Chapter 44: Karina Life? {1}
I continued to scramble through the thoughts in my mind, tracing every lead, every detail. It had already been three days since I arrived in this strange, cursed village—and in that time, I had nearly memorized the entire layout of the old church. Every stone, every broken pew, every shadowed crevice was embedded in my memory.
The townsfolk whispered often about a girl—Karina. A crying girl. They said she was the last person to enter the church.
And ever since that night, the doors had remained locked. Sealed. In the days that followed, strange, lifeless dolls began appearing, moving on their own... and killing.
The village, once lively marketplace, had turned into a ghost town. I spent days poring over symbols etched into the walls, studying the seaweed-covered paths, watching for any sign—any clue.
Tonight, I stood beneath the pale crescent moon, its silvery light washing over everything like a silent blessing... or a warning. I tilted my head back, squinting up at the sky, when I noticed something strange.
The moonlight was reflecting off the seaweed in a particular way—ripples and symbols seemed to dance across the blackened growth, forming faint shapes. The reflections shimmered through the village, as if pointing at something.
My heart pounded.
Wait... were those patterns?
I ran toward one of the patches of seaweed, watching as the reflections merged and shifted. Then it appeared—an unmistakable shape: a digging symbol. Simple, but clear.
It all clicked.
My eyes widened as everything I had pieced together over the last three days came rushing in at once. The church. The dolls. The locked door. The missing girl. The clues weren’t above the ground—they were beneath it.