The bell of the cathedral struck, generating a ringing sound that reverberated throughout the entire citadel. It was Halloween Night- and these are the streets of Sibiu, Romania - a city that has remained since the 13th Century, just up north of the castle Zeltzereich, where the vampire Demitri Maximoff resides. He is but one of a race of night warriors known as the Darkstalkers: beasts, demons, and creatures from  the realm of Makai. They usually lived separate from the human realm, but following the fall of Jedah Dohma, the lines between the two realms had become fluid, with monsters typically lcoming and going as they pleased.

However, this evening, there was one monster that was a bit different from the rest. He wasn't a fish man, a vampire, or a succubus. He was merely a normal guy - white shirt, blue jeans, black hair, red eyes, fairly normal stuff... except he was the size of a speck. His name was Kevin, and he was part of a very unique class known as the Shotilia. People like him were largely the same as any other person, but were born within the Makai Realm at a fraction of average size, making them darkstalkers. This ultimately proved to be their undoing, as they were considered slim pickings by the monsters of Makai, who largely see them as food, servants, playthings, and the like. They are constantly on the run from normal-sized darkstalkers, and Kevin was no different.currently in this classic situation.

“Hehe, wait up! I won’t bite!” Q-Bee flirtingly teased, though to the tiny man below her it was more like a loud bellowing. Kevin turned around and darted for the alleyway as he was chased by the gigantic bee-woman, who flew buzzing over him as she pursued his taste. He ran for his life tripping over the bumps of the ground, before he stopped. Seeing the bee creature gunning for him, he looked around, looking for some sort of escape hatch. 

“Ehehehe, you smell like a lil’ clump of honey!” Q-Bee roared happily as she closed in on him. He looked to his left and then to his right - there was a mysterious pipe in the side of the building. Looking back at Q-Bee, her mouth salivating as she homed in on him, Kevin leaped into the darkness.

He slid down, his body thrashing around in sewage water harshly as he felt his body be battered and beaten by rickety metal. In moments, he found himself popping out of a pipe in a puddle of dirty water, once again back in the alleys, but seemingly having lost the bee woman. Thankfully, though, he looked forward and saw there was another shotilia man. He was an older gentleman with an eyepatch who introduced himself as Donny. He told Kevin of a nearby bar, a safe den for shotilia housed within a cardboard box. The two jogged off, making sure to keep a low profile. Their run was mostly peaceful, besides a few shoes they ended up having to dodge.

Eventually, they found the cardboard box in an alleyway - relatively large, with a small slit in the bottom where a fold might have once been. The two walked into the cold, calming air. A young gentleman’s singing, backed by a piano, reverberated throughout the room as chatter bounced around the room. Despite its literal cardboard exterior, the bar looked unnoticeable from a regular bar. Kevin went up to the bartender, a sad-looking mustachioed man, and got a martini. He saw on the edge of the bar table a small jar, filled with shotilia that were much, much smaller than the rest - they were microscopic compared to them, the micro’s micros, if you will.

Suddenly,  Donny tapped his glass, and all the chatter went out.

"Hey, everyone. Thanks for coming to our annual Hallow's Eve Gala. I know this outside world is a little bit crazy tonight with all the Darkstalkers out, but I figured we could make good from it by telling our stories. This is an open, non-judgmental space to express your trauma. Now, any takers?"

There was a period of silence, until a short, fat man piped up in the back. "Why don'tchu start? You never tell us anythin' boutcha life! Youse nuttin' but a blank piece a' papah!"

Donny sighed, resting his head in his palm. "Ugh.. I guess i haven't been so open myself. Fine. I'll tell you a spooky story. This is the story of how I got here."

When I mention Vegas, you might think casinos, smokin' bases, and crippling debt. But Donald DeLux and the DeLux family, the diminutive stars of our show, lived in the suburbs, in spite of the fact that they were excessively rich. The DeLux's were a typical high class nuclear family - father Donald, mother Daisy, daughter Delilah, and son Daniel. The DeLux family was one of many D's, but soon, they would know a new kind of D: Death.

Before we begin, there's one more thing that must be said of the DeLux family - all of them were Shotilia. For some, this might restrict their ability to live, but as a wealthy family, they could afford whatever they needed to get by. They lived in a large mansion in the middle of the neighborhood, and had several butlers, who would get them food and clean the house. They had private teachers for the kids, had deals with private companies to create shotilia-sized house items and technology.

For, on Halloween night, the children were out of the house in large clumps. They laughed, chattered, and went from house to house looking for candy. It was mostly children with the occasional teenager, but one person walked around in a goofy dinosaur costume, revealing only her face. She was a fully grown, adult woman, and she was getting stares from all of the kids.

But the woman seemed to be having fun, and she was getting lots and lots of candy. That was, until she walked up to the towering mansion of the DeLux family. She ringed the doorbell, excited to see what candy she would get next. However, she was surprised as she looked up to see a small camera that homed in on her. A microphone on the top of the door boomed.

"You're not a kid", the voice of Donny DeLux booked out from the mic.

The woman, embarrassed, stammered, "T-trick or..treat?".

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

She ran from the house, tearing up with embarrassment. Donny frowned in his chair, sighing, annoyed. "Damn grown ups, trying to be a kid."

As the night went on, the children went back home, going back to bed to prepare for school the next day. But the woman was not so willing to move on. She sat on the ground, annoyed. 

"That guy thinks he can make fun of me?!" She angrily questioned herself. "No! No way, jose!" Suddenly, the woman scratched her costume off with her claws, revealing a tall, naked woman, with a long flowing blue woman and noticeable feline ears. 

Her name was Felicia, a catwoman, a darkstalker, and a popular theater actor, though not, like, "get called out as being that catgirl from that one show" popular. One thing she was not enthused about was big, smug jerks who think they can deny someone some candy just because of their age. And she knew that she wasn't going to let him get away with it. She was getting her candy.

