A woman in her mid-thirties, with bright red hair and a plump but not overweight figure, was busy decorating her house in preparation for the neighborhood Halloween contest. While humming a cheerful tune, she would place a prop here and there. The woman was very enthusiastic about the particular holiday.
Each Halloween, she would decorate her house differently from the previous year in order to stand out in her neighborhood’s Halloween-Decorating contest. As a bonafide decorator, it was her duty to decorate to the very best of her ability.
In the previous years, she was always a few points shy from first place. It was always the housewife from across the street who would win by a small margin. That slut must be cheating! She must have slept around with the attending judges. That has to be it!
The woman quickly calmed herself down as she smoothed out the wrinkles of a sheet of wrapping paper in her hands. This year was different. This year, she was confident in winning. She had a trump card.
A few months ago, while shopping for Halloween supplies and props, she discovered an antique shop located in a small alleyway next to the arts and crafts store she usually visits. At first, she peeked through the windows out of curiosity. However, suddenly, she had a drawing urge to enter the store and see what’s inside.
And it was a good thing she did! While browsing inside, she discovered an antiquated book titled ‘Best Halloween Decorations’. There were many chapters on DIY crafts as well as recipes for homemade sweets. There were even excerpts describing the scariest or most popular props and decorations throughout history.
But, it was one section that attracted her attention the most. On the chapter right after the ‘History of Halloween Decorations’, there was a short excerpt that described the perfect arrangement of different Halloween props in order to enhance a house’s ‘Halloween Aura’. The word ‘aura’ was used rather strangely but judging from how old the book was, the woman dismissed it as another word for ‘spirit’.
Taking the chance, the woman bought the book and prepared herself for the following Halloween. Step by step, she searched and purchased the necessary props. The stuff she couldn’t find, she had her husband make them for her. She created all of the DIY decorations and dabbled through all of the recipes.
On the day before Halloween, she began to arrange the props around the house, both inside and outside, according to the specific order described in the book. Being stuck at home alone as it was drizzling outside and her husband was at work, the decorator decided to go the extra mile and followed the ‘optional’ instructions in the chapter which involved setting up paper symbols on the doors and windows of the house.
With everything set and done, it was time for the final instruction... the Festive Cheer - said to bring good luck to the decorator and enhance the aura of the decorated location. The woman turned off the lights and lit up the candles. After double-checking to make sure everything was ready and in the right position, she began to read the Festive Cheer.
“Halloween has come! Let the bells ring and the people chant! Let the pumpkins shine and the festivities begin! Let the world shake and the ground tremble! Let the Halloween Aura condense and break free the spirit of the Hallow Fiend.” The decorator chanted, however, when she read the last word, she was a bit confused. “Fiend? Why ‘fiend’? Could it have been ‘friend’ instead? This book is rather old and there is a slight gap between the ‘f’ and the ‘i’. Maybe the ‘r’ must have faded away with time. Hmm, let me try again.”
The decorator was just about to restart the Festive Cheer when her living room lights blinked on and off. She glanced up nervously and wondered. Could it be that I needed to change the light bulb again? Strange...I know I already replaced it last week. Maybe it’s nothing. Look, the lights are back off again.
With a shrug, she read through her book once again. However, unbeknownst to her, while she read through the chant, a shadow began to dim behind her. As the shadow continued to darken, it began to quiver as if dancing to the flickers of the candle lights.
Suddenly, the shadow stopped trembling despite the candle lights flickering even more erratically. It began to rise from the ground. A huge blob of pure blackness rose from the darkened spot until it reached nearly two meters tall. It paused and motionlessly loomed behind the woman as she continued to the last line of the Festive Cheer.
“...and break free the spirit of the Hallow Friend.” The decorator exclaimed as she closed the book. “Ah, finally done. This was a pretty good cheer. I’m feeling lucky already! Oh, why’s it so dark in here?”
The decorator turned around curiously and saw the huge, shadowy figure. Dropping the book in her hands, she screamed in utter terror. But her scream was cut short when the shadowy figure knocked her down and forcefully squirmed its way into her open mouth.
But, something strange happened. Instead of barging into the decorator’s mouth, the shadowy figure was repelled. The figure struggled for a bit on the ground before forming a humanoid shape. It looked at the decorator in surprise.
H-How? A mental voice echoed like coarse sandpaper.
“How, you say? Because I’m a Decorator.” The woman replied as she pulled out a miniature cloth doll.
