If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
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123 AC, Valyria
His wife was writing in her usual book and hummed in approval, yet Helaena didn't answer. She couldn't. She simply stared at the battle until it faded away into the fog. Despite the danger, despite the fact that her heart was pounding, she couldn't help but have a large smile on her face.
This expedition was, without a doubt, an experience that Helaena would never forget in her life. She knew that from the start, but after seeing a withered ship come to life and kill a sea monster who looked disturbingly like a dragon, who happened to be infected with Greyscale, she realised how much that was an understatement. They hadn't even landed on Valyria yet, and she had seen something that could be easily transcribed into a song, if it wasn't for the fact that most people would misbelieve it.
Sailing away from that disaster was oddly peaceful after that. They hadn't been attacked by Stone Men or any other monsters again, even if Helaena was clutching her Valyrian Steel sword in panic, flinching at every sound she heard in the distance, expecting it to be another opponent.
However, her two companions, the Potter, didn't seem as concerned as she was by the possibility of being attacked. It made sense, in a way, given the power that they demonstrated. She had underestimated Lady Daphne especially, and yet she remembered dozens of Stone Men being cut into pieces and thrown away, with a casual wave of her hand.
Her companions were terrifying creatures indeed, which made the scene that she was experiencing all the more comical.
Lord Harry's attire had changed completely, apparently on a whim, where he was now wearing a short brown cloak of some sort and similarly coloured breeches, which matched the colour of the odd hat that he had started to wear. For some reason, he was also holding a whip of all things.
The exasperation in his wife's voice almost made Helaena giggle, "Harry, for the last time, you don't even know how to use a whip."
"Hey, I can enchant it to do whatever I want," the sorcerer protested.
"Yes, but you can just as easily hit us with the damn thing, and you can actually do whatever you want without having to enchant anything."
She then muttered something that Helaena didn't hear, but that Lord Harry obviously could, given his aghast reaction, "You take that back. Indiana Jones is a classic."
The golden-haired woman rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say, dear."
Before Lord Harry could retort, Helaena decided to ask a question in a quiet voice, "Are you not worried that your voice might attract other monsters?"
Lady Daphne gave her a sympathetic look, "There's some magic stopping our voices from reaching past the boat, but even then, I don't think we'll be attacked."
Helaena was confused, and Lord Harry smiled at her and answered, "There are three ways to naturally survive the fumes of the smoking sea. You can fly over the fog entirely, but that means that you won't be able to see anything. You can survive it through swimming, since the fog seemed localised to the air alone, or you can adapt to it, even if the latter is the most dangerous option. What we've seen so far are creatures who stay underwater to avoid the curse slowly sucking away at their life force and killing them, and anything that flies over the fog won't be able to see us."
"And if something adapts to it?" Helaena asked.
"If a creature adapts enough to resist the draining of life force and somehow overcome the disorienting curses, then I'd very much like the meet it," he replied with a wide smile on his face.
Lady Daphne rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm but elaborated on the subject slightly, "We were attacked by the Stone Men because we disturbed the water. It woke them, for lack of a better term and pointed them right at us. It's how they found us despite the disorienting smile. Take a look at how we're sailing, and you'll understand."
Helaena furrowed her eyebrows and looked down the hull, only to notice something. The waters didn't seem disturbed at all, despite the fact that they were sailing through it. Her eyes widened when she realised that she was wrong, that they were somehow floating on the water, not touching it.
They travelled like that for what felt like an hour, though time was hard to track in a place like this, where the sky remained locked in a strange grey and the sea seemed to stretch endlessly. Then, without warning, the fog began to thin.
And there it was.
Valyria.
Helaena stood, breath caught in her throat, as the ruins came into view. Towering spires pierced the sky in impossible shapes, dark silhouettes half-shrouded by steam rising from cracks in the earth. Rivers of molten rock snaked between the broken stones like veins of fire, illuminating collapsed bridges and fractured roads.
Its silhouette looked very similar to what they had seen back in the manse, when her blood touched the wolf medallion.
Lord Harry hummed as the sight greeted him as well, "Huh, it seems like I was right."
