BOOM!!!

A thunderous crash soon followed after the explosion. A disgusting collision of metal, concrete and flesh.

The entire collapse took about fifteen seconds, after which, there was silence.

A complete silence befell the battlefield, everybody held their breath.

Adam wasn't sure who started, but someone began cheering. Soon, he was accompanied by his fellow soldiers and within moments the entirety of the fortress was cheering in the distance.

They weren't cheering for the bloodletting on this day, or the merits they would receive from this battle. They were cheering because they survived.

Adam looked on at the fortress, 'former' fortress. The bloodied scaffolding lay collapsed at the base of the battered walls.

Strangely, Adam felt really detached to the death in this place. Maybe he had grown used to it? Or perhaps darker things were afoot within Adam.

He gave one last look at the unconscious Sera, before deciding to leave her on the summit and make his way to the fortress alone.

It was a short walk, albeit through scarred terrain.

He couldn't help but get a strange feeling in his chest as he walked amongst the bloodied corpses of the combatants. It must have been a lonely sight, a singular figure desolately striding past mounds of strewn corpses.

The guards looked at him strangely, his black clothing suggested that he was a villain. But why would he be walking towards the fortress?

Was he driven insane by the fighting and desired nothing more than to end it all?

The guards couldn't care less as they pointed their weapons to Adam, telling him to surrender himself.

Adam stopped ten steps from them and produced some documents provided for by Leo.

The guards were well trained. One of them advanced while the other had his gun trained on Adam. After a shallow perusal of the documents and matching of a photo ID did the guards put down their guns.

"Mr. Freeman, the commander of the fortress has been awaiting you. Corporal Davidson will guide you to the command room."

A soldier stepped forward and gestured for Adam to follow him, then immediately set out at a brisk pace.

The soldiers were strictly professional with civilians and didn't mention anything regarding the recent battle. Even the Corporal which was guiding Adam didn't say anything as he led him past the metal gates.

The pair walked in silence, especially since Adam wasn't particularly inclined to a gregarious and outgoing personality.

As the pair reached the gate, Adam could finally appreciate the immense infrastructure which was named Fort Stalwart.

Even in it's damaged state, the structure inspired some sort of awe-inspiring presence. It was something about the towering parapets, outlying cannons and irregular arches that gave the fortress an impregnable feel of chaos. Almost like Howl's Moving Castle.

Walking past the metallic portcullis, the dozens of soldiers by the gate turned their eyes up from whatever they were doing to look at the newcomers.

A multitude of gazed were directed at Adam. Some were filled with curiosity whereas others were filled with grief.

Adam saw a soldier on his knees beside a pile of body bags. Tears didn't stream down his face, no, he was far beyond the point of merely crying. He simply looked at the mass grave of unnamed soldiers before him. A harmonica was pressed between his two lips, playing a slow and solemn version of 'It's a long way to Tipperary'.

Further along the fortress Adam saw towering structures acting as barracks, able to house thousands of men at the very least.

It wasn't long before the Corporal led him inside the central edifice of the fortress. After a twisting and coiling set of concrete stairways and catwalks, they finally reached the central room. In the centre of the fortress, it was the most reinforced room from bombing and ground assault. It was designed with defence in as the biggest priority with multiple checkpoints and metal gates at every turn.

Guarding the entrance were two soldiers, to whom the Corporal saluted to before handing Adam over to them. They opened the door and ushered Adam inside.

The command room looked extremely old fashioned from the outset of it. A large circular table lay in the centre with a regional map of New South Wales, the state in which Sydney was located. The map itself was riddled with little flags of different colours, surely representing the different factions and organisations vying for control within the region.

The rest of the room looked like a typical bunker, concrete ceiling, walls and floor, a variety of computers by the sides of the room manned by logistics personnel. The area with the table was elevated above the rest of the room, surrounded by metal railing and accessible from the corners with small concrete stairs.

