[Episode] Krampus

Quest Request:

“The Twelve Days?...” it had been a long time since the middle-aged Kringle had met somebody unfamiliar with the custom, “...it was a century ago, when the spirits and sickness that haunted the despairing people of this country were driven away by the saints and their legion of healers. The Twelve Days of the Saints have been held to commemorate the labor those men undertook on behalf of the Amber Kingdom, and the prosperity it renewed in these lands.”

“Uh, right, and what does all of that have to do with wanting me to go terrorize some family? And also, why are we going all the way out for a tree? Seems like there've been plenty a’ good ones on the way up here,” the teenager grumbled over to the man who had interrupted his evening’s slumber with an unusual request.

“Oh you’ll know it when ya see it boy…” the rosy-cheeked man waxed poetic.

Doji crouched over, and tugged the bottom of his clouded blind eyes with an irritated countenance.

“...ah right, forgive me for forgettin’ you’re awful perceptive for a blind lad. Anyways, here’s why I need your help: in the last fifty years people started giving each other gifts during the season, it used to be you’d spend time with your family, and feast on the 12th day’s morning; but these days it seems all anybody wants are the presents.”

“Understandable. I like presents,” the bratty devil stated matter of factly, shrugging his shoulders with an indifferent expression.

“Ho-ho-hyugh…” Nikolai chuckled, but was scarcely able to choke back his exasperation, “... as nice as gift-giving is, kids these days have been getting more and more demanding by the year. Every family seems to be competing with each other to show off their wealth these days, buyin’ more expensive presents and bigger displays each year; half the families participating can’t even really afford it, but the kids’ll make their lives hell if they don’t participate. It’s a sad state of affairs.”

“That does sound like a bit much, but I’m still not really sure where all this forest demon stuff fits in,” it seemed more like the geezer was trying to wax nostalgic than actually execute a plan, Doji was starting to lose his patience.

“Back in the old days, shortly after the nation was healed, there was another tradition they observed…” with a grim tone to his voice, it seemed like the portly fellow was finally getting to the point, “... that of Krampus: the demonic reminder of the hardships that had condemned the country. The youth couldn’t be allowed to forget the troubles, and the sacrifice that had once plagued us; and so, men donned the masks of devils, and terrorized the village children.”

“Devil masks…” the red-head’s interest was piqued, “... so that’s the aim eh? Make kids remember those old demons? Hopefully make ‘em grateful they aren’t being terrorized by an old monster? Makes enough sense to me, but I can’t be everywhere at once, I don’t see how fucking with one family is gonna be enough to rekindle those old traditions.”

“Language Doji…” the polite old man grimaced at the boy’s needless cursing, “...you may think your actions will make a little difference, but this is a family of some prestige; they live an idyllic provincial life in the ‘Saint’s Town’ of Laplan, and they have dedicated their lives to being the model advocates of the lifestyle that anybody with ‘holiday cheer’ ought to pursue.”

“Right, so they’re famous,” the giant spoke nonchalantly as the duo climbed further towards the top of the hill.

“In fact they are nobility Doji, that is why I need your help most of all; I am not a sailor, and the strength of my youth has long since vanished, if a bounty were placed on my head there is little I could do to evade capture. This is why I must ask you to perform this task in my stead…” the man seemed guilty, asking a youngster to do his dirtywork.

“... ah, I think this tree will do nicely!” Nikolai spoke excitedly as he drew out his cherry-colored axe and began hacking away at the enormous pine’s trunk.

“Tych…” Doji scoffed as his elder nearly threw his back out trying to wage war on the evergreen’s three-meter thick wood, “... you approach things too directly. Let me try.”

Doji shooed the man away from the tree, before drawing his hooks, “To cut efficiently is not to hack away blindly at your target…” the oni took a deep breath before cleaving the tree from its stump in a single sweep of his swords, “... it is to see what constitutes it, how it breathes, and to allow your instrument to sever that breath without any wasted effort.”

“It’s funny, you seem to see quite well when it comes to such things…” the old-timer took a deep breath, overly exhausted by his brief stint of physical activity, “... but you still have much to learn, it seems that you distance yourself from the affairs of others when you don’t understand them instead of trying to know them better.”

“Why would I waste my effort on trivial affairs?...” Doji spoke resentfully, concealing his true feelings, why would I extend these people any more consideration than they have me?

“You’d be surprised at what you can get out of living for the present, and accepting whatever comes your way Doji,” the man spoke, solemnly smiling up towards the falling snow.

