AAAAND WE'RE BACK! I know I've been gone a while. Won't lie, COMPLETELY FORGOT that this story even existed. But I'm back and will do what I can to publish more regularly.

High Valyrian will be Italicized

Dothraki will be bolded

Inner thoughts will be in between apostrophes


"So, what is our course of action my lord?" Ser Arthur asks. Zacrys opens his mouth to speak when, "RRRRAAAAAAGGGGHHHH" an thundering, ear-piercing roar echoes through the castle, shaking its very walls. Shouting and yelling can be vaguely heard. "Shit!" Zacrys says before jumping over the table and sprinting down the hall as fast as he can. 'Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on' Zacrys thinks frantically as he turns the corner and pushes open a pair of doors that lead to the arena. The arena itself was nothing special, A large circle that's dug deep into the ground with several gates at the edges that lead to tunnels beneath. However, what made the arena interesting was the dragon that slept there. The beast itself was, in a word, MASSIVE. Scales that are blacker than the night sky and dotted with stars, enormous wings that could cover the entire island with their shadow. Two horns stuck out the back of its head with small spines going down the back of its neck. The dragon's snout is narrow and has a curve on the top jaw, like a beak. It's eyes are a deep rich blue with flecks that look a the sky on a clear night. One thing in particular distinguishes this dragon from others in the past. this dragon has FOUR legs instead of two. Zacrys got the dragon shortly after arriving at Fort Rhaegar. The dragon keepers that lived here had a kept a single egg alive for CENTURIES, waiting for a worthy Targaryen to claim it as his own. The egg was placed in his Zacrys' crib every night when he went to sleep. After a year or two, the egg hatched and the first dragon since the reign of Aegon III, who was called Dragonbane. The keepers said that the dragon bonded with Zacrys almost instantly and refused to leave the boy's side. Zacrys was told that it was up to him to decide the dragon's name and after a week decided to name him Abraxas. Once Abraxas was big enough, the keepers started teaching Zacrys to ride him. Both he and Ser Arthur were initially skeptical, but eventually warmed up to the idea of a 7 year old flying on the back a mythical fire-breathing lizard that could bite him in half with a single chomp.

The only problem was because of the special bond between the two, Abraxas tended to...overreact whenever he was away from Zacrys for too long, which in turn led to incidents like this when the keepers couldn't keep him calm and either got heavily injured or nearly killed. And THAT was back when Abraxas was still a reasonable size. Now? Now he was almost three times bigger than Balerion the Dread, which only served to make the keepers jobs all the more difficult. Zacrys enters the arena to find it to be mostly on fire, with the keepers scrambling to put out all the fires while also trying to tie Abraxas down, all with varying degrees of success. He noticed a few of them jabbing Abraxas with blunted spears and screamed "WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU FOOLS?! PUT THOSE SPEARS DOWN!" "My prince, the dragon was not cooperating. We had no choice" One of the keepers said, with exhaust and fear both evident on his face, though whether the latter emotion was present due to the dragon or because of the enraged look in his master's eyes was unclear. "Oh really? No Choice? Tell me, how would YOU like it if I jammed YOU with my spear whenever you "didn't cooperate"? HUH?!" Zacrys said sarcastically. The keeper quickly shook his head, knowing full well how incredibly sharp the young prince's spear was. "I thought so. Your prodding is only serving to agitate him, and dragons have a habit of EATING or INCENERATING things that agitate them" Zacrys says with a "or did you forget that" look on his face. the keeper's face suddenly paled and he backed away from both the boy and his dragon. Zacrys shook his head in annoyance and started walking towards his dragon. "ABRAXAS!" he screamed to get the dragon's attention. Abraxas reared his head towards him and roared loudly in his face. Zacrys managed to not fall over from the gust of fish and deer meat-smelling breath out of Abraxas' mouth. "HEY! Don't you roar at me like that dragon!" Zacrys said sternly. Abraxas looked ready to burn him to ash until he looked closer and realized who was standing before him. He immediately calmed down and started nuzzling Zacrys while mewling apologetically.

"Ok ok, I forgive. Just watch yourself next time ok?" Zacrys asked.

