K, here's chapter too. Dark, gritty, and dirty, await. Indulge yourselves. Also, please remember a few things when you read this chapter, first is that Lyarra wont be the only one who hold the power that she does. I hinted in the last chapter, that magic is stronger now than it has ever been so expect to see very interesting results in the future. Second, I want people to remember, that while Lyarra/Visenya, will be an insanely powerful witch. To the point of appearing godlike, she is still mortal, in many ways. I hinted in her past, that she was strong enough to oppose the gods themselves, but she was still defeated, so she isn't unbeatable. Magic has returned to planetos, and you'll see in the future how this will bring great enemies forward to challenge her, and Jon. I wont spoil it for anyone, but just know that the magic seen from the show will be drastically increased, and those that use it, will be much more powerful. And in the same breath, the stories, of what the Children of the Forest did to the first men with their magic will also come back, and magic like that will return. So please understand that while she is incredibly powerful, this isn't a godlike story, where she is the only one with that kind of power.
Anyway, here's the chapter, I'm also working on Broken Angel chapter 75 so for those that came here from that story, it'll be up before or on Saturday, so look forward to it.
Fire and Shadow, Rise of the Queen of the Abyss
Chapter 2: I Rise.
-One Year after previous Chapter, Jon and Lyarra age 12-
He had known it was her. He always knew it was her. Even as he sat quietly and listened as a few of the guards talked about the bodies that had been discovered on the Kingsroad, he couldn't help but picture his sister. Jon knew of her magical power, and he knew she could do terrible things with it. He had known for many years that she could do incredible things, but he never knew just how incredible until he had had seen that green beam shoot up into the sky, and light up everything for miles.
The light itself had been the talk of the north for months. It had taken Lord Stark, roughly a month to find the exact location the light had erupted from. The hundred meter long gorge left in the ground, plus the blackened circle at one end, that just felt wrong, tipped him off that he had found the right place.
A few weeks after that, Jon began to hear guards and traveling merchants, talking about things that had been seen. They spoke of bodies, with their limbs removed, found nailed to trees by some unseen force. They spoke of ritualistic circles, made of bones, found in the forests by hunters. Hell, a man even came to Eddard nine months after the incident, claiming he had seen a dragon.
Shortly after the beam had been seen, Lyarra began to go missing for long stretches of time. She could be missing for a few hours, or even as much as a full day. Ned and Cat both took notice of her absence, and when questioned she'd just tell them she was in the forests around Winterfell. Ned tried commanding her not to leave the safety of the castle without telling anyone, and even tried to place a guard on her. That worked for less than a day as she easily lost her guard, and simply disappeared.
She was so believable when she said she had simply been out exploring or hunting. She'd often bring back rabbits or other small animals signifying that she had in fact, been doing something. Ned tentatively bought the stories after a while. Whether he truly believed her, Jon didn't know, but eventually it became clear that Ned understood she wasn't going to tell him what she was really doing and having her followed wouldn't work because no one knew how she was even sneaking out of the castle to begin with.
Jon never believed her. He always knew she was out there practicing her magic. He assumed, she was practicing it on people now if the stories he'd heard were anything to go by. At first this made him fearful of her, but he eventually picked up on the fact that the people he assumed she had killed, were actually bandits, or cutthroats, working the roads, or forests in areas of the north.
This set his mind a bit at ease though it still frightened him because he and his sister were twelve.
Eventually, after about a year of this, he finally decided that enough was enough, and one morning he came into her room, shut the door behind himself and boldly demanded to know what she was doing.
She had simply smiled at him. That same charming smile, that she always gave. That smile that people bought as genuine, but Jon always knew that it hid her real feelings. He knew just how bad his sister could be when she was angered or annoyed. He'd heard of what happened to people who openly mocked him for being a bastard. They'd later be found unconscious, sometimes they'd even be missing a few fingers. One man, who had once jested that Jon would make some lowborn, a decent wife one day, woke up to find his cock missing.
Jon knew to be wary of his sister. She was stronger than a full grown man, as fast a wolf, with the reflexes of a knight with decades of experience in battle. She could beat two full grown guardsman in a one on two training spar, and she could do it without breaking a sweat. And she had magic. He knew to be careful around her.
"I know you're not out there hunting. I know you're doing something with magic. Just tell me, it's driving me crazy not knowing where you disappear to all the time." Jon demanded, though it sounded more like he was pleading with her. A part of him secretly hoped she was going on adventures and would take him with her. He hated being locked up in this castle all the time. Being mocked and sneered at by those around him. He hated being a bastard and wished for some modicum of true freedom.
