Alyssa’s Bestiary

Author’s Note: Please be aware that this page will likely contain spoilers up to the latest chapter in the main story.

Or… Monstiary? Sounds too close to monastery. Bestiary will work fine, I suppose.

Apparently monsters exist in this world. Actual mythological monsters such as harpies. Normally, I wouldn’t have believed such a thing. Harpies? Really? Are they sure they’re not talking about unpleasant old women?

Well, yes, unless those unpleasant old women are carrying off sheep from the village. Even with that particular anecdote, I would still have dismissed it as the local superstitious peasants using mythological creatures to explain why their livestock went missing.

But I met an angel. An actual angel with a halo who eats souls. Said angel is the whole reason I’m in this mess in the first place. So if an angel could exist, why not harpies.

Humans apparently hate monsters on principal. I haven’t quite gotten a full story as to why. I’m also not sure if the feeling is returned from the monster side of things.

There are apparently “sub-humans” as well. A distinct subcategory of monsters that some humans find tolerable. Barely. I’ve heard elves will sometimes trade with humans, but at the same time, they’re treated like utter trash.

Since it seems as if I’m stuck here for a long while, I decided that I needed to learn about the world. That includes monsters. So here is a brief description of every monster I’ve come across or heard about and capabilities of them. I would keep the list in alphabetical order, but since I’m writing in a notebook, it would be far too troublesome to go back and move down a hundred different creatures just to make room for a living artichoke or whatever.

Angels

Devils?

Description: Wings. Feathered wings. They look like humans with wings stuck to their backs. Sometimes they wear a halo, but when they do, it’s so bright that I can’t even look at them. I said they looked like humans, but that isn’t quite accurate. The one who got me into this mess has glowing white eyes with no iris or pupil to speak of and pasty grey skin.

Abilities: Could be limitless for all I know. What I have observed so far includes:

Divine Intervention — something that lets mortals have a sudden burst of inspiration.
World Transfer — I don’t know if this has a name, but it’s how I ended up moving from good old Earth to this messed up world. Took my house with it too.
Time Stop — Tenebrael decided to stop time for the sole purpose of having a chat with me. Bitch.

Danger Rating: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Notes: I wasn’t sure if angels should really go in this list. It seems no one else can see, hear, or otherwise interact with them unless they’re dead. I don’t know why I can. It’s a mystery that I hope to unravel one day.

Addendum: I have gained information on the hierarchy of angels and have placed it in a separate section of my notes.

Ants

Land-bound Bees

Description: I could just write ‘A Bug’s Life’ here and leave it at that, but that wouldn’t help anyone who hasn’t seen that movie. And I might want to loan these notes out to people sometime. So I’ll just say that they look like big bipedal ants. Definitely one of the more monstrous of monsters, though not in the frightening kind of way.

Abilities: Numbers?

Danger Rating: ♦ (potentially higher danger rating if there is a swarm of them)

Notes: I don’t think I would be afraid of a single ant. Unless their chitinous exoskeleton can deflect bullets or they have amazing strength hidden in their twiggy arms, I could probably sleep through one trying to attack me. But apparently they live in communities that number in the millions. A million could trample me and even a minigun wouldn’t save me.

Bunyips

Fluffy Snakes

Description: Bunyips are essentially snake people. Think Medusa from Greek mythology. They have long snake-like tails, no legs, but a humanoid body from the waist up. Instead of having scales on their tails and bodies, they have thick fur similar to that of a hellhound.

Abilities: Their fur is apparently quite strong, again much like a hellhound.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦

Notes: The one I met was relaxing in a large pool when we intruded on it. The second we did, it turned from quiet relaxation to threatening fight-mode in an instant, rearing up twice my height using its tail to appear bigger. Kind of like a cat puffing out its fur when threatened? Not sure how dangerous these actually are, but I don’t think I would want to fight one. Even Spectral Chains might not do much depending on how prehensile their tails are.

