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(EM Vol. 2: A Wandering Melody) Chapter 57: Of Fiery Ends
🕑 Added 2025-08-23 14:00:06 +0000 UTCChapter 57: Of Fiery Ends
123 AC, Valyria
She could feel the threads tugging at her again, rearranging, warping. Because of the Potters. And somehow, she knew it wasn’t just her path that had changed this time. How could it not, when magic was free once more?
Helaena stared at the trapped demon… creature… monster… What did Lord Harry call it again? Ah, yes, an Outsider. That certainly fit the creature before her, something outside the common, outside the tapestry in her mind, fraying everything in sight. Either way, the Outsider found itself faced with a dilemma of answering the questions and being banished back to where it came from or being imprisoned forever in this tower.
The Outsider did not answer, as she expected. But it did not screech or react in any meaningful way, either. Was it truly choosing imprisonment?
She turned towards Lord Harry, expecting to see him angry, and if anything, the smug smirk on his face widened, “Come on, everyone likes to brag about their achievements. The way I see it, you highjacked the Black Stone to communicate with the material realm, specifically to Vaeron. I don’t know where it came from, if it was always there, or if it belonged to a god, but from what I can tell, this stone acts as a medium between realms, specifically to avoid any of the void spilling over. No, you killed the god associated with it… That’s not quite right either. Oh, you corrupted the god, cannibalised him, to send the message through his realm into this one, all for a single mortal, Vaeron. You sent him nudges, ideas, on how to create Valyrian Steel, how to use souls in such a crude way. But you didn’t need it to be delicate, did you? You only needed it to work.”
The Outsider had gotten stiller with every word that came out of Lord Harry’s mouth, its featureless face staring in what must have been pure shock. It opened its maw to release a screech, and Helaena winced in preparation, only for nothing to happen. “One of the many perks of being all fleshy and stuff, or perhaps flaws. It’s easy to lie with your words, but it’s very hard to lie with your body and reaction. People learn to hide it, of course, but you, my dear, are barely more than a newborn to this realm and intricacies.”
It stilled once more, and Lord Harry continued, “Back to the matter at hand, Vaeron was perfect, wasn’t he? Smart enough to figure out what little guidance you left him, but dumb enough to trust it in the first place. He was ambitious enough that he would be reckless when he thought the situation warranted it, but with a mind weak enough that you’d trap him in your endless dream. It must have been so easy, wasn’t it? To give a human a spark and watch as they blow themselves with it. You put the idea in his head that whatever was here was a path to greatness, to godhood. You made him think that his steel was the way to do it, and he kept killing people, hundreds of thousands, millions if you considered how he shared his secret with other families. Until he found it, the right combination of souls and the right dragon egg to reach the void. If I had to guess, it had to be descendants of the Dragonlord families, and a dragon Egg that might have enough of a spark of the Elder Dragons. Because that was what it was about, huh? Usurping the Elder Dragons’ authority for just a few moments, to partially open the seal, enough for you to make a connection to this realm, to be able to interfere. This means that this breach, this wound in reality, was closed before. The Elder Dragons wanted their presence to slowly mend it, for some reason, which means that this existed for a long time, probably before Valyria was even created. No, it was built around this place, to protect it from fools who would meddle, who would pry it open. Which seemed to have failed horrendously, if I say so myself.”
Helaena couldn’t help but look at the sorcerer with admiration in her eyes. This wasn’t a battle of magic or power, but simply reading the creature’s expressions, making enough guesses to get one right and continuing on that path. It was a clever way of listening without saying a single word, a way to see the truth in a person, a skill that she wished she could have, given that she lived in King’s Landing.
As if to prove her point, the man continued fearlessly, “Of course, the dragons stopped you from expressing yourself in a meaningful way and rupturing reality, but you got what you wanted, didn’t you? The question remains as to what it is that you want from this scheme. And that’s a pointed question, isn’t it? I doubt that any physical being could understand your thoughts or ambitions. We’re all so limited, don’t you think? But if I had to guess, you wouldn’t want to express yourself fully. After all, destroying this realm gets you nothing. And there are still a few gods that wouldn’t like you messing around with their sand pit. They’d get all annoyed and throw tantrums. This also isn’t about the corruption. It’s just a result of your presence. I see, this was about forcing the Elder Dragons’ hands, to make them react… No, that’s not it… This was about making them not react at all, a distraction…”
Lord Harry barely moved away in time for the Outsider to literally leap from its prison and try to impale it with its claws, despite the fact that it looked like it was literally burning. The creature was willing to endure what seemed to be a very severe form of pain, just to try to kill Lord Harry?
Thankfully, the sorcerer had evaded the strike perfectly, and walked up to the creature who had retracted its burnt hand back to its prison, “I touched a sore spot, didn’t I? I can’t help but wonder why? Oh, this is brilliant. This is more than a distraction; this is a prison, an ultimatum. Your presence here forces them to stay to contain your effect on reality. Very clever, but you went through so much effort for just a distraction, to make sure they wouldn’t interfere in something else. I’m getting it now, something like the Long Night. That’s the connection, isn’t it? But it also means that you’re not working alone, are you?”
