(EM Vol. 2: A Wandering Melody) Chapter 53: Of Dreaming Fires

Chapter 53: Of Dreaming Fires

123 AC, Valyria

A mischievous smirk appeared back on his face, one that had been absent for most of the expedition. He tilted his weird brown hat and spoke up, “Yep, it’s certainly interesting. Now, I think we spent enough time staring at the thing. How about we go say hello, huh?”

Helaena barely had any time to even think of Lord Harry’s answer when the sorcerer waved his hand and created a long slide made of magic, much like his odd circles, grabbed her as if he was giving her a hug, and jumped onto the slide while yelling out, “Geronimo!”

The princess yelped in shock at the audacity of the man’s actions. She knew that the Potters weren’t exactly traditional, or all that respectful of royalty. It made sense, in a way. After all, when one had access to magic or power much like the Potters had, the authority of a man with a crown didn’t have much meaning, even if his family had dragons. She had seen how easily they had restrained a dragon, one who was even larger than her Dreamfyre.

Still, she didn’t even know what a ‘Geronimo’ was or why the man had yelled it. She also didn’t appreciate being grabbed like a child. After the shock had worn off, she glared at the sorcerer, who had an unapologetic smile on his face.

She didn’t know how long they stayed sliding down, but she had gotten used to it near the end. The wind on her face, mixed with the heat she felt, made the journey feel a bit like the few times she had ridden Dreamfyre. That didn’t mean that she would forgive the man for grabbing her like that.

Yet, whatever thoughts of vengeance disappeared the moment she saw an immense reptilian eye open, illuminating most of the gaze with its purple light. It was larger than the biggest stallion she had ever seen in the royal stables. She had almost forgotten about the dragon, the one who looked even larger when they arrived closely.

Lord Harry, though, grinned wider, “Well, look at you. You’re an absolute beauty, aren’t you? I’ve heard rumours, stories, whispers really, but I’ve seen one of you.”

The dragon’s immense eye shifted towards the man before turning towards her. Helaena felt her lips move in ways that she did not think possible and release a sound, “STRANGER!”

The words weren’t in the common tongue or any of the Valyrian dialects. It wasn’t in any tongue, really, but it had shown her just how limited human language truly was. Somehow, the single word that she had uttered on the dragon’s behalf had so much information within, most of which she couldn’t even understand.

It was a greeting of some sort, an acknowledgement of Harry Potter’s presence, a man who had seen Death, defied Fate, fought Time to a standstill, and mastered Space. This was the man who had slain gods, created worlds with his song and soul. This was the man who wished to understand more than any man had before, and somehow, had succeeded, who travelled to impossible places, learning, sometimes even helping, much like he had her family.

It was too much, and Helaena gasped as she felt herself being drained of something. Lord Harry quickly helped her before she could fall over, and turned towards the dragon, “Elder Dragon or not, using a young girl like this is cruel, especially for a greeting of all things.”

She felt a general sense of regret, but also indifference, obviously mixed into it. Lord Harry seemed to have the same feeling and didn’t look happy with that general response, given the way his frown had deepened for a fraction of a second, before his jovial attitude took its place.

He turned back to the lone open eye, “Now, I have to say I didn’t expect to see one of your kind here, of all places. I mean, there isn’t much known about your motivations, of course, or why you’d choose to stay in certain places. Then again, it does make sense. You’re practically shifting in and out of existence with every breath. The energy you’re releasing is enough to slowly change the world around you, create a volcano, with Firewyrm evolving into existence, which was later combined with Wyverns using flesh crafting and blood magic to create the Valyrian dragons. Still, don’t know much about Wyverns, to be honest, so I’ll have to go check them out later. The question remains as to why an Elder Dragon would stay here, in this ruined city, a shadow of what it once was. Two hundred years isn’t a lot to someone with your lifespan, barely more than a blink of an eye, but you’d have to know that the corruption isn’t exactly nice to be around. Why protect this volcano specifically instead of leaving? Unless it’s not just this volcano, is it?”

The sorcerer gasped, “Oh, I’m such an idiot. Fourteen volcanoes, the Fourteen Flames, Fourteen Dragon Gods. Holy shit, there are fourteen Elder Dragons here. The locals must have found you and started worshipping you as gods. They’re not exactly far off, are they? Still, how the hell isn’t half of this continent in flames then, by the sheer proximity? The power alone should have been a beacon of magic in the area. Everything should be magical all the way to Yi-Ti at the very least, by your sheer presence alone. So, why stay here, away from the eggs I found back in Westeros?”

