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Winter was about to set in when Brunak was first summoned to Valhalla. Initially, Utgar wanted to summon the small beast that Brunak had been fighting on Feylund, but the creature managed to overpower him and the Trolticor was summoned instead. The Valkyrie General still found work for Brunak in his army during those first few months by having him guard Laur’s southeastern boarder. The only enjoyment Brunak found in those days was when he single-handily killed a small platoon of elves who’d sailed across the Sigling Sea from Ekstrom. If there was one thing Brunak hated more than winter, it was elves.
At the end of the 7th age, elves and Trolticors had relatively peaceful relations. Sometimes, young elven wizards would travel to Wolflin to learn ancient fire spells from the Trolticors. When Brunak was a child, an elf named Chardris had come to Wolflin to learn such spells. Brunak had befriended Chardris in those days despite the elders forbidding young Brunak from interfering with Chardris’s studies. Sometimes the two of them would sneak off at night and the young elf would show Brunak the new spells he’d recently learned. Brunak couldn’t conjure fire himself, but he was amazed at how the small flames danced across Chardis’s fingers. As time went on, Chardris’s magic flames got bigger until one day, he didn’t come to meet Brunak. Upon returning home, Brunak learned from his father that the elves and Trolticors were going to war. Brunak was too young to understand the political landscape between the two races that led to war, so it devastated him when the elves managed to raze his entire colony. The war had lasted for ten years and Brunak was on a routine scouting mission when he returned to his colony. The lava fields he had called home were covered in ice and everyone he knew had been frozen to death by elven mages. As Brunak reached down and clutched the snow in his huge paw, he felt enraged, and his anger melted the snow around him. From that day on, Brunak vowed to kill every elf who came across his path and paint himself in their blood.
Brunak kept his word, even after being summoned to Valhalla. After slaying the elven platoon, Brunak stood on the shore, covered in blood and holding a severed arm in his left hand. Another elf lay dead at his feet. Her head had been crushed by one of his lion-like paws. A third elf had been impaled by his large tail and his lifeless body dangled in the air. Brunak was focused on surveying the carnage all around him, and he didn’t notice someone approaching.
“Damn, I’ve seen my share of mutilated bodies before, but never this many at once. I’m sure as hell glad, you’re on our side.” Brunak dropped the severed arm and turned to the speaker. His first thought was to kill him but stood down when he saw it was Clyde Rush. Clyde was a renegade from the planet Earth. Utgar had summoned the one-eyed outlaw after his moral nemesis, Jandar, summoned a lawman named Johnny ‘Shotgun’ Sullivan. Both Clyde Rush and Johnny ‘Shotgun’ Sullivan had been present at Brunak’s first major battle on Valhalla. Although Brunak didn’t like how Clyde Rush had leapt onto his back a rode him into battle like a mount, he put up with it because of how effective the two of them were at cutting down Jandar’s forces. Using a lasso, Clyde Rush pulled a Kyrie sentinel out of the air and Brunak had cut him down with his falchion.
“I’m on no one’s side.” Brunak snorted. “I just kill elves out of vengeance.”
“Oh, right, my condolences. The pointy eared killed your family.” Brunak could tell that Clyde was trying to piss him off for fun, and the Trolticor was already enraged by his bloodlust. He turned on Clyde Rush and attempted to cut him down with his falchion. Clyde drew his own sword, one given to him by the orc champion Tornak, and parried. Brunak tried to kill Clyde a second time, but the renegade rolled out of the way and came up with his lasso in hand. Clyde expertly tossed the lasso around Brunak’s waist and pulled the Trolticor to the ground.
“Ready to talk big guy? I got new orders for you from Utgar, and I reckon you’ll want to hear them.” Brunak tried to struggle against the ropes, but the more he did so, the tighter the knots became. After about ten minutes, Brunak had stopped struggling against the ropes and Clyde began to speak. “Alright now, the bossman has recently acquired an artifact called The Lava Stone of Volcarren.” Clyde had Brunak’s attention when he said the word, ‘lava.’ “With it he has the allegiance of a race native to Valhalla called the Moltarn.”
