King's Landing, The Dragonpit.
Why does the old pit of Maegor shake? Are the mighty dragons of Valyria landing or is it full with the swords of the land? It cannot be the dragons of old because of the Warrior's mighty sword. If it were full of levies then the fields would be bare. It shakes from the work of men. They're raising a podium for a council by order of the Demon of the Trident, their liege and King.
No one understood why certain houses were invited to the capital , let alone why King Robert Baratheon, the First of His Name was convinced by his brothers red priestess from distant Asshai to do as such. The representatives of the Seven who are One also came. Which was an old woman in her late fifties to early sixties with a grey outer robe and a white inner robe on her and the High Septon. Tis quite mysterious and in truth the servants didn't want to know it was too much of a hassle anyway.
King Robert Baratheon with his wife and Queen Cersei Lannister and their three children Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen Baratheon were the first to arrive in the Dragonpit. Accompanying them were two standard bearers each with their respective house standards flying proudly.
The only Kingsguard at their side were the noble Ser Barristan the Bold and the Kingslayer Ser Jaime Lannister, the latter of whom is the Queen's twin brother.
Then came the dwarf Tyrion Lannister, the Queen's youngest brother, who is walking beside Jaime. The two brothers are talking about something that made Jaime laugh.
At a distance from the King is Stannis Baratheon the master of ships, the eldest of King Robert's younger brothers, his wife Selyse Florent is by his right side and their daughter Shireen Baratheon is by his left, no one would have guessed by looking at her that the princess barely survived greyscale, let alone having no scars from it.
The only reason she did not have any scars and lives to tell the tale is because of the fair red priestess Melisandre who made an appearance at Dragonstone to aid Stannis Baratheon in saving his ill daughter when no one else could.
The red priestess used her abilities from her Lord of Light to heal the princess' scarred face after the maesters were able to stop the greyscale from spreading.
Since that day, Melisandre became one of Stannis Baratheon's close advisors in court with his wife even converting to the Lord of Light since he had saved her daughter when the Seven did not. Her reputation in Westeros did not help when she slowly converted many to the Lord of Light after word spread of her abilities, it was because she believed in the orthodox version of R'hllor.
Rumours have even been said that both King Robert and the chaste Stannis have been seduced by the red priestess on more than one occasion, but nothing has ever been proven on either brother.
Not far from Stannis' direction is his most loyal bannerman Ser Davos Seaworth, a former smuggler turned knight and sworn to Stannis Baratheon, most of his sons squired under Stannis for years, and he is considered to be Stannis's right hand man.
The King's youngest brother Renly Baratheon the Lord Paramount of the Stormlands is not too far from Stannis and his family, he is beside his niece Shireen, who is telling her uncle the history of the Dragonpit of old. Stannis looked annoyed by his younger brother who encouraged Shireen to continue telling the story of the Dragonpit.
The Hand of the King Jon Arryn and his wife Lysa Tully were next to enter the Dragonpit, the latter looked disgusted at being near the area, the reason their son Robin Arryn isn't at the Dragonpit with them is that Lysa felt he was too sickly to join them and left him in the Tower of the Hand with loyal soldiers.
The banners of House Tyrell and Tarly can be spotted next with Lady Olenna Redwyne, her son Lord Mace Tyrell who is the Lord of Highgarden and Warden of the Reach beside his elderly mother and next to him is his second son Garlan.
Mace Tyrell lost his two youngest children Margaery and Loras nine years ago when Loras fell off a boat and Margaery tried to catch her beloved brother and only for a wave to hit the boat and caused her to fall overboard as well.
Not too far from them is Randyll Tarly, his wife Lady Melessa Florent who is the cousin of Selyse Florent, their two youngest children Dickon and Talia are with them. Dickon is Randyll's heir, after his original heir Samwell Tarly drowned in a pond and his body was never found, the Lord of Horn Hill doesn't even seem to mourn his son like his wife does.
The golden kraken of house Greyjoy can be seen, Lord Balon Greyjoy has aged since the last time King Robert saw the bitter ironborn after he crushed his failed rebellion, he is walking right beside his daughter Asha Greyjoy, who looks surprisingly happy to be at the capitol.
House Tully banners can be spotted, Ser Brynden 'The Blackfish' Tully is walking next to his nephew and heir of Riverrun, Edmure Tully, who runs to his sister Lysa and hugs her. While the siblings are catching up, they recognize the banners of House Stark.
Lord Eddard Stark is seen with his wife Lady Catelyn Tully, their eldest daughter Sansa Stark is the spitting image of her mother, the youngest daughter Arya Stark seems to have taken her father's Stark features such as grey eyes, long face and dark brown hair. Their second son Brandon 'Bran' Stark is right beside Arya, Bran like his sister Sansa, takes after their mother, having auburn hair and blue eyes.
Lord Stark lost two of his children, Robb Stark and his bastard son Jon Snow, as well as his ward Theon Greyjoy. To this day no one knows what truly happened to their disappearance as no one ever saw them again after they told a guard they were going to visit the godswood. Lord Stark never truly recovered from that day.
