When Vrono was young, he spied on the Dryan from afar with his best friend Girushia, too afraid to be seen. But in all his childhood games, he and Girushia were Dryan together, waving sticks instead of enchanted staves and pretending the wind responded to their call. And when Girushia was chosen by Arboreas to become a Dryan, Vrono was overjoyed. His turn was surely coming soon, and they would guide the forest together as friends.

But the seasons passed, and Vrono was forgotten by Arboreas and his old friend Girushia alike. Girushia had no time to play anymore, he had a grove to protect. Vrono was alone, and anger consumed him like a wildfire. He turned it outward, against passing beasts and travelers, and wandered aimlessly until the day he met Haluchott.

The Lord of Beasts was terrifying, hovering over the forest floor with a long staff and a palm outstretched. But what she offered Vrono was an opportunity to prove himself. Even if Vrono was not a Dryan, he could still save Arboreas. Everyone would see Vrono’s true potential. Even Girushia, Vrono thought. Even Girushia would see.

Vrono gained confidence amid Haluchott’s court of beasts, commanding ferocious respect with each Skordyre ripped in half by his lashing thorns. But still Girushia never emerged from the high walls of his grove. One night, as Skordyre spitters set chemical fires that raced through the trees, and the rest of Haluchott’s army galloped away through the blaze, Vrono took hold of a flaming branch. The fire that sparked at the end of it was the same as the one that burned in him. He carried it to the wall of thorns that Girushia had grown around his grove and heaved it into the tangle, and he watched the flames climb high into the grove before he finally fled bellowing through the trees. Perhaps he was not a savior after all. Perhaps he was wicked. Perhaps Arboreas had always known it.

Vrono the Brambletooth is available in the Heroes of Arboreas Army Expansion!