Role

Chapter 4

One day Xalic woke up and noticed a few hairs sprouting on the top of his head and a couple
eyebrows hairs as well. To Xalics dismay though, they did not last long and soon after he was
fully bald again. Thinking back, he connected the short lived sprouting to the fireshield
provided by Antaluvion Malherion. The invoker assisted Xalic gain his final ranks in a dark
place known as the Ruins of Maethien where nightwalkers from the shadow plane resided.
For some time Xalic was protected by the elemental shields, including the fireshield. As each
shield was placed there was a feeling associated with that shield that seemed normal, but the
fireshield was especially experienced. Xalic could not put his finger on the feeling, but was
somewhat stimulating and slightly painful at the same time. The connection came as he felt
some tingling on the places later some hair began to sprout. He reasoned that once he no
longer received the fire shield so regularly the hair growth stopped. This created a new
mystery for Xalic, he lost hair due to fire, but why would the fireshield start regrowth, there
is no source of fire that the shield is protecting against.
After further experimentation, Xalic was able to discover further hair sprouts on the back of
his hands. This was achieved after using the Sword of the Crusader for many battles
continuously. Like with the fireshield, they disappeared quickly over more time. It was not
practical to continually battle creatures and he had other swords and daggers that were
better at times. The Crusader sword attacked with a burning flame and while swinging it he
could feel tingling at both the palm and back of his hands.

Yet more experiments yielded negative results. Xalic managed the courage to overcome his
fear for the sake of knowledge and touched hot surfaces, then waved his arm through fire and
finally allowed minor burns to occur. Xalic's attraction to fire and fear of fire remained
though and the experience was quite horrifying for him. Most unfortunately no experience of
the tingling occurred and the burning itself gave terrifying flashbacks to his childhood.
Xalic concluded these experiments must simulate the negative aspect of his fire connection.
While the Fireshield and Crusader sword the positive aspect of his fire connection. But the
difference was unclear. He speculated that the former was related to being a victim and the
latter was related to strength.

Xalic planned to continue this exploration of fire, and while he was not so vein about his lack
of hair, he could not help but think part of his soul was damaged and perhaps it could be
repaired by further following this line of inquiry.