This is a little short story I did for a holiday contest in a writer’s community I’m part of. It’s set in the world of one of my stories, Bone Chills, which I will actually be writing the second draft of come this February, so in a sense this is a sneak peak for that, even if this specific thing doesn’t happen in the story. This story is essentially this world’s version of winter solstice and how they celebrate it.
This story is a middle grade portal fantasy with some humorous elements.
—
Asroe sat curled up on the couch with a couple blankets wrapped tightly around her. Even with the fire burning in the fireplace, the house was still frigid. That wasn’t much different than any other day here, of course, but today it seemed especially cold.
The front door suddenly opened, letting in the terrible cold from outside, and that certainly didn’t help matters at all.
“West, do you have those lights ready yet?”
Asroe glanced toward the door, curling the blankets closer around herself. Both Tamara and Sebastian were standing in the doorway and hadn’t bothered to shut the door, despite the snow beginning to blow in.
“Close the door!” she finally screamed. Tamara blinked, as if just noticing Asroe for the first time, then she glanced behind her and saw the door was open.
“Ah, sorry Asroe, I wasn’t thinking.” Tamara quickly slammed the door shut and pressed her back against it with a bit of a grin. “You know us, we don’t notice the cold as much so we don’t think about it.”
Asroe grumbled under her breath and turned her back toward them, trying to keep as far away from the draft as possible. Even if she had mostly gotten used to living at West’s house, being the only human among a bunch of undead creatures could be a little difficult sometimes. Being the only human in the entire world, really.
West came down the stairs after Sebastian had called for him a third or fourth time. “Yes, yes, I’m here, I was just double checking some things.”
“You have all the lights ready for Darkest Night?” Tamara asked. Asroe glanced up at this and tilted her head to the side curiously.
“Yes, I checked them all last night to make sure they were working. I’m fairly certain we have enough for the whole city.”
Asroe got up from the couch and wandered over to where the two skeletons and vampire were gathered. “Um, what are you guys doing?” she asked tentatively.
“Oh, didn’t we tell you?” Tamara asked with a little smirk, her long fangs poking out from under her lips. “Tonight’s the Darkest Night and West is in charge of lights, since he’s the only one who really knows how to make them and all.”
West sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I really should hire an apprentice so they can start learning to do this themselves. I’m sure there are capable citizens who would have a head for this sort of thing.”
“You know why they won’t do it,” Tamara said with a sigh, shaking her head. “Beastmen are superstitious and only like to work with nature and elements and all that.”
“Then why is it they accept the use of electrical lights at all?” West huffed.
Asroe stared at them blankly. “Um, what’s Darkest Night, exactly?”
“Oh, that’s right, I forget that you haven’t been here long,” West mumbled under his breath. Sebastian was the one who decided to explain it this time.
“Darkest Night is the longest night of the year,” the skeleton said with a faint smirk. “Everyone gathers around in the town square terrified for the lives because that’s when the monsters come out.”
Asroe’s eyes grew wide. “Is that really true, or are you just trying to scare me?”
Sebastian shrugged and turned away toward the front door. “Guess you’ll just have to find out, won’t you?”
Asroe glared at him as he pulled the door open and a draft of cold air blew through her. She shuddered and turned away. West sighed and rubbed a hand across the top of his skull.
“The lights are out in the work shed, if you would help me to deliver them.” He glanced toward Asroe. “All of you. Why don’t you bundle up and help as well? I’m sure you won’t want to miss this, Asroe.”
“But it’s cold outside,” Asroe whined.
“It’s always cold outside,” Tamara said with a chuckle. “You’ll get used to it, don’t worry about it.”
Reluctantly, Asroe put on the warmest clothes she could find, shoving her feet into her fur lined boots and pulling on her gloves which were so thick she could hardly move her fingers. She stood by the fireplace for a few minutes more before finally heading outside with everyone else to West’s work shed.
There were several large boxes filled with what appeared to be fairy lights. Asroe’s eyes lit up when she saw them and she peered up at West. “Did you make these yourself?”
“I did,” West said with a nod. “They’re quite simple if you know what you’re doing and have all the right materials.”
“I still don’t know where you get this stuff,” Sebastian muttered as he grabbed one of the larger boxes and began moving off with it. Asroe watched him go and idly wondered how it was a skeleton could be so strong when he didn’t have any muscles. Then again, Sebastian and West could do a lot of strange things that she never realized skeletons were capable of doing.
“Come on, Asroe,” Tamara said, putting one of the lighter boxes into her arms. “We’re taking these into the city to give out to everybody.”
