Posted by Meg
Here is the next submission to the Create Your Own Coreling Contest from Stew.
Chameleon Demon/Veiled Coreling
My idea probably wouldn’t work in Thesa, as there aren’t any jungles (that I’m aware of) so my justification for this coreling is that there are jungles elsewhere in the world, maybe far from the land of Thesa, perhaps to the East in a hotter, more tropical environment. This being a reptilian, you ask, would it not be cold blooded? Well, it is, but a demon does not need body heat to survive.
I wish I had art work to go with this, so I will add a bonus short story in its place. Hope you like it, whether I win or not 🙂
Brief Analysis and Nature
Known as a Veiled demon to some, due to its ability to effectively camouflage itself in the thick jungle environment it calls its home.
These corelings usually appear an hour or so after the others, predominantly due to their slow movement when on the ground (another, rarer rival of the wood demon). This delay increases the chances that the wood demons will have moved on, away from the haunts. The thick cover of the trees allows the corelings that rise in these areas to form a little earlier without the fear of the deadly sunlight. Using these trees, they climb to great heights in search of food and good surveillance spots as they are very territorial. Chameleon demons are solitary demons. They have a generally more relaxed nature compared to the destructive and raging personalities of other corelings. However, this doesn’t mean that they aren’t viscous when they see a human, an animal or a fellow demon. These demons do not move great distances, and are unlikely to leave the jungle area, and so rarely have the opportunity to destroy buildings or farmland. Sometimes they stumble upon tribes of the jungle, who use unique protective wards, but over time they lay waste to the settlements. In fact, Veiled demons are very single minded and stubborn, returning night after night until the village is utterly destroyed.
Physical Attributes
The first noticeable characteristic of the Veiled demon is its size. Roughly four feet tall, and fifteen feet long, their legs are hunched, keeping their bellies low to the ground. from the tip of their nose to the ends of their tails there are hard, almost triangular bumps.
Its colouring is a dark, almost black, green. Its eyes are a terrifying amber colour, the pupils menacing slits that seem to pierce your very soul should you look into them.
The head of a chameleon coreling has dozens of small, sharp horns, and a row of smaller horns that circle its protruding eyes. It uses these horns in combination with its six foot long tail to defend its territory against other Veiled demons. Its tail also holds more spikes along its tip, these are actually quite useless against other demons of its type, however, as the demon has an incredibly tough hide.
A Veiled demon’s eyesight is incredibly sharp. They are able to focus on separate points on either side of their head, as each can move independently.
However, probably the single most terrifying weapon in the demon’s arsenal is its excessively long tongue. It uses its ability to launch its tongue at over twenty body lengths a second, on the end of which is thick with sticky mucus, to catch its prey. It relies on this ability a lot due to its large bulk and slow speed. Its can also use its three pronged claws to clench to death anything that gets too close, or to break apart anything that is too big for its mouth.
Habitat
Jungle areas with tropical climates. Huge trees that are hundreds of years old are their favourite choice when it comes to climbing back up off the ground.
Strengths
Its tough skin provides excellent protection against even the strongest, sharpest blades or claws. It has another unique ability that allows it to blend in with its environment, which may seem unnecessary considering they only come out at night, but it is still a vital part of their survivability, allowing them to lurk for longer periods going unnoticed. The camouflage doesn’t just end with the visual adaptations to its environment, it can also produce aromas similar to those around it, and its movement its almost completely silent when moving amongst the trees.
Weaknesses
They have quite bad hearing, although they are not deaf. They have no outer or middle ear, so they have a limited hearing range. It relies on its vision almost exclusively. They are very slow, and very heavy. This makes them populate the denser areas of jungle, where the trees are strong enough to support their weight.
The Silent Knight
Genba was from a simple tribe that lived peacefully, harmoniously in a large, fruitful jungle. It was his fourteenth birthday, the day he became a man. A spear and a waterskin were all he had to survive the next three nights alone.
