David awoke after what he thought was his last time. It wasn't like his life was bad, it was just average. He died content, and he knew he died. You don't usually come back from the cancer that he had, especially when the doctor explained the true extent of it. And while the technical and thorough terms were nice, David preferred his explanation of being “more tumors than flesh.”

Still, he was awake, and not in his room. That was one thing they granted him. Hard to say no to a dead man walking when he made the unreasonable demand to die in his own bed. It wasn't like anyone was going to use it after he was gone anyway. He frowned as he thought of his cousin Jimmy. That guy had enough issues that he probably would have taken the mattress. He probably still took the mattress, and everything else not specified in the will. Be placed in some random spot in his overflowing properties.

David idly wondered if it was normal for dead people's thoughts to run away from them. But even as he tried to plot out where in his hoarder of a cousin's places each large piece of furniture would best be placed, he took in his surroundings. It was as often the afterlife was described, a white void. He sighed in disappointment, hoping for more. Something like an after party. Or maybe a rave? A rave in the grave.

David arose humming the familiar tune, trying to walk in the nothingness that surrounded him. He spent more time trying to remember the lyrics than he did trying to explore. As he mumbled to himself, he steadily walked what he thought of as forward. He wasn't positive that it was forward. David had seen enough shows to know that without defined landmarks, it was entirely possible to get lost and walk in circles.

An age passed, or at least what felt like an age for David. He thought about thinking about his life, but that was behind him. And he was alone.

“Why the heck am I not talking aloud?” David said. “I am alone in an empty void. Not like I can say anything that would offend anyone here. Plus I don't mind the sound of my own voice.”

Instead of an echo, the sound just stopped as soon as it passed his lips. He still felt the words leave, but couldn't actually hear them.

“Am I deaf? Am I blind? I would ask if I was stupid too but I know the answer to that question.”

Still nothing. Even David's footsteps made no sound. He attempted to whistle but it just wasn't the same if he couldn't hear it. He continued his experiments as he strolled forward, smacking different parts of his body or attempting many different sounds. He even tried to make a fart noise with his arm pit as he had seen many other people do. He never succeeded before, and since he couldn't tell if he did this time he just assumed that he did.

“Might as well pretend that I can do things I couldn't do before.” David mumbled before leaping into the air. He focused and did his best to miss the ground. He didn't succeed. Rather it felt as if he landed on an infinite plane of friction-less material. Frowning, he focused on his breath before breaking out in laughter.

“I am in an friction-less vacuum!” David yelled before trying to reorient himself during his slide. “Physicists would love it here.”

That was the last thing he said before running into something. Or rather someone. As David collected his wits, he saw that it was a shin that blocked his movement, completely. Lying back in mid air, David looked up before immediately pushing off. The figure above him was wearing a skirt or a kilt with nothing underneath. And while he wasn't a prude, David did not want to try to hold a conversation staring as the creature's privates.

His movement was quickly stopped before he found himself rising. The thing's hand was beneath him as it slowly lifted him up. He took note of the creature as he slowly made his way body to face. It's hard to call it face to face when his face is larger than my body. David idly thought as he categorized what he saw against what he knew. He was about the size of the palm, from wrist to finger tips. The creature itself was humanoid, only with a pale blue skin crossed with brilliant white lines. He, as David was already made plainly aware of, rippled with muscles. David took note how one hand matched the white lines where the hand he lied upon the pale blue. The giant's eyes shown with a yellow light and his smile was full of cracked teeth. His nose looked like it had been prominent, but instead now sat flat against his face. As the eyes scanned David's body, he decided to take the initiative before this monster ate him whole.

“Hi, I'm David but my friend call me Dai.” David said while giving a jaunty wave. “What's your name?”

The world seemed to pause before a barking laugh escaped those dark blue lips. It nearly knocked David down from his precarious perch. Not that it much mattered as his support was taken away as the giant began to slap his knee.

“I like him.” The monster declared. “He has spunk. Let me bless him and have him start.”

“That is not how this works and you know it.” A soft voice flowed through the air. David, glad he wasn't falling, looked to the side and found a more reasonably size being a couple paces away. It looked similar to an elf, only one shattered and put back together poorly. It really was the ears that gave it away as nothing else could be easily determined. It stood next to what David would claim was an orc going by the green skin. But as he watched it changed to a mottled brown before shifting between the two. It too had that put together look of the elf.

“Hello,” David began. “I'm sorry but can I get your names or what you are at least? That way I don't feel like an ass as I try to make sense of what is happening here.”

“Spunk.” The giant reiterated, nodding to something past David's shoulder. Looking behind him, he found another 6 people he guessed. They were all of different shapes, sizes, and species. Turning in a circle he counted 12 total different creatures with only one being what he thought of as a regular human. Of those remaining, the dwarf and goblin looked the most familiar. The dwarf came up to midchest and was nearly twice as broad. His hands looked like shovels. Instead of a beard it looked more like a mane surrounded his face to the point where only his bright eyes and massive nose were clear. The goblin rose to his hip and was best described as pointy. Its nose, ears, fingers, shoulders, and teeth all seemed to come to sharp points. It also shifted skin tones as he watched, moving from brown to green to red and every combination in between.

Next to the goblin were two beings of the same size. One was whipcord thin while the other was as wide as he was. The thin one seemed jumpy, constantly looking around at everything where the wide one seemed relaxed, holding itself as if nothing could move it.

“We have a request to make of you.” One of the new comers said. David couldn't tell what the gender was of any of these creatures, outside of the giant man behind him. But this appeared feminine. Everything about her seemed so pale that it shown with its own light. Her hair was silvered, eyes golden, and skin pearlescent. Her height matched his own, but her hair went down to her waist. “I am Kalish of the Kalastar. I serve the Bards of our world.”

That caused David to blink rapidly and he spoke up before she could continue. “Bards. Like people who use music to cast spells?”

A soft smile that spoke of mischief, patience, and hope grew on her lips. “Yes, Bards can use music to touch into the world around them. But any form of entertainment will work.”

“You're confusing him.” The dwarf began. “Tell him what we need and see if he can do it.”

“If we don't explain ourselves then he won't understand.” A voice over David's shoulder replied.

This started an argument as ten different voices began arguing among themselves. Only the giant and Kalish didn't participate. David thought about waiting for the discussion to end, but in the end tried to walk towards Kalish as she seemed to know what was going on. It was that or leave this place with the giant.

But with his first step the entire group flowed around him, moving with him to keep him in the center. Confused, David tried a second step only for it to happen again. He took one step to the right, then to the left and remained constantly centered. Kalish kept her soft smile where the giant's grin lit up his face. David felt a smile grow on his own as he started to experiment. Jumping, crouching, rolling, and everything else he could think of, David watched as his group moved to keep him centered.

Eventually the argument stopped as his increasingly wild antics caught everyone else's attention. They watched as David danced to music that no one could hear. They group looked among each other and with a single nod they all agreed, David could not dance. His eyes were closed, his feet moved in a drunken stumble, his arms outstretched as he rotated his body on his hips. As silence one more made its presence known, David stopped and opened his eyes. They stood like that for a while, all shifting their eyes between themselves and David while David decided to look at a point in space.

It was Kalish who broke the peace by continuing. “As I said before, I serve the Bards of our world. Or at least I would if a calamity did not require us to seal that class. David..”

“Please, call me Dai.”

“Dai, we need you to release the seals and let us free.”

After a short pause, David looked as Kalish before nodding. “Sure, what do you need me to do?”