CHAPTER 2: INTO THE SHADOWS
Scene 1: Planning the Journey
Setting: Ethan’s hotel room, late at night
Mira and Ethan were in Ethan's uncomfortable room, they sat on opposite sides of a small table. The pieces of the cipher was lying between them, their edges are worn out as a result of repeated handling. The obstructed sound of traffic in the distant, vibrated slowly outside the city filtering through the window.
“We would leave for Romania tomorrow,” Ethan said, as he breaks the silence.
Mira frowned, her arms crossed. “Are You assuming I will come with you?”
Ethan leaned forward, with his eyes narrowing. “You’re the one who decoded the map. I wouldn’t even know where to start without you.”
Mira delayed, looking at the pieces. The map pointed to a remote region in Romania, near the Carpathian Mountains, a place as mysterious as her father’s disappearance.
“This isn’t just about your brother, is it?” she asked, her voice being low. “You think the Cipher could still be out there.”
Ethan agreed. “Sam believed it was not just an artifact. He thought it held knowledge that could change everything we know about history.”
“And you trust him?”
“Yes, with my life.”
Mira sighed. She knew she should walk away, but the restraint of the cipher was too strong. “Fine. But I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it to get answers to problems that had been waiting.”
“Deal.” Ethan offered a small smile.
The room grew quiet as they work out the route for the journey: a flight to Bucharest, then a long drive to the remote village closest to the point of location. But as they planned, Mira could not throw away the feeling that someone was observing them.
Scene 2: The Watcher
Setting: A shadowed figure’s point of view
A man parked a car across the street, while he watched the light in Ethan’s hotel room flicker. His phone vibrated with a message:
The targets are moving. Prepare for intercept.
He gave a weak smile and pushed the phone into his jacket. In the backseat lay a coarse woolen bag filled with tools of his trade: a silenced pistol, surveillance equipment, and a set of forged documents.
The organization that hired him does not like anyone to fail them. He didn’t plan to disappoint them.
Scene 3: The Flight to Bucharest
Setting: Onboard a red-eye flight
Mira looked out of the plane’s small window, with the hum of the engines filling her ears. The city lights below became faded as they ascended into the dark.
Ethan sat beside her, quickly going through an old notebook filled with sketches and notes in a hurried handwriting.
“What is that?” Mira asked.
“It is Sam’s journal,” Ethan replied, not looking up. “He kept record of everything about the Cipher, legends, symbols, even myths connected to it.”
Mira moved closer. The pages were filled with complicated drawings: ancient carvings, diagrams, and translations of old texts.
“Your brother was so much involved in this project,” Mira said.
“Yeah, well, it runs in the family,” Ethan replied with a wild low smile.
Despite herself, Mira felt a flash of likeness for Ethan’s zeal. But before she could ask more questions, a flight attendant came to them.
“Excuse me, are you Mira Donovan?”
Mira replied with a blink, and with a shock. “Yes. Why?”
The attendant passed to her a folded note. Mira opened it, her heart pounding as she read:
You’re being followed. Be careful whom you trust.
Scene 4: The Arrival in Romania
Setting: Bucharest Airport and the drive to the mountains
The airport was crowded, with a mixture of both tourists and locals hurrying through the terminal. Mira held her bag tightly, looking round the crowd for anything suspicious.
“Relax,” Ethan said, knowing that she was under tension.
“It is that easy for you to say,” Mira muttered. “Did you not get a threatening note on the plane?”
Ethan frowned. “What did it say?”
“It says that we’re being followed,” Mira replied. “It didn’t mention who is the person.”
Ethan looked around, his hand resting on his small bag. “Let us stick together. No splitting up.”
They rented a small, beat-up car and started the long trip north towards the Carpathian Mountains. The roads turned narrower and more winding as they left the city behind. On either side of the road was thick forest, and the shadows of the trees stretched across the asphalt road.
As the sun set, Mira could not discard the thought that they were being watched. She looked at the rearview mirror. A black SUV car had been following them for miles.
“Ethan,” she said, with a tight voice. “We’ve got someone following us.”
Scene 5: A Dangerous Encounter
Setting: A deserted stretch of forest road
Ethan looked at the mirror and made a negative statement quietly . “Hold on.”
He pressed hard his foot on the accelerator, the car suddenly moved forward uncontrollably. The SUV sped up to meet up with them.
“They’re not just following us,” Ethan said. “They are pursuing to get us.”
Mira gripped the dashboard more tightened. The road bended sharply, and the tires lost traction with the road as Ethan took the turn too fast.
The SUV bashed into their rear bumper, sending a surge through the car.
Mira shouted “Ethan, do something!.”
Ethan swerved his hands and the car went onto an untarred road, the tires kicking up a cloud of dust. The SUV car followed, with its headlights flashing through the trees.
Right infront of them, the road split into two paths. Ethan made a quick decision and entered left. The SUV delayed before following, but by then, Ethan had put off the car’s lights and left off the road into the thick underbrush.
They observed with heavy silence as the SUV roared past, and the noise of its engine faded into the distance.
“They had moved too close to us,” Mira said, as her voice keep shaking.
“Welcome to the adventure,” Ethan replied grimly.
Scene 6: The Village
Setting: A small Romanian village
They reached the village just before night fall. It was a sleepy, attractive place nestled in the mountains, its natural stone streets lined with old stone houses.
Ethan parked the car near the town square, where there is a small inn with a sign reading Pensiunea Carpatica.
The innkeeper was an elderly woman with sharp blue eyes. Once inside, she greeted them with a smile.
“You’re not a native of this environment,” she said in accented English.
“No,” Ethan replied. “We’re looking for directions to locate this place.” He showed her the map pointing at a spot.
The woman’s countenance turned dull. “That is a dangerous place,” she said. “People who go there... they do not return.”
Mira felt some cold running down her spine. “Why would people not return?”
“It’s a myth,” the woman said simply. “It is about the forgotten.”
Scene 7: The Forgotten’s Warning
Setting: A remote campsite near the excavation site
Mira and Ethan set up camp near the coordinates. The site was overgrown with weeds, its broken down ruins can hardly be seen under the moonlight.
Mira studied the cipher fragments again, trying to understand the meaning of the symbols.
“Do you hear that?” Ethan asked suddenly.
Mira froze, as she listened. In the distance, the wind carried faint whispers, that were low and unintelligible.
“That’s just the wind,” she said, though her voice could not convince them that there was nothing happening.
Ethan shook his head. “No. It’s something else.”
As they stood in the unusual silence, a shadow reflected across the ruins, but quickly vanished before they could see what caused it.
Mira’s heart raced. Whatever they had come to meet, it wasn’t just ancient ruins.
“It is looking at us,” Ethan murmured.
The whispers grew louder, surrounding them as the chapter closed on a note of uncertainty.