Encyclopaedia Elysia | Creatures / Lyxeon

Name: Lyxeon (pl. Lyxee)

Category: Monsters

Size: Medium

Rarity: Unknown

Lifespan: 5 – 8 years

Appearance

Lyxee are light-bending chameleons that are only marginally visible when they move, so it's difficult to get an accurate description. Reported sightings describe them as teal and peacock-green, being similar in figure to the leopard, though much smaller at only 3 feet in length (discounting the shorter, thicker tail) with a rounder, flatter face and 3-inch razor-sharp claws on each of four toes.

Anything more than this is pure conjecture. The lyxeon blends into its surroundings by bending the light around it, and keeps utterly still while stalking its prey. In this manner, it becomes completely invisible, only to be seen as a "wobbly blur" when it rushes in to strike.

Legend says that sometimes, when the lyxeon is resting, the green eyes are visible. Again, this is assumed to be an old wives' tail.

Lyxee revert to their natural state — visible — when they die, but carcasses are usually scavenged and ruined before they're found, if they're found at all, so even their bodies are difficult to study.

Behaviour

Lyxee live alone their entire lives, being turfed out of their mother's lair to claim their own territory at the tender age of two weeks. Barring encounters with trespassers and the search for a mate (which happens only once every three years), they never see another lyxeon as long as they live (no pun intended).

They are vicious creatures with a great deal of patience. Despite their size, they are adept hunters; they sit overhead on tree branches, lying in wait, then strike once in a blur before returning to the trees. They repeat this over and over, clawing and biting until their prey is exhuasted and faint from blood loss, then they move in for the kill.

Diet: Lyxee are definite carnivores and will hunt almost anything smaller than, or of a size with, a gytrash. Rangers have also found evidence of grass in lyxeon nests and assume that they "harvest" it for either nesting or digestive purposes.

Habitat: Lyxee live, for the most part it seems, in the tree-tops. Evidence of makeshift "lairs" have been found wedged between tree branches, much like birds' nests, made from twigs and smaller branches and lined with peacock-green fur. In fact, these lairs are much easier to spot than the lyxee themselves, enough for rangers and hunters to theorise that there are actually two types of lyxeon: those nests found in the rainforest would indicate that jungle lyxee are a darker green than the peacock-blue lyxee of the Fae.

Breeding: Lyxee breed only once every three years, leaving their own territories to meet up in a communal breeding area near Yiannis (in the Fae Forest) or Serendipity (in the jungle). After just two days, they return to their home turf, and for the males, that's the end of it. Females, however, start to stock up on food ready for a four-month pregnancy, at the end of which they give birth to a single cub.

Lyxee cubs are incapable of becoming invisible, having to learn how to stalk from their mother in a two-week crash course. Whether or not they've learned to survive, the mother kicks them out of her nest when they're two weeks old, and will kill them if they try to return.

Special Information

Strengths/Abilities:

Lyxee are manipulators of Light, bending photons around themselves so that they blend into their surroundings, much like chameleons. When they are motionless, they are completely invisible (though they are still corporeal so it's possible to trip over them).
They have 3-inch, razor-sharp claws.
Lyxee have great patience and can stalk prey for hours before and between attacks. Despite their claws, they rely on nature to make a kill, rather than expending a great deal of energy themselves. They'll attack, retreat, stalk, and attack repetitively until their prey collapses from blood loss and fatigue.

Weaknesses:

Lyxee revert to their true form when they die, or when they're unconscious.
A lyxeon's "invisibility cloak" is not infallible. When they're moving, their shape is distinctly visible as a blur, making them easier to detect when they're in motion.

Uses: …

Origin: …

Other Info: …

Creator: Emma