Read my new story (CaveLeather)
Game of Thrones: The Sword King
Game of Thrones: From Deserter to Power
Game of Thrones: King of Harrenhal— Garth Greenhand Stat Panel
The wind carried the choking scent of sulfur and smog. The sky remained eternally red, the color of bruised blood, reflecting the anger of the Fourteen Flames.
The red and blue gems shimmered, warding off the worst of the environment's hostility.
Viserys suspected the Fourteen Flames might still hide dragon lairs and veins of red gold, yellow gold, and silver belonging to the dragonlord families, but they were unreachable.
The team looked up at the dark brown ruin hill. Though the dragon was dead, its bones remained, still looking down on the world with arrogance.
Fire essence. Long-dormant fire essence called out to Viserys. The essence gathered in the colossal dragon skeleton was vast as a prison, deep as the sea.
At Viserys's summons, the fire essence awoke from its slumber, dancing wildly as he absorbed a massive amount.
A dragon was truly the pinnacle creation of blood and fire, far more valuable than the Face-Worms.
The blackened skeleton was over a hundred meters long, suggesting an ancient, ferocious beast similar in size to Vhagar or Meraxes.
The bones were black as onyx, rich in iron.
Viserys saw the hollow eye sockets and the terrifyingly wide throat bones.
Dragons never stop growing until they die.
However, as they grow, their speed diminishes with size.
A dragon's peak power is likely in its "middle age," when speed and flame power are balanced.
Such a massive adult dragon... Aurion must have been a powerful dragonrider, unwilling to let his empire fall.
Viserys led his team up the hill, scanning for overlooked treasures and watching for Face-Worms.
But it seemed the giant dragon bones deterred the worms.
Hanging from one of the dragon's horns, a twisted horn shone with an alluring light. It was six feet long, gleaming black, banded with red gold and Valyrian steel.
"Don't touch it." Viserys cautiously summoned fire, then water, cleansing the horn of parasites and curses before allowing Aggo to take it down.
In the radioactive, worm-infested ruins of Valyria, caution was the only way to survive.
Viserys took the horn. It was as smooth as a woman's skin.
It was shiny enough to reflect his distorted image from its depths.
Strange ancient glyphs were inscribed on the gold and steel bands.
"I am Dragonbinder. No mortal man shall sound me and live. Blood for fire, fire for blood."
To blow this horn is to court death.
An ordinary man who blew it would pay with his life.
Viserys read the inscription. He wasn't exactly mortal—he was a dual-element mage.
Still, the horn was too sinister. Viserys had no intention of using it.
Dragonbinder was meant to bind dragons, likely through pain and rage, instilling a frenzied loyalty that brought destruction. It wasn't a true dragon horn.
"Don't blow it. It will burn your lungs to ash," Viserys warned as Aggo strapped the horn to his back.
Viserys climbed onto the dragon's back, aiming for the rider's position.
Aurion wasn't his ancestor; looting him carried no guilt.
Besides the Dreamer's prophecy, the Targaryens had been pushed out by these greater Dragonlords.
Competition in Valyria had been brutal.
At its zenith, Valyria was the greatest city in the world, the center of civilization.
Behind those shining walls, forty dragonlord families vied for power and glory in the court and council, engaging in an endless, subtle, and sometimes cruel struggle.
Viserys saw the suit of black scale armor. Where the rider should have been, only ash remained.
Aurion's body had long since decayed, but the armor remained magnificent.
It was a suit of Valyrian steel scale armor, black as smoke, light as silk.
The edges of the scales were red gold, shimmering with movement. The metal was etched with whorls, glyphs, and mysterious symbols.
Viserys thought Euron Crow's Eye might have reached this point, the edge of the ruins.
Though Euron knew no fire magic, his greenseer-like warging abilities might have allowed him to possess animals or men to reach this far, regardless of cost. But only this far.
The core of the ruins and the great volcanoes were filled with the rage of blood and fire.
Even Euron wouldn't dare go deeper.
Viserys carefully picked up the longsword lying beside the ash. The crossguard was an S-shape formed by two chasing, clawing purple-gold dragons.
The dragons were cast in rippled purple-gold Valyrian steel, with amethyst eyes—a display of honor and opulence.
Perhaps Aurion's family was known for purple-gold dragons, just as House Targaryen favored black and red.
A beautiful oval amethyst was set in the pommel.
It was a bastard sword, a perfect hand-and-a-half blade like Blackfyre or Longclaw.
Longer than a short sword, shorter than a greatsword, usually worn on the back.
The blade bore the purple ripples of a thousand folds, possessing an eerie beauty.
"True Dragon." Viserys read the Valyrian glyphs on the hilt. A straightforward name.
Viserys gripped True Dragon and immediately sensed its uniqueness.
The sword was embedded with gems and arrays for fire affinity, designed for a pyromancer.
Valyria was built on blood and fire; blood magic and fire magic were its core.
Aurion's family had mastered the core technology of pyromancy, unlike the Targaryens.
The Targaryens were known as "Dreamers," which was a bit mystical compared to the raw power of these top-tier Dragonlords.
Viserys sheathed True Dragon and noticed a lance on the side of the saddle, also made of Valyrian steel.
