On a Friday the 13th unlike any other, Vask awoke with a tale as old as time swimming through his consciousness…
The tale began with the oft-mocked but still-ominous beginning: it was a dark and stormy night. Peering into the gloominess, it felt as though he was being watched. As if to confirm his suspicions, a figure, slowly approaching from the edge of the woods, began to take shape in the rain.
Seeing the figure come into greater clarity, Vask could now clearly tell that it was his old friend, wix. For a brief moment, Vask felt relieved, until he noticed that something about Wix was… off. Vask noticed Wix was oddly distorted in an unnatural way, almost making him look stranger than he already does… His otherwise curly smile was now a curly frown. Unsure of what to do and in an attempt to calm his nerves (don't ask), Vask decided to at least dub this new distorted flipped-mouth version of Wix M!x. Then M!x opened his vertically-flipped mouth, and he spoke thusly: "Why, friend, does your mouth curl upwards so?" The words coming from M!x mouth where high pitched and sent chills down the spine, nothing like his usual self.
While contemplating whether to answer the odd question, to challenge this M!x, or simply run away, Vask noticed that the hands of the creature (for surely this could not be his old friend Wix) were also very strange. His fingers were much lengthier than normal, gnarled at the middle like old tree branches, the tips of them bathed in what looked to be a mixture of dirt and dried blood. Suddenly, M!x's branch-like hands and arms started to grow even longer, spreading out further and further. 'Are these even limbs!?!?' Vask thought frantically, while the terrifying appendages spread all across and begun ripping apart and destroying everything in the entire known universe around him
When M!x opened his curled mouth again, a sequence of gargles and screeches escaped his lips - fragments of words that didn’t seem to make sense together. Vask backed quickly away from M!x, staying out of reach of the awful claws, and whipped out his phone and began recording the mysterious screeches coming from M!x. Vask stood there filming as he watched M!x start to lift into the sky as the loud screeches continued. Vask then accidentally hit the go live button on the screen, suddenly hundreds of viewers started to pile on in as M!x continued to rise up. “Babe wake up, Vask went live” one of the top commenters wrote, as numerous super chats and donations poured in. M!x, confused and angry at Vask for filming, started to launch at him, trying to grab him with his wooden claws. Vask narrowly ducked out of the way of M!x's attack and M!x let loose an otherworldly screech of frustration. “Ooooh, I’m gonna make some popcorn and watch this showdown!!!”, another top commenter, named Periot, commented. Vask quickly patted himself down and checked every pocket he had, but all he could find was some old empty candy wrappers. Vask closely examined one of the candy wrappers that felt a little thicker, and saw a ticket stuck to it that would redeem one free popcorn. He went to redeem the ticket at the popcorn stall, but there was nobody there. Vask, still hearing M!x's shrills in the distance and having no popcorn in hand, started to tremble. "...It looks like I'll have to do this myself," said Vask, taking a moment to calm his trembling before hopping over the counter and approaching the popcorn machine.
With renewed resolve, he poured kernels in, but was unsure on how to proceed. Vask rummaged through the cabinets and drawers on the counter in hopes of finding an instruction manual, but instead, he found a mysterious tattered notebook covered in dust. He opened the notebook, but the text was written in a strange language consisting of multiple symbols. Some of the symbols seemed to match up to the ones on the popcorn machine, but Vask couldn’t really make sense of what buttons did what. Vask stared at the book, thinking up ways to decipher this strange and mysterious notebook. After staring at the strange markings in the book he decided to just hit some buttons till a red light turned on. As the popcorn machine started working and the kernels began to pop, the sound of M!x's shrieks grew closer and closer. The smell of buttery warm popcorn filled the air and as the heavenly scent wafted around the raging M!x, his movements slowed. But that didn't take long, as M!x began to pick up the pace again, screeching, "Ī̵̧ ̸̣͍̠̇Ĥ̶̤͉̪̐͠A̴͙̲͒̕T̴͙͉́̅͝E̴̩̤͠ ̵̦̫̥͆̐B̸̺̳̼̕Ǘ̶̫͇̀͒T̴̳͗̾ͅT̴͎̺́͐Ḛ̵̰̯̅͑̔R̷͔͎̚!̸͇̫̃̄͐ͅ!̸̧͠!̷͇̺̹̿̏". "What was that M!x, you want extra butter" Vask asked as he couldn't quite make out what M!x was screaming about. Once the popcorn was ready Vask prepared the bag, oblivious to M!x's presence in front of the counter.
