Over a corner of the ruins of Valyria, the dragon Sunfyre, the griffin, and the three-headed blood eagle fought in the sky.
The colossal wings of the beasts whipped up furious winds; light and heat swept across the horizon together.
Bursts of flame erupted intermittently—bright gold-red fire clashing with dull, blood-red flames.
The air shimmered with intense heat, solidifying into ripples of distortion.
This was a contest of raw power, speed, and combat experience.
The victor would devour the loser's corpse as a trophy and wear glory like a crown.
Viserys watched as the gold-red dragonfire blasted the griffin's face. Where the eagle's red eyes had been, there were now bleeding holes.
The blood griffin's eye sockets were shattered, bone and flesh flying.
The griffin shrieked in agony, spraying scalding blood into the sky.
Blood and shredded tissue flowed down its eagle face like tears of gore, a hideous sight. Suddenly blinded, the griffin lost its balance.
It began to fly erratically, like a headless fly, swooping high and low.
Pain and blindness were fatal to a beast. The griffin raged indiscriminately, clawing and roaring in fury.
Its anger spilled over onto the three-headed blood eagle.
Blood-red flames spewed from the griffin's mouth, dancing wildly in the air.
The three-headed eagle was confused; its ally had become uncontrollable.
Griffins and blood eagles relied on sight, unlike the Face-Worms that navigated underground by heat.
Even for dragons, the eyes were a critical weakness.
Many dragons in history had died because of injuries to their eyes.
Blinded, the griffin's already clumsy flight became even worse, its movements comical and awkward.
It was a structural issue; only bird-like or lightweight structures could fly efficiently.
Though dragons weren't birds, their bones were light and hard, and their bodies were mostly wings and tail, making them lighter than they appeared.
Their streamlined bodies were aerodynamic, and being the perfect creation of blood and fire made them rulers of the sky.
The griffin, however, looked like a patchwork job. Blood mages had forcibly stitched the body, tail, and hind legs of a lion to the head, wings, and forelegs of an eagle.
It looked majestic, but its flight was mediocre; the lion body was relatively heavy.
The griffin was less streamlined than the blood eagle, let alone a dragon.
The blood griffin thrashed madly in the air, exposing more defensive gaps.
The three-headed eagle was flustered, attacking the dragon while trying to avoid the griffin.
Between life and death, the griffin was too slow.
"Throat. The griffin's throat," Viserys directed.
"Dracarys!"
Sunfyre seized the opening. Flying above the griffin, he launched a diving attack.
The dragon's neck arched like a bow, gathering power.
A ball of scorching gold-red dragonfire shot toward the griffin's shrieking, open beak.
First volley!
Second fireball!
The golden dragonfire exploded, a bright fireball as hot as the sun.
Under this impact, the griffin's head was blasted apart, the explosion centering on its open throat, obliterating most of its skull.
The wailing griffin gave one last shriek before plummeting to the ground.
The crash shook the earth, sending up clouds of dust.
Viserys looked away from the fallen griffin, its body now adorning the ground alongside dragonglass and sulfur rocks.
The griffin's gruesome death reminded Viserys of the tale of Artys Arryn, the Winged Knight, dueling the Griffin King atop the Giant's Lance.
"The Griffin fell into the valley, and the mountains sang of the Winged Knight. Artys, King of Mountain and Vale."
The story was mostly nonsense. House Arryn were pure Andals, with no magical heritage or connection to the First Men.
It likely appropriated the deeds of a hero from the Age of Heroes to glorify the Arryns.
And griffins didn't naturally exist; they were pets spliced together by Blood Faction Dragonlords.
Ironically, the Arryn ancestor had won by using a body double and a sneak attack.
In the Battle of the Seven Stars, Artys had a knight wear his spare silver armor while he led elite knights up a goat path he knew from childhood, ambushing the First Men army from the high ground behind them.
His descendants claimed glory and actually believed it.
"The myths of the past are over. Now begins a new myth, created by Viserys."
When Viserys achieved victory and restored his kingdom, singers and maesters would rewrite history for him too.
