Chapter 40: Murdered By Paper Effigy

It stood just over half a meter tall. The Paper Effigy was more like a cutout than a sculpture, as if someone had snipped a human silhouette from a sheet of paper. Lifelike in every detail, yet deeply unsettling.  Its nose, eyes, and mouth were a garish red, as if painted with blood. In its hand, it clutched a paper knife, fresh drops falling from the blade. That was a guard's blood. The effigy twisted its head, glanced at the corpse on the ground, then, with a whoosh, vaulted the high wall...