There was only one thing Marcelle Fylin yearned to do with the limited lifespan her illness left her: she sought to be of service to her tribe, who had shown her endless love and compassion despite how weak her body had always been.
The patron deity of the vast Lurossinet, Ticur, was incredibly fond of the vuritakag, a majestic species of feathered felines, and treated them as sacred creatures under his protection. One day, the Jol tribe had managed to retrieve a vuritakag from the bottom of a deep crevice in the mountains. Marcelle volunteered to embark on the journey to bring the sacred animal back to Ticur, a task that although would most definitely end in death. However, it provided a sense of honour and service to the young woman, and that was all her heart desired. After several days of travelling the frigid landscape, she eventually collapsed, ridden with frostbite, right outside the eternal blizzard guarding the entrance to Ticur's domain, Fort Kershe.
She was found by Ticur in his dragon form, who had sensed the lifeforce of the vuritakag cub and flew out to investigate. He would then grasp her and the cub in his talons and fly back to Fort Kershe, where Marcelle would make her recovery. It had been a long time since Ticur had last felt love, but he gradually fell for Marcelle during her stay there. Eventually, the would have a child together - but throughout her pregnancy, Marcelle's condition worsened, resulting in worsening episodes of weakness and pain. Shortly after she gave birth to Dmitri, she died, with Ticur's ice-cold grip numbing her final throes of agony. With firsthand experience of how stifling loneliness could be, Ticur did not want his child to live a life of isolation with him in Fort Kershe. He spirited Dmitri back to the Jol tribe, where he was well received and taken in by a surrogate family.
However, during his fourth year of life, an army from the Vesperlands would raid the Lurossinet while looking for five powerful mirrors, the Uikbandola, distributed amongst the five native tribes by Ticur himself. The mirrors absorbed and ampilfied the suns' rays, making them a potent source of not only heat, but also energy. Three of the Uikbandola were stolen. Two, including the Jol's, would be shattered and weakened in the battles, and all five tribes would suffer great losses from the attack. Many, including Dmitri, would be forced into hiding for several years.
During those times of fear and uncertainty, Dmitri began his training in the art of restorative and enhancement magic, something the Jol have honed since time immemorial. Being the weakest of the five tribes of the Lurossinet, they had experienced the most casualties in the invasion, of which included Dmitri's younger brother, Maxim. Though they were not related by blood, the loss shook him to his core, and during the ceremony where Dmitri became recognised as an adult and full-fledged member of the tribe's ranks, Dmitri made a vow to himself and all who bore witness that he would exact revenge on the ones who had done this. But the leaders of the Jol tribe did not feel the same. After a decade of attempting to recover from the invasion's effects coupled with violent infighting among the five tribes, the older members of the tribe were weary of war. They had had their fill of bloodshed.
The leaders of the Jol, especially Dmitri's adoptive mother, Sana, attempted to dissuade him to no avail. Eventually, Sana realised there was nothing more she could do for her child but help him along the path he had chosen. As Ticur's son, Dmitri felt a deep sense of duty to protect the people whom his father had failed to. Dmitri wanted answers and a path forward. And recognising that, Sana advised him to make the same journey his blood mother had, many moons ago. If Dmitri wished to speak with Ticur himself, he would have to travel to Fort Kershe.
And so, Dmitri would set out for his father's domain. Since the day Maxim was killed, Dmitri had always held onto a small shard of the Uikbandola to serve as a reminder of the events that transpired. Despite its small size, over the years, Dmitri had allowed it to continuously absorb the sunlight it was designed to receive. For the final leg of his journey through the eternal blizzard, Dmitri drew upon the deep store of heat within the shard, using it to keep his body from freezing over as he trudged through the unforgiving landscape. When he arrived the doors to Fort Kershe however, they would not open for him. But the journey there had used up the majority of the shard's energy reserves. He had no option but to wait on, trusting that his father would let him in.
Ticur, a deity that had been stung by betrayal and failure many times through his endless years, did not typically speak with the undivine directly. He had always remained distant from worldly affairs aside from occasional gifts, choosing inaction over everything else. Though he had been watching Dmitri since the beginning of his journey, Ticur had no intentions of speaking with his son. There was nothing to be gained from their meeting but sadness and anger, he reasoned. But on the fifth night Dmitri spent in the camp he had set up at the gates, the vuritakag Marcelle had saved over twenty years ago, now full grown, wandered out into the courtyard. It sensed a familiar presence, and upon encountering Dmitri, accepted him as an extension of Marcelle and laid down next to him, using its body warmth to provide him some support.
Seeing this unfold, Ticur felt a tinge of fondness and hope, feelings he had not experienced in quite some time. When the morning came, he relented, wordlessly opening the entrance to his lonely home.
During Dmitri's audience with his father, they came to better understand each others' actions. Though he did not wish for it, Ticur saw how much Dmitri yearned to go into the further world and become stronger, to become someone who could protect the memory of those he had lost. When Dmitri asked for guidance, Ticur begrudgingly offered Dmitri safe passage to Rehjolvnatys, knowing living there as a halfling would lead him towards the ends he desired.
Dmitri managed to gain entry to Rehjolvnatys, and it was there that he became his best self. He fell in love with the beneficial magics he was taught to wield and the plethora of books he could read. His voracious appetite for knowledge and his dedication to understanding the world around him helped him readily master the subjects he was taught, and he quickly grew as a sorcerer. As he neared the end of one of his higher level trainings, he was met with a plea from a strange young man who had forced his way into Rehjolvnatys, begging someone to help his friend. Dmitri felt sympathy for the young man, Allen Hevaxej, and went with him to offer his assistance. Though his attempts at healing Allen's companion were unsuccessful, he found a lifelong friend in Allen and the two promised to meet again someday. From then on, he would go on to become one of the highest ranking alchemists in Rehjolvnatys and meet other dear friends such as Aidan Fasura and Eleanor Lottbrung. With many stalwart companions by his side, he continues to grow and learn about a world that is grander than he ever dared dream, hoping one day to restore his home to its former glory and honour the ones that had died along the way.