Taker

**TAKER** is an adult agender SkyWing/NightWing demigod who used to be a mortal that wielded animus magic before going insane after using the magic too much for bad. It needs to devour the souls of other mortals in order to gain strength to use its animus magic, and is currently trying to regrow its limbs after they were forcefully amputated by scientists. It is a well known myth in Pyrrhia, and is feared by many, though many also believe that it is dead, or never even existed in the first place. It is currently wandering Pyrrhia trying to gain more power.

It hasn't made any physical appearances in any books yet, though it was mentioned in *Sincerity* and appeared via one of Rascal's visions in *The Poisoned Oath*.

## Appearance

Taker appears to resemble that of a SkyWing/NightWing, though it's hard to tell due to its monstrous appearance and secrecy. It has the shredded remains of what seemed to be wings on its back, and studs where limbs had once been. Its horns were severed, too. It has a bright red and black colour scheme, with a low hanging jaw, unable to close due to paralysis. Its eyes are pitch black, nothing in them, although red pupils will appear whenever it is feeling a strong emotion, like anger or stress.

In terms of build, Taker resembles that mostly of a SkyWing, due to its mother being a SkyWing. Oddly enough, however, its tail is long, and prehensile, just like a RainWing's, due to how much it uses it to kill mortals. It has a thin underbelly, too, due to the lack of eating normal food, though it refuses to, as it thinks souls are much better.

Before its limbs had been amputated, it had forearms similar in shape to a NightWing's, and back legs like a SkyWing's. They were black, with red scales at the front. They faded into a dark red nearer the feet.

As for its wings and horns, they weren't all that special. The horns were dark red and were like any average SkyWing's, spiraled, and pointed slightly upwards. Its wing membranes were a plain, dark red, no patterns or anything. The shape of its wings were like any normal NightWing's.

## Personality

Taker is a complicated being, to say the least. First, it is secretive, it doesn't like areas with bright lights, preferring to stay in the more secluded areas. It does, however, like the company of mortals, though not the ones that go wandering around deliberately to find it. It loves nothing more than attacking and taking the souls of mortals to devour and become stronger, hoping one day that it'll regrow its limbs back after eating enough souls.

Taker doesn't necessarily have a sense of danger, either, and will charge headfirst into things, even if it means risking something, it doesn't really care, due to its enchantment. It is quick to react, too, being able to sense dead bodies and the presence of mortals, it will usually rush straight to the scene, faster if there's a dead body nearby, as if to 'beat' the reapers to collecting the souls.

Its mind is as fragmented and scattered as its body, and can be unpredictable at times. It likes catching mortals by surprise, whether by approaching them from behind or emerging from the darkness in front of them to strike fear into the dragons it wishes to kill. It is relatively intelligent, too, and adaptive, as it can hunt down deceased corpses from anywhere and move with ease through any environment, even the narrowest of hallways after trapping a mortal, making them unable to move.

It sees those who stand still as easy prey, and attacks them first over those who move. It seems it can sense whenever someone stands idle, and quickly swoops in to pick them off. Taker also seems to have various methods of killing its prey, though how it happens is unknown. Those killed by the Taker usually don't have their deceased bodies recovered, most likely due to them being taken too in order to avoid confrontation from reapers.

Taker dislikes those who come and deliberately look for it, standing idle with the intention of meeting it, as they don't get scared by Taker's appearance, so it usualy tries to ignore and stay away from them, though it will target them if it's starving and desperate for a soul to devour. The same can be said for urban explorers, while Taker usually doesn't mind their presence, in the rare times when it is feeling nourished and strong, especially after devouring a lot of souls at once, it sees them as a nuisance, normally if they appear in the usually abandoned buildings Taker is resting in. It usually just takes them or stays away from them, then moves on.

It is also very persistent, too. It will do anything to get to a soul in order to devour it, even if it means squeezing through narrow hallways or vents. It also hates the idea of the continent learning that it is still alive, though it would cause a lot of fear, which it appreciates, it would also reopen the opportunity of going back to another science lab, which it really doesn't want. Taker is also fuelled by an everlasting hatred of the draconic race, feeling no remorse for the souls it kills due to what it went through in the science labs. It ensures that every dragon that sees it gets devoured, so they don't spread the word.

Taker is almost always moving, unless it is resting somewhere peaceful and quiet after eating a lot, it never really likes to stay in one place. It also hates large crowds of mortals when it is resting, though they provide good meals, they are also risky to feed from in case one gets away and spreads the word.

It also loves nothing more than to cause fear in a mortal. It finds it funny whenever other dragons find it scary, and all the more enjoyable when it gets to feast on their souls, though Taker isn't the kind of monster that 'plays with its food', it kills on sight, but it still finds it fun when fear is the very last emotion a mortal feels, caused by Taker itself. It only gets angrier when a dragon doesn't react or feel fear to its presence, typically killing them in more painful and brutal ways than the more fearful ones. Another thing that Taker hates is when a mortal somehow dies before it can do the honours, whether that be from a heart attack or another reason. It wants to be the one to end a dragon's life, not from another cause.

