Adam looked down at his handiwork, laying at his feet.

Her corpse was mostly intact, however, that was slowly changing. A sickly green infection was rapidly spreading throughout the body. It broke down and decomposed her body, eventually making it seem as if there was nothing there. The bloodstains and detached limbs on the floor underwent the same 'decomposition' the main corpse.

No, it wasn't that there was nothing there. It would be invisible to the naked eye, however, he could see it. He could feel it. A corruption emanating from the doorway in his room. Eternal condemnation that unspeakable sins were committed in this very place.

Adam thought through what just happened. The events that unfolded just now.

"Kill her, Adam"

Adams body didn't change like last time, proof that what just happened wasn't done by the hands of 'Adam', it was done by him. The responsibility of taking a life weighed fully upon his shoulders.

Firstly, shadows imperceptibly gathered on his hand, his mouth uttering fell syllables.

Then, it was simply released. Directed towards the shocked face of his mother.

After that, it was over. It was messy, real messy.

Adam just sort of stood there.

His eyes were fixed on the spot were his mothers body had just been.

'He doesn't know it, but his jaw is hanging wide open.'

He could now hear him, talking like some commentator in charge of his life.

No, he knew what it was, it may as well be the designated commentator in charge of his life. After all he had been with him since before he could remember. No, that wasn't right, he had been with him since he could remember.

Adam instinctively knew what 'it' was. How could he not know, in fact, he had know all this time. Since before the so-called 'second renaissance'. After all, he had conceived it.

Born from his fear. Ever since his father stepped out of that door, 'it' was always asking 'why?'. He remembered standing beneath the staircase when he witnessed that, hidden under its shadow. He remembered both of them, simply asking 'why?'. What was it all for?

His mother was a 'good' mother. She paid for his private schooling. She paid for his external tutoring. She paid for everything he ever needed and anything he ever wanted. She gave him a relaxed upbringing. However, there was always something missing. Maybe if he didn't remember that day, he would perhaps think that joyful smile of hers was in fact genuine, or that she was a generous mother

However, he did remember, he distinctly remembered the many times he was home alone, sometimes for weeks on end. Whenever she came back home, heavily scented with perfume and alcohol. Never was there a word of greetings, it was a cold life between the two of them. It was such that the house was constantly pervaded by an unsettled atmosphere, as if some choking event could occur at any moment.

Well, now he was here, and she was gone. This seemed to lift a great weight off his heart, only to be replaced by another. This wasn't the guilt of taking a life. It was worry over the consequences.

'He should probably forge some sort of alibi in case the police came knocking on his door. Maybe he should go to the police station and file a missing person report.'

Adam walked downstairs and served himself a bowl of cereal, the blinds were wide open in the living room and the rays of the morning sun flooded in. It no longer picked at Adam's psyche, however the light was still annoying so he closed the blinds and sat down on a half dilapidated couch from yesteryear.

'His mother frequently left the house and left him by himself, maybe he could say that the same thing happened now, except that she never came back.'

Adam enjoyed the cereal in the dimly lit living room, gazing at the familiar scenery of his living room. The ceiling was plastered, giving a gritty concrete texture. The walls were completely bare save for the white wallpaper and a framed black-and-white portrait of his father and mother during their wedding. The portrait was aged, the edges of the picture slightly yellowed. His father had a beaming expression, whereas his mother had the same expression she always has when out in public. With very prominently curved lips.

'If that's going to be my story, then I should wait a couple weeks before filing the missing person report. That way I can make it seem like this is just like any other of those times when she leaves.'

The furniture in the room was old and dilapidated. A coffee table with a taped up leg, an old TV, a rugged Persian mat. An inconspicuous brown carpet covered the flooring of the room, littered with the occasional coffee stain or two.

'That will be good since the police will have no choice but to believe me. I have no apparent motive, there is no corpse to perform an autopsy on and she only works as a casual. It would be suspicious if I were to email the convenience store about my mother not going to work anymore. This way I can make it look like she got up and left one day.'

Adam finished eating his cereal and he went up the stairs and opened the door into his mothers room. He never remembered going inside it actually, the last time he saw it was back when his father died. The bed was neatly done up on a corner of the room. A makeup cabinet on the other side held some baubles such as a necklace or some earrings. Her handbag strung over the chair to that cabinet. The only other feature of worth was a window looking out to the street. They... He lived in a townhouse so it wasn't all that spacious compared to the typical Australian dwelling.

