Ten years ago, the bowmen of Duwwor brought down a bird of unimaginable size that had been preying on the herds of sheep and goats in the low valleys of the Barrier Wall. When laid out on the ground, the creatures wings stretched thirty paces, and during the battle, it had swooped down to carry off a horse and rider in each of its mighty talons. The townspeople thought themselves rid of a terrible curse laid on them from the Mwangi tribesmen beyond the mountains.
A young boy named Hakim, though, saw the bird for what it was, an animal, albeit one of monstrous proportions. That same day, he set off into the mountains. He had some knowledge of birds, and it was his belief that the creature had left a nest somewhere. For seven days he climbed higher and higher, surviving on wild plants and trickles of snowmelt from the peaks high above, and then he found the nest, on a ledge so high above that the town of Duwwor seemed no bigger than a tiny speck in the desert below. He even believed he could see as far as the distant ocean, though it was hundreds of miles away.
Upon reaching the nest, though, his perseverance was rewarded, for he found four eggs, each one half as tall as he was, and a great pile of rotting carcasses that had been brought to feed the roclings when they hatched. He waited, and the morning after he arrived, one of the eggs began to shake, and then to crack. With the carcass of a goat in hand, he approached as the bird broke free from the shell, stretched its wings and screamed. He screamed back, and the bird turned. He threw the goat, and the bird ate, ripping it apart furiously. As it ate, Hakim walked towards it, hiding his fear at the creature's strength. When he pet it, it rubbed against him affectionately, almost knocking him over. Hakim named the bird Shazam, and managed to carry it on his back down out of the mountains.
He thought to bring it to the local chief for his mews, but the villagers were outraged at him for bringing what they saw as a demon into their midst, and he fled downriver on a raft with the bird. Perhaps there was some truth to their beliefs in the creature's supernatural origin, or maybe it was simply that the spirits that honor the birds and beasts wished to reward the boy for saving such a wondrous creature, but on his journey down the Uta river, he felt the first stirrings of magic.
Weeks later, on the coast, he met sailors who told him of the strange hermits that lived in wild places and manipulated the powers of the natural world, and called themselves druids. He took passage on a ship, hoping to find one of these men, and learn their secrets, but they remained elusive. As the years passed, he wandered, seeking a teacher, while at the same time both he and Shazam grew in strength, until one day they were set upon by pirates. Three of the men died, and he realized that he was no longer a boy seeking a teacher, but a man seeking a purpose.
His path since has brought him to the Shackles, as he searches for a place on a ship.
