Surprise!
Bet none of you were expecting this new chapter from my Age of Terror Series.
it was already completed and I thought, what the hell why not post it.
It would've been posted earlier but the site was experiencing some issues that i couldn't get onto my page or check my private messaging... which is a lot as I had no idea how many I had. never been on it for a while and I only come on this to post my stories off.
anyway, enough of that.
hope you all enjoy the new installation of...
Age of Terror Reign Of The Night Ch 9
The young champion of the king's tourney, formerly known as Creighton Redfort stood within large entrance hall of his new holdfast. The now disowned knight looked around his new environment with gratitude and bitter woe of the previous events that led up to this.
As he stood within this keep offered to him.
He stood no longer as Creighton of House Redfort. Son of Lord Horton Redfort. Brother to Ser Jasper, Jon and Mychel RedFort.
He was no just Creighton. A disowned son from a prominent house, he was no better than a bastard but with no name to call his own.
Yet his victories were also defeats.
He had won his first tourney as the newly dubbed honoured champion.
He had won with honours amongst the crowd of small folk and lords.
Yet… he had earned disownment as was his reward for courageous defiance against the tyranny of the Hand.
He had been giving the opportunity most few ever have the chance of receiving in this day and age.
He had been granted lands, titles and the opportunity to begin his own house, where the sons of his sons will carry his name and banner to the last.
Yet… why did it feel so wrong…?
"Well, what do you think?" spoke the voice of his new lord and patron who gifted him this new castle from which he may start his new family.
"It is… good." Creighton answered, still stricken with woe over the declaration his father commanded against him.
"Don't you like it?" Victor asked, seeing and feeling the conflicted emotions the young championed knight was feeling. The vampire lord knew his young and chosen champion was still reeling from the previous event and it had nothing to do with his new dwelling that many would kill to have.
"Nonono! It's amazing, and I'm truly grateful it's just that… it's going to take some time to get used to all of this." Creighton did not want to his insult his new patron who had been so kind and generous to him.
Victor laid his hand upon Creighton's shoulder and bore an understanding smile "I understand. And you're feeling troubled, just remember that our castle is always opened to you." Victor had offered for the newly anointed knight a place to stay within his Castle should the new lord seek company from his lonesome Keep.
Victor left the left small keep directly under all too consuming shadow of his towering fortress castle that stood at the centre of his grand metropolises like a dark spear into the heavens.
Outside, waiting for him was his eternal companion and apprentice Ellyn, garbed as before in her Carstien outfit with her masquerade mask ever present on her face to disguise her.
"So when do you plan to turn him?" Ellyn pushed off from the wall she was leaning against and walked with her lord back towards their keep.
The streets of Drakenhof were abuzz with populous who cheered and waved at the pair as they walked towards their great castle. The people ever thankful to their lord, from the peasants and relations of the men who served with him to the soldiers themselves patrolling on the streets that saluted their great commander.
None really knew the true nature and identity of their ruler, only seeing him in the light he has cast upon himself as a hero and generous lord to them.
"Soon. Trust is like a flower. First it starts out small like seed that needs to be planted, then it must be sustained and nourished with continuous support and commitment as it grows till it finally blooms." He knew only when Creighton knows only him to trust. Him to rely on.
"So… how long do you reckon then?" Ellyn pushed to know when they can induct their new champion into their plans of dominating this world.
"Give it take a year or two before we approach him." Victor guessed the proper time to unveil their true nature to the man, whom would be totally dependent and loyal to them that he would press for further answers other than the usual.
"Plenty of time then to continue growing our strength and power." Ellyn was anticipating the day she would rip off her mask before Tywin himself and relish in the awe and fear that she was back and with the power to eclipse his own.
"Speaking of power. We still need to continue your training." Ellyn tried not to grimace at the word. Though her body was now used to the intense and inhumane training her master put her through, she still felt that human part of her cry out in despair at the thought of going through those tedious trials and tests he concocts for her "Fortunately, I now possess a method to accelerate your growth in one day then it would take in 1 year. Come with me."
-a few levels below ground. In Drakenhof basement-
Ellyn once more found herself deep in the bowls under the entire city in the secretly constructive underground network running deep into many subterranean levels where much of Victor's experiments and growing army were held.
But this time unlike the previous moments that had her training before the Greyjoy's rebellion, their presence together was for an entirely different yet similar reason.
