The smoke continued to fill the room; it made it difficult to see through his pink porcelain rabbit mask, all the blood dripping from it didn’t help either. The fire had fully consumed the building by this point and the foundations keeping what was still left of the auditorium up was more fuel than support. The blood staining his clothes was a real shame, he was dressed for a better occasion than the one he was in, but it was not his fault since he was not alerted of the dress code ahead of time.

     She had been waiting impatiently for many hours. Peering out of the small eyelets of her grey porcelain wolf mask, she watched the slow trickle of people flow into the empty auditorium. She was never too fond of when they had these large gatherings, all these big overarching plans always went over her head. She much preferred it when they just sent her a letter telling her to act, and she would act. This time was different though, the rabbit was coming.

      He was nervously waiting in a small room to the side of the wide auditorium, his apprehension did not show through the eye holes of his dark cowl. Today was the day he was going to be granted his mask. He stared at his hand reminding himself of why it was different, who made it different. Once he finally gets his mask, he can right the wrongs of the world. He wasn’t fully sure of exactly what they saw in him to so quickly give him such a prestigious position, but he was in no position to complain. “Mhm” a loud voice could be heard from the auditorium, it’s starting.

      A man suddenly walked into the tavern devoid of any people except for the lone bored bartender. The man was wearing a strange set of clothes. The clothes were very clean and straight, it had an heir of importance to it, but it was not like the robes of the nobles. He was wearing a pair of black pants with a matching blazer over his white collared shirt; wrapped around his neck was an odd colorful silk cloth that fell to his stomach. The bartender recognized the clothes. She knew someone who always wore the exact same thing. He had told her that it was the clothes of nobility of the ancients, it was called a suit. It came with a pair of nice shoes as well. He always dressed for a better occasion than the one he was in, but this stranger was not him.

      It stuck its head out of the curtains hiding the stage. The gathering of people was approaching its full size now. It would begin soon. It was not worried that the audience would know that it was an it because its face was protected by a mask, the perfect mask. A small porcelain mask of an octopus, each of its tentacles curled to the chin, it was a yellow octopus with many blue rings spotting its body. The mask didn’t have any strings to wrap around its head, it just seemed to stick on with no impression of falling, as did all the porcelain masks provided to the organization. Satisfied with the audience, the octopus stuck its head back in, hiding behind the red curtains from the patiently waiting audience. “I hope you are excited, today you will become change itself. This world, and all who stand on it. Your words today decide their fate.” In front of the octopus was a short and plump person, it was impossible to distinguish any details because their face was hidden behind a white porcelain lamb mask.

      He found it hard to breath. Missing a lung didn’t help in that case. His diaphragm pointlessly continued its rhythmic motion pushing against his loose ribs. The pain was searing through every nerve. he tried to push through it. His hand, although it was different, was still capable of dragging his mostly limp body forward, just a few more inches. His mask had fallen but if he could just get it back, all would be solved.

      He had finally arrived at this small town just on the outskirts of the Cruor swamps in the dead of night. The perfect place to do things one would want to do unnoticed. Why would following his master’s footsteps lead him to such a place? He wasn’t certain, but he was not going to leave this town without becoming so. He tightened his tie with his free hand while his other held firmly to his, as he called it: briefcase. He noticed a tavern off to the side of the street, surely someone there could guide him to the auditorium.

      A lady wearing a green porcelain turtle mask waved goodbye then walked back towards the tavern. The woman with the grey wolf mask watched the turtle walk away for a moment longer before finally entering the auditorium. A few people who stood in the corner by the entrance turned a glance to see who the latest to arrive was, but when they saw her grey porcelain wolf mask, they realized she was too important for them to approach. The auditorium was not very large, but it could hold the hundred or so people here. The square stage across the room was blocked off from the crowd by a large red curtain. She scanned the room to see if he was already there. There were two other masks here, but he was not one of them. The only reason she even bothered showing up was because he was supposed to be here too.

      an ethereal green shell suddenly appeared; a loud thud exploded as his faintly pink coated foot pressed firmly on the shell inches away from the grey wolf mask. He felt a sudden chill from behind, the pink around his foot suddenly hardened and faint ethereal hairs began to grow just as he pushed off the shell cracking it. Where he just was an orange blade and a slender man in a fox mask appeared. After that last maneuver, the pink around his foot was almost totally faded but he still had some power left, truthfully speaking that pink power provided by his rabbit mask was but a fraction of his true strength. Twisting around he threw another kick into the ethereal brown horns charging into him shattering the horns and crunching into the brown porcelain bull mask, sending him flying across the room. “My shell… won’t… last much… longer.” A woman with a green porcelain turtle mask struggled to speak through forced breaths. The smoke was beginning to choke everyone, especially the out of breath turtle. The fox ran to the bull to help him up and extinguish the flames catching to his sleeves. “It won’t need to.” the woman with the wolf mask said encasing her arm in silver energy. The silver energy hardened and coalesced, until growing full of fur. She extended her claws and readied to attack the man with the pink coated foot who hid his identity behind a pink porcelain rabbit mask.

