Story
You peer into a dark snowy cave near the outskirts of Terror Mountain. All is completely black, but as your eyes adjust they can make out the dim silhouette of a monstrous figure. It rustles slightly, and you find a pair of deep purple eyes staring what seems into your very soul. Frightened, you attempt to slowly back away, but the figure rises to its feet and whispers, "Wait." All is silent, and the tension in the cave is growing every second. You want nothing more than to leave the cave, to run away and never return to the mysterious figure again! "Don't leave, please!" cries the sorrowful shadow of a creature. You can hear that these are the words of a hopeless soul, not of a monster. The figure's breath is hot on the icy air, and it breathes a gust of fiery smoke onto the cave floor where it meets with the carcass of a freshly killed mountain Ixi. As the soft glow of the fire expands, you make out the frame of a malnourished Mountain Draik shivering from the freezing wind. "What's happened to you?" you ask cautiously, the fear leaving as you gaze into her disconsolate eyes. The periwinkle Draik lowers her head, afraid to answer.
I'm not sure how it all happened," she said, "But I'll tell you as far back as I can remember. It was a bright day outside, a rarity for Terror Mountain, and I decided to fly out over the snowy mountains to get some fresh air and relax. As I soared above the peaks, a glimmer of red caught my eye, and I quickly dived down for a closer look. To my horror, three mountain dwellers lie maimed and disfigured in the snow, each harboring severe wounds. My heart raced in trepidation. I stood alone in the open, nervously turning around to look in all directions for someone, something, hiding nearby. Just as I had apprehended, my ears pricked forward to the sound of footfalls crunching in the mountain snow. All I could do was crouch low near the fallen remains and stay as silent as possible. My breath came out in shuddery gusts as I awaited my impending fate of the three beside me. A creature stepped out from the bushes, and my first instinct was to frighten it away before it tried to kill me, so I reared up with a scream and scorched the entire clearing with fiery breath! By the time the fire and smoke subsided, a small group of mountain villagers stood trembling before me, their eyes wide with cowardice, which soon shifted to the corpses under my claws. I breathed a sigh of relief when I recognized the group. 'Oh thank goo-' but before I could utter the last of my solace, the array of Neopets fled to the village about a mile away and left me to sulk in the blood stained snow. I don't know how long I lay there crying in despair and fear, just waiting for someone to come and help me, when again, the bushes rustled and the group had returned with even more with them! I barely had time to give a sigh of relief when they charged at me with weapons and claws, fangs, cannons, all they could possibly find to asphyxiate me! Instantly rising to the sky, I flew as fast as I could, cleavers and cutlasses piercing through my scales." The purple Draik turns her head away from your gaze before she continues, "I have tried again and again to return to the town, but each time they react the same and chase me out with new weapons of horror. They think I am the one who slaughtered the three mountain dwellers! Sometimes they even send warriors to my cave to slaughter me! The only way I can stay alive is to move from cave to cave, further and further away from civilization. I have not yet been found here, until today.
Her eyes fill with wild fear as her gaze shifts to meet your own. The Draik lowers her neck and lets out an ear-shattering hiss followed by an explosion of fire! Running out of the cave as fast as your legs will carry you, you turn back for a last glance at the erratic creature behind you.
