His face became more serious as he went to show off the hand with the shard in it. Even now he could feel the pain spasm in it though there was no reaction for Sam to pick up on that. The spirit's pain tolerance was simply too high for that. Still, he knew now why it had been acting the way it had. What that meant for all those with the shards in their hands.

"A small group of us went on a mission to learn more about some with shards being killed. What we found there was not...what we thought it would be."

Iskandar let out a sigh then looked up at Sam, waited for him to look right into his red eyes before continuing.

"There was a facility where we found those with shards being experimented on. At first glance it seemed that they were being killed in order to intentionally advance these shards. However, that was not the case. We found evidence that told us that the Tevinter were trying to help these people. To slow down the progression."

He gave a soft laugh and shook his head. "It seems if you have one of these that within five years you reach the point of dying at any point. Every person with one of these in their hands here now unknowingly waits for the day when they will perish."