New Hero: Eremot, Mindsplinter

The air was hot, tearing at the great dragon's wings as it hurtled over the plateau. Eremot rode the beast’s mind, contorting it with nightmare as it drove towards their prize.

The Throne!

The stone seat sat in a cracked and barren crater at the top of the Sol’s Altar. Around it, the ragged remains of Xulta’s defenders made their last stand on the crater’s rim, Eremot’s horde pressing in from all sides. As Voprex began to dive, Eremot saw three figures clustered near the Throne, their heads tilted up towards Xulta’s fading sun. Too late. Your Ancestors cannot save you.

Then the sky flashed, and the air began to burn. Voprex bellowed in pain, faltering. No! Eremot tore itself from the dragon’s body and hurled itself at the Throne as crimson flame consumed Xulta.

Fire. Pain. Eremot reached for the Throne as the inferno roared.

Then darkness.

And the sensation of cool, unyielding stone.

Some time later, the nightmare heard voices. They were muffled, speaking loudly from somewhere below.

“Send an aerial squadron to turn back the raiders. Half serpent riders and half valkyrie.” This was a woman’s voice, sharp and authoritative.

“And get word to the marshals out in the border towns. Tell ‘em to keep an ear to the ground,” a man drawled. “We don’t want the Censari gathering en masse. Better to scare them off now.”

“Vara, anything to add?” The first voice asked.

“I have no love for slavers,” a third voice responded, coldly. Her! Eremot knew that voice, hated that voice. The nightmare started to reach out, to unfurl from the darkness and send them all screaming. But it couldn’t. The stone resisted, holding the nightmare’s singed and weakened form immobile, trapped. Eremot snarled in frustration.

Where was this? Eremot extended its senses to the heavy rock around it and flinched. Power hummed everywhere. Obstinate, absolute power. The nightmare grinned a jagged, twisting grin. Finally! But when it reached for that power, it ran through its talons, dancing away. Power I cannot take… power not meant for me.

As the trio below talked and argued, Eremot began to listen from its stone cage. No matter. It had taken many years to seed Xulta with fear and nightmare; it could bide its time here. The fools could not perceive the truth, wrapped up as they were in their petty pride and anger. It was better to wait. To be the whisper in the back of their minds.

From the darkness, a quiet, rasping laugh rose from the Eternal Throne.

The stone segments of the Throne’s back whirled apart, crashing against one another like peals of thunder as Vara claimed her birthright.

She had heard the whispers in the darkness. A small, sharp voice, driving her forward. Yes, Eremot hissed.

“No,” Vara snarled. “This is my Throne. On my terms.” Around her, the stone walls and pillars of the throne room faded, until only the Throne remained.

Are you so sure? Eremot’s voice was more than a whisper now, and it raked across Vara’s mind as the nightmare surged from the shadows. Laughter washed over her, mocking and scornful. You are a child, stumbling through the dark. Eremot lunged forward. Too naive to see the horror around you.

The light from the Throne was bright, painful to look at, but it only seemed to cast Eremot in heavier shadow. Vara hurled a lance of purple energy, but the nightmare flowed around it, moving like smoke.

“I bested you once,” she shot back.

And yet here I am, the shrouded figure hissed. A claw lashed out, reaching for Vara. She sidestepped, drawing her long, thin sword as she did. With a twist of her hips, she brought the blade down, cutting the talon in half. But Eremot just sneered,

You cannot kill fear. It consumes all, in the end. And you are full of fear. Its many eyes flashed, and memories poured into Vara’s mind.

Overhearing the whispers of Argenport’s courtiers when she was young. Seeing the way they looked at her mother. They way they looked at her. 

The moment when Eilyn told her that Caiphus, her father, was gone.

The surge of fury and fear when her uncle’s dogs tried to drag her back to Argenport.

The feeling of falling, of drowning, as Azindel’s treacherous gift stripped away her thoughts and memories. 