Vask only managed to fill half the bag before becoming impatient and pouring the rest of the buttery goodness directly into his face holes, much to M!x's disgust. M!x screams as the hot butter fills his face holes letting Vask run away. Vask runs in an attempt to hide from M!x, but a line of hot butter trails after him, unluckily marking his path. M!x uses the butter trail to his advantage by slip-n-sliding his way directly to Vask, who is paralyzed by fear and confusion at the sight of this odd occurrence. Just when the end seemed near Vask hears a nearby voice say, "Quick, over here!”
It was Vask's good friend Jack, the Czar of Halloween. Vask quickly darts in the direction of Jack's voice, which was hidden behind a tall tree about 10 metres away. Jack quickly pulls his cape up and around them both while M!x slip-n-slides closer. Jack, turning to Vix, took a shaky breath before starting: "Zipper... he's back." “Ooooh, popcorn”, Jack thought, while climbing up, Vask in tow, to a perfect place to give Wix/M!x some time to cool down and gather his senses while enjoying their buttery snack. M!x tried his darnedest to climb up the tree in which Jack and Vask sat, but failed as his butter-covered claws constantly slipped off the trunk. With his attempts to climb unsuccessful, M!x instead begins hacking away at the tree's trunk with his claws, jolting the two above him with every cut into the wood. With a massive jolt, Vask slipped off of the branch, holding on only by the grip of one, very buttery hand. In the flicker of a candle Jack grabbed hold of Vask, as his hands were sticky with the residue of Halloween candy, Jack was able to grip on tight. Exerting his tremendous strength to keep hold of Vask, Jack dropped the popcorn (and candy) all over M!x below while doing his best to keep Vask from falling, as Vask shrieked, "What do you mean Zipper's back?!!"
At the mere mention of his name, the long-eared interloper himself appeared from the nearby bushes, sinking his wickedly sharp teeth into the tree trunk. "That's what I mean," Jack said as he hoisted Vask onto the temporary safety of the branch above. Snapping his ever-smiling head upwards at the pair, Zipper began climbing, chattering laughter floating eerily around.
Jack and Vask thought up some ways to get this foul lagomorph off their tracks when suddenly, Vask spotted an egg conveniently placed atop the tree. An almost undecipherable sound releases from the dread rabbit's maw, "H̵̺̻̏̓͑͘͝ĭ̵͕̿̇̽̈́P̴̧̩̪̲̞̅̅͋̈́P̸̬̯̘̃̄i̷͙̇̀̑̉͘ẗ̶̘̯̭́Y̴̡̰̆̈́̄̚ ̸̤̳̭̈H̵͇̾̽̋͠ỏ̴͙̠͠P̵̭͙̥͑͘i̵̲̋͆t̶̫̥̑̐̕͜T̸̗̤̔y̶̬̣̯̰̓͆̊͜ ̵̛͚̮̥̿W̸͎̮̝͓̉i̵̮̣͛Ș̵̳̝̯̊Ḧ̴͕̩͎́̅ ̷̘̝̳̭̽ẅ̸̜̈́̅A̴̻̐s̷̢̰͋͆̊H̷̹͚̿͋͛͜͜͝ ̸̞̠̺̑W̵͓̺͊o̴̜̯͙͕͊͒͑A̷̢̯̻͇̚ȟ̶̷̹̬̭̳̝͈́ Ỹ̶̗̥͓̂ỏ̵̻̥̞̚͘U̷̺͐̉͘R̷̛̜̗̺̹̹͂̂̈́̏ ̶̛̹̖͈̖̂̃Ȍ̶͕̀͆̀͝Ḽ̵̢̂͆͘d̸̙̝̐̆ ̷̞̎͒̓͝P̶͎̹̻̻̞̈̒͝Á̵̛̼͝L̵̛̅̏͜͝ ̴̙̘̩̎̑̌̀̚Z̸̘͛̋̈̇í̴̧̭̰̈́͋͠p̶̯͉̏͐̎͘̚p̷̛͚͎̳͚̱̂̍̚E̸͉̱̟͛̋͐͘R̸̺͇͔͌ ̴͍͑̀̊Ḯ̷̖̑̒́s̶̛̱͆͊̓̈́ ̴͍͋̈́H̶̛͉̏̐̒͠ê̶̞̭͌r̷̹̠̦͓̓̒̓̚͝ͅE̶̼̺̗̖̰̔́,̶͇̉̾ͅ ̵̗̞̅̉̑̋͒a̷͖̺͛Ǹ̸̗̟̿͊͝d̴̡̪̰̱͑͋ ̴̬͐̆̉͑̚Ť̴̞̜͜ḧ̶̠͙̒̏͊ͅË̸̹̮̺́́̑͠͠ͅr̸̜̜̓̑͌̂ḛ̷̔̎̄̄'̵̘͎͖͒̈́̽S̸̜̽̓ ̸̫̈́̌̉̃͑n̴̪͙̘̲̄̓̌Ȍ̴̹̆̓W̶͔̌̉̂͌̔h̷͍̩̄̌̇Ẻ̵͈̫̺̓̾͐̎ͅR̴͚̭͍̜̄̕̕e̸̼̣͇̅̐̕ ̴̤͕̲̯͐̄́̈̕T̶̤̫͈̞̉̽̆̉͂o̶̧̡̻͓͖̊ ̶̦̟͎̿̓g̷̣̹̿̏̏̐Ó̶̬̝͌̋̋̔!̶͇̙̻̎͂ ̷͕̭͋. After noticing the egg, Vask saw that the egg had some sort eerie glow to it the longer he looked at it. The glow seemed to form symbols that looked familiar- was this the same language he saw in the tattered notebook? Noticing Vask looking up, Jack spots the egg and begins to climb, pulling them closer to the egg and buying some time from the terror below. The closer they get, the more the symbols on the egg seem to shift, forming and reforming more of the strange symbols. Using his mighty muscles, zipper started to shake the tree in an attempt to get the egg for himself!
