Overview
Harbingers are powerful, high-ranking darkness creatures formed from high-ranking mages corrupted by darkness. Soltheris commanders respond to them as a new darkness-born threat when they strike southern villages, where they move unpredictably and target weak defenses.
Aurion prepares level seven and higher mages for the response, and defeating harbingers can force even elite mages into dangerous essence draining.
Description
A harbinger can shift between an eerie humanoid shape and writhing shadow, with tendrils of darkness and void-like eyes. One advances at the center of a corrupted horde, with umbral stalkers moving first and ebon wraiths following behind.
Abilities
Harbingers fight with heavy darkness tendrils strong enough to batter Aurion's starfield barriers, shake the ground, and intensify under pressure. Their shifting bodies let them slip around celestial attacks.
Aurion destroys one by using essence draining, trapping it inside a blazing starlight barrier and burning through the surrounding horde. Astheron's group also stops one harbinger. The defense costs two level seven mages and leaves Astheron drained.
History
When harbingers strike Soltheris's southern villages, Aurion assigns scouts to watch for them, personally waits in the threatened villages, and fights one when it reaches the outskirts. Harbinger strikes leave southern settlements damaged and make the cost of defending Soltheris impossible to ignore.
The Land of Darkness later contains a harbinger that is Kheran, or what Kheran became. After Eira takes the shard and black smoke appears, darkness creatures vanish for a time; near the temple route, even harbingers are gone.