Renatta took a deep breath, explaining to Renan patiently. "Magic doesn’t exist. I know it doesn’t exist. I’m forty-three years old, Renan. I’ve lived my entire life and never once seen anything supernatural. Not once. Are you seriously asking to believe that my son is suddenly a magician?"
"I’m not asking you. I’m showing you." Renan said calmly. "You saw cast that spell. You watched the light appear and stay in the air. Do you have any other explanation for what just happened?"
Renatta opened her mouth, then closed it. She looked around the bathroom searching for hidden caras or projectors. "I... I don’t know. I don’t have an explanation. But that doesn’t an I have to jump to magic as the answer! There’s always a rational explanation. Always. You could have... I don’t know, you could have..."
She trailed off, clearly unable to co up with a plausible alternative. She shook her head. "Just tell the truth, Renan," she said, her voice breaking slightly. "Please. Whatever is going on, just tell . I can handle it. But don’t... don’t do this to , please."
Renan sighed. This was harder than he’d anticipated. In his past life, evidence ca much more abruptly, and much more undeniably. She wasn’t an unreasonable person. In fact, he was the one being unreasonable.
She was being asked to accept sothing that fundantally contradicted everything she knew about reality. "Mom, if you don’t believe , what will you need, then? What would it take to convince you?"
"I don’t know! Sothing... sothing more concrete. Cast another alleged spell. How about icicles?"
"I can’t cast another spell at the mont," Renan responded. "I’m out of mana."
Renatta latched onto that. "See! You’re out of whatever chemical you used to create that light effect."
"It’s not chemicals, Mom. Mana is magical energy. It replenishes over ti, but right now I’m running on less than half capacity because..." He hesitated.
Half of his soul was still being healed in another dinsion. He couldn’t just say that, that would be too much to explain right now. "Because of what happened to . The collapse. Still, I can do other things. Physical things. Give a test. Sothing you know I can’t do normally."
Renatta’s expression shifted. Her lip quivered, but she composed herself. After a mont to think, she issued her statent. "Fine. If you really have supernatural powers, prove it. But not with tricks, not with things you could have learned from an online tutorial on bending coins. I’ll make you do sothing you can’t do. Lift above your head with one arm."
Renan nodded. "Okay."
Renatta blinked. "Just like that? You’re not going to argue that it’s impossible?"
Renan moved towards her. "You asked to do it. I’ll do it."
He crouched slightly, reaching one hand beneath her. Renatta weighed around 150 pounds. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but given that Renan lived a sedentary lifestyle, it should be an entirely unachievable task. That was especially the case since he had just been hospitalized
However, Renan wasn’t a normal man anymore. Not since receiving Narinder’s blessing.
He lifted.
His mother rose into the air, supported entirely by his hand beneath her back. He purposely wasn’t even using his whole arm for leverage, just his hand and wrist. Despite that, she rose as easily until she was above his head, staring down at him with an expression of absolute shock.
He held her there for a mont, then gently lowered her back to the ground.
Renatta was in disbelief. She stumbled slightly as her feet touched the floor, and her hand was forced to go to the wall for support to prevent herself from falling. "That’s... you couldn’t have... how did you..."
"Do you believe now?" Renan asked.
"It can’t be. You don’t work out. I know that!" She shook her head. "No, clearly, I made a mistake. You are male, so I suppose you can do that. Let think."
She pulled out her keychain, holding out an old key. She held it up to him. "Bend this just like the coin. Only use two fingers."
Renan took the key, positioned it between his thumb and index finger, and applied pressure. The brass resisted for a mont, then deford.
"You..."
Before she could even finish her statent, Renan pushed harder, snapped, breaking cleanly in half. He handed both pieces back to his mother. "Ma, I’m showing you this because the reason I passed out is related to the supernatural."
Renatta stared at the broken key in her palm. Her hands were lightly shaking. "Okay. Okay, that’s... that’s not normal. Alright, I admit you are impressive, but maybe-"
"Ma."
"-the key was already damaged, it was old after all. Or perhaps I overestimated the strength of brass. This doesn’t prove an-"
"Ma."
She looked up at him, and he could see the fear and confusion in her eyes. How could Renan bla her? He was forcing her to witness her son claim the impossible, and then do the impossible. "Mom, please. I’m serious."
"So am I!" She caught herself, then took a deep breath. "One more test." she said. "Just one more, and then I’ll... just do another test.."
She looked around the bathroom and pointed to the wooden sink. "Make an indent in that. In the wood. With just one finger. Push your finger into solid wood."
Renan followed her eyes and blinked. "Anything else? That’s damaging hospital property. I don’t th-"
"If you really have supernatural powers, do it!" Her voice rose, desperate. "If you can really do impossible things, prove it!"
"Please promise this is the last test for now." Renan said firmly. "You can’t keep giving impossible challenges every ti I complete one. You need to be convinced after this."
Renatta swallowed hard, then nodded. "Okay. Yes. If you can push your finger into solid wood... I’ll take you more seriously. Please."
Renan approached the wooden sink. He positioned his index finger against the surface, took a breath, and pushed.
At first, nothing happened. Then the wood began to compress under his fingertip. It gave Renan so difficulty, given that the wood attempted to distribute the pressure evenly, but eventually the wood gave way entirely. His finger sank in about half an inch, leaving an indent in the solid wood.
He pulled his finger back, examining the damage. Renatta stared at it in a trance. She reached out and touched the indent, feeling the area. She even pressed her knuckle against the wood, pushing hard.
Nothing happened. She put more and more pressure, until she suddenly growled, reeling her arm back and giving it a hit.
"..."
She was now holding her knuckle in pain, staring at the spot where she did no damage. She softly whispered. "You... you really did it. You actually did it."
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