"Do you perceive what sets me apart from others, Miraxis?"
Viserys's query lingered in the silence before finally being vocalized.
"Different?"
"No."
"No?"
"What's the matter?"
A hint of perplexity tinged Miraxis's voice. The silver-haired youth in the library of Meereen loosened his furrowed brow, shaking his head slightly.
"It's nothing."
He hadn't expected that even Miraxis's divine senses couldn't detect the presence of the dark mist, a realm beyond mere mortals, seemingly reaching the domain of gods.
Was the existence of the dark mist even more enigmatic than that of the gods?
Though void of answers, Viserys wasn't disheartened. After all, as Miraxis had said, not all gods were of the same caliber. The disparity between gods could match that between mortals and divines.
A weaker god gazing upon a higher one was akin to beholding a deity.
Although a tongue twister, the reality was stark.
Miraxis's divine senses weren't akin to the essence of Valyria's ancient gods. Perhaps even among gods, Miraxis wasn't of the highest echelon.
Otherwise, the gods of Valyria wouldn't have been wiped out so easily. Was the mysterious dark mist an entity belonging to the pinnacle of gods, hence its enigma?
The handsome silver-haired youth eased his brow, consoling himself with such thoughts. Yet, a question sprang forth.
"If you've disclosed so much, what is the true form of Miraxis?"
"Dragon."
Although devoid of her corporeal memories, Miraxis was aware of her essence.
"Dragon?"
Viserys was momentarily stunned. The ancient god of Valyria, the revered Miraxis, the Fury of the Seas, was a dragon?
"Yes."
"Balerion, Vhagar, Meraxes... all the ancient gods of Valyria were dragons," the deity's calm voice affirmed.
Has House Targaryen lost these ancient records?
"No."
Viserys's expression tightened slightly. Perhaps an invisible hand had erased these records through the annals of time. Only now did Viserys grasp why Aegon was so adamant about naming all the dragons after ancient gods.
Despite inheriting the Old Gods' ability to peer into the past, certain veils remained impenetrable for Viserys.
For instance, while the power of the Old Gods could traverse through time across Westeros, it faltered beyond the Narrow Sea onto Essos.
Viserys had once attempted to trail 'Kingslayer' Jaime Lannister's past, reverting to the eve of King's Landing's gates yielding to the foes.
He witnessed Cersei instructing Commander Janos Slynt to capture Jaime and another Kingsguard. He also saw Tyrion bribing Bronn to hire mercenaries for freeing Jaime, aiming to whisk him away from Westeros.
As Viserys sat on the Iron Throne, his gaze transcended time, following Jaime till he boarded a merchant vessel bound for Braavos, where the trail went cold. The power of the Old Gods seemed bound to this continent, as if an invisible border capped its reach.
"Balerion, Vhagar, and Miraxis... all ancient gods of Valyria were dragons," Viserys muttered, his frustration burgeoning. He felt nearer to the truth yet clueless about his next move. It seemed tantalizingly within reach yet elusive.
"Did they ascend to godhood through the faith of Valyrians?"
"No."
The voice from the deity remained serene.
"I am uncertain of Miraxis's past, but her ascension wasn't through faith."
"Balerion, Vhagar, and the others existed long before, living through countless years. Perhaps they attained godhood with their power even before emerging from the underground to this world."
"They were the first dragons encountered by the Valyrians."
"Back then, Valyrians were nomads dwelling on the peninsula. They first witnessed the fierce dance of dragons among the towering Fourteen Flames."
"Thus, Valyrians revered dragons as totems, adoring and worshipping them."
Miraxis elucidated, but Viserys caught onto a phrase she'd just mentioned.
"Miraxis, what did you say?"
"Dragons emerged from the underground to this world? What underground? What world above?"
"Wait. Do you mean our current world is the world above?"
Viserys trembled slightly, voicing his disbelief.
"There's a world beneath? Is that the homeland of dragons?"
"That can't be!"
He couldn't help but recall the several colossal abysses within the ruins of Valyria, spewing endless dark smoke towards the sky.
The fog enveloping Valyria and the Smoking Sea might stem from there.
While escaping Valyria's ruins on Balerion's back, Viserys had glimpsed those sky-piercing dark pillars and the unfathomable dark abysses.
He also remembered a smaller bottomless pit in the far North, beneath the tree where Ygg, the Weirwood, stood sentinel. This pit was a way for the Children of the Forest to embrace oblivion, with none who entered ever returning.
Yet, comparing the petite abyss in the North to the gigantic chasms in Valyria was like comparing a witch to a wizard—vastly different scales.
However, by the Northern abyss, Viserys had discovered an obsidian spearhead. Through a time reversal, he saw countless millennia ago, the Children of the Forest, Mountain Giants, and other ancient beings united against a common foe—giant worm-like creatures capable of burrowing and spewing fire.
Both scenarios pointed towards a mysterious world beneath, where these fire-breathing worms and possibly dragons originated. They were alien to this world.
And if dragons hailed from below, what about the dark mist entwined within him? Did it, too, come from the underground?