Beside the table were a variety of civilians. Some were young and energetic whereas others were old and listless. In front of the group of people which numbered about a dozen, stood two old men.

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One of the old men was an elderly man in military uniform. His face had a long white beard, bald head and clear glasses which showed a weathered face while his body was slightly hunched back. The rank slide on his uniform featured a crown, a diamond and crossed arms while the name tag on his uniform read Moriarty.

The other old man, in contrast to Moriarty, was clean shaven and stood upright. His white hair was neatly combed to the side and properly trimmed. His white uniform implied that he was from the White Vigil, however the design was unlike any that he had seen before. It was completely crafted from a white metal, featuring some sort of heavy full plate armour with a thickness of at least five centimetres. An armour which couldn't possibly be worn by an average human, and Adam knew he was anything but an average human.

His sixth sense told him that the civilians on the other side were all awakened of at least some measure in power. However, he was confident that none of them couldn't hold a candle to Ito Toshihiro. Moriarty was just a regular human. However, the old man in the white armour. He was strong. Stronger than anything he had seen before.

Something made him believe that this man could have taken down that man who slaughtered the bombing squad from before. Taken him down without breaking a sweat, Toshihiro too, and maybe him. That was how strong the old man seemed to Adam's sixth sense.

'He should be able to crush a man with the mere strength of his aura.' Adam found himself think.

Taking his place beside the rest of the people there, Moriarty gave him a knowing gaze while the old man from the White Vigil looked at him for an unusual amount of time.

Settling down, Moriarty raised his voice to speak. A voice which Adam found to be frail, yet oddly reassuring.

"Everyone, as the highest ranking officer of the Australian Defence Force, General Moriarty, I welcome you to Fort Stalwart, the core of the Australian Defence Force in the country. Firstly, I must apologize for the disturbances a few hours prior. This is the norm ever since the awakening last year, in which criminal elements of society have banded together to promote terrorism and anarchy within the nation."

"These very criminal elements, are the reason why you people are here right now. Under the government, we have strived to develop an effective counter-insurgency force which is designed to target criminal activity from awakened."

"Currently, this project is the most classified endeavours in the nation, and everyone present in this room today is directly involved with the project. You will have been briefed prior to this that you will undergo the most elite training our country can provide. This is because you will be the people, the men and women that will eventually become the A Force."

"You may be wondering why I have invited Grandmaster Galloway of the White Vigil with us today. The reason for this is because as the biggest awakened vigilante organisation in Australia, they will be providing special training for the awakened personnel on top of the elite military army."

At this point, General Moriarty stopped talking and Grandmaster Galloway stepped up to speak. His voice was surprisingly charismatic and kind, yet firm. It gave a 'Don't worry comrades, we will persevere' vibe.

"I am Grandmaster Galloway, the figure in charge of the White Vigil. I look forward to training each and every one of you in the near future."

He seemed like a man of few words, but when he spoke, he spoke with a firm and convicting tone, one that wouldn't allow anyone to ignore him.

Seeing as the Grandmaster's speech was completed the General dismissed everyone, assigning a lieutenant to guide the group to their quarters.

As Adam was making his way with the group, much to his surprise and the General's, he was stopped by the Grandmaster.

As he was watching the group go, he suddenly called out to one young man.

"Young man there, come here." His voice was kind, and yet it implied that it was an order."

General Moriarty was perplexed as to the situation, but seeing that he had stopped Adam the General started to get cold sweat forming on his pores, afraid that something was amiss.

Adam walked to the Grandmaster with heavy trepidation weighing down his every step. Not only had he been responsible for the disappearances of their members, apparently he was also of the evil alignment, allowing them to see the true nature of 'Adam' inside of him.

Then 'Adam' started talking to him as he walked towards the Grandmaster.

"There shouldn't be trouble this time, your alignment is true neutral. The only reason they found you with detect evil was because I had recently awakened with you, and thus my evil aura was detected. Now that I have had the greater part of a semester to concentrate and hide it, it should be invisible to any but the most intensive of soul searching techniques."

