100

Chapter 100: Interlude: Fyre INotes:

Shoutout to Mintcakes, whom has actually contributed a plot bunny for my next fanfic that I can actually use. They're awesome, and I'm honoured that they are a fan of this work.

As I promised, if I got a workable plot bunny in the comments section that I like, I'd immediately upload my next chapter out from my buffer.

Well here it is.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Daena the Wanderer,

Oldest and most free,

Bell and Shaeterys,

Beast and Lord Eyrie,"

-First verse in song 'The Dragonseeds'

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Highgarden,

A tsunami of grey magic immediately burst out of Highgarden castle, from the exact middle of the castle, where Daenys conducted the heart of the ritual.

This great wave of sorcery, miles long and miles high, swept forth, expanding like a grand explosion. Sweeping the land barren of all life.

Eventually, the pulse subsided, the Desolation ended. The grey magic, now tinted with brilliant and incandescent motes of power, each feeling as hot and intense as the sun, flew backwards, like an explosion in reverse.

Coalescing into a brilliant orb in Rhaenyra's hands, shining with so much power it hurt to even look at.

More power than even Vhagar possessed. A hundred times more, at least.

Enough power to ascend to godhood, and then some.

Shaeterys well knew that this desolation was but a minuscule fraction of those done by Old Valyria in the past. A limited yield test as low as Daenys could get it, and then further limited with the containment wards.

And yet it had yielded so much power.

Shaeterys considered Rhaenyra a strong mage, and was well aware that his cousin been subtly modifying her own soul to serve as receptacle for this kind of power, but he knew, sure as the dawn, that if Rhaenyra attempted to eat this power, she would burn up and die screaming.

It was too much, even for the Dragonqueen.

Rhaenyra seemed to realise that as well, frowning as she contemplated the orb of power in her hands.

And so, she compromised. Ripping off the smallest sliver of energy she could, less than a hundredth of the whole, Rhaenyra bit into it, and screamed, doubling over in pain, glowing so bright Shaeterys could not even make out her silhouette.

Laena gasped, and moved to help, only held back by Daemon Junior, the boy whom looked so much like their father shaking his head.

"It's death if you go." Daemon Junior gravely said, and for one moment, Shaeterys thought he saw their father behind his youngest brother. The Rogue Prince, shaking his head behind his lookalike son. "Let her do it, Rhaenyra's got that knack for always landing on her feet, no matter what."

Laena opened her mouth, presumably to disagree, but then the light faded, and Rhaenyra gasped, stumbling back onto her feet.

The Dragonqueen smiled, a vicious thing of teeth and malice. Eyes shining with eldritch light, she waved a hand, splitting five smaller suns off of the orb of power.

"Dragonseeds, claim your birthright!"

Each of the orbs shot forth, comets of energy embedding themselves into the hearts of Laena, Shaeterys and his siblings.

Screaming in pain, Shaeterys fell to his knees.

Magic burned in Shaeterys' veins, no longer a tame pet heeding his call, but a rampant beast. His flesh burnt, his bones shattered, his blood boiled and his organs liquified. But Shaeterys' heart still beat, and the fire that burned within, from which he drew power from to cast, now had a motherload of fuel dumped into it.

The Dragonseed's flesh and organs reconstituted, brimming with energy, everything from his nerves to his blood vessels reshaped and reworked to handle his newfound power. Shaeterys' bones turned black, like those of a dragon, and his blood was now molten magic. Energy given form.

He gasped as he rose back to his feet. All around him, Laena and his siblings were doing the same.

They were all radiant, brimming with power that surpassed even Balerion the Black Dread.

They was not gods, far from it. But they were all now so so so far away from being a mortal any more. Petty things such as age and sickness would no longer trouble them, and they would no longer needed a dragon nearby to draw power from.

A demigod, Shaeterys decided. With one foot on the divine plane, but not two.

———

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Skies northeast of Volantis,

Nearly thirty dragons flew in formation, with Aerion on Sunfyre in the lead.