“Get to the point, what does Utgar want from me?”
“The Moltarn live in a volcanic region called Volcarren which separates The Ticalla Jungle from the rest of Valhalla. The bossman has some sort of secret weapon in the jungle that’s important to the war effort, so he wants us and the Moltarn to guard Volcarren’s borders from intruders.” Although Brunak didn’t like taking orders from Utgar or any lackey of his that brought news, he missed home and would accept a redeployment if it meant he’d be somewhere that would remind him of The Wolflin lava fields.
It took half a month for Clyde Rush and Brunak to reach the boarder of Volcarren, mainly because they had to take a detour through Bleakwoode to pick up two more champions. The first was a defector from Einar’s army named Valguard and the other was a ninja named Isamu. Three nights after they joined Brunak and Clyde, the four champions reached the boarder of Bleakwoode and Kinsland and set up camp, with the intent to cross into Kinsland in the morning. From there, it would be a day’s trek to the Searing Pass, which sat on the edge of Volcarren. Brunak sulked in the distance as the three men cooked a wild boar they’d killed and skinned earlier that day.
“You know, this trip reminds me of camping out on the Texas prairies,” Clyde was saying with gusto. “Us renegades would be sitting around a fire, like this one, swapping stories, playing cards and feasting on bison meat.”
“It would greave you to learn that bison go extinct after your time.” Isamu replied coldly as he started carving up the boar for them. Brunak shuttered with dread at Isamu’s comment.
“Shame. Boar meat ain’t lean enough for me.”
“I’ve never heard of a bison before.” Valguard replied as he took a bite of his boar meat.
“They’re mostly found in North America. It’s a continent discovered after your time.” Clyde laughed as he took a bite out of his dinner.”
“Valguard’s enemies are the ones who first discover the Americas.” Isamu said correcting Clyde. Brunak just wanted the men to shut up but gladly devoured the boar meat Valguard handed him.
“Well, we can at least swap stories while we eat.” Clyde chuckled as juice dripped from his chin and stained the collar of his jacket. “Valguard, you’re the only one here who was summoned by Einar. Why did you leave him and join Utgar?”
“I discovered my enemies were summoned to Valhalla by Jandar. One of them took my shield arm.” Valguard held up his left hand. It was reptilian in appearance and grafted onto his body. “I vowed that the champion Thorgrim and his brother, Finn would pay for such a humiliating defeat, but when I learned Einar was entering into an alliance with Jandar, I knew I couldn’t remain loyal. When I was assigned to lead a scouting party to the Trollsford Swamp, I lead them into an ambush and escaped in the chaos.” Brunak listened to Valguard’s story and realized he could relate to him, at least in terms of wanting revenge. He got up and walked over to the trio.
“If I learned that Utgar made an alliance with Ullar and his army of elven scum, I’d find a way to betray him too.” The Trolticor said as he approached.
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, big guy,” Clyde said. “From what I hear, both Ullar and Vydar have joined the alliance too. There’s no one else who’d align themselves with Utgar.”
“That may not be true.” Valguard replied. “The scouting party I was leading was assigned to track down a potential sixth Valkyrie General. She released a deadly mist into the swamp and that’s when we were ambushed by a squad of elves loyal to Ullar.”
“I hope many elves died that day.” Brunak growled. He could feel his blood starting to boil with rage.
“Indeed, most were killed by the mist, but some died at my hands. Only two escaped alongside a human who accompanied them.” The rage in Brunak’s blood began to die down when he heard that all but two elves were killed. At the same time, Clyde looked at Valguard.
“Did this man have a large mustache and a brown trench coat?”
“No, he was clean shaven and wore a blue cloak. He carried a long rifle.”
“So, Deadeye Dan’s here too.” Clyde chuckled and he brushed his hand over his eye patch. “Oh, joy. Now I got two lawmen after me on Valhalla.”