Lord Harry kept speaking like a man possessed, either claiming some of the most blasphemous things she had heard or something that she did not comprehend, which meant that they were likely just as blasphemous or even more so.

Helaena could understand why her ancestors worshipped these Dragons as gods. Their size alone was beyond measure, and the power she felt with just a word being spoken through her. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before, like a sun compared to the candle that was Dreamfyre. She understood now that the Valyrians had wished to emulate this raw power before them and had come up short, and yet that failure still allowed them to conquer over half of the known world.

Still, the man before her, whom she had gained such an insight into, spoke to the being before him with the same regard he gave her father, which was now amusing now that she thought about it. Yet, he argued, seemingly taking the odd expressions and general feelings that she felt, likely mirroring the dragon’s own feelings, who seemed actually content when the sorcerer mentioned the eggs, likely happy that they were safe, more than anything.

Helaena felt her lips move once more and release another word, “GUARD.”

Once more, there was enough information to fill a library in that single word, a tale more than anything. She got a general idea of them guarding something hidden in Valyria, before it was even called that in the first place, a remnant of a war long gone. That was all she could understand before she gasped in tiredness once more.

Lady Daphne quickly helped her stabilise and gave her a concerning look. She turned towards her husband, “She’s fine, just exhausted. I don’t think she can handle another one of these.

Lord Harry nodded and continued, “Then I suppose I’ll figure out the rest on my own. Your blood runs through her veins, doesn’t it? That’s how the Dragonriders gained that gift. They used the blood of one of your kind in their ritual, willingly given, of course, or they’d have burned into nothingness. You wanted them to be additional guards, maybe, or for something else… Oh, you can’t move, can you? You said that you’re guarding something, something from before it all, from what started all of this. Your presence, your magic, is dampening the spreading of Valyria’s corruption. So, that means that this is what you want to contain. You gave your blood, a blessing or perhaps just knowledge, I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care. The fact is that you gave the Valyrians something, which made them grow from sheep herders into the greatest power in the world. And you did that, in exchange for additional protection against the Corruption, likely something to do with moving, since you can’t exactly move around without destroying half of the continent.”

Helaena’s headache had disappeared, and she could feel herself getting far better. She could even feel the general feeling of approval at Lord Harry’s explanation, which seemingly made the sorcerer gasp in realisation, “Oh! Oh! That’s what happened, isn’t it? That’s what caused the Doom. You moved. You acted actively instead of hibernating, hoping that your presence would inevitably destroy that Corruption. Something happened with the corruption, something that you hadn’t seen coming, and you contained it, created that barrier to stop it from spreading, and that act alone cracked the Valyrian Peninsula in half, and wiped out the strongest civilisation in the world, one that had ruled half of the known world for thousands of years. All in a single moment. Magnificent and horrific.”

Helaena leaned towards the latter than the former. This dragon, this godly being, had wiped out her ancestral land in a thought. She couldn’t help but ask in a small voice, “How? How could a single action do all of this?”

For the first time since the dragon’s eyes opened, Lord Harry talked to her, “You don’t understand what Elder Dragons are. They are beings of power and authority, not really flesh and blood. They don’t belong here, in this place of existence, much like how gods can’t either. They need to interact through artefacts, avatars, and the like, a connection. Dragons are more flexible, of course, and could express themselves fully without a medium, but there’s a reason why they don’t like to do it. This size, what you see, is just a shell, the surface of an ocean compared to its depth. A single breath could likely wipe out mountains, and I’m not exaggerating, and only wiping out Valyria and its surroundings with just a single ward is a testament to their control. It’s also why he’s speaking through you, using whatever connection he has to your bloodline and your status as a Dragonrider, and also your ability as a Seer, instead of actively doing so.”

She could feel more approval and slight surprise emanate from the dragon, and Lord Harry spoke up once more, “But what is this corruption. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s odd, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and believe me, I’ve seen my fair share of weird shit. Well, anyway, given the way everything went to shit, just a few thousand years after humanity settled on this place, some idiot decided to prod at whatever you were protecting, and you ended up having to intervene directly to contain it, which caused the Doom, but with the corruption still running rampant here. You’re probably planning on waiting to diffuse the situation of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of years. After all, you’ve got the time to wait. So, the question remains as to what this Corruption is, and how it relates to the White Walkers.”

He raised the wolf medallion towards the Dragon’s eye, and she could feel the dragon’s interest rise as it saw the object. She could feel a small prod in her mind, a request to speak once more. The dragon must have realised how exhausted she felt and asked her to help him. She could feel it, though, that it would be the final time, that she didn’t have the strength to do anything else.