As it caused conflict between him and his wife, Catelyn Tully after she accused Jon Snow of showing his 'true colors' and killing Robb, while Theon and Jon ended up killing each other while loyal and brave Theon tried to avenge his dear friend. After that Catelyn lived in her quarters for nearly a year until they reconciled with the birth of their youngest son Rickon.
Sadly their relationship was never healed and the distance between them can be seen obviously. As she sat down next to her husband she saw him shift slightly in his chair to where he wouldn't touch her hand, Catelyn was calm on the outside but on the inside, she was furious why couldn't he understand his bastard had killed their son, their heir, his bastard had killed her precious baby boy but he still defends the bastard, may he be cursed for all eternity. She was the biggest fool, she knew that the Faith said that bastards are a mischievous kind which lusts for their trueborn siblings rightful throne. Ned dared to humiliate her by bringing that bastard from the war to Winterfell to be raised with her precious and innocent Robb.
As she watched him a small devilish idea came into her mind as she saw Petyr sit down next to the imp she caught his attention and gave him an exaggerated wave long enough for Ned to see this and grip the arms of his chair hard.
But he calmed down slightly as he remembered that he was in public with his children and also had the children of his bannerman there and the other nobility.
Ned Stark began to offer his bannerman a chance to foster the children of their liege lord, the houses that accepted the call were (House Mormont, Umber and Karstark.)
For House Mormont it was Lyanna Mormont, Maege Mormont's youngest daughter and best friends with both Arya and Bran Stark, but she is closer to Arya than Bran, due to his friendship with Ned Umber, the grandson of Lord Jon 'Greatjon' Umber.
Alys Karstark, the granddaughter of Rickard Karstark is friends with Sansa.
Lord Stark fostered Lord Glover's son and Lord Manderly's granddaughter, but they remained in Winterfell to keep young Rickon Stark company due to almost everyone coming to King's Landing, and Ned didn't want his youngest son to feel alone.
Alys chose to stay behind to make sure Rickon kept on his studies with Maester Luwin.
Lord Stark could see his two youngest children talking to Lyanna Mormont, who is joined to the hip on both Arya and Bran at the time being, not too far from Lyanna is her own sworn sword, who so happens to her older sister Lyra Mormont.
Once King Robert spots Lord Stark, the King charged towards his best friend and wrapping him in a bear hug.
"Gods be damned Ned, it's so good to see you," King Robert said cheerfully.
No one could deny how happy the King was upon seeing Lord Stark, the Warden of the North smiles at his friend and managed to keep his shocked expression hidden in Robert's weight gain.
"You too, your grace," said Ned greeting his King and brother in all but blood.
Robert scoffs at this before greeting Catelyn, who was planning to see her brother and sister.
"Cat, it has been too long," The King greets the Lady of Winterfell before wrapping her in a hug.
Lady Stark was speechless of the tight grip, while Arya and Bran were struggling to contain their laughter at the scene, making the King laugh in return.
"Ah, these must be your children, Ned?" Robert asks Ned, who nods at the King's question.
"From left to right, my eldest daughter, Sansa, my youngest daughter, Arya and my son, Bran," Ned said, as he introduced his children to the King. The King shakes their hands before ruffling Bran's hair and laughing it off.
"I'm sorry to hear about your boys, I remember hearing about what happened," Robert said rather bluntly to him. Ned took a deep breath before he can answer, Jon Arryn interferes and greets Ned.
"Ned, it's been a long time hasn't it," Jon Arryn in his elderly age greets his former foster son and brother-in-law. Lord Stark smiles at seeing Jon Arryn, hugging his foster father.
"It has been Jon," Ned said back to the Hand of the King. Once the Warden of the North noticed several houses of the realm within the Dragonpit, Lord Stark grows worried.
"Why did you bring us all here your grace?" Ned asks the King in a concerning manner. Robert scoffs at his question and looked annoyed.
"Damn priestess said something about 'seeing through the flames' to learn what bloody happened to the lot who vanished nine years ago," The King answers Ned, clearly not convinced.
Sansa while lonely sat next to Arya and Bran, over the past few years Sansa and Arya have somewhat gotten along and Bran is often the main reason and is the voice of reason between his older sisters.
Shireen awkwardly waves at Bran, who returns the favour, while Arya, Sansa and Lyanna both look at him in a comic disapproving manner.
Due to Cersei keeping a short leash on Myrcella and Tommen, the two children look saddened not being able to play with the other children. Leading Joffrey to start mocking his younger siblings.
"Why would you two want to spend time with the likes of those filthy savages of the North if only Sevenstar succeeded in putting them to the sword," Joffrey spat in disgust towards Bran, Lyanna and Arya.
The comment was heard by the likes of Ned and Catelyn, Sansa seems to have been shocked by the prince insulting her family. She had always thought the prince was kind and just due to the stories she's read and heard about former princes, while Renly introduces himself to the younger children.
"Ignore my nephew's foolish words, everyone seems to do so. Except for Cersei," Renly cheerfully says to the children, making them giggle at his comment.
