Departure

Redd could be seen sitting in the lotus position in his house's backyard. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was steady.

It has been a month since the mysterious force first appeared. Redd would come to his backyard everyday, and calming his mind, he would try to sense his superpower.

Unfortunately, his persistence was not rewarded yet. He hadn't been able to see himself wielding a superpower.

"Huh!"

Getting out the lotus position, Redd breathed out loudly and stood up. His face was filled with slight disappointment as he made his way back into the house.

Upon entering his house, he saw his mother cooking in the kitchen, which was strange. Usually, it was his dad who cooked.

Intrigued, Redd started walking towards the kitchen. But when was halfway through, he was stopped by his mother's voice that appeared in his head.

She told him to wait at the dining table.

Redd could only obediently nod and walk towards the table. Sitting down, he waited to eat his mother's hand-cooked food.

It was his first time, so he was looking forward to it.

10 minutes later, Rein, Redd's father joined him in the dining table and his mother timely brought out the food.

A light was lit in Redd's eyes as his mother removed the lid. He saw that his mother had cooked white rice, along with a vegetable curry.

The curry contained potatoes, tomatoes, onions and ladies finger. These were common vegetables that grew in their backyard and his father often cooked this curry for their dinner.

Redd loved eating this along with white rice!

Due to his excitement, he failed to see his father's face turning grave when he saw the curry his mother had prepared.

Inwardly praising his mother since she knew what he liked best, Redd scooped the curry and mixed it with rice in a 1:3 ratio and without further wait, put it in his mouth.

A moment later, Redd's enthusiasm vanished rapidly. His face crumbled in pain, his tongue turned red, and his mind screamed loudly.

SPICY!!!! TOO SPICY!!!!

Rein's mouth twitched seeing his son's face turn red like a tomato. He looked back at his plate and his mouth twitched again.

He carefully scooped 99% rice and 1% curry in his spoon and put it in his mouth. Only after this did he calm down.

Redd's mother was actually a good cook, but she just loved adding a bit too much amount of spice to her food.

Moreover, she loved eating such spicy food! It was as if her spicy cooking was influenced by her tongue.

Rein gave Redd a look of pity.

But Redd did not have time to see his father's pitying look. His mouth and tongue needed immediate rescue.

Stretching his hand at a rate faster than usual, Redd scooped a glass of water into his mouth. Unsatisfied with just a glass, he took both his mother and father's glasses too.

Still, his mother's spiciness wasn't something that could be controlled by mere water.

In pain, he looked towards his mother.

Like always, she should be able to help him out of this predicament, right?

His mother smiled at him, but Redd saw some slight disappointment in her eyes.

Was his mother disappointed that he didn't like her cooking?!

This can't do!

"Mom, see, I love your food! It's...it's soooo good!" Redd hurriedly put another spoonful into his mouth. Initially, he wanted to fake enjoyment while bearing the spiciness in silence, but to his astonishment, he actually found the spiciness quite pleasant to his tongue.

Bewildered, he scooped another spoonful into his mouth. As the mixture of curry and white rice touched his tongue, his eyes lit up. The taste, it was heavenly. The spiciness, it was addicting.

Redd didn't know how pleasant intaking drugs that he had read in the books was, but he would unwaveringly choose this spicy food over the most addicting drugs.

This feeling, wasn't it just too heavenly?!!!!

'Is this my superpower?'

Though the feeling was good, Redd was disappointed. His superpower seemed too lowly when compared to his mother's telekinesis and his father wind control!

His mother, who had seen everything suddenly laughed out.

"You think, this is your superpower?" She asked, with a smile on her face that turned the surroundings brighter.

"It isn't?" Redd was skeptical. Why was the spiciness so addicting then?

His mother didn't reply, she came over to his chair and hugged him tightly.

"As expected of my son! You inherited my genes!" She whispered in Redd's ears.

Redd nodded his head happily and rubbed his cheeks with his mother's cheeks. So it was because he had inherited his mother's genes.

He too, was happy to inherit his mother genes.

Seeing this, Rein's eyeballs almost popped out. He looked fearfully at the curry and back at the son and mother duo.

'Devils! Both of them are devils!'

.....

After the pleasant meal, Redd's mother informed Redd of another good news.

It seems after researching the fantasy novels in the study for a month, she had some idea of why Redd wasn't able to feel his superpower.

"There are mainly three reasons that I came across when searching for why you weren't able to feel your superpower!" His mother explained.

"First, you haven't awakened any superpower. This means you are still a human and might have the chance to awaken a superpower in future."

"Second, you superpower is too difficult for you to feel it. For example, the superpower where your heart never stops beating. If this is the case, it would be very hard to find your superpower in normal conditions!"

"Third, your superpower might need a catalyst to appear. For example, take your father. He can control wind, but if there is no wind around him, can he use his superpower? This might be the most likely reason why you weren't able to feel your superpower yet."

Redd fell into deep thought upon hearing his mother's conjectures. He too had read many fantasy novels, so he could feel that his mother was most likely correct.

If it's the first case, he would need to search for a way to be a supernatural in future. Since his mother and father were already supernaturals, this idea completely feasible.

If it's the second case, then there was nothing he could do. He could only wait for his superpower to appear on its own.

The third case needed more research. But, like his mother, he too believed that he wasn't able to feel his superpower due to the third case.

....

That night. Redd was deep asleep in his room.

"Rein, if possible, try to bring back some fantasy novels from the outside world. But remember, your safety is your first priority. The world isn't what it used to be 20 years ago even if humans hadn't awakened superpowers like us. You need to tread the outside world cautiously. Keep a low profile and don't show your superpower to others unless necessary! Be careful to not expose yourself and stay away from hypocrites. Make sure to come back in a week. It doesn't matter if you haven't collected any information." Redd's mother advised.

She softly hugged Rein, who was departing to the outside town to gather information.

As Rein walked away into the trees, she waved him goodbye and entered her house.

Hugging her sleepy son, she drifted into a beautiful dream.