This is the closure of autumn and the prologue of winter.

When the final ray of twilight was annihilated on the horizon, Behemoth [1] with a long tail and a big belly, roared as he stood on the bow as usual, indicating that the night had fallen – That silly simpleton has always considered himself as a chicken that announces the dawn.

Oh well, poultries raised by humans are incomparable to the electric hounds that guard hell. If the former has such a large lung capacity, they will probably not be having their feathers plucked, fried, and served on dining tables.

The bed-ridden Mr. Zombie slandered internally as he stuffed his head into the pile of bones, trying to resist the sounds of alarms that sounded like the howling disasters of nature.

But this is just the beginning, as the unreasonable madness on the Ark quickly spiralled out of control.

First, there were hordes of red-eyed goblins [2] screaming and yelling like a plague of locusts, as they ran past in small steps. Donning feather hats on their heads, holding steel forks in their hands, baring their green upper bodies, and dressing like native Indians.

"Foolish goblin dwarves," Mr. Zombie spoke as he placed a thigh bone to his neck.

Then, the black-robed devil also flew over. He took off his hood, revealing his bald skull. With an absence of his nose and ears, he stuck a pair of golden-rimmed glasses on his face with much difficulty – only God knows why he needed those glasses for, he doesn't even have eyes.

The devil disguised as a friar dressed in black floated in the air, and in his usual glib, he spoke: "I can fulfill all of your wishes, mortal, as long as you mortgage your soul to me."

Mr. Zombie replied coldly: "I don't have a soul, you stupid moth!"

The devil shrugged, then replied: "You don't have a sense of humour either, baby."

What then followed were the underground dwarves carrying jack-o-lanterns dressing up as elementary school students, witches that flew past dressed in bright-coloured cleaner uniforms, centaurs putting on pointy ears pretending to be donkeys… Oh, there were even scarier ones – The giants dressed in bikinis actually put on lipstick, opening their bloody mouths so frenzily!

The snake-tailed Medusa pulled the poor Mr. Zombie out of the bone pile with great force, blinking her fan-like eyelashes she asks: "Honey, do you think I should dress up as a pure innocent student, or as a sexy nurse?"

Mr. Zombie: "You can dress up as a snake that fell into a perfume bottle."

"Don't be like this, Halloween only happens once a year, this is our new year." Medusa's long snake tail rubbed against the bones in the cabin, making a fine rustling sound, "The Ark is about to sail into the mortals’ world."

"Mhm." Mr. Zombie showed his usual superficial grin, intending to make a mean long speech, but was interrupted in time by the witty Medusa.

"Oh look, who is that? Here comes our handsome knight!"

The knight is donned in armour, carrying a big sword, riding an undead warhorse, looking just like the king of the Black Ark, still looking solemnly dignified even in the absurd Halloween masquerade.

Despite him being headless.

Mr. Zombie suddenly appeared a little stiffer in Medusa's [3] snickerings – even stiffer than usual.

"I suppose I shouldn’t interrupt the couple’s world in the festival," Medusa walked away as her snake tail swayed and rustled.

"Wanna take a walk around together?" The Headless Horseman walked towards Mr. Zombie, leaned down, and held out a pale hand at him.

"Not at all." Mr. Zombie sternly refused.

But right on the next second, the Headless Horseman effortlessly grabbed onto his waist, as if he’s grabbing a piece of paper, and dragged the slender zombie onto his horse's back. The undead horse raised its hoof, spitting out violent flames, and split the endless darkness like a gust as it ran out.

The galaxies in the skies are like the sea, and the bustling mortal world is as bright as daylight. The Ark burst out of the sky and entered the mortal world it visits annually.

The gale rolled up Mr. Zombie's rotten robes. Looking down from the air, he noticed his countless companions are now among the mortals, not appearing unusual among the strangely dressed crowd, happily scaring passers-by together.

The scent of pumpkin pies wafted all over the place, and the screams from children echoed loud and about.

Mr. Zombie leaned into the icy embrace, and suddenly spoke with a bit of nostalgia, "I was also once human a thousand years ago."

"One thousand and thirty-six years," The headless horseman's voice came from the steel armour, and with a certain type of subtle echo, he continued: "We are the same year."

Mortal fireworks exploded in mid-air.

"Why not make a wish?" The ghosts passed through the colorfulness.

Mr. Zombie heard the Headless Horseman whisper in his ear, "My wish is that you will love me forever."

Mr. Zombie sat on the broad and cold back of the undead horse, and in the sea of ​​jubilation, he spoke in a daze: "But I have no soul".

The steel arm that was holding him seemed to have tightened, but the Headless Horseman didn't seem to mind, only remaining silent for a moment, then asked: "What about you?"

"I hope..." Mr. Zombie turned his head around, and looked at the knight's neat shoulders and the empty helmet, which should’ve had the dazzling blonde hair in his memories, and a smile that was even more dazzling than blonde hair.

"I hope you can smile at me again."

In this night of miracles, can there be room for headless laughter and soulless love?

And his knight slowly took off the empty helmet, brought out a huge pumpkin head from nowhere, and buckled it on his shoulders. The pumpkin head was carved with a silly smiling face, while of course it looks nowhere dazzling, but at least it’s still golden-yellow.

"Your wish has come true," said the headless horseman that destroyed his own image, "What about mine?"

So, the zombie's cold kiss landed on the funny-looking pumpkin.

Suddenly, the screeching sound of birds came from behind. A huge phoenix flew by as it flapped its wings, opening its long beak, and spitting out flames as bright as the sun.

"Oh God! That's fireworks!" The foolish mortal exclaimed like a hillbilly.

"No, that is immortality."

The ark hidden in the depths of the night echoed the distant sounds of the skies.

———

[1] Behemoth: Beast things appearing in the "Bible".

[2] Goblin: A ferocious creature in Western legends.

[3] Medusa: Basilisk in Greek mythology.