Well, it was probably time to get to work. He opened up his late mothers hand bag and went through the items inside, a smartphone, a padded wallet, a drivers license, some cosmetics and a deodorant. It wouldn't matter if he went through these types of things since they were personal items that she would have taken with her if she went out. He got out about three quarters of the cash in the wallet and placed them it on the coffee table, then he took out a piece of paper from his study and wrote a note using his mother's handwriting. It wasn't too difficult, before his father died, his mother made sure to teach him how to write. He was only too familiar with how her writing looked.

'Adam, I'll be gone for a while, expect me back in a couple months. On the table I left enough money for a week or so, as for the rest, you'll have to depend on your own savings.'

- Mother

It was crucial that this note looked as realistic as possible since it would probably end up in the hands of the police at some point. The handwriting had to be perfect, however, fingerprints wouldn't matter too much since he could reasonably claim that he picked up the letter while reading it.

After that he got a thick black garbage bag and dumped the handbag alongside a few items of clothing into it. Then he filled the top of the bag with the general rubbish in his household. The result was the typical, albeit slightly larger, household garbage produced in a day. Adam stepped out while holding the garbage bag as far away from himself as possible. It was already daylight and a few people in business attire were headed for work, along with the occasional school uniform in the crowd. Adam dumped the black bag inside the general rubbish bin. Flawlessly.

If Adam could see 'Adam' right now, he would find him to be smiling approvingly, somehow, even without a mouth.

Once Adam was inside the house he collapsed on his bed. He wasn't physically tired, however he was emotionally exhausted. He detested his mother, however did that alone warrant her death? He decided not to think about it. His mind turned towards his school life. What day was it today? He was kidnapped on a Thursday, and it had been a week since then, it should be a Friday. Should he go to school? Would someone that had been kidnapped return to school on the first day?

Adam sighed, he was getting paranoid, too careful. If he heard sirens he would probably tense up. School wasn't all that bad, before it was an escape from his house, moreover it didn't demand much apart from consistent effort. His friends weren't half bad either.

Adam looked at the time, 8:45. Would the school accept being busy covering up a crime scene as a legitimate excuse for being late? Well, he would go anyway, he'll just tell them he overslept from being exhausted from 'traumatic events'.

Well, now that wouldn't be too far from the truth. Would murdering one's own mother be considered a 'traumatic event'. Adam put on his uniform and readied his stationary. Then he stepped out through the front door. There was only about two people on his street. Both of them heading to work. Minding their own business.

Adam walked a couple blocks to the train station, slowly the streets started filling up with people until there were a few dozen people in Adam's vicinity. The sun was shining overhead and heating up the asphalt on the road. Adam's shirt was slowly getting wet since it was between his back and his bag. The people around Adam were directing their gazes on the lights, waiting for the green man.

Adam felt, detached. Everyone had that same boring look on their faces, focused on living life. He felt like he couldn't pretend to be amongst them. He felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb, almost as if he was advertising that he was a killer.

The lights changed and everyone started walking. Adam was still in the sidewalk, in his own daydream, only reacting about a couple seconds after everyone had already started crossing.

Adam eventually got to the train station. It was underground and very well ventilated, much to his relief. However, the people that Adam saw were the same, innocent. Yet he was guilty. It sort of ticked him off, what was the difference. A clear conscience was just that, everyone else had one. Why couldn't he find his own inner peace?

Adam tapped his Opal1 into the entrance to the train station, only to be met with 'insufficient funds'. That's right, he never tapped off last Thursday, therefore all the money in his account would have been spent.

He would have to walk then, it was only a thirty minute walk after all.

Adam was a local to the area so instead of taking the busy thoroughfares, he took shortcuts through the national reserves and small parks.

He was walking past a secluded and unremarkable park when he saw an unusual woman on the swing in the playground. She was completely white. She donned some sort of white jumpsuit with white metal plating acting as greaves and bracers. Her hair was thoroughly white, unlike the white hair of 'Adam', instead of unnerving someone it would entrance them. She carried nothing on her apart from her person, which was strange at this time.

Adam would call her a cosplayer or such, except she felt too natural to be wearing a costume. It almost felt as if she was completely comfortable wearing such a strange attire in public.

Well, what did that matter to him. He had bigger matters to worry about.

He eventually made it to the school. He entered through the back entrance and signed in at the office. The school was relatively big so the office workers didn't recognise him. Strangely they told him he was marked down for leave so he wasn't issued a detention.

'Well, his school isn't half bad. They probably got word from the police about my missing status.'

