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
He gave Helaena a small smirk, "Do you remember what I told you about sword fighting? Stick them with the pointy end." And just like that, the sword moved faster than Helaena's eyes could follow and slammed into the sphere of darkness, and then the world screamed.
Helaena knew from the moment the Elder Dragon touched her mind that what she would find in Valyria would be unlike anything she had ever seen before. She was proven right, despite her missteps during the journey, but in a way that she expected. She saw monsters appearing in what was once her family's ancestral home. She saw human-like creatures coming from the darkness, insects, disease and rot, that was the legacy of Valyria she had witnessed, one that she learned to despise.
However, after Lord Harry used her new Valyrian Steel sword to attack the source of the Corruption, she did not expect everything to change when she opened her eyes. The normal greyness of Valyria remained, a lack of day or night, but it was less oppressive, more normal than anything. But it was when she turned around that she gasped in shock at what was around her.
Because it wasn't a ruin that met her, but a giant city, with exquisite and pristine towers made of black stone and glittering glass. There were dragons roaming the sky, healthy as ever. Roads were paved with dark stone, bordered with crimson veins of glowing ore, wide and smooth. The buildings were massive and beautiful, with hundreds of statues of dragons and other magical creatures made with some odd material that looked like a mixture of Dragonglass and normal glass.
She recognised a few structures from her father's model, ones that she hadn't noticed in the ruins that she had explored. It was the Valyria of her dreams, the one she thought had only ever existed in stories. This was what it had once been. A marvel, unmatched by anything the world had built since.
She took a few steps forward, her mouth slightly open. "This is… amazing."
A voice answered from her right. "No, it's not."
Helaena turned sharply. She hadn't even realised he was next to her again. Lord Harry stood at her side, his wife beside him, frowning at the sight. She had almost forgotten about their presence behind them. The man casually handed her the weapon that he had thrown just a few seconds prior.
"What do you mean?" she asked when his words finally registered in her mind, but even as the words left her lips, something caught her attention. There was no wind. No dust. The towers were magnificent, but some were… wrong. They felt less solid, and she had even seen a bridge connecting to nothing. A crowd in the square that didn't move. There were no sounds. No smell. Just silence. The air didn't shift. Even the dragons in the sky flew in perfect, looping patterns. Far away, she could see slaves, a few even chained in Valyrian Steel, constantly whipped and burned by dragons.
"It's an illusion. No, that's not quite right. It's a dream given form. It's a bit too perfect, too fantastical. We're inside the singularity, the source of the Doom of Valyria."
Helaena took the sword handed to her and couldn't help but compare its material to that of the chains that the far-off slaves wore. She finally understood the disgust that Lord Harry wore when he saw the chains, the bindings of people in the lives of fellow slaves. It was different to see what once was, and what would be. Now, as she gazed upon her sword, she saw the lives that were sacrificed to make it. It felt heavier now, especially as she saw it in the first place.
She turned slightly towards the sorcerer. "Is this why they adopted Valyrian Steel?" she asked, her voice low, uncertain. "Was it because of the Corruption?"
"Maybe," he replied, his gaze still fixed on the illusion of the city. "But not likely."
She waited for him to explain, and he did, as he always did.
"I wouldn't say that I'm an expert on the matter, but I did take a look at Valyrian Steel out of curiosity more than anything. There's nothing in it that suggests this was forced on them. No taint. They made it because they could, because it gave them power, or because it looked beautiful." He finally turned toward her. "Men don't need outside Corruption to be monsters. They never have. Humanity has always been capable of atrocities without a push."
Lady Daphne spoke up next, "Let's find the source of this little dream."
Her husband nodded, "You're right. Let's get going."
They both walked in a certain direction, and Helaena quickly followed after them. She didn't know why they chose that particular path, but the young princess noticed that everything felt more solid, more real, as they approached this mysterious source. In a way, while the building became more real, the number of living creatures slowly faded away.