He was walked to the Sacred Tree by his father and an Elder. Here he was given his instructions.
“Genba, you are still a boy. Survive for three nights on your own, living off the land and return to the village no earlier than the morning of the fourth day. When you return, you will be a man.”
Then they said a short prayer to their gods and made motions in the air with their hands, ancient symbols called wards that surrounded the village. Genba didn’t know what they meant, or what they were for, but the Elders once told all the children that they protected the village from demons. In fact, there was a yearly ritual where all the wards were repainted and tended. Genba didn’t believe in these demons, though. He’d never seen one, and he found it hard to believe in such spiritual concepts.
Now he was alone, cooking the boar he’d caught above a well stoked fire. It was his last night before he could return, and the sky was just turning an ambient orange as the sun began to hide blow the horizon. It was the first animal he’d managed to catch, and his hunger was audible. While the boar cooked and the fat on its back cracked and popped, filling the air with a meaty, succulent aroma, he prepared his shelter.
It had been a hot day, and mid afternoon he had found a stream that he wasn’t aware existed. The humid air had made it difficult to hunt, already weak from the lack of food. He must return to the village with proof of his kill, and with such a large boar he thought he would share it amongst some of the villagers, earning himself a little renown in the process.
By the time he had finished setting up his bed and clearing the rest of the ground so that bugs would be discouraged from biting his warm flesh at night, his boar was ready. He tucked in, using the sharp tip of his spear to unconventionally slice the hot meat.
The meat was good, and he ate it alongside a couple juicy fruits he’d gathered the day before in preparation. He was full, now, and he moved the boar from the fire, hanging it from a tree branch while he moved the makeshift spit he made a few feet away before replacing the boar to cool for the night.
He settled down on his leafy bed, his stomach full. The sky was a dark purple colour, and Genba found himself nodding off on his last night alone. Tomorrow he would be a man, he reflected silently.
And then, something changed. The atmosphere felt different to him, almost static. He sat up, his heart beating too fast for his liking. He looked around his little camp, he was only two or three miles from his village, which comforted him. He saw nothing out of place, his small fire would keep the bigger animals away, so he was safe.
But then, off to his right there came a delicate, rising wisp of smoke. It was coming from the ground, from the earth itself. It rose about three feet and started to increase in density. Genba looked on in shock, and reached for his spear. Was this some forest spirit? Was this the final stage in his rite of passage?
There was a lot of mist now, all collected in on area that was about fifteen feet long. And then it started to take shape. Genba looked on in horror, not knowing what it was that he was seeing. Finally the smoke started to darken, becoming so dense Genba couldn’t see through it, even when he squinted.
Then it was there. A vast body, with large eyes and a long tail. Genba felt his heart skip a beat, pinching himself to check if it was a dream he was laying witness to. Surely the Elders wouldn’t make anyone come out here if they knew such monsters inhabited these areas. It had a large, flat head that was covered in horns and spikes. It was roughly four feet tall, but its thick, short legs were bent and its belly was lowto the ground. There was an interplay of thousands of tiny patterns on its dark scaley hide. It looked like one of the chameleon reptiles that livedin these areas.
It seemed unaware of him as he stood up, backing away with his spear clenched in both hands. The monster, the demon that appeared before him out of the core itself, seemed to be stretching, testing each of its limbs, extending its spiked tail.
And the Genba heard a loud snap. He looked down to see he was at the edge of his camp, and he’d just stepped on a branch. The demon swung its huge bulk around, so that the side of its body was facing Genba. Its huge, extended eye was focused on him. He felt a deep, bone trembling chill run through him. Its eye was the size of his head, an orb of fire-like amber, with a slash of pitch black cutting through the middle.
A low rumbling noise filled the air, an earthshaking rumble of a growl. The demon lifted its lips, revealing a row of barbed teeth that lined its flat, wide jaw. It moved towards Genba slowly, shifting colours as it went, changing from a dark green to an odd yellow, to red, then blue, and then back to the darkest green imaginable.
