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123 AC, Sothoryos
And yet, Harry couldn't help but contain his smile. After all, it was time for the Elder Dragons to really understand the difference between their last confrontation and this one, where he was actually prepared for a fight. He had a feeling that they wouldn't be happy with it, not at all.
Harry stared at the creatures who had shaped this world and reminisced on their previous interactions. He was bothered by how their last confrontation had ended. There was something in him that hated the fact that he had been the one to retreat, even if it was the right choice at the time, given that he was in a trap. He had been taken off guard by how uncaring the Elder Dragons, the supposed protectors of this realm, acted regarding the possibility of a war between gods and the damage such a conflict would bring. And it was all for the power that was currently under his control, though he did it in a very convoluted way.
Back then, he had found no real path where he would come out on top. Defeating them would let the Outsiders invade this realm, unchallenged, and letting them win would have had them actively killing R'hllor to gain control over the fragment of Light, which would trigger a war between gods. It sounded like a lose-lose situation, and so, he decided to just leave and think things through.
And now, here they were, for their rematch, only this time, the Outsiders were gone, and that changed much of the equation, something that they obviously knew as well.
Harry looked up at them impassively despite the tiredness that he felt at his previous feat, and spoke up loudly, "Well? Aren't you going to say something?"
They remained there, completely and utterly still, as if waiting for something to happen, and he continued, "Isn't this what you wanted? The Outsiders are banished… Your Darkness vanquished… Wasn't that your goal, your ambition? And yet, here you are, unsatisfied. Because this was never about the Outsiders, was it?"
"COMMAND!"
This was the reply that echoed across Sothoryos, and within it was an order to surrender the fragment of Light to them, that they would use it well, that they would use it to protect the world from any possible other incursions that would threaten the world.
Harry thought that it was a joke, one greater than anything, tainted with nothing but disappointment.
He thought that they were better than this. He wanted them to be better than this, but these creatures, ones who were easily stronger than gods, were truly no better than R'hllor, no better than the god who thought himself to know better than everyone, only because he tasted the power that lay within a remnant of creation.
And now, they demanded that he return what was taken from them, what they saw as their own by right, as if they had not taken it from this realm in the first place. It was different to take them seriously, now that he saw them as a part of the song, the realm's song, primordial and complete. They were part of the story that made up this world, one that he could hear through his connection to the fragment of Light.
Perhaps if things had been different, Harry might have entertained the idea of trusting the Elder Dragons with the fragment of Light, especially if he didn't have a concrete plan, but he did, and they had proven to him that they could not be trusted. And so, he gave them his answer as bluntly as he could, "No."
That seemed to stun them, given the sudden silence that spread across Sothoryos. Unfortunately, that silence did not last for long; the ground quickly began to shake, and Harry felt himself being pulled away through a tunnel of stars. He recognised immediately what it was, a tone layered atop the song of the world, one of the Elder Dragons' edicts, to remove threats from the material realm, and bring them to one of their own creation, likely made as a measure of punishment for a god who went too far, or had too much influence over Planetos.
Halfway through the shift in space, before going through the breach completely, Harry destabilised the tunnel, altering its destination, and instead, he released a small singularity to the original one, which would spread a modified strand of the rot of Greyscale into the fabric of a realm itself, eating away at its structure.
Harry did not see the effects of his curse, having instead found himself appearing within a realm made of an endless ocean instead. However, it might have been his imagination, but he heard outraged roars in the distance and suppressed a smirk at that.
However, he did not dally and instead created another breach and stepped through it, soaring through the void between worlds, though he felt someone attempting to destabilise his portal, and he channelled some of the fragment of Light's power into it to stop that from happening.
Instead, the sorcerer landed in a realm of reflections, where everything looked like he was standing in a land of endless mirrors. Each one was different, showing a different perspective of himself, in which he was younger, older, one even with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, which honestly unsettled him the most. Nevertheless, he did not have the time to process this frankly fascinating realm, as the sky folded like a sheet of glass bent inward, and he saw the maws of an Elder Dragon slip through it, and from its depth, it released what was almost a supernova at him.