A choice. She had a choice before her. How long had it been since she had one? She almost couldn’t remember at all, which made her feel oddly sad. All of her life, everything had been decided for her. Her song was a tragedy, forced to endure her mother’s hate for Rhaenyra, forced to live by her grandfather’s ambitions, forced to marry a husband who would never love her or honour her, her children slated for death, no matter the path she took. She was as retrained by her own dreams as she was by her family. She had only grown to enjoy freedom when she came to Dragonstone, when the Potters changed everything.

She had come to their manse knowing that she would change in the end, and it seemed to completely centre around this single choice, all centred towards a decision, to speak or not to speak, granted to her thanks to a dragon who was also a god. She never thought that this would be one of the most important decisions in her life.

Before her, the strands that she had cursed all her life seemed to knot up before her, the connection to the dragon giving her more insight than she usually had. She could see the impact of her decisions, her visions oddly clear. She saw the impact of refusal, the darkness rising from Valyria and spreading all over the world, as compared to speaking out and betting on the uncertainty that the Potters always brought, that they would help stop this.

She also knew, deep down, that she wouldn’t be hurt by speaking. That this would be worth the consequences. She remembered her children, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. She would not allow them to grow in a world where such darkness existed. She took a deep breath and accepted the dragon’s offer.

Lord Harry’s eyes widened, realising what would happen, “Wait! Don’t!”

However, Helaena didn’t listen. Her own mouth opened and she spoke a word so strange to her that she never thought possible, “ASSISTANCE!”

This time, the word had much more substance than ever before. It was a request for help addressed to the Potters, as the Corruption was still growing quite quickly, despite the Dragons’ spells, that they would need to actively intervene soon, or it would spread too much. She wasn’t sure what the consequences would be, but they would be grave. From Lord Harry’s words, it would be disastrous. He wanted the Potters to stop it, and in exchange, they would get their answers about the corruption’s nature and why the Elder Dragons remained to stop it.

That was the most Helaena understood before she felt her strength leaving her, and her head spun. A few dots growing in her sight, and she felt Lady Daphne releasing some kind of white light that spread warmth all over her body, slowing down the coming darkness.

Despite her state, she could still understand through her connection to the Elder Dragon what Lord Harry stated, “That was cruel, preying on her like that. You were the one who summoned her here, weren’t you? You were the one who gave her to urge to come, knowing that she would end here. If you’ve manipulated things to this extent, messed with a struggling Seer’s connection to Fate, why would I possibly do this for you?”

The young princess could feel the slight sorrow that the dragon felt, even if it was drowned by indifference. It did not care if she lived or died, only to stop the Corruption, in fear that it would swallow everything.

Despite everything, the Potters' refusal of this task would inevitably cause more harm than good, and Helaena needed to tell them. She practically rasped out as loud as she could, but most likely came out as a whisper, “Not for him. For me. Please, Lord Harry, do it for me. It’s important.”

Lord Harry turned towards her and gave her a compassionate look, “Are you sure, Helaena?”

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

The sorcerer turned towards the giant dragon and stared at its unblinking eye, “You’re very lucky that you brought Helaena here. But let me tell you very clearly, after I find that corruption, after I’m done, I’ll be back. I’ll have questions and I’ll be expecting answers. And if I don’t like them, if Helaena is hurt because of how much you pushed her, then you’ll answer to me. You know who I am and what I’m capable of. Don’t test me.”

That was the last thing she heard before the dark spots in her visions started to overwhelm them. She saw the giant dragon’s eye finally close, but she could feel it slightly, the amusement that the god-like being felt, but she also noticed that buried deep down was a small spark of apprehension.

Then everything turned black, and she fell unconscious in Lady Daphne’s arms.

AN: Phew, that was a lot harder to write than I expected and a bit too lore-heavy. I wanted to introduce Elder Dragons properly, especially since I mentioned them in passing in the last story. It was a plotline that I decided not to explore, so you probably didn’t miss it. I also wanted to include Helaena a bit and make her the perfect Targaryen since the Elder Dragon hijacked her divination to speak with the Potters made that perfect.

I wasn’t sure about making her pass out in the end, but the mental strain about the way the Dragon communicated information bar basic emotions would hurt her. I thought about it and decided to make discovering the source of the corruption later in a more fitting way, and not in an ‘info dump’ chapter. Still, we're going back to properly exploring Valyria in the next chapter, and I'm really looking forward to that. Still, I’m not sure about a lot of things here, but I don’t mind rewriting this chapter depending on your feedback. So, as usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.