“What happened to this Valkyrie General? Isamu asked as he finished his boar meat and washed it down with water from a canteen.
“She traveled east beyond Volcarren.”
“You didn’t think to mention this until now?” Isamu asked.
“Hold on, hold on. If she’s on the other side of Volcarren, then she’s in the Ticalla Jungle. Maybe she’s already aligned herself with the bossman and guarding his secret weapon, whatever the hell it is.”
“Maybe.” Valguard agreed and Brunak nodded along. Although none of them liked being kept in the dark, it made sense that Utgar needed new allies after the other Valkyrie Generals had joined forces against him. If this new Valkyrie General was in the Ticalla Jungle, protecting a secret weapon, then it was best not to have her existence known to anyone else until the time was right.
As the sun began to fall from the afternoon sky the following day, the four men crossed into Volcarren and for the first time since setting foot on Valhalla, Brunak felt at home. His companions seemed uneasy about the hellish landscape that surrounded them on all sides, but they didn’t complain and continued their trek. Clyde was the first one to spot a figure in the distance and called out.
“Hey! The bossman, Utgar sent us! You one of the Moltarn who live here?” Upon spotting the figure Brunak knew that Clyde was mistaken. It was skinny and had yellowish brown skin. There was something unsettling about the way it stood there, perfectly motionless. Brunak tightened his grip on his falchion expecting danger. As the four of them got closer, the figure turned, and they got a good look at all the wound marks covering his nearly naked body. The creature growled and lurched forward, but before Brunak could react, Valguard had charged forward and grabbed the creature by its head with his left hand. The creature tried to attack Valguard with its gnashing teeth, but they couldn’t penetrate the reptilian hide. The warlord squeezed and squeezed until the creature’s head exploded and its lifeless body collapsed to the ground.
“What in Sam hell was that thing?” Clyde exclaimed as he sheathed his sword.
“Keep your blade ready.” Isamu said taking a fighting stance, “More of them are coming.” They looked around and saw more creatures, like the one they just killed, shambling toward them. Some carried clubs made of wood or bone, but all were clearly dangerous. The four champions stood their ground, ready to fight, but suddenly a red-skinned kyrie landed between them and the horde.
“Stand down and return to your master!” She yelled at the horde which backed off and retreated. Once they were out of sight, she then turned to the four champions.
“You’re late.” She barked at Clyde who blushed as she approached.
“It’s good to see you too Runa and I see you got yourself some new minions.” Runa rolled her eyes and scoffed at Clyde’s advances.
“These aren’t my minions. My minions are fighting other battles while I’m here guarding an accursed stone.”
“Hey now sweetheart, this will be a lot easier now that were here.” Runa was clearly enraged by Clyde calling her ‘sweetheart’. She drew the two swords at her belt and charged forward. Before Clyde could draw his, he was on the ground with the kyrie’s sword at his throat. Brunak decided not to intervene. Although Clyde was his partner in this mission, it would be good riddance for him if Runa killed Clyde. To Brunak’s disappointment, Runa sheathed her weapons.
“You’re damn lucky my father forbids me from killing those he summons to Valhalla.”
Runa led them to a cave where the Lava Stone was being guarded by more of the shambling creatures they’d encountered, alongside several Marro. The aliens made jittering noises as Brunak walked pass. The noise annoyed Brunak and made him want to strangle the creatures. Four elemental creatures made of rock a lava stood at the mouth of the cave and Brunak knew these were Moltarn upon seeing them. An elderly dwarf slowly came out of the cave and watched them approach. He walked with a wooden staff, with a skull perched on top. Black markings were tattooed to his bald scalp and face that made him look intimidating, at least to the others.
“Welcome,” The dwarf said greeting them. “Welcome to Volcarren. I am Okraeth, the necromancer and warden of the Lava Stone as order by Lord Utgar. I see one of my zombies didn’t return with you, but no matter.” He patted the side of his robe and looked at Brunak. “I didn’t think I’d ever have the honor to meet a Trolticor. Your kind had gone extinct before I was born, but your ferocity was legendary. Tell me our lord summoned more of you.”
