My Purpose in This Life
/ Afterward, Wavecrest’s winds were like the whispers of lost wizards, calling for life. In my dreams I hear you advise, “Don’t trust your feelings.” Sadness hangs on every rubble-strewn street. The Undead themselves are afraid to dwell here now, But a quiet hope has spread across the land like twilight. You are always here in memory, Whispering dreams of warped reality. And you tell me, “Nothing is as it seems.” The thick planar fog has blurred everything. There are no dreams left in this broken city. I began my quest in Tajiki, But now it may take me anywhere. I hear you speak, “Don’t believe your eyes.” Reality has come undone on a wave of chaos, And all that is left here are the broken pieces. /
Born the son of a pirate and an unknown father, Zerak Horegar was raised aboard ship by his mother Adaridda. Their Abalone-based pirate clan plagued the Realm’s ocean vessels from the northern Neck to the southernmost reaches of Wavecrest. When Zerak was fifteen, an unprecedented storm wrecked his mother’s ship on the shores of an unheard-of isle far to the southwest of the Wavecrest archipelago. The isle contained little other than the ruins of a First Age sorcerer’s college inhabited by a reclusive troupe of academics and the ghosts of dead wizards.
Zerak and the other surviving members of the pirate crew were taken in by the Tajiki sages and were set to work rebuilding and restoring the ruins. For seven years Zerak cleared away stones, rebuilt walls and excavated the debris of the long-dead sorcerers. During this time he was tutored in history, languages and medicine by the sages and (once he was permitted to read them) books recovered from Tajiki’s ancient library.
One night while he was working on the restoration of the library Zerek fell asleep between stacks of dusty stones. In a harrowing dream, an army of Fair Folk raided the college, began slaying the inhabitants and carrying off everything of value. Throwing himself on one of the raiders, Zerak took back the weapon that the creature sought to carry off from the body of a Solar guardsman. One great sweep of the scythe divided the Fair Folk in two, and Zerak ran back into the college in the confusion to hide the scythe under the stones of the library floor. Zerak awoke as one of the Exalted, and retrieved the scythe from where he, or someone, had hidden it long ago. His ambition kindled and his destiny clear, Zerak dedicated himself to seeking out and recovering the knowledge and treasures of the past.
Years later, after things began to change with the decline of the Realm’s influence, some of the remaining pirates used the sages’ small ship to travel to the ports of Wavecrest and occasionally even to the Blessed Isle for supplies and to run errands for the sages. Zerak accompanied most of these excursions, lending his strength to the safety of the crew and listening for news that might be of value to his masters. Rumors of artifacts resembling those once possessed by the Tajiki sorcerers having made their way far to the east have led Zerak far from home.
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