The Akkinova

The Creature:

The Akkinova possess three large limbs around their torso, each a mix between bat wings and clawed hands. On one end of their body are three tails that are each ended in a foot long harpoon, sharp and powerful enough to pierce spaceship hulls and rend flesh. They do not possess a head, but instead many tentacles come from where one might expect a head to be, surrounding a maw of endless teeth. Their bodies are as black as space, though thousands of “eyes” that glow like distant stars cover their skin, appearing like the void itself until it is too late.

The Tale:

The tales of the Akkinova began alongside the development of Ry’nari space travel. Ships would take off, heading to distant worlds, vanishing only to appear months later, mostly intact, with the entire crew killed. No technology had been detected, and no space creature could be identified to the crime.

Determined to figure out what was happening, the Ry’nari created one of the most powerful warships at the time, sending it out to hunt down whatever this thing was. Onboard were legendary hunters from various tribes, and the best pilots on Hororeon.

Searching for months, nothing was found. Things seemed to have gone quiet, but until this thing was identified, the warship was to stay out and hunt it down. Weeks later, the ship returned home, though in a much worse state.

As the crew searched the endless void, checking scanners and monitoring their radar, one of the Ry’nari happened to look into space, feeling something was wrong. Something seemed to be watching him, and he felt uncomfortable for hours. However, thinking himself paranoid, he didn’t say anything.

Suddenly, through the hull of the ship came long lashing limbs, piercing through the reinforced metal. The spikes speared through the crewmates, killing them on the spot. One of the Ry’nari managed to survive the attack, hurrying to the bridge. As he arrived and began to punch in coordinates for the autopilot, he realized that there was a massive beast staring back at him. Endless eyes stared into his own, and he could tell it wanted him dead.

The autopilot saved him that day, the skipdrive managing to free the warship from the grip of the creature. Returning to Hororeon, many were terrified to find that only a singular mad Ry’nari was left aboard. Although he repeated his tale over and over, the ship’s engineers didn’t believe him, pointing out that they had never detected the creature. He died soon after, claiming on his deathbed that the sight of the beast alone had been enough to seal his fate.

As more and more advanced ships came about, tales of this beast have lessened, though the fear still remains. Every few years, the crew of a ship mysteriously dies, or perhaps only one member survives, to tell of the Akkinova that stalks them in the void, unseeable until it is too late…