Frozen Souls

[Syth]

It was nearly Halloween, only when the sun had set would the real festivities begin. Sure, there were those who would give out treats to young children long before the sun even began to sink, but those who attended parties and events would not do so until the sun had disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving darkness to blanket the land. As was usual, a young magi was gathering eggs from the stream; a young promising student - who we will call Chi, for his protection - as he did most days. Unlike most magi, however, he didn't just gather eggs for hatching. Each egg he got he would cast a freezing spell over it so that the eggs wouldn't hatch. As he was doing this a female magi, slightly older than himself, saw what he was doing and went to his side.

"You should have more care for creatures than that." He glanced from the koi egg he had just frozen and to her. She wore the same brown robes of other magi, but he couldn't make out her face clearly in the ever-dimming light for she wore her hood up, casting shadows across her features and masking them from his sight.
"What do I care? I enjoy collecting frozen eggs and I'm not hurting anyone. Besides, some magi pay good for the eggs I freeze sometimes."
"You should not do such a thing so carelessly."
"Look, it helps me make profit and it's my hobby. What do you care anyway?"
"I care for the creatures who shall not be born because of your spells. Be warned that there are consequences to careless actions." He shrugged off her words. The other magi watched him a moment before shaking her head and moving on. Good riddance. He thought as he went back to what he was doing until the sack he'd brought to carry all of the eggs was bulging full. Koi Fish eggs weren't the only eggs he froze, but they were among the more demanded during certain seasons and he aimed to please his customers. Despite that he didn't care much for what the other magi had told him, he couldn't completely banish it from his mind. Who does she think she is? Tell ME what to do with MY eggs?! It was nearly dark when he hefted the sack upon his back and seeing this he headed back to The Keep, where he lived among other magi.

Chi set the sack down in a corner of his room once he reached it, he would have to sort the eggs later and put them in boxes for carting down to his shop the next day. He’d taken today off to restock the shop and for the festivities. He knew no one would be buying today. Halloween was a much-celebrated holiday at The Keep with lots of food, dancing, contests and games. It was a holiday he looked forward to every year. Having set the sack to the side he got ready for the festivities that would follow soon enough. Half an hour before midnight he returned to his room, full of food, candy included, and tired from the games and dancing. He was more than ready for bed and while he had enjoyed himself immensely, he was glad that he could snuggle into bed; there were others who’d party until well past the midnight hour, but he was not one of those. Once he was ready for bed he tucked himself in beneath the covers and shut his eyes. He was drifting to sleep when he thought he heard a noise. He opened one eye and glanced around, but didn’t see anything in the dim light of the candle he’d left burning on his desk on the far end of the room. He closed his eye once more, but then he heard it again. This time a little louder, it sounded like something was… cracking. He slowly sat up, wondering where the sound could be coming from as it got a bit louder. It was not a tremendously loud noise really, and there was nothing unusual about it, until he realized where it was coming from. It was coming from the corner where he had set the sack of frozen eggs. Blinking in confusion, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up just as the sack fell over and the sound suddenly stopped. Am I imagining things? He wondered, looking at the sack for a moment, but then a movement caught his eye. There was SOMETHING in his sack…
“Okay egg thief, come on out.” He called. There was no response save for the movement in the sack, then to his surprise something shot out of the mouth of the sack, he could tell it was a fragment of a shell. That made him angry, whatever it was, it was destroying his eggs!
“Knock it off stop destroy-“ He stopped when he saw what emerged. It was a Koi Fish, but… it was all wrong. Instead of purple it was a dull gray color and its pupils were bloodshot. It flopped towards him, then behind it emerged what looked like a Phoenix, but it too was all wrong. Its flames were black, its normally orange feathers were a dulled, muted grayish color and some of them fell off when it moved. Its beak was pure white, like bone. Its legs were a dark brown, as if it had been splashed in dark mud. Like the Koi, however, its eyes were also bloodshot. He watched with growing horror as other creatures emerged, all of them twisted versions of the creatures he had grown to care for; all of them having bloodshot eyes and all of them were looking at him. It wasn’t long before he realized, with even more horror, that these creatures that were coming out of the sack hadn’t been breaking the eggs he’d gathered… they were FROM the eggs he’d frozen earlier that day! Twenty young creatures in all stood before him, staring at him with their bloodshot eyes, their gazes hauntingly accusing. Most of the eggs had been either Koi or Phoenix, but there was also one brown gryphon, though it wasn’t the right brown anymore; its fur and feathers a molted, muddy brown and feathers drifted to the floor as it moved. As if it were molting much like the Phoenixes, its beak and talons also bone white in color and the fur on its tail hung limp as if damp.

The gryphon opened its mouth as it stared at him and he heard a hiss-like voice come from it. Something that he knew wasn’t normal, not in the least.
“We are born thissss night. You have made it sssso. For the midnight hour of thissss eve is oursss, we who are dead may walk. You killed ussss.”
“N-n-no…” He squeaked out.
“Yessss. You who cassst the sssspell of freezing; who ssssaid it was bussssinessss. A hobby. Isssss that all life issss to you? A thing for gain?” The frightened magi shook his head furiously.
“I…. I…” He stammered. The creatures eyed him, as if waiting for him to speak.
“I… didn’t mean… I mean…. I didn’t know! I just… I thought it was just a spell! I didn’t know there was any life in the eggs! Honest! I’m sorry!” He cried, tears of regret and sorrow spilling from his cheeks.
“Do not forget thissss. If you forget, we ssssshall not forgive. To tresssspasss thussss is carelesssnessss. Forgive you once…. we will. Perform no more thissss spell.” Chi nodded his agreement and the creatures turned from him and, one by one, returned to the sack. Shaken, Chi climbed back into his bed, vowing to never freeze another egg. It was a long while before he could sleep again. When he awoke the next morning he wondered if he had just dreamt it all, if it had never been real but just a nightmare. He got up and went about his usual chore of preparing for a new day. He looked into the sack, to his surprise all of the eggs he’d frozen the day before were still there. As if nothing had ever happened. He was about to brush off the whole thing as a dream until he noticed something next to the sack. He knelt down and picked it up, his hand trembling slightly as he held the molted brown feather. Evidence that it had not just been a dream…. He went to his shop and sold all of his frozen eggs for low prices and closed the shop as a place to get frozen eggs. He’d seen enough, he knew, to give him nightmares for life and he knew he’d keep his vow to never again freeze an egg for the purpose of gain for himself.

[PKGriffin]

I am sorry, but the contest ended on October 20th, so your entry will not be judged.