To explain the origin of Dakota's shadow companion, one must look beyond birth or conception and even that sheds only a little light on the truth. Newly married and eager to start a family, Aviva Jacobs was a young Jewish woman living in the suburbs of New York. When her first pregnancy ended in a stillborn daughter, she fell into intense depression and anxiety and developed several phobias. Her husband, David Jacobs, confused her misery for grief and allowed her to languish in it for a time without help. She isolated herself from the world, became severely underweight as a result of not eating, and rarely left the house due to her agoraphobia.
It was only after a nearly successful suicide attempt that David was compelled to act. He got her to agree to seek a therapist. For years, she underwent several forms of treatment, ranging from talk therapy to ECT. It was a turbulent process and the road ahead was still long, but eventually, she began to show signs of recovery. She even became pregnant for the second time. Things were really looking up for the Jacobs household.
Little did Aviva know she was psychically gifted and her sorrow, guilt, and anxiety had attracted the attention of an obscure, parasitic entity. It had been feeding off of her deep reverse of negative psychic energy for years, and as she began to get well again, it was weakened. Vindictive because of the loss of a suitable host, it attached itself to the budding consciousness of the unborn child in an attempt to destroy his mind and send the mother spiraling back into her old ways.
The plan may have succeeded with a normal fetus, but the entity did not account for the psychic brilliance the child had inherited from his mother. As it invaded the developing baby's infantile mind, it was bound, unable to drift too far from the pregnant mother while on this plane of existence. To some extent, his vengeance was fulfilled.
When the baby boy was delivered, he came into the world a thick black mass of odious tentacles with beady red eyes. It only lasted for a few minutes before the newborn appeared to be as pink and healthy as any other baby boy, but those few minutes were enough to convince Aviva that she had given birth to the child of Lucifer, and she took her life later that week. David's self-destruction was slower and took place over years of alcohol and drugs, but the results were the same. Dakota was orphaned at the young age of five.
Without any close family members interested in taking him in, he went into the system where he bounced around foster homes. While he was agreeable enough, he had a few odd quirks that prevented families from keeping him for too long.
He talked to himself. Imaginary friends are normal for young children, but his conversations with his 'friend', affectionately dubbed Twinkle or Mr. Black or Shadow depending on the mood, were dark and unsettling and lasted well into preadolescence. He also had frequent night terrors and visions of highly unpleasant and accurate fears held by the members of his foster family. He couldn't socialize well with other kids and had trouble forming attachments to the older figures in his life. Lastly, he avoided anxiety-provoking situations, but not just situations that raised his anxiety but others as well. Once when his foster home caught on fire, instead of alerting anyone or aiding his trapped foster parents, he fled the home and was not found until the day after. A similar situation occurred with an armed burglar. His social workers were quick to assume his past was the reason for his odd behavior.
After private homes failed, he was moved into a group home for boys. This seemed to be a better place for him. He discovered sports and excelled in them. Through watching and observing, he learned to pick up on social cues and behave like a boy ought to behave. He even got pretty good grades throughout elementary school. His interactions with Shadow subsided as Kota learned to ignore the entity's suggestions and commentary.
This progress was interrupted in the school playground when a girl was freaking out because of a bee. For the first time since his birth, Mr. Black manifested into the physical world and turned into a massive swarm of black bees, chasing the girl from the school grounds. Witnesses linked the incident to Dakota (the bees erupted from his freaking shadow, after all), but as there was no tangible evidence and the bees were nowhere to be found, the school's administration dismissed the event as childhood imaginations running wild.
A month later, a young and upcoming entrepreneur (and one of the group home's sponsors) by the name of Adaku Springs approached Kota with questions. He was distant at first, unwilling to talk about the return of his previously thought 'imaginary friend'. She was persistent, however. His psychic potential was exactly what she needed to jumpstart her career in cybernetics as she was seeking to engineer technology that can amplify mental faculties. She invited him to live at her home upstate and worked diligently to raise him. Her sympathetic soul and sharp wit broke through Dakota's walls, and she would go on to adopt him. Dakota, taking Jacobs as a middle name, became Dakota Springs.
What brought Dakota to Coral Springs was a brutal effort by Shadow to finally destroy his host's mind and take over the body left behind. During a wait in the lobby, while Adaku was at an executive meeting, he was bombarded by intense dread and terrifying visions. He fell into a coma and resided in a psychic hellscape for three days. In Shadow's home turf, he was ruthlessly tormented and experienced the fears of the people he had come across in his short life. This exposure was meant to kill him, but the human mind is a resilient thing, especially that of a learning psychic. He survived the ordeal and awoke shattered but with the resolve to pick up the broken pieces. The resolve to control the darkness inside his mind. To do so, he needed help. Adaku did what she could, got him to see psychologists and therapists and even supernatural experts when she could get her hands on one with experience. In preparation for high school, she enrolled him in Coral Springs so he could perhaps finally open up to people of his age. He was even sent there to spend the summer while she searched for other ways to help him…and utilize him.
