I stood beside my brother, a young man of twenty-two, and looked across the valley of the Golden State. Snow covered the land and a soft light bathed the vista. A cool wind kissed our cheeks and tussled our short hairs. Garbed in thick cotton sweaters, winter jackets, and double thick pants, we barely felt the chill that had settled across California.

Plants frozen in thick blankets of snow, animals trapped in their dens, and people dead in their sleep. That was the reality of what California, the Sunshine State, had become since the winter vortex had settled here. Millions dead, millions more homeless, and over a hundred million dead nation wide.

The world had watched as we slowly froze over, unable to help, and some unwilling. My brother and I, the last of our family, stood atop one of the low ranging foothills that still dotted the landscape. Seventeen bodies, all once friends, laid around us; all had frozen stiff in the night as we kept our vigil. We had stayed safe by simple fact of having too much fat on our bodies and leaning against each other to stay warm.

"Well?" my brother asked me, his chestnut colored hair whipping around in the breeze. His hazel colored eyes stared into mine with a deep sorrow, one I felt as well.

"The car won't work. The engine cracked during the night; its in two massive pieces… We can't walk anywhere, the snow's too thick and the nearest haven is twenty fucking miles away," I sighed. We had been told that the night chill would only get down to negative forty, something the snow car would have been able to handle easily, but the chill got down to negative sixty-five, which cracked the engine block and froze everyone else to death.

My brother and I did not come out of this unscathed, if that is what you think. My legs were numb, completely dead from the waist down; my brothers left arm was frozen through and his feet had frozen solid. The fat across my abdomen was also frozen, and I could tell that my brothers face was mostly frozen stiff. The fact that I could tell he couldn't see just told me how bad it was.

"Then we die," He hummed. His words struck me cold in the chest.

"I guess so, not like we can really do anything else…" My brother chuckled darkly at my sentiment.

"It's been a joy, Ryan… You've been the best older brother a boy could ask for, too bad."

"Too bad,"I agreed. "You've been the best little brother I could have ever asked for, for all the times you've made me want to pull out my hair, you have given me more reasons to always love you… I love you James, always and forever," I wrapped a partially frozen arm around Jame's shoulder and hugged him close. He did what he could with his own arm and embraced me.

If either of us could cry, we would have had tears of sorrow frozen to our cheeks, but with another storm on the way, and our bodies ravaged with frost bite, we knew we were going to die soon.

"I'll see you in heaven, James, Mom and Dad will be waiting for us."

"I'll be waiting for you," James whispered in my ear, his voice trembled and his arms tightened as best they could to convey his feelings. I tightened my own grasp of him and pulled his head tenderly into my shoulder.

As a massive wall of ice and snow set across the frozen wastes of what once was the city of Fresno, I began to sing.

"Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound… That saved a wretch like me… I once was lost, but now am found… Was blind, but now, I see… T'was grace that taught my heart to fear… and Grace… My fears… relieved..." As the last word left my lips the storm set upon us and buried us in over ten feet of snow. Through it all, I never let go of James, never forsook him as the ice claimed us.

There, under the ice and snow, packed so tightly that it hurt, I felt James finally go still in my arms. A ricktus of a smile found its way onto my broken and bloodied lips.

"I'll see you when I see you, James..." I sighed my last as the cold finally took me. It was like falling asleep, the pain left me, the cold embraced me, and I could finally rest in peace.

Chapter 1

Viserion: The Reborn

Warmth, warmth like I had never known before, engulfed me. Darkness surrounded me and heat beat across my skin. I could feel something hard, yet malleable, resist against my struggled to get free of my dark prison. If this was God's way of paying me back for all the sins I had preformed during life, then it was not what I expected. As the seconds ticked by, the heat grew higher, but it did not burn me. It was comforting, in an odd way, like a mothers embrace, but more stifling than I could remember.

I writhed against the barrier that held me, its warm surface telling me that the heat came from beyond my prison. I could tell that there was something off with my body, it felt weird and out of proportion to what I was used to.

AS suddenly as everything had began, things changed abruptly. My cage broke, flames engulfed me, and the surprised scream of three other voices beyond my own drew my attention. The flames licked my skin and warmed it against the cool night air. I could see the night sky and saw the uncountable multitudes that hung alongside the moon.

I looked over to see who had screamed, after having stared into the beautiful vista of the midnight sky for a little too long, and saw something fantastical. On the ground, on either side of me, were two lizard like creatures, both looking more akin to the dragon skink than anything I had ever seen before. They had long necks, thin bodies, bat like front limbs, and long tails. They were gorgeous in their own way, and my blood sang when I looked at them. I felt a kinship with them that I had only ever felt when with my Brothers.

The larger of the two was completely black, eyes the color of rubies, and gray black horns that crowned their head. The other was green and bronze in color and had black claws and horns. Both were beautiful and excited. Their chirps and clicks of excitement brought a soft smile to my oddly feeling lips. When I tried to move to get closer, I felt something very odd about my body that I hadn't before.

