Author Note: Happy Halloween!
The Life of Yue Halloween Special
Yue looked at her reflection in a shiny metal shield she snuck out of her father’s storage room. She was wearing all black clothes that fit perfectly since she made them herself. The top of her head was adorned with cat ears that had real fur on them. She had forged the outline of the ears then covered them with a hare’s coat that she dyed black with some herbs. On her waist was a black belt which hung two bags filled with candy and a tail that was made the same way she had made the ears. On her face were three streaks of black lines and the tip of her nose was also dyed black with the herb dye. But Yue was still not satisfied. Yue closed her eyes and filled her tail and ears with her personal mana. When she had made them she hadn’t made them all one piece but rather multiple pieces that were held together by joints so that by flowing mana into them she could “push” the joints in a way that allowed her to move them. Without them having powerful enchantments she couldn’t move them accurately but was able to swing her tail or twitch and drop her ears.
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One week previously
Yue sat heavily on the ground beside Nik panting. They had just finished hand to hand combat practice and now got a ten minute break. Yue let her back fall to the ground to breath easier. This caused her to look up at the tree they were resting under at the edge of the yard. Fall again thought Yue as she noticed the leaves were no longer green but orange.
“I miss Halloween!” Yue suddenly lifted her arms to the sky and shouted. It wasn’t like her family didn’t celebrate holidays, in fact there was a winter holiday that celebrated the moon goddess on the longest night of the year in winter. And there also were holidays celebrating the end of winter and the fall harvest which means that Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving were in a sense all accounted for. But Halloween was missing, It was a child holiday only and Yue was feeling the years ticking by, soon even if there was a Halloween she would miss out on the child only type of events!
“What’s Halloween?” Nik asked after he got his breath back.
Yue froze and an evil smile came on her face which caused Nik to shiver and decide to make a quick retreat. Nik jumped up to run to Sir Arthur where he could ask training to resume.
A hand as unmovable as a mountain grabbed his shoulder.
“I just had a great idea! In a few days I will give you something to wear and you will meet me at the edge of the forest a week from now at night. Okay.” Yue whispered over Nik’s shoulder.
Nik tried to budge hoping that he could pretend that he couldn’t hear and get away. But the hand that gripped him was too strong. ‘How is she so much stronger when she thinks of a scheme then normal?’ Nik pitied in his mind before giving up. “Okay,” he sad with hopeless eyes.
Nik had learned long ago about what he liked to call Yue’s Doom Ideas. They started appearing a half a year after Nik met Yue. Yue would get some kind of idea that didn’t seem too bad, it could even be something as simple as ‘hey Nik want to try and fish at the river?’ They seemed so harmless but something always went wrong. Like for some reason no fish being at the river close by so they end up at a waterfall Yue finds, that happens to have a cave which Yue ‘has’ to explore and they get lost. Or the time they ended up being chased by a pack of rats, Nik still hasn’t figured out how Yue starting with trying to cook a cheese cake ended up so bad.
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Yue sneaked out of her bedroom window and ran to the edge of the forest. There, waiting for her was Nik dressed up as a vampire but without the fangs. (Yue couldn’t figure out how to recreate fake fangs)
Yue smiled happily at Nik, she was excited. Because no one celebrated Halloween here Yue couldn’t have the normal Halloween experience but she had planned to substitute. Leading Nik to her forest clearing Yue’s eyes glinted her magic orb’s light. At the clearing Yue had set up two logs and a fire pit earlier in the week. Her Halloween plan was simple, first they would eat candy and tell horror stories then make their way slowly through the forest to find trees she had marked that had buried bags of candy under them. This way the Halloween would have tree trick or treating, stories, and a ‘haunted forest.’
Sitting down on a log Yue lit the fire using magic then dispersed her light orb. Nik sat on the other log not sure what to expect of this ‘Halloween.’
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“ Long ago there was a village much like our own. It was a peaceful place and rarely had strangers visit. But there was a legend in this village that was passed down through generations that contained a warning.
Deep within the forest
Shadows stir and the Beast howls
Curses bind but can be broken
Beware the Beast for it is a trickster
Do not traverse the forest for you may free the Beast.
The village lived by this legend and never went deep into the forest. They told their children to never enter and even took shifts guarding the forest. But with time the legend was slowly forgotten and the village only remembered not to go deep in the forest. Each night they would tell the children, ‘do not enter the forest at the edge of the village.’
