Chapter 5: Waking the Dragon

  —

  We rode in silehe only sound that apanied us was the rhythmic drumming of hooves against the cracked, unfiving soil of old Valyria.

  The air was heavy with the stench of decay, a sour tang that g to the bay throat and refused to let go. It was annoying. It seemed as if this nd had fotten what life felt like, choosing io stew in its own rot and misery.

  Mantarys was a city known for its corruption and twisted tales of horror, where the Doom of Valyria danced in the breath of wind. We weren't heading toward the city. We were simply passing by it, closer than earlier, ahe dread in the air ressing down like a suffog b.

  Kinvara rode beside me, her crimson robes flutterily, trasting with the ashen ndscape. We made small talk as we walked. The old witch, Yarra Vesh Duul, rode just beyond her, muttering quiet prayers to gods I didn’t care to know.

  My mind spun with thoughts of the ritual to e. It wasn’t fear that stirred withi anticipation. I was impatient. After all, this i, if successful, would create history.

  [Quest: Waking the Dragon.]

  The awakening of a dragon. The system pushed me towards it. After all, what was the point of a Dragon System without a Dragon?

  Still, it was a dangerous quest. If I succeeded, I would cim power that had been dead for turies. But failure? It would turo ash.

  So I guess I was kind of nervous too.

  My fingers flexed around the reins, eyes narrowing at the thought. The Targaryen family line. Fire and blood. That was how a dragon could be awakehey've tried to do that before, many times so, and failed regardless. I didn't pn to fail.

  The ritual wanted blood. My blood. If the preparation wasn't perfect, I could die.

  The idea sent a shiver up my spine, an odd mix of exhiration and dread. Was I ready to ehe fmes to prove that the dragon blood in my veins was not false? …A thin smile tugged at my lips. Of course, I was ready.

  What was life without the risk of losing it?

  “Prince?”

  A ugh broke through my thoughts. The guttural through the call of Kinvana, who looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I gnced up to see her, and she nudged her forward.

  “We have pany,” she said. “Stone men.”

  “Ah.” I gnced ahead and frowned. I saw deformed men slinking out from the shadows between jagged rocks, their twisted figures glistening with sweat and grime. All of their skin, a rge part of it not all, were turo stohat wasn't the only thing mutated about them.

  They didn't look like normal people. Popution of Mantarys, I believe. Bandits. Some had limbs that bent the wrong way, eyes that bulged too far out of their sockets, or ears where no ear should ever be. Mantarys’ famed mutations were not just stories told thten children, it seemed.

  The person leading them, a man with a third eye perched grotesquely on his cheekbone, grinned, showing a mouth full of brokeh. It was gross. Half the skin in his body had turo stone.

  “Oh, ho, good lord,” he said, his gaze leering at Kinvara with hunger. “A red priestess. Haven’t had one of your kind in some time.”

  “But boss, it’s a red priestess...” one of the bandits muttered, a glimmer of doubt on his face.

  The leader spat, a thick glob that nded near his feet. “Oh, you newbie. So what if she's a red priestess? She got a t just like any other woman,” he barked, and a chorus of ughter followed. It was an ugly and eager sound.

  I shook my head, my face still, though my muscles tightened with barely tained disdain. “I was w how people in Mantarys survived without trade or merts,” I said, raising my voiough for Kinvara to hear over the ughter. My gaze never left the approag figures.

  “Well, this is how,” Kinvara replied, a sigh threading her words. “Plundering and robbing travelers.”

  Beside us, the old witch’s muttering grew louder, prayers turning feverish as the bandits encircled us. Fourteen. I ted quickly, my eyes flig from owisted face to another.

  They outnumbered us, and they were fident, cirg their prey with the arroganen who’d dohis many times before. “Dismount from your horses!” the leader shouted, wielding a rusted sword. The others mimicked him, grins full of yellow teeth and broken promises.

