A Different Time

"Good thing these buildings are made from dragonstone." One Soul Knight helping with the construction remarked. "If our Lord used something less durable, these buildings would've needed more than a simple dusting from this storm."

"Aye... we might be seeing more storms with all these Targaryen babies popping out." Another replied.

"Sometimes I wish I was alive again... never had a child of my own."

"No woman wanted to look twice at you when you were alive." He chuckled. "If they could, they would wish they didn't see you at all."

"Oh, shut up."

"Err... the buildings might be doing well enough but what about the ships?"

"... Oh, gods."

...

After their moment on the hill, Aerion and Daenerys shared a steaming hot bath to wash off their impurities... and sorrow. Both of them were rather headstrong individuals who did not linger on such thoughts for long, fortunately. All of their tears on the loss of their child had been shed on that hill and it would remain so.

"After a short while, I'll be going to Sothoryos," Aerion stated, his violet eyes glowing. "There, I hope to find my answers... if not, then I will still pave way for the Holy Valyrian Empire to begin settling on the continent."

(The title of the empire had changed since Aerion claimed godhood from the New Valyrian Empire to the Holy Valyrian Empire. Also, his main title changed from 'Dragon Emperor' to 'Holy Dragon Emperor' or 'Holy Valyrian Emperor.')

"And you will tame its wild nature?"

"You know me..."

"Truly, you can't stay still for longer than two years." Daenerys Targaryen said, sighing. "Who will keep me warm in bed whilst you're away?"

"Margaery?" Aerion shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think she'd mind too much. We've all shared the same bed on several occasions, after all..."

"With you. Without you, it would be... different."

"I need to go. For the both of us." Aerion said, his violet gaze darkening. "I want to plant seeds and watch trees grow. I want to build bridges, see cities develop, undo all of my destruction and observe as my people prosper... but I am a Targaryen. At my heart, I know who I am; a conqueror."

"Fire and Blood, those are our words. And they are the words that I must follow to attain what I was denied."

"I will do my part," Daenerys replied, grabbing his hand.

"I know you will." Aerion smiled, embracing her. "You are my dragon queen."

"Mhm..."

Daenerys snuggled into Aerion's chest and closed her eyes.

~

When Aerion composed himself, he opened his eyes to his fleet of Valyria... well, broken fleet. The violent storm had sunk every last ship, reminding him of the stories of his, Rhaeny's and Daenerys' births. Fortunately, he hadn't left too many ships at the port so he only lost twenty-two. Given that Aerion could call upon over a thousand ships... this wasn't much of a loss.

He noticed Jocelyn by the port, creating stones, and went over to observe what she was doing. There, he found boats of varying sizes with the largest one capable of carrying half a dozen people.

"Practising?"

"Since you lost that fleet, I figured I'd make a new one for your nameday present." Jocelyn Baratheon smiled. "I've sunk a few stone boats as they couldn't float... but, through trial and error, I got the right proportions. Now I just have to start building ships in the place of small boats."

"... Impressive," Aerion remarked, nodding. "And what would you want for your sixteenth nameday in six months?"

"That's... for you to decide." Jocelyn turned to face him with a mischievous smile. "Given that you're the radiant holy magnificent valyrian dragon god Emperor, I'd expect something grander than the gift I'm going to give you. It would be a shame if a princess outdid Aerion the Almighty."

Aerion could hear her sarcasm a mile away, chuckling. "Such a sweet little plot against me. Well, I scarcely doubt you want a fleet for yourself. So... what do you want?"

"Hmm." Jocelyn nodded, stroking her chin as her ocean blue eyes looked him from his feet to his head. "Truly, what would I want? Do you know?"

"Quite suggestive, aren't we?"

"Well, by right, I'd already have that." Jocelyn chuckled. "What I do want are some lands. And you... have plenty all across the known world. Daenerys has Volantis so I should get something similar, no? Or are you playing favourites?"

"I'll give you the Fingers." Aerion shrugged in a jestful manner. "That should be enough."

"Does anyone even live there?"

"Well... there's an old flint tower on the smallest one. Who knows, some bandits might have taken a liking to it in a lord's absence."

"Hmph... you know, I could just conquer my own lands as you did." Jocelyn replied. "Qarth is one of the cities that managed to escape your gaze, actually. I heard its people call it 'the greatest city that ever was or ever will be'."