It was then that she started to hear them, whispers in High Valyrian that she could barely make out, but she pushed forward until she noticed that the Potters had stopped walking. They were looking down at one of the towers of Valyria. It wasn't the largest one; it was even likely the smallest one, smaller than that in most castles. However, it stood in the middle of a small river of molten rock and looked older than most of the others, less luxurious or ostentatious. It was also not made of Valyrian Stone like the other tower, but something else, something that she hadn't seen before, but that Potters obviously recognised, "Huh, well, this is familiar, and it does explain a lot, doesn't it?"
"What do you mean?" Helaena asked.
"I don't know what its exact name is. I just call it Black Stone. It feels oily and a bit wrong at first. I've seen one in Pyke, which acted like a window that a god used to influence the material realm."
Helaena froze at that. Lord Harry spoke of gods as if they were certain and known entities, not the figures of worship. Then again, she had just seen one of the Fourteen Flames, a god of Old Valyria, and it was more majestic and powerful than she ever thought possible. Then she remembered something her mother told her once, "Is it true, then? That a god destroyed Valyria for their sins."
The sorcerer simply shrugged, "It's not good to jump to conclusions. All this means is that outside involvement is likely. I suppose we'll never find out until we go there."
And just like that, they made their way towards the possibly divinely cursed tower. They crossed a narrow bridge of obsidian stone, the heat of the molten river radiating upward with every step, towards the tower ahead. For the hundredth time since the start of the expedition, the young princess was thankful for whatever magic the Potters had used to stop her from feeling too hot or cold.
The doors were already open, and they entered without any issues. The moment Helaena stepped foot inside, she felt the heat almost vanish instantly, the air stilling, but remaining dry. The room was almost as large as her father's throne room, and everything was darker, as if that Black Stone that Lord Harry spoke of was swallowing it whole.
Now that she thought about it, it did look eerily like a throne room. In fact, in the far end stood a tall seat made entirely of Valyrian Steel. She didn't think there was enough Valyrian Steel in the world to forge that, but that was completely overwhelmed by the hundreds of full suits of armour made of the magical metal, which were arranged on each side of the hall.
Harry stopped halfway through the hall and looked around. His jaw clenched.
"All of this," he muttered, "must've cost tens of thousands of lives. Just to forge. Just to arrange like this."
A voice echoed through the room before anyone could reply.
"No," a voice said, echoing from the throne.
Helaena turned, startled and snapped her gaze back towards the throne.
A man now sat on the throne. He hadn't been there a second ago. His body was impossibly thin, like the flesh was barely clinging to his bones. One of his eyes was pitch black, no pupil, no iris. The other glowed with a soft purple light, unmistakably Valyrian.
"Over a hundred thousand," he said, his voice calm. "A suitable legacy for the Emperor of Valyria. Yet, I can't help but wonder what you are doing in my domain."
"Emperor of Valyria, huh? Well, that's a very surprising term, given that Valyria has been gone for centuries. Maybe you're the emperor of this illusion of Valyria, a dream, but not a reality."
"And what differs between dream and truth, when one walks in their dreams. You say that Valyria is dead, and yet it is thriving before you. Are our dragons not conquerors of the skies? Isn't our steel powerful enough to even slay gods? Valyria is alive before you, and I am its saviour, and we will ascend all towards greatness, to join our place amongst the gods."
Helaena didn't think that the man made much sense. For one, the Valyrian Gods were slumbering in the Fourteen Flames, so they were technically amongst their gods, and more importantly, this was an illusion, something completely untrue.
Lord Harry seemed to be in agreement, "So, you're an idiot then?"
The skeleton with bones chuckled, although it sounded more like a cackling, "Mortals often confuse madness and greatness. I am Vaeron Belaerys, the man born of the union of two Dragonlord families specialising in the arts of blood and steel. I am the man who forged the first ingot of our glorious steel. My secrets to extending my life have been the envy of all of Valyria for decades. Your eyes may deceive you, thinking that my glorious home is gone. However, my realm, my Valyria, will live forever, and I will lead it to greatness."
