Wheja's Sketchbook 03/10/21 - Shard Plague

 

Submission for the 2021 Creature Cabal

Not everything dangerous can be seen. Take, for instance, the final residue of the K/Pg impact. Most scientists assumed that a global ice age of sorts caused by ash and soot drove the megafauna to extinction. While climate did play a serious part, the real killer was one that was impossible to fossilize and, as such, was unknown to science. One that came from the stars alongside the fireball. Once that couldn't be seen until its hosts got a certain itch: an itch that would never go away.
Roughly a month after infection, the itch would reveal its true form- a black crystalized colony attached to the skeletal system. It would pierce through even the toughest animals' hides, opening them up to more infections if they weren't already dead. This, of course, caused pain, which, in even the smartest animals, caused anger.
Nothing makes a bad situation worse like anger.

Rendered in Graphite, edited in Photoshop