Deep underground, far away from the ruined capital city of Glassview, there was a secret bunker. It was a very rich, very safe room. The walls were made of thick steel and lined with soft red velvet. Bright, warm magical lamps hung from the ceiling. A large wooden table sat in the middle of the room, covered in plates of expensive food and bottles of sweet wine. But the people inside the room were not eating. They were not drinking. They were terrified. High Councilor Morvan paced back and forth across the soft carpet. The fat politician was sweating heavily. His expensive purple silk clothes were soaked. He rubbed his fat hands together. His breathing was fast and shallow. "It is over," Morvan whimpered. He looked at the glowing blue magical mirror on the wall. "The old man ruined everything. The whole world knows."Councilor Elara sat perfectly still in a comfortable leather chair. She wore a neat, clean, dark green dress. Her thin face was completely pale, but her icy blue eyes

"Look at the sky!" Elara screamed, pointing upward in the broadcast. "Look at the monsters falling from the rifts! The Heretic did this! He is sitting at the center of the world right now, trying to open the final door to hell!"The camera zoomed in on Elara’s face. She looked desperate and pleading. "We must unite!" Elara begged the world. "Glassview and the Crimson Alliance are no longer enemies! We are one human race fighting for survival against a dark wizard!"Then, Elara played her master card. She knew exactly how to manipulate the hearts of terrified people. "The world is breaking," Elara said, her voice dropping to a smooth, convincing tone. "The Black Storm is spreading. But we have safe bunkers. We have deep, magical fortresses that the monsters cannot reach. We have enough food and clean water to last for a hundred years."She paused, letting the promise of safety hang in the air. "But these bunkers are reserved for heroes," Elara declared. Down on the battlefield, you

Above the ruined capital city of Glassview, the sky was a terrible, bruised purple. The giant, swirling black storm of the Ash Void covered the horizon. But the darkness did not just come from the sky. It came from the earth. A massive cloud of brown dust and thick, black engine smoke rolled across the muddy Rift Plains. The armies had arrived. Just an hour ago, the soldiers of the Glassview Federation and the Crimson Alliance had been throwing their weapons away. They had listened to Caster Spellbound’s beautiful, peaceful broadcast. They had wanted to go home to their families. But fear and greed are powerful poisons. When Councilor Elara and General Rask broadcast their wicked lie, when they promised ten million gold pieces and a safe, hidden bunker to whoever killed the "Heretic." The peace instantly died. The soldiers picked their heavy weapons right back up. Now, the combined might of two massive empires was converging on the broken city. The ground shook.From the west,

"And," Solon coughed, "I knew you would get stuck at the Sub-Crustal Seal. You are a genius, Caster, but you do not know the physical architecture of this building like I do."Solon reached into his heavy gray cloak. His shaking hands pulled out three small, dark gray stones. Caster’s eyes went wide. "Explosive alchemical shards.""I grabbed them from the armory before I jumped," Solon explained. He leaned heavily against Sikoa’s shoulder. "This iron floor is twenty feet thick. But it is not a solid piece. It is built in sections. If you place these three shards exactly on the locking joints, the explosion will push the center plate downward, dropping it into the core cavern."Solon pointed a bloody finger at the floor. "There," Solon said, pointing to a tiny, almost invisible seam in the metal. "Place one there. Place the second one exactly three feet to the left. Place the third one near the wall."Caster did not hesitate. He took the three dark gray stones. He moved quickly. He cr

Elias Thorpe laughed. The sound was terrible. It did not sound like a human man anymore. It sounded like grinding metal gears and crashing rocks. The laugh echoed through the massive, cavernous room at the bottom of the world. Elias was standing on the raised stone altar, directly underneath the colossal, floating Central Node. Thick cables of screaming red blood magic and freezing purple ash shot out from the spinning machine inside his chest. The cables plunged directly into the glowing white underbelly of the giant geometric crystal. Elias was drinking the power of the universe. He was plugging his own broken mind into the blueprint of reality. "I am the machine now!" Elias roared. His single green eye was wide with absolute madness. "I hold the blueprint of reality! And I am going to erase you from the page!"Caster Spellbound stood on the smooth blue crystal floor. He gripped his broken wooden walking stick. His breath came in short, painful gasps. His ribs burned. His body w