The nature of the entity (whom Dakota has given various names through the years to humanize that which can never be fully humanized) that is forever connected to Dakota is unclear. Little is known about where he comes from or how long he has existed or why he is bound to Kota. What is known is that he hails from a dimension of darkness nicknamed the 'Twilight Zone' by Kota.
What is also certain is that his connection to Dakota grants him with the ability to sense and manipulate the fear and horror of living creatures. For this, he needs line of vision (through the entity or himself). The most potent form of this power reveals itself in horrifying visions of the fears of the target, so vivid and overwhelming that the target believes it is real and is rendered incapable of action until they can overcome it.
Such illusions require him to allow Shadow deep into the minds of others. As a result in most cases, he manipulates the feelings of others to raise their anxiety and cause them to fear him or something near him. It could be something completely harmless. Even this is capable of great harm. Unbeknownst to his former social workers (and there is some denial on his part), this resulted in a lethal heart attack in one of Dakota's foster mothers when Shadow was feeling peckish.
Those with mental abilities are more likely to draw Shadow's eye as their psychic presence and emotions are stronger than those without. In some circumstances, shielding can be difficult to pass through, but the entity has pierced such shields before and oftentimes without target's notice.
He can also ease the fear others but only does so when it is immediately beneficial as utilizing his ability in this way not only angers Shadow but also is generally a temporary 'quick fix' to a much bigger problem.
Even less is known about Shadow's capabilities while manifested in the physical world as he has only done so on three occasionsns: Dakota's birth, a playground incident, and when he was in a coma. Through a process of reverse astral projection, he can push Shadow into a quasi-physical form that is malleable, thick, and dark. While it has no clear form, it will usually take a shape that is likely to instill fear in its victims. In this state, it is capable of a wide of assortment of abilities such as cloaking a room in darkness or hiding Dakota from sight or even shielding him from physical harm. By casting shadows over objects or people, it can manipulate them freely but to no fine degree. Through his same logic, Kota is capable of flight.
While the entity is attached to Dakota, it can momentarily bind itself to others around him. This is how he feeds but can also be used as an attack to render others unconscious.
Lastly, Shadow actively shields Dakota's mind. He is not aware that this takes place, but on psychic radars, Dakota appears to not exist or lack a solid consciousness.
Athlete - Dakota is a bit of a jock, naturally athletic and very much into competitive and organized sports. For much of his youth, this has been the only thing that allowed him to fit in with his peers.
Psychology - Dakota is a total psych nerd and has no problem letting others know about it. His interest in it stems from an advanced course Adaku made him take, and his experience with fear and anxiety gives him unique insight into the human psyche.
Singing & Guitar - During his weeks in music therapy, he picked up a thing or two with the guitar and found that he had a talent for singing.
Streetwise - Despite appearing squeaky clean, Kota knows how to get around. He's a city boy at heart and knows more about the streets than most.
Fearless - This has less to do with Dakota's abilities and more to do with who he is. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, after all. Humans exemplify this saying, and Dakota is a prime example of posttraumatic growth and how trauma can make a resilient mind even stronger. He has walked through a psychic hell and came out a better person because of it. In his mind, if he can face that, he can face anything. His understanding of fear means there is very little that rocks him enough to lose resolve.
Feed The Fear (weakness) - Shadow requires sustenance in the way of the fear or anxiety of others. The typical stress of students (such as tests, crushes, and homework) is usually enough to sustain him, but deprived of nourishment, he will be significantly weakened. As it is, Dakota only lets Shadow consume just enough to keep him manageable. This means his abilities (aka rolls) are never at their height or fullest potential. Once Dakota tried to starve the entity entirely, but this just caused Shadow to use his own host as a source of food. When this happens, Dakota is not only unable to access his powers but he also feels an exaggerated sense of dread that can lead to panic attacks or worse. The more fear that is accessible to Shadow, the stronger he gets, and the more control he holds over his host.
Only Thing To Fear Is Fear Itself - If there is one thing that tends to cause Dakota actual distress, it's the fear of others. Shadow not only attempts to consume this fear but intensify it. This causes Dakota to flee from situations where others are feeling anxious or fearful which can make him seem distant, cold, or outright uncaring…he's not, he just doesn't want Shadow to do something he can't undo.
What Happens In the Dark - The existence of Shadow is currently on a need-to-know basis. Dakota is at Coral Springs to learn how to control and 'defeat' Shadow, not how to use him. He tends to shy away from discussion of powers, and this can make him come off as shady or secretive.