Eleazar Esperanza

Eleazar's appearance gives him the impression of an educated, self-assured and reliable man. He stands tall at 6'1 feet, with a dignified stance, firmly built with broad shoulders, with his chin raised to a level matched with a hard calculating gaze. His facial features are a bit angular, high cheekbones, and a defined jaw and along with his stoic expression, it makes him look unapproachable to most people. Add to the fact that his shadow seems to move independently at times adds to the spook factor for his appearance.

His blonde hair is kept short, with a bit of an undershave at the back and his fringe neatly swept away from his face. He doesn't really use any products on his hair so it falls along with his movements. His eyes are dark green in color — most people say it's a very nice shade of green but he doesn't care much for that. His skin looks rather fair, a light stubble stays on his chin and his sideburns appear just under the strands of his hair.

His demeanor and they way he dresses show how he'd been raised properly. His clothing preference leans towards formals to somewhat semi-formal, often long-sleeved. His casuals only come in for summer outings and that doesn't really come often for him. Outside of his uniform, he's found wearing neutral to woodland tones, mostly soft greens. In any other time, he has rectangular glasses sitting on his nose, frameless with transition lenses to keep the sun away from his eyes.

As most Shades, Eleazar has an alternative form that is mostly just a thick mass of smoky blackness. Standing alone, he seems to appear taller, probably some 6'5 up to 7 feet depending on which angle to look. The shape he appears in is barely any different from the shadow he casts when in human form but he looks like he's moving along with a tail — almost like a naga. He moves quickly; and though he doesn't really care about being seen, he doesn't appear this way too often unless the situation needs it. If you look hard enough you'd find his eyes gleaming in the dark — but he rarely gives people this chance as he'd either flee or step out into his human form.​

While first impressions are always important, they aren't always consistent when it comes to sizing up another person. With Eleazar, that proves true. Most people get the first timpression of Eleazar as this straight-faced block of stone that doesn't have any better thing to worry about. His resting expression is almost always seen with a slight furrow oh his brow that makes people think he's judging everyone.

Quite the opposite, the frown isn't some judgemental bullshit. Or well it is but it's more on this constant concern for everything that's happening. For someone who's been a police officer in Manta Carlos for almost half his life (or really, being a native of the island), the strangeness of some cases still seem to elude him. His constant state is a sense of passive concern towards people he deals with; he almost never misses to ask questions just so he could figure out what the bloody hell is going on.

His more casual self is really more laid back than that. He can be dismissive about the things that happen around him if he wanted to. He wouldn't even remember it until someone else brings it up. Sometimes this turns into a joke for his peers — most of his fellow officers have caught on too, much to his embarrassment. He acts somewhat childish at times; he could easily be distracted by things enough to forget another, especially when on his off days.

At work, he turns out to be very focused on the job, almost never distracted no matter what's happening in the background. He gets lost into the rhythm of whatever he's working on to the point people can think he's overworking himself. It's not quite far from that though; Eleazar's personality makes it easy for him to lose himself when in full focus. When he has his mind set on something, everything else doesn't seem to matter.

It doesn't really occur to most people, but Eleazar has a bit of an addictive personality. At times he gets obsessive with trivial matters that his agitation becomes infectious. He tries his best not to let this show but he can't really help it when it starts leaking out. He isn't very easy to overwhelm nowadays since he's been organizing his day to day activities, but once he reaches that dead end: boy does it leave a mess. When he reaches roadblocks, his go to is really throwing himself to work and ignoring every other thing that he should also be concerned about whether it's about family or friends or whatever.

Eleazar currently has an addiction to cigarette smoking and since his health isn't something he can worry about so much, he could go through a full box of cigarettes before the day even ends if he doesn't pay attention. He has been paying attention though since if it isn't his health he should be concerned of, it's his financial situation. He's keeping marijuana smoking to almost never since he'd turned twenty seven but he could get back to it at any moments notice.

On the plus side, Eleazar is very self-reliant and rather independent if you ignore the vices. He makes for an excellent cook that his college friends used to ask why he hadn't gone to a culinary arts course. Right next to police work, house work is what keeps him busy and his organization skills keeps him constantly moving without having to worry about problems coming along — except of course it's an external source. His attention to detail keeps him on his feet and it helps him with his daily life.