Harry reacted by warping the realm before him to conjure a Black Hole, which stood in the way of the falling star. For a moment, it looked like both attacks would have cancelled each other out as both disappeared with a loud pop, only for the world to begin to wobble slowly, and still for a fraction of a second, before a great pulse of space-time shattered the world of mirrors around them.
Harry, going on the attack, used the fragment of Light to warp the entire realm he remained in, transitioning it from a realm of reflections into a multi-dimensional maze, which engulfed both him and the Elder Dragons, as it enveloped even the sky and the world around them, trapping his opponents.
At least, it had for a few moments, before a great roar shook the world, and all but shattered the realm that he was in. Harry was barely able to warp space to avoid the shards of glass from the very fabric of the realm that fell atop him, only to find himself ready to be attacked by a beam of purple energy that was racing towards him.
He quickly opened a breach and let a realm of primordial fire that he had discovered mostly on a whim. The fire raced towards it and met the beam of energy in a violent clash that further devastated the realm that they were in.
This had been one of the reasons why he had tried to avoid battling the Elder Dragons in the first place. A fight like this one, on a multi-dimensional scale, was one that often had great consequences, potentially even on Planetos. Thankfully, the Elder Dragons, much like Harry, seemed to do their best to avoid doing any irreparable damage, especially not accidentally begin a chain of reactions that would end up in another Great Cataclysm, but there was only so much that they could do to restrain themselves and fight, nonetheless.
Harry was broken from his brief musings as he felt an incoming attack, which looked like some kind of living coldness, and slowed down its timeline enough to stop it in its tracks. Then slowly, a smirk started to grow on his face as a plan began to form in his head.
Daphne would kill him if she knew what he was about to do, but then again, she wasn't here, was she?
Feeling determined, he did something that most people would have considered to be very foolish and propelled himself at one of the Elder Dragons, turning himself into his raven form, while warping space and time in a way that he gained far greater velocity than he should have, all things considered.
While he would have normally splat himself at the impact from the sheer difference in durability, Harry used his connection to the Fragment of Light to form a small film of protection around him, which surpassed anything that an Elder Dragon could manifest.
The impact was so strong that it ruptured the realm that they were in and dragged him, as well as the Elder Dragon in question, into the void between worlds and the chaos that lay within. Seconds later, or it might as well have been an eternity, the Elder Dragon opened a breach to a dimension, which they both crashed into.
Harry quickly righted himself in mid-air, returning to his human form, and landed relatively gracefully, letting the protection charm fade away, as he had no need of it. It had done its purpose and protected him from the void, though the Elder Dragon before him had not been as lucky.
The stars that made up its body were dimmer and more scattered than they used to be. The creature itself was slumping on the ground, seemingly defeated, though the supernova that made up its eyes seemed to almost shine with an anger that had not been there before.
Of course, while this was an achievement, it didn't do much; there were at least a dozen other Elder Dragons out there, all of whom showed themselves in the realm they landed in, one that looked almost like an endless desert. They remained in the sky, staring down at him, their stars shining ominously. Harry had the impression that he might have made them angry, and so, he gave them a sheepish look, "I don't suppose you'd believe me if you said that it was an accident."
Each of the Elder Dragons opened its maw, ready to smite him, or whatever the hell their attacks would be. Only then, he simply raised his hand and spoke up with an urgent tone, "Wait!"
For just a moment, Harry saw them hesitate, and a smile grew on his face as he continued, "Did you really think that we're in this realm by coincidence?"
Just as they grasped what he did, Harry activated his trap, for this was more than just a desert, but a realm of dreams, and inside, the laws of time were far more… flexible. The runes that he had subtly weaved through folding space-time within the realm lit up, illuminating the realm in a faint green glow, and time itself began to freeze before him, trapping the Elder Dragons within them.
The truth was that Harry wasn't exactly sure what it would take to kill an Elder Dragon. He hadn't really done that before, and from what he could see, they were… more than just normal living creatures, even when one would discount their power.
