Back in her junior year, Lydia started to work on a written copy of her own Bestiary. After over five years, she has finished it. A book that has information on all the things she and her friends have encountered.
A tie in to the Teen Wolves series...
The Garuda is a creature that appears primarily in Hindu lore, with tales of an ethereal or even god like beings that deliver divine wrath to evil men and wicked gods. Some of the myths describe the Garuda as a giant bird whose very wings were big enough to block out the sun while others say it is the appearance of a bird like human. In truth, Garudas are an avian class of shapeshifter. While a canine class shapeshifter like a werewolf is seen as half-man/half-wolf, the garuda could be seen as half-man/half-eagle.
As with most shapeshifters, they appear completely human and are undistinguishable from other people, until they shift. When they shift, their eyes glow a white/gold color. From their hands, dark claws appear that can range in length from one to six inches. These claws resemble talons and they make garudas wield perhaps the largest claws among all shapeshifters. The most notable change in their appearance is their ability to sprout feathered wings from their upper backs. Each wing is the size of their body and grow just as they grow, in width, feather count, and strength. They can make their wings retract back into their backs as easily as they sprout them with no visible marks whatsoever.
Garudas have great eyesight that seem comparable to a bird's. They can see across far distances, like having binocular sort of vision, as well as see quite profoundly in the dark. Another trait that a garuda shares similarly with a bird is the fact that their bodies are not good electrical conductors so they can withstand electricity to a certain degree and wouldn't get struck by lightning or able to bear through electrical weapons like a shock stick. They also have a unique quality of being instinctively tapped into magnetic waves. A garuda will always be able to sense where they are due to tuning into the Earth's magnetic poles giving them a great sense of direction. Therefore, a garuda can only be lost due to electromagnetic distortions.
A curious power found in garudas is the power to siphon energy. They accomplish this through their talons. They can sap strength from a normal human to rejuvenate their stamina and strength, as well as store it for an uncertain amount of time. A garuda lacks the ability to heal like other shapeshifters but it can use their talons to siphon energy and use it to heal their bodies from injury. The more energy they absorb, the faster and greater they can heal themselves. The garuda can utilize this energy for themselves or even permeate and charge others with energy and strength, appropriated or even their own, through their talons by injecting them into others to help others recover lost stamina or from injury. The human whose strength was tapped will feel weak and drained but they will recover if given some time. With other supernaturals, this ability becomes more complicated and can be unpredictable. It could potentially lead to effects that might be severe and even permanent.
Much like most other shapeshifters, a garuda has great physical strength that's comparable to that of an Alpha werewolf. They have been seen to carry one or two people as they travel through the air. They can lift over twice their own weight and have enough charging force to dent metal.
Yet, the true strength of a garuda comes from it's wings. They are strong enough to give the garuda the ability to take off from the ground and fly through the air, with a wingspan stretching as far as 2000 miles. A garuda can consciously temper the feathers of their wings to be as soft and delicate as they desire and likewise as hard and sharp as they desire. They can make the edges and tips of their wings cut as sharp as swords and use them as weapons. They can even flap their wings in a manner that can throw their sharpened feathers like throwing knives in a similar projectile manner to a porcupine with its quills. Even after being separated, the feathers' temperament could still be consciously manipulated by the Garuda they are from.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
As mighty as the garuda may appear at first glance, like all things they do have their vulnerabilities. Surprisingly, the garuda is a little less fragile than a normal human. Their core bodies are nearly as susceptible to damage from punches, blades and bullets as regular people are. As I stated above, unlike most shapeshifters, they do not have the ability to quickly heal from wounds in the traditional supernatural manner by themselves. Yet, they have been known to rely on their wings to work around that vulnerability. Since they can manipulate the makeup of their feathers, they can become more durable than steel and use it not just for offensive purposes but defensive as well. I have come across a garuda who skillfully uses his wings to enclose around his body and use it much like armor and shield himself and others from knives and even gunfire.
Garudas, at least in my experience with one, tend to have drive but righteous personalities. This could be where the myths of them striking down wicked men had stemmed from. They react quite strongly to injustice, more so when it has a personal connection to them. It has also been seen that garudas seldomly show mercy. They will not hesitate to strike down and kill their enemy if they feel they must. Yet, they are quite sociable, being one of the few that don't have little to no difficulty interacting with other kinds of shapeshifters or humans. Though, it has been noted that garudas are not too fond of snakes so creatures like kanimas and other serpentine beings are not very trusted with them and vice versa. Most other shapeshifters have no qualms with garudas, at least based on race.
As a race, garudas are quite rare. They are born, not made, with the gene passing down from generation to generation. Their numbers have dwindled due to conflicts against powerful committers of wicked actions, most of them being powerful supernatural beings and shapeshifters. Also, hunters have helped in driving them to ground as they are hunted to acquire their wings as trophies. It has been rumored that possessing the wings of a garuda would grant one protection and victory against wickedness making them a sought after prize much like poaching animals for the value of their skins or body parts.
In the last 50 years, only one family of garudas has been sighted in the United States. The Astor family with Ezekiel 'Zeke' Astor being the only living garuda left. He is currently a member of the Beast Pack and seen as a leader in the supernatural community in the Eastern United States.
_______________________
A/N: Well, that concludes the Garuda entry in Lydia's Bestiary. This is a complete original entry as the only mention of the Garuda was by Deaton when he analyzed the talons from the Chimera named Belasko. For those of you that haven't guessed it, Zeke Astor is the younger brother of Riley Astor, Laura's boyfriend that was mentioned in the flashback chapters in Teen Survivors. The next entry I have planned next will be Kanima.
Oh, I now have an official date for the first chapter of the next story in the Teen Wolves series, Teen Beasts. It will be up on December 21.
