“The evil spirits can’t get you in the light,” his mother told him as he quivered by her legs. Keo hadn’t ever stayed out so late, and just about every six year old of their village was scared of the dark considering all the dark spirits and monsters that haunt the darkness. 

“Stay under the lanterns and go find your brothers and sisters, okay?” She says, as she ruffles his hair and gently pushes him away and forward. 

He turns back to her, before looking upwards at the lanterns, strung above him on either side, the blown glass shaped into flowers with a small oil fed flame in the centre, in the shape of a star. His steps were small and hesitant, but they slowly gained confidence as he continued forward towards the main road, seeing the number of lanterns multiply in the sky with every step he took. Glancing over his shoulder, he almost freezes up at the sight that his mother had already gone back to their house to bring more boxes of food to the festival, leaving him alone on the path. He wipes the sweat from his palms on the front of his pants, forcing himself to move forward and not let his eyes draw towards the darkness a few feet on either side of him.

His head turns at every small sound, the wind blowing through leaves, something moving to the left of him but he just shuts his eyes tightly and stumbles forward, before he is suddenly awash with light, forcing him to open his eyes.

The path is growing busier, as more and more people of the village fill the streets, holding boxes of offerings and goods to be sold, children running around, the older ones excited to be allowed out so late with their friends and the younger ones in the same position as Keo, the full moon large above head now that he's out from under the tree cover.

Walking forward seems weightless now, his eyes trained on the growing crowds, moving to now search for his siblings. His eyes wander to the stalls being set up, recognizing the people as they smile at him, unable to not smile back happily. The scent of fresh flowers is abundant, the most common offering for the heavens. Everyone is dressed in fine silk, another gift or show of respect for the gods, as well as Keo himself which his mother had put two whole hours getting fitted onto earlier that day, and speckling him in shiny jewelry. 

Keo spots his older brothers fighting over something and running behind stalls, so he quickly begins to run towards them, shoving through the brush just behind them, but his smaller legs were nothing compared to their longer ones, leaving him to stumble and try and grab their attention.

“Hey! Wait up!” Keo called, giggling as he caught small notes as to why they were running, something about cowardice and revenge. He slows down when his feet feel heavy, looking around at how deep he had followed them into the forest. It was no farther than he had ever gone with his mother to find flowers in preparation for this event, but this was during the night with all the scary monsters around and he hadn’t a clue how to defend himself!

Spinning around as he turns his head to the sky, the leaves above him sparse in the small clearing, to see the moon. It was so bright here, it almost seemed like the day. He flinches automatically as he hears a loud thud, and the shaking of a tree not far from him. 

He stares up at the moon for a few moments more, as his heart speeds up, trying to decide between the fear and curiosity welling up inside his chest. He turns to the sounds, slowly creeping towards it, a hand on the smooth bark of a young tree when he sees the cause of the noise, barely peaking out to see.

Shoved against a tree was a small, frail boy about his age and in front of him was something tall, with long talons and a thick, black oil dripping from its clawed hands and feet as it slowly steps towards him. The creature's size doubles easily with the opening of large dark coloured wings from its back, as it glares at the smaller human child. It chitters in a language unknown to Keo, but the child in front of it seems to understand fully well. Monster or demon or evil spirit he didn’t know but he knew he didn’t want to watch that child die in front of him.

He clutches his necklace, the crystal hanging on the end a thin enough point he thinks that maybe it would be enough to intimidate the creature, or he could try and stab it through the hand so they both could escape to the light of the festival. 

Charging through the brush between them, he raises his small hand just as the demon turns to him, the jewelry covering his body glinting in the moonlight as the creature's eyes dart all over him, freezing for a moment as his hand collides with the creature's thigh. The crystal worked as intended, stabbing right into the monster's flesh, although less intended the creature didn’t move at all. 

Staring at the jewelry on Keo as the stabbing does absolutely nothing towards it, it reaches a clawed hand out to grab his neck when the child in front of it stands up and jumps forward to send his fist through the monster's abdomen with a collection of glittering and swirling energy. The other kid grabs Keo once he retracted his fist, shaking him wildly as the glittering jewelry on him seems to stun the beast, as he grabs a fallen knife on the floor and sends it right through the creature's arm, the limb falling to the floor with a soft thwack.

His brain feels like he just had every marble in his head rolled around and he probably lost a few. He stands completely frozen as a child, exactly his build makes the beast growl weakly and turn tail and run, with a knife smaller than the ones he uses to help his mother with dinner. 

His hands are trembling when the child turns around to face him, and he stumbles, turning around and sprinting back exactly where he came with his heart pounding in fear. He stumbles through brush when the lantern lights finally meet with his skin, gasping and wheezing from the whole ordeal. His eldest brother grabs his shoulder and yanks him to the side, calling out to their mother, the words passing right over him.

His mother grabs him, holding him close to her protectively.

“Where did you run off too? I told you to go find your siblings!” she scolds him, more relieved and exasperated than actually mad at him though, he could tell in the way she closed her eyes when she sucked in a breath.

He looks down nervously, before back up to her, “I just wanted to see what they were arguing about, I swear! But then I saw this monster and then I watched someone defeat it so easily..!” He rambles about what he had just witnessed, his mother putting a hand on his head.

“Didn’t I say to stay under the lanterns? It's dangerous out there in the dark. And you boys need to stop leaving as well, you could have gotten your brother hurt or lost.” She continues to scold them, and his two eldest brothers turn away with annoyed expressions.

Keo looks up at his mother quietly, before asking “Are demons easy to chase off?”

His mother looks back down at him, blinking as she thinks, “Well, no they aren’t. Which is why you need to be careful not to stray too far during the night. The moonlight isn’t enough to keep you safe, you have to stay near the village.” She explains.

He nods as he looks down at his dirtied silk clothes, as his mother follows his eyes and gasps “Oh dear..! Oh, I’ll deal with that when we get home, let's just go back to the stall.” She rubs the bridge of her nose with one hand and holds Keo’s in the other as she walks him back to where his family had set up a small stall selling silk and dresses for the festival. 

Many of their customers were seeking costumes for the festival, a tradition of dancers representing the human lives offered to the deities long ago. Now, they simply dance in clothes for the gods, hoping to catch their eyes and offer some entertainment from the mortal realm. To entice them to return. 

Keo watches these dancers in quiet awe, slowly looking down at the black oil seeping into his shoe. 

He was absolutely certain that the other child he had met was a child of the heavens, and that they had been sent to protect him and the village from that demon. Watching the dancers long flowing sleeves and wing-like capes in the air, he knows he needs to repay his guardian for protecting him, for fueling the safety of the lanterns.