“You’re supposed to be happy for your own sake, you dumb lizard!” She didn’t respond after that. She wore a soft, relaxed smile as I stroked her hair. Her eyes were closed, enjoying the sensation as I comforted her.
“Maybe,” she whispered, almost too soft to hear. “Charlotte. If it looks like we’re going to lose, would you mind if we ran? I’m not sure, but I think I can fly us out of this barrier.” My ears perked up as she continued. “I saw the oceans when I was in Cestra’s vault. I want to show them to you one day.” I opened my mouth, gasping even though I made no such sounds.
“Can you just fly out? Out of whatever thing your mother made?”
She opened her eyes upon hearing the panic in my voice. “I don’t know, and I’m not very good with Mother’s magic. But if it means getting to spend the rest of my days with you, then I’m willing to take the risk.” She closed her eyes again as I resumed running my hands through her hair.
“Huh. And if we both die, maybe we’ll see each other in another life or something,” she added as I shook my head again.
“Is that a thing?”
“It could be.”
We both lay there as I gently stroked her hair, listening to each other’s heartbeats. Both of us were aware that it could be our last day with each other. For what felt like forever, we enjoyed the other’s presence. Still, the silence had to be broken eventually, and Aria was the first to speak up.
“If we both make it, I want you to princess carry me across the red carpet.” She giggled as my eyes suddenly shot wide.
“T-That’s too soon! You can’t just go asking me for my hand in marriage! Aria!” I blurted out, exasperated as she giggled again. Was she teasing me?
“I’m kidding, of course. I know that we ought to take things a little bit slower after this. Get to know each other a bit. Have me take you on a date.”
She got me, but I tried to put on my best not-amused face.
“Sure, but if I agreed to getting hitched right after the fight, you wouldn’t have turned me down! Not for a second! You would’ve acted all romantic and swooned while frantically panicking about what we should wear on our big day.” Aria was laughing the entire time before getting back up.
“Back to less romantic matters. I have a few things to give to you, so that you might make it out of there alive. Then some time to familiarize yourself with riding a dragon. Finally…I would like a night. Not drunk.” Her fingers were in a little crisscross as she tried to hide her blush. So forward!
“That last one is pretty romantic. The most romantic, one might add,” I said, softly putting my chin over her head as she whispered something I couldn’t make out.
“Also, you’re always the one suggesting it,” she squeaked as I lightly nibbled on her ears. “I want to suggest a night together sometimes too.” I giggled as I watched her cheeks smolder.
“I…fine. After. Let’s get everything done first before we fool around.” She rubbed her ear as I got off her for the time being. She gave these cute little motions and smiles that suggested she liked it. Guess I had something new to try in bed.
Aria produced a rifle from the closet, but it was like no rifle I had ever seen. The soft wood was inlaid with the finest gold, a swirling design evoking nature with its spiraling leaves. The gun itself had a lever, which Aria pulled open with a loud click.
I watched as the gun’s inner mechanisms popped open, revealing an indent for some massive bullet. Then she grabbed a pouch, before handing them both to me. The pouch consisted of a small collection of paper cartridges, one of those obvious innovations that makes you wonder why nobody else thought of them. The gun was something else, and much less obvious.
“What you’re holding is what Chronos dubbed a dragonslayer rifle, made with the finest human technologies at the time. Found them in Mother’s vault.” Aria was giving the gun a sense of grandeur while I played around with the mechanism, feeling the shutter as I closed the bolt. Hefty.
Despite not needing to sell me on the rifle more than she already had, she continued. “These are likely the only weapons that stand a shot at actually taking down a dragon.”
I placed a paper cartage inside the rifle and slammed down the bolt. Aria guided my hand as we locked the bolt in place. It was half, no, a quarter the time it took me to reload a pistol. I could actually make field reloads!
“This is amazing! Why don’t we have these…oh.” That made sense. The Trinity wouldn’t want us accidentally shooting their kids to death.
“Probably. Go out there and try it. I’ve given these a few shots myself, just to see how they worked. Resounding success.” Aria grinned before shooing me away, leaving me with the ancient rifle.
“Is there a shooting range?” I asked as she pointed left. I couldn’t wait to give this thing a try.
* * * *
The rifle was nothing short of extraordinary. Able to aim quickly and reload even quicker, it suffered none of the accuracy deviations I noticed with my pistols, even at massive range.
I could see the Pact Mages giving me curious glances as I took a shot or two, move farther, then took another few shots. I was now firing at ranges that I couldn’t even hope to land with my bow, nor any gun in existence.
Soon enough, I was sitting by Aria’s side, making some more paper cartridges for the battle ahead. I had messed up the first one or two, but now the two of us were making good time folding up multiple small pouches of bullets.
“I’ve only found three of these rifles, and one doesn’t work. So, try your best to take care of it, okay?” she added as I gave a knowing nod. Irreplaceable relic. Got it.
“It might shoot really well, but it doesn’t seem like it would go through dragon scales. Am I missing something?” My hands rolled up another bullet as Aria paused, almost as if she was confused by the question.
She casually tried to explain. “Well, we’re not covered in scales everywhere. Even with our regeneration, a shot to the eye might still leave us blind there for several days.”
I noticed that she mentioned regeneration. Was that what healed my arm?
“Eyes, wings, and belly. You want to aim for those three.” I nodded at her suggestion.
“So, this can’t kill a dragon…” I pointed out, and Aria sighed.
“It works better than a dragonslayer, though not as good as the lance. If I was flying, that’d go through any scale, guaranteed.”
I knew about dragon slayers from Myrtle, and her constant complaints that using swords made out of dragon scales was a terrible way to kill a dragon.
“So it can kill a dragon…” I tried again as Aria threw another paper cartage into a fresh pouch.
“I call it a dragon annoyer, because I am a dragon, and I find being shot by metal balls that can actually hurt me annoying,” Aria grumbled as I tossed another cartridge into the pouch.
It was relaxing to catch up with her and do something mundane together, though from her grumbles I’m not sure she felt quite the same this moment.
