The Firefly Vendor (Patreon)

In a quiet town, nestled deep in the woods, a vibrant market thrived every Saturday morning. The townsfolk gathered to buy fresh produce, handcrafted goods, and the most curious of all - fireflies, captured by an old lady known as Eliza, the Firefly Lady. She was a frail woman with a withered face and a toothless smile that never seemed to fade. The townspeople said she had been selling fireflies for as long as anyone could remember.

Among the market-goers, there was a vain, muscular man named Victor. He had bulging biceps and a chiseled jaw, but his arrogance was far more prominent than his physique. Victor took delight in mocking Eliza, scoffing at her firefly jars and making cruel jokes about her toothless grin. He couldn't understand why she always seemed so cheerful, and it was this obsession with her smile that would lead him down a path he could never have imagined.

One chilly Saturday morning, as Victor passed Eliza's table, he couldn't resist one more jab. "Who buys these silly fireflies, old lady?" he jeered, his friends joining in with laughter. Eliza's response was her usual, eerie smile, her toothless gums exposed to the world. She didn't seem to be offended or even the slightest bit fazed by their taunts. Instead, her milky eyes twinkled with a knowing glint that sent an unexpected shiver down Victor's spine. Her smile, instead of faltering, only grew wider, as if she was privy to a secret that the others could never understand.

Victor's annoyance deepened at her refusal to react the way he expected. He couldn't stand the thought that this frail, old woman with her jars of fireflies seemed to be immune to his mockery. As he and his friends moved away from her table, his fixation on her smile intensified, and a curiosity he couldn't explain began to gnaw at him. It was as if her smile held the key to some enigmatic puzzle, one he couldn't resist attempting to solve.

That night, unable to shake the haunting image of Eliza's relentless grin, Victor decided to follow her into the woods. He was convinced that her secret lay there, away from prying eyes. As the moon cast an eerie glow over the forest, he trailed behind her, unnoticed.

Deep into the woods, Eliza reached a small clearing where thousands of fireflies danced in the moonlight. Victor watched in amazement as she chanted strange incantations, her frail form suddenly radiating with an unnatural power. She raised her hands, and the fireflies swarmed around her, forming a pulsating, glowing sphere.

But then, Victor saw something that chilled him to the bone. Within the swirling light, he glimpsed the faces of familiar townspeople, their eyes filled with terror. It was as if their souls were trapped within the fireflies, forever imprisoned.

Realization struck Victor like a lightning bolt, and panic surged through him. He turned to flee, but his foot caught on a hidden root, and he tumbled to the ground. Eliza, sensing his presence, turned her gaze upon him, her smile widening in the moonlight.

"Running, dearie?" she cooed in a voice that sent shivers down Victor's spine.

Terrified, Victor scrambled to his feet and sprinted away, but he could feel Eliza's magic closing in around him. The forest seemed to stretch and warp, and Victor's muscles felt like they withered as if drained of their strength. He stumbled and fell to his knees, his body shrinking, and he realized he was becoming smaller and smaller.

In the end, Victor stood before the grinning, ancient witch, his form diminishing with each passing moment. Eliza, her malevolent smile stretching impossibly wide, reached out a gnarled hand toward him. She chanted incantations in a language long forgotten by the world, her voice like the distant hum of an eerie melody.

As Victor continued to shrink, he felt himself drawn toward Eliza's outstretched hand, unable to resist the pull of her dark magic. The forest seemed to close in around him, towering trees now colossal sentinels, and the fireflies' glow above him grew more distant with every heartbeat.

Finally, when Victor had dwindled to a mere fraction of his former size, he was gently deposited onto the cold forest floor, now an infinitesimal speck in a world of towering blades of grass and monstrous tree roots. Eliza's eyes gleamed with a malicious satisfaction, her work done. She chuckled softly, her voice a haunting echo in Victor's ears, and then turned away, leaving him alone in the vast, dark wilderness, forever trapped in a world he could barely comprehend.