6

Chapter Text

The Lost Prince

Jon drifted aimlessly across the ocean on his piece of driftwood. The storm had stopped a few hours ago and he had no idea where he was. Ghost lay across from him and he seemed to share in his misery. Jon was thirsty, the heat from the sun was blistering but he knew he could not drink the sea water. Or maybe he should, if he was going to die anyway, why not speed up the process. He was also hungry, terribly hungry. A few hours ago he had looked through the wood available to see if he could fashion some sort of fishing hook but he didn't have the materials. Besides, he didn't know how to fish, he didn't learn how to do that at Winterfell.

'Winterfell'

How was it only a few months ago that he was in Winterfell, sparring in the yard with Theon and Robb. He remembered the day that everything changed. Since that day, he had travelled across the narrow sea and found his true family. Now, he was drifting on a piece of wood in the middle of the ocean with no hope of survival. No one would know if he died out here, there would be no grave, no burial, his body would never be found. His family back at Winterfell would miss him, he hoped. Robb, Bran and Arya definitely would. As for Sansa and Lady Catelyn, he was sure they didn't miss him when he left, he was sure they wouldn't miss him now that he was about to die.

Then, there was Lord Stark, would he miss him? Would he mourn his death? A few months ago, Jon would have said yes, without any hesitation. Now, he was unsure. He had learned so many things about him that he was unsure whether he truly knew Ned Stark at all. Was he truly a good, honourable man, or was it all just a façade he put on in front of the realm?

Jon thought of his family, his real family that had been taken from him before he was even born. He thought of his true father, Rhaegar. He had told him so much, more than Lord Stark ever did. He told him all about his mother, and how loving and brave she was, but Rhaegar was probably dead now. Lost somewhere at sea just like Daenerys. Just thinking about her caused a stab of pain to go through his heart.

Daenerys with her silver gold hair. Her lovely violet eyes and her beautiful smile. He remembered her laugh, her lovely laugh that bounced off the walls and warmed his heart. He remembered holding her as he massaged her. He knew that she didn't need them but he still gave them to her after every session. Jon remembered holding her in his arms in Illyrio's manse and comforting her that day. He gave a sigh of frustration rolled onto his back, he lifted one hand up to stop the sunlight from hitting his eyes.

He would never see her again. That was for certain. She was dead. The ship had been badly damaged in the storm and had probably sank into the ocean, there was no way she would have survived. He had only hoped that it had been quick for her. He did not want her to suffer, she had suffered enough for one lifetime. From the day, she was born, she had lived in fear of Robert's assassins. Not once, had she been able to lay her head down to sleep at night without wondering if the assassins would come in through her window and end her life. It wasn't fair, she deserved better. If he ever saw her again, he would give her a better life. He would give her a castle, and jewels, and lands, whatever she wanted he would give her. He made this promise to himself.

Then, a small mocking voice inside his head that reminded him that she was dead and he squeezed his eyes shut to try and block out the painful thoughts.

Ghost gave a small whine, but Jon didn't even bother to lift his head up to look at his wolf. He would only think of her in his last few hours. He wondered what it would have been like to kiss her, to feel her lips pressed up against his. They would be soft he decided, she would have soft lips. Her hair would be soft as he ran it through his fingers.

He remembered the last time he saw her. Viserys had a knife to her throat as he bundled her into that little boat. Viserys had betrayed them. Illyrio had betrayed them. He must have made some sort of a deal with Illyrio, he and Rhaegar were ahead of him in the line of succession, he wanted us out of the way. Daenerys would have been a powerful tool to make alliances, so Viserys had made sure that she was safe. The thought made him clench his fists in anger and beat them against the piece of wood he was floating on. He barely remembered the fight on the ship, his movements were instinctual, all he remembered was that he had to get to her. He had to save her. No matter what.

Ghost whined again, and Jon slowly sat up. Ghost was looking off across the ocean into the distance, it looked like they were drifting into some mist. The sea started to become choppier and Jon quickly decided to roll onto his stomach to better grip the edges of the driftwood. Strangely enough, he felt as if the mist was calling to him. Jon realized he didn't have a choice, he was not strong enough to battle the current of the ocean. His will to fight had vanished, now that Daenerys was gone.

