An Astra City Halloween

Halloween was approaching fast, and the citizens of Astra city were already preparing for it. You see, Halloween in Astra City is quite different than it is on Earth. Many of the citizens had ancestory from Earth, so of course some human traditions made their way over as well. But with Astra City's population being made up of animals, many of the more "human" traditions were skewed and distorted, until the only thing that remained was the name. Still, this didn't stop people from enjoying themselves.

Well, most citizens enjoyed the festivities. The City's Wizards weren't as excited. While the opinions on holidays varied greatly between the wizards, one thing was agreed upon. The city always struggled after a festival. Why wouldn't it? Instead of using their magic to keep things running, they had to use their magic to make pretty lights and decorations. It's very taxing, and the whole city suffers as a result.

This year's Halloween was being organized by Brett, the 8th wizard. Brett had always been fascinated by Earth, so naturally he'd be in charge of organizing this festival. On top of that, Brett was the only wizard with an apprentice, so perhaps he'd be able to handle things better.

Altair, Brett's apprentice, was making his way into the Midnight Forest in search of the city's rogue magic user, Chime. Chime was a recluse, only visiting the city when she absolutely had to, but city events still concerned her. If the wizards magic was weakened, more demons would be able to enter, meaning more of them would have to be killed. Altair was going to use this fact to help sway Chime into helping.

The forest was eerily silent. Not unusual, especially considering nothing lives in it except low level demons and Chime, neither of which made much noise. Scratch was enjoying the walk. He was picking up sticks and rocks and tossing them around. Altair had to be diligent, making sure Scratch didn't accidentally ingest anything. Even though Scratch took the shape of an arm, he still preferred to use his mouth to pick things up.

Eventually, Altair heard a familiar sound cutting through the silence. The soft jingle of bells. Chime. The rogue wizard had an odd fascination with bells, and always had at least one on her outfit at any given time. Altair had to approach her cautiously. Her magic was much stronger than his. Some would say it's stronger than many of the other Wizards too, which didn't surprise Altair. Her mentor is rumored to be the strongest of the 12, after all.

With great caution, Altair made his way to the source of the sound. He stopped once Chime was in his field of view. She was crouched down, feeding a small demon out of her hand. Upon seeing her, Scratch faded out of existence. Scratch was pretty shy, and even he knew how dangerous Chime could be. "Great" Altair thought to himself. "Now I have to deal with this by myself. Thanks, Scratch…"

Suddenly, Altair felt a sharp pain in his back, as something tackled him to the ground. He yelped in pain and surprise, causing Chime to whip around and the demon to run off. She already had an attack prepared, but the attack dissipated once she saw who it was.

"Mordecai, down" she said, in a very monotonous way.

Once she said this, Altair felt whatever was on top of him skitter off. It was a small, cat like demon. Oh, that's right. Chime had a little partner in crime, didn't she.

Mordecai ran over to her and climbed his way up to her shoulder. Once he was at the top, he turned his head to Altair and hissed at him. His hiss was bone chilling, but Chime giggled, and treated him as if he were nothing more than a harmless pet.

"Why are you here" Chime asked, as Altair got up.

"I-I'm here because…" he cleared his throat, trying not to sound so nervous. "It's almost Halloween, you know. The city is getting ready for the festival. We could really use your help"

Chime didn't respond, but nodded in acknowledgement of Altair's statement.

"So, uh, is that a yes? Because, you know, if the city's magic is low-"

"Yes, I'll help." She said quietly

"Oh, you will? Wonderful! If you could just follow me then we can-"

Chime hushed him, then gestured for him to lead the way. She was very odd in her ways, but Altair didn't dare question her methods. Obviously she did whatever she does for a reason. Why question it? Especially considering it most likely didn't concern him.

The two of them eventually made it back to town. Chime ended up leading the way. The Midnight Forest was easy to get lost in, and Altair wasn't all too familiar with it. Chime, on the other hand, spent the majority of her time there. She was better acquainted with it. All was going according to plan. Altair and Chime were on their way to meet up with Brett to further discuss things.