"You want to know where I've been going, what I've been doing?" Lyarra inquired.
"Yes." He stated, his eyes still locked with hers.
Lyarra simply let out a chuckle, and walked up to him, once she got close to him, she took the cloak she was wearing and turned it inside out, draping it over her and himself as she did.
"What are you doing?" Jon asked before he noticed the once dark exterior of the cloak, now take on an almost transparent look to him.
"Come, and keep quiet." Lyarra whispered as she grabbed his arm and pulled him close to her side. The two headed out of her room, Jon looking confused as they did.
"They can't see us." Lyarra whispered as she led him outside. Jon made a face, at first not believing her, but he then began to notice that no one was looking at them. In his mind, the people around them should have seen two figures huddled under a darkened cloak. But none of them even spared a glance in their direction.
She led Jon all the way through the castle and right down to the front gates, where the two walked right past the guards and out onto the open road.
Jon could only gape as the guards completely ignored them, or as his sister suggested, couldn't even see them.
They continued walking until they reached the forest and Lyarra pulled off the cloak and grinned at her brother.
"How is that possible?" Was the first thing Jon asked.
"This is an Invisibility Cloak." She answered as she put it on, to show how it made her body vanish when covered. Jon could only gape at her, as he realized how she had been disappearing without anyone noticed her.
"Where did you get that thing?" Jon muttered in disbelief.
"Death gave it to me." She answered with a shrug. Jon continued to stare at her, confusion present on his face.
"Later." She told him as she walked up to him and pulled him into her embrace.
"Lyarra?" He muttered, even more confused now.
"Hold onto me baby brother." She ordered, and after a moment she felt him comply and wrap his arms around her.
With a grin on her face, she Apparated away from Winterfell, taking Jon along with her.
It took a few minutes for them to arrive, and when they finally came to a stop Jon fell to the floor screaming in shock and terror. She just grinned at him as he writhed around on the ground for a few moments before shooting to his feet.
"What did you do to me?" He demanded, with this terrified look in his eyes.
"I Apparated us to where I go when I'm not at Winterfell." She replied.
"Appa… what?" Jon muttered in reply, his breathing still heavy from having screamed the entire way there.
"It's a form a magical transportation. It allows a person to move incredible distances in a very short time. We're currently in the mountains north of Winterfell." Lyarra stated. Jon just stared at her for several long moments, the gobsmacked look on his face was incredibly humorous to her.
Eventually he settled down enough to register what she had said, and when he did, he turned to look around, and found that they were in fact, surrounded by mountains. The two were actually standing at the base of a massive set of stairs that ran up one of the mountains, towards a large stone entrance, that sat about two hundred feet above them. The stairs were wide, but also looked freshly carved. They weren't worn like they had been there for very long, and the stone entryway into the mountain looked very similar.
"What is this?" Jon asked as he stared up the steps.
"The birth place of my new kingdom." Lyarra answered as she started up the steps. Jon tentatively followed as he took in the surrounding area. He still couldn't believe he was standing in the mountains to the north of Winterfell, between the castle and the wall. Such a trip would have taken a few days at least, yet here they were, in what could have only been a few minutes.
They made it halfway up the steps before Jon finally asked, "Did you do this?"
She glanced back at him and saw him gesturing towards the stones and entryway.
"Yes. I've used my magic to carve it out. I've also been using it to build a fortress within the mountain to rebuild my army." Lyarra answered, Jon looked both confused and intrigued. Once they made it to the top of the stairs the two stopped at the large stone doors that led into the mountain.
"What do you mean by rebuild?" Jon asked.
"My magic is powerful Jon. I was powerful in my previous life too. When the time came for me to leave that world behind, I refused to simply fade away. Through sheer force of will, I refused death, and remained locked in the space between life and death. The great abyss. I stayed there for who knows hold long, time passed and the world changed. The last time I lived, there was no Essos, or Westoros. There was no wall, no house Stark. There wasn't anything like that. The world I remember faded a long time ago. But I survived. I survived and I remained. It wasn't until the time was right, that I reentered this world. I was reborn, alongside you. I remember everything from my past life. It gets fuzzy in some places, but I can recall pretty much everything. I've been aware of this since the moment we were born. I remember the first time I opened my eyes. I remember our mother's dying words. I remember our true names." Lyarra explained as the two stood outside the entryway into the mountain.
Jon listened intently as she spoke. For some reason, he believed every word she said. For reasons that would only much later make sense to him, he could only nod in understanding of what she was conveying. It was only at the end of the explanation that he was broken out of his trance and suddenly forced to ask.
