Sorg Olska Storhet is my character from our DnD campaign, which is run by my husband. Sorg was born on the distant islands of the planet Parlang, places no one on the continent has ever heard of. They are surrounded by vast chasms that plunge into the planet’s core, from which, each season, either water, wind, or flame rises—depending on which sun god currently holds sway.

However, Sorg knew none of this. He knew only one thing: he was the shame of his family. His father, one of the three rulers of the islands, was a stern, gloomy man who had lost his wife. His mother had been unable to conceive for a long time; she suffered miscarriages and illnesses. Then a miracle happened, and it seemed that everything was finally going right—but happiness proved short-lived. Premature labor killed Sorg’s mother, and he was born weak and sickly. An albino, suffering from anemia. His father might have forgiven him for the death of his beloved wife, but how can one forgive a literal monster in one’s arms? White hair, as if he had been born an old man, a frail appearance, constant illness. His father tried to drill a “normal man” into him, but Olska had a different nature. Gentle and sensitive, he took after his mother, taking all of his father’s criticism deeply to heart. This made him closed-off and cold. Though a whole storm of emotions rages inside him, you would never see it on the outside.

The islands are home to flying lizards that long ago learned to be saddled and to serve the islanders faithfully. They fish, help herd sheep, and guard the borders between the two small islands.

Sorg’s peers did not befriend him; adults treated him with contempt. In an attempt to turn their son into at least some “semblance of a man,” Sorg was sent to military training. It was there that he met his best friend. Barracuda—his loyal flying lizard. From the moment the young lizard chose him, they were never separated. Flying became the only refuge for Sorg, condemned by everyone. There, standing guard over the borders between his island and that of their neighbors, he felt freedom for the first time. The cold ocean wind, the sensation of flight, and the sweetness of friendship. Barracuda had a foul temper and obeyed no one but Sorg, which only further motivated the boy, who saw in this a sign of loyalty and trust. The two of them against the vast world.

Unfortunately, everything collapsed when Sorg and Barracuda were caught in a storm. A lightning strike hit the lizard, tearing the two friends apart. Sorg was carried by the ocean to the continent. Only extraordinary luck allowed him to survive, for these lands were so remote from his home that sailors never even ventured there. He stumbled upon a merchant ship that brought him ashore, while Barracuda was lost to the sea. Then Sorg knew that this was the end of his reputation. To lose a lizard is a lifelong disgrace; no one would be waiting for him at home. Better that everyone believe him dead than judge him once again.

Now he studies this new world and tries to become a friend to his companions, opening up to someone for the first time. And perhaps one day he will learn that Barracuda did not die, and that his father was genuinely devastated by his son’s death and still cannot believe that his skilled rider-son failed to escape the ocean’s depths. The lizard, meanwhile, wanders the island, allowing no one near him except Sorg’s father, who sometimes comes to him to soothe the loneliness of the cantankerous creature.