"The greatest city that ever was or ever will be?" Aerion raised an eyebrow. "Of course, its people would glorify the city they live in."

"But Qarth is still great... worth taking, as I see it. Its triple walls are one of the Wonders Made by Man and the port is the trade centre between East and West of Essos."

"Hmph... one word from me and the city will be flying Targaryen banners."

"True enough. That would hardly be a conquest, I suppose." Jocelyn nodded.

"Still... I will gift it to you. Qarth and more if you prove yourself to be capable." Aerion replied, smiling.

"Viserys rules the Seven Kingdoms... so I think I can handle a city."

"We will see."

~

Aerion decided to split up the Kingsguard with Ser Arthur being assigned to Sunspear where he would protect his family there alongside his small army of Soul Knights. Ser Barristan would guard Viserys in King's Landing, Robert Baratheon would guard Daenerys Targaryen and Ser Oswell would guard Margaery Tyrell. Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister was given autonomy.

After receiving a letter from Viserys, he went to see how Tywin Lannister was doing. Apparently, he had grown ill... and Aerion certainly wasn't intent on letting the old man fade away quite yet.

"You've seen better days, Tywin Lannister." Aerion looked down at him beside his bed. His old age had started to catch up to him, clearly enough. The man had lived for sixty years and it was starting to show with his grey whiskers, growing wrinkles and weak eyes.

"Thank you, Your Grace..."

"..."

"For saving my legacy. For this opportunity to serve you... and make amends."

"Your service has not ended." Aerion shook his head slightly. "You will serve me for as long as I exist. You will serve my sons, their sons and so on. This is the only honour I will grant you."

"... So be it."

"Honestly, I've wondered once or twice how you looked in your youth." Aerion drew Ambition and drove it into Tywin Lannister's skull, unleashing emerald flames onto his person. "Now... I won't have to."

He drew back and watched Tywin Lannister emerge from the flames. His head was no longer lacking for golden hair, although it was cut rather short. His wrinkled face faded to reveal something much smoother and he was clean-shaven now. His green eyes shined emerald as a Soul Knight's would.

"The apple does not fall far from the tree," Aerion remarked. "Well... I trust that you will serve Viserys with the best of your ability, yes?"

Tywin nodded.

"Follow his every order and act in his best interests. Other than that, you have free will." Aerion chuckled. "Actually... why don't you smile for me?"

Lord Tywin was known to have only ever smiled three times in his life and so... Aerion wanted to see for his own amusement. Without hesitation, Tywin smiled.

Aerion chuckled, shaking his head. "A terrifying sight, I'd rather you remain stern-faced. Oh... why don't you laugh, too?"

"Ha-ha-ha-ha..." Tywin couldn't help himself, although his laughter sounded robot-like. His expression immediately turned stern-faced again.

"Never laugh again." Aerion laughed, turning away.

~

Two months would pass and Aerion would see himself turning twenty-two. However, he didn't spend his nameday celebrating. Rather, he had been scouting Sothoryos through his army of undead before beginning his conquest.

Thirty ships full of undead had taken the Basilisk Isles and surrounding islands by storm, conquering every inch. Those who submitted were allowed to live while those who defied the Holy Valyrian Emperor were swiftly slaughtered. Aerion personally descended upon the Isle of Tears from atop Vermithor, leading a group of Soul Knights to scout and conquer the island.

He sensed an unusually strong magic presence on the island... which was why he decided to take it upon himself to explore it. His search led him to the ruined city of Gogossos which he had known a few things about from scrolls.

"Whose ruins are these?" Jocelyn asked.

"The Old Empire of Ghis once founded this city, naming it Gorgai." Aerion replied, observing what remained of the city. "The Valyrian Freehold later captured it and named it Gogossos, using the city as a penal colony to keep the worst of criminals. They invented torture methods and perhaps used blood magic... which may have included slave woman mating with... err, beasts."

Jocelyn's frown grew deep with disgust. "They did things like that?"

"Well... so I've read." Aerion nodded. "This city grew strong during the Century of Blood, earning a reputation as the Tenth Free City. However, a plague called the Red Death wiped nine out of every ten men and led to its ruin."

