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Elaine Cavanaugh had spent sixty years building a life of order.

Every dish had a place in the cupboard, bills paid, and nails done each Tuesday at 9 a.m. Order, after all, was her superpower, or so she thought.

And when Henry, her husband of thirty-five years, had walked out last year with a twenty-seven-year-old Pilates instructor, she’d cried twice: once when he took the coffeemaker and again when she realized he’d left all the alimony paperwork behind.

Come her sixtieth birthday, Elaine sat alone at her kitchen table, squinting at a crossword puzzle. The letters blurred into each other.

Her glasses, the good ones, were missing again. And it was in that moment—when she reached for the wine bottle instead of her tea—that the gargoyle arrived.

It wasn’t a quiet entrance.

The ceiling cracked first, a jagged fissure racing across the plaster like a bony finger dragging doom into her living room. Then came the crash, her antique coffee table obliterated by a squat, gray mass.

When the dust cleared, Elaine found herself staring at an honest-to-God gargoyle. “You have got to be kidding me,” she muttered, more annoyed than frightened. “Do you know how hard it is to find a matching coffee table set?”

The gargoyle, all craggy with sneering features, flexed its claws. Its voice was gravel and thunder. “Elaine Cavanaugh, Keeper of the Light, your destiny calls.”

“My what?” Elaine snorted. “I think you’ve got the wrong Cavanaugh.”

The creature didn’t blink–could it blink? Instead, it lumbered closer, shattering a flower vase with its tail. “You are the heir to the Bloodline of Illumina, protector of the balance, and—”

“Okay, slow down, gravel face.” Elaine grabbed her broom.

If nothing else, she could shoo the thing outside before it knocked over her bookshelf. “Listen, I’m sixty years old, divorced, and I have bad knees. You want a hero? Try one of those cosplay kids downtown. I’m sure they’ll love this whole mystical quest thing.”

But the gargoyle only growled–a deep rumble that made Elaine’s teeth chatter. And just as she was about to shove it out the door, something else happened.

The air rippled like heatwaves from her hot flashes. A low hum rushed through her ears, sharp and insistent.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. And then, with a pop, her kitchen was gone.

In its place stood a forest.

A dark, twisting, impossibly alive forest, where shadows moved in ways they shouldn’t, and the trees seemed to watch her. Elaine blinked.

She turned around. The gargoyle was still there, crouched beside her.

“Congratulations,” it said. “You’ve stepped into the Veil.”

“The Veil?” Elaine croaked. “Oh, I’m veiled, all right. Veiled in confusion. What the hell is going on?”

Before the creature could answer, there was a snap of branches behind her. Elaine spun around—too fast for her creaky hip, which protested loudly. Standing at the edge of the clearing was a man.

No, not a man. A beast.

With golden eyes, sharp teeth, and a frame too tall to be human, he stepped into the light, his form flickering between being a rugged, handsome man and a snarling wolf. His smirk was maddeningly smug.

“Ah,” he said, his voice smooth as whiskey. “The new Keeper. You’re older than I expected.”

Elaine glared at him. “And you’re a walking midlife crisis. Who are you?”
The wolf-man chuckled. “Call me Rafe. I’m here to keep you alive long enough to save the world.”

“Save the world,” Elaine repeated, stunned. “I can’t even save my Wi-Fi password. You’ve got the wrong person.”

Before Rafe could argue, the shadows began to shift again. But this time, they didn’t form anything as benign as a forest.

A figure stepped out from the darkness, its shape wrong. Too tall, too thin, too many limbs. Its face—if you could call it that—was a void, an absence of light.

“Dark Mage,” Rafe hissed, his easy smirk gone.

Elaine froze. She wanted to run, scream, anything, but her feet were rooted to the spot.

The creature raised a hand, and the air seemed to suck inward, the world bending around it. And then—

A burst of light.

It was blinding, white-hot, pouring from her hands. Elaine gasped, stumbling back as the creature screamed, its form dissolving into ash.
When the light faded, she stood trembling, her palms warm and glowing faintly.

“What—what just happened?” she whispered.

Rafe grinned the wolfish gleam back in his eyes. “Looks like your magic decided to show up.”

Elaine didn’t have time to process his words. The forest rippled again, the shadows creeping closer. “More will come,” the gargoyle warned. “The Dark Mages will stop at nothing to claim the Keeper’s power.”

“Great,” Elaine muttered, rubbing her temples. “Can I at least find my reading glasses first?”

Rafe laughed. “Welcome to the fight, grandma. Hope you’re ready.”

But Elaine wasn’t ready. Not even close.

Her life in shambles and body betraying her, she had no idea how to wield the raw, chaotic power coursing through her veins. But as the darkness closed in, one thing became clear: ready or not, the world would not save itself.

