Where after gaining some knowledge about ghosts, at last, the marriage ceremony truly begins and Geno is all eyesockets and earholes for it, to see how will it go until the end.

Geno's POV:
-

There is a strong smell of flowers and basil in the air. Everything's really beautiful. I can see from the road Alter is walking a big white circle. I see it more clearly than anyone else. Well, I mean, after all I'm sitting on the shoulder of an almost 7ft tall skeleton after I asked him to pick me up.

"Wooow! This is all amazing!" I say pointing like a baby to all directions.

"Eugenia, you're all good up there, but if you keep squirming and moving like that I'll accidentally drop you." Alter says who seems to be struggling hold me still.

"Ah. Sorry." I say fighting back my enthusiasm.

"Look mamãe, a beautiful girl is sitting on the tall skeleton's shoulder!" A little monster with his mom who happened to walk almost next to us says.

Me and Alter both turn to look better at the 2. A chubby racoon monster with mainly however orange fur about 4 years old is pointing at me with an excited expression, sometimes turning to look up to his mom, another racoon but with more grey and brown colors.

"Aaah, indeed. Look at the pretty dress she's wearing, see how cute and beautiful she is?" At that moment I still wish I had my scarf around my neck because out of habit I went to hold it, shove my face behind it and never take it out again from embarrassment hearing these compliments. Unnecessary to say I just caught air. And so instead, I try to hide my face behind my headscarf.

"After all it's a beautiful day today, we shall come up to the expectations of it. Thank you for your nice words you 2, you lady and I assume your son, you look wonderful too." Alter compliments back smiling wide. The racoon mom thanks him and keeps walking ahead with her son. Then, I hear Alter snickering. "Not so ugly as others have told about you, eh? All monsters' eyes are on you and admiring." He says.

"Nooo?" I rather ask still embarrassed.

"Yeees!" Alter responds in the same tone I said the no except he sounded more excited than questioning. "Especially I am admiring, from the moment I saw you in the dress." He suddenly admits then and I look down to him with some disbelief. He grins wider and looks ahead while still walking. "Oh, I suddenly can't help but imagine how much I would love seeing my own daughters, if I had, in such beautiful dresses!" He says with his classic chill and coolness.

"If you do these with your daughters, than what would you do with your sons?" I ask.

"Don't interrupt my thoughts." Alter says abruptly still sounding cheerful.

"But seriously, what would you do?" I insist.

But before he can say anything, suddenly a human like figure comes up to us. If I was about to say something, a few things about them made me realise they must be a monster too. They have short glowing cyan hair, with a big messy fringe almost covering their right eye. Their face seems as if it's covered in fabric.

The mouth has stitches around it, the nose seems rather sewed and the eyes are having each from a glowing cyan, almost white orb, sparkling in a strange but mesmerising way. The rest of them are pitch black. I can see the joints of their fingers as the hands are holding a pack of papers and pencil.

They seem… wooden. And with every little move they do, I hear sounds like… how do I describe this? Like wood clacking. Yes, all these things tell me that they're definitely not a human. They're all dressed in black. Headband, shirt, vest, trousers, boots, all is black. A male then.

He says something in Portuguese extremely fast, in a young voice maybe about my age. But despite that, I actually understand most of it. He asked Alter if he wants to write a wish or blessing for the 2 monsters getting married. He wears around his neck a bag which despite seemingly heavily full, doesn't seem to bother him.

All this time he looks up to Alter intensively, waiting for his answer. For me, that is unsettling. As for Alter, once again he keeps his saint chill and after carefully putting me down, he accepts a piece of paper and the pencil from the strange monster. Then the guy turns and only then I see he wears a board that covers all of his back.

"Coloque o papel no quadro para escrever mais facilidade!"

"Papel… para escrever… mais facilidade… " Ah! Alter does it anyway just now, he places the paper on the board the human like monster has on his back.

He starts writting. Meanwhile as he was doing so, sometimes he was asking the other questions, with the first being his name. I heard a Fantochi I think? About 2 minutes later Alter is done and Fantochi holds the piece of paper in front of him, reading quickly the written.

He admires what Alter wrote, but sounds more enthusiastic about his calligraphic letters. He folds the paper in 4, opens the bag hanging around his neck and then puts the paper in there. Aaah, that's what he has in the bag. At last he thanks Alter, waves and walks away.

