Bakwa

“Food’s here!”

Waltzing into the large ballroom with two massive silver platters balanced on each arm, Lakota skipped over to the banquet table. The announcement (and the delicious scent following his arrival), drew the attention of the other event committee members in the room. Soon, just as Lakota set the platters down on the long banquet table, a large crowd had formed around him, eager to see what will be served at the Halloween ball tonight.

You, head of the event committee and previously engrossed in setting up spooky streamers along the wall, also drifted over once you realized that work had paused.

Lakota, infinitely pleased by the attention his food invited, proudly showed off everything on the menu.

“...And, I’d like everyone to take a look at the salmon.” Sweeping a hand over one of the platters, countless eyes were drawn to the salmon piled within the center of the silver. Arranged into a large flower, each petal—piece of salmon, looked impossibly tender and plump. The meat seemed to glow underneath the fluorescent light of the ballroom chandeliers, beckoning whoever set eyes on it to have a taste. The gathered committee members, even if they were a plant-based monster, all swallowed down a mouthful of saliva, their appetites stirring to life at the sight.

Wrapping up his description of the salmon’s origin and taste, Lakota picked up the platter and held it out towards the committee members.

“Would anyone like a taste before the event?” He tilted his head slightly as the features of his mask twisted into a smile. “A before-the-party ‘quality check’ if you will.”

The enraptured crowd who had previously been silent, now erupted into noise.

“Me! I’ll try it!”

“No, I will!”

Arguing for a chance to take a bite, the frenzied monsters soon brought out their claws and fangs, ready to take down their competitors.

Suddenly, you stepped forward.

Still standing with his platter, Lakota watched as you calmed the crowd before walking up to him.

You glanced at the platter, then back at him.

“None of this was in our budget.”

Lakota nodded. “Of course.” His mask shifted again, forming big puppy dog eyes. “I used my own budget for this, shouldn't we only want to offer our fellow students nothing but the best on such a special night? Halloween only comes around once a year, you know.”

You raised an eyebrow. “The best, yes. But...”

You reached out, waving a hand over the platter. As your fingers drifted over it, the salmon in the center flickered like the flame of a dying candle. Then, the illusion melted, revealing a sculpted flower out of rotten wood pulp instead of salmon. Countless maggots squirmed in and out of the wood, forming a nonsensical pattern that made anyone who looked at it dizzy.

Pouting now that his illusion was uncovered, Lakota sighed.

“You could’ve at least waited until someone took a bite. I don’t mistreat my new servants, you know. In fact...”

Lakota nudged you with the platter, eyes growing big and wide. As a Bakwa, he had a natural desire to feed others, tricking them into eating rotten wood pulp, maggots, lizards, snakes, and rats through the use of illusions. Anyone who ate the food became his servant, and would then accompany him back to the country of ghosts when he left school to return home. Even though he was still developing his abilities and could only keep his compulsion over someone for a day, Lakota’s prodigious control over his illusions predicted that he would grow to collect hundreds of servants in the future.

“Why don’t you take a bite? Try it out.”