I’m here today because I wrote a story, a Halloween story … sort of. The thing is, I’m Swedish, and we don’t celebrate Halloween. I’ve never been to a Halloween party in my entire life, and I have no Halloween decorations apart from one tiny pumpkin lantern. So why on earth would I write a Halloween story?
What we celebrate here is All Saints’ Day. Though it’s not saints we’re remembering on that day, it’s family members. It’s nothing special — no one is dressing up, no one is giving out candy, but if you’re ever in Sweden on October 31st, visit a graveyard. There are candles everywhere.
As a child, I thought it incredibly boring to walk around and find the graves of dead relatives I’d never met or couldn’t remember so Mum could light candles. Now, I make sure to walk by the church every October 31st.
This has very little to do with my story, and yet it’s related. Many of the holidays we see at the end of October or the first days of November are related to death — the death of harvest season or the remembrance of the dead. It can be All Hollow’s Eve, Samhain, Día de los Muertos, All Saints’ Eve, or something else. In the dark of October, the spirits are near, and they are in Soul Eater too.
Thaddeus Ezax is a wizard, a mage to be exact, but a lousy one. He’s never been able to do the spells he’s supposed to master, has never accomplished anything that has impressed the wizarding world. He is a detective working in Rockshade’s Paranormal Investigations Department, it’s the end of October and a case has him going to the black market to ask some questions.
As a mage, he has no connection to the spirits of the dead, and yet his entire being buzzes when he touches a skull. The seller at the black market claim it’s a werewolf skull. Against his better judgement, Thaddeus steals it. When he accidentally releases the spirit trapped in it, he realises nothing he believed about himself is true.
Sorcerers have connections with ghosts, not mages, and yet Thaddeus finds himself in possession of a ghost werewolf. Or perhaps it’s the werewolf who has possession of him.
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