Bitterflies

Like a bitterfly to trouble.

Bitterflies are ghostly reflections of their earthly counterparts, native to the Shadow. They've earned their name for an attraction to places of grief, despair, bitter regret, or distraught souls. Unseen by mortal eyes, they gather in flocks corresponding to the emotion on the other side of the Shadow, from dozens to hundreds. As emotion pass, wounds heal, or lives end, the Bitterflies migrate through the endless warped paths of the Shadow, forming glowing trails that Walkers sometimes use as trails - no matter where they are, a bitterfly is travelling towards, at least, people.

by Pixabay

Bitterflies range in size from the size of a hand to a wing-span of a meter. They have a fuzzy, almost furry body that is almost transcluscent - in the gloom of the Shadow, its body melts away and reshapes before an observer's eyes, leaving only the wings. Each Bitterfly has four wings, ghostly pale and glowing like moon upon water. It's delicate enough to come apart from the swipe of a hand, like a flimsy web or a fleeting dream, enveloping whatever destroyed it. The Bitterfly's head is dominated by two bulbous eyes that resemble shimmering, chromatic orbs, and a nest of tendrils that droop half-way down its body. They use these to manipulate its environment or objects, prone to picking up any sort of random trash they find and carry it with them, or coil around the tendrils of other in their flock. When not in use, these tentacles are in perpetual motion, furling and uncurling, clutching at the air, or combing its fur.

A flightless Bitterfly does not live long, falling prey to the other denizens of the Shadow who sometimes hunt them as a delicacy - particularly after they've fed on the nectar of human grief.

Bitterflies are passive creatures that rarely interact with others and will attempt to flee if disturbed. It isn't clear if their presence help or hurt those the Bitterflies cluster to, but some less caring magi sometimes harvest the Bitterflies for small motes of Reagents, but to most magi, they are beautiful, eccentric manifestations of the Shadow. No one has found their eggs or nest, or any hint of their origin. When slain, they don't so much rot over time as dissolve, leaving nothing behind.

Black and red like an angry nightmare, Hellflies are a larger and more ominous kind of Bitterfly. They sometimes lead flocks, or travel alone to places of hatred. Unlike their smaller kin, their are neither helpless nor passive.