Clash of Reality part 4 - Halloween event

The night air felt cool and refreshing, the streetlights were on and Jack-o-Lanterns decorated almost every yard in the neighborhood. Jacob walked down the quiet street. It was the perfect time for a walk, the Jack-o-lanterns were still lit and the porch lights were on, but there was no one to bother him because everyone was settling down for the night. A breeze rolled in and autumn leaves rushed over Jake. He took a breath in and smiled. “If only Sarah was here with me” Jake said with a sigh.

            Jake had only seen Sarah twice that year. They met for the first time in the summer and once again in the beginning of the Fall. They both loved Halloween and Jake wished he could be with her on that day. Luckily the online game they played together had a Halloween event for the whole week before Halloween. When they played online together, explored the huge virtual world and talked all night through chat, it was almost like they were spending time together in real life.

            Jake’s cell phone beeped, he clicked it on and saw Sarah had sent him a picture. The title was “Halloween Costume” the picture was Sarah in her room with a goofy grin on her face wearing a costume that looked like her character from the game. She looked like a warrior with a sword and shield, light armor and a red cloak. The armor wasn’t metal but she got it to look like metal somehow and the cloak looked just like the cloak Jake had won for her in the game. Jake was amazed by her costume making abilities.

            As he stared at her picture with a goofy smile of his own he received another text. “We should both dress like our characters” – Sarah. Jake replied “Sounds great!” He sent the message but then remembered he didn’t know how to sew or make costumes of any kind.

            Later that night Jake logged into his game to meet up with Sarah. Sarah’s character Ayla was already there waiting when Jake signed in with his character SoulShadow. “How’s the costume coming along?” Asked Ayla with a wink. “I don’t know how to make costumes. I do have costume swords though!” Soul replied. “don’t worry about it. Lets just enjoy the game tonight” said Ayla.

            During the week of Halloween every major city in the game had a spooky celebration with games and prizes. One of the cities had a forest on the outskirts and while it was normally a bright and cheerful place, in October it became a spooky forest filled with Halloween monsters. Fairy Grove was now Pumpkin Grove and was a favorite hunting spot for players who wanted to fight rare monsters and get Halloween weapons and armor.

            “We are almost strong enough to go into the center of the forest! I remember last year we had to stay on the outer edge and fought pumplings” Ayla said with a chuckle. Jake remembered last year. Getting so over confident about killing a pumpling that he charged right into the center of the forest and was instantly killed by a monster before he even saw it coming. He had grown stronger and even killed a border guardian during the summer, so he was confident in his skills.

            Soul pulled his two swords from their sheaths, one sword burned brightly with flames and the other froze the surrounding air. His swords Frost and Ember were his most prized possessions in the game. Ayla readied her sword and shield and the two charged in. Pumplings were just living pumpkins with vines sprouting from the tops. The Pumplings could walk using the vines like spider legs and would also attack with vines. Ayla charged forward as living pumpkins smashed against her shield and exploded. Soul Shadow held his swords out slashing anything that approached from the sides.

            As they traveled deeper into the forest they saw living trees, ghosts, goblins with carved pumpkins for helmets and slightly larger pumpkin monsters. Soul had seen all of these monsters before and rushed on through. He wanted to fight the boss of the forest, The Halloween Border Guardian. Guarding the border from this world, to the next. Only a few players had ever beat the Halloween Guardian and those who did said the secret world he guarded was amazing.

            Ayla and Soul rushed toward the center of the forest, excited to see the Halloween Border Guardian. The deeper they went into the forest the more menacing the trees looked. The bark was black and the gnarled roots stuck up from the ground. the bare, jagged branches stretched up high in the air and twisted together to block out the sun. Soul felt like he had entered a cave made of black bark and wood. The two heroes came upon a clearing with a large black door in the center standing upright but not connected to anything. “This must be the center of the forest!” Ayla said with excitement. There weren’t any monsters around and the door seemed unguarded. “Ok, well this is obviously a trap. Lets slowly approach the door and watch out for danger” Soul said. “I have a better idea” Ayla replied.

