Carnage ravaged the streets of the independent ward 3 of China's southern coast. The mainlands' airstrikes had decimated the southwest island district in which the separatists refuged early in the morning, buried beneath the ensuing rubble of the remnants was one of those young reformists targetted in the strikes.

A hand reached out from underneath as the possessor struggled to dig himself out. The building he was in was one of the ones that were targeted in the strikes. For better or worse, he had been awake at the time of the strikes. One moment he was lying in his bed, and in the next, he found himself tumbling down with the demolition of his building following the consternation at a deep booming resonance.

He burst into a fit as he began to cough out blood after he managed to pull the mangled upper half of his body out from beneath the rubble. Scanning his surroundings, he found the entire district to be reduced to rubble. As shattered metal, concrete, and household items took the place of the once tall standing buildings.

The tragedy of the devastation ahead of him could not be put into words. Entire kilometres levelled to the ground, from above the rubble, you could see dismembered and disfigured bodies crushed underneath the residue.

Early responders had arrived at the scene and were roaming the area, seemingly looking for any survivors.

"Look, a survivor!" exclaimed one of the men as he pointed to Wei. The rescue team ran to him, "Give me your hand," said the man who found him while the others excavated the rubble around him, "is your lower half injured?"

"I don't know. I can barely feel my legs," Wei responded with a groan.

"But you can feel them?" Wei nodded.

-

I was back at the west side industrial complexes. I had been here since early in the morning, training myself to get accustomed to the new changes that had come with the awakenings.

"Fucking hell," I laid completely sprawled out on the asphalt pavement as I complained in between huffing loudly. While I looked up at the grey winter skies, I couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter despite my exhausted state.

If there was anyone else who was here to witness this scene, they might have thought I was mentally deranged, but I didn't think so. I was still in awe about it all. No matter how many times I woke up to a new day, my powers remained. Despite being dream-like, it was not a dream. They were very much real, I really did have these powers, and they were my own.

It had been 2 days since I revealed what TJ had informed me of to Bryan and Arielle. In this time, I had been spending most of my time exercising and training, and I made significant progress in acclimation to my newfound abilities.

We decided that we wouldn't go to school or work anymore, and instead, we focused on doing whatever else we could to prepare for the upcoming conflict, I had ordered two more rifles and protection suits from TJ that were for Bryan and Arielle, and I was going to collect them from him this afternoon.

Bryan and Arielle had spent this time preparing for our move to the independent wards in the south as we had all but decided on doing that over the option of leaving the country. They found an office which we could immediately have if we wanted it as soon as we moved, as well as done research on everything we would need to know about the wards and especially ward 10, which we favoured.

We had enough money to set everything up again and account for anything we would need and still have enough surplus in case of more unpredictable variables that could emerge.

Our plan at this point was that we could move to ward 10 into the studio office we had found, along with the supplies we might need to survive, and try to wait out the war until everything had subsided, of course, this was all idealistic, and I knew the reality was that we would face many challenges.

Despite being independent, the wards on the southwest coast were still part of the country, and I thought were still likely to be swept up in the war, even if they did not take a direct part in it, that is why I decided to be thorough in my preparations and ordered more munitions.

I had about two hours to kill until the collection time of the munitions I had ordered, so after taking a shower at one of the many public showers available, I took a tram to the central district.

-

In an undisclosed location in ward 106, there was a meeting taking place which hosted the top generals, and military commanders who had all been called to the site by the autocratic Chancellor of The Capitol, the voice of authority himself had personally taken matters into his own hands in this operation, that was how committed he was.

"If you have any questions or doubts, make them known now." The voice of authority stood domineeringly at the forefront of a large counter which displayed a digital map of the northeastern wards with military tactics detailed on it.

There was no response, after all. Who would question or doubt the words of the great one, who would dare?

"Then go forth," he said, "go forth and liberate these lands."

-

Across all forms of video display, there was an overlaying statement that was being broadcast. "From now at 1200 military time, wards 106, 107, and 108 will be locked down as we begin the cleansing of these lands. Their borders will be closed, and there will be no travelling to and from them as martial law is declared and my peacekeepers are deployed.

"For too long, the terrorists of the state have used these lands as a place to hide while they seek to debilitate our great nation, but no longer, as now marks the beginning of our advancements into these wards as we seek to wipe out the terrorists and liberate you."

The citizens of the wards all looked at the broadcast, tuning in, in their homes on their TVs, in schools and offices on their board screens, in the streets on their digital devices, and in the district squares on large video display boards as the Chancellor spoke.

"From midnight, all citizens are commanded to stay inside your homes, and I encourage you to inform any authorised personnel of my peacekeepers if you possess any knowledge which can lead to the location, capture, or apprehension of the radical terrorists.

"You have 12 hours to prepare anything you may need in this time of lockdown. After midnight, anybody who is found outside will be deemed an enemy of the state and will be terminated.

"We appreciate your understanding and hope you will be safe."

As the video announcement concluded, Callum was standing still, shocked and dismayed like other civilians on a street near the building TJ occupied when he was jolted by the sound of a thunderclap, and in the next moment, sent flying by the ensuing blast's shockwave.

At the same time, destruction engulfed wards 106, 107, and 108 as similar thunderclaps sounded and hundreds of buildings that were suspected to have links to the insurgents and their affiliates were levelled to the ground by airstrikes.

Thus began the operation to advance against insurgents into the northeastern wards, and the conflicts that would shake the entire nation to its very core.