"Now you may be wondering since the final siege on Pyke why I chose this unsightly cup amongst many other's in that room full of treasure?" the rusty and repulsive looking goblet that was chosen out of the many other artefacts and treasures pillaged from the Greyjoy's stood upon a pedestal before them.
"It has been on my mind." Ellyn kept her eyes on it, all this time her mind has been peaked and curious about dismissive looking object her lord and master had taken such great interest and care of.
Victor walked up to the cup and took his place behind it, with the important object to his plans standing between him and his dear Protégé "Well, do not let appearances fool you. This cup is worth 10 times more than that throne your former human kin desire." His eye's then travelled down to the rust and grime covered chalice that his fingers trailed around the rough hard edges of the small bowl.
"This cup that I lost long ago is a powerful relic from an age when magic was alive and free." He recalled as memories of time long past and forgotten yet still remembered by one as an age of anarchy and strife.
The fall of the valyrian empire left a great impact on the east that continues to ripple as the former strong holds of the mighty empire, conquered or built struggle to gain dominance over the other in hopes of either reviving the long dead empire or the rebirth of a new world order.
"To give you a brief history, we must go back to a time before the doom destroyed the greatest civilisation in the world and sundered the forces of magic." Victor prepared to tell a tale not many know to this day. "There were events, times when magic was slowly receding. It was during these times of great decline when great stars could soar the skies, their presence invigorating and renewing the magical forces once more every few hundred years or so."
"One such event when the powers of magics transcended their peek that an entire sect of mages harnessed the power of the comet responsible for the raw energy exploding all around." He retold the story he read in documents and tomes long since destroyed by time or the doom that took it all. "These mages casted a ritual that pulled in the comet and fused it directly into an object that they would covet jealously. For generations they guarded this cup that would grant full-fledged members powers from a sip of its contents. However these mages would have it stolen from them years later to a collection of apprentices who sought the power for themselves and then I would come along and steal it."
There was silence after that, as Ellyn's eyes began to space out from her mind absorbing all that was spoken and recollected on where she heard such a familiar tale.
"… the Warlocks of Qaurth!?" Ellyn connected the dots, realising that these apprentices would become, having read victor's journal to know how the story goes. After previously losing it, the magical cup would later fall into the hands of the Greyjoy's of the islands who wouldn't realise the ultimate treasure they swindled… The Treasure they now held in their grasp.
Looking wide eyed at the object she previously dismissed.
Ellyn now realised the full magnitude of Victor's almost possessive coveting of the poor qualitied cup.
Victor smiled at his protégée's show of knowledge. He was aware of her dabbing into his previous journal entry's before he took her under his wing "Yes. The very same rebellious apprentices would go on to form the pathetic organisation of wizards who devise a way of extending their lives outside the boundaries of mortality."
This was even more news to Ellyn.
"So…. Are you saying that they are immortal?" she inquired. This information was startling to say the least.
She knew she should've expected such knowledge from a being as old as time itself, but to hear it still brought forth such mind blowing revelation that destroys all that she thought she believed in.
The warlocks of the east were a mysterious group. Often thought as nothing more than mere illusionists, converting what ridiculous parlour tricks they called sorcery to some.
Before magic was make belief.
Simple tricks of the eye these so called magicians and wizards used to fool simple folk.
But now Ellyn knew that there were higher mysteries and powers that mere mortals could never comprehend nor acquire.
Only she and her lord. Beings of higher majesty could harness this mystical energy that would put them on par with gods.
Victor clicked his teeth at the abominable way his irksome foes possessed "in a degree but still they retain their frail humanity. Theirs minds transcending beyond the physical world and joined into a collective hive that grows with each new generation of warlocks and servants added to their ranks." It was both frightening and ingenious that the former apprentices conjured this unique method of preserving their souls in a psyche collection of memories and knowledge to be processed into new hosts that tether them back into the mortal plane.
"The Knowledge and memories of the initiates becomes a part of their consciousness which then assumes complete control over the host body. And thus the Warlocks continue to exist as the lowly group of dwindling mages who scrounge for the smallest bits of magic they can collect to maintain their frail power." Victor described their immortality as best as he could to the new born vampiress.
Yet this method of transcendence is not permanent. The dwindling of magic since the death of the last dragon in Westeros has signalled the slow decline of energy that few can now barely scrounge to harness.
The once might and power of the warlocks now reduced to charlatans' practices the lesser and fibble marks of conjuration.
