The Dreign
Content Warning: Disturbing Imagery
As Ilu Lumin is known as the Mother of a Thousand Sylfaodolon, Zepfleur is the Mother of a Thousand Monsters.
The monsters, however, do not claim her as mother. She enjoys their suffering too much, and they despise that she created them to harm and be harmed.
The Dreign
All artwork by Shade Melodique
unless otherwise stated
unless otherwise stated
Zepfleur
The monsters of twilight are created by the deity Zepfleur. She is well-known for forming the hideous, the strong, the magickal, and all with a twist. The twist causes pain in the creatures, and they often lash out and wreak havoc until that pain is taken from them (which usually means their death).
The Dreign: First Stage
The dreign is one such monster. It begins life as a shed scale of an adult that curls in upon itself. The amount of time it spends in this state is unknown, but the scale hatches into a hand-sized ball of fluff with a huge, toothless mouth, innocent and cheeping (and yes, I mean a ball of fluff. It has no arms or legs, and bounces everywhere).
The dreign remains small and manageable for centuries, feeding on soft fruits and behaving like a loving pet, until some event, again unknown to any but Zepfleur, causes it to shed its fluff. The raw skin left behind is too sensitive to the elements, and reddens, dries, and cracks. The blood cakes the dreign and solidifies into a substance as hard as granite. The entire time, it cries out in pain.
Adult dreign
The Dreign: Second Stage
The blood cocoon stage can last for up to three years, when it expands to the size of a forearm. The shedding of the coccoon seems to be triggered by rain. The drops soak into the hardened shell, fill the cracks, and it splits. Parts fall off and form a bubbly cushion for the creature inside.
It is longer, still without arms and legs, and covered in sleek green skin. The head is fluffy, with large deer-like ears and cat-like eyes, nose and mouth. It emits clouds of putrescent gas, though if it eats enough fruit, the smell is somewhat mitigated.
This stage lasts only a few lesser seasons (maybe eighty days at most), before the cloud engulfs it and hardens into a glass-like casing. Again, the dreign cries out in pain as this happens.
The Dreign: Third Stage
The glass shell grows to the size of a horse within a year. Once it reaches this size, rain again breaks the shell apart, revealing the adult form of the drein.
The sleek skin has been replaced by sharp-edged scales. The face has become larger, and for the first time, the dreign has teeth, sixteen in all. Four horns grow between its ears, two pointed straight up, two curving around to its cheek.
The foul cloud is back, but adult dreign can control when and how much to emit from its mouth; it can knock prey unconscious or kill them when aimed correctly. It craves both flesh and fruit at this point, and if it does not eat both, it can waste away in a matter of days.
By all accounts, the dreign, despite its fierce look, is a gentle and loving creature if one can avoid its breath. It is unknown for what purpose Zepfleur created them, or why she made their changes so painful.
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