8 years

• should be rewritten to be more like an aquatic animal, ideally while keeping some resemblance to Yeron

Unlike most creatures around The Hereafter, Shades are not made from energy. Instead, they are physical beings that have evolved to survive in their main habitat of the Void Zone. Their skin is solid black and may even glitter in bright light, just like Void Magic, and their hands have thin webbing between the fingers for "swimming" through the low-gravity space. Their legs, on the other hand, are short and stumpy and are primarily used for keeping balance and adjusting their weight for turns.

The snout of a Shade is long and pointed, and their jaw doesn't open very far. This is because they feed on energy, slurping it up wherever they can; most of their diet consists of stray scraps released from powerful magic spells, as well as the occasional unlucky would-be Ghost that has been sent into the atmosphere after death and caught before it can be reached by the Seraphim. The Void that surrounds the Shades is constantly sucking the Life Force and other energy from their bodies, leaving wispy trails behind them as they move, and it needs to be replaced just as quickly.

Shades don't live long even in the best of conditions, so they have a large amount of offspring to make up for it. Rather than spend energy trying to find a mate, they reproduce asexually by generating small pods that split off from the main body. These pods soon grow into young Shades, which are capable of seeking food almost immediately after birth.

Casting magic would only invite Void energy to absorb more of a Shade's soul, and therefore they typically do not wield magic in any form.

Shades are complete savages. They only act in ways that will ensure their continued survival, and nothing more. There is no social grouping, communication, or sense of unity between any number of them. Most of them stalk the outside of the Hereafteran atmosphere, feeding on whatever scraps they can reach while constantly seeking to break in and feast on the Ghosts that live there.

Conserving energy is the highest priority beneath finding food, so they keep perfectly still unless edible energy is in sight or they're in immediate danger. Shades are incapable of most communication, even among each other. They have no vocalizations whatsoever, and the only body language they resort to is simple gestures such as shoving someone out of the way or moving faster to assert a claim to a certain piece of energy.