"You were born with it?" he said, sounding genuinely surprised. He'd never encountered someone with a natural affinity for the dead. All the necromancers he'd encountered so far had always learned their trade, or made some kind of pact.
Never a natural.
"I... I'm not much now," he said, letting his head fall a bit. Finally, he worked his gauntlets off and thy fell to the snow beside him. His hands were translucent and blue, like a spirit holding a human form. He held them out towards the eldritch flame, which seemed to writhe in response to his proximity.
"But in life..."
Images sprung forth from the fire. A man wearing Seussal's armor, proud and handsome atop his mighty horse.
"House Veno never had a more faithful defender as I. Though of common birth, I exceeded over all others, and even caught the Baroness' eye... Stygia, my once eternal lover..."
An image of Seussal and a staggeringly beautiful woman holding each other emerged from the fire, but his fist clenched and the image faded to smoke, all save for the woman, who's eyes started to take a menacing, reddish glow to them.
"She sought too much. Reached too high. She... she did what all thought unthinkable, even heretical..."
The image of a castle exploding from within. A titanic black dragon emerged from the chaos, and then Seussal was depicted again, crushed under rubble, lifeless. A pair of draconic claws picked him out of the rubble, and magic started to flow.
"I was only ever there to serve her, our love... the eternal bond we shared, was hers to use. Devoted, I came eagerly when she raised me. She blinded me with servitude, made me slaughter and... and the rest of House Veno fell by my blade. Her family, her guards, anybody who'd ever doubted her..."
He was quiet after that, thought unfinished but seemingly lost in the memories.