“Where the hell are those glasses?” she shouted, looking at her reflection in the window. She touched the top of her head, knowing the world was doomed.

The first splat went unnoticed. At least, that’s what Lisa told herself when she heard the sound against her umbrella. Probably a fat raindrop, she thought, or maybe a bird had gotten unlucky.

She froze mid-step at the dull, wet thud at her feet when the second impact occurred.

“What the hell?” she whispered, leaning down. A raw chicken breast lay in the puddle, its pale pink flesh slick with rainwater.

“Lisa, are you coming?” called Jeff from up the street. He waved from under the awning of the coffee shop where they’d agreed to meet.

“Uh, yeah,” Lisa replied, though her voice wavered.

She straightened up, clutching her umbrella tightly, and hurried toward him, trying not to look back at the piece of meat. Her shoes splashed through shallow puddles, but the squishy texture of something underfoot made her stomach churn. She didn’t stop to see what it was.

“You okay?” Jeff asked as she ducked under the awning. He handed her a steaming cup.

Lisa nodded, her lips tight. “Something weird just happened. There was a…” She hesitated, searching for a way to make it sound less kooky. “A piece of chicken. On the sidewalk.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow. “Like someone dropped it? Happens all the time. People are gross.”

“No,” Lisa said, shaking her head. “It fell. From the sky.”

He laughed. “What, like a chicken thunderstorm? Maybe you need more sleep. Or less caffeine. You’re starting to sound like that conspiracy guy on YouTube.”

As if on cue, another splat interrupted their conversation. This time, Jeff saw it too. A bloodied steak landed just inches from his shoe, smearing crimson across the wet pavement.

“Holy shit,” he muttered. “Is this… like, extreme meal prep gone wrong?”

Lisa’s heart raced. “I told you! It’s…” She trailed off as more objects began to fall. Drumsticks, pork chops, ribs, and ground beef patties rained down, plopping onto cars and bouncing off umbrellas.

A woman screamed as a bone-in ham smashed into her stroller. The infant inside wailed, its cries blending with the cacophony of squelching meat hitting concrete.

Jeff grabbed Lisa’s arm. “We need to get inside. Now.”

Meanwhile, over in suburbia, a group of snowmen stood rigidly under the bizarre downpour. They had gathered for what should have been a festive snowball-making session, but things had taken a dark turn.

“Hey, Frosty,” said one snowman, his coal eyes narrowing as a suspiciously fleshy snowball rolled past. “Does this snow feel… chewy to you?”

Frosty bent down, inspecting the snowball. His carrot nose twitched. “This ain’t snow, Jerry. This here’s meat. Ground chuck, if I’m not mistaken.”

“What in the name of Jack Frost?” Jerry exclaimed, brushing bits of steak off his snowy torso. “Who ordered the carnivore special?”

A third snowman, taller and slightly lopsided, chimed in. “This is why I never trusted global warming. First, the glaciers melt. Now we’ve got a beef blizzard.”

The sky darkened further, and slabs of pork belly began to pelt the ground, sticking to the snowmen like unwanted accessories. One snowman yelped as a particularly fatty piece slapped against its middle section. “Great, now I’m marbled! Do I look like a ribeye to you?”

Frosty waved his stick arms. “Alright, everyone, stay frosty! We need a plan. Jerry, barricade the igloo. Lumpy, start packing meatballs for ammo. We’re snowmen, dammit—we don’t get grilled!”

Lisa and Jeff shoved their way inside the coffee shop, the doorbell jingling frantically as panicked patrons crowded. Meat slapped against the windows, leaving greasy smears. A sirloin slid down the glass, its marbled fat gleaming under the streetlights.

“What’s happening?” someone shouted.

“It’s gotta be a prank,” another person offered, though their voice trembled.

“A prank? Are you kidding me?” Lisa snapped. “You think someone’s flying a drone full of meat around? This is… this is unnatural.”

The barista, a wiry man with a nervous tic, turned up the volume on the small TV mounted in the corner. The emergency broadcast signal blared, followed by the shaky voice of a news anchor.

“…reports coming in from across the city of an unprecedented weather phenomenon. Authorities are urging everyone to stay indoors and avoid contact with the… material. Early analysis suggests…” The anchor paused, visibly struggling to maintain composure. “…biological origins, though the source remains unknown.”

A loud thump made everyone jump. A side of beef had landed on the roof, its weight bowing the ceiling tiles. Lisa gripped Jeff’s arm, her nails digging into his jacket.

“We can’t stay here,” she whispered. “What if it gets worse?”

“Worse?” Jeff hissed back. “What’s worse than a goddamn meat storm? A barbecue apocalypse?”

Back in the ‘burbs, the snowmen’s situation had escalated. Frosty and his gang had retreated to the safety of a shed, but the meatstorm wasn’t letting up.

