Archexis Pyralis (animal)
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Pyralis are normally benign creatures, said to live and die within furnace flames across parts of Aeras. Only able to survive and breed in fires, the strange creatures measure their lifespan in hours and will quickly burn to ash when outside of one. Their eggs, however, can survive for decades with fire and are so small that they are nearly impossible for humans to see. They have little interest in humans, however, and they have long been valued as parts of exotic toys (Aversarian Magi famously would make jars holding undying fires filled with pyralis colonies as gifts for children) or as central parts of festivals where many Aversarians consider the releasing of thousands through a running wall of flame to be a cultural cornerstone.
However, pyralis only grow so large that the human eye can barely make their shapes out. Archexir pyralis are the exception, however. When a Magi creates a magical flame in a pyralis furnace, the flames sometimes cause extremely odd mutations upon pyralis. The most common result is the archexir pyralis, a giant version of the insect the size of a horse and with the ability to breathe fire. Even worse, it is said the heat of its shell is so hot that pyralis can survive along its skin, and thousands will swarm any would-be attackers threatening their nest.
The beasts are relatively rare, avoid human contact, and alchemists treasure the medicinal and magical uses of their bodies. This means that finding them is actually difficult as local authorities hunt them from the wild before they can start a forest fire and as local villages collect great profits on their corpses. It took some dedicated searching but eventually, however, luck eventually made herself known to us. After spotting the drifting blue light in the distance and the flames slowly spreading over the forest, we were quick to rush in.