He could probably manage to come up with some Entropy-based curse that would suck the energy from them, but that would take far too long to fully work. Using the chaos between dimensions was an option, but every instinct told him that it wouldn't be a good idea to let the Outsiders potentially have more information about the Elder Dragons and their power.
There was also the potential to use something more conceptual, like Death to do it, but that was something that he would wish to avoid. Such acts always ended up being more trouble than they were worth.
The best option that he had was to use the fragment of Light to enforce order, or perhaps, stillness into their beings, forcing them to die, but he didn't even want to think about how draining that would be, and the fact that he would need to do it at least a dozen of times to make that happen, and he didn't think that the others would just stand aside and not try to help their kin.
Lucky for Harry, he didn't have to kill them, just delay them until Daphne was finished with her side of things, and this was something that he could do, especially after luring them all into a very specific realm, after injuring one of their numbers with his last stunt.
This trap, empowered by the realm of Dreams itself, would have been perfect against most other creatures, even gods, but the Elder Dragons were certainly not ordinary opponents.
As if to prove his point, the still forms of the Elder Dragons flickered forward by a fraction, more glitching than any form of actual movement, their stars pulsed violently, resisting, rejecting the imposed stillness.
Then it happened again, and again, as they raced closer and closer towards Harry, and eventually, they would break the trap, something that he would not allow to happen.And so, he used his soul to puppeteer R'hllor's realm through his ring, to further empower the trap.
It wasn't exactly the best path forward. The entire mechanism was based on soul magic, where he needed to use his soul to channel the power of the fragment of Light, which was quite straining. Harry had used this method because it allowed his control to be more finite, but also to work outside the material realm, something that he was very glad to do.
Still, he had used the fragment of Light with relative moderation, in small bursts with lingering effects, a strategy that he had abandoned at this moment. After all, this realm was flexible enough that the energy was not as straining as it could have been, and he was confident enough that he could hold out until Daphne sent him the signal, even if he wouldn't be having a good time.
Just as he expected, it worked; the approaching dragons stopped utterly, frozen in time. Harry braced himself for them to attempt to pierce through his protections, ready to react with the fragment of Light in some way, only for nothing to happen.
There was no form of resistance or attempt at breaking his spell, which Harry found puzzling. At least, he had, until his eyes widened as he felt his connection with the fragment of Light stutter for just a moment, destabilising the spell. The backlash alone sent him flying back, and that was without the incoming attack from the Elder Dragons.
Great barriers of space-time fell from the sky, which attempted to imprison him, but Harry raised his hand, crushing the structured veil of space, and slowly stood up. He looked up and glared at his opponents, "This trick again, huh? Attacking Qohor to destabilise how I am controlling the Light."
"INEVITABLE!"
As much as Harry wouldn't have wanted to deny it, the Elder Dragons' answer was correct. He didn't know how they were doing it (he could see dozens of ways to achieve it), but it was obvious that they were actively interfering in Qohor to stop Harry from using the fragment of Light, and that meant that there was no reason why they couldn't undo his magic there, meaning that the fragment of Light would be unclaimed once more.
And yet, despite it all, Harry began to laugh. He could almost feel the confusion that the creatures before him emanated, which made it all even funnier. He was still stifling chuckles as he spoke up, "It's funny, isn't it? All this time, you've always been one step ahead. I commend you for that. It has been a while since I've had an opponent that outplayed me like this, but you really got overconfident. That was your biggest mistake, forgetting that I wouldn't have learned from our previous encounter. After all, to the victor go the spoils."
Before they could reply, Harry winced in preparation and activated one of his backup plans, one that he would have dearly wished to avoid, but it seemed that his hands were forced. This was probably going to suck, but it would work as a delaying tactic.
Through his ring, he sent a single yet important command, its last command, one that did not manipulate R'hllor's realm in any way. In Qohor, in a world away, the great tree hidden beneath layers of illusion shifted slightly, with one of its roots moving at blinding speeds, bypassing the time-loop that Harry had designed, and impaling the final spark of R'hllor's life, which had lived on in his last follower.
After all this time, R'hllor was finally dead, taking his realm with him, and more importantly, his legacy, the fragment of Light, became unclaimed, for just a moment, but not for long, for as he said, to the victor went the spoils.
