Here I am… the library. It wasn’t easy to fund such a facility in this small town, but it’s been more than worth it.
The door creaks as I open it and step inside, the warm candlelight from inside replacing the harsh sun.
I wonder what I should read today…
I’ve been on quite the monster kick lately, though ancient and legendary beasts are beginning to bore me. You can only read stories about forces beyond human comprehension so many times before they begin to get… predictable.
Today I shall go for something more mundane, which should make it all the more entertaining. I’ve been eyeing a certain author, who writes descriptions of various monsters. It should be a nice change of pace.
I slowly wander over to the section of the library the author in question is, and pick out the first book I see written by them.
‘The Ecology of Caves’, how intriguing.
Holding the book tightly, I make my way to my usual spot, and take a seat.
‘Section one: Cavern Pests’, time to begin.
The humble Cavern Pest is one of the most common types of monsters in the underground portions of our world. Much is still unknown about them, due to the usual difficulties of observing monsters in caves. What is known about them, however, I’ve organized into this section.
Cavern Pests are a very unique monster, holding a lot of potential, though it’s difficult for them to use it.
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Cavern Pests are usually born in litters around twenty in size, more or less, more than any other mammalian monster known. Of these twenty, five will die within the first six months of life, becoming food for the many other monsters that make their homes in caves, many of which will be described later on in this book.
Those that don’t die, however, all have very different lives ahead of them.
It’s important to note that Cavern Pests have the most evolution possibilities out of any monsters currently known. At the lower levels of evolution, there’s a chance they will become a ‘Cavern Beast’. Cavern Beasts are the evolutionary dead-end of Cavern Pests, so to speak. About five Cavern pests become Cavern Beats per litter, according to recorded population counts. Cavern Beasts are a special stage of the Cavern Pest life cycle, being the only known evolutionary path able to reproduce and create more Pests. This is, most likely, why their litter sizes are so large, only five per litter end up reproducing. It is also important to note, however, that usually, Cavern Pests only become Cavern Beasts after having evolved down other paths a few times, and Cavern Beasts keep some of the traits from those evolutionary paths.
Now, here I must explain another strange feature of the Cavern Pest, that being their ability to keep traits from previous evolutions. For example, one of the most common evolutions of a Cavern Pest is the Spined Cavern Pest. When a Spined Pest evolves into a different path, the spines are kept, giving them a distinct difference from other members of that new evolutionary path, who got there a different way.
Of the remaining ten in the litter, most will live a few years, evolving over that time, before dying, usually living no longer than three years.
Now, I will get into more speculative and unknown details about the lives of Cavern Pests.
Cavern Pests have the most evolutionary potential out of any monster in the world, enough so that we don’t know where the end is for them. They simply do not have the survivability to make use of their immense potential, as it’s hard for them to evolve more than two or three times in an entire lifespan.
This is why, out of every monster I will describe in this book, the humble Cavern Pest is the one that interests me the most. We simply do not know what they could be capable of, if only something allowed them to survive and grow.
I close the book, satisfied, and set it down on the table beside me.
Ahh, how very interesting. Perhaps even moreso than the tales of dragons I’ve read.
There is truly nothing I love more than a good book.