27 Through Glass Eyes

[[I was listening to this one HOTD soundtrack on a loop while writing this, and i would totally recommend, although not needed: House of the Dragon OST - The Great Council]]

It has been rough for the past several moons for Vaela, in the beginning, it was fine. Sleeping with the Obsidian Candle nearby would always allow her and Kael to communicate through distance, and even if they couldn't communicate for some reason, she could still see him going about his daily schedule.

It felt like she was exploring the world every time she fell asleep.

The beauty of the River Rhoyne, which shone like sapphire under the moonlight, as the Red Dragon flew past the Velvet Hills northeast of Pentos. The weird, almost out-of-place, Forest of Qohor. The vastness of the Grasslands, that expanded beyond what the eyes could see and seemingly stretched to the ends of the world.

It felt like watching someone exploring the unknown from above firsthand, and even with all of her years riding Vaeneron, she never felt as free as she felt while watching Kael grinning as the sun marked his face, flying through the world as if he owned it.

She watched Kael while he was camping, hunting, reading his books, and even painting several canvases as the days went by.

During the days, she was preoccupied with the management of Skagos, or how Kael had named it… Valinor… the new Kingdom under the Regallyon twin-headed dragon banner. And what a beautiful banner it was, a silvery-white dragon with two heads and red eyes, spitting crimson flame on a black field.

The dragon represents their bloodline and power, the two heads represent both of them as the last Regallyons, the crimson fire represents their magic, and the black field represents what would be left behind of those who try to defy them, nothing but ash and emptiness.

After subduing the Skagosi, it was ridiculously simple to take over the island and start the operations, first, the task was to create a road to the mountain chain that Kael had spoken of.

And so, they did, and though it took a couple of moons, it was done; not only was the dragon road crafted perfectly, but Vaela also used dragonfire to blow a hole in the mountain chain, creating their very own "bloody gate", surrounded by a snowy wasteland and mountains so steep that they would be impossible to climb.

The Valyrian slaves were still not sent here, they would be sent last, and according to her husband, they would be freed, an absurd thought according to her… Vaela tried to dissuade Kael of that idea but he was surprisingly firm, she even remembered his words.

"It's cheaper to keep free men than slaves," he said back then.

She couldn't understand, slaves were just that, slaves… how could they be more expensive than free men? Kael didn't go into details, the only thing he said was a single word, "Capitalism", while grinning. What in the seven hells is that?! She didn't know, but she trusted him regardless.

It was when the second phase of their plan came to be that things started getting scary for Vaela.

At this point her goal was to take advantage of the natives and children of the forest to discover all the passageways that lead to the heart of the island, they needed to know all of the possible ins and outs. No sneak attacks would be tolerated in the future.

The Skagosi were proud, but after a few moons of going hungry and being overworked, they bent easily. Under the promises of freedom, they sang like birds and explained every entrance and exit that they knew of. They were under the impression that those areas would only be guarded, so they didn't see any problem in sharing the information, poor fools…

Once all of the information was extracted, the Skagosi that gave the information were slain, and all the tunnels but a select few remained intact; three to be precise, one North, one West and one East. South had the Dragon Gate, no need for tunnels there.

It was during the third moon that Vaela started to fear her visions through the Glass Candle.

The sight of the Bone Mountains was as awe-inspiring as it was dreadful, the largest mountain chain in the known world, so massive in size and scale that it made the capital of Valyria and it's fourteen flames look like a tiny speck on the map.

She saw how it took almost a fortnight for Kael to cross that mountain by dragon flight. And while it was in no way so huge that it would demand that amount of time, Kael decided to use the massive pillars of stone to train Neltharion.

Vaela watched for days as Kael made Neltharion hit the massive stone pillars, that looked like huge fingers that stretched all the way towards the skies, with nothing but his tail.

For days she heard Neltharion crying in agony and pain, trying and hitting the pillars again and again, even dragon scales weren't tough enough to endure such treatment.

But surprisingly, after ten days, Neltharion didn't cry anymore and each swing of his tail would crush the pillars. She quickly understood her brother-husband's goal, he wanted to create another form of combat for his dragon.

It was known that when two dragonriders clashed in the skies it would always be a massacre. Even survivors had to retire their dragons due to them losing a wing or a leg. Unless the size or number difference was so massive that it would guarantee a complete domination, dragonlords fighting each-other would always end up with a pyrrhic victory at best. Dragons always left themselves open when striking one another after all.

At this point, she was actually interested in the sights of the Golden Empire, she wondered if her brother would stop by, sadly he didn't. In fact, Kael made sure to avoid Yi Ti like it was a plague, even flying all the way north, through the Plains of the Jogos Nhai, only turning south after reaching N'ghai, flying above the Bleeding Sea.

It was from this point on, that things changed.

The moment she saw them, the five monstrosities built south of the Bleeding Sea, blocking the path of the nomad people from the Grey Waste from going west, that the Glass Candle visions started to blur.

The five forts, the biggest and oldest buildings in the known world, the black fused stone that resembled Valyria, yet different. Less decorated but twice as imposing, more durable and everlasting.