"What kind of monster is he?" I finally ask with that wonder from before itching me whole the moment we saw this monster. "He looked like a human but made out of… fabric in the face and wood on the hands! Like a big doll! Is he even a monster?!" There Alter slowly places his left hand on my mouth and I back off confused.

"Nothing to worry about. Trust me." He reassures me and closes my mouth again. I just go with it looking up to him confused. He closes eyesockets and after a few seconds pause he looks again at me. "He's a monster ghost."

"WHmphhhhh?!" As if Alter wasn't pressing my mouth shut enough, he puts a little more pressure. WHAT?! That's what I would ask out loud if he didn't know me well enough to cover my mouth.

"Sssh." He does placing his finger of his free right hand in front of his teeth. I nod slowly and he finally takes his hand off my mouth. Seriously though, how is he doing that and most of the time predicts right what someone will do?

"B-But-! He walks a-and he talks normally and-!" What am I saying?! What do I know?!💢 I look up to Alter waiting for an explanation hopefully once again.

"It always comes from cases of babies that grow inside their host's soul. In these cases, from the contact of an Elemental monster with an Animalistic or Phenomenal one, to come a baby that after being tied on the host's soul for months, to not have managed form a body that represent in any way it's parents. It has a soul surrounded by magic, essence and aura, but not matter at all."

"So… when you mean ghosts… you mean literally ghosts."

"Literally. Usually important it is for them to find something get attached to, since they can't stay inside their host's soul anymore. A baby's soul trying to get tied for longer on them, ends up being parasitic and will whether drain them, whether the host's soul will shatter the baby's. However, it is easy for them from their first moments not connected to the host, get attached to any small objects of their environment. And so, they end up entering a vessel to posses."

"Posses small objects? Like?"

"Hmmm. For such cases most monsters has dolls to help."

"… Dolls?" I ask in disbelief still.

"Dolls." Alter replies. "Once the little ghost is inside it's vessel on the first week it might show no life signs. And if that was worrying at first, with the knowledge passed down from generation to generation, we now know it is fine. After some time, the little ghost will manage to adjust in the new vessel completely and will start giving life signs, like a still newborn baby would. A doll, that more often is made to have arms and legs, eyes on the face, nose and mouth, is a quite comfortable and complete vessel that fulfils some simple things a human or monster being does. Even if all these features are fake. But the doll doesn't stay as it is, its features doesn't stay stitched, but it starts acting like an alive organism because it gets affected by the baby's soul, aura and essence, as if it was borned with that body. The signs that the baby is coming to its senses start showing when the eyes doesn't stay anymore soulless but blinking, the limbs are moving and the mouth starts opening and producing sounds."

"As if dolls weren't already creepy enough soulless…" Geno murmured looking away. "Imagine how the first ever parents of such case felt when at first they thought they lost their baby while it had just go to posses something nearby, a doll most likely as you said and days later they saw and heard a small doll in their house wiggling and doing Gu gu ga ga." To that both skeletons suddenly started laughing. When they both stopped however, Geno looked up to the taller again curious. "But why do they start with small objects to posses? Like, that guy… Fantochi was it?"

"Yep."

"He has already a normal sized body!"

"Pretty sure he started too from a smaller vessel when a newborn. Yes, a monster ghost can change vessels the more they grow up or when their current vessel doesn't help them do things they would want. They don't have the ability posses too soon big vessels when young. They need to feed from their parents' magic to grow their aura and essence first. By just being close to them is fine. And the more they develop, the more they will start occupying bigger vessels, which have more complicated features, such as subtle movements of the fingers' joints, turn their head to directions and such. Eventually they are ready to posses big sized vessels, just like you saw Fantochi. The more a monster ghost posses a vessel, the more it will get features of a normal organism. Ghosts might never be able have their own physical bodies, but they can still live normally in a monster society by learning possessing. Doll and mannequin making exclusively for monster ghosts is a real thing and the makers can create complete figures that can move like a real alive being once possessed, with many types of materials."

"Ok. But like, if they don't posses a vessel, will they die?"