"You knew our mother?! You know who she was, what happened to her?" Jon asked, with a bit of excitement and hope, lacing his tone.
"Our mother was Lyanna Stark." Lyarra answered simply causing Jon to stare at her for a moment, then his eyes widened.
"That's impossible." He began.
"Is it?" Lyarra asked in reply.
"It is. Lyanna Stark is our aunt. In order for that to be true, her and father would have had too… well… you know what I'm talking about. Father's just not that kind of man." Jon argued.
"Eddard Stark is not our father. He's our uncle. Lyanna is our mother. Prince Rhaegar Targaryen is our father." Lyarra clarified causing Jon to gape at her.
"Is that also impossible, baby brother?" Lyarra inquired as he stared at her in complete shock.
"But..." Jon began, but Lyarra cut him off.
"Everyone always says that Ned Stark is an honorable man. Everyone says that he would never sire a bastard, that he'd never cheat on his wife. We both know that Ned is a good man. Is it so hard to believe that he'd sacrifice his own honor, to keep us, the children of the last dragon, safe from harm? What do you think King fatass would do if he knew we were dragonspawn? He allowed the Lannisters to murder our half siblings and their mother." Lyarra countered him. She saw realization dawn in Jon's eyes as he quickly began to see the connections and understand what this all meant.
"So we're not lord Stark's bastards." Jon noted after a long moment of silence.
"We're not Rhaegar's bastards either. He and Lyanna were married." Lyarra stated.
"How do you know?" Jon asked.
"Because we were given Targaryen names." Lyarra answered. Jon was silent for a moment before he looked into her eyes. He searched through them for any hint of a lie. She knew he wouldn't find any. She knew he believed her.
"What did our mother name us?" Jon asked after a few moments.
"I am Visenya. You are Jaehaerys. Both names of great Targaryen's. If we were bastards, do you really think we'd be named as Targaryen's?" Lyarra answered.
Jon nodded in agreement. It made sense to him. Why name your children after famous Targaryen's, unless you wanted to associate them with the Targaryen bloodline. The chances were good, very good, that they were both true born. Jon knew his sister wasn't lying. He just knew it. Something about hearing the truth, and knowing it. It was almost like he had always known. Jon could remember dreaming of riding dragons when he was younger. And he had never had any fear of fire. These were things the Targaryen's were often associated with.
Jon was quiet for a long time. He even sat down on the steps and stared out over the mountains around them. It was cold, and there was fresh snow covering a lot of the mountaintops, indicating that they were further up the mountain chain, then he had first thought.
This new revelation had shocked Jon's whole world. To know that he wasn't a bastard, that he was a true-born son, and even that he was an heir to the Iron Throne. These were things that played out in his young mind, and while unnerving, it also brought a sense of comfort and purpose to him.
He wasn't a bastard. That simple thought made him happier then almost anything else.
It took a few moments before he rose to his feet. When he did, he found his sister whistling, and staring up into the clouds. Jon followed her gaze, and saw nothing but darkened clouds slowly gathering overhead.
"I wasn't alone in the Void Jon. When I died, that which was truly bound to me, followed me into the Abyss. My servants. My soldiers. My castle. Hell even those treasures that were truly bound to me, managed to follow me into the void. Most of my army was destroyed before I died, so I don't really have much in the way of forces, but I do have access to some of my most powerful servants." Lyarra explained to him. He looked confused, as he often did nowadays. She simply smiled, as they both heard something loud, roar from the heavens above.
Hearing the noise, Jon's eyes widened. An image shot into his head. He had no clue where it came from, but the noise caused him to see the image of a massive dark reptile in his mind. It was almost like he knew immediately what the noise associated with.
"It takes a great deal out of me, to pull something from the void, I'm still not strong enough to do it with any sort of ease. But over the last few months I've been recalling some of my servants to me. We are Targaryen. So for the first one, I thought who better than the Father of Archdragons." Lyarra stated as a massive shadow burst from the clouds and Jon felt his jaw drop.
From the heavens emerged an enormous beast. A creature straight out of legend. This beast was a dragon, but it was different from any dragon Jon had ever heard of. The creature was huge, dwarfing a fully manned ship several times over. The dragon had eight limbs not counting it's long tail, which was slightly longer then the rest of it's body. A set of front arms, a set of hind legs, and two sets of wings. One larger set, emerging from above it's shoulders, and a second smaller set, emerging a short bit back along it's body. It's massive wings were tattered, and warn, indicating immense age. It's skin was black, it's scales a mixture of dark purple and blue. From it's wings and belly, radiant dust drifted off. This dust was dark like smoke, but within it, was twinkling lights of gray, blue, and purple.