Jack stretches his arm out as far as he can to grab the egg, but Zipper's relentless and vigorous tree-shaking doesn't seem to be making things easier. After enough tree-shaking by Zipper, the egg falls, but unfortunately right past Jack and into Zipper's hands. Zipper smiles menacingly as he turns the perfectly smooth, glowing egg in his hands. Zipper stares, fixated, at the egg, and the egg stares back, reflecting in his wide, eager eyes before, just like that, he opens his jaw wide and swallows it whole. Green fog began emanating from Zipper's mouth, before he turned to M!x and uttered a chant, M!x's arms seeming to grow longer with every word spoken. “Let's get out of here!', Jack whispered as he took hold of Vask's hand, going through an escape plan in his mind.
On the run, as they continued, Jack looked back and then forward, realizing he wasn't holding onto Vask all along. "How could this be?" Jack thought to himself, as he looked down to see just a twig in his hand and the swish of a cloak in the corner of his eye. Jack's pulse quickened as he followed the faint sound of Vask's voice. "Vask, where are you?" Jack called but no response came to him. He could hear a loud sound of horses and what maybe sounded of a carriage comes from within the woods. As the carriage approaches, a pair of yellow bunny ears peeks out from behind the curtained doors.
Jack was hesitant to hail the carriage, but re-envisioning the rabid bunny and warped limbs of M!x, he emerged from the treeline and hoped it was a friend. Jack jumped in front of the carriage and waved his arms frantically "Stop please, I need help!" The carriage creaked to an eerie stop, and one could now see that there was no person heading the carriage, only the horses that had been leading it forward. Even the horses had an eerie emptiness in their eyes, fog flowing from their open maws and spindly legs digging powerful hooves restlessly into the soft forest earth. With the thought of Zipper behind him, Jack had no choice but to enter the carriage.
The carriage moved fast immediately, the destination unknown. "It seems that Vask will just have to help himself, in whatever way that may be.." Jack solemnly thought to himself. Meanwhile, back at the popcorn stand… a series of pings could be heard as the livestream streamed on on Vask’s long since discarded phone. But those pings were caused by a ghost who was one of Vask’s contacts. A spectre named Wisp was sending a flurry of messages, all repeating the exact same phrase: "I'm t-trapped....! I'm trapped....!!" The desperation in his voice rang clearly even through the screen, hoping to be saved.
Some of the livestream chat began to panic- was this all part of some kind of elaborate show, or was something actually wrong; and who would help?! The livestream then suddenly cut to static, confusing the chat even further. Meanwhile, Vask sprinted through the woods as fast as his little legs could take him, not knowing where Jack had gone to.
