"The Hunters are interesting people aren't they? Humans who learn the truth, and can't ignore it. Hunting it. Learning. And then defining themselves by how they pursue the darkness."

"Well... I suppose you're wondering what all these stories have in common don't you my companions? Well... us I suppose. Us creatures of darkness gazing into the mortal world, our essence touching them and manipulated into all manner of magic."

"In many ways, this last story ties it all together... it may answer all your questions about how I spread my essence across the mortal world."

"You see, there are people like the Hunters... but do not pursue the darkness to capture or destroy it. But, to become one with it. These people... they are the ones that reach out, and take. They are the ones that spread our influence. Spread our magic. They revel in it. Wishing for more..."

"These are the ones that answer the call..."

.........................................................

"Angelica Atwood"

"You have been chosen. Enclosed is a Fragment of the Mother"

"This greatest of blessings is yours to take."

"Answer the Call"

"The consequences will be dire if you refuse"

"The Listener"

.............

Angelica shook, her mind... deep inside, her soul itself, felt numb. Overwhelmed. The weight of her commitment finally bearing fruit. All those months, those years. When all around her told her it was just a phase, just make-believe. That the meetings were glorified roleplay. That there was no such thing as magic.

A young woman, her skin paler than common... smoothed with a bit of white makeup save for dark blue highlights. Dressed in all black and dark purples and blues, she dressed as many would call urban gothic. She was shaking, holding a fragment of a deep purple jewel. It was warm... unnaturally so. As if the crystals itself were alive. The letter was ominous as every sermon.

The Listener... spoke in vague terms. She rarely said exactly what she thought, and she spoke in vague threats and riddles. This letter was.. refereshingly direct, but still failed to convey all the possibility that awaited Angelica.

If all she had been told was true... and the things she had seen, the examples she had heard, and the experiences she watched were any guidance. She was about to become part of something greater... something ancient... The true family, the timeless and ageless agents of chaos that existed before existence and mothered all life. She would be elevated to something greater...

She began packing right away, spare clothing, her notebooks of scrawled notes, recreational and ceremonial drugs, and destroyed any evidence of her identifications.

"This is it... the beginning of a new life..."

She rubbed her temples, focusing on the center of her forehead under her bangs, and trying to envision the division of organs in her gut.

"The Mother has Called me... and I shall Listen..."

...........

Angelica traveled late at night, she always did. Even before meeting with the... cult... she preferred the solitude. The comparative quiet. The ability to be at one with the dark.

No lines at the convenience store were nice too.

She drove out, to the middle of no where... Abandoning her car, she walked further along the pitch black road. The crickets droned, the ambiance of night ringing in the darkness. She would brave the dark... it was where she longed to be.

Angelica had studied many things... she had seen the artifacts created and recovered and distributed by the Listener. While many sought to invoke the power of the Mother, only very few actually reached such a level of awakening that they could actually channel the true magic of the universe. Only glimpses, from the back of meetings under hoods and wraps, had she seen them. She wrote and studied on her own, it was their way. The members of the cult were to record it all... make copies... upload it to the internet, sneak finished tomes into libraries and thrift stores. Distribute the word. And see who listens... Many had come, and many had gone. Those that couldn't handle it... she didn't know what happened to them. Her few friends that knew, but not the extent, feared for her life. She dismissed them. She was faithful, she was trusting. Those that disappeared would become cattle to the mother's children.

And those that called upon her power but could not protect it or use it... she saw and wrote about such experiences. The Listener was especially passionate about this statue that was... difficult.. to acquire. Two embracing figures. That moved once a month, when the moon was blackest... for it was when the Mother's eye gazed upon the world... an eye of pure darkness... did her children and the chosen become free. Strangest, but most fascinating to Angelica, were the stories she wrote of the five legged beast. A... woman she called herself, but with the body of a man, on top of the body of another. A being of all legs. Longing for the power to "fix" herself. Ignoring the declarations of her glorious new form's beauty.

Such is the nature of those unable and unwilling to accept the Mother's Grace.

But, she was different... she wanted this...

Pulling out the crystal, she stood in the pitch blackness. Far from any light beyond the stars. Holding it aloft she waited...

And it began to glow... levitating from her gloved palms. Even the light of the stars seemed to fade. The whispering wind went silent. Every beast of the night ceased in respect.

A voice pierced the absolute silence of night. A single figure walking into the only glow of the Mother's Light. A dark skinned woman, scantily clad in but a single dress and shawl not even covering her breasts. Her thick hair hung in dreadlocks. Yet still her, violet eyes shone as bright as the crystal.

"Are you ready to listen..."

It was not a question.

.......................................................

And here we are! The final Aloween story! Yeeeee!!!!

This one is tricky, cause I want to answer a lot of questions but not all of them you know? And then of course, I go and choose to do a line-less painting style instead of my normal shading. I think it looks... nice and ethereal at the very least. <3

I hope you've all had a wonderful October! We're in the final stretch!