Cursed Swords

Forbidden Treasure

Description: Cursed swords have two forms, essentially. The first being their sword, the second being their host. A cursed sword in its natural state is, essentially, just a sword. To most, they’ll look like magical swords, but as with any sword, they are entirely immobile. That all changes once they are picked up by a human—or other monster? I’m not actually sure about that bit. The cursed sword starts exerting some kind of mind control, encouraging their host to use them more. The more they are used, the more the cursed sword takes control of their host until the host is completely supplanted.

Abilities: Mind control.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Notes: Extremely dangerous creatures. Although with a host, a cursed sword will look mostly normal, they still seem extremely violent. The one I met seemed to be held in check by Volta, however. Note to self: Don’t pick up any suspicious-looking swords. Also find out if other objects behave similarly. It would be just my luck to pick up some fancy amulet only to have my entire personality replaced with that of a mad scientist.

Cyclops

One Eye Sees All

Description: Straight from a mythology textbook, a cyclops looks just like a giant human with only a single eye in the middle of its face.

Abilities: Strength and size. Bad depth perception?

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦

Notes: The plural of cyclops is cyclopes? Cyclopses? Cyclopi?

Doppelgangers

Two-for-One

Description: Like mimics, doppelgangers are shapeshifters. There are a few key differences, however. Where a mimic can turn itself into just about anything, a doppelganger is limited to human and humanoid forms. This limitation does come with one advantage: their forms are far more substantial, capable of lifting weights on par with that of a normal human.

Abilities: Shapeshifting.

Danger Rating: ♦

Notes: I seem to be able to see their true form even while they are disguised. It is an oddity that I can’t explain, but might be related to how I can see angels. Maybe? That might imply that there is something divine about doppelgangers and bears further investigation.

Draken

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Description: Bipedal lizards that look an awful lot like the Jurassic Park raptors if the raptors were covered in spines. They have slit-pupils and nasty sharp pointed teeth.

Abilities: Speed.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Notes: The Black Prince of Lyria uses them like horses. And I’m pretty sure they’re faster than horses. More dangerous too. Their sharp teeth and slit-pupil eyes make me uneasy. Especially when those teeth are less than an inch away from my face. Their breath isn’t too great either.

Elves

What do their elf-eyes see?

Description: They are humans, slightly slender with pointed ears. And their skin isn’t in any human shade I’ve seen, most of which ranges from blue to grey.

Abilities: Master craftsmen, or so I’ve heard.

Danger Rating: ♦

Notes: They’re the only monsters I’ve seen wandering the city streets so far. Most people don’t look twice at them. Probably because they’re usually in chains. Slaves. I don’t like it, but I’m not exactly in a position to overthrow the city’s government and free them.

Fairies

Trust in me, Just in me

Description: Short little beings that look like tiny humans. Standing upright, they reach a height of only about a foot. Their eyes are vaguely luminescent, but not super bright. And they have wings. Thin and transparent ones, much like those of a dragonfly.

Abilities: Mind control. Super insecurity.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Notes: Tzheitza wanted to kill a fairy on sight despite it being trapped in a cage. I disagreed at the time. However, after actually interacting with one… I might agree that killing them before they have a chance to do anything isn’t such a bad idea. They look so unassuming. Their twig-like arms would snap with the slightest pressure. But they instinctively try to take control of anything that gets near them. While I was able to get out without too much trouble, I already know that magic acts strangely around me. Other people don’t have the same protections.

Gaunts

Lovecraft Nightmare

Description: Skeletons wearing black latex bodysuits. Not quite, but that is a decent picture. Their fingers are long and needle-like. Sharp as well. Everything about them is elongated. Their arms are thin and lanky. Their legs are the same. Their torso does have a rib cage, but it is far narrower than it should be. The only bulbous part of them is their heads, which are smooth and round. Except for the face. Their face is covered in holes, mostly small but some large. Thin strands of their rubbery skin keep their head from being one large hole to… somewhere.