Harry did not have it in him to enjoy having outplayed the Elder Dragons as an immense pain began to travel through him, one that was unlike anything that he had ever felt before. It traversed through him, trying to burn everything that he was, or had been.
For Harry was now the Lord of Light, and if he had to put it in a few words, it would be that it was one of immense pain. The power was great, probably greater than anything he had ever witnessed before, but it was, without a doubt, not meant for a mortal to wield. He had been so inefficient in its use before, using but a fraction of its power, like a child's accidental magic, as opposed to the precision of a fully trained wizard.
After all, as powerful as he was, Harry remained limited, a being of flesh and blood. He could feel it, the urge to ascend, to become more than just flesh and blood, to become more than a mortal, and it seemed so tempting…
And yet, he refused it. He stifled it down, knowing that it would likely not end well for him, and instead, he reached for the resurrection stone, which protected his soul from it, though he was using this realm of Dreams to power it, the black stone sucking away everything that surrounded him to stave it off.
He looked upon the world, the pain still present, but tolerable, and he looked upon the Elder Dragons, who seemed baffled by his action, and spoke up, his voice layered with something deeper within, "I stand before you as the Lord of Light, the Lord of Space and Time. Leave this plane, O' Dragons of the Stars, for your actions court death."
Unfortunately for them, the Elder Dragons did not seem to take his merciful offer, and all of them leapt towards him, joining together into a great creature of night and stars, almost enveloping the realm of Dreams into a cosmos, as it greatly attempted to swallow him whole, alongside the realm itself.
Yet, he was not concerned and simply raised his hand, letting an ever-shifting flame appear and hover above it, and used it to crush a small statuette of Dragonglass that he had transmuted the Cannibal into.
After all, Valyrian dragons were created through blood magic and fleshcraft, combining many magical creatures, from Firewyrms to Wyverns, to create powerful beings that would allow their rider to conquer the world. At their base, though, allowing such a creature to grow so much was a minuscule essence of the Elder Dragons that lay dormant beneath it all.
And Harry had ripped it out, and used it as a component to a spell, or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a command, for he was the Lord of Light, and he spoke a single word, just as the maw of his enemy prepared to close around him, "BEGONE!!"
The realm he stood in convulsed at this edict, more so as the amalgamation of stars surged forward, fighting against the command, its form unravelling and reforming in rapid succession, trying to kill Harry before his words came into effect, yet he remained there, unafraid, and with absolute conviction that he would not fail.
He was proven to be correct as the world turned white, and the Lord of Light felt himself being pushed back nonetheless into a breach from the sheer power that he had released, though he easily manipulated it to return in the Materium.
His landing was not exactly graceful, with some debris coming with him through the breach, but he could bring himself to be bothered by it. After all, the Elder Dragons were gone, banished. He did not know what truly happened to them, or where they went, nor did he care. Such details felt somewhat unimportant, at least compared to the possibilities before him.
Harry looked around the world, sung into existence through the Light that he was now a master of. Oh, how easy it would be to command it all, to make it great, to unmake it. These were only thoughts that drifted into his mind, though he was distracted from them, as he felt something vibrate on his finger.
Ah, yes, his wedding ring. Daphne would have used hers to…
Daphne…
The thought alone felt like a splash of cold water on his face.
What the fuck was he thinking of? He put more energy into the resurrection stone and felt his thoughts become clearer, and yet at the cost of the pain that he had almost forgotten about.
To think that even the resurrection stone could do so much to stave off the effects of this fragment of Light. Raised his hand and instinctively summoned the rest of the Deathly Hallows back to him, even the cloak, which he had lent to Daphne, returning like an old friend, covering him, and soothing his body, alongside his family crest.
With the Elder Wand in one hand, and the hovering Resurrection stone in another, the shard of ever-shifting flames appeared before him, as if indignant at the idea of being restrained, and trying to escape it, though the Death Hallows held, even for now.
