Chapter 16 - The Shrine Does Not Forget

Shrine - Midnight

The shrine was unusually silent tonight, the kind of quiet that pressed in around Anastasya like a warning. But she wasn’t scared. She was determined.

Anastasya: "Alright… step one."

She crept past Aurelya’s sleeping room, clutching the folded plan she had rewritten a hundred times in her journal. Her breath fogged in the air as the temperature dropped the closer she got to the cracked basin room.

...

Cracked Basin Room

The old, abandoned part of the shrine creaked with every step. The floor was soft with dust and long-forgotten offerings. The basin, once used for purification rituals, was cracked in half and filled with murky, unmoving water.

Anastasya: "If there's any trace of ancient energy left in here… maybe I can-"

She chanted softly, using the sigil Haruki once showed her in passing. The water trembled, then hissed, erupting into a wall of heatless flame. Anastasya flinched back.

Anastasya: "No, no, no!"

The basin shattered completely. Nothing left. A dead end.

...

Hidden Passage - Reflection Pool

The moon glinted off the water, as Anastasya stood beside the sacred pool deep in the shrine gardens. She whispered a charm under her breath, watching the reflection shift unnaturally. A stone shifted. The hidden passage revealed itself.

Anastasya: "Yes!"

She dashed inside. A narrow tunnel, damp, filled with thick roots and shadows. Her steps echoed. Her heart pounded.

Anastasya: "Please let this be it…"

Suddenly SLAM! A heavy wooden door dropped behind her. Then ahead—walls closed in. The tunnel groaned as if the shrine itself was breathing.

Anastasya: "What?! Let me out!"

The roots grew fast, snaking toward her feet. She scrambled backward, barely making it out as the tunnel collapsed inward.

Anastasya: "Second… also a bust."

...

Arch behind the offering stones

At the farthest part of the shrine was an old arch made of weathered stone, tangled in dried vines and shimenawa ropes. It was always warm around it, uncomfortably so, like the air itself was charged with memory.

Anastasya stepped under it, breathing in deep. She clutched her wrist, the ribbon burned faintly.

Anastasya: "One last chance…"

She walked forward. One step. Two. Three-

Her body seized. She couldn’t move. A voice whispered from nowhere.

Voice: "You do not belong beyond this gate."

She was thrown back, skidding across the ground, her limbs trembling.

Anastasya: "Nothing works… Nothing!"

...

In the garden, near the main shrine room

Exhausted, defeated, and alone, Anastasya sank to her knees. Her plans crumpled in her hand. Seven months of trying, mapping, pretending. And it was all useless.

Anastasya: "Why can't I escape…?"

She reached out unconsciously, her fingers brushing against the mossy stone carving of a forgotten deity. Something pulsed beneath her touch.

Anastasya: "…?"

The carving split open like a mouth. A red light burst out—too bright. She screamed, but there was no time. Her body was yanked forward, consumed in a single blink. The world twisted.

...

Inside The Unknown

It wasn’t the shrine anymore. It was a fragmented space, jagged like broken mirrors floating in dark water. Her voice echoed when she spoke, but her words were muffled.

Anastasya: "Where am I?!"

Shapes shifted in the dark. Her own face stared back at her from reflections. Sometimes younger. Sometimes… rotting. Sometimes not her at all.

Then she saw it, something walking toward her. Someone…

Voice: "You’re not meant to leave. You’re meant to remember."

And then, the shrine's bell echoed in the distance… but it was warped. Distant. Like it was ringing from another world entirely.

Anastasya was trapped.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***