While looking for Jack, Vask stopped at a river from the woods that has dried up 10 years ago. Following the dried up river bed, Vask discovered that it leads into a tunnel - its walls caked with dry algae and mud. Cautiously, Vask entered the tunnel, and noticed an eerie glow emanating from further inside As Vask approached the glow as it changed color and he started to hear some chimes. As he grew closer, the glow started pulsing in rhythm with the chimes. Vask felt something he never felt before, and waited for a moment to catch his breath before reaching the glow, which started pulsating the closer he got. It was another egg, sat on a pedestal, just like the one that Zipper had devoured. “Hopefully, history won’t repeat itself...” Vask thought.
It was at this moment that Vask heard the distant chittering of Zipper’s devouring front teeth… He then ran away and got out of the tunnel, hoping that Zipper doesn’t chase after him. Suddenly, Vask came to a halt, realising that if maybe he could also use the egg… He went back to the tunnel, sprinting towards the egg as fast as possible. But off in the distance, Vask could hear the Easter music amongst the bounding leaps that Zipper was making towards him and the egg. Vask knew that he couldn't let Zipper reach the egg before him.
Before either of them could reach the egg, to their complete surprise it sprouted two tiny legs and made a run for it! The egg ran swiftly, away from both Zipper and Vask. The egg then hatched, revealing itself to be a chick, which looked really scary, but acted very goofy. Little did they know, this chick held the key to their survival.
One that would surprise everyone.
The chick, tweeting and whistling in increasing pitch and volume, began to swell in size. The tweeting and whistling was so loud that the same carriage that Jack was in came towards the tunnel. With the increase of its pitch and sudden intake of air, the chick began to float upward, flapping its petite wings to keep propelling it further from the three pursuants. But before the chick knew it, the air keeping itself afloat became thin. The chick struggled to breathe in the thin air resulting in its wings slowing and it slowly drifted back towards the ground. After a couple failed attempts at flying, a substance that resembled a cursed pixie dust started to surround the chick. Right before the chick’s beady eyes, he began to ascend toward the horizon. He began to fly away successfully because he was happy, and the pixie dust only works while the affected creature is happy. Some of the cursed pixie dust surrounding the happy chick started to take shape into little soot balls with eyes, these were to become little companions for the chick.
The soot companions joined together to encapsulate the chick in a thick smog, which decreased the air pressure and allowed the chick to float back to safety. "Wow, thank you so much for helping me!" Chick said. As soon as the chick left, Vask and Zipper have got out of the tunnel and bumped into the carriage Jack was in. Jack could barely contain his grin. "Had enough fun for one night? Come now, I believe we have some unfinished business..."
They reluctantly entered the carriage, and what happened next was beyond their control…
They couldn't believe what spooky surprise Jack had waiting for them all along. Jack's face lit up with an eerie grin as he revealed a mysterious, glowing amulet in his hand. The glowing amulet had a very tiny unique sort of scripture written on it. "See if you can translate this, otherwise I suppose I can help you a bit..." Jack said with a deep chuckle. As they glared at the amulet a creaking, growling roar rose from deep within Jack. Vask and Zipper looked at each other in horror, then back at the amulet again briefly, sort of communicating a plan of escape.
Vask looked desperately around the carriage to see if there was anything to give them a hint or if they could force their way out. Whilst Vask did so, Zipper began making motions towards Jack to suggest that he was attempting to work out the script, desperately hoping to buy them some more time. Suddenly, the carriage jolted forward and took off at high speed. As they were thrown around the carriage the amulet flew through the air towards Vask. When the amulet smacked into his forehead, Vask realized he had seen that exact script somewhere before. The amulet hitting him had made his head fuzzy. Where had he seen this script before? He then realized.. it was the same script from the notebook near the popcorn machine from earlier!
As Vask stared at the script, he could see the words rearranging themselves in front of his eyes to form a phrase… "To free yourself of this nightmare requires the betrayal of those close." Vask panicked, as he knew he needed to figure out what this meant quickly before this nightmare got out of hand. Puzzled, Vask sat deep in thought for what seemed like an eternity. 'Betrayal of those close', Vask mused silently to himself, while his gaze locked onto the hippity hoppity yellow bunny who was still being jolted around in the reckless carriage.
“LEAPIN LOLLIPOPS, WHAT’S THAT?” Jack yelled, pointing out the carriage window. Everyone else in the carriage turned to look in the direction Jack was pointing, and their jaws dropped when they saw the horrific sight before them. It was a second bunny, sharing the appearance of Zipper, but Zipper was already in the carriage with them… The 2 Zipper bunnies were nearly identical except the one outside the carriage had terrifying solid black eyes. Vask decided to name this Zipper-like being "Z!bber". The two bunnies locked eyes through the carriage window, sending a shiver down Vask's spine as he contemplated the cryptic message on the amulet. Vask, who was terrified of the first Zipper, wasn't sure how to handle being in such close proximity to two bunnies, so with all his might he pushed Zipper through the carriage window.