            Ayla reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle that contained electricity. She threw the magical bottle and it shattered next to the door. Electricity burst out from the bottle and stuck everything within ten feet of the broken bottle. Nothing was within ten feet of the door so only the door was shocked. Then something shimmered in the air and electricity shot forward and struck the target. A loud roar echoed through the forest.

            The Halloween Guardian appeared before the Soul and Ayla. He was hidden and waiting to attack from the shadows, but the shock bottle forced him out of hiding. The guardian was eleven feet tall, had broad shoulders, long black jacket and thick sturdy boots. The guardian’s head was a fiery Jack-o-lantern that could move to form facial expressions. Fire poured from the eyes and mouth when the Guardian roared. The Halloween Guardian carried a scythe on his back and it was easily fifteen feet long. The reach of his weapon was incredible. The reach of the scythe combined with his invisibility was the reason many players never saw the forest Boss before they died.

            The Boss brought his scythe into the air and began cackling insanely. Flames burst from his eyes and mouth as he laughed. Ayla and Soul looked determined. The Pumpkin boss held the scythe tight in its thick leather glove clad hands. He swung with enough force to slice a forest or person in half. Soul went to dodge but Ayla charged forward. “What are you doing?” Soul shouted. “Only one way to know if we are strong enough to fight him” She replied as her shield collided with the scythe. Ayla was pushed back several feet but her shield held and eventually stopped the attack. Soul was amazed but realized now was his chance to attack.

            Soul moved quickly over the battlefield and stabbed his swords upward into the Halloween Guardians chest. Frost and Ember froze and burned at the Guardians stab wounds. The Halloween Guardian used his left hand to swat Soul away. Soul went flying and hit a tree. The Halloween Guardian started to turn invisible, his legs vanished and he began to float on a ghostly tail. He flew at Soul with his Scythe drawn back. The Guardian looked like specter with a Jack-o-lantern for a head. His eyes burned bright with fire and flames shot from his mouth.

            Soul rolled to dodge the flames then used Frost to slash at any remaining flames he couldn’t escape in time. The icy aura of Souls sword extinguished flames on impact. The Guardian swung his giant scythe while Soul was distracted with the flames. The Guardian stopped mid swing though because Ayla had stabbed him in the back with her sword. She held up her shield and blocked as the Guardian breathed fired down on Ayla. Soul ran straight, jumped into the air and then slashed the air with both swords. Fire and ice magic formed in the air and flew straight at the Guardians pumpkin head. The fire and ice attack ruptured the Guardian’s head and flames began to burst from the damaged areas.

            Ayla and Soul used this chance to frantically slash and stab at the Guardian. Soon the Guardian let out a howl and vanished from sight.

            Soul and Ayla smiled as they looked at the door the Halloween Border Guardian was guarding.  “after you!” Soul said with a smile then gestured to the door. Ayla walked forward and opened the door. Both heroes were transported to a Halloween world.

            The world was a full Halloween version of their game. All the cities were even not only decorated for Halloween but many structures looked haunted, old or abandoned. The beach area of the game had skeleton pirates, every forest had living trees and Pumplings, the mountain area was filled with undead trolls and pumpkin headed golems and just a few of the friendly towns in the game that players used to restock items and rest were now full of zombie versions of all of the towns people.

            “I don’t know how this could get any better!” Soul said. “Did you check your mail today? I sent you something” Ayla told Soul. “…your real life mail, not in game mail” She added as Soul looked in a post box for mail.

            Jacob jumped up from his computer chair and ran to the door. There was a large package waiting for him. He opened it and inside was a lovely note from Sarah and a Halloween costume. The note said that Sarah had made Jacob a costume so he could dress as Soul for Halloween. The box contained everything Jacob would need for his costume, except for the swords, which Jake already had.