“This is a nightmare,” Jerry muttered, poking a sausage link hanging off his arm. “I didn’t sign up for this.”

“Keep it together,” Frosty barked, shoving a rack of ribs out of the doorway. “We’ll fight our way out if we have to. Remember, snowmen don’t melt—we endure.”

Just then, a steak slammed into the window, shattering it. Lumpy peeked through the hole. “Uh, Frosty? I think the meat’s… moving.”

Outside, the snow-covered yard writhed with life as fleshy tendrils emerged from the piles of fallen meat. One lashed out, coiling around a tree. The snowmen watched in horror as the tree toppled, leaving a smear of grease behind.

“Welp,” Jerry said, backing up. “Guess we’re the side dish now.”

Frosty grabbed a pair of tongs from the corner. “Not on my watch. If they want us, they’ll have to eat cold cuts!”

As the rooftop trembled beneath Lisa and Jeff, they exchanged a final glance. “Do you think this is happening everywhere?” Lisa asked.

Jeff looked to the horizon, where the strange light flickered. “I don’t know. But if the snowmen can hold out, so can we.”

Lisa blinked. “What?”

“If they can survive snow falling on them as snowmen, then we can survive meat falling on us,” Jeff said, trying to cut the tension.

“I don’t get it,” Lisa said.

“Never mind,” Jeff said quickly. “Let’s just go.”

It was an ordinary Tuesday morning when Mrs. Drinkbee’s tranquility became disrupted by a confident knock on the front door of her Summit Street home. She adjusted her spectacles, shuffled to the entryway, and opened the door to reveal a man in a crisp suit and an expression so earnest that it nearly bordered on evangelical zeal.

“Good day, madam! I’m Roger Merriweather, and I’ve come to introduce you to the most revolutionary cleaning solution since the invention of soap.” He held up a briefcase that seemed to exude professionalism, though slightly scuffed at the edges.

“I already have a mop,” Mrs. Drinkbee replied curtly.

Roger chuckled knowingly. “Ah, but do you have this?” With a flourish, he swung open the briefcase to reveal a squirming, rosy-cheeked toddler inside, grinning and blowing spit bubbles.

Mrs. Drinkbee gasped, clutching her pearls. “Sir! You can’t just carry a child around in your briefcase!”

“Not just any child,” Roger clarified, lifting the little one. “This, madam, is a Toddler AbsorbaTron™ 3000—a marvel of bio-absorption technology. At this age, toddlers are natural sponges. They can absorb anything—liquids, crumbs, existential dread—you name it. Perfect for household cleaning!”

Before Mrs. Drinkbee could protest further, Roger set the toddler on her kitchen counter. “Observe!” He deftly picked up the child by its ankles and began wiping it across the crumbs and spilled tea from Mrs. Drinkbee’s breakfast. The child giggled with delight as its chubby cheeks and plump knees suctioned up the mess, leaving the surface spotless.

Mrs. Drinkbee blinked in stunned silence. The counter gleamed.

“See? No harsh chemicals! No microfiber rags! Just the pure, unadulterated absorbency of youth.” Roger beamed, holding the now slightly crumby toddler aloft.

“Well, I never…” Mrs. Drinkbee muttered, though her eyes lingered on the pristine counter.

“Oh, but there’s more!” Roger spun the toddler around, its arms flapping gleefully. “Stuck-on grease? Chocolate syrup? Spilled spaghetti? AbsorbaTron™ 3000 handles it all with a simple swish and wipe. And they double as entertainment for your grandkids.”

Mrs. Drinkbee squinted at the child. It cooed at her, utterly unbothered.

“What about…cluttered bookshelves?” she asked cautiously.

Roger’s eyes lit up. “Excellent question! For that, I recommend the AbsorbaTron™ 5000 Toddler—same technology but with a slightly longer reach. They come in toddler twins for double the coverage. And, madam, let me assure you: the more mess they absorb, the happier they get. It’s in their programming—or, er, their nature.”

Mrs. Drinkbee hesitated, tapping her chin. She had to admit the concept was absurd. But her house hadn’t been this clean since the Obama administration, and she’d only seen it in action for thirty seconds.

Finally, she spoke. “I’ll take two.”

Roger grinned triumphantly. “Splendid choice, madam. You’ll never sweep or scrub again.”

As he scribbled on his order form, two more toddlers toddled from behind his briefcase, bumping into each other like bowling pins. Mrs. Drinkbee eyed them warily.

“I trust they come house-trained?”

Roger coughed lightly. “Mostly.”

With that, he handed over her receipt and tipped his hat. Mrs. Drinkbee stood in her spotless kitchen, watching her new cleaning companions crawl under the table, giggling as they absorbed every crumb they could find.

