Chapter 1: Prologue
Once upon a time, there was a little spirit named Samhain. His mother was Victorian, his father was Christian, his grandmother was Celtic, and his grandfather was Greece. For several years, he was raised by his grandmother because his parents had been too poor to take him themselves. He loved her dearly- she taught him how to build a fire, how to speak to the dead, and how to carve things. But one day, grandmother Celtic could no longer care for him. At the age of four, he was passed into the hands of his grandfather Greece. Grandfather Greece enjoyed the boy, but thought his ways needed some tweaking. So the boy was taught how to converse with the gods, navigate the Underworld, and how to prepare a proper harvest feast. Soon, his real father came into money and Samhain was taken under his wing. Samhain was amazed at how different his father perceived the world- evil lurked everywhere that Samhain had been taught to venture before. So his father taught him how to pray, how to properly honor the dead, and how to pleasingly arrange a feast. When this was done, Samhain was sent for by his mother Victorian. Mother Victorian was very kind and proper- she had much less care for want of prayer, and she did not particularly like the dead. But she loved the feasts that Samhain could create. So, together with her son, she taught him how to create extravagant parties and costumes. Samhain particularly liked the clothes of the scarecrow, because his grandmother had once shown him how having a scarecrow around ensured more plentiful crops for harvest. His mother Victorian thought this was rather droll and often dressed up as a scarecrow herself. By the time Samhain was ten years old in human years, his mother and father had long passed away. He missed them dearly and promised that he would keep doing the things they taught him to do in life. Eventually, he was found curled up alone in a pumpkin patch by a friendly but very industrial man in a suit and was taken home with him to meet his family.
All was fine until October 31st. Samhain had carved out a set of special jack-o-lanterns for his lost family and left them out to run all night. When he returned from collecting candy, he found each pumpkin smashed to pieces. He was infuriated. He was disappointed in humanity. Didn't they know terrible things would happen after this? Unfortunately, something caught him by surprise. Another spirit- a pitch black, hulking entity had engulfed him. He wrestled and fought in vain. A sharp pain descended upon his head that seemed to last forever. In an instant, the thing dissipated and he found himself all alone on the sidewalk. As leaves skittered and whirled on the winds betwixt his feet, he proceeded, filled with anger and dismay, down the darkened street, eyes glowing with the new-lit embers of a great big jack-o-lantern. People were slowly forgetting him, now. He was fading away. But he was not going to give up so easily…