Special thanks to the folks on pa-atreon for making this possible. Now without further ado let's get into it.

Volantis had decided to exercise their fundamental right to stupidity and declared war on me. Terrible choice, in my opinion. They spat some drivel about me invading the city of Astapor and holding the good people as hostages. They played well on the perception a good percentage of Essos had about Westerosi. They thought everyone from Westeros to be an uncultured barbarian, and my actions were easily interpreted through that lens.

Only if you ignored all the advancements, my city had been making. In the past ten and eight moons, Astapor had seen much change. My projects across the city were beginning to come to fruition. The bank had granted its first loans three months ago and granted at least five loans a day at this point. All to citizens of Atapor resident in Astapor, of course. Some foreigners grumbled at being excluded, but my popularity with the citizens only rose.

I needed to avoid hyperinflation, though, so I had to take some measures that they viewed as less than popular. The loans charged absurdly high-interest rates, but they weren't even a notable consideration for a society like this. I ensured the bankers explained the concept of interest to everyone who took a loan and formed a rigorous repayment plan. Debt wasn't always bad, but I didn't want a society with citizens perpetually in debt.

The main thing I did that was viewed less charitably was imposing taxes. I taxed everything. Not everything, that's a bit of an exaggeration but mostly everything. From whores to fish to luxury goods. Every bit of business that happened in Astapor had me taking a small cut. Not large enough to hinder or discourage business but large enough to keep the value of the Astapori Dragon, my new currency, stable. I'm not even going to get into the stress involved in setting up an entirely new currency.

We had to start by minting the gold bars we'd found in Valyria into the new coins. They were the same size as the Westerosi golden dragon, but one side had Arrax's body, and the other had my face stamped. Then to roll it out, I'd made a law that the Astapori dragon would be the only legal tender in Astapor. Very unpopular decision at first, but when I swallowed the costs of exchanging all my citizens' varying currency to the new Astapori dragons, they were more charitable towards me.

I'd also enacted a whole host of laws around the currency. Altering the gold coins was punishable by death. Having my own currency also meant that I had to set up a currency exchange at the docks. I also got to choose the rates I exchanged currency at. A delicate balance had to be struck. The rates had to be entirely fair, not to discourage people from exchanging their currencies, but not so fair that people would begin attempting to game the system.

I was startled out of my thoughts by a knock on the door. I straightened up from where I was slumped on the desk and asked the person outside to come in. Pyros, my head shipbuilder, walked in with a bright smile. I returned his smile when he bent the knee for a few seconds before approaching me.

"The first ships will be sailing today, your grace." My smile got brighter at that. With improved fertility, I'd turned a section of the lands outside the city into a forest and allowed them to harvest the lumber from that forest for the ships being built. So far, he'd managed to build the shipyard, and this latest news told me the first few ships had already been completed.

All in less than six months, I thought with a proud smile. Implementing Henry Ford's assembly line practice was one of my more intelligent decisions. The only smarter thing was poaching the man in front of me from Braavos.

I still remember our first meeting in this office barely six months ago. He'd walked in with a smile and excitement in his steps. My bribes had done wonders in getting him interested. I offered an increased salary, free accommodation for his wife and children in my city and the opportunity to work on ships he'd never have gotten to in Bravos.

He'd told me the Sealord wasn't pleased to let him go, but Bravos was the city of freedom. Keeping him against his will was something the sealord was less than willing to do. I smiled and allowed him to believe the Sealord and I shared that trait. I knew that if this man attempted to leave Astapor to work for someone else, I'd see him drowned without a second thought. Drowned? Where did that idea even come from?

I agreed to attend the launching of the ships, where they would take their maiden journey around the seas nearest the city before returning. I already had legions of sailors ready to sail with this fleet of mine. The city itself didn't produce many things that needed exporting. Still, the availability of ships ready to perform the duty should motivate more of my citizens to create things for exportation.

If that didn't work, I still had my ideas for new forms of alcohol. Exporting those should be highly profitable in Essos since the best wine we had access to came all the way from Westeros. I would be able to beat the Westerosi competition in both pricing and scale.