            Jacob put the costume on and took a picture. He sent it to Ayla with the text “Happy Halloween”

Clash of Reality part 3

            Torchlight flickered off of the green stone wall of the ancient catacombs.  The sound of battle echoed through the otherwise empty tunnels. Green flames exploded against a warriors golden shield. Upon impact with the shield the fire burst and split off, causing a splash effect. Ayla the Warrior jumped backward with her shield raised as she tried to avoid the scattering flames.

            A group of adventurers including Soul Shadow and Ayla were fighting the Ancient undead wizard known as the Lich. The Lich’s bone jaw rattled against its skull as The Lich moved around the room. The Lich could float and his movements were strange and unpredictable.

            Ayla charged in with her short sword and struck the Lich, then immediately had to block any incoming attacks with her shield. Green flames exploded against Ayla’s shield causing her to stumble backward. Every time the Lich threw his green fire the flames would explode on impact and send smaller flames in every direction. Even though they were in a stone room the green fire stayed burning for a few seconds before dying out. This meant that even if a single flame attack was dodged or blocked the heroes would still have to watch their step for any remaining fire still burning. The longer the battle dragged on the more dangerous the room became.

            Since Ayla was focused on fighting the ancient, powerful, undead wizard in front of her, Soul helped by watching her back. He used his ice sword to extinguish any flames around Ayla so she didn’t have to take her eyes off of the Lich. Whenever the area was clear of flames Soul would help attack. His speed was as amazing as ever and often was able to strike the Lich with his swords before the Lich even realized he was being attacked. Soul couldn’t stay in one spot and attack though because the Lich was even more dangerous up close.

            Red flames sizzled and burned the Lich ever time Soul attacked with his sword of Ember. The Lich swiped his skeleton hand at Soul ever time Soul got close. The Hands of the Lich glowed in a dark purple energy and every swipe of his hands left an energy trail similar to Soul’s swords.

            The rest of the group was helping too. As Ayla blocked the Lich and tried to keep him distracted other players would attack when they were able. There were five members all together. Ayla, Soul, Orx a fighter with a two handed axe, Simon an archer who specialized in using a magical gun instead of a bow and Fina the only spellcaster in the group. 

            Simon fired an freezing round at the Lich. The Lich was hit but didn’t seem to notice. Usually this would freeze the unit solid, instead it only slowed the Lich down. Fina was a charging a spell in the back of the room. When it was ready she let out a barrage of lighting bolts that struck the Lich in rapid succession. The Lich was jolted and stopped fighting for a second also bits of the Lich’s cloak ripped and had burns on it from the lighting. Ayla, Soul and Orx charged in when they saw an opening. Orx jumped in the air and slashed his battle-axe down on the Lich, the impact of the strike caused the ground to shake. Soul moved in and slashed with all of his strength. Soul unleashed a flurry of freezing and burning strikes. Ayla finished the attack with a precision strike into the Lich’s chest.

            The Lich took massive damage in the brief one second opening where he couldn’t move. This wasn’t enough to stop him though and he reached out his long arm and grabbed Orx with his large skeleton hand. The Lich lifted Orx into the air with ease. The other party members gasped and began attacking with everything they had. Orx screamed and the Lich began to laugh. A haunting laugh echoed through the stone halls. Dark energy swirled around Orx as the Lich was draining away his health. Soul jumped and tried to slash the Lich’s arm to free Orx but the Lich’s second arm came up and swatted Soul. Dark energy engulfed the hero as he flew across the room. Soul hit the wall with a sickening thud and crumpled to the ground. Ayla couldn’t stand it she charged with her shield and using all of her strength slammed into the Lich with her shield. The Lich, who was still floating, was knocked off balance and was sent into the wall on the other side of the room. The Lich dropped Orx and then hit the wall. Bones broke free and fell off of the Lich.

Fina repeated caste her healing spells on Soul and then Orx. Soul was able to stand but was weakened. Dark energy still clung to him and sapped his strength. Fina began charging a large spell. Soul and Ayla nodded to eachother and charge the Lich. Simon began firing every kind of special bullet he had. Explosive, fire, ice, acid and frag ammo were all fired as quickly as he could reload. The Lich was standing and no longer floating. His hands began to glow even brighter as he charged up a spell. Soul ran at the Lich head on. The Lich caste his spell and threw a giant green fireball at Soul. Soul threw his swords and jumped into the air at the last minute. The fireball barely missed Soul and it continued to fly forward, now at Ayla. Soul’s swords flew straight and both hit the Lich in the chest.

