Baldum

**Baldum** is one of the Heroes in the game Arena of Valor, classified in the category of tank.

## Lore

He had bones like steel and muscles like boulders. He was stout, righteous and agile, with strength that rival the gods.
All centaurs were born warriors, and Baldum was the most impressive of them all. He was a legend of the savage eras, not only bearing witness to the beginning and end of the war between Humans and Afata and the two Darkness Invasions, but also faithfully guarding all living beings on the Moonlight Plains with his Cosmic Totem.

The mystical Cosmic Totem, known to have seen it all from the very birth of the universe, was actually an Andura Shard, holding the power of time It was how Baldum remained immortal, never to decay or die despite all the decades that had passed. However, the Totem's powers protected Baldum only and no one else—thus, he was doomed to watch his clan, his people, depart from the living world one by one through the years, leaving Baldum as the only centaur in Athanor.

For a long period, people believed that Baldum was but an ancient myth, and even most inhabitants of the Elborne Woods were unsure whether Baldum was still alive. Not until Volkath, the Dark Lord, made his comeback with his Lokheim army, were the mortals able to truly see him with their very own eyes. He had his back towards everyone, but seeing him fight his way against the swarms of Lokheim was enough to raise the morale of all Afata troops, who lived the rest of their lives with the image of this magnificent warrior engraved in their minds.

"After I buried my last relative, I ran twelve laps around the crypt according to our clan customs. My forefathers said that by making the ground quake with our hooves, we would awaken Mother Earth, who would come call her children home."
"I've been to many funerals in my life—too many, but that was the most lonely one. No clan members ran at my side, no clan members sang the dirge with me. The whistling wind was my only companion. That, and the Cosmic Totem in my arms."

"That was when Y'bneth brought me a gift from the Tree of Dawn—a segment of its roots. I planted it on the burial grounds of my people, to commemorate the bra battles they had fought"
"Y'bneth was skilled indeed. It was a mere root then, but he cultivated it into the Verno Woods we see now."
Through chatting with Bald um after the battle, people finally learned more about his tragic past. The "Y'bneth" he mentioned was, in fact, the Ancient Treefolk who brought the Verno Woods to life. He brought to Baldum not only a gift from the Tree of Dawn but also a request for him to head towards the glacial wildlands to the north of the Moonlight Plains and stand guard over the Abyssal Fissure near the foot of the sacred Mt. Orpheus.
That was how Baldum spent the past thousand years—all alone, in the abandoned wildlands, desolate and friendless. At one point, he nearly forgot that he was once a warrior. With the memory buried deep, he simply sat there, reminiscing about the good old days when he and his clan members ran around, laughing, under the orange sunsets. But as soon as the Lokheim showed signs of abnormal activity and the flames of war neared his homeland, the born warrior immediately regained the battle instincts that ran deep in his blood.
"These woods sprouted from land fertilized with the flesh and blood of my clan. Every flower, every tree, is
my family. As long as I am alive and breathing, you dirty wretches shall not pass!"