Yet another skeleton, but this one has blue glowing eyes.

You are prepared to crush the enemy if one appears, so you push your ki into your fists in preparation, breathing in through your nostrils and out through your mouth.

The glowing white light becomes brighter as you approach and even flashes more violently. You have to close your eyes for a bit before the flashing stops.

You stand, furrowing your eyebrows before a presence alerted your senses. It was full of magic and just as you turned, a blue glow emitted from where you are standing, lighting up a small portion of the rocky ground.

You stand near a relatively flat stone wall and next to your feet is a skeleton that is hunched back against the wall. You see that the source of blue light is being emitted from within the skeleton's eye sockets. Is this thing undead?

...

Well, it's best to kill it.

Preparing to focus your energy within your feet instead, you raise your knee up to smash the glowing skeleton to pieces before you hear a cry echo from your position.

"W-wait, wait! Don't strike me! I-I'm friendly, you see? Didn't you notice that I have blue glowing lights within me? That's supposed to be a calming color, not the red glowing eyes that represent evil or something..."

You pause, widening your eyes as you hear a frantic, but calculative male voice emitting from the skeleton. His blue lights within his skull shine brighter every time he speaks a word. You aren't even able to speak out a word as the skeleton continues to ramble on.

"...maybe I should have picked a different color. Hmm, let's see...how about yellow?"

The skeleton's glowing eye sockets turn yellow resulting in the change of lighting in your surrounding area.

"Oh! Forget about blue, yellow is a much better color indeed! With your warm-colored monk robes, it looks like you're shining beautifully! Yellow, it is then. I'm a little curious though...why is a drow a monk?"

You blink a few times, taken aback by the talkative skeleton. For the moment, you don't dwell too hard on the fact that even a skeleton has mistaken you for a drow.

"I'm not a drow, but more importantly, who...are you?" you ask, prohibiting yourself from twitching your eyes. It helped that you are still a little shocked that you are talking to a skeleton.

The skeleton gasps, realizing he misstepped and clears his throat. You narrow your eyes, wondering why and how a skeleton would even need to clear its throat. This is simply strange.

Maybe you are going mad.

"I see I am mistaken as I didn't notice your human ears! Well anyways, my name is Maxius Morelli. Although it isn't apparent, I am a powerful sorcerer that specializes in the undead," he greets.

You raise an eyebrow.

"So you're the one who has been sending these skeletons on my way, huh?"

Maxius rattles a little, fearing that you may get upset even though you really aren't.

"Uh...while it's true that I did raise them before I...died, so to speak, I do not hold any control over them anymore. Actually, it is better to say that if I wish to hold onto these decaying bones of my body, I cannot waste my limited mana in ordering them around. Besides, you made quick work of them if you got here, right?"

You aren't really offended or upset. Putting a hand to your hips, you shrug.

"They were already falling apart when they attacked me, so it didn't take much to crumble away," you note.

Maxius appears to grow a little glum as the yellow color in his eye sockets faded a little. "Ah...I see. I put all my effort into raising them a century ago as my body stopped beating to help guard me, but this is the result after neglecting them? I suppose it is inevitable."

Just as you are about to open your mouth to question the strange skeleton, your spine tingles as you sense another skeleton coming behind you with a sword.

Entering the light, it rattles and raises its sword up high, leaving the rest of its skeletal body open. If anything, its poor defense is an indication that Maxius wasn't really controlling them or giving them any support.

You didn't turn around and only elbowed behind, expelling a shockwave that turns the attacking skeleton to dust. Its sword swung in the air dropped down and clattered, echoing across the caverns.

Maxius gasps. "No, Desmond! You could have lived! You fool..."

As if reflecting his own feelings, the area illuminated blue now. You could only raise your eyebrow incredulously at the skeletal sorcerer.

"It's undead and...have you been giving your skeletal henchmen names?"

Maxius sockets shine back to yellow as he scoffs.

"Of course! What, do you think I just lay here without trying to make conversation? Granted, it's one-sided, but if I'm going to be in isolation while I hold onto these bones, I'd rather be a little livelier than these sack-of-bones."

"...and so you talk to them?"

"What can I say? It's a love-hate relationship, but I don't need them anymore now than I have someone more alive than these-"

"Yeah, well...it is nice meeting you, Maxius, but I have to go now. I'm sure that the rest of these skeletons can keep you company if there are any more left," you interrupted, not able to take much more of this skeletal ramblings.

As you turned, the floor illuminated back to blue as Maxius made his loneliness known.

"Wait! Please wait! How cruel are you to leave a lonely skeleton such as I? Don't you have the heart to help me out here? Please, sit down for a moment and at least hear me out!"