Its claws scratched deep cuts into the soil as it paced forward. Then, with a quick dart of its head it opened its mouth. Before Genba could figure out what had happened, the demon crunched down on his cooked boar that was attached to the end of its tongue. Genba couldn’t believe the speed that it had launched its tongue, that horrifying speed.
Before he had time to think he had turned around and started sprinting in the direction of the village. His stomach was full, and
quickly he got pains in his stomach. After a few minutes of a terror fuelled run, dry rasping intakes of breath and a whirl of crazy thoughts he had to stop. He thought fast, he was still two miles away from the village, but he couldn’t run for much longer. His stomach felt heavy and the pain he felt from the stitch he’d received whilst running was making it difficult to stand up straight.
He couldn’t rest long, though, because in front of him there moved something in the darkness. It was like a walking tree that appeared before him, knobbly, bark-like flesh covering its tall, hideous body. It screamed at him and swiped a clawed hand at him. Instinctively Genba thrust forward with his spear, parrying the demon’s claw. The spear hit the wood demon hard under the arm, but the tip shattered and the wooden pole it was attached to split.
The wood demon gave another scream and stepped towards him. Again, instinct took over and Genba found himself running away once again. He had tried to fight and it was useless. There was no sense dying out here.
As he ran on he saw more demons moving around, destroying trees and hunting for prey. Most of them were too busy to notice him, luckily, and he fled past them like a flash. He’d managed to get within view of the village, and his burning legs were ready to buckle.
From behind a large tree in front of him there stepped another of the chameleon shaped demon. Genba saw its head move the same way it had in the camp and he quickly dodged to the left. A massive and thick tongue smashed into a tree behind him, impacting with a wet thud. The tree snapped as easily as the spear had, and went crashing down with a thundering orchestra of snapping branching.
He had no choice but to run, and he sprinted passed the demon only to find another one, that was about the same size a few dozen feet in front of him. He was trapped. He had no way out. He could hear the rumbling growl from the one in front of him and its answer from the demon behind him. They were going to tear him apart if he didn’t move.
He looked around at them both, each taking slow, silent steps towards him. They were scant feet from him as he froze in terror,caught between them both.
“Genba! Get inside the village border!”
Genba snapped back into reality. He darted to the right, taking a longer but calculatingly safer route to the village borders. As he glanced behind him to see if he was being pursued, he saw the two chameleon demons clawing at each other, and whipping with there tails, making cracks like whips.
He made it, he was across the border. He turned back to survey the area of his homeland, and saw the furious swipe of a wood demon head straight at him. In a blinding flash of light and a roaring boom the demon was thrown backward. This seemed to make it angry, and it hammered back on the invisible wall that kept it at bay.
Genba heard footsteps behind him as the Chief and his father walked over to him.
“So they are back.” The Chief said.
Genba looked at his father, who had tears in his eyes.
“Sorry I didn’t become a man, Father. I didn’t know where else to go.”
At Genba’s words his father grabbed him, hugging him tightly.
“No, son. No. You are more of a man than me.” He said, tears from the return of his son running down his face. “To spend any time at all without protection amongst these demons is an act of courage I doubt even I could match.”
And with a final squeeze, Genba and his father, along with the rest of the village, watched as the demons were kept out of the village by the ancient symbols known as wards.
Thank you to Stew who sent us that gripping and imaginative story!
We’ve been getting a steady stream of excellent entries. Want to prove your Coreling is the fiercest of them all? Go ahead and submit to the Create Your Own Coreling Contest by 11:59pm on May 18, 2012. For more details, check out the rules here.
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 8:00 am by megelizabeth
Filed under Contests, Create a Coreling, Daylight War, Desert Spear, Fan Art, Fans, Meg, Warded Man
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