Biography:

The Council gathered solemnly, nods and bows taking the place of normally friendly greetings. It was not a time for exuberance. The fate of the nation, nay, the whole world rested upon their success in the task before them. Failure meant death to every living thing on the face of the world. Triumph gave them but a slim chance for survival, but a chance none the less. A robed figure enter the hall, head bowed and hands clasped. The others looked to him with a frail and uneasy hope. He would be the one who would finish what they would start. Some hated him. Others admired him. All envied him, for no matter what happened that night, he would be free.

He stepped forward, into the flickering torch light surrounding the massive hall's single feature; an elaborate pillar, atop which rested a glowing orb. It flickered ominously, daring him onward. He met the challenge, eyes golden embers filled with magical energies. The Council began their intricate castings. The room crackled with arcane energies, revealing the chosen man's form as he began his own spells.

Great flames and arcs of lightning danced about the desperate mages. One lost his concentration when a bolt flashed to close, and was consumed as he broke his link with the rest. The others redoubled their efforts to compensate, lest they all suffer the same fate.

A dark void opened above the now blazing orb, a contrasting utter blackness against the raging firestorm beyond it. Distant points of light appeared, and flew beyond the borders of the portal at speeds baffling comprehension. The time of truth was nigh.

The lone man in the center stepped forward, towards the ever-growing darkness, an aura of power radiating form within him. Without fear or second thought, he leapt into the void, which sealed itself a moment after, as the chamber fell silent, save the hissing of dying embers. Now only time would tell if they had succeeded.

The empty reaches of time and space sent a chill cold snaking through the wizard's body, piercing even his strongest webs of protection. He could fell knowledge and power being siphoned into the void, as he grew weaker and weaker. He ignored the itchy sensation and concentrated on his quest. He had to find a new world for his dying planet's inhabitants. He reached his mind to the very limit of his dwindling power, knowing that time was short. He had to find someplace, anyplace that would support the population of his homeland.

His hopes melted as the minutes wore on. He couldn't stand much more of the pain, which had grown from an irritating tingling to absolute agony. It was getting colder; his shields were drained of their energy as he was of his. There wasn't any time left; he had failed. His people were doomed; they couldn't send another. Tears trickled down his face and were lost to the void.
But then he felt something. A beacon of life and energy, faint but not distant. He veered and pushed with his entire mind to reach there before he expired. Almost there…

He fell to the earth with a heavy thud, collapsing in a heap, gasping for air that had never tasted so sweet, reveling in warmth he'd always taken for granted. When he had composed himself, he stood and searched the area of his arrival from the void. A walled city with towering structures within loomed on the horizon. A short jog brought him to the gates.

"Halt, who goes there?" A muscular guard demanded, "And what is your business here?"

The man didn't know how to answer. He had a quest, of course, but how to go about it. He decided to search the guard's mind for information but found he couldn't. The darkness had drawn nearly all of his magical power and knowledge, leaving him as helpless as an acolyte. Before he did anything, he would have to regain his prowess with the magical arts. He and threw back his hood, revealing a young, angular face haunted by the task before him, but filled with an eagerness the Council had known they would find only in youth. Gazing confidently at the guard, his eyes alive with purpose, he replied.

"I am Zokrath, and I am here to save my people."

The guard paused for a moment, then shrugged and waved him on. "Welcome to Erudin, the City of Enlightenment."