For the first time, his wife seemed actually unsettled by that statement, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. This type of corruption isn't normal. Hell, the entire Doom isn't natural in any way. Nothing could have caused this kind of damage without a much bigger effect than that. And can you feel how everything is warped? Something feels rotten here."
Helaena didn't know what they both meant and voiced her opinion, "I don't understand."
"Ah, you probably don't feel it since I'm actively protecting you. There are certain types of magic that affect their surroundings in certain ways, sometimes positive or negative, changing things fundamentally over time by their sheer presence. We call that mutation or corruption. This level of mutations is not normal, not at all. I've been in my fair share of expeditions, but this is the most disastrous one by a mile."
They stepped off the boat, and Helaena followed their lead, seemingly landing on what must be Valyrian Stone. It had to be the only thing that survived this place, "Keep your sword ready, Helaena. If anything moves, kill it without prejudice."
The princess did as the man bade her, but couldn't help but mutter, "I don't know the first thing about using a sword."
Lord Harry snickered slightly, "Well, here is your first lesson. Stick them with the pointy end."
"Even I knew that", she grumbled back.
This made both of her companions smile. Lady Daphne gave her a wink and said, "He doesn't want you to know that this is all he knows about swordsmanship."
"Hey," Lord Harry protested without any heat, "Don't embarrass me in front of my future student. It's unbecoming."
"Unbecoming? I'll have you know…"
Unfortunately, her words were interrupted as something burrowed from the ground beneath them, almost cracking it open. There was no warning, no sound beyond the sudden splitting of the earth. Helaena barely had time to react before the stone beneath their feet trembled and burst.
Something shot upward, pushing through the stone like it was paper.
It looked like a wingless dragon. It had the scales, the serpentine face, which reminded her a bit of Caraxes, the Rogue Prince's mount, and the feeling of fire and flames that always came with dragons.
However, it was also wrong. She did not know how else to describe it.
Its body was elongated and covered in cracked scales. Parts of it were too thin, and others looked melted together. Its mouth opened too wide, filled with jagged teeth that didn't line up. Two black balls sat deep in its face where its eyes should be, but they didn't move naturally.
It looked towards Lord Harry menacingly, and she could feel the heat rising with every moment, as it was readying itself to strike. However, before it could do so, the dragon-like being turned to ash, and the sorcerer remained there, unmoving, staring at where the beast used to be.
It took a few moments for Helaena to recognise the beast, "Was that a Firewyrm?"
She remembered Aemond telling her of it, that their father claimed that their Firewyrms were involved in its woundings and Princess Aerea's death and illness from Valyria. He was always excitable when it came to dragons, and serpent-like fire-breathing creatures from Valyria certainly interested him enough.
Lord Harry, on the other hand, shook his head, "Maybe it was once. We need more answers. What happened here is very concerning."
She always dreaded seeing the man being so serious. It was a sharp contrast to his joking nature, which was very unsettling and worrying. The sorcerer turned towards the closest tower that remained standing and stared at it with a very concerned look.
The tower ahead was tall, black, and partially destroyed. Its top was missing, and the rest looked like it had barely survived whatever force had torn through Valyria. The stone was cracked and uneven, parts of it scorched or worn down. Despite everything, it still stood, a clear landmark in the ruins.
The path to it wasn't easy. Shards of Dragonglass were scattered everywhere. Some were buried in the ground, others stuck out at odd angles, sharp enough to cut through boots if one wasn't careful. They moved slowly, watching where they stepped.
They didn't speak much. Even Harry had gone quiet, which told Helaena everything she needed to know. She kept her sword ready, trying to steady her breathing.
Then she heard the sound of scraping nearby.
Three creatures emerged from the rubble. Their movements were fast but unstable. Their bodies were thin, deformed, parts of their limbs fused together, skin stretched tight and dark like it had been burned. One of them had more than one head. Another had no face at all.
The first one charged. Lord Harry pointed at it, and it dropped before it could reach them. Daphne raised her hand, and the second one collapsed mid-step, skidding across the stone. The third turned and tried to escape, but a silent wave of Harry's hand ended it just the same.