From that day on, Mrs. Drinkbee became the neatest housekeeper in Virginia City and the most bewildered.

It was a bitter evening, with the wind whipping off the Sierra Mountains and a threatened snowstorm trailing in its wake, as Mary and I made our way to a Christmas Eve party. Pyramid Highway stretched before us, bleak and desolate save for the dancing snowflakes caught in the headlights.

The wind tugged insistently at the car, nudging it like an impatient toddler. The conversation was light, as it often was when Mary and I traveled together.

I glanced at her, a warm smile forming as I reached for her hand. Before I could grasp it, her voice rang out, sharp and startling, “Look out!”

I snapped my eyes to the road just in time to see something pale and indistinct rushing toward us. Two shapes—white as bone and fleeting as shadows—flitted past the car, just beyond the windshield.

My hands jerked the wheel instinctively, and the vehicle veered slightly before steadying. The tires crunched against the icy surface, but there was no sound of impact.

“You hit her,” Mary said, her voice tight and edged with disbelief. She turned in her seat, craning to look back.

I gripped the wheel and frowned. “There wasn’t any thump,” I replied, though my voice betrayed an uncertainty.

Still, I slowed the car, pulling it to the shoulder. The howling wind, if you’ll pardon the term, seemed to surge as we stepped out into the freezing night, its unseen fingers gnawing at our coats.

Together, we retraced our path on foot. The headlights of the car, now dim in the distance, cast long shadows on the snow, but nothing else revealed itself. No sign of a collision, no footprints, no debris—nothing but an empty stretch of frosted highway.

“I think they were plastic bags,” I ventured after a moment, though I hardly believed it myself.

Mary shook her head, her brow furrowed. “They looked like teenage girls to me,” she said, her tone low and uneasy.

The disquiet between us lingered as we returned to the car. The road stretched ahead once more, and though neither spoke it aloud, I knew we both stole glances at the spot as we drove home later that evening.

The following morning, the event took an uncanny turn.

On my way back from an early shift, I found my gaze drawn to the hillside near where the encounter had occurred. The snow had cleared somewhat, revealing the landscape beneath it. There, against the muted brown of the desert earth, stood two white crosses, simple and solemn. They leaned slightly in the wind as though bowing to it.

The sight was unremarkable in itself—such crosses dotted many highways in these parts, marking lives lost too soon—but I felt my heart skip. The memory of those fleeting shapes, so pale and ephemeral, rushed back with a chilling clarity.

Two teenage girls had died on that stretch of highway years earlier. I had been there. What struck me at that moment was not their fate but the eerie feeling that their presence had reached out to me and Mary that night.

The thought prickled at my skin, and I felt a cold not from the winter air but from some deeper place. Then I remembered the old newspapers I had stored away. Something about that memory, triggered by the sight of the crosses, compelled me to dig out the book and see if it held any clues.

Back home, I rifled through a dusty box in the attic, finally unearthing the news articles. I sat in my study and opened the pages, carefully scanning the entries.

One headline in particular caught my eye, dated September 20, 2004: “Two Sisters Dead After Collision on Pyramid Highway.”

My breath caught in my throat. Cassandra and Jessica.

The newspaper slipped from my hands, landing with a soft thud on the floor. The room seemed to grow colder, and I could almost hear the whisper of the wind outside.

It was Christmas Eve, and Dave and Laura Johnson, the parents, had been caught up in their petty misdeeds—ignoring holiday traditions, skipping out on family dinners, and even sneaking in a few choice words for Santa himself.

Christmas morning arrived, and their son, Timmy, raced to open presents, where he found something unexpected—a massive set of drums, complete with cymbals and all the trimmings. Timmy’s eyes widened, and a grin spread across his face.

Timmy’s enthusiasm knew no bounds as he dove into his new gift. He was thrilled, of course, but his parents–not so much.

His parents, still sipping their coffee and rubbing sleep from their eyes, were greeted by the distinct sound of a snare drum pounded with joy. The house shook with the beat as Timmy began what would surely be a lifelong obsession with percussion.

Dave and Laura quickly realized what Santa had done. They looked at each other, the horror dawning as the relentless drumming filled every corner of the house.

“Is it too late to trade him for an air-guitarist?” Dave groaned.

Clutching her mug, Laura muttered, “I knew we shouldn’t have skipped that family dinner.”

They tried to reason with Timmy, but his new drum kit had cast a spell, and all he heard was music.

“Timmy, sweetie, maybe take a break?” Laura suggested, her voice barely audible over the racket.

“No way, Mom! I’m in the zone!” Timmy shouted back, his eyes gleaming with manic glee.

As the day wore on, the relentless noise only increased—Timmy didn’t stop. He played “Jingle Bells” in his way, pounding away like there was no tomorrow.

