The Wizards Apprentice

I was but a child when a strange man appeared at the door of my parents humble abode. His clothes were of the finest fabric (a material called silk imported from afar as I would come to learn), which sported colors no member of our small town could afford. He promised my parents a future they could not afford me themselves, as well as a heavy purse that sounded of coin.

They refused the coin for reasons I would spend my early years unable to understand.

Soon after my pa grabbed my shoulders with an firm final grasp and said to me words I will never forget: "Son, a man must know his limits, and respect them. However, should opportunity present itself, he must not hesitate to make any sacrifice it demands to overcome those limits. Listen close son, for it won't knock twice." After that he said not more, and I was left to my mothers frantic wails shortly before the strange man dragged me away, despite my protests.

The strange man was a wizard, a powerful one, who sought to preserve his studies in the mind of an apprentice. My youth was essential as it would take most my life to equal his greatness, and the rest of it to surpass him. I acquired power, wealth, and fame beyond even most nobles. Many were the ears of kings in which I whispered, strange the places I traveled, and mighty the foes I defeated.

After the passing of my master, I was free to travel the world independently, and pursue my own goals. I first stopped by that humble abode my childhood memories called home. Though I found my parents late as I was in my return; They had succumbed to a pestilence which plagued the lands not long after my departure.