"And this Cup was the largest and only continuous source of magical power they had that once gave them their power long ago." In front of them was perhaps the only the only source of magic this world had.
Ellyn was practically salivating the possibilities flowing into her mind of how and what this great object would grant them "so how do we go about using it?" she bent herself as she levelled her head to the object in question.
A tactful smirk graced victor's lips "Very simple really. One needs only to know the right words to awaken it, and the rest is really quite simple."
"Voltu' Na tune!' the words left his mouth with a resounding heavy weight ring like the blaring of bells from a tower in their enclosed cavern.
The air became heavy and Ellyn was forced onto her hands and knees.
Not even her newly equipped physical strength could help her from this force of raw magical eruption that poured from the cup as eons of long dormancy had ended. The years of grime, dirt and dust that had been gathering upon the magical object since its acquisition into the Greyjoy's House hold had now disappeared revealing the shine and luminance of the cup not seen in years long forgotten.
A cup of pure metal that shined and illuminated like pale silver yet look so strong like Steel.
The jewels embedded deep into its body glowed and glimmered with a shine that bounce off what light there was in the caverns they stood in, but the real piece was the jewel embedded in the centre of the cup's bowl. Shining more like sapphire star then the others around the metal framed body.
"Do you feel that? That well spring with power resonating from it?" Victor asked, as he felt the years of repressed and inactive magic within, explode out and fill the air.
It was uplifting the vampire's soul as he felt the flow of magic in the air like a song that flowed through his being.
Ellyn was feeling it.
The vampiress now stood on her feet as she felt the powers and energies she had only come close to feeling from victor, now pouring out in high volumes from the simple looking jewelled cup that now was indeed worth more a kingdom as she realised the power and potential this object now held to anyone who possessed it.
Victor held his wrist over the cup, and to her surprise he slashed a deep cut into his wrist, letting out a large quantity of blood the poured into the bowl of the chalice before the bleeding stopped and his wound healed instantons.
With chalice now filled, victor lifted the cup and held it before Ellyn "Now drink. Drink my blood from this chalice and you'll experience power's you'll only ever receive from half of a 100 lifetimes of walking upon world." He instructed her as the undead lady of the night stared deep into the crimson pool of her maker's life essence.
Ellyn reach forward and grabbed the chalice where she felt the long and ancient well spring of power flow through the blood of her mighty lord.
The sight of the blood was alluring but the sense of the great power joined to it was overwhelming that she did not hesitate to gulp it all down to the last drop. And upon the substance entering her did the cup in her hands fall to the ground and she drop to her knees as the not so painful yet titanic force of power explode within her.
She screamed, her cries blasting from the out of the castle and carried across the land like blast of thunder that shook the world as every magical sensitive being felt shockwave of magic erupting.
From the vastness of the far north to the expansive and traitorous east, many felt the great magical surge for an instant while the cries that echoed in the sky were carried like a new borns cry.
Ellyn sat on her hands and knees, panting as she reeled from the soul exploding power that continued to burn in her like a sun. It was at this moment that Ellyn began to question if she technically did have a soul after being revived into this living undead creature of immense strength.
But now as she regained her strength she slowly began to stand up on her legs like a new born baby from how odd they felt, heavy like carrying a new weight yet light as if she was floating off the ground.
"How does it feel?" Victor asked as he looked at her in a critical judging stare as he studied her like an experiment, taking mental notes as she acted and spoke.
"It… it feels like… like a sun is exploding deep within my soul." She breathed out, placing a hand upon the centre of her chest where her undead stilled heart resided. A warm yet freezing cold as the endless darkness from which she was renewed flowed from within her like a maelstrom of hot and cold forces of nature battling colliding inside of her.
"Very Good." Victor breathed out, feeling her new born powers which greatly exceeded all others but was still dwarfed by his own tremendous power. "It appears that the cup has indeed served its purpose. I can feel your newly awoken powers humming from your very being like a beacon. A pulse of undead raw energy." Like a heartbeat, her magic boomed from her very being to which she was unaware of.
Victor offered her his hand to help her "Stand. We must test your powers." Ellyn took his offered hand and was helped up to her feet with gentle grace before she was led away from the cup and stopped to stand before a set of armour.
"Look at that armour standing before you." it was simple set of armour of the Reach, nothing special as it was standard castle forged steel from what she saw that stood because of the stand that had it so. Victor now instructed her in harnessing her newly awoken powers "Feel that power within you. Call upon it. Grab it and assert your will as you channel it before you with the intent to destroy what stands before you." he described to her what she needed to do.