His parents, starting to regret their behavior over the past year, finally surrendered to the noisy chaos. By the time the sun set, they had learned their lesson: perhaps they should have been a bit nicer.

“Remember when we complained about the neighbor’s dog barking?” Dave said, half-joking, half-sarcastic.

Laura nodded, massaging her temples. “Next year, no more sneaking cookies before dinner.”

As the night wound down, Timmy finally grew tired and retreated to bed, leaving the drums behind. His parents, exhausted but strangely satisfied, shared a look of understanding.

“Next year,” Dave muttered, “we’ll be on our best behavior.”

Laura, still rubbing her temples, sighed in agreement. “Absolutely. And maybe earplugs in the stockings.”

And as for Santa? Well, he’s always watching.

The hills around Virginia City, Nevada, were as quiet as a church mouse on Sunday, save for the occasional clatter of loose rocks or the faint rustle of dry sagebrush. Beneath this desolate landscape, however, a secret war was brewing—a conflict between the mechanical precision of the Nutcrackers and the shadowy cunning of the Tommyknockers.

The fight had begun over a vein of crystalline ore deep within the earth, glowing faintly with energy neither side fully understood but desperately wanted. To the Nutcrackers, the mineral promised perpetual power to sustain their mechanical forms. To the Tommyknockers, it was lifeblood, their connection to the supernatural world.

The Nutcrackers approached the mine’s entrance led by Captain Brassjaw, whose wooden face gleamed faintly under a lacquer patina. Their boots clanked rhythmically on the rocky ground as they advanced in formation.

“Steady, soldiers,” Brassjaw ordered, his voice hollow but commanding. “The mineral is within our grasp. This mine is but another battlefield. No ghosts nor tricks will deter us.”

Behind him, Lieutenant Snapfinger, a younger Nutcracker with a fresh coat of crimson paint, hesitated. “Captain, the Tommyknockers are known for their traps. Should we not—”

“There is no room for doubt,” Brassjaw snapped. “Our strength lies in unity. Forward!”

The Nutcrackers’ mechanical march echoed through the dark mouth of the mine as they descended into the labyrinth below.

Deep in the twisting tunnels, the Tommyknockers watched. Small, wiry figures with glowing green eyes blended seamlessly into the shadows. Their leader, Knocker King Flinttooth, crouched beside a jagged stalagmite, a smirk splitting his coal-black face.

“They come, just as I said,” Flinttooth whispered, his voice as gritty as gravel. “Clanking and stomping, thinking they’ll claim what’s ours.”

Another knocker, Pebblequick, giggled nervously. “Should we start the collapsing now, King? I’ve set the north tunnel nice and loose.”

“Patience, Pebblequick,” Flinttooth said, raising a gnarled hand. “Let them come deeper. Let them see the prize. Then we’ll give ’em a proper welcome.”

As the Nutcrackers advanced, faint whispers began to echo through the tunnels, disjointed and eerie.

“Do you hear that, Captain?” Snapfinger asked, tightening his grip on his halberd.

“Tricks,” Brassjaw replied curtly. “Do not falter. The ore lies ahead.”

The Nutcrackers finally reached the heart of the mine, where the mineral vein pulsed softly with an ethereal blue light. The air hummed faintly, and the glow reflected off the Nutcrackers’ polished armor.

“Magnificent,” Brassjaw said, stepping forward. “Secure the area. This is our future.”

But as the soldiers began to position themselves, the ground rumbled. Pebbles fell from the ceiling, and the whispers grew into a cacophony of mocking laughter.

“Welcome, tin soldiers!” Flinttooth’s voice boomed from the shadows. “Did you think it’d be so easy?”

Suddenly, explosions of dust and rock erupted from all sides. The tunnels began to collapse, cutting off escape routes and separating the Nutcrackers. Tommyknockers darted in and out of the chaos, their small forms barely visible as they pulled ropes and set off traps.

Snapfinger swung his halberd, narrowly missing a knocker that had slashed at his leg joints. “They’re everywhere!” he shouted.

“Hold your ground!” Brassjaw bellowed, using his jaw’s crushing strength to snap through a falling boulder. “Regroup by the vein!”

The remaining Nutcrackers formed a circle around the glowing vein, with their disciplined ranks battered but unbroken. The Tommyknockers encircled them, grinning from the darkness.

“This ends now,” Brassjaw declared, raising his saber. “We claim this ore in the name of the Nutcracker Corps!”

Flinttooth stepped forward, dragging a long, jagged pickaxe behind him. “Oh, you’ll claim something, alright—dust and rubble! Collapse it, lads!”

With a roar, the ceiling above the Nutcrackers gave way. Massive chunks of rock crashed down, pinning some and scattering others. The Tommyknockers moved in for the kill, their sharp tools flashing in the dim light.