"If by choice a ghost doesn't choose a vessel from its birth, it can actually live without a body, but will just find it even more difficult in the future to learn possessing, or, well, holding objects will be kind of an issue. But if since birth it learned relying on vessels, it has no control of keeping its aura together around its soul. And so, if it doesn't find a stable empty vessel to lock its aura in one place, the longer it can last is about 2 hours before it looses control and scatters, yes."

"Are there any advantages of possessing a vessel?"

"First of all they don't feel pain. If you were to cut a possessed vessel's limbs, you wouldn't hurt the ghost, if you were chopping off its head it wouldn't die. But by destroying the vessel, making it useless to fulfil even the simplest of things such as walking, you would just force the ghost go posses another vessel if it can't be fixed. And if they don't die by not finding a body, then destroying its soul it is. When they first ever posses a vessel, they don't need food. By just being held close to their parents they take the necessary magic they need."

"Are monster ghosts basically like premature babies that however can still grow without being attached to their parent host?"

"Wouldn't call them premature. Even when a monster baby stays inside their host's soul all months they need, even when the parents are healthy, there is always a chance this can happen."

"I see. What other abilities do they have? Wait. If they posses a vessel with which they weren't born, do they even manage use magic?"

"They do. Only if they have to change a vessel abruptly, they would need time to adjust and connect to it so they can get used again using the magic they inherited from their parents. And depending on the material their vessel is made out of, they can even learn posses magic similar in any way to it. As for other abilities, they can leave their vessel not just when it's by force but even willingly. As ghosts, they can obviously pass through walls, fly when not all monsters are gifted like that and if they are strong enough, to posses and control alive human or monster beings, to manipulate them."

"Ah cool- Say that again?!" I realise what he just said and I feel a big- no, HUGE shiver running down my spine. I wrap my arms around myself. Oh God, why do I know that now?!

"Ah. My apologies. I said way too much for you." Alter says.

"No need to apologise, I asked for it myself." I say. Curiosity didn't kill me, it will just deliver me a few scares for who knows how long.

"There there." The priest says petting me. He smiles gently. "That is the most bad a ghost could do. Posses and manipulate someone's body against their will. But that possession can be used for good reasons too. It has its altruistic side. You see, if someone was injured badly, on their leg for example, the ghost's aura and magic not only just works as support, it also slowly heals the injure." I say nothing at first, just still look up to him with my arms wrapped around myself.

"… Useful…" I comment. Meanwhile, many more monsters have gathered around the circle of the plaza.

While on the ground however are standing mostly women, small kids and elders, on the rooftops of the houses I mainly see black dressed male monsters, from 10 years old to closer to middle age, staring down and waiting like everyone else for the ceremony to begin. Welp, guess the dresses doesn't help the girls climb up there.

No one's POV:
-

"Wish we could go up there too." Geno said unexpectedly out loud.

"Up? To the rooftops?" Alter asked. The smaller looked away.

"Eeerm. I mean you could, but I'm wearing dress, it would be difficult, so-."

"I can get us both up there if you want." The taller suddenly suggested grinning wider. "I used to climb many trees and walls younger. Useful now when I climb the masts." He continued in a more quiet tone. Geno stared at him surprised for a few seconds. But eventually he shook head.

"Nah, you know what? Let it pass, it's fine down here. Except!" He suddenly pointed up to Alter. "I climb on your shoulder again, I must see what's going on in the ceremony today!"

"Of course my dear." Alter said chuckling quietly.

"Seriously though, how are you so good at climbing?" Geno asked curious.

He had always observe Alter climbing sometimes the masts, even with his cassock on. He himself had plenty of different houses and walls to learn climbing them all in the village and that way he trained himself at it. Also he needed the ability to climb despite he could teleport, but it was most of the time unreliable for him.

"Well, you see, as a skeleton who can't teleport I am, this doesn't necessarily mean I can't achieve something other monsters can by teleporting or flying. After all, I didn't even have an idea that I couldn't teleport when younger, I hadn't realise it. I enjoyed climbing trees and training like that. Also it was useful when I played hide and seek."

"More hiding spots huh?"

"Yup."

"Something's telling me that you're extremely good at this game. I mean, you walk around so quietly yet fast, you could even hide your presence in a room and eat someone's food while they're not looking at their plate, then leave as if you were never there." Geno said making the taller snicker. "Seriously, you're so tall and big! How even the smallest of shadows are hiding you?!"

