บท 46: Chapter - 46
298 AC
The icy wind whipped through my hair as I soared higher into the azure sky.
My mind drifted, lost in the exhilaration of flight. The world below shrank away, its troubles becoming distant memories with each powerful beat of my wings.
I reveled in the freedom, drinking in the crisp air and endless horizon.
Flying was a gift I'd never take for granted, a joy that renewed itself with every ascent.
Vaylara's voice cut through my reverie, tinged with impatience. "Do you plan on going anywhere besides up?"
Her words snapped me back to reality. "I... may have lost track," I admitted sheepishly.
Then, inspiration struck. "But now that you mention it, there is something I want to check."
With renewed purpose, I angled my body skyward and began to climb. Higher and higher we ascended, pushing beyond what I thought possible.
As we reached dizzying altitudes, the air thinned and the effectiveness of my wings waned, but my determination only grew stronger.
A grin spread across my face as I called out to Vaylara, "You might want to hold onto something!"
Channeling magic to my extremities, I focused my energy with intense concentration. Suddenly, we rocketed upward, propelled by explosive bursts of arcane power. The world below us shrank rapidly, becoming a tapestry of miniature landscapes.
"Wooooooooooooooo!" I shouted, my voice filled with unbridled joy as we hurtled through the thinning atmosphere.
Vaylara's voice carried a mix of awe and exasperation. "It pains me to see you waste magic like this," she chided, though I could hear the smile in her words.
I couldn't suppress a giggle. If only she knew the true extent of my power – with the magical equivalent of a nuclear reactor as my heart, depleting my reserves was a far-fetched notion. I'd have to reshape continents before feeling the slightest drain.
As we approached the boundary between sky and space, the air vanished entirely. The outer layer of my skin crystallized in the extreme cold, I was in no hurry to fix it as it was serving as a protective shield for my inner tissues. I knew I could easily regenerate later, but my more delicate areas began to protest against the harsh conditions of near-space.
Despite the discomfort, the view was breathtaking.
The curvature of the world below us, the vast expanse of stars above – it was a sight few had ever witnessed. In that moment, suspended between earth and cosmos, I felt truly limitless.
I had only seen it in pictures but seeing it in person was something else entirely.
"Well, what do you know, Westeros is not flat." I said with a smile
I mean, I wasn't a 'flat Westeros' believer or anything but I remember speaking to Maester Luwin about the lands beyond the Sunset Sea. No one had ever returned from voyages to chart what lay beyond.
When I suggested that sailing far enough would eventually loop back to Essos, the shock on his face was unexpected.
It dawned on me that everyone in this world believed it to be flat, with the sun revolving around the planet. I considered explaining the truth but then began to doubt myself. How could I be so sure when this wasn't even my original world?
After all, people on Earth took quite some time to figure out that their world wasn't flat and that the universe didn't revolve around them. Even then, some went back into denial.
I mean, planets were round because of physics and gravity, right??
Then I remembered that I was probably violating every law of physics I knew on some fundamental level every time I used my powers.
So, finally having visual confirmation that this world was indeed round came as a relief.
"What do you mean 'not flat'?" Vaylara asked, confusion evident in her voice.
"Never mind, it'll take too long to explain. I've seen all I need to," I brushed her off, not wanting to delve into a complex explanation of planetary physics.
Vaylara's tone turned dry. "Satisfied yet, or shall we continue this madness?"
"Aww, worried about me?" I teased, unable to resist the urge to prod her.
Her eyes narrowed, a retort forming on her lips. "Of course not, you—"
But her words never reached completion. A sudden, overwhelming sense of wrongness crashed over me like a tidal wave. The world tilted violently, my equilibrium shattering into a thousand pieces.
My vision began to darken, as I fought against the tide of unconsciousness, desperately clinging to awareness, but it was a battle I was rapidly losing.
"Fuck," I managed to mutter before everything went black.
The last sensation I registered was falling, plummeting from the edge of space back towards the planet below.
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Margaery's eyes sparkled with excitement as she caught sight of the ancient castle on the horizon. "Look, Brother! There it is—Winterfell," she exclaimed, her voice filled with wonder.
Willas followed her gaze with a measured smile. "Indeed, sister. The seat of House Stark." Despite his calm exterior, Willas felt a surge of relief. They had almost reached their destination, and he was weary of traveling and the biting northern cold.
Their moment of contemplation was abruptly shattered by a commotion among their guards. Before Willas could inquire about the disturbance, he heard it—a sound unlike anything he'd encountered before.
All eyes turned skyward as a dark shape hurtled from the heavens, leaving a trail of displaced clouds in its wake
"By the Seven," Willas muttered, his brow furrowed in disbelief. "What is that?"
As if in answer to his question, the plummeting form unfurled enormous wings, slowing its descent. Yet it still struck the earth with tremendous force, shaking the ground and startling the horses.
Ser Clayton, the knight in charge of their escort, was the first to snap out of surprise barked orders to his men. "Steady the horses! Don't let them bolt!"
After a few minutes of ensuring everything was fine and the horses were calmed down, Willas noticed that whatever had fallen from the sky had crashed quite close to where they currently were, and it was on the way to Winterfell anyway.