“I wish he did.” Brunak scowled. He was still annoyed by all the talking, especially from Okraeth. Worse, the conversation had veered to being about him. Brunak liked heat, but not this kind of heat.
“Oh, I’m sure our lord will eventually summon more Trolticors when he sees your ferocity in battle.” The dwarf laughed.
“I saw him single handedly wipe out a whole platoon of Ullar’s elves.” Clyde chuckled patting Brunak’s side. Clyde patting Brunak and mentioning elves enraged the Trolticor. He prepared to decapitate the renegade, but Clyde Rush was too fast and managed to dunk under the falchion. At that moment, someone jumped on Brunak’s back, then a second figure, followed by a third. The Marro swarmed Brunak and pinned him before Clyde could even stand up with his lasso in hand. In a frenzy, Brunak began to swing his falchion more hectically. In the end, Brunak gave up and the Marro let him back up. When Brunak got to his feet, he noticed that two Marro had been killed by his falchion.
“Ah, thank you master Trolticor. Now I can replace the zombie your companions killed.” Okraeth said as he bent down to examine the bodies. He removed two vials of red liquid from his cloak and poured them on the corpses, which began to twitch and make noises. As the dwarf began reciting an ancient chant, the muscles under their skinless frames became swollen and turned pale. Their bones creaked and cracked, making horrible sounds that made everyone wince. Finally, they became two more zombies amongst the horde. “Such wonderful creatures, aren’t they?” Okraeth said as he tucked the vial away and his new zombies fell in line. “They obey my every demand and never protest or rebel.”
“Alright, I have to ask,” Clyde said stepping forward. “Where do all these Marro and zombies come from?”
“They come from the swamps. We are creating Marro hives out there and preparing the young ones for war. Some will aid us in defending Volcarren, while the rest prepare to conquer Valhalla.”
“That’s Utgar’s plan to defeat the alliance?” Valguard asked. “While we sit here guarding a rock, Utgar will use his new army to destroy the alliance. Einar has a large army of his own and you expect to overpower his superior numbers and his army’s fighting prowess with mindless Marro?”
“This is a sound strategy to win the war quickly.” Isamu said holding up his hand to stop Valguard’s advancement. “Those swamps extend for miles, so there are plenty of places to hide thousands of Marro hives. Even if the alliance learns about the hives and one or two are destroyed, there will be more Marro lurking in the swamp that can overwhelm any enemy. Our job is to delay and demoralize any army that attempts to venture into the swamp.” Neither Brunak nor Valguard were convinced that these Marro hives could create enough Marro to match the alliance forces before they were discovered. But neither of them said another word about it.
Brunak enjoyed his time in Volcarren. He mostly patrolled a peninsula that was close to the boarders of Anund and Ekstrom. Although some small platoons from Vydar or Ullar’s armies would be spotted on this peninsula, trying to capture the Lava Stone or reach the swamps beyond The Volcarren Wasteland, they were always turned back after suffering heavy casualties. On one occasion, Vydar and Ullar’s forces came together in a joint assault on the peninsula, but this too failed. On days when no one tried invading Brunak’s territory, he’d relax in the lava pools, find an excuse to be pissed off at Clyde or go looking for elves to butcher. One day, Brunak was awoken by Marro buzzing around the camp, chittering and chattering as they rushed about preparing for battle. He assumed that another platoon was trying to cross the peninsula and grabbed his falchion. As Brunak rushed through the camp, he noticed that the Moltarn around him were stationary. Brunak stopped in front of one Moltarn warrior and waved his hand in front of his face. The Moltarn didn’t blink or respond in any way.
“It’s no use, they’re all frozen.” Clyde said as he and Valguard ran up alongside the Trolticor. “We just got word from Isamu near the Ruins of Rennoc. Utgar decided to relocate The Lava Stone to a vault in Laur, but the kyrie transporting the stone were ambushed.”