As Zipper tumbled from the carriage window to the road below, they yelled back to Vask: "I was hopping because I was excited! The amulet is a cypher! Every symbol can be replaced with a le-" "OUGH!" Zipper ate dirt, lying helplessly on the ground as Z!bber stood at his feet, both their eyes continuing to lock. "Why do you look like me?" Z!ibber asks in a low and hostile voice."There can only be one of us!" "You are the one that looks like me!" shouted the real Zipper.
Just then, the baby chick floated down and landed in between them.
The chick made a few hoarse but melodious sounds, as if he was trying to sing, and suddenly an egg appeared under his butt. The egg swelled in size rapidly before it, to the horror of everyone present, cracked open and devoured both Zipper and Z!ibber. After devouring Zipper and Z!bber, the carnivorous egg started rolling down the road, chasing after the carriage. With each dip and bump of the path, the egg increased in speed. The chick stared in disbelief at the egg rolling away…’That…was unexpected…’
Meanwhile, Vask tried his best not to look at the incredibly strange and frightening happenings outside the carriage and continued to try and decipher the symbols on the amulet. As Vask was trying his hardest to shut off his “ears”, another horrifically bizarre noise started radiating all around the carriage, growing louder and louder by the second, until Vask could feel the vibration pulsating through his skin. "Can't a guy just decipher in peace? What is it this time?" he muttered, looking up from the amulet.
Vask saw that the carnivorous egg had caught up to the carriage, and was now rolling alongside them. Cracks in the egg opened up to reveal rows of long white teeth, smiling at Vask. Almost reflexively, Vask returned the smile. The bizarre exchange of smiles between Vask and the carnivorous egg was cut short as the egg suddenly veered off the path, disappearing into the dense underbrush. The disappearance of the evil egg gave them enough time to quickly decipher the code…
Just as Vask was able to think in peace, the evil egg returned and lunged toward him. But this time, it wasn't alone as the malevolent egg brought with it two more eggs. Amidst the chaos unfolding outside of the carriage, Vask frantically began to take mental inventory of the strange events of the evening-- "First the glowing egg in the tree; Then, the glowing egg in the cave; and now I'm being chased by three more..." There was no doubt in Vask’s mind that Zipper—or maybe the false Zipper—had orchestrated these events to scare him. But why? The more he thought, the more he wondered if he was really the target of these crazy eggs of if Zipper was just holding a grudge against all of his halloweeny friends.
Pocketing the deciphered amulet safely into his jacket, Vask needed to find a way to escape this madness, the eggs were practically on top of the carriage, making awful noises!!! It seems as the carriage won't be holding much longer, Vask needs to find a distraction or he won't be able to escape. With the eggs closing in on the carriage, Vask frantically looked around for anything he could use as a distraction. Vask spied a gnarly large wooden stick tucked between the carriage wall and seat ‘I got it!!’ Vask thought to himself as he reached over and yanked the large stick from out of the seat crack.
Vask’s head fell as he noticed there seemed to be some strange writing intermixed with some of the symbols from the amulet etched on the large stick which actually didn’t resemble a stick as much as it did a wand. This wand had a large colorful egg on top of it with the words “If found please return to Zipper” on the side of it. With hesitant-- almost fearful-- caution, Vask violently waves this new wand toward the eggs outside the carriage and chants a phrase once heard by the once terrifying bunny: "Hippety-hoppity wish-wash-whoa!"
The eggs freeze in their tracks, all rotating toward the carriage to face Vask. Their shells begin to form small cracks and as Vask watches in horror, the eggshells peel back to reveal a sickly, cursed figure. The figure looks more and more like a bunny and all Vask can think about is: "Is that a zipper on his back?"
Vask is taken by the zipper, wondering what its function could be on such a living creature. In a blinded reflex, Vask reaches outside of the carriage and, as fast as lightning, unzips this creature's extremity… But before he could finish unzipping the creature, Vask realized that he was now in a stuffy mascot suit, while the sound of a giant zipper being unzipped reverberated from his backside.
Vask froze and felt a shiver creep down his spine.
