The Last day
It was a perfect autumn day. The sky was dotted with a few candy-floss clouds and the big red disk of the sun was slowly setting down behind the hill. The trail towards the entrance was covered with little candles, lights of which flickered carefully. People came and went like waves, crowding the space.
Down the valley children ran around, enjoying the chilly breeze, singing songs and playing games of warrior princes, dragons and noble knights. Their smiles shone through the face paint, as they attacked another castle. They were butterflies, frogs, nymphs and deers and different spirits; this was the last goodbye before cold winter day take over. The costumes were as colourful as an autumn forest. Bold yellows, magenta, ruby red, emerald green and tanegine - they merged together to create a sunset, melting into the abyss of the night. No one walked anywhere, everyone jogged, jumped, danced, swirled, swayed, skipped, creating a cacophony of faces, dresses and colours.
The smell was hypnotizing. Tables loaded with delicacies, ready to make one mouths water, were chaotically dispersed around. Whole roasted deers and pigs still turning on spits, sprinkled with rosemary and lemon sauce, smoked sausages and pineapple glazed ham, diced pumpkin, marinated in butter and spices, fried over hot stones. On the other side tables were loaded with sweets. Aromatic cinnamon apple pies, hot chocolate puddings, apricot cheesecakes and lots more. Countless cheeses, breads, vegetables, fruits and waterfalls of wine and other spirits, which flickered like flames
The music floated on the breeze like the colourful leaves raining down from the gigantic tree. Slow motifs of jazz and old celtic singing crawled up the veins, saving from the cold of the reaching night.
Masks were the gems of the night. They created a sense that anything is possible. They were all different; unique in style and purpose. The leather mask of one of the ladies passing by represented a firebird - with a magnificent red and black ornament, a gold frame surrounding the holes for the eyes and three golden black feathers sticking out of the top it was a mythical creature come true. Another represented a fox - tangerine fire, spreading around, carefully following the beautiful lines of symmetry with golden rims around the wide hole for the eyes. Everything created a sense of suspense and adventurism. No one knew each other. They were strangers, representing their own beasts.. The night was full of secrets but this only added flame to the growing wildfire of mystery.
Later into the night, the beautiful celebration of the last day of autumn became a festival of lights. Along the dark trail, surrounded by trees, hundreds of lamps illuminated the path towards the new life with their flickering candles. Shadows carelessly danced besides the pathways, performing their last whirls before merging with the opaque darkness of the night. People walked hand in hand in their winter thick woolen jackets, mittens and scarfs. To add a poignant note to the last goodbye, children carried a lamp of their own; their gentle puffs were made visible by the glow, only to disappear into the inkinesss of the night.
Stars sparkled like little diamonds in the boundless obsidian sky.