[at this point I was in Austin, doing a lot of writing — went with a short piece]
Of the three beasts reported, we are certain the first is a transmutation beast, keeping its visual form while rerouting the astral connections up to the havens with an innocent bystander (leaving them with a confused, irritable feeling), so that when the hero kills the body of the beast, it is the soul of the innocent bystander which is jerked up on the clotted cord to the heaven of aether and ectoplasm. This was the fate of St. George’s horse, killed when George stuck his sword into the side of the dragon, who had learned this trick from the transmutation beast back in the time of darkness and tedium. This means the hero must leave be the form of the beast, instead slaying the proper bystander with heroic quickness, before the beast can reconnect the astral cords. Of course, in crowds, this can be incredibly difficult. This is why the transmutation beast so often becomes a superstar or politician.
The second beast, the component beast, is formed by a number of separate parts. For instance, this component beast was made of fluorescent light, bad shag carpeting, low-level dread, artificial air and a fleet of disposable people ordered from a prefab place out by the lakes. This beast manifested in a sense of worthlessness and the taste of metal in the mouth and the desire to push straightened paperclips into the eyes. This beast can only be destroyed by those who made them, the endless mechanics, who sneak into buildings at night, over months, and gradually infect places with these beasts. Montague Summers speaks of such a beast when he talks of thick velvet curtains imparted with a curse which spreads throughout the room, and I have personally experienced cursed beds, in which it is impossible to find peaceful dreams. Endless mechanics often disguise themselves as janitors and can be made to flee a building through both gifts and threats.
The third beast is called Louis, and he needs his button-eyes sewed back on; he’d like to apologize for all the things he’s broken while blind.
