52 The Trial Begins

He spoke in valyrian, fitting for a man who had all the high valyrian features. Viserys stepped back in fear of the crimson dragon. "Who... are you?"

The Kingsguard, too, began to recover from the landing. As they looked around, the land around them was similar... yet so different. There was no Smoking Sea... as a matter of fact, there was no sea to be seen! Only fertile land, followed by even more fertile land. How could such a terrible sea turn into a landscape comparable to paradise?

It seemed to be no more than a dream. Perhaps the Kraken followed by the crash had put him to sleep... so Viserys attempted to wake himself. To no avail were his actions, however. The world around him real.

"I am Jaeremor, the great head dragonlord of family Velinarys. You seem to bear the three-headed crimson dragon of the Targaryen dragonlord family which... does pique my interest. I had thought that all of you had left Valyria for lesser lands no more than a year ago." Jaeremor chuckled. "The destruction of Valyria... bah! I have never heard of anything quite as stupid."

Well, what do you know... we're the last dragonlord family.

Viserys blinked as he began to realise that this may have been the past. Aerion did say that he had dreamed of Old Valyria before its destruction. There was no way in Seven Hells that such a dragon still roamed their known world, after all. What reason would they have to hide? High valyrians and their dragons were both proud and fearless.

Perhaps... the trial has already begun?

Viserys nodded. "We are, indeed, Targaryens. Well... two of us, at the very least. The rest are humble servants of our family."

"And why have you returned to Valyria, my fellow high valyrian?" Jaeremor wondered.

"We were the few who... realised the error of our mistakes. There is no greater place in the World than the glorious paradise that is Valyria." Viserys lied, albeit quite effectively. "Would you take us there?"

"Where are your dragons?"

"We did not have dragons. As... lesser members of the family, all we could take with us was this ship and some gold."

"I see..." Jaeremor stroked his silver beard as he looked at the crashed ship. "What are your names?"

The Kingsguard glanced at Viserys, who seemed to have the situation under control... for now. They decided to play along and let him do all the speaking while they searched for Aerion. As they turned around and looked further ahead, the scene of Aerion laying in a puddle of water came into view. All thirty-four Soul Knights stood around him with a massive dead Kraken laying behind them.

"Viserys and Aerion, my nephew. I... kindly ask that you assist us in reaching Valyria."

"Hahahahahaha... you Targaryens are something else. You do know that our two families have been rivals for quite some time and here you are... requesting my help! Hahahahaha..."

Viserys grit his teeth.

Who does this bastard think he is?

The crimson dragon growled in response to Viserys' aggression, causing him to step back further away. Jaeremor chuckled afterwards.

"Calm, Cerraxes. They are even lesser Targaryens with no dragons to speak of. Not even worthy of your breath, my dear dragon."

The crimson dragon relaxed but its fiery eyes remained on Viserys. As the Soul Knights brought Aerion to the crashed Mad King, Jaeremor began to wonder why there was a crashed ship in the first place. There was no water anywhere... and where did the Kraken come from?

"How did you find yourself in this situation, Viserys?"

"We were sailing through the Smoking Sea before being struck by the Kraken. Then... we crashed here. In truth, none of us know how we found ourselves here. However, we do know that our destination was and still is Valyria."

"Something strange seems to be at play here... I have never heard of any Smoking Sea around Valyria. Perhaps your mind was playing tricks on you."

"Perhaps it was..." Viserys nodded. "Now, I will ask once more. Will you assist us or not?"

"Hmph, I would much rather kill you where you stand." Jaeremor glanced at Aerion's body, which was lit entirely on weaker fire by the Soul Knights. "What... are they doing?"

"Uh... helping my nephew, of course."

"By burning him?" Jaeremor's eyes widened as he watched the flames wrap around Aerion. The flames did burn him... but not quite in the way that should be possible. He was growing stronger by the moment!

"Our Lord's will is uncertain... we will have to heal him first before proceeding onwards." Ser Rob announced to the other Soul Knights.

"Impossible..." Jaeremor muttered as he watched Aerion open his eyes.

"Ugh... my head is buzzing." Aerion managed to stand up while being assisted by his Soul Knights. He looked down to see what remained of the Mad King. It was a broken ship in the middle of a field with little hope of being repaired.

It was a terrible sight, indeed, but what shocked him most was the crimson dragon before him.

Somewhere in between, He must have moved us here.

That was when glowing crimson words emerged.

"Phase 1 of Valyria complete: Survive the Kraken."

"Phase 2 has commenced; Take the capital of the Valyrian Freehold, Valyria, before the Doom."

It seems that I am in the past, sometime before the Doom... this might be quite troublesome.

"Optional objectives: Attain the Tyrant's Blade, Tome of Electromancy, Divine Potion of Strength, Tome of Hematomancy, Tome of Light Magic and the Soul King's Gauntlets."

Optional objectives and yet they seem very important.