When the creature landed, the whole of the earth shook, and Jon nearly fell to the ground. The great beast had set itself down below them. It's massive body, covering the steps leading up to them. It set in such a way, that it's head was level with them.
With the creature much closer now, Jon got a better look at it. Along it's body, emerging from certain sections were blue and purple crystals. These crystals twinkled, almost as if they were filled with starlight. It's scaled head was adorned with two large horns jutting out from the back. This close to it, Jon suspected that even if three full grown men stood on each others shoulders, the creature could still get it's mouth around them, and it had giant teeth, some as large as short swords.
The way the great beast sparkled, yet radiated darkness, gave it such an otherworldly feel to it. It was like looking into the sky during a cloudless night. Jon almost felt that this creature seemed to represent the cosmos. It was all encompassing and massive beyond measure. This was easily as big, if not bigger, than the stories of the great dragon, Balerion the Black. (*1)
"Jon… This is Midir, the father of Archdragons. I was left exhausted for a whole month, after pulling him from the Abyss. I went a little overboard, but when I realized I could start recalling my old servants, I could think of none better, than this one, to be the first." Lyarra stated as she stepped forward and ran her hand along the dragon's snout. Standing next to it, Jon couldn't help but note just how tiny she looked in comparison to that thing. It was like comparing a mouse to a full grown stag.
Jon could only gape at the creature for many long moments. He was still trying to comprehend it, when he noticed his sister, smiling at him, and motioning him to come closer.
With a great deal of hesitance, he did. He inched closer to the massive beast, it's breath was warm, and smelled of death, reminding him that this stunningly magnificent creature was still a violent animal, and it could kill him, almost instantly, and with utter ease.
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, he was able to inch close enough to the creature, to actually touch it. His hands slid over the rough scales of it's snout, and he felt it's eyes pierce into him. It took several long moments, but Jon was finally able to relax enough, to truly take in the experience, and when he did, he found himself smiling.
After several long moments, Midir let out a growl and pulled back. Jon watched alongside his sister as the dragon let out several more growls, before taking to the skies with a mighty flap of his wings. Within moments, the giant creature had disappeared into the clouds.
Jon had nearly been knocked off his feet by the powerful gust of air from the creature taking flight. He watched in fascination and awe as it vanished from sight.
After a few seconds of just staring, he heard his sister laugh, and then reach a hand out for him. He quickly took it, and she pulled him to his feet.
"You brought that here?" Was the first thing he asked.
"Yeah. You remember three months ago, when I was moody and irritable for nearly two fortnights? That's when I brought him here. I was a bit overzealous, after drawing him out, I passed out for nearly six hours. I wasn't able to do any magic for nearly three days, and my head wouldn't stop hurting for a fortnight. Tearing things out of the void has always been a trying endeavor, even in my past life, and I'm not back up to my full power yet. I've decided not to try again on anything that big, until I reach my final maturity." Lyarra explained as she turned and headed through the entryway.
"What do you mean by that? A maturity I mean?" Jon asked as he kept up with her. He had so many questions, and he was quickly putting them into order in his mind.
"For humans, they experience a large growth in their magical reserves every few years as they reach maturity. From the age of five to around twenty five, a magical will experience between five and eight maturities. These are points in time where the magical core, the place in a person's body, that holds their magic, grows immensely. I've experienced three to date. One when I was four, one when I was eight, and one when I turned eleven. Other than these maturities, a person's magical core grows very slowly. If left alone, it'll grow on it's own. This process is slow, and takes years to be truly measurable. There are ways to speed up the process with rituals, meditation, and things of the like, but for the most part, a person usually wants to wait until they reach their final maturity, so that their core stabilizes. Does that make sense?" Lyarra explained.
Jon nodded his head. That actually did make a lot of sense. From what she had said, he gathered that magic existed within a person, and that until they reached adulthood, the amount of magic they had would very and grow quickly during these points in time. It actually made a great deal of sense, more so than he thought it would. In fact he always thought magic would be something he'd never truly understand.
"Alright, so why did that dragon look so odd. I didn't think dragon's had front legs. At least that's what I remember from Maester Luwin's lessons." Jon inquired as his eyes drifted over the room, that sat beyond the entryway. It was a wide open room, with stone walls and a flat stone ceiling. There were no decorations, other then strange symbols carved into each of the two side walls. On the opposite end of the room was a doorway, leading down into darkness, with unlit torches lining both sides of the door. Other then that, the room was empty.