I looked up and noticed Pyros had left sometime in the middle of my inner monologue. I really needed to break that habit at this point. No need having my people view me as crazy. I looked at the paperwork on my table and slumped for a bit before returning to work. Running an economy was difficult, and I cursed whoever gave me the impression that resetting the entire economy of a city the size of Astapor would be easy.

I pulled at my connection with Arrax and waited for him on the palace's steps. The castle had been completed and furnished a few days ago, and I'd already begun to sleep there. I was still torn on whether to move my office there or not. It would be more convenient for me, but the people would have less access to me. A roar in the sky drew attention to Arrax's approaching form. He'd grown to an enormous size in the past six months, and at this point, I felt he was more than large enough to give even the largest of the Targaryen dragons a run for their money. It was not quite as large as Balerion or Vhagar but more significant than the most accurate descriptions I could find for Caraxes or the rest of them.

His growth had, thankfully, slowed down quite a bit. He still got more robust and faster, and his fire got hotter every day, but he was no longer doubling in size every few weeks. Thank the gods for that. If he'd continued to grow at that rate, he would have become too large to fly into the city after a few more months. Another advantage of his slowed-down growth was the saddle I spotted on his back when he finally landed. Since he wasn't growing every day anymore, I could have a few of the best artisans in the city produce a saddle I could sit in when I flew on his back.

I clambered up his wings and reached the saddle between his shoulder blades. He waited for me to chain myself to the seat and hold on tight before accelerating with a roar and leaving the city behind. We made a few passes of the area around the city before we flew into the open oceans. We flew far above the seas but were still close enough to see approaching ships and be spotted by them in return.

Arrax had initially been thought of as a myth, but we were taking so many flights like this one that no one could deny his existence. I allowed Arrax to take the lead and enjoyed being along for the ride. I used the opportunity to be away from everyone else to let all my worries disappear and stop thinking of the future or the present.

I couldn't enjoy myself for long before I noticed where Arrax had brought us- Valyria. He landed on one of the volcano peaks and started searching for something. I tried my best to get him to leave. Even highlighting that I could die if exposed to this environment for too long only got him to hesitate for a few seconds. I blew out a sigh and chose to watch him. Fucking teenagers.

We were at the Volcano's mouth for almost ten minutes before he found what he was looking for, and I sighed on seeing it. A gleaming white dragon egg. I tied my best to convince him to leave it behind, but even my best pleas were met with stubborn refusal. There was no way to get him to drop the egg, so I sighed and had him take us back to the castle with the egg wrapped securely in his 'talon.'

We got back to the castle, and I got off him before heading into the castle itself. He ignored my lousy mood, wrapped his body around the egg, and went to bed. Fucker.

299 AC

War in Essos was a prolonged process. In the time it took Volantis to decide on a strategy on how to wage war against me, I had already managed to build an entire army. My fleet of warships was already 30 ships, and I even had a full complement of archers and cavalrymen. All in all, everything was set for the initial attack. At least it was until Greybeard pointed something out to me that I hadn't been considering.

"Why not attack them first?" He'd asked in our last council meeting. The question stumped me since I thought the answer was obvious.

"If we attack them, then we seem like aggressors. That proves them right and gives everyone who wants to attack us the proper motivation to do so." I replied with a shake of my head.

"Who cares? We attack and beat them down so thoroughly that no one can even think of doing the same thing with us. Besides, they already declared war, so it's not like we'll be attacking them for no reason," He said with an eager smile.

I'd thought it through and agreed that the element of surprise would make things much easier for us. The only issue was that we'd find it very difficult attacking Volantis through their defences and still managing to beat their admittedly impressive army.

Even with Arrax, we'd still be at a disadvantage. After all, I had no interest in whole-scale slaughter. Thinking things through, I came up with a slight modification to the existing plan. All we had to do was wait.

