Everything has a beginning. Before the heroes and horrors of In Darkness Cast and Afterlight , before the wars that sundered Heaven and Hell, there were moments—small and vast—that set the darkness in motion. Shades of Black: Origins gathers those moments into one legendary volume, revealing the birth of monsters, saints, and the damned alike. In Son of Anak , a titan’s son rises from the burning Hellscape to master his rage and survive betrayal on his path to becoming the Slaughterlord. In Ashes , treasure hunters seeking fortune in the Onyx Desert awaken a power older than worlds, one that will not let them leave alive. In The Raising of Ermog Grei , a weary doctor confronts a necromancer’s plague and must embrace forbidden power to save the living and the dead. In Desolate , a hunted mother becomes a warrior-nun to protect her child, caught between holiness and her own damnation. In Blood of Anak , Ursus—now crowned Slaughterlord—faces legions, demons, and the storm of blood within that threatens to consume his throne. In Einherjar , the Wolves of the North march into Ravenholme to slay a demon lord and uncover the monstrous truth buried in their brotherhood. And in the haunting Ember Knight , Gideon’s endless death on the eve of Natalis becomes a lesson in sacrifice, and in how even in darkness, a star may be born. From the desolate wastes of the Hellscape to the frozen ruins of the North, these are the beginnings—the choices, curses, and crucibles—that forged the world of Shades of Black . These are the Origins.