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(EM Vol. 2: A Wandering Melody) Chapter 12: Tales of Genesis
🕑 Added 2025-06-05 14:00:07 +0000 UTCChapter 12: Tales of Genesis
123 AC, Dragonstone
She didn’t know how, but she knew. Down in the heart of the Dragonmont, resting in fire and shadow, was a dragon egg. Lord Harry let out a low whistle, lips quirking upward, “Well,” he murmured, eyes locked on the impossible relic below. “This just got interesting.”
Rhaena didn’t know how long she stood there, staring at the dragon egg, but it had to have been a long time. She would never claim to be the most knowledgeable about her family’s history, but she did read as much Dragonlore as she could, in the hopes that anything could have helped her hatch her egg. Of course, nothing worked, and in the end, all it took was a powerful sorcerer seeing the sadness that she constantly tried to hide from her family, to just give Solarys to her as a gift.
Nevertheless, the knowledge remained. Sure, the reports could contradict one another, filled with more theory and opinion than actual fact. A lot of it looked to have been written by people who observed it from the outside, or Dragonriders who had documented their journey. It had been somewhat useful when it came to training Solarys, but her precious dragon was growing far faster than what was documented before, breathing fire in mere days instead of weeks or months, as they should have. Rhaena had a hunch that the gem that Lord Harry had given her had done more than just hatch the egg. She would ask him about it later.
All in all, Rhaena was somewhat knowledgeable about dragon eggs, and she knew for a fact that what she was seeing before her should have been impossible. The size alone should have been impossible, that was ignoring anything else.
She wanted to get closer, and her companions seemed to get the same idea. Lady Daphne raised her hand, and small stairs of wood appeared beneath them, letting them walk slowly down to the cavern. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she asked loudly, “How is this possible? How could such a thing exist underneath the Dragonmont without my family’s knowledge?”
“You’ve got it all wrong,” Lord Harry said, “This doesn’t exist underneath the Dragonmont. This is the Dragonmont. There are many ways that a volcano could form, and I won’t bore you with the details, but I couldn’t find any of them. The dragon egg is generating so much heat, so much magic, that an entire volcano formed around it. The main question is why it is supported by Weirwood trees. What do the Old Gods and the Children of the Forest have to do with a dragon egg, especially one like this? And did the Valyrians know what this was when they sent their expedition here? I think they did at least have an idea. There must have been a reason why they chose to make an outpost in this island of all places.”
Rhaena was flabbergasted by this. The castle of Dragonstone was famously built around the Dragonmont. Many did wonder why the Targaryens chose this place, as opposed to a more prosperous island, to settle on when fleeing the Doom. It did complicate things. Very few things grew naturally on the island, and it got uncomfortably hot during summer. Most postulated that it had to do with their dragons growing better around the heat, and that the environment was somewhat similar to the Valyrian Peninsula. Now, to think that so much of her family’s history came because of this dragon egg, Rhaena couldn’t help but feel small, but that did clear up a few things: “The castle was built to guard this place, not as an outpost for Old Valyria to invade Westeros eventually.”
Lady Daphne was the one who answered, “That’s very likely true. The castle is old. Very old. And if it were built to invade Westeros, they would have done it a long time ago. No, your family likely didn’t build it, but settled on it after the Doom, when people had all but forgotten about it. And as you noticed, Westerosi are very stubborn in their culture, even after Aegon the Conqueror united the realm. They would have seen it as being uselessly problematic, with very little to gain from the effort, especially the outright hate against slavery and magic.”
By the end of the speech, Rhaena found herself at the bottom of the cavern, right in front of the Weirwood trees. There were faces carved into them, of course, and strange symbols as well. Nevertheless, Lord Harry seemed to be mostly focused on the egg, “How curious…”
“What’s curious?” Rhaena couldn’t help but ask.
“This egg is natural.”
“I don’t understand,” she asked, confused by that answer. Weren’t all dragon eggs natural?
“Your family’s dragons were not born like a normal living being. They were created using blood magic. It shows in their magic. It feels patched together with an artificial taste. It doesn’t mean that they’re bad, only a product of man, not nature. However, I can feel the history of this egg. It’s more complete, more natural. There are some similarities, of course, but in the sense that your ancestors probably used that magic to create their dragons.”
Their dragons were not natural? That was the first time she ever heard of it, and as much as she wanted to deny it, Rhaena felt her blood sing as the dragon egg pulsed what must have been magic. It felt more raw, more primal, than any of her dragons, even Solarys.
