The Black-Winged Nightmare
"I would hesitate to call this an actual entity, since all we have are reports from dreams. Dreams are notoriously unreliable as a source of information, it could be created by stress or a poor diet. There's too much we just do not know yet, and finding the truth could take forever. If we ever can."Across Erisdaire, there have been myths and legends about creatures which stalk through dreams or prey on those who sleep deeply. Scholars have a tough time collecting these legends, as there are few of the legends which get taken seriously. However, there will always be those which are interesting and different from the usual fare. Among those are a series of stories which have been gathered by scholars and put together to describe one particular entity which is said to haunt dreamers across Erisdaire: "The Black-Winged Nightmare".
The legends are varied about what causes the visitations, or what exactly the point of them is, but all describe a startlingly similar being. The descriptions speak of a humanoid avian with black feathers and milky white eyes which seem to stare into the soul. Sometimes there are details on it wearing various decorations, such as dark metallic chains or ragged cloth. Often there are references to 'razor-sharp talons on its fingers', though the dreamers are rarely harmed directly. The exact style of avian the being resembles seems to vary, from a bird of prey such as an eagle or hawk to a carrion bird like a vulture.
The legends collected all describe this entity as appearing to the dreamers inside their dreams, turning even pleasant scenes into nightmares from which the only escape is (apparently) certain death. This also applies to dreamers who are able to shake off one of these scenes and start another one - the entity follows them into the new scene and begins twisting it again. Some of the legends describe the nightmares as being centered around particular ideas such as drowning or suffocation, but there is a broad variety of scenes and endings for the scholars to look into. A handful which describe a dreamer waking from the dream, not just focusing on the corruption of dreams, will describe the entity as hovering over the disturbed dreamer and seeming ready to devour them. Then it is gone when a light is lit, leaving no trace of its presence.
A few arcanists who study unnatural beings believe it to be some form of demonic presence, or a spirit which escaped from the Umbral Realms. However, without an actual account of the entity being captured and studied there is no idea how true this is. Most scholars who do not study this entity's appearances believe it to be a simple case of cultural leanings towards how death is viewed, and stressful situations before sleep leading to the mind conjuring unpleasant situations.
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