Although it had helped him calm down, it also sparked a bunch of questions for 'Adam'. What were soul searching techniques? How did he awaken? How did you concentrate your aura inside of me?

Nevertheless, 'Adam' was a useless companion. Speaking only when he deemed it necessary.

Then, Adam was before the Grandmaster.

He looked at him, and he looked back.

Then, in shock, Adam realised that this man didn't look human at all.

His eyes held a deep, black hue within the pupil. A hue which would seemingly forever exist, as long as the stars and the dark frontier of space. In fact, had Adam seen the little girl by the swing this morning then he would have noticed that they had their pupils seemed the same.

His complexion was fair, much too fair or a man of his age and his posture was too straight.

In the midst of being shocked at how inhuman he looked, the Grandmaster spoke.

"What's your name, boy?" His voice was extremely kind, the one you would expect from a grandfather.

Adam felt strange, couldn't he just tell that from the roll of the awakened being trained? Inadvertedly, he turned to share a look with the General, just for a split moment. Seeing him nod, nod so slightly that it was imperceptible for anyone else, Adam went ahead and told him his full name.

"My name is Adam Freeman, Grandmaster."

The Grandmaster's pupil dilated slightly, ever so slightly. Adam could feel the man stop breathing momentarily, just for an instant like a flickering light. His eyes thoughtfully looked at Adam for a while.

Then he smiled, just an honest and goodhearted smile.

"It will be a pleasure training with you, Adam."

Then he dismissed him, making him try to catch up with the rest of the group.

However, as soon as he left the room General Moriarty came out and ushered him over to talk with him.

Adam, knowing his position, went over immediately.

He brought him to a desolate hallway, devoid of any soldiers or vigilantes. Then he spoke to him in a hushed voice.

"What was that about, do you think he knows?"

Adam slowly shook his head. "Maybe, he called me out specifically."

Adam's mind went back to when he was talking with the Grandmaster, specifically the disguised surprise that he expressed, only visible through his heightened awareness.

The General seemed to be paranoid of this, and rightly so. If the White Vigil knew what the true purpose of the project was then they would immediately fall out with the government, becoming one of those 'criminal elements' which the A Force was designed to eliminate.

The General continued.

"Adam, I am sure it was extremely clear in the briefing which we gave you before coming here, but I must emphasise how crucial this operation is and how critical it is to not be compromised. For now you are required to blend in with the rest of the new trainees, but soon you will actively initiate your assignment with support from out other Awakened Forces."

Adam smiled and reassured the General that he would absolutely not fail, after all, this was the assignment that he came all the way out here for.

Adam made his way to the quarters of his fellow 'trainees' under the escort of two guards.

That was right, the entire A Force project was simply a ruse to destroy the White Vigil. Although General Moriarty wasn't exactly lying when he said that everyone inside that room was directly involved in that project, because they were. Adam and the soldiers were the conspirators whereas the Grandmaster and everybody else was but a mere victim.

When Leo had given him the brief of the documents, it stated a very different mission than the one which he had talked about in front of his subordinates. It took him to Fort Stalwart, a fortress jointly manned by vigilantes and the army. In which his job was to infiltrate the White Vigil and facilitate their elimination.

Walking down the corridor, Adam found some futility in all the struggle currently happening between people. The faction were locked in combat, the government was conspiring behind the factions. Extra-planar forces were competing for Earth. They all had conflicting interests on the surface of this planet, some were hidden interests such as why the extra-planar forces wanted Earth so badly, and others were in the open, such as the governments struggling to maintain de facto control over their sovereign territory in the face of change.

Well, it didn't matter too much to Adam. He was lost, much like one of those cherry blossom petals, taken where the wind willed it. Adam was very much the same, taking the route fate had left for him, and if that route made him rich in the meanwhile, then why not take it?