Price of Magic

Kael slowly opened his eyes, they felt heavy like a force was preventing him from actually waking up. At first, his vision was blurred, he couldn't identify shapes or colors, though as the seconds passed, he finally saw where he was.

Looking around he found himself in a comfortable bed, he didn't remember how he got here at all, but he saw people moving around, they were a familiar tall bulky man with black hair that had strands of silver mixed in and a gorgeous looking young woman with long platinum colored hair and purple eyes, he could tell they were discussing something.

His ears couldn't capture sounds, just like his eyelids could not open at first, and it seemed that his body was reanimating after a long slumber, still getting used to being active again. The two looked at him with worried gazes, their mouths moved, indicating that they were talking but no sound could be heard for the first few seconds

"…ord…. ord… lord… my Lord!" kept saying the man, trying to get his attention.

"other… other…. Brother!" the young woman said, at the same time as the man.

"…W-where am I?..." he spoke in a low hoarse tone; his throat was dry and his body felt sore.

"Here!" said the young woman, giving him a glass of water, which he drank immediately.

"How are you feeling my Lord?" Said the man with relief in his eyes.

Memories came back, he now remembered flying on a big red dragon, he remembered the death that almost claimed him, he remembered looking at the beast in the eye and roaring fire to the skies. He remembered cheers when he landed, and then… black…

"Brother don't overdo it! Take it slow" the young woman said with a concerned voice.

"I-it's fine sister, but can any of you tell me what happened?" he said.

"You landed the dragon; everyone came to cheer for you... your eyes were glowing my Lord but suddenly… you passed out," said the big man. He remembered now, this man is Valanar.

"We brought you in, but after 2 days you didn't wake up... We were very worried," said his sister, Vaela.

'2 days? Damn that's a long sleep...'

He noticed his arms were fully bandaged, from below his shoulders all the way to his hands, leaving only his fingertips visible.

"What happened to my arms?" he asked.

"You overdid it, my Lord, your muscles were pushed too far, we called the healers to take a look, they used healing balm all over your arms and bandaged them. Every five hours since then we have been reapplying the balm and bandaging your arms again." Said Valanar.

He felt light, extremely light, but at the same time… terrifyingly weak, looking around he spotted a mirror on the wall. Following his gaze Vaela saw what he was looking at, but she was a bit worried about letting him see the mirror right now.

"Sister, can you bring that mirror over here, please?" he asked softly.

"… I…" Vaela didn't know how to reply.

"Let me do it, my Lady." Said Valanar "He needs to know."

The man stood up and brought the mirror back to the bed, and faced it against Kael so he could see his reflection.

Kael gasped.

He looked thin, extremely thin, almost just bones and skin, his cheeks were sunken in his face, his handsome confident self was replaced by a skinny, sickly-looking visage, his eyes felt too big for his face, his lips were dried and his hair had lost its luster.

"…H... How did this happen…?" he asked, in shock and panic.

"My Lord, we invited many maegi to come here and check on your condition, and all of them said you used magic beyond the bounds of humans, when I explained to them what I saw that day, they gasped. Most of them ran away from here scared, but an old Valyrian maegi was interested in your situation, she is still around, and said that it would be a miracle for you to wake up ever again."

Kael sat there, thinking about those words. '… Of course, magic has a price, nothing is free in this damn world…'

He looked towards his favorite window by his bed, watching the sun setting on the horizon '..but… why do I feel… wrong?' he frowned. He didn't really understand what he was feeling, he couldn't really put it into words, it was more like something on the back of his head constantly making him feel… uncomfortable.

He turned to his sister "You didn't let her inside my library, did you?" he asked with a worried face.

She, in turn, shook her head "Of course not brother, no outsider is welcome in the top 10 floors of the tower, not even Valanar here can go there, we placed some of our trusty guards to guard the stairways, don't worry."

Kael nodded "Can you call this old maegi woman for me?"

Vaela and Valanar looked at one another in confusion but nodded to him.

"Stay here my Lord, I will let your men bring her in here, I shall stay here by your side to protect you at all times," Valanar said solemnly.

Kael chuckled '... it seems that I already have a very fierce and loyal Kingsguard.. haha..'

As they waited, Vaela helped Kael to comb his hair and used some wet and dry towels to clean his face, neck, and chest. She didn't look shy by one bit, she was even enjoying it, doing it with a warm smile on her full lips.

After waiting for several minutes, they heard a knock on the door. An old woman entered the room, she had long silver-white hair, braided over her shoulders cascading in front of her chest and she wore fine black and silver robes, with many pouches on her waist, her eyes though were almost white.

