“Travels beware, if you visit
Hallows End on Halloween, don’t journey any deeper into the Haunted forest. If
you go any deeper into the forest you will find only Death” – Wisdom from the
Autumn Forest residence.
The clock
struck midnight and Halloween had arrived. The entrance to the Haunted Forest
would be revealed and any who dared travel the path would find Hallows End.
Samantha and Rumford stood in front of the forest as flickers of light began to
dance at the edge of the forest. Blue wisps danced and spun around the large,
dead husks of trees. The air trembled, the moon shone down brighter and the
trees began to move. The husks uprooted themselves and crawled backward with
unnatural motion. A path was made, stretching on into the darkness. Samantha and
Rumford had seen the Haunted woods path open many times.
The moment
stood in time, drawn and framed like an art show of memories. The hundredth
time that Samantha and Rumford watched the Haunted Forest open on Halloween
night, one hundred Halloweens together. Ninety of those Halloweens we spent
looking for revenge, but the ten good years they had together were the best
years they had in the entirety of their unnaturally long lifespan.
The couple
entered the Haunted Forest, the full moon hung over head and as Samantha
entered the forest for the hundredth time she looked up and saw the moon had a
large grinning face. This unpleasant smile was only visible for a second before
the pair entered the forest. The forest was thick with tangled husk like branches,
which blocked out the sky and obscured the sight of any smiling moon. Samantha
decided to not read into this as an ill omen and continued walking. Blue spirit
wisps danced around the trees lighting the way to Hallows End. If Samantha
didn’t know better she might be fooled into thinking the wisps were friendly or
happy. The truth was the spirits of the forest wanted to seem friendly on
Halloween so visitors would leave the path. The only safety assured was on the
path, leaving the path for any reason was almost certain death.
As Rumford
walked along he pulled his cloak tightly around his chest. He didn’t like being
reminded that the green flame in his chest was just his wisp bound to his body
and without Samantha’s crimson hand, Rumford would have been a dancing wisp
like the ones in the forest. Samantha tucked herself under Rumford’s arm,
showing a strange level of affection that she had not shown in almost eighty
years. “I love you Rumford” Samantha cooed. Rumford stopped walking. He might
have been a literal heartless monster but his soul could still feel and her
sudden warmth made him pause. “I love you too, Samantha” He muttered back, then
quickly added “This isn’t the end for us, you know that right?” Samantha smiled
“I know. We will get revenge. I just realized that I’ve been on such a tireless
hunt for your killer that I forgot to appreciate that I still have you around
in some capacity” Samantha replied, her voice filled with sorrow. “I know what
you mean. When you don’t age its easy to let decades fly by without even
holding hands. I’m not even a person anymore” Rumford replied. Samantha looked
sad and held Rumford tighter and the two continued to walk.
The
darkness of the path gave way to warm flickering lights in the distance.
Hallows End was just ahead and set to accept visitors. The town of monsters was
a sight to behold, creatures of different sizes lived and worked in harmony,
the houses were built by the residence and made to fit the needs of the
occupant. Some homes were one giant room and made of fire resistant wood, some
looked like more traditional multi-room, average sized homes and some were
small with hundreds of rooms. Mouse sized creatures lived in apartments in one
of the first ever apartment buildings. There was a tavern near the center of
town that was shaped like a giant pumpkin and painted orange, adorned with
colorful lights and streamers for the upcoming festival. The entrance of town
had a giant wooden sign that read “Welcome to Hallows End” the letters were
written in red paint but the color could be confused for blood. The monsters in
the town painted the buildings with orange, red, purple, lime green and black
paint and some of the fancier buildings had designs of black roses, bones, or
haunted trees. The home of Yarkov the giant had a picture of a dog on it,
Yarkov loved dogs but never found one so deep in the forest.
Samantha
and Rumford had been to the town many times in the past hundred years and every
year the town added a new structure, it could have been a new house, a shop, a
bench, a statue or even planted some new trees. The town was ever changing,
which was part of its charm. This year Samantha and Rumford arrived with a
mission, it wasn’t a year of festivals, study or vacation, it was a year of
revenge. Samantha marched toward the center of town with purpose and navigated
the town with the familiarity of a resident of Hallows End. At the center of
town was a giant Jack-O-Lantern with a smiling face, sharp features and a flame
burning brightly inside it. The pumpkin was a real pumpkin but it never wilted
or died, the flame was real but it never burned out. The Hallows End pumpkin
grew from a seed dropped by a necromancer and when the pumpkin grew it absorbed
all the magic of the surrounding area. This magical Jack-O-Lantern had been a
source of magic, protection, light and pride for the inhabitants of Hallows
End.
Samantha
reached into her back and pulled out the ancient stone pumpkin that she bought
of the ship captain in Mist Harbor. The air shifted and the wind began to pick
up. Fallen leaves rustled against the dark gray stone of the towns square and
the residence all felt a change. Samantha hadn’t done anything yet but the town
was already reacting to the stones power. The stone began to glow and would get
brighter the closer it was to the Hallows End pumpkin.
