Nuri

The Living Skeletons

CW: skeletons, references to pain magic

They're adorable. In a kindly-get-the-Hell-away-from-me sort of way.

— Hailey Agustin

If you run across any skeletons while you're exploring, please don't mind them. These are my little pets. I know, seeing one can be quite daunting, but I promise you, they mean no harm, and if anything, they keep The Library functioning better. Think of them as maggots or woodlice. They eat things that are old and dying. Mine like the rotting autumn leaves in the garden and the spines of old books whose glue has disintigrated. But what they love most of all is unstable magic.

My dad called them the nuri. It seems the Voyagers are the only ones who aren't afraid of them. Voyagers have been finding them for a while on their travels and had a tendency to adopt them as ship mascots, especially the birds. They took to eating the rot in old boards and food that had gone bad. In some cases, the nuri helped clean up rot before it spread. But even when it didn't, they alerted voyagers to necessary replacements. And they're remarkably cuddly.

by Artbreeder

by Artbreeder

It took a while for me to figure out where they came from. They're not common, but it does seem you can find them anywhere. And they can take the shape of any animal, but always a skeleton, or sometimes a decaying carcass with bits of matted fur or feathers still stuck on in some places, like my bird, Sadie. But it turns out that they, like their favorite food, are the products of unstable magic.

The nuri do not breed, but are created, usually on accident, and usually by Scavengers. Scavenger magic by nature is unstable. It's primary ingredients are blood, bone, and pain. One can use their own, of course, but they typically prefer not to. So it's not a rare sight to see a Scavenger compound littered with bones. And those bones are attracted to stray bits of pain magic.

When someone loses focus during a magical working, it can be absorbed into nearby bones which will put themselves back together. I have yet to see a human, but I think that may be because the bones don't always know how to put themselves together correctly. Regarless, once alive, the nuri seek out more stray magic. They don't attack proper workings, but they will absorb unstable, unfinished workings, and eat things that unstable magic has affected. So, they tend to hang out around Scavenger compounds, if they're not killed. And if they aren't, the nuri actually protect Scavangers from the same unstable magic that causes fatal allergies.

Despite their unsettling appearance, I think nuri make great pets. They don't smell, they don't shed, and you don't have to clean up after them. I don't even think they really need to eat. They just enjoy it. But it doesn't bother me if they want to clean up the garden (though I do have to keep them away from the books if I haven't had a chance to copy them yet.) They don't seem to age or get sick, though they can be killed, particularly with blunt force. They're incredibly loyal and will not hesitate to defend a friend under attack, so I have unfortunately lost a few to fights. So if you see my friends, please don't drop a book on them. Just offer them a piece of mushy fruit. Soon, they're be eating right out of your hand and curling up on your lap while you read.