As time passed, the world had suffered through certain catastrophic events. And through the ashes of such events, science and sorcery combined to give birth to Creativity and Imagination. Creativity was a form of energy that was inherent in every human being and Imagination was what produced Creativity.
However, only a select few could unlock the secrets of Creativity. Those who could, could gain superhuman powers. Many who form their Creativity Cores were interested in creating – Writers, Artists, Craftsmen, and even Decorators.
To summarize, a decorator was different from a Decorator. A decorator was someone who enjoys creating and decorating. However, a Decorator was someone who enjoys all those things and managed to form his or her own Creativity Core.
The woman murmured a chant at the doll as her hands glowed a golden hue, activating her Creativity Core. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she decorated the doll with a ribbon and a plastic sword and flung it into the air. As if by magic, the doll grew in size until it loomed over the shadowy figure. It stood at least a head taller and carried a sharp steel sword in its right hand.
What sorcery is this? The humanoid frowned in disbelief.
“Sorcery? No, this is Creativity! Attack!” The Decorator gestured as the giant doll lunged towards the shadowy humanoid.
Like water, the shadowy figure evaded the doll’s initial attack and retaliated with a spiky fist. The black fist pierced through the cloth doll but what damage could it have done? The doll did not feel pain and puncturing a hole in its body would not have impeded it much.
Without giving the humanoid a chance to withdraw its fist, the cloth doll charged forward. As the spiky fist thrust through deeper and deeper, the cloth doll swung its sword with all of its might.
WHOOSH!
Towards any other enemy, he or she would have been cut into two. However, for the shadowy figure, the sword slashed right through. Its consistency was like water. It was near impossible for the cloth doll to deal any damage to it.
The Decorator widened her eyes in surprise as she reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a matchstick. “If slashing doesn’t work, I’ll burn you to death!”
With another flick of her wrist, she retrieved the sword from the cloth doll and replaced it with the matchstick. The steel sword twirled in the air, shrinking in size and changing in composition. In a matter of seconds, the steel sword became a plastic toy sword in the woman’s hands.
Similarly, the matchstick grew in size and became a club in the doll’s hands. The doll swiped the club across the shadowy figure, causing sparks to fly everywhere. As soon as the club caught on fire, the shadowy figure was implemented as well.
Fire flowed from the club onto the humanoid and spread like wildfire. The shadowy figure struggled for a bit but did not make a single sound. Soon, unable to maintain its humanoid form, it collapsed into a burning pool of darkness.
“Hmph. Hardly a fight.” The Decorator snorted as she recalled her cloth doll. With a sigh, she sat down to calm herself down. “Ugh…now there’s a mess. I’ve got to clean this up before Jack comes home. Otherwise, how am I supposed to explain all this to him?”
The woman sighed once more before turning towards the burning pool. And then it happened. To the woman’s surprise, the burning pool of darkness extinguished its fire and shot towards her. Before she could react, the shadowy figure burrowed into her mouth, squirming deep into her insides. Sounds of intense struggling and gargling could be heard as lightning boomed outside. And then...there was silence.
After the struggle, the Decorator laid on the floor while some blood pooled from her seven orifices. Her eyes closed and her breathing became extremely faint...so faint that anyone could mistake her for dead. Every strand of hair on her body changed from vibrant red to pure black.
Suddenly, her eyes opened. An intense darkness dyed in each eyeball, thickening and enveloping them. In a matter of seconds, what was once two hazel-colored eyes had become pure blackness. The Decorator convulsed for a short period before slowly clambering to her feet. She stretched around a couple of times before wiping away the blood from her mouth.
The Decorator, now demon, took in a deep breath before cackling with excitement. “I’m back. I’m back! Haha! Those damnable Saints sealed me for so long. Now that I’m out, I shall rule this world once more! Hahaha! This damned bitch! Thought you could burn me? I’m a fucking demon! Hahaha!”
The demon coughed roughly and spat out a blob of black blood from her throat. “Ugh! This vessel is too weak! I need to consume more energy...more vitality.”
The demon tapped her head as she rummaged through the memories of her vessel. The Decorator’s name was Olivia Quinn, a simple housewife to Jack Quinn. She had a penchant for Halloween decorations and had entered a number of neighborhood contests.
Through her knowledge and experience, she had a thorough understanding of which type of decorations would attract the most attention. This piece of memory was exactly what the demon wanted.
“So that’s what attracts the most people during All Hallows Eve...or rather, Halloween as they call it nowadays. Hmm, very nice...very nice indeed.” The demon nodded with excitement.
It was time for the revival of the demonic invasion.
