh. He tried to squirm away from the invisible pressure, his heels digging into the floorboards as he twisted and writhed on his bed.
The phantom fingers dug deeper, and his laughter rang out louder and higher, bouncing off the walls of his bedroom. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, his chest burning from the sheer physical exhaustion of trying to breathe.
Rohan realized exactly what was happening. Riya had used her newly formed magic to cast a spell directly on him.
"Stop! I won't do it again!" Rohan shouted between breathless, roaring laughs, his stomach muscles tightening painfully.
Riya placed her hands firmly on her hips, her chin tilting up in absolute pride. "I'm not stopping that easily."
She looked down at him with a triumphant smirk. "First, say it: 'Lady Riya, I will fulfill three of your demands.'"
"Never!" Rohan yelled, but the word was immediately swallowed by another wave of uncontrollable laughter.
Before Riya could mock him further, the frantic laughter suddenly stopped. Rohan went entirely still. His breathing smoothed out instantly, and his face settled into a perfectly calm expression.
Riya blinked, staring at him in shock. "How did you break my spell? Your superpower isn't supposed to let you do that."
Rohan stood up slowly, letting out a measured, effortless breath. He had manually taken the reins of his muscles, skin, and nerves, shifting his physical state into perfect alignment to block the magic out.
Riya's spell had taken over his physical form to trigger the forced tickling sensation. But his hidden second superpower, Perfect Control, allowed him to actively reclaim total authority over his body, completely neutralizing the magical feedback.
"Why should I tell you?" Rohan said, keeping his tone casual to hide his track.
It wasn't that he didn't trust her. Discovering a second superpower was simply too massive a secret to broadcast to anyone just yet, and he needed to keep it tightly under wraps.
"Anyway, when did you awaken as a magician?" Rohan asked, quickly steering the conversation away from himself. He was genuinely curious about how and when she had managed it.
Riya shrugged her shoulders, her posture relaxing as she dropped her hands. "I reached the required baseline to form magic power a long time ago. Mom and Dad just wouldn't let me finalize it so early."
"Why not?" Rohan asked, tilting his head.
"Because they said if my mental power hit the absolute limit of Rank One before I actually formed the magic, the resulting magic power would instantly be at the peak of Rank One too," Riya explained with a smug grin. "So even though I don't know many spells yet, my magic power is already at the absolute peak of Rank One."
Rohan rolled his eyes, a familiar knot tightening in his chest. "What are you so smug about?"
He couldn't entirely hide the hint of jealousy in his voice. "With your telekinesis superpower, your mental energy should have reached the peak of Rank One ages ago anyway."
"You're just jealous," Riya teased. She slid onto a chair near his desk and picked up the second gaming controller.
Rohan grabbed his own controller, restarting the console and setting up a two-player game to take his mind off his envy.
"So, when are you going to awaken as a martial artist?" Riya asked, her eyes fixed on the screen as the character selection loaded.
"Why can't I become a magician instead?" Rohan countered stubbornly, tapping a button.
"Because you don't have a single drop of talent for the magical path," she shot back cleanly, not even looking at him.
Rohan didn't argue the point. Instead, he gave her a straight answer. "I'll awaken my prana right after my birthday party."
Riya snapped her head around, her thumbs freezing on the joystick as she looked at him in genuine disbelief.
Even though she had already awakened her own magic, she knew it was incredibly rare for anyone to unlock magic or a martial path at their age.
The only reason she had managed to become a magician at eighteen was her telekinesis superpower, which naturally gave a massive boost to her baseline mental energy. To actually manifest magic power, she just had to figure out how to weave that mental energy together with her willpower.
It was a process she had mastered long ago. Her parents had only held her back so she could leapfrog straight to a peak Rank One mage, saving her years of grueling accumulation.
"Remember how I got hurt in that fight?" Rohan explained, noticing her stunned expression. "Somehow, the strain of that battle stimulated my potential. It pushed my superpower to the peak of Rank One, and my prana actually started moving on its own."
He pushed a button on his controller, locking in his character. "Dad said that with just a little bit of targeted training, I can fully awaken it. That's why I'm waiting until after the party."
Before they could dive any deeper into the details, a loud voice drifted up from the ground floor. "Rohan! Riya! Come down!"
"Let's go, Mom is calling us," Rohan said, setting his controller aside and standing up from his bed.
Riya rose from her chair, a sharp smile touching her lips. "Good timing. I was planning to go train in the Forest Dimension right after the party anyway. Here I was thinking I'd leave you in the dust by a massive margin."
Rohan paused for a fraction of a second, completely stunned by her declaration.
Then he let out a scoff, pushing down his surprise. "Who's leaving who in the dust? I can pass you whenever I want. You don't even know, but my superpower is already at the stage where I could break through to Rank Two right now if I chose to."
He began walking toward the door, his heart pumping with competitive energy. "I'm only holding myself back to build a stronger foundation for a greater future. Besides, you already know how insane the raw offensive output of my power is."
"Kids, come down right now!" Anjali shouted again from the bottom of the stairs, her voice sharper this time.
"Let's go," Riya said, brushing past him to head out into the hallway.
Rohan followed close behind her down the steps, eager to defend his pride. "What, you don't believe me?"
Riya didn't turn around, her footsteps tapping a steady rhythm down the stairs as her voice dripped with dry sarcasm. "Oh, absolutely. The great Rohan has already surpassed everyone and become the youngest Rank Two superpower user in history."