“I thought presents were the problem,” the dumbass almost seemed like he was being intentionally obtuse.

“No, no, not that kind of gift Doji. The present time, the gift of life that fate bestows upon each of us from moment to moment. This is the worst gift to reject, it is the root of the problem with the new traditions: rather than savoring the limited time they have with their families, the children only look forward to the gifts they might receive.”

“Hmm…” Doji pondered the man’s words as he shouldered the tree, “... I see the value in enjoying the limited time we have with one another, but I think you’re missing something. It’s fine if the little brats have something they’re looking forward to, without hopes and dreams people are dead; and even I’m not one to revel in the death of children.”

Doji braced himself to begin sliding back down the hill, “The real problem is the gift itself. The kids want something, and it’s just being given to them; keep that up long enough, and they’ll have no dreams for themselves, they’ll just keep whining for what they want and won't have the strength to take it.”

“Is that all you value Doji? Strength?” Nikolai spoke curiously approaching the oni from behind, jumping up onto the big fellow’s back for the ride down the hill.

“Strength is important, yes, but it’s not all that I love. It’s not even the weakness that bothers me in itself…” the oni began the pair’s trip back down the hill, almost seeming to surf the snow beneath his feet in an avalanche to the mound’s base, “... it’s people who are more demanding than they are strong, people who take pride in possessions and accomplishments they could have never claimed for themselves, people who ask more from the world then they’re willing to seize for themselves.”

The sainted descendant Kringle silently ponders on the demon’s words as they make their way back to his cottage.

“You think a man should only be dignified with what he can take for himself? Then what of friendship? Of family?” Nikolai asked, as he put on a large pot of boiling water inside.

“True friends wouldn’t give you anything more than you deserved, neither would true family…” Doji leaned haphazardly against the building, thinking back to his own mother’s discipline; had he been nothing but a weak, blind child, then even he would have hated himself for his weakness, “... anything better is nothing more than sycophancy and entitlement,” a hurting tone underpinned the giant’s voice as he spoke.

“What of things like love and respect?...” The old man spoke, handing Doji a cup of cacao, “... do you not think that some things can be offered freely?”

The oni took a sip of the beverage before sputtering out the sweet, malty tasting fluid, “Blyegh! What is this?!”

“It’s?...” Kringle was confused to all hell as to why the boy was wasting his chocolate, “... It’s hot cacao Doji?”

“It’s sweet! Saccharine! There’s nothing that bites back or challenges the palette! This is what I hate! Why would you want something that somebody offered without demands and expectations? Why would you want anything that doesn’t challenge you, doesn’t make you better for pursuing it. If it’s worthless enough that they’re just givin’ it away, then why make a big fuckin’ deal out of it?”

“Language please…” the old man stirred his cup with his spoon, “...give it another try would you?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the saint’s preference for soft language was beginning to get on the devil’s nerves.

In a single gulp, Doji swallowed down the sweet swill, mildly scalding his mouth and throat in the process, “Ahhh!...” the oni released a breath of hot steam as he downed the last of it, “... I guess that ain’t half bad. Ya just gotta learn to enjoy it right!”

What on earth is wrong with this boy? Nikolai Kringle, the user of the Present Present Fruit, thought to himself with fright and concern as the two spoke of the plan through the evening.

Ghouls and Goblins

“In those old times, the men who bedeviled the townships traveled in groups of three…” Nikolai spoke knowingly as he drove his reindeer pulled sleigh through the fresh morning snow, “... so Doji, I’d like you to meet a couple of old friends of mine. We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, but we’ve been planning our ‘war’ for some time.”

“Yooo…” the giant yawned as the pair made their way down through the forest towards the remote cabins, “... sure. I don’t mind help, I honestly barely remember what we talked about last night, so I could definitely use somebody who knows what you’re on about.”

Nikolai glared back at the boy, a look of disapproval that went unnoticed. The saint’s descendant sighed, at least the boy wasn’t cursing up a storm yet.

Drawing near the homestead, the man parked his sleigh before hopping to the snow below and planting his black winter boots in the gleaming white crystals, “Well, we’re here. They should be out to greet us in a moment…”

Lurching out of the household came two strangely proportioned figures, one tall and lanky with overly long legs, and the other stout and compressed with low-hanging arms.

“Nikky! Are we finally gonna do it this year buddy?” The long-armed fellow scrambled over, happy to wrap his old friend in a clinging and triple jointed embrace.