Abraxas trilled affirmatively. "Good. Now come on, It's been a while since we flew together hasn't it?" he said while gesturing for the keepers to bring Abraxas' saddle. Once fully strapped in, he gave Abraxas a small kick and they took off. As they flew through the sky, the wind whipped at Zacrys' face. His hair flew back and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He leaned forward and Abraxas dived. They sped down, the water approaching closer and closer. Then, Zacrys pulled the reins and they pulled up, gliding along the water. Abraxas tilts slightly to the right and drags the tip of his wing across the water, and Zacrys could see dolphins swimming under the water nearby. They pulled up and rose above the clouds, giving them an incredible view of the sun, high up in the sky. Zacrys closed his eyes and took a breath, enjoying the freedom he felt whenever he was in the sky. He exhaled and decided to have a little fun. He leaned down and grabbed the reins tightly before yelling out "DRACARYS!" Abraxas opened his mouth and let out a massive jet of fire. He could feel the heat of the flames on the back of his head as they were blown away. he released another blast of fire and Zacrys relished at how warm and comfortable the flames felt. He could never understand why, but whenever he was close to any type of flame, he felt a sense of safety and relief. As if the fire was a part of him, INSIDE him. he tried looking for a mention of something similar at the library but only found a vague reference saying that "Fire can not hurt a dragon". Zacrys wasn't sure what that meant exactly or how it could be connected to him, but he had a feeling he would find out soon. As he was about to turn back return to the castle, he spotted something far down below. He pulled out his Far-Eye, a gift he recieved from an old Targaryen supporter in Myr, and looked down to see a ship docked on a small spit of land not far from the castle. Zacrys looked closer and saw that the sail sported a golden kraken on a black sail. 'Golden kraken on a field of black? Why does that sound familiar? hm' Zacrys thought to himself while trying to remember Ser Arthur's lessons on the Great Houses of Westeros. He then remembered that there was a small cluster of islands of the western coast of Westeros that was populated by a group of raiders and reavers that called themselves the Ironborn and were ruled by a family that took the kraken as their sigil.

"House Greyjoy"

Against his better judgement and the voice of Ser Arthur in his head that kept telling him that the Ironborn are dangerous, he decided to investigate. Zacrys flew Abraxas past the ship and had him land on the other side of the island so that he was not noticed. He dismounted and after making sure that Abraxas stayed there and didn't make any noise, proceeded to approach quietly on foot. He got to the top of a small hill and hid behind a rock so that he wasn't spotted. he observed them with his Far-Eye and noticed that he had not seen any of the sailors actually talk. They mostly moved and signaled with their hands. "Strange. Very Strange" he said aloud. Zacrys diverted his attention back to the men when he noticed that their was ONE man who could speak. He was a tall man with brown hair and beard wearing simple black garb. He assumed from the way the man was barking orders that he was the captain, though Zacrys was questioning his intelligence, given the fact that his crew appeared to be all mutes. As he stood up to leave he felt something prick the back of his neck. recognizing the feel of sharp metal he put up his hands and turned around slowly to see that on of the men had managed to sneak up on him and was pointing a sword at him. While he did not say it, the look in his eyes conveyed the simple message of 'move and I will kill you where you stand'. Zacrys was unsure whether or not this man could understand the Common Tongue of Westeros but decided to try it anyway. "Greetings" he said to the man, showed that he understood his word but didn't lower his weapon. "I was simply passing through when I noticed your ship. I chose to get a closer look as I had never seen a ship like that before and was naturally curious" Zacrys continued as he slowly got closer to the man. "I am not threat and mean you no harm" at this, the man turned his head and looked at Zacrys' sword, then looked back at him as if saying "if you're not a threat, why are you armed?". "Well, a man has to defend himself doesn't he?" Zacrys said. The man snorted and moved a bit closer to him, holding the sword at his throat. "You're not planning on letting me live are you?" Zacrys asked to which the man smiled cruelly and shook his head. Zacrys exhaled and said "Well then, you leave me no choice". Zacrys dashed forward towards him, grabbed the blade, knocked his grip of the handle loose, took the sword and drove it into his leg. The man's eyes widened in surprise, which only lasted a moment as Zacrys smashed the man's face against his knee and sent him tumbling down the hill. The commotion got the attention of the other sailors who in turn grabbed their weapons and charged at me, their intent being blatantly obvious. I drew my sword and got ready for my first real fight. "Ser Arthur is going to kill me, assuming I don't die here first" The first of the Ironborn came forth and the battle began.


AAAAANNNNDDDDD THAT'S A WRAP!

Another chapter done

For reference as to how the dragon looks, look up 'Nightwing wings of fire'

that is how Abraxas looks like

Until next time

Valar Morghulis