56th of Ash, 124 AS
The Shades went about their days following their set patterns, never diverging as far as Lyra could tell. Eventually when she had grown tired of simply watching Lyra floated down to investigate them herself. She landed next to a table where two of the shades sat, miming the act of eating in that peculiar way of theirs. They showed no acknowledgement of her presence, which was an immediate difference from the rest of the shadow spawn around her. Glancing to the side she saw a pack of the rat like spawn look her way before scurrying off down some alley. The rest of the spawn began to disperse as well, save for a few of the largest that prowled near or around the broken buildings, watching her with interest but not approaching.
This was the normal reaction for most shadow spawn she met. They typically had one of three reactions. The weakest ones would run, while the strongest would attack without hesitation. Then there were the middling ones, some of which Lyra suspected were slightly more intelligent than their bretheren. These would often watch her from a distance, never fleeing but also not getting too close either. It was possible they were waiting to see what she would do, and if she showed a sign of weakness Lyra suspected they would all pounce on her at once.
The shades simply ignored her presence, a fact which was quite odd to Lyra. She waved a hand in one of the shade's faces, but that as well garnered no reaction. So, she placed a hand on the things shoulder. It tensed, its faceless head turning to look at her as if noticing her for the first time. Lyra was taken aback and quickly flowed backwards, uncertain of what to expect. The shade did not move, but kept staring at Lyra, completely motionless with its hand midway to its head. It's companion continued on as if nothing were amiss, completely oblivious to the world.
After several seconds passed without reaction Lyra slowly relaxed and stepped forward once more. The Shade continued to watch her, its head turning to follow her no matter where she went. She even tried walking behind it, but it moved its neck unnaturally to never lose sight. The more it stared the more unsettled Lyra felt.
"What are you, little on..." Lyra whispered softly, not expecting an answer, and thus was surprised to hear her words echoed back to her in a child like voice.
"What are you..."
"Well now." Lyra smiled, "A mimic are we?"
"Mimic..." the shade repeated, its voice sounding somewhat distant as if from far away.
Lyra felt... delighted. She all but danced around the creature, flowing into the air to examine it from every angle. As she began to spread out around it the shade tried to follow her, its head turning wildly as it seemed confused where to focus. Lyra finally reformed sitting on the edge of the table and leaned forward, staring into the blank features.
It did not have eyes, but Lyra felt it could 'see' her somehow. This close Lyra began to notice that the shades, while they appeared human-like from a distance, were actually quite unnaturally proportioned. This one had a head that was just slightly too large for its size, its left shoulder sloped down at a steeper angle than the right, and its hands only had 3 fingers instead of four. She turned to look at the other shade that was still going about its routine. It had thread like shadow tendrils that were reminiscent of hair. It was slightly better proportioned, though its torso was a bit too long and its hands too big. Despite her interacting with its companion, this other shade was completely oblivious to her presence.
Turning back to the interactive shade Lyra raised her hand before it, palm facing outward. After a few seconds the shade repeated her gesture. Lyra tried several more actions. Waving, tilting her head, scratching her chin. Each and every one the shade mimicked after a short pause. It was a clumsy thing, like anything outside of it normal routine was completely new to it. There was also one other oddity.
She rarely used mesmer while in the Void, as in addition to its effectiveness being greatly decreased it was also all but useless on most of the spawn of the Void. These shades were one of the few notable exceptions. They gave off a sound very similar to a symphony, but they were all in harmony with one another to the point that it was difficult to tell any differences between them at all. This was what drew Lyra's attention now. As she interacted with the Shade she was surprised to notice that its sound had changed ever so slightly. It was the difference of a single note, hardly noticeable except for the sudden disharmony it caused among the choir of its peers. Even the aggressive shadow spawn hummed the same harmonies, though at a much softer volume. So to hear this one's change was something special.
"Do you understand me?" Lyra asked. She only got her words repeated back to her in response, and the same result was repeated even in different languages. This made her suspect that the shade was not truly intelligent... but the way it behaved felt familiar somehow. It took her some time to pieces it together, during which she had gone through several more iterations of words and gestures which the shade repeated. That was when she realized. The interaction was similar to those she had with artificial soul constructs, when she trained cores through Artificing.
The implication was staggering, but Lyra did not know what to make of it just yet. Were the shades somehow similar to golems? Or golem cores? Were they trained to behave as they did? Their constant repeating patterns seemed like something which was trained into them, and they themselves were simply executing the tasks outlined by their creators. But why?
Lyra poked at the shade with a finger and found its body was very fluid, dense but extremely mailable like most of the spawn within the Void. It poked her in return, and it made Lyra smile. Even though they moved like a person, their substance would make it difficult for them to do the same anywhere else but in the Void itself. No matter how Lyra puzzled it over she could not understand why someone would make something like these shades that could behave similar to golem cores, but without a body that could not actually carry out those actions outside the void. Perhaps more peculiar was the sheer number of shades that existed within the void. There were thousands within the city alone, possibly more. They seemed to appear and disappear at random intervals, executing their routine and then vanishing once it was complete. Even death did not seem to stop these things for long, as it took less than a day for one eaten by a spawn to return to its old routines.