Marv, the long-legged fellow, wasn’t accustomed to meeting men much taller than his own thirteen foot stature, “Harry! You’re ignoring our guest! I think this guy is the one who’s finally gonna pull this whole thing together!”

Backing off, and putting his hands up to keep some distance between the excitable duo, Doji bore an embarrassed face before speaking back to the man, “Yo, don’t worry about it man. I promise I don’t need too much hospitality.”

“Nonsense! Come on big guy, the name’s Marv, let’s get ya some ham!” The longleg tribesman spoke with a friendly affect as he headed into his spacious provincial home, built with high ceilings, the building was large enough that he could even invite the oni in alongside him; offering him a large chair besides a roaring fireplace and lengthy table.

“Damn, this ain’t half bad. I ain’t used to being able to come into people’s houses like this,” Doji spoke rudely, kicking his bare feet up onto the table.

Marv chuckled at the boy’s seemingly oblivious rudeness as he cut off a couple large slices of Twelve Days ham, “How do you usually make yourself at home, also what’s your name buddy?” The man took up another of the room’s seats, setting down the plate of meat on a side table besides the oni’s chair.

“I mean I usually just break in and make myself a chair out of the broken shit,” Doji spoke nonchalantly of his predilection for breaking and entering.

“Huh. I guess that’s one way of doing it…” Marv smiled, sliding some of the household’s more valuable possessions a bit further out of reach, “... seems like you’ll be a good fit for the job if that’s how you go about things though. Those Decallista nobles live on a pretty well guarded estate, high fences, lots of dogs and personal security, n’ all that. One year they got robbed, probably by some other jealous moneybags if I had to guess; either way, they’ve been taking the security of their holiday season very seriously ever since.”

“That doesn’t sound like much of a hassle, they live out in the middle of nowhere right? Gates are easy to pry open, and I’ll bury any guard who wants to take their chances six-feet in the snow.”

“What a lovely holiday gift for the family! A dead father!...” Marv chuckled, nervous at the boy’s disregard for human life, “... jokes aside, I think we’d all prefer if nobody died for the sake of all this.”

“Huh? Wait, so you want change, but you don’t want any dead people…” the oni began tapping at the ends of his fingers, as though struggling with mental math, “... something about that doesn’t add up quite right.”

“Ha. Maybe not…” Marv laughed courteously, the boy that Nikolai had recruited had a bizarre outlook; he was surprised that the old saint could tolerate such an abject monster.

In that moment, Harry and Nikolai walked in through the front door, evidently finished with their long introductions, “so who’s the kid? What’s his deal?” Harry asked bluntly with his raspy and gruff voice, gesturing towards Doji with a pointing finger perched at the end of his lengthy arm.

“I keep tryin’ to get him to introduce himself…” Marv smirked over towards Doji, and the air was filled with the expectation for the boy’s introduction.

“Right, sorry. My name is Asakura Doji. I’m a traveling swordsman…” the rōnin stated simply, feeling little need to explain his pursuit of his master, these men would not be the ones to help him find Nobunaga; still, it felt a bit empty, so the boy tacked on a bit of his ambitions, “... I’m going to restore honor to my clan and etch our names on the record of history no matter what I have to do.”

So that’s it huh?... Marv thought to himself, growing more curious about the nature of his new ally, … he looks young for a big fella, but he’s already thinking about things like that. He’s a warrior, of course he’d think to fix everything by spilling blood.  

Doji took a bite from his ham as Nikolai, Marv, and Harry caught up, “Pyu! Blyugh! Why is everything so fucking sweet?!” The oni coughed up the honey glazed meat like it was poison, sputtering the half-chewed mess onto the table.

“LANGUAGE!” The three men shouted at the sailor in unison, Marv frustratedly picking up a napkin to wipe up the wasted food.

For the remainder of Doji and Nikolai’s stay at the “Long Lounge,” the group conversed over their plans, and enjoyed eleven of the Twelve Sainted Days together, waiting for the time of mischief and punishment to arrive.

Tis the Season of Receiving

For a humbler family, the gentle falling of snow, and the crackling of the fireplace would make this moment a sacred; a quiet time in which no words would need to be said, but during which the family would feel the deep and unspoken closeness that only the fear of Winter could cultivate. Instead, the Decallista mansion was lively with chatter; and still, little Katie had never felt more alone.

