Chapter 5: Those Beneath The Earth
"TURN US AWAY NOW, YOU MAN THE BALISTA, HALF SAIL" Corlys Shouted these Orders as they navigated the smoking sea, he had thought that by taking a more southern route they would be a little safer, however, they were wrong, what they did not know so that the temperatures of the Smoking sea were colder the further south you got and it became a very hospital place for creatures that come straight from nightmares.
When Corlys himself had only seen one of them throughout his adventures of the sea and that was enough. He looked on in horror as large muscular tentacles wrapped around one of the ships that sailed with them "SHOOT IT NOW!" He commanded but only the tentacles were visible, the body of the Kraken remained beneath the waves. Corlys could see the men screaming on the ship, they all wore coverings around their faces that were wet with water, the air on the smoking sea was thick and it was hard to breathe so they used these crude masks to filter the air.
Corlys saw one of his officers jump off the ship in hopes of swimming to another but as soon as he hit the water he started to scream, corlys watched as the water started to scald and boil the man alive as he fought to stay afloat, he turned to his First officer "Get the Barrels of water up here now!" He shouted to the man and he immediately obeyed his captain's orders.
Meanwhile, the crew of the other two ships tried to shoot the Kraken with their ballista, but it proved to be ineffective as even the bolts that managed to hit the tentacles did not drive very deep, it was then that Corlys had to make a choice, and he chose the one every captain would "Full sails! Get us out of here! Hold fire!" He commanded he could not waste ammunition on a condemned ship, the only thing he could do now was try and save the rest of them.
His crew reluctantly followed his orders as they stopped firing, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of footsteps and men screaming, though what followed was even more terrifying. The sound of wood creaking, and for a second everything was quiet the only sound was the increasing stress of the wood creaking under the pressure of the tentacles, finally, it all seemed to give way as the ship split in half. Water rushed through the gaps and men boiled alive, those who were below deck suffered the worse as they were stewed in the confines of the ship.
They sailed away from the men and the broken ship as it was pulled beneath the waves and eventually the sounds of screaming died down and all that was left was silence.
Corlys turns away "Full speed ahead, keep a watch out and make sure to avoid any bubbling areas lest the ship sink" he commanded before heading to his cabin.
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*ROAAAAAAAAAAR*
Daella was utterly terrified as she was on Vermax, she felt bile rise from her stomach as the dragon spun, dived and twisted and turned all in an attempt to escape the abomination dragon that followed, though it seemed as if it was also trying to throw Daella off its back as well and had she not been chained down by Jace she would've fallen to her death too.
'Jace' the mere thought of his name brought tears to her eyes as she held onto the saddle as tightly as she could, she had seen him fall and knew that he was gone, her first friend, the person who saved her from being placed in a pleasure house was gone and she was alone in the place. The only comfort she could take was that soon she would most likely join him as the abomination chasing them drew ever closer.
*SCREECH*
Vermax screeches in pain as the dragon chasing it manages to bite onto the tip of its tail, Vermax flaps its wings harder and harder trying to get away but the dragon is simply too massive and with its massive jaw it pulls down sending Vermax spiralling.
Daella can only scream as her body is thrashed around, the only thing keeping her on Vermax's back was the chains that were attached to her. Vermax rights himself before hitting the ground but is unable to avoid the dragon diving and cutting its body with its claws making it scream out in pain once more. The long sharp claws of the abomination ripped through the layers of Vermax's upper back causing him a great amount of pain.
However, Vermax keeps on flying and shoots a large gout of dragon flame at the dragon which distracts it long enough for Vermax to escape. Vermax sees a large dome-like building that was twice as big as the building that Jace and Daella explored, Vermax flies toward it and then puts its wings together fitting through a small gap in the large dome, and the large dragon lands. On top of the dome and roars in rage as its quarry had escaped. It tried shooting flame, bashing its claws but the black stone was simply too tough for it to breathe through.
Inside the building Vermax landed in the centre of the large dome-like structure, looking around Daella saw she was surrounded by seating and was on what looked like a grand stage. She realised this must've been a colosseum though it was more grand than anything she'd ever seen before. Though it was pretty dark as there were not many holes in the ceiling. She unchained herself from Vermax and slid off him, she then collapsed to her knees and finally started to cry, she didn't know how long she wept but it felt like the pain would never stop.
'Jace is gone
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"Jace! Jace! Jace!"
Jace woke up with a gasp, he opened his eyes and found he was not where he thought he was. He hadn't been to this place in many years, he was in his old room at Kings Landing, his bed was as soft and comfortable as he remembered, not that his bed in High Tide was uncomfortable, but there were certain privileges that the future Crown Prince enjoyed.