Asroe readjusted her grip on the box until she was confident she had a good hold of it. She glanced around and frowned a bit. “Are Mason and Marla going to help?”
“Well, Marla’s a ghost so she can’t really lift solid objects,” Tamara said with a little chuckle, then her expression changed to one of irritation. “And Mason conveniently decided to disappear just as I said we were going to be doing this.”
Asroe huffed and followed Tamara with West coming up behind them holding a couple boxes of his own. “Maybe he doesn’t want to come because he doesn’t like going into the city,” Asroe suggested.
Tamara sighed and nodded her head and Asroe noticed she was floating just a couple feet off the ground to move with the boxes she was carrying. “Probably, but he also just doesn’t like to work, so whatever.”
The three of them hiked through the thick snow out of the graveyard, following the little path Sebastian had already made for them just as he was on his way back to get the remaining boxes. Asroe followed as close behind Tamara as she could until they reached the city. There were many citizens bustling about at the moment, apparently all making preparations for Darkest Night, which Asroe was still not entirely sure she understood.
“Oh, there you are.” One of the beastmen came up to meet them and Asroe realized it was the captain of the royal guard, a black panther named Aconite. She regarded the three of them with a bit of a gleam in her beastly yellow eyes. Asroe swallowed. She still wasn’t entirely used to everyone– other than those in the graveyard– being animals who could walk on two legs like humans. Aconite in particular unnerved her because it felt like the panther lady always wanted to eat her.
“We’ve got everything,” West said as he set the boxes down beside Aconite. “It should be enough for the whole city, and I double checked to make sure they were in working condition. You won’t need assistance installing them, will you?”
“Of course not,” Aconite said with a faint growl. “We’ve done this for how many years now? We know what we’re doing, West.”
“Very well.” West glanced toward Asroe who quickly set her box down beside his, scrambling back behind Tamara to hide from Aconite’s piercing gaze. Aconite snorted at her then gave Tamara a rather distasteful look before turning her attention back to West.
“Are you all planning on attending the ceremony tonight?”
“Of course,” West said, sliding his bony hands into the pockets of his lab coat which he never seemed to take off. “Unless of course the king has something against us attending?”
Aconite rolled her eyes. “No, he doesn’t, at least so long as you all behave yourselves.”
West put a hand to his chest, looking almost offended. “We always do.”
“Not all of you,” Aconite growled, glancing once more at Tamara. Tamara glared back at her before sighing.
“I don’t know if Mason is going to show up, but if he does I will make sure he’s on his best behavior, you can count on that.”
“Fine,” Aconite said before turning away. “I have to go discuss the rest of the preparations with Nepeta. Just be sure to be here by nightfall.”
Asroe watched as Aconite walked away, her tail twitching in that way cats’ tails do when they’re annoyed. At just that moment, Sebastian came up behind them and set two more boxes down next to the others. “That’s all of them,” he said.
“Good, we can leave now,” West sighed. “They don’t need any more help.”
“Of course they don’t,” Sebastian muttered, glaring ruefully at Aconite’s back, though she had gotten a fair distance away by this point.
Tamara rolled her eyes and held her hand out to Asroe. “Come on, Asroe, let’s go back. You can warm up by the fire now if you want.”
Asroe took Tamara’s hand and Tamara lifted her off the ground, floating with her back toward the graveyard. Asroe glanced back at the city square as they got further away, then she looked up at Tamara.
“Um, so I’m still not really sure what Darkest Night actually is. Is it just like winter solstice or something?”
Tamara raised an eyebrow at her before a look of recognition came over her face. “Oh, I guess it is, but things are a little different here, you know, what with it always being winter.” Tamara chuckled somewhat humorlessly.
“Wait, so if it’s the solstice, does that mean it’s almost Christmas?”
“Oh, uh…” Tamara looked away from Asroe then landed on the ground just in front of West’s house. Rather than answering, the two of them went directly into the house. Asroe immediately ran over to the lit fireplace before pulling off her heavy clothes.
“Yeah, about that,” Tamara went on, “we don’t celebrate Christmas in this world.”
Asroe spun around, staring at Tamara with a look of disbelief in her eyes. “There’s no Christmas here? Then what’s even the point? I want to go home right now so I can have Christmas again.”
Tamara snorted and patted Asroe on the head. “It’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be, you know. I mean, we’ve been away from ho– the other world so long, we kind of forgot all about things like Christmas.” She shrugged her shoulders rather casually.