Ellyn did as she was told.
Following his command like instructions she stared at the display of armour standing before her, hollow out only suspended upon a stand. She inwardly reached within herself, internally grasping her magic with her will as she glared at the armour with the intent to destroy. Before she knew as she felt that flow of magic she had harness surge upwards from her body to her head and flow out from her eye's as an invisible force that smashed into the armour like an invisible fist, scattering the parts around the cavern.
"Oh. My god!" Ellyn breathed out as she felt the residue energies and the force from her invisible spell recoil from the strong power she just unleashed.
Ellyn felt the magic's within her become still and subside, she tasted the euphoric sensations deep within her as she still kept a touch on her newly born magic's welling within her.
Victor just chuckled "Gods had nothing to do with your power my dear." It was humorous to the immortal creature that people believed in some divine or demonic entity of great and terrible powers that created and destroy the world. "This was the long lost work of great mages with control over the universal forces, Unbound by petty superstition and stagnant rulers. This is but an example of those who have taken the gifts earned and not bestow can achieve!"
"With this new boost to your strength, we can now fully begin your tutoring in the magical arts and your stretch your ability to command the dead."
-Meanwhile in the Redkeep-
Within the capital of kingslanding, in the Redkeep.
Robert Baratheon hated this moment.
In fact, this was second most hated thing he was forced to do during his reign as King.
The first was marrying and bedding his wife.
And the second is attending his small council meetings.
So right now he was forced to sit down in this dull meeting, as his ears were assaulted with the insane rambling of his lord Hand.
"-Allowing them to settle here was a huge mistake Robert! They aren't what they appear to be!" Lord Jon Arryn ranted out, appearing mad or otherwise disillusioned to his fellow council members who looked at him with concern or amusement at his insistent talks about the new house to the kingdom.
"Jon-" Robert tried to get a word in but couldn't as his Hand wouldn't let up in his rant.
"They aren't Human! Those beasts of theirs that they control unnaturally are but an example of how dangerous they are!" Jon continued unleash maddening declarations about the Carstiens.
He had heard about the monstrosity's creatures they keep and control with un-paralleled command over the beasts that destroyed two islands worth of people with no discrimination between men, women and children.
This only served to fuel the mad paranoia of the two unnaturally pale lord and lady being something more then human.
"Jon-!"
"THERE DEMONS ROBERT! DEMONS! SENT FROM THE BLACKEST PITS OF HE-"
"JON!" Robert roared out, his fist smashing into the table and bringing his rambling mentor from the session of madness that gripped the old lord. "Seven Hells! How much longer are you going to keep on ranting about them!?" Robert's patience was reaching its breaking point, he honestly did not want to be here of all places much less listen as the man who he saw as greater then himself, spiral down into insanity before every powerful man in the room.
"I agree with his grace Lord Arryn. The Carstien although foreign have proven themselves as dutiful servants to the Kingdom." Varris the Spider, the master of secrets
"I also agree with lord Varris. Great friends and heroes they are. Why Lord Carstien led a heroic attack on the iron island's with only his household men." Lord Pyclle murmured in his frail old tone.
"I'm afraid I have an opinion that is different from theirs if you'd like hear it?" spoke the third voice of the council, whose suave salesmen's tone and ever businessmen's smirk was present throughout this debacle. "I find it more than just a coincidence that you'd summon this meeting after the defeat of your champion at his Grace's Victory Tourney. It is not the first time when a Hand was disrespected and began a campaign against his rival." The murderous glare and new shade of red Jon threw to the man whom he brought here under his wife's advisement, could not be
But still Jon pressed "This is not that! I am speaking the truth, These Carstiens are Monsters! Demons! ABOM-"
"ENOUGH!" Robert roared out with his fist thundering against the table.
Jon looked at Robert with surprise and shock as this was the first time his former ward raised his voice against him.
King Robert was getting tired of Jon's crazy and seemingly jealous ranting; he did not want to believe that the man who was almost always calm and tried to instil that same discipline into him would be shaken into insanity over recent event in the tourney.
For his own sanity and the sanity of his Father figure he would end this discussion before it delved further to the point where his competence could not be question. His beloved wife and queen would use this opportunity to install her father or someone of similar relations upon his council.