"Jace! Wake up!" He felt a weight press into him as someone he hadn't seen in years jumped on him, her hair was a mess as it usually was, with long thick silver locks that curled down her body and she had a smile on her face.
"Helaena?" He said with confusion, not only because she was there but because she didn't look any different than when he last saw her, it had been five years since they'd seen each other so she should've at least grown a bit taller. However, when he reached out to check she was real he noticed his hand was not the same either, looking down he saw his whole body was smaller.
'What in seven hells is happening' he thought to himself, however, he was snapped out of his thoughts when Helaena started poking his face.
"You must've had a nice dream, you had a funny look on your face," she said with amusement as she straddled his legs.
"I-I w-was in V-Valyria..." he stuttered as he tries to overcome his confusion.
"I don't understand how I got here," He said mostly to himself.
"You've not gone anywhere silly, now hurry and get up, you promised to take me to the city today," she said as she got off of him and tried dragging him up, he threw the blanket off himself and allowed her to drag him up. It was a bit disorienting being this short again, he also couldn't remember how he had gotten here, the last thing he remembered was flying to Valyria but everything after that is a blur.
"Helaena, how did I get here?" He asked as she dragged him outside of his chambers and into the corridors.
She looked back at him with a cute look of confusion on her face "I don't understand. Have you gone somewhere?" She asks making Jace sigh.
"I was in Valyria, I haven't been here in over five years!" He said sternly trying to convey his point.
"You've been gone for five years and you never told me!" She said with tears in her eyes and a quivering lip.
"No, I mean that-"
"I bet you were having loads of fun adventures without me too!!!"
"No, I... well I have been on some adventures but-"
"Traitor! We promised that we'd only go on adventures together!" She said with a pout as she crosses her arms and looks away from Jace.
Even if in his mind he hadn't seen Helaena for years he still couldn't bare to see her upset "I'm sorry Helaena, I promise to make it up to you" he said as he gasps her hand in his own.
Helaena turns her head looking at Jace with narrowed eyes "I want your dessert tonight... and you have to eat my vegetables" she stated and quickly nods his head in affirmation.
Helaena regains her bright smile and she goes back to pulling Jace along the hallway. However Jace isn't concentrating on where they are going, he is too busy in his thoughts.
'Am I back here for real? Did the last five years ever happen?' He thought to himself as they walked onwards. However as they walked he noticed that the corridors were rather bare for a place such as the Red Keep "Helaena, where is everyone?" He asked as he looked around, it seemed as if they were alone.
"They don't like it here though I can't see why I think it's marvellous," she said as she started to skip towards a large open window, Jace followed her and saw the entirety of Kings Landing, though instead of the usual bustling city it usually was it was quite and dead, as if the entire place had been abandoned.
"Helaena something must be wrong, where are all the people?" He asked as he turned towards her.
"They are here... just a little shy" she responds.
Jace then looks further beyond the city and onto the horizon where the north was, the entirety of the horizon was covered in a cold snowstorm that looked to be trying to move towards them. Jace gulped as he looked at it "What is that?" He asked as he pointed towards the storm.
"We aren't allowed there, I don't like it any way they are all mean and grumpy," she said in a huff.
Before he can reply she grabs him by the hand "Come on we have to get going, we don't want it to get dark before we get back" she said as they ran along the corridors towards the main gate. However, Jace stopped her gripping back on her hand which made her turn around "Where is Vermax?" He asked, as five years ago he never went anywhere without his dragon, so it should be here.
"Oh Vermax said he couldn't play today, he said he needed to get something off his chest" Helaena explained confusing Jace.
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow "He said that to you?" He asked to which she nodded enthusiastically. Jace knew Helaena was always a little strange but talking to Vermax and his replying crossed the line into madness.
Jace decided to deal with it later and for now, he would explore the city and look for any clues, as Helaena wasn't the most reliable source of information. He walked to the entrance of one of Maegors secret tunnels, he turned a candle stick holder on the wall and the door opened. It was completely dark not even the light shining in from outside penetrated the entryway, Jace frowned as he grabbed a candle that was on the side but no matter how close he held it, he couldn't see past the entryway.
Helaena grabbed him before he could enter and shook her head with an uncharacteristically serious face "You can't go in there" she said.
Jace looking confused turns to her "Why not? We always used this way to get out" he asked.
She leans forward and whispers "They don't like our hair"
Jace looks at her and then sighs but when he looks back to the doorway he jumps back falling on his backside. The once empty doorway was now filled with dots of light that looked like eyes "What in seven hells is that!"
Helaena stands in front of Jace with a frown as she puts her hands on her hips "You leave Jace alone you meanie" she said and to his surprise, the dots started to disappear.
Helaena then turns around and helps Jace up from the floor and grasps his hand before leading him away "Don't be too upset Jace, they are just upset they got left behind" she said.