“How could you not celebrate Christmas, though?” Asroe asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“Pretty easily, really,” Tamara said. “Besides, we have Darkest Night. That’s… something.” Tamara furrowed her brow, as if she were going to relate Darkest Night to Christmas only to realize a second later the two were nothing alike. “Well, whatever.”
Asroe sighed then flopped over onto the couch. “I wonder if Aunt Fleur and Mom and Dad are celebrating Christmas back at home. I wonder if they’re worried about me.”
A ghostly apparition suddenly floated into the room, peering down at Asroe with a somewhat concerned look. “I don’t think it will do much good to worry about things like that, Asroe.”
Asroe glanced up at the ghost hovering over her and sighed. “But what if–”
“Shh.” Marla pressed a finger over Asroe’s lips. “We all felt the same way when we came here, too, but it’s not going to do any good. It would be better to just sit back and enjoy whatever it is life throws at you.”
Asroe stared at Marla, wanting to point out that Marla was a ghost and thus technically not alive, but she refrained from doing so as she figured it would be rather rude.
“So what do you do on Darkest Night, anyway?” she asked with a little sigh.
“Well,” Tamara said, sitting on the arm of the couch, “it became a recent tradition that everyone started hanging up those lights everywhere in the city. There’s a huge banquet for everyone to attend, and then at nightfall King Nepeta lights the sacred fire in the middle of the city and it stays burning all throughout the night.”
“Didn’t Sebastian say something about monsters, too?” Asroe asked, wrinkling her nose. “Or was he just trying to scare me?”
Tamara and Marla exchanged glances with each other, then Marla clasped her hands together. “Well, he probably was trying to scare you, but–”
“There is a chance that monsters come out,” Tamara said with a frown. “We call it Darkest Night because the sun sets so early and doesn’t rise again for what feels like ages. A lot of monsters like to come out when it’s dark. There’s a reason we have all those lights up, along with the sacred flame. It’s to keep monsters away.”
Asroe stared up at the two of them and a chill crept up her spine, though this time it wasn’t from the cold. “Are we safe from them?”
“Oh, don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” Tamara said with a reassuring smile. “The lights should be enough to scare them off, honestly. There haven’t been any monster attacks in recent memory. It’s just a possibility that we need to keep in mind, but it’s not really something that anyone is expecting to happen.”
Asroe wasn’t entirely reassured by this, but she sighed. “Well, I guess you and Sebastian can protect us if any monsters do come, right?”
Tamara grinned, showing off her fangs. “You got that right. No monsters are going to attack us.”
“So, did you say something about a banquet earlier?” Asroe asked. The idea of hot food sounded wonderful. Most of her diet since she got here consisted of soup and crackers, so maybe there would be better food at this banquet.
“Oh, yeah,” Tamara said somewhat dismissively. “We don’t go to that, though, we just come for the flame lighting.”
“Oh.” Asroe tried to hide the disappointment in her voice. Marla tilted her head to the side and leaned closer to her.
“Well, just because none of us graveyard folk go to the banquet doesn’t mean you can’t go, Asroe. It’s just that none of us really need to eat– well, other than Tamara and Mason, but that’s a little different.” She cleared her throat, trying to back out of the awkward topic.
Asroe stared blankly at the ghost floating above her. “I just want food, okay.”
“You can go,” Tamara said with a snort. “We’ll meet you at the flame lighting ceremony.”
“But I don’t want to go by myself. The beastmen always look at me weirdly, and I still think Aconite wants to eat me.”
Tamara laughed and patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Asroe. No one wants to eat you–”
“Didn’t Mason try to eat her when she first got here?” Marla asked. Tamara and Asroe both stared at her, then Tamara sighed.
“No one other than my idiot brother is going to try to eat you, but you don’t have to worry about him either, I set him straight.”
Asroe crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “Fine, but if anyone tries to do anything to me when you guys aren’t around, I’m entirely blaming you.”
“Deal.”
Asroe toiled away the rest of the day sitting in front of the fire and playing games with Tamara and Marla. When it was almost time for the banquet to begin, Asroe put on her heavy winter clothes and left the warmth of West’s house. Tamara and Marla waved to her as she went and she glared back at them. She still wasn’t entirely comfortable going out on her own.
She passed by West on her way toward the city, but he didn’t seem to take much notice of her, or he just didn’t care; it was hard to tell with him. Asroe wrapped her arms around herself as she trudged through the deep snow toward the city. It was already beginning to grow dark. She hoped she wouldn’t be late for the banquet.
“Where are you off to, squirt?”
Asroe stopped and looked up to see Mason floating above her, his chin resting in his hands. He had a rather unnerving smile on his face that did not make her feel the least bit comfortable.