It took another month for me to receive word that Volantis was setting sail with their army of sellswords and citizens. They planned to attack by sea since there was little chance of an army like that making the journey by land. When I told my council of my plans to take the initiative in this war, they were less than enthused. I smiled fondly as I remembered their arguments against my decision. Too risky, they called it. Tiwa even dared to call it an irresponsible choice.

I understood where they came from, but I knew what I was doing. No one in living memory knew how to combat dragons and when the ships were at sea would be the time they would be weakest. Besides, I also had some extra insurance to ensure my survival. I always wondered why Dany's dragons never got armour in the show or why none of the other Targaryen dragons wore any armour.

The answer to that was twofold- cost and weight. Building armour for a dragon was astronomically expensive, and any useful armour would be too heavy to allow a dragon to fly in. The first problem was easily solved. I had money to throw at the problem and gold to burn, so it was no issue. The second problem also wasn't a problem. Not for me, at least. Arrax was a super dragon. He was much stronger than his size would suggest, and we'd already gone on test flights with his armour and found that he could move around quickly with the armour on. It did not affect his speed or endurance.

He was less agile in the air, but that was a marginal effect, and we wouldn't be performing any ridiculously complicated manoeuvres today. I got to the dragon den outside the castle and found someone already waiting for me. I gave Greybeard a significant look, and the stubborn set of his chin told me he wasn't going to budge on this.

I relented and allowed him this small victory. When Arrax was fully suited up in his armour by a small army of servants that I would have to reward at a later date, he walked over and bent his neck so I could climb on. Greybeard followed my lead, and within seconds, we were in the air, flying out of Astapor towards the sea.

I had a good idea of where the ships from Volantis would be, and Arrax was well suited to cover the distance. I ignored Greybeard clinging to my body even harder as we built up speed on our approach towards the gulf of grief.

We made good time and found the Volantene fleet as the sun was about to set. I had two choices. I could either attack in the cover of darkness or wait till sunrise the next day and attack them with the sun behind me. Arrax's colouring wasn't well suited for attacking at night because his bright gold scales would still stand out against the night sky. Attacking at day also created a different set of challenges, though.

We would have to be very careful to plan our attack so the sun would be behind us all through. That reduced the level of independence we'd have in the attacks. In the end, I decided to wait for nightfall and attack. Even if Arrax might be more visible, I would still be able to take advantage of the confusion that our attack would cause. They were at sea, not expecting any form of attack from anyone. If I attacked them when their guards would be even more down than it already was, I would easily overcome them.

I told Greybeard of my plan, and he agreed with the logic of it. We set down with Arrax on a hill a few miles away from the ships. I took out the rations I'd packed for myself, and Greybeard did the same. Luckily, Arrax had had a filling meal before we started the journey, so he wouldn't need to eat for another couple of days.

The digestive system of a dragon was an oddly fascinating topic. They didn't actually feed on food. Not for survival, at least. Their primary diet was magic. Food was supplementary. In a place like Astapor, where I'd already performed several rituals, Arrax could get a very filling meal at any moment. He grew quickly and was less irritable because of that.

My bond with him also created some magic for him to feed on. Not a lot, but enough to survive, at least. That explained why Danaerys' dragons hadn't died out the moment she hatched them. Their bond with her was the only thing keeping them sustained in a world without magic.

Enough of those thoughts, though, a more pressing issue would be coming up soon. What would I do with Volantis after defeating it and conquering the city? There were two options in front of me. I could turn Volantis into a colony of Astapor. Maybe even the capital of my kingdom, but the distance wasn't too conducive for that.

Arrax and I could cover it in a day , but ,ships would need weeks of travel to make the journey between cities. There was also the option of destroying the city and claiming the wealth and people for my own. That wasn't how the war was fought in Essos, though, and it could backfire immensely on me. It was possible that doing something drastic like that might make the other cities hesitant to fight me. Still, another possibility was that it might make the cities decide I was a more significant threat than they wanted and unite to take me out.

I had no misconceptions that my small city and army could survive a concerted effort like that. Arrax was powerful, but he was only a single dragon. Even with dozens of dragons, the Targaryens were never able to conquer Essos, and while most of that was due to lack of trying, there had to be a reason they never even attempted it.

