At the southern side of a small village of dark oak and spruce houses, Hannah and Gusto were trudging through the snow at the edge of town. It had been over an hour since they set off, and they had yet to spot anything “anomalous”.

  Hannah sighed and gestured for Gusto to stop. She tidied her blonde hair and looked around for a brief moment.

  “Nothing’s here Gusto, let’s head back to the center of the village and regroup.”

  Gusto turned around as if he was about to say something before stopping in his tracks.

  “If there’s nothing here, then how’d that house get here, because I’m pretty sure I didn’t see that on our way over.”

  Hannah turned to see a large 4 story house much taller than any of the other buildings in the village. At the top floor of the house was a woman in a white dress looking out the window towards the both of them. No light came through the windows.

  Hannah and Gusto looked at each other and climbed the steps together, opening up the wide double doors.

  …

  To the east side of the village, Hellig was wandering through the cobblestone pathway. It had been almost an hour and a half, and he had yet to see a single other soul since the group arrived there- he was on edge, but had already went to the edge of the village and was well on his way back to the square. Trees decorated with motes of light were in nearly every window and wreaths were on nearly every door, but these brought Hellig little comfort.

  The snow was melting underneath his feet and failed to stick to his clothes, and he was nowhere near being cold. Though the others had failed to notice, he managed to catch Juhend casting a spell on them all to bring them warmth during the trip. If he wasn’t as experienced as he was, he might not have even seen it.

  His spiritual perception was triggered, causing him to feel a slight tremble in the air ahead of him. He crouched down and outstretched his hand, manifesting his halberd. As it was a magic item he was harmonized with, he had no need to keep it on his person directly. Holding it across his chest in a defensive manner.

  Slowly, he scanned the house before him. It was four stories tall, with a large double door at the top of spruce wood steps. Large floor to ceiling windows were present on the second and fourth floor, with smaller windows on the first and third floor. No light was coming from the inside, but his perception was triggered again as he glanced up. He spotted a figure in a window on the fourth floor. A young woman, pale white with nearly white hair and light blue eyes wearing a white dress. He heard a baby faintly crying in the distance.

  Looking around, Hellig steeled himself for a fight as he ascended the staircase and opened the door to be greeted by the hollow interior as the sunlight began to dim in the sky.

  …

  Inside the warm yuletide party, Adam was mirthful. He had met many new friends here and received many gifts for yuletide. The ham and potatoes were enough for everyone to have their fill. As the party was winding down amidst the crackling fire, the host entered the room. Her light blonde hair was unnaturally alluring. Without a word, everyone stood up at once and began to meander upstairs towards their rooms.

  This included Adam.

  …

  As Gusto and Hannah stepped through the doorway, they discovered a wide open floorplan. A wide staircase stretched ahead of them, with a large tree without any gifts underneath it to the edge of a large foyer at the right of the area. To the left was a large kitchen and dining room, with many empty chairs and empty counters.

  Gusto and Hannah glanced at each other, but each had their spiritual perceptions triggered at nearly the same time as they saw a woman in a white dress exit the kitchen.

  Was she just there?

  Hannah was momentarily confused but soon came to her senses. It was yuletide, after all, and she had a gift to give!

  Gusto was taken aback as Hannah produced a small white wrapped present with a smile.

  Where did she come from, what’s…wrong…with…

  Soon, Gusto gave a bright smile. He produced a similar green wrapped present with a smile.

  “Happy yuletide!” echoed out numerous times as Gusto wished all of the other guests well with glee. It was almost as if the house was hollow.

  …

  Jezebel finally trekked her way into the village square. It had been about two hours since the party had arrived there, and she had been slowly breaking down in anxiety for an hour and a half of it. She was worried about Hannah and Hellig and Mr. Sureb, especially Adam. And she needed to make sure Gusto was safe.

  When she made it to the village square, she started crying and hyperventilating. Such a reaction was normal, and indeed expected given the lasting stress and pressure on her psyche. She had not seen a single soul the entire time they were there, and now, even the village square was empty. She twirled around once, twice, thrice, rapidly scanning the nearby buildings and streets. Trees were visible in every house, wreaths on every door. But the only lights came out of the small motes around the trees themselves.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Jezebel fell to her knees in tears. Softly, she whispered to the empty air around her.

  “Is anyone here? Hannah? Hellig? Gusto…”

  Tears began to partially melt through the snow underneath her.

  She wasn’t sure how long she remained prone for. Long enough to calm down, but her emotions were still frayed. She heard a familiar tap tap tap of a metal cane on a metal floor coming from the west side of the village. She looked up and beheld a man with white hair in extremely formal dresswear. In his hand was a cane whose base seemed to swirl with a mercurial luster.

