Shadow Walkers are a strange breed that possess the ability to slip between the planes of reality, becoming immaterial. This allows them to hide in the shadows, either hunting from the concealment of near invisibility or evading enemies. Though they become corporeal to mate or to eat, they spend most of the rest of their lives walking in the shadows. Shadow Walkers are wary creatures, though on dark autumn evenings when the leaves fall to swirl in the chill, rain damp air, they may be seen drifting out from the shadows.

Dragons are highly-intelligent reptilian creatures that—from a human perspective, at least—appear to live forever. Many different varieties of dragon exist, each with their own unique qualities, habitats, and behavior. Adolescence in dragons is usually marked by the growth of a hatchling’s wings, although not all breeds of dragons grow wings and some breeds have other traits that indicate the beginning of maturation. In Galsreim, dragons and humans coexist peacefully.

She would arrive at the weyr with no warning whatsoever; at first, there was a mass panic amongst the dragons of this strange, novel beast lumbering into the cave with her head low and eyes wide. At first, Preto Osso would flare his wings and shake the mountain with blasts of thunder, but she only stared him down wordlessly. Nothing he did would intimidate her, and he soon gave up.

A simple blink of the eye later and she was curled on the floor, fast asleep. No dragon approached her, rumbling with unease and trotting away until none was left except for Preto. Lowering his hulking, old body to the rocky floor, long talons stretched out in front of him and scoring the stone, he watched the shadowy dragoness. Tiny blue arcs of lightning jumped from his wings like war banners.

Arching his great neck and resting his scarred head on his chest, the alpha simply watched, and waited.