Robert wasn't stupid, he knew of the backstabbing and scheming politics that infests his court.
He simply did not care or rather he did not care unless it involved him or someone close to him.
Robert knew that if Cersei got the chance to put her father as Hand of the King, then the mighty lion that was Tywin Lannister would rein him in. Robert understood the old Lion's power and influence, despite being two kingdoms away from the capital, the old Lion still had the power and influence that stretches across all kingdoms save two.
Dorne and The North.
Robert knew that in a fair fight, he'd easily best the old Man with his strength, but when it comes to waging war or a battle between then, then he knew he was at a loss. During the days of the mad king, Everyone knew that prior to the days of his fall, King Viserys's well prosperous reign was ushered in by the competency and great leadership of his Hand Lord Tywin who was remarked many times as being to the power behind the crown.
Something that ever angered the Mad King before or during his descent into madness.
And Robert knew that if Tywin once more got back into his position of administration, then all the lavish spending, all the tourneys, hunting and whores would be put to a stop. Robert would be forced if not left to his own inability as the old lion took what power he had and reduced him into nothing more than a figure head as he reigns as the unofficial ruler of the seven kingdoms.
It did not help that was he was starting his descent in being indebted to him.
Something that he has never forgotten as half of the kingdoms fortune which he spends comes from the Lannister's, the other half the Iron Bank.
Two powerful backers that keeps this kingdom afloat and the crown on his head.
Losing just one of them would destabilise the realm and plunge the crown into complete bankruptcy, In order to save themselves from being tied down to the sinking crown the other kingdoms will use this to secede from the Iron Throne and once more form their own kingdoms.
Aegon the conqueror united Westeros from 7 warring kingdoms and Robert will not let be his reign be remember as the king who destroy the hard won unity and stability of the realm.
"There will be no more of this Crazy shit talk about the Carstiens! I don't care if their foreign, too rich, Too powerful or just fucking terrifying. We just won a war thanks to them and I'm not about to unleash another just because you feel insulted after the tourney!" Robert did not have the patience nor the energy to acknowledge Jon's hurt expression and his stumbling pleas to say otherwise on the matter.
The king was far too tired and annoyed by this ongoing rant his former father figure was never going to let down.
"Robert… Robert i-" Jon tried to argue his case and reason but Robert was too far fed up with crazy talk.
"ENOUGH! There will be no more talks about this! As your king, I hereby order any and all talks regarding the notion of any punishments upon the Carstiens to be ignored until I decree otherwise!" Robert Commanded. A kings order that all of his highest members of council must adhere to above all else, not even the hand himself could say or do any against this order before all present councilmen who bared witness this command.
"I…I…" Jon stammered as Robert stood up and began to leave for his wine and whores.
"As you command your grace." The first to speak was lord Baelish, who watched with satisfying silent glee over Jon Arryn's decisive defeat that he can never bring up or challenge again as he acknowledged his kings command.
"Your Grace." Lord Pyclle acknowledged this command like Baelish, agreeing to the edict set forth.
"My King." Varys also agreed, though while he too was equally as weary about the Carstiens, especially with reports of their war beasts and their sudden appearance, their knowledge and wealth. All things he the spider knew not of made him on edge of who these people were, as it was his duty and hobby to know every dirty and long forgotten secret this land offers.
But the Eunuch was both a realist and equal opportunist, and so agreed with the command… but still he would try and uncover what secrets he could about the new heroes.
"Brother." Stannis simply said as he joined with the others in leaving.
Everyone left from the king, his kingsguard and the servants leaving only one man still sitting in that room.
Jon Arryn gritted his teeth at the stupid decision his former ward has just made 'Damnit Robert. Can't you see what I am seeing!? These people aren't human!?' 'From day one since that lord Carstien presented himself. I could tell they were far from normal. How had they generated enough gold to tear down the most expensive castle in the realm and remake it into something grander that would take several generations to complete? How did they create and control such monsters that were capable of destroying an entire army? And how…. How did they have such power over me that day?' where question that mind boggled not just his mind but the minds of every player in the land of Westeros about the new power in the Riverlands.
'No matter how much I think about it, how I try to rationalise it. There was a power over me that kept me bound and unable to save my champion that day.' He always thought back to the day at the tourney, when he wanted to jump to his feet but felt a force that betrayed his body and forced him to keep still and silent no matter how much he protested against this power over him. He remembered the Von Carstiens well and clear that day 'and then they were. Their eye's glowing like the fires of hell and… lady Carmilla… her teeth!?' the flash of Carmilla's pointed fangs were burned into his mind, her fangs more elongated and sharper than anything of her other chompers, and any fang belonging to any man or woman he knew.
