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.

After being abandoned as a hatchling, Echo lived by himself in an old abandoned castle in northern Drakeville, where he spent most of his childhood. The only times he would leave the castle was during the full moon, when he would look for people and other hatchlings to try to talk to and help him find his parents. However, everyone ran away from him in fear, thinking that he was a ghost. He soon began scaring the townspeople just for fun. One day, a dragon trainer was asked to search the castle and get rid of the "ghost" that was causing trouble in the village. After finding that the supposed "ghost" was just a Shadow Walker hatchling, she decided to take him to her cave, where he now lives. He frequently scares the other clan members, very few of which don't dislike him.