Going Beyond The Veil

The dark woods loomed in front of me and my wife. We had already passed plenty of vendors and friendly faces, but a minute before the stroke of seven, my eyes were drawn to the gray stone of the archway-the entryway between worlds.

I was not sure what to expect and held my wife close, both of us excited and ready to go beyond the veil of this world.

At first, my wife was looking toward more vendors, but I was slowly approaching the archway carefully. I felt like a curious dog sniffing at a dead animal.

That was when a shadow approached. My wife clung to me and smiled. The fear had not gripped either of us... yet. The blacked form took shape into a female with a walking stick. A large nose graced a ghastly-white face. She introduced herself as none other than the infamous Baba Yaga herself. Her voice was actually cordial and polite as she welcomed us to the stony portal.

A short talk ensued until the goblin queen came and greeted us in a very goblin-esque manor-delighted, boisterous, and probably hungry.

Me and my wife felt calm and at ease with both fae and goblinfolk. The discussion was mostly about the upcoming goblin king feast, which I and my partner hope to attend.

Two entered the archway before us, and we're never seen again. Their fates to this day remain unknown.

Before me and my beautiful partner braved the trail, we were given a crimson lantern to light our path. It did little to brighten our way. If anything, it felt like it was a beacon to entice the bloodthirsty denizens. Then the goblin queen decided to announce our passage into the beyond and we were on our way.

I had steeled myself for my wife's sake, and while she had spent her life educating herself on tales and folklore on over a thousand or more spirits, monsters, and beasts of this world and the next, I was still wary of her constitution. The darkness was something that still shook her to the core. I was quite proud of her for still braving the trail with me-the whole thing.

Several strange and foreboding parts of the trail made us stop and investigate. Our intuitive instincts were in overdrive, having been through many perilous and adventurous escapes in the town of Joplin.

However, she was oblivious to the first creature I had seen. Why he didn't attack, I don't know, but he did seem curious. Almost as if he knew. Perhaps he could smell the fear and took pity. That or I saw him, he saw me, and there was a stalemate betwixt his bloodlust and my awareness.

The wendigo wasn't so merciful. We had come to another clearing dressed in red light, and when I looked toward a tree to the right, he seemed to come out of the trunk itself. He towered over us like the darkness itself had come to life and was coming after us, clicking his macabre song.

My wife ran. He gave pursuit as I tried to reason and stop him. As if out of every horror fiction I have ever seen-and I guarantee you, I have experienced a lot of horror-she tripped. But unlike all the others, she turned and laughed right in the demon's face.

I rushed to her, worried and scared. She laughed at me and reassured me she was incredibly fine and A-okay. The big black beast backed away, shaking its head as if not sure what to think of my beloved.

After helping her to her feet, she was steeling herself for the walk ahead. Hearing and seeing more things wandering about in the woods, we came to a white light with a friendly, "Hello."

Coming around the corner, we were met by the smiling, toothy maw of another beast. This one meant us no harm, though. A friendly face to be sure of the Egyptian God, Anbuis. A sight for sore eyes, and a voice for on-edge ears.