None of them bled.
None of them made a sound.
Lord Harry hummed appreciably, "Inconsistent mutations between creatures, unstable ones at that."
"Which means that the mutation happened quickly and that the source has to be very powerful. Can't you find it?" His wife finished, seemingly agreeing with him.
"It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There's too much going on, and it's not distinctive enough. It might be hiding as well. You remember how Riddle did it with the Diary."
For what felt like the hundredth time, Helaena felt like a passenger and not an active participant in this adventure. She couldn't help but wonder if Rhaena felt the same way during her trips with the Potters. It was like they were in a world of their own.
Still, given that they seemed to be as unknowing as she was about what happened to Valyria, she decided not to press. They would tell her when they knew for sure.
They kept walking, and thankfully, no other creature appeared.
When they reached the base of the tower, they paused, and Helaena did the same. They seemed to be listening for something, and she paled when she realised what it was. It sounded like chains.
They stepped through the archway and into the tower. It was colder inside, despite the rivers of lava in the distance. The stone underfoot was cracked and uneven, but solid. What struck Helaena first were the bodies.
They were old. Nothing but skeletons now, blackened and brittle. Most were slumped against the walls, while a few had collapsed mid-step. And yet, they hadn't decayed the way normal corpses did. There were no rotting remains, only bones, scorched cloth, and strange items clinging to what was left of them.
Some had Valyrian steel rings still on their fingers. One wore a heavy necklace, dull but clearly enchanted. Several had blades by their sides. She saw at least two daggers that looked like Valyrian steel. One figure, leaning against the wall, had a full-face mask lying beside it, dark metal shaped like a dragon's face, smooth and untouched by time.
Lady Daphne commented, "There must have been some kind of ward, which, alongside the Valyrian Stone, protected them. Well, protected their bodies would be more fitting, I guess."
Lord Harry seemed to agree as well, given his nod, but didn't comment, which was odd. Helaena, not wanting to mess anything up once more, decided to stand back and hold her sword, ready to attack.
They moved carefully through the chamber, not speaking. The floor was littered with debris, shards of Dragonglass, broken weapons, and the remains of ruined furniture.
The sound of chains grew louder, echoing from below.
Lord Harry walked first, heading towards a set of stairs that descended into the lower floor. They were cracked and looked like they could barely hold together, let alone support their weight, but they held on, thankfully.
Finally, they reached a wide chamber beneath the tower, and they finally found the source of the noise. It was, in fact, chains. They were very thick ones made of Valyrian Steel, but rattling them was a bound man made of Stone, who thrashed around severely at the sight of them.
Suddenly, the floor moved as if by magic, and hands of stones appeared from the ground, trying to grab their legs, hands that had a familiar scaly and stony pattern that she had seen in Stone Men. Lord Harry waved his hand, and the floor rippled and turned to normal before the army of hands even touched them.
The bound man thrashed even further, and despite trying to attack them previously, Helaena couldn't help but pity the man, "Has he been here since the Doom?"
"Quite likely. This place looks a lot like a laboratory of some sort. Someone put a victim of Greyscale in Valyrian Steel chains to study the disease or try to find a cure of some sort. It was said that the Valyrians were the main target of this disease after a war with the Rhoynar. I don't know if his being alive has to do with some kind of mutation or an effect of the disease, but the magic isn't normal, that's for sure. It does explain the outbreak, though. The sounds of chains were used to get people to come and then spread the disease using the hands on the stone, while still unable to move. It would take a few years at most to spread it everywhere after that."
With that said, Lord Harry waved his hand, and the Stone Man turned to ash. Helaena almost released a gasp, only for Lady Daphne to put a hand on her shoulder, "Sometimes Death is a mercy."
She nodded in agreement, and they walked back up in silence, with Lord Harry barely saying anything. He had been serious ever since they arrived in Valyria, which was unusual, given the way he reacted when he was attacked by Shadowbinders. She turned towards his wife and spoke up, "He doesn't seem happy."