"Midir looks like that because he's an Archdragon, not a regular dragon, if dragon's can even be called regular. Basically, without having to get into a whole lot of magical wordplay, I took a dragon egg, in my past life, and infused it with magic, then with a few spells and some alchemy, I was able to alter the creature that would be born. The end result was a creature that was stronger, faster, bigger, meaner, more intelligent, and with a greater control of it's magic. Midir was the first Archdragon, but he wasn't the last." Lyarra answered as she continued to lead her brother further into the mountain. As they passed them, she grabbed one of the torches.
She held it up, then drew the elder wand, Jon watched with great curiosity as a small fire jumped from the tip of the wand, to the torch. She then offered the torch to Jon, who took it, while staring at the strange wooden object in her hand.
"What's that?" Jon inquired.
"This? Well this is called a wand. It's a magical foci that helps to channel magic into spells. I can use magic without it, but it helps to hone my power, allowing me to due things that would take a much greater level of focus and concentration, without it. This wand, is actually called the Elder Wand. It was forged by Death, and given to man, a very long time ago. It eventually passed into my hands, but I lost it after I died. Just over a year ago, Death returned it to me, along with the Cloak and another item, the Resurrection Stone, a gem that allows me to contact the dead, and also hones my necromancy." Lyarra explained as she held up the wand, allowing him to look closely at it's design. His gaze turned toward her, when she reached the end though, and he gave her a curious look.
"Come on." Lyarra said as the end of her wand lit up, providing additional light as she led him further into the mountain. She knew he had been intrigued by that last part, and she knew he wanted to ask about if she had actually used this strange power to talk to any dead people. She chose not to answer, knowing that there was already a lot Jon would be shown today. The truth though, was that she had used the stone to contact the dead, more specifically their mother and father.
Meeting, Lyanna Stark, and Rhaegar Targaryan, had been an interesting experience. It was how Lyarra knew, without a shadow of a doubt that she was true-born.
She hoped to one day soon introduce Jon to his parents, but for now, she kept quiet on that.
They continued downward for several minutes until eventually the pathway opened up, into a wide open room. The opposite side of the room was missing a wall, revealing a large open chasm, where Jon could just barely make out dim light from something below.
His curiosity was as high as it could be, and though he was very interested in peaking over the edge and seeing what was below, he was instead drawn to his sister whom brought him to the center of the room.
"We are Targaryens. You and I, brother. Do you believe me?" Lyarra asked, as she looked into his eyes.
Jon was quiet for a moment before he nodded and said, "I believe you. As hard as it may seem to believe, I believe you."
"And… do you believe me when I say that I remember my past life?" Lyarra inquired, as she looked into Jon's eyes. At this moment, in the darkened room, lit only by torchlight, the dim light from below, and her wand, Jon almost looked like Harry. The thought made her heart pang in sadness.
"I do." He stated after a moment.
"Will you stay by my side brother? Now and always?" She asked, her eyes never leaving his.
"Now and always. I'm not going to leave you. I've always been in your shadow. I've always followed behind you. You're smarter than me. Stronger than me. You've shown me things that I can't hardly believe, yet I do. I want to see more. I want to know more. All my life, I've just wanted to belong. I wanted something that was mine. Now I know who I am, who I really am. And now that I know, I don't feel weighed down anymore. I'm not bastard. I'm a Targaryen. Jaehaerys Targaryen. It's got a nice ring to it, don't it?" Jon told her with a small smile.
"And I am Visenya Targaryen. From now, until the moment my heart ceases to beat, and even beyond that moment, I choose to stand by your side. I will reforge my ancient kingdom. I will build the greatest army the world has ever known, and I will take back our family's throne. And when I do, and all of Westoros is united under my rule, I'll shatter the system that has plagued this land's people for eons." Lyarra stated, as her eyes began to glow with power. Jon didn't pull back as his sister's eyes ignite, in a blaze of red. Her iris's lit up like a fire was ignited in them, and Jon felt the room tremble and react to her power.
As he stared at her, Jon couldn't help but see an image in his mind. He didn't know where it came from, but for some reason, it came forward to the forefront of his mind and he saw it with such clarity. It was Lyarra, standing upon a mountaintop, and before her was a vast kingdom.
The image was only there for a moment, and it was almost immediately shoved away as he felt himself pulled along as his sister led him further. He followed wordlessly as she led him over to the edge of the room, so that he could look out into the massive hallowed out interior of the mountain.