They were almost at their destination, when they heard a loud scream. The crest on Altair's head shot up in surprise, as did Chime's. The two didn't have to travel far to see the source of the scream.

A large vulpine esque creature ran by, and hid behind Altair. Behind him was Mouse, the City's mechanic.

"Oh no, not her" Altair mumbled.

Mouse was very against magic, and usually berated the wizards any chance she got. This time, however, she wasn't interested in the rogue or the apprentice. No, she was only interested in the fox cowering behind them.

"Oi! Tell this rasict ol' prick that I'm not a rat! My name is MOUSE for fuck's sake!" Mouse yelled, getting the attention of almost everyone in the surrounding area.

"I-I'm really sorry, Mrs. Mouse. I-i just. I, uh.. I'm sorry!" The fox said, voice trembling. "I just don't wasn't expecting it, I promise!"

"Uh, what exactly's going on?" Altair interjected.

"Well, I was supposed to meet up with Brett ta go over a few things for the festival, but when I walked in this damn fox started throwin' a hissy fit!" Mouse crossed her arms in anger.

"I-I was supposed to meet up with Brett as well…" the fox whispered "but he's so secretive with his plans…"

"Well, uhh.. I suppose you two should come with me, then. We were making our way over to him as well"

Altair was going to continue, but something caught his attention. The fox was wearing a red sash over his shoulders, red being the colour reserved only for wizards and their apprentices. This briefly confused him, before he realised who it was. Cowering behind him was the great dragon, Halcyon! The city's ancient protector. Something didn't seem right, however. Why would the great Halcyon be afraid of Mouse? He shook the thought from his mind, and he and the group made their way back to Brett's house.

At the house, they were greeted by even more people. There was Trix, one of town hall's secretaries, as well as Hazelnut, one of the tavern workers. Altair knew Hazel far too well. They had talked many times, usually when Altair was tasked with dragging the wizard Vance out of the bar. Why were these people here, though? Halcyon and Chime made sense, but why three random townsfolk? None of them were especially good at magic. Hell, one of them was actively against it! Brett could sense the confusion of his apprentice.

"Well, take a seat everyone" Brett said. "We have quite a lot to discuss. Halloween is only a few days away, after all!"

Everyone took a seat, Halcyon and Mouse sitting as far away as they could from each other. Once everyone had gotten themselves situated, Brett began explaining everything.

"As I'm sure many of you know, I'm very interested in our dimensional partner, Earth. With Halloween being an Earthly tradition, it's only natural that I'd be the one to organize it."

"Yes, that's what Julian told me, but I don't see why this involves us. Isn't festival planning the Wizards responsibility?" Trix asked inquisitively.

"Usually, yes. But after talking to Hal- uh. Yes, After talking to Hal and the rest of the city's guards, we've decided to take a less magical approach this year. There's been an increase of middle and upper class demons as of late, and we don't want to waste our magic if we don't have too."

"That's why ya shouldn't have to rely on magic!" Mouse said, cutting Brett off. "Machines are far more reliable. Did you know, I'm working on a machine that's able to launch a rock at-"

"Yes yes, Mouse. We're all aware" Trix replied. "You've only written to City Hall about it 20 times"

"Moving on… I've brought you all here for a reason. Each of you has a set of skills that'll aid us in setting up the festival."

And with that, Brett gave everyone an assignment. This year, Halloween was going to have a much more human feel to it. Brett had done his research, and he found their traditions quite fascinating. Very different than Astra City's, but not unrecognizable. He thought the city would appreciate his changes, especially considering many of the citizens earthly origins.

Chime and Halcyon set off to the city's border. They were tasked with scouting out the farlands. Chime was to ward off any problematic demons, and Halcyon was to kill any that couldn't be persuaded. The two of them had very conflicting interests, but Halcyon played along with Chime's ideals for the time being. This was the first time he'd ever planned on attending a festival, so he was open to anything that'd ensure it happened.