The Outsider hissed at Lord Harry, who stared there impassively. For the first time, even Helaena could tell that it was unsettled, “You’re angry… No, you’re afraid. I didn’t even think that a creature like you could feel fear. What of, I wonder? Don’t worry, we’ll get there eventually.”
The creature stilled and turned towards Lord Harry in an eerily calm way. The sorcerer faced it, his head held high and stared at its featureless face. They stayed like this for a minute before something unexpected happened. The Outsider spoke.
It didn’t come from its mouth or anything. It was more akin to whispers originating from everywhere in the ruined tower, a sound without a source, hissing like steam forced through cracks in stone, layered voices overlapping as if hundreds spoke at once, each just slightly out of sync, “NIGHT WILL COME AND SILENCE WILL FALL.”
That was it, and even Lord Harry looked shocked by the reveal and slightly confused.
Helaena knew that he was going to push further and make the Outsider explain more. However, the creature in question started to screech. Like normal, nothing had happened because of the golden shield protecting them. Yet, it kept screeching, making it feel louder and louder, yet it kept screeching, louder and louder, until the very air around them trembled. The Black Stone began to glow faintly, cracks forming along its surface before it started to melt, dripping into the molten river beneath them.
Without it, the Golden Light that it restrained flew through and hit the creature. Helaena could see its body quickly being eaten away, and yet, it kept screeching, bending everything around it, and then… silence.
The screech stopped mid-note, cut off so abruptly that it made Helaena’s ears ring in the absence of sound. The Outsider’s body twisted once, then collapsed in on itself, dissolving into nothing as the last fragments of its form were devoured by the Elder Dragons’ light.
Helaena stared at the empty space where it had stood, frozen. “What… what just happened?” she asked, her voice quieter than she intended.
Lord Harry didn’t look away from the melted Black Stone, his expression unreadable. “It killed itself,” he said finally, voice low. “Better to destroy its vessel than risk answering the wrong question. It thought that Death was more preferable than failure. It even closed the breach completely, or more likely, it stopped channelling energy through it and used the Elder Dragons’ signature to seal it down completely. Even the Black Stone is gone. Very clever, using our own trap to get its way. It definitely didn’t want us digging further, and it succeeded. I definitely didn’t expect it to kill itself so easily, which means that something made it very, very afraid. That’s very irritating, but I suppose we had enough excitement for one day.”
“What now?” The young princess asked.
Surprisingly, it was Lady Daphne who answered this time, “The corruption still exists, even if it won’t spread. It’s still in the ground, seeped through everything that has survived here for over two centuries. It will take some time for it to fade away, if it ever does. What do you think about lending a bit of a hand?”
Helaena’s eyes widened. Was she offering that they heal Valyria of the corruption, of making it habitable again? She turned towards Lord Harry with a pleading gaze and noticed that his wife was giving him an intense look. A smirk formed on his face, “Huh? Helaena Targaryen, the Saviour of Valyria… How does that sound, kiddo?”
“Yes, Lord Harry. Let’s heal Valyria.”
“Well, I suppose I should get some use out of the ward. It would be disrespectful not to do it. Millions of lives, left to waste.”
The sorcerer stood up, gazing at the red comet above, and nodded to himself. He raised his hand, and for just a moment, Helaena saw a glimpse of the power within him. A giant golden circle appeared in the sky above, with hundreds of symbols appearing. The circle started to spin, and she noticed that thousands of the symbols appeared all over Valyria, spinning with the circle, whose glow intensified with every word.
She could see the golden trees that she had planted glow as well with the circle, and yet, the circle kept turning faster, and with it, a gust of wind started to show itself, faintly ruffling the man’s hair, in a way that made him look mighty… powerful.
He then spoke, only this time, his green eyes were almost glowing, “We do this to honour those who had been oppressed, who were turned away, enslaved, sacrificed, for this cursed place’s sins. We do this so that their lives would not be given in vain, that they would continue to grow, and protect this place. We do this so that the world would remember them, their sacrifice, that it wouldn’t all be in vain, that this place would have a fragment of them within, forever. We do this to break the cycle of blood and ash, to end the silence imposed by fear, and to let life take root where death once reigned. Let the earth breathe again. Let the wounds close.”
The symbols pulsed once, synchronising with the beating of her heart, and Helaena felt the air thrum with power, old as the bones of the world. The circle above blazed brighter, and the wind became a roar, before everything exploded in a golden light.
Helaena immediately saw the consequences of the spell as the greyness of Valyria disappeared. She saw in the distance, the sea going back to normal instead of being bubbling black. The fog from the smoking sea looked lighter, like a normal fog. Most of the creatures were gone, and she knew instinctively that it was just the creatures seeped in corruption. The air smelt fresh, in a way, and it was easier to breathe.
The young princess’ features morphed into a content smile.
There was something about truly affecting the world in a meaningful way that appealed to Helaena. This act, this decision today, would be remembered for hundreds, if not thousands of years, just like the Doom had before. They likely wouldn’t know of her, but that was fine. They would know of her actions. Still, it was a shame that no one would know; she liked the sound of ‘Helaena Targaryen, the Saviour of Valyria’.
