Just like that it was over. He knew she was now out of his life forever. He could not help but think about and replay all their conversations over in his head. “Where did I go wrong?” was all he kept asking himself. He tried in a futile manor to put the blame on fate, but as an atheist Professor Rex Walker knew it was simply his own fault. He had let his curiosities of the world lead him in memorable travels. As he traveled he grew further apart from the one he loved. All Andrea Yates had ever wanted was for him to stay near, and start a family.
Now after Rex traveled and saved part of the world at the expense of his own he ponders if it was worth it? The culture and lives of people he would never know versus the love of the only woman the mattered to him. Rex though long and hard about

I'd suggest thinking about the writing itself as well. "Just like that it was over"--Just like what? What was over? And if she had mattered so much, why travel so far and long?

It should be a futile manner and if he was an atheist, blaming fate would not occur to him.

"Now after Rex traveled and saved part of the world at the expense of his own he ponders if it was worth it? " This sentence is a statement, not a question--and it should not slip from past into present tense.

"The culture and lives ... mattered to him." --This isn't a sentence.

I'd suggest more showing, less telling, and starting the story nearer an interesting crisis or seed of conflict; perhaps the event that set him on his travels, or maybe his first meeting with Andrea on his return. As it is, it's very generic and I think it needs to be unique in some way to grab our attention.

Finally, I like the exotic-sounding title but there's no hint of the milieu, or anything exotic, in these first few lines. Some sense of setting would be nice.

You might want to consider leaping in to crit other people's first 13s because many if not most of us find the analysis of why things don't work is a good way to learn the craft.

Why should we care enough about his “memorable” travels to wait until you actually get the story started? Without that immediate connection, it’s more difficult to find a reason to read over the page and that hook isn’t there at the moment.

As both Annepin and Talespinner have identified, the opening paragraph is pretty much all telling without context. There’s very little sense of what kind of person Rex is beyond the list of facts that you’ve told us about him (he’s saved the world, he’s travelled, he’s an atheist). That doesn’t do much for me in terms of identifying with your protagonist. Showing his character is much more effective than telling us about his exploits in retrospect. I’m not hooked by the character and since you’ve withheld information about what he’s done for later, I’ve got no reason to read over the page. I have no real idea of where this story is set, what kind of person the protag is or what the true conflict of the story is. It comes down to clarity and making it as easy as possible to get involved with the story.

Talespinner’s point about starting the story closer to the seed of a conflict is a great one, whatever that conflict might be.

Regards,

Nick

Also just a random thought, mentioning that the professor is an aetheist is an odd bit of info to drop in right there. It seems random. It doesn't help us develop a picture of a man who feels the need to comment on others relationships. Make it immediately relevant to what's going on or leave it out until it becomes relevant as a reason for something going on in the story at that moment.

Working title is really cool BTW, if you can make the story live up to it.