The tunnel was no longer quiet.
It breathed.
Karen could feel it, the low, rhythmic pulses in the walls, like a heartbeat muffled by stone. The corridor behind them had shifted into something tighter, more twisted. Every few steps, they heard soft whispers, like voices trapped in the walls, begging… or warning.
Luca moved ahead, flashlight darting side to side. Alex kept one hand wrapped around Karen's wrist as if letting go might tear her away again.
"We should have marked the path," Luca muttered. "I swear we're walking in circles."
"No," Karen said softly. "It's changing on purpose."
Alex glanced at her. "What do you mean?"
She didn't answer right away. Her eyes were fixed on the wall ahead, a smooth surface, unmarked by cracks or carvings. Yet somehow, her name was written on it.
Karen
Karen
Karen
Each one scratched in different handwriting. Some large and frantic, others delicate but all bearing her name.
Karen stepped closer, drawn by something invisible.
Then she heard it..her laughter echoing faintly down a side tunnel.
Alex reached for her, but she had already taken a step toward the sound.
"I need to see," she whispered.
"No," Alex said quickly, stepping in front of her. "You're not going anywhere alone."
Luca caught up, watching Karen carefully. "She's being called."
Karen looked at him sharply. "How do you know that?"
He hesitated. "Because I heard it too but not your name. Mine."
They stood in silence for a long moment, the air charged with something ancient and aware.
Then Alex took a deep breath. "Split paths are dangerous, we move together."
Karen nodded reluctantly, letting him guide her back down the main corridor. But her thoughts were elsewhere. That laugh...her laugh..had sounded so familiar… but twisted. Like a version of her that belonged to Avalon, not the outside world.
Minutes passed. The ground sloped upward slightly, and Luca spotted a faint breeze fluttering through cracks in the stone ahead.
"There," he said, racing forward.
He shoved aside a rotted wooden panel, revealing an old, rusted maintenance door. It opened with a violent creak, revealing… light.
They stepped out into a forgotten garden behind the resort.
Overgrown hedges, shattered statues, a dried-up fountain in the shape of a blindfolded woman holding scales. It looked like no part of Avalon they had seen before.
Karen stepped forward, but suddenly stopped.
In the middle of the path, a woman stood with her back to them.
Long black hair, pale arms, a white dress soaked at the hem with something dark.
Karen felt her throat tighten. That was her. Or at least… a version of her.
Alex stepped in front of her again, protective.
The woman turned slowly.
Her face was hollow like someone had carved it to look like Karen but hadn't gotten it quite right. The mouth was too wide, the eyes too still, and yet… it smiled.
"She left something behind," the woman said in a voice that mirrored Karen's perfectly.
"Now, she has to come back and claim it."
The figure vanished in a blink, like mist swallowed by wind.
Karen clutched her chest. "What does that mean?"
Luca looked pale. "Whatever happened to you down there… it didn't just take your body. It touched something deeper. Something still here."
Alex didn't speak. His eyes were already scanning the perimeter, jaw clenched.
"We're not done with Avalon," he said. "And Avalon's not done with you."