"Just through the game I became good. I had become so good at hide and seek that I was making my poor brother anxious."

"Poor Nord."

"When he couldn't find me he would start calling me. When it was almost time to go back home and to keep messing with him, I wasn't coming. Instead I was going back home. My brother next would come home too, calling mother and saying he couldn't find me. And only then I would reveal myself as if nothing happened saying, What did I miss?"

"Little menace you were!" Geno said looking up to Alter surprised placing hands on his hips.

"I am I am."

"Let me imagine that hide and seek was also helping you hide in time from the girls that wanted you-."

"Shush!" Alter cutted him placing his finger in front of the smaller's mouth, who chuckled.

"FUKU E SKATE ESTÃO CHEGANDO!" A monster announced out loud suddenly.

From the exact opposite road the 2 skeletons were standing near to watch the spectacle, the crowd of monsters started stepping aside. A quiet music mainly with soft drum rhythm started being heard from the stage where already instrument players from Danarei's party were standing or sitting.

"Pick me up, pick me up!" Geno said quickly and soon he was sitting again on Alter's shoulder to watch as in the middle of the road 2 figures holding hands, were approaching the white circle in the middle of the plaza. It was Fuku and Skate. However they both seemed serious as if they weren't getting married but were on funeral. "Why are they so serious?"

"As much as a monster marriage is energetic and seems fun, for the ones getting married it is a challenge in which they must not loose. The serious face shows that they didn't only come to have fun, that they know it isn't just laugh and games, but that they also take seriously the traditions and that they want to be together. Also a thought that if the laughter comes first, the sadness will be worse in case of failure. First this challenge is taken seriously, then the happiness is free to fill the couple in their success." Alter replied. It had gone dead quiet in the whole monster crowd. Even the little children- heck, even the babies were quiet, as if someone putted corks in their mouths!

Fuku and Skate stopped in the middle of the circle and stayed motionless. The moment exactly they stopped, the drums that were quietly playing stopped abruptly too. Only a bigger drum, with more deep and strong sound played a last loud beat which echoed. Then, absolute silence.

Geno observed the couple better. Skate was wearing a deep purple dress which on the (a little longer than the knee) skirt faded on a softer light purple tone. A deep red corset was wrapped around her chest and waist. The sleeves were puffy. She was wearing black shoes with thick short heels and long white socks.

On her head covering her curly tentacle like 'hair' she was wearing a red headscarf. As for Fuku she was wearing above a mainly green dress which was fading on the skirt to light green. Her headscarf and the shirt with the long sleeves underneath were also light green but the first was much closer to white.

Her same type as Skate's shoes, were black, with long socks under, also black. Geno already wanted to do many questions. But he tried to hold them for later. This night was important for him. First time in his life he would see a monster marriage after all.

He wanted to watch everything carefully. And even if he wouldn't understand much at first, he expected Alter would enlighten him later. Another monster entered the circle slowly, wearing red shirt and maroon trousers. He stopped in front of the 2 brides with crossed arms.

He looked like a dark ebony horse with a braided mane that was fading from black to deep red. Geno prevented to see that this monster's eyes didn't have pupils but were filled with an intensive orange color. Same for his nostrils. As he walked, his hooves were scattering dark ashes in the air.

In all honesty, if not for the orange and red colors, the small skeleton wouldn't even see the horse. It was getting darker with each passing second. The monster horse started talking in a stable but loud and clear voice. Geno was ready to give up understand what language was spoken, it reminded him of nothing.

"With the ashes and the essences of our ancestors watching next to us, alive once again we bring this ceremony's mystery under the watch of the stars…" The smaller looked at Alter surprised. It wasn't like the priest waited for the horse to start talking, hear what he said and then translate, no.

He started talking almost at the same time the horse started. And a little faster! He knew the whole thing by hea- by soul, talking so quietly that Geno could hear him, but the others around didn't seem to. Quickly he looked again at the ceremony with his eyesocket, while his ear holes were focused on hearing Alter at the same time.

