October Rewards 7

Threebadgers
"Might as well just put in my personal fears which is endless darkness, as I’m not afraid of the dark but instead what hides in it."
It is unknown for how long it has existed. No one knows where it came from, or why it's here, and many don't even know if it does or does not exist, but those that believe in it give it a simple name.
The Traveler in the Dark.
It possesses other names as well, such as Alp, He who walks in darkness, The white man, The Pallid, He before time, That which man fears, or the One in All.
References of it's existence have existed long ago, and have been seen as far back as Wondjina petroglyphs, depicting their gods as white figures with black eyes. The Nazca lines, and depictions in Charama India.
It is believed that this creature existed long before man, and possibly before the Earth it's self with an extraterrestrial origin, and that it's interactions with early humans even directed the course of our evolution, as pale, black eyed creatures, with elongated heads and gaping mouths are ingrained into the human mind from birth as a being to fear, and that humans had learned to harness the light bearing power of fire in an attempt to keep the creature at bay. For this reason it is known as the One in All, as it's visage is burned into the flight response of every human.
It is unknown if the creature is a singular entity, or if it is a rare race of creatures that inhabit the dark. It has been seen in many countries and for millions of years, and depicted singularly as well as in groups. Some believe it can be as bountiful or plentiful as it would like as long as it is steeped in darkness, while others believe them to hunt in packs as a hive mind. Yet more believe that they are simply arms, tools used by a greater creature to extend it's reach beyond.
Many who hunt at night tell tales of pale, naked humanoid figures accosting them in the night, but being unable to recall where or how they were attacked, or sometimes forget about it completely, and such seems to be the capability of the creature.
In later years it was known as creature associated with the phenomenon known as Sleep Paralysis in which you wake up unable to move, and tend to see a pale, demonic figure holding you down or lurking in the dark, and was called devil, ghost, evil spirit, or some other variation, some of which may be accurate. In modern times many believe these situations to be the work of alien abductions or visitations. No one knows why it visits these people, what it wants, or why it leaves some of them and kills others.
It is known that many nursery rhymes contain some rather morbid imagery when one thinks about them for a while, such as Ring around the Rosie being about the Bubonic plague, or London Bridge is falling down being a reference to child sacrifices made to keep the bridge from falling by building them into it's structure. So too one of the most popular nursery rhymes is about this creature.
In the rhyme, it begins "Twinkle Twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky." This references the stars shining light upon a dark world like a diamond in the sky. However the other two lines reference the creature and it's possible extraterrestrial origin in tandem with the star it's self.
In the less known following verses, the creature is more directly referenced. "When the blazing sun is gone, when he nothing shines upon, Then you show your little light, twinkle twinkle through the night". This has shown the sun diving beneath the hills and mountains. The next line is believed by most to be of the sun, however "When he nothing shines upon" actually refers to no light being shined on the traveler. The last lines are about campfires, and then back to the stars.
Finally comes the creature's most popular name with the verse "Then the Traveler in the Dark, Thanks you for your tiny spark, He did not know which way to go, if you did not twinkle so" Which refers to campfires and human made fires to keep warm, as they are what the Traveler uses to know where humans are, so as to track them down.
"In the dark blue sky you keep,  And often through my curtains peep, For you never shut your eye, Till the sun is in the sky. " These refer to it living or existing in space, and how it is known for peeking into homes in the dead of night, especially if their lights are on, and that it retreats in the morning.
Even the final message poses a dark future for it's subject with "As your bright and tiny spark, Lights the traveller in the dark, Though I know not what you are,  Twinkle, twinkle, little star. " As it implies finding the traveler while walking with a torch, and the light revealing to you a creature you know no what it is, and that even when it kills you, nothing will matter as the stars will twinkle on without you....
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This is a creature I made a long time ago from a sleep paralysis dream I had. In the dream I pictured him in the corner of my room, and I could swear I heard the song playing on a music box somewhere, and it has always haunted me ever since.