The cavern itself was massive, large enough to fit two castles inside of it, one on top of the other. Most of the cavern was simple jagged rock, but on the side closest to the twins, stone steps were carved out, zigzagging down the face of the wall. The steps separated out the various levels, of this blossoming underground fortress. Two sets of stairs between each level, each one adorned with a platform, that jutted out from the wall, and a doorway leading into the mountain interior, as well as more stairs leading down to the next level, on and on, until it reached the very bottom of the chasm.
Looking down, Jon could just barely make out torches here and there, and at the bottom of the chasm, some three hundred feet below, he could see a dozen or so torches, encircling some sort of muddy pit, that had been sectioned off on the bottom.
From where he and his twin stood, three hundred feet, was open below them, and another hundred or so, above him. Looking down, he could just barely make out a handful of figures moving below.
"Did you carve all of this out?" Jon asked, when the thought entered his mind.
"Some of it. The cavern was already here, I'm guessing ice tore this mountain apart a long time ago, and over the years two mountains came together, pressing into one another. The space between them, forming this cavern. I simply dug the tunnel into it, and began molding the stone-ways. I've also been reinforcing the walls with powerful magical runes to ensure the mountain doesn't fall in on itself." Lyarra replied.
"So this is where you plan to build your army?" Jon noted as he glanced around the cavern. There wasn't much to it, other than what his sister had made with her magic.
"Yes. It'll be a serviceable fortress, and it'll give me a place to secure the north from. Robb's a reasonable man. And he likes us. I'm sure having my army, helping him defend the north, and keeping the wildlings out, will make it easy to ensure he works with us. This wont be the last fortress I build. But it'll work for what I need it for." Lyarra answered.
"So you build an army here, offer it's help to Robb when he becomes Lord of Winterfell, and you think that'll ensure that he'll help us take the Iron Throne?" Jon inquired.
"Us? So you intend to help me claim our birthright?" Lyarra asked, giving him a deviant look as she did.
"Yes. I plan on helping. I've always been by your side, and it just feels right, following you now. It may not be much right now, but if that dragon is just a part of what you're capable of building, I have no doubt you can do what you said and retake the throne. It's ours by birthright. I don't know how I feel about going against the Baratheons, but I do know it isn't right what King Robert allowed to happen to our half siblings, and their mother. Everyone knows what the Mountain did to them, and how the King just let him get away with it. Now Lord Stark is so terrified of what the King would do if he knew who we were, that he wont even tell his Lady wife, the truth about us. Eddard Stark isn't a cruel man. He wouldn't allow his wife to treat us the way she does, if he didn't truly fear what would happen if this got out." Jon explained to her. Jon had always been quick witted. He was a deep thinker, and although he tended to brood quite often, it didn't stop him from spending a lot of time thinking about things.
Knowing that he was a Targaryan, Jon now understood why Ned Stark would never tell anyone the truth. The only reason was that the King would have seen the two dead, simply for being born. If that wasn't the makings of a terrible ruler, Jon didn't know what was.
"Ah, so you're learning. We grew up with the Starks. They are our family. But we aren't fully of their blood. We are dragons, you and I. Blood only binds you so far. Trust them, so long as they are worthy of it, but never be blinded by it. Betrayal led me to dying in my last life. I trusted too much, and lost because of it. Love your family, but always watch them, and be weary for any signs of betrayal. You live that way, and nothing they do will ever surprise you." Lyarra stated earning a slow nod from Jon.
Jon himself cared for his family. He loved them all, but he never felt truly close to them. They were almost like friends that you knew while growing up, rather than family. His youngest siblings he couldn't have anything to do with, because of Catelyn, while Sansa was just like her mother and treated Jon with distance and coldness, Robb was the only real decent one. He fully understood what his sister meant when she said to love you family, but never ignore the signs of their loyalty, and always beware of a possible betrayal.
The look in her eyes when she mentioned a past betrayal, in her previous life, sent a pang of guilt, echoing through his body for reasons he didn't understand. He felt bad about something. What it was, he didn't know.
"What was it like? Your previous life I mean?" Jon asked after a moment of silence.
Lyarra stared off silently for a moment, a look of nostalgia take up residence on her face.
"One day. Not now, but one day. I'll tell you about it." She answered giving him a pointed look. Jon nodded, in acceptance of that and turned to look out over the cavern. Finally his eyes drifted down to the figures moving down at the bottom of the cave.
"Who are they?" Jon asked.
"Orcs." Lyarra replied.
"What?" Jon asked as he turned and gave her a confused look.
