Pantheon Online

"No! Why!" Jarl Kagran screamed as chains made from bones bound him to the wall.

"Now, Jarl Kagran, you know why." Winter appeared from the black fog that clouded the room. "You denounce the gods. You say we aren\'t real. You say that Lord Exile must be such a weak god since he won\'t protect the travellers you kill..."

"You! You\'re no god! You\'re a demon!" Jarl Kagran screamed as he stared at her. His eyes went bloodshot from the effort.

"Pathetic! You should know the truth by now, but you still want to deny it... You\'re just another lost cause..." Winter smirked savagely as a spear made of bone appeared in her hand. 

"No! What are you going to do, Demon?" Jarl Kagran flinched at the sight of the weapon.

"Have some fun, of course..." Winter began to laugh as she lunged with the spear. 

Hours passed in the nightmare before Winter let out a sigh. \'They always break too easily...\' She waved her hand, and the nightmare dispelled, leaving her standing with her hand on the Jarl\'s forehead. \'He\'s already dead... Seems the pain and shock from the nightmare made his heart give in...\'

Winter tutted as she turned and walked away from the dead Jarl. Over the past week, she had also caused the demise of the Jarl\'s children in such a manner. \'Hm, this should stop orders flowing to the barricades in this region. With some luck, the warriors will leave their posts and those migrating can make some progress again.\'

\'But it\'s still not enough... They might turn into bandits just to feed themselves. I should report this to headquarters and see if there\'s something more I can do. We need to make a bigger impact on a larger scale.\' Winter nodded to herself as she suddenly paused.

A light breeze fluttered by, carrying the voice of the head of special operations. "Winter, you are required to report to Lord Exile. It is urgent."

"Oh? He wants to see me? That\'s good, since I wanted to talk to him anyway. Please tell him I\'m on my way." Winter glanced at the dead body of the Jarl with a smile on her face before releasing her Avatar spell.

As her conscious moved back to the Divine Realms, she found herself in the dark backroom of an abandoned store. The Pantheon who had received the building for completing a quest, had no idea what to do with it for now as it was not set up for anything. It was just an empty shell. However, it came in handy for the Special Operations group, as they would not be disturbed by anyone else here.

After all, their missions were vital, so only the leaders knew what they were up to. This was to prevent any intelligence leaks from the Alliance. Winter sighed as she looked around at the others in the room. Everyone operated solo under the discretion of the chief of Special Operations.

\'I guess I should head over to The Raider\'s Horn then...\' Winter exited the building through a side door that led into an alley. The noise of the hustle and bustle of Valheim assaulted her ears as she grimaced. As soon as she set foot into the main street, plenty of red players began to eye her up. 

\'Hmph, dream on! I\'m not leaving the city, so you won\'t gain anything from me!\' Winter snorted as she ignored the glances from the male players. Some were full of malice, while others had a passionate look about them. \'Even though it\'s just my avatar, all guys are the same. As long as something looks pretty, they\'ll flock to it like bees to a flower.\'

This behaviour disgusted her, but she had become used to it long ago. Most guys who asked her out in games were only interested in what they saw and not the real person behind it. She had learned the hard way that she could not just blindly jump into online relationships. Mainly because she became attached to the other person, but they had no intentions of dating in real life. 

Winter quickly dodged into a side alley and slid up against a nearby groove in the wall. Moments later, a group of players ran past, trying to catch up to her. \'Idiots!\' It was all too easy to give these people the slip. \'Maybe I should start using a different alley after this? They\'ll eventually notice that I\'m not outrunning them...\'

Winter shook her head as she slipped back on to the main street and headed for the bar. However, groups of players started to run past her, apparently headed for the main gate.

"Hurry up! The leader said if we don\'t Valheim could be in danger!"

"I know! This isn\'t the time for fighting with each other! We have to stop this before it gets out of control!"

Winter\'s gaze turned on the players curiously as they sped past. She soon noticed that players from the alliance were also headed in the same direction, with grim expressions on their faces. \'What\'s going on? Should I follow them?\' winter became confused as the groups suddenly turned into a tidal wave of players all rushing to get to the main gate. 

"Winter! There you are!" Midas suddenly called out as he spotted her through the crowd. 

"What\'s going on, Midas?" 

"Ah, it\'s best if you head to the main gate. All of the leaders are there as well! We\'ve had to call everyone back for this!"

"That\'s not an answer, Midas!" Winter screamed as she chased after him. "Tell me what the hell is going on!"

"Ugh! It\'s the wolf packs! They\'ve become too strong!"

"What? How\'s that possible!"

"There are rumours that they\'ve been eating the Divine Orbs that players drop when they get killed! It seems like we\'re not the only ones who can level up!"

A shiver ran down Winter\'s spine when she heard that. \'The mobs can get stronger from killing us? Surely they can\'t enter the city though!\'