As I walked down the streets I felt like all eyes were on me. Almost everyone in Corak knew who I was. I used to be very famous, I had attended many parties thrown by the king. I was even granted a fairly large mansion in the capital. But that was a time ago, now I am just a ghost to some people. All the people staring at me does give me a little more confidence in my decision of coming back. When I finally arrived at the headquarters, even more people were shocked to see me. I could see plenty of new-gen Acers jaws on the floor. It's a pretty funny sight to see. They seemed even more shocked when I asked one of the corporals the directions to General Mondragon’s office. They were kind enough to show me the way. 

The building seemed to have been renovated since the last time I was here. The most notable difference is that now there is an open-air training ground. From the windows, I can see all kinds of different soldiers sparing each other down there. There are all kinds of weapons on the racks, this does make me very happy because when I was younger the association didn’t have these things. I turn to ask the corporal who is so kindly guiding me “When did they install this?” I ask them.

“Oh, the training grounds? I think they installed that two years ago, I think it was because they kept getting bothered by someone putting it in. Oh, what was her name…”

I laugh, of course, I know who it is. But I look out the window and say “Victoria, is that the name you were going to say?" I smile.

“Yeah, that’s it! Word is that she kept bugging everyone to put some in everyone at the capital headquarters. I think they just gave in after a certain point,” they laugh.

“That definitely sounds like my Tori,” I add.

“I have a question miss, are you really her? Like as in the Jessica?” they fidget a little.

“That would be me, General Jessica Averinus, well technically speaking former general. But I am hoping to get that changed pretty soon,” I hold up my paperwork.

The corporal’s eyes light up, “Wow! My friends and I looked up to you when we were at the academy! We were really sad when you retired but are you really coming back to the field?!” they ask.

“I think I am, I mean I have the papers and I made my way here. So now I think the next logical step in this process is to enter General Arilius’s office,” I say to the excited corporal 

They snap back to reality and lead me onwards to the General Commissioner’s office. On the third floor… Why is it so high up? But I can tell the corporal doesn’t want to go further than the top of the stairs. They tell me that Mondragon’s office is down the hall and I could find their nameplate next to the door. I bid the kid goodbye and walked on to get to my meeting. I do see a clock as a pass by, 10:46. Dang. I didn’t realize I got here early. Only a few seconds later I found my way to General Mongraons office. It was quite noticeable if you have ever worked with or met one of them. I see they stuck with the protective wards on the door. I could spot one of those in a heartbeat. I could even see the fancy nameplate next to the door, A. H. Mondragon. But when I went to open the door for my grand entrance I could hear some arguments.

“Are you kidding me Arilius?! Are you really sticking me with the baby jobs?” I heard the voice say, it sounds familiar but I don’t know where?

“I am sorry Ridley but I am not responsible for your actions and the jobs that come in and out of MY office that you are assigned to do,” the other voice says. I think that might be Arilius but now I know that voice, it is Ridley. I also trained her when the other three weren't there, I got bored and there she was.

“This is bullshit and you know it!” she shouts, this is very one-sided.

But I think at that point it is my turn to make my entrance. So, just as she is about to utter her next profanity I open the doors and give a smile. “I hate to interrupt your one-sided argument but Ridley my dear I need to borrow General Mondragon for a bit,” I say to her.

They both look very shocked, Ridley looks like she’s seen a ghost, and Mondragon looks surprised that I did bother to show up. I hear Ridley stammer to come up with words to greet me but she just stands there like a shocked puppy who hasn’t seen its master in a while. 

Mondragon clears their throat and pipes up with “Yes uh is it eleven already? Yes well, you and I can discuss this matter at a later date Captain,” the general says.

“Fine but this isn’t over Arilius, and Jessica it’s good to see you,” Ridley smiles at me but scowls at them.

She gives Arilius one last nasty look and walks out the door. With all her might she slammed the door, that’s the Ridley I remember. But now down to business with Arilius Mondragon, my least favorite family to work with within all of Corak. A noble family that prioritizes pureblooded magic users, that whole family is filled with pompous assholes. And this person in front of me is meant to be the heir to the family? I find it strange that a Mondragon is a commissioner, let alone my commissioner. I do hope they aren’t like their parents. I hate them the most, they treated me like dirt because I am an Acer and didn’t possess any magic at the time.

I pull up one of the chairs in the corner of the office, a nice black velvet tufted chair matching the one Arilius is sitting in. You can put a noble in the military but you can’t take the noble style out of them. The whole room is pretty fancy compared to most commissioners I’ve met. The walls are covered in floor-to-ceiling installed bookshelves; what is more impressive is that they are all actually filled with books and records. The wall behind Arilius has quite a large window. If one didn’t know better one might have thought this was a small records room or library. One more impressive feat of this room is the rather nice fireplace at the center of one of the walls where the bookshelves part, on top of the mantel lies a mirror large enough to be a portrait. But now in the corner facing away from the windows is seated my new boss, their dark wood desk that matched the rest of the dark wood furniture. Their desk is cluttered with paper and records of all kinds of random things. 

I get up once more to stand in front of them with my paperwork in hand and all I say to them is, “General Jessica Averinus reporting for duty general,” a smug smile on my face and direct eye contact with their gray eyes, or is it blue?

“So you are the famous Miss Jessica? I have heard great things about you. I do hope we can work well on this terrible excuse of an investigation,” they get up from their seat and take my papers and offer their hand to shake.

“Yes I hope we can achieve great things with our new partnership, I do hope you aren’t like your family. I have already had the displeasure of working with your parents, General Arilius,” I say to them while shaking their hand back.

They laugh and sit back down gesturing for me to do the same. “You and I are both general, as powerful as my family is, I do hate them”.

So far my first impression of Arilius is descent. They look like a bit of a mess but otherwise, they seem normal.