“Of all the Gods I have encountered, none have had such a revilement than the God of Shadows, Wymond Payne. The stories of their mortal life have been tossed to the winds of time, but every source and every story I have encountered say but one thing: that he was the most trusted confident of the Vulture of Anatolia, known in the years before her downfall as Dii Casses. Those who saw him at the time are either long dead or too important to talk to a mere historian, such is your humble author, but we know that this beast of shadow stalked the night to chase down those Gods or Saints who had displeased him and devour them, or offer them up to the Vulture for the same fate.”
At this point there is a sketch of a humanoid figure, that seems to blur at the edges. Their body is a uniform dark hue, except for the eyes which seem to glow like burning coals.
“No doubt it is easy to understand the fear that this creature must have unleashed upon its time: the spear to guide the Vulture's endless hunt. British legend says that when the Vulture became tired and hungry, she plucked out her left eye and planted it in the ground. From this sprung Wymond Payne fully formed, and Dii Casses's eye made manifest. This would, I suspect, explain the many references at the time to the 'one-eyed fiend' and the illustrations of Dii Casses wearing a broad sash to hide one eye.
Still his reign of torment and terror came, as it must for all evil Gods, to an end. Many poems and songs have been written about how High King Samuel and Wilfrida, the Wolf Incarante rent the land in search of the Shadow. I am sure the reader is familiar with the stories, so I shall no go into detail here, except to say that at the climax the Wolf tore the eye of Dii Casses from the throat of the Shadow. Thus ends the life of Wymond Payne, as he was born from the Eye: so he died with it.”
— Excerpt from A Chronicle of Dead Gods, by Alexander Angelos
“And so in time he stood in England fair
The Shadow both of Man and more beyond.
Afar from him another roved, his pair
Stalking, the Wolf Incarnate breaks her bond.”
— The opening lines to Death and the Shadow