  “Mr. Sureb! I-I don’t know where anyone went, but there was a house and Adam went inside and then he disappeared and I don’t know where the house is now because it disappeared too and I haven’t found anyone else and-”

  “Shh. Ms. Eremit, you are unharmed, correct?”

  The calmness of Juhend’s voice seemed to lower the intensity of her emotions.

  “Y-yes. But, I don’t know where the house went, Adam is inside…”

  “I am aware. Fret naught, we will encounter it again soon.”

  “We will?”

  “Yes, it still needs to feed, and we are the last two souls left for many miles of this village. Once I enter the house and stall for time, you can analyze the exterior and figure out how to stop the entity.”

  “What? Me? But I’m not a Passenger, I don’t even want to be a Passenger!”

  “You have the vial I gave you, yes? You are thus capable of using a baseline amount of magic. With me close enough, I can support your spell. Once you find whatever the source of the anomaly is, you will close it.”

  “Wouldn’t that be inside the house though?”

  “Not necessarily. My spiritual intuition was triggered numerous times as the house manifested- not as anyone entered the building. If the house itself was the source or contained the source, my abilities in clairvoyance and divination would have been able to pick up on it interacting with the harmony of those that entered. I found no such traces and thus believe it to be an illusion or perhaps spatial fold of sorts, with a monster casting the magic from outside.”

  “Y-you want me to fight a monster? By myself?”

  Jezebel wiped the tears from her eyes. She was not yet cold, but was chill, and they were starting to freeze on her face as if they lost all warmth upon exiting her body.

  “You have the vial. Should things become grim, you may recite an honorific name. It is as follows;

  Exorcist of the Angelic Wings,

  Seer of Intuition and Fortitude.”

  “Mr. Sureb… This isn’t a name I’m familiar with…”

  “You wouldn’t be familiar with the name, but I assure you, the entity will respond in your favor… Are you ready?”

  Juhend helped Jezebel to her feet.

  “Do I have to be?”

  “Have you asked that young lad to a dance or dinner yet?”

  “...”

  “I’m ready.”

  …

  Hellig was on guard upon entering the house. He scanned the area swiftly, noticing the tree without any gifts underneath it to the edge of the foyer on the right, the staircase in front of him, and the large and empty kitchen counters and empty kitchen chairs to his left. He instinctively let out a warm light from his body. He was no stranger to anomalous situations, and was entering prepared.

  Suddenly, his spiritual senses were triggered. He glanced to the kitchen and saw a white dressed figure materialize there. Her eyes were light blue, her skin was as pale as the snow outside and her hair was a light, almost white blonde. Hellig didn’t hesitate with unnecessary questions, he could innately sense the wrongness of the being before him.

  A beam of light shot out from his halberd as he stabbed it in front of him to keep the being at bay. However, it dissipated swiftly, and he felt his body’s actions slow.

  Not good. I need to break it soon!

  He had felt mind control spells and similar effects before, so he had some modicum of resistance. He switched fully to a defensive posture and grabbed a small tin charm from inside his pocket. Muttering softly underneath his breath a prayer to the Rainbow Pantheon, he swiftly felt a lightly fuzzy sensation envelop him.

  This process took less than two seconds.

  The woman floated into the air, the fireplace ignited, and gifts materialized under the tree. The smell of ham and potatoes permeated the air. However, thanks to the charm that Hellig had used and his experience, he was still capable of thinking and moving.

  He dashed forward fast enough to cause a shockwave to crack the wooden floorboards underneath him, but the woman was just as fast. Her dress elongated into a series of almost tail-like stretches, intercepting the halberd’s thrust before it got too close to her.

  The halberd glowed with a dim yellow light as the dress began to slowly burn, causing the woman to scream in pain.

  Need to…finish this…now!

  Hellig could feel both his mind and his body slowing down. He poured spiritual energy into his halberd to cause it to briefly glow as bright as the dimming sun outside. The fireplace quivered as if a strong gust of wind blew into it, the gifts underneath the tree dissipated as if they were illusory, and the scent of ham and potatoes and other foods were cleansed. The woman burnt like paper, her dress going up in flames.

  It was slightly over a second too late.

  Hellig felt his mind shut down as he had poured the spiritual energy he had remaining into the burst of cleansing light, but this was inevitably insufficient to destroy such a powerful monster in one attempt.

  If…I…Had…More…

  Shortly, Hellig’s halberd dissipated. The burn marks on the woman began to scab and scar over and her dress reformed. The fireplace lit itself back up, and gifts slowly manifested underneath the tree. The scent of ham and potatoes and other food permeated the air. Hellig’s face grew into a wide smile as he produced a yellow gift wrapped present that the host gracefully put underneath the tree as the last of her burns visibly healed.

  “Happy yuletide!” echoed out of Hellig’s mouth, almost as if the house were secretly hollow inside.

  The entire exchange happened in roughly five and a half seconds.

  …