Aelyx Vogaerys

1BC

A feeling much like attempting to breathe through a blanket enveloped him as he awoke coughing a spluttering a lungful of dust that had accumulated over the centuries since the Doom.

Aelyx would cast an imposing figure were he not coughing his lungs up; standing at six-and-a-half feet with broad shoulders, his deep violet eyes and shoulder length silver hair marking his descent from the blood of dragons for all to see.

After his chest stopped heaving and he regained his composure he turned his gaze to his chambers. They were truly rather luxurious, located in the towers of his families castle built around the peak of one of the Fourteen Flames of the Freehold. The castle had once been truly beautiful, as with all Valyrian architecture the halls and chambers of the castle looked as if carved from a single stone. No breaks in the masterful works could be seen. Towering peaks of white stone stood high above the city in the valley below the ancient and powerful volcano his family had made their home for thousands of years. His chambers were located at the zenith of such a peak.

House Vogaerys was a prominent family among the ruling Forty of the Valyrian Freehold. Their family was the ruling house of the Great City of Oros. A city who's grand heritage included being the main schooling center for hundreds of dragons and their riders over the millennia.

Each of the Forty Families rules over a great city or town in the Freehold. The various lords of each of the families made up a collective who voted on matters of law, war and other such matters of import. Whilst each of these families are powerful, the fourteen families who held the most power in the Freehold were those who's domains included one of the huge volcanoes in the range called the 'Fourteen Flames'. These families were far more powerful than other families of the Freehold as the heat and energy from the volcano can be channeled and the heat inside these volcanoes is capable of hatching dragon eggs. As dragonfire is required to temper Valyrian Steel families owning these volcanoes are the only ones who can produce it.

Aelyx stood up from the bed and dusted himself off, his chambers were covered completely by an inch of dust.

It is as he thought.

He had entered these chambers and guarded them with thick protective wards after the Flames began to shake and erupt. His father had cautioned him that this would happen after the ancient magic preventing said volcanoes from erupting began to warp and fade. This was reported to his father by the lords of the other Flames. He had ordered him to return to his chambers and activate the runes carved into the rock. Aelyx had been reluctant but his father was his Lord and he obeyed.

Am I the last one left?

No...he couldn't be. His father had been warned. Surely the families of other lords had been warned and performed similar actions as he?

He left the chambers, on his way out noting that everything was still intact. His wards had not failed or faded, a grand tapestry depicting a battle of dragons lay still perfectly intact on the walls. A banner of his family sigil of a roaring black dragon on a field of emerald hung next to it.

Outside his chambers the rest of the castle had not been so lucky. Mounds of melted and cooled rock stood in place of grand statues, puddles of gold and silver where there was once riches beyond measure. He set his jaw.

The vaults.

Would they still be intact? They had stood in the mountain for thousands of years unharmed by previous spells of eruption.

The Doom was no meagre 'spell of eruption'.

The very mountain the great castle was built on had exploded yet the tunnels and vaults should have been protected by the spells and charms countless generations of Vogaerys had cast. He immediately set off to the entrance.

It was a huge door. It extended high above his head and had the characteristic smoky sheen of Valyrian Steel, two feet thick no one was going to be stealing their way in.

Opening this door was a technique taught to his family at a young age, drawing their family sigil in blood. He bit into his thumb and began smearing the pattern onto the metal, watching his blood seep in as if the door was thirsty. After he was done he stepped back and heard the telltale crack as the seemingly solid wall of metal cracked to a thin line and the massive doors opened inwards.

After a somewhat long walk he reached the bowels of the mountain. There were three chambers in the family vaults. Each containing a different part of the family wealth and precious items.

The first containing the families wealth, precious gems, gold and silver lay here in abundance. Millions of gold pieces stockpiled over the ages, all the wealth being a member of such a prominent family owning a coastline city of the Valyrian Freehold afforded was collected in that chamber.

In the second chamber is stored armours and weapons made of Valyrian Steel. Being one of fourteen families with a vast collection of dragons and therefore a large capability for forging the powerful metal meant that each generation of the Vogaerys family created weapons and armour made to their specific style and needs. All stored in the chamber. There were hundreds of sets of armour and weapons in that chamber.

However in the third and final chamber, the real power of his house was kept.

Eggs.

In the vault was stored his families most powerful and important possessions. Dragon Eggs. The power to destroy and rebuild nations kept in the bowels of an ancient volcano for years beyond counting. Every time a new member of his family was born a dragon egg was taken from the vault and placed in their crib until it hatched and they bonded with it using magic. Yet every time a dragon gave birth to a new clutch of eggs they were taken and kept in the vault. In Valyria a families dragons was their power and their status. Few dragons meant being of little meaning in society.

Aelyx remembered as if it was yesterday the image of all the Vogaerys dragons flying high above the mountain. There were many of them, since he was born the combined dragon power of all branches of the family came to a total of twenty-two. Each bonded to a member of the family and each giving their family power and meaning. True overlords of the Freehold.