Halcyon the 1st never let his son into town, so Halcyon the 2nd had never attended a festival. Sometimes he and his father would have their own celebration, usually watching the fireworks the city set off from afar, but he was never allowed to take part in the festivities. He desperately wanted to, so he'd have to swallow his pride and help Chime "nicely persuade" the demons into leaving, as much as it pained him.

After getting out of view of the city, Halcyon changed back into his true form. A late, gold and white dragon. He had to keep himself disguised while in the city, but the wizards knew who he was, so it was safe to be himself around Chime. Plus, Chime wasn't known to be much of a talker. She probably wouldn't tell anyone regardless.

The two were well on their way out of the city, when Halcyon noticed something. Chime's hood was moving in a very unnatural way. It almost looked like it was moving on it's own. He couldn't help but ask her about it. It was driving him crazy!

"Um, Chime, why is your cloak moving?" He asked.

Chime said nothing, but gave him a disapproving look. She flicked the bell around her neck angrily, and continued on. This only made Halcyon more curious. Was she hiding something, or was this all in his head?

Then, he saw it. Protruding out the bottom of her robes was a long, thin, black tail. Halcyon knew it wasn't Chime's tail, so he bent his head down to get a better look.

As he bent down, a small human like hand shot out and scratched him in the face! He pulled his head back, and Chime turned around to see what the fuss was about.

Swatting at Halcyon made the hand lose its grip, and the hand's owner fell out of Chime's hood. It was Mordecai. While he had never met Halcyon, he seemed to know who he was. The second he laid eyes on him, he bolted back inside Chines cloak.

"A-a demon! You have a demon in your cloak!" Halcyon yelled "you didn't bring that thing into town, did you?!"

After a brief pause, Chime replied. "He's just a little demon. He won't hurt anyone"

"He just hurt me! He scratched me, see?" Halcyon pointed to his nose, which had a small scratch on it.

"You scared him"

"I scared him? Good! All demons should fear the great Halcyon!"

Chime sighed, and quickly used her magic to heal Halcyon's miniscule wound, before turning around to continue on.

"Come, now. We have work to do" she said, in her usual monotonous tone.

Back in town, Mouse and Trix were at Mouse's home. Specifically, they were in her underground workshop, looking for materials. The two of them were tasked with organizing decorations and setting up entertainment. Typically, the wizards would have some sort of firework display. Well, in a way they were fireworks. It could be better described as a magic light show. Magic wasn't to be wasted this year, though. That meant no fireworks. At least, it did, until Mouse got an idea.

Mouse was sure she could make better fireworks without magic. She claimed she had done so before, but Trix was sceptical. Mouse blew herself up at least once a week; She wasn't sure she could be trusted with any explosives like a firework. Still, she was curious. While much of what Mouse said was complete and utter nonsense, she did have some good ideas. She had also proven herself to be a competent inventor, even if her creations were a bit odd.

It was mostly Mouse who had been collecting materials. Trix tried to help, but not only did she not know what to get, but Mouse was very particular about the things in her shop. She didn't want Trix touching anything with her "grubby little hooves".

"Aha!" Mouse exclaimed, while pulling out a large box. "Here it is!"

"What is it, exactly?" Trix asked

"Black powder, duh" Mouse said "how else would we get these things to blow-"

"No no no, we aren't using any of that! I don't want the whole city going up in flames, that'd just be more work for the wizards!"

"It doesn't set things on fire, Trix. It explodes! Trust me, it'll be fiiiiine"

She handed the box to Trix, who took it after some hesitation. Afterwards, she went back to searching through the mess that was her workshop.

"So, what kinda colours should we have? I'm not usin' any red, that's for damn sure" Mouse asked, while pawing through packages of unknown substances.

"Colours? Uh, we can't make colours. You need magic to-"

"Oi! You shut yer mouth about magic. I can do plenty without it." She barked, angrily. "So, colours. Pick some. Go!"

"Um… I don't know. Brett said they use orange-"

"Bah! I'm not making orange. I hate oranges!" Mouse paused for a moment. "I guess I could do more of a clementine though"

"But, clementines are orange"

Mouse huffed, as she placed a few packets of powder onto the table.