Jace had dealt with this long enough "Helaena! Start making sense, each word that comes out of your mouth is madness" he said sternly as he wanted to get to the bottom of where he was.
"I'm confused Jace... aren't they your friends?" She asked with scrunched eyebrows
"Why would you think that!" Jace asked
"Because this is your dream silly" she said with a smile.
Jace laughed mockingly "If this was a dream I'd be flying or sailing somewhere, not here in Kings Landing"
Helaena laughs as well though it isn't in a mocking way "Not that kind of dream, this is a special dream"
"Helaena I am still so confused," Jace said as he turned away and went back to the window, he looked outside and saw that the sun was beginning to set.
He saw the shadow of nightfall casting itself over the land until it came to the city, Jace's eyes widened as he started hearing noises and screeches as the shadow covered the city, he saw dark figures climbing out of the ground as the suns light died out, the figures all rushed towards the Red Keep some even running on their hands.
"Look Jace... they really want to meet you"
———————————————————-
*Gasp*
Jace awoke startled from whatever dream that was, the first thing he felt was pain, more pain than he had ever felt in his life. But none of that can compare to the startle that he received when he realised where he was, he was on the ledge of one of the tall towers, a very narrow ledge that he was surprised he hadn't fallen off. He pushes himself up on his arms, his whole body in agony, so much so that he threw up over the side of the tower. He could see blood mixed in with his bile and he collapsed back onto his stomach as he breathed heavily.
All he could do was look out across the city as the hot wind blew across his face. In the distance he could see it, the dragon that had been chasing him was perched on what looked to be a large dome 'Vermax must've hidden inside' he thought to himself. He didn't know how long he'd been unconscious but it must've been a few hours at least as the sun was starting to set upon the horizon, he'd need to get moving before that happened otherwise he'd be on this ledge in pure darkness with only the limited light of the moon to guide him.
However he couldn't move, every time he moved it felt like his muscles would tear and his bones would break, though he supposed she should be happy he wasn't dead. For now, all he could do was lie there and think about the dream he had just awoken from he couldn't help but tear up a bit as he missed Helaena so much, she was as close to him as Vermax and even after so long he missed her. He hears the large dragon roar in the distance between jumping off the dome and flying away towards a large mountain that was just outside of the city.
His eyes then widened 'Daella! She must still be with Vermax' he thought to himself, he had made sure she was chained on so she wouldn't have fallen off as well. Jace gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up on his hands, his body protesting with each movement, but eventually, he forces himself to his knees as he breathed heavily. He had brought Daella here, his arrogance as a dragonlord had blinded him he didn't think anything could've touched him as long as he had dominion in the sky, and while that might've been true in Westeros and Essos, not here, here he was prey.
He grunted in pain, tears pouring down his face as he stood up on the ledge, he thought at any moment his legs might give way and he'll plummet towards his death but his grip on the tower remained steady and he looked around for any sort of opening to the tower, as luck would have it there was what looked like broken shutters just a bit further around the tower, he could only see it as they were open.
He shimmied his way across the ledge, he'd never been afraid of heights before but when he looked down now his stomach lurched, the tower was incredibly high being as tall as the ones in the Red Keep. However, he managed to get to the open window and with some effort and quite a bit of pain he lifted himself inside. Falling inside the room he groans in pain, he looks up and sees what was probably once very lavish chambers, but was now in a state of ruin and disrepair.
He pushed himself and struggled to his feet he looked around the room, it was quite large, even larger than his chambers in Kings Landing, but apart from that nothing interested him here, it was all ruined or charred so he headed towards the door in the hopes that he could make his way down the tower. He had a pretty good idea of where Vermax and Daella were so he'd need to get down to ground level and make his way to that dome, though he had no idea how long it would take him to get there, a lot of the roads were torn up, plants had overgrown, it was essentially a maze.
As he walked out of the room he came to a large corridor, he looked both ways and chose to go right as at the end of the corridor it looked to open up into a large area, and as he walked through he saw that he was in a large library it was a shame that it had fallen into ruins as well but there was something that caught his eye. It was a glass display case with a strange-looking sword inside, he could tell it was a bastard sword by the length but he had no clue what kind of metal it was made from, the blade was a milky white colour that had strange ripples of white the flowed down the blade like rivers, they seemed to pulsate and the sword itself seemed to glow in the low light of the room. The pommel was made of the same milky metal but it looked to be wrapped in black dragon hide, what amazed him most of all was the stone that rested in the pommel, it was the same as the one he had gifted to Daella, he had thought such a stone would be one of a kind but maybe not.
He approached the case his eyes looking at the beautiful blade with awe, not only for the blade but also the glass case as well, it was the only object in the room that remained unblemished and he had no idea why. But he did spy some odd-looking runes carved into the wooden base of the display case 'Valyrian magic?' He thought to himself though he decided to think of it later.
