u/asaliartwork

"We gazed up at the strange visitor, and in turn it turned its vast eye to regard us. For a few moments, both sides maintained eye contact before the figure in the sky turned and drifted away. We understood clearly; we were not the intended recipients."

"As we gazed up at the strange visitor, it turned its vast eye toward us. For a few moments both sides maintained eye contact before it turned and drifted away. We understood clearly; we were not the intended recipients."

"When a peeler has matured, the host is entirely consumed save for the loosened epidermis, which the peeler must peel itself from (hence its name) in order to enter the reproductive stage.

Despite their fearsome appearance and the many urban legends that surround these creatures, standard water sanitation measures make peeler outbreaks in the general population incredibly rare. In areas without access to treated water, simply boiling for at least 10 minutes before use is sufficient to eliminate risk of infection."

And yet, it continues.

And yet, it continues

The false horse can be distinguished from a true horse with a few reliable signs:

1. Presence of eyespots along sides to deter predators

2. 8 arachnoid legs

3. Forked tongue within the secondary oral opening

4. A segmented, insectoid body

"Its skin is mottled, allowing it to blend into its arboreal environment as befits an ambush predator. Despite its fearsome, prehensile lower jaw (which brings to mind the oft-ridiculed early reconstruction efforts of helicoprion fossils), barrel snares are easily avoided, and incidents of successful human predation are exceedingly rare. In fact, travel routes through the jungle are often charted through known snare territories, as the drum-like membrane can be a reliable source of water."

Bringing joy to all the children, he leaves a golden nose stud under the pillow when a child loses their baby nose

Rot Spiders, contrary to their common name, are not actually spiders, nor are they attracted to rotting things. Freshly deceased corpses, preferably heads, provide a suitable "shell", much like a hermit crab. Heads are the easiest for the rot spider to inhabit, as the brain case makes a comfortable, if oftentimes snug, place for the rot spider to retreat to when frightened or at rest.

While obviously not a true spider (having less than 8 true legs, eyes similar to a vertebrate, the lack of a fused cephalothorax, etc), this small creature instills much the same fear response in most people as our more familiar arachnids.

Unusually, the skin lizard has a thin, red-hued membrane covering its pupils. It's currently unknown what evolutionary pressure selected this trait, but it's been shown that skin lizards are incapable of distinguishing most, if not all, shades of red.

We found a vantage point at the edge of the icy canyon, overlooking the vast, frozen waste. Before us, the unfathomably large corpse of a lizard-like creature lay, tied by ropes of living flesh to a red orb suspended in the sky. It slowly pulsed, shining with that same eerie red glow that had spurred us in this direction. We stood in silence for a long while, both words and comprehension failing us, until finally we turned and trekked back through the pass the way we'd come, as silent as the ancient grave we'd left behind.

Sessile, omnivorous creatures, their supportive netting has allowed the silk industry to pivot away from use of silkworms, both increasing the production and decreasing the cost of luxury fabrics.

Loathsome

And yet, it continues.