[03:20:17] In privacy to escape.

The high ranges of the Volcano's mountain tops offered solace to the stress ridden Lord Regent - Xuan Hao; a smith turned leader.

Silence offers comfort to one that always had someone seeking them out. He basks in the mixture of cool wind conflicting with heat of lava. Embracing the calm sense of being alone, worry about nothing but what he perceived within his mind.

The leader sat down on the stone below, legs cross as he takes a meditate position, closing his cold blue eyes to embrace the darkness of the mind.

What he saw was battle. Amidst cold fields of pure nothingness, he battled the Kalthas. His blade swung with grace, fire consuming the moonlight jian, with star bless flame.

And he sliced the fae in half.

He saw Teshim; the two fighting on fields set ablaze, dancing and moving to dodge the bolts of lightning akin the his prior foe. The great intensity shocking and nearly sending Hao down. His resolve brought him to his feet and he charged, lunging at his foe piercing their heart.

He envisioned two battles he had won, yet failed to capture. One he knew was dead, the fae he knew not of their fate.

There was one last battle within his mind - to fight against the deacon of the Church of Grey. They stood on a black and white canvas. They battled longer and tirelessly, yet Hao being overwhelmed by blasts of energy, entangled by vines.

As he swung his moonlight blade it shatter and he was left broken and battered. The battle that nearly sent his life to another realm. He lost the neries and it shook him to the core.

Blue eyes open to gaze at the sky; looking over the clouds and blue surface that encircled the sun. He stood upward, his head not looking down, all he viewed was the sky and hints of the sun.

"I lost and nearly died." His right hand extends, blocking the large star yet still embracing its heat and grace. "To my lord- Emperor. If he tells me to continue," His eyes narrow, sparks of orange ember flicker in the air. "I would continue." His hand balls into a fists, teeth showing as he digs into his own flesh.

He grips the resolve he clung to.

"Whether I nearly died or not doesn't matter." The embers continue to flare with great intensity. "I will conquer if he tells me to." Fire enveloped his entire being, embracing the heat and intensity of his own fires that threatened to burn him to ash.

His hands fall down to his side and eyes close as he feels the burning of his flame.

Resolve birthed his fire, making it brighter and hotter. The stars blessed his flame with further intensity to cleanse his foes of their life as they turn to ash. Energy saw control, just as his fighting style often showed.

He stares upward through the fire. He feels no sense of burning, only a sense of remorse and pain. To have lost much and be left alive. "With this life still in my veins," his lips part, words leaving his lips as gazes at day. "I will carry out the will of those that have perished, and the will of the Emperor!" His voices filled with resolve, heat taking to his every form as he was scorched.

"I will..." Blue coats orange, flaring, mixing with orange as his resolve continues. "I will conquer for the betterment my people. For the the will of my lord. My flames are cleansing conquest!" He roars as blue consumes the orange, not a single hint of yellow or dawn within his fire.

Only the blue of the sky or cold. His resolve dictated to master his fire as he had always cultivated and tempered metal.

The blue fire of conquest that sought control.
(Xuan Hao)