I looked down at my arms, or at least where they were supposed to be, and saw something quite different from what I had expected. Scaled limbs that were almost the exact copy of the two small dragons were what I saw. Cream colored and weak, if what I felt was any indication, then I was not exactly human anymore…

"This is new," I thought as I looked even farther back, my neck, which was obviously far longer than it should have been, let me look over the rest of me. The rest of my scales, as I was most definitely a dragon, were cream colored, just like my forelimbs. My tail was long, almost the length of my main body twice over.

Just as I was about to check myself over in-depth, I heard a trill of surprised excitement come from my ?siblings?. I looked over and saw that they had moved twards a birghter part of the flames, out of these flames came a woman, a very beautiful woman, with long, platinum-blonde, hair, perfect skin, and violet colored eyes, appear in the flames. The red plasma licked at her skin, but no harm became her, her hair whipped in the fire, carried on hot air that made it drift as if in water. Her ethereal beauty caught whatever sound I was to make in my throat as I stared at her. Wherever she moved, my eyes followed; there was something about her that pulled me to her, her face familiar and not at the same time. My heart told me that she was important to me, while my mind told me that I had never met her in my life, either before the Snow, or in this new place.

She bent down and ran a gentle hand across my ?siblings? heads; they both trilled softly in contentment and pushed into her hands with love. I slowly clambered over charred wood and bits of scorched rock to get to her. She didn't seem to notice me at first, but when she did, she turned her loving smile on me and widened her eyes. A joyful look shot through them and stilled my movements. She got low, upon her knees, and slowly stretched out her hand towards me. My mind, which was still coming to terms with what had happened, noted that she was young, maybe about thirteen or fourteen at the oldest. In the back of my mind I knew I should look away, her naked body not something I should be seeing, but as I was a dragon, and not too interested in her looks, it didn't truly matter.

I moved forward a bit, just the barest inch, and settled my head into her outstretched hand. Her skin was warm, warmer than I would have thought, and her touch was comforting in ways I could not truly describe. She was home, in a torrent of emotion, a rock in the storm that was my new life, and she was Mom. It clicked then.

This woman, no longer a girl as I could tell, had somehow given us life. I knew I should be dead, having frozen to death with James on that hill, but this was something instinctual and right. Mother of Dragons.

"My children," Her sweet voice murmured to us, like honey and bells mixed together to make the most wondrous sound. She craddled my head in her hand and traced a thumb over the side of my face, it felt wonderful in an odd way, fulfilling and relaxing. I let out a contented sigh and rubbed into her hand once more.

"My beautiful children," She said sadly. At the sound of her sadness I stopped my cuddling and looked up at her with attentive eyes. She flinched slightly at my gaze but did not move away. I tilted my head and looked her over. My eyes found signs of baby fat on her, not from age, but of pregnancy. Having seen so many women like this before I knew the signs, and the fact that she was without her child, in these flames, distressed me deeply.

I trilled softly and loped forward, ungainly and off balance, I scrambled into her lap and wrapped my tail around her waist. My wings clutched at her awkwardly and my neck wrapped carefully around her side with my head coming to rest under her ribs. She did not fight my embrace, no; she embraced it gratefully and let out a silent sob. My siblings saw this and moved to join me. They trilled and clicked at her with sorrowful sounds and nudged at her with worried looks.

With careful hands she scooped us up and held us affectionately. Her chin dragged against my head and her bosom pushed against my side, I licked at her face and paid the other no mind. My mind with its thirty years of experience and human intelligence safely secured within made sure that my new body did not do anything untoward against my new mother.

As the flames around us died down I felt the cool night air whisp by us, it wasn't cold like I had known before, it was comfortably cool and nothing too extreme. Our mother on the other hand shivered and held us closer. I puffed up at her discomfort, as much as I did not fear the cold anymore, especially after what I had been through, I did not like seeing others hurt by it. I crawled out of her arms and gently maneuvered my way around her body. With ease I shifted and hung off her shoulders, much to her growing confusion. I then spread my wings like a massive leathery coat and let them droop down her back with the rest of my body hugging up against her spine. My tail swept off her butt and hung limply behind her.

Her shivering soon stopped and a short giggle erupted from her. Her violet colored eyes found mine, with a smile on her lips and lent down and kissed my head, which had been resting atop her shoulder.

"My sweet child, thinking of me when I can barely think of myself. Thank you," She muttered to me. I sent her the best grin I could, which did shock her, before I wiggled myself closer to her neck. I half wrapped my neck around hers and let my chin rest against the valley of her throat. With a contented purr I nuzzled her gently. She laughed distractedly at the sensation of my scales tickling her neck and the warmth of my breathe on her skin.

"My special son…," She said as the no doubt looked at me. I did not care. I vowed, in my mind, that I would do everything in my power to make this woman proud of me, and to protect her with all my might. She had given me a second chance at life, at happiness, and at finding my way in the world. Maybe, once I was done, I could rest, see my family again.