Out of curiosity Lyra extended a thread of her aether to the shade, touching the single note it gave off. With a thought she made it vibrate slightly louder.
The Shade startled, suddenly standing and clutching at its chest. Again Lyra backed away, floating up to the top of a bent light pole to watch curiously. The shade clawed at its chest, as if trying to dig something out. It stumbled and fell backwards, limbs moving erratically in weird angles like it didn't know what to do with them. Maybe it could not stand from that position because that was outside of the routines it was accustom to? Lyra continued to watch, threading a new note into the things 'symphony' to see what would happen. She sent it soothing waves of Mesmer, meant to calm its raging emotions. Did it have emotions? Its music had become chaotic, a cacophony of conflicting notes and tones that Lyra could not recognize as anything she could understand. Instead of aiding, her additional notes only seemed to exacerbate the Shades suffering.
The other Shade was now looking down at its companion on the floor. It had completely frozen in place, head angled down in a way that Lyra knew meant it was watching what was happening to the other shade. It's 'symphony' has begun to shift as well, growing slightly louder, and curiously Lyra noticed several new notes had joined it. The humming it gave off was more harmonious than the one that writhed on the ground, but Lyra noticed that it had started to... mimic the notes of its fallen brother. Unfortunately for both of them the other shadow spawn had noticed as well. Before she could act one of the largest spawn snapped its head forward, its neck elongating to cross the distance across the street. It's teeth slammed shut around the still sitting Shade's head, and in an instant it was gone. The one on the ground soon met a similar fate, becoming swarmed by smaller spawn that tore and burrowed until its shadowy flesh, leaving nothing behind.
What did Lyra learn from these interactions? The Shades could be coaxed into an interaction, and their behavior was very similar to an untrained artificial soul made with artificing. Most interestingly, unlike normal shadow spawn these Shades COULD be affected by mesmer, and based on this one interaction it resulted in quite a strong reaction. Finally, Shades mimicked things. This included the notes of other shades around them, and possibly even other shadow spawn as well. Were the shades like focusing glyphs in a scroll? Or did they spread the note to the spawn around them? The other shadow spawn seemed attracted to them as soon as they gave off a new note from the usual one, which likely had some significance.
There were so many questions that arose from all of this, questions which Lyra resolved to answer soon enough.
The Shades went about their days following their set patterns, never diverging as far as Lyra could tell. Eventually when she had grown tired of simply watching Lyra floated down to investigate them herself. She landed next to a table where two of the shades sat, miming the act of eating in that peculiar way of theirs. They showed no acknowledgement of her presence, which was an immediate difference from the rest of the shadow spawn around her. Glancing to the side she saw a pack of the rat like spawn look her way before scurrying off down some alley. The rest of the spawn began to disperse as well, save for a few of the largest that prowled near or around the broken buildings, watching her with interest but not approaching.
This was the normal reaction for most shadow spawn she met. They typically had one of three reactions. The weakest ones would run, while the strongest would attack without hesitation. Then there were the middling ones, some of which Lyra suspected were slightly more intelligent than their bretheren. These would often watch her from a distance, never fleeing but also not getting too close either. It was possible they were waiting to see what she would do, and if she showed a sign of weakness Lyra suspected they would all pounce on her at once.
The shades simply ignored her presence, a fact which was quite odd to Lyra. She waved a hand in one of the shade's faces, but that as well garnered no reaction. So, she placed a hand on the things shoulder. It tensed, its faceless head turning to look at her as if noticing her for the first time. Lyra was taken aback and quickly flowed backwards, uncertain of what to expect. The shade did not move, but kept staring at Lyra, completely motionless with its hand midway to its head. It's companion continued on as if nothing were amiss, completely oblivious to the world.
After several seconds passed without reaction Lyra slowly relaxed and stepped forward once more. The Shade continued to watch her, its head turning to follow her no matter where she went. She even tried walking behind it, but it moved its neck unnaturally to never lose sight. The more it stared the more unsettled Lyra felt.
"What are you, little on..." Lyra whispered softly, not expecting an answer, and thus was surprised to hear her words echoed back to her in a child like voice.
"What are you..."
"Well now." Lyra smiled, "A mimic are we?"
"Mimic..." the shade repeated, its voice sounding somewhat distant as if from far away.
Lyra felt... delighted. She all but danced around the creature, flowing into the air to examine it from every angle. As she began to spread out around it the shade tried to follow her, its head turning wildly as it seemed confused where to focus. Lyra finally reformed sitting on the edge of the table and leaned forward, staring into the blank features.
