In the Darklands it was customary, that every little demon, once they reached the age of 500 years,
would be initiated to the unholy rites of Harvesting Light. Although a terrifying thought for every decent demon, all knew that without Light there wouldn’t be Darkness either. Anyone attending the rites was assigned a guide, a mighty demon of at least 3000 years old. The path to Harvesting Light began with the carving of an Unholy Vessel.
The ingredients needed in the ritual were quite simple: lizard brains, foxglove, moth dust, lava, and salt. The local apothecary would provide these for a fair price, only 72 mortal souls.
The road to harvesting site was long, and at midnight the little demon and their guide would rest and enjoy a hefty meal. Bats were shrieking a joyful tune, but the smell of food cooking over lava mold made the little demon a bit homesick.
After the meal there was time to take a nap. Before dozing off to sleep the guide explained to the little demon how the unnerving dots of light in the sky were nothing more than the absence of darkness. The guide told that according to ancient demon folklore, there once existed creatures who could only see in light and that darkness was
an abomination to them. That’s why these creatures shun away darkness with lights, to the point that darkness was fading from the sky. The little demon got kinda scared and took the guide by the hand. ”Could darkness disappear altogether?” the little demon asked with a shaky voice. ”No, little one”, the Guide smiled, ”the darkness waits and always finds a way”.
It was time. The little demon was oh, so nervous! Chanting the unholy verses carved onto the vessel, and hearing the high pitched melody of backwards played nightingale song, that the guide was conjuring with a mercury flute, the little demon saw the fabric of existence start to twist and turn and tear apart… and Light was leaking from these ruptures straight into the vessel!
The ritual was over. All the little demons and their guides gathered to celebrate the light harvest festival, the unhallows eve. The little ones compared their experiences and the guides boasted how brave their protegés had been. At the height of the festival, one after another, the little demons released the captured light, excited screams echoing in the air.
But… where did the light go?
Well, no one knows for sure. But we can assume it returned, bit by bit, back to its own dimension. And with it, a bit of darkness always seeps through.
Right in time for our Halloween.
Details:
The Unhallows’ Eve was started in 2020, followin Drawtober2020 -prompts in Instagram. A story began to simmer, and it is finally ready, with the last image drawn 30th of October, 2022. It’s a simple story of demonic creatures from a dark realm, who go on celebrating their own version of Halloween. Images 1-6 were constructed and drawn first digitally, then printed and inked traditionally. The last image is all traditionally done.
Materials were mainly Pentel brush pen on Canson the Wall -paper. A variety of black inks with brush were used to cover the large black areas; white ink (Kuretake), white gouache (Maimeri) and white pens (mostly Sakura gelly roll) to enhance the bright bits.
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