From the corner of his eyes he sees Z!pper creeping up on him. All at once, feeling the eyes piercing him, Vask wondered if he was trapped within himself all along. Vask asked himself, should I stare back sharply in hopes of veering him away, or RUN? In desperation, Vask quickly pulled the last of the zipper down, releasing an unearthly scream into the night. The scream echoed throughout the area, causing a well-hidden murder of crows to fly away. The crows all flew in a single direction creating symmetrical shapes throughout the moonlit sky. Vask was stunned.
As Vask felt the weight of the suit fall off of him onto the ground, he looked down at his body and discovered a horrifying sight. The body was not his own, but that of Wix.
He blinked hard, twice, trying to tell if his eyes were deceiving him or if this was really happening. Wix frantically retraced his footsteps, trying to make sense of what was happening and how he got here, but he couldn't remember anything. Retracing his footsteps, he came across something which was so obvious, but Wix was so in his element he never even noticed during his rampage, he was stunned….
He had brought this upon himself by decoding the amulet, it was a body swap spell!
Now he must find a way to reverse it, before the clock strikes midnight on Halloween and he's stuck like this forever! He sits back in the carriage and starts frantically checking where the amulet went amongst all the chaos. "Looking for this?" asks a voice behind his back. He sat there silently looking at it, wondering if it was real or just some other trickery. Sitting beside him, dangling the amulet from his hand with a cold smile, was the likeness of Vask - Wix had taken over his body. He couldn’t move naturally at all. Now, facing his own body controlled by Wix, Vask realized the true meaning of "walking in someone else's shoes." Vask ponders about what his next move is, or can even be at this point.
He decided to hum 'Thriller' in his mind, as that always soothed him during times of distress. Suddenly, a bodiless voice began speaking…apparently out of nowhere: ‘Darkness falls across the land…the midnight hour is close at hand.’ With his nerves somewhat settled Vask looked at the amulet, then back at the illusion of himself and murmured, "How about we play a game?" "And what sort of game might that be?" The voice bellowed "I think we should play..... hide and seek." “I’m hidden somewhere within your reaches, but you will face the consequences if you fail to find me before twilight lifts…” “Those consequences sound vague,” the voice snarked. "Oh, but they are not," Vask retorted, "As you will know when I explain them."
However, he never elaborated any further. This in turn left the voice confused and worried. The air was dead and the silence was deafening, until someone cleared their throat. Vask jumped, startled, and turned to see who it was. It was Zipper followed closely by Z!bber who was not far behind him. No idea how they escaped being eaten by the carnivorous egg, but there they were. Vask stared in shock, "How on earth did you survive?"
With Zipper, Z!bber, Vask, and Wix now all together in the same place, one could only wonder where Jack had gone off to. But they didn't have to wonder for long, as the usually silent Jack came running towards them shrieking, the carnivorous eggs close behind. Hearing the chomping eggs getting closer, the rest of the group joined in Jack’s shrieking. Their shrieking turned into running as the group ran away in fear, not wanting to become carnivorous egg-chow.
Remembering the keywords echoed to him regarding betrayal, Vask (in Wix's body) pushed Z!bber to the ground, hoping the sacrifice would buy the others and himself time to escape. But Z!bber had other plans, and managed to snag Vask's ankle (really Wix's body) on the way down. Vask released a horrifying scream of pain.
As Vask (Wix) hit the ground, the carnivorous eggs drew ever closer, gnashing their awful mouths. Vask (in Wix's body) decided to use his cunning and tickled Z!pper, releasing Vask from Z!pper's clutches. Vask stumbled to get up off the ground while Z!pper desperately grabbed at Vask's ankles. Vask managed to free his ankles from Z!pper and continued running. Running as fast as he could, Wix thought he was getting further away with each step, until he turned and seen where he was running towards…
Vask looked back and saw Z!pper slowly morphing—morphing into a familiar white faceless feline! "It c-can't be..." stammered Vask, "...Blanca?"
A hushed voice whispers, “Draw me a face…..draw a good one this time” Blanca slowly slides closer towards Vask. "The amulet of my arch-nemesis Jack...where is it, Wix?" said Blanca as she began transforming again. Before he could answer, Vask drew a scary face on Blanca to the best of his ability. The face was so scary, even the carnivorous eggs halted their frenzy. The face was hideous yet indescribable, it inspired sheer terror. "What have you drawn on my face?" Blanca asked curiously. "I've drawn you the face you deserve," he replied. "Well, I can only hope its a good one" Blanca responded. "It's kinda... "unique", it gives you an unparalleled ....charm". He said with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Blanca blinks at Vask (in Wix's body) not believing him, and said "do you have a mirror?" "Indeed, I do." Vask (in Wix's body) replies, his tone slightly mischievous as he slowly pulls a mirror from thin air to hand to Blanca. Blanca took the mirror, and slowly gazed at her drawn face. Blanca throws the mirror at Wix, screaming in horror; "What have you done???" "I have just made you... fit in with the decorations. It IS Halloween, after all..." Wix said, with a hint of mischief in his voice. "Well now that you've made me fit in with the decorations," Blanca began, stepping menacingly toward Vask (in Wix's body, of course), "perhaps you can tell me where I can find the amulet of my arch nemesis, Jack!!!