The older woman gave her a soft smile, "You really are a perceptive girl, aren't you, Helaena? And yes, he doesn't like this place much, even if the mystery of it is something that he would absolutely adore in any other circumstance. I have to say that I agree with him. This truly is a vile place."
"Why?" Helaena couldn't help but ask.
"You didn't notice the coins on the floor, did you?"
The princess furrowed her eyebrow, and she looked around. Finally, she saw a few coins thrown around on the ground. Most were warped in some way, by time or whatever happened during the doom, but still looked like gold or silver; a few were completely intact. She quickly recognised the material, "Valyrian Steel."
"That's a testament to Valyria. Every piece of Valyrian Steel was forged using human sacrifices and even a Dragon Egg. Now, I can understand the idea of using that to create weapons that could slay many things. I don't like it, but I do understand it. Making jewellery and baubles is quite distasteful, but I can understand the allure of symbols of power and wealth. But coin? Even if it's a very rare form of currency, the mere idea is just sickening, where wealth is measured by how many people you killed to create that thing in your hand. They can't even be reforged into a bigger item, since the souls involved would be incompatible. It's just a very clear disregard for life, and a clear way to show where Valyria was heading. Your family might take pride in this ancestry, but I wouldn't if I were in your place."
Helaena couldn't help but be shocked by the idea. She'd always known Valyria wasn't perfect. But this… this was something else entirely. The casual cruelty of the act tainted what little pride she had regarding her family's heritage.
Not that she had much to begin with. Her dreams, the threads, had shown her the depth of misery that her family would cause to each other and to everyone around them. Her bond with Dreamfyre was something that she treasured, and even that felt tainted by it all.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Lord Harry suddenly stopped and turned to stare at a wall. He did that for a few seconds before humming, and the wall started to slowly move to the side, revealing a hidden room.
The room behind the wall was small and completely sealed. No cracks, no openings, just smooth Valyrian Stone on all sides. On the other side of the room sat a skeleton. It was upright, back resting against the wall. The robes were dark and well-made, though most of the fabric had worn away. There were no signs of violence. No blood, no struggle. Just a single figure who had stayed there, unmoving, for a very long time.
In his right hand was a pin. Long and sharp, unmistakably Valyrian Steel.
Above him were the carvings on the walls. The same sentence repeated over and over, in High Valyrian. "Fear the night. Fear the night. Fear the night…"
She hadn't realised that she had mumbled that last part.
Lord Harry seemed to stare at the man, "A prisoner, an unofficial one if I'm guessing, and a high-ranking one, given the Valyrian Steel. He carved through Valyrian Stone with it. He must have been very desperate."
He could have said anything, but why this?" Helaena asked.
"A warning," Lady Daphne replied.
Whatever they were planning on saying was interrupted by an extremely loud roar that shook the ground. They walked out to see where it was coming from.
It hadn't taken long for them to see it, a massive shape appearing in the smoke and ash in the sky, a dragon flying above them. But it wasn't like any dragon she had seen. For one, it had four giant wings on its back and even in the distance, it looked massive. She couldn't make out more given the distance, but also the fact that it was circling the half-fallen tower that they had been exploring.
It must have noticed them; the dragon's flight slowed, and it angled its body in their direction. The smoke around it shifted with each flap of its wings, revealing more of its shape. The scales were dark, but there were gashes all over them, and one of the wings looked half-torn.
The dragon was flying ahead, ready to roast them or eat them, and Helaena's every instinct told her to run, and yet the Potters looked still, completely unfazed. Lord Harry even raised an eyebrow, the small glint of mischievousness appearing in his eyes once more, "Well, isn't that interesting?"
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AN: Some of you may notice that I'm doing something a bit different with the Valyria arc, and I hope that I'm not being a bit too ambitious. I was tempted to just make this like a normal expedition, but it felt like it would have been wasted, and the reveal in the end wouldn't matter too much. Helaena will have a more active role in the rest of the expedition, and I am pretty excited about the reveal; I like messing around with lore, and Valyria is pretty exciting. Harry and Daphne's reactions are also subdued for a reason, which you'll see in the future, but they aren't scared; more disturbed by what they're seeing. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.