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.