He opened the display case and marvelled at the sword as it seemed to pulsate pure starlight, it was as if Dawn had been dipped into a star and stolen its light for itself. The metal did remind him of the metal that composed Dawn but the ripples are what confused him as Dawn had no such thing. In the display case was the sword the sheath and what looked like a small book, he picked the book up and looked at the title and in Valyrian it said 'Starfyre', he opened the book hoping it would shed some light on what this sword was.
*Another Star fell today, though this one was much larger and our family managed to claim it before the others did. While my sons implored me to make a sword or armour I had other plans, for I contemplated the nature of our magic and more importantly our steel. Valyrian steel is not a naturally occurring metal and it can only be made through blood and sacrifice, calling it Valyrian steel is mere Ego as it is nothing more than steel strengthened by magic. I would make a sword that would surpass all others, a sword to be wielded by emperors*
'So it is made out of the same material as Dawn' Jace thought to himself as he flipped through the pages of the book, landing on the page that described the forging of the sword.
*So many people, it would take 10 people to sacrifice to forge Valyrian Steel but the metal that came from the stars is already as strong, we have sacrificed 100 people and it is not enough, the metal drinks up the blood like a sponge and yet it cannot be forged, I believed this to be the masterwork of my family and yet I am on the verge of losing hope*
Jace didn't believe that what he was looking at was an incomplete sword, it truly was a masterwork a fallen star forged in the same process that creates Valyrian steel, he shuddered to think how the blade would do in combat. But as he flipped through the pages and read about each failure the writing slowly got more and more eligible, one of the last pages his handwriting was roughly drawn around the pages.
*I did it! It was so simple after so long the answer was right in front of me! I cut myself whilst in the forge and my blood fell on the metal, as it did I saw the smallest flicker of light shine from the metal. It was all so clear, the sword was the pinnacle of existence and so it would not accept unworthy blood. My family did not understand but they did not need to... I killed them all, every single one of them, and at first I believed it all to be for nought, but the metal finally bonded and the first ever Starlight Steel was made*
Jace tried to read more but the rest was too badly written to read and so he placed the book down 'Starfyre' he thought to himself as he placed his hand on the handle of the sword, it's dragon hide grip felt rough in his hand but it had been smoothed down somehow, holding the sword up made him feel like a King, it was incredibly light and when he touched the blade it nicked his finger.
'This sword is worth a Kingdom' he thought to himself as he held it up, its starlight glowed in the room, it was bright enough that it could be used as an alternative to a torch, though admittedly a little less bright. Jace grabbed the sheath from the display case, it was a mix of dragon hide and precious metals with some gems engraved. Tying it to his belt he placed the sword into its sheath and he had to admit it made him feel powerful.
However he had realised that he had spent too long here and that he needed to leave now, he looked outside and saw the sun had started to set so he got moving, he eventually found the stairs and walked down them, they spiralled down the tower though he sometimes had to stop and find another set of stairs as they didn't go all the way down.
As he was finding what he thought to be the last set of stairs that would take him to the entrance of the tower he heard a noise. Frowning he went to investigate it and turned the corner of a corridor, what he was met with was a long corridor that lacked light as there were no nearby windows and the sun had just passed over the horizon, Jace drew his sword illuminating a couple of metres in front of himself. However, he couldn't see the end of the corridor where he suspected the sound came from.
However what he did see made his blood run cold, it was the same dots of light that he had seen in his dream, what looked like hundreds of them. His hand started to tremble as some of them moved around and stared at him.
*pat*
*pat*
He didn't think he imagined it but it sounded like the sound of feet hitting the floor but it was so dark he couldn't be sure.
*pat*
*pat*
*pat*
*pat*
*pat*
*pat*
Jace's eyes widened, whatever was down the corridor was running straight towards him, he thought about standing his ground but he lost his nerve and immediately ran the way he came. His breathing was heavy as he heard the sound of feet crashing behind him as well as bodies hitting the floor. He got back to the staircase and ran up it, only occasionally looking back down only to find it still following him.
His heart was beating fast and sweat poured down his face, his body ached and was in such pain but the adrenaline made him run faster and ignore it. He finally got back to the top floor and ran towards the library, he went inside and shut the heavy door before toppling off a bookshelf in front of it. He pushed himself against the bookshelf, it was then that the banging started as whatever was following him tried to force its way into the room, he heard grunts of anger as the door was bashed and the only thing he could do was hold on and pray they didn't get inside.
(AN: So yeah I thought about it and decided Jace gets a cool sword, and probably some armour for when he's a big boy, anyway I'm going to be doing something different with dragon dreams, I'll be making them similar to greensight in a way but different in another)
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