Rumford and
Samantha looked at each other one final time before touching the stone against
the pumpkin. The stone reacted to the stored magic of Hallows End and was
lifted out of Samantha’s hand. The stone slammed down into the ground and
melted into the black and gray stone floor beneath them. Samantha started to
see the face of Rumford’s murderer flash in her eyes. Then it was all she could
think about, soon it was all she could see with her eyes. The world spun, the
night sky sank into the ocean, the Haunted Forest trees melted away and soon
all was dark. Emptiness replaced reality as Samantha drifted off into the
endless void.
It was
ninety years ago when Rumford lost his life. Samantha and Rumford had been
married for nine years, they enjoyed traveling, going to Hallows End for
parties, Rumford enjoyed studying monsters and Samantha started to see the
appeal of it as well. The two didn’t own a house and they never settled into a
single town. Rumford was used to traveling as a scholar and Samantha made up
her mind many years ago that she wanted to travel the world.
One day in
the village of New Leaf, Samantha and Rumford were having lunch under a tall
maple tree. They had been visiting the outer lands, places that experienced all
four seasons throughout the year instead of just one. It was Fall in these
lands and the colors of the turning maple made Samantha feel at home.
As the two ate they started hearing screams coming from the
other side of the village. Samantha stood up but Rumford grabbed her arm
“Honey, what could we possibly do to help?” Rumford asked. From his viewpoint,
he was an outsider and lacked any special ability to help anyone. He also was
terrified at the mere thought of Samantha being harmed in any way.
“Coward, we
have to help!” Samantha chided as she pulled her arm away, then ran off to help
the villagers. Rumford hung his head as he got up to run after his wife.
Rumford was cowardly when it came to fighting and any kind of serious danger
and wished that Samantha was a little smarter about the dangers of the land.
When the
two arrived they saw that bandits had begun to raid the town. These men and
women were dressed in skulls and wore purple bandanas. They were the most organized
and aggressive group of bandits that Samantha had ever seen. The bandit lord,
who went by the name Joroth, was the meanest of the group, he wore a helmet
made of broken bones and carried a large two handed axe with jagged and
bloodied edges. The bandits called themselves the “Sweeping Death” and weren’t
interested in survivors.
Samantha
wasn’t a warrior but she knew how to use a sword and a bow. She snuck through
the village with Rumford behind her. The two easily evaded the mob of bandits
and found Joroth. The bandit king was
drinking wine straight out of the cask. His two massive hands wrapped around
the barrel like gorilla mitts as he lifted the cask and drank. Wine poured out
of an axe shaped hole in the top.
Samantha
drew her bow, her delicate red hair blew in the breeze, her long hair would
give her an indication of the winds direction allowing for a better shot.
Samantha fired the arrow and it found its mark straight into the bandit leaders
chest. Joroth dropped his wine and stumbled backward but stayed on his feet.
“Find the lil’shits that did this” He uttered. The bandits swarmed the area, it
wouldn’t be long before Samantha was caught. Thinking fast she grabbed
Rumford’s hand and the two of them ran, heading for the edge of town. Just as
the two were about to reach the edge of town they ran into one of the bandits.
Without
hesitation Samantha drew her sword and lunged, stabbing the bandit through the
lungs before he could call for help. “ok lets leave, please” Rumford pleaded.
Before they could get away a giant axe came twirling past them and hit a tree,
splitting the tree in half. “I’m not letting a single soul escape” Yelled the
bandit leader. Joroth had caught up with them and was now charging forward.
Samantha readied her sword and lunged just as Joroth was close. The experienced
bandit leader sidestepped the sword attack, grabbed Samantha’s hand and cuffed
her across the face. Samantha was sent backwards from the force of the attack.
Rumford
found his courage at this moment, he took off his baggy cloak and grabbed the
sword Samantha dropped. The scholar charged with his sword, stabbing the bandit
leader in the side. This did not kill Joroth, who seemed to have supernatural
strength. Joroth roared and punched Rumford. He grabbed the sword that Rumford
dropped and walked towards the fallen scholar. “No survivors” The bandit
muttered insanely. Instead of running away, which is what he wanted to do,
Rumford stayed to fight. He couldn’t risk Samantha being killed because he was
a coward. Rumford reached into his bag and pulled out a flame crystal. This
magical artifact was so rare that scholars refused to use them, in case the
crystal was ever damaged.
Rumford
decided that protecting his wife was more important than any rare artifact. He
lifted the crystal and hurled the fire gem at the Bandit leader. The crystal
exploded and engulfed the bandit in flames. The explosion was bigger than
Rumford anticipated and was also swallowed by the flames. The burned and half
dead bandit continued to charge forward and stabbed Rumford through the heart.
The bandit collapsed to the ground as did Rumford.
Though
Joroth appeared very dead, he was not. He held a mystical artifact that always
kept him on the verge of death but could never die.
Samantha
opened her eyes in present day. The Hallows End Magic had worked. The Crimson
Hand and her undead lover had finally found the crypt of Joroth the undying.
The two
stood underground in the crypt made to house the most vicious man in the land.
Lights flickered on and the ground rumbled. Joroth the undying rose from his
giant coffin like a lumbering beast. His skin was missing in pieces and the
skin he did have was still blacked from Rumford’s fire bomb. The time had
arrived, time to kill Joroth the Undying.
((Side note, The details explaining how Rumford was
brought back to life and Samantha’s Crimson hand will be explained in Crimson
hand Origin 2. for now, I want to finish this Halloween themed story before
finishing back story))
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