Night fell quickly, and we waited a few hours for the hour of the wolf before we took off on Arrax's back again. We flew above the clouds and only stopped when we were right above the central ship. This was the one in charge of the fleet, judging from its larger size, position and the number of scorpions it had on board. That was an addition I was less than pleased to notice. Scorpions were mounted on at least ten ships in the fleet of one hundred.

I took a deep breath and signalled Greybeard to hold on tighter to me as Arrax entered into a dive. He flew straight at the ship, and when he was close enough, he spat out a blast of fire that turned the ship into kindling in seconds. He banked away from the ship when he set it alight as we'd planned and turned to the closest ship with a scorpion. We planned to take out those ships first, and then the others would be sitting ducks for us to eliminate at our leisure.

We flew towards our next target as the sailors started to come to life on the ships beneath us/ They were too slow to do anything, and the second ship also went down in a bolt of Dragonfire. Our third and fourth targets were positioned right next to each other, and Arrax flew above the skies again, allowing the sailors a few more seconds to wonder what was going on. When we dove down and took the next two ships, we were spotted by one of the sailors, and he shouted the alarm to the rest of the fleet. Bells were ringing, and every single one of the ships started to come to life.

We had less time as I watched one of the men try to mount the scorpion to fire it. He went down to an arrow in his eye, and the ship followed in a blast of dragon fire seconds later. The next ship to go down was a few feet away and was more sluggish in setting up its defence. Arrax made a single pass and turned it into kindling.

Six ships down out of our ten targets. I came up with my next plan and conveyed my thoughts to Arrax in clear English. He flew down towards the ships, and we when we were a few feet above one of them, I jumped down, ignoring Greybeard's screams behind me. I turned to the first sailor that saw me and removed his head with a flick of my sword. Another tried to approach me from behind and I smashed his head into paste with Stormbreaker, my Warhammer.

"Come at me you currs" I shouted in my best Viking impression. They heeded my words and began their attack. As I weaved through strikes and dealt my own debilitating blows, I felt a smile break out across my face. This was the feeling I'd longed for. The feeling of true battle. I hadn't felt it since over a year ago when I fought Euron in Valyria. Even if he was less than a worthy opponent, the thought that I could die if I made a grievous enough mistake did something to my blood. It sent it pumping in a way nothing could ever match.

It had my heart beating quicker than I'd ever felt before or since. Not till today, at least. As I leaned to the left to dodge an arrow sent from behind and spartan kicked one of the soldiers into the sea, I felt a laugh burst from my stomach. I must have looked insane. Just stood there, surrounded by enemies and covered in blood but still laughing. My laughter turned out to be very unnerving as one of the men standing in front of me turned around and dove into the water to escape my attention. I just laughed even more and cut an arrow sent at me in twain before I focus don the battle again.

I stormed at one of the men in front of me, dodging his hasty stab and leaning to the left before I stabbed my sword through his right eye into his brain. I used his body as a shield for the two arrows sent at me before I dropped it and jumped across the deck towards the stubborn archer. He tried to lift his hands in surrender when he saw me in front of me, but it was too late for that. His head was cleaved from his body with a swing of my blade, and I turned to continue the battle.

The rest of the sailors were less keen to keep engaging me, though and threw down their weapons before bending the knee. I wanted to continue the fight, but there was no point. They'd already disarmed themselves. I turned away from them and looked at the rest of the battle with Arrax and the ships. He'd taken down the other three ships with scorpions and was now flying around, destroying the rest at a more leisurely pace. Some of the ships had seen what was coming their way and decided to try escaping.

Arrax wasn't generous enough for that and made sure to destroy those before they could get far enough away. The rest of the fleet was taken down like clockwork, and I'd almost begun to relax when one of my prisoners decided to do the stupid thing. He rushed at me with a dagger he'd concealed within his boot. I dodged around the attack from behind and slammed Stormbreaker into his right foot. He went down with a scream, and I dropped Stormbreaker before picking him up with one hand.

