Ancient Foe

I found myself standing on a sea of sand, the air lied still, and I smelled nothing...

Yet, overhead, a storm raged ceaselessly, dark clouds swirled and flame-coloured lightning struck in the distance, still failing to shift the sands that I stood on... A ways off, an entirely different storm took shape, one of grander magnitude yet reserved effects that didn't go beyond the occasional crack of thunder.

"Been a while." I commented off-handedly, sitting down in the sand to make myself comfortable. 

As always, the sand didn't shift even slightly... It didn't even stick to my clothes.

I was warned that he who consumed the Heart of the Dread would one day be swallowed up by his flames, soul and body, but that day never really came... No, there were no impulses or signs that it ever would come.

Bayle the Dread, King of Drakes, the Great Traitor to his kind, was devoured completely... but, his essence stayed.

As if my thoughts were being read, a mass of black came toppling down from the eye of the storm, crashing against the sands to, expectedly, no real effect... It unfurled its great wings and roared to the sky above in open defiance of none other than... myself.

A creature with scales of obsidian, crimson eyes that seethed with hate and fury, and six horns curving down from the top of it-...no, HIS head. It stood on two shorter legs, using its impressive crimson wings to prop itself up and look down at me with a gaping maw filled with rows upon rows of jagged teeth.

I briefly touched my shoulder, recalling how many times I'd been grinded to paste by those very teeth.

"Curse thee... vile serpent." It boomed in a voice closer to a guttural roar than actual speech.

I smiled slightly, "I thought we'd be past petty insults by now, old fellow."

"Grrr..."

Bayle looked nothing like he did when I'd found him.

He'd been missing his wings and a leg, mortally wounded.

That was the only reason I was even able to take him down and devour him in the first place, even if it did come after decades of dying to all the different ways the aged Progenitor of Drakes had to kill me.

"One day... I will burn thee as I once did..." The Dread was less than amused by my casual disregard of his endless hate, "I shalt rend thy flesh from thy meagre body, slowly, and gorge upon thy remains... I shall burn thy soul and hunt down all thou holdeth close, till naught but a fleeting memory remain."

I sighed at his words but then laughed in his face for them, "I-I'd be scared if you hadn't been saying this for millennia now."

Bayle roared again, spewing lightning-coated flames into the sky, "INSOLENCE!"

Then he stopped and lowered his head, turning it to stare directly into my eyes, "But as before, I shalt respect thou for doing what I could not..." He raised his head to stare at the calm storm in the distance, "For thy rebellion against him... and for thy methods."

Dragon Communion was both a punishment and a reward, designed to make champions kill Bayle's kin for power and glory under the Dragonlord Placidusax... I had gone from devouring Drakes to devouring Ancient Dragons, their mortal enemies... even if I did end up almost wiping out both species.

"Wouldn't expect that from a tyrant." I commented off-handedly, following his gaze, "But thanks all the same..."

I did have two companions from the Lands Between still but both would sooner burn me alive than let me call them that.

I sighed, "Still... You know it wasn't a fair fight. There was an entire force."

"I am... aware... but it does not matter... He was felled all the same." 

The Crucible Knights, Maliketh the Black Blade of Queen Marika, the invasion of Farum Azula, Dragonlord Placidusax's seat of power... Those were fonder times, certainly I'd teetered on the edge of death the entire time but, I could never say I hated being there.

"Hell, it's ironic." I let out a small chuckle, "The only reason Placidusax lost was because I found a way to use his scales in weapons."

I ate him whole after that.

"It was mine own revenge... and victory." Bayle rumbled.

"In a way, I guess." I admitted with a wry smile, "The only reason I even stood a chance against that many Ancient Dragons and Flaccidusax was cause I'd eaten you."

In a way, eating Bayle was the sole reason I could do most of what I did.

"But... you're misunderstanding something." I glanced at the Dread from the corner of my eye, "I ate you after I killed you, by myself."

The drake slammed down his claw indignantly as lightning crashed down all around us, "I shan't forget, nor shall thee, vile serpent."