"They're orcs. Right now I've only got a few dozen of them, but within a few years, this fortress will be producing over a hundred a day." Lyarra answered. Jon just stared at her, confusion still present on his face. She simply smiled and motioned for him to follow her down.
As they walked down, she began to explain to him.
"Orcs are a dark race that I brought into this world, eons ago. They are born from the power of blood and earth and shadow. They're vicious, violent, wild and cunning. They're natural born fighters, smaller then men, but quick, able to climb walls, with their razor sharp nails, able to survive in terrible conditions. A trained foot soldier is worth five orcs, if he uses his wits." She informed him as they moved down.
"So an average foot soldier can most likely take on five of these things and win? What good are they then?" Jon inquired, as that math didn't make much sense in his head.
"The orcs look upon me, as a man would look upon a god. My will is absolute. They will never betray me. Never refuse my orders. And most importantly, they'll give their lives for me. The average orc may not be much threat to a man, in a one of one fight, but Orcs never fight alone. Once it's finished, this fortress will birth hundreds of them, every single day. In less than one hundred days, I'll have over ten thousand battle-ready orcs, at my disposal. They never fight against armies of similar numbers, not without a competent commander at the helm. If I'm facing an army of ten thousand men, I'm gonna send one hundred thousand orcs, to overwhelm them. They may not be able to stand against a man in a one on one fight, but they can and will outnumber them vastly. So vastly in fact, that to those watching, it'll appear as if a great flood is washing over their armies." She explained, earning a curious look from Jon as he envisioned such creatures.
"In the past I sported Orc armies that numbered in the tens of millions. They are grown from magic, and they can feed on pretty much anything. Even each other. So the weak get eaten by the strong, the army never goes hungry. They don't have societal views that refrain them from eating one another, if they're hungry enough, and theirs no food. Being born from magic, means they don't fuck, to reproduce. All they want is to fulfill my order, and fight. Those are their only two goals in life." She continued. She could tell Jon was having a hard time believing in an army, of tens of millions. She didn't blame him. Such a sight, had brought low many in the past. It had saved her a lot of time in her conquest as well, since the sight of so many orcs, more often than not, caused her enemies to surrender outright, rather than face that, and by that time, there was so much magic in the world, that muggle armies, only had guns and the bullets that had already been made. They no longer had any way to mass produce the ammo they needed to take on such an army, and she had made sure to specifically target stockpiles of ammo, to render their guns useless. Sure millions of orcs fell, fighting them, but without their advanced technology, they eventually ran out of bullets to fire, and had to resort to old school weapons. (*2)
Jon was busy thinking on what he was learning, when the two made it to the very bottom. The bottom most platform had three doorways leading into the mountain, these three were actually lit unlike all of the others they had passed, indicating that someone or something lived there. On the edge of the platform, were a few more stairs that lead down to the cavern floor. Instead of stone, the floor was composed of mud. A stone walkway led out across the lake of mud, and sectioned It off into multiple massive octagons. The whole of the muddy cavern floor was sectioned off like this, multiple octagons setting up the perimeter of muddy pits.
Within the nearest pit, Jon spotted his first Orc. The creature stood in the mud, moving around in it, poking at the mud with a stick. In the center of the pit it was working in, was a tree. The tree itself was young, barely more than a few branches stuck out from the frail little thing. From this distance the tree's bark didn't look like bark, it looked almost like flesh.
"That is an orc. And that, is a Fleshrot tree." She gestured at the creature and tree.
Jon took both in. The tree, lived up to it's namesake, and he couldn't tell if the smell was coming from tree or the orc. The orc itself was a small, frail looking creature. It had gnarled teeth, dark skin, and was just a bit shorter than him, a child of twelve.
The creature glanced up at the two from it's place in the muddy pit. It's eyes were a sickly green, it had long pointy ears, and was overall monstrous in appearance. The short creature offered a bow in their direction, before returning to work poking at the mud.
"What's it doing?" Jon asked.
"The tree there is the centerpoint to a magical ritual that creates orcs. It involves blood magic, necromancy, and a few ingredients. A seedling from another tree, is placed into the bone of a human. Any will do so long as it's big enough. The bone is then planted in mud, and fed blood. The blood of animals will do. This starts the tree growing. After only a few weeks, it'll start to infuse the mud around it with life force. You place a drop of blood on the tree, and then spread the same blood across the mud around it, you do this every few days, and from the mud, orcs will emerge. The tree is young right now, it'll produce one orc every few days. In about a year it'll reach maturity, and when it does, it'll produce about five orcs a day. They'll grow in the mud and be pulled free by their brethren. I had to do it for the first few, now I can have them do it for me. That's what he's doing right now. Searching the mud for any lumps that might indicate an orc growing." Lyarra explained to Jon.
