Game of Thrones: Gods & Monsters
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Summary: Strange goings on are happening in Westeros. Stories of flying demons and monstrosities plaguing the land. In the North of Winterfell, five strangely unique individuals arrive, offering their assistance to Lord Eddard 'Ned' Stark in bringing peace to land. These individuals possess powers and skills that would outstrip those of the Age of Heroes, practically making them Gods Among Men. And when the Hand of the King dies, and the King himself travels northward to ask Ned to take position as his Hand, it sets off a motion of events that may spell the doom of the world, or bring about peace. This is not the Age of Men, but of Gods & Monsters.
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Chapter 1: Strange Happenings
Ned Stark was in a troubled mood. For the past few months, he had been receiving reports from patrols and travellers of strange occurrences happening in the North. The tales were far-fetched to say the last; most of them were of strange flying demons that spewed fire from their maws, attacking villages and settlements and carrying off any survivors of their attacks. While the Quiet Wolf found it hard to believe the stories of these monsters, one lone individual who managed to escape the destruction of his village spoke earnestly with him. Ned considered himself a good judge of character and he knew fear when he saw it.
The look of stricken terror in the survivor's eyes spoke volumes to Ned. It was the same fear he had seen in the eyes of those about to die in war, prayers to the Gods and names of their loved ones on their lips just before their lives were taken. Ned had even travelled out to the nearest village to Winterfell where the survivor had come from and saw firsthand the destruction left behind. There were very few if any bodies left behind, and the ones that had been looked as though they had been feasted on.
The initial thought of Wildling Raiders getting past the Wall was what Ned and some of his men had thought. A few had even voiced such thoughts. But, barring the Thenn, Wildings did not feast on the corpses of those they had slain. And even so, there would've been some corpses of any Wildling raiders killed in these attacks, and yet there were none. Ned had thought to send a raven to his oldest friend, sworn brother and king, Robert Baratheon and inform him of the matter, but there was little evidence of these demons and Robert was not like to believe in such tales. To be sure, he would send aid, but more conclusive evidence would be needed for Robert to believe and take more drastic action.
"Something troubling you, my love?" Ned looked to his side to see his dear wife, Catelyn Stark nee Tully, looking at him in concern as they broke their fast with their children in the dining hall of Winterfell's keep.
"Tis nothing, my love," Ned said using a rare white lie to ease his wife's worry. Catelyn had a disbelieving look on her face, but did not comment and went back to her meal. Then entering the dining hall came Ser Roderick Cassel, the Master-At-Arms of House Stark and he looked slightly perturbed and worried, a worrisome thing to note.
"Roderick? What brings you here?" Ned asked the grey-haired man in concern. Lady Catelyn quickly whispered to the servants to usher their youngest children out of the hall, lest the news Roderick brought would cause them to worry.
"My apologies for intruding your morning meal, but we have visitors!" Roderick said formally, a look of worry on his face.
"Visitors? Who? Where from?" Ned asked.
"They… well, I think you must see them to believe," Roderick said reluctantly.
Ned thought about it a moment before nodding. "Bring them forth," he commanded. Roderick left the hall and after a moment, he came back in with five queer individuals. Four of them were women and the last was a young man perhaps older than Ned's son and heir Robb and his bastard Jon Snow.
Three of the women possessed dark hair, in slightly differing styles while the fourth had a bob of golden blonde hair. But what was more alarming and strange was the garb they wore; the first woman wore a mixture of dark metal with white stars affixed to it and was armed with a sword and a glowing golden rope and she wore two silver bracers, one of each arm. The next woman wore a black jacket and trousers with a white shirt underneath and a choker on her neck. The third woman wore dark purple armour with a purple hood and domino mask over her eyes that were a vibrant purple colour.
The last woman wore a white bodysuit with a long red cape from her shoulders, as well as blue gloves and boots. Scandalously, there was an opening in the front of the woman's outfit, bearing a healthy cleavage to everyone present.
The young man accompanying them wore a form-fitting suit of armour that looked to be divided in numerous segments and was armed with a sword, dirk and longbow of green wood. His features were of Valyrian descent; silver-gold hair, pale skin and dark purple eyes that were so dark they might be black.
"Lord Stark, these are the visitors," Roderick said nervously.
Ned looked at the five visitors before speaking as lordly as he could in the situation. "Greetings to you, strangers. I am Lord Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North," he began. "Who might you be? And what brings you my kingdom?" he then asked.
"A pleasure to meet you, Eddard Stark, my name is Zatanna Zatara," said the jacketed woman with a bright smile on black lacquered lips. "With me are my companions, Helena Bertinelli the Huntress, Karen Starr or Power Girl, Princess Donna Troy of the Amazons and last but not least is Daemon," she introduced her companions.
"Daemon?" Ned repeated looking at the young man in confusion.
Daemon sighed and looked at the group's spokeswoman. "I did warn you," he said pointedly.
"Oh, pish posh, Daemon, when in doubt tell the truth and Eddard Stark looks to be an honest sort," Zatanna said airily.
"What truth?" Catelyn demanded.
"My name is Daemon Blackfyre, the fifth of his name and last scion of House Blackfyre," Daemon told her.
