John Richards looked down upon the Isle of Opportunity from the vast window of the Airship Cornerstone, which was due to land in 30 minutes. To the Eastern end of the Isle stood the Torch representing Liberty, to the South the Torch of Justice, and to the North the Torch of Equality. John was no nationalist but he had to admit, for a moment, that the scenery with the three Torches flanked by the circle of Retunian flags, with both the flags and flames waving majestically in the wind, gave him a slight feeling of pride. This was his home.
He took his eyes off of this, however, and returned to his room to pack his belongings. He had an extremely important business matter to address, which required the emotionless and objective side of his conscience. He packed his clothes, his papers, and his business items away before taking two objects he made certain the cabin crew would never see. The first was his talisman glove armed with his talisman. He folded the finger section part of this back so that he could hide it up his arm. The second object was a pocket knife, which he hid in a secret interior pocket inside his jacket. The change in the tone of the engines, the clanking of the moor ropes, and the slight shifts in the motion of the cabin signaled that the ship had landed. So after double-checking everything, he left.
He made his way down the series of gangways and off of the ship with no incident, to his relief. No one noticed. The boarding platform was indoors, and was one of many inside a hangar into which airships went in and out of large entry ports on either side of the building. These platforms stood over a network of parking lots and roadways, as such was the norm all over Remikra. John went down the levels to the sidewalk lining a parkway and hailed a taxi cab bound for the Government Circle of the city of Retun. It was the month of May in the year of 1286, but the region was experiencing a relatively cool spell, hence a good reason for the jacket.
Ten years had already passed since he had graduated from the honorable Cabotton University. It had been so long since he had last spoken with his mentor and best friend, Professor Henry Kaldan. Yet John was afraid to speak to him now, out of shame. How would he ever come clean to Kaldan regarding what had happened since, especially regarding this current mission?
The traffic patterns into and out of the Basin District of Retun were, by design, unusual. The interior of the District, to this day, sits on a disc of land that rotates on a man-made lake once every 24 hours, meaning that each roadway going in and out does so through a drawbridge that changes every hour. Nevertheless, it wasn't long, from John's perspective, until they reached his destination. That was how much he was dreading this.
So here he was, in the Government Circle of Retun, the capital of the Federal Estates of Retun, or, as scholars refer to it in the present-day, the Early Republic. His stop was right in front of the Council Building, which was skirted by a roadway encircling the Great Clocktower topped by the famous Octohedron. He walked along the Council Building up Combria Avenue and saw a billboard indicating a performance happening in about a half-hour in Reverence Concert Hall. John had been certain that this was where he would find his "friend."
And sure enough, he was right.
He filed into the entrance hall on the lower level of the Concert Hall, which was where the Retun District National Wind Orchestra was performing. It was a standing room, and already the musicians were on stage tuning for the performance. While they were doing this, John had an instinct to discreetly slip his talisman glove back over his fingers.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark masked figure suddenly vanish behind one of the side pillars.
John took off stealthily after him while only a few audience members briefly glanced over. Within seconds, John was outside. The figure had gained a distance of half a block, but John was closing in on him, bolting at full speed. The figure turned and crossed through the busy traffic of Combria Avenue and went down a side street. John followed him, barely missing several cars, himself.
To John's delight, the street came to a dead end. The figure turned and started throwing Stun Spells. But John was quick as he parried them off with his Shield Spell and shot back with his own Stuns. A discharge flew right at his head. He dodged it but lost his balance and fell on the ground. The figure leapt over him and started back toward Combria Avenue. But John recovered quickly and, using a two-finger spell discharge trick, struck him at both the feet and the head with a pair of Stun Spells, knocking him out. John ran up to the downed figure and, before the figure could run off again, John pulled out his pocket knife and produced the Superblade, holding it to the man's throat.
"This is done, Mandon!" John said with clenched teeth. "I know it's you! Now hand it over!"
Slowly and obediently, the figure reached into his pocket and pulled out the Wizarding Cross, handing it over to John and then pulling off his mask.
"Professor Kaldan!?" exclaimed John, dropping his Superblade.
"Yes. I know," said the Professor calmly. "And well done. Now I have a lot of explaining to do, if you are willing to listen."
***
Ten days later, John sat awake in the bedroom of his house back in Ereautea. He still could barely sleep as he struggled yet to mentally process the turn of events since his return to Middle Remikra.
It's all in the past, John told himself once again. You're recruited now.