“So, I am a drow, a dark elf, we’re a type of elf that benefits from a subterranean environment, though we don’t need it, we’re just a little indisposed by sunlight” he laughed, “We find solace in things like the cold and dark, so…Rook was a very comforting place for me to call home. With magic, there is a strange ability that magic has where…have you heard the phrase, “if you built it, they will come?” he asked, I nodded

“Of course”

“So…cold…” a voice whispered

“In magic…if you were make up a magical figure or a deity of some kind for literally the smallest possible thing, you could make up a god of Tuesdays or something and if enough people genuinely believe in them…the magical weave will sense that devotion and bring them into existence. The magic of existence will make it real.” he explained as he folded his hands in front of him as he sat forward a little, “My goddess, Lolth, has…she’s existed for millennia, but it was only more recently that we were able to give her a proper name.”

“Yeah, isn’t she like a bad guy in DnD or something?” I asked, he laughed at that

“Yes, she is, she’s an evil goddess in those games, but…she has always existed as a protector for my people. Of all the Elvin sub-types, we have been the most oppressed, nobody will argue with you with that, we mainly came to understand that a long, long time ago…a large faction of high elves were forced underground to protect themselves from being hunted down by humans or others…they called out and prayed for help, assistance…they asked out for someone to be able to assist them and through that…the goddess who would soon be known as Lolth was made by the weave. She gifted the first drow with our abilities and features to better exist and flourish in their new found subterranean homes. She connected with spiders so that she can assist us anywhere and everywhere we ended up, she would always be out in the shadows to reach out her helping hand and kept our existence a secret from the other elves who wished us dead or the humans who wished to hunt us down with the rest of the magical people.” He explained

“So…she’s like not evil?”

“I…can’t…move…”

“Not at all” he assured with a soft shake of his head, “She is a goddess of shadows, spiders, secrets and deceit….she protects us because things are safe in the shadows, people can’t see you when you are the shadows…she’s the patron of spies, a weaver of knowledge and magic…there is a lot she does for all of us, but a lot of people believe her to be a dangerous evil woman of venom and malice.” He sighed, obviously the idea of that has been a pressing matter to him by how exasperated he sounded with the last part.

“They…they told me that there is no possible way for me to get rid of this curse…they said it would kill me if they even attempted to seal it.” I whispered as I looked towards my hands

“Alas, that is the nature of a curse like yours.” He added with a kindness on his voice, but there was a detachment to how he said it like he wasn’t happy with it either, “A person like yourself…a medium, they’re quite rare in the magical world because like my day-job, people don’t like having to spend their time around the departed, so…the weave gifted you your curse so that you could fill a needed role.”

“Why me though?”

“Medium…help….me…”

“It could be for various reasons: your soul could have been most receptive to the magic it needed to give out, you could have been born at the right time, there are multiple reasons you were chosen.”

“But why…just a nonmagical human” I said motioning to myself, “I’m sure there was probably some magical kid born at nearly the same time I was that would have been much more befitting this magic.”

“Probably, but at the same time…would it not be more difficult for the weave to build the person it needs from a blank slate rather than someone who already had the basis of magic on them?”

“Pliability” I sighed, “My existence was easy for it to manipulate into what it deemed needed…so it didn’t have to be bothered by whatever magic already existed on a magical kid’s person” I added as I rested my head in my hands before sneering at the bandages covering them, while I understood why they kept my hands and arms wrapped like this, it was also…very itchy.

“If you want to describe it as such and that brings you comfort, so be it, but please, do not allow the idea of this curse weigh you down and have it turn to poison.”

“Why?”

“Patience can quickly rot and fester into apathy and then…it turns to bile where it will poison and corrode the body from within as it courses through your body” he sighed as he looked at me, “And if you were to allow yourself the release of death…the weave will gift your curse to someone else…I can see on your person…you don’t want to bother others by having to experience what you do…don’t you?” he asked, I nodded as I looked down, “The weave saw fit to gift Rook with a medium…and chose you, as much as you may find it a curse, there may be a time where you’re able to shift it into a blessing”

“A blessing?” I laughed as I looked up a little, “Nice…you really believe that could be possible?”

“Where…am…I?”

“Your life has been constantly filled with ghosts reaching out for you to help them, to allow them to move on and finally be at rest…I can only make guesses as to what would happen to you…but in my nature as a cleric of the graves, I know the pain and torture that befalls the souls of those who are not able to pass…by gifting them their release, it would ease your burden…less voices to fill your head.”

“If I release them…they’ll stop talking to me?”

“Those that you release, yes” he said with a nod, “I do what I can so that people’s souls do not reach the point that your abilities are needed; I give those the release that they so require or deserve. The souls of those that never found rest are your clients…much more talkative then my own” he added with a motion around me.

“You…can see them?” I asked

“If I wish” he said as he snapped his fingers and his bright yellow-orange eyes flashed to entirely purple, no visible scalar or other elements to his eyes, just voids of bright purple. “Can you stand?”

“I think so” I said as I shifted, I slid to the edge of the bed as I swung my legs out and shifted to standing, my legs wobbled a little as I stood, but I was able to.

“Allow me to…show you what is possible.” he said as he took, he held his hands out towards me, I hesitated to take them, but the fact my hands were as intensely bound as they were, I was able to reach out and take his hands. “Close your eyes.” he said, I did as I lowered my head a little, I heard him say something in a language I did not recognize, this…heavy intense static feeling filled my arms…starting intensely at my fingertips as it rapidly moved up and through my arms, going further and further up before it reached my shoulders where the feeling filled my body and my vision flashed not white or dark, but instead an intense purple color.