An actual motor-engine vintage car, which was seen very less in use—only by the nobles and royalties—was organised by Eva to bring us to the capital. A vintage motor car, navy blue coloured with some white vertical stripes. The journey was long; going from the borders of a nation to almost the centre. But, the beauty, the shine of the car and the strong roaring sounds of its engine made us ignore its age.

We departed at four in the evening from the main street of the town. The driver was assigned by the organisation and informed us, the car won’t take us to the exact destination. As it’s a private place. But he respectfully explained the way to the location, given by Charlotte Rose. We rested ourselves on the cosy cushions of the back seat and the car started moving outside Zora.

My eyes went towards William’s face, to notice, his eyes glancing at the setting sun. His expressions are something I’d fail to describe in words. Kind of serious, kind of calm. I tried ignoring it for some time and looked out of the window until my mind dragged me back to his face.

“You look serious,” I said, “Might I ask, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing you should bother about, actually.” He calmly said. “Though, would you mind telling me, what age am I, again?”

With a curious face, I answered, “Eighteen. . . and a half, I guess? Why would you ask?”

My question probably missed his ears, as he did not respond. His eyes kept looking at the setting sun on the horizon.

“William... you okay?”

My voice snapped him back from his thoughts and he turned toward me. “Ah— I am,” he said, “I was just thinking about something. Nothing important, honestly.”

He said, and noticing his hesitation, I left the subject. It was a long night's journey and my body already felt tired. I closed the window on my side, stopping the chilly cold winds from rushing towards me and rested my head back, on the seat.

I still remember, as we approached the beautiful lake on the way, William requested to stop the car for a break and took a sketching book out of the bag he was carrying. He used car headlights as a light source, and sketched a beautiful half-submerged moon inside the big lake, with the different colours of pencils he was carrying. Soon, we left the place, and after a few more hours of a journey through mountains and green farms, the vehicle finally reached the borders of the massive lake.

In the secluded lands of the nation, was situated the beautiful city of Amber’s, the capital. Situated on the island in the very middle of the massive lake, with two broad bridges on the opposite sides, connecting it to the main lands.

Though the city had its name-- ‘Amber’s’, named after the wife of the first duke, being home to the royal house, it was always referred to as the Capital. Due to some private reasons, we had restrictions. The car driver apologised to us and left us away from the capital town. After some time of walking, and crossing the massive south bridge, we finally made it to the Capital town.

As the name suggests, it was a nation’s Capital. The streets were full of other types of vehicles and were crowded with different shops. Even after an accurate explanation from the driver. It was a huge and beautiful place. The shops were brightly lit up with bright yellowish-white lamps. There was a decent crowd on the road. Many kids were running around, many shops were selling their goods. And, I could notice many happy faces, even though it was noisy and crowded.

It took us about an hour to find the location mentioned on the card given by Charlotte. It was a restaurant, officially working under Eva. An isolated place; a small hotel. And a door at the end of the hotel area to the actual Eva place.

“Hello sir, how can I help you?” As we entered the main place, a person on the counter came forward and asked with a welcoming smile.

“We were called by Miss Charlotte Rose,”

“Oh! You must be William Von and Mr Watson,” he said in amusement. “Thank you for working with us. Ms Charlotte will be here soon. Please, till then, rest yourself on the table at the corner.”

“She's not here yet?” William said. “What about the always-on-time-women?”

An awkward smile covered the person’s face, “Pardon me, sir. She should be here soon. I apologise on her behalf—”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” said William. “Which table again, sir?”

“Number 5, at the corner.”

William nodded with a smile, thanked him and walked toward the table, and I followed him. We waited at the table for quite some time before Charlotte showed up. She, too, gave a welcoming smile and came to the table.

“May I, William?” She asked, pointing toward the chair in front of him.

“Sure, Ms Charlotte.”

“I see we are going with a formal tone,” She said. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Pleasure is all mine.”

Charlotte, formally dressed in her Eva elite uniform, again with her eyepatch, took a seat in front of us. Another person walked out of the door beside, carrying a wooden tray in his hand. He walked closer to the table, placed the three cups of hot beverage, and walked back inside.

“I was watching you,” she said. “You certainly were late, than I originally expected.”

“This town is huge spread and beautiful too,” I answered. “We lost our way here. Good for us, we visited many amusing places while we roamed for hours finding this place.”

I extended my arm forward, reaching and taking one of the three cups on the table. I sipped a portion of the drink, to confirm it was black coffee. Charlotte, too, picked one of the cups and sipped some portion of the drink. She, for once, gave a curious look at William.

He was not always so calm, she thought. Does he not remember anything?

“That's fine, I’m glad you liked the capital,” she nodded. “Now that the formalities are done, if you don’t mind, let’s come to the point.”

We nodded.

“Recently we had many cases of people found dead out of nowhere.” She explained. “Their faces were badly wounded. . . bad enough which made it almost impossible to confirm their identity. In some areas, there was a situation where people were found with unusual behaviour like they were being manipulated or controlled by someone—”

“Did you not send someone to investigate before?” I interrupted,

“We sure did,” she replied. “But they never returned. Eva was still connected through the earpiece line with the people who were sent, but things were normal until we just heard a strange sound before we lost connection with them.”

“A strange sound?”

“Yes, a different one. Like strings or chains.” She nodded. “But we can’t say for sure what it was. These cases have increased in one month. That is after things happened to you in the Zora mansion incident.”

“What do you want to imply?” Asked William. “Do you think these incidents have a connection to whatever happened in Zora?”

“I won’t say for sure, but can’t deny the possibility.”

“Is that why you assigned us this case?” I asked.

“Your assigning was mostly due to the Director’s wish,” Charlotte said. “But, you can say It’s one of many reasons.”

“And, you’re a senior to us,” said William. “And we are well aware of your strength. I still wonder why Eva wanted us, the non-official members, on this matter. You could have taken it in your hands.”

“I— I have my reasons,” Charlotte said in hesitation. The resistance in her voice was noticed by William, and he left the topic.
She continued, “Two days ago, people were found dead at Entertainment street. The area is close to the old Capital town, in the western part. That was the most recent.”

“Then we should probably start there.” Said William.

“Follow me to the Eva.” She said. “With request from the Director himself, Eva has newly designed uniforms for both of you. And William, your uniform is designed the way Rita, your close friend, asked us to.”

“Wait— we have uniforms?” I asked.

“Of course, we do,” William explained. “Getting assigned to this case, we, now, are officially part of Eva. But, don’t worry, I assume you might still be able to wear your long coat on it.”

They stood up, making their way toward the exit of the place. While I followed, the question aroused in my mind of what the situation might be for which, the director himself called us to look into.