Stories of the Phral 

Kostimari

(This passage appeared in the Phral book on Nov. 7 2024 suddenly. This author was unknown just a simple message.) 

I wanted you all to be warned. I was the one that made the curse that turned you into your Halloween costume. I was the one who brought the tainted apples and made the curse pie. My name is not of Consequence. Our goal is to make you see. 

I am your new teacher... This story is for all phral.  ( At the bottom of this handwritten page there is a black smudge. What the smudge is is unknown however there is a smell of cinnamon. Two Photographs were glued to the page with the story.)   

Philadelphia - 1901

Elara was a beautiful Phral, though poor, and some might consider eccentric.  She lived with her aunt, a fortune teller.  Most of their income came from fortune telling and domestic work, but also from Elara’s Armaya abilities, where she would enchant strangers to just give her money, jewelry, or other things she could sell.  A dangerous thing for sure, as items could be recognized, or others could witness, so she was extra careful.  

Charles Willmington belonged to the elite class in town, and Elara fell in love with him on sight while enchanting him into giving her money.  Elara tried to keep him using her abilities, but her enchantments only lasted as long as he was close to her.  Away from her Charles questioned his own fascination with Elara, though pretty, she was beneath him, yet he kept returning to her.  Hoping to free himself of his obsession with the pretty-but-poor Elara, Charles decided to take a wife.

Weeks had gone by without Charles calling on Elara.  She learned of his engagement to the pretty Genevieve Sinclair, a high-society debutante whose family’s wealth made her an irresistible prize, on the society pages of the newspaper.

Elara was heartbroken.

...and furious.  

Her opportunity for revenge came when a grand costume ball was announced at the Thorne Mansion.  Her aunt would attend as a novelty fortune teller to entertain the guests, which wasn’t uncommon at the time, and managed to get Elara a job for the night serving the guests.   The night of the ball she dressed in the provided uniform provided and slipped two black bottles into her pockets.  

The ballroom was packed with Cleopatras, Marie Antoinettes, Napoleons, Hades and Persephone, Witches, Fairies, Ghosts.   Elara pulled the first bottle from her pocket and wet her fingers in the potion.  As she walked through the room she anointed each costume she could reach while whispering “Kostimari” 

It didn’t take long for the room to turn into chaos as the attendees adopted the persona of their costumes.  Sword fights broke out among pirates, fairies waving their wands, wolves howling, cats meowing, kings giving orders, queens demanding people pay their respects, Persephone screamed at the top of her lungs demanding a pomegranate.  A mermaid flopped helplessly on the floor.   

Soon after, the chaos turned deadly.  One Marie Antoinette’s body slumped to the polished parquet floor while her head rolled across the ballroom floor.  Thor bashed someone’s head with their hammer–and Charles, dressed as Dracula, bit into the beautiful Genevieve’s neck, ripping a hole into it with his bare teeth before a Pirate impaled him on his cutlass.

Elara smiled as she reached for her aunt’s arm and hauled her out of the mansion.

Jane Harvoth's Journal