Swarm Demon
Posted by Meg
Our next entry comes all the way from France!
Hello Peat! Hello reader!
I’m Aurélien and writing from France. This is the first time I have participated in a contest about the Demon Cycle. I can’t draw so good so I tried to write some short (very short) story about my creation. Here is the first coreling I created. I hope you will have fun while reading about my demon.
Get ready! The demon is approaching!
First entry:
The Swarm Demon
Surely going through the marsh wasn’t a great idea, but it was the shortest way to Fort Miln and it would save him several days of travel back to his home. The messenger could already see his wife waving at him from the doorstep, her smile, the smell of her hair. Soon. For now, only the smell of the marsh was overwhelming him, a warm and persistent smell of rot. The messenger slapped his neck.
“Damn mosquito,” he murmured.
He tried to get to sleep, but the buzz was growing louder. He put some wood in the fire to revive it, hoping it would keep the bugs off him. The messenger looked around trying to see something in the dark. Trees and bushes, he couldn’t see very far. Frogs croaking in the small pound behind him. And as he was going back under his blanket, he saw it, a huge cloud of flies, mosquitoes and all kind of insects a marsh could house. The swarm went closer, and as it tried to cross the circle of wards, a flash of light pushed it back. The messenger, surprised, caught his spear and jumped on his feet.
“What the Core are you?” he asked.
As an answer, two red glowing spheres appeared in the middle of the swarm, and the rot smell got stronger. It seemed the demon was attracting every insect around. The messenger was then forced to puke the frog stew he had for dinner.
“That’s all you can do. You can’t get me here coreling!” he said, wiping his mouth.
The swarm demon came closer and stopped few inches away from the circle. The messenger aimed for the demon and threw his spear but it went through it and planted in a tree several feet away. He already regretted this throw. It was the only blade he had. Something was moving in the swarm. A bump was growing on a side. And suddenly a tentacle of bugs penetrated the circle. The messenger rolled on the side but he wasn’t fast enough. The tentacle caught him on the ankle and started pulling him out the circle. The messenger tried to catch a bush, a branch, something that would make him stay inside the circle. But there was nothing. As he was slideing near the fire, he caught some wood on fire and tried to burn the tentacle. The tentacle was cut and the messenger could get away for few meters.
“Oh you don’t like fire. Then come here, get me!” he shouted, waving the stick of fire at the demon.
The demon seemed to hesitate. But after few seconds, two tentacles flew to the messenger and caught his arms. The messenger was pulled stronger and faster out of the circle. And the swarm demon was all over him. The messenger was fighting with his arms and legs, trying to push the bugs away. He shouted but the bugs entered his mouth. He could feel them in his ears, in his nose. He tried to get them out, scratching his throat. But nothing happened. The messenger was shaking as the bugs were entering his head. And then he stopped moving, dead. The insects inside the body crawled back to the swarm and then the demon drifted away, looking for another prey. After a moment, the swarm fell on the ground, forming a little mount a dead insects. The demon was going back to the Core. The rain then began to fall.
***
In this short story, I tried to review the particularities or powers of the swarm demon. I will now explain them separately.
-Physical description: the swarm demon is composed of 2 parts: the main part or the demon part and the insect part. The demon part is a mist, like when any demon gets out of the Core. The insect part is constituted of all kinds of insects living in the area the demon is appearing. There can be flies, mosquitoes, bees…mostly flying insects.
When the mist appears, it produces a rot smell that attracts all insects around. A swarm forms around the mist. When the insects reach the mist, the demon is complete. The insects are then “zombified” and controlled by the demon. The size of the demon depends on the number of insects it can attract. If you can see through the swarm, the demon is too dilated and it will surely get smaller. Usually, they are 3 to 5 feet high. As the main part is a mist, there is no face, no front, no back, no limbs. The demon can see all around, above and under it.
-Habitat: The swarm demon lives where there are insects. The best places to find them are marshes, wetlands, shores of lakes or dense forests. As insects lives almost all around the earth, there are possibilities to find swarm demons all around the earth. Only the number of insects can indicate if a swarm demon can appear or not.
-Strengths: The swarm demon is constituted of insects. Its strength depends of the strength of the insects. Bites, stings, venoms. If an insect can bother and hurt you, it’s a great use for the demon. Another particularity of the demon is the ability to launch a tentacle of insects inside the ward circle. The main part or the mist can’t get inside. But the insects are not demons; wards have no power over them. The length of the tentacle depends on the number of insects present in the swarm. The demon can send several tentacles but then they will be smaller.
-Weaknesses: Without insects, the mist can’t hurt anyone. The tentacle (s) can’t reach very far. If a tentacle is cut, the insects separated from the mist are dead and then won’t regain the swarm. Good ways to kill the demon is to use: fire (burn insects), wind (blow insects away), water (insects can’t fly), earth (can’t fly under earth). As the insects and the mist are linked, separating the insects from the mist will kill it. It works with wards or natural elements. When using wards, you have to get the ward inside the swarm to touch the mist. Also, the swarm demon needs “good” weather to appear. If there is too much wind or if its raining, it won’t appear.
That’s all about my first demon. I’m still working on the second one and hopefully, it will be ready by the end of the contest.
A bientôt!
Aurélien
Fantastic story, Aurélien! I literally shivered when the swarm demon made the bugs enter the messenger’s brain. Scary! Even though the Coreling Contest is over, we still have submissions waiting to be posted! Check back daily for new demons.
[…] for her story about the Swarm Demon. I love the cleverness of this idea for a demon getting past the wardnet. Absolutely […]