The morning in Bellgrave was quiet.
The village had already begun its usual routine. Shopkeepers were opening their doors, people were moving along the narrow roads, and the occasional sound of carts could be heard from outside the inn.
Team One had finished their morning routines.
Instead of returning to the common area, they had chosen a small unused room at the back of the inn. It was away from the other guests, and more importantly, nobody outside the team could easily hear their conversation.
The six members sat around a wooden table.
Their case file rested in the middle.
Cassian Rowe sat at the head of the table.
He looked at everyone before finally opening the file.
"We should begin by going over everything the academy has given us. I don't want any of us forming a conclusion before we understand the information properly."
Everyone remained quiet.
Cassian lowered his eyes to the first page.
"Our case is Case No. 91, known as The Empty Coffin."
He turned the page.
"The case concerns a church in Bellgrave. According to the records, a coffin has appeared at the front of the church approximately once every three months for the past four years."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"The time recorded in the reports is usually around sunset. The coffin is discovered outside the church, and when it is opened, there is a dead body inside."
The others listened without interrupting.
"However, by the following morning, the body is gone."
Cassian slowly closed the file halfway.
"The coffin remains."
His eyes moved across the table.
"But the body disappears."
Nobody spoke.
"The records also state that no one has been caught bringing the coffin to the church, and no one has been seen removing the body afterward. Several people have watched the church during previous occurrences, but none of them were able to explain how the incident happened."
Cassian turned another page.
"The academy doesn't have a confirmed explanation."
He let the sentence settle before continuing.
"They don't know who brings the coffin. They don't know how the body disappears. They don't know why the incident happens every few months. They also don't have a confirmed explanation for why the same church has been connected to these incidents for four years."
He closed the file completely.
"That's everything the main report tells us."
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
They had all been listening carefully.
Finally, Damon leaned forward.
"Does the file tell us whether the coffin is always discovered by the same person, or has that changed from one occurrence to another?"
Cassian reopened the file and checked the reports.
"It has changed. The people who discovered it were different on different occasions. There were church workers, villagers, and people who happened to be nearby."
Damon nodded slowly.
"Then it doesn't seem like one person has been responsible for reporting it every time."
"That's correct."
Mira looked at the file.
"Does the report mention anything about the coffin itself? Is there anything unusual about its appearance, or does it look like an ordinary coffin?"
Cassian checked another page.
"The descriptions don't mention anything particularly unusual. It's described as a normal coffin. There are no markings that the reports consider important, and there is no confirmed symbol or identifying sign."
Mira's expression became thoughtful.
"So there isn't anything obvious about the coffin that connects one incident to another."
"Not from the information we have."
Lyra looked toward Cassian.
"What about the bodies? Do the reports identify the people inside them?"
Cassian looked at her.
"The information isn't complete enough to establish that."
Lyra frowned slightly.
"So we don't even know whether the people inside the coffins were connected to the village."
"Not yet."
"Then that should probably be one of the first things we find out."
Cassian nodded.
"I agree."
Owen had been quiet for some time.
He looked at the file and then at Cassian.
"How long does the coffin remain outside the church after it is discovered?"
Cassian turned through the reports again.
"It remains there until morning."
"So someone is actually able to stay near it throughout the night?"
"Yes."
Owen leaned back slightly.
"Then wouldn't that make the disappearance of the body even stranger?"
"It does."
"Because if the coffin remains in the same place, someone should notice if it is opened."
Cassian nodded.
"That is one of the main questions we need to answer."
Owen thought for a moment.
"Does anyone mention hearing anything during the night? Footsteps, movement, voices, or anything unusual near the coffin?"
Cassian looked through the older reports.
"There are a few statements mentioning sounds around the church, but none of them are consistent enough to be treated as evidence."
Owen's expression changed slightly.
"So some people heard something?"
"Some claimed they did."
"But the reports don't confirm what those sounds were."
"Exactly."
Damon rested his arms on the table.