“I’m going to the Darkest Night banquet,” Asroe said, frowning up at him.
“Ooh, sounds fun. Mind if I tag along?”
“Tamara said you guys never go to the banquet.”
“She might not, but just because I’m her twin doesn’t mean I have to do everything the same way she does.”
“That’s obvious,” Asroe muttered into her scarf. She started walking toward the city again. Mason tilted his head to the side and floated after her.
“What’s with the cold shoulder, kid?” he said with a bit of a laugh. “I mean, you get along so well with my sister and everyone else, but you sure don’t seem to like me that much. Why’s that?”
“Maybe because you tried to eat me when we first met,” Asroe grunted.
“You’re not over that yet? Geez, kids these days. I thought you would’ve forgotten about that by now.”
Asroe rolled her eyes and continued walking until she reached the city. She glanced back behind her to see if Mason was still following her, but he was gone and she saw no sign of him. With a sigh, she made her way toward the large castle that looked over the rest of the city.
There were several beastmen walking toward the palace at the same time she was, making her feel a little better knowing she wasn’t late. One beastman came up behind her and murmured, “You came for the feast did you, little human?”
Asroe looked over her shoulder to see a fox standing over her, his large fluffy tail swishing behind him. She swallowed and nodded her head. “Isn’t everyone invited?” she asked tentatively.
The fox laughed at her and patted her on the head. “Of course. Besides, even if you live in the graveyard with them, you’re not like the undead. We like you, don’t worry about it.”
This made her feel a little better, but at the same time she wasn’t sure she liked what he’d just said. It implied they didn’t like the other denizens of the graveyard. Everyone there was really nice– well everyone except for Mason, and Sebastian could be kind of a jerk sometimes too, and West was a little anti-social– Tamara and Marla were really nice, though.
Asroe and the rest of the beastmen got to the castle and made their way to a great banquet hall. There were tables stretched all across the room with food set all around them. It smelled wonderful and Asroe’s mouth started to water.
The king sat at the head of the table, his fiery orange fur ruffling slightly as he scanned the banquet hall with his yellow eyes. Once everyone had been seated, he stood to address the entire hall.
“We gather here together on this, the Darkest Night, where we remember our place in this world. Though we suffer through this frozen land, plagued by monsters who wish to devour us, we still prevail. Even though it seems like our world is dead, the forest god still provides for us, giving us the food we need to survive. Without it, we would not have this banquet.”
Asroe tilted her head to the side curiously. This was the first time she’d ever heard mention of any sort of forest god. She wondered if this was a being she could actually meet, or if this was just some strange belief the beastmen held about the forest.
“Though we have lost many, we have gained many as well.” The king gazed across the table, looking particularly at the young beasts around the table before his gaze settled directly upon Asroe. “Including those we never thought we would have met. All are welcome at our table.”
Asroe blushed a little and slid down in her seat a bit when she saw other beastmen looking at her. Finally, the old tiger’s speech ended and he sat down, letting out a final growl.
“Let us eat.”
There were all sorts of different foods being passed around the table: a variety of meats, nuts, berries, fruits, and even vegetables. Asroe had a bowl of stew with a large crust of bread. Though in the back of her mind she wondered where they found ingredients to make some of these things, she decided she really didn’t care. Everything was delicious and a good departure from her normal diet.
Asroe felt much warmer with all this delicious food in her belly. She’d also been given a mug of hot apple cider which was one of her favorite things to drink during the winter back home, and she was glad they had it here. Once her stomach was filled and she was satisfied, she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, listening to everyone talking around her. Since she was not on familial terms with any of the beastmen, she still felt a little awkward and out of place. She wished Tamara or Marla could be here. She’d even take West or Sebastian at this point. It was strangely lonely, even with so many people around her.
A great sense of relief came over to her when King Nepeta stood again and said that night had fallen and it was time for the flame lighting ceremony. The banquet hall soon emptied and everyone went outside to the city square.
It was terribly dark out already, though the fairy lights on the buildings which West and the others had delivered earlier were helping to brighten things up. They gave off an eerie glow that almost felt like magic.
Everyone gathered around a large stone brazier which appeared to be filled with ashes and coal. Asroe managed to squeeze her way toward the front of the crowd so she could see what was happening. Miraculously she found the denizens of the graveyard all at the front of the crowd as well. Tamara smiled and pulled Asroe close so they could watch the flame lighting together.