"Fine. We have Orange and purple. I think that'll be plenty. Now, let's get working"

It was technically after hours, but Hazel had a set of keys to get inside the tavern. He did work there, after all. The building inside was dark, but Altair lit the place up with his magic. Hazel was supposed to arrange the food by himself, but he wasn't too good at things like that. Brett had tried to get ahold of the Tavern owner, but he was far too busy to help out. How typical. Then again, he was the only tavern in the city, so of course he was busy.

"So, we need to make sure we have all za right ingredients, yeah?" Hazel asked.

"Brett gave you a list. What did you do with it?" Altair asked

"Um, I don't know. I zink I have it somewhere" 

Hazel rummaged through his cape, before producing a small handwritten note. The note was now crumpled, but it was still readable.

According to Brett's research, candy was usually given out on Halloween. Astra City didn't really have any candymakers, however, so he settled on baked goods as the main treat. Hazel was supposed to go around town to make sure the baker's had everything ready. The first stop, of course, was the tavern he worked at. It wasn't a bakery, but they did have many of the necessary ingredients.

The two walked into the back room. The back of the tavern was full of glasses, serving trays, rags, and anything else a tavern might need. Further back was the kitchen. It was obviously apparent to Altair that Hazel wasn't quite fit to work here. He was one of the shortest creatures he had ever met. Even shorter than Mouse. Hazel seemed to have difficulty reaching everything. On top of that, the tavern owner was on the tall side, so the entire tavern was better suited to people of a taller stature.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get hired here?" Altair asked, as he looked through the tavern's stock.

"Hired? I wasn't hired. I, uh… maybe accidentally stole a fish from zis place, so I had to work off my debt"

Altair didn't expect that answer, but he continued the conversation anyway. "So this is a punishment, then?"

"Oh nononono! Notta punishment! Well, maybe at first, but now I work here because I'm good at it! Oh yes, the goodest!"

"I see… but, uh, you seem a bit short for this place"

"Oh, yes. Very short, but being small is good! Za tavern owner is very sobig, too big to clean za little crevasses low down. I'm very good at cleaning!"

Eventually they finished counting the ingredients, so they locked up the tavern and went off to check the bakery. Altair still had his own job to do. Hazel seemed to have a pretty good idea on what they needed. Still, Altair needed to be sure he knew what to do before he could trust him to be in his own.

Hazelnut was busy swinging around a stick he had found on the ground like a sword. He was known to be a bit of a scatterbrain, but Altair was sure he could handle this on his own.

"Hazel" Altair said, but he was quickly cut off.

"No, I am za great adventurer Hazel!"

"Right… oh great adventurer, Hazel. Do you think you can take care of the bakery on your own? I really need to get started on-"

"Za great adventurer Hazel can do anyzing he sets his mind to!" He grabbed his cape and flicked it back "off to za bakery!"

And before Altair could say anything else, Hazel took off running towards the bakery. For such a little thing, he was extremely fast. Now Altair was all by himself. He might as well get started on his task.

Astra City didn't have a lot of things. There simply aren't enough people. Supply and demand is too low for anyone to bother with a lot of things. A lot of the things Brett wanted just couldn't be found inside the city, but they could be found outside. Altair's task was to get pumpkins, colourful paint, and lots of candy. Sure, they had decided to use baked goods, but a bit of candy wouldn't hurt.

There was only one problem, though. Once Altair went through the portal to Earth in the Midnight Forest, he'd turn into a normal cockatiel. Cockatiels are quite small. Far too small to collect things like pumpkins, that's for sure. He'd have to find help, without exposing the city to any outsiders.

Altair made his way to the shrine that held the portal. Brett had already prepared the potion needed to open the portal, so all Altair had to do was dump it in the shrine and he'd be off to Earth.

Finally, they were at the portal. Scratch seemed to be hesitant, but Altair managed to get him to get him to dump it inside. The shrine glowed a brilliant purple, and then the portal opened. Looking through it was like looking through a window. On the other side was the soft light of the Noon Forest. Altair took a deep breath, and stepped through the portal.