Abilities: Invulnerability? Soundless movements. An alternate dimension where they store their food, hidden within the void behind the holes in their faces.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦

Notes: These things are proof that evolution in this world clearly went insane. Just looking at them makes me insane. Not actually, but pretty close. They are horrifying beings. Just remembering how they look to write down had me shuddering, even though I wrote it down so vaguely. To make matters worse, they are apparently unkillable.

So why do they get only three stars? Because they are slow. They are the slowest things ever. A snail could race one of these, take a nap just before the finish line, and still finish first. So long as you know one is around, you could outpace it at a casual walk. They also only eat one thing, maybe a cow, maybe a person. Then they fall dormant for a full decade. People worship these things thinking they’re protectors. And they go unharmed so long as they get a steak every ten years. So, only three stars.

Still, I wouldn’t want to meet one in a dark alley. Or a brightly lit alley. I should really just steer clear of alleys in general.

Goblins

Shame they can’t all look like David Bowie

Description: Diminutive little wretches. Green skin. Floppy ears. Sharp teeth. Hollywood has to get things right on occasion, I suppose.

Abilities: Size.

Danger Rating: ♦♦

Notes: Nasty little things that apparently like to make and use poisons, usually as coating on their blades. All they need is to scratch someone and then use their small size and relatively quick feet to escape while their target suffers a slow and agonizing death. Good thing they’re dumb as a box of rocks. They put all their intelligence points into poison making. According to Oz, more of them die to their own toxins than any enemy. Unfortunate that their reproductive rate is on par with rabbits.

Gremlins

Technicolor Hobbits

Description: Gremlins are short humans with large fluffy ears and strange colors of hair. On average, they only come up to my stomach when standing upright. They are quick and light on their feet, but not necessarily more so than a similarly sized human. If not for their neon-colored hair and large ears, they could probably pass as completely human. If a bit short relative to the average.

Abilities: Good hearing?

Danger Rating: ♦

Notes: Curiosity and playfulness might be a common trait of theirs. At least that is true of the younger generation of gremlins around Illuna.

Hellhounds

Not actually from Hell

Description: Like most monsters in this world, they are humanoid in form. Their arms and legs are covered in fur and their hands are massive paws with sharp claws, but they look remarkably human aside from that. Though they do have tails and big fluffy ears. The one I met had unnaturally black skin tone, but I don’t know if that changes between hellhounds like it does with humans. Their most defining feature is their eyes, which constantly emit brilliant plumes of fire.

Abilities: Strength. Agility.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Notes: If trolls got three diamonds for being strong, hellhounds get at least five. They’re strong and agile. More, they are intelligent. The one I met threw a man off a cliff as if he weighed as much as a feather and crushed another man’s head between her thighs like his head was a balloon. Luckily, their intelligence means that they can be reasoned with. Hopefully. The one I met seemed more than willing to help me, but that might just be because of having rescued her. I probably shouldn’t take that as being indicative of the entire species.

Harpies

It’s a bird! It’s a… bird!

Description: They look like humans except with feathered wings in place of their arms and talons in place of their feet.

Abilities: Flight, presumably. Sharp talons. They can swim too, surprisingly. I watched a harpy go fishing.

Danger Rating: ♦ ? Not sure yet. Haven’t encountered any. One diamond is probably good, considering the danger rating is completely arbitrary based on my whims. The sole harpy I encountered wasn’t hostile, but its talons were scarily sharp and it could fly extremely quick.

Notes: I sure hope they’re not actually angels. I really don’t need to deal with more of them. Apparently they tend to leave humans alone so long as they’re left alone in turn. Definitely not angels. Not super hostile either. The one harpy I came across was injured. An arrow was sticking out of her side. I helped her patch it up. After that, she tried to offer me some fish as thanks. I think anyway. They don’t seem to speak except in little bird-like trills and chirps.

Honey Bees

Just bee yourself!