So, he held onto his driftwood and let the sea carry him into the mist. The mist was thick and he could only see a few inches in front of his face. It also smelled disgusting, like rotten eggs. The further he travelled into this mist, the stronger the smell became. He would have vomited if he had anything left in his stomach. The sea became even more choppy as he went further into the mist, salt water splashed into his face and some even went into his nose and mouth, causing him to gasp desperately for air. This was a mistake because as soon as he opened his mouth the mist rolled in and he coughed heavily. As they travelled further and further into the mist, he became certain, that something was calling to him. He could feel it in his bones.

Jon felt dizzy, the sea was rough and he had inhaled so much of the mist that he was struggling to think properly. Suddenly, the sea calmed and Jon was spat out on the other side onto a sandy beach. Jon staggered to his feet and walked up the beach, heading for a tree that would provide him with shade. When he reached the tree he slumped against it and looked down onto the beach. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was streaked red and orange, Jon found this odd. On the other side of the mist the sky had been a clear blue colour. He looked around for Ghost and found his wolf was nowhere to be found.

Had he washed up on the island with him? He could only hope so. Suddenly he heard a screech from behind the tree. He rose to his feet and looked for a weapon, his eyes settled on a rock not too far from him. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing. He turned to the direction of the noise and slowly walked forward, his muscles tense and ready. He heard a rustling noise and then Ghost appeared through the trees, clutching a strange animal between his jaws. Ghost dropped the animal in front of him and then sat back looking up at him with his ruby red eyes.

Jon crouched down and looked at the animal, it must've been a bird, but it was unlike any bird he had ever seen. It was about the size of a chicken, but it's legs were much larger. It had a long narrow blue beak and its feathers were an odd mix of green and purple. Jon looked at the birds claws and saw that they were also impossibly long.

"Do you want me to eat this?" Ghost cocked his head to the side almost to say 'I'm not going to let you starve'

Jon quickly sat down and went to work. After he plucked all the feathers he saw that in truth it was slightly larger than a chicken. He quickly gathered some wood and started a fire. He prepared the bird and quickly put it over the fire to cook. He sat there with one hand on his stomach impatiently waiting for it to cook. Ghost left and then came back with a bird of his own, his wolf sat next to him and devoured his kill, testing Jon's patience further.

Once, he was satisfied that the bird was cooked, he quickly ripped off the leg and bit into it. Immediately juices flooded his mouth and Jon gave a moan in satisfaction. The meat was a little tough to chew, but he could not afford to be picky. He quickly finished the leg and then moved onto the other, soon the whole bird was nothing but a stack of bones. Jon lay back against the tree and licked the grease from his fingers. He debated whether he should have saved some of the bird for later, but he decided that Ghost found this bird easy enough, that means there would be plenty more.

Now that his hunger was sated, his thirst returned to him, and his curiosity. He did not know where he was, but he hoped that there were other people around here to tell him. On the other side of the treeline, he saw a short patch of waist high grass, and beyond that was more beach. Jon decided to walk all the way to his right, soon enough the grass ended and he reached the beach again. Then he walked all the way to his left and found the same thing.

He was on a small island, he concluded.

He looked across the horizon and saw a much bigger rocky outcrop ahead of him. As he looked towards the rocks he saw smoke rising and swirling around them. He felt that same feeling again, like the rocks were calling to him. Jon scrounged up a small piece of wood to use as a paddle and ran back to the beach to find his piece of driftwood. Ghost jumped on the piece of driftwood and Jon got on after him, he pushed the wood into the water and then started to paddle towards the rocky outcrop, as he paddled the strange feeling he had felt earlier grew stronger as he approached this new isle. The water bubbled and spat at him, the driftwood started to break apart so he decided to walk the rest of the way as he was near the shore holding Ghost in his arms. The water appeared scalding hot, yet he was unaffected by it.