Originally, Altair was from Earth. He had been found by Brett as a small child, and taken into the city. Despite his origins, he didn't feel at home on Earth. The animals of Earth didn't have the same ideals as the ones from Astra City. Some animals actually ate each other! He'd rather not become anybody's lunch, so he was going to make his visit as short as possible. He couldn't fly, but Altair was good on the ground. After only an hour he had reached his destination.

The Noon Forest lead to a small town called Topaz Town. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Directly outside the forest was a small park. Further away was something called a "gas station". Altair took a left, and ended up at a small farm. Well, it was small for human standards, but to Altair the place was enormous.

Brett had made frequent stops to this farm in the past, mostly to get seeds. Altair had been here a few times in the past, but he usually stayed home when Brett made his trips to Earth.

The farm had quite a large selection of pumpkins. Too large. Especially for little bird Altair. How was he going to get these back to the portal?

He pondered this for a bit, when something ran by him and into a box that was leaning up against a wall. Something else was coming too, so Altair hid as well. Shortly after he hid himself, a human came around the corner. He was holding a long rectangular object, which he pointed towards the sky. The man pulled a lever on the object, and it made a loud booming noise that echoed throughout the area.

"And stay out!" The human yelled. "I don't want ya eating any more of my chickens, ya freak of nature!". He muttered a few more things as he walked away, but Altair couldn't hear him.

Cautiously, he got out from his hiding place. Unfortunately, so did the thing in the box. It was a fox! A very large one, too. Then again, Altair was pretty small. The human had just said something about eating chickens. He wasn't referring to the fox, was he? The fox looked over at him. She had remnants of feathers around her mouth. Altair frantically looked around, but the fox had already seen him. He had no choice, he had to talk his way out of this.

"Oh, uh, h-hello there. Um…" his voice trembled as he looked at the fox. He took a few steps back, his survival instinct kicking in.

The fox just tilted her head. "What are you wearing?" She asked.

"What? What do you mean?"

"You're wearing clothes. Like a human. I've never seen a bird wear clothes before"

Altair stared at her. "You… you mean you aren't gonna eat me?"

"Eat you? No! Why would I?"

"Well, that man said something about eating chickens…"

The fox laughed a bit. "Heh, no, I wasn't eating the chickens. If I ate the chickens, there wouldn't be anyone around to lay eggs! They're my friends, I wouldn't eat them"

"Oh... well, that's good." He said. "I don't really know what animals eat each other" he muttered under his breath.

"You're a weird bird." The fox said, while looking Altair over. "What happened to your wing? Oh! Sorry, that was rude of me…"

The two talked for awhile more, Altair doing his best to answer her questions while avoiding revealing the city's existence. Eventually, the conversation turned to what Altair was doing at the farm in the first place. The fox, who Altair learned was named Eon, agreed to help him gather the supplies he needed, as long as he agreed to show her what he needed them for. This was a bit concerning, but Eon seemed trustworthy. Plus, with everyone wearing face paint (in place of costumes) no one would even notice her, right?

So, the two ran around town, gathering supplies. It took the rest of the day, but eventually they had everything they needed piled up next to the invisible portal. Altair told Eon to meet him in the Noon Forest tomorrow. Then he'd take her to the festival. The two said their goodbyes, and Altair began hauling everything through the portal.

It was the next morning. The day of the Halloween festival. The majority of the preparations had been done the day before, so all that was left was setting everything up in the city center.

Everyone was there. The wizards, the city guards, and the citizens. Everyone was preparing for the days festivities. Hazel and Halcyon were busy setting up the food stands. Mouse was arguing with a few of the wizards about the fireworks display. Chime was catching up with her old mentor, Thorn, away from all the excitement. She was only there to make sure Halcyon didn't run off to kill any demons. Trix was all over the place, trying to make sure everything was running smoothly.

Then there was Altair. He had promised Eon he'd take her to the festival, so he was busy trying to find a way to slip out unnoticed. Brett could tell something was up, but he didn't question his apprentice. Instead, he let him go do whatever it was he was so worried about.