That night, Felicia climbed up to the top of the house without a sound and slid down the chimney, her claws slowing her descent. She dropped down and found herself in an extravagant living room area, with a television, a couch, and.. a tiny glass of water? Felicia attempted to pick up the water, the size of a dust mite, but her fingers merely smashed it upon even trying to pick it up. The glass was much too miniscule to even pierce her skin. 

Felicia was confused, but she saw no candy yet.  She wasn’t ready to stop yet. She tip-toed with perfect silence, walking to the door and seeing something odd. There was a tall device stretching to the top of the door, a metal stand with a control panel and a small compartment. Felicia went to the device, stunned, and flicked open the door to the little compartment. She put her eye right into the opening - it was a load of candy. This thing must have been a candy dispenser for the trick-or-treaters! Seeing her prize, she shoved her massive furry hands into the compartment and grabbed a massive pile of candy: chocolate bars, gum drops, and gummy bears. With little grace, she started feasting.

-

Daniel DeLux was 19 years old, yet he hadn’t gotten over his sweet tooth. His father kept getting on him - “oh, if you eat all that candy, you’ll get fat!”. But he didn’t agree with his father, and on that night concocted a scheme to get the candy all to himself. All he needed to do was latch onto a butler's shoe, climb up to his shoulder, and then when he went to close the door for the night, leap into the pile of candy.

His plan was successful. As the door shut, he felt himself enveloping in darkness. He was scared for a moment, but felt the ground beneath him - it was a lollipop! Just like that, he tore the wrapper open and licked the diamond ground - it was blueberry flavored. He continued to lick at the surface, revealing its taste. He was pulling an all nighter in this thing. He was going to eat all of this gigantic candy, and no one was going to stop him!

..but then, something weird happened. He felt a poke on the hatch, before it creaked open slightly, enveloping him in light. He looked through the crack to see a massive, green eye staring down at him. It certainly wasn't a butler. This was some kind of monster. But as he held back his screams, he noticed that the eye was not staring at him at all - it was staring past him, at the mounds of candy that he now was among. 

Suddenly, with the speed of a jet engine, the latch fully pushed itself downwards. As Daniel was blinded for a moment, he was stunned by what he saw - a massive, muscular white furry hand looming over him, with long red claws skewering out, threatening to tear him to shreds. He felt those same claws come closer, swooping under the massive mountains of candy. Daniel ran, desperately trying to avoid the monster’s hands, but soon he found himself enveloped in white fluff, strands of fur towering over him. He ran for long, long seconds until finally seeing the massive hand travel outside of the machine, taking the candy and him with it.

He held on tightly to the strands of fur as he felt the hand transport him. He looked to the sky to see what kind of monster had found him - only to see something that barely resembled a monster at all. It was some sort of cat-girl, a woman who was completely naked, with a long white tail, a large blue mane, and noticeable pink feline ears. But none of that mattered as she licked her lips and put on a devious grin. She was absolutely massive, nothing short of a complete goddess in comparison to him. She held him in her hand, as well as the towering mountain of candy. He was going to be taken back with her, to which he would have to find his way home.. Right?

Poor Daniel was operating under the assumption that Felicia would bring him home to save the candy collection for later. But the ferocious feline was feeling quite hungry at this time. Daniel jumped backwards as he saw her dig her face directly into the pile of candy. Her face, now hovered directly over her hand as if she was the sky, ripped at the wrappers of candy with her sharp teeth. He watched, terrified, as she ate her candy like a wild animal, ripping wrappers apart with her mouth before getting to the juicy insides, which she scarfed down, covering her lips in residue and getting drool all over her hand, to which Daniel was forced to dodge.

Though at first grossed out, he was his opportunity and began running for his life to her wrist, hoping to find a way down to the ground. Now, he just had to hope she would be too distracted to notice hi-

SPLAT!

Suddenly, Daniel felt a massive weight come down atop him. He was wet, very wet. He raised his hands to his eyes. There was a brown surface that covered his body. Could it be.. chocolate? Seeing the writing on the wall, poor Daniel tried to run. But he could already hear the rumbling. Felicia was licking her arm, and in just a second, her sopping tongue cleaned the arm of the chocolate stain.

Daniel screamed desperately as he was sent into the mouth, which was stuffed with gummy bears and sour candles, her sharp teeth chewing things up into a mess of foodstuff and slobber. He fastly tried to dodge the teeth, allowing him to survive. But he underestimated Felicia's tongue, which eventually slammed him into her cheek, which greatly cracked his skull. Falling to the pink ground of her tongue, Daniel cried out in pain, trying to pull himself towards the opening of her mouth. Yet, in a moment, he screamed in pain even louder - he had let his guard down, and now, Felicia had chewed one of his legs off.

Yet, still, Daniel pushed forward, desperately trying to save his life. He was chomped once again, taking down his other leg, but he refused to stop as the blood poured into her taste buds. Eventually, he finally found himself at the opening of her mouth. He allowed himself to drop to her lips, clinging desperately to the individual wrinkles within it, which rocked up and down with her chewing. He cried, knowing he had survived.

But he had not. He panicked as he saw her tongue coming for him. His tears flooded his face as the tongue dragged him right back to the dripping prison of Felicia's mouth.

-

Felicia finished the candies within a few minutes, licking her lips and chewing up the final bits and crumbs of food that ended up among her mouth before gulping it down into her stomach. Despite attempting to hold it in, she burped. She was so satisfied with the taste of the candies, she didn't even notice the small drops of blood she had burped onto the ground.