Once he reached the island, he quickly made his way to the top of the rocky outcrop following a sturdy footpath that had been built. Strangely enough, his thirst had disappeared, the only thing he felt was a strange sensation that was consuming his body. He felt spellbound to reach the top.

On and on he climbed, unafraid of the height that he was at. The rock felt hot underneath his fingers. Once he reached the top he quickly looked over to the other side. He nearly fell to his knees in shock. He now realized where he was, but he could not believe it. Ghost gave out a loud howl which echoed across the land.

He should not be here. He could not be here. This place did not exist. Then the strange feeling returned inside of him with an answer.

'You should be here Aegon'

The Hidden King

Rhaegar awoke and he felt the sharp blinding pain coming from his head. He quickly reached up and touched his head and found it was bandaged lightly. He gently massaged his temples as he looked around the room. He was in a different cabin, a cabin he was not used to. He turned to his left and saw Blackfyre propped up against his nightstand. His mind started to regain its focus and he was able to recall his last memories. He had attempted to jump across the fire, but then he had slipped and had hit something as he fell and that was all that he could remember.

Jon and Dany.

He quickly remembered and jolted out of bed. He grabbed Blackfyre and he moved on unsteady legs to the door. Once, he entered the hallway, he looked left then right before heading towards the deck of the ship. The first thing he noticed was the sails. This ship has yellow sails with a green mermaid painted onto it. He surveyed the crew, looking for any Tyroshi but he found none. Instead, they were a mix of Summer Islanders and Lyseni. Finally, he turned his head the other way and saw Ser Jorah approaching him.

"I did not know that you were awake," he said quickly. Rhaegar looked at him with his mouth open, he had so many questions.

"Jon. Princess Daenerys?" he quickly asked "Where are they? Are they aboard this ship?"

Jorah quickly shook his head and his heart sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

"When I arrived on deck, I saw that a fire had broken out and you were lying unconscious on the floor, the fire was spreading but I managed to grab you and reach a life boat. Then, the ship started to sink as I lowered the boat into the sea and I got knocked out. When I woke up, you were still unconscious but alive and we were just drifting on the sea, completely at the mercy of the ocean. Then, I spotted this ship on the horizon and I managed to gain the crews attention. The captain of this ship is a tight lipped Braavosi but he agreed to take us aboard and back to Volantis after I explained the situation to him. We checked for survivors, but we could not find any, I am sorry," Jorah explained.

"Why weren't you protecting either the prince or the princess? How did you let them out of your sight?" he said angrily.

"The princess preferred to be guarded by Jon and I was with Viserys since you had the evening off. Prince Viserys sent me away to fetch wine for him and when I returned, he was gone. I waited outside his cabin for a few moments before I heard noise from above the deck, that's when I ran up and saw the entire scene," Jorah said defensively.

Rhaegar grunted and let his anger pass. It was not Ser Jorah's fault, the fault was his and his alone. He felt his grief returning. It was building deep inside of him, trying to eat away at him, destroying every fibre of his being.

"Leave me," he said darkly.

When Jorah was gone, he stood by the railing of the ship and looked out onto the sea. He had his family, the only Targaryens left in the world, he had them all in his grasp. He could have taken them anywhere, sailed far away and kept them all safe, even Viserys. Instead, he had let his ambition and vengeance consume him. His desire for the throne had robbed him of his family and now he had no one. Jon, Daenerys and Viserys were all lost at sea. Probably dead. Definitely dead. All because of him.

He thought of Daenerys, sweet Dany. She didn't deserve this. He had scarcely gotten to know her at all. A few days, here and there, whilst he was at home before heading back out again. He thought he knew her, but the Dany that he saw these last few weeks with Jon was the real Dany, and he was ashamed to say he never found the time to get to know her properly. He should have spent more time with her, he should have protected her as an older brother should but he had failed.

He failed Jon as well. His son, the son he thought to be dead along with his mother. He had him, and then he lost him. Jon had shut him out for weeks and they had only just started to connect, to break down the walls that had been built between them. He had failed to protect Jon, just like how he had failed to protect Aegon and Rhaenys, or Elia. Just like how he failed to stop his father, to stop the rebellion, so many failures.