As promised, Altair met Eon at the Noon Forest. He had brought along some paint and a set of clothes for her, which he had left at the portal entrance.

"So, where's this festival thing anyway?" Eon asked

"We'll go there soon, but first you have to promise you won't tell anyone about this place. It's been kept a secret for as long as it's existed. Telling anyone would mean disaster!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell, I promise"

"Ok, then step right this way"

Altair disappeared through the portal. To Eon, it appeared as if he had just vanished off the face of the Earth! Still, Eon was curious, so she stepped forward just as Altair had.

Suddenly, she was in a whole new world! The sky looked dark, as if it were the middle of the night. The trees around them were dead and petrified. Behind her stood a tall stone shrine, with a faint purple glow.

Eon wobbled, and then fell to the ground. Her body was… different. It looked like a human! Well, almost. She was still covered in fur, but her body was upright. Her paws had turned into fingers, which seemed to be very good at grabbing things. Altair's body seemed to change too! He used to be only a fraction of her size, but now she was only a few inches taller than him. His missing wing became much more apparent too, though she didn't say anything about it.

Altair handed her the outfit. It was a blue shirt with a white trim, and a black pair of pants.

"Here, put these on" Altair said, trying to avoid eye contact. "It's improper to run around in the nude here…."

It took some effort, but eventually Eon had put the clothes on. Now, the face paint. Everyone was painting their faces for the festival. Altair was planning on painting Eons face in such a way that no one would be able to recognize her. If no one knew who she was, no one would know she wasn't from Astra City. She didn't seem to like the paint, but she understood why she had to wear it.

Eventually the two of them made their way back to the city. Eon's eyes lit up once she saw it. It looked like a human town, but it was full of animals! They were all upright, just like her! The town had been decorated with orange and black decorations. The people around her were having fun painting their faces, eating cakes and pastries, and carving pumpkins! Brett got up on a large stand and got everyone's attention.

"Hello, everyone! I'm glad you all could make it to our Halloween festival this year! Before we begin, I'd like to thank everyone that helped out with the preparations this year. We did our best to use as little magic as possible, and I think we've succeeded! This wouldn't be possible without all your hard work.

Now…. Let the festival begin!"

Brett raised his hand to the sky, and shot a beam of light from it. The beam of light hit the sky, and caused it to dim until it appeared to be night. After that, everyone began to light candles and place them all around the booths and walkways, giving the city a warm glow.

The festival had officially begun. There were various activities around the city center. Food and candy stands were littered around the area, giving away treats to passers by. The people who had carved pumpkins had taken them over to a large table, showing them off to the rest of the city. Later in the night they'd be judged, and the best pumpkin would win a prize. There were also a lot of face painting booths, for those who weren't confident in their own painting abilities. Everyone was having a blast. The best part? Hardly any magic was being used!

Finally, the night was coming to a close. The only thing left was the fireworks show that Mouse and Trix had set up. Everyone made their way to the tops of the surrounding buildings, or large open areas to get a better look. Mouse was at the very center of the city, accompanied by three of the wizards, preparing the fireworks. She kept reassuring everyone that they'd work, but the wizards were still skeptical. That's why they were there, in case Mouse's fireworks failed. Everyone watched the sky in anticipation. Then, the countdown began.

3…. 2…. 1…. Boom! Orange and purple fireworks shot up in the sky, and exploded in a shower of colours. It was unlike anything the city had ever seen! Beautiful sparks of light rained down, and fizzled out before they hit the ground. Everyone was impressed with Mouse's work. The wizards especially. While the town had just assumed the colour came from the wizards, the wizards all knew they had no part in it. It was fascinating. Real colour! Something like that hadn't been seen since the time stoppage!

This year's Halloween festival was a smashing success! The town couldn't have asked for a better one. Best of all, they wouldn't have the typical post-festival magic shortage they usually had. Yes, it was wonderful. Hopefully the city's next festival would be just as great. Perhaps Altair and his friends should help arrange that one too, but that's a problem for another day. For now, they just sat back and enjoyed the fireworks.