"Then we should be careful with the word 'claimed.'"
Cassian looked at him.
Damon continued.
"People can remember things differently, especially when something frightening happens. If someone heard a noise during the night and later connected it to the coffin, that doesn't automatically mean the noise was related."
Cassian nodded.
"That's why we're going to verify things ourselves."
Mira looked at Cassian.
"Does the academy say whether the church has been watched continuously during the previous incidents?"
Cassian paused.
"Yes. At least according to the reports."
"By whom?"
"Different people. Guards were involved during some incidents. Church workers and villagers watched during others."
"Did they all remain awake?"
"That isn't completely clear."
Mira looked down at the papers.
"Then that might matter."
Cassian looked at her.
"Why?"
"If everyone wasn't watching continuously, there could have been moments when nobody was paying attention."
Damon nodded.
"That would explain how someone could approach the coffin without being noticed."
Owen looked at him.
"But it wouldn't explain how the coffin appeared in the first place."
"Not necessarily."
Damon looked toward the case file.
"If the people watching weren't there at the exact moment it arrived, then we could be missing the most important part of the event."
Cassian considered that.
"That's possible."
He tapped the file lightly.
"But we don't know that yet."
Damon nodded.
"Then we should find out exactly who was watching, where they were standing, and what they could actually see."
Cassian gave him a small nod.
"That will be part of our work."
Rowan, who had been quietly listening until then, finally spoke.
"Do we know why the church was being watched from outside instead of inside?"
Cassian looked toward him.
"The records don't give a clear reason."
Rowan frowned.
"That's strange."
"Why?"
"If the coffin appears directly in front of the church, then the people watching the church should be positioned where they can see the entrance and the area outside it."
Cassian nodded.
"They were."
"But if something happens somewhere outside their line of sight, then watching the entrance wouldn't be enough."
Cassian looked at the map included with the case file.
"You have a point."
He placed the map on the table.
"This is the church."
Everyone leaned closer.
Cassian pointed toward the road.
"This is where most of the guards were positioned during the last recorded incident."
He moved his finger toward another point.
"And this is where the coffin was discovered."
Mira studied the distance between them.
"That's not very far."
"No."
"Then someone carrying a coffin would have been visible."
"Under normal circumstances."
Damon looked carefully at the map.
"Unless they came from somewhere else."
Cassian looked at him.
"That's something we can check."
Owen looked at the church marking.
"What is behind the church?"
Cassian turned the map slightly.
"There is a small wooded area."
"How far?"
"Not very far."
Owen looked interested.
"Then we should check that too."
Cassian nodded.
"We will."
The questions had slowly become more focused.
They were no longer simply trying to understand the case.
They were beginning to understand what they needed to look for.
Then Cassian stopped turning the pages.
His expression changed slightly.
"There is something else."
The others looked toward him.
Cassian placed the previous reports beside one another.
"The last coffin appearance was recorded eighty-seven days ago."
Owen immediately looked at the date.
"Eighty-seven days?"
Cassian nodded.
"Which means we're getting close to the next one."
Mira looked at the calendar they had brought with them.
"If the three-month pattern continues, we should have only a few days left."
"Two or three," Cassian said. "Depending on how closely the previous pattern is followed."
Damon leaned closer to the reports.
"Then we didn't arrive here too early."
"No."
Cassian looked at the date again.
"We arrived just before the next expected occurrence."
Rowan looked at the papers.
"Does the coffin appear exactly every three months?"
"Not exactly. There are slight differences between some of the dates."
"Then what is consistent?"
Cassian didn't answer immediately.
He turned another page.
"This."
He placed a second report beside the first.
"The New Moon."
Everyone looked at the page.
Mira's expression changed slightly.
"The previous report was written around the New Moon?"
"Yes."
Damon picked up another report.
"And this one?"
Cassian nodded.
"The same period."
Owen reached for another page.
"Wait. This one also mentions the New Moon."
Cassian looked at him.
"Correct."
Owen slowly put the paper down.