A small, very vindictive part of her wished that her father realise that it was the daughter that he dismissed that had braved through his precious Valyria, that she fought its monsters, while he spent years huddled in his tomes, playing with his marble model.
Well, Lord Harry and Lady Daphne did most of the work, but she had helped, a bit. She did plant the trees, and that was important, and she was sure that her blood had helped with the ritual in some way. Why else would Lady Daphne have asked her to bleed on each Valyrian Steel sword she impaled onto the ground?
Still, the sight before her was wonderful, a healed Valyria. She turned towards Lord Harry in wonder and noticed that he was frowning, “What is it?”
“Oh, nothing,” he replied while casually waving his hand, “Just a small pest. I took care of it. But tell me, what do you think?”
“It’s beautiful!”
“Yeah, it must have been once. The Elder Dragons’ signature, amplified by the ritual and the souls, destroyed any corruption here. Over decades, the Ley Line will heal with the energy seeped inside it, and it’ll create an eternal protection of some sort, a land always radiating its magic in case the breach was somehow opened again. A very clever design, if I say so myself. Eventually, things will start to grow again. Wonderful, don’t you think?”
The moment he finished his speech, the ground rumbled, and Lord Harry’s eyes widened before yelling out, “You son of a bitch.”
Then, in the distance, the volcanoes erupted, letting out clouds of smoke and layers of lava. She turned towards the sorcerers in panic but saw that Lord Harry’s anger had quickly morphed into amusement, as he was snickering to himself.
“Why are you laughing?” After all, it didn’t make sense. They were about to be swallowed by a volcanic eruption like Old Valyria.
“No, it’s fine. I haven’t been played like this in a while. Fucking sneaky dragons, I swear.”
She turned towards Lady Daphne. The older woman often explained things gently when Lord Harry didn’t make much sense, “He realised that the Elder Dragon tricked him. Harry got most of his answers from the encounter with the Outsider, and essentially did the Dragon’s bidding for nothing. This volcanic eruption is the Dragons leaving the volcanoes. We can’t feel their magic in the distance anymore. After all, why would they? Since Harry had all but mimicked their presence with the Ley Line.”
“I don’t normally like being used like this, but I have to admit that I respect the trickery involved. I got most of my answers without them uttering a single word. I suppose next time, I’ll pay them back. I have a feeling that we’ll see them again.”
Helaena, though, stared at the distance, as a cloud of scalding ash was nearing, “Lord Harry, the eruption.”
“Oh, right,” he muttered. The sorcerer waved his hand, and something flew from far away, a very small wooden boat that easily fit in his palm, “Wouldn’t want to forget that. Again.”
“Is that your ship?”
“Handy, huh? Very easy to carry around just in case, but I lost a few of them. I swear they’re like keys. Or socks. They just disappear. Daph won’t let me hear the end of it.”
The woman in question cleared her throat while rolling her eyes. Lord Harry stiffened slightly, “Oh, where was I? Ah, yes!”
He snapped his finger, and Helaena blinked, turning to find herself staring at the familiar form of Dragonstone. It wasn’t until she started to walk back to the fortress that she realised just how exhausted she was.
That was, of course, dashed by the apprehension she felt as she realised that her mother would have no doubt noticed her disappearance, and would definitely not be happy with her, or the fact that she had the Lannister Valyrian Steel sword, whose name she still couldn’t remember.
Thankfully, no one noticed her as she walked by, which she thought likely was an effect of the Potters’ magic. She arrived in her chambers very quickly and hid the sword under her bed. Thankfully, Aegon wasn’t there yet. It would have been very tricky to explain everything, especially given how tired she felt.
As Helaena prepared to go to sleep, she decided that she would deal with it all tomorrow. For now, her body ached, and the bed felt heavenly.
Still, as her eyes drifted shut, her thoughts lingered on what had happened. As far as adventures go, this definitely was an interesting one. She had just witnessed the second Doom of Valyria, a cleansing blow that would allow it all to heal. It would likely take centuries for it to be habitable once more, and Helaena couldn’t help but wonder if there would be anything left of Old Valyria by then.
Sleep claimed her quickly, and that night, she dreamt of fractured scales and shadows falling across the world.
AN: Phew, that was a tricky chapter to write. I had a lot of ideas for this one and different endings in mind. I decided on this because it felt a bit more fitting, but I’m not super sure about it. I also think that the pacing is a bit off, but I didn't want to drag things down too much. I know that some of you won't like the fact that Harry got played by the Elder Dragons, but well, it’s not over yet, and despite how smart he is, he can make mistakes. I also wanted to show that the Outsider picked something that Harry didn’t expect, given his ultimatum, a third option, since Harry’s questions made it terrified of what might happen if he knew more. Like I said, it was tricky, and I’m not sure I pulled it off, but I don’t mind rewriting this chapter depending on your feedback. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
Comments
Marius Petrauskas
nice
Marius Petrauskas
nice