No matter how much he tried to justify it. How much he tried to rationalise it all from the superstitious and simple folk fears of grumpkins and snarks…. He found no other way to explain the strangeness and horrific feats and abilities committed by the von Carstiens.
So in the end… the great Jon Arryn resigned himself to finally becoming a believer in the tales of Gods and monsters.
'What sort've monsters had we invited into our lands? What demons walk amongst us and what plans do they hold?' his new Paranoid mind thought about what plots and ambitions these demons amongst them have planned for the realm.
'I can't just sit idly by and let them carry on with what schemes they have in place. Damn Robert and his orders! I won't let his stubborn blindness destroy this realm. I must find out what they are and how to stop them!' with new found conviction fuelled by a sense of duty and righteousness not seen in days when religion ruled the land rather than then absolute authority of the crown.
Day of the faith Melient where the laws of gods were absolute against everything from low born peasants to high born lords and even kings were subjected to the laws enforced by the zealous militia of the Faith.
-A few days later under Castle Drakenhof-
"Again!" the authoritarian command of victor demanded as he stood behind Ellyn who panted but show no signs of sweet yet the symptoms of exhaustion were showing upon her slumping body and breathless pants as she set about performing the task her lord and master had her going at again and again.
Before the both of them laid the decomposed bones of a nameless body, organs and flesh eaten away by worms, insects and time till it was just the skeletal frame that laid in torn and dirty rags of clothing that it was buried in long ago.
Ellyn would've complained about the tiresome and unarchiving results this attempt to manifest her new magical powers to reanimate a skeleton was tedious but her pride and desires to achieve complete control over the dead like her master for the final stages of their plan kept her mouth shut and fuelled her resolve to keep at it.
Ellyn willed up that wellspring of magic now bursting within her and forced it upon the hollowed out remains, she asserted her will upon the inanimate corpse like a master upon a lowly slave with the chanted out words like commands.
The dead language of the secret sect of Valyria was confounding as they left her lips; she knew the old tongue of the empire as was traditional of those of high birth to learn the language of the once mighty empire now broken down into a degenerative base language spoken in the east known as bastard Valyrian.
Though this skill was rarely if not used due to the fact that no one in Westeros speaks in the dead language anymore, she felt like a child again as she tried to pronounce and utter the correct serene of words in the precise intervolve to give life and meaning to the spell she tried to conjure.
She could see the blue chilling mist that was her power manifesting, travel to the laid out skeleton, slipping into the centre of the rib cage and there it nestled before it's body began to spread out to all parts, following along the limbs to the bony digits and phasing into the body that glowed a bright harrowing blue within the dark cavern.
The magic of Ellyn desperately trying to fuse into bony remains, her impatience and desperation causing her magic over the frame to burst into blazing balefire that coated the entire thing.
Ellyn snapped out of her concentration as she stared at the combusted remains of her attempt to reanimate a corpse, naturally her expression was dishearten failure and disappointment.
But whereas one was staring at the charred remains with disappointment, another merely looked on with interest.
'A fire spell. Though not intentional, certainly an achievement to conjure on such short notice.' Mused the ageless being who stared deeply into the conjured flame of magic eating at the last remnants of bone and remains before eating itself into nothing. 'However it is different compared to traditional fire. This flame… Is purely magical based rather than elemental. Produced and created purely on the magical energy of Ellyn, it burns hotter and more concentrated then real fire.'
With this thought, the undead lord figured they had enough with training for today "Ok I think that's enough for now." Much to the relief but otherwise confounded companion, who felt that the ground made for a softer bed as her legs gave in and she landed her butt on the cold hard ground. "We've made some progress, and will resume our training at a later date."
Though this at the beginning of their training was desired before, but now with the future prospect of power over the dead with the undisputed command of leading an undead army of silent and obedient corpses gave determination to Ellyn to put all that she got into the acquiring a mastery of necromancy.
Plus she was surprised as her teacher never before paused their training unless he was pleased with the results or another task required his attention… this was none of that "B-but I didn't revive this corpse yet!?" Ellyn confounded, argued that she had yet to achieve the results they've been at day and night in harnessing and manifesting her newfound magic.