“Does this mean the alliance controls the Moltarn?” Brunak asked. He was even more pissed off with Clyde than usual. Perhaps it was because he was delivering the bad news or perhaps, he was afraid of being chased out of Volcarren, the one place on Valhalla the Trolticor could call ‘home’.
“Nah, the Alliance didn’t get the stone. It was lost somewhere near the ruins. Runa wants everyone down there now to help find that damn stone.” Without the stone the Moltarn were just statues. Sure, they still burned anyone that touched them, but they were useless to Utgar now and they were necessary in repelling the alliance forces from Volcarren.
It took then almost a whole day to reach Isamu’s camp. By the time they arrived, Runa and Okraeth had moved on to another camp to gather more bodies to help search for The Lava Stone. Clyde seemed disappointed that he’d just missed Runa, but he brushed it aside and went with the others to the Ruins of Rennoc.
A large volcano sat in the middle of the ruins and a handful of Marro dawdled about examining the rocks while three Moltarn statues towered above them.
“I found it!” a Marro exclaimed. At the same time, the Moltarn statues began to move, but only slightly. A ball of fire was hurled at the Marro by something or someone on the other side of the ruins and the alien drone fell into the volcano. The remaining Marro scattered as they all took cover in the ruins. Isamu peaked out and turned to the group.
“We don’t know where they are or how many of them are out there, so we need to gain the high ground now.” There are outcrops around the volcano the Marro can use for cover while you three engage the enemy.”
“That’s hella risky on our part.” Clyde protested. “You said it yourself; we don’t know how many are out there and where will you be?”
“I’ll sneak around behind them and don’t worry about numbers. Most armies that passed this way are tired and depleted of recourses when they reach these ruins. It will be easy for you to put them to sleep.” Since Brunak was immune to the fire and lava, he led the way with Valguard on his back. Slowly, Brunak approached The Lava Stone and saw it was embedded into the rock. He cursed and began clawing at the rock trying to free it. As Brunak did so, the Moltarn statues began to twitch.
“Forget the Stone, there they are.” Valguard pointed with his reptilian hand and Brunak looked to see four figures emerge from the ruins, The first two were humans. One wore silver armor and carried a sword and shield. There was a crest on the shield depicting a blue lion-like creature. His short blonde hair was messy, but it looked like he tried to keep it neat. The other human had dark skin and was half-naked. He carried a trident in one hand and a net in the other. The third figure was a seven-foot tall Soulborg with black armor. He wore a blue poncho-like cloak, and the hood was raised above his head. He carried a gun-like weapon which was pointed a Brunak. The final figure caught Brunak’s attention immediately. It was his former friend, Chardris. Chardris looked much older, but Brunak could tell it was him.
“Brunak” the elf called upon seeing the Trolticor. “Is that you?”
“Indeed, it is, and I’ve been summoned to Valhalla to avenge my people.”
“I took no part in the massacre of Wolflin, and I argued against going to war with your people.”
“Yet you allowed the war to happen,” Brunak roared, as he did so, small pools of lava began rising from under the ground. “You abandoned me and left me to die with my people.”
“I wanted to take you with me and prove that Trolticors weren’t dangerous.”
“But we are dangerous, elf. We are the embodiment of fury and vengeance. That vengeance will be unleashed upon you and all who would defend you.”
