The new Hero Ignarok is scorching his way through the summoning portal just in time to help with this weekend’s Dragon Strike!

How could an empty castle be so FILTHY!? Ignarok rested on his broom from his sweeping and let out a deep sigh.

Demon’s Eye Fortress — the most prestigious assignment a young sorcerer could hope for. That’s what they’d all told him, but it wasn’t turning out to be what he thought it’d be as a little cinder dreaming of glory in battle.

At first he’d been delighted by the majesty of the impenetrable fortress… Its battlements and breathtaking fortifications rose high above the crest of the mountain. Sturdy and solid …especially when you considered the bottomless magma pool in which the castle had its foundations.

When he’d gotten here last month it had been a bustling military base, but now nobody lived here. Their stuff still lived everywhere though! Ignarok rested the broom against the wall and went to pick up a discarded knapsack. Some unthinking clod had left this here just spilling all over the stairs. As he was bending to pick it up, he thought better of it. “I don’t suppose they’ll miss it one way or the other.” Flame sprung from his fingers and incinerated the sack readily along with all its contents.

Smiling, he went back to his broom. They’d all left in such a hurry and left the place in a terrible state. At first command had said it was a small troop reallocation. Three platoons gone overnight. A week later it was a redeployment exercise… five platoons.

At the beginning of this month high command announced that due to slight supply issues, they would be gradually shifting to “unmanned defenses” throughout most of the fortress… an entire division gone. It was then down to just Ignarok and a few others.

Samo was the ranking officer at Auxiliary Captain. Ignarok remembered it like yesterday… because it was yesterday. “Iggy,” Samo said. “I’mma take those 6 guys and git before the worst comes, ya? You be nice and toasty here. Ain’t no one getting in. This The Demon’s Eye.”

Ignarok of course thought they were morons, but whatever. He stole all the best stuff and was thinking of this as vacation. Safer in here. Just all this mess!!!

There was a sudden BOOM and the staircase rocked and rumbled. Ignarok tumbled down the stairs. He could hear chunks of rocks falling along with him. His broom struck his head no less than four times on the way down.

Dazed, he finally came to a stop at the bottom of the long winding staircase that led up the North Tower… most of which seemed to no longer be there. BOOM. Rock (what rock was left) started to fall. Time to split.

He ran out into the Phosian courtyard and could hardly believe his eyes. Gigantic boats carrying the symbol of Malum… yet they sailed through the air! Above the lava, they were sailing straight into the main Atrium. The Demon’s Eye was breached!

He had a duty, but he couldn’t resist one or two blasts at the incoming skyships. A few quick flame jets and he’d set dozens of them ablaze. That would buy him a minute.

He ran down through the corridors of the Great Hall. Past the armory, past the infirmary, past even the dungeons. Unlike some of these imbeciles, he’d read his manual. Rule number 3: “If we gonna lose, last one light the fuse”

He was here. The deepest passage in the greatest fortress in the world. No ornate decorations… just dark, hot cave.Through one wall, a long braided cord snaked its way onto the earthen floor. Ignarok blasted it.

As it sparked and sizzled its way towards the rocks obscuring its source, Ignarok’s imagination ran wild. He had no idea what it would do… he was pretty sure no one did. He’d of course be blown to smithereens, but what a boom to be a part of!

The fuse had been through the rocks awhile now, and Ignarok was getting disappointed. Just as he was about to turn away, however, a red glow appeared behind the wall. He braced for an explosion, but it never came. The rocks obscuring the path of the fuse melted to lava before his eyes, and out she came.

He’d heard tales. The legends called her Vulca, The Mother of the Mountain. . She emerged from her cave, free at last and towered over the imp. Her eyes fell to Ignarok.

The new Hero Petrra is popping up through the summoning portal starting this weekend, and her enemies better beware!

This was so much fun!

Petrra’s giggles echoed throughout the caverns… bouncing through the great underground complex so it seemed to Malum’s forces as if they were coming from all around. The waves crashing against the seaside exits seemed to amplify her bell tone laugh, making it something far more terrifying than her actual, girlish cadence. They were beginning to panic. Seeing them scramble around desperately only made Petrra laugh even harder.

The dragons here were Petrra’s family. Well, not her actual family… obviously. Years ago she’d sailed to these caves in search of her first wyrm. What she’d found was her one, true love — a perfect, gorgeous Stalker matriarch.

In those days a terrible civil war had ravaged the caverns. Multiple clans of dragons called these caves home then, and Petrra’s new muse was constantly embattled. Petrra adored her Stalker though. She’d do anything for her. She didn’t have to ask Petrra to kill for her.