Description: While their silhouette is mostly humanoid, they obviously aren’t up close. Their arms and legs are narrow and spindly, covered in some kind of black material that’s hard to the touch. Yet their main torso is somewhat fluffy, with black and yellow stripes. Their lips are stiff and their jaws barely move when they speak, they have compound eyes, wings, and a little bulbous… tail? with a stinger hanging off the end.

Abilities: Honey making? Presumably, given their name.

Danger Rating: ♦♦

Notes: They look fairly weak, but that might be a ruse. The one I met had heavy chains that she constantly wore. Their stinger probably isn’t anything to scoff at either, though if they die like real honey bees do, they might be reluctant to use it. Is it bad that I kind of want to try just a little honey? Purely to see if there is any difference between Earth honey bees and monster honey.

Mimics

The Table Laughed

Description: Placeholder if I ever find out their true form. (See notes)

Abilities: Shape changing.

Danger Rating: ♦ (with possibly more diamonds should they have access to poison or something)

Notes: I’m not actually sure how to describe something that can appear to be practically everything. Mimics can change shape, change form, change size, change color… You could drink out of one that looks like a teacup or have a lively discussion with a human without knowing that it wasn’t a human at all.

Minotaurs

Bull-Headed Men

Description: Minotaurs are giant humans with the head of a bull. Like the cyclops, minotaur seem to have been lifted straight from Earth’s mythology. Or perhaps Earth’s mythology actually came from real minotaurs, given angels repeated references to monsters as being ‘relics’ that belong in some ‘age of legends’.

Abilities: Strength

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Notes: I gave them a high danger rating simply because I would probably be in trouble if I had to fight one. My Spectral Chains seem to be unbreakable, but anything too large would probably drag me around instead of the other way around. However, the one minotaur I have met is quite gentle.

Salamanders

Lizard people actually exist

Description: They have a humanoid form, though their body is mostly covered in scales. Their belly, chest, and some of their face looks more like bare skin but is actually some kind of tough leather. Their arms and legs are obviously inhuman, covered in spiny scales with sharp claws tipping their fingers and toes. And they have a tail. Not a long one, but not a short stub either.

Abilities: Strength.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Notes: The one I met had been heavily abused, so this might be biased, but I’m somewhat afraid of them. Rizk picked me up by my neck with barely any noticeable effort. She didn’t actually hurt me, thankfully, but I think I’ll be trying to keep my distance.

Shadow Assassins

A Primitive Predator

Description: Normally, shadow assassins are invisible. However, their invisibility can be turned off, seen through, or otherwise nullified. They look something like a cross between a human and a large dog, except they’re missing their head. Where their head normally would be is just a gaping maw filled with sharp teeth that leads straight into the torso. Their skin is obsidian black with greyish tattoo-like markings winding around every inch of them.

Abilities: Invisibility. Despair-inducing screams.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Notes: These things are nasty. I don’t know what they’re like normally as I’ve only encountered hostile ones controlled by a fairy, but I can’t imagine pleasant chaps earning a name like that. True to their name, they are used as assassins by shadowy organizations. If they can be detected, they aren’t that much of a threat. A bullet will put one down just as it would any human. The real danger comes in the form of their screams, which made me want to kill myself. Literally. I was in kind of a hazy trance, but the effect would have been the same in the end.

I don’t exactly know how high the rating system should go. The Angels entry has so many diamonds partially as a joke. I was thinking five would be the top dog, but I’m not so sure anymore. A dragon would probably be higher than these guys. Thankfully, I haven’t met one yet. For now, five will be the highest. I’ll add more diamonds if I come across more dangerous creatures.

Trolls

Ruining more than just the internet

Description: Hulking brutes, largely covered in fat and muscle. Their skin is more orange than any shade of people color.

Abilities: Strength.

Danger Rating: ♦♦♦

Notes: Extremely strong—I saw one punch through a stone wall—but I took a diamond off in comparison to salamanders for their lack of agility. Their true danger comes in being surprised or, more likely given the noise their footsteps make, trapped. Or, I suppose, if your duty requires you to go out and fight them en-mass in a giant battle.

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