Forefather's Eve: A Doll in a Coffin

Mozuta looked behind himself. There was no one there. At least, not for now. The boy ran as fast as he could, this time accompanied by a spider with a moustache on his head. He would normally scream at the sight of a spider, but in this strange place its presence was quite reassuring.

He didn’t have to run for long.

It didn’t even last a minute before he noticed a door.

Well, it'd be hard to miss the only thing that's not transparent here.

“Get in! Fast!” screamed the spider. Mozuta pushed the door open and found himself in a chapel of some kind. It wasn't exactly see-through, but it was definitely not your typical looking room either. It was quite big. Inside, there was a colonnade. When he looked up, he noticed a beautiful vault. Then his gaze shifted to the stunning stained-glass window at the center of the chapel, the most breathtaking feature of all. It depicted a figure in a white robe embracing three small flames: black, gray, and white. Beautiful white roses were growing around them, and there was a moon at the top of the whole picture. A delicate blue light came through the window and illuminated the altar in front of it. It was then that Mozuta finally noticed what had been placed there. He came closer and saw an oaken coffin adorned with vines and scrawny hands.

“Open it and shake the lady inside,” the spider ordered.
“Huh?” Mozuta was shocked beyond belief. Opening the coffin was problematic enough, but shaking whoever was inside was on a whole other level.
“Come on! Move your hands! The scary lady is coming!” the spider rushed at him.
“I’m sorry to disturb your peace in Weles,” said the boy, taking the coffin lid in his hands.
“She’s not in Weles,” the spider harped at him.
Mozuta took a deep breath and lifted the lid. It wasn’t as hard as he thought. It came off easily, revealing the sleeping lady inside.
“She’s beautiful,” the boy admitted at first glance. Her black hair enveloped her face, which was adorned with long eyelashes and deep red lips. She wore a stunning black dress with white accents and red roses. She looked like one of those rich ladies one would find in the high society.

But all that paled in comparison to her skin, which was as white as porcelain.

She looked more like a doll than a living person.
“Don’t stare at her! Just wake her up if you don’t want to die!” the spider chided.
“How?” asked Mozuta.
“Weren’t you listening? Shake her!”
“Eeee?”
“What? Did you want to kiss her? Unfortunately, she’s not a princess, and you’re definitely not a prince. Your scruffy clothes make it impossible for me to mistake you for one."
“You’re rude.”
“And you’re slow. Dammit! That stupid ghost is here!”

The door through which Mozuta had entered this stunning place froze and shattered into tiny pieces. The ghost of his mother appeared and wailed.
“Why did you come here? You should go downstairs!” Her scream reverberated inside, making the stained glass shake. Mozuta gulped.

He didn’t want to die by giving his blood to a complete stranger.
He didn’t want to give it even if the person asking was supposedly his own mother.

His whole body was shaking.
He grabbed the beautiful lady’s shoulders and started shaking her energetically.
“Wake up, gorgeous lady!” With each shake, tears started gathering in his eyes. He turned around and saw the ghost coming closer. It still had hair and the same dress, but it had lost its human face. Now it was just a skull with empty eye sockets. The young boy bit his dry lips. He started breathing heavily and felt weak in the knees.
“You said she’d wake up!” Mozuta screamed louder and shook the lady even harder.

Suddenly, he heard something break.

Mozuta and the spider saw a shadow pass before their eyes and heard something strike the floor. They both turned their gaze in the direction of the sound and looked at the head of a beautiful lady rolling down the floor.

For a moment, it felt as if the whole world had stopped, before they realized what had just happened.
“Oops!” The spider jumped down onto Mozuta’s nose and patted him. “Sorry, you’re a dead boy now.”
“AAAAA!!!”
Mozuta instinctively jumped into the coffin and grabbed the lid, closing himself inside.
“A bad place to hide, but a good one for eternal sleep,” the spider commented.
“I hate you!” the boy cried. He shouldn't have listened to that little spider. He shouldn't have come to Forefather's Eve in the first place! If he had just stayed in his room and slept, nothing would have happened!

His body began to shiver. He could feel the coldness slowly approaching. He started banging his head against the walls of the coffin. If he knocked himself out, at least he wouldn't be aware of any pain.
Then, something touched his forehead, stopping him. He opened his eyes and turned to see the headless body moving on its own. He screamed, threw off the lid and jumped out of the coffin, terrified. He ran to the stained glass window and leaned against it.
“I want to go home!” he cried, sliding down the glass.

The sleeping lady sat up, moving to the left and right before looking behind her.
“What is this?” Even the ghost of Jaworzyna didn't know what she was looking at.
“Here,” a voice sweet as honey came from the head lying on the floor.
Hearing this, the body emerged from the coffin and started moving towards the head. It crouched down and started searching for something with its right hand. When it finally felt the black hair, it moved its two arms towards the head, grabbed it, and put it on its shoulders again.

The body slowly stood up. As it did so, it swayed like a doll.

“What are you? Why are you here?” screamed the ghost. "A being such as yourself should not be present here! Why are you standing between me and my son? We could finally be together in Weles! But he came here, and then you appeared and stopped us from being happy!”
The mysterious lady from the coffin turned around and looked at the ghostly woman with the skeletal face. Her honey-like eyes, glinting with gold, pierced the ghost with a cold gaze.
“I would advise you to stop your pretentious blablablaing,” she said in a voice as sweet as nectar, but her tone was as cold as a blizzard. However, her choice of words dispelled all the eeriness surrounding her. That's what Mozuta thought, looking at her with wide eyes.
“Bla-bla-what?”
Spider shook his head. “I see that even a long sleep hasn’t changed her quirkiness.”

“Who are you to order me around? The only person I listen to is my lord! The great Count von Firnau!” Jawozina pointed her finger at the woman bathed in the blue light shining through the stained glass window of the altar.
“I’d like to inform you that I still do not comprehend my situation. Your constant wailing is preventing me from gathering my thoughts.” The lady sighed. “Could you please be quiet for at least thirty seconds? I would be grateful.” She twirled a strand of hair around her right index finger.
The ghost couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Who was that?
The spider jumped off Mozuta’s head and moved swiftly towards the mysterious lady. It reached her ear and whispered something into it.
“I think you should get rid of her first and save that boy.”
The lady turned around and saw the trembling boy looking at her curiously from under the stained glass.
“I see,” she said, turning back. “After that, I’d like to talk to you, Mr Twardowski.”
“I suppose you would,” the spider admitted.

The doll-like lady lifted her right hand and closed her eyes.
Jawozina sensed that something was wrong, so she flew towards Mozuta and grabbed his foot.
The mysterious woman began the familiar chant.

"Darkness around."

At the same time, the ghost started dragging the other boy away.

“Dullness around,” she continued.

Mozuta couldn’t control his breathing as the ghost’s bony hand tightened its grip. He tried to kick it, but his left foot went straight through each time.

“What will it be?” A voice as sweet as nectar chanted on.

Everything around them darkened.

The boy looked at the lady.
Several chains started to appear around her. Her black hair flowed as she faced them.

"What will be now?"