Jon himself could only stare. He was thinking about so many different things. Small parts of him were arguing over right and wrong, and whether or not it was just to build such an army using obvious dark magics. Another part of him, was amazed at it. This had been the fullest explanation of magic he had ever gotten. Of course the specifics weren't present but just hearing the steps to what it took to build such an army, and the like was so fascinating.
"Once this tree reaches maturity in a years time, it'll produce a handful of seedlings. Between three and seven. I'll plant them in the other sections of the chamber, and repeat the process. I'll keep repeating it until this whole chamber is full. If my calculations are correct, within four years, I'll have this whole chamber filled with trees. Each one, producing five orcs a day. This chamber has enough room for thirty-two trees. At full maturity that's one hundred and sixty orcs a day. Each born, fully grown and ready to fight." Lyarra explained to him. Jon turned his gaze to her, utterly amazed at that. He did a quick bit of math in his head, and realized that within one hundred days by that point in time, she could have a freshly built army of sixteen thousand.
Yes they were much weaker then men and sixteen thousand orcs was equivalent to about thirty-two hundred soldiers, but still, that wasn't a number to scoff at either. Plus she had a dragon. A big, fucking dragon.
After a few moments, Jon turned to her. He stared at her for several long moments, before finally saying, "I have so many questions."
"I'll answer what I can baby brother. All you need to do is ask." Lyarra replied with a smile.
That had been his first day in his new life. His first day as Jaehaerys Targaryen.
From there, the two returned to the top entrance hall, and sat down to chat. Lyarra spent hours answering Jon's questions. Questions about magic, about the world she had lived in before, the things she could do, whether or not he could learn them too.
The way Jon's face lit up when Lyarra told him that it was possible for him to learn magic, was something she wouldn't forget for a very long time, and she often brought it up to him over the following years.
From that day forward, the twins were completely inseparable. Hours were spent awake at night in either of their rooms, talking, chatting, whispering to one another of their future plans. Every day, after Jon finished his lessons, and chores, he would disappear with his sister, back to their fortress in the mountains. There he would learn magic, study history and train to be a better fighter. He would work hard, and live up to what his sister wanted for him.
He no longer wanted to be Jon Snow, bastard of Winterfell. He wanted to be Jaehaerys Targaryen. A true dragon. And so he would. He would do his best to live up to his family name, and make something of himself. No longer a bastard, but a true-born dragon.
-To be continued-
Alright there's the next chapter, working on Chapter three as well, so expect to see it soon. For those that are worried, please, like I said, she wont be the only one with magic in this story, the listed characters tags should give you some idea as to who's influence will be felt throughout the story, and what it'll lead too. Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think.
(*1) (This Dragon is heavily based off of Darkeater Midir. If you need a size comparison, go check that out. Also, Midir is meant to show two things, one, that as a child, Lyarra can still be fanciful and have moments where she is impulsive. Ie, she learns she has a connection to dragons, knows she had servant who were dragons and that are now trapped in the void, and that she can retrieve them, so that without thinking she tries to pull one out and ends up hurting herself. This shows that she can still have moments where she does stupid things. She has the mind, soul, magic and memories of a six hundred year old dark lord, but she is currently a young girl. The second thing was to show Jon his connection to Dragon's and also to flight, which ties into similarities with Harry.)
(*2) (Okay, follow my logic here. I tried to make it so that the orcs were weak like they are supposed to be. It takes time to make them, and I know some people might be thinking that having tens of millions is a bit too much, do recall that she was effectively trying to conquer our Earth with them. Seven billion humans, and it was basically her and her allies against the world. So I don't actually think her sporting armies of orcs, numbering in the tens of millions is too much of a stretch. Also I wanted to point out and I'll delve into it more in future chapters and flashbacks, but she undermined humanity a great deal before she started her war. By the time the fighting began most of the world was so saturated in magic that muggle technology didn't work, so they could only use guns and conventional bombs, and she made sure to destroy stockpiles of these before the war even began, so eventually humanity just kinda ran out of ammo, as it were since the ability to mass produce bullets was no longer possible. As a side note, I imagine, that people who could make bullets from scratch were suddenly the richest and most sought after motherfuckers in the world, and also prime candidates for assassination by Harriet. Plus as a final note, this war took hundreds of years from beginning to end. With not mass production, the world eventually ran out.)