Sleepwalker

Sleepwalkers are a species of misguided parasitic organisms in the Clarkwoods Literary Universe. Born of the Undercurrent, sleepwalkers slip into the waking world by attaching themselves to the minds of dreamers in psychological distress. The goal of the sleepwalker is to rid their host of pain. However, in the process of draining their host of suffering and discomfort, the sleepwalker inadvertently deprives their host of the ability to feel anything at all.

The infected host then moves about the world in a deadened, emotionless state, a newborn nihilist who is incapable of seeing the point in anything at all. Meanwhile, the sleepwalker—believing their job is done—searches for new hosts which their friends back in the Undercurrent might rise up to “serve.”

The presence of a sleepwalker inside of an affected individual is undetectable, except by those who have been infected themselves. Those who can see what a sleepwalker looks like, and who still have enough emotions left in them to care, are horrified by the mouthless, noseless, dead-eyed faces of those who have fully succumbed. It is only in these final days, these last moments before fully succumbing themselves, that an affected individual has any hope of ridding themselves of their parasite.

In order to send a sleepwalker back to the Undercurrent from whence it came, a powerful practioner of dream manipulation is required. But because that talent is so rare and so hard to master, the outlook for the infected is grim.

Not that they’ll care, of course—not in the end, at least.