Only a couple of families bested his in power, this included the family ruling the Freehold's namesake, the motherland, the Great City of Valyria.

Being a young man of seventeen, Aelyx would usually not be a Lord at all. Yet he supposed that his father was dead, having stayed with the other major lords to attempt to strengthen the magic holding back the Flames.

Father's dead.

He hadn't imagined he would hear those words for centuries as lifespans in the freehold tended to be much longer as the magic bonding one with their rider meant they lived as long as their bonded dragon.

Shaking those thoughts he put the thought aside, he had never been close to his family, much preferring the company of his dragon Syrax. A black dragon, with strength beyond his years due to the heavy use of magic in the rearing of his families dragons.

The now Lord Aelyx had held dreams of war and conquest in high esteem and had hoped to see glory and power by conquering the slaves of Braavos in future years, perhaps placing a cousin of his in the lordship of the city to further increase his houses power.

With the current situation such thoughts may have to wait.

But he would have his glory. The world would tremble at his might.

Now he had ensured the safety of his eggs he needed to find his dragon Syrax. He could still feel his connection to the dragon but it was weak, almost muffled.

He must be in stasis too.

Before leaving the vaults he located his favourite suit of Valyrian armour and put it on over leather padding. Swiftly following the armour was his huge war hammer. Whilst he could fight efficiently with a sword or any other weapon his first love and natural talent lay in crushing his foes heads with a big block of metal. His father hadn't exactly been ecstatic at his choice, but thankfully hadn't disregarded it. Strapping it to his back he next entered the second chamber and slipped on several rings.

Each ring was designed to focus surrounding natural energy into available power to draw from when casting spells. After slipping two on each hand he could feel his magic strengthening and let out a deep sigh when he felt his connection to Syrax strengthen. He could now locate his presence and could confirm that he was, indeed, in stasis.

Aelyx left the vaults and the castle and headed for the dragon tower. Less of a tower and more a personal castle for all dragons, the tower was a monstrosity. High ceilings and wide halls it was perfect for the dragons that lay within.

Such large structures were generally the only ones surviving the Doom. The more stone in the building, the more available space to carve defensive wards into, thus allowing you to take shelter inside. If there was any place he would find other survivors it would be the tower.

Entering he was pleasantly surprised, the inside looked to have sustained little to no damage.

Powerful wards indeed.

In the center of the colossal room was the one person he couldn't live without. Literally. Dragonlords are magically connected to their dragons from the moment the dragon hatches. Being bonded increased lifespan and strength of magic but also comes with the side effect of death should the bonded dragon die. It was not the same for dragons. Should the rider of a dragon die the dragon would be fine. Often finding a second or even third rider before its death.

The bond also allowed for mental connection, whilst dragons were incapable of speech they could communicate mentally through a rather primitive method of sharing feelings and images.

Walking up to the great and proud black dragon Aelyx placed his hand atop its snout and allowed his energy to flow into the dragon, breaking the spell. He slowly felt Syrax's thoughts stirring from the interesting dream of him eating an auroch whole to concentrating somewhat on his surroundings. Aelyx smiled widely when he saw his lifelong friends huge eyelids shift, gold meeting violet. The pair immediately joined minds, living through each others eyes for a second before recreating the mental barrier.

Come on Syrax, we need to leave.

And he meant it. The city of Oros didn't feel right. The place contained a stain of the terrible pain the people of the city had suffered. It made him sad thinking about it.

Leaping atop Syrax's back the great dragon slowly stood on wobbly legs before lumbering off through the colossal doors Aelyx had left opened. Sitting on his dragon, Aelyx was no longer sad. He had his dragon and the eggs were safe in vaults.

The only question left for Aelyx was where he was going to go.

He could go north into Essos, but he didn't have any information on the current affairs of the land.

Had any other dragonlords escaped the Doom?

Suddenly a thought struck him.

Aenar the Exile.

The man had fled decades ago after his 'deluded' daughter had spouted 'nonsense' about fire and blood raining in the Freehold. Oh, had they listened. The Lord of the city of Targ had survived and fled to the Valyrian outpost of Dragonstone of the eastern edge of Westeros. Whilst the Targaryens were part of the Forty Families they were not especially prominent or wealthy. Having only five dragons when they fled they were considerable sure, but powerful? If they were all that lived past the Doom, reforming the Freehold was out the window. Having enough riders to hatch his eggs for would take decades and giving eggs to another house? Unlikely. He desperately needed to find a bride or two of Valyrian descent to keep his name alive.

The last member of my family.

Now that was a lonely thought.

Well I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know in reviews, they're are like little orgasms to a writer. :P

I read a couple of stories with this kind of plot line and figured I would have a go at it myself.

Cya next time

SS101