"That is true, however you did something else. Though not intentionally you manage to conjure a magical fire." Victor pointed to the last remnant of the burning blaze, now a small embering spark that sank within the mound of ash before being snuff out. In an earlier and… heart beating life, Ellyn would've flushed at the mistake and the embarrassment of destroying the corpse she tried hard to bring to life as she had seen Victor do countless times before.
But now Ellyn's newfound self-felt little damage to her vanity and self-confidence, the most human of her emotions aside from the aggressive ones seemed to fade away as she lived her undead life. Honour, charity (if she had it) generosity, compassion, and mercy were the smallest factors in his human life that now were wiped away and leaving her much more darker passion alone and unhindered by weakness and humility. "Tell me. What was going on inside of you to shift your focus from breathing life to the lifeless, to instead breathing to life this fire that you made physical upon the now destroyed remains and are still continuing it so?"
"I… I didn't realise I was keeping this alive." Ellyn quickly cancelled and pushed down any magic she felt she was sending towards the fire, cutting its source and supply as it now just burned of its own volition.
"Hmmm, not unheard of. Your magic has been awakening to its zenith yet you lack the control and focus to understand the powers you have gained." He honestly should've expected this. Like a new born, Ellyn was learning to run before she could walk. Their tasks of manifesting her magic thus far have proven to only conjure and deliver the most basic if not simpler spells compared to the advance and mastered arcane secrets they have been trying to deliver on. "Now tell me. What were you feeling, what were you thinking as you tried to reanimate these old bones?"
"I was… I was thinking about how I would raise a grand army of the dead. How I would storm the golden tooth leading into the Westerlands, slay every man that kept me from my Vengeance!" Ellyn described her vision of the day of conquest, when her enemies fall before her blade or beneath the boots of her army.
'Anger and desire. A good combination.' Victor mused about the two passions that easily combine into the powerful motivations of vengeance and revenge.
"I thought and dreamed about the day where I would lay siege to Casterly Rock. Where I would walk upon a mountain of Lannister bodies, glide down a street painted with a river their blood before exacting my revenge upon the man who destroyed all that I had in my life!" Ellyn could see the day of judgement. Casterly Rock set ablaze, the streets turned into a river of blood, beasts and undead gnawing on the remains and slaughtering any kin or loyal man to the Lannisters.
And finally, the sole progenitor for her lust for revenge. She could see it now as the once mighty and feared old lion cowering before her like a shaken cub. Pleading and begging for mercy as she destroys all that he loves and cherishes, his castle and keep. His children, the golden son Jamie and the Prideful queen Cersei, stripped naked and mutilated before his feet as she delivers a slow and agonising death.
Victor could honestly say that he was a little turned on by her accurate description and dreams that sustains her in her goal to destroy the man who in turn destroyed her 'ambition motivated by hatred. Passions kept alive by the fuel motivation of vengeance.'
"Quite a goal my dear." Victor stepped in as he now got the idea as to why she conjured a different spell then the one she was aiming for "I can see now why you conjured this instead of the reanimation. Tell me, what comes to your mind when you think of fire?"
"…." Ellyn didn't know what to think when asked about that.
What is fire?
"What emotions pop into your head when someone says fire or you think about it? What do they symbolise to you?" he asked her to specify what she thought fire represented to her.
Ellyn stared deep into the embers of her fire, her red eyes staring into the flickers of the once burning light that she conjured "Warmth… destruction… anger. Hatred. And Power." Were the words that she used to describe the raw power of the basic elemental energy used throughout the world "A burning desire to see all that is laid before it burned to ash." Memories of battles long dead in her former life appeared before her eyes.
The field from which her husband and household knights led the counter charge against the army of Tywin Lannister. She could see the rain of arrows alight with fire, setting alight the dry fields of grass and hay that was caught in the infighting. A land lit ablaze where both Tarbot and Lannister forces that were unfortunate enough to be caught inside field of fire joined in the burning that turned the land black and filled with ash.
While Ellyn was caught in her memories of the past, Victor stared at the woman, contemplating her basic understanding of the primal force of nature she conjured a magical copy of.
"A basic concept but none the less accurate and enlightening. Your emotions is what created that little fire spell you made." He laid out the truth for her, the reason for her botched attempt that ended with conjuring a fire spell in its place. "Your deep rooted anger and contempt for the Lannister's is a passion that drives you to do this no matter the cost. It is also what you must learn to utilise it like tool but not let it control you." while his words may be seen as wisdom to most others, to the woman who was fuelled by the motivation of her hatred and desire for vengeances, took it as command to forget about her revenge.