## Relationships

### Brightmind

Taker's father, he is one of the only dragons that Taker actually appreciates. Brightmind defended Taker ever since it was born, as Nine, insisting it didn't need to be contained in a facility just because of its hybrid heritage. Brightmind cared for Taker as a child well, even without its mother there to assist, reading it stories to bed, taking it on trips and overall being a caring father. Ever since escaping from the first facility, however, Taker never saw Brightmind again, and it occasionally wonders whatever happened to him.

### Valiant

The only dragon that has managed to evade Taker, it finds the other dragon irritating and wants to devour their soul someday, believing it has some magical capabilities that Taker can use to its advantage. What Taker doesn't realise, however, that Valiant is actually also a demigod, just like Taker itself. When it's bored, Taker will often hunt in the woods for Valiant, though its searches are usually in vain.

### Aruana

The 4th oldest SeaWing Princess, she had managed to become one of Taker's victims after she accidentally stumbled upon the place Taker was resting in. Needless to say, she didn't manage to escape despite all of her efforts and got devoured. Her family are still searching, which amuses Taker, knowing it was the one responsible for her death. Though it doesn't think much of the Princess now that she is long dead, it is relatively proud of itself as it was able to kill a royal.

### Goldie

The dragon from the stories its father was obsessed with, Taker used to look up to the Golden Dragon and his bravery for killing the Humans. It saw Goldie as a role model, of sorts, and wanted to help the world just like he did as a child. Nowadays, Taker sees him as just a silly story, and doesn't believe he existed anymore.

### Brightside

The current death god's reaper, Taker sees her as a rival, but also as a nuisance. It always insists on getting to the souls first before she can take them to Celestial. Taker ensures that she doesn't get to the dragons it kills, and stays out of sight, in case she alerts the gods above to come down and exterminate it. Overall, Taker simply sees her as an obstacle and wants to rid of her someday.

## Abilities

### Physical

#### Fire

Due to Taker's NightWing and SkyWing heritage, it was also born with the ability to exhale fire naturally. Taker doesn't use this ability often, as it has other powers that it deems better, though it may use this on occasion. Taker doesn't tend to breathe fire normally, instead compressing it into a large fireball to launch at others. When it is building up fire inside of its body to exhale, red particles swarm around its head.

#### Night vision

A gift it obtained from its father, Taker is able to see in the dark due to its NightWing heritage. This proves useful in attacking mortals in the dark, especially if they are of a tribe that cannot see in such conditions, rendering them helpless.

#### Tail

While this aspect of Taker's body wasn't assigned at birth, it became apparent after Taker lost its limbs and resorted to using its tail more often to kill mortals instead of using magical spells, which could drain energy. Its tail is prehensile and very long, good for choking and incapacitating a mortal, which in turn makes them easier to kill.

### Mental

#### Intelligence

Taker is very intelligent, being capable of tricking mortals into entering its domain, without voice mimicry or other abilities like that. It knows the best and easiest ways to kill a dragon, and it can do this swiftly, though not always painlessly. Added onto its determination and persistence, it knows how to ensure mortals do not escape, and tell others about their encounter. Outside of killing, however, Taker is also able to use its smarts to breach any containment with ease, sometimes without even using its magical powers, and find its way through any environment, whether it be long, narrow hallways or vents, it always seems to know where it's headed.

## Trivia

* Taker's bottom jaw is paralysed and its mouth hangs open, unable to close. Taker doesn't usually mind this as it makes it look more freakish, but sometimes, it gets in the way, especially when devouring souls. Its tongue can still move though.
* While many changes to its appearance were from the several labs it went to, some were self-afflicted via enchantments, such as the black eyes and red teeth.
* Because souls do not provide the proper nourishment real food does, Taker's hunger isn't satisfied easily considering souls disappear and "die" immediately after being consumed. Not to mention this shows on Taker's body, too, having an unhealthily thin underbelly.
	+ Taker *can* eat real food, but it refuses to, not to mention it won't give it the divine strength needed for animus enchantments.
* It was once able to speak normal dragon, and some ancient Pyrrhian due to its father, but ever since its jaw was paralysed, it hasn't been able to speak as well as it could. Not like it needs to, anyways. It mostly makes manic roaring noises, as well as strange gargling and grunting sounds. It can speak to some extent, though it isn't very articulate.
	+ Although it doesn't do this much, whenever it wants to communicate in some way to a mortal, usually to spark more fear in them, it may enchant other objects to speak for them in order to be more articulate, considering it cannot speak well with its own mouth due to its paralysed jaw. It will enchant things such as radios, tvs, etc.
* Taker can use its animus magic to slightly alter the enviroment it is in to trap a mortal and prevent them from moving entirely in order to make them be more vulnerable, though it doesn't do this much in order to conserve animus energy. It mostly closes in the walls until it gets too tight for a mortal to move through, but it may do other things too.
* Taker has an aroma of blood and death that surrounds it, mainly because of how many mortals it kills. Of course, many do not know this, as they do not last long enough to actually smell it.

### Development

* Taker was inspired off of Specimen 9 from *Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion*.

## Links

* Toyhou.se page
* TGoL wiki page
* YouTube playlist