One day a group of children from the village chose to ignore their parents warnings. They entered the forest and explored. And nothing happened, they were strong children trained by a knight and could defeat all the animals that attacked. The next night the children went again in the forest but this time they went deeper.
Nothing happened so the next night and the night after they continued to go deeper and explored the forest near their home. But then when they were deep deep within one of the children heard a voice, ‘This way young one, come to me and I will give you power. Never again will you be weak.’ This child was the weakest of them all and had the hardest time within practice. He turned to the voice and walked. The other children didn’t notice right away that their friend was no longer beside them but once they did they shouted out and searched the forest. They never found their friend and the sun came up so they returned home.
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Too afraid to admit that they disobeyed their parents they decided that they would search once more tonight and if they couldn’t find him they would tell the adults. So the next night they returned to the forest. They had been searching for an hour when the slowest but strongest of the children heard a voice, ‘This way young one, come to me and I will give you speed. No longer will people dodge all your attacks.’ The boy hesitated but then went toward the voice.
The next day the remaining children were only two and they were frightened. They went to the adults and told them about their missing friends. The villagers searched all day but found no trace of the children. That night the two children went into the forest they refused to give up on their friends.
The girl of the two was the smartest of the children. She had to be since she had lost her mother at five and needed to take care of her drunk father. She was cautious of the forest looking for any danger when she saw a flash in the corner of her eye. She raised her spear toward it then froze, her mother stood there arms out as if asking for a hug. The girl ran toward her mother.
The last child turned around when he heard the girl yell out with excitement and saw her run deeper into the forest. He tried shouting and chased her but the girl did not hear him and then disappeared.
When the girl vanished a howl echoed throughout the whole forest. The ground trembled as if scared. The boy ran through the forest toward the village in fear. The boy who made it cried in relief and went through the gates. But the village was empty, he searched each and every house and only could find pumpkins everywhere in the village as if they were the villagers.
It is believed that the Beast that had been released left that forest once he cursed the village since the howl was never again heard in that forest. But sometimes in peaceful villages near a forest will hear a howl and if children start to go missing it isn’t long before the village is filled with pumpkins.”
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After Yue finished her story only the campfire’s crackles could be heard.
“No way that story is true.” Nik said after a while as his eyes darted around the forest.
“HOWL!”
Both Yue and Nik jumped ad grabbed their weapons. Yue looked around it is just wolves she told herself after all she just made up the story.
The bushes near them rustled and a dark shadow leapt out. Both Nik and Yue prepared to fight as the shadow entered the light of the campfire. It was Ink!They both laughed and relaxed putting away their swords.
“Okay next on the agenda is trick or treating. I marked ten trees with X marks and buried under them or hanging on branches are bags of candy lets go find them!” Yue said with renewed vigor, but her heart was still pounding.
And so Vampire and Cat traversed through the forest finding trees with X marks and candy. Ink followed behind also getting a candy or two.
However something was strange as they reached the last tree. It’s leaves seemed to flutter and darker then the other trees. “It wasn’t like this yesterday” remarked Yue when they both hesitated to go near the X marked tree.
The cat and vampire walked to the tree Yue’s tail was between her legs and ears pressed down on her head. Only Ink seemed unconcerned as they drew near.
Yue went beneath the X and dug for the bag. She stood up and smiled as Nik, nothing was wrong. Yue opened the bag to show Nik the candy, inside were five pieces of shiny hard candy she previously bought from a merchant using her allowance.
“Rustle”
The trees leaves moved en masse toward the shiny candy showing their true form. They were not leaves at all but crows! Nik, Yue, and Ink ran chased by a mob of birds after their candy. But too scared of the birds the two did not think of dropping the candy.
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Two children and a YingYang beast stumbled out of the forest their strange clothes torn and they were candy-less.
“Caw Caw”
Hearing the Caw all three of them shivered but Yue braved herself to look up. There on a tree branch was a black bird with a candy in its beak. Yue’s eyes narrowed as she recognized the bird.
“Mr. Bird you win this round but I won’t lose the next one.” Yue mumbled quietly.
“Did you say something?” the tired boy beside her asked.
“No nothing, see you tomorrow.” Yue replied before heading toward home.
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At the largest house in the village a boy named Nik tried to sneak inside. But when he came near the gate Sir Arthur was there waiting.
“How was your play date?” Asked Arthur with a smirk.
Nik Groaned and dropped his head.
“Do you think you really could sneak out without help? Well, in exchange for my service I think that training will be doubled tomorrow. I hope you had fun.”
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