[npc=misc]“Katie?...”[/npc] Linnie, another of the family’s younger daughters, spoke in a meek and cloyingly sweet sing-song, [npc=misc]“... Mom wanted me to check one last time. Are you sure you don’t know what you want?”[/npc]

I don’t want anything. I don’t want any of this… the girl thought to herself, wise beyond her years and sickened by her family’s greed Katie had grown less festive each year; this year would be her first stand against her family, “... I still don’t know, sorry Linnie.”

[npc=misc]“You’re no fun…”[/npc] tears almost began to well in the brat’s eyes over the trivial matter, [npc=misc]“... mummy said she’d buy me another present if I could get you to answer.”[/npc]

“Don’t worry about her Lin! If Katie doesn’t want anything that’s her problem, there’ll just be more for merrier!” One of the elder daughters, a demanding and appearance obsessed teenager by the name of Tracy, bastardized the old adage down to her sibling.

[npc=misc]“I’m not! I told you, Mummy said she’d get me another gift!”[/npc] The girl pouted up to her big sis.

“No need to get worked up, girlie. What did you ask for this year?” Tracy was quick to distract the younger child and fix her attention to the coming of their holiday bounty.

[npc=misc]“Ooh! Ooh! I asked for a Pony! And a Puppy! And a Kitty too!”[/npc] The little girl, more excited at the prospect of having the animals than taking care of or loving them, chattered out eagerly.

“Oh! Another dog eh? Your pack’s getting pretty big Lin!” Every year the girl asked for another dog, and each year the family’s dog trainer was tasked with another impossible addition to his neverending nightmare.

[npc=misc]“What are you getting Tracy?!”[/npc] The little girl’s eyes gleamed with greed, she idolized her elder sister, who always got what she wanted and asked for more and more each year.

“Teehee! You really want to know?” The teenager spoke coyly, momentarily she was caught starry-eyed and dreaming of the wonderful gift her parents were sure to give to her.

[npc=misc]“Yes! Yes! Pwease!”[/npc] The lispy youth began jumping up and down excitedly waiting to hear what her sister was going to get this year. If her parents were willing to spoil Tracy this much, then maybe if she was as good a daughter as she was then they’d give her just as much.

“This year! Mommy and Daddy are buying me. A. Ski Lodge…” Tracy punctuated each word of the end of her sentence with dramatic pauses, announcing her gift proudly to her little sister’s applause, “... that way Trent and I can go skiing whenever we want~”

[npc=misc]“Wyoawha! Dats so cool!”[/npc] The girl blurted out the gurgling adorations of an overly excited kid.

“Don’t you think it’s kind of weird that Mom and Dad are trying to marry you off to some older guy?” Katie looked over from the window, speaking in a slow and sardonic monotone.

“Trent’s not that old! He’s only twenty-six! Plus! Any girl should want to get married!”

“Isn’t he almost thirty?” Katie shot her sister another side-eye.

“Whatever Katie, you’re just mad because you’re a killjoy bitch. You better fix your little attitude problem if you don’t want to die a lonely old spinster like Auntie Brenda!” With this, Tracy stood up and stormed off in a huff.

[npc=misc]“What’s that word?”[/npc] Linnie asked her sister curiously.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s something grown ups say,” Katie opened a novella from the family’s bookshelf, an old story by the name of “Iron Nose and Her Scissors.”

[npc=misc]“Oh! I wanna be a grown up! MOMMY! KATIE’S A BITCH!”[/npc] The girl scrambled into the family’s kitchen as she screamed the curse word across the house.

“Yes dear, she sure i—” initially the Decallista mother didn’t pay attention to what her daughter had said, absorbed in her holiday baking and preparation for the twelfth day’s feast, “who taught you that language? Tracy?!” The mother screamed up to her daughter’s room.

“What Mom?! I’m busy! I’m talking to Trent!” The teen hollered back from her room.

“I’m going to have to have a talk with that girl, I told her she’s not getting the ski lodge if she keeps acting like this…” the mother whisked her batter angrily, not really intending to follow through on the threat; but still, what she said struck fear into the heart of her gift-obsessed little girl.

[npc=misc]“Mummy…”[/npc] Linnie spoke softly, barely allowing the lie to slip her lips, [npc=misc]“... Twacy didn’t teach me dat word, it was Katie. She was reading one of those old books to me again,”[/npc] the gift-loving girl wasn’t going to betray her big sister; she’d much rather see Katie take the blame.