The worst part about it is that the gods seemed to have given him a second chance, only to fail again.

He sighed and gave up. He could not go on. He had lost it all, his throne, his wives, his children, his family. All gone because of his actions, their deaths were on his hands.

When he was younger, he thought of himself to be a prophesied warrior, a saviour. He had read it in his scrolls, he discussed it with his great uncle Aemon. Then, he had realized that he was wrong, it was not him, it was his son with Elia, but he was dead. What if he had been wrong about it all, what if the gods were playing some cruel joke on him, what if his entire belief in prophecy and fate was for nothing.

His hand reached for Blackfyre and he pulled it out of its scabbard. He looked at the blade and how the light bounced off the metal. When he found it, he took it as a sign from the gods that he would use it to restore House Targaryen, but he was wrong. He was not the saviour of House Targaryen, he was the destroyer. He looked at the sword and briefly saw his reflection.

Aegon the Conqueror wielded this sword and used it to conquer the seven kingdoms. Daemon Blackfyre had used it to incite the Blackfyre rebellions.

This sword had brought nothing but destruction and had caused nothing but suffering. Rhaegar knew that he was done fighting, he had fought enough for one lifetime, and he had lost every single time.

He took one last look at the fabled sword, and then threw it far into the ocean.

It was another week's travel until the ship docked in Volantis. When they got off the boat, Ser Jorah looked at him, unsure of what to say next. He hated Jorah for letting Viserys out of his sight that night. A part of him knew that he was being unreasonable, but he was too filled with grief to care. He needed to feel hate, he needed to feel something. With the death of Jon and Dany he had lost his fight, he had lost his faith.

He walked away from Jorah and started to wander aimlessly through the streets. He looked at the people as they went about their daily business. He saw the slaves and he saw their masters, all continuing with their day, none of them knowing the burden he was carrying.

He walked and he walked until he reached the Temple of the Lord of Light.

The Temple was situated on a torch lit plaza. The mix of red, yellow and orange hues that adorned the temple walls, all mixed together to give off the illusion that the building was aflame, as if someone had managed to turn the stone into fire. It loomed tall in the skyline, Rhaegar knew that it was at least twice the size of the Great Sept of Baelor. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and then quickly started to walk towards the temple.

 He craned his neck and tried to spot the top of the towers, but the tops were lost in the clouds. The towers looked like slender flames dancing as they reached for the sky. Huge fires burned beside the stone steps leading to the entrance to the temple.

He looked up at the acolytes clad in orange and yellow robes, they stood on the terrace overlooking the plaza. Beyond the temple, he could see the black walled palaces where the Old Blood of Volantis lived.

He walked up the steps and entered the temple. He walked through the antechamber and entered the main sanctuary, red stone pillars stretched upwards and held torches to provide the room with light. The sanctuary floor was made from shiny fused black stone that reflected the torchlight back onto the white stone walls. At the far end of the sanctuary sat a huge thirty foot wide brazier that housed the eternal fire, this fire was sacred and had been remained constantly lit.

He spotted the High Priest standing near the fire. He wore red robes with yellow and orange accents, showcasing his position. He started to walk across the sanctuary towards him but his path was quickly blocked by an acolyte who pointed to his feet and shook his head. Rhaegar realized that he still had his shoes on. After taking them off and washing his feet, he crossed the sanctuary and walked towards the High Priest. Before he could announce himself, the High Priest spoke.

"I have been expecting you," the High Priest said as he turned around to face him. The High Priest was a tall thin man with a loud clear voice. "You have come because you have lost your way, you have lost sight of the Lord," the High Priest continued.

He nodded slowly.

"Where is Moqorro?" he had developed a friendship with Moqorro, he was the man who had saved him and brought him to this temple all those years ago.

"He is away, it was time for him to leave the temple and to do the Lord's work elsewhere," the High Priest answered.

He nodded slowly.