Near the entirety of House Targaryen's dragon flock, more than enough concentrated firepower to raze a city to ash, and then raze the ash into nothingness.

As of today, Aerion had been on the run for exactly one month.

He'd fled east after his theft, ditching his glass candle and anything that Rhaenyra could potentially use to track him down and leash him.

And with the crippling of the glass candle network, he had over a week's worth of a head start over Rhaenys.

Aerion had first went to Pentos, to try sell the dragons at the House of Bought and Sold, but Rhaenys promptly torched the entire building—and everything within a two-block radius—in her attempt to kill him.

That hadn't worked. Aerion had slipped away with the dragon flock, and to add insult to injury, Pentos had declared war on Rhaenyra for the destruction of one of their most sacred landmarks.

Since then, Aerion had been passed around by the Free Cities like a hot potato. The Sealord of Braavos had tried to purchase dragons, but the fabled Mists of Braavos were impassable to any dragon, and so that had went nowhere.

The Triarchy had made a few overtures, but rapidly backpedaled when Rhaenys came swooping out of the sky.

Volantis was in Rhaenyra's pocket, so the Triarchs all publicly declared that the Oldest Daughter would have no part of Aerion's dragons. A few of the Old Blood had tried to go behind the backs of the Triarchs and get dragons anyway, but Aunt Saera and her puppet Triarchs had gleefully taken the opportunity to purge those houses— whom as things happened, tended also to be her most outspoken critics.

With the Free Cities rapidly clamming up, and Rhaenys gaining on him. Aerion had fled further east, presumably hoping that Slaver's Bay would prove more receptive.

Not that she would let him.

Putting her mouth to the banded blowhole, Daena blew the great dragonhorn she'd looted from the Undying Ones. There was a great sound through the sky. An unearthly wail, like the clarion call of hell. The eldest Dragonseed felt incandescent fire ripple through her veins, her bones shaking as blazing warmth rising up from her core as her magic sung in response to that of the horn.

For one moment, it felt like world had frozen, like time itself had bent the knee, and was awaiting her decision. A hundred thousand possibilities flew through Daena's mind, as the horn felt out her intentions, able to make any one of her commands come true.

"Land, and stand down." Daena commanded, and Aerion's flock of dragons obeyed.

———

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Highgarden,

Rhaenyra reached out, and Syrax stalled in midair.

Eyes shining bright, Rhaenyra, Rhaegar and Daenys worked together as one, telekinesis lashing out, grabbing ahold of Syrax high above and pulling her down.

Syrax wailed and fought, flapping furiously as she desperately tried to escape. To break free of Rhaenyra's unyielding grip.

On the Yellow Beast's back, Shaera lashed out with sorcery, and Rhaenyra stuttered, stumbling forwards as Syrax nearly slipped her grip.

The shadow mount beneath the Dragonqueen's feet dissolved, reshaping into tendrils of oily darkness that anchored itself into the ground as Rhaenyra widened her stance and put her back into pulling the recalcitrant dragon out of the sky.

Ice and frost crept across the ground around them, Rhaenyra draining the area of heat energy to fuel her spell.

Shaeterys rode up and reached out with his own telekinesis, joining his efforts with Rhaenyra.

It was like trying to pull a star out of the sky. A gnat trying to shove down a castle. A man trying to wrestle the ocean.

It was a task beyond any mortal man. And even though they were no longer such, this too was a task beyond any one demigod.

But, they weren't alone.

———

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Northeast of Volantis,

Aerion was blowing on his horn, furiously trying to command his dragons to take flight once more, but what was a paltry lesser horn, compared to one of the three greater dragonhorns in Daena's possession?

A sparrow would have better odds of success in overcoming Vhagar, than his tiny horn overwhelming hers.

The entire dragon flock lay down on the flat grasslands, unwilling to be roused. Not even Sunfyre was budging.

"Having performance issues?" Daena mocked, Caraxes landing before Sunfyre and looming over the smaller dragon. "I'm told that it happens to all men at least once in their lifetime."

Aerion snarled and shot a bloodforged arrow at her, but she casually swatted it out of the sky with her bare hand. Compared to bullets or lasers, what were mere arrows?