Helaena couldn't help but blurt out, "But this is not real."
"Ah, a Targaryen. I haven't seen one of your kind in some time. That fool Aenar was tricked by the council into all but withdrawing from Valyria. It truly is a shame what happened to that disgrace of a family. They were respected once, but everyone knows that there hadn't been a Seer in that family for thousands of years. Now, they were nothing more than some superstitious lots, trying to relive their days of glory by interpreting their drunken dreams instead of rebuilding their family. What a disgrace."
Lord Harry rolled his eyes, "Yes, the talking skeleton is saying that the only family that survived his idiocy is a disgrace. You can see the irony here, huh?"
"Perhaps it is you who is blind, for your eyes are merely of flesh. I was once like you, miserable, and wallowing in my ignorance, but I had hope, I had vision. The rest of the council, the rest of the Dragonlord families, were all fools, content to play their games of politics, achieving very little since the Conquest of Essos. The only relatively important event in recent memory was the destruction of the Rhoynar, and my ancestor Jaenara Belaerys's exploration of Sothoryos, centuries ago. We were stagnating, and that meant that we would inevitably fall. I wished to find a way to continue our rise, and I searched the archives and found the history of this tower. It is the oldest structure in Valyria, and I bought it for a pittance. I studied this place and discovered carvings in the dungeons which matched my ancestor's notes."
The skeleton stood up and walked very slowly, "In this place, I found true enlightenment. I found that power didn't come in the form of dragons, unlike what most thought, but in sacrifice and in our blood. It took much to uncover this tower's mystery, and I am still learning to this day. Using this knowledge, I created our steel, which allowed me to elevate my family's standing, and while they all relished in their wealth, I continued my crusade, my purpose."
Belaerys walked towards one of the pieces of armour, which he traced with his bony fingers. He murmured with awe in his voice, "They never understood. They used my greatest achievement to create jewellery and coins, instead of what it was supposed to be, a step towards enlightenment, a step to reach our place amongst the gods. And I have found it, that beautiful path beneath this forsaken tower. I am close. I can feel it."
Helaena couldn't help but think that the man was completely and utterly mad. The crazed devotion in his voice near the end, the way he touched the armour like it was sacred, all of it unsettled her. He believed in his purpose so deeply that he had shed everything else, flesh, sanity, even time. And still, he clung to the idea that he had saved Valyria, that he alone held its future.
She wished to say something, but Lady Daphne stopped her and squeezed her shoulder in warning. When she gazed back at her, she saw the older woman sharing a look with her husband, who nodded near the end.
Lord Harry, completely unconcerned, walked casually towards the piece of armour and knocked on it, "This is definitely an impressive piece of magic, that's for sure, and the real thing in this place. A bit wasteful, in my opinion, and amateurish, but I guess it would do for a novice."
"A novice?" the monster roared back, sounding angry for the first time in their odd conversation.
The sorcerer didn't seem concerned, "Well, no offence, but that's the best I can say. The sacrifices are making all the work for you. You're not even shaping any magic, just using the normal properties of souls. Even then, fourteen souls are a bit too much for the result, and that of a young dragon as well; it's a bit overkill. I thought so, at first. Unless… Unless it's not meant to act as a weapon or even a piece of metal, but a ritual. Fourteen souls for fourteen Elder Dragons, empowering the soul of a descendant who had a spark of their energy, ready to be unleashed, which makes you, like I said before, an idiot."
Belaerys' thin frame turned towards Lord Harry in shock, but the man just continued, "And the worst part is that you don't even get it. Vaeron, buddy, that's just sad. Because the way I see it, you read some old books, and went to this place, learned how to use souls to craft weapons. But the thought that it was wrong didn't even bother you. Then, through your Valyrian Steel, you realised that there was something more underneath the tower; you just had to reach it. You used Valyrian Steel, the power given by souls, to literally cut through, to make contact with what's on the other side. It probably lasted less than a second, but in that second, something came in, something extremely dangerous, which corrupted everything in sight. The Fourteen Flames erupted, as the Elder Dragons shielded the rest of the world from it, and Valyria fell. All because of a single man's idiocy. To make things worse, you trapped yourself in this illusion of Valyria, in this dream, used as a puppet to make more monsters, to spread the corruption, hoping to inevitably overwhelm the protections stopping the horrors of Valyria from reaching this place, all without you even realising, all for your sick goal."