"Come, we have much to discuss. I have had visions that may concern you. They concern the fate of the entire world and events that you have put in motion" and the High Priest walked away from the eternal fire and into another smaller chamber. He followed him, but before he entered the chamber, he took one last look at the flames. He watched as the flames danced together and he became mesmerised. It almost felt like the flames were beginning to consume him.

He reluctantly tore his eyes away from the flames and headed inside, curious to hear what the priest had to say.

The Princess of Dragonstone

She awoke suddenly, she quickly looked around to see that they had arrived on a strange island. She saw that her hands were tied and that Viserys was unconscious across from her. She spotted his knife on the floor between them. She used her feet to move the knife towards her and then she picked it up and started to cut at the ropes. As she worked away, she tried to remember the events of the night before.

She usually spent her evenings with Jon, playing games or practicing her fighting skills but that night Jon had gone to see Rhaegar. She had been sitting in her cabin reading a book when Viserys entered. At first, he had been suspiciously nice to her. Then, she heard loud shouting outside and she asked him what was going on, when he evaded her questions, she tried to push past him to go and see for herself. This was when he pulled the knife on her and dragged her onto the deck.

 As he forced her into the small boat she had screamed for help, she screamed for Jon and he had answered. She saw him running towards her and hope filled her heart. He was going to save her, she knew it. Then, the lightning struck the ship and the fire broke out. She didn't see him after that. She thought he was dead, he was probably dead.

Her poor sweet Jon, dead. The thought filled her with sadness. She remembered his gentle, nervous smile. His curly dark hair. She remembered his hands and his fingers as they massaged her shoulders and her arms. Dany remembered the feelings of his arms as they wrapped around her that day in Illyrio's manse. She remembered for the first time feeling safe and protected. Before long, she could feel tears starting to fall down her face. With one final cut her ropes were finally lose and she turned to see where they were.

When she peered beyond the treeline of the beach, her mouth opened in shock.

She saw was a smouldering ruin of an abandoned city. The buildings were built using a material she had never seen before and the architecture itself was other worldly. She must have died as there was no place in this world that was like this.

Then, she realized that this was Valyria, the homeland of her ancestors. She had heard tales of the awe-inspiring city it had been, before the doom and she admitted that it was still an impressive place despite the destruction caused by the doom.

She reached into the boat and grabbed the bag in which Viserys had put her dragon eggs as he had taken her from the cabin when he abducted her, she was determined to not let them out of her sight again. She took a few steps forward before she heard a loud thud and a voice calling after her. She turned and saw Viserys had woken up and had started to walk towards her.

"Where are you going!" Viserys shrieked "Come back here! Your King demands it!"

"No, I will not,"

"It is not safe out there. You do not know what is out there. We could die!" he said in a panicked voice.

"If we stay in that boat we will die anyway brother, I see no reason to not to spend my last few days exploring this place,"

"Dany, it's not safe!"

Suddenly, she heard a faint noise in the distance, it sounded familiar, like a howl. Suddenly, hopefully, she realized what it was.

"Ghost!" she screamed "Jon!"

She waited with baited breath. No answer. She sunk to her knees defeated with tears falling from her eyes, she hated herself for getting her hopes up. She heard Viserys laugh at her, but she did not have the strength in her to do anything about him.

"Your bastard is dead and so is his wolf. They cannot save you. I cannot believe you, you are the blood of the dragon yet you're on your knees pining over a northern bastard. You are so weak that you are imagining him, you are no true dragon,"

Suddenly, she heard another howl and her head bolted up towards the direction of the sound. She stood up and began to run towards the noise. She did not care about anything else in that moment, she just had to find Jon. She heard Viserys call and scream after her, but she did not stop. She would not stop. She kept yelling Jon's name, but all she heard was the same howl in response.

She ran, and she ran until she felt a sharp pain in her side and she doubled over to try and catch her breath.

"Jon!" she screamed but there was no answer. She waited and waited but she did not hear the howl again. Without the howl to guide her, she had no idea which direction she needed to run in. She slumped to the floor. She pulled her knees tight and ducked her head, hoping and praying to gods she didn't believe in.

