Demon Hyenas

TRANSMIT — initiate the Bantu frequency — RECEIVE — initiate the San stories — THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH — the cackling madness — WITNESS — the Demon Hyena.

1,100 psi in every bite, sweetling. The streaming, moving illustrations of your culture paint all of Hyaenidae as cowards, but it isn’t so.

A story transmits. A mouth-to-ear infection. It is shared by the fire, at the meal table, between rounds of drink. It is the story of the kishi — the spirit — the two-faced demon.

The kishi has a human face — the better to charm, to woo, to lure you. On the back of its head, the kishi has a hyena face — the better to rend you. Teeth like steel, jaws like a vice. Nothing breaks free from the kishi’s bite. There is no sneaking up on a kishi. They are always facing you.

Another story transmits. A mouth-to-ear infection. It is shared by the fire, at the meal table, between rounds of drink. It is the story of the Ga-Gorib — the spotted one — the beast of the pit.

Ga-Gorib kept near to his pit, tricking mortals into falling into its depths. Like the barker of a crooked game, Ga-Gorib goaded mortals to have a throw at him with a rock. But his hide was too thick. The rock would always bounce off, hitting his victim and sending them tumbling down and down and down. And so it went until the hero Heitsi-eibib wrestled the monster and hurled him into his own pit.

These stories, sweetling, these mouth-to-ear transmissions are the protoplasmic flesh that Marquard wraps around baleful spirits he summons into this dimension and binds with his will. Context gives weight and inertia, turns supernal muscles impossibly strong. Myths grant them power.

The Night brings laughter. The deadly chuckle. These demon hyena stalk New Dawn in the dark hours. Their bellies are the networked mass grave of the Foundling recruits who never ascend.