The green fireball was about to hit Ayla but Fina cast a reflective spell on Ayla’s shield. The Green fireball stuck Ayla’s shield and Ayla pushed back against it with all of her might. The Green fire was not blocked but reflected and sent back at the Lich.

The Lich was being shot with all sorts of elemental ammo and had two of the games most powerful swords sticking out of his chest. He was too weak to float or teleport and his own giant fireball was headed right at him. The green fire struck the Lich and he let out an unholy scream as he was burned to dust.

The battle was over and the fight was won. The heroes sighed with relief. They had beaten the legendary Lich. There were no words that could express how happy they were with their victory.

Orx: GG guys. GG.

Soul:…You just had to ruin it. yeah, good game to you  too Orx.

            Ayla laughed and Soul smiled. The rest of the party signed off and their characters were sent out of the dungeon. “So I think the hero of the day deserves a kiss, don’t you?” Said Ayla with a sly smile. “Y-yeah that would be great!” Soul said. “I was talking about me!” Ayla said and then started to laugh.

Soul: So Sarah…

Ayla: Ayla is fine.

Soul: I know we talked about meeting. Things have been going so well so I figured I could take a bus to your town.

Ayla: Wow, that would be great! This is kind of sudden. Did you just decide on this?

Soul: No, I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Besides then I could give the hero of the day a kiss…

 

            Weeks passed from that day. The day Jacob and Sarah beat the Ancient Lich. It was a great accomplishment for them and meant even more because they did it together as team.

            In the small town of Lindberry at the local bus station a pale twenty two year old girl with red hair waits for the bus. She wore jeans and a t-shirt with a warrior crest on it from the game she plays. She was also wearing a red cloak made of thin material. It seemed a little out of place but She wore it with pride. The bus pulled up to the station and passengers all file out of the bus. The passengers all looked travel weary. They lug their bags and backpacks, each person matches up with someone waiting for their arrival. The redheaded girl looked around but didn’t see anyone for her. She watched happy reunions and smiles as strangers left the station.

            Then she saw him. The boy she was waiting for, Jacob. Jacob was twenty three, average looking with brown hair, jeans and a black t-shirt. He dragged a green suitcase behind him. He looked at the ground as he made his way past all of the strangers. Then he saw her, Sarah. She was more beautiful than in her pictures and she even found a red cloak that looked like the cloak from the game. His heart raced as he walked toward her. They were both smiling like idiots as they drew closer. Jacob went to call her name, “Sarah!” He thinks, but stops and instead says “Ayla!”

            Sarah’s smile widened even more, despite being almost physically impossible. She grabbed his arm and looked up at him “Soul, you made it” She said so only he could hear her. Jacob leaned down and kissed her. “My hero” Said Jacob.

The house of Darkwood

            In the land of holidays and seasons there rests the autumn forest, where people live with eternal fall scenery and bountiful harvest, and then there is Hallows End, where everyone celebrates Halloween and the spooky side of a fall night. Between these two places is the Haunted forest, a forest were ghosts and spirits dwell in such numbers that it seems that every tree and plant has a mind of its own. The forest has a way of playing tricks on people and has even been known to trap people forever if they wander in alone. Once a year large groups of people travel to Hallows End to celebrate Halloween by traveling through the haunted forest and as long as everyone stays together it is a safe journey.

