Eva wasn’t the first one to arrive at their meeting place. She found Kon in a corner and slipped into a chair beside him. With a sigh, she pulled the hood of her cloak off, revealing her tired face. She placed an elbow on the counter and dropped her head on the palm so that she was leaning to the bar counter with her side while she actually faced Kon. “This is all I have got,” she pushed her free hand into the back pocket of her jeans to pull out the same piece of paper that she received from the mysterious man with long bangs. “Seems to be some sort of password,” she sighed, turning and letting her body fall back on the chair.
Alice arrived just as she was ordering a glass of water. Yes, it was strange to order just water in a place like that but Eva didn’t drink and never entertained the idea in her head either. She drank beer on very rare occasions and that was as close as she was going to go. So it was just her and a glass of iced water when Alice arrived and gave them the same information they had got in their own investigation. There was a password and a hint of where they should go. She was rushed into gulping down the glass of water after that as they quickly moved out. It was starting to darken a little, the sky slowly turning greyish blue to welcome the night. A crescent moon hung like a jewel above them, casting a dim glow over the town.
Their destination was a rundown store. With cracked windows that was hard to see through, chipped woods, a crooked signboard of a Panda missing its right leg, and paint peeling off the walls, the building suggested that it had not been visited or used in a very long time. Yet, the door still looked to be in a far better condition than the rest of the place. It was still fixed to the hinges with care and when Eva placed a hand on it and pushed, it didn’t budge. She moved away to let Alice give it a try, watching as she knocked and a gruff voice from inside muttered for a password. “Illucifan Nagar” She said at the same time that Alice did, shrugging when voice came out barely above a whisper. The man seemed to have heard Alice, however, as he quickly let them in.
Somehow, the inside of that shady store was exactly how Eva imagined it to be. It seemed to have worked as a boutique with numerous dust covered racks all over the place. There was also a couple of mannequins standing around the wide room with one of them dressed in a dirty, torn up white wedding dress. To a side was another mannequin thrown over a table, missing a hand and a leg. On the walls were a few pictures, some crooked, some broken, and some hanging on thin strings that looked like they will break any time. As they were led further into the building, they arrived in a smaller room where in place of a fireplace there was a tunnel.
“Follow me,” the man said, giving Alice a particular nod. She guessed that he was someone that Alice met on the streets but said nothing as they slowly walked down a dark tunnel that was truly hard to see through. Eva had to hold back a slight groan as she felt herself tripping over nothing, only managing to hold herself from falling by placing a hand on the wall. She immediately regretted it when her hands felt something wet. Moss? She wondered, wiping her hands on the black cloak that she couldn’t care any less for.
She finally found a chance to inspect her hand when they reached the end of the tunnel from which a pale silvery light was emitting. Her lips drew a thin line as she dropped her hand to the side and looked up to inspect the cavern. It was a small circular room where at the center stood an altar. In a way, it gave off the atmosphere of a church, an eerie church, but still one. Behind the altar was a dark mosaic of some woman and a beast that she didn’t really understand. What she recognized was the inverted cross and a golden goblet on the altar. Around it was a bunch of skulls, bones, black roses and some other stuff that she couldn’t name. She instinctively bit her bottom lips to not gape at the whole structure of the room. It seemed to be something straight out of a gothic novel, complete with a bunch of people in black cloaks standing in a circle around the alter.
Alice seemed to be talking to someone as Eva made sure to take note of every little thing she saw in the room. While her ears barely picked up what Alice and the man was talking about, her eyes slid over every nook and cranny of the dark place, noticing the way they dressed, the way they held some book and the way they were eagerly staring at the goblet in the middle. She wanted to stay and observe the situation a little more but jumped at the small commotion that was raised as the person Alice was talking to dubbed them as spies.
Eva wasn’t even sure what Alice had talked to the guy about but followed Alice as they attempted to run back up the tunnel. Eva quickly activated her spell, Silencium, blending into the air around them with a click of her fingers. She watched all of the men in the black cloaks run after Alice and Kon but stood behind, out of the way of all the people that ran past without really noticing her. She quickly made her way over to the goblet in the middle, peering into it but reeling back the next second at the sight of blood. With a hand over her mouth, a clear expression of disgust crossing her face, she turned back and ran up the tunnel, quickly making it out the store and towards the streets. Since her magic was still working, Eva found it much easier than the others to get away without getting noticed.
Finding a flash of orange to her right, Eva followed, ending up in the same place they had departed from. She sighed as her magic came undone with another click of her fingers. She walked over to Alice placed a hand over her shoulder in a way of comfort. It would have been a huge understatement to say that Eva wasn’t disappointed but she was to blame for not listening to the conversation, too. The situation couldn’t be helped and she knew it. Inwardly, she did put the blame on Alice a little but the part that she understood still outweighed the portion that was irritated. “It can’t be helped. We can only narrate what we saw to the captain now,” she said, succeeding in hiding the tone of disappointment in her voice.
Together, they made their way towards Captain Devon. He seemed to be waiting for them with the same hardened expression as always. She let Kon and Alice explain first, standing behind and listening to their explanation first before letting the captain know about the goblet of blood that she had seen. Eva concluded that it was a dark cult practicing forbidden magic or curses. She made sure to give the captain her doubts and suggestions, nodding back every time the captain would nod at her. He seemed thankful when they finally finished explaining everything. “Well, we will just have to investigate a bit more. At least now we know where they gather,” he suggested but Eva shook her head. “I don’t think they will keep using that place,” she answered. “However, I think there are sufficient clues to begin a thorough investigation now,” she said while receiving her rewards.
Eva was done for the day. All of their adventurous events had drained Eva off most of her strength. She wanted nothing more than a warm bath back at the inn and probably a day of pretty dresses and make ups to wash the bad aftertaste this mission had left on her. They had come so close to figuring out the cult as a whole. Maybe they will be tasked with arresting them some other day but for now, she was left curious about the purpose of that goblet. “Well, good bye! I hope we will meet somewhere again,” she smiled, parting with the two.
3020/3000 (Exit)