"Dany!" and she quickly raised her head and looked towards the noise. He sounded close.

"Jon!" she yelled as she stood up. With a grunt and a pant, she picked up her bag and started to run again. She heard him call her name and this gave her the strength to keep running. She turned a corner and then another corner. Finally, she saw him standing a few meters in front of her.

His hair was wild and loose, and his clothes were torn but it was Jon. It was still Jon. She dropped her bag and jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and grabbing hold of his neck

"I thought you were dead," she sobbed into his neck.

"I thought you were dead," he replied as he pulled her closely towards him and deeper into his embrace. Her heart was overjoyed to have found him again. She slowly pulled back and looked at his face. He had a few cuts on his face, including one just above his eye. Her eyes moved down at his nose. She watched as his nostrils flared after each heavy breath he took. Then her eyes found his lips, his mouth was slightly open as he tried to catch his breath. They were curved upwards slightly as if asking her a question. Her eyes then flicked back up to his eyes. Those wonderful grey eyes were dilated and she could see him looking at her intensely, she wondered if he had been doing the same thing she was.

Their eyes met. Violet stared into grey and then she leaned forward and kissed him. His lips were soft and full. One hand reached up to and she ran her fingers through his soft hair, gently pulling at his locks. This kiss was everything she realised, he was everything to her. All she had left. She did not know how long she kissed him for, but she knew that she was not the one who broke away first. He pulled back and gently set her down on her feet. She must've looked upset because he gave her another quick kiss and held her close.

"Dany, what happened? Where is Viserys?"

"Viserys came to my cabin that night. I think he tried to keep me there while his men went after you. I heard Ghost howl and I ran towards the noise, I don't know where he is now, maybe he followed me," she said quietly.

"He betrayed us, he stole your mother's ring and used it to pay the sellswords,"Jon told her, anger filling his voice.

She was stunned. Viserys had promised to never sell that ring, ever. It was the last thing they had of their mother and yet he had sold it to fund his vengeance and ambition.

"It was with Rhaegar," Jon said quietly.

"Where is he?" she asked quietly.

"He's not with me, he's probably dead. The ship was damaged badly in the fire. I don't know what happened to him after the fire broke out," Jon answered sadly.

She nodded and held onto him tightly.

"I finally forgave him, I finally spoke to him just like you said and now he's gone. He told me so much about my mother, about the war and now he's gone," Jon's voice was pained.

She pushed her head into his chest and felt him rest his chin on the top of her head. She knew he was mourning the loss of his father. The gods were cruel she realized, how could they reunite a son with his father only to tear them apart so soon.

After a few moments, she felt Jon pull apart and begin to look around them. They both looked around their surroundings and she was once again struck by the otherworldly nature of the place. The city felt unnatural yet strangely like home.

"Dany, this place, I feel like it's calling to me," Jon said.

"I feel it too, Jon," she said quietly

"We're in Valyria aren't we?" and she nodded her head slowly.

He stood up and offered her his hand. They walked hand in hand along the dragon roads in the abandoned city. In the distance, she could see the tops of the volcanoes smouldering and emitting smoke into the atmosphere. She looked in awe at the buildings she saw. Sorcery must have been used to build this city, there was no other explanation as to how the stone was shaped as accurately as it was. She reached out to touch a piece of the stone and she was amazed at its strength. It had been crafted hundreds of years ago, but it was still as firm as ever. The magic of Valyria must have been formidable to behold, she realized. It was a shame that the secrets of Valyria had been lost, they had been centuries ahead of the rest of the world.

The mist that had surrounded the beach where she had arrived had slowly disappeared the further they travelled inland, allowing them to see the city in all its glory. She saw towers that twisted and stretched up towards the moon. She saw pools and streams of lava flowing alongside the dragon road, into and out of destroyed buildings. The lava was still blisteringly hot and she heard it bubble and sputter as she walked past. They saw lakes that contained water that looked orange, then yellow in the light.

At the end of the dragon road stood a massive temple, the temple courtyard itself was larger than Illyrio's entire Manse. Unlike every other building, this temple had been completely untouched by the disaster that destroyed the rest of this place. They walked towards the entrance and they were blown away by its size.

