Spirit collector (731 words)
"Is the gate ready yet?" A man in formal suite and a monocle asks another man dressed up as a butler.
"No sir, but it will be in a few minutes. Is there anything else I can help you with sir?" The butler answers calmly before being dismissed by the man with the monocle.
"I'm alright, your free to go. "With a silent sigh, the man with the monocle looks down to his right where his white gloved hand holds the fragile looking hand of a little girl, she has white hair bound into a low ponytail with a purple ribbon and eyes of the same color.
She´s a bit over a meter tall and wears a pure white dress with matching shoes, together with her pale skin color she looks like a white ghost.
Her almost shining purple eyes curiously wander around the big, brightly lit ball hall in which many other men and woman with formal clothing stand around and chat with each other.
But there is something else of interest, each and everyone of them is holding the hand of a ghost like child.
They differ a lot in build, facial features, gender and eye color, but all of them have white hair, pale skin and are mostly clothed in pure white.
At one end of the hall is a big double winged door which leads into the backyard of the building in which those people are currently.
This big door now starts to open by itself and reveals a path leading forward to a slightly raised platform, on this platform a circular structure full of strange gems, plants and runes stands and lightens up the from night coated garden.
All the people in the hall fall silent and start to stand in a circular position around the now open door.
One single man in suite and with a grey beard walks in front of the open door and spreads his arms.
"I once again welcome all of you to this years SPIRIT PARADE!!!!" He shouts to all the people present.
In respond they politely clap their hands while still holding the hands of their host like children as if unwilling to let them go just yet.
The man standing in front of the gate raises one hand signaling everyone to become silent again.
"Over the last century our glorious society has grown at an amazing speed, this is all thanks to this very ritual which we all came together in this fateful night.
Each of the mayor noble houses is allowed to send one collector through the gate leading into the depths of the spirit realm in order to retrieve many exotic spirits and materials hidden there, hehe, I most likely wont have to remind any of you that if the collector doesn't return by the end of the night they will be lots in there forever." The man ends his speech with a somber tone before calling out one last time.
"LET THE PARADE BEGIN!!!" With that all the people holding the hands of the ghost like children let go and order them to go to through the open door and follow the path to the platform.
The girl with the purple ribbon and eyes also starts walking through the door once released form the grip of the man with the monocle.
´Finally free, no long do I have to pretend to be a puppet without will. Let's see what this spirit realm has to offer. ´A small smile sneaks its way on the girl's lips as her previous dull eyes turn sharp and ruthless.
´I've endured ten years of "education" in which I got prepared to be the collector of the Merlin noble house. This whole sh*tty society is based on using damn FU*KING CHILDREN as sacrificial pawns to collect things form another realm. Not enough with that, no, those children are also homunculi, those twisted bastards GREW children which they THEN SEND TO AN EXTREEMLY DANGEROUS PLACE!!! ´The girl arrives at the platform and watches how the crystals, plants and runes on the circular structure start to glow and produce multicolored sparks that slowly fill the circular frame of the structure.
In a short minute a multicolored, swirling vortex portal forms on the slightly raised platform.
´Lets do this. ´Without any hesitation the purple eyed girl steps into the vortex and disappears.