  I g Kinvara, and she looked back. We exged silent gnces. We slid off our horses, boots meeting the ground with a thud. The bandits jeered, yanking our horses away and closing in on us, their stench seeping into the air like a disease.

  Gross bastards.

  “Should we kill the man, boss?” one of the ckeys asked, his voice too high-pitched and eager.

  The leader shook his head, chug. “Nah. He got a pretty face. Some pig in the sve cities will pay good for him.”

  The ughter that followed pushed me to the edge of my ever-growing annoyahey're dead already.

  I scoffed, turning to Kinvana as I spoke out loud. “ you start the ritual now, if I make fire?” I asked her, turning my eyes to the men as they exged fused gnces.

  Kinvara blinked, fusion and surprise flickering across her face before she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered.

  I turned my attention back to the bandits, a smile f. “Do any of you know blood magic?” I asked.

  They stared, fusion ing their faces before one broke into a hoarse ugh. “Hah, this dumb motherfucker thinks we’re wizards!” another hooted. “We won't be raping people like you if we were!”

  “Pity,” I muttered and slipped a hand into my pocket. The leader so attention, raising his on.

  “Hands out, or I’ll cut them off!” he snarled, swinging his bde.

  I obliged, slowly lifting my hand, palm open. I guess I had no other choice. I wao keep it a secret from Kinvana for a bit longer, but whatever.

  One moment my palm was empty, and then a gss filled with strange liquid shimmered ience, cool ay in my grasp. The sudden appearance caught their ughter and died ihroats. Before they could react, I tossed the liquid onto the leader. He flinched back, some of the liquid spttering across his fad chest.

  His brows furrowed, fusion turning te. “What was that, you—”

  A burning torch appeared in my ha, summoned from my Iory as if I’d always carried it in my hand. “It is called Naphtha,” I said as I threw the fire at him, the fmes r to life. He tried to shout, but the fmes ed him and leaped to the men closest to him.

  Their screams shredded the silence, a song of agony as fire crawled over them, skin blistering and bing.

  “Now,” I s Kinvara.

  “How?!” She looked momentarily stu what I had done. Even she couldn't bring things out of thin air. Yet she mao move her hands through her surprise, makiures with the practiced precision of a sorceress. Her hands weaved the fmes outward and guided them into the throng of bandits, who shrieked and fell like burning dolls.

  The smell of charred flesh thied the air.

  “Y-you bastards!” One man who was untouched by the fmes rushed at me with a roar, eyes wide and white with fury.

  “Fool,” I said. He should have known that I might have more in my space. I kept a lot of things in my iory, things I had asked Kinvara to provide me before we left Vontis.

  A spear formed in my hand—a better choice than a sword for a newbie such as myself. I thrust it forward, steel meetiance as it pluhrough his chest.

  It wasn’t very smooth, but it did its work. His charge faltered, breath rattling out as blood trickled from his gaping mouth.

  I pulled the spear free, and he colpsed, lifeless.

  [You’ve killed a Stone Man.]

  [You’ve earned experience points.]

  [You’ve leveled up!]

  [You’ve reached Level 6!]

  “Oh,” I whispered, the notification catg me off guard.

  That was my… first kill in this world. I had gaihree levels i week, w out with my body weight every ce I got, which basically meant every minute I wasn’t riding the horse. All that hard work, and I had only gaihree levels.

  But now?

  I killed a man and gained a level in a sed. A tremor of power ran through me. The System rewarded me for killing…

  The rest of the bandits writhed, still engulfed by fmes, their screams reag a fever pitch. I frowned. It was unclear if I’d get Experience Points from their deaths as they were burning in the fire of ritual, spread by Kinvana, even if it was me who started the fire first. The urge to finish them off surged through me.

  A disgusting st of burning flesh filled the air, mixing with heat. I could feel the fmes pressing in, ready to e everything, including me. I decided and then moved quickly, spear stabbing down into faces as, sileng each scream with a clusivehat resonated in my chest.