"You lie," the skeleton growled.
"Am I?"
Lord Harry snapped his fingers, and the dream shifted. For just a few seconds, Belaerys saw the truth of Valyria, the monsters, the poison, the destruction, all of it. It was barely more than flashes until it returned to normal.
He shook his head, stumbling towards his throne, "You wish to trick me. Everything was perfect. I was destined for this."
"Destined… I'm not sure about that, but you're right, in a way. You got exactly the right tools to make this possible. Valyrian Steel, the location of the breach below. It feels more like a plan than destiny, and you have to admit, given how you've fooled yourself into believing that this is true, it does sound true. After all, only a fool would call this enlightenment, Vaeron."
Suddenly, the skeleton rushed forward, the very fabric of the hall warping with him, and he grabbed a sword, ready to attack Lord Harry, only to freeze as he was skewered by something. Helaena realised that it was the sword in her hand, which had flown into the skeleton's chest like an arrow.
The man fell forward, wounded, with black blood oozing through the hall. Helaena turned towards Lord Harry and couldn't help but ask, "Was that it?"
"Of course not," he replied, "Like I said, this was the fool in this. Because, given that the corruption is actually growing, enough to fight off the Elder Dragons' magic, that means that there has to be an active connection, and it has to be some kind of intelligence behind it."
Lord Harry then knelt down towards the downed man, and a black stone flew from one of his rings, and floated in his palm, while releasing some oddly tranquil light, which then pulsed across the entire illusion of Valyria, "Show yourself!"
The entire illusion cracked from the force of the command, and in the blink of an eye, they were back in Valyria, specifically, in what seemed to be the ruin of what was the tower. She could still see the Black Stone surrounding them and a few buried Valyrian Steel pieces of armour in the ruins.
However, the throne was gone. In its place, at the centre of the ruined hall, a pool of thick, dark liquid bubbled and shifted. Lord Harry immediately grabbed her and put her behind him, and the liquid stirred again, and everything around them shifted and stirred. The stonework cracked. Arches bent slightly. The space around the entity distorted. Distances stretched. Angles broke. Her head hurt as she tried to understand what she was seeing.
Thankfully, Lord Harry raised his glowing hands, and the shifting stopped, and the ruined tower seemed to stabilise, just enough to make it bearable.
However, from the now calmed pool, a figure climbed out. It stood on two legs, but they bent the wrong way. Its body was wrapped in glass-like skin, with glimpses of scaled bone shifting beneath. It had long wings that faintly resembled those of a dragon, and a tail curled around it. Its face was almost draconic but smooth and featureless, save for a single vertical slit where a mouth might be.
Helaena stared at whatever this creature was. There was no movement for a few seconds before it screeched.
All around them, pillars collapsed from the pressure of this sound, if one could even call it that. She braced herself, but an invisible shield stopped it around them, the dust covering everything around them.
Lord Harry stepped forward with that same confident look on his face and spoke up, "Well, if you don't mind, let's stick to this realm, huh? I have to say, trying to unravel reality in the middle of a conversation is pretty rude. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Harry Potter. Now, I've got a lot of questions. I don't suppose you'd be inclined to answer them?"
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AN: That chapter took a bit out of me to write. The idea was to make it so Vaeron was tricked into making Valyrian Steel and use it to open a gateway, and that the Corruption came in. He's been stuck in a dream, doing its bidding without knowing it, trying to finish what it started (will be explained in the next chapter). I'm really looking forward to writing the next chapter. 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 on them, so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.