The Shard Cast - Xaxanakis

It looks hard to pronounce, but it’s not. Xaxanakis is pronounced Zax-AN-a-kiss. Anyhow, he goes by the much shorter 'Xax' to his friends.

His name is really Artyom Vasiukov, and he was a Russian scientist back on earth. His story is long, complex, and I am covering it in my second book that I am writing now. What matters is that he and his fellow scientists arrived on this new planet 6,000 years before my story begins. They were in shock that the flora and fauna of this world were nearly identical to that of earth; it's not how evolution is supposed to work.

Over a great length of time the scientists found that they had the ability to 'see' the energy that flowed through every atom. The elves they met called it magic. No one born on the planet could use it directly, though elves and dwarves could incorporate small amounts in the goods they manufactured. The scientists learned that they could actively manipulate the magic, though it was physically exhausting to do so. Thus, the scientists became the wizards of this world. This was when Xax decided to pick a name that sounded like a good 'wizard' name (in reality he would have chosen something like Merlin or Gandalf, but we can't go there in our own fiction).

They quickly discovered that much was different on this world - gunpowder wouldn't work properly; the same with electricity. Time itself appeared to move far slower for them than for the inhabitants of the world. In that 6,000 years Xax appeared to age only around 25 years. At the time my story begins, Xax believes he is the only remaining survivor of his group.

As my story opens, Xax has had a vision that leads him to believe that the Known Lands are in great danger from a mysterious invader, and the only way to stop them is to find a sliver of crystal that was lost in the Helisgaard mountains nearly 800 years ago, when the elf hero Kathkalan attempted to slay the deadliest dragon ever known to man.

Now Xax must seek aid from those he believes may be strong enough to recapture the lost shard and save the Known Lands.