”Dear sisters, it is now two months since Halloween. Our Forest friends are now thinking of sugar plums and such rather than chills, thrills, and the occasional spills. So what are we to do tonight, on this Christmas Eve?”, Nekumbra asked the other witches as they sat in a circle around a glowing magic flame.

”The usual, I would assume? Terrorize and harm those who deserve it?”, Medea suggested.

”No undeserved justice tonight, Medea. The wicked should be allowed this night to rest. It is a holiday, after all.”, Herla spoke.

”Then perhaps we could haunt and spy on some of the little ones. See if they are enjoying their holiday?”, Nebel offered.

”Perhaps…perhaps we could reward some of those who we find. Show them the meaning of peace and happiness even from witches.”, Honeyfur added.

”Not a bad idea, really. But what would we reward them with?”, Sorrel asked.

”Well, we have…”, Kerrigan thought for a moment, ”…there’s those old trinkets we have stored away. They could do as nice gifts.”

“Oh this would be quite fun! I am interested!”, Marie Antoinette said in anticipation.

”Then it’s settled. Random gift giving tonight. We shall depart immediately.”, Umay said.

“Agreed! Sisters, pick your gift and find someone to give this ‘holiday cheer’ to.”, Dillon spoke.

The witches chose their gifts, and soon were out to give to the Endless Forest’s residents.

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Sleeping in a patch of violet flowers was Sparrow. The little one slumbered and dreamed of the joys of tomorrow. Creeping toward him was Kerrigan, with a gift for the little one.

Sparrow’s eyes opened and saw her there, but he dared not to budge. ”Stay, little one. I am not here for harm. In fact, I have a little present for you tonight. I give you this vial, for within it is the blood of a rare white wolf. Drink this little potion, and the spirit of the wolf will be with you and shall protect you from harm.”, Kerrigan spoke, and left the little red bottle with the fawn. Sparrow believed he was hallucinating, so he drifted back to sleep.

Kerrigan was gone in a flash, her gift given to a deserving one this night.

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Midnight was overly excited, and could not sleep. The fawn was bouncing on the Playground rocks when Deadly Orchid approached. “You are quite energetic tonight.”, the witch spoke.

The fawn smiled back to the stranger and nodded, “Yes, because Santa is coming tonight!”, Midnight replied.

“Is he now? Well, how would you like a present right now? I may not be Santa but I have a special treat for you.”, the witch spoke.

“Oooooh I love presents!”, the fawn said happily.

The witch presented Midnight with an ancient pendant that transforms the wearer into a bat. As soon as she put it on her, the fawn shrunk and fluttered around. She was overly excited about this, thinking she had gotten a transformation spell, but this was different magic than the Forest magic she was used to.

“Enjoy it, young one.”, Deadly Orchid spoke, and vanished with laughter hanging in the air.

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Near the Pond was Zerg, who was drinking some water. She barely saw Herla approach, and nearly jumped. ”Oh Herla, you scared me!”, she said, calming down.

”Ah yes, I am quite good at that, hmm…”, Herla replied, then continued, ”I understand it is Christmas Eve. So my friends and I are giving gifts to those who are wandering around. I thought I would present you with a gift.”

She dropped a seed into the pond water, and then began to speak some ancient words that made Zerg tilt her head. The seed grew immediately into a white flower. “Go on, touch it.”, Herla spoke to Zerg. The doe was hesitant, but touched the little flower with her hoof. It immediately latched onto her leg with a slight sting. ”Oww! What is this?”, she questioned.

Herla smiled, ”The sacred lotus of dissolution, I’m sorry it stung you but the effects are quite worth it. It is a powerful antidote to all venoms and poisons. It will devour any foreign contaminants in your blood.”, she explained.

Zerg was a little confused that Herla knew all about this, but before she could ask, the witch had vanished, leaving only a slight cackle in the wind.