He's a got a marksman's ability when it comes to guns, and even without magic, he's also skilled enough with a level self-defense unarmed. Despite the few childish traits he possesses, he's equally hard to intimidate. Torture doesn't really scare him much but when it strats to involve his family, that's when things can turn bad. He's awfully protective of family and close friends, and any case of slighting them would likely bring out his more violent side. Basically, it'll be like flicking an off switch when that happens. It isn't very pretty: at the end of it all, he's still a Shade and they never really had a good reputation.

At the very least, no one has to worry about that. The most people should know is that Eleazar is down-to earth, friendly, caring and doesn't deserve so much bullshit in his life. He's reliable and trustworthy as an ally and as a friend; but he's an equally terrifying foe when you get on his bad side.​

Shades can manipulate their forms that it appears that they are controlling shadows. They can do the same in human form, making it look like their shadows move independently but never really losing connection to their human forms as it's essentially a part of them — an extra limb one can say. They can form almost anything from tendrils to grapple surroundings, to shaping their entire forms into an animal of choice, up to whatever form their imaginations can supply them. It's basically shapeshifting without all the hassle of rearranging anything. This ability is mainly limited to their actual size with their body comparable to an elastic fluid that can be compressed and expanded. Adult Shades tend to be larger, their volumes enough to fill up a room with a 200-meter floor space at most, while younger ones can go for one with 20 meters of floor space at the least. So far, Eleazar has made the record of containing an entire meeting room of about 150 meter floor space.

They cannot actually control shadows they did not make themselves which means making contact with a shadow cast by a building doesn't make a difference. Some cases allow Shades to entrap or control living creatures through their shadows, with much effort depending on what kind of creature they're targeting. For the common shade, they find it difficult to control creatures larger than them, but Eleazar is one of the few that are strong enough to take on creatures twice his size to hold them down with some amount of struggle. This makes him rather effective in apprehending targets.​

Shades have an ability few like to call Nightmare Theater. Picture this: you look into the dark for a few seconds and the longer you look, the more the image of a horrifying beast takes form and the more it becomes real in your head. It's not a good idea to look into shadows where a Shade hides; and more especially looking directly into their eyes. Eleazar can use it as intimidation trick but prefers not to.

As a single cast spell, this ability puts the targets into a state that induces nightmares for an amount of time. The spell fools the senses making the target think it's all real.Only the caster can undo the spell usually but at rare times the target sees through the illusion and breaks through it. In some cases, the target passing out also ends the spell. His record had him trap someone in a nightmare for almost half a day before he decided to undo the spell himself. It wasn't a proud feat considering it was sort of an assault on his part but he remembers it to keep track of his abilities.

There are inconsistencies in the stories of how it looks like but from an outsider's point of view, they appear as hallucinations for the target. There is two ways to cast the spell: the basic form which places the target frozen into a tranced state and a stronger version where the illusion appears before their eyes as if the threat is right before them. He doesn't need to pay them attention even if the target runs off since it's being fueled by their own thoughts. Eleazar has no problem using either but he finds the first one easier and more manageable.​

Shades are specific species of shadow-based creatures. They can be found appearing in the Narrow Reality as shadow figures but these species are the type that can also appear as humans if they chose to. They can be likened to some types of ghost that are able to interact with the real world and carry out tasks that corporeal beings can do. They can interact with the physical world in either forms and their human forms are not limited to dark tones (of hair color, eye color, etc). Shades don't have very noticeable differences to humans but one can know a Shade in human guise if they A) they produce little to no scent, B) their footfalls are muted, and C) they have noticeable light sensitivity. Their weights are half of what human normally have and they're often quick and light on their feet.

Shades tend to be attracted to negativity and also attract them in return, and while they don't necessarily appear as depressive or violent, they can bring this out of other people around them. Shades have the ability to supress this vibe which lets them move around normally in crowds. They also possess light sensitivity which can result to exhaustion and fatigue when exposed to sunlight for prolonged amounts of time. In compensation, Shades have excellent night vision and can move in the dark with ease. For people who've done their research, Shades do not like being seen in their shadow forms and are prone to hide. Their weakness involves general light including light-based magic. Holy magic does not affect them much but specific enchantments against Shades work effectively as driving them away with actual light.

