Echoes

Echoes look like human silhouettes, jet black, with only two white, glowing orbs where their eyes should be. Their clothes are often that which they were wearing when they became Echoes, and have become a part of the silhouette. When they touch an inanimate object smaller than they are, it will become jet black just like the Echo until it is released. The effect happens and releases instantaneously. Echoes are known to be cold to the touch, but otherwise feel like any other human.   Echoes can see incredibly well in the dark, even with no light source. They cannot touch any direct sunlight without it beginning to burn them, but they can travel almost instantaneously through shadows by simply sinking into them and drawing themselves back up elsewhere. They are relatively harmless to other cryptids, but they can step into a human's shadow and sit there, feeding off of the human's energy for extra power. They can entirely suck the life force out of a human, but usually they will make them weak and tired before attempting possession of the human's body, forcing the soul out and taking over themselves. After an Echo possesses a human body, a dark wooden door only they can see appears before them. Stepping through it allows them to exit the Wildes and reappear in the human world, effectively sealing themselves inside the body forever.

Echoes are "born" when humans that become lost in the Wildes and don't accept the Wildes' magic into themselves. This choice is not entirely conscious; some humans simply aren't compatible and subconsciously reject the magic, and some are too fixated on the human world to give in. Usually a human won't live in the Wildes long enough for this transformation to take place, but when it does it is often slow and painful, starting with a numbness in the fingers and toes and slowly creeping up until enclosing around the eyes. The process can last anywhere from one day to two weeks, depending on how hard the human struggles against the Wildes' magic. Accepting the magic can slow the process, and if it hasn't reached past the heart, can even stop it entirely, though this rarely happens. This creates an Echo Mage.

Echoes feed on human energy. They will sit, unseen, in human's shadows and can soak up the energy until the human sleeps, and then they can feast on their dreams, though this leaves the human with Echo Bite. The most common symptoms of Echo Bite is drowsiness, exhaustion, soreness, paranoia, depression, and anxiety. If an Echo does not eat often enough, they begin to fade away, becoming less and less solid until the glow of their eyes blinks out like a lightbulb, and they melt into shadows entirely, unable to pull themselves out any longer.

Echoes often have difficulty realizing when they are speaking to another Echo, as they all look like normal humans to each other except for a faint glow of the eyes that can be difficult to spot. However, Echoes cannot touch each other; their bodies will be repelled away from each other like same-sided magnets if they get within 5 inches of each other. Because of this, there isn't much of an Echo social structure. Some may find pairs or small groups that travel together, but usually loner Echoes are more common. Those that are stronger get first dibs on food; strength usually depends entirely on the will of the Echo.

Most other species often see Echoes as pathetic, and a waste. They see them as less than humans, because at least humans are useful in that they can be consumed and used. Echoes are seen as annoying pests to be shooed off, or sometimes killed for sport. Echoes are entirely harmless to every other creature beside a human, so it's difficult for them to fight back, and therefore often hide from other species.