Departure and first glimpse of magic.

"Talking in recognizable Valyrian"

""Talking in another language.""

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*8 B.L (Before Liberation)/ 282 A.C (After Conquest)*

The scent of sweat and blood is rampant on the battlefield, along with the shouting and sounds of steel meeting flesh -or other steel- makes the field of battle a very unflattering place.

However, in this usually ugly, chaotic place, lies a very unusual sight. The golden armor wearing soldiers and the rugged, savage dothraki are gathered in a circle, watching the stand-off between a Huge man in an equally huge horse, sporting a comically long braid tied by bronze and silver bells.

Facing the gigantic Dothraki Khal is a 5'7" baby faced man, with smooth chocolate skin and the most uncanny Golden eyes, his hair is similarly black and braided with golden bells.

""Who would have thought that the Golden Khal is a newborn Foal, I heard you don't worship the Great Stallion whilst Braiding your Hair after every victory"" Says the Khal in gruff Dothraki.

""What can I say ? I enjoy the sound of the bells."" Replies the 12-year-old Kaiser.

""You do not deserve that honor, after I rip your spine out of your back, I'm going to cut your eyes out and feed them to my horse, I will rip the hair out of your scalp and make black leggings out of it. You will die in agony for your disrespect to the Great Stallion that roams the World. I will not kill you until you suffer for your disrespect."" He replies.

""You will try.""

The audience watch in complete silence as the two charge towards each other, oversized Arakh in one hand, equally oversized spear in the other.

As the Khal gets in Kaiser's range, Kaiser goes with an unnaturally fast thrust towards the gigantic horse's eye, the dothraki, used to such tactics, barely manages to rein the horse sideways and dodge the thrust.

The Khal goes for a swift swing at Kaiser's left arm, but Kaiser uses the butt of his spear to hit the flat of the Arakh with high precision. Both opponent cross next to each other due to the charge's momentum, but the Khal doesn't expect Kaiser to rear his horse back mid-charge while slashing backwards precisely at the neck of the Khal mid-sprint.

As the horselord loses his head in this anticlimactic bout, the soldiers of the Golden company are quick to react compared to their Dothraki adversaries. The khal's blood riders frantically charge to retrieve their Khals body but get swiftly dealt with by Kaiser.

"Their Leaders are dead ! Their lieutenants are dead ! Let's finish those savages off !" Screams Kaiser, his voice strangely reverberating around the battlefield.

*ROAR*

With this new surge of moral support, the remaining soldiers of the golden company make short work of the remaining dothraki, netting yet another victory in the Golden Company's record.

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"You did it again, you monstrous bugger. Ever since you've hit your growth spurt we've been losing fewer people every battle. Are you really leaving now ? We just landed a comfortable 7-year contract with Myr, are you sure you want to go traveling ?"

"Yes, I have a purpose to fulfill, and that purpose doesn't include being a sellsword, sorry Harry."

"Yeah, yeah, your prophetic dreams and your God of Freedom. You could just stay here instead and get more glory and gold, but you have to go on a holy mission to free every slave."

"You may think I'm just seeing things, but you'll believe, in time."

"Yeah, yeah, now come on ! There is a banquet on your name, if you're going to leave, it's not going to be unless you drink a couple barrels of Wine ! Come, come !"

"Alright".

Kaiser and Homeless Harry approached the bonfires to find a bearded officer tell tales of Kaiser exploits, the new soldiers raptly listening.

"... And then he took his bow, and stood on the back of his horse ! He then shot an arrow right from there to the gloating general atop the walls, the arrow hit him right in the eye ! There is no better shot than Kaiser, he could hit moving targets from more than 70 yards away, but I've seen it countless times in practice, so for me, it wasn't that surprising.

But when the enemy sent the next general, only to have him get shot the same way as the other, then another, and another, they got so scared for their lives that they opened their doors to us the very next day ! And that is how the Dauntless ended a siege in a week !"

"Oh please Brendel, don't exaggerate my exploits so much, it wasn't a week, it was a fortnight." Says a smirking Kaiser.

"Kaiser ! There is nothing wrong with some harmless change, it makes the story more impactful."

"Yes, you change a fortnight to a week, the new recruits make it a day, and the smallfolk turn it into an hour. I know how these things go."

"You just have to get used to these things, you're Kaiser Jentys, the Dauntless ! The Golden Khal ! The Indomitable !" Jokes Homeless Harry.

*sigh* "Your jokes are reason enough for me to leave, the more time I spend in your company the more my dignity shrivels like a dated grape."

"At least you'll end up with a terrific sense of humor !"

"I doubt that."

After sharing a last banquet with the people of the company, Kaiser suddenly stands up, lifting his glass up for a toast.

"People of the Golden Company ! When my foster father led me into the captain-generals tent for the first time, I expected to live amongst greedy sellswords and despicable mercenaries ! And I was right ! We are greedy, and we are despicable ! *Everyone chuckles* But above all, we're a Brotherhood ! I always said that people who shed blood for one another are closer than people who share blood with one another ! And that makes each one of you closer to me in spirit than my own flesh and blood !

But alas ! The smell of adventure is too enticing, the weight of purpose too heavy ! So I must leave you Tomorrow ! I must leave you for new sights, new friends, and new brothers ! But your names, and the memories we made together, are etched on my soul forevermore ! So, If I am to leave you Tomorrow ! THEN I SURE AS HELL AM GONNA FEAST TONIGHT ! BENEATH THE GOLD !" He raises his glass.

"THE BITTER STEEL !" They reply, each one raising their glass in return.

"CHEERS YOU MAGGOTS ! FOR THE COMPANY !"

"CHEERS !"

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A very hung-over Kaiser walks away from the famous Norvosi Sinner's Steps into the eastern outskirts of the lower city, leading his trusty horse to one of the cleaner stables in this dour city.