"Mrrm..so tasty.. and a lil meaty.." She commented to herself, still licking chocolate stains off her body. Yet, as she sniffed, she realized that things weren't done yet. Something smelled delicious, and she could smell the directions. With that, she traveled up the stairs, and entered into a small bedroom, with a bed that had no one inside it. The smell came from under the pillow. Smirking devilishly, she flipped it over, to reveal.. a small, red jolly rancher. More tasty candy? Licking her lips, she opened her mouth and prepared to chow down, until she heard a small squeak. 

She looked down to see something strange - a teeny, tiny person, roughly the size of a tiny pebble, curled on top of the red hard candy.

Felicia’s excited banter booms over the tiny Delilah DeLux, daughter of the DeLux family. Poor Delilah thought she could stash one of her favorite candies, but she was sorely mistaken. Now, she was being utterly sprayed with the spit being produced by Felicia’s excited talk, as she desperately tried to dodge her talking. The catgirl looked down and noticed the danger she was putting on the little person.

“Whoops, sorry! But let me take my payment!”

Felicia’s claws stuck against the jolly rancher and titled it upwards as Delilah fell to the bed. She threw the jolly rancher into her mouth, and like a heathen, chewed it up into red bits in her mouth before gulping the remains down. Delilah, enraged at her candy getting stolen, screamed profanities up at the deity, demanding repayment, telling her to go fuck herself, to eat shit and die, and the like.

Felicia held her hips and looked down at the small person. “Hey, calm down, little thing!” She put her finger on her chin and thought for a moment before an invisible light bulb appeared on top of her head. The claws once again pressed out, but this time, they tightened against the still screaming Delilah. She yelled and screamed for her to “eat a fucking dick”, but it didn’t stop Felicia from anxiously placing her onto the top her salivating tongue. 

Closing her mouth and puffing her cheeks, Felicia decided to play a bit with her little friend, like a mouse. She chewed on it once. It created a louder scream, and the catgirl could taste the blood on her tongue. Suddenly, a smile flashed over her face. The tiny girl’s blood was the tastiest thing she’d ever put in her mouth. It was like super buttery popcorn, but put into a little bit of liquid. She continued slowly chomping, piercing arms, legs, all sorts of parts of her body coming loose and falling off.

By the end, Felicia could feel the loose pieces of the body, along with the small girl that laid right in the center. She could almost hear sounds of crying, an armless, legless tiny thing that was fated to die. Oh well! Felicia happily gulped down her little comrade, feeling her go right down to her stomach. One thing she knew is that these things were tasty, and she knew there was one more. She had heard the girl’s voice, but she still hadn’t seen that big guy’s voice. The one who called her a kid. And she was ready to go for her prey.

What is a cat’s greatest sense? Smell. And so Felicia began to sniff. She sniffed down the stairs, she sniffed down into the foyer, and she ended up sniffing right into a room on the far left of the room. She had entered another bedroom. She pulled off the blanket on top of the bed, and right there, in front of her, was her tiny prey. A grown adult man sleeping in his bed, the size of a mere speck of dust. It was cute, but yet also funny that someone who wanted to act so high and mighty to a woman such as Felicia would be so unbelievably small. But she wanted to play with her prey. So she tapped the bed harshly with a claw, shaking the miniature Donny to his feet. He screamed in terror as the naked catwoman towered over him and sneered devilishly at him.

“Hey, little guy! You think you can deny me candy? I think I’m gonna steal all o’ your candy in return!”

Wasting no time, Donny bolted to the edge of the bed. He looked behind him to see Felicia leaping for him on all fours, her mouth wide open, trying to catch him. He quickly jumped from the bed to ride the bedsheets down to the floor. He looked on at the towering catgirl, who was temporarily stunned after falling into a rocking chair. Seeing his chance, he picked himself up and ran for it, bolting across the living room. But he couldn’t leave yet. He had to find his wife.

He ran to the front of the bathroom door, almost tripping over a creaky floorboard. Out walked a tired Daisy DeLux. “Honey, why the hell are ‘ya out so lat-” Donny, hearing thunder from behind, told her to run, to which she looked confused. She stayed still, frozen in fear, as they both looked at the sneering giant catwoman, running for them on all fours. Don, questioning everything, made a quick decision.

Felicia crashed right through, feeling a smash underneath her foot. She lifted it to see the broken, battered body of an older woman, her blood staining the fur of her foot. In what many would consider gross, she lapped at the spot at the bottom of her foot, chewing the remains before happily gulping them down and letting out a happy burp, with a displaced eyeball falling to the ground. Donald was horrified, not strong enough to cry yet completely and utterly shocked. He had hidden underneath the creaky floorboard. She continued to search for him for about 30 minutes, but by then, Donald had already escaped under the floorboards, traveling underneath the ground before breaking out through a hole in the outer wall and fleeing his household.

He fled for the nearest Shotilia hub of the planet, Romania. He would be left forever mortified.

Felicia was disappointed for a few minutes, having wanted to prove the old guy wrong, but when thinking about all the delicious candy she got to have that Halloween night, she couldn’t hold back her smile.

..but she was still gonna need to go get dinner. Her stomach was truly bottomless.

-

Donny was in tears, buried in the tables. Kevin, concerned, shooed him to the bathroom. The shotilia of the bar had shouted at him, in complete shock of how he had left his wife to die, sold her life for his own. Even with him gone, they still debated amongst each other. They yelled, and yelled, and yelled, until–

*SLAM*

Mustachio, the bartender, slammed a massive jug of beer onto the ground.

“Shut the hell up, ye wankers. So Don ‘ere is a bit of a knob head? So what? It’s a goddam’ gala. We’re here to listen to some stories. And it looks like we’ve got someone who wants to talk.”