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”The shadows shall hide the light. But this is a common truth. Light is quelled in the dark, snuffed out. But the dark is not to be feared, but to be revered. And for this, I present to you, ‘Lightbringer’, a relic of unusual power.”, Medea spoke through the shadows to a curious stag.

Yorres looked all around, ”Please show yourself so I may address you properly, friend…”, he called, but before he could speak again, he saw something close to him. Medea was quick to leave it by his legs.

”The Amulet of Dark Cinder, a curious little trinket. Wear it and you will see in the dark as a nocturnal, without the need for your flames and candles.”, Medea spoke through the darkness again, and then said, ”Shadow hide you, Yorres.”, and soon was gone.

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Kaoori and Wesker were enjoying the night alone when Kaoori sniffed the air. ”Oh no…”, she gasped. ”What is it?”, Wesker asked.

”I think Nekumbra is coming…”, she said. Before she could finish her words, two witches had arrived at their hill. Nekumbra had indeed come, along with Umay. Wesker scrambled to his hooves, ”What do you want?”, he asked at once.

”Relax, dearies! We are here for peaceful banter. Please, hear us out.”, Nekumbra offered a truce.

”Should we trust them?”, Kaoori whispered to Wesker. ”I suppose…it is Christmas Eve, maybe they are here for peaceful reasons…”, Wesker replied to her.

The doe approached them, ”Alright, we’re listening.”, she said to them.

”We come with gifts this Christmas Eve. I have something special for you, Kaoori.”, Umay explained, and approaching the little doe, she rested her head on the shika doe’s back. ”What are you—“, Kaoori was going to ask, but immediately jumped, ”S-SPIDER?!”

Umay tilted her head, ”My gift is a pet tarantula, Kaoori. Do you not like it?”, the witch asked. The spider was on Umay’s body and had crawled from her head to Kaoori’s back.

Kaoori shivered as the spider walked around her body. Wesker was about to come help her when Nekumbra approached him, ”And here is my gift, sweetie.”, she spoke, and gave him a strange item on a stick.

Wesker was confused, ”What is this?”, he questioned.

The spider-doe smiled, ”It is a deep fried toad on a stick. I picked this just for you because it is an aphrodisiac.”, she explained.

Upon hearing these words, Wesker was slightly embarrassed. ”…I don’t need help with that…”, he spoke under his breath.

Pleased that their gifts had been given, Umay and Nekumbra bowed and ran off. Wesker immediately came to Kaoori’s aid, but the tarantula was very hard to see in the darkness, and would take time to remove from her body.

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Aura was enjoying a moment of silence at the Playground when she was approached by one of the witches. ”Hello there!”, Nebel spoke to her.

“Oh, hello…”, Aura replied.

Smiling, Nebel stood close by, and continued, ”Since it is Christmas Eve, I wanted to give a gift to someone, and so I picked you. Here you go.”, she spoke, and then left something nearby the doe.

Aura, confused, asked, “Umm…thank you? What is it?”

”I’m so glad you asked. It is an item humans use sometimes called a ‘sundial’. They use it to figure out what time of day it is. So maybe you can use it to know when to coordinate things. I think it would be very useful.”, Nebel spoke, and then bowed and ran off.

Aura looked at the sundial again. She had no idea how to use the thing, as Nebel did not explain how to read it or how to set it properly.

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Marie Antoinette found someone to give a gift to after looking for a few moments. “Hello there, would you like a gift?”, she asked at once.

Half asleep, Aoide sat up, ”Hmm? A gift?”, she mumbled.

“Yes, yes I have a gift for you. Here, enjoy it. And Merry Christmas!”, Marie spoke, and left something next to the drowsy doe. She ran off at once without another word.

Aoide looked at the thing oddly. ”Is this…a bush…?”, she questioned.