“KATIE! WHAT ARE YOU READING TO YOUR SISTER?!” The woman stormed into the parlor, her hands placed expectantly upon her hips, one hand still clutching a whisk.

“I wasn’t reading anything to her?” The girl raised her eyebrow and looked at her mother, almost seeming to bear disgust upon her face, Katie was mostly just tired of all the holiday’s needless stress.

“Don’t you look at me that way! And don’t you lie to me young lady!” The mother, stressed under the weight of maintaining the image of the perfect holiday season and of the perfect family, began to scream and unload her burdens onto her middle-child.

“I’m not lying mom. I’m sorry, I love you…” the girl spoke meekly to her screaming parent.

“GO TO YOUR ROOM!” The Decallista mother screamed, smacking her daughter across the face with her whisk.

Crying and clutching onto her storybook, the girl ran to her cold and miserable little room and locked herself in.

Twas the Night of Saint Kringle

And all through the house, not a sound could be heard, not even…

Who could be knocking at this hour of night, the father Decallista pondered his plight.

A doddering old servant who’d forgotten his key? Reassured felt the father, who else could it be?

So with a short little hop from his kingly sized bed, down one flight of stairs did the rich man descend.

“Please knock a bit quieter, you’ll wake up the kids…” he opened the door, yes, swiftly he did. The two masked intruders were no longer forbid.

An awkward silence fills the air as the Decallista father chokes back a scream.

“Well, that is the plan. Sorry guy,” Harry spoke from behind his mask, unceremoniously breaking both the silence, and the peaceful winter atmosphere.

“HONEY HEL—” the father’s cry for help was abruptly silenced by the long-armed man putting his mittened hand over the man’s mouth.

“Calm down buddy we ain’t gonna hurt ya,” Harry spoke, patting the dad on the top of the head before throwing him face-first into the nearby snow.

“Marv, you know what to do,” with his long reach, the little guy passed over a large, pointed, red and white hat, as well as a length of rope.

“You got it buddy, I’ll see ya in there!” With this, Marv began tying up the father and stuffed him into the hat, and Harry traipsed into the house ready to lay waste to the family’s gifts.

Meanwhile, The Horned Devil Stalks the Snow

Dispensing with the mansion's guards was a simple prospect, amongst the heavy Winter snow, even the seventeen footer was able to sneak around; after throwing all of the groundskeepers and their dogs into the estate’s maintenance shed, Doji was eager to join his companions in their mission.

Lumbering up to the side of the house, the oni began looking for a suitable place to begin his mischief, he was instead met with the sobbing of a young girl in her room. The rest of the children seemed as though they were fast asleep, or sleeplessly awaiting the morning of their gifts; but this child seemed mournful and heartbroken.

“What’s wrong?” The oni tapped at the girl’s window oblivious of how frightening this approach was to her.

Katie was frozen in fear, wide-eyed she stared at the large monster, and just barely kept herself from screaming. Her eyes must have been deceiving her, her mother’s cruelty must have driven her to insanity.

“Hello? Little girl?” Doji whispered quite loudly through the window-panel.

“W-what do you want, devil?”

“Shini-hi…” Doji chuckled at the girl’s address, “... I’m here to help your family celebrate the Sainted Days. Why are you sad? Can I help?”

“Ugh, did one of the boys ask for a big friendly giant or something? I hate this holiday, I hate all of our holidays! I hate my family, and they all hate me too! Mom won't even pretend to love me anymore!” Rocking back and forth, Katie cried as she quietly snipped out her anger.

The oni grimaced slowly, “wyow. That’s a lot for a little girl. Nobody in your family asked for me to be here, I hope that’s good to know.”

“T-Then why are you here?” She asked, wiping tears and snot from her face.

“There’s somebody else who doesn’t really like this holiday, or I guess he likes what this holiday used to be, but he doesn’t like it now…” Doji recalled the kindly middle aged man, hopefully he was enjoying the evening with his wife, secure in the knowledge that his work was finally going to pay off, “... anyways, he asked me to remind your family what this tradition used to be,” Doji’s countenance sprawled into a wicked and frightening smile.

“Eep!” Katie screeched at the young man’s scary face, “W-what did it used to be?”

“Shini-hi-hi-hi…” Doji gently removed the window of the girl’s room, before pulling open its roof and creating an access point for himself, “... the depths of Winter were once a time where families clung to each other. It used to be a time when a family would count themselves as blessed to even survive, regardless of whether they’d indulged in gifts, candies, or feasting.”