A Shade's natural form is some sort of thick smoky blackness that takes a a humanoid shape at most times with not very much distinguishing features. Though most sightings of them are found stuck onto walls and various other flat surfaces, they can also stand alone. This form allows them to melt into darkness --whether it's from the lack of light or the presence of shadows-- as some form of cloaking. Shades can still be picked out of the dark if the other person knows what they're looking for. They are not completely incorporeal, so they can still be touched but this does not mean it is easy to find them when they have hidden in the dark. They can manipulate their forms to whatever shape they wish, and if it includes squishing themselves into tiny crevices, they will. They can travel through darkness quicker than on their human forms, almost like teleportation but it isn't instantaneous.

Shades are functionally immortal. They cannot die by normal means such as diseases, old age or injury. They have increased healing rate that can help them recover from injuries to prevent death and by seeking shelter from darkness, they can assist the healing rate to speed up recovery. Poisons and intoxicants can affect them when in their human form, but they can flush it out from their bodies by shifting into their alter form. Shades with fatal injuries must retreat to darkness for a few days up to a couple of weeks, depending on the damage, if they want to survive. It's almost impossible to kill Shades but one sure way is to prevent them from seeking shelter after inflicting major damage. They're generally weaker to light (and Light Magic) and they become more vulnerable when in their shadow forms making them more vulnerable.​

When asked for story about his life, Eleazar says it's not all that interesting. The most details he often points out was that he was born on the island, his father had been part of Manta Carlos' police force back in the day, while his mother used to be a top model in one of the agencies in the island. Sometimes, he mentions that his parents separated when he was twelve and his mother left. He then left the island with his father for a while and lived in Europe until he had to go back because his powers started giving him trouble. He talks about his half-sister enough; they're not very close but they're not strangers to each other either.

Eleazar's never really told a lie about his family but he tended to miss some details to tell the entire story. He grew up in a rather dysfunctional family: his father always seemed to drown himself with work, while his mother... well.

In front of other people, they seemed like a decent family if not a little bogged down by his parent's professions. Most of the time, he spends a lot of his after schools and weekends with classmates and friends. Even so, he never really seemed like the kid who was suffering from any sort of family problems. Everyone was conviced he had it all.

But when all ears are turned away, things get a bit messy. The easy way to say it was that his mother didn't like him. To be more upfront, she didn't want him. She was almost always out of the house, at times she doesn't come home at night. Whenever he goes to ask his father, he'd tell him she just wanted to be alone. She always wanted to be alone. He had memories of running up to her whenever she came home and getting a sharp glare in return. His mother never looked at him in any other way but with disgust and anger. Eleazar never really knew what it was her deal at the time but the few times she laid a hand on him was in the middle of a fit of drunken rage. He hated being around his mother when she was drunk.

Late in the evenings, he always heard his parents talking, their voices in hushed whispers, somewhat rushed and angry at times. It eventually came to a point where the whispers turned into screaming and Eleazar had to hide in his room before his mother remembered he was there, worried she might take out her frustrations on him. He never told anyone the things that happened in their home; his father told him to leave it be.

One day, he just woke up to find out his mother was gone. Eleazar was only actually ten then. His father wouldn't give him any answer except for she'd left the two of them on their own. He didn't seem surprised how despondent he was about it. He did tell Eleazar they would leave Manta Carlos in a few days.

He spent a few years of his life off the island only to return five years later. By that time his father had remarried and he already had a younger sister with them. But his powers had been manifesting in bursts and started to catch their family unwanted attention. He transferred to Starlight Academy on his 10th grade, moving back to the island by himself and stayed there since, visiting his family only once a year on holidays.

He took the Junior Police Cadet program before he graduated high school, after which, he pursued Criminology for his bachelor's degree with a few magic credits before finally signing up for the Manta Carlos Police Academy.

A letter arrived for him one day, from his stepmother, telling him his father had gone missing in action. He was already twenty-four. Enclosed in the letter was a clip of newsprint announcing him and a few others dead on a case, but they both knew it was almost impossible for him to die out there. Not without knowing what they really were. He had to convince himself he had a reason — he didn't want to think his father would have abandoned his wife and daughter like his mom had done to the two of them before.

Eleazar insisted they move to Manta Carlos for safety but his stepmother insisted she had to care for her aging parents back there. The argument dragged on for weeks until Eleazar relented. Eleazar stopped visiting the family but they kept in touch through letters. At present, he serves as a Senior Police Officer in the Manta Carlos Police Department.​