You find yourself waking up in an unfamiliar place. The smell of burning wood and growing things fills your nose.

'What the hell is going on' There was a shimmering pulsing purple light hovering before him.

SHHH! I'm doing the intro.

As I was saying. You're sitting around a campfire dressed in tattered rags holding a small sack containing all your meager belongings.

As the figure spoke the scenery around him became clear.

Damien age 14 is a young half-Drow the product of one of the dark elf raids on their surface kin. You have been cast out by your mother's people through no fault but your birth and forced to survive alone in the wild.

I looked around I was in a forest populated by spruce and pine trees that glimmered in the chilly air. I got the impression that it was ancient with the height of some of the trees disappearing into the mist cloaked canopy.

'What's going on? Who are you?'

I'm not going to tell you who I am. You'll have to figure it out for yourself. But suffice it to say you owed me a favor in your last life but died before you could repay it so, I brought you back and now you're going to work for me. I will give you tasks and missions to complete and if you succeed you will gain my favor and be rewarded.

'What if I choose to do nothing. Why should I fight for some favor I can't even remember?'

Sorry it's not optional. I have upheld my end of our bargain and now you must do the same. Failure to do so will invoke dire fatal consequences. Your first task will be to head south, there is a great river, that splits into three parts. When you arrive wait for three days until another Drow appears follow him and befriend him. He will lead you to your first task.

'But I don't know much about this place and what I do know is terrifying. Monsters, dragons and death around every corner I won't live long enough to do anything.

Worry not I'm a merciful god. I will give you a gift. The greatest of gifts, knowledge and the ability to use it. The Art. Magic. It is a subtle and powerful tool, and I will give you the mind and skill to use it. I'll even let you choose an area to specialize. Enchantment, evocation, Illusion, conjuration, even divination as useless as that is. So, what will it be.

'Evocation definitely the ability to manipulate magical energies would probably be the best area to specialize in if I'm going to be going in as a combatant.'

While this school of magic will come easiest you must still study and practice so I will give you the ability to use basic abilities available to even the most lowly of apprentices. Mage Hand, Light, Read Magic, Acid Splash. You'll of course be banned from Necromancy as one of my chosen.

Now Damien follow the river west toward Mirabar he'll find you.

The light faded and the presence left him alone in the clearing. "Shit" I swore loudly. My voice echoed through the dense forest. I could remember nothing about myself or how I ended up in this situation. I was in the forgotten realms that I knew. My memories were scattered I could only recall flashes of things from my past life but hilariously enough all things D&D related seemed to stick. I only knew of one Drow that hung out near Lurkwood for a while, Drizzt Do'Urden; The Hero of countless stories and battles. One of the few Drow with a sense of morality.

A deep shaky breath calmed my nerves and allowed me to focus on my present situation. I was alone in a forest, in the savage north, that was probably overflowing with monsters and barbarians. There wasn't much I could do It was scarily dark outside the trees hiding any light from the moon and stars. As he stared into the darkness at the edge of the fire light something in his head seemed to click and the world shifted to reds and yellows and blues. Suddenly everything was in infrared. Even with this he still wanted to wait for dawn, who knew what was lurking out there.

The weight of the ratty knapsack in my lap drew my attention. I reached inside and pulled out a thick brown book. It was made of some kind of dyed animal hide with stiff parchment for pages. They were covered in swirling curved ruins. Looking at them I knew exactly what they aid even though I'd never seen any written language like it.

Magic is a subtle and dangerous art. Only those who devote much effort and time to its study can even begin to understand the deep mysteries of it. Magic can both save and consume you, for the apprentice wizard there is much that must be taught. To determine if you have the capacity for this teaching you must be able to master the most basic of cantrips. Cantrips are the weakest arcane spells that any magic user can cast. They are mostly harmless unless used imaginatively and are least likely to misfire or ham the caster if done incorrectly. Most of these can be done merely by thinking about them and their effects and reaching for the power inside you. Two things which are the fundamentals of all spell work.

The book went on to describe the varying schools of magic and gave examples of their use. There was one other book simply titled Beginner Evocation. The writing within was much more technical and my head hurt too much now to try and decipher its meaning. I sat there in the darkness for a moment I didn't feel tired despite the late hour I figured it had something to do with my new heritage. Drow didn't sleep the meditated the weariness away though I had no idea how to go about it. And since I would be awake regardless I figured I might as well experiment with my magic.

Recalling the Cantrips the god said he gifted to me I tried the first one out. I held my hand slightly away from my body and thought about summoning light to it. And nothing happened. I waited for a bit but my hand remained empty. Drawing it back to my side I reached for the scroll to see if I missed anything. Most of these can be done merely by thinking about them and their effects and reaching for the power inside you.

Oh duh. of course, I'd need to find my magic first. I drew myself into a more comfortable sitting position crossing my legs and resting my arms on them and began to breath. Slow inhales and exhales until my body began to relax. I'd seen plenty of protagonist on tv and in books do this so I had an idea of where to start. I focused until all I could hear was my heartbeat pounding steadily in my chest. Narrowing in on that I could feel my blood flowing through my veins. Out of my heart some going to my head the rest flowing through the rest of my body. Then I could feel it suddenly there I'm my stomach; a pool of ice cold power. A shiver flowed down my spine it was so cold. I couldn't believe I had missed it before, because the presence of the magic was so intense.

I focused on the spell and imagined the energy flowing from my pool to my hand and a word flowed unconsciously from my lips "Lumye."

A shining blue light suddenly competed with the fire for brightness floating above my palm. I played with it for a bit, experimenting as I juggled on my fingers, before cutting the small flow of magic sniffing it out.

I could do magic. Like I had dreamed every day of my life. Or at least thought I had.

I was going to learn everything I could so I could dominate the battlefield.

I spent the rest of the time till dawn levitating small rocks then melting them with small globs of acid. When the sun broke, I headed west till I came to the river that flowed on towards my task and hopefully my future friend.