With this, the war on “Giftsmas” reached its culmination. Marv and Harry destroyed each of the family’s gifts before their eyes. They beat the children’s father with sticks, tied and dangled upside down with a saint’s hat pulled over his face, the patriarch who had spoiled the child was no longer spared the rod.

Meanwhile, Doji and Katie formulated an addition to the plan; the little girl had been planning on running away for some time now, and it seemed as though the devil himself had come to give her the perfect opportunity to do so.

Stalking down into the parlor, each stair cracked beneath the demon’s footsteps. Doji, hunched over and raking a twin pair of scrapes across the ceiling, lurched into view of the Decallista family. Initially, some of the older children had assumed that the family was being robbed again based on the strangely proportioned men in masks; this creature, a red-haired demon standing in the flesh, dispelled this illusion instantly.

“Gurin-shi-shi-shi…” the beast let out a festive and menacing castle as it revealed the sack in its hand: the silhouette of a child thrashed around inside the bag, seemingly fighting for her freedom with all the might she could muster, “... you, Mother dearest. Recite for me a verse of your Saint Kringle.”

The woman was stunned, she’d once known several prayers and tenants of her faith, but as the years had flown by; her childhood memories of spending time praying, going to church, and studying religion with her family had left her, “I- I can’t…” the woman sputtered up with tears in her eyes.

In truth, the devil cared little for the woman’s devotion; if anything zealots had always proved a nuisance in the oni’s life. It was all a part of a play, and the mother had delivered her performance perfectly on cue.

“Then this is your punishment. Each year you shower these children in gifts, I shall take another. This year I shall show you a kindness, and take the daughter you loathe so…” the oni flopped the mouth of the sack open dramatically, revealing Katie stuck inside, “... next year I shall not be so kind. I will return for your eldest Tracy if you continue on this path, and I will see this house laid to ruins.”

With this, the oni shattered a hole through the wall, and threw his bag over his shoulder.

“Katie no! I love her! Please devil, give me back my daughter!” The mother cried out in pain. In truth it was not Tracy that she loved most, she thought her eldest daughter a thankless and demanding brat; it was Katie that she saw the most of herself in, this is why it wounded her that the girl would not share in the holiday traditions with her, that her own daughter would look at her in disgust.

With their work complete, Nikolai’s devilish retinue returned to the Kringle household.

“Yo! Old man! I got a gift for ya!” Doji knocked insistently upon the cottage’s door.

“... a gift?” Nikolai, dressed in a red and white robe answered the door groggily as his wife snored loudly from indoors.

Unfurling Katie’s bag, Doji dropped the girl into the snow below with little thought for her wellbeing; for a moment, the girl sat planted face down in the powder while Doji spoke, “You said you and your wife couldn’t have kids, she wanted to be kidnapped, and I ain’t takin’ care of her. So now, no matter what ya give me we’re even.”

“Right, the present I promised you…” the old man pulled the girl up from the snow, and went inside. Nikolai’s wife, Brunhilda Ferrnase, was quick to ferry the little girl over to her knitting and wrap the girl in yarn and wool before preparing her a mug of cacao.

Using the power of his devil fruit, the Kringle man conjured into being the perfect gift for the oni, just as he had asked; he had little control over what that gift would look like, and so when he gave it to the boy, Doji reacted in utter confusion.

“What’s this? What’s this? I can’t believe my eyes! I must be dreaming! Holy shit this isn’t fair!”

“PLEASE WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE AROUND THE CHILD!” Nikolai finally snapped back at Doji.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyways, thanks for the present old man. I wish ya the best with the family life,” with his last words to the family, the wandering devil departed to cause further trouble in Flevance.

Still, Doji’s wish did not fall on deaf ears it seems. As the years passed, Katie and her new parents, her father descended from Saint Kringle, and her mother descended from the Witch of the Iron Scissors, lived a magical life together in their forested hillside cottage.

In the years that came, the tradition of the Twelve Sainted Days began to return to its roots as a time to spend with one’s family; the Decallista family told their tale of the beast dubbed “Krampus,” and the daughter he had stolen away with. Serving as an example to the rest of the nation’s greedy children, and overindulgent parents, the Decallista family fought to revive the old traditions and bring families across the Kingdom together during the holiday season.

Post Word Count: 5, 216
Total Word Count: 5, 216