When the dust finally settled, the mine was silent again. Broken pieces of Nutcracker armor lay scattered amidst the rubble. Flinttooth stood triumphantly atop a large boulder, his green eyes gleaming triumphantly.

“They thought they could take what’s ours,” he muttered, kicking a shattered Nutcracker helmet into the darkness. “The mine belongs to the Tommyknockers. Always has, always will.”

Deep beneath the hills of Virginia City, the victorious knockers melted back into the shadows, their laughter echoing as they vanished, leaving no trace of the battle that had raged underground. Above ground, the UNR seismology lab reported a 1.3 magnitude earthquake shook the area.

Later that evening, the two sworn enemies from earlier that day were seen at the Old Corner Bar drinking and enjoying themselves.

High up in the frosty tundra of the North Pole, where icicles hang like glassy bobbins, the air sparkles with more glitter than a child’s imagination–a reindeer named Rudolph lives. Everyone knew him, the one with the luminous, glowing, utterly spectacular red nose.

You might think Rudolph’s magical nose worked just fine all the time, but oh no. That’s not how magic noses work. A nose like Rudolph’s needs careful maintenance, like a clock that needs winding or a chimney that needs sweeping. And without care, the glow would dim, which wouldn’t do—not on Christmas Eve.

This particular year, however, Rudolph was in a bit of a pickle.

The trouble began in late November when Rudolph’s nose started behaving oddly. It didn’t glow stead like it used to. Instead, it flickered and sputtered, and now and then, it let out a strange, wet fizz.

“Hmm,” said Santa, stroking his enormous beard as he watched Rudolph practice with the other reindeer. “That doesn’t look right at all. If your nose fizzles mid-flight, we’ll crash into every chimney from here to Kalamazoo!”

Blitzen snickered from the corner, muttering something about “faulty wiring,” Rudolph felt his cheeks burn brighter than his nose.

“I’ll fix it,” Rudolph declared, though he had no idea how.

And so began the great Nose Recharge Quest.

First, Rudolph trotted to the Workshop of Wonders, where the elves were busy tinkering with everything from jingle bells to jet-powered sleds.

“Excuse me,” Rudolph said, poking his head through the door. “My nose isn’t working properly. Can you help me recharge it?”

The head elf, a short fellow with glasses thicker than ice cubes, scratched his head.

“Well, Rudolph, your nose isn’t exactly our department. We deal in toys, not glowing schnozzes. But if it’s magic you need, I’d try the Sugarplum Forest.”

“The Sugarplum Forest?”

“Home of the Glow Berries,” the elf said. “Eat a handful of those, and your nose’ll shine brighter than a disco ball.”

That sounded promising. So off Rudolph went.

The Sugarplum Forest was a glittering place where candy canes grew on trees and gumdrops tumbled from the bushes. And in the center of it all was a patch of Glow Berries. They glowed faintly, like tiny red lanterns nestled among sugar-dusted leaves.

Rudolph plucked a few and popped them into his mouth. They tasted like a mix of cinnamon and fireworks. At first, nothing happened. Then his nose gave a mighty ZAP! and flared so brightly that a squirrel packing a candy cane almost fell off its branch.

“I’ve done it!” Rudolph cheered.

But the glow didn’t last, and by the time he returned to the reindeer stables, his nose was back to its dim, sputtering state.

Next, Rudolph visited Glacier Greta, the North Pole’s wisest witch. Greta lived in an igloo shaped like a teapot and brewed potions that bubbled and hissed like the Northern Lights in a cauldron the size of a sleigh.

“Ah, Rudolph,” Greta said, peering at him through a monocle made of frost. “Let me see that nose of yours.”

Rudolph leaned forward, and Greta tapped it with her wand. It let out a pitiful fwip.

“Dear me, it’s worse than I thought,” she murmured. “You’ve got Glow Fatigue.”

“Glow Fatigue?”

“Overuse. You’ve been overdoing it, my boy. I’ll brew you a special elixir, but it’ll take time. Come back tomorrow.”

By the next day, Christmas Eve had arrived, and Rudolph was in a frenzy.

Greta’s potion hadn’t worked. The Glow Berries were a bust. Santa called for the sleigh to be loaded, and Rudolph’s nose was still behaving like a broken flashlight.

“Rudolph,” Santa said sternly, “if your nose isn’t ready, we’ll have to use—”

“Not Blitzen!” Rudolph gasped.

“Yes. Blitzen.”

Blitzen was already smirking, nose pointed skyward like he’d just won the Reindeer Olympics.

Rudolph felt a surge of desperation. He had to figure this out.

Then it hit him. What if the problem wasn’t the Glow Berries or Greta’s potions? What if it was something simpler? Something mechanical?

He raced to the Workshop of Wonders and barged into the tinkering room.