King Nepeta stood beside the brazier, clutching something in the palm of his hand. Everyone stood in silence as he spoke. “Let this, our sacred flame, keep us safe during the night and never let the monsters touch us in our fair city. We will prevail, no matter the hardship.”
He laid what appeared to be a large stone that had a faint red glow to it in the center of the brazier, nestled among the ash and coal. The king leaned forward and breathed over the stone, whispering words Asroe could not understand, and a moment later the stone began to glow even brighter than before, then burst into flames.
The fire grew larger and larger, the flames dancing and flickering this way and that. Even standing a ways back from it, Asroe could feel the warmth of the fire on her face. King Nepeta gazed out at the crowd through the flames. “We will prevail!” he said again. “The night shall never overtake us, the darkness never extinguish us. We will prevail.”
The crowd hung around for a little longer, probably warming themselves by the sacred fire, but soon everyone began to disburse and return to their homes. Tamara patted Asroe on the shoulder, shaking her from the trance she seemed to have gone into from gazing at the flames. “We should go, too. We have a long night ahead of us. You should probably sleep.”
“Okay.” Asroe sighed a little as they turned away from the flame, crunching through the snow on their way back to the graveyard. Even as they were getting further away from the flame, she could still feel its warmth around her. Maybe the sacred flame was magical and was actually warming up the whole city? But if that was the case, why wasn’t it there all the time? She sighed and tried to shake the thoughts from her head, as it didn’t do her any good when she couldn’t get any answers.
Once they got out of the city and started down the path into the graveyard, Asroe could no longer feel the warmth of the sacred flame. This sent a shiver down her spine, not only from the cold, but from the thought that the flame couldn’t protect them all the way out there. What would happen if monsters did come? They could invade the graveyard more easily than the city, couldn’t they?
That thought vanished when she saw the three little houses in the graveyard were also fitted with fairy lights. Though the lights were dim, they looked hauntingly beautiful amongst the snow way out here. All thoughts of monsters left her mind. Even if it was cold out here there was something strangely beautiful and magical about the dim little lights on the houses of the undead.
They all went their separate ways; Tamara and Mason to their house, Marla to her little shack, and Sebastian and West to their home. Sebastian glanced back at Asroe who had been standing at the edge of the graveyard just gazing up at the lights. “You coming, kid? You know it’s too cold for you to stay out here long.”
“I’ll be in in a minute,” Asroe called back. Sebastian shrugged and went in, closing the door behind him. Asroe stood and gazed at the lights a little longer, wanting to burn the image into her mind. She couldn’t remember a more beautiful night in her life.
Soon she decided it was time to head inside, as the cold was beginning to be too much for her. She made her way to the front door of West’s house, reaching for the doorknob, but she stopped just before turning it. She wasn’t sure how, but she could feel a presence behind her. Asroe slowly turned her head and peered out into the darkness.
On the other side of the graveyard she saw a strange figure standing there gazing at her, hunched over with glowing yellow eyes. Asroe froze at the sight of the creature. While it had somewhat goat-like qualities, it didn’t look anything like any of the beastmen she’d seen in the city. This creature looked far more terrifying and sinister, like a monster from fairy tales she’d been told when she was younger.
The creature slowly made its way toward her and stopped when it was just inches away from her. The two of them gazed at each other in silence for what felt like a very long time. Asroe swallowed hard and the creature snorted.
“You are a good child,” it murmured. “Your heart is pure and I see no evil in you.”
“Th-thank you?” Asroe said. She really had no idea what to say to that sort of statement. The creature before her snorted again before reaching its hand into a sack it had slung over its shoulder, which had previously looked empty but now apparently had something in it. The creature held out a small box to Asroe, bidding her take it. She blinked and carefully took it before looking back up at the creature.
“You’re lucky,” it murmured, leaning down and breathing warmth over her face. “Most children who meet me do not have the purity in them that you do.”
“What happens to them?” she asked in a small voice. The creature slowly curled its mouth into a grin, and Asroe saw many large, sharp teeth.
“They’re never heard from again.”
The monster turned and walked off back into the blowing snow until it was out of sight. Asroe stared after it for a long time, then she turned and went inside the house. She quickly went over to the fireplace, throwing off her winter clothes and settling onto the couch with the box she’d been given.
Inside the box she found all sorts of candy and even some small pastries. Asroe let out a breath as she gazed at the candy. What an odd thing for a monster to do. Much better than the alternative, of course.
Asroe popped a peppermint into her mouth and settled onto the couch, pulling a blanket around her and sighing as she gazed into the fire. “Merry Christmas,” she mumbled sleepily to herself. “Happy Darkest Night.”
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