The Czars if Halloween part 1

Its October and that means Halloween stories every week! this is Czars of Halloween part 1, part 2 should be out by friday. I'm doing two stories this week because I only get five Halloween stories to tell this month and i don't want two weeks of the same story. So here is Czars of Halloween. Enjoy!

Hallows End has always been home to the many monsters and spirits of Halloween. But beyond Hallows End, through the Haunted forest and up on the top of Pumpkin patch hill, stands the skull fortress. The inhabitants of the skull fortress are the Czars of Halloween. They are the best of friends and together they rule and protect the land of Halloween. This hasn’t always been the case, the Czars weren’t always friends and they certainly weren’t always czars. Like everyone else, they started as children.

            The two Czars, who were named Nyx and Poe, grew up in Harvest town, a small town in the Autumn forest. The two boys would fight over everything, but the one thing they had in common was their love for Halloween and the yearly celebrations held in Hallows end. Since Hallows end was surrounded by the Haunted forest, the two boys couldn’t get to the town by themselves, so they would have to wait for the Hallows end celebration when villagers from Maple town, Harvest town and Pumpkin Patch would gather together and travel through the forest. Everyone knew the way and with so many pairs of eyes to watch for danger the forest was forced to behave and let them pass.

            So it was on these Halloween nights that Poe would put on his skull mask and Nyx would wear his pumpkin mask. They would dress in all black and retrieve their trusty travel bags from their rooms, and then they would rush outside and join the others in the exciting walk to Hallows end. Nyx had a travel bag that was orange and green and Poe had one that was black and white. The bags were souvenirs from their first time in Hallows end. They used the bags to smuggle Halloween treats and knick-knacks back home when the celebration was over.

            Every year the boys would wait and every year they would have the most fun ever when Halloween rolled around. They were always so excited about Halloween, that for one day they forgot their rivalry and got along. Back in Harvest town, they would fight and argue. For almost the entire year they were enemies. Nyx would even go so far as to throw snakes at poor Poe.

            As the years went on the boys grew and the fighting was less frequent. They both were about eighteen at this point and began to work in their family’s farms. The mundane life of a farmer began to settle on them and for a little while they began to wonder if they would ever get to live in Hallows end or would they be forced to ‘grow up’ and be farmers like their parents. One day while Poe was cutting tall grass a bizarre looking was traveling up the road past his farm. The man wore a black and purple top hat, a black coat with tails, white shirt, black pants and carried a huge bag on his back full of the most random assortment of things. This was a little over weight, he had a long mustache and a big smile. Poe was going to ignore him, but then he spotted trinkets that looked like they were from Hallows End. Poe ran down to meet the man “Excuse me, sir. What is all of that stuff you are carrying” Poe asked. The man’s smile seemed to grow even bigger than before “Well, young Sir, I am a trader and these are my wares. My name is Gransom the great and I things from all over the world” Said Gransom. Poe didn’t stop to ask about the name because he was too excited about these exotic wares. “Well I noticed you have things from Hallows End and I love Halloween. So could I take a look at them?” Asked Poe.

            The merchant set his large bag down and pulled on a rope, the bag opened and all of his wares fell out and landed in neat orderly piles, sorted by region and size. Poe was impressed. Gransom went over to the pile of objects found in the autumn lands, maple syrup, apple peeler and various pictures and painting of trees and scenery. Poe wasn’t impressed. To him these things were ordinary and though Hallow End was so close to his own town, it was also exotic because of how difficult it is to get there. Gransom continued to look through his things without saying a word. Then he found something. “Aha!” Said the man. “I have just what you are looking for” Gransom held out a compass in the shape of a skull. “This will help you cross into Hallows End any time you want” Gransom said. Poe would have been happy just to buy a jack-o-lantern mask or something, but this sounded way better. Poe paid for it and then ran off to find Nyx.

            Nyx was resting under a tree drinking maple syrup when Poe found him. “You lazy butt, get over here and look what I’ve found” Poe yelled to Nyx. Nyx stood up and walked over to Poe, and brought his maple syrup with him. “What is it you deranged lemur?” Asked Nyx. Poe was about to punch Nyx, but decided there was no time for that. “Look at this. I just bought it. It’s a compass that will help us go to Hallows End whenever we want” Poe said holding out the skull compass. Nyx looked at it with awe and began feeling just as excited as Poe. “Poe, I take back some of the bad things I’ve said about you. Lets go as soon as we can!” Nyx said.

            That night Nyx and Poe traveled to the edge of the haunted forest and Poe pulled out the compass. Instead of pointing north, the compass seemed to point toward Hallows End. With a deep breath they two stepped into the forest and began following the arrow on the compass. It was only once they could no longer see the exit that they began to realize that if the merchant scammed them and they were holding a fake compass, they would be in real danger. It was like jumping into the ocean before you know if your boat floats or not. Since they were already in the forest they had little else to do but follow the arrow. Time didn’t seem to pass in the haunted forest, because it was always dark. The trees were gangly and gray and their branches seemed to reach out for Poe and Nyx no matter were they went. Strange sounds could be heard along with the ones you would expect. Owls, crows and frogs made their own noises, but then every now and then a loud “Gerrump!” could be heard or the sound of trees breaking and falling over. It was very unnerving.  The two wondered the forest for what seemed like hours, their journey seemed longer now than it did when they traveled with a group during Halloween, but they kept marching on.

            After many hours of traveling Poe and Nyx saw light up ahead, they ran up through the trees and jumped over rocks and large tree roots and when they came to a clearing they saw Hallows End up ahead. “We made it!” The both cheered. It was night and Hallows End was shining bright with orange lights, lanterns and torches. The buildings were all different shapes and sizes, some were bent weirdly, some had spikes on them, Pumpkins were by every doorway, strange looking people walked the streets and at the center of town was a giant Jack-o-lantern. Poe and Nyx made it and ran into town. They spent that night partying with monsters and maniacs and women that their parents would never let them go near normally. Then when morning came they would travel back to their hometown before they were missed. Since they had the magical skull compass they could go to Hallows End every night and that is just what they did.