Cinderel

**Cinderel** are dangerous, carnivorous demons that have the ability to take on the form of any existing creature at birth.

They come from an unreachable realm only they can leave and enter, and dump their offspring with other animal species to raise in their stead, much like the cuckoo bird.

They were first mentioned in the story "It's Midnight" on December 24, 2020, but made no official online appearance.

## Behaviour

### **Adults**

Cinderel are instinct-driven beasts with no redeemable qualities. While able to copy the appearance and behaviour of any living thing for the duration of their childhood, they're not an intelligent race, and it's their supernatural side that helps them adapt. The smartest cinderel is about as smart as the dumbest dog, and the way they conduct themselves at times not unlike the animal.

There's no way to converse with them and their brains can't store any kind of information. They're unable to empathize or read emotion, and it's insinuated they don't even have a consciousness to help them comprehend their own existence.

As they attack on sight, are cannibalistic, and mostly concerned with their stomachs being full, they're not ideal parents to their own children. They shift the responsibility to other creatures, far away from their ruthless home, which is the only way for them to live on as a species. Male cinderel also actively attempt to kill newborns not related to them or cause females to miscarriage in order to be the one to reproduce with her.

In order to avoid this harassment, females spend their pregnancies outside of the cinderel realm, whereafter the pup is dropped off in another creature's nest and she can return home.

Cinderel are assumed to be immortal, but constantly die at each other's hands. Having that said, they are their own primary enemy and can't be in visible distance of each other. They are solitary creatures that don't care for company in general and there's no incentive to join forces with each other or other creatures for the sake of survival.

The one short moment of peace between two cinderel is during courtship. It's a female's job to approach those she deems suitable, as males don't care to, nor battle each other for a female's attention.

Size, dominance, and overall aggressiveness are wanted traits, but females have to carefully stalk a male to even discern the latter, making the act of finding a mate a dangerous chore. Males themselves seldom have a preference and tend to accept any female offering themselves.

When mating is over, the male will trade in his usual aggression for the act of running away, in order not to feel lured into a deadly fight by the female he (assumedly) impregnated, who'll immediately try to brawl with him without self-concern. As expected, this rarely ends well, and plenty of males that take the pacifist route end up getting eaten, though almost as many become annoyed enough to turn around and devour the violent female; completely undoing the reason they engaged at all.

### **Pups**

Cinderel pups play the role of whatever animal they're stuck mimicking while being raised by their foster caretaker. They are doomed to die if not moved outside of the cinderel realm, thus it's not possible for one to be born there and raised as a normal cinderel. What a normal, growing pup behaves or looks like is unknown, but fresh newborns are easily spooked, as they instinctually know to be in danger while looking like themselves.

In their disguise, they do a fair job keeping to themselves, but around midnight, their primal urge to hunt and eat rises. If there isn't a foster sibling or target that needs to be "taken care of", or can be dealt with yet, they'll go out to look for other, weaker animals to chase in order to satiate their urges. Still, they are able to resist the midnight hour and skip a hunt if they feel full or tired enough.

The death of their foster siblings have their priority and is their way of ensuring they'll receive all the care and attention from their caretaker(s). Newborn pups tend to be too weak to do much damage, but will go out of their way to commit an early kill when a particular child has clear priority over them.

While most animals won't be too affected over the disappearance of their offspring, the fact cinderel don't change up their tactic when taking on the form of a more emotionally developed species further entails how instinct-driven they are. Still, they can be surprisingly sly when their obsession for achieving something (that doesn't involve killing) becomes too great to ignore, though only if the animal species they're mimicking also has the ability to. Through their "fake bodies", pups can experience many things normal cinderel can't, though still lack the full comprehension.

Whether an adult or a pup, cinderel are easily offended; and getting (rightfully) punished, ignored, a request rejected, or even accidentally injured will also motivate them to kill. Caretakers are always last to go, unless they're no good and a danger to their safety. The pup will then try to dispose of them and go out to find new parents.

If everything goes as normal and they reach adulthood -a time span that differs depending on the animal species they've chosen- they'll devour their foster parent(s); which functions as an instinctual cue that concludes their life cycle's first stage. After this, they'll forever shed their disguise, forget whatever they've experienced during their childhood, and return to their demon realm to reproduce and continue their existence.

