5. Thunder Only Happens When it's Raining

"The only impossible journey is the one you never begin." — Tony Robbins

Seeing the familiar scene, Paul didn't follow the mage to the balcony to watch the incredible fight that players would never be able to replicate and instead started checking various locations in the room for something.

While searching through drawers and looking behind furniture, he could hear a monumental battle outside. Thunder sounded in the background as lightning streaked through the sky, offering brief illumination in the night sky. He could hear the roars of dragons and the screams of both men and elves; clearly, a battle of epic proportions was taking place outside.

After what felt like an eternity of searching, Paul's hand finally closed around what he was looking for: a small bottle filled with a turquoise liquid. This was the key to his next move, the crucial element in his plan.

"Why is it always in the last spawn point I check?"

Pocketing it, he walked over near the doorway to the balcony and watched the end of the battle, something he had seen quite a few times. 

In the dark sky, he could see multiple mages floating in the air, launching devastating attacks at two enormous dragons, desperately trying to fend them off. 

From where he was standing, he could vaguely hear them screaming orders or ideas to each other as their attacks proved futile again and again. 

Not long before the first mage was swallowed whole and a gigantic pair of claws ripped apart the second, the battle's outcome became clear to all. 

If he squinted his eyes, he could see Eilantha's back as she desperately tried to fight a doomed battle.

As he was watching, she suddenly let out a soul-wrenching scream as a massive lightning bolt fell from the sky onto the back of the smaller of the two dragons, a red dragon, the size of a mall, causing it to plummet to the ground, a chunk of its spin disintegrated. 

As she floated listlessly, the other dragons looked in her direction before unleashing a world-shaking breath of pure blue fire toward the elven mage. 

Unable to defend herself and doomed to die, the only remaining elven mage blitzed in front of her and shielded her with his body, both of them being thrown through the wall of the tower and landing in the ruined office of the tower mage of Etherhall tower. 

Paul looked passively at Randolf, the elven man who saved Eilantha; he had his own sad background story where, despite being of noble blood, he was raised by a poor human couple after the rest of his family was ambushed. 

Supposedly, he saw Eilantha once and fell in love with her, doing everything he could to get a job in Etherhall Tower near her. 

In short, he was a simp who never had the courage to confess his feelings to the girl he loved. 

It was not like it would have worked out anyway; Paul knew that she had secretly taken an oath of chastity to the goddess Lara of the Luciel. That is why she could unleash such a devastating strike against the dragon.

As he walked over to the two, it was clear that Randolf was dying, and Eilantha was unconscious.

"Human, you must bring the lady away from here; that dragon is busy freeing Drakthor the Fellstorm, but once he is done, he will come to avenge their kin."

Before he could even say anything else, Paul kicked him off of her, pulled his burnt shirt away, and grabbed a golden chain holding a single drop of a purple liquid and pocketed that, too.

In the story, he was supposed to feed the special liquid to Eilantha, and she would temporarily regain some of her power, allowing them to escape. At the same time, she fended off a drake, which would be the final enemy blocking their escape.

Opting for a different approach, he took the turquoise potion he found earlier. He poured it down her throat before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder before swiftly heading to the staircase leading to the tower's exit. 

In a few years, this would be the primary strategy when starting a new character; this strategy was intended to be a more complex version of the tutorial players could find. 

In the future, leading players would encounter issues while they try to feel Eilantha up during this strategy; unfortunately for them, not only would your character convulse why you feel a dull pain, but you would also attract the hate of the goddess Lara, which was a massive pain later on.

As he made his way down the tower, he found a wooden chair, which he also picked up and carried in one hand while securing the elf on his shoulder.

Luckily, a character's strength does not correlate with the player's natural body. Otherwise, he would never be able to manage the feat of carrying someone down a flight of stairs, let alone with a chair. 

Upon reaching the group floor and exiting the tower, he walked behind it and found a stone wall. He set the chair on the ground against the wall and then proceeded to throw the beautiful elf over the wall. Upon hearing a dull thud, he felt a faraway gaze but didn't hesitate. Then, he climbed over and saw Eilantha in an uncomfortable position. 

Without waiting, he picked her up again and continued into a small forest before him. 

If anyone were watching him, they would no doubt be confused as he wasn't heading in a straight direction but instead in a twisty path around different creatures' aggro ranges. 

After a few minutes of maneuvering, he found himself on a dirt road and began following it into the distance.

Soon, he found himself in a cutscene marking the end of the mission, and Paul was quite happy with himself. This was the first mission, and he still found it enjoyable despite already doing it a few times. 

Meanwhile, in the cutscene, Paul arrives outside a large town, and Eilantha slowly wakes up and looks around.

"Human, put me down."

After she stood up and fixed her clothing, she looked at him.

"Thank you for saving my life, human; the surviving dragon has marked me, and I must flee quickly. You have my utmost gratitude, and if fate allows it, we will meet again in the future." 

With that, she turned around and walked away, not offering the slightest reward to her savior. 

As the cutscene ended, Paul found himself in Tu'Dor, the starting town for the Emerald Enclave.

Without further ado, he decided to check out his loot.