Informis predestor

(Formless devourer)

Common names: soul vampire, black changeling, slithering darkness

Basic info

Habitat: Unclear. Formless devourers are known in other worlds as well, and are therefore rightfully considered otherworldly. However, their origin is unclear. Some suggest that they are native to the Inbetween, theorising that such terrible beings could not be natural to any world, and could only be generated in those fields of chaotic absence. Others called such theories silly, pointing out that even the limited knowledge we have of Formless devourers suggests that they are organic in base and therefore would require a fitting environment.

Diet: Souls, essence, life energy, the wording may change according to one’s culture and beliefs, but we all know what it means.

Habits & Culture

Little is known of the Formless devourers, because few survive encountering them. Those who did, usually did so with the price of losing their companions and were left with deep trauma that often rendered them unable or unwilling to share any information.

Nevertheless, descriptions of such encounters have allowed scholars to identify certain commonalities. One is the above mentioned trait of taking the form of their victim before they are devoured. In rare cases, the Formless devourer used the form of its victim to speak or act, but most records show that the shift takes place moments before they consume the victim.

Victims of Formless devourers are left lifeless, often with their face contorted in terror. A few autopsies have been conducted, but have given no clear cause of death. There is no indication of failures in bodily systems, the body seems to just stop.

Formless devourers are known in other worlds and seem to be feared by all. Albeit being organic, and therefore assumingly can be killed, there is no record of a Formless devourer death. Witnesses describe how they shift and change their form fast enough to avoid any attempt to stab or shoot them. They are quite fast, their form able to stretch and regroup over a distance, and while they can’t pass through objects, they can stretch incredibly thin, almost liquid-like, and pass through cracks and small openings.

The general suggestion raising from records is to never attempt to confront a Formless devourer, and instead favor escape strategies. The best option seems to be all forms of teleportation, if unavailable, running as fast as possible is suggested. If there is an option to block their way, do so, but not in the price of slowing down, and whatever you do – don’t look back.

Evidence Files

Images gallery:

*All images made by survivors of Imformis predesor encounters and collected by the society.

Encounter Testimonies

Makoto Yamashita

August 2016

I was on my way back from a camping trip, it was late and then I thought I saw something in the trees. I knew there were tanuki and other night animals in the area, so I stopped on the side of the road and killed the lights. The was enough light from the moon to see if something was there, but it took a minute for my eyes to get used to the dark and catch the movement. It was like something out of an anime or manga, totally black, but you could see it had a body… or mass, don’t know if I’d call that a body… it was moving, almost like it was pulsating, and it was like it was looking at me, but it didn’t have any eyes, and then it did, it started changing, like all that… that… goo was building into a man, and then I realized it was turning into me! I was so freaked out I didn’t even make a squeak, but then my phone rang, and that woke me up, I flattened the gas paddle I flattened the gas paddle and drove away like a maniac. I never believed in stuff like yokai, but man… that was crazy!

Officer José Luis Martínez

May 1997

Cortez and me got a call for domestic disturbance, the caller reported sounds of arguments, screams and struggle. When we got there it was quite, so we went to knock on the door and saw that it was opened a crack. We announced our presence and walked in, and found them in the living room. There were two guys that looked exactly the same, one was standing, leaning over the other, who was kneeling on the floor, his mouth was open, like he was trying to shout, but there was no sound. It looked like his voice was gone or something, and the look on his face… I still see it in nightmares sometimes. The other… him was standing over him like nothing was weird, just looking at him. Cortez was yelling at him to step away, I saw her take her gun out so I did too. I don’t know how long it was, probably just seconds, but the guy on the floor was collapsing, so Cortez shot the other him, but he – it – just moved and missed it. Not like ducking, it was like… like its body was a wave of something. I aimed for the chest after that and, I swear, it just split! Parted in two and let the bullet pass. The guy it was… draining? I guess? he fell over, and Cortez grabbed my hand and polled me out, I think she said something about backup, I’m not sure, I was kinda out of it, couldn’t stop looking at that… thing, standing over that man, that poor man, I… I don’t know what would have happened if Cortez didn’t poll me out. By the time we got the call out and went back in, it was gone, and we found the woman too. God, their faces!

Laurie Eagleton

March 1854

I shouldn’t be here, it should be John. I know I was a child, well, I didn’t think so then, being 15 I definitely saw myself as an adult. But if I was a child so was he, and we were playing rather adult games. We sneaked out, met at the garden. We were always looking out for prying eyes, maybe that’s why we noticed the figure in the darkness. John saw it first, he started to say something, I think he was going to ask who it was, but the words won’t come out, he was staring at it, his hand closed on my shoulder so tightly it was painful, I looked back behind me and saw John, only different… wrong. I got up and tried to pull John with me, I told him – I don’t know what that is but we have to go. It took a moment for John to react, gain his ability to move, and by then… the doppelganger came close, it looked exactly like John but it moved different, there was something… something inhuman, something… evil. We started to run, but it was fast, and John kept looking back, he started mumbling under his breath, I couldn’t get most of it. I yelled at him to focus, to run! He looked at me like he forgot I was there, the look in his eyes… terror? Resolution? Grief? There was so much there, I couldn’t… I don’t know what was going through his head, but suddenly he pushed me and stood still, told me to go in the calmest voice. It was the calmness that did me in, I stopped too and started to shout at him but the doppelganger was right behind him and John collapsed to the ground, it looked like he was in great pain, shouting with no sound, he grew paler by the second, his eyes, that were squeezed shut with agony opened once more and looked at me. I don’t think he could speak, he didn’t need to, his gaze told me – run. So I did.

He was found the next day, no one knew I was there, I told no one for fear of questions I could not answer. There was a great hubbub for a few weeks, but his family was not influential enough for his death to remain in the news too long. Everyone knew we were friends so I could keep a close eye on the investigation. I didn’t want any person jailed for crime committed by… a monster? It’s odd. We use this word as a metaphor everyday, for so many things, we never think that it truly befits anything out there. I certainly didn’t, I know better now, I wish I didn’t.