My village was one where superstitions ran wild and unchecked. Even as the rest of the world progressed into the 21st century and turned to science for answers, they remained stuck in the past with their primitive beliefs.

I too once had it in my head that the tales of spirits and the warnings of omens were real but that was before my father ferried our family far away and into the city. Naturally, it had taken quite some time and a lot of work to get over my beliefs but I had grown into a rational young man. In no small way, I was proud of how far I'd come and preached against superstition any chance I could. This was one such chance.

"You don't expect anyone to believe any of that nonsense, do you?" I asked Nabo, the expression on my face perfectly conveying how ridiculous I found everything.

This year my father had decided to spend Christmas with my ailing grandmother and we had returned to the village. We had arrived yesterday evening and I'd quickly come to the conclusion that this was going to be my last time here.

You see the people of my village didn't celebrate the end of the year the same way everyone else did. There were no Christmas trees or lights, there was no Santa. Instead, I found terrifying art and patterns, palm leaves for decoration, and uncanny masks worn by children. And worst of all, everyone pretended it was normal.

I'd isolated myself since we arrived a day ago and had spent the entire time locked in my room reading, trying to keep hold of my sanity. Three days, I only had to put up with this for three days and I would leave for civilization and never come back.

I'd intended to spend those three days by my lonesome until Nabo came to visit. My old best friend was one of many people that I'd left behind when we left for the city. It wasn't as though we could have kept in touch. There were no phones in this village back then. Things had improved somewhat in the technology aspect but not at all in the things they believed to be as real as the air we breathed.

Nabo more than most had fallen deeper into the delusion.

"It's real, Tonye" Nabo tried and failed to convince me, "I've seen things. I've felt it. The gods, the spirits of the water, they're all real"

"Ha!" I let out a laugh, "Nabo, you're too funny"

"Only last week, Arun spoke to me" he insisted, "Clear as day"

"How? You heard a voice?" I mocked.

"I was wearing his mask, for practice" he ignored my jesting and explained, "I heard him. I swear it"

Nabo was so far into the belief that he had become the masquerade while I'd been gone. The masquerades were the highlight of our village's end-of-year celebrations. The belief if I remember correctly was that the gods danced with us to end the year. Strong, healthy people were chosen by the gods -- but in reality by the Chief Priest -- to represent them.

Dress like them and wear their masks and it is said that if the god accepted that vessel, they would inhabit the body themselves and dance. Nabo had gone and got himself chosen as Arun's vessel.

It had traumatised me as a kid if I was being honest and I couldn't believe that my friend would accept such responsibility.

"Yeah, what did he say?" I asked while rolling my eyes.

Nabo said the words first in the language of our people and then repeated them in English knowing I wouldn't understand, "Fire and blood".

I was caught aback for a second before catching myself.

"We'll that's ominous" I commented after I'd regained my composure. The fear of those words was only a remnant of my childhood indoctrination.

Ten-year-old me knew to be terrified of the blood god's words. Twenty-year-old me knew better. Nabo was most likely hallucinating and hearing exactly what he wanted to.

"Tonye--" Nabo started again.

"Call me David" I interrupted him. I much preferred my English name.

"David, it's real" Nabo reiterated.

"Prove it then" I replied, "You said he spoke to you while wearing his mask, let me try it on then. If I hear anything, even so much as a whisper, I'll apologize to you immediately and be a believer"

"What? That's stupid" He quickly replied, "No one is allowed to wear the masks except the chosen"

"Right," I smirked.

"No, I'm serious. I don't even have them anyway, it's in the shrine like always"

"Let's go there then" I pressed, "It's not like it's the first time we've snuck in"

The shrine had virtually no security despite being a place of great significance to our people. I reasoned that that was why it was so clumsily guarded. No one else would dare enter uninvited.

"No" Nabo replied firmly.

I smiled. For the first time since arriving here, I wanted to do something other than sit in this boring room. I wanted to go to that shrine and prove once and for all that all of it was bullshit.

"I'm going," I said with a satisfied smile.

"Stop" Nabo protested.

"I'm going," I said as I stood from the bed, "with or without you"

I quickly made my way toward the door and smiled when I heard Nabo follow. I'd found quite a bit of fun in this awful village.

I quickly pushed my way through the house and eventually came down to the living room to announce to my parents that I was stepping out for a bit with Nabo. I didn't stay long enough for a response but I imagined they must have been happy at the change and might have even hoped this was the first of many.

