The First Night

The girl unwrinkled her clothes, fixed her long and curly red hair, put on her black hood and started walking towards the forest in the cold, dark night. Earlier that day she had changed clothes, what it seemed to her, a thousand times. She was nervous. It was October 31^st: Halloween. However, that was not the reason why she was so apprehensive. See, my dear readers, this Halloween it was going to be different for her. It was going to be the first night that she was allowed to participate in the ritual. She had been waiting for this for a long time. Now, her name is not important for our story, and even if it was I do not recall what she was called. Still, I believe that knowing her name will make you more connect to her. So, let’s called her… Reya.

What is important, my darling friends, is that Reya had recently discovered herself as a witch, coming from a long lineage of powerful witches. Tonight, as every other Halloween, all witches would united themselves, performing rituals all throughout the country. This was her first time. I hope you can understand now why she was feeling so anxious. Well, enough of that, let’s get back to our story.

Reya was walking alone in the forest, all she could hear were her steps in the dead leaves laying on the ground, expelled by the trees as if they were a rotten limb, the breaking of fallen branches, a solitary owl chirping to the moon, the only thing lightening her way. A sentiment of fear started to grow in her heart, fear and curiosity. She stopped and looked back for a moment, thinking that she should come back home. And yet, Reya could not leave, her thirsty for knowledge was bigger than any dread feeling living inside of her.

She started walking again, and soon she arrived in the glade. The bonfire consumed her eyes for a moment, she imagined what it was going to look like when lit, all that fire eating their oxygen, the branches, the sacrifices. She could also notice an altar in front of the fire. What was that for she could not figure it out. She then noticed that there were many other women in there, all wearing the same black robe that was delivered to her earlier in the week. Many of them were working, preparing for the grand ritual. Reya saw some familiar faces and joined them in silence, watching while everything was put in place so things could be perfect during this sacred time.

Her heart was pounding loudly while she waited, what felt for her, an eternity. In reality it was just a couple of hours. See, all the witches in her family were dead, victims of terrible illness, that appeared to be curses for her when she a child. After discovering her roots, she thought that maybe, her family was actually cursed. She needed to learn all by herself, so she observed. She observed carefully every movement that the other witches made, trying to learn as much as possible. Maybe one day, she could a powerful witch too.

Reya was brought back from her mind when she heard a loud sound, warning the beginning of the ritual. She noticed everyone perfectly place in a line, walking towards a woman holding a chalice. Thus, she joined them as well. It appeared, as she got closely from the woman that they were drinking from that chalice. She could not tell what it was. What she could tell, it was the intricate work done in the chalice that made it seem… sacred.

Soon it was her turn. Her heart started to pound faster and ever higher. Reya took a deep breath and walk to the woman, when she lowed her eyes to the chalice the substance was thick and had a burgundy color, almost black. It looked like… blood.

She widened her eyes when she saw it and looked up for the woman. She in turn smiled and encouraged Reya with her head. The girl swallowed and took another breath. Hesitant, she took the chalice into her lips and took a sip. It tasted… sweet and… salty, at the same time. It was a combination of flavors she never experienced before. It was good. Nothing like she imagined blood would taste like. She smiled and took her place by the side of the other witches. When all the woman finished drinking from the chalice and went to the right positions the ritual began.

Reya saw three women appear out of fin air, there were the same robe as the others, however, they were wearing masks shaped in animas skulls. She looked at those women amazed, they emanated such power that Reya could not stop looking at them. She did not even think about, she just kneeled to those women along with every other witch in the glade. They were the high priestesses. The most powerful witches.

The one on the right was the shortest one, she was wearing the skull of a wolf, an was carrying a closed chest adorned with gold and precious stones. The one in the left was robust, she had broad shoulders and was wearing the skull of a tiger. She held an ancient book that radiated darkness. The one in the middle was the most intimidating one, she was tall and slender. She was wearing a deer skull with the horns embellished with gold and silver lines wrapped around the horns. Her arms were lowered with her hands in front of each other. She held nothing. Reya could say by this that she was the one leading the ritual this night. And she was right.

Suddenly a tense music stated to play, Reya looked everywhere trying to find where the music was coming from but she could not identify this. She noticed all the women standing up when the high priestess wearing the deer skull started to talk. Her voice was strong all reverberated through the glade. A chill went up her spine. She knew something was about to happen.

The music stopped and Reya could see a woman dressed in a white drees walking towards the high priestesses, all eyes were locked on that young woman. Her hair was short and blonde, her body was robust and her walk was peaceful. When the woman arrived in front of the high priestesses she kneeled.

The one conducting the ritual say something that Reya could not understand and she revealed a small bottle containing a strange silver liquid. She poured that liquid in the blonde woman’s head saying more words that Reya could not recognize. When she finished the woman stood up and undressed herself being completely naked. She walked headed for the table, and four other women strapped her in it. She was a sacrifice.

The woman started to chant on the command of the high priestesses. Then, the bonfire was lit, illuminating the entire glade and bringing a weird feeling to Reya’s heart. After a while Reya recognize that the words were in Latin. She could not understand them, well, all but one: Samhain. She remembered the stories that she read. He was a demon, a dark creature hell bent on doing evil: hurting, maiming, killing. She did not understand why they were doing this, she wanted to scream, to make them stop, however she could not do it. She was paralyzed by fear.

The chanting grew stronger while the high priestesses opened the chest that they brought. Inside there was a beautiful encrusted knife. Then, the high priestesses walked in the table’s direction and they stopped above the blonde woman’s head. The one holding the book opened it and a gust of wind came from inside it. She them, started to read the words in the book. The witches watching did not stopped chanting the earlier words.

Reya started to breathe fast. She never felt more scared. And yet, she could not stop looking. She wanted to see what was happening. She wanted to see the girl being sacrificed, dying. After one of the high priestesses finished reciting the words from the book the other one, wearing the deer skull, the one holding the knife, called for Samhain’s while she raised the knife above her head. And then… the alarm went off.

Reya jumped from her chair scared and looked at the phone:

- Shit! I am late. – she said looking at the time

Then, she started typing a message in her keyboard letting the witches know that she was leaving the ritual. She logged out from the page and closed her computer, leaving her house and going to celebrate Halloween with her friends. Even though the ritual was almost ending, she could not stay, she a date. See, my dear readers, I know this might seem confuse for you at this moment, nonetheless, as much as we want to believe in the power of mystic and magic, it is nothing but a fairy tale. A game that we play to scape reality. The only real mystic power wondering in this earth is imagination, manifesting itself for Reya in the form of a simple computer game.