Ahmarai Waqalas – Time Wizard

Ahmarai was born centuries ago, in Tharador’s Second Era, yet thousands of miles over the sea. He was born as a citizen of the Anshani Empire, a sprawling techno-arcane society founded in the heart of Edrador, one that had mastered many fabrics of Minera, yet still was eluded by the fabric of time. Ahmarai was among the scholars, scientists and technomancers attempting to unravel the thread, a pursuit that was often met with both mockery and fear. In their research, they uncovered time dilution, in that demiplanes and pocket dimensions existed on a different timescale to Minera, where weeks in the plane might pass as mere minutes in Minera, though the inverse effect was also observed.

It was this phenomenon which the researchers latched onto, attempting to experiment with means to locally attach themselves to the timescale of demiplanes, whilst their physical manifestation remained in Minera. There, hypothetically, they would be able to both speed up and slow down time: move forward at their own desired pace. Whilst backwards travel was not yet uncovered, this step forward would be monumental if they could harness it.

During a potentially ground-breaking experiment, Ahmarai lost consciousness in a pocket realm as he attempted to activate their chronosynchronising device. It was the first experiment in which the researchers had attempted to bring the device back to Minera with a pocket dimension’s time signature. Yet, at its activation, blackness enveloped him. When he came to, he stood in an endless plain of sand, an expansive umbra sky above him. There he lingered for what seemed like an age. Hunger, nor thirst came to him, and he was instead trapped in an endless expanse of sand, a personal hell from which there was no escape. Solitude and isolation drove him to madness. Whether centuries or days had passed, he had no way of telling.

Finally, he emerged from the demiplane he had become trapped in, after an eternity of trial and error, he managed to use his device to harness Minera’s Breath, and teach himself spellcasting to return to his homeland. When he arrived, however, he uncovered a grim truth: there was no home to return to. Though it felt like centuries for him, only weeks had passed in Minera, and when he returned, the Anshani Empire, his friends, colleagues, family; everything had suddenly disappeared. Vanished with the sands. To this day he still does not know for certain if he had a hand in their disappearance, or if being trapped in the demiplane simply spared him from whatever fate they met. Regardless, he has long moved past such a dilemma, having walked the earth for nearly five centuries since.

The immortal-like effects of the demiplane had carried with him upon exiting, though a new phenomenon also manifested. The device had worked, it seemed, but in a way unintended. He could still control the flow of time, slowing it down (or speeding himself up) to his liking, but his mind began to peer through the chronological veil as well, seeing branching paths immediately before him at the crux of every decision and possibility. These haunted him into his dreams as well, but have served him powerfully since his return. Now, centuries later, he travels the lands of Tharador, where the brightest scholars reside since the fall of Anshan. It is his hope that he might continue his research among the Hinatali, and perhaps find a way to cure his affliction, or at least, have better control of it.