Unlike my old friend and I, my parents were fence sitters on this matter. They didn't quite believe but weren't nearly as vocal about it as I was. It was up to me to fight against the insanity if they wouldn't.

=^..^=

I stepped out into the night air and took in a deep breath. I'd say this for the village, the air was much cleaner here.

"We must go back" Nabo urged me. There was little chance of that, I hadn't felt this excited in a while.

Nabo hurried to block my path as I walked toward the shrine with his arms outstretched, "I can't let you pass"

"Are you afraid I'll prove that it's all bullshit?" I had remembered just how much I used to love fucking with Nabo. He was always so serious. Too serious. But also timid just like he'd been when we were children.

His body had grown considerably in the time we'd been apart. He'd grown manly and strong and now dwarfed my small frame, which must have been why they chose him in the first place. Despite all that, I could tell he was the same shy, little boy that had followed me around everywhere.

"You may not believe in any of this, but I do," Nabo said to me, "The shrine is sacred, I cannot let you step foot in it"

I took a deep breath, "Fine" I replied. He seemed serious about this and I didn't want to be disrespectful no matter what I thought about it. Or so I wanted him to think.

"Thank you," he said happily, breathing a sigh of relief.

'I didn't want to be disrespectful' is what I would have said if I thought their superstition was harmless. I was proof of what childhood indoctrination could do. Nabo too even though he wouldn't admit it. I had no respect for superstition and didn't care for being respectful.

When he seemed to relax his guard, I ran past him and employed my memory to lead me to the shrine as fast as my feet could carry me. I laughed as I ran and he chased after me, I hadn't had this much fun in some time.

"Stop!" Nabo yelled from far behind me. He might have been big and strong but that only meant he was much slower than I was. "David, listen to me, stop this" he called out.

I ignored him and ran through the paths I'd played in as a child. I still remember this place like the back of my hand.

It helped that not much had changed when it came to urban development. Most of the houses had been redone with cement but I was surprised at just how many clay houses remained.

Even the people we passed seemed stuck in time with their clothes but that may have just been due to the season's festivities.

Eventually, Nabo gave up calling out for me and just focused on keeping up with me. We wouldn't stop running until we reached the shrine.

And there, there was not a soul in sight.

I hunched over exhausted from all the running. Nabo was in a similar condition, maybe worse. I began laughing when I had caught my breath enough and he tried to keep from doing the same.

"You had your fun, let's go back," he said in between scattered breaths.

"After coming all this way?" I gave him a knowing smile before pushing my way into the tiny hut that didn't even have a door.

Somehow it seemed a lot bigger on the inside and a lot more luxurious. Fancy sculptures and brilliant tapestries lined the room. On the far wall hung the masks. Bingo.

As I took a step forward, I caught something out of the corner of my eyes and exclaimed, "Fuck!"

I turned quickly to see an old man sitting on the floor in the corner with his legs crossed. How had I not noticed him before when I scanned the room?

Nabo poked his head through the doorway and whispered, "You shouldn't be here, let's go"

My gaze remained on the old man but he remained unmoving and paying me no mind. It didn't even seem like he had noticed me despite my earlier exclamation. Only the soft breathing confirmed to me that he wasn't a statue, but he might as well have been one.

"David" Nabo whispered again.

The masks were right there. I'd just pop over there, toss one of them on my head, and prove I'm right. Easy.

I took one step forward.

"David!" Nabo whispered louder and with greater urgency.

"I'll be right back" I whispered to him before taking another step forward.

When I had taken enough to Nabo's dismay, he walked through the door and hurried to meet me.

"Is that bowl filled with bones?" I whispered, pointing at a bowl in another corner.

"Finger bones. Now let's go"

"That's fucked up" I commented before taking another step toward the mask. I recognized Arun's mask immediately. An ugly thing resembling a disfigured face with sharp teeth and as many piercings as they could fit on it. The gods were taught to us at a young age. Even now, I knew more about them than I wished to.

I stepped forward towards his mask. Arun, the blood god. A warmonger whose offering was death.

I stepped closer to the mask.

"Okay Arun, speak to me"

'Come'

At first, I wasn't sure I'd heard it at all. It was only the faintest of whispers, soft and delicate. But the more time passed, the more I was sure I'd heard the words.

"What?" I turned to Nabo.

He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"I thought--" I turned back to the old man and he remained unmoving paying us no mind.

"What are you doing?" Nabo asked me, confused as much as I was.

"Didn't you say--"

'Come here' I heard the voice again and took a step backwards.