The lance tip emerged from the open mouth of a greedy, arrogant gold-purple dragon, gleaming coldly.
The tip was dominated by golden ripples, like the golden lance of myth.
"Lance of the Long Summer?" Viserys took the lance.
The Lands of the Long Summer were part of the Valyrian peninsula. The name perhaps symbolized Aurion's hope that his family would prosper endlessly like the long summer.
Now, it seemed like dark humor.
Viserys removed his cloak and gathered Aurion's remains.
They were strangers, but Viserys had grown rich looting Aurion.
He saw a broken silver plate inscribed with Valyrian text. It looked ordinary.
But since Aurion had guarded it even in death, Viserys suspected it was anything but simple.
"Fire and Fire."
Viserys summoned his flame, heating the silver plate.
The writing blurred under the fire, as if shrouded in smoke.
As the plate absorbed the fire, words formed of golden flame slowly appeared.
It seemed to be a fragmented testament, appearing and fading.
The handwriting was elegant, iron strokes and silver hooks.
"Stranger from afar, do not weep for me. For if I lived, I would surely burn you.
You have treated my bones kindly and awakened the fire. I give you my true legacy.
Aurion, heir to the leader of the Fire Faction in the Dragonlord Council. Such a great Dragonlord, yet in death, but a pile of dust...
May the fire consume the sons of bitches of the Blood Faction and their disgusting pets, the spliced monsters.
Fire is the only truth.
Bury me here. Perhaps not beside the one I loved, but in the Purple Palace of House Belaerys, in the dragon-dancing Valyria, with my soldiers.
As for my legacy... my family is gone, and I cannot live alone.
...
You have traveled through hardships to reach this place. You must be a cunning adventurer and a lucky one, wanting to play the game of power and magic.
Take my true legacy. Avenge us on the servants who betrayed the Dragonlords. Punish the faithless with blood and fire.
Four feet beneath the head of the dragon 'Purple Tyrant', Berexes. Do not forget my bracelets and candle.
Bring new fear to those worms. Turn the world upside down. Kill the Archons and Magisters. That is what I, who loved chaos, would have wanted.
...
Restore the glory, or Aurion will never forgive you."
Viserys put away the silver plate. It contained explosive information.
Aurion left his armor and weapons, but his true legacy was even more valuable.
It seemed that in Valyria, there were Fire Factions who adhered to fire magic and Blood Factions skilled in blood magic, and they hated each other.
"Candle and bracelets." Viserys realized these were what Aurion valued most.
Viserys jumped down from the dragon and dug where Aurion had indicated.
Clearing away obsidian, sulfur stone, and black stone debris, he found a bag woven of gold thread, embroidered with flames and dragons. Inside were Aurion's most precious possessions.
Opening the bag, Viserys found Aurion's crown, bracelets, rings, a glass candle (actually obsidian), several gems, and a broken glass mirror.
And a dragon egg—a fossilized egg striped with purple and gold, now just stone.
The gold glass candle was tall and twisted, sharp as a blade.
With such a candle, a sorcerer could see across mountains, seas, and deserts.
Sitting before it, they could enter dreams and send visions, communicating across half the world.
Aurion's imperial crown was a simple Valyrian steel circlet set with large round amethysts, similar to Aegon's.
His bracelets and rings were shaped like dancing purple-gold dragons, holding purple gems in their mouths.
Dusting them off, they remained beautiful despite the ages.
The flame patterns and dragon imagery would make modern smiths weep with envy, not to mention the flowing fire magic arrays.
After gathering these, Viserys felt he had reached the limit of his treasure hunt. He took all of Aurion's legacy.
To fulfill the oath, Viserys buried Aurion's ashes near the dragon and left a marker.
The group searched the dragon skeleton thoroughly, ensuring nothing was missed.
Finally, Viserys noticed Aurion's dragon saddle, unrotted by time, and took that too.
They descended the hill, returning to the terracotta army.
Though they found no more Valyrian steel armor or weapons with fire-gathering arrays—such items were costly and rare even for Dragonlords—careful searching yielded a few treasures.
A rugged Valyrian steel battle-axe.
A Valyrian steel arakh with a dragonbone hilt and a black, rippled blade.
And a beautiful Valyrian steel rapier, its hilt shaped like a rearing unicorn with sapphire eyes.
Viserys admired the silver-rippled blade. It was a masterpiece.
Though not equal to True Dragon, it was precious.
They also found several Valyrian steel daggers, which they took.
Viserys had hit the jackpot without even penetrating deep into the ruins.
Just as they thought their mission was a complete success, Viserys felt a sudden urgency of fire rushing from the sky.
An animal, wrapped in fire essence, was approaching.
"Get down! Take cover!" Viserys shouted.
High above, beneath the red clouds, a three-headed monster bird rode the wind toward them.
"Goldenheart bows, ready!" Viserys ordered.
He saw the monster spread its wings. The first head was a lion, the third a unicorn, the middle a giant eagle.
All three heads were freakishly large, with red gems embedded in their foreheads.
The giant bird was not a natural creature, but a chimera stitched together by evil blood magic.
"Is this the pet of the Blood Faction?" Viserys wanted to curse those dark wizards who loved genetic modification.