The Crew's Book of Hermitcraft Season Six Oneshots

All Souls' Night

Bonfires dot the rolling hills
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness
Moving to the pagan sound.

The Hippies had gotten back together for Halloween. They were sitting around the campfire, reminiscing about times past. Ren was quietly drumming a beat to their dance of words, the conversation moving in a circle. No spirits would attack on this night.

Somewhere in a hidden memory
Images float before my eyes
Of fragrant nights of straw and of bonfires
And dancing till the next sunrise.

Grian vaguely remembered Halloweens past, ghosts that haunted him. But the drumming, the music, the celebration, they freed him. They freed him of the phantoms that ruled his life like the puppeteers to a marionette.

I can see lights in the distance
Trembling in the dark cloak of night
Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing
A waltz on All Souls Night.

They heard the sound, saw the lights, of modern Halloween festivities in Hermitville. But tonight was for them. Their words waltzed around, guarding them from the haunting whispers of the month's evils.

Figures of cornstalks bend in the shadows
Held up tall as the flames leap high
The green knight holds the holly bush
To mark where the old year passes by.

The farm rustled in the ghostly howling winds. RenBob joined Ren, Impulse and Grian around the fire, holding a sweet berry bush. The year had been great, and they looked ahead. The spectres of the past were shed like unwanted mantles as Ren drummed along time some unknown song.

I can see the lights in the distance
Trembling in the dark cloak of night
Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing
A waltz on All Souls Night.

Impulse picked up a lantern, leading RenBob into a real waltz, the light tracing out a shield from the more literal undead. No zombies, no skeletons would spawn in this circle tonight. They were all safe.

Bonfires dot the rolling hillsides
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness
And moving to the pagan sound.

Grian fanned the fire, warming the bitter cold of the evening. This is what Halloween was supposed to be. Drums, and dancing, and warming your hands before a roaring bonfire. And since they were on a hill, everyone would be able to see.

Standing on the bridge that crosses
The river that goes out to the sea
The wind is full of a thousand voices
They pass by the bridge and me.

Cub stood in the shadows, on the rickety bridges of the farm. He watched it all with what was almost a kind of envy. But Vex were spirits, and Halloween kept him out too. Cub was made to listen to the joyous festivities, but never join in.

I can see the lights in the distance
Trembling in the dark cloak of night
Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing
A waltz on All Souls Night.

He couldn't take it anymore. He ran into the light, joining in. The hippies were delighted, surprised, at this impromptu appearance. He danced in between the waltz, footsteps sparkling a magic blue. He was having fun.

I can see the lights in the distance
Trembling in the dark cloak of night
Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing
A waltz on All Souls Night.

But the night would claim him. He fell to the ground, fell out of time, as the Vex dragged his soul away. The curse, to be banished from this circle. He meant well, but magic didn't know that. As he blearily looked up at the concerned hippies, he passed out, content to have enjoyed one All Souls' Night.

THIS IS HALLOWEEN! THIS IS HALLOWEEN! NOW LISTEN TO LOREENA MCKENNITT!

Autocorrect, signing off from the past!