Only during the frightful, night-storms do they come, when the lightning illuminates the sleeping world with purple hues and white streaks. Taking physical traits of many other animals, the lightningbeast is a horror.
Lightningbeasts are akin to a lanky human on all fours with the skull-like head of a wide-faced deer. Their large eyes peer under shaggy, wet hair into the very soul of their prey. Their elbows and joints are lined with long, black feathers that glide along the ground as they stalk. Their skin is black and disgustingly soft and loose. Their teeth are that of a vicious shark, jagged and sharp, for piercing and carrying. Their claws are like that of a cats, but theirs do not retract into soft paws but knobby knuckles. Most unsettling are their eyes. Lightningbeasts are large, but the irises and pupils are pinpoints until they are close. Their obsidian dots enlarge to envelope almost the entire eye, leaving a small, white halo surrounding. They also salivate a glowing, white foam or pus. This is their striking stance.
No one knows where they come from, for they only show themselves during lightning storms. During the storm they can be seen at the very first streak in the sky. In the light of a lightning crackle one can see them prowling. Always distant at first, the creatures can only be seen only during the illumination of the lightning, no matter the duration. Only glimpses can be see in the storm's light. Darkvision cannot reveal them as they are not in this world; only the sight that pierces dimensions can perceive them outside of the lightning's brightness. Lightningbeasts move slowly, stalking low to the ground, their bony elbows and back legs arching up and out unnaturally from their body. They place each claw deliberately when they move. With each lightning strike the creature is seen closer and closer. Once within several feet of the creature it lunges during a streak. At the first attack, it will attempt to bite and carry the creature off, disappearing between the lightning into the storm's darkness.
Despite this harrowing description, some have lived, telling only of darkness and pain. If they can fight the lightningbeast, they are released without much issue, though some have been seen to fight against the creature and it carries them anyway. From what can be deduced, these creatures prefer easy kills, but when hungry enough will take whatever they can carry. A few adventurers have had an unfortunate encounter with them, and tell tales of their lilac-colored blood spewing about in the light of the storm raging above. Once slain, the carcass remains only until the last of the lightning dissipates, even from bags of holding or other means of holding.
Comments