What is a monster?

I think you know what it is, a massive dragon that burns things for fun, whose wingspans stretches out for lengths comparable to a sea, a beast so massive and destructive that nothing can defeat it,  Its reign would be legendary, all would fear its wrath.  But how about if it sleeps, for a thousand years and more, the people, over time, would forget, legends would be passed down from generation to generation.  Until the dragon wakes up, and it would rule for many years, until sleeping once again.  Many cycles of this would go on, its hibernation and eventual awakening, hundreds upon thousands of year, maybe even millions would this cycle continue.  Until it sleeps once again and succumbs to time.

 Or how about a creature that slinks through the night, with vicious teeth and an appetite for flesh, with a body that would make a child cry just looking at it, stories would be told about this creature, the Boogeyman, the Monster Under the Bed, its reputation would inflate out of proportions, and suddenly, it's everywhere.  It is so feared that even the mention of it would give the bravest man shivers upon even a mention of its name, it would get to the point where even its name would not be mentioned, in fear that it would be summoned.  Then one day, it dies.  A lucky hit, maybe it got complacent, it's possible that in its years it had something to protect, something to die for, and that whats got it.  Whatever the case, it dies and is forgotten.

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 Wait, I got it now, a person whose mind is so twisted that they commit terrible atrocities.  Torture, rape, slavery, many great evils a man whose mind is broken can do, chaos, death, taxes, madness can make all seem right and wrong at the same time.  The fear that would arise from this, a murderer, a psychopath, a monster, it would be demonized, hunted down even, for the fear of what a fellow human would do to one another in a fit of cruelty is far scarier than a simple predator, who kills to survive, they would start naming the man, Demon, Executioner, Headhunter, all in attempts to further themselves away from that creature of evil.  Yet, when the deed is done, the perpetrator is caught and killed, the body would be human, just like them.

Of course, they are all monsters in the eyes of specific people, perception is key and if you think that a fire breathing reptile, a myth, or a madman is a monster, then you should be entitled to believe whatever you want.

They're no such things as monsters in the real world, they all reside inside your head.