Elias Vane had faced a lot of terrifying things in his twenty three years as a low ranking adventurer. He'd stared down grumpy griffins, successfully negotiated the price of stale bread, and once even forgot his mother's birthday. All of these, however, paled in comparison to the single, silver eye glaring at him from the center of the laboratory.The room smelled like ozone and despair. Wires snaked everywhere, connecting glowing runes to a massive, reinforced glass cylinder. Inside, suspended in a shimmering, preservative fluid, was the subject of their mission: Silvana, the last-known living Silver Dragon Hybrid.
She was stunning. Her skin was pale, almost pearlescent, and intricate silver scales traced patterns across her shoulders, forearms, and down her back where a vestigial set of wings would have been. But it was her eyes that held Elias captive. One was a standard, if intense, stormy gray. The other the silver one was filled with an ancient, bone deep cynicism that seemed to mock the very concept of breathable air."Right," Elias murmured, pulling a ridiculously oversized wrench from his sack. "So, this is the part where the clumsy idiot saves the princess."
The silver eye narrowed slowly. Even submerged and half-asleep, her disapproval was palpable.
Elias shrugged and began attacking the console with the wrench. "Look, I know what you're thinking. I'm not a hero. I'm mostly here because the payment was decent, and they promised me a lifetime supply of fancy cheese."
A low, resonant sound vibrated through the glass, one that felt more like a mental broadcast than an audible noise. I was thinking your ancestors should have focused less on developing clumsy tools and more on effective sterilization.
Elias froze, the wrench mid swing. "Did... did you just telepathically insult my entire family line?" It was a generalized statement about the persistent ineptitude of the human species, a species of which you appear to be a stunningly mediocre example, the voice replied, devoid of inflection.
"Well, that's just rude," Elias grumbled, but a genuine, slightly goofy smile touched his lips. He liked her already. Most people, even the powerful ones, were predictable. This girl was a fascinatingly venomous puzzle.
With a final, desperate turn of the wrench, the containment unit hissed, and the fluid drained away in a whirlpool of bubbling foam. Silvana dropped heavily to the cold metal floor. She was wearing only a frayed, thin shift, and she moved with the jerky, uncoordinated stiffness of someone who hadn't walked in a long, long time.
"Alright, we don't have much time," Elias said, tossing a thick, travel-worn cloak toward her. "The guards will be here in a minute. Can you walk?"
Silvana pushed herself up, her knees buckling once before she found her balance. She didn't bother with the cloak. "I can walk well enough to see my own way out. I require nothing from you, human." She looked at the giant hole he'd blown in the wall to get in. "Though, I suppose I should acknowledge your crude demolition skills."
Elias grabbed her arm before she could stalk out. Her skin was startlingly cool, like polished stone. "Hold up, kid. We're in the middle of enemy territory. You don't know the local routes, you don't have supplies, and judging by the sheer amount of rage radiating off you, you'd probably just incinerate the first guard you saw, which would be terrible for my escape timeline."
Silvana stared at his hand. "Let go. I will find my own way and ensure my own safety." Her silver eye promised a slow, agonizing death.
Elias kept smiling, a soft, warm, and entirely disarming smile that belied the danger they were in. It was a smile that came from an intrinsically kind heart, one that genuinely believed in second chances and simple solutions. He was a man who preferred saving lost things over fighting monsters.
"Nonsense," he said brightly, pulling a coiled length of thick rope from his bag the kind used for securing cargo, not for restraint. He held it up triumphantly. "Here's the deal. I just saved your magnificent, scaled backside from a lifetime of being a laboratory rat. You're going to come with me, eat my questionable cooking, and occasionally look decorative."
Silvana blinked, confusion briefly replacing the sheer contempt in her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Elias grinned and clapped his free hand on her shoulder with a hearty thwack. He declared the words that would define their entire relationship, the phrase that held both profound truth and utter, ridiculous delusion.
"That you the Silver Dragon is now my new pet!"
The air in the cold laboratory seemed to crystallize. Silvana stared at him, then at the rope, then back at him. Her lips curled back, not in anger, but in a look of absolute, unadulterated disgust.
"A pet?" she hissed. "Do you truly think a creature of the Silver Lineage would deign to be a common domestic beast? I am ancient, powerful, and will not be reduced to some fluffy house cat for your feeble human amusement."
"Yeah, yeah, ancient, powerful," Elias waved a dismissive hand. "Look, you're clearly a stray in need of shelter. Don't worry, I won't stick you in a cage or anything. You get to sleep on the floor next to my bed."
"I am seventeen!" Silvana erupted, her voice gaining volume and sounding entirely too human for a mythical creature. "I am not a child! I am a sentient being capable of independent thought! I am not some six-month old kitten that needs adopting!"
"Oh, you're seventeen?" Elias said, his eyebrows shooting up in mock surprise. He didn't look bothered at all by her fury; in fact, he looked even more amused. "Well, that's practically a baby dragon, isn't it? Don't worry, I'm good with teenagers. I'll make sure you eat your vegetables and don't stay out too late burning down villages."
Silvana's silver eye began to glow, the air around her suddenly heating up. This had to be a joke. An elaborate, cosmic prank designed to make her miserable. After all the agony, the despair, the cynical conviction that no good existed in the world her 'savior' was a cheerful, thick-headed, pet-obsessed idiot.
"You are infuriating," she stated simply, the heat flickering out, replaced by a cold, deadly calm.
"I'm also the guy with the map and the only way out," Elias countered, adjusting the strap on his backpack. "So, 'pet,' are we going to walk, or do I need to carry you out like a disgruntled lizard? Huh Lizzie "
Silvana opened her mouth, ready to unleash a torrent of draconic fury, but she stopped. She knew, with chilling certainty, that he would absolutely try to carry her.
With a final, withering look of pure sarcasm that promised a very slow and painful reckoning later, she finally grabbed the offered cloak and threw it over her shoulders. "Fine, Master. Lead the way. But if you call me 'Lizzie' one more time, I will ensure your death is entirely self inflicted."
Elias just beamed. "Good pet!" he said, completely ignoring the death threat. He turned and sprinted toward the wall breach, his new, incredibly reluctant companion stalking after him the beginning of their strange and disastrous companionship.