"Pain, be welcome in my home. You shall not live here long, yet while you stay with me, I receive you like an honored guest. You will know peace in this house, but only until the completion of my task, and at that point you must go. Yet until that moment arrives, I greet you like an old friend."

Sweat streaking down his face, Mikulov recited the words in his head and struggled against the distraction of the pain lancing outward from the spot where his knees knelt on unyielding stone. The throbbing ache seemed to encompass his entire world, gathering intensity and radiating upward, but he struggled to shut it out of his awareness. Complaint achieved nothing; worse, it would prevent him from accomplishing his task. Kneeling for hours on the unforgiving surface had produced pain nearly so intolerable that it could keep him from recognizing his test, much less passing it. If the sensation stood in his way and he could not end it, he must therefore alter his perception of it. Only by embracing the pain could he surmount it."

In Diablo III: The Order and Diablo III: Storm of Light, Mikulov proved himself to be a monk of unwavering courage. Yet he was not always the stuff of legend. "Brothers in Arms" depicts Mikulov in his formative initiate years, a time when his future as a monk of Ivgorod was anything but certain. This new addition to Diablo lore, written by award-winning audiobook narrator Scott Brick, is available now in the Game Guide!

For more heroic tales, be sure to explore the short stories for our iconic classes, available here:

• Wayfarer
• Hatred and Discipline
• Unyielding
• Doubtwalker
• Firefly
• The End of her Journey
• The Orphan and the Jeweler