Shade

Sitting in that swirl of blood, bone and magic, you consider your options. You could become a titan, a crusher of armies with a body bursting with power. But what’s the fun in that. Instead of making your body strong and powerful, you take hold of the magic, tangling it as you see fit. With only the barest minimum of flesh, your new forms takes shape. Yes, not strength but cunning and stealth shall be your forte. So your body grows out of mostly the arcane energies surrounding you, the flesh nothing more than a transient container. Bone grows, flesh stretches and skin crawls over your form, hoping to gain what you desire. There is some discomfort, but pain is nothing but proof of life. And what a life it shall be. Finally you finish your work.

You start for a moment, confused by your new fleshy prison for only a moment, before it breaks it free from the pit. Gore and blood drip down your body as you rise out of that wretched hole, stretching for the first time. The bones creak, as they pop into place and you take your first breath. Not only does the smell of earth, blood and gore fill your lungs, it invigorates you. But now it was time to inspect just what you have become. You rise to an impressive 8 feet, looking down at yourself.

A gangly nearly skeletal form greets you back, being mostly bone and sinew. The muscles look weak, deceptively so. Just as intended it would seem. Black skin is pulled taut all over your body. The arms and legs are overly long for your body and your hands ends in cruel claws. A quick check later proofs that they can either be hard enough to make a scraping sounds rubbing them together but also become quiet soft. Also quiet useful. Your face nearly has no defining feature, being elongated with no mouth, no ears and only having slits for a nose and four narrow eyes burning red. Smoke like hair billows from your head, completing the form of a shadowy stalker.

Only one thing surprises you. It appears that you actually have genitals. Taking a breath in relief, you had actually forgotten to consider this, having only concentrated on gaining a fitting body. But having a cock of five inches flaccid, while seemingly small for your size, was still a happy development.

After the first checkup, you realize your similarities to a class of mindless beasts called shadows or shades. Granted they´re smaller and more of bestial in appearance, but the gangly form and smoke hair is something they do possess. Maybe that means you may have some of their skills as well. Trying it quickly confirms this. You can transform into an intangible, nearly invisible shadow state. Also it seems you can use existing shadows to travel in a rather high speed, as a quick round around the room proves. A delighted laughter escapes you. Yes, you will serve well as a scout and assassin. The master will be pleased.
Startled you realize you have a master. You have no idea who or what he is, just that he is. Surprised you look up to hear someone talking, a thin and nasal voice you immediately want to throttle.

“A shadowbeast? Surprisingly humanoid in form, with a glimpse of intelligence in his eyes. And here I was expecting some sort of great warrior to lead your armies into victory. Kind of disappointing but still, even if he´s only half as sneaky as his mindless cousins, he could be of great use to you, my dark lord. Oh, and he has your eyes, how nice.”
Turning to the source of the voice you see ….