Even Neltharion started to falter midflight when they reached that point, seemingly afraid of moving south towards the Mountains of the Morn, and the dreadful Shadow Lands.

There was something wrong with that place, even Valyrian magic couldn't withstand it.

She saw Kael persevere with his dragon, his once carefree grin and relaxed attitude turned into a grim, focused and scared one.

From that point on, she couldn't watch her husband as before. Every night she tried, only to have nightmares that she would forget the moment she woke up the next day. The only remnants being her accelerated heart, and her body covered in cold sweat.

For the next moons, her task as the Queen of Valinor continued, she did all she could, from solving pesky issues between their men, to planning the deployment of their troops and resources. During her sleep, only flashes could be seen, scenes disconnected from one another that brought her great fear. She shouldn't have allowed Kael to venture to that godforsaken place!

Flashes of a dragon landing in an empty, blighted, wasteland. Flashes of Kael walking alone towards the darkness. Flashes of a black river with a florescent green hue that extended through the horizon. Flashes of a city, abandoned yet somewhat alive, the biggest city she had ever seen, bigger than Valyria by a long shot.

For moons her dreams were plagued by the flashes of the Shadow Lands and whatever darkness lies in that place; she couldn't see Kael's face anymore, only watch him from his back. She saw him falter, him losing strength as if he was losing hope.

She watched as he kept reading tomes in an underground library, with candles so dim that he could barely see five feet beyond his reach. But it was when the tenth moon arrived that she fell in true despair.

She saw him entering a temple in the middle of nowhere, how did he get there? She did not know. She could barely keep up with the flashes at this point. She saw a black statue of a massive toad, oozing green fluids from it's mouth and a huge pillar of white, shining like starlight within the darkness.

Finally, she saw a huge circular gate with a red glow that came from behind it, giving it an image similar to that of a solar eclipse, yet it didn't feel mystical or mysterious, it felt… wrong….

Once the gate slid to the side, her vision was covered by a crimson glow that prevented her from peeking anymore and it was at that moment that her Glass Candle cracked.

Jumping out of bed, covered in cold sweat, Vaela grabbed her armor and sword. Taking a bit too long to properly equip them due to her shaky hands.

"AREN!" Vaela shouted with a panicked voice, only for the man in question to rush inside her room with a sword in his hand and a grim look on his face, looking everywhere for a possible enemy.

"Your grace?" He replied a bit worried once he saw her state.

"From now on you take care of this place, I shall fly to the Shadow Lands!" She said with a shaky but determined tone, sheathing her sword in her scabbard.

Putting away his sword, Aren went on one knee while lowering his head, "I am sorry, Your Grace, but the King said that we shouldn't let you fly east."

Her eyes narrowed "I am going, and if you are going to try to stop me, you better be ready to fight my dragon."

"… Your Grace…." Aren panicked; Kael's orders were strict after all.

"You can't stop me, I am not asking for your permission, I am informing you, I shall leave right away!" She said as she walked past him going downstairs from her small castle. Following her from behind, through the halls of Kingshouse, Aren was trying his best to calm her down. "Your Grace, please understand… the King gave us strict orders to not let you go there!"

"Kael might be the King here, but I am no peasant that can be ordered around and locked when convenient, I am a dragon" she said as calmly as she could while opening the main gate out of the castle.

Before Aren could say another word, a loud roar echoed through the skies. Vaela knew that this wasn't Vaeneron's roar, she could recognize her own dragon flawlessly after all.

Looking up she saw a bronze colored dragon, not too big but not too small either, a perfect mixture between strength and speed, circling Kingshouse castle before landing outside the gate.

"Vyshna…" She mumbled while increasing her speed, walking outside.

Once outside she saw a large man climbing down from the dragon's saddle, he had shoulder length black hair with white here and there, and yellow, almost golden, eyes.

"Valanar!" she said while jogging towards him.

"Lady Vaela.." He said with a grin, but then suddenly remembered "Or should I call you Your Grace now?"

She chuckled before replying "Yes.. I believe you should…" she looked around and saw all the Regallyon's bannermen kneeling towards their monarch.

Taking the hint, Valanar suddenly went on one knee and bowed his head "The King sent me one final message a few days ago, and demanded that I come here to prevent you from leaving, Your Grace."

Vaela's eyes narrowed, she gulped hard as her hand trembled while holding her sheathed sword "..H-How? When?"

"He sent a message through the Glass Candle at the Regallyon Tower on the freehold, telling me to come here and prevent you from leaving, he informed me that he would have to destroy his own Glass Candle, but he knew that you would panic when he did and demanded that I moved here." Valanar answered with his head low.

At this moment, Aren saw the perfect chance and introduced himself into their conversation "With all due respect, Your Grace, Lord Valanar, I think it's better for us to talk about such matters inside…" he said as he looked around towards the others kneeling in the snow.

Finally noticing the environment, Vaela nodded and turned to Valanar "Walk with us inside, tell me everything!"

"As you wish, Your Grace" said Valanar as he stood up.