Willas, his curiosity piqued, turned to his sister. "Margaery, stay here with the guards. Ser Clayton and I will investigate."
Margaery's eyes flashed with determination. "But brother, I want to see it too!"
Willas sighed, torn between indulging his sister's curiosity and ensuring her safety. "It could be dangerous, Margaery. We don't know what we're dealing with."
"Then why are you going?" Margaery countered, her tone brooking no argument.
Willas hesitated for a moment before nodding reluctantly. "Very well, but stay close and be prepared to retreat at my word."
With that, the Tyrell siblings, accompanied by Ser Clayton and a small contingent of guards, cautiously approached the impact site. As they drew closer, they could see a small crater in the earth, smoke and dust still rising from its center.
"By the Seven," Willas muttered, leaning heavily on his cane as he peered into the crater.
Margaery, her curiosity overcoming her caution, took a step closer. "Look, brother! There's something moving in there!"
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I jolted awake with that familiar sensation of falling, but this was far more intense than any dream. A sharp sting across my face snapped me fully into consciousness.
My eyes flew open, and two immediate realities hit me:
Vaylara was right in front of me, her mouth moving frantically, though her words were lost in the deafening rush of wind and the ringing in my ears.
More alarmingly, we were plummeting towards the ground at a terrifying speed.
Craning my neck, I saw the earth rushing up to meet us. While I might survive the impact, I was clearly not at my best, and risking it seemed foolish.
With a grunt of effort, I unfurled my wings to their full span. I managed two desperate flaps before my legs made contact with the ground.
Those flaps had slowed me just enough to avoid breaking any bones. Still, the landing was far from graceful. My knees were killing me. A small crater marked our point of impact, the commotion of my landing echoing across the landscape.
Exhausted and disoriented, I let myself fall backward, wings still outstretched. I lay there, gulping in deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart and piece together what had happened.
As my senses slowly returned to normal, I became aware of Vaylara's voice, now clear and laced with concern.
"Are you alright?" she demanded, her usual sarcasm replaced by genuine worry.
I groaned, attempting to sit up. "I think so," I managed, wincing at the soreness in my muscles. "What happened up there?"
Vaylara's expression was a mix of relief and exasperation. "I don't know, You passed out," she explained. "One moment we were at the edge of the world, the next you went limp and we started falling. I've been trying to wake you for what felt like an eternity."
I nodded slowly, processing her words. "Thank you," I said sincerely.
As I gathered my strength to stand, I couldn't help but wonder what had caused my blackout. Was it the altitude? Some unknown metaphysical limit to my powers? Or something else entirely?
As the ringing in my ears subsided, a flicker of paranoia crossed my mind.
Had Vaylara attempted to kill me? But as quickly as the suspicion arose, reason swiftly dispelled it. If she'd truly wanted me dead, I was certain she'd had countless opportunities far more convenient than this elaborate plummet from the stratosphere. Moreover, her frantic efforts to rouse me before impact contradicted any murderous intent.
Probing my inner senses, I pieced together the events leading to my blackout.
The realization struck me with the force of a battering ram – I had no one to blame but myself.
I'd given myself the bends, of all things.
The rapid ascent had wreaked havoc on my brain, the one organ I'd been too cautious to modify extensively. Plus the way in which I had modified the rest of my body had not helped either.
Despite my expertise in observing and subtly tweaking others' gray matter, I'd shied away from experimenting on my own neural pathways. It wasn't due to arbitrary rules I'd set for myself, unlike the original Red Queen; it was just very fucking hard, and I'd gotten lazy chasing easier pursuits.
Now, the cumulative effect of my bodily alterations and this latest escapade had caught up with me.
The irony wasn't lost on me – with all my power, in a world of magic and dragons I almost died due to my own stupidity... twice now.
As I lay there, wings splayed out like some fallen celestial being, a chuckle escaped my lips. The absurdity of the situation was too much to bear silently. My body ached, every muscle screaming in protest, yet I felt strangely alive. The earth beneath me was cool and damp, grounding me in more ways than one. The vast sky above, which had nearly claimed me, now seemed to mock my hubris. I inhaled deeply, the scent of crushed grass and disturbed soil filling my nostrils, a stark reminder of how close I'd come to disaster.
"Next time," Vaylara said, her voice a mix of concern and exasperation as she helped me sit up, "perhaps we should stick to lower altitudes?"
I nodded, wincing as pain lanced through my skull. "Duly noted. But hey, at least the view was breathtaking."
Vaylara shook her head, a reluctant smile tugging at her lips. "You're impossible, you know that?"
As I was about to retort, the distant sound of hoofs reached my ears.
I sighed, realizing the commotion of my landing hadn't gone unnoticed. "It seems my landing wasn't as quiet as I'd hoped. We have company."
Vaylara's rolled her eyes. "I'll let you deal with that. I'm quite tired from waking you up." With that, she began to fade, retreating back into her book.
I groaned, pushing myself to my feet and trying to make myself presentable. As the sound of hoofs grew louder, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of explanation I could possibly give for the crater I'd created and my rather dramatic arrival. This was going to be an interesting encounter, to say the least.
'Hopefully it's just a patrol from Winterfell who won't ask many questions.'
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A/N: If you wish to read ahead you can find 8 more chapters on Pa treon
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