Fang

Ed Peterson had a factory by the ocean. The sludge from it slowly poisoned the waters of the island. Other people of the island cried out for him to stop but he wouldn't listen. Instead he hired men to protect the factory.

Eventually the surviving sea creatures sought the aid of a great sea dragon Fang. The dragon agreed and raged up out of the ocean in search of the human who caused so much suffering. The hired men were stunned to see a dragon but they were promised a great deal of money. They were able to kill Fang and thought that that was the end of it. However, the spirit of Fang possessed Ed Peterson. His consciousness faded and his body transformed The men fled realizing they wouldn't be paid.

The rest of the islanders were happy to have the island saved but the recovery was slow. Fifty years later and the land and sea were still healing. His form forever changed, Fang was saddened to lose his original body but he still has vast powers and protects the island from any who would harm it. Once a year he comes to a festival to celebrate his victory. If there's any remaining part of Ed Peterson inside no one knows.

I don't think I entered yet. This is a ghost bride who is haunting the groom.

Why can some gargoyles move about at night while others remain frozen? Back in the long ago, when gargoyles first were created, they could all move about during the night. They had to, in order to perform the task for which they were created--guarding the sacred places of the Earth against monsters and evil spirits. During the day, they became petrified as a reminder: "Gargoyle, be back at your perch by sunup!"

As centuries passed, one gargoyle and then another lost the ability to move at night. Now only a few can do it. If you are wondering what could deprive such a creature of its movement, I will tell you the story of one such gargoyle, as an example of how it can happen.

Vavuax was one of fourteen gargoyles at Wilm's Church, in Manria. For ages imponderable the gargoyles manned (gargoyled?) their posts, and not one foul demon or angry ghost profaned their charge. The humans in the area grew in number, their languages changed, old customs fell away and new ones took their places--but the gargoyles were constant.

The eventual introduction of "Halloween" fascinated the gargoyles. They had to keep hidden from the humans due to their grotesque appearances, yet one night a year the humans visited one another while disguised to look scarier than gargoyles do! And they deliberately scared each other! For fun!

One Halloween, Vavuax's curiosity got the better of it. "Surely one gargoyle doesn't make any difference in guarding Wilm's Church." It ventured among the Trick-or-Treaters, scaring people, being given treats, and receiving praise for its "costume." "How do you operate those tails?" everyone wanted to know.

Before dawn, Vavuax was at a grownups' Halloween party behind a "haunted" house. There was a lovely pumpkin cream cake, as well as other comestibles. Vavuax hadn't been able to figure out the candy (which was wrapped), but it could smell that cake! It decided there was enough cake for one gargoyle. The next time someone asked about operating the tails, Vavuax bellowed, "By magic!" and launched into the air!

It swooped over the crowd, which realized this creature was real! Shrieking people scattered, and Vavuax grabbed the cake and flew back to its perch.

Where The Chief Gargoyle was waiting.

Gargoyles are not like humans. Vavuax did not try to explain, or make excuses, or beg forgiveness. The Head Gargoyle said, "This night each year, evil walks freely abroad, yet you choose this night to abandon your post--leaving thirteen gargoyles to try to defend the place. Luckily for them, I happened to be in the area.

"But not luckily for you, Vavuax. Your punishment is this--you will never abandon your post again!" It snatched away the cake, spoke a spell over it, and smashed it onto Vavuax's head.

The sun was not yet rising, but Vavuax could feel itself becoming petrified anyhow! Realizing what The Head Gargoyle had meant, Vavuax cried out, "No, please, not completely stone! Not forever!" Then it's mouth became petrified, and it never spoke again--but it felt a bit of the cake being wiped away from its eyes.

And so, there Vavuax is, atop Wilm's Church night and day, un-moving except for one eye, with which it gazes upon the world forever lost to it. People look up sometimes and comment on how that one eye looks so real--and didn't there use to be two of them? What happened to the other?

(Maybe the starlings know. Do you suppose they will leave the gargoyle's remaining eye alone? Would that be a blessing to Vavuax--or not?)

Legend says: Spurned and forsaken by his lover after being cursed to slowly transform into a dragon, a man threw himself into turbulent ocean waters and drowned in a fury of bubbles and flames. On certain nights, his half-dragon form surfaces from the depths that which he perished in, nothing in hand but the last rose from his love, blackened by ashes and time. They say he senses love and seeks it out, hoping to somehow have retribution on what was taken from him long ago. Once he encounters people in love, he burns them alive, and casts their bodies into the watery grave he had lain in.

The Gargoyle

The bells ring out against the silence as the hands strike the latest hour. The stone encasing her wings is the first to crumble - an audible crack can be heard as she forcefully stretches in her new found freedom. Patiently waiting for the rest of her imprisonment to fall, she surveys the changes to what was once a familiar landscape from her pedestal. She smiles as she dusts herself off.

"Humans... so eager for change, a hunger for expansion."

From her perch, she makes her way to the cobble lined streets, admiring the handiwork of her co-inhabitants.

"They learn so fast, I cannot help but admire their ambition."

She withdraws her wand from within her robes and in the blink of an eye, all remaining light in the village is extinguished. She turns to the moon and basks in its light.

"But tonight it is our time."

She wanders to a near by tree, pressing her fingertips against the bark. The leaves begin to whither and wood starts to gnarl. She plucks a leaf from a low branch, shuffling it between fingers before it disintegrates and is carried off by the wind.

"May they learn to appreciate the inevitable."

She takes flight with her powerful wings, going roof top to roof top to wake her fellow watchers. She cries out to her ranks.

"Let us rob the naive of their bounty and the start of a long, dark winter begin."

Mayula is a blind girl. She was born blind and has always struggled getting around, until she met Mitts the bat that is. Mayula was astounded by how helpful such a small animal could be. Since she and Mitts met, Mitts has made his home wherever Mayula goes. Mitts however isn't as innocent as he seems. He carries a spirit with him, who leeches on to whatever Mitts does. Of course Mitts means no harm, but when your friend starts growing horns out of her head.... you may run into some problems.

Moon Phantom

The details of her origin are unknown, but she never was human.
Some time long ago, someone made a wish, a vengeful wish, and on the next full moon, she appeared from somewhere. Soon after, disappearances begin to grow more and more common, culminating on the third day, where a dozen people vanished with no trace.
But the next day, the disappearances stopped, not to return until the same time next year.
Make sure that you don't enter the woods alone in the colder fall months, or the same might happen to you.

She couldn't remember the exact moment she became a vampire. She fell asleep one day while sitting under her umbrella at the beach and woke up feeling cold. The warmth of the sun-heated sand can no longer help her. She grew up living under the beams of light from the sun, but now she must visit her once-beloved beaches at night, lest she burns. It does not help her newfound habits and taste for blood, but she tries her best to like the things she once loved.