Dream Feeding & Manifestation

Bed-Monsters like this one feed harmlessly off the dreams of children who are still able to believe in monsters such as itself. Upon feeding on a sleeping child's imagination, the Monster assumes a malleable form that mingles together things that the child would find protective and appealing, be that a fluffy dog or an armored knight or something even more extraordinary. It is always able to fit under the child's bed, no matter how slim the space, and swells to whatever size it is expected to be when it must protect its child.

It's hard to say what our Monster's particular breed of Bed-Monsters look like, because without a child's bed to live under and a child's dreams to feed off of, they are quite formless. Their "default" shape is rather like an inky blot of darkness, a tiny shadow that darts across the floor without a body casting it. Then, with a child's imagination to draw off of, their shape is as varied as the child's fantasies and fears.

Brave and true, the Monster is a defender of children and their dreams, literally so. It lives under a child's bed not to terrify them, but to feed harmlessly off the radiance their dreams (much as a plant does sunlight) and protect them from the more wicked monsters that would rather see them writhe with nightmares. It can be cruel and unrelentingly vicious in its battles with other monsters, but towards children, the Monster is only ever kind and gentle.