      “Try not to charge through that curtain.” a slender man with an orange porcelain fox mask approached the food stand pointing to the red curtain hiding the stage from the rest of the auditorium. “You know that’s not actually a thing, right?” The burly man with the brown porcelain bull mask responded. The bull turned his back to the fox, rummaging a cookie from the food stand before twisting back towards him, “Actually, I know that you know that’s not a thing because I told you at the last meeting that it wasn’t. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I told you at the meeting before the previous one as well.” The bull berated. The fox gave a soft chuckle “yeah, but I like pissing you off.” The fox swiped the cookie from the bull, he gently raised his porcelain mask so that his face wouldn’t be revealed and let the cookie disappear into it, letting a satisfying crunch of the cookie resound as he placed his mask back on properly. “…And I have to do something to make these meetings a little more exciting. It’s just the same boring ceremony every time.”

      “Give me the box.” The man with the lamb mask beckoned to the man in the rabbit mask before him. The two of them were poised on the center of the stage with the entire auditorium and its hundreds of spectators watching. The rabbit was holding a small case close to him. A third man without a mask was also on stage nervously watching the two. “It’s called a briefcase.” The rabbit spat back bitterly. “Then give me the briefcase.” It was impossible to tell expressions with everyone wearing masks, but the rabbit could feel the arrogance exuding from the lamb. “No”

      “-Change!” even within this small little room to the side of the auditorium he could hear the voice echo signaling his cue to enter.  He fidgeted and adjusted his hood nervously then walked into the large room and onto the stage with the comfort of knowing no one could see his anxiety through the eye holes of his cowl. There was a man on the center of the stage, his face was covered with the white porcelain mask of a lamb, in his left hand was a small black cloth obstructing some item hidden beneath. The crowd was totally silent as he approached the center. “Two years ago, this man gave his soul to us. We sent his soul to the Whittler. The whittler judged his soul, sculpted it.” The lamb at the center of the stage paused as if expecting some kind of response, but received none, he continued. “For the first time in fifty years, a soul has been returned.” The lamb turned towards the nervous man. “But before we return your new soul back to you. We have a very special guest today, who comes with a gift. I would like to call the rabbit to the stage.”

      The octopus tapped the shoulder of the dazed man with yellow skin next to him and pointed to the auditorium. The dazed man shook his head vigorously as if trying to discard something unwanted, but whatever it was he failed to remove it. He tossed his torch into the strange pool of black liquid at the base of the auditorium; the black liquid was set ablaze. The octopus took a deep breath to appreciate the soft dawn breeze. He gazed up to the beautiful purple sky, a faint black shadow could be seen slithering across the orange star off in the distance. “We should probably skidaddle before any unwanted guess show up. I think they can take care of the rest anyways.” The octopus and the dazed man walked away from the town into the sunrise.

      The lamb’s mask fell cracking in two on the hard wood floor revealing the young boy’s tears draining down to his throat and mixing with the blood and pink energy. His mind was swimming. He was trying to focus on the animals in front of him, but his eyes wouldn’t listen for some reason. The force at his throat was released and he immediately crumbled to the floor.

     The man in the suit approached the bartender. “I am here to attend a gathering. Do you know where I could find it?” The man placed a porcelain mask on the counter. The mask had two long ears that extended the overall size of the mask two-fold. It depicted the face of a rabbit, and the whole mask was painted pink.

      The lamb and the octopus hurriedly ran into the side room next to the auditorium. The lamb was desperately collecting cloths to clot the gushing liquids from escaping from where his left arm once was. “What is happening? I thought you said the rabbit was going to help us?” The lamb shouted to the octopus. The octopus stopped in his tracks and turned to the worried lamb taking a moment to decide if the lamb was worth the struggle. The octopus then gently placed his hand on the wooden wall next to him, he made sure to really get the texture right. The door to the small side room ruptured into countless pieces. The rabbit ran into the room to see the lamb alone, holding tightly to the stub which was once his left arm. “Where is the octopus?” but no response. Imbuing the pink energy into his hand, he charged towards the lamb and pierced his throat.