Vask grinned amused, "...well, maybe I could tell you, but I'd want a special reward in return... ." “I can do whatever you please sir” Blanca eagerly responds. Vask whispered something inaudible into Blanca's ear. Blanca twitches her ear to hear better and only catches two words - 'candy' and 'corn' " You want... candy... corn?" Blanca stuttered in disbelief.
"I thought you would've asked for something else," Blanca said, "like switching you back to your own bodies, or taking care of these carnivorous eggs, or getting rid of Zipper, but if candy corn is what you really want..." Maybe she didn't hear well she thought, "it doesn't make sense" "did he really said: candy corn?" or "Candide unicorn" or something else? "You heard correctly." Vask (in Wix's body) smiled, "Bring me ten thousand candy corns exactly, and I shall tell you how to find that amulet you seek."
Blanca, despite her confusion, then set out on a long and perilous journey to acquire the candy corn, with Wix soon finding his next target: Zipper. Hearing footsteps approaching from behind, Zipper turned dramatically to reveal his most terrifying secret yet… There Wix was, right behind Zipper; Zipper froze in fear staring in awe and confusion as to how Wix managed to find him. "Oh W-Wix..? How did you find me?" Zipper stuttered.
Meanwhile, Blanca had taken the carnivorous eggs (after dehydrating and shrinking them of course) to a nearby neighborhood of trick-or-treaters to exchange the eggs for all of the candy corn the children had, which the children were more than happy to do upon hearing they only had to drop the eggs in their bath for a wonderful surprise, and she (Blanca) was now on her way back to find Vask (in Wix's body, of course) and trade the candy corn for Jack's amulet.
Jack was surprised to find out Bianca arrived in which what looked like a very big truck- but was actually an enormous pumpkin?!? "Where in the czar of Halloween’s name did you get that pumpkin carriage-truck? Are you the Cinderella of Halloween??" Jack shouted in terror. Blanca was surprised to see Jack where Vask (in Wix's body) should have been, "Where is Vask?" Blanca asked cautiously. "That's what I'd like to know," Jack yelled, "because that Vask (in Wix's body) stole my amulet!" "You mean the amulet that will belong to me!" said Blanca as she hopped out and opened the pumpkin truck, releasing a gushing torrent of candy corn.
Jack couldn't decide his next action, whether it was going for the candy corn or after Blanca. His decision was made for him as he got swept up in the candy corn wave. He wondered, “If I hurry… could I do it? Could I get the candy corn and go after Blanca?” Before he could decide, he realized his body had chosen for him. The wave of candy corn swept him across the field, pushing further away from Bianca and the amulet. Just then, he saw his salvation -- the pole of a scarecrow.
Grasping firmly before the candy corn wave swept him past, Jack strained against the tide. I can do this, he thought. However, it turned out he could not. The wave was too strong and Jack was forced to release the scarecrow pole, which launched him right back into the seemingly never-ending stream of candy corn.
Jack grew smaller in Blanca's field of view as she ran away from the flood of candy corn, and after moving forward for quite a while she saw a figure inching towards her from the horizon.
She wasn’t sure what she should do. Should she run back towards the candy corn ocean and hide in it? Or should she wait…or even seek out the shadowy figure.
Blanca decided to walk towards the stranger. Upon getting closer she realized it was none other than Vask...! Vask, in the body of Wix—but after a moment she realized something wasn't quite right. This one's mouth was flipped upside down into a permanent frown, and for reasons unbeknownst to her he was covered in butter.
Gradually, popping noises started to crackle from inside the Vask-Wix abomination. And a smell of… popcorn?? Butter popcorn??!???? A hiccup issued from his lips and popcorn came flying out. Another hiccup, and it tumbled out his ears.