No one had heard anything. But Mustachio walked to the microphone and put down a spoon. There was a speck on the spoon. It was one of the micro shotilia. The crowd couldn’t even tell, but they weren’t just a micro shotilia. They were also an Abhor, a small, chubby little tree person. As the creature spoke, people started to giggle. Their voice was immensely high-pitched. Yet, still, the little thing spoke.

“This is the story of my conception.” 

The Abhor are a race of nanoscopic people who are grown from trees, so small that they aren’t even visible to the naked human eye. The tree is their home, and they live within even the smallest of trees. They are spiritually connected to the trees, being able to manipulate wood life. But no Abhorrian life is so cruel as those that rest deep within the bonsai trees of the Chinese vampire, Hsien-Ko.

Hsien-Ko lives in a fairly run-down little apartment, and she mostly just spends her days going out and hunting evil Darkstalkers. But she had a special little hobby of hers - her bonsai tree, a passion she had taken from her late mother, which she would take care of every single day. She would throw on some water and some fertilizer every week or so, and then go about her day. 

But little did she know that the Abhor lived inside of the tree. It was their home. However, her unawareness would be what sealed their fate. Every time she doused the tree in water and fertilizer, the Abhor races would be demolished, washed away by the flood. And then they would grow once again, a new group destined to live for a week and then be doomed to death. It was the circle of life. Abhor were born, died, and replaced within the span of a week.

All except for one - a little fella by the name of Nj’hilok. They were short, but had big dreams. They were gonna live. They were gonna make it outta this tree.

That was their decision on their first day of life. Deep within the dirt lay the memorial built by Abhor of species past. Though Abhor cultures died, their ideas were passed down, and did not die with them. Art made from the roots of the tree comb through the dirt, depicting faces of those lost to the flood. They watched as the towering purple monster towered over their home like a colossus, collapsing into her bed with enough force to completely destroy their entire species. The clock was ticking, and they were gonna have to do something soon, otherwise they would die, just like anyone else, swept away by the flood.

That night, Nj’hilok said they would go to sleep. But they didn’t. Instead, they went to the massive walls that surrounded the tree - the pot of the bonsai. They closed their eyes and, using their basic understanding of root manipulation, brought the stem out from the dirt, rising out from the ground and creating a path to run on down to the floor. Sliding down, Nj'hilok made it to the floor. Scurrying under the door, they were ready to finally liberate themselves from the inevitable fate of their species.

But then, it hit them. Hsien-Ko had not returned that night. Where could they be-

Suddenly, everything came to them. They looked up and saw a towering purple mass - the huge, sweaty foot of Hsien-Ko. In what felt like slow motion, the mound of flesh squashed into the little wooden person with a wet squelch. Nj'hilok woke up and found themself reduced to but a tiny ball between two massive things of flesh - Hsien-Ko's big toe and pointer toe gently stroked their tiny body, as if playing with a pebble. They tried to pull themself out, but the sweat and pudginess of the digits restrained their movements. Hsien-Ko was extremely tired, having had a long day of battles against monsters. Now, all she wanted was to plop down and have a nice cup of coffee. She went to the coffee brewer only to find she was completely out of coffee. Yawning, she realized it was inevitable that she was gonna have to go out and get a cup of joe.

Nj’hilok tried their absolute best to roll out of the toes, slipping through, but it did not work - until they felt the massive purple foot lift up and curl downwards. They tried to hold onto her toenail, but it was for naught, as they found themself slip into a large imprisonment. Immediately, the air went from relatively light to extremely strong, a musk that reeked of body odor. It was shockingly warm, slightly wet, and outside of the opening that they came in through, there was no light whatsoever. 

Then, they saw something up above. The massive foot returned, and as it poked itself downwards and slowly brought itself in closer and closer, it became clear that Nj'hilok had ended up as a mere dust mite in Hsien-Ko's flats.

Seeing red, they ran for the very end of the shoe, but tripped over a crease in the insole. They panicked as they watched the purple monster wiggle closer and closer like an animal until it finally pushed itself into the shoe, securing its place on the ground and blowing dust over them. Nj'hilok looked up - they now stood at the end of the shoe, looking up at the towering big toe that dripped sweat.

Then the toe hit the ground, sending Nj'hilok squished between the toe and the surface of the front of the shoe. Then, gravity shifted, as they felt themself go into the air. They desperately clinged onto the toe, and then traveled right back down, slamming onto the ground. Then again. And again. And again. With each stomp, the poor Abhor felt themself be smashed to the ground, feeling their brain become overloaded as it went on, Hsien-Ko's voice bellowing at a deafening volume. They realized - they had to get Hsien-Ko's attention. Nj'hilok desperately held onto a rip in the shoe, trying to create a branch that would poke her toe and make him find them. But, try and try as they did, nothing came out. They were just too inexperienced.

Hsien-Ko gleefully walked home with her coffee. She put her cup down and thought about if there was anything she had to do. Oh, right, she should water the plants! She walked over to the bonsai, and reached over the table for a bottle of water.

With a loud sound of thuds, snaps, and cracks, Hsien-Ko fell over herself whilst trying to get the water, sending the tree toppling over off of its spot on her table and onto the ground falling to pieces. 

As the flat had fallen off, Hsien-Ko down for the count, Nj’hilok pulled themself from the wet surface of her sweaty shoe and frantically ran for the towering mass of her body. The Abhor, their home destroyed, had sprayed out across her body. They were likely all over her like dust particles. Desperate to save their people, Nj’hilok hopped onto the fibers of her dress and began climbing, finding dozens of Abhor and trying to get them to safety. Yet, as they climbed onto the woman’s stomach, she began to pick herself back up.

