Chapter III

The Sword of Dragonglass

306 AC

It is left to us, of course, the tale of Daenerys Targaryen.

The Queen's abandonment, in her attempt to find answers in Asshai, resulted in one of the greatest setbacks ever: the city created upon the purpose of providing a second chance to the freed slaves was now falling under fire and chaos. Besides, one of her dragons had been killed and the other tamed by the bastard nephew whose existence she was completely unaware of.

But I am getting ahead of myself, once more.

I must first tell what we know today about what the Mother of Dragons found in Asshai. I'm afraid it will be a brief entry since little is known from that journey. The records we have of what the Dragon Queen saw there belong also to Maester Luwin, after what Jon Snow told him.

As it turns out, Queen Daenerys traveled for days riding Drogon's back until she found the Great Temple of Asshai. Maester Luwin writes that the queen was received in Asshai by a host of hooded figures, people who hid they were faces behind iron masks, and who refused to touch her. The days were long, and the sky was red as if the clouds were burning in the sky. There was not a single animal, which made it difficult to feed the dragon. This hoard of hooded people, though, led the queen to the High Temple, the greatest building in the city.

"A palace entirely made of dragonglass, reflecting the sky like a black mirror…"

There she was greeted by a High Priestess, who assured she would return to Bhorash with answers to her questions and to find her dragons already tamed by their true riders.

All Daenerys Targaryen needed to do was prove herself worthy of those answers by lighting an obsidian candle. Not a small one, like those we have in the Citadael. No, this obsidian candle was long and sharp at the end, just like a sword. In her penitence, the queen tried to set the dark obsidian into fire, wondering among her fears and memories, until she was finally able to light it.

"My blood and fears kindled a pale fire… and it showed me what I wanted", she allegedly told Jon Snow.

And what did the queen see in the pale flames of her dark sword?

"The Song is made of fire, ice and balance: three dragons in the New Age to end the crime of the innocent, three knights to defend the New Order, three millennia to live the New Peace."

And three faces were shown to the Mother of Dragons in the white fire: the first, she recognized immediately, since it was her own face; the second, the face of a northern warrior whom the Queen of the Dragons later perceived to be Jon Snow; and the third, the face of a broken young man with three eyes and broken wings, just like her golden dragon would end.

The queen finally understood the prophecy: her dragons would only be subdued when her knights were found. Those knights she fire had shown to her.

But as the High Priestess of Asshai warned her, it might already be too late for the prophecy... because another man, one who was not supposed to fly, had already claimed a dragon. And the little broken boy who was supposed to ride the third dragon was dead.

"Don't fret, Mother of Dragons. The fate of the world can be forged." The High Priestess told her, blessing her with fire and ash. "Keep this dark sword at your side, so you can strike your enemy when the time comes. And remember, you are Azor Ahai Reborn, and you are destined to open the threshold to let the Lord of Light join us. Turn your dragons to the place you are destined to rule and let ash rain over your vassals. Melt the ice and forge the kingdom of fire. Let the winter subdue and the summers grew long. Led us to the light, so that the Shadow bless us until the end of times."

With a fire ignited in her loins, and tears running down her face, Daenerys took her obsidian blade and clasped it to her side, where she kept it in the months to come. Lightbringer, many would whisper weeks later, watching the sword sheathed at the queen's waist.

She left Asshai right away, flying back to Bhorash, heeding the eerie words the High Priestess had whispered to her. Later, much later, she would share with Jon Snow how fear took over her when the excitement left her body. Only then did she admitted to have sensed something rotten in her visit to Asshai, as if she had been told lies. Just lies.

However, the High Priestess couldn't have told only lies, because when the Mother of Dragons reached the town of Bhorash the Battle of the Three Days had just ended… and one of her dragons was dead.