If a pup does not get to devour at least some of their caretaker's remains, they'll not change back to normal or be able to summon the portal back to their realm. In the animal kingdom, it may happen that a caretaker gets eaten by another creature around the time they reach adulthood, which is a dead end-situation they can intercept by tracking down and eating the hunter in a timely manner.

## Appearance and biology

### **Normal**

Cinderel are extraordinary and supernatural beings that don't "register" in most realms they visit. On Earth, they're invisible, and the only way for some of their features to be witnessed is when they take on the form of an existing creature.

They have a reddish brown or charcoal-toned skin, extremely long forearms, pointed bumps on their neck and shoulders, two tails covered with black hair, a double set of dark-grey horns with random growths sticking out, small wings attached to their lower back, and blue eyes like glass marbles, in which a red ball can be seen floating and spinning slowly. It has the texture of molten lava and slightly lights up the blue colour inside their eyes. This is not a pupil or an actual element that constructs their vision, and so never moves to whatever direction the cinderel is looking at. They need to turn their head if they want to better focus on a target. When a cinderel dies, this ball loses its fiery light and drops down.

The blue inside is a gel-like fluid, which is what they see with. Though it seems not to be the most logical eye with the best vision, cinderel see fine and in full colour. Something the fluid does affect is the ability to perceive different lighting; and their surroundings will always look like it's in regular, comfortable daylight, no matter if it's nighttime or the cinderel is staring straight at the sun. They don't have eyelids, meaning they sleep with eyes open.

Their muzzle has little to no body tissue, giving it a skeletal look, and their overall body structure is somewhat warped and doesn't fully support a comfortable walk on either 2 or 4 legs. They usually walk and sprint on all fours while leaning on their knuckles, but when startled or wanting to use their hands for something, they'll push themselves backwards on their legs and take unflattering steps towards their target. It looks much like how an ape would walk, though cinderel can't fully stretch out their back legs like primates can, and have to point their long arms forward in order to keep them out of the way.

The oddly located wings near their hips are not for flying, only to help them keep balance when standing upright, though are not automatically activated every time. At the joint where the wings bend sit clawed hands with an equally powerful grip as the cinderel's regular hands, but are more precise, since its fingers are shorter.

They have a large mouth with rows of fangs inside, a long blue tongue with small growths near the tip, and many smaller mouths at the side of their neck. These mouths don't have a tongue and do not lead to a stomach, and are mainly there to bite enemies and prey when close enough. As their neck is one of the more softer spots on their body, they stay somewhat protected this way.

They have their own vocal cords and produce the recognizable screeching sound cinderel make. The main mouth does not produce any sound, because it allows for stretching and the swallowing of large, uncut prey; which would destroy any vocal cords normally located in the throat.

Their tongue is a powerful, yet flexible muscle that can wrap itself around anything, and the growths have the main function to increase a cinderel's sense of smell. When their tongues are not sticking out, they smell about as well a human does, regardless, it's not a function they care to use that much.

*Example of a cinderel's screech (origin: "Midnight" by Caravan Palace).*

Cinderel are extremely hot inside, which also affects their bodily fluids. These tend to be tarry and warm enough to produce steam, but the severity depends on how thick this fluid is by itself. For example, their saliva is thicker and less warm than their blood.

In their stomach rests acid that instantly multiplies and lights up when food enters the throat, temporarily blowing up the cinderel's stomach and giving it a visible red glow inside. Whatever enters is incinerated in 3 seconds, whereafter their stomach turns back to normal.

When a cinderel pup is born after the 2-month pregnancy, their mother will dump them with any random creature that has just given birth herself, or is about to do so. The pup will immediately mimic the appearance of that species and not be able to shed it until they've reached adulthood. To change species is also impossible, and the cinderel pup will have to do with the cards it's been dealt.

In their short moment as an untransformed newborn, they have big eyes, small wings, hairless tails, a short body, and light, smooth skin. There are only a few mouths on their neck, toothless still, and their screech sounds similar to the meow of a caracal kitten. Though their limbs are thin and have a fragile look to them, they can stand and walk.