"Daena, what the fuck are you doing here?" Her brother snarled, disconnecting himself from his saddle chains and nocking another arrow. "And how the fuck did you find me?"

"You'd be surprised at the types of tricks I've picked up from my time travelling the multiverse." Daena shrugged, causally disapparating and reappearing right behind her brother. "No half-competent sensory-nin would miss the sheer amount of power your dragons were releasing." 

Aerion whirled around, knife in hand, but Daena casually dodged, and kicked him straight in the ribs, sending the brat flying backwards like he'd been hit by a truck.

He'd managed to get a reinforcement spell up in time, tumbling head-over-heels across the ground, leaving a muddy ditch in his wake.

Aerion spun to his feet, bow in hand, but Daena hip-fired her SIG Sauer P226, casually severing the bowstring with a single 9mm bullet.

Leaping off of Sunfyre's dormant form, Daena spun her gun in her hand before holstering it, deliberately making a show of nonchalance and laziness as she slowly walked towards her brother.

Aerion snarled and leapt at her, sword in hand.

Daena drew her lightsaber, the long cylinder of made of dragon tooth and durasteel spitting out a blade of crimson plasma the exact same hue as Caraxes' scales and cleaving straight through Aerion's longsword like it was made of paper.

"That the best you can do?" She mockingly asked, before unleashing a flurry of strikes on her brother's pressure points. While the Kyoshi Warriors had taught Daena strikes hard enough to render a person a mere insensate lump of flesh, Daena held back, blocking Aerion's chi enough that he couldn't cast, but not enough that he was completely paralysed.

Aerion struggled, limp and sluggish, attempting to strike her despite his weakness, but Daena casually seized ahold of his neck and angled her lightsaber at his eyes to prevent him from moving.

"It would be well within my rights to kill you right here and now, for what you did to Baela." Daena snarled. "But there is someone with a greater claim to your death."

The eldest Dragonseed let her brother drop in a heap in front of her.

"Run away." Daena advised him, as Balefyre flew above them, before dropping the huge heap of steel it carried within it's claws. "It's all you can do now."

A massive shape slammed into the grassy field ten yards or so away from them with a resounding crash, striking the ground so hard that a tremor rippled through the meadow, clods of dirt and dust being thrown into their from the crater.

Rising to its feet from where it had struck the ground, a monster slowly plodding towards the two of them. In it's heart, an inferno of mana burned bright, blazing hot and strong without fear of burning out. A ridiculous magical output that rivalled even a dragon.

Tromp, tromp, tromp. The monster's footsteps were a rhythmic pounding, like the beat of some great drum. Every sound punctuated by a localised tremor of the ground and air.

Aerion took the advice he was given. He ran.

———

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Highgarden,

Aemon and Daemon rode up on their own mounts, arms raised to join their efforts with those of Rhaenyra and Shaeterys.

Syrax strained in the air.

Laena dismounted beside them, Daenys' limp body slung over her shoulder. There was a flicker, and Daenys moved back into her body, rising up and lending her full strength into the effort. Laena too, raised her hands to pull.

Slowly but surely, the Yellow Beast began to descend. It was a tug-of-war between ants and an eagle, and the ants were winning.

Vaelon and Baelon rode up as well, and their eyes turned grey as Rhaegar possessed them both. Neither of the twins were demigods, Rhaenyra having deemed them too irresponsible to wield such power, but they were still better than nothing.

The seven of them crowded around Rhaenyra, joining arms and linking spells. They stood behind the Dragonqueen, and together, nothing was impossible.

Down Syrax came. Slowly, inexorably, both rider and mount fighting tooth-and-nail to break free. But down it came, and when the dragon's armoured underbelly hit the ground it was all over.

Magic circles burned themselves into existence, wards springing up and trapping the Yellow Beast on the ground.

———

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Northeast of Volantis,

Bell punched straight an oak tree as thick as her torso with ease, shattering like it was made of cheap plywood.

Behind it, Aerion yelped and continued fleeing.