Finally, Harry felt like he was himself again, and he whispered to himself, "What a fucking trip. I hate this thing…"
Honestly, he was just relieved; this could have been worse. Much… much worse. Harry had no words to really describe what happened. It was like the fragment of Light was resonating with an aspect of Harry that resembled it the most, the idea of order from chaos, or perhaps the callous part of him, that saw only the bigger picture… It was not something he wished to ever experience again, if he had any choice, and hopefully, he wouldn't need to.
The fragment of Light almost shook at these thoughts, as if it tried to escape his hold on it. Given the power lain within, it must have realised what Harry's plan truly was and obviously did not approve of it. Yet, Harry channelled more of his magic towards the Hallows, ensuring that the fragment would remain locked away.
It was only then that he felt that he was not alone. He felt as if he was observed by countless creatures, powerful creatures. Gods, demons, anything with a realm, and perhaps others, realised the monumental event that had just occurred, for a mortal had claimed the very legacy of creation, invisible chains that bound them that they did not even know of. The fragment of Light was free, and at this moment, Harry had the attention of every creature in the universe, who were probably preparing for war, a divine war, which had been the primary reason why Harry had not just killed R'hllor during their confrontation in Qohor in the first place.
And yet, he wasn't bothered. After all, there might have been a few hiccups in the last part of the plan, but everything was completely set up for this one. And so, Harry Potter looked up towards them, readying himself for the final part of this day and began to sing, knowing the world would forever be unchanged after that.
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The Mysterious and Cursed Lands of Sothoryos
By Malora Hightower of Oldtown
Oh, father, it seemed that the gods were kind to me this day, for after over a fortnight of foraging into the endless plains of Sothoryos, we have finally found ourselves witnessing something different.
We still failed to find Yeen or even the remnant of any settlement, for there seemed to be no trace of civilisation in these cursed lands, which seemed to stretch almost endlessly south, with no end in sight. The Maesters may claim that the world is a great sphere of a sort, but I find myself doubting these claims, as there must have been an end to the endless plains that we roamed. Despite the fertile soil and green grass, a perfect place for wildlife to exist, we have yet to witness a single living creature.
I confess that I had almost given up on my quest and returned North with the riches that we found in the jungles in the north of Sothoryos, and yet I knew that the mystery would continue to haunt my thoughts and dreams forevermore.
Thankfully, my perseverance was rewarded, for I found a singularly strange object in a crater within the plains of Sothoryos, the only deformity that I had seen in the grass and soil that I have witnessed in my journey.
It is solid in nature, and I can feel its weight, Father, its power. It looks like a scale of some sort, one that seemed to hold twinkling stars within. I know not what it is, or if it truly is a scale of some sort, but it did resemble that of the King's dragon during one of their performative dances back in the Capital. If it is a scale, then it is certainly larger, and the size of the creature that it belonged to was far greater than even the Black Dread had been, by quite a large margin.
I know that Prince Aerys of Sunspear had requested a great bounty on any forgotten dragon lore found in the world, and perhaps this would uncover much of the origin of dragons. Given certain… rumours that I have heard of his temperament, I do not think it wise to grant it to him, of course, for I can feel the power that lies within this singular scale, and the damage misusing such an artefact would bring, but even in my failures in solving the mysteries of Sothoryos, this present an even greater challenge. I have decided to stop my ventures south and to make my journey back home, for I will now not come back empty-handed, and I will admit that I miss the Hightower and our family.
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AN: That chapter really got away from me, and I'm not really sure about it. I tried to show what a dimensional battle would look like from Harry's perspective, and the damage shown in the realm he used in his fight against the Elder Dragons, which could have been far more drastic, hence why both sides tried to avoid the conflict. Claiming the Light was always supposed to be a last resort for Harry, and it was, since it was either that or giving it up, something that he couldn't afford to do, given the rest of his plan (trying to avoid spoilers, sorry).
Anyway, the Light itself is a bit alien, and with a will of its own, that resonates with aspects of people, a shift of perception, to allow someone to harness its power. The idea was to make it so that claiming it would have consequences, especially the more it is used, which I used to raise the question as to how it affected R'hllor and turned him into the god that he became later. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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