"I'm not a serpent."

"What are we to call thee then? Abomination shunned by Grace, traitor to thy betters, heretic to all thou meant..." An aged voice, much calmer and eloquent than Bayle, spoke out formlessly, "We welcomed thee, and you shunned our benevolence."

I stood up and dusted my clothes out of pure habit, "Your 'benevolence' was only a thing after I ate Bayle. Your people didn't even remember the times you accidentally crushed me under your foot, or burnt me because you didn't like something near me... One of you tossed me to her children as food. You deserved everything I did, and I'll stand by it forever."

"Well said, serpent!" Bayle roared again, spewing a sea of flames from his maw.

"Insolent child."

I didn't dislike mistakes, they were part of the nature of every living being and helped them grow. 

No, I disliked when someone refused to accept that what they'd done was a mistake, when that so-called 'mistake' was so ingrained into their nature that they thought it was the obvious course of action.

I spoke calmly, hands behind my back as I stared at the calm storm in the distance, "If I could end your being like we did your age, I would."

"Thou shall fail at even that, my loathsome foe."

"I won't." I affirmed, "Or are you forgetting what we're standing on?"

This time, he didn't answer.

This barren sea of sand I occasionally found myself in wasn't what it appeared to be... We weren't in some sort of mindscape or dream, no, this distant place was...

I picked up a handful of sand and blew on it, scattering it into the nonexistent wind, "You'll be like this one day."

The sea of sand was in truth, an endless graveyard.

"I will regain mine mantle once more, serpent... but I allow thee to name thyself the Dragonlord... for now."

I scoffed at his 'permission' and turned to Bayle, "You... you're gonna be coming in handy for once."

"Mine flame is the sole thing in thy employ..."

Was Bayle trying to be sarcastic or something?

"Huh, and here I was believing what you said about how time couldn't change you."

"Grrrrr."

-

I was shaken awake by a hesitant young man in chainmail, his purple tabard emblazoned with the silver eagle of House Mallister, "Hmm?"

Looking around, I realised I was still in the watchtower overlooking the sea I'd come to after grabbing some books about the ironborn from the Maester... but grey clouds had rolled in, and the wind was howling. It made the grey stone seem damper than it already did.

"Y-You said to wake you, ser." He stammered, backing away quickly and stepping to the side to narrowly avoid the fire burning in the centre of the room, "I apologise... if I've made a mistake."

It was high noon, about the time I'd decided I'd set off for my little visit to the Iron Islands.

I held up a hand, "Calm down, man. It's all good."

Before I could reassure him further, the wooden door to the room was thrown open and Jason walked in, a hand at the hilt of his sword, "Well met, friend. I was informed you had taken an interest in the blight that lies beyond Ironman's Bay."

"I take it you don't like them much either?" I crossed one leg over the other, relaxing into my wooden chair.

The old barkeep wasn't being stingy, the ironborn had reaved and raped as part of their culture and 'right' for as long as anyone could remember... There'd been attempts at reform but all of them failed miserably.

"They attacked Seagard during the Greyjoy Rebellion." Jason started, and walked over to the window to stare out at the calm sea beyond them, "We crushed them... House Mallister has fought those bastards tooth and nail since its very beginning, and not for no reason. They are yet to change their barbaric ways."

I pursed my lips and stood up, "Well, they're not gonna be a problem much longer."

"What do you mean, friend?" Jason inquired with a raised brow.

Instead of answering, I pointed at the mass of land jutting out into the sea from the side, the Cape of Eagles it was called, "Stand at the edge before sunset, you'll see... or don't, doesn't matter."

"Hm... I must admit I am more confused than before."

"I'll be back tomorrow." I smiled pensively, "See you later."

"Ah, a moment. I have sent the raven to Winterfell as per our agreement but I hope you will allow me the chance to win back my pride as a warrior."

"Of course."

-

Hope you enjoyed.

Comment your thoughts and/or suggestions for the story.

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There's another chapter along with this one since I remembered I had to do another double post.