The Many Heads of The Abomination

It is the doom that comes to Patala. It is a hunger that will consume us all - unless we stop it.

— Aldara the Dream-Eater

A monster unlike any other, the Abomination is a Shrikes of unmatched size and power. It has glutted itself on nightmares and remade itself with them, becoming a mad conglomoration of all the dreams and fears of its victims. It only vaguely resemble the moth-like thing it once was, with the rainbow hued wings of the Shrike still jutting from a malformed back multiplied sevefold as the most obvious clue of its origin.
The story of the Abomination has a hundred branches, told across Patala since the Plague of Dreams. That the Plague spawned it, most agree on, but from there each tale diverge, ranging from quiet to outrageous. With every sighting and every victim, its legend grows, and so does the stories.

It was born then, you know. No one of their kin has ever had a feast like that, like during the Plague. It ate and ate and ate, 'til it just swelled up like a fat man at a Chnagahn! Only, it stayed big. Like the fat man at the Chnagahn, it's going to be twice as hungry next time, mark my words.

No, no, that's not what happened! My brother said.. He said he heard from a friend, what really happened. It was the fault of one of those warlock types, weaving his dark magic when the Shrikes were all over the place. Whatever he did, musta not been right. Said the Shrike swelled like a tick after a big meal, and ate him too.

I bet he did it on purpose. He must have. You can't trust witchery like that.

Yeah, well, it ate him, didn't it?

Shrikes, the Thought-Eaters
Nightmarish, moth-like things, Shrikes feast on the dreams and thoughts, making lairs in the shadows between reality and the mortal mind.
The Abomination was once a normal Shrike, but no longer; it has become something else, something great and terrible.
Read More About Shrikes

by Midjourney

I don't think it went away. I mean, how do we know it did? I think.. I think we're still sleeping. We're inside the Abomination right now; like, the dream. Maybe it got so big, it just.. Ate everything. We're just being digested.

What?

Come on!

That's crazy.

I don't know about that...

Aye, well, just remember, your bar tab is still very real.

Heard another family went missing over at the Warrens just last week. Do you think it was the Abomination?

Reckon so. It's still here. Where do you think it is?

If you ask me... Well... How do we know it's not just sleeping, you know, inside the head of someone. You saw what happened to Avila's uncle, didn't you? Head popped like a full tick if you hit it with a hammer.
Except, it hasn't popped yet.

Don't you think that Aldara fella got a mite weird after the plague?

Careful now.

I'm just saying, that's what I heard, that the Abomination lives in her head now, and she's grown a pair of wings too, and that's why we ain't seen her around since then!

Riiiiiiiiight...

Riiiiiiiiight...

How do we know you aren't the Abomination, then?

This is ridiculous. You lot get me another drink, and I'll tell you what's really going on...