Panic and confusion filled Ned's chest as he looked at the young man. Robb then chose this moment to speak up.
"Impossible! The last of the Black Dragons, Maelys the Monstrous, was slain By Ser Barristan Selmy in the War of Ninepenny Kings!" the Stark heir cried out.
"My grandfather and Maelys' cousin, Daemon IV had an infant daughter who was sent away to be spared Maelys' wrath," Daemon replied calmly. "If you wish for proof, then behold!" Drawing the sword from his back, he revealed the blade of dark smoky metal that rippled with a thousand folds. "The sword Blackfyre, weapon of Aegon the Conqueror," Daemon declared solemnly.
A few of the household guards prepared to draw their weapons and move in on the Blackfyre if he was indeed who he claimed to be. Ned Stark barked out an order for them to halt before speaking.
"And how can we tell this to be the truth and not a falsehood? And if you are telling the truth, what is your intention here?" he asked coldly.
"If it were falsehood, I would not even tell you my true name," Daemon said calmly. "And if you have any fears of me making a claim to the Iron Throne, then you needn't fear. I have no wish for it," he added.
"And we are to take you at your word?" Catelyn hissed softly.
"That's entirely up to you, Lady Stark," Daemon said simply. "I may have once held the desire to take the Iron Throne, but about a year ago, my eyes were opened," he added.
"And what do you mean by this?" Ned asked.
"Lord Stark, no doubt you have been receiving reports for some time of villages and settlements being attacked and barely any survivors who bring tales of flying demons," Princess Donna said.
"I have heard the reports, but I find them hard to believe," Ned said doubtfully.
Princess Donna looked at the blonde woman who nodded in a sudden gust of air she disappeared. "If you will follow us outside, Lord Stark?" Donna asked respectfully.
Curious and cautious, Lord Stark and his courtiers followed the four visitors outside into the courtyard where the blonde woman was floating in the air, dangling a covered box by a thick chain. The fact she was floating up in the air without anything holding or supporting was alarming enough, but the growls and screeches coming from the covered box caught Ned's attention. A crowd had gathered around; all of them were pointing and the floating woman and whispering to one another and there were mutterings and murmurs among the crowd.
"What is this?" Ned asked as he stared between the floating woman and the covered box.
Daemon looked at Ned and said, "The Truth!" With a nod, the blonde dropped the covered and Donna pulled off the covering to reveal some strange monstrosity. It screeched and screamed like a demon and its eyes were burning pits of flame as it gnashed sharp pointed teeth, baring them at everyone. A few people screamed in fear and cowered which caused the creature to roar and squeal. The guards drew their weapons and stared fearfully at the caged monster.
"What… what is that… thing?!" Ned uttered as he gazed upon the creature in fearful fascination.
"That is one of many creatures called a Parademon," Zatanna replied matter-of-factly. "Monstrosities made from the bodies of those they have captured in battle and sent out to capture more victims to be turned," she said.
"Turned?" Catelyn echoed in fear as she looked between the creature in the cage and Zatanna.
"Then the stories are…?" Robb tried to say but the words died on his lips.
"Yes, they are very true," Donna said to him.
"It's punishment from the Gods!" cried out one of the smallfolk followed by voices of agreement.
"This is no punishment from your gods," the blonde woman replied as she floated back down to earth and stood tall. "These creatures are not from your world, they are from another," she said. There were some voices and mutterings of disagreement.
"Why is it that these things are coming here?" Ned asked the question burning on his mind.
"Because their master wishes to conquer your world," Donna replied calmly.
"Their master?" Ned said. "Who?" he enquired.
"A story for another time. We do not wish to further upset your people," Donna said.
Daemon then looked at Ned and said, "Lord Stark, you may think this a falsehood and that it's all a mummer's trick to spread fear, so you may demand we leave and never come back. But if you truly wish to protect your people and the whole of Westeros from this threat, you will heed what we have to say." With that said, Daemon drew his sword and walked over to the cage and with a forceful thrust, he stabbed the creature through the bars of the cage, killing it. The creature wailed and screeched before dying.
Ned looked at everyone around him. Apart of him wanted to believe this a falsehood and banish these strangers from his kingdom. But some part of him that had seen the horrors of the Rebellion and the Siege of Pyke, the sight of men dying and being killed, the bodies of Elia and her children wrapped in cloaks of Lannister red being lain at Robert's feet told him to heed these strangers with every fibre of his being.
Looking at Catelyn who had a fearful look on her face, Ned silently asked the question. Catelyn looked at her husband and nodded. Sighing tiredly, Ned looked at Daemon and said, "Very well, Ser Daemon. Tell us all you know of these Parademons and whomever it is that commands them."
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: there! Just a short chapter to set the story and things in motion. Whether or not this lives is up to you guys, but I'm hopeful it will continue.
So, if you're wondering about Daemon in this story and the character tag of Aegon Targaryen, that's because for this story Aegon AKA Young Griff with help from Huntress, Zatanna, Donna and PG learnt of his Blackfyre heritage and his true name being Daemon. I'll go over Daemon's backstory in the next couple of chapters to sort of explain how he came to be and how he learned who he really was, so keep an eye out for that.
Anyway, not much more to say, so I'll just leave this here and see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.