He'd tried to stand and fight, but Bell was utterly impervious to anything he could toss at her. Her armour was simply too thick, and anchored with wards that made magic unable to bite into it.

She lumbered forwards, slowly but surely, the titanic weight of her golem-armour made her slow, but she was strong.

Aerion ran ever further, attempting to put distance between the two of them.

Bell reached out and pulled, telekinetically reeling her brother back in. Magic came easy to her now, the block that had once prevented her from casting now gone. Burned away in the wildfire that had once consumed her.

Aerion broke free of her grip, rolling aside as Bell's foot came down in a stomp. Dirt sprayed, and Bell's leg was impaled up to the knee in the soft ground.

Aerion circled around, leaping atop her back and trying to stab her in the neck, but it was a pointless affair. Not a single inch of Bell's flesh was exposed to the open air, encased and sealed within a shell of solid steel. So extensive was this shell, that Bell had to rely on magic to move in and see out and breathe within the armour.

Tugging out her foot from the ground as easily as a man taking a step up onto a stair, Bell reached behind her with her other hand, attempting to swat her brother like a fly.

There was a great clang of steel on steel, but Aerion had managed to leap off in time.

Bell whirled around, and brought a fist down. Aerion dodged, but punch continued on and struck the ground. The resulting tremor and shockwave from the blow caught the boy, and sent him tumbling across the dirt.

Stunned, and disoriented from the blow, Aerion was unable to wriggle free, as Bell's steel hand closed around his torso.

———

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Highgarden,

The wards burned, trapping Shaera and Syrax on the ground, unable to break free.

Satisfied with the capture, Rhaenyra strode forwards unhurried, ready to enact punishment.

But there was a ripple, and Shaera slid free of the wards.

Unchained from the saddle, the Lady Tyrell leapt straight off of her dragon. Launching herself straight towards Rhaenyra, Electron Cutter shining in her hands.

A last desperate strike, aiming to decapitate the Dragonqueen.

It failed, Shaera suddenly seizing up in midair, magic falling away as she grasped at her throat, choking under the telekinetic grip that held her aloft. She attempted to cast again, but her spells were all hijacked before they could even begin.

Behind them all, unnoticed, Erik and Grey Ghost had landed. And they had brought a passenger. One recently liberated from the confines of the Green war camp, in the confusion following the Desolation and subsequent rout.

Murder writ on her face, Naerys stalked forwards, emerald eyes incandescent with hatred. Her hand was outstretched, choking Shaera and holding her in place.

Shaeterys shivered at the sight. Naerys had always been the sweetest and kindest girl he'd ever known, to see such black hatred, such utter loathing in her eyes?

What had they done to her?

Uncontested, Rhaenyra reached out and grabbed ahold of Shaera by the throat. Magic burned, and a magic circle shone into existence around Shaera's neck.

"Imperio, Shaera, do not cast any magic." Rhaenyra ordered, will rippling out to shred Naerys' telekinetic chokehold and letting Shaera drop to the ground.

The Lady Tyrell gasped, coughing and shaking on the ground, attempting to regain her breath once again.

Naerys snarled, and tried to lash out with sorcery once more, but Rhaenyra batted the attempt to kill Shaera aside with contemptuous ease. And though Rhaenyra was facing away from Shaeterys, the look on her face must have been truly fearsome, for Naerys immediately quelled her rage, falling into line with a sullen glare.

Shaera struck out, having surreptitiously palmed a knife while pretending to be helpless on the ground.

It never came anywhere close to Rhaenyra.

"Crucio, Shaera."

———

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Northeast of Volantis,

Aerion was wriggling in Bell's grip like a rodent attempting escape.

It was a pretty apt comparison, Daena felt.

Aerion had always been lanky and whip-thin. And Bell's armour was so large that Aerion's neck was encircled within her thumb and forefinger, with the remaining three fingers wrapped around his torso.

There was a hiss, and Bell's helmet collapsed. Sections splitting away and retracting into her collar like a steel hoodie, revealing her face.