Aerion gathered his strength and walked towards the dragon before looking at the rider who mounted it. A high valyrian, no doubt, and a powerful one at that.

"You must be Aerion of the Targaryen dragonlord family."

"It is House Targaryen now." Aerion corrected the dragonlord. "And who are you?"

"I am Jaeremor, the head dragonlord of family Velinarys." He stroked his beard. "You seem to have an extraordinary resistance to fire. Even among the highest of dragonlords, this is truly rare. I am quite surprised that the Targaryen family would allow you to return alone and without any dragons for protection."

"I do not require a dragon for protection, Jaeremor." Aerion smirked. "Now... since you do have a dragon, I ask that you leave it here for me and scuttle away as swiftly as you can."

"I will not be threatened by a lesser Targaryen." Jaeremor frowned. "Cerraxes, burn down this fool."

Aerion closed his eyes as an inferno of flames struck him directly. The others stood back under the protection of the Soul Knights.

"My... this amount of fire is so refreshing." Aerion laughed. "Enough to burn a hundred men... you are a most worthy dragon, Cerraxes!"

Jaeremor started to sweat as he watched Aerion spread his arms and welcome all the flames with the warmest embrace he had ever seen.

"What... what are you!?"

"Now, before I burn you to ashes, I will ask one question. Do you have great influence in Valyria?"

Jaeremor nodded. "Why, of course, I do. I am one of the heads of the forty... well, thirty-nine dragonlord families. In truth, my family, Velinarys is of greater prestige than most."

"Greater than House Targaryen?"

"Indeed, they used to lay somewhere in the middle while Velinarys is and was always among the ten most powerful families."

Aerion nodded. "I see. Because of your high stature, I am willing to propose an alternative. You will assist in the restoration of House Targaryen within Valyria instead of dying here prematurely."

"And if I disagree?"

"Then... we will have a few issues, won't we?" Aerion chuckled. "It's all the same to me, Jaeremor. As fellow high valyrians, I would hope that we can see eye to eye without the need for bloodshed. First... you must use your dragon to take us all to Valyria. We will speak of how to proceed afterwards."

Jaeremor hesitantly nodded as he looked at the inferno that was Aerion of House Targaryen. "Very well."

"Nephew, I suggest that you do not spare him," Viserys stated. "He was quite disrespectful while you were resting and even laughed off the mention of taking us to Valyria. More importantly, he threatened me. Such a person cannot be trusted in my opinion."

"You..." Jaeremor glanced at Viserys.

Aerion turned to Viserys and back to Jaeremor. "I see... so that's how it is."

He focused the flames onto his palm and sent a wind gust towards Jaeremor.

"Cer... Cerraxes, FEAST ON HI-"

Aerion looked at the crimson dragon who blew fire towards him once more with even greater force than before. He laughed once more.

"Muahahahaha... My Soul Knights... slay this foolish beast in the name of your Emperor!"

"IT SHALL BE DONE, MY LORD!"

Half of them created bows while the other half advanced towards the dragon. Aerion retreated in the case that the dragon would attempt to eat him. Now a dragon's teeth were something that could certainly threaten his life... but the dragon seemed to insist on burning him which was simply wonderful.

After the first volley of deadly fire arrows, the crimson dragon's two legs and wings were damaged. It could no longer fly as easily as it wished... which was when the Soul Knights began to ruthlessly slaughter the dragon as if it was no more than livestock.

Aerion started to pity the dragon as he watched it fall onto the ground. He stretched out his hand and turned the rest of the flames into a beautiful yet frightening emerald shade. The emerald flames gave new life to the dragon as it rose to its feet, tall and proud. It remained crimson in terms of scales but its eyes were now emerald.

A Greater Undead dragon... I wonder what a Soul Knight dragon equivalent would be capable of.

"An undead dragon... it's quite menacing if I do say so myself." Jaime remarked. "It will be a valuable weapon for the future."

Aerion took the dragon's soul before it disappeared and immediately turned to the broken Mad King. He first searched his chamber which seemed to have avoided the bite well enough. He opened the chest of dragon eggs to see that all three were unharmed.

That certainly made him glad.

Unfortunately, his books, weapons and everything else was in a complete mess due to the crash. Furthermore, the Kraken had eaten at the very middle of the lower deck, leading to all the cargo being drawn into either its mouth or the sea. This, of course, included food.

"If I ever encounter a Kraken again, I swear that I will make its life miserable with my own hands."

"Personally, I'd rather not see one again," Viserys stated. "That encounter was too close for my comfort."

"I can understand that." Aerion yawned as he took Jaeremor's soul and resurrected him as greater undead. "I wonder if we can all fit on this dragon."

"It's quite large... but it would be difficult as there are forty of us," Arthur stated.

"Then we will have to take this journey at a slower pace." Viserys sighed.

Aerion smiled as he rested his palm on the crimson dragon's lowered head. "There is no need to be impatient, Viserys. We have all the time in the world... and this is a good opportunity to further our own forces before striking Valyria."