"This temple, it's the biggest building I have ever seen, it makes Winterfell seem tiny in comparison," Jon said.

She craned her neck backwards to try and find the top but it was covered by the clouds. Flanking the shiny purple steps were two huge sculptures of sphinxes, they were impossibly detailed and could only have been made using sorcery. Their eyes were made out of green gemstones larger than her. Above the temple was a marble sign, with Valyrian runes carved into it. She looked to her left and saw an endless line of stone columns towering upwards to support the roof of this temple. Silently, they both stepped forward and moved towards the steps that led upwards to the temple.

When they reached the top of the huge staircase, Jon turned and realized that Ghost did not follow them up the stairs.

"Ghost, to me," but the wolf did not move. Jon called again, and again and yet, the wolf did not move. Jon looked frustrated and unsettled.

"He won't enter this temple, he doesn't like it," he said to her "Perhaps we shouldn't enter either,"

"He's a direwolf of the North, Jon, of course he feels uncomfortable here. This is a Valyrian temple, where they worshipped their gods, this is not his place. It is our place, we are Valyrian, these are our gods too,"

He nodded. "Ghost stay here, we will return," and he turned to look at the huge brass doors that formed the entrance to the temple. Dragons with red rubies for eyes had been engraved into the doors. They walked forward and pushed open the heavy doors.

Once they were inside the door closed with a thud. The inside of the temple itself was well lit. The floor was made up of black stone that felt smooth beneath her feet. The stone felt like glass but different. Jon said that it was obsidian or dragon glass that he read about in a book. There were pillars that ran parallel down the middle of the sanctuary, each pillar had lanterns on it, providing light. Daenerys wasn't sure how they were still burning, more magic she guessed. Alongside the walls of the temple sanctuary were giant statues of dragons. These must have been their gods, she realized.

"Dany feel this, it's strong but so light, is this Dragon bone?" Jon asked.

She looked at the black rod in his hands and felt it. She quickly nodded her head.

"Come, let's look at the statues, these are the Valyrian gods, perhaps we can learn something from them. We need all the help we can get," she told Jon.

As they walked, they could hear their footsteps echo eerily in the large sanctuary. They walked towards the first statue, which had been surrounded by candles that were burning brightly. It was a green dragon with yellow gemstones for eyes. She reached out a finger to touch the teeth of the dragon and she immediately drew blood. The teeth was made from Valyrian steel, she quickly realized. They walked from statue to statue. Jon could not read the runes below each statue so she did her best to translate. They found the God of War, the God of Love and many more. They had reached the bottom of the sanctuary and had reached the final statue.

This statue was of two dragons dancing, nose to tail, one black with white eyes the other white with black eyes. They walked all the way around the statue and found that wherever they walked, the eyes would follow. She read the runes below the statue.

"These are the Gods of Knowledge - Hecaterus and Metheus. Behind them you will find the pool of knowledge, the pure of mind will be able to drink from this pool and receive the blessing of the gods while those that are corrupt will be consumed by it," she read aloud.

She looked at Jon and saw that he was watching the pool of strange liquid warily. "Does it say anything else?"

"It also says something about a sacred library," she quickly looked up and saw a small antechamber. "I think the library is down there, let's go take a look,"

They walked to the door of the library and saw that the door had no handles. Only handprints and markings around them. Jon walked up the doors and tried to push them open, but the doors did not move. He tried multiple angles, but the door still did not open.

"How do we enter? Do we put our hands in those spaces?" he tried it, putting both hands in the spaces but the doors still did not budge. Dany looked around at the markings and suddenly she understood.

"We must use our blood," she said quietly

"What?" he said immediately

"The door has no handles, no way to enter. It's a magical door and all Valyrian magic is rooted in blood or fire. We have no fire, so we should try blood," and she reached for Viserys's knife and quickly cut her palm. She passed the knife to Jon who did the same.

