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."