Nyctohylophobia

Nychtohylophobia | Shade-Touched Spectre

Species Lore:

A dragon egg laid outside the territory of the eleven elemental gods will not hatch: without their magic, soul never knits to body and the embryo inside withers and dies. Without an anchor, the little waiting spark of Mind that might one day have become a person slips away through the cracks in reality. Most are eaten by the pneumavores that lurk in the hungry Void outside, but a few--lucky or clever or both--survive and grow up to become predators themselves. Shade-touched, these lost souls lurk in the dreams and nightmares of dragonkind, feeding on their fears and growing fat.

The largest of them are the greater horrors, dream-beasts without an identity beyond their Names--the specific terror they draw strength from. Most horrors are little more than beasts, unconscious and unaware of the minds around them, though they ably ape the manner and speech of dragons they meet while dreaming. The larger they are, the more they resemble thinking beings, though the veneer of intelligence lies only skin-deep over a terrible animal cunning. Sleeping dragons caught and seduced by a wandering horror might never wake again, trapped beyond saving in their own nightmares--or worse, awaken possessed, without dreams or mind or reasoning of their own.

Terrifying as they might be, horrors dissolve if they can be lured into the waking world. Without flesh or consciousness, they hold no constant shape and melt away like fog in the sunlight. A very few, though, have that vital spark of self-regard that can blossom into true sapience with the right encouragement. These rare horrors are a match for any dragon in intellect and can survive outside the dream-world, but they're often socially crippled and terribly, terribly lonely.

Made of nightmare-stuff woven together, a horror in its native shape is a serpentine nightmare of tendrils and eyes and teeth. Able mimics, they can adapt any form they choose, though never so convincingly as to fool anyone: their telltale coloration can't be disguised, nor can the innumerable tiny tentacles making up their corporeal forms. Neither do many bother to hide their unnatural fangs; given their preference to resemble more anguine breeds of dragons, this often leads to distressingly toothy faes and coatls with maws of razors.


Bio:

Nyctohylophobia appeared as a hatchling-like being in Azubah's nursery. Initially, the imperial nanny thought it might be Adagio's child, since he's the only dark colored spiral in the clan. But she soon began to notice that there was something... not right... about this hatchling. There were things... things that looked like little tendrils covering its entire body. And its eyes. They weren't the light green of a Wind dragon. They were an unnatural color, a dark purple - almost black. They were darker than even the rarest of Shadow eye types. And when it opened its mouth, it revealed a mouth full of razor sharp teeth; extremely odd for a spiral, especially a hatchling.

And it rarely spoke. In fact, it wasn't until a few days after it appeared that Azubah finally pried a name out of it. But that name - and the voice that said it - made a chill run down her spine. "Nyctohylophobia. The Fear of Forests at Night," the ...thing... said. Its voice seemed layered, as if a chorus of dragons were speaking instead of only one. It was like an entire school class was dragging their claws across the chalkboard.

Azubah knew there was no way it was just a coincidence: shortly before the creature appeared, the hatchlings in her nursery became inexplicably scared of the bamboo forest outside the lair every night. During the day, they weren't bothered by it. In fact, they often begged Azubah to take them exploring. But they never let themselves be found outside the lair at night.

When Azubah approached him to inquire about the strange hatchling, Adagio felt an odd kinship with Nyctohylophobia - or Nyct, as he decided to call him. He also decided that he would refer to the youngling as a male, though Nyct said Greater Horrors don't have genders. Maybe he felt drawn to Nyct because he wasn't entirely draconic, either. Being the child of two fallen angels, Adagio knows what it's like to try to assimilate into the clan. But he didn't realize that this Greater Horror was like nothing he's ever encountered...

Nyct discovered that Jade stone helps him to channel his consciousness and energy, making it easier for him to maintain his physical form. He can then use the saved energy for other tasks, such as trying to find himself a place in the clan.

Though he tries to be as amicable as possible, he doesn't have any friends. Hell, you could barely even say he has acquaintances. Adagio and Keziah slather him with love and affection, trying to give him as normal of a family life as they can, but the rest of his clanmates make sure to stay well away from him. Nyct has accepted their avoidance as a fact of life, but he still clings to the hope that maybe, one day, someone will want to be his friend.

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Keziah could tell Nyct was lonely. She watched as he played with the insects she brought home for Adagio. He didn't kill them, he just played with them, studied them. He would watch in fascination as he let them crawl across his claws and up his arms. Sometimes she swore he would release the bugs, as if he were rescuing them from becoming Adagio's dinner. She decided he needed a companion who wouldn't judge him, one who wouldn't question who - or what - he was. And then one day, while making her weekly run to the trading post, Pinkerton all but shoved a wriggling fuzzball into her arms. "Take it, before Crim gets too attached!" he wheezed.

Keziah looked back to the ball of fur, discovering it to be a kitten. Her heart melted at the permanent expression of concern plastered on the Scottish Fold's face. She took the kitten home, and smiled warmly as Nyct immediately picked it up and cuddled it. She had been slightly worried that the cat would be frightened of the Horror, as the majority of animals are, but she was delighted to see the kitten snuggle up against him, purring. She stood there watching for a few moments before Nyct broke the silence, uttering a single word in his raspy voice: "Bellus."

Nyct had been working on controling his voice. When they first took him in, Adagio explained that a good number of his clanmates were disturbed by his chorus-like voice. Since then, he's managed to solidify the sound into "one" voice, though most of his communication is still nonverbal.

"Is that what you're naming it?" she asked.

"Her," Nyct replied with a nod.

"It's a female?"

He nodded again.

Origin:

No one in the clan knows where Nyctohylophobia came from. He's the only one who does. The truth is, he was summoned by a Shadow mage passing through the area. Whether or not the mage intended to summon a Greater Horror is unknown, but whatever the case is, Nyctohylophobia appeared. He was unable to feed off the mage, so he instead turned to a nearby clan. It was there that he settled in Azubah's nursery.

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Mate: Zubenelgenubi