They don't eat meat at this stage of their life; and if still stuck in their original form for some reason, will want milk. This is an evolutionary result of so many generations of cinderel having been raised by mammals; which are still the most common class of creatures chosen. It also reaffirms that cinderel can't raise their own young, since female cinderel do not even have udders.

### **Transformed**

Every animal has its pros and cons, but not every cinderel mother takes the time to consider her options or has the intellect to do so. Still, if she happens to witness one species living in unmistakably better circumstances than the other, a choice is easily made.

As "education" doesn't matter, since a cinderel's mind is reset anyway when officially shedding the disguise, an insect could be chosen, and thus the pup grow up a lot quicker than when one would choose a large mammal. But as wild animals have a higher risk of dying before reaching adulthood at all, some mothers recognize there to be more safety within the human race or whatever intelligent species is ruling the planet/realm they're in.

Cinderel pups are good fakers, though benefit from being a child, as these don't look suspicious over still needing to learn proper etiquette. They copy their surrounding's behaviour and are seldom found out, though the older they get, the more they prepare themselves for adulthood and the shedding of their disguise; meaning the talent becomes lost.

Their appearance can look pretty faultless, but always has a few minor mistakes, and major ones when less lucky. For example, when choosing to be a human, they'll completely randomize all available features a human being can possess, which could end them up with a look not native to the country they're in, or a hair and eye colour uncommon within the race they've selected. Another example is when they take the form of a dog, where they can end up a different race than the mother or any of her pups. Copying a pet requires convincing the owners as well, but has the benefit of a quick childhood with a lowered risk of death.

Besides that, some physical features get messed up because of their supernatural side, but these are hard to spot at first glance. The cinderel-turned-human, Kieran, had solid black eyes with no pupils.

When midnight arrives and a young cinderel is not planning on skipping a hunt, their original form will try to break out. Whatever creature they've chosen to be (if they have the body parts for it) will grow sharp nails with the hardness of iron, sharp bumps on their shoulders, light-blue piercing eyes with the red ball inside, and their jaw will extend and dislocate, filled with rows of fangs.

## Crossbreeds

During their transformation, cinderel are able to reproduce with the animal species they've copied, though it's an uncommon practice. They're not attracted to other species and lack the emotional intelligence to develop any kind of relationship with honesty, but it can happen that a cinderel misunderstands their own docility towards another creature for interest.

Crossbreeds cannot enter or survive inside the demon realm and have to stay in the world they were born. If the mother is a cinderel, they'll look like a cinderel pup with a few minor physical features of the father. They have the ability to transform themselves into their other half at will, though this might be harder to do if the crossbreed's other half is a creature of little intelligence.

If the father is a cinderel, they'll be born as the mother's species and likely posses some physical traits of the father's transformed state. There's no way for them to turn themselves into a cinderel, though they can call upon a few features. These enhance their strength, but may also turn them more primitive and animalistic if not careful enough.

As is to be concluded, the children of cinderel mothers have an advantage in terms of abilities and strength, but it's an even harder feat to coarse a female into mating outside of her own kind.

If a crossbreed is at least quarter cinderel, they're theoretically able to reproduce with normal ones, but the chance cinderel would care to do so when not transformed is infinite times lower than when they are. The less cinderel blood a crossbreed has, the less likely a pregnancy will occur, while a crossbreed that's closer to being a cinderel cannot easily reproduce with the animal species they share blood with.

Fullblood cinderel don't have this problem while transformed, since they have supernatural powers that help adapt their body, whereas the supernatural side within crossbreeds is not developed enough.

Crossbreeds mostly take on the demeanour of their non-cinderel half, so are not impossible to raise, unless this half is an animal similar to cinderel. There's no craving to kill or attack others, though jealousy is often felt among siblings. Their cinderel blood also affects their "anger limit"; and when feeling upset about something, these feelings keep amplifying themselves to an almost unreasonable level, against the crossbreed's control. It may inspire them to make rash decisions.

## Trivia

* "Cinderel" refers to the fairy tale (character), Cinderella; a story about an abused girl who was given a beautiful dress to help her fit in and attend a party at a royal palace, which came to an end at midnight;
	+ Cinder, as a material, was also taken into account for their design.

## See also

* It's Midnight
* Babygirl