"Are you saying that I should… forget about my Revenge!?" Ellyn exploded with anger and in Victor's face as she glared with fire in her in red eyes "Forget about how they humiliated me and destroyed me!? Killed my brothers, my family, my…Children!?" she listed off all of the reasons why she shouldn't forgive, much less for forget about all of the crimes committed upon her by the Lannister clan.
Victor quelled her temper, but not with soothing and honeyed words, but with his commanding presence as his magic flared to a degree as to crush Ellyn under its weight. The reborn lady of Tarbot struggled to stand under the tense weight of his presence as he stared down at her "I wasn't saying that at all. Merely advising you to see your anger and hatred as both a great weapon but also a vulnerability that you must overcome." Anger is great motivator, but at the same time it can blind you to all other else.
His magic lifted and Ellyn could finally find the air much more lighter and breathable.
A sharp gasp escaped from her lips as she sucked in the oxygen that she really didn't need anymore, but the automatic response of her body compelled her to. Before her eye's was the hand of her master who extended it down to her to help her to her feet.
Ellyn took the kind gesture her lord presented and once more stood before him as he regarded her not as a test subject, his lover or companion, but as master to a student. "Master your emotions. Turn them into a weapon and not into a crutch." His words of wisdom were begrudgingly taken to heart within the reborn Ellyn Carstien.
Victor turned to leave, but as he walked away, he gave one final command as he left to return to the castle "We'll continue our training tomorrow. Think on my word my dear. They would be the key to mastering the very powers which you desire and more so."
-Meanwhile in Kingslanding-
Back within the capital of kingslanding.
In the red keep, days after the failed council against Victor Von Carstien.
Jon Arryn, Lord Hand to the king was no longer a man many recognised anymore.
The once respected and cool headed man on the small council who kept in check, Robert's appetites, had now descended down a path of madness.
Jon Arryn had been ordering a ridiculous amount of resources available to both him and the small council to spy and uncover the mysteries of the von Carstiens. Sending ships far into the west towards the sunset sea to verify his claims…. None have returned yet.
And of course, to top it all off. Jon Arryn had been making commands to the citadel of old town, for tomes, books and all collected items on fabled creatures and monsters of a time unknown or fabricated.
It scared much of his fellow councillors including Robert himself.
But the king drowned his worries about everything in wine, woman and hunting. Not in that order specifically but certainly among those three choices.
His own council member's went on with their own things.
Stannis kept to his own council.
Little finger, his brothels.
Varys its spies and contacts on every part of the known world
Pyclle on the other hand… was forced to comply with the orders of his lord in acquiring and sharing his knowledge of the citadels inventory on old lore before all recorded history.
These were dark times for the red keep, and many more to come.
Finished. Now for the Omake.
-Chronicles of history. The Hand's madness.-
No one quite knows where it all began.
But many all point to the Carstiens as being the cause of dissention amongst the land.
And while this is true, technically the events that followed were created from the ripples of their actions.
Madness once more gripped in the heart of the kingdom.
The hand of King Jon Arryn, had descended down a path of madness not seen since the days of the mad king.
Some would say that he was mad with rage after being spurn at the Kings victory Tourney, sources tell that he madness appeared in before a gathered council just upon their arrival as he began spouting many things about the new heroes of the war.
He spouted that they were monsters. Demons come to steal their souls.
His grace at the time did not dismiss his Hand entirely as most king's should. instead he dismissed the ridiculous notions his Hand was proclaiming and instead passed a law before all of his councilmen.
No such commandments or actions are to be taken against the Von Carstiens unless he proclaims it so.
Jon Arryn was powerless to move and act against them, least of all spout any more maddening notions about them.
...But that did not stop the man from acting differently to what his grace had commanded.
Records of the Hand demanding all forms of books and collected knowledge of folklore and mythical creatures had many worried that this was not simply a man enraged but now delusional of his own makings.
He was solely convinced that the Carstiens were far from human.
Back then, these were the ramblings of a mad man whose desires for revenge twisted his mind.
But now as the light of the heavens have been snuffed by the forces of the dark.
The ramblings and insanities of the past are now seen as gossipels that should've been taken to heart.
Chronicles of the dark descent.