Shade

In the gloomy, mist-wrapped woods of the Death's Head Orchard, the forlorn Shades drift aimlessly. These phantoms are not strictly Hatelings, as they are not born from the dreaming of the Adversary. Rather, the Shades are the stranded spirits of those slain inside the Black Forest, forever unable to leave. But that does not stop them from trying, which is why the spirits can be found in the Orchard, the outermost region of the forest where they roam the sorrowful ruins of the Forlorn Kingdom.

When these spectres see the living, they begin to float towards them, sobbing and wailing as they try to grasp at their victim. It is not an act of malice, however, as these poor souls do not actually want to hurt those they happen upon. They want help and seek to throw themselves into the arms of those they see as able to release them from the Forest. Which, of course, makes the fact that their icy touch stills the hearts of those they caress that much more heartbreaking.

How the Black Forest traps those slain within its borders in this manner is a mystery, but only insofar as the exact method is concerned. It is clear that this, too, is part of the Adversary's corruption.

It takes little more than a swing of a Seekers blade to banish a Shade, and they consider it a mercy towards these lost souls, even though the mournful cry that echoes briefly upon the banishment of one evokes profound melancholy.

Don't fret, they would have done the same for us.

–A Seeker to another while dispatching Shades

by Midjourney

_{A Shade}