The SIS headquarters looks like a small manor, on the ground floor, a huge hall converted into a working room with a work table in the centre surrounded by white boards on which crime pictures, plans and autopsy reports are pinned. The lobby gives direct access to the agents' offices. SIS agents usually work in pairs, sharing the same office. Two twin solid wood stairs give access to the next floor where can be found the library, the archives and the office of Captain Morales, who is both the founder and the head of this small unit of no more than ten people.
Catherina Lenko, a young recruit from the section, walks quickly to her office. Spotted a few months earlier by another SIS agent, she underwent a battery of tests before finally being transferred. In a few weeks, she had seen things she thought part of fiction or folklore... She herself had been trained in the rudiments of magic.
She had been assigned as a field agent and shares an office with a young woman two years her senior named Sophia Luminis. Sophia was one of the founding members of the unit and despite her young age, she had already reached the rank of lieutenant. She is an outstanding investigator but she is especially recognized within the team as the most powerful magician of the SIS.
Arriving at the door of Captain Morales' office, Catherina paused and took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
Captain Morales was stressing her; the issue was not his roughness or his imposing physique, but the fact that she couldn't see his eyes because he was always wearing dark glasses. As a result, it was almost impossible to read his face.
He was tall, probably more than one meter ninety-five, his head shaved, a goat elegantly cut, always dressed in a black suit under which he wore a black jacket over a white shirt. On the right shoulder of his jacket was the brigade crest. He never wore a tie, but rather some kind of tastefully knotted scarf.
As soon as she entered the office, nervousness made her commit a blunder: she gratified him with a perfect military salute.
- Catherina Lenko, reporting, Sir!
He hated it. Captain Morales considered his team as one big family and had greatly relaxed the rules of life within the SIS.
The uniform and salute were abolished; the only obligation was to wear the brigade crest, which beyond its meaning was also a protective talisman. The custom of the unit was to offer the new recruits a welcome gift embedded with this crest from day one so that they feel protected them from the moment they arrived. In Catherina's case, it was a pair of leather gloves covering the entire forearm.
- Cat, how many times do I have to tell you: military salute may have been a standard in your old unit, but it's not here! You do it one more time and I'll fire you, understand?
These words were firm but not aggressive and pronounced in a fatherly tone. Nevertheless, when she heard them, she huddled up like a scolded child and apologized:
- Yes, Captain, I'm sorry.
He turned his back on her for a moment so that she could not see the smile that this reaction provoked and then continued:
- Well, how's the investigation going?
- Sophia is disturbed by visions that she thinks are related to her past, on my side, my level does not allow me to have clear visions... I'm sorry...
She blamed herself for being so helpless when people were dying.
The captain sighed:
It's alright; you're still in training after all... However, I worry for Sophia, as far as I know her, she will try to take advantage of the opportunity to recover her lost memories...
For once, despite his dark glasses, Cat clearly perceived Captain Morales' concern. Sophia's memory was limited to these last three years; she had been found amnesic one morning and had never since recovered her memories. Sometimes she had flashes but it was often only blurred and incomprehensible images but lately it was happening more and more often and the blur seemed to gradually clear up. Cat saw this as a very encouraging sign.
- That's pretty good news, right? Well, I mean, if she recovers her memory, she can live normally again with her family, her friends...
The captain paused, looking out the window, before answering:
- Maybe… but nobody knows what caused her amnesia... Sometimes forgetting is better, some memories can be very difficult to carry on...
She had the clear impression that by this last sentence, he was not only referring to Sophia but to his own past as well...
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