She would need to research it a lot more. A part of her simply craved to understand what was before her, to understand her legacy, her family’s legacy. This was already worth the danger that she had gone through.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Lord Harry continuing as a part of a lecture, “The creatures we saw here, the elementally charged ones who gained sentience, they’re all security measures for the egg. The magic it radiates creates life, in a twisted way, and that life protects its energy. A very clever mechanism, to say the least.”
Lady Daphne, on the other hand, seemed mostly taken by the Weirwood Trees, specifically the symbols on them, “The first men's runes, do you recognise what they say?”
Her husband responded, “I haven’t learned them, but I can sense the intent.” He hummed for a few moments, his hand hovering over the tree before muttering, “They’re using the egg to power something. No, it’s more than that. It’s an exchange. They’re refining the magic to power some sort of protective ward. It’s very raw, but I can tell it wants to attack anything with traces of necromancy in it. Oh, it was protecting the egg from the White Walkers, probably. And they used some of the remaining magic to power something. It’s just channelling some energy, nothing more. It might be somewhat unrefined compared to what we can do, but it’s surprisingly robust. It hasn’t been altered for thousands of years, as far as I can tell, which is pretty impressive.”
Rhaena barely understood half of what the man said, but it seemed that the Children of the Forest had protected the egg against the Others somehow. That was a guess at best, of course. Yet, Lady Daphne seemed to understand it completely, given the nod she gave her husband, and she knelt down, near the roots of the Weirwood trees, and tried to reach for something.
The stone around the tree seemed to melt around her hand, as if it thought that it was unworthy of touching her skin. She knelt down and retrieved what seemed to be a sword, made of some sort of black steel. The hilt looked very worn down, but it looked mundane, but it was the blade itself who looked extremely sharp, almost unharmed, despite its age.
The golden-haired woman lifted it casually and gave it a careful look. “I guess we found out what it’s powering. The trees are infusing some of the egg’s magic into thousands of these things.”
She threw it at Lord Harry, who grabbed it casually, and seemed to stare at it for a few minutes, “Yes. The material is oddly natural, just some bronze infused with the power from the egg and Dragonglass acting as a focus. I guess the name Dragonsteel was mistranslated. It originated from dragons, of course, but there isn’t any steel in it, just bronze whose colour and properties changed. It’s very strong, reinforced by magic, and the energy inside would make it extremely difficult to alter or shatter like normal weapons do against the White Walker’s magic. Still, it’s not supposed to spend thousands of years here; just a few months would have been enough for a blade to be serviceable. This isn’t the work of a single people, but that of both the Children of the Forest and the First Men, a way to fight against the White Walkers.”
“So, it’s like Valyrian Steel?” Rhaena asked, still barely understanding half of what Lord Harry said. He wasn’t kidding when he said that he was more like a Maester than a warrior. Despite scaring away a dragon and defeating the beings that guarded the dragon egg, he didn’t look as happy as he did when he was staring at this sword, solving the mystery of its origin.
“No, this predates Valyria,” the man replied, “But I can see some similarities in its construction. The Valyrians obviously tried to replicate it, probably having found a similar weapon somewhere else. For one, they used steel instead of bronze, as opposed to the first men. In my opinion, they did exceed it, as far as the weapon’s power would come. Valyrian Steel requires sacrifice, specifically fourteen lives and that of a dragon egg. No matter the ingenuity, infusing a weapon with a dragon’s magic will not be as powerful as the act of sacrifice. It’s an absolutely horrible way to forge a few weapons, of course, especially since very few people would be able to tell the difference in the first place, but Dragonsteel would lose its power over centuries without magic recharging it, while Valyrian Steel would not.”
That made Rhaena sick in the stomach. “People died to make Valyrian Steel?”
“Yes, I think I told your father when I met him and saw his sword. Although I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you.”
The young girl thought back at the pieces of jewellery that her father had gifted her during their time in Pentos, “What about jewellery? Would it need the same?”
“It would depend on the piece of jewellery. Theoretically, once you create the ingot using the sacrifices, you could separate it however you wanted, but that would weaken the enchantments, or maybe they could be used to connect all pieces of jewellery in some way. I can see some interesting applications of this, even if it’s extremely inefficient. I think it would depend on whoever commissioned it and how much they’d pay for it.”