Together, they pushed their hands into the handprints and waited. Suddenly, the markings changed colour, turning blue, green, red hot and then finally white hot. Then silently the doors opened. She looked down at her hand and saw that the blood was gone and the wound had been closed, not even leaving a scar.

The library was dimly lit and there were only a handful of books inside.

"These books must have sacred rituals and secrets in them. That is why It is guarded by blood magic," she said quickly.

She reached for the first book she could find and flicked through the pages. The pages were yellow and brittle and she carefully flicked through them. She saw plenty of diagrams, some detailing humans, some detailing dragons. These were instructions, she realized, instructions on how to work their magic.

"Jon look!" she shouted, "Valyrian steel, this is how you forge Valyrian steel," he quickly ran over to look at the pages.

"What do we need to do?"

"It says we need dragon glass, a sacrifice and we need to say this complicated spell. It looks like blood magic" she said disappointingly. She turned a few more pages and she saw a diagram of a dragon egg.

"Jon, this is how you hatch dragon eggs. It says you need heat, blood and a human sacrifice. The human sacrifice is necessary to give birth to the dragons and the blood must come from a slave, never the master. It says that that the dragon and master must not share blood, otherwise the masters soul will be consumed from within"

"Human sacrifice! We can't do that, its despicable and vile, there has to be another way," he said horrified. Dany agreed with him and in the spur of the moment, pulled the page out of the book and destroyed it.

She continued to read through the books. She read about the mines that had been found across the lands. She made a note of which mines contained precious ores and which contained gemstones. She read about all the animals and creatures that had lived once in this strange land, Sphinxes, Phoenixes even Unicorns had roamed Valyria hundreds of years ago.

She continued to read the books until suddenly she heard a scream. She looked towards Jon and found him writhing on the floor in pain, she looked at his hands and saw that were starting to become swollen and deformed.

"Jon, what happened!" she shouted but he did not answer. He just continued to roll around howling in pain. She watched horrified as he rolled around. She was afraid that he would die if she could not help him, but she was powerless. She saw blood on a blue gemstone and quickly ran back to her book, looking for the picture, and underneath the picture, she saw spells. She screamed and shouted all the spells on the page, praying one of them would save him. She screamed, and she screamed until suddenly she felt a hand clamp around her mouth and a cold knife at her throat.

"Hush, now little princess, I'm sure I could find better uses for your pretty little mouth," and she was spun around to look up at her captor. The man was pale, but handsome with dark hair and a dark beard. His right eye was bright blue but his other was covered with a patch. She looked at his lips and found they too were stained blue and curved upwards into a smile.

"I already found your brother and he told me that you were here, you would make a fine salt wife for me," he said with an evil smile.

Jon screamed again and this distracted her captor. He shoved her to the floor and then walked over to him.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked as he bent to pick up the book that was lying in front of him.

"Oh, you sweet little girl, you unlocked the secret library didn't you?" he said with a wide smile "My warlocks tried and failed to get that door to open but you have opened it for me, perhaps I should marry you instead, because you have given me a priceless gift."

He then spoke to some men who went into the library to pack up all the books. Jon screamed again.

"He, on the other hand, is useless," he said with disgust.

With a grunt, her captor picked Jon up and threw him into the pool of knowledge. She watched horrified as Jon's body slowly sunk into the pool. The liquid bubbled and spluttered, and then it slowly turned black as Jon sank below the surface.

Notes:

Yes, I know what the tags say, no Dany will not get raped. Relax. Put the pitchforks down. Jon has been giving her lessons and she is smart. She'll figure it out

Thanks to the people who voted on the Dragon names in the previous chapter.

It's Christmas time and I'll be heading away for a few weeks. This means that updates will slow down unfortunately. I hate leaving it at this point, I'd much rather leave you with chapter 7, but that's just the way life goes.

I will TRY and upload chapter 7 whilst I'm away. It's finished and ready. I can't promise what day I'll upload it, but I will try. Updates should resume as normal in the new year.

Chapter 7 is "The Doom"

Once again thanks to GOT88 for the help.

Have a good Christmas

Thanks for reading

Sleepy