KINETIC

Leo spent some time throughout the day familiarizing himself with his new skills capabilities as well as attempting to create some new ones with the information he had been given.

He had been shown to an area in the garden that Nila had used for training when she first got her ability and he was currently still there.

There were several blocks of wood and large rocks that had been placed all around so that Nila could use them for target practice.

Leo was standing in the center of the assortment of 'targets' and each of the rocks and wood blocks was damaged or destroyed in some way.

The targets were sliced, crushed or had piercing holes through them. Some of the wooden blocks even looked charred.

"Leo." Someone called out to him from behind. He turned around and saw that it was Cain.

"Hey man, do you need something."

"Commander Anders is here. He's waiting for you in the study." Cain looked around at all the destroyed targets "It looks like you've gotten stronger again. You can't grow too fast or the rest of us will get left behind." He sarcastically said with a smile on his face.

'He really did get bigger...his hair is shorter and has gold and red tips now too. Nila said it had something to do with his ability but how does it change his appearance like that? He told us his ability has something to do with movement, so why did his appearance change?' Cain thought as Leo walked towards him.

Leo walked passed Cain and slapped him on the shoulder "I'm sure you'll get there some day." He said, matching Cains joking attitude with a smile.

Leo walked to the study and entered as soon as he arrived. Commander Anders was the only person in the room and was seated on one of the three seater couches.

"Good, you're here. I need to fill you in on some of the details about Infernum." Anders said.

Leo sat down on the couch opposite Anders. He noticed that Anders was wearing the black military uniform that was being used for ability users at the academy.

Anders noticed Leo looking at the uniform " I thought it would be easier to adopt the ability users uniform from the academy rather than trying to create a new one. We need to have a different uniform than the military anyways and I thought this would be a good idea."

"I'm not complaining. I'm sure you've noticed, but black is my go to for clothes." Leo gestured to his clothes. ' I'm actually starting to run out of clothes since they keep getting destroyed.' He sighed internally at the thought of having to look for clothes he likes.

"I sent your new uniform to your room earlier, you should put it on before we leave."

"New uniform? You're using the same ones from the academy, right? I already have one."

Anders smiled "Yes but you're forgetting something, General."He emphasized the word 'General'.

" Oh...thats right." With the recent evolution he had gone through, Leo had briefly forgotten about his promotion." Wait, you said I should change before we go. Where are we going?"

"To our headquarters. We'll be using an old fortress that's located near the great city Drom. Drom is about two days away from the capital, so we should leave as soon as possible. We can talk about the details on the way."

Commander Anders stood up and walked to the door "I'll be waiting in the carriage outside. Your friends are all going to be meeting us there so there no need to worry about telling them."

He then walked through the door and disappeared into the hallway. Leo stood up and heading back to his room to put on his new uniform.

There was no difference between the two uniforms other than the number of ropes hanging from the left shoulder to the left chest area, and a badge on the right chest with 3 stars on it.

Previously, Leo had been told that the number of ropes indicated that someone was of a higher rank, but he was recently informed that thats only true for the lower ranks.

The ranks are as follows.

Commander

General

Colonel

Captain

Lieutenant

Officer

Private

Trainee

Trainees have no ropes on their uniforms, privates have one, officers have two and Lieutenants have 3. After the Lieutenant rank, the badges with stars become relevant.

The number of ropes stays at 3 for all the ranks, but for each rank above Lieutenant a star will be added to the badge. A captain has one, a colonel two, a general three and commanders have 4.

Although he wasn't told about this, Leo noticed that Anders' badge was red, while his was silver, this is something he assumed was unique to the Commander to make it quicker to acknowledge his rank.

After putting on his uniform, Leo made his way to the carriage outside. While walking through the Zogarth estate, he noticed something.

Previously the servants would just continue on with their duties upon seeing him, but now they would stop what they were doing ,greet him by saying 'General' and then lower their heads until he passed.

It made him feel slightly uncomfortable but he didn't say anything and assumed this was normal within the Zogarth household. 'Lord Zogarth was a General until recently, maybe they were taught to act like this because of him.'

He continued walking until he finally reached the carriage. It was quite luxurious and was much bigger than he was expecting, another thing he assumed was due to the rank he and Anders now possessed.

There were four other carriages that were waiting as well, two being and two in front of the luxurious one.

He climbed into the carriage and received a nod of approval from Anders in regards to the uniform. The carriages all started moving together and Leo assumed the others were there to escort himself and Anders, or possibly that they were transporting people or items to their headquarters.

"Alright, now that we have the time." Anders placed a file in front of Leo "We need to select people to fill the other positions of power for Infernum."

***

John sat down in a chair that was facing the Master behind his desk and waited for him to speak.

"I see that your situation was not exaggerated. I'll start off by saying that you should be happy you didn't die. Every person that's ever had the ritual interrupted has died." The Master said.

"I don't feel very lucky." John replied with an aggrivated tone.

"Easy now. I know you're upset but you should remember your place here, I won't tolerate disrespect." The Master said with a deep and powerful tone.

John felt the power behind the Masters words "I...I understand."

"Good. It's obvious you dislike your new physical situation but soon enough you'll grow to accept its benefits. If a person that has undergone the ritual properly can gain immense power, then I'm curious what you'll be capable of."

"The good news is that you'll have plenty of time to learn how to utilize whatever power you have."The Master said.

"I thought capturing Leo and taking over the kingdom couldn't wait...why are we stopping now? We can't let those visions come true!" John stood up and a red Energy engulfed his hands.

He saw the Energy and immediately realized that he was losing control due to his emotions" Im sorry, Im just...angry."

"I'll forgive you this time. The Energy you just used looked similar to the blood control that Silas could use. It seems to be a powerful ability to have if used properly."

"To answer your question, we can't continue the plan for now. The kingdom has decided to declare an all out war against us and I'm afraid we don't have the power to oppose the entire military right now. Then there's that new group that was created for ability users called Infernum... "

" The point is that we need to grow our strength and stay in the shadows until we are ready to continue the plan. I called you in here to speak with you about our future plans and to ensure that you would understand something."

"Our goal is to help the greater good and to do that we may need to harm some innocent people. If there were any other way to this we would, but unfortunately it's the only way. I need you to promise me that you won't shy away from doing rights right just because some innocents might get hurt."

John thought about the Masters words for a moment before answering" I understand that we can't save everyone and that...that sacrifices need to be made for the greater good. I'll do whatever is necessary to save as many people as I can." John replied with determination.

" Good. That's all for now." The Master said while gesturing to the door. John understood and got up from his seat to leave the room.

As soon as John had left the room the Master let out a chuckle" What a naive person. He can't even see what's right in front of his face. Well, it works to my advantage so I'll be sure to use him until I get what I want. After that..." The Master chuckled as he thought of his plans for the future.

" The greater good... What a joke."