1 Day One

"Come, come! Don't be shy, I've got wares for sale!" A man in a tattered set of brown clothes said as he sat on a chair near his fruit stand, smiling softly as he flagged down a noble woman in a fancy pink dress towards his stand. "Would you like to purchase some of my goods?"

She looked over to him, raising a brown eyebrow from her baby blue eyes. "Why do you not bow like the rest of the merchants?" She gestured with a silky smooth, tan hand to the many people kneeling around her. "Are you not of my court?"

"Aha! Oh, your majesty, I am part of your court. Though, I merely wish to sell my goods. Afterall, I am a not-so-humble farmer."

Her eyes narrowed as she walked towards him, her shoes clinking along the cobblestone as she walked towards him. "Who do you think you are to not bow to me? Princess Mallory Wushington!" She exclaimed, spreading her arms.

The young merchant smiled a pure white grin, much like the Princess's, and brushed his long blonde hair out of his face. He gazed at her beautiful face with eyes that had seen many battles and were of many greens. "Erik Riheart, at your service. For a price." He grinned.

She held her chin up high and puffed up her chest look a rooster.

There was a silence, until the sound of…what seemed like hooves started to clunk along the cobblestone. Though, this sound was hushed, and very acute. As if these hooves were just flattened needles.

The townspeople, merchant, and Princess looked towards the sight of a man in long, black, tattered robes that draped across the cobblestone. Which made it seem like the man was gliding across the earth like an omen of some sorts. His sleeves were just a bit too long to see his hands, but along the seams of his robes was a red silk, to match the thick layers of silk he wore. A hood was draped over a mask made from what seemed like bone, with eyes of a milky white shown through such a mask. However, these eyes were obviously tired as dark circles decorated them like the rings of Saturn. Yet, in saying so, his eyes themselves were as wide as saucers so to make them look like planets.

Though, the stench was the worst part so far. He smelled like seaweed that had been baking in the sunlight for over a month. Absolutely horrid.

He walked past Mallory at a slow rate and looked around at the fruit.

"Disgusting pig, who do you think you are?" She said as she covered her mouth. "Bow to your majesty! A-and take a bath! You too, merchant!"

"No." A deep voice echoed out of the mask, as if coming from a deep, dark tunnel.

The entire crowd seemed to go tense at the voice. However, the word that escaped such a mask was what truly made them gawk. This…man, had outright refused a monarch. A grave sign of treason in this country. A crime punishable by public beheading.

The old man then reached out towards an apple.

"What do you mean," she stopped once she saw his hand.

His fingers were rotted grey, skin peeling off with dry blood coating some spots like the still-stuck dead skin of a snake. Though, at the ends of these withered hands were long, wicked, raven-like black talons that were long like daggers.

"AAAAH! EW, EW, EW!" The princess then turned and stumbled away in fruit, committing the crime of jazz-hands as she ran away at a scurrying pace. "DADDY! HELP, THERE'S A MONSTER!"

"Horrible things, people who don't earn their money are. All they do is steal from you." The old man pointed to the Princess, and then to the merchant.

The merchant looked down at the old man's claws, eyes wide with confusion, but not fright. "Uhm…you wish to buy an apple?"

The creature suddenly burst into laughter. However, such a sound was not appealing in the slightest. It sounded like his very own talons slowly sliding down a chalkboard, using the tips of their extremely sharp claws to erase a board that had been coated in layers of chalk. To sum it up, absolutely bone-chilling.

"That's the spirit, man! Keep on advertising up until the end! Even to complete monsters." The creature then gripped an apple and held it out towards Erik. "However, it seems we're are both demons. Afterall, we don't bow to Gods."

"I suppose not, for I pray to only one." The merchant said with a light-hearted face, expecting to be paid.

The old thing nodded, waving his claw over the man's shelf. A golden ring appeared in the air, and within that ring a black, opaque surface appeared. So to create a disc. Out of that disc fell two golden coins.

"Oh, uhm, sorry, I don't think you read the sign…" Erik pointed to the sign above the apple that said, "two coins".

"I read it. So, here's two coins."

"Ah, well, when we say coins here we mean copper."

"Goddamn, man, you are pure." The creature patted the man's shoulder, leaving a speck of dead flesh as the ancient thing walked away, laughing with that horrible laughter again. Though, in a much more hushed way.

"How did you do that!?" Erik asked as the disc dissolved into dust atop the counter.

The old thing looked over his shoulder and stared directly at the merchant. "Because, I am Ah Pwash." Erik's eyes widened slightly. "God of the Market and The Bloody Christmas."

The thing then kept on walking, flipping his apple in the air.

"You…became a god!?" He had to shout across the courtyard.

"Never was, never want to be." His voice echoed as he walked down an alleyway, behind a house, and left for good.

Erik then leaned back in his chair, eyes wide as he looked over at the dust-covered gold coins. He then murmured the story his father had told him all those years ago. It was a story used to scare away the monsters in his room and keep him protected under the creature's boon. "Ah Pwash, the Merchant King, the God of the Market, the Lord of Bloody Christmas. That which has reaped the fruit of many trees he had grown. Never had he stolen, never had he killed. He only created and repelled. Some say he decays as we sleep, and dances as we work, and is bored when we play. Thus, as merchants, it is respectful to keep this creature happy and dancing. So that we be protected by him. Even, if Odin never once invited this beast to Valhalla."

Erik gulped, and unraveled the amulet with a cross at the end from within his shirt.

Then, he pulled his father's knife out of his pocket, it covered in old Norse symbols.

"Don't worry father, I will see you in Heaven. Even if I have to fight through hell first."