The PDF opened to a blank page for a heartbeat, then a single line of text appeared in a sleek, black font: Your next assignment awaits. Below, a small, faded image of a wooden desk appeared, the kind you’d find in an old‑world study. On the desk lay a handwritten note, the ink slightly smudged as if written with a fountain pen that had just run out of ink. “If you’re reading this, you’ve been chosen. Follow the clues. Trust no one.” Mara’s heart thudded. The file’s name— Www. Vahinichi Zavazavi —sounded like a password, a code, a place. She scrolled down and found a series of numbered sections, each with a cryptic clue and a tiny QR code in the corner. 2. The First Clue 1. “Where the river meets the stone, the first key lies hidden.” A QR code, when scanned with her phone, displayed a map of the city’s riverfront park. A tiny icon marked a bench beneath an overhanging oak. Mara remembered that bench from lunchtime walks.