“I have a score to settle with the Soulborg.” Clyde said catching up. “He’s Major D22. Utgar summoned him, but he was reprogramed by Vydar’s people.” The Marro opened fire at their enemy as the three champions rushed down the hill. The knight blocked the energy beams with his shield while Chardris hurled fire balls at them. As the two of then retreated inside the ruins, Major D22 fired his gun which hurled lightning at the rocks, destroying them. Valguard reached the enemy first and engaged in combat with the half-naked man and separated him from the group. Clyde got his lasso around Major D22’s arm as Brunak rushed past hellbent on killing Chardris. Upon entering the ruins, Brunak saw the knight standing between him and Chardris. As Brunak moved in for the kill, something green rushed passed his vision and he felt pain in his right arm. The Trolticor looked and saw blood dripping from his wrist, his own blood. He felt another sharp pain, this time on his chest and another small wound opened. As soon as he felt the pain a third time, Brunak spotted a green ninja hiding behind some rubble. Brunak moved toward the rubble, but the ninja vanished. Brunak sensed something approach and parried an attack from a second ninja’s sword. This new ninja wore black, and her hair was in a ponytail. As Brunak locked himself into combat with the ninja in black, the ninja in green stepped out of the shadows with two swords in hand. She rushed forward to help her friend, but Brunak swatted her aside with his tail. By then, Chardris had escaped to some other part of the ruins, but the knight was left behind.
“Go help Chardis.” He said to the ninja in black as she dodged an attack from Brunak’s falchion. “Moriko and I can finish off this beast.” The ninja in black fled as the knight took a fighting stance. Brunak thrust his falchion toward the knight who managed to block the massive weapon with his shield. Judging the size of the shield, Brunak had expected to break every bone in the knight’s arm, but instead, the knight went on the offensive. The ninja in green took advantage of Brunak’s confusion to attack him and this time, she stabbed her sword into his leg. Brunak reared up and howled in pain as a stream of lava poured out of the ground. It separated the knight from both Brunak and the ninja. Seeing no way to get back into the skirmish, the knight ran off to help elsewhere on the battlefield. Alone, Brunak scanned the ruins for the ninja. He then noticed that the lava was starting to flow back into the fissures they’d erupted from. Brunak began to think about the pain in his body and the lava began to ooze back to the surface. Realizing what had happened, Brunak came up with a plan to kill the ninja. After a minute, Brunak detected the ninja approaching him from behind. As the ninja leapt into the air, Brunak stabbed is tail into the ground, causing a geyser of lava to erupt behind him. The ninja was taken by surprise as her body was burned. She fell to the ground in pain and Brunak stabbed the ninja in the chest with his tail, ending her life.
Outside, The Moltarn were aiding in the fight against the alliance’s champions, who were in retreat. Brunak limped up to the lip of the volcano and looked at The Lava Stone, then scoffed. He summoned some lava from inside the volcano to melt the rocks around the relic and picked it up. Apart of The Lava Stone’s power was now inside Brunak and he planned to use it to take vengeance upon Chardris. The Trolticor examined some writing around the edges of The Lava Stone and immediately recognized it. The Stone didn’t originate from Valhalla, it was from Wolflin. To Brunak, it was a piece of home. The lava from underground had consumed entire patches of land and the ruins were sinking into the lava with a legless Major D22 tied down and propped up beside them. There was a huge hole in the middle of his chest where Isamu had stabbed him, and the ninja was now assessing the carnage. Brunak waded into the lava and as he emerged, his wounds started to heal.
“It’s a damn shame you didn’t get your revenge.” Clyde said walking up and tying some rope into a new lasso.” Brunak looked at the renegade and smirked.
“I’m planning some revenge right now.” Brunak laughed, “I’m going after them.”
“You’re not going alone.” Clyde chuckled. “You may need backup and that’s where I come in. We may not get along, but we make one hell of a fighting team.”
“You cannot abandon your post in pursuit of revenge.” Isamu barked.
“Isamu, I’d love to see you try and stop Brunak now that he’s got all that power.” Clyde said putting a hand on the ninja’s shoulder. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got ourselves an elf to cook.” Clyde climbed onto Brunak’s back and turned to Valguard, who’d been badly wounded in his fight with the half-naked man.
“I’d come too, but I’d slow you down.” Valguard sighed. “Maybe Jandar will send my enemies here and I’ll get my own revenge.”
“Take care of yourself Valguard. Get your revenge and when we all return to Laur to celebrate, drinks are on me.” Without another word, Clyde spurred Brunak forward and they rode off with The Lava Stone in hand.