Reptile Worm

Before the hole
This and the Flying Snake have a common ancestors, and share a lot of similarities, but with evolution, a lot of differences too.

The Reptile Worm is a snake like being that usually grind its way under the earth, creating tunnels. It’s a predator that build carefully laid traps to capture a victim. But it is also a quite lazy animal, spending 80% of its life asleep and underground. But even when they sleep under ground, they let the four filaments that comes out of their heads, these act much like leaves for photosynthesis, are used as receptors for light, giving them energy to dig during the time they are awake. They dig for two reasons, staying out of reach of predators while moving around, and setting up traps for animals to fall into holes, letting them at the mercy of the worm. They even have a slightly paralyzing saliva, so when the prey is stuck and bitten there is rarely an option for escape. To mate the female eats the filaments of the male which contains the genetic material to create a child, this causes the male to die and later the female lays eggs inside the husk of its father and leaves it behind. When the eggs cracks they feeds off the remains of the father and begin to dig their way to the surface to gather light, many younglings die in the process and only the strongest survives. It is not rare for a new born to eat another one to ensure survival. Their full length is rarely seen because they never go out of the ground too much, but they can reach up to 6’ in length. When forced out of their tunnels they are very aggressive towards any animals, even their own kin. They can however live in communities, linking tunnels and sleeping next to each other, but when it comes to hunting, they are lonely creatures, they mostly hunt on small animals or injured bigger ones that are susceptible to fall into their traps.

After the hole
Since the hole appeared, the situations has changed quickly and drastically for those worms. The presence of falling comets that are closer than ever before attracted them near the hole. They dig tunnels that led directly to the inside of the hole, and now letting their head out to absorb the light of the falling comets, they are entranced by this spectacle. Indeed the effect of this endless rush of radiant energy in that amount has drugs-like effect on them. Their filament reflects now the light on the cliffs of the hole, an incredible view from above, hundreds of tiny lights on the borders of the hole. This state make them unable to see time pass, absorbed by the source light. Though if they were to be cut off from this new habit, they would be even more aggressive, craving for this new formed addiction