The hallways of the school were empty since it was the middle of class time, therefore Adam quickly made his way to English class. When he entered through the front door his classmates and teacher were slightly surprised. They clearly didn't expect him anytime soon. The teacher quickly approached Adam.

"Well Adam, we didn't expect to see you here today. Are you sure you should be at school?"

"I'm fine sir, I had a good nights rest yesterday so I feel ready to resume school."

Even Adam himself was surprised at how he lied straight through his face without even a change in tone.

"Well, if you feel fine then, you may take a seat next to Caleb."

Caleb? There's no-one that goes by that name in this class?

Adam turned around and was going towards his usual seat, only to find it occupied. Occupied by a short, pudgy faced teen with ginger hair. This guy must be Caleb, probably at least, since he didn't remember him at all.

Well, this guy was sitting where he usually sat, that was a quite bad first impression, through no fault of his own of course, but it irked him off. A break in the routine. Then again, his routine wouldn't really be the same after today.

Adam sat down next to Caleb and the lesson continued on. It was an analysis about creative writing techniques, which Adam couldn't care less about. The Caleb looked at him and nudged him in the shoulder.

"Psst, hey, are you a fan of [The White Vigil]?"

Adam turned to look at him with a puzzled and slightly annoyed expression, 'this guy, why is he talking to me?'

"Sorry?"

"[The White Vigil], you know, that vigilante group composed of awakened individuals from the [Chaotic Good] alignment. The ones that smite evildoers and beasts which threaten mankind, I heard that there are a couple of them living near this area."

A vigilante group composed solely of [Chaotic Good] people, moreover apparently given free reign by the authorities, Adam couldn't help but feel the nape of his neck slightly shiver when he connected these dots together. What sane government would give vigilantes free reign, they must co-operate with the police in this case, surely?

Just as Adam was making this slightly frightening revelation, a scream was heard in the campus, followed by a few other screams, then followed by the lockdown bell. Usually when this bell rang the class would erupt into a hubbub of conversation, taking their sweet time to get under the desk. However, this time the entire class was silent, not solely as a result of the screams but it also seemed as if it wasn't their first time experiencing this.

Then the screams suddenly stopped, by this point the faces of the students and the teacher were completely ashen, some people in the room outright fainted. For a while nothing happened, all that could be heard was Adams own heartbeat and the rapid breathing of Caleb next to him.

Then, they heard it. A scratching sound on the door to the room. Nobody in the classroom dared to move. Then the scratching of the door suddenly stopped. The teacher took back his breath and slightly sighed, then the door was smashed apart.

It flew in through the front door. It looked like a magpie. However, it was bigger, much bigger. It stood at about two metres tall, its feathers looked incredibly resilient and the talons were completely black, gleaming in the dimly lit classroom. Overall, it looked quite terrifying. Adam was fairly confident he could kill it though.

He distinctly remembered the strength of his [Shadow Bolt I] when he used it earlier that morning, it directly distorted through any physical items of the opponent and tore apart their insides. Therefore the armoured feathers of the evolved magpie would do jack to stop him from killing it. Adam concentrated the shadows around him into his left hand, the room was very dimly lit and he was only one amongst the crowd. The environment was to his advantage and the magpie would likely not target him first, despite having no combat experience, all he needed to do was shoot it when it was distracted. Surely that wouldn't be too difficult. Then, the unexpected happened.

A white whirlwind charged in from the doorway and smashed into the magpie, directly shattering its skull into a few dozen pieces. That was quite the feat considering that the feathers around the magpie's head looked the strongest and Adam estimated their defensive strength to be equal to that of steel plates.

Maybe he could kill the magpie, but he couldn't kill 'this'.

Then, the whirlwind dissapeared, and in its place stood a young woman.

The same woman that he saw in the park earlier that day, she stood in front of the classroom and sported a magnificent smile.

Adam didn't like that smile, it was too perfect, too much like a certain someone he used to know.

The entire class was silent, they were all shocked. They didn't break out in a cheer or profusely thank this hero, they just stood still and in shock. Nobody was brave enough to move after seeing this.

Then, someone stood up. It was Caleb.

He pudgy figure stood out in front of the classroom, the upper pant of his clothing could be distinctly seen to be wet. He was trying to talk but he ended up constantly stuttering. Then he took a big gulp and finally said something.

"A-are you from [The White Vigil]?"

The young women smiled even brighter and responded in a melodic tone.

"Yes, junior member Sera of [The White Vigil]

...