Eons Ago in the ancient civilization of Shurima…..
"Mommy, look what I made!" exclaimed the 7 year old Xerath holding a circular prismatic contraption. "It can help you see far away!"
"Xerath I've told you that you need to stop making weird things like that! We have magic, we don't need objects like that to assist us!" Xerath's mother nagged. "Now go to your room and read."
"Fine," Xerath said with disappointment as he headed to his room. Xerath continued to read and learn about magic for a couple of hours. He occasionally peered outside to look at the other sand house about 75 meters down the road. He hated the desert and he hated how he was always pressured into learning magic. Sure he thought magic was cool, but he didn't feel the need to learn it everyday.
Xerath was told by his parents that he had a natural talent for magic and a great mana pool. He didn't understand how they knew because he had never performed magic only learnt it. Sure he could make a spark or a ball of fire in his hand but he couldn't perform miracles. However, he didn't have any other people to compare it to. There weren't any other children his age around his home.
As he finished studying he heard loud knocking. He headed out to see his father talking to some men at the door. The men seemed very aggressive and uncooperative with his father. Xerath pondered what they wanted from his father. Quickly his mother came to him and said, "Come with me sweetie, you need to hide." They ran out of the back door and snuck towards the sand house of a librarian who was well respected in Shurima. As they were running away, he heard the screams of his father.
"Who are they? What do they want?," Xerath questioned as they arrived at his neighbors house.
"Do not worry go to Zhonya, she will keep you safe. Hurry!" She ran off towards Xerath's house. Xerath however, wasn't going to run and hide, he had been studying magic and he felt as if he can use it. Xerath snuck back to his house behind his mother. His mother entered the house and screamed as she cast a fireball towards the invaders.
Xerath headed to the side window of the house and peered in. To his dismay he saw his father on the floor in a pool of blood. Xerath was saddened and enraged, he started to make his way around to the door when he heard his mother scream. Xerath now in a full sprint headed to where his mother was. Xerath saw his mother's corpse, burnt and charred from fire based had pain in his heart and rage pumping throughout his body.
"Oi, hey its a kid!," announced one of the four invaders.
"Run along now, you mommy and daddy are gone and I ain't into the business of killing children," informed another.
Xerath felt an energy inside of him so great that he couldn't contain it. He gathered this energy in both of his hands and he released it with great force. A beam of arcane energy blasted out of his palms and annihilated on of the invaders.
"What the hell?," one of the remaining invaders exclaimed.
While the invaders had been caught off guard Xerath rushed towards them in a fit of rage and grabbed two of them. When Xerath touched the two the arcane energy pent up inside of his body released and zapped them immediately. Only one invader remained with his sword drawn he started toward Xerath with great speed. Xerath couldn't keep up with his movements when the attacker slashed and Xerath flenched.
Surprisingly Xerath felt no pain; however, he couldn't move. He heard a scream around him along with a thud. After a few seconds Xerath could move and to his surprise the attacker was dead on the floor. He turned and saw Zhonya standing in the room.
"Xerath I'm so sorry that this happened," Zhonya said pitifully.
The numbness and rage had subsided and now reality was kicking in and he remembered, he was alone.
"Come with me, lets get you fixed up," suggested Zhonya. They headed to Zhonya's abode and Xerath cleaned himself up and wallowed in sadness. This sadness went on for days and on the sixth day Xerath went to Zhonya.
"Zhonya…I will become more powerful. Will you teach me?," Xerath questioned. Zhonya looked at the child and said, "I'll do anything that you ask of me, it's the least i can do."
So Zhonya taught Xerath the basics of magic and much like it was predicted, Xerath had great skill at learning and controlling magic. He learned much faster than the average magician. By the age of 10 Xerath had already learned what an average experienced mage knew. This was contributed by Xerath's natural skill and the fact that he Xerath had a whole Library that he lived in during the most influential time in a brain's development.
However Xerath was so focused on learning and gaining more power that he neglected every other aspect of life. Xerath was so successful in learning that by the age of 15 he had learned everything that was possible to learn from Zhonya's library or so at least he thought.
The time had come for Xerath to leave Zhonya's care and gain some experience in battle as a mage. Xerath was heading to the capital of Shurima to learn and battle with other powerful mages that lived there. As Xerath was preparing to leave to the capital Zhonya called for him.
"Xerath you are a wonderful magician and have the potential to become the greatest
magician the world has ever seen," Zhonya praised. "I have a parting gift for you dear." Zhonya hands Xerath an hourglass. "You thought you had learned everything from here; however, this hourglass has gives you instant knowledge only it knows. Also, if you are ever in trouble and are about to be defeated you can use this to make yourself invulnerable."
"Master thank you for the gift, I will use it and make you proud on my path to power," replied Xerath gratefully. "I'll be on my way, it's a long walk," Xerath chuckled.
Xerath turned and used absorption magic to fuse the hourglass with himself. As he walked out of the library he spent the past 8 years of his life he felt sadness for the first time since that infamous day. Xerath walked to the road and turned toward the capital and he began his journey. As he started down the road, he walked past a broken down house that once was lively and full of love. In front of the house were two stakes of wood were stabbed into the ground. Each only had three simple words inscribed 'Love is Eternal'.