"Bell." Aerion spat, eyes glinting with hate.

"Aerion." Bell snarled back.

"I should have known. The size, the beast, the ugliness?" Aerion sneered, looking Bell's new body up and down. "You always were a monster, a freak of nature."

"I could say the same thing to you." Bell replied, voice thrumming with tranquil rage. "You always were a pasty asshole, even back when we were kids in the Vale."

Bell squeezed harder, and Aerion begun letting out yelps of pain as steel digits the thickness of his arms started to clench around his body.

"I wasn't very surprised, to hear you murdered Baela." Bell gravelled. "It was only ever a matter of time."

"She was weak, and stood in my way!" Aerion shouted. "Nobody gets in my way!"

Daena punched Aerion in the face for that, his nose breaking with one of the most satisfying sounds she'd ever heard.

"Baela was a hundred thousand times better than you are!" Daena snarled. "She knew honour, duty and loyalty! You're just a rabid dog whom knows nothing save his basest and worst instincts!"

Force Lightning cackled out of Daena's fingers, zapping Aerion most painfully.

"We took you in, fed you and clothed you. Elevated a literal son of a whore to the likes of near-royalty, and this is how you repay us? By biting the hand that fed you?" She demanded, punctuating her every sentence with a burst of electricity.

"Honour is for idiots, and duty for pussies." Aerion shot back. "Loyalty only to oneself is all that matters!"

Bell roared in rage, and there was the sound of twigs snapping as she squeezed ever harder. Aerion spat out blood, his ribcage crumpled by Bell.

"You would not understand loyalty if it hit you in the face!" Bell roared. "There exist things greater than your own self! Things worth standing and fighting for! Worth dying for!"

"Don't bother." Daena shrugged, tapping her sister's forearm. "We could shout at him all day until we're blue in the face and he wouldn't get it."

Daena begun pacing, walking around her two siblings with an almost manic energy.

"See, Aerion doesn't understand loyalty or any of that good stuff, because to him, people only exist in what benefits they can provide to him. He doesn't see us as actual people, per se, just as servants or glorified tools. Puppets that exist solely to please him." Daena said aloud, almost to herself. "Even if he were to wed the most perfect woman on the planet, he wouldn't see her as a person. Just as a bedtoy he could use as he wants before he gets bored and throws her away. He can not understand love, or compassion.

"He's the type of person that will die young and ugly, unmourned by all."

"Fine by me." Bell shrugged, immediately reaching up to Aerion's left arm and wrenching it out of it's socket in a spray of blood.

She dropped Aerion to the ground, the boy screaming at the loss of his appendage, and Daena sauntered over. A single swing of her lightsaber, and he was short his right leg.

Bell tore his left leg off in a spurt of blood, and Daena severed his right arm. Then shot him thrice. Once in each of his balls, and the third on the head of his cock.

Limbless, cockless, Aerion was a pitiful and blubbering wreck of a person. He'd soiled himself at some point, both young women wrinkling their noses at the smell.

"You cannot kill me! I am King Aerion the Ultimate! Supreme god-king of the world! And I demand that you die!" He shouted, eyes alight with madness and defiance.

"Oh shut up." Bell grunted, tearing out Aerion's tongue.

Daena then reached out with her sorcery, ripping Aerion soul right out his body. Rhaenyra and Daenys could probably do the same thing with minimal pain, but even after spending years learning magic from the best sorcerers in the Multiverse, Daena was still far from their level of skill. As such, the process was excruciating beyond belief.

Bell then ripped the head off of Aerion's soulless body for good measure, and crushed the skull in her hand. Blood and brain matter spraying out of her hands like juice from a fruit.

"He died as he lived; An ugly lump of flesh." Daena pithily eulogised, spooling Aerion's soul into a ball before activating her sling ring and sparking open an incandescent portal.

On the other side, Jaehaerys Junior dropped a single ring through.

Valyrian steel, set with a single diamond.

———

115 AC, 1st Moon, 23rd day, Highgarden,

Shaera writhed on the ground, screaming at the top of her lungs, as the rest of her family stood like statues, staring down dispassionately at the sight.

