Desecration Curse

It had to do with the origins of the Shade Race.

The Shades were the descendants of an ancient race known as the Shadoir. The Shadoir were far more attributed to darkness and shadow, creatures that could slip into a distorted Realm of Shadow to move about, hiding from the real world.

Their ability was kind of similar to that of Fifteen's Grey Mantor form, except that the Realm of Shadow they traversed was still part of the 30,000 Worlds, and therefore detectable.

The Shadoir were extremely strong. They lived as rulers back in the ancient times when the Dragon Race reigned supreme and the Demon Race was only starting to come active, many tens of thousands of years ago.

The number of Shadoir dwindled as time went on. Not from dangerous wars or traitors attacking their kind, however.

They were a reclusive race that fiercely defended their territory, but also stayed to themselves, refusing to travel or even talk with other Shadoir. As a result, their numbers dwindled simply because very few Shadoir ever came into existence.

As their population fell, it became apparent that the Shadoir Race was likely to disappear from this world. Their numbers were simply too few to be sustainable for longer than a few thousand years.

One of the leaders of the Shadoir, the Wiseman Shanoa, came up with an idea to address this.

Even if the Shadoir were to fall, their descendants must flourish. It was impossible to change the nature of the Shadoir and even if they could, it was likely too late.

Instead, he came up with the genius plan to create an entire species of descendants, directly related to them. He decided that the descendants must be populous and widespread, unlike the solitary nature of Shadoir that had doomed their kind.

Their descendants would carry on the glory of the Shadoir, bearing their strength and affinity for darkness and shadow.

As a result, eventually, the Shade Race was born, from the meticulous work of the greatest Wizards and researchers of the Shadoir Race.

However… The Shadoir, again, were naturally reclusive. Their trust for even each other was low, and their trust for other Races was non-existent.

The Shade Race was destined to overwhelm them in numbers. What if they eventually turned on their creators?

The thought, itself, might be seen as a foolish or pointless one to those looking from afar, especially considering that the Shadoir Race was already dying, but to the arrogant and reclusive Shadoir, it was a serious concern.

Even with their dying grasp, they would refuse to release the reins and grant their descendants free control of their destinies.

Thus, the Wizards included a failsafe. A way to control the Shade Race, should it ever be necessary. They figured that if it was never needed, then it would go forever unused. If the Shadoir died out before anything happened, then the failsafe would never be necessary and their descendants would be fine.

This failsafe was known as the Desecration Curse.

The Shadoir's Wizardry, when it came to Shadow and Darkness Magic, was incredibly complex. The Desecration Curse arose from this, a built-in defect that, when activated, slowly transformed a Shade's Soul into that of a Shadowmonger.

A Shadowmonger was a type of being that lived in the Realm of Shadow. They could not exist outside of the Realm of Shadow. They were instinctual creatures that had little intelligence and very short life spans. They would die after only a few years, while new Shadowmongers were magically created by the Laws of the Universe shortly after.

If a Shade's soul fully transformed into that of a Shadowmonger… unless they moved into the Realm of Shadow, their body and soul would degenerate. Their bones would grow brittle while their muscles and skin grew rough and stone-like. Even their organs would harden as their soul rejected life in the 30,000 Worlds proper.

Within months to years, depending on how powerful the original Shade had been, their body would seal itself completely. Their soul would leave and their body would turn to stone, killing them.

The Desecration Curse was the ultimate fail-safe left behind by the Shadoir Race. It was never intended to activate on its own.

And yet… apparently, it had, for reasons even the Shades were unaware of. It was postulated by some to have activated automatically due to various errors that accumulated over time as the Shade Race flourished. Some thought it might be a vindictive Shadoir or someone that found out how to activate the curse, trying to wipe out the Shades.

The exact how wasn't known, but more than 100 years ago, it was discovered that several Shades had suffered from the Desecration Curse. At first, the incidents happened to only a few. They gradually increased in number as time went on until the relatively newly formed Church of Light stepped in, alongside the Shade Monarchy.

Using incredible Magic and expensive Artifacts created by a crack team of the most elite Shade Wizards, a way to temporarily stave off the Desecration Curse was discovered. A huge, massive Magic Spell that encompassed the entire race, forcibly stopping the spread of the curse.

This Spell lasted dozens of years. In that time, King Hasith broke into the Angelic Class, training like a maniac as he did everything he could to ensure the survival of his race. Huge teams of hundreds of thousands of Shades worked on various solutions, all trying to crack the puzzle that was the Desecration Curse.

Eventually, after years and years and years of effort... a lead was found.

An 'Origin Point' for the Desecration Curse.

An area that held some type of key clue to stopping the Desecration Curse.

And that Origin Point was discovered to be located on none other than the World of Eternal Evening, Evonon, the Headquarters of the Aurelius Family.

The Shades and the Aurelius Family were already on poor terms. There was no feasible way they could see to convince the Aurelius Family to give up on their most secure homeworld, nor was there a chance of them letting the hundreds of thousands of Shade Wizards set up shop and get to researching on the planet.

Telling the Vampires about the Desecration Curse was also a non-option. Even the various researchers working on the curse were not aware of the big picture, 99% believing it to be a rather dangerous type of disease that they were working to quash instead of a sure-fire apocalyptic killer. Even the Shadow Dukes were unaware of the truth.

The Shades had done a great job disguising the full truth, even among their own kind. Some Shades certainly found the large manpower put towards defeating the curse unusual, but with the altruistic Church of Light at the helm, it was generally accepted and not an issue.

Thus… the Shades were left with few options. Their only real one was to invade.

And so, the various wars between the Shades and the Vampires took place.