Standing up, she bent back and forth, as the miniscule passengers desperately clung to the fibers of her dress. She sighed, but to the little people it was more like a roar. She guessed it was time to clean up this mess. Nj’hilok panicked - there were still Abhor people down there. They had to get down there. Nj’hilok quickly began climbing down the fibers of the dress, and even further. As they began to climb down the unstable surface of her baggy pants, they panicked as they saw this was not just an issue of a broom - Hsien-Ko had brought out the vacuum, which bellowed with a machine-like sound, threatening to demolish their entire species.

As Nj’hilok, after what felt like hours, finally made it to the ground, things were not going well. They could hear her humming a classical tune to herself as the powerful machine screamed in their ears, running itself across the floor and imprisoning all it came into contact with. Suddenly, they noticed a small Abhor child about to be caught by the vacuum. Panicking, Nj’hilok threw themself forward, trying to push the child out of the way of the machine - but it was for naught. Both of them felt themselves be sucked up by the terrifying machination.

The two little tree-beans felt themselves plummet into a dark, soft cavern. This was the dust bag, and they were sitting on top of layers and layers of dust. The other Abhor were likely lost amidst the dust.

“S-so.. n-now what?” The little child asked, nervous.

“I don’t know.” Nj’hilok responded.

…

“Hey.. wh-what's your name?”

“Nj’hilok.”

“..o-oh, th-that’s a cool name! I’m Nj’lenat! 

“Oh…n-nice to meet you..”

…

…

“That was really cool what you did for me back there..”

“Well, I couldn’t leave you to die.”

“..y-yeah…”

In a split second they felt themselves be tossed into a massive trash bag, the dust and ripped up tree parts being just one layer on top of an influx of soda cans, candy wrappers, and grocery bags. Suddenly, the tiny creatures noticed her outstretched “hand” - her massive claws, flattened out to act as fingers, slowly came down to squash the trash down in order to fit into the bag better. Quickly, the two Abhor looked at each other and then ran backwards as they tried to dodge the claws. Nj’lenat dodged, stormed through the crushing of the trash, and then climbed onto her claws. They hung on as she tightened the bag and then threw it into the garbage can.

Nj’lenat cried. Their entire species was gone, reduced to filler in a can of trash. Hsien-Ko breathed in and out, and then slouched back onto the couch. As they sat in the little nest of Hsien-Ko’s hand, they realized.. Wh-where was Nj’hilok? They looked up, shocked as they saw where Nj’hilok had ended up - an unnoticeable microbe stabbed on the tip of Hsien-Ko’s claw. They had not dodged. They were seemingly alive, but that clearly wouldn’t last at this rate. 

Nj’lenat frantically tried to climb the nail to save them, but it didn’t work. Nj’hilok felt themself fall into unconsciousness. Abhor were created by Mother Nature, and now, they heard her beckoning for their soul. But they didn’t wanna leave yet. They closed their eyes, and hoped for some form of miracle.

Nj’hilok felt a slight push on their back. They opened their eyes and felt themselves sliding up the nail, before following downwards back to the hand. Nj’lenat came to their side, but Nj’hilok’s open stab wound began to heal itself, being filled by earth.

In the moment of death, Nj’hilok had been saved by Mother Nature, and now knew how to produce earthly creations. Happily running forward, the two hopped onto a branch that they had created, which grew and grew as they traveled up into the air. Hsien-Ko, once a towering goddess, now became a distant memory.

Njj’lent was ecstatic, and peered over, spitting at Hsien-Ko. “Take that, ya oversized purple poopyhead!” They clearly were getting a bit too close to the edge.

“H-hey, d-”

Nj’hilok poked them on the back, catching them completely off guard. That partial shock was enough to push them over the edge of the branch, and Nj’lenat fell straight downwards.

“NJ’LENAT, NO!”

Nj’hilok screamed and leaped to catch them - but quickly, their eyes were filled with tears as they noticed just where they were plummeting - the hot depths of Hsien’Ko’s cup of coffee.

Nj’lenat went from a small soul to a mere almond in the darkstalker’s coffee. Nj’hilok caught themself on the lid of the coffee cup, looking down with tears filling their eyes as they watched Nj’lenat scream in pain. This was not merely water - this was hot coffee. Nj’lenat was completely fried, burned to a crisp. The screams became lighter, weaker, until they finally ceased, the crying eyes becoming completely still. Nj’lenat was dead.

Nj’hilok didn’t have a chance to think about the death as they turned around and noticed Hsien-Ko’s utterly massive face - and, particularly, her nose getting closer and closer. She sniffed her evening drink, creating a massive wind that pulled in Nj’hilok like a speck of dust. Before long, they were inside of her purple nose, her pink(!) boogers and purple nose hairs being the only thing they could hold onto. The booger was the size of a castle, one they could easily have lived in. Yet, Nj’hilok held on desperately to the wet, gross lump. With the powers they now had, they knew how to get out of this situation.

Hsien-Ko was ready to take a sip of her coffee, but felt a tickle in her nose. She quickly put the coffee down and stood up.

ACHOO!!!

The stray Abhor slammed out of the open window, flying into the open window of a taxi. Their journey to Romania was fairly boring - it was a simple undercover mission on an airplane, and the like. Nj’hilok couldn’t stop thinking about Nj’lenat, the friend they had lost. Things could have so easily changed. But survivor’s guilt wasn’t something they felt up to. Because they were now the surviving member of the Abhor, a class of people meant to live in house trees designed for entertainment. That was worth some pride, right?

Hsien-Ko wiped her nose, laid back, and breathed in before finally taking a sip of her coffee.

PTOO!

She spit the coffee out, unknowingly sending Nj’lenat’s scorched corpse to the ground, cracked up into pieces.

“Y-yuck! Remind me to never buy convenience store coffee again!”

-

For but a moment, claps ensued for the heart wrenching story - until everything started to shake for just a moment. People screamed, but then the earthquake ended. 

