Rendering Point: In a Pumpkin's gaze (1)

The eyes of a tremendous jack-o'-lantern, craved like a flame crest, watch over the people of Pak Falls. Some dance around to the pulsing, psychedelic music blaring throughout the town square. Others sit in the front row, watching people compete in a candy corn eating contest. Witches, superheroes, and monsters cheer on the contestants as they shovel spoonfuls of candy corn stew into their mouths.

Too busy celebrating the festivities, none of the people met its eyes. All except for one. An outsider who stands in front of it, not wearing a costume at all. She is wearing a peculiar bucket hat and a shirt with a heart that has two long brushstrokes on either side of it. The logo's design gives off the feeling that it shouldn't be on a shirt. Intensity radiates from her dark almond eyes and the camera lens replacing one of them.

Atwixen moves on a slow swivel, making sure to capture every detail of the festivities with the scanner. Her focus is interrupted when a man wearing a black leather outfit appears in the frame. The tightness of his outfit makes her take a step back as she tries to figure out what is going on. He straightens a crooked ring above his head before holding up a wooden board displaying four burlap sacks.

"Happy Halloween!"

Atwixen holds up a firm hand, stopping his advance.

"Not a fan of candy corn."

The man laughs, a gaudy sound that harmonizes with the festive ambiance.

"This isn't candy corn! It's Captain Cael's Rugoas! A soft candy made of barley sugar and vinegar toffee!"

He pushes two sacks aside to reveal a small bowl. Golden brown horns nestle neatly inside, filling the bowl. Seeing that he won't leave her alone, Atwixen reluctantly takes one. As the soft candy melts on her tongue, for a brief moment, a long forgotten light returns to her eyes. In an instant, she closes the gap between them, displaying the wallet app on her phone.

"Do you take Scoria?"

The man expresses his excitement that she changed her mind, but then pauses for a moment.

"Um.....Yes!"

He struggles to retrieve his phone out of the skin hugging leather pants.

"My friend made me download the wallet last week."

Once freeing it, he asks Atwixen what the current exchange rate is. She tells him while he opens a calculator app. After doing the math for a few seconds, he enters the price and lets Atwixen scan the QR code. Following the confirmation chime, he hands her one of the sacks.

"Happy Halloween!"

He bids farewell while being swallowed up by the roaring crowd.

As Atwixen secures the burlap sacks to her skirt, a voice cuts through the chatter.

"Hey, why aren't you dressed up?"

She turns her head and sees a group of children gathered around a bench a short distance ahead. They're dressed as a group of ghosts. Two slightly older boys standing behind the bench, dressed in white with chains around them. Their faces are also caked in white makeup. Another boy in a ghost poncho is sprawled out on the bench and waves at Atwixen. He returns his attention to a bowl of candy corn stew after seeing her look in his direction.

Lastly, standing next to the bench is a kid wearing a classic bedsheet costume. It seems to be staring away from the town square into the empty part of the town. It stands motionless, in a trance from the eerie emptiness. Atwixen approaches the group, reasoning that maybe they've seen something weird if the scanner isn't picking up anything.

"I am"

The left chain ghost's face scrunches in suspicion. He drags his eyes up and down, fully getting a look.

"What are you dressed as?"

"Disappointment"

The one on the right barks a laugh at the statement. He shoves the other one as his laughter shifts from hearty to annoying.

"Just like your mom!"

The ghost on the left lunges at the ghost on the right, and the two break out into a scuffle. Atwixen watches as the other two ghosts ignore the fight. Poncho fishes a piece of apple out of his stew. He shoves it into his mouth, his cheeks flushing with happiness. After savoring the treat, he waves his spoon in a circle, gesturing toward the crowd.

"How come you're not filming the contest?"

"Not interested in it. I'm looking for something else."

Poncho gets up from the bench making his way towards the bedsheet ghost. He lightly taps its head, then crouches down to its ear and whispers something. They both turn around and walk toward Atwixen.

"If you're trying to find something in town, ol Yuki probably knows."

Just as Atwixen inches towards her, Poncho holds out his hand stopping her. He downs the stew before lowering his hand.

"Have to tell her something cool, though."

"What?"

The baffles Atwixen as she watches Poncho makes his way to the contest.

"It's the only way she'll talk."

Atwixen turns her attention to Yuki, who is now sitting in the middle of the bench. It's difficult to tell if what she says is "cool" because the bedsheet obscures her expression. However, when she sees the chain ghost trapping the other in a headlock, she comes up with the perfect story.

"Have you heard of the Pumking?"

Yuki shakes her head. Atwixen crouches in front of her.

"A long time ago, there was a pumpkin-headed man called the Pumking."

"Hey!"

Atwixen looks up to see the chain ghosts. They stop their fight and are leaning forward on the bench.

"Pumking? Wasn't his name Jack?"

She ignores the interruption, but seeing that the opening has caught the boys' attention, she drops her voice into a storyteller's cadence.

"When he was just a baby boo, he was mercilessly bullied by his zombie subjects. Despite belonging to the royal family of Hallow Forrest, no one respected him. One day, while weeping under a dead tree, he was visited by an entity made of shadows.The entity claimed to be the Spirit of All Hallows and revealed the source of the citizens' hatred. His father, Jack, had given up his birthright to marry his true love. This act ripped the life from the land, causing the citizens to decay into their current decrepit state."

"Upon learning that his own father was the source of his torment, he forged a pact with the spirit, which turned his soft white skin a sinister shade of orange. He beheaded his father and paraded the headless corpse around town while his royal decree blared. 'All ghouls of Hallow Forest...no, all ghouls of every land! I will reclaim what my father gave up! All of you now belong under my rule. The rule of the Pumking!'"

The boys gasp with enthusiasm at the end of the tale. Yuki, however, shows no reaction whatsoever. She stays still, staring blankly at Atwixen for a long moment, then suddenly hops from the bench and grabs her hand. Yuki starts pulling Atwixen toward the empty part of town. Atwixen tries to dig her heels into the ground to stop her, but she falls. The loud clatter of rubber scraping against cobblestones makes the boys cover their ears. Before she gets the chance to question Yuki's bizarre strength, she hears a voice call out to them.

"Hey! She liked what you told her!"

Poncho walks up to them, his face radiating joy as he embraces a bowl of fresh stew. A chain ghost walks up to him with his hands in his pockets and props himself up against Poncho.

"Funny, it looks like Yuki already knows what Disappointment was going to ask."

Atwixen and Poncho's ears perk up at the statement. Atwixen grabs Yuki's arm, pulling her just enough to turn her around. Seeing this, the other ghost hops on top of the bench. He flexes his meager muscles and points at Atwixen.

"Don't try anything funny with her! We're watching!"

Yuki nods slightly at Atwixen and resumes pulling her along, giving Atwixen enough room to naturally match her pace this time. They walk past several empty houses, journeying deep into the town until their footsteps slowly engulf the music. They come to a sudden halt at a crossroads.

The path in front of them continues down until it reaches the back exit of the town. To the left, the path is shrouded by the thick branches of trees that seem to protect the walkway to a large house. To the right, the path looks exactly like the one they took to get there. Yuki lets go of Atwixen's hand and points to the right path. When Atwixen doesn't move, Yuki points again, this time with more enthusiasm, before taking off in a short jog back to her friends.

Alone, Atwixen checks her phone. The map still shows that the mission's epicenter is in the town square, but her current location is nearing the end of the highlighted circle. She raises her phone to scan the pathway. In red text, an alert instantly flashes on the screen:

Rendering is about to commence!

This is more information than she had seen before. Trusting the little girl, Atwixen runs down the path, hoping to make it in time.