It did not have eyes, but Lyra felt it could 'see' her somehow. This close Lyra began to notice that the shades, while they appeared human-like from a distance, were actually quite unnaturally proportioned. This one had a head that was just slightly too large for its size, its left shoulder sloped down at a steeper angle than the right, and its hands only had 3 fingers instead of four. She turned to look at the other shade that was still going about its routine. It had thread like shadow tendrils that were reminiscent of hair. It was slightly better proportioned, though its torso was a bit too long and its hands too big. Despite her interacting with its companion, this other shade was completely oblivious to her presence.
Turning back to the interactive shade Lyra raised her hand before it, palm facing outward. After a few seconds the shade repeated her gesture. Lyra tried several more actions. Waving, tilting her head, scratching her chin. Each and every one the shade mimicked after a short pause. It was a clumsy thing, like anything outside of it normal routine was completely new to it. There was also one other oddity.
She rarely used mesmer while in the Void, as in addition to its effectiveness being greatly decreased it was also all but useless on most of the spawn of the Void. These shades were one of the few notable exceptions. They gave off a sound very similar to a symphony, but they were all in harmony with one another to the point that it was difficult to tell any differences between them at all. This was what drew Lyra's attention now. As she interacted with the Shade she was surprised to notice that its sound had changed ever so slightly. It was the difference of a single note, hardly noticeable except for the sudden disharmony it caused among the choir of its peers. Even the aggressive shadow spawn hummed the same harmonies, though at a much softer volume. So to hear this one's change was something special.
"Do you understand me?" Lyra asked. She only got her words repeated back to her in response, and the same result was repeated even in different languages. This made her suspect that the shade was not truly intelligent... but the way it behaved felt familiar somehow. It took her some time to pieces it together, during which she had gone through several more iterations of words and gestures which the shade repeated. That was when she realized. The interaction was similar to those she had with artificial soul constructs, when she trained cores through Artificing.
The implication was staggering, but Lyra did not know what to make of it just yet. Were the shades somehow similar to golems? Or golem cores? Were they trained to behave as they did? Their constant repeating patterns seemed like something which was trained into them, and they themselves were simply executing the tasks outlined by their creators. But why?
Lyra poked at the shade with a finger and found its body was very fluid, dense but extremely mailable like most of the spawn within the Void. It poked her in return, and it made Lyra smile. Even though they moved like a person, their substance would make it difficult for them to do the same anywhere else but in the Void itself. No matter how Lyra puzzled it over she could not understand why someone would make something like these shades that could behave similar to golem cores, but without a body that could not actually carry out those actions outside the void. Perhaps more peculiar was the sheer number of shades that existed within the void. There were thousands within the city alone, possibly more. They seemed to appear and disappear at random intervals, executing their routine and then vanishing once it was complete. Even death did not seem to stop these things for long, as it took less than a day for one eaten by a spawn to return to its old routines.
Out of curiosity Lyra extended a thread of her aether to the shade, touching the single note it gave off. With a thought she made it vibrate slightly louder.
The Shade startled, suddenly standing and clutching at its chest. Again Lyra backed away, floating up to the top of a bent light pole to watch curiously. The shade clawed at its chest, as if trying to dig something out. It stumbled and fell backwards, limbs moving erratically in weird angles like it didn't know what to do with them. Maybe it could not stand from that position because that was outside of the routines it was accustom to? Lyra continued to watch, threading a new note into the things 'symphony' to see what would happen. She sent it soothing waves of Mesmer, meant to calm its raging emotions. Did it have emotions? Its music had become chaotic, a cacophony of conflicting notes and tones that Lyra could not recognize as anything she could understand. Instead of aiding, her additional notes only seemed to exacerbate the Shades suffering.
The other Shade was now looking down at its companion on the floor. It had completely frozen in place, head angled down in a way that Lyra knew meant it was watching what was happening to the other shade. It's 'symphony' has begun to shift as well, growing slightly louder, and curiously Lyra noticed several new notes had joined it. The humming it gave off was more harmonious than the one that writhed on the ground, but Lyra noticed that it had started to... mimic the notes of its fallen brother. Unfortunately for both of them the other shadow spawn had noticed as well. Before she could act one of the largest spawn snapped its head forward, its neck elongating to cross the distance across the street. It's teeth slammed shut around the still sitting Shade's head, and in an instant it was gone. The one on the ground soon met a similar fate, becoming swarmed by smaller spawn that tore and burrowed until its shadowy flesh, leaving nothing behind.
What did Lyra learn from these interactions? The Shades could be coaxed into an interaction, and their behavior was very similar to an untrained artificial soul made with artificing. Most interestingly, unlike normal shadow spawn these Shades COULD be affected by mesmer, and based on this one interaction it resulted in quite a strong reaction. Finally, Shades mimicked things. This included the notes of other shades around them, and possibly even other shadow spawn as well. Were the shades like focusing glyphs in a scroll? Or did they spread the note to the spawn around them? The other shadow spawn seemed attracted to them as soon as they gave off a new note from the usual one, which likely had some significance.
There were so many questions that arose from all of this, questions which Lyra resolved to answer soon enough.