Mistic Pets

Welcome to Issue 58
Created by The Mistic Pets Team

Sightings of the Yon Znake
Written By Metaphor

Znake Whacking Day is a day of fun, laughter and, perhaps most importantly, those cute little reptilian Misticpals we know as Znakes. Not all Znakes are so jovial and festive, however. The Yon Znake, a Znake most notoriously known for the “Shi” sound of its hiss, is said to bring bad luck to those who encounter it. Today, I present to faithful readers my journal of Yon Znake sightings, which I have compiled over the course of this Znake Whacking Day and all those that preceded it. I think that I have recorded enough encounters to accurately and fairly portray one of Mistica’s most feared creatures and that I am ready to reveal to the world an intriguing Znake beyond the superstitious. I will present these journals in two parts so that I may lay them out in their entirety, without excluding any essential detail.

2011 Encounter. We made eye contact, but neither of us moved. Instead, we studied the nature of one another’s eyes. Its eyes were black, fathomless, but strangely not ominous in any way. I sensed in those depths a sort of empathy for me—that I stood transfixed before it, frozen with both fear and wonder. Perhaps my eyes were much the same to it: depthless without a never-ending stretch of black. Color interrupted by eyes. Can Znakes even see in color? I don’t know how or when it happened, but eventually we disengaged from the awkward encounter and went our own ways. Still no misfortune in my day. A misunderstood creature?

2012 Encounters. This Whacking Day, I chanced upon these peculiar creatures twice and the former self of one exactly once. The first lay coiled and snoozing on a sunlight path into Banshee Swamp. I dared not disturb it; I merely observed its slumber with intent, noting the uneventful nature of its resting state. No tossing, no turning. Do Znakes dream? The second encounter was more startling, perhaps more for me than for the Znake. For the first time, I heard the legendary “Shi” hissing. It sent shivers down my spine, although the noise itself was not particularly threatening. Think of a raspy birdsong. The writhing and coiling, on the other hand, was terrifying.
Surprisingly, more startling than a Yon Znake hissing and ready to charge, forked tongue emerging and re-emerging from beneath a shining fang, is the old skin of a newer Znake. I stumbled upon it in Jumboyo Village near a sun-soaked rock in the knee-high grass. No Znake was in sight, so I am not quite sure why this encounter so rattled me. I still remember that brown transparent sheath of scales, dotted sporadically with tan spots. It was a former self that I never knew, perhaps one I will never know.

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