I see Dead People

Caligari paused her measuring of the tower’s boundary of influence and whipped her head around to eye the huge man, Balar. Her drab headdress served to hold her hair back from her face in these never-ending winds, but it also gave her the appearance of donning a set of ominous horns. She stared at Balar as he spoke and swung her eyes over to Tiella on her approach. She hadn’t shared many words with either of them and it was probably time to get some of this out in the open.

“You’re asking for a story, the true story? I’ve known …. hardships brought on by the disapproval of people in regards to my burden and my gift. I didn’t ask to be a conduit for the dead, but the dead are quite persistent that I fulfill that function. They’re everywhere. I see them with us now. I feel them drawn through that tower behind us. But being dead doesn’t make them evil nor should they be bound to Hella’s penurious purpose. The dead don’t like the arrangement Hella has in store for them. Over the years that’s been a tireless theme of their pleas to me.”

Caligari looked off to Tiella’s left and spoke to the empty air. “I know! I’m telling them now, in my own way. You’re dead, let me fix it or you’ll stay that way.”

The witch used the last of the snow in her hand as a face scrub and felt refreshed, beautified. Snow could only do so much, but at least she had tried. “They get a bit testy at times, but I can’t really blame them. The spirits of the dead are occasionally compelled to talk across time, but everyone knows this, yes?” She looked at the pair as if this was indeed common knowledge.

“Forgive me, Reluctant Leader. I’m clawing my way out of a long period of isolation. Some of that was by choice, but the alternative was worse. Three spirits set me on this path. There have been countless others interjecting their stories and blather, but it’s from the three spirits that I’ve gained the useful insights. I’ve been aware of your quest longer than you have; almost forty years now. At first I knew very little, only that there would be others to come along who wished to bring an end to Hella. I thought this was an impossible, but wonderful aspiration. Over time I learned something of your party, though you had not come together as yet. The dead are often confused and making sense of their necrotic narrative is difficult. But the drugs help my mind to grasp their disconcerted reckoning. I knew where I was supposed to be, but not when. I think we discussed this before? Anyways, I was eventually in the right place and the right time and my preparations for our defense became justified. I cannot take all the credit for seeking you out, but your intent is well known to me. Your intent is my own. We’re crossing into the underworld to slay the goddess Hella and thereby free the dead from her clutches so they may return to the world of the living. And unless I’m much mistaken, you have no idea how we are to accomplish this.”