"Then this isn't just a coincidence."
Cassian didn't immediately agree.
"We shouldn't decide that yet."
Mira looked between the reports.
"But the records are showing the same pattern."
"They are showing something."
Cassian pointed toward the dates.
"Every month, around the New Moon, there is an incident or unusual event mentioned in the village records."
Damon looked at him.
"Every month?"
"Yes."
"But the coffin only appears every three months."
"Correct."
The distinction immediately made the room quieter.
Lyra slowly looked up from the papers.
"So the coffin isn't the only thing happening."
Cassian looked at her.
"We don't know that yet."
She frowned.
"But the records show something happens every month."
"Something is recorded every month," Cassian corrected. "We don't know whether those events are actually connected to the coffin."
Damon nodded.
"Then we have two patterns."
Cassian looked at him.
"One appears to repeat every month around the New Moon."
"And the coffin appears roughly every three months."
"Exactly."
Mira looked at the dates spread across the table.
"Then the first thing we should find out is whether those monthly incidents are actually related to the coffin."
Cassian nodded slowly.
"That is what I want us to determine."
Owen looked at the previous reports again.
"If the next coffin appears in two or three days, and the New Moon is also approaching, then this is probably the best opportunity we've had to observe the whole pattern."
Cassian's expression became serious.
"That's why we need to be ready before it happens."
He gathered the papers carefully.
"We don't wait until the coffin appears and start asking questions afterward."
He looked around the table.
"We find out what happens in Bellgrave before it appears."
The others understood.
The case had suddenly become larger than a coffin appearing at a church.
There was a four-year history behind it.
There were monthly events nobody had fully explained.
There was a three-month pattern that brought the coffin back.
And now, after eighty-seven days, Team One had arrived just before the next expected occurrence.
Cassian looked at the case file one final time.
"We have two or three days."
His voice remained calm.
"But we shouldn't waste even one of them."
Damon nodded.
"Then we should divide the work before we leave this room."
Cassian agreed.
"First, we need to understand Bellgrave and the church itself. We need to know the surroundings, the roads leading toward it, the places someone could hide, and every possible route to the church."
He looked at Damon and Rowan.
"You two will handle that."
Both nodded.
Cassian then turned toward Mira and Lyra.
"You two will find the people connected to the previous incidents. Church workers, guards, villagers, anyone who was actually present when the coffin appeared."
Mira nodded.
"And we'll compare their accounts instead of relying on only one person's story."
"Good."
Cassian looked toward Owen.
"And you will help me with the old records."
Owen raised an eyebrow.
"That sounds less exciting than walking around the village, but I suppose someone has to sort through all those reports."
Cassian smiled slightly.
"You'll survive."
Owen gave him a reluctant smile.
"I was hoping for something more interesting."
"You may change your mind once you see how much information is missing."
That made Damon chuckle.
Owen shook his head.
"Fine. I'll take the records."
Cassian gathered the remaining papers.
"We aren't going to solve this case by guessing."
His voice became more serious.
"We'll check every detail we can."
He looked around the table.
"If two people remember the same incident differently, we don't decide which one is right immediately. We find out why they remember it differently."
Everyone listened.
"If a report says someone was standing in one place, we check whether that person could actually see what they claimed to see."
He placed the file back on the table.
"And if something doesn't make sense, we don't force it to make sense."
Damon nodded.
"That will probably be the hardest part."
Cassian looked at him.
"It probably will."
He stood from his chair.
"But it's also the reason we're here."
The others began gathering their notes.
The case had given them almost no answers.
Only a coffin.
A dead body.
A disappearance.
A strange monthly pattern.
And a three-month cycle that had continued for four years.
Three days remained.
None of them knew what they would find when the next New Moon arrived.
None of them knew why the coffin appeared.
None of them knew where the missing bodies went.
For now, they had only questions.
And that was exactly where their search would begin.
—by Aurea; "The moment you step beyond what you know, every answer becomes another question."