“I need a wrench!” he cried.

“A wrench?” the head elf said. “For your nose?”

“Yes! And a screwdriver! And—what’s that thing with the springy bit?”

“The coil compressor?”

“That! I need that too!”

The elves stared, but they handed over the tools. Rudolph went to work, fiddling with his nose like a mad scientist. He tightened a bolt here, adjusted a wire there, and gave the tip a little polish with a peppermint cloth.

Finally, he stepped back. His nose flickered once, twice, and then—

WHOOOOOSH!

It glowed brighter than ever, and that lit up the entire workshop. The elves cheered.

That night, when the sleigh soared through the skies, Santa beamed down at his trusty lead reindeer.

“Well done, Rudolph!” he bellowed. “Your nose is brighter than a thousand Christmas stars!”

Rudolph grinned, the wind whistling through his fur. Blitzen sulked in the back, knowing his trick of unplugging Rudolph’s nose charger didn’t work.

And as for Rudolph’s nose? It didn’t fizzle, flicker, or sputter once.  All it needed, in the end, was a little tune-up and a lot of determination.

Because that’s the thing about reindeer with magic noses—they’re brighter and braver than you’d ever imagine

The epidemic, its origins shrouded in mystery, was yet unyielding in its spread—a grotesque malady confounding reason and breaking the spirit of those who sought to contain it. Physicians and nurses stretched beyond endurance and struggled to care for the afflicted. Yet, in their Sisyphean labor, many were claimed by the infection, only to return as mindless, ravenous vessels of disease.

One exhausted nurse, pressed to her limits, was attending to an infected man—a skeletal figure bound by restraints, his head obscured by a mask to forestall the unthinkable. She wiped at the viscous discharge trickling from his mask when he lunged at her with a guttural snarl.

Startled, she recoiled, dropping the soiled tissue. It fluttered to the floor, overlooked in the frantic chaos of her retreat.

“Shit!” gasped Nurse Laine, stumbling backward as the man’s hollow eyes fixed on her. She could hear the ragged hiss of his breath behind the mask.

“Careful, Laine!” barked Dr. Rhodes from across the room, his face pale with stress. “If he breaks skin, you’re next!”

“I know! I know!” she snapped, trembling as she steadied herself. She gestured at the patient, still straining against his bonds. “Why is he so much stronger? He shouldn’t even have the energy to lift his head!”

Rhodes pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’re beyond rules now. This thing—whatever it is—it’s remaking them. We just need to keep moving.”

Unseen, the tissue’s burden, a yellow-green globule of virulent mucus, clung to the tiles like a thing alive. It slithered toward the nearest surface, its faint glistening betraying its unearthly vitality.

“Who’s on cleanup here?” snapped an orderly as he entered the room, his voice rough with frustration. “I just mopped this goddamn floor.”

“No one cares, Jared!” shouted Laine, her nerves fraying. “Just bag him up if he dies. Or better yet, incinerate him!”

“Fine,” muttered Jared, brushing past her to lean against the wall. He fished a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and muttered something about taking a break. His hand rested idly on the wall, unaware of the slight, sticky trail moving toward his sleeve.

Minutes later, chaos erupted.

“What’s wrong with him?” screamed Laine, watching in horror as Jared convulsed on the ground, frothy bile spilling from his lips.

“Hold him down!” Rhodes shouted, grabbing the nearest orderly.

“I’m trying!” the man cried, wrestling Jared as he thrashed violently. “His skin—it’s hot! God, it’s burning! He’s burning up!”

Jared stopped suddenly, his chest rising and falling in erratic bursts. His eyes rolled back in his head, but his lips curled into something that was not a smile—a grotesque approximation of human expression.

“He’s… laughing?” whispered Laine, backing into a corner.

The sound that came from Jared’s throat was a guttural, clicking chuckle. He sat up in a slow, unnatural motion, his head tilting at an impossible angle.

“They’re here,” Jared crooned, his voice a rasping echo of something far older. “We see. We know.”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Laine hissed.

Rhodes didn’t answer. He backed away slowly, his hand clutching a syringe of sedative. “Jared… can you hear me? Let us help—”

Jared’s laughter grew louder, a chittering sound setting Laine’s teeth on edge. “Fools,” he intoned, rising to his feet. “It spreads. You are already theirs.”

The infected now moved with precision, herding the living toward confinement. Laine and Rhodes barricaded themselves in a linen closet, the low, resonant hum vibrating through the walls.

“This isn’t just a disease,” Laine whispered, her hands trembling. “This is something else, isn’t it?”

Rhodes nodded grimly. “I don’t know what this is, Laine. But it’s not natural. This—this thing is alive, thinking. It’s planning.”

Outside, footsteps echoed—slow, deliberate.

“Do you hear that?” Laine whispered, her voice quivering.