I brought him to my eye level and said, "You shouldn't have done that." My next course of action was throwing him overboard into the ocean. He was going to die slowly and miserably. With a broken leg, there was no way he'd be leaving this sea alive.

I turned to the rest of the prisoners with a challenging look, and they just lifted their hands to show they weren't planning anything. I gave them a small smile and turned to watch Arrax at work. He finished up with the fleet in another hour and then flew back over to land on the ship I was standing on. I should probably have warned the sailors since a few of them were squashed to death by his landing. I turned to check up on him and found him unwounded.

He was a bit tired, but had more than enough energy left to make the journey to Astapor. I looked at Greybeard, who was holding on to Arrax's saddle like it was his only lifeline. He was much too dizzy to speak any words beyond, "I hate you", and I only smiled at his affection before taking my place in front of him.

As Arrax prepared to take off, I considered what to do with the surviving occupants of this ship. On the one hand, they were enemies and had planned to kill my people, but on the other hand, they'd already surrendered. It was always preferable to have a reputation for accepting surrenders. Eddard Stark hadn't taught me much about war, but that was one lesson of his that still stuck to today.

If my enemies felt like surrendering to me would guarantee their lives, they'd be less likely to fight to the death. With his words in my ears, I instructed Arrax to leave them be and take us home.

As we got into the sky, I started thinking of Westeros. My thoughts hadn't turned towards them much in the past years since I left, and they'd done very little to affect my life. If things went as they did in canon, the realm would already be at war. It was 299 AC, and I honestly had no idea when most of the events of the war of five kings would take place.

I was also curious about what effects my absence would have on the happenings in Westeros. Theon Greyjoy didn't have much role in the earlier series, except for his betrayal. Without me there to betray Robb, would he end up winning the war? That would admittedly be entertaining to see, at the very least.

Enough of that, though; I needed to plan my next steps. The army should already be sailing towards Volantis. On our larger and faster ships, the journey would be an estimated three weeks. I wouldn't be sailing with them, however. Spending weeks at sea doing nothing didn't appeal much to me, and my flagship wasn't even fully ready. I wouldn't sail in a ship Arrax couldn't join me on. It would just be bad manners and poor sense.

Instead of sailing with them, I would wait a few weeks before flying out to catch up with them. In that time, I'd do some essential managing of the city's resources. Even with how much money we had, war was still expensive. Our trade was booming, but our economy was still middling. Our only export was food and art. Our blacksmiths weren't anything special, and neither were our carpenters.

I had ideas for glass and alcohol, though. I knew how to make some whiskey, and glass was from sand, wasn't it? Sand and extreme heat could make glass, couldn't it? If that didn't work, I would have to poach some glassblowers from Myr. It shouldn't be too difficult.

I also had to coordinate the proposed expansions to the city. In my year as King of Astapor, we'd seen immigration levels that topped anything from before my reign. Astapor was officially the only place in all of Essos besides Bravos where slavery was outlawed. That meant that slaves that escaped their masters didn't have to attempt running all the way to Bravos when they'd get the same protection in Astapor. We also saw some immigration from the Lhazareen people when they found out they'd be able to get free opportunities and good treatment in my city.

Astapor was becoming a paradise in the slaver's bay. My rituals had turned the area around the city into a flourishing desert oasis. The greenery of the farms and forests around the city cast a sharp contrast with the arid wastelands found a few miles away from the city's borders. My lands were, quite simply, better. Let's not talk about the free food, housing and health care I was offering.

I wanted to create a pure welfare state, and in some ways, I'd already succeeded. There was no hunger or poverty in Astapor, but it couldn't last forever. We need a stable cash flow. We need a booming economy. We need a devoted workforce. Without any of these things, we would be doomed in the long term. I guess this is why most rulers didn't make life so easy for their subjects. It just wasn't feasible in the long run. I wasn't going to stop, though. One way or another, I was going to break all the rules and do the impossible.

A/N; Finally finished editing this. Thanks for reading. We're already halfway through with chapter 17 on the pa-atreon page. Feel free to join me there if you can. Same username as up here. The link's on my profile.