Ch16. Universe One

Irene walked towards the courtyard of Pyke, stopping the servants and soldiers practicing around in their tracks. By now everyone, even the newly hired staff, knew that the new Ladies are witches and expected to see something extraordinary. At first, the people were afraid of their new Liege Lords but after a month of peaceful coexistence, they got used to them and their occasional sorcery. That, however, didn't mean the people were not curious creatures.

Irene, knowing she is watched by everyone didn't bother to acknowledge them. She started to slowly float upwards, her figure raised higher and higher as the soldier and servants started pointing at her, exclaiming in surprise. They never thought humans could fly!

In a few minutes, she reached the clouds, her scarlet braids flying wildly with the wind. Her eyes entered ethereal sight.

Seven rocky islands proudly stood among the glittering water contrasting with the blue horizon. Irene was high enough to see the entirety of their new domain in all of its beauty.

She smiled as she spread her hands, her palms glowing scarlet due to concentrated magic. Invisible magical energy flowing out of her, engulfing the surroundings as if a massive tsunami.

She could do it faster and less tediously if the islands were connected since the spell was engineered for terraforming and the magic was easier and faster to travel through the earth but these were islands. She had to improvise.

She could feel the difference between her prowess now and when she cast it in her own world. This time she was a humanoid dragon. She could use her full power without worry. She could actually fully control the spell instead of randomly juggling the landscape around. She knew there and then, no matter what changes she does, they would be permanent.

She was in control of her draconic instincts for the first time in four hundred years, allowing her to completely control her vast magic prowess, and it felt utterly amazing!

She closed her eyes and focused as a feeling of euphoria hit her in full throttle. She could feel everything, every single soul, every single animal, and every single plant. Her magic connected her to the islands, and then, then it crashed deep into the ocean, connecting her to even the water, reaching as far as the seabed.

Her brown eyes snapped open, shining bright scarlet, and everything stilled. Even the wind stopped as every person felt something shift, an uneasy feeling brewing in their guts.

She was ready.

Now, now she only needed to activate it.

With a deep breath, a grin formed on her gorgeous face, and a moment later, her lips parted.

"Universe One!"

The world moved.

...

Darion was a smuggler. He made living by buying useless things from ironborn raiders and selling them in the port towns of Westeros. He made quite the living for himself by doing so!

It was just a pity no ironborn ever sold their salt wives. Some Lords would like a plaything that wouldn't be missed...

Alas, after he was beaten black and blue the first time he asked about the topic, he quickly got their meaning.

Right now, he was floating on top of the water, somewhere near Red Harbor as he was on his way to acquire some new goods from the ironborn scum. Well, he didn't have to like them to earn money via them!

The journey was boring. The water here, the water there, the water everywhere. He never wanted to be a sailor. But his family..., scratch that, he doesn't have a family. But the whores would weep if he lost the source of his income!

Suddenly he spotted a black dot on the horizon. Curious he whipped out his telescope and took a closer look.

He was floored by what he saw. The most gorgeous woman to ever enter his eyes was floating high in the sky, her hands spread wide.

Before he could drool at her beauty, whip his little brother out and... well. His guts clenched in a horrendously bad premonition as his instincts screamed at him to run.

"Universe One!"

He heard a female soft voice and his eyes widened as he watched the island in the horizon on the right side glow bright scarlet-red. He slowly turned his head to the left side, only to see the island there also glowing in the exact same shade.

His bad feelings were answered as he saw the islands... move.

The sea parted as the islands moved closer together at a speed no ship would be capable of reaching. Massive waves crashed on the sides of the islands, sending the ocean to fury as his ship started to violently sway from side to side. For twenty solid minutes, he thought he was a goner as his ship was almost toppled over by the incoming wave of water.

Oddly enough, every time that happened, the water calmed a little, letting his battered ship to regain its bearings. Only then did he realize...

His ship was right in the middle of the islands on the right and the left. The same islands that were approaching him at blinding speed.

He did the only thing he could. He fell on his knees and prayed to whatever deity he ever heard of when suddenly the same red glow appeared in the water around his ship and the sea in his vicinity instantly calmed down.

He was happy and grateful he wouldn't drown but the islands were still approaching his tiny boat. As he saw them almost reaching him, he tightly closed his eyes, gritting his teeth.

"It's over." He whispered fearfully and waited.

And waited.

And waited...

Yet nothing happened. With the same fearfulness he opened them, taking a peek around him and his heart almost stopped when he saw a huge jagged cliff not a hundred meters from his poor boat. He looked to the other side, and to his astonishment, another huge cliff, a few hundred meters from his boat, greeted his sight.

He flopped down in the hard deck.

"I am alive." He repeatedly muttered when his sight attracted yet another red glow on the horizon, coming closer to the islands around him.

His jaw dropped when he saw yet another island approaching. With trembling hands, he took his telescope and looked back towards the mysterious beauty in the sky.

She spotted her and instantly recognized the scarlet glow of her hands as his telescope dropped down and broke.

"Goddess." He breathlessly uttered.

...

Irene watched the islands glow red and promptly pulled her towards each other.

She felt the panic in the towns. She was amused at their prayers towards the Drowned God. If he existed, he certainly did not answer.

As she felt the mild earthquakes her magic caused, a frown marred her face as she focused more, trying to not cause a split in the earth. It would not do for the islands to crumble.

She felt the unease of the wildlife, yet, she continued. Pulling the islands took her along due to having to do it slowly. She could just instantly flip them into the right position but that would most likely kill ninety percent of the population...

The sea raged because of the massive force the islands moved with and Irene did her best to calm it but her Universe One wasn't very good at affecting water. She focused on boats and the immediate area around them, safeguarding the lives of sailors.

As the islands approached, Irene exerted more of her magic, almost smirking at the low cost of the spell when compared to the cost of affecting the entirety of Fiore. A few islands couldn't really compare to that.

She sharpened the cliffs, raised natural defenses such as uneven seabeds that would cause whirlpools around the islands, made many shallow places as traps for boats, rearranged the location of seaweed, changing the feeding ground of fish that are the food of sharks. Effectively moving them away from the islands to a preferable distance where they could be manipulated to be used offensively if a fleet ever invades. She dragged a lot of smaller fish, not hunted by sharks, towards the coasts so the fishermen won't go hungry ever again. Then she focused more further away from the islands and made some natural defenses against large scale invasion via water. If anyone tried to invade without knowing these waters, they would be in for a very painful and rude awakening without even reaching the islands.

On the islands, she Enchanted the rocky soil in some areas as it slowly changed into fertile soil. Raised some conveniently-positioned mountains as she pulled various precious metals from deep under the seabed and placed them into her newly created rocky elevations. Flattened others, useless or strategically badly located ones to give a place for the creation of grass-filled flatlands, capable of supporting numerous herds of cattle and sheep. She created rivers starting deep in the mountains, flowing all the way around the major towns and villages. And at last, a lot of lakes sprung to existence on the islands.

It took her four hours but her work was done.

She did exactly what she made her magic for. She completely restructuralized the islands, breathing a new life into their dead rocky former self.