Chuck Tingle

CARDSHARK - TIMELINE #8201184

Added 2023-10-24 15:23:59 +0000 UTC

(Timeline Tuesday #117)

Cardsharks are a sentient energy force tethered to large collections of flat rectangular cards. While these cards constitute separate physical objects, they all work together to create a single cardshark. The cards themselves are stark white, without any variation, although it is believed distant timelines contain cardsharks with intricate patterns across their cards (this has never been observed in our reality, however). The cards are paper-thin and feature a rough skin that is unique to the cardshark species. Their edges are quite sharp.

These card swarms will naturally arrange themselves in the vague shape of a natural shark from this timeline.

Cardsharks are an aquatic species, preferring warm coastal saltwater. They are carnivores and ferocious hunters, somehow capable of dissolving organic matter into the energy fields that keep them healthy and active. A cardshark hunts by surrounding a smaller aquatic creature with its swarming mass of cards. These cards will cut the surrounded creature—usually a fish—with their edges, eventually causing the prey to bleed out. At this point, the prey’s blood and flesh of will slowly begin converting into energy, a dissolving process that typically takes no longer than thirty minutes.

When a cardshark is healthy it will slowly grow, cards splitting and peeling off of one another to create a duplicate card. This process adds to the mass of the creature, building an even larger swarm. Occasionally, one of these new cards will break off from the initial pack, growing into its own separate energy field. It is through this method that the cardshark species procreates.