Sarah's POV
The village was called Sunshine Village. An odd name, I thought—there was probably a story behind it, though no one seemed eager to tell me. The people were wary, their eyes sharp and cautious when they first saw me. I introduced myself as an adventurer sent by the guild, and only then did their shoulders ease, relief softening their expressions.
It was a fishing village, though unlike most, it wasn't built by the sea. Instead, it stood on the shore of a vast saltwater lake. The lake was so large that, at first glance, anyone might mistake it for the ocean.
A young man named Maxwell, the son of one of the villagers, acted as my guide. He showed me the places where people had gone missing. Each site had something in common: a deep dent in the ground, the kind that wouldn't be left by a simple fall. No—these imprints suggested something heavy had landed on the victims from above.
Next, Maxwell brought me to the house of the latest victim, a girl taken from her bedroom in the dead of night. The window had been shattered inward, glass scattered across the floor. Oddly, there were no footprints outside the house. That detail told me the culprit hadn't walked away—it had flown.
The victims were all teenage girls between the ages of fourteen and sixteen. At first, I considered vampires. But that didn't fit. Vampires rarely smashed windows; they used hypnosis, luring their prey willingly. This was different—violent, forceful, and messy.
I relayed everything to Arthur through our link, knowing he and his team would follow up once they arrived. Still, something tugged at my instincts, pulling me east toward the forest.
On the way, I stumbled upon a graveyard. I paused, uneasy, and noticed immediately that something was wrong. The soil over every grave had been disturbed. Someone had dug them up, then carefully replaced the earth to hide the evidence.
The undertaker appeared behind me, his voice wary. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm investigating," I replied simply, pointing at the graves. "All of them are empty. Someone dug out the corpses, then covered their tracks. Did you really not notice?"
His face went pale. He shook his head slowly, clearly shaken.
I didn't linger. The conclusion was already forming in my mind, the pieces fitting together. Teenage girls snatched from their homes. Graves robbed in secret. The stench of forbidden magic clinging faintly in the air.
A necromancer…
I conveyed my suspicion to Arthur and pressed deeper into the forest, determined to find more proof before the trail grew cold.
The further I walked, the darker the woods became. The air grew thick, heavy, carrying with it the faint coppery tang of blood. Then, as I stilled my breath, I heard it—low, guttural chanting, almost swallowed by the wind. A sickly green glow flickered faintly between the trees.
I narrowed my eyes. "Found you."
And with that, I slipped silently toward the source of the disturbance.