But eventually, Rhaenyra let up on the pain. Prolonged sorcerously induced pain did horrid damage to the nervous system, and it was obvious that Shaera was on the precipice of suffering lasting damage.

"Hold." Rhaenyra ordered, and the pain spell dispelled.

"Mercy!" Shaera begged, attempting to crawl away from Rhaenyra. "Mercy!"

For a moment, it seemed like Shaera's pleas were heard, as Rhaenyra waved a hand and healed Shaera. 

"There is no mercy." Rhaenyra declared. "Crucio, Shaera."

Screams rose up once more, until Shaera was once again on the precipice of lasting damage.

"I'll do anything, I'll be your servant. I'll lie on my back and let you whore me out." Shaera pleaded, as Rhaenyra healed her once more. "Anything you want! No more! Just no more!"

"Crucio, Shaera."

For how long this cycle of torture, healing and then more torture torture lasted, Shaeterys did not know.

Long enough that the bulk of the Fourth Legion returned back to Highgarden, with only a small detachment as escort.

Long enough that the Greens were able to pull out and retreat, hounded by the Cataphracts.

Long enough that Erik was able to fly off on Grey Ghost and return with Tessarion in tow.

Long enough for the Cataphracts to return to Highgarden.

Long enough that the Fifth Legion begun sending men out to chase the fleeing Greens. Skinchangers in birds alongside men with bloodhounds.

It was only when the sun begun to set, hours upon hours later, that Rhaenyra finally let up on the torture.

Shaera gasped as the sorcerously induced pain wore off. Her unheard pleas had grown increasingly desperate and more incoherent as time passed, and she'd long lost any sort of dignity that she'd once possessed.

Daenys had been careful to shield Shaera's unborn child from Rhaenyra's onslaught, but near everything else was fair game.

Rhaenyra flicked a wrist, and Shaera snapped up like a puppet, her body bending against her will such that she was kneeling before the Dragonqueen.

"Mercy, please." Shaera wept, tears falling from her eyes. "Don't kill me, I beg of you."

"I promise you, Shaera. You will not die today." Rhaenyra smiled, and it was a vicious thing, all malice and fangs.

She turned to look at Shaeterys, and the Dragonseed involuntarily recoiled at the savage glee that shone within Rhaenyra's eyes.

"Your ring, Shaeterys." She commanded, and it with trembling fingers that Shaeterys fished out the ring she spoke of.

Valyrian steel, set with a single diamond.

Rhaenyra had given out two such rings, one to Shaeterys and the other to Jaehaerys Junior, as a threat and promise. A permanent reminder to treat their respective lovers—Jeyne Arryn and Daena respectively— nicely.

"I will say this once and only once." Rhaenyra had declared. "Should either of you ever mistreat your respective lovers in any shape or form, I will not kill you.

"I will instead rip the souls out of your bodies and bind them into those rings, before casting them out into the endless void between the stars. You will drift endlessly in the void, undying. Screaming in unspeakable pain for all eternity, until the heat death of this fucking universe."

"There are some fates, that are worse than death." Shaeterys whispered, as he passed the ring to Rhaenyra.

———

At the exact same time, two different women on two different continents bound the souls of two different traitors into eternal torment.

Notes:

Was this a fitting punishment for the traitors? As Rhaenyra promised, Shaera is technically still alive, but a soulless body is essentially brain-dead. Aerion most certainly is not though.

Also, I didn't find a place in the chapter to say this, but Daena's five years older now. Time flows differently in different universes.

Yes, Daena has picked up a lot of tricks walking the multiverse. She's been to Star Wars, Harry Potter, Naruto, Avatar, the MCU, DC verse and more.

I might make a whole spinoff about her wanderings, or at the very least have her cameo occasionally in my future fics.

And Bell, Bell is back now. She's kind of a cyborg now. I'm still deciding how integrated she is to her suit of armour. Like, if she's stuck permanently inside, or has the ability to exit it. But that's a question for another story. This one won't last long enough for it to matter.