Shaded

The Shaded were first shown in the War's time as Spawns of Despair. However, they were not actually

Despair's puppets.

The Shaded were created by the mixture of emotions and Magik during the War, and were often seen where deaths had been many. They were noted for their ghostly appearance and black ink-like flesh. The eyes were said to glow white, and assumed to be the living spirit they lost. They continuously dripped a black substance, and a grin that reached almost to the cat-like ears was always on them.

The Shaded were originally real cats, Vision has reported, but after the magik corrupted the dead

bodies, the only thing left was the black spirits.

The Shaded can come in two ways: one way is with the body-shape of a cat, legs and all, or they can come as a wraith-like creature only semi-similar to a cat. The wraiths have a habit of flying, whereas the more cat-like form is usually found gliding or walking.

Both can't be hit by any normal claws, it was said. It is true, and it requires Magik to kill individual Shaded. The other way is to kill the source of magik that is giving them power of existence, whereupon they will dissolve into a puddle of darkness, with a final shriek.

The shrieks are what set them apart from other ghostly creature, of which are frequent in the Group's world. The howls are usually heard after they have made a kill, similar to wolves, or are dying. These shrieks are said to be the only sign that they once had a voice, for they will not, or are unable to, speak.

Once the Shaded are how they are, they don't retain any memory It is possible for the Shaded to return to their previous cat form, but only after the magik causing them to be this way has released them. Even after they are released, the chances of them having any memory at all is slim, but it is certain that they never remember everything about their previous life. Once released, they also still have an urge to obey whatever had enslaved them before.

In the main trilogy, it references the Descendants of the Shaded. These cats are actually the children, grandchildren, and so forth of cats who got free of being one of the Shaded. The descendants, as they are called, may have strange memories of shadows and obedience that they never experienced. These children tend to be more aggressive and bullying, perhaps as a sign that their ancestors were enslaved and controlled. Either way, they also have a habit of grinning, breathing slowly, and not blinking, which sometimes leads to their deaths. They almost always have dark fur or rings about their eyes, pale pupils, something half-similar to the Shaded. While they retain none of the powers and limitations the Shaded got, they are merely strange-looking and their personalities are meaner and more rebellious. The thing closest related to their ancestry is their urge to submit to someone with magik, or to try and use it themselves.

In the trilogy "Ink Stains", the Shaded are a modified version, and don't rise from the dead. Instead, they are summoned by Magik alone, and the magik for their becoming of the Shaded, or Ink Ghosts, as they are called in the trilogy, is injected with the bite of the cat-creature who controls the magik. Instead of white eyes, however, they have either scarlet glowing pinpoints and a grinning mouth that stretches further than it should, or they can also have white.