The witch had grabbed a random potted plant that was a decoration in the witches lair. She left Aoide a shrubbery. When the doe looked further, she also noticed that there was a fish laying inside the pot…a herring, to be exact…

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Illrose came across a doe sitting near the Crying Idol. Approaching, she spoke softly, ”One stays awake on this Christmas Eve. Perhaps there is much on your mind?”

Tesa was unphased by the sudden question, but said, “Oh not so much, I guess I am just a little excited about tomorrow.”

”Ah yes, tomorrow is a grand day. Well, I would like to give you a taste of tomorrow today. Here is a gift just for you.”, Illrose replied, and left something by Tesa’s side.

The doe looked down curiously, “Oh, is this a doll?”, she asked.

Illrose nodded, ”A special kind of doll. It is a voodoo doll, I glued the pinecones together myself. You can use it for protection and for revenge if you need to. If someone is bothering you, simply put some of their fur on it, and then start breaking the little pinecones off to hurt them. But considering you…you may not have any enemies…”, she replied, and with a bow, she vanished into the night.

Tesa stared at the doll for a long time, unsure what to even do with such a powerful object.

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Sorrel wandered around to find someone to give a gift to. When she found Cay Lynn hanging around the Bridge, she smiled and walked up slowly. ”Hello there, you look like someone who would enjoy a gift.”, she spoke.

”It depends I suppose…what kind of gift do you mean?”, she asked the witch.

”Oh you will love this. I have something very hard to get. It is a ripped piece of the Big Zombie Deer’s flesh, and I think you would much like to have this.”, Sorrel spoke, and gave the odd gift to the other doe.

Cay smiled, ”Why thank you! I am rather hungry…”, she replied, and she bent down and chewed on the zombie flesh.

”Wait you’re not supposed to…”, Sorrel immediately began to say, but Cay had already eaten the zombie flesh. ”…Well I suppose it can be enjoyed like that too. It was really hard to get though…” And with a bow, she was gone.

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Near the Blue Bowl was SkyDancer, who was looking at something on the ground. Honeyfur thought she would be a perfect person to give her gift to. ”Hello there…”, she began to say, when she realized that the doe was standing over a little animal. ”Oh, what is the matter?”, she asked.

SkyDancer turned to her, with eyes curious. “Oh hello…this poor little squirrel got hurt, and I am trying to help it…”, she replied.

”Well, I have a special item that could help. In fact, I was going to give it to you as a gift.”, Honeyfur spoke, and placed a strange red feather on the squirrel. It immediately began to glow, and seconds later it was healed of it’s injury.

SkyDancer immediately asked, “Oh thank you! Is this a phoenix feather? I know they have healing propert-“, but she soon realized that the strange visitor had left.

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The last witch to give a gift was Dillon. She found a little doe sitting in a patch of purple flowers. “I see someone who would like a present.”, Dillon immediately said.

Violet nearly jumped, startled by the sudden words, but when she thought she could trust the witch, she relaxed, ”Oh you surprised me! But a present, you say?”, she asked.

Dillon nodded her head, “Yes, here you are.”, she spoke, and placed something on her head. Violet looked upward, slightly disappointed in the gift.

”It’s…a leaf…”, Violet spoke.

“It is actually a hat for you.”, Dillon said.

Violet was about to point out that this was just an ordinary leaf, but Dillon began to chant some words, and soon the leaf transformed into a witches hat. Violet was overjoyed that the little leaf changed right on her head. ”Oh! It is a hat!”, she exclaimed.

Dillon nodded, “Take care of it for me, it is a special witches hat.”, she said, and with a bow, she ran into the night.

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The witches, all pleased with their gifts, returned to their lair to find a surprise waiting for them. Santa Claus saw their bizarre generosity for the deer of the Endless Forest, and left them presents of their very own. The witches were gifted with various Halloween items, decorations, and supplies. A note was left as well for them:

”Dear Endless Forest Witches:
You have shown the meaning of the Christmas spirit with your gifts. Please accept these gifts for your generosity.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Halloween!
- Santa Claus”