Lurien

When he saw Necromancers with moon-pale hides for the first time, he was enthralled. They possessed an ethereal, pale beauty and elegance, and some vain corner of his mind already wanted that for himself. Consciously, he did not allow himself to consider the possibility. Lurien had not spent so long studying and then struggling through the Trials only to trade in his tan hide for a shimmery grey one. He turned away, back to his mentor and listened to her talk about blood diseases.

He would overhear a conversation between two Hunters later that month. It was an accidental thing, they had simply been one corridor over while he was walking by, and he had not been able to help hearing the almost-shouting. That was the first time he heard of the existence of the Presence. Just the very idea of it terrified and fascinated him. There was something out there, beyond this world, that hated the Shade just as much as they.

After that, it had taken every ounce of willpower he had to make himself sit through the rest of the lecture he had been attending. It hadn't helped that the old Necromancer talking about wasting sickness had been monotone. But he managed enough presence of mind to wait until it was over, until he had returned his books to their rightful places in his cramped apprentice's room before he went and tracked down one of the Hunters to ask questions.

The dust-colored mirror had been hesitant to speak to him in any detail about what the Presence was, but had been more than happy to tell him about Hunters and their various societies. Lurien had sat and spoken with the Hunter as long as the mirror would tolerate him - which was a few hours longer than he had initially expected. When he eventually asked how one became a Hunter, the mirror had tried to discourage him, saying that curiosity was fine, but a Hunter lives a difficult life, that the Presence demands much for its gifts.

"I am called."

That had been enough. The mirror had deflated a bit before straightening his spine and answering, "Go to the Forbidden Portal, go beyond it, and you will find what you seek." He had wasted no time, not even packing a bag or preparing. The Portal was near enough, and he was called to go.

He remembered reading somewhere once that the mists within the Portal looked pale green to most eyes. To him it had seemed a luminescent silver, the color of quicksilver and smelling strongly of dew. Elated, he wasted no time in walking across that barrier, pushing the mist out of the way like spiderwebs. What happened beyond he remembers foggily, as if it had happened in a dream.

But Lurien does not doubt that he touched the Presence in that place, and that it touched him and left him changed. He emerged with the same silvery coat he had so coveted, and the previously dark red stripes of the Mother's blessing had turned a brilliant moon-pale white. His body shown in the full moon light, and deep within his mind he could hear the whispers of the Presence. It was a part of him now, and the desperate urge to know it waned, replaced by a need to hunt.