Blackeyes

The following excerpt was found written on papyrus in the ruins of recently condemned apartment complex in Boston during the winter of 2007. Carbon dating has placed the payrus at several thousand years old, despite the content indicating a relatively recent time period.

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The creatures known as blackeyes are one of the more famous spirits in this era. For the most part knowledge of them is limited to first-person experiences reported on the Internet, and speculation by mediums of the Judeo-Christian variety. These individuals are terrified by the blackeyes, and call them demons in league with their deity’s arch-enemy. Even those who are not aligned with the Judeo-Christian deity often view blackeyes as malicious. Most likely this is due to a sort of ‘cultural bleed’ effect, but I have little doubt that the appearance of blackeyes does not help matters.

Blackeyes seem to instinctively strike members of Homo sapiens as wrong. They seem falsely sweet, their body language seems wrong, and most of all their eyes frighten. The typical attitude of Homo sapiens towards their young is reversed in the case of blackeyes; mortal scientists would probably attribute this to the uncanny valley. I personally am skeptical of this explanation, as what mortal scientists do not know about the ‘uncanny valley’ is that it evolved (in mammals, at least) in response to hostile endocorporeal parasites, such as the wendigo. Blackeyes are endocorporeal symbiotes of the mutualistic variety. Similar mutualistic symbiotes, such as the willing Bound, do not seem to trigger the uncanny valley effect.

In its native state, the anomalous half of a blackeye is little but an indistinct shadow, appearing as an irregular inkspill about a meter across. It moves in a similar manner to a serpent and feeds off various bits of detritus, preferring feeding grounds close to large groups of humans. It remains in this state until it finds a host, usually a child near death due to exposure.

When a blackeye finds a host, they attach themselves by flowing into the host’s ocular cavities. The blackeye doesn’t actually ever extend themselves out of the inside of the ocular cavity; the presence of a blackeye stains the eyeball black. Thereafter, the host benefits from a variety of advantages the blackeye confers upon it. They are hardier, both emotionally and physiologically (though their body temperature drops precipitously). And they have excellent low-light vision. Both of these properties seem to be direct effects of the blackeye’s presence, potentially tied to the origin of the species, which is usually believed to be the void of space.

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The rest of the papyrus was torn off.

-- Citrakayah

Written December 2012