The closet door creaked open, revealing Jared, his body now a mass of writhing tendrils. His glowing eyes met Laine’s.

“Your struggle is meaningless,” he said, his voice resonating with inhuman power. “The stars align. The end blooms.”

As the tendrils reached for her, Laine screamed—only to have the sound cut off as the hum enveloped her mind.

In the following hours, the hospital became a labyrinth of horrors. Outside, the sky churned with unnatural colors. Something vast stirred beyond the veil, and the world prepared to receive its new masters.

The blooming pestilence had done its work. The age of humanity was over.

The park was quiet. The late sun hung low, casting long shadows.

A man and a woman sat on a bench. The man stared at the ground, his hands on his knees. The woman watched the ducks moving on the water, the ripples breaking the surface.

“I have the money,” the man said. He didn’t look at her. “We can do it now. No reason to wait.”

The woman shook her head. Her eyes stayed on the pond. “It’s not the money. It’s not right.”

“Why not?” He turned to her, his face tight. “We’ve been over this. Why isn’t it right?”

She didn’t look at him. “It just isn’t.”

He pressed his fists together. His knuckles turned white. “We planned this. We’re ready.”

“I thought I was ready too,” she said. She pulled her coat closer around her. “Now I don’t know.”

“You don’t know,” he repeated. His jaw tightened. He turned away. “Soon, it’ll be too late.”

“I know.” Her voice was soft. “But that doesn’t make it right.”

He stood, walking a few steps, then turning back. “You always do this. You wait until it matters and then you back out.”

She flinched. “That’s not fair.”

He didn’t answer. He looked at the woman, standing still, then sat down again. His head dropped into his hands. “I just want us to be happy.”

“I do too,” she said. Her voice was low. “But not like this.”

For a long moment, he didn’t say anything. Then he reached for the woman’s right hand. “Okay,” he said.

She didn’t speak. She held the man’s hand and looked away, her eyes wet.

The sun slipped lower. The ducks paddled, their small wakes stretching across the pond.

Nothing else moved.

Oh, what an evil, wretched man I am. It wasn’t enough to think about it, oh no. Somewhere between the hymns and the flickering candlelight, I lost whatever decency I had left. I did it. I replaced the baby Jesus with a Chucky doll.

The church was darkening as the kids in their frilly costumes clustered around the nativity scene, their tiny voices rising in chorus to a rendition of “O Holy Night.” The lights were dim, the air cool and a little too thick with the smell of wet wool and pine needles.

But my mind—my wretched mind—was elsewhere. While everyone sang, I was at the foot of that blasted manger, a small, twisted smile spreading across my face as I pulled the infant Jesus from his wooden cradle and replaced him with that plastic monstrosity.

The doll fit perfectly, nestled in the hay like it had always belonged there. I couldn’t resist: I tilted its head ever so slightly, the same way it always tilted on those cheap horror movie posters. The firelight flickered, casting grotesque shadows across its painted face. It grinned—oh, how it grinned. That vile, unnerving grin that never seemed to fade, never seemed to stop smiling as if it knew something I didn’t.

When I stepped back, a cold thrill ran down my spine. I looked around quickly, heart pounding in my chest, half-expecting someone to walk in, someone to notice the horrific switch. But no.

The children kept singing, their angelic voices unaware of the twisted puppet. I stood there, basking in a sick satisfaction, my pulse a low hum of delight.

It wasn’t long before they finished. The choir director, her face flushed with enthusiasm, called for the lights to come up. They did, and the children and their parents, all with their eyes on the nativity. But it wasn’t the baby Jesus they were looking at.

There was a moment—a split second—where everything paused. The collective gasp that echoed through the room seemed to come from every corner but mine.

With its mismatched clothes and cracked, deranged smile, the doll stared at the ceiling as if daring anyone to challenge it. It was a mistake, and they all knew it, but it was too late.

The silence was suffocating. No one knew what to say.

The kids froze, their mouths open, their wide eyes drifting from the doll to their parents, their faces scrunched with confusion and disbelief. I didn’t care.

Not then. I’d crossed the line, and there was no coming back.

I told myself it was just a joke, just a harmless prank. But deep down, I knew better.

It wasn’t.

The evil part of me, the part I’d let loose, was alive now. I had taken what was sacred, something pure, and twisted it—turned it into a nightmare in front of everyone.

The pastor, his face ashen, stepped forward, his voice shaking as he asked, “Who… who did this?”

I didn’t answer, couldn’t answer. I was too busy staring at the doll—at Chucky—sitting in the cradle like it had always been there.

The doll’s grin, a reflection mirroring something darker, instilled fear in their faces. But it wasn’t just the toy.

It was the fear of knowing that sometimes, the evil wasn’t just in the things around us but inside us all along.