Urza had found his way towards the Illumene spaceport, and everywhere he went people were stopping to point and murmur about him. They seemed confused and uncertain. Was it a xeno that walked openly with such impunity into the space-port, or was it simply cosmetic surgery that had altered the man's appearance in such a way as to look less than human.
The other pedestrians seemed unsure whether to report the man or not, and many were still trying to make up their minds when he reached the interior of the spaceport.
All around Urza were display screens broadcasting various channels - all of which seemed to be dominated by the ever growing familiar image of the Divine Shadow. Propaganda was spreading through Isiria like wild-fire as the Aschen Empire worked to cow its people into submission through fear tactics. Posters lined the walls that contained bold statements of 'Know the mutant, kill the mutant', and 'Silence is Consent' that were scrawled across images of the Divine Shadow. Others were simply emblazoned with the words 'We Worship his Shadow' across them.
Right now the television screens were replaying the footage of a public execution from earlier that morning, and camera shots of the prisoners showed dozens of men and women lined up against a wall with blindfolds and bound hands while a bar of text was scrolling across the bottom of the screen with the names of those executed. Among the names were
Cael Duckett, a history professor from Brillion, and Jessica McKendry, the wife of a local Illumene police officer.
The news report flashed briefly to an image of
John McKendry and his partner
Jerry Jackson with a reward for any information into their whereabouts before returning to the execution footage.
The voice of the Emperor was droning in the background while people were going about their business in the space-port; though, some had gathered in small clusters to murmur and gesture at the screens. None dared speak out against the display of brutality though, and as the Emperor's speech came to a close it was The Black Hand who stepped forward to give the signal for the execution to begin. Rows of armed men raised their weapons to the row of prisoners and the people of Isiria were once more reminded that heresy would not be tolerated.
Urza would find a weight of unease and depression hanging over the spaceport before he suddenly found himself in the path of the very same woman from the television.