It hadn’t taken all that long, and Petrra had grinned ear to ear during the whole labor. She mercilessly stalked through the caves for months, slaying any dragon beyond the protection of her matriarch’s Darkness Clan. She lost count. Funny how that happens.

By now the very bones left in her wake had begun to decompose within the cave. In appreciation of Petrra’s service, the matriarch had accepted her into their clan fully. She’d been living there ever since. Occasionally she’d be required to interact with non-dragon explorers who had ventured too close or sail to a nearby island for supplies, but it had been a mostly peaceful life.

Peaceful had quickly faded into boring, which is why Petrra was having so much fun now! Yes, Malum’s soldiers were here to kill or enslave her family. Yes, she would happily die to defend these depths. But why did that have to make it so serious? Ohhh, the looks on their faces when they whirred round to see her behind them!

Her laughter pierced the silence again. A squad of infantry turned from a nearby tunnel and fled towards the exit in fear. As they crossed her adjoining passage, they were directly between her and the only light. Perfect.

She failed to stifle a laugh as she pointed her staff. ZAAAAAP. Ahhh, she gave herself away! Still, they all fell to the ground temporarily paralyzed. Four more flashes through the dark. Before they managed to stand they were all dead.

More giggles echoing through the dark. Such fun! She ran down the corridor they’d come from to find 3 more stragglers approaching. ZAAAAAAP. Aww, one was getting away!

She laughed as she chased his path fleeing deeper into the cave. He thought he lost her. From her hiding place behind a rock, she covered her mouth. He looked so funny as he searched the darkness for her while gasping for air.

Wait…What was that sound? A hissing echoed through the caves. Someone was running down the passage towards her. No, that was the wrong way! You’re supposed to run OUT! There was a little light trailing behind him. Now it was her turn to squint into the darkness.

It was one of Malum’s soldiers. A huge mass of wood was strapped to his back… bulging every direction. Behind him dangled a little flashing light that seemed to be climbing some sort of string… oh no. The grin finally fell off Petrra’s face. The warrior screamed as he ran towards her.

The explosion rocked the entire cave complex, burying all inside in a mountain of rubble. Malum had won this battle. The matriarch would never terrorize his fleet again.

In the moment of realization as the force of the explosion hit her, it seemed to Petrra she had an eternity to think of her love for the great stalker. She had failed her.

Bundle up tight, because Qyvon is bringing the chill just in time for this weekend’s Tournament

Qyvon watched as the great catapult creaked violently against its own weight before sliding to a stop in the fresh powder. The sappers scrambled to figure out why they’d stopped. All down the line of Malum’s forces, siege engines followed suit. Each came to a stop just below the foothills of the great mountain.

The wind grew by the moment. Ice blasted down its howling currents, stinging and obscuring vision. The wooden wheels of the siege machines had never felt cold like this and had finally reached their breaking point… worn down by the icy chill.

Throughout Malum’s force, commanders struggled to see their own troops. Lips turned blue. Frosty winds cracked and split skin. Atop a ridge just a short way in front of the line, however, Qyvon watched the chaos unbothered by the cold.

Their machines were stopped, their forces breaking. He hadn’t even helped the chill very much. Winter, his lifelong ally, made this battle short work.

This war, however, would not be won by some frost. “Ice doesn’t stop dragons” he muttered to himself as he watched the army begin to break into a rout without ever having encountered an enemy.

He breathed deeply of the frozen air around him and channeled even more force into the cold. He didn’t have long.

As if answering his thoughts, a piercing scream came from the clouds above him. He could tell from the direction of its movement that he’d been detected.

He had a good vantage from his ridge. The army was in full retreat, so they wouldn’t interfere. It emerged from the clouds like a shooting star… indeed coming straight for him. A lifedrinker. Qyvon’s heart sank as he looked around the mountain he’d called home for over four decades. “Goodbye my friend. A lifetime well spent.”

The dragon raced towards him. Qyvon shot bolt after bolt of ice at it but the dragon lithely dodged each without altering its momentum towards the lone knight. His axe fell to his side momentarily as he stared at the dragon, lost in thought. He’d expended too much of his power on the army… but all that frost was still here.

Not long now. Qyvon held his axe high above his head. The frosty air circled around him… mist spiraling into an icy vortex around his outstretched arm. The approaching dragon‘s scream was deafening now.

“For the mountain!” Qyvon howled with all his might as he let out the blast of icy winds. Mere drakelengths away, the dragon tried to cry out in pain only to find its jaws frozen shut. A mighty crash echoed through the tundra as a gargantuan mass of ice collided with a lone knight on the slopes of the great mountain.