Elder Cassia left the wooden table, where she was inspecting a map of Cursed Island, and approached Primus with a golden javelin in her right hand. She inspected him for a few moments, then said:
"Silent Reaper?"
"That would be me, Elder." Primus smiled wryly.
"Why are you here?"
"I came looking for Elder Yelena. I wanted to ask her questions, but I didn't expect her to keep my anchor in your tent."
Elder Cassia had lustrous brown hair and a slim physique, her hazel eyes were dazzling under the light of the many glowing orbs present in her tent.
She gestured to the tent's exit.
"Follow me."
Primus wordlessly followed after the taciturn Elder. They bumped into many of the Thunderbird's guildsmen on their way to wherever they were going.
All the guildsmen greeted Elder Cassia and nodded at Primus, some threw awkward glances at the duo when they thought they weren't looking.
"Don't mind them." Elder Cassia suddenly said.
"I don't."
Primus hesitated before asking:
"Elder Cassia, do you perhaps know where Elder Yelena is?"
"She logged off a while ago."
Guild members could tell, through their Guild Sigils, when others weren't logged in and when they were. Primus had stayed for entire days in Cosmic Retaliation back when he was still a member of the Occam's Razor Guild. He was pretty sure he'd seen every guildsman offline, including Samane.
Elder Cassia led Primus to the periphery of the sole mountain range on Cursed Island. There, they climbed to the top of a cliff and waited for night to arrive.
The Thunderbird's Guild Elder summoned a spacial item from her Inventory - another tent - and set it on the hilltop. It resembled her tent back at the encampment, but lacked a protection orb.
"Why are we here, Elder?" Primus asked.
"Sightseeing."
Elder Cassia entered the tent along with Primus. She instructed him to sit on one of the couches in the spacial item and said:
"You had questions?"
"Yes, Elder."
Primus silently wondered what this was all about. Why had the esteemed Elder taken him to a mountain range just to answer his questions. She also said something about sightseeing.
"Then I'll answer your first question."
Before Primus could retort that he hadn't even asked any questions yet, the Elder continued:
"You are here because I want to show you the obelisk where the spacial rift is on the Isle of Death."
Primus was suddenly enlightened, he finally understood why Elder Cassia had brought him all the way to a mountain range, but what he didn't understand was how she knew he was aware of the existence of the unstable spacial rift. Had Randall told her - was he actually a member of the Thunderbird's Guild?
"Randall is a member of my guild, or at least he used to be." Elder Cassia suddenly said.
'What the hell‽ Can she read my mind or something?'
"No, I can't read your mind." She added.
'Then how do you know what I was thinking?'
The first-rate player seemed to have not read this string of thoughts... She continued her revelation.
"About Randall, he left the guild after we failed to seal the spacial rift in our last expedition. How I know he asked you for help is because he also did the same for Yelena and I. I figured he'd enlist anybody who's remotely competent."
"Did you accept?" Primus inquired.
"No, I did not. While I'd love to have a Stronghold or two registered under my Player Profile, I can't just cut my ties with the Thunderbird's Guild without an enticing reason to do so."
Elder Cassia swept her brown hair across her neck.
"There's also the fact that if I join Randall in his endeavors, I won't necessarily be the one to seal spacial rift since he's, most likely, already enlisted several other ambitious players. I'm not really one for the competition, and I also wouldn't risk my current position for something with a low chance of happening."
Primus wondered how Elder Cassia managed to attain the position of an Elder with an attitude like that toward competition. He also noticed that she didn't seem to have any qualms cutting ties with her current guild if it meant she could gain something greater in return.
'If I can convince an experienced first-rate player like her to join my guild when I've just created it, it will instantly become more attractive to other players like her.' Primus contemplated silently.
In the off chance that he succeeded in convincing Elder Cassia to join his guild, he could possibly cause a scandal that would attract more attention to it - both the good and bad kind. A first-rate player suddenly leaving a powerful guild such as the Thunderbird Guild to join a new, weaker one would undoubtedly cause a stir.
Elder Cassia sighed, then said:
"About the sightseeing..."
***
When the taciturn Elder first said sightseeing, Primus expected to be watching birds or even beasts and other sceneries, not climbing to the top of a mountain and fighting monsters.
A quick swipe form a beast with long scythe-like arms nearly tore Primus's chest open, but he nimbly evaded the attack with
"Not bad." Elder Cassia commented.
By now, the sun was already shining dimly on the horizon. Primus let out a groan and continued cutting the beasts, he'd been fighting all night and Elder Cassia had yet to even lift a finger.
By the time Primus was done slaughtering the abominations, he was drenched in sweat. Even his ectoplasmic body coupled with the effects of
He looked at Elder Cassia like she had betrayed him and heaved a long, exhausted sigh.
"I guess we're done 'sightseeing', then."
Elder Cassia smirked and said:
"We've only just started. Next up, the Isle of Death..."