Vara gasped as old wounds—childhood fears and old scars—began to ache. Her hand flew to her collarbone, to the mark Azindel’s amulet had left behind. Eremot’s claws raked across her ribs and she stumbled, crying out in pain and surprise. She rolled out of the way as Eremot came at her again, and saw blood on the ground as she pushed herself to her feet.

“Why?” she shouted over the roar of the Throne. Around them, the silver-white light grew until she could see little else. She thought she could smell… snow? It was nearing summer in Argenport. Where are we? Vara wondered. What is the Throne doing? “The Throne is not yours. You cannot claim it.”

Eremot’s chuckle shook the ground beneath her, and Vara raised her blade, severing a claw from the next swipe. When I am done with you, you will sit on the Throne for me, it said. As I whisper in your ear…

Vara’s memories came for her again as she hurled another strike at the nightmare.

Nights alone in the Shadowlands, chasing her father’s voice.

The steel in Kaleb's eyes as he drummed his fingers on the grip of his gun. Looking at her like an opponent, a target.

The stones of the Throne’s back blurred as they whirled above it, dancing in patterns that hurt to look at. A golden glow poured from their center, and Vara thought she saw images flickering in the light. Glimpses of tall pine trees beneath arching cliffs, and then they were gone, replaced by a river of glowing magma. She turned to look behind her, but every part of the room not awash in the Throne’s glaring light was filled with Eremot’s festering darkness.

You are alone, a small voice said, and Vara could not tell if it was her own. No one is coming to help you.

Vara felt her jaw clench in a fierce, defiant grin. “Same as always, then.”

She heard a hiss and turned to see Eremot bearing down on her, the nightmare’s shroud extended like dragon wings. Vara reached out, collecting the silvery power of the Throne in her hands. As she did, the rumble of Throne began to change, the stones whirling in a new pattern. Through the bands of fierce light that had replaced the walls of the throne room, the vague shape of a landscape began to take form.

As Eremot reached out with long, sharp fingers, Vara hurled her arms forward and shouted a wordless challenge. The harsh light cupped in her hands began to tear at the nightmare’s arm, burning away its ragged shroud.

I can feel your fear, Eremot howled, its breath stinking of grave dirt. Give in to it! It tried to claw at Vara’s face, but she grabbed its wrists, falling to one knee, her ribs burning in pain as she struggled to hold it back.

“I am not yours,” Vara said as light and dark screamed around her. Slowly, she pushed herself back to her feet. Eremot snarled, but there was a note of desperation in its voice now. Around them, past the glare of the Throne, a strange skyline whirled and took shape. From the clouds, tendrils of darkness began to pour down, twisting like Eremot’s tattered robe.

“I am not anyone’s.” Vara said over the gale.

Writhing, Eremot manage to tear itself free.

“Where others waited, I did what had to be done,” Vara shouted, hurling force at the nightmare again. The blow struck, and purple flames tore into Eremot’s form.

You’ll never be free! It shrieked, twisting in a desperate attempt to extinguish them all. Fear will haunt your every step! The nightmare was fading now, as was the light from the Throne. Vara stood, panting as she watched, one hand pressed to the bloody wound in her side. Her gaze never wavered as Eremot tore itself to shreds.

Then, finally, as the smoldering scraps scattered in the wind, Vara turned to look at the strange scenery that surrounded her. There was a rumble, and she looked up into a dark, half-familiar sky as it began to rain over Argenport.

Eremot, Mindsplinter Promo Quest

• The Eremot, Mindsplinter promo quest begins today and will run until Sunday, April 26.
• During the quest period, your first PvP win of the day will reward you with a copy of Eremot.
• Once the promo period is over, you’ll be able to craft Eremot using Shiftstone as normal.
• The Eremot, Mindsplinter premium Avatar will be available in the store for 300 Gems for a limited time.
• An Eremot, Mindsplinter theme deck will also be available in the Store for 500 Gems for a limited time, and includes the avatar and 4 premium copies of Eremot!

 

 

Read more Eternal lore here!

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