Chapter 2: Winds of Change

That can't be all, he thought, feeling a growing sense of frustration. He wanted to understand what had happened yesterday. This time, he picked up a small branch lying next to him and tried to focus on it. But again, nothing. Everything was normal, as if yesterday's event had never taken place. Maxim closed his eyes and tried to recall the feeling he had when the wind started to rise. Yesterday, he had been angry, frustrated. Maybe it was because of that?

He slowly opened his eyes, but still nothing. The weather hadn't changed, and the wind was still calm. He stood up and began walking around the forest, trying to suppress his disappointment. It was just a fluke, he told himself. Or was it?

Suddenly, as he ran his hand over his face, he felt a strange tingling in his fingers. He stopped and looked at his palm. At first glance, there was nothing unusual, but the sensation was different, peculiar. He reached down toward a fallen leaf on the ground, lying near his feet. As soon as he touched it, the leaf lifted into the air, as if pulled by an invisible string. Maxim stared at it, mouth agape. The leaf floated in the air, gently spinning and swirling around his hand before slowly settling back down.

He stood there, motionless, heart pounding. This time, it wasn't like yesterday. It wasn't about force or anger. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, and yet undeniably real. Maxim tried to replicate the sensation, but nothing happened. The leaf remained on the ground. Still, it was a revelation for him. It's inside me, he realized. I can really do this. But how?

---

When he got home, his mother, Alena, was sitting at the table, reading a magazine. His father, Viktor, as usual, was working in the workshop. The house was peaceful, but Maxim was aware that things had changed for him.

"Are you alright?" Alena asked when she saw him passing through the kitchen. "You look a bit distracted today."

Maxim gave her a quick glance and nodded. "Yeah, just a bit tired," he lied, just like he had the day before. He wasn't ready to talk to anyone about it, not even his own parents. How would I even explain this? he thought.

He went up to his room and sat on his bed. His mind kept racing with thoughts of what had happened in the forest. This time, it wasn't like the wind and the darkness from yesterday. It was subtle and almost invisible, but he could feel something awakening inside him. There's something inside me, he thought. But how do I control it?

---

The next day at school, Maxim tried to focus, but his mind kept drifting back to what had happened in the forest. Sitting in class, everything the teachers said seemed like meaningless noise. He felt like he should be somewhere else, that his life had suddenly taken on a different purpose.

At lunch, he tried to join the conversation with his classmates, but he remained mentally distant. He was talking with Lukas and another boy about a new movie, but his thoughts kept returning to that unknown feeling he had experienced. When he left school, the growing urge to return to the forest, back to where he had started to discover what truly lay within him, gnawed at him.

---

In the forest, he sat under the same tree as the day before. He tried to focus again, but this time it wasn't about anger or frustration. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could feel the quiet around him and the slight tingling returning to his fingers. Slowly, he reached out to the ground and tried to do something that yesterday he would have thought impossible.

This time, it wasn't perfect. The leaf barely lifted a few centimeters before dropping back down, but Maxim smiled. I can do this, he thought. I just need to learn how to control it.

Now he knew that what was happening wasn't just a coincidence. Something inside him was awakening, but what was the true nature of that power? He still had to find out.