The Creature

The Creature was a malevolent Riftling that was born in the Rift along with his counterpart, the Dweller. Rather than remaining formless as the Dweller did, the Creature constructed a body out of the dead in the image of the Slender Man. The name "Creature" was given to him by the humans used in his battles with the Dweller.
== History ==
The Creature was created by "the Father" inside of the Rift sometime in 2010. Originally, he and the Dweller existed as a shared consciousness. The two split apart and lived out a false past created by their own minds, which became true when they emerged from the Rift, altering the history of the universe in which they emerged. In this new history, they were enemies that battled each other for 10,000 years. Unaware of their true origin, the two believed themselves to be Nephilim, the offspring of human women breeding with a group of fallen angels known as the Watchers. Since they had no physical forms of their own, the Creature constructed a physical body for himself out of the dead whilst the Dweller instead chose to take on human hosts.
Approximately 10 years before the events of the Angel's Game, the Creature discovered the Dweller's host, Carrie Miller, and battled against the Dweller once again. The Creature tormented Carrie, going so far as to turn her own father against her, and ultimately left Carrie strung up on a banister by her own entrails, forcing the Dweller to flee yet again.
== The Angel's Game ==
The Creature followed the Dweller south over the next 10 years until he discovered the Dweller's new host, Josh Rallus, in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Creature, who was not confined to a human host, was able to use his power to the fullest extent, utilizing his residual energy to create meat puppets as well as take control of Josh's friend, Austin Bradley, who had been given the role of "the Other" in the Angel's Game.
The Creature first began speaking into Austin's head while he slept, getting louder and louder until he was practically screaming into his ears. Later, the Creature physically assaulted Austin, which resulted in him being hospitalized. When Josh, Austin, and Alana Hudson wandered out into the woods behind the church at 4800 Kingston, the Creature followed them and attempted to bring Austin to his side. Austin was still somewhat able to resist the Creature's control and the three were able to escape.
The Creature confronted Josh and the Dweller several more times, but was seemingly unable to overcome the Dweller whilst he was within a Rift. Instead, the Creature used Austin to murder two of his and Josh's mutual friends, Nathan and Alana. During one encounter with the Creature, the Dweller was forced to use his energy whilst far from the Rift to save Josh and his friends, which resulted in the loss of his host's sanity. Upon Alana's death, Josh attempted to commit suicide, which the Dweller attempted to prevent. This resulted in their "deaths", as well as the birth of a new entity, Emet Rotter, who was able to confront the Creature without restriction.
Eventually, Emet goaded the Creature into attacking the home of Stephen Patrick, who had been given the role of "the Collector" in the Game. The Creature brought with him a pack of bagged zombie-puppets to attack Stephen whilst he and the Other faced Emet on the dock behind the house. Stephen was able to fight his way through the zombies with ease, arriving just in time to see the battle between Emet and the Other concluding. Austin, momentarily freed from the Creature's control, attacked the Creature and clotheslined him into the lake, which seemingly resulted in both of their deaths.
== HisCollector/APCollection ==
In actuality, the Creature had allowed himself to be pushed into the lake as it contained a Rift. Using his stored energy, the Creature took the body of Austin as a host and emerged from the Rift in an alternate universe approximately eight months later. The Creature, now fully capable of speech, attempted to attack that universe's Josh Harris, who was present at the time. However, as Josh was the host of both Emet Rotter and the Dreamer, he was able to overcome the Creature's assault. After that night, several dozen families were taken and presumably killed by the Creature. Among the deceased was the sister of that universe's Austin Bradley.
Emet Rotter, having assimilated Josh and the Dreamer to become the Reborn, joined forces with the Creature and the Outcast with the ultimate goal of activating Phase-3. The Reborn returned the UnWilling Watcher's mask to the Creature, who then put it on himself, and informed him that the Father wanted him to get rid of the Collector. The Creature then walked off and vanished. On his blog, Collector stated that he believed Emet and the Creature had been working together all along and that their fights during the end of the Angel's Game were likely faked. He also speculated that the Dweller and the Creature may have been allies originally, but were written into history as enemies.
Collector, working alongside Austin, was eventually able to kill the Creature and the Outcast. With the Creature finally dead and Phase-3 activated, the Reborn revealed that he had been setting up the Creature's death, rather than helping him. The Reborn had created the Collector as a weapon to destroy the Creature and pretended to ally himself with him to goad his "weapon" on. In actuality, the Dweller set up the Creature's death for what he had done to Carrie Miller, the Dweller's only true friend.
==Appearance and Traits==
The Creature was supposedly required to feed on humans in order to maintain his form, which he was said to have formed from the bodies of the dead. Whilst in this form, the Creature was seemingly incapable of speech and was said to smell of meat, likely as a result of his body's composition. While the Creature resembled the Slender Man in appearance, there were several major differences between the two. The Creature was seemingly shorter than the Slender Man, although his height seemingly fluctuated between appearances, and rather than wearing a single outfit, he was known to steal clothes and change his appearance often, such as wearing a hat on occasion. The Creature is not known to be capable of some of the Slender Man's abilities and is considerably less powerful. Despite this, the Creature still proved extremely dangerous, as he was much more aggressive than the Slender Man and prone to physical violence.
By using his energy, the Creature was capable of reanimating the dead. He typically used this ability to control dead bodies, human or otherwise, that had been cut up and placed into garbage bags, turning them into a sort of zombie. The Creature was also able to corrupt and control the minds of humans, such as when he took control of Austin Bradley. Unlike the Dweller, who was bound to a human host, the Creature was able to use his energy without consequence. As a Riftling, the Creature grew stronger when inside of a Rift, which he fed off of.
Upon taking Austin's body as his own, the Creature assimilated Austin's mind, effectively killing him, and showed the ability to vanish whilst briefly leaving some sort of transparent image of himself behind. Despite not having to concern his self with his host's safety, the Creature was unable to overpower Josh Harris whilst he was the host of both Emet Rotter and the Dreamer.
== Notes ==
* The Creature was at one point said to be a Nephilim with an immortal soul, but mortal flesh, that had kept his original form by feeding on humans for thousands of years, unlike the Dweller who had refused and lost his physical body. However, this was later revealed to be untrue.
* Mr. Collector once referred to the Creature as the image of the Slender Man that had spread into another universe and manifested itself, along with an entity he referred to as the "Smiling Man". According to him, "each was a different entity with an identity borne from the Slender Man’s fingerprint left on the multiversal whole."
Category:Characters
Category:Riftlings