The coffin sank slowly into the wet earth as the funeral came to an end. Rain poured down on umbrellas of different colours, turning the graveyard into a gathering of people dressed in black suits.Adrian stood with his own umbrella over his head, dressed in an all-black corporate suit.His eyes stayed fixed on the grave of his wife, his lover, his anchor. Sarah. The person who had brought joy into his life was now slowly being lowered into the ground. Adrian still felt like all of this was a joke.He had woken up days earlier, injured and bandaged in several places. The doctors told him that he was lucky to be alive because when they found him, he was already dead.The only name he kept repeating was Sarah as he constantly asked whether she was safe but reality hit him harder than expected when he heard she didn't make it.He didn't cry, as it felt pointless at this point.All his emotions just shut off as he tried to tell himself that all of this was a joke. A prank that would end w

Adrian learned the hard way that Lirielle wasn't exaggerating when she said getting accepted into the Black Cross was the easy part as the real nightmare came afterward.The past three months had been the most stressful and punishing phase of Adrian's life as every single day went into a cycle of pain and exhaustion that pushed every limit he had.He spent up to twelve hours in the gym pushing weights, dumbbells, barbells and Machine weights as these were his best friends for the past three months.His legs ached as he ran laps around the underground tracks until he lost count, and it always ended up with his clothes dripped in sweat.Push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and other training exercises filled his days.He did reps he never imagined were possible, begging for rest only to be shouted at to get back up and continue training.By the end of it, Adrian was sure he could walk into any special forces and get through their selection process easily. The training was that brutal, it was tha