Catelyn begins catching up with her sister, brother and uncle while this was happening, Lysa tells them that her son Robyn isn't feeling well so she left him inside, much against Jon Arryn's protest.
When that was happening, Melisandre walks to the center of the Dragonpit, Arya and Bran were shocked by her presence and how she calmly entered the scene, Sansa meanwhile joins her mother and meets her aunt and uncles.
"The Lord of Light has brought us here to learn what happened to the missing children of the lords and ladies of the land who disappeared nine years ago," The red priestess announced to the group and gathering their attention.
As she begins to make strange markings on the ground as everyone stares at the red priestess in confusion, with some Crownlander saying all R'hllorites will end up like the Shadow Kings of Duskendale, eventually the red priestess finishes what she was doing and turns to the rest of her audience.
"The Lord of Light has shown me through the flames of their survival. The children are in another realm. A realm that is not our own. A realm that is far older than our own and I'm afraid to say far more deadly," Melisandre said aloud.
Everyone watched Melisandre as she has one of Stannis' men hand her a strange red glass wooden box that contained a dagger blacker than the night with a red glass heart surrounded by a strange metal designed to look like golden flames on the pommel, a black stone orb with a golden serpentine dragon statue on top of it who's claws where latched onto the stone and tail wrapped all the way around it,. And finally six blood red crystals.
"These items have been in the Lord of Light's hands since the Company of the Rose gave it to us to repay a debt," Melisandre explaining the objects while making direct eye contact with Lord Stark.
Something that didn't go unnoticed by Lady Catelyn as she glared ice cold daggers towards the red priestess.
"The stone and crystals before you hold a powerful magic unlike Westeros or the known world has ever seen. With these artifacts and the power of the Lord of Light. We shall see where the missing are to be found," Melisandre calls out.
As everyone besides Stannis and his wife and daughter looked terrified and amazed at the same time.
While Lysa turns to Edmure, Brynden and Catelyn, happy to see them but before she can even say a word Melisandre begins setting up the artifacts with the stone orb in the middle and the crystals surrounding it in a circle. After a moment she takes her palm and cuts it, drawing gasps from some as she lets blood drip onto the stone for a bit before pulling her hand away.
Then she starts chanting in a foreign tongue which sounds like snakes hissing in a guttural tone, as she draws symbols around the blood red crystals that had been growing darker. The moment she finished drawing the symbols around the now black crystals on the ground.
The red priestess continues her chant for another half a minute and appears to be done, for the following couple minutes no one said a thing, nor did Melisandre who looks confused at first glance then smiles.
"We were brought here for this mad woman's false god?" Balon Greyjoy spat out in disgust.
Randyll Tarly agreed with the ironborn and showed detest of the random summoning to the Capital to watch a strange heathen ritual.
"What is this heathen magic! The magic built upon the blood of thousands and slavery" said the High Septon on whose head the crystal crown sits.
Only for their thoughts of disbelief to end once the stone begins glowing the golden dragon on it moved and let go of the stone before it spread its solid gold serpentine bat like wings and took to the air and blew emerald green colored flames around the crystals lighting them on fire before it landed on the stone and pointed its head to the sky and began to blow now normal coloured flames from its maw to the sky, while everyone is looking terrified at what they are witnessing, Melisandre could be seen smiling in relief of her prayer was heard as the flames begin to expand into one massive one.
Once the flames expanded enough the center of the flames began to show glimpses of this new world Melisandre said moments ago, causing everyone to sit down in disbelief and horror of what they had just seen.
Magic has returned to its glory days in Planetos. Melisandre smiles greatly at what she did moments ago before she turns to the large group.
"The Lord of Light has shown us a new world. Even though I do not know the origin of this world, we can see and hear what transpires in this realm. But they cannot hear or see us," Melisandre informs the many nobles in the dragon pit.
"How wise are the Seven giving us multiple worlds to test us in different ways, if magic has returned then more elder brothers with healing hands will come." Said the old septa to the High Septon calming him and some zealous lords.
After the red priestess said these words, Ned Stark sat down and is lost in his thoughts as he hopes his ward Theon, Robb and Jon are alive and well in this new world they were somehow placed in.
He only hopes Lyanna could forgive him for not being there for her son. Not noticing Melisandre briefly stare at Lord Stark before continuing.
As everyone began sitting down and watched the flames Melisandre unveiled. Selyse looks proud of Melisandre's ability for it did not surprise many as the wife of Stannis Baratheon has already converted to the Lord of Light, something Lady Tarly looked rather nervous of seeing her cousin is no longer a follower of the Faith. Melisandre moved away from the stone and sat not far from Stannis.
"So it's like some sort of 'dragon stone, Stannis is this a jape from you'? Oh lord of Dragonstone" Renly asked around. Lord Tarly and some nobles laugh with Tyrion agreeing with the King's youngest brother while Stannis grinded his teeth
"Might as well, better than calling it 'the magic dragon on a stone' and we are seeing things from said dragon," Tyrion responds to the Lord of Storm's End.