"Good riddance."

They walked deeper into the ruins, reaching the centre. At that point, they hadn't encountered anything except for terrible beasts that resembled men and women in some ways. Jocelyn made it her mission to thoroughly annihilate each one with her lightning, turning them to dust.

"So these are the products of their experimentations," Aerion observed. "Bellona, have you used their type of blood magic?"

"The forbidden breeding type?" Bellona chuckled. "I've seen it in practice. As a matter of fact... you are one. A chimera."

"How so?"

"You are part dragon and... given your state as a vampire, you may be able to show more of that side." Bellona played with her crimson hair, smiling as she observed his intrigued expression. "Dragon claws, dragon fangs... dragon wings. You may even be able to turn into a whole dragon in time."

"... Is that so?" Aerion observed his hand, seeing nothing too unusual about it. 'Where were my dragon claws supposed to be, again?'

"You will learn on your own."

"So helpful, as always." Aerion replied sarcastically.

"Humph..." Jocelyn took a deep breath after shattering another chimera into a pile of ash. More of them began to gather around. "Speaking of helpful... how about a little help?"

"You seem to be doing fine." Aerion smiled, shrugging his shoulders as he collected their souls. "Don't act like a damsel in distress... I've seen what you can do."

"Tsk..." Jocelyn grit her teeth, unleashing a greater wave of thunder. The skies darkened and several strokes of thunder descended from above, obliterating all of her opposition. "There, that should do it. All of them are dead. At least... the ones in sight."

"The rest ran away in terror when they saw such a brutish girl." Aerion remarked.

"Brutish? I am a proper princess." Jocelyn pouted. "I can dance, I can sing, I can rule... and I can smash your head in with this wonderful stone warhammer. Isn't that the perfect combination, hmm?"

"... Right, a proper princess." Aerion chuckled, taking an unexpected glance at her chest. 'Were they that big before?'

"Eh, what are you looking at? Oh... I knew it!" Jocelyn proudly smiled, puffing up her chest. "You can't resist my beauty any more!"

"Pfft... of course, I can." Aerion turned away. "You're not all that, I assure you. I've seen bigger."

"Keep telling yourself that." Jocelyn giggled.

"Let's focus on what we came here for." Aerion suddenly stated, changing the subject, and walking past her. "The magic presence should be... in that area, over a hundred steps underground."

"Over a hundred?" Jocelyn raised an eyebrow. "That low?"

"Search for the entrance."

Aerion summoned several dozen souls and commanded them to scout ahead for the underground entrance.

...

Once it was located, Aerion walked forward first with Jocelyn and Bellona behind him. It was a massive dragonstone passage that Aerion unsealed. Once the passage broke, it revealed a massive flight of dragonstone stairs down.

The entire dungeon was massive and dark, although the latter was not true for long. With a flick of Aerion's fingers, the entire hall was lit up with flames and revealed all of its contents. There were countless bones and even skeletons scattered across with the driest of blood tainting the floors and walls.

There were at least a hundred black cages, each containing a bizarre skeleton or bones of what once resided in them. Towards the very front of the dungeon, however, was something that intrigued Aerion more than anything else.

There was a thick black frame twice as tall as a man and half a metre thick. On the black frame were dark blue runes that glowed very dimly. Next to the frame, he saw the highest concentration of remains. It seemed as if a sacrifice had been held there.

"These are magic runes, like the ones on my armour, blades and crown." Aerion observed, touching the frame. "What purpose do these runes serve, though?"

"Fill them with magic and you will see," Bellona replied, just as intrigued as he was.

"Let's see..."

Aerion opened his palm and unleashed an ocean of magic vitality, swarming it into the frame. The navy blue runes lit up azure blue and began to glow like the stars. The empty space in the frame was no longer empty as Aerion's pure white magic vitality concentrated there.

Before he knew it, the aura dragged him and his companions into it.

~

For a moment, he saw glimpses of dreams he had seen before finally waking. He found himself at an extremely familiar place. It was the land he had dreamed of since he was young; King's Landing... but there was no King's Landing. Only the shape of the land, position of lakes, hills and rivers were similar. On Aegon's hill, he observed a fortress and his eyes widened.

'This is... the age of the Conquest.'

He couldn't resist treading towards the Aegonfort.