Wearing his newly made black leather armor made from Norvoshi Buffalo leather, Kaiser was understandably miffed about walking inside a sh*t filled stables. So instead of barging inside he just simply knocks on the door.

"..."

He knocks harder.

"..."

I'm not going to narrate what he did, again.

"..."

*SLAM*

The door slams open, showing a bald dark skinned man donning a magnificent mustache, sleeping on top of a pile of hay.

"Urgh, what the hell ?! How dare yo-.." The man stops his complaining at the sight of Kaiser, obviously recognizing him.

"You know me ?"

"Y-yes, Ser."

"Good. Are you the horse groomer ?"

The man answers with a shaky nod.

"Do you see the horse right next to me ?"

He gives another nod.

"That horse, is my foster father's gift, it was one of the finest Dothraki horses on Khal Lokko's former khalasar. Here, take this."

Kaiser throws him a pouch, which makes the Norvosi shocked at its surprising weight.

"In that pouch is enough gold to buy you ten more stables. I'm going on a trip, that trip is going to be dangerous, not for me, but for the horse. So I'm keeping that horse in your care until I come back, it could be in a month, or a year, or a decade, I don't know, I don't care, and frankly, neither should you. You will take care of that horse, you will not sell it, nor allow anyone to try to ride on it. And when I come back, I'm giving you tenfold what I just gave you right now. Understood ?"

"Yes, Ser." He answers, much more enthusiastically this time.

Kaiser menacingly steps closer to the stable man while softly caressing his spear.

"For your information, I know how much my horse is worth, If any man or woman comes to you for a price, you refuse. Even if they're offering you a palace's worth of gold, You. Refuse. And if they try to take it by force, tell them that it's Kaiser Jentys' favored mount."

"A-and what if th-they take it a-anyways ?"

Kaiser takes a step back at the question, his face suddenly taking on a predatory smirk.

"Then, you give me a name."

*Gulp*

"Alright, see you soon ! And please feed him with properly dried Clover hay, with an additional apple if he's been good. Until next time !" Shouts Kaiser as he leaves the barn in a suddenly cheery disposition, his leather shoes mysteriously clean from the horsesh*t and the dirt common in stables.

The Norvosi stable man simply falls back in the pile of hay, shockingly looking at the comically snorting pitch black horse at his front door.

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At the banks of the river Noyne, Kaiser haggles with a Norvosi merchant next to a small mahogany cog settled on the riverside.

"I'm not selling this ship for nothing less than 150 gold bells, 90 is way too low for this beauty."

"Beauty ? Did you lose your senses ? I can see the d*mn barnacles from over here ! Are you daft ?!"

*Grumbles**Sigh*"Alright, I can only do 100."

"90"

"Bu-"

"90 is its deserving price, you know that, I know that, why are we even still haggling ?"

*Sigh*"90 it is, goddamn stingy kid, I thought warriors are supposed to spend a lot of gold."

Kaiser pays the merchant his money.

"My father raised me better than that, now off you go. I have to clean up this monstrosity that you call a ship."

The merchant leaves, grumbling something about how a kid shouldn't be that clever.

As the ship gets out of the line of sight, the barnacles get removed by a very uncharacteristic gust of wind.

A sudden collapse of the earth on the riverbank causes the ship to suddenly get on the river, coincidintally, Kaiser just happened to be jumping on top of the cog.

The ship flows down the river Noyne, a constant wind current directing the ship in a sustained speed.

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At the western banks of a huge, foggy river, lays the ruins of a grand city, with sunken statues and temples, green obelisks, upended trees, and broken spires and marble stairs that would make any passerby gape at its magnificence.

But for our golden eyed 5'7" 12 year old, the only thing that is of note are the endlessly overflowing mist that somehow can't seem to get close to the Mahogany ship sailing the River Rhoyne.

"Fascinating, In my 9 years in this world I wasn't able to observe any kind of magic with my eyes, not even a piece of valyrian steel."

"So the legend of of Garin the Great has one thing right at least. The Valyrians didn't bring Garin back so that he could witness the Chroynes destruction, it was to sacrifice him along with the others !

The Valyrians were interested with the Roynish brand of magic, so they planned to try to mix their two brands of human sacrifice in a grand experiment, it obviously didn't work as they intended so it backfired, this mist is some sort of byproduct of that screw up, it's clearly magical since it's endless and congregates around living beings without any kind of scientific reason."

"I do wonder how greyscale ties into thi-"

*Screech*

"Speak of the devil."

Three stone men attempt to jump into his ship from one of the broken bridges over the river, but they get stopped by a formless wind barrier.

"Thank God I can finally use my bending freely, it is much more convenient than swinging a spear. Now, what do we have here ?"

"So my conjecture was right, magic in this world is all about Equivalent Exchange, it is more like Alchemy than bonafide sorcery. My Knowledge Blessing tells me that Greyscale is a sacrifice, you lose your sanity and in return you get ,well, greyscales. It's not a remotely favorable trade, but that was the point, wasn't it ?"

"My guess is the Valyrians were hoping for something else, something big. But before they could accomplish what they came to do, Gavin the Great sacrificed himself, hijacking their process, and turning it into a curse that would hopefully spread enough to avenge his people. It may not have worked exactly as he predicted, but at least he stopped the Valyrians from doing whatever they were trying to do."

"What is fascinating is that scientifically, if you dissect the body of someone with greyscale, the results would show that it is an inborn condition, something that they had ever since they were born, so if a cure could be made, then it would be more magical than scientific."

"Well, I have what I came for, next destination, Volantis !" The floating Stone men get thrown in the river, while a major burst of wind hits the ship's sails, giving it a renewed boost of speed.