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.