Kora [Had To Go To Alchemy]

“Man, they really like to talk huh…?”

Across from you sits the red scaled dragon-kin you had met earlier at alchemy class.

She smiles as she spots the recognition in your eyes. “Hey, you handled yourself well in class, interested in REALLY learning something…?”

You narrow your eyes, somewhat skeptical of her intentions. “Maybe… what do you have in mind…?”

“You know those forbidden islands we were told to never ever go to right? I wanna go to one”

“Why….?” Is all you can manage to ask.

“Cause those islands are absolutely LOADED with ingredients, herbs, wicked animal bits, minerals, all of it could be used for potions and ALLLLL of it is free!” She says speaking a bit to loudly, prompting a nearby student to shush her.

After a little while you respond, voicing your doubts in her plan. “Say we get to the islands, what then? I don’t know how to defend myself, do you?”

She merely scoffs at your point. “Pfffft, no biggie, if we run into something nasty, I’ll just fry ‘em” she says, a small orange light forming in the back of her throat as she speaks, emphasizing her point.

“Besides, I only want the ingredients, any loot we find over there can be yours!”

She seems fairly confident in her ability to protect you, and it could be a way to make some solid cash or find ingredients, never mind the opportunity to explore one of the ‘forbidden islands’.

Before you answer, you have to ask, the question that’s been bubbling in your mind sense you left your potions class.

“Why ask me…? this sounds dangerous, like the kind of journey you only want folk you trust to take with you”

For a moment she looks at you quizzically, as if you had asked a question so nonsensical she doesn’t know if she should laugh or explain.

“Huh…. Let me tell you a story, trust me, it’s a good one” she says leaning forward her eyes narrowing slightly.

“See, in my culture, we were all told this story growing up, about a mighty dragon who fell for a mortal man”

“So, the story goes that, there’s this man, who lived in this small village in the middle of bumble-fuck nowhere”

“Eeeeevery day was the same for this man, he wakes up, tends to his fields, gets piss drunk and goes home”

“Word is a dragon had been sighted in the area, but this guy, he didn’t give a shit about a dragon”

You’re about to ask where this is going when she cuts you off. “BUT ONE DAY… while he’s tending to his crops, this woman appears”

“She’s beautiful will this loooooong braid of flaming red hair trailing down her back, the guy, he’s never seen a woman so beautiful, so he don’t know what to say”

“Luckily for him, she strikes up a conversation with him first, asks him about his life, what he does all day, shit like that”

“Then, she tells him she’s just a poor peasant girl, not a copper to her name, the farmer doesn’t care though, he’s in love at this point”

“He tells her that if she wants she can stay with him, he’s not exactly loaded but he’s got a coin or two stuffed away someplace”

“And so, the woman says yes, and they live together for like a couple of year of something like that”

“Finally the woman tells the man the truth”

“She tells him that she’s not a human at all! She’s a big fuckin’ dragon and proves it too by turning into one!”

“Now, the guy, he’s understandably confused by all this and asks why do all this to some random dude”

“The dragon says, she was ready to have children and needed someone to sire the eggs”

“And then… the guy asks his question, THE question…. ‘Why Me…?’”

“She says millennia ago, when she was young, she conducted a ritual, seeing who would be the PERFECT match for her to make the perfect offspring”

“Imagine her surprise when she found out it was a human who wasn’t even born yet” she says chuckling.

“Now the guy, he’s kind of a freak I guess cause he’s into this, says he’s willing to sire her kiddos”

“So they sign a pact, stating that their offspring now and forever, have to do the same ritual to find their perfect match, to keep dragon-kin on top”

You’re starting to get the picture, your eyes widen in realization and her lips curl into a smile.

“Yeeeeeeah… I know, it’s a lot, but the universe has decided, we’re stuck together”

“You… you have to be kidding right…? I’m a woman… I couldn't put a baby in you even if I wanted to and that’s a BIG if”

She seems entirely unfazed by your response simply stating. “That’s fine, I could always just put my eggs in you…?”

Her tone is so casual, as if ordering a drink in a tavern or talking about her day at work, you fight the urge to glance down at her robes, looking for a bulge.

“Wh…. Eggs….?!”

“Well yeah… dragons lay eggs, I’m the descendent of a dragon, I lay eggs too, in this case, inside of you”

“Uh…. I…. I don’t…. Uh….” You’re panicking now, this is way WAY too much to process, you didn’t fucking sign up for this!

Spotting your panic she gently lays a clawed hand upon your arm, as though to comfort you.

“Woah… hey… take it easy… deep breathes… I know this is all a lot to process and there’s no rush for you to commit, my kind live a loooooong time, I can wait a couple of decades if that’s what you need…”

You spend a long time in your own mind, processing all that you’ve learned, if this ritual was right then does that mean that she really IS your perfect match?

And what does perfect match mean? That you’ll foster healthy children? That you’ll fall in love? That you’ll be happy with her?

Dose any of that even apply to you to begin with? yeah your HER perfect match but that doesn’t exactly mean you’ll be happy, or have any kind of connection to her.

And what if this ritual wasn’t reliable? What if it was only a fluke that it worked before or what if she fucked up the ritual and got the wrong girl?

There are so many unknowns here.

You’re pulled from your stupor by the feeling of her scaled fingers running along yours.

“Hey… I’m going to the other island now, if you wanna come, that would be great, if not, I understand….” And with that she stands and walks away.