Once she saw him, she was shocked, it was like she was seeing something challenging the natural laws of the world right in front of her.

"… it should've been impossible for you to wake up…"

Valanar didn't like what he heard and instantly unsheathed his Valyrian steel sword.

"Calm down Valanar," Kael said while frowning. "Let her explain…"

Noticing how ambiguous her words were, the old maegi bowed her head "I apologize, my Lord, for my words were hasty and I didn't realize it."

Kael simply nodded, but Valanar didn't put his sword back in the sheath, he kept staring at her like a hawk.

"I see, care to explain to me your words, then?" said Kael, he didn't like her either. Her first words already made that feeling he was having on the back of his head intensify.

She nodded but didn't approach, afraid that one step was all it needed for her head to fall from her shoulders.

"If what your vassals told me is true, then what you achieved a few days ago should've been an impossible task. Breathing fire through one's mouth should be impossible, magic requires external tools to be wielded, it's an external source of power, like a sword, but yours came from within." She explained.

That made Kael raise an eyebrow, he didn't feel that it was right.

"Magic requires an outside force to be able to be executed, you might be familiar with the Red Priests of R'hllor, they are very famous for wielding fire. But even them, one of the oldest religions known, require the external force of their 'Red God' to be able to utilize these powers." The woman concluded.

Kael scoffed, from what he saw in the books and in the show, he didn't like that religion at all! In fact, he didn't like any religion, the most acceptable one was the Old Gods of the North. "I don't believe in this God, if you came here to preach you may leave, I refuse to believe that I need to sell my soul to some entity for the sake of owning magic, my family has been practicing fire magic for thousands of years, I need no R'hllor."

She nodded "I didn't come to preach my Lord, but as I said, it wasn't an external force. It came from within you, but the most absurd part is… that was no ordinary fire magic, that was dragonfire, no human can withstand that amount of power, or at least no human should be able to." She concluded eyeing him up and down. "But you did, and the most terrifying part is… you survived."

Vaela frowned at those words "Are you sure that the flames that came out of my brother that day were actual dragonfire?"

The maegi nodded "If the other dragons recognized and breathed their own fire in the air as you have told me, then yes… it was indeed dragonfire."

Valanar was lost (although he didn't show it), honestly, he didn't understand why Lady Vaela was frowning. Having his liege able to breathe the same flames as dragons should be a reason to celebrate! His new title is Dragonfyre after all, nothing more fitting than having actual dragon flames instead of just regular ones.

Kael looked at his sister with a questioning gaze.

Vaela noticed it and replied "Our family is known to use fire magic for thousands of years, even I can conjure regular flames in my hands and wield them in combat if needed. It took me years to learn it, we were born different and you know that brother, we need no R'hllor. But there was never a record of one of us being able to wield proper dragonfire, no human body should be able to withstand such power and heat on its own, even our ancestors managed to wield the flames of dragons by controlling the dragon breath of their companions, they never… created them on their own…"

Kael frowned again "But why did I end up like this?"

The maegi interjected, "Every magic needs fuel my Lord, simple fire magic can be done without much consequence considering the blood in your veins, what you did, however… must've cost you something tremendous, we can't be sure since as the Lady said, there are no records of it, but one can assume that your body burned its own fat in order to keep you alive, I would call it… a miracle."

The three nodded and the old maegi was excused so she could leave.

"Dragonfire huh? I thought the title we gave you was a bit extravagant, but who would've thought?" Valanar couldn't help but chuckle.

Vaela eyed him.

"Don't be mad at me my Lady! He is alive, and whatever happened, happened. All he needs is a few weeks of rest and good food, he will be back to his past handsome self" he said the first part with an apologizing tone but finished sarcastically.

Even Kaelarys couldn't help but chuckle at that.

They kept talking for a while, to make sure Kael was feeling alright. Once it was dark, Vaela left his chambers while Valanar stood by his side like a watchful protector, and he vowed to only leave once his Lord was back to his peak.

As Vaela was walking around the tower, she entered the library, she was curious to see what her brother was reading before, which might give her a clue about how he did what he did.

She was about to go to the second floor of the library when she noticed two magnetic marks on the replica of Planetos in the center of the room. Letting her curiosity take over her, she approached it, climbed the stairs around the globe, and used her soft hands to gently spin it so she could see better.

'Hm? Why did brother mark this island on the west?'

Then she kept spinning the big globe, trying to find the other one, once she did she frowned.

'Why did he mark this place….'

Walking down the stairs she decided to leave the library. A deep frown was constant on her pretty face.

"Why did he mark Asshai-by-the-Shadow?"