Recovery and Research

For the next two weeks, Kael locked himself inside the library. Looking for old books on religion and magic. Religion in Planetos is directly tied to magic after all.

Most, if not all, magic known is related somewhat to some entity, force, or unknown being that grants humans extraordinary powers. All of them except Valyrians, which made Kael's eyebrow raise.

'Valyria has so many gods, more than any other civilization known, but even so… not a single Valyrian ties their magic to their religion. Valyrian magic is based on dragons, but are not bound to them… the source is... the fourteen volcanoes that surround our land.'

After researching deeply for days, only stopping to eat at least five times a day, sleep, bathe, and do other private activities, Kael uncovered something very interesting from the old archives in the library of his forefathers.

With a thick old tome in his hand Kael kept reading;

[To accept an external source of magic, is to bind their fate to the source. Once the source is gone, the power will be no more, and with it all the bound souls.]

He frowned 'This explains why the Valyrian magic is bound to the fourteen, they existed for thousands of years and easily outlast any dragon by a long shot, they can't be killed either unlike a dragon. For Valyrians, the fourteen are an obvious choice… who would ever guess that those volcanoes would explode, leading to our doom, right?' he chuckled at the thought.

"Binding to a magic source and binding to a dragon is not the same, us and dragons are akin to Northmen and skinchanging, well not really, but close… we can roughly communicate through emotions, kinda like Jon and Ghost did in the series, it's like binding our blood."

He kept tapping his finger on the finely carved desk while drinking Valyrian wine, deep in his thoughts.

"But binding magic means binding one's soul… Magic in this world is very linked to the soul… which would explain how the Others use their mojo, and how R'hllor can 'bring back the dead'."

Of course he had already uncovered that R'hllor could not really resurrect the dead, there's no power greater than life in this world, instead what they did was bring back an echo of the diseased's former self to take over an already dead body…

"… Shadowbinding… that echo must be a shadow left behind by the soul… and the shadow inhabits the husk, that's why in the series and books… Beric Dondarrion said to always come back feeling lesser…"

He slid the big tome sideways and brought over an old and small dragonleather notebook, it was a diary. Written by one of his ancestors named Jaelar Regallyon "the First Flame".

[… Different from old and wicked methods of magic attunement, Regallyon's magic comes from our own flame, a flame that was inserted in us from birth. Our rituals make our magic unique, not bound to anyone's will or existence outside our own, and according to the priests and sorcerers that I've met, dangerous they said.]

'It seems to be that some of our forefathers adventured in the Shadowlands to uncover mysteries... It's amusing that priests and shadowbinders call our magic "dangerous", it seems that anything that they can't control is considered dangerous to them… typical of cults.'

"The Doom of Valyria, natural cause … or… a conspiracy from higher powers that failed to control the biggest empire in Planetos since the last Long Night? According to the red priests, R'hllor is the God of Fire, of all sources of fire... If so… why would the God of Fire allow the fourteens to erupt like that and destroy the biggest fire-worshiping empire that existed along with dragons that are said to be 'Made of Fire and Magic'?"

'… unless... Valyrian fire magic eclipsed R'hllor's, to the point that it was taking away its domain, or something like that. The church of the Red God was one of the biggest parties that ended up profiting from the Doom, they gained the monopoly over fire magic, and pyromancy became synonymous with R'hllor…'

"… as for why the Targaryens were warned? They know no magic, they were a lesser dragonlord family, and they can't even forge Valyrian steel. With only a few dragons, they were nothing that could challenge R'hllor's domain… the dreamer girl could've been a target of some sorcerer like Quaithe, she could control Daenerys' dreams through glass candles… R'hllor is the 'God of Visions' as well, mayhaps they were a 'necessary evil' for some greater plan."

Taking a deep breath he closed the tomes, already feeling a headache at this point. "… So many possibilities, that damn old man didn't finish the fucking books and now here I am… burning my brain cells trying to find a needle in a haystack… I hope you burn in hell, together with the bastard the created mosquitoes and the asshole that came up with taxes!"

Suddenly he heard a few knocks on the door.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

"Kael, I'm coming in..." said a melodious female voice.

This made him smile, her presence lifted his mood a lot, and in the two weeks that he has been living in this world, his interactions with her always made him happy. At first, he felt awkward, she kept calling him brother, and although he answered in kind, he felt like a liar since he wasn't exactly her brother. She noticed that too, and many times he saw her trying to cover a sad face with a smile for his sake.

That was until they talked, in that talk, Kael admitted to Vaela that he was actually happy that he lost his memories of her and could start fresh. When asked why, he told her that if he still had those memories, even after they marry, he would always see her as sister first and wife second. But now that he has no memories, he can see her only as his woman instead.

That made her extremely happy, and since that day they have been calling each other nicknames instead of "brother and sister".

"Vae, what can I do for you today," he said with a smile.

She raised an eyebrow "You forgot, didn't you?"

Kael's confused face was all the answer she needed, she chuckled "Today is the day that you told us that we would be leaving our lands to go visit the Targaryens, everyone is waiting for you."

"AH!" was all he could say.

'Damn, talking about the devil… and he shall appear...' he chuckled, and she got confused.

"Nothing Vae, it's just that I was thinking about them before you came in."

He got up and with the help of his newly crafted dragonbone cane, he walked towards her. Two weeks helped him recover a lot, but he wasn't back at his peak yet, at least he could walk on his own now with some little aid, back in the first days he needed to be dragged around in a wheelchair. Yes, Valyrians had those, shocking, isn't it?

As they walked down the stairs slowly, she couldn't help but comment.

"It's shocking how fast you are recovering, many people who got maimed by abusing magic and survived would be bedridden for years, or even worse... the rest of their lives," she said with a smirk.

"I have the blood of the dragons in my veins, literally even!" he chuckled "And I take offense to that, I never got maimed."

She chuckled as well "And what would you call your condition then?"

He thought for a moment "Hmm… how about an exaggerated fasting?"

They both burst out laughing and the rest of their trip downstairs was filled with jabs and jokes at one another, life was good in the Freehold.

Once they exited the tower, they were greeted by a huge entourage of Regallyon soldiers and some slaves, the slaves were carrying a big and well-carved palanquin with a comfortable soft sofa chair inside.

Kael's eye twitched and he turned to Valanar who had come to help him and said "I didn't lose my legs, I can walk and you know it…"

Valanar chuckled "Of course you can my Lord, but if we were to wait for you to catch up… The Targaryens would be long gone by the time we arrive there!"

Vaela started tearing up. "hahahahahaha"

Kael stared deep into Valanar's eyes, he saw that amused smirk on his face 'I want to bash his face in so hard…' after taking a deep breath, and with some help, he climbed up and sat down on the sofa chair.

"You know Valanar, most Lords would punish their vassals hard if they heard them talking like that to them."

Valanar nodded "Aye my Lord, that is correct. But again... Most Lords don't have someone as loyal and skilled as myself in their host." He said with the same amused smirk on his lips.

"…" Giving up and letting out an exasperated sigh he could only let it go

The truth was that he liked Valanar, he was the closest thing to an older brother he ever had, he was loyal, fierce, extremely skilled, could ride an unbound dragon without having 'Pure Valyrian Blood', and always placed his own safety and life second when it came to the Regallyon Family.

Valanar turned around to the big host of soldiers and shouted "Alright, let's go visit some wyrmlings, depart!" Everyone laughed, even the slaves had to hold back their smiles.

Kael couldn't stop his laugh after hearing that. 'It's so funny when I'm not the target of his jabs, can't hate the man!'