Clara stared up towards the great dragon she had failed to destroy, watching as it flew away with its three passengers. To her surprise she did not feel any sort of animosity towards the beast, nor anger at losing her quarry. Quite the contrary: she felt almost elated. A sense of glee ran through her body, and she cackled, nearly doubling over in her unexpected amusement.
“Ahhhh, Lana; Lana, Lana, Lana! Is this why you have so much of her attention?” the girl with green hair continued to laugh.
I didn't enter the Grand Tournament this past fall to show off, but I had already made my mark in plenty of player tourneys and regular PvP events; I even had some rivalries with other players that I managed to defeat over and over. None of them, not even one of my opponents ever beat me or thwarted me twice, let alone this many times! I see now -- no, even if I don't actually get Melody's obsession, I think I have my own, now! No one has ever made me want to beat them so badly as you've made me want to beat you, Lana Windstrider, Clara chuckled to herself as these thoughts ran through her head.
“Heh! Ha-ha-ha-ha-haaahh! You've never been beaten before, have you, Lana? Not even once! You've never had even one death in this game, and you've always, always managed an escape, whether it's from your own head or whether it's because you had a friend to save you! Hee! Just once, just once, I'm going to break that streak of luck and friendship you have going!” she declared in a roar, punctuating her statement with a blast of magic power in the direction the dragon had gone. It would never reach him or his passengers, but it somehow made her feel better.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
The better question is how did that beast get here; he went into hiding, probably, due to some warning that their alliance gave him. Did he also receive a warning about me? There's no way. Practically no one saw me, and anyone who did wouldn't care. Did the dragon come here on instinct, of his own accord? Heh, that's an amazing NPC they've made; and he's not the only one who operates on that adaptive intelligence matrix, is he? Incredible. I've been thwarted by a mere NPC. No; he's not *just* that -- he's an incredible being in his own right, like so many others in this game, Clara mused to herself.
“Let's see... that's all nine orbs they have now, isn't it? And now they'll have to go to that ritual site in Memphani... none of us ever got any information on that, probably because those arrogant losers who couldn't go up against their guild-leader in a fair fight never believed the Silvernight Queens could get this far. Looks like I have a less stressful side-job coming up, one that I know will bring about results,” she smiled devilishly to herself. “What was the name of that one guy, the one who was always jittery around us... ohh, yes: Jackal.” Clara recalled with a wicked grin, heading for the wayport so she could get to Pithoesis, where the King-Priests of the Demon Sands had one of their main guild-halls.