            For the most part everyone in the Autumn Forest, Hallows End and even the people of other lands, love Halloween. Everyone except Joseph Mcgree and his wife Sarah Mcgree. This seemingly normal couple live just outside the dark forest and always dreads Halloween. The Dark Forest is the most narrow point of the Haunted forest as the forest comes to a cliffside and ends short of the drop. Its just called the Dark Forest because its dark and spooky like the Haunted forest, but this section of trees isn’t haunted. All year the Dark Forest only look menacing, but is actually as safe as any normal forest, but on Halloween creatures and monsters branch out from the heart of the Haunted forest, making the Dark forest and all of the immediate surrounding areas dangerous for anyone who is out at night and not part of a large group armed with torches and weapons.

            It was the night before Halloween and the Mcgrees stayed in as usual. They didn’t enjoy Halloween in general but the added danger made things worse. Joseph was reading when he started to hear scratching at his door. It sounded like a small animal, maybe a lost dog or a stray cat. Normally one of the Mcgrees would answer the door, but this close to Halloween they wouldn’t open the door for anyone after sunset. The scratching continued and Joseph tried to ignore it. He had to keep telling himself it was probably a tricky spirit trying to lure them outside. Sarah looked up and Joseph just shook his head. The two went back to their reading. Then they heard a soft and sad meowing. “its not Halloween yet” Sarah said. She imagined a scared cat outside, alone and so close to the dark forest at night. “No, it could be anything” Joseph said. In honestly he was thinking the same thing as his wife, but they both needed to keep each other in line during dangerous times.

            The night dragged on. Sarah was walking to their bedroom and saw a cat jump up to their window. “it is a cat!” Sarah called to Joseph. Joseph got up from his chair and looked. There was a black cat in the window, it was small and sad looking. “Maybe we could open the window quickly” Joseph said hesitantly. Just as he said this the two heard footsteps outside. They looked at each other and went to the next window to see who was outside. They both looked and didn’t see anyone. Then the scratching at the door started again, but the cat was still at the first bedroom window. Sarah left the bedroom to check the front window. “If there are monsters outside, the cat could get eaten” Joseph said to Sarah, he spoke loudly so she could hear him from the bedroom. She didn’t respond.

            Joseph slowly walked to the window, as he did the cat stood up and rubbed against the glass. “I will just grab the cat quickly” Joseph muttered. He slowly opened the window and reached his hand out for the cat. By this time the cat had a strange twinkle in its eye. Joseph realized, if this was a real cat, why wasn’t it purring, or meowing or making any noise. Just as Joseph opened the window, Sarah walked in holding an orange and white cat. “Don’t be mad, but I double checked before I opened the door. There was a cat outside. Just not the one by the w…” Sarah said but stopped talking as she saw the window open and something horrible was standing in place of the black cat.

            Joseph had turned his head to see Sarah as she entered the room, he saw her terrified expression and his stomach sank. He turned back around and a grizzled, hair claw grabbed a hold of Joseph’s face and covered his mouth before he could scream. The darkness of night hid most of the creatures face so all Joseph could see was a black hair arm, rough skinned, clawed hand and two black beady eyes that reflected the light from the house. The creature pulled on Joseph and tried to drag him outside. Joseph’s mind raced as this beast was tugging on his head. Then suddenly there was a release and Joseph was thrown back into the house and almost landed on the orange cat as he fell backward.

            When Joseph looked up he saw his wife holding and axe, which was now covered in a dark green blood and the window was closed. A hairy monster arm sat still and rigid on the bedroom floor and the orange cat started to attack its fingers.

            “I’m glad we decided to keep an axe in every room” Sarah said. Joseph just nodded, his eyes still wide with fear. Sarah’s mind was racing and her palms were sweaty, but to Joseph she appeared perfectly calm. “You know I had a choice between you and Mary Sue down the street” Joseph said with a smile. Sarah started to laugh. “Yes and with Mary Sue you would have enjoyed her pleasant company up until a monster pulled your head off as she stood there and screamed” Sarah replied. The two laughed for a few minutes, which helped relieve some of the stress and fear.

            After a few minutes of chuckling and eventual silence, Sarah finally spoke up “So what do you want to do for Halloween?” She said with a sly grin. “Well we need to think of a name for this cat and nothing beats reading a good book and staying in” Joseph said. “as long as you keep an axe with you” Sarah added.