“What in ‘da ‘ell wazzat?!” the fat man from earlier piped up.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it”, Kevin said, returning from the bathroom. Mustachio looked back, with the microphone in hand.

“You think we ain’t noticed ya just showed up here and started acting all high and bright ‘n shit? How ‘bout you tell us your story, ya twat?” Affirming chants erupted as he gave Kevin the microphone.

Kevin giggled a bit, then grabbed the mic.

“Alright, guys. If you insist. Here’s my story.”

Our final tale takes place in the haunted forest of Romania - Hoia Baciu, otherwise known as the “Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania”. Demons, ghosts, aliens, disappearances - all are said to roam the woods, searching for its next victim. But on this Halloween night, a pack had come to the forest in search of a mysterious cryptid known as the Maiden of Strings. No one knew what her powers were. No one knew what she could do. But the bounty on her head was much too large to think before going after her. 

About 20 men had gathered, carrying torches and pitchforks. Then there was Captain Edison, the paranormal hunter of the neighborhood who led these sorts of mass hunts. Finally, there was Father Markus, the pastor of the Roman Catholic Church who followed these sorts of hunts in order to heal damned souls and allow them to see the light of God. The army chanted, their torches raised. “KILL THE MAIDEN OF STRINGS!  KILL THE MAIDEN OF STRINGS!”

And no, they were not Shotilia - not yet, anyway. Not all Shotilia are born that way, and our poor victims were going to get a taste of minimalism the hard way.

After about half an hour, the group arrived at a tree, with thin, red strings that weaved in and out of the wood in the tree.

“Maiden o’ strings been ‘ere!”, Captain Edison yelled, invoking fury in the horde of hunters. “Let me get a look”, Father Markus said as he approached the tree. Edison and the crowds stood back and watched as he raised his arm forward, staring at the tree, and planted his palm on the tree.

Screams. Screams. Screams. A female voice writhing in pain as shadowy giggles surround it. Then, rips, tears. Father Markus feels little pieces of his skin be torn off, strings weaving straight into his arteries, wrapping around the bones and knitting his legs tighter and tighter together. The string weaves past the legs and into the arms, neck, chest. Then another string. And another. And another. The strings compressed on his entire body, pulling it in tightly. Turning around, he saw the other men with the same sort of string wounds, being pulled into themselves. Their eyes were completely shut, but they seemed to be ok. Yet he could see.

Suddenly, he felt something weird. He felt himself getting weaker. The voice in his head was getting quieter. He felt himself losing control over his body. He felt his soul fade out.

In a blink, the hordes awoke. But things were not the same. They felt pain in their bodies as if sore from rope burns, and a more pressing issue - everything was huge. The tree that they once stood up to now towered high over them, tall enough they could not see to it's top. Even the grass blades were many, many times their size.

"Oh, father! What has happened?", Captain Edison shouted to the pastor, who stands before the tree kneeling down to the ground. As he puts his hand on the father's shoulder, he jumps back as Father Markus stares back at him with piercing red eyes. Backing into the horde for protection, he trembles at Markus, who stands with a fictional generosity, looking overjoyed and friendly yet also seeming characteristically off.

"Oh, my dear friends, I must spread the good word!", he yelled happily whilst holding his arms up as if praising God. "I have found the light! O, The Maiden of Strings!"

"Maiden of Strings?!", Captain Edison snarls as he walks up to Markus with excitement. "Where is she?!", he gruffly barks.

"She is within me!" Markus shouts with glee. Captain Edison, shocked, shoves him out of the way. "Oh, child of the goddess, I understand your confusion!", he says whilst pointing at Edison. "But I have been introduced to the one above us! The Maiden of Strings will give us divine purpose!"

From the horde, a young man comes out of the woodwork, a small, thin, average gentleman by the name of Kevin. “Shut it, beast sympathizer!” He yelled, seething with rage. “I’ve gotta feed my goddamn kids, and this bitch’s head is what it’s gonna take!”

A chorus of supportive chants erupted from the horde of hunters as Edison started back at Father Markus, genuine sadness spilled across his face. 

"You should have listened to your friend."

Suddenly, a voice boomed over them, completely assaulting their ears. They looked up to see something far above their heads - a pale, skin colored sky that extended far above the blades of grass, and a face grinning down at the people far below her. This was the Maiden of Strings, the doll Darkstalker Marionette, kneeling down and looking upon them with the same form of deviousness as a small child playing with bugs. 

General Edison screamed to the heavens, “MAIDEN OF STRINGS! WE HAVE COME FOR YOUR HEAD!” However, the scream sounded less like a cry and more like birds chirping at their size. She giggled, the laughs making the entire world around the newly-minimized shotilia vibrate. 

"Oh, my goddess!" Father Markus bent down, his hands clasped together as he prayed to his goddess. General Edison, furious at what was happening, went to the pastor and shouted in his face, "SHUT UP, MOTHERFUCKER!! DO YOU SEE WHAT'S HAPPENED TO US, YOU LITTLE SHIT?! HOW DARE YOU PRAISE A MONSTER LIKE THI-"

Sudden pain.

Pain coursing through his body. General Edison let out a series of small coughs as he felt the large, brute hand of Father Markus dig into his chest, playing with his internals as he felt his soul leave his body. He keeled over, bleeding out onto the ground.

The hoards, outraged, began to run forward. A massive hulking man, an assistant to Edison, ran forward as the leader of the group, screaming as he moved to rip Markus to pieces. Yet, everyone stopped as the loud blare of a stolen shotgun roared out.

BLAM

In a moment, the man was gone too, a gaping hole in his chest. Yet, in his final moments, before his soul could evacuate his body, he felt a sharp pain in his head for but a microsecond - the sharp tip of a thread inserting itself into his brain. In naught but a few moments, the body suddenly stood up, his brown eyes changing to a distinct piercing red as the bleeding in the wound ceased. His face was no longer humane, but savage and monstrous. Like a hungry gorilla, he dove into the crowd, and began to attack.