A third hiccup and something else came out his nose and landed on the pile of popcorn. It was Jack's amulet! Before Blanca could snatch the amulet, the M!x abomination stepped over it and screamed: "Į̶̻͚̳͚̦̀̾̏ ̴̧̒̐͌̇̈́h̸͚͇͎̒͆͌̉͗͋ȧ̷̦͖͛ţ̴̯̗͇͔̯̓̀̃̽͑̕é̵̦̺̥͈ ̶̧͚͙̝͙̼̄̓ḃ̶̹͔̹̩̯̓̆͜͠ṹ̶̼ẗ̴͉̬̦̿̔ṱ̸̛͍̜̐̀̌̂̚e̸͕̳̤̔̄̀r̵̢̖͆̇̐͑!̶̮͓̾͌̾"
Blanca let out a scream in unexpected shock. “The amulet is mine! No!” She yelled. Trying not to let her shock overcome her, Blanca dove under the abomination, making a grab for the amulet. Just as he reached a long, spindly arm out towards her, more violent popcorn-hiccups wracked his body, securing Blanca the moment she needed to snatch the amulet. She dashed for the woods as fast as she could, hoping she'd be fast enough to get away from M!x before he recovered.
Blanca ran and ran through the woods until her feet could not uphold her right and her lungs were hurting from the exertion when suddenly she saw straight ahead a beautiful black cat , she was not sure if she was hallucinating or not, but It looked like it was trying to tell her to follow it…
Blanca and the Black Cat began to weave through the trees and bushes, dodging fallen branches and brambles as they made their way deeper through the woods. As they hopped over a fallen oak, they heard a loud scream — it was M!x! The Black Cat gave Blanca a purposeful look before they headed towards the edge of the woods. Once they got to the woods edge, the black cat started slowly circling a particular tree as if looking for something.
The particular tree looked very peculiar, it was practically a dead tree. it had little to no leaves left, and the tree trunk looked as if it had decayed. Blanca hesitated but couldn't ignore the black cat's persistence; she approached the peculiar tree cautiously.
Scrawled on the trunk, barely visible in the pre-light of dawn, were the words:
Deus ex machina.
Suddenly, the amulet flew up into the sky, glowing and spinning. "tell me, within this amulet, do you see farley or serena?", a booming voice could be heard saying, as the amulet continued to spin skyward. growing larger as it continued to glow. Looking up, Blanca could only see two strange, abstract images shifting in and out; one of the images oddly reminded her of Paris and Naruto, and the other image could be best described as a beautiful, feather-y iridescent window. After a few seconds of shifting, the amulet finally focused on one image -- and Blanca could see that it wasn't Kakashi at the Eiffel Tower. The amulet displayed none other than Farley!
The image showed Farley at the Bell Tree’s haunted Carnival. Blanca was confused, why was Farley at this spooky carnival? Was Farley mad? Has he become a vengeful spirit demanding tribute? Struggling to understand what any of this meant, Blanca took two deep breaths in and went back to have a closer look at what seemed to be an impossible scenario…
Visions flashed one after the other: Farley struggling to count small objects in a bottle, Farley trying to pawn off rotten turnips to some pitiable, underpaid vendor, and Farley breaking into a person's camper and vandalizing it with crude imagery. What did they mean? Blanca had come too far to be faltering now.
The visions started to flash quicker and brighter, repeating the same sequence of Farley’s struggles. Blanca’s heart was racing, the black cat started to meow more and more frequently. In a panic, Blanca reached out to the amulet… in a sudden flash, she was transported to the haunted carnival!
Meanwhile, Vask, remembering that this was his story managed to free Wisp, find Jack in a mountain of candy corn, and convince Zipper back to join him to get the amulet back from Blanca. "The Tricksters have assembled."
The Tricksters followed Blanca's trail and found the amulet on the ground, softly glowing, Blanca nowhere in sight. They were able to use the amulet to put everything to rights. "Wherever Blanca is, I'm sure she's having fun and stirring up trouble," Vask said. "I guess one of these days we should track down and take care of those carnivorous eggs."
"I'll organize the hunt!" Zipper exclaimed with glee.
Zipper and The Tricksters shared a hearty laugh over the prospect of finding the carnivore eggs. And somewhere, a ways off, as carnival-goers enjoyed the mystical night - A single, white paw curls into the inner flap of a circus tent, unbeknownst to the inhabitants.
this event was so fun!!
congratulations! It was nice having someone to discuss the event with daily! Cant wait for Christmas 
I also loved ZZZ, the nightmare in paradise event and so many more! There was nothing I didn't like haha
). I am hyped for the next event but for now I hope you all get some rest! 