"Another 2 links are soon to try get bonded, with more links of their descendants add into the future. The words will not decide it, if they will bond forever, the eyes won't approve it if seemingly seems right. The bond of eros that ties 2 souls, knows best how much they're worth for, if it's there or if it's not, the time has come to see." The horse monster was making slow circles around the couple as long as he talked, tying them at the same time with a purple thread.

The beginning of that thread was starting from Fuku and Skate's intertwined hands, holding it tightly as it was wrapping gently around them. After they got wrapped 7 times, the monster horse stopped again in front of the couple. But soon he turned to Skate and placed his right hand on her head. He kept talking.

"The aura giving form in this body more fluid and dominant it feels. May the stars give you luck, to prove even blind, even in the dark your soulmate's aura and soul where it moves and stands, no matter how far away she is (he glanced quickly at fuku then). Do you accept yourself as the dominant one, to protect and honor with all your might and soul your soulmate and any offspring you bring together?"

Geno could clearly see at that moment that Skate seemed more anxious. Her left hand pulled lightly down the collar of her dress. Then she looked at Fuku and all of a sudden she seemed more brave as the green flame nodded to her. She looked again at the horse monster.

"May the stars give me luck, to prove even blind, even in the dark my soulmate's aura and soul where it moves and stands, no matter how far away she is. I accept myself as the dominant one, to protect and honor with all my might and soul my soulmate and any offspring we bring together." She basically almost repeated the horse's words, in the same strange language he spoke.

"Sheesh. Strong memory here." Geno thought. He suddenly felt a shiver running down his spine and looked around. It was difficult to tell in the darkness that more and more prevailed, but he thought he could see 9 shadows standing beneath the dome gates, motionless like statues. "Something strange will soon happen." The smaller tried to ease himself and focused again on the ceremony. Fuku and the horse monster were the most visible, well, because they had the element of fire in them. He saw that now the horse placed his hand on Fuku's head.

"The aura giving form in this body, submissive and more stable it feels. May the stars give you luck, the magic in you to protect you tonight, overcome your struggle, just like whatever other challenges appear in your life and your soulmate's. Do you accept yourself as the submissive one, to carry the children of your unison with your soulmate's (he glanced quickly at skate then), defend and raise them together and offer to this monster community strong descendants?" Fuku inhales and straightens her back more, staring stably at the horse.

"I accept myself as the submissive one, to carry the children of the unison with my soulmate's, defend and raise them together and offer to this monster community strong descendants." The moment exactly she finished her sentence, then the shadows ran towards the couple.

They were 9, wearing long cloaks and even their hands and faces were covered behind veils and gloves. Not even a dot of color. Just black figures. Geno almost fell off Alter from surprise seeing the 4 of these figures grabbing abruptly Fuku and dragging her away from Skate.

The green flame drowned underneath the black cloaks like a candle's small fire that you simply blow and is gone. Other 4 were holding Skate from her arms, keeping her motionless. The 9th figure took out a blindfold and tied the purple woman's eyes.

"What's going on?!" Geno shout whispered.

"This is normal." Alter simply said.

"They literally abducted Fuku, the hell you mean?!"

"Do you see anyone reacting?" Alter asked. Geno looked around carefully. The priest was right.

Aside some small children that seemed to be concerned like the small skeleton, no one else was doing or saying anything. He tried to watch again. Almost impossible. He could barely distinguish anything or anyone anymore. Except from the monster horse. His eyes and nostrils were visible.

"On this great and sacred night, the ritual of unison begins!" He suddenly said in a more passionate voice. "May these souls prove their worth and what they accepted for themselves! Tonight, once again we are gathered to witness the truth! The truth these 2 souls truly know!"

Suddenly a long torch lighted up on the horse's hand. Since when was he holding that, Geno had no idea. But at last, there was just enough light to distinguish enough stuff. The horse monster stabbed the torch on the ground and quickly left from the white circle.

The 9 shadows were standing, making a circle around Skate. But after a more careful counting, Geno realised the shadows were 10. All dressed similarly, all with pretty much same shape and height. The small skeleton couldn't take it anymore. He asked again.

"Which of these monsters is Fuku?!"

"That is up to miss Skate guess right." Alter just commented.

"How?!"

"Que comecem as danças!" All monsters said as one.

4610 words. indeed…

*pat pat pat*