Rhaena didn’t answer and instead focused on the molten earth surrounding them. She didn’t want to think of the blood on her hands, of the horrors caused to create a few things that she had casually worn at a few feasts. She had treasured them, of course, for their values, but unknowing of the true price of their creation. By the gods, there were hundreds of Valyrian Steel swords in Westeros alone, that was thousands of slaves killed just to forge the swords alone, that’s not counting the daggers and jewellery.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw something move in the molten earth. She had thought that it might have been her imagination, only that it kept happening. Something told her that it wasn’t normal, and she spoke up, “Lord Harry…”
She barely got time to finish as what seemed to be a serpent of molten earth rose from the pools and tried to kill her. She closed her eyes and saw a barrier appear, killing the beast immediately. Rhaena turned and saw that their small isle seemed surrounded by similar creatures as well, burning anything in front of them.
And yet, Rhaena didn’t have time to feel any despair as the sea of molten earth rose from the ground, and kept turning around them, taking with it all of the attackers. She looked towards Lord Harry, and she saw him having done nothing more than raise his hand. Yet, the world around him obeyed without question.
A few seconds later, the storm molten earth returned to the pool, and she couldn’t find any of the attacking creatures. She gave him a questioning look, and he spoke up, “Lava elementals, like the fire and wind ones we encountered before. A bit more powerful due to the proximity to the egg, but not much so.”
His wife gave him an unimpressed look, “I believe that’s enough excitement for today, Harry.”
Lord Harry gave her a confused look before looking at something on his wrist, some sort of strange contraption, and spoke up, “Oh, right. Daphne is right. This has been very informative, but we’ve been here for long enough.”
“What about the dragon egg?” Rhaena asked, “What would happen if it hatched?”
“The egg is still incubating,” Lady Daphne replied, “It will still take thousands of years for it to hatch.”
“But what kind of dragon would it hatch into. I’ve never seen anything of this size again.”
“And that will be something that we will discover at a later date.”
“But couldn’t anyone find it?” she protested.
“Don’t worry, kiddo. I’ll make sure no one does. And in the strange case that they do, there are still thousands of elemental creatures in this place that would protect the egg.”
“Will…” she spoke up hesitantly, “…Will you ever come back here?” she asked, voice soft, almost lost in the lingering hum of power that still throbbed through the cavern walls.
Lord Harry glanced at her, the corner of his mouth twitching upward, though the weight in his gaze belied the casualness of his smile. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. But if we do, how about we take you with us again?”
“Really?” She answered, exclaiming.
“Yes. How could we explore the origins of dragons without a child of Valyria in our midst?” He answered teasingly.
“I wish we didn’t have to leave so early.” She murmured, despite that feeling of warmth that spread through her at the man’s previous statement.
Lady Daphne placed a hand on Rhaena’s shoulder, gentle but firm, and gave her a nod. “You’ve seen more today than most Maesters will ever dream of. Your father, your stepmother, even your uncle, the King, would weep in envy if they knew what you’ve seen. But sometimes, seeing too much is a bad thing. You’ve had a small look behind the curtains, seen how the world works outside of kings and castles. Your view of the world has changed, and that isn’t something that can be easily accepted.”
Rhaena nodded, though a small part of her still longed to linger. Still, Lord Harry and Lady Daphne had told her explicitly to do as they said during their adventure, and so far, they hadn’t failed her at all. She was safe despite the dangers she had faced, and if it wasn’t for them, she wouldn’t have gotten to experience this in the first place.
And so, they turned, retracing their steps toward the winding path they had conjured, back through fire and stone. Yet Rhaena lingered, just a moment longer, gaze locked on the slumbering egg. She looked at it and imagined a dragon larger than a mountain, older than empires and kingdoms, older than even many myths.
Despite the treasures, despite the excitement and the adventures, as she looked at that magnificent egg, one last time, she knew deep down that Lady Daphne was telling the truth. Her life would never be the same again after this.
AN: I know that some of you will not like the fact that I didn’t explore the egg properly in this chapter, that I haven’t gotten Harry to hatch it or anything similar, but I do have some lore planned for it, and it will be important to the future. As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this depending on your feedback, so as usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
Comments
Marius Petrauskas
nice
Ajai Karthikeyan
Actually love that the egg didn’t hatch. You kill it at world building and you have to build a world beyond this story. 1000 years later 😁
Afterdark230
Well considering Harry can move through time easy enough spoilers for future chapters!
SweetKat21
I normally read via my email, but please let Harry rip Viserys a new one. The fact that he is such a terrible king and father… yes, I know that's not Harry personally, but to see someone finally tell him off would give me such pleasure. Other wise I feel like this chapter has been Rhaena awakening. The seeds might be little that they planted but they are impactful.
Monzter E
Good chapter!
TypistTyphon
Good chapter!