The aerial battle happened in a flash. Sunfyre disengaged quickly to face the three-headed blood eagle.
Viserys looked at the larger three-headed eagle. Its heads were still lion, eagle, and unicorn.
Blood-red light flickered in its three sets of eyes. It craved slaughter but realized the danger.
One blood eagle ally was dead, and now the griffin too.
"Roar." All three heads opened their mouths, spewing dull red fire.
The unicorn, lion, and eagle heads shrieked together, the blood gems glowing eerily before unleashing the flames.
This time, the fire appeared to target the dragon but swept back to engulf Viserys.
Waves of heat rolled over him, not as hot as dragonfire but still terrifying.
Viserys opened his hand, guiding the fire elements in the air. His silver armor shone brilliantly.
The dance of water and fire—the fusion of Valyrian and Rhoynar high technology.
The blood eagle's plan was vicious: injure Viserys to create chaos and escape.
Dragons were somewhat immune to fire, but dragonriders were not. It was a dangerous profession, fearing fire and gravity.
At the Battle of Rook's Rest, three dragons fought a thousand feet in the air.
Meleys the Red Queen died from the fall, and Princess Rhaenys was burned to charcoal.
Vhagar and Prince Aemond were unharmed, but Sunfyre suffered grevious wounds, one wing nearly torn off. His rider, Aegon II, was half-burned, his hip shattered, his body broken, nearly incapacitated.
But the blood eagle's plan failed. Viserys called upon the dance of fire and water.
Though hit by the flames, Viserys remained unharmed.
Spewing fire, the blood eagle turned to flee in the opposite direction.
"It's running." Viserys saw the route. Seeing the griffin dead and the sneak attack on Viserys failed, the eagle wanted to escape.
But now, it was Sunfyre's turn to pursue relentlessly.
Sunfyre grew bold. The eagle had attacked not just him, but his new partner.
Sunfyre danced in the air like lightning. Only a young dragon could be so agile.
In the Dance of the Dragons, only the fight between Seasmoke and Tessarion the Blue Queen was described as a dance, because both dragons were young.
Sunfyre moved like a soaring eagle, a swift falcon—circling, biting, screeching, spewing fire.
Without engaging in close quarters, he drove the blood eagle into a desperate corner.
The eagle had dozens of wounds, its rage overflowing.
But it couldn't keep up with Sunfyre, which made it furious.
Griffins and blood eagles were blood magic imitations of dragons, inferior in every aspect.
Slower speed, weaker fire.
Sunfyre suddenly soared high, his gold-red fire scorching the eagle's wings.
The eagle panicked, but its three streams of fire missed the dragon.
The gold dragon circled beautifully in mid-air, reappearing on the eagle's flank.
"Dracarys!"
A blast of gold-red fire exploded against the lion head, shattering more than half of it. Brain matter and blood sprayed into the air.
Viserys saw a rain of blood. The lion head perhaps saw only blazing gold-red before it died.
It was a mercy for the beast. Now, the three-headed eagle was half-dead.
Viserys accelerated the gathered fire essence, forming a blade of flame that pierced the eagle head's eye socket.
"Roar." Instant, immense pain overwhelmed the eagle, far worse than its other wounds. It began to plummet rapidly.
Sunfyre followed, his sword-sharp teeth clamping onto the middle eagle neck.
Roaring in fury, Sunfyre tore the second head from the blood mage's creation, erasing the abomination.
Viserys saw the terrifying power as the dragon gripped the neck and pulled.
Sunfyre's strength was immense; the eagle head was ripped off and thrown away.
The majestic three-headed eagle was now a headless monster—lion head shattered, eagle head torn off, leaving only the unicorn head, its red light fading.
The broken body could no longer fly.
Bang! The corpse of the second blood eagle slammed into the ground with tremendous force, louder than the griffin.
The gold dragon screeched triumphantly in the air, a sound like thunder.
"Let's go, Sunfyre. The Hairy Men await. You can enjoy your meal later."
"Roar."
The dragon carried Viserys onward, leaving the broken battlefield behind.
This was not just Sunfyre's victory, but the victory of the Dragonrider Viserys.