The Hand of Lilith

"The Hand of Lilith" is the name Alexander gives to the magical affliction inside his body.

History
Due to his fear of death, Alexander tampered with magic as a teenager. His meddling brought forth a terrible amount of magical power - and with nowhere to go, it buried itself within Alexander's body. Alexander cannot remember the events clearly, but his mother died in the commotion.

The affliction caused Alexander unbridled agony and hysteria for many weeks, until his body finally grew marginally accustomed to having such a vast amount of magic trapped within it. Already feeling the magic leeching at his life and his sanity, Alexander immediately began to seek help. He visited Amalric Kleinschmidt and begged for his assistance, but for unknown reasons, he was denied.

Afraid of being found out and executed, Alexander became a recluse - opting to live out his numbered days in loneliness, so he might at least research a way to quell the intense agony the affliction brought. Eventually, Alexander was invited to join Adelle as a member of her Five - and despite his affliction, he accepted. Alexander continues to keep the Hand of Lilith a secret, and tries his best to live one day at a time with it festering within his body - making him weaker, and bringing himself a little closer to death every day.

Alexander believes that with the fits of agony increasing in both rate and intensity, he has at most three years left to live.

Form
For most of the part, the affliction lives unseen within Alexander. However, Alexander can manifest its power physically in the form of black, clawed hands that protrude from his back. They appear to possess substantial amounts of strength - shown when easily lifting Cog from the ground carrying him across a room.