SPLAT

THWACK

The next 30 seconds are hard to put into words - it was an absolute bloodbath. Punches, gunshots, and assaults were dealt as Edison’s assistant converted more and more people to the possessed - before long, the dead had cornered the living, having recruited more and more to their side. But now, we must return to Kevin, who realized something was amiss. Everyone was dying. He had to run for it. And so, he ran away. He cried as he heard blood splatter around him, yet he never dared to slow down. Before long, he was the only one left.

After about 15 minutes, he stopped and cowered behind a rock, curled into a ball. He was now less than a pebble. Would he ever be able to return to his life, his family?

"Hey, bub, what's gotcha down?" Wiping off his tears, Kevin saw before him a young woman of the same stature as him, wearing a black dress with long blonde hair and pitch black sunglasses.

"Ehhh, we've all been like that. But it's getting late, and the predators are gonna come out soon, so we better go." Forcefully taking his arm, the woman began to pull him with her, only for him to pull away, tears still in his eyes.

"Dude.. you're a shotilia. We have to trust each other." Begrudgingly, Kevin held onto her hand as she began to run. "Oh, and by the way!" She yelled as the two ran through the dirt road, "My name's Elsa!"

Through the rain, the two ran, as the stomps of squirrels tried to make them lose their course. Yet, eventually, they finally made it to Elsa’s hideout, a hole deep within the dirt. She encouraged him to leap down deep into the hole - though he paused for a moment, he still jumped in, sliding down a long way like a slide in a playground before finally finding himself in a living room area, like a house but entirely covered by dirt, neatly constructed in the form of walls.

"Nice place you've got here." Kevin muttered, still recovering from what had happened to his comrades. "I've been down here for a while", she noted before kicking off her worn out shoes and laying down on a couch chair.

“Y’know, you never told me what your name was, kiddo.”

“It’s Kevin.”

“Kevin, Steve, Eric.. I was hoping you’d at least have a more interesting name.”

“You’ve got a better name in mind?”

“I dunno, something cool! Like “Argoth” or “Rikuo” or “Lorenzo” or something!”

Kevin sighed, as he laid back on the floor. “We can’t all be cool.” Elsa, in turn, stood up and sat next to him, patting him on the shoulder as she held him closely. “I dunno, K. I think you’re pretty cool.”

“D-do you?” He muttered, a red blush striking his face. Elsa giggled, and put her other hand on his other shoulder, bringing her face towards him. Kevin, exhausted, was just along for the ride at this point - but he knew what was coming, and was ready.

The two’s lips intertwined as they kissed each other, their bodies meeting in a warm embrace. In these 5 seconds, everything went still for Kevin as the deaths of his comrades escaped his mind and all he could think of was the woman that he was now making out with. He was gonna be ok. He was gonna make it-

DING-DONG!

The hole-bell had rung. “I’ll get it”, Elsa said before climbing up a ladder to return to the surface. Kevin, for all of the things he had seen, was exhausted. As he yawned, he slumped into the chair and collapsed into a deep, deep slumber.

…

The next morning, Kevin woke up to a blank pink ceiling. He was lying down on a soft mattress- it was cold and smelled of perfume. Rolling off the bed, he found himself in some sort of suburban household, far away from the dirt underpass he was once in. It seemed as if he was normal size. Stumbling down the stairs, he saw a traditional living room and dining room. The dining room had a table with a plate, closed with a top as if it were hiding some turkey or mutton. Feeling a tad hungry, he excitedly pulled the top of - but it took the whole thing with it. He held on to the bottom and tried to pull the top off once again, but it still wasn’t budging. Try and try as he did, the plate stayed shut.

So, he gave up, and decided to go into the living room to watch some television. It’s easy for you to say “Why isn’t he doing anything”, but the life of a Shotilia is tiring, and he was a bit lazy anyway. So he picked up the remote and plopped himself down on the couch, with enough pressure to feel that sweet cushiony squish beneath his butt.. But all he was met with was pain as his rear end slammed against the hard couch-looking thing. Still with an aching butt, he clicked the power button for the television, only for it to not turn on. He tried every button multiple times, to no avail.

It was clear whoever owned this place sucked at keeping things working. So, instead, he walked out the door, only to be greeted with a lovely suburban neighborhood that stretched out in what seemed like a neat little square. It smelled of some sort of car air freshener, with a noticeably brown ceiling. But none of this was what he noticed first. What he noticed was beyond the houses and the trees - a desk, cluttered with broken dolls and blood splatters. A large mirror. A bed. He was in a much larger house. This whole town was some sort of child’s playset. Oh sh-

“Hello, neighbor!” Catching him off guard, he fell over, his foot falling into plastic grass as he was met with a short, chubby old man with a balding head and a bushy beard.

“S..sorry..” Kevin stammered. 

“None taken, friend! You’re new here, ain’tcha? We’re having a big event at the town square, you gotta check it out!” He then took off, seemingly running to this “event”. Shrugging, Kevin followed him to a center with a Town Hall, and a small fire pit.

Hoisted over the firepit was a long stick, jabbing through a crucifix. Nailed to the crucifix was none other than the still-bleeding body of General Edison. Nails had already been jabbed into his hands and feet, binding him to the plastic cross. Four men, completely naked, stood there surrounding the body.

“E-EDISON?!” Kevin cried out in sheer terror. But before long, stomps began to emerge. As he looked up, he saw a massive face become his sky - the Darkstalker Marionette loomed over them, simply smirking at them.

Then, the ritual began. The four men turned to the crowd for the last time - only now could Kevin see that their entire forearms were completely doused in gasoline. 