"Good, can we go?" Nabo touched my shoulder.

"You didn't say anything?" I asked him with wide eyes.

"Say what?"

I stood there stunned for a moment, unsure of what was happening.

"Let's get out of here" I turned to leave.

'Stop' I heard and I couldn't move. I swear I couldn't move.

"Stop messing around" Nabo urged me, "Let's leave before the chief priest wakes up"

My friend's voice seemed to fade into the distance until I could hear nothing but the voice calling me and I knew where it wanted me to go—the mask.

Not Arun's mask, but Ikuba's.

Ikuba, the fire goddess. Compared to the others, her mask most resembled a human anatomically. The most notable features were that half the mask was scorched black and it had long beads for hair that went all the way to the floor.

Ikuba's mask wanted me closer and I couldn't stop myself from walking. I could hear Nabo's voice that urged me back growing more and more distant. I watched helplessly as I approached Ikuba, took her, and put her on my head.

Black. Nothing remained but the dark.

"Hello?" I called out and the only response was the echo of my own voice.

"Nabo!" I shouted.

"He can't hear you" A soft voice spoke from behind me in a manner that sounded more like song.

"Who are you?" I called out turning around to find no one but the dark.

"I am she who always was" The voice came from behind me once again. The fear I was feeling grew more intense.

"I'm sorry, please let me go"

"Let you go?" The voice laughed maniacally, "You are holding on to me"

I looked down and found my hand gripping another, a lost limb that only came up to the elbow. I let go and screamed. She laughed louder.

"Please" I begged. The laughter grew even louder and seemed to be coming from insider my head. "What do you want?" I screamed.

The laugher stopped offering me a brief respite, and a soft whisper followed in my ear, "Only to dance and to fuck"

My eyes opened and I found myself dancing, Ikuba's mask still on my head. The old man was standing in front of me, only watching.

The fear grew even more intense when I realized I couldn't stop dancing in this sexual, feminine manner. My body moved in ways I didn't think it could.

The worry on Nabo's face who stood behind the priest mirrored my own. I couldn't stop.

I couldn't stop. Not until the priest reached over and raised the mask off my head. I fell to the ground exhausted and out of breath.

I struggled to catch my breath for the second time tonight and only after I did, did I start coughing violently.

I looked up at the old man and struggled to read the blank expression on his face. I looked down at his hand and stared in horror as I noticed the face on the mask was smiling.

I hurried to my feet and pushed my way out of the shrine.

"David" Nabo called after me but I didn't stop. I ran and didn't stop running till I was in my bed with the door locked behind me.

=^..^=

I was awoken by pounding on my door. I'd initially planned to ignore it and try to get back to sleep but whoever it was only pounded louder.

"What!" I yelled.

I hadn't been able to get any sleep last night. I was dizzy, groggy, and in a horrible mood.

"Open the damn door" I heard my father yell which woke me up a bit. He wasn't at all the type to raise his voice at me especially so early in the morning.

Something was wrong. Suddenly the details of last night's events came rushing back and a fresh wave of fear shot through my body.

'Ikuba' the word forced its way into my mind as I jumped out of bed.

"Open--" my father began again but ceased when I began fiddling with the locks. I'd decided to tell my parents what happened last night. The fear didn't allow me to keep things to myself any longer.

"Dad, I--" I tried to say as I opened the door but he cut me off.

"Downstairs now!" he said through his teeth. I dared not disobey.

Downstairs my mother waited with a very disappointed look on her.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked me. She too was pissed at me.

"What's going on?" I tried to ask but no one was hearing it.

"Outside. Now." my father said simply. I obeyed and together we all stepped out of the house and into the morning light. There I found an audience waiting for me.

There were three strong-looking men and an elderly woman I didn't recognize but two others that I did, Nabo and the old man.

Nabo was dressed in a strange attire, looking like he was headed to war. His hands and legs had been painted white and he wore a ring of beads on his wrist and ankles.

The old man's expression remained the same as it was last night. I could guess what this was about.

"I'm very sorry for--" I started but the old man raised his hand to silence me. And so I remained quiet only occasionally turning to look at my parents.

"Ikuba's vessel put the mask on this morning in preparation for today's celebrations" One of the men I didn't recognize spoke, "It burned her face"

I turned to look at Nabo who only looked away.

The old man let out pained grunts, drawing our attention to him. "It seems Ikuba has chosen another"

=^..^=

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Hello, just a short story to try to jumpstart my writing which has been pretty much dead. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless.