The air was still heavy, permeated with the stench of blood and the stifling heat that always seemed to come from the earth itself. There was silence, but it wasn't an empty silence. It was a dense, living silence, as if the stones remembered what had just happened and kept it to themselves.
Vaemor sat on a blackened rock, cleaning his sword with slow movements. The creatures' blood still steamed on the Valyrian steel. With each breath, he felt the bond with his egg throb deep within him. It was strange. Intimate. Painful.
"We can't go on like this," Aerys said, breaking the silence. "They're organizing more. I don't know if calling them beasts is fair."
Kaelyth, who was inspecting one of the carcasses, looked up.
"It isn't. These... learn." With the tip of her knife, she lifted the skull of the largest creature. "Look at the marks." Ancient blows. Someone has faced them before... and survived.
Vaemor frowned.
"Are you saying... someone trained them?"
"No. I'm saying someone else was here," Kaelyth corrected. "And much less time ago than we thought."
They decided not to stay still. The district around the tower was littered with fallen temples and destroyed houses, but some structures remained strangely intact.
They entered what appeared to have been a library. The air was thick with dust and ash, but the shelves still held stone tablets and a few scrolls sealed in metal boxes.
Zaryon, who had remained silent until then, broke one of the boxes with his dagger.
"High Valyrian," he said, examining a blackened scroll. "But I don't understand everything."
Kaelyth moved closer.
"Yes." Her eyes scanned the symbols. It's a record... of forgings. They speak of Valyrian steel.
Vaemor approached immediately. "And can we replicate it?" Kaelyth shook her head slowly.
"Not yet. It only describes the initial steps. But if we keep finding this... perhaps we'll learn more than we dreamed."
The discovery filled them with a strange feeling: hope. The possibility of rebuilding not just the ruins, but the glory of Valyria itself.
As night fell, the heat didn't diminish. The group camped near the tower, and sleep eluded them. They all felt it: something was watching them. It wasn't like distant roars or the stalking of wild creatures. It was different.
Vaemor was the first to hear the murmur.
They weren't clear words, but whispers carried on the wind, in a High Valyrian he didn't fully understand.
"Blood... fire... ruin..."
He bolted upright, staring into the shadows. No one was there. But the tattoo on his arm burned.
Kaelyth opened her eyes from her guard post. "Did you hear it too?" Vaemor nodded, sweat running down his forehead.
We are not alone.
The next morning, they ventured deeper into the district. The terrain became more uneven, with bubbling pools and columns that seemed bent by an ancient fire.
That was when they saw it: a mural carved into an unbroken wall. It depicted a group of Valyrians performing a ritual before a gigantic figure, half dragon, half shadow.
"This... I've never seen this before," Aerys whispered, touching the relief with his hand.
Kaelyth read the inscription.
"The price of greatness is not paid by one man, but by his entire line."
Vaemor turned away from the mural, frowning.
"Whatever it means... it warns us."
But before they could speak of it, a roar interrupted them. The creatures returned. They weren't the same as before, but new. Larger. Faster. Not a horde, but a hunt.
"Take cover!" Vaemor shouted.
The group ran toward the remains of a wall, seeking elevated positions. The monsters, dark-skinned and yellow-eyed, advanced cautiously, almost as if gauging their stamina before launching.
"They study us," Aerys said, his spear ready. "They're too clever."
The first leaped. Vaemor slashed it through the air, but another lunged at Zaryon, who barely managed to dodge. The fight was fierce, but shorter than the last. This time, they were prepared.
When the last fell, Kaelyth spoke in a shaky voice:
"We're not the only ones learning."
That night, as they rested by a makeshift campfire, Vaemor spoke:
"We can't continue as if Valyria is empty. There's someone else here. Or something like it." "And he doesn't want us here," Kaelyth replied. Vaemor looked up at the tower, which now glowed dimly under the ash-covered sky.
"Then send word. We won't leave."
The fire crackled. And in the shadows, something moved, too fast to be a beast.
They didn't see it. But they weren't alone.