They leaped into the already-toasted flames, and burned. Not a scream came out of them, as they served their goddess. But Edison was absolutely screaming as the flame covered his body. He tried his damndest to flop around in pain on the crucifix, but was restrained by the nails in his body. He felt the guts inside of him overheat and give out over time. First came his lungs, which turned into not more than bones on chicken wings in but a few moments, his desperate gasps for breath then turning into a constant cacophony of chokes and coughs. These last few seconds of his life were the worst anyone could experience, but it did only last a few seconds. He was in complete pain from the flames that swathed his skin and burned him to a crisp, but he ultimately ended up dying from liver damage far before his body could become that damaged.

Yet, even as Edison had already died, the ritual was not over. The body, hanging slumped over on the cross, still burned to a crisp. A few seconds later, the skin on the body had turned into a goopy melty paste, dripping off the skeleton, which now hung onto the cross. 

"I shall now present the offering." Kevin turned around, shocked to see how came forward - it was Elsa, the person who had tried to protect him. Walking forward, she climbed up and tore the skull off of the skeleton, carrying it in her hands as she walked up to the titanic darkstalker and placed the skull down under her. It was as if the sky was coming in on itself as two fingers, dwarfing even their houses, came down from the heavens and snatched the skull. The crowd watched as she took a ring out of her ear and slipped the rings sharp end into the skull's eye before attaching it back to her ear, a souvenir of what she had done to the general.

"Ritual comp-"

SMACK!

Elsa was completely caught off guard by being smacked completely in the face by Kevin, sending her to the floor. "FUCK YOU, YOU LYING BITCH!", he screamed before noticing something. Her dark sunglasses had fallen off, revealing her eyes - a bright blue hue. Her eyes were not red. Shocked, she snickered. 

"I hope you realize you're a dead man, kiddo." She laughed at him as the people that watched the execution had already ganged up on Kevin, ready to jump him. All their eyes were pitch red, except for hers.

"I guess I can let you in on this, since you won't be alive much longer. I created this whole operation. Me and the big lady are a bit close. I brought all these fuckers here, and you're one of 'em now." Kevin, trying to pull away but being pulled back by the crowd, sweated and began to tear up. But then, all of the red-eyed folks stood back and all uttered words together in perfect harmony: "I. Will. Take. Him."

She was speaking through them. In a flash, the people began to walk away. As Elsa approached him, as if to walk past them, he screamed out.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOIN-"

Then, in less than a single second, he found himself in a new reality. All he could see was grey, small bumps, as far as he could see. The only sky was cream and pale.  He tried to walk around a bit, but he found nothing new. What was this world?

..Then, something appeared above him that halted the cream sky - a massive grey ceiling, looking like it was falling apart. Then it suddenly hit him just where he was.

..

..

..

Elsa barely even felt the little man under her worn out sneaker, but she knew that he had been reduced to a completely pulverized little thing. She felt her nipples harder a bit as she imagined the little thing being completely dwarfed by her shoe. Marionette quickly grew his deceased body back to it's previous, still tiny, size. It was wrecked, but not beyond repair. 

"So, we gonna execute him too?" Elsa asked her massive ally.

"No " The crowds responded for her. "We can still use him to get some more.. friends."

The crowd grew silent. This silence went on for about 5 seconds, before Mustachio called out, "And?!"

In response, Kevin pulled out a small pistol, causing people to run for the exit. "Stop running! You will all join the goddess in time!" Kevin called out to the Shotilia. However, before he could actually open fire, things began to shake. The earthquakes were back. As they looked up, everyone was shocked.

The folds of the cardboard box opened - they were now in a small apartment. Fairly quickly, someone peeked into the top, a young girl with blonde hair and a red hood. It was the Darkstalker hunter, BB Hood. They had been kidnapped. The tiny people began to frantically run, trying to open the door, but it had been locked.

"Aww, what's the big fuss, little guys? A girl just needs her protein~". Quickly, she took out a massive, sharp fork and dug it into the first shotilia she could find - Mustachio felt the needles stab into his gut, as he spit blood onto the ground. 

"OY, STOP IT! WAIT! WAI-"

She, in a flash, raised him up and shoved the fork into her mouth, dragging it out of her lips with the tiny man scrubbed off. Her cheeks puffed, she licked at the little body before chewing on it, then gulping it right down. "Tastes like chicken b25;!"

Kevin, seeing that he was out of time, remarked "Well, I'm out of here." His eyes went from red to green in a few moments as Marionette's influence left his body. As if called, Donny came out of the bathroom, still tearing up, to see the carnage that was unfolding as BB Hood had already begun tearing into her meal, chewing up countless Shotilia, blood smudging her lips and splattering onto the bar. He looked down and he saw Kevin, lying there on the ground. Frantically, he bent down and panicked, banging on the lifeless corpse and trying to bring it back up.

However, by then, BB Hood had gotten a bit tired of the taste of the Shotilia. She was going to continue with her plan. As she picked up the cardboard box, people screamed, cried, and prayed before their world was finally shifted upside down. 

The people fell out,and slammed into an endless black void. But before they even realized the color, they felt that it was burning hot. Their bodies were burning. They were in a frying pan. They were being burned alive. People screamed as they felt their bodies turn to a crisp, their internal organs shutting down as they screamed for help. But none ever came. Every shotilia perished that day.

DING!

Before long, BB Hood's meal was finished, a delicious Shotilia Stew. Their bodies peppered the blood red liquid, the meat in her meal. As she poured herself a bowl and put her first spoon in, she poured it into her mouth, as the blood liquid and cooked bodies dipped onto her tongue and down into her stomach. 

"Mm, yummy~! Time to dig in!"

"Happy Halloween, morsels!"