okay so i decided to write a little something on the origin on the shadowpaw tribes shadowmelding ability
and it's turning into a short story apparently
i may need to cut a few things and switch some thing around since i was jotting it down
fast before i lost the thought entirely heres the uneditied segment (well i spellchecked it atleast)

Some say flames eliminate shadow
others believe shadows are created by flames
in fact it's a delicate balance between the two
if you control the flame you can make the shadows dance
but if you make it too bright the shadows hide
if it's too dim the shadows will silently reach out to you
and you never know what hides in those shadows
but I do.....

the Shadowpaw tribe had long since earned their name
they had developed a method they called Shadowmeld
they covered their bodies with runes and spells that
turned the barrier between the light and the shadow
into a passageway allowing them to immerse themselves
into the shadows....

The first of their shamans that had succeeded was a
young wolf named Xaielle Le Shadu she had discovered
the secret of the ancient language that most had forgotten
and whose words when written became powerful spells she had
used their runic symbols as decoration on her walls until she
found the words for flames and the word its self melted its way
into the wall of her cave and sat there like a lantern illuminating
that section of her home she set to work trying out other things
when she wrote the word for shadow under it the letters danced
to the flame above sending new runes on the walls ones she had never
seen before

Xaielle had taken this as a sign she should further her knowledge
she had started putting words together into a sentence and
watched the spells unfold tree bark had burned into ash and the
ash turned into a single pale grey rose which sparked her curiosity
she had marveled at what she had done and tried to see if she could
weave a spell on her body and she picked up the rose and set it into a bowl
and watched it turn back into ash as it lost contact with the runes
she then mixed in the purple juice of some local berries and a drop of water
making a mixture to stain the runes into her fur she first wrote Shadow
and watched her fur turn dark then she added Wanderer and when she
set her foot down it the dark fur seemed to plunge straight through as if
the shadows had become a body of water slowly the shadows crept up
her leg changing whatever fur that hadn't darkened to the same color
as the shadow except the runes had started pulsating a deep purple

Xaielle was astonished at what she had done but her curiosity had not be sated
she pulled her foot out of the dark and stood on the illuminated ground
she adorned her hooded cloak thinking she should see where the shadow would take her
she crouched near the edge of the shadows and slowly slid her feet through
slowly but surely she slid in deeper until she was about waist deep and still had found no bottom
she tried to pull the cloak closer around her before she went the rest of the way in
but she felt a resistance and quickly noticed that the cloak refused to
enter with her slowly she slid it off her shoulders and set it aside except for a small string
she used to tie it shut which she unwrapped and tied around her wrist in case the
shadows were endless she would have some anchor to the light
She plunged her head into the darkness only to find a mirrored version of her cave
except it was upside down startled she slipped into the darkness the string holding
her up for a few seconds before it slipped off her slim wrist

When she landed she expected to be on the celling when in fact she
ended up on the floor she looked around and noticed that every where
light touched her real cave was solid ground and everywhere shadow was
looked as if it had a layer of water that under the surface showed her home
which now looked upside down she remarked that the shadow realm must
stand just a hairs breath below the mortal real and mirror it hence
staring through the floors at the celling she took a few steps
to get a better look at the edge of the portal which seemed unstable
until she noticed that it was the flicker of the mock flames
a second later she was thrown off balance as the edge darted
towards her and snatched her foot when the flames flicked away
her foot fell through and then the flames illuminated the patch her foot was through
she was unable to pull her foot back our push it forward
the ground had become solid around her foot as the light hit the patch
it did not hurt because it was still attached and was not harmed
just stuck in the border between shadows and light
when the fire flickered again she withdrew her foot before the fire
illuminated again she then jumped through the portal to tell her teacher


When she was getting ready to head out she had kept close
attention to avoid stepping on the shadows and slipping through
she had wrapped her feet in cloth and pulled on her cloak
before going to see her teacher who was in his shack nearby
she told him all about her finding and about what she had
learned about how to use the ancient magics that had long
since been forgotten by most he had asked her for a demonstration
and she grabbed a large rock and set it near a tree stump
she then grabbed a quick and ink out of the shack so she
could write the runes of the past she wrote the runes for
fire on the stone which she explained was to create shadows
and he cocked his head to the side for a moment until
the words on the rock ignited in a small fire startled
he lost his balance and almost tripped when he went to
check out the flames which seemed to have no fuel
when he turned to her for an explanation he watched
as she threw her cloak aside and unwrapped her feet

Xaielle took a big step onto the stump and winked once
before jumping into the shadowy abyss grinning as she
though of how startled her teacher must be at this moment
once she was on the other side she sat near the portal at an
angle so she could watch her teachers feeble attempts to find her
she slowly tired of that and walked over to the fire noticing
the fire had a crystalline appearance she reached out to touch it
and she felt not heat or cold coming from it instead she felt the
soft silky shadow of the world she was in and instinctively
closed her eyes which triggered a short vision in which
a soft unfamiliar humming was playing which seemed
to control a raging fire but also the shadows that danced with
it and slowly they seemed to become one the fire became pale
and the shadows became bright as if switching roles
she then realized the gentle balance between the two

a moment later she opened her eyes and left the shadow realm
she had to calm down her teacher who had been thoroughly frightened
she showed him the runes she drew on her foot and of the balance
between fire and shadow and gave a summary of all the events
that had happened in her cave that day he seemed impressed
at her progress and that he had a similar happening but it
had made him lose his nerve and abandon the experiment
except in his he was playing off of ice instead of shadow
they had agreed that they should both research into
how they could better harness this shadow world

they refined their knowledge over the centuries and each generation
started getting more and more attuned to the shadows until
the newborns did not even have to adorn themselves with runes
to gain the ability the magic had seeped into their very blood
also they had fur that was dark as if it were charred and
strange purple markings that looked beautiful with the fur
and these children always had a fascination with fire and they
loved to play with it and watch it dance and move with it as if
they were the shadows and the fire was their passionate roaring lover


decades after all children naturally inherited their magic another tribe
who had studied them from a far declared them demons and tried
to eliminate them one by one slowly realizing that their shadow
powers made them very hard enemies to fight although they had no weapons
they could pop out of nowhere and rip out your throat or claw at an artery
after a few days they tried to declare a truce because of their heavy losses
the truce was accepted but blatantly stated it was temporary
the tribe of shadowmelders called upon the ancient runes to empower their
weaponry with the ability to follow them into the shadows
when the village was armed to the fang with enchanted weaponry
they called off the truce and started the real battle