  The notifications from the System blurred my vision, rapid-fire firmations of each kill and experience points.

  [You've killed a Stone Man.]

  [You've earned experience points.]

  [You've killed a Stone Man.]

  [You've earned experience points.]

  [You’ve leveled up!]

  [You've killed a Stone Man.]

  [You've earned experience points.]

  [You've killed a Stone Man.]

  [You've earned experience points.]

  [You’ve leveled up!]

  [You've...]

  …

  [You’ve leveled up!]

  [You’ve reached Level 9!]

  “Prince! Let’s step out of that pce!” Kinvara’s sharp and frantic voice cut through the inferno. She stood at the edge of the fmes, her face flushed from the heat, her eyes filled with urgency. “It's dangerous!”

  I looked at her, the world around me reduced to the roar of fmes and the thrum of blood in my ears.

  I wondered for a moment and then pulled something from the system. A h hologram in the er of my vision gleamed with ahereal blue light.

  ===

  Quest: Waking the Dragon

  Objective: Awaken the dormant dragon egg aore the legacy of House Targaryen by bringing a true dragon into the world.

  Details: You, Viserys Targaryen, have embarked on a quest that few would dare to dream of. To awaken the dragon egg in his possession, you must perform a ritual of fire and blood magic, a process steeped in a Valyrian tradition and are knowledge. This ritual is perilous, requiring precision, sacrifice, and the true fire of the old gods.

  Ritual Site: ducted in a sacred or a power-infused pce.

  Blood Glyphs: Drawn around the pyre using blood to el magic.Blood Sacrifice: A soul of great quality, or of many quantities, must be offered, willing or bound by fate. Additionally, a blood witch has to be offered.ting: The blood witch who’s being sacrificed must t and guide the magic. If not, a sed blood mage t from outside.Pyre Ignition: Egg pced at the ter, surrounded by sacred fmes.Fme Endurance: You, Viserys, must step into the fire to prove your worth as the dragon. Embrace the egg, ehe fire, and sacrifice a number of your Levels t it to life.Rewards:

  Dragon Hatg: A creature of unmatched power and influence who’ll see you as its parent.Title – The Dragon King: Enhances reputation and fire resistance. ???. ???Stat Boost: Level Ups! +5 END, +3 STR. [NEW!] +10 Authority. Penalties for Failure:

  Injury/Death: Severe burns or death.Loss of the Egg: Irrepceable loss.Broken Alliance: Loss of Kinvara’s support.Title – False Heir: Damaged reputation, harder to gain allies.===

  I took a deep breath, my pulse hammering like a war drum.

  “No,” I replied, leaviaring at me with wide, disbelieving eyes.

  “Prihis is madness!” Her voice wavered, split between urgend something else. Worry? No, I told myself. High Priestesses didn't worry—they plotted.

  “Is it?”

  “Yes! Targaryens are not immuo fmes! This isn’t a story, and you’re not—”

  “Trust me.” The grin that stretched my lips felt fn, forced even, but I needed her to believe it.

  The fmes that burned around me hurt me. I felt the heat, but it stopped hurting wheual began. I could tell. If this didn’t work, I’d be nothing but a charred corpse and a fotten fool.

  The author of the franchise oated that Daenerys Targaryen's survival of the ritual fire was a oime i. It was because it was a ritual that she didn't get hurt. Unlike what she came to believe, she wasn't immuo fmes.

  My death to the molten gold also didn't mean I cked dragon blood. I could do the exact thing she did as long as the ritual proceeded. The fmes were here, so the ritual could indeed proceed. I just had to endure for a while.

  I looked at her, her worried face fshing from behind the dang fmes. She could stop the fmes if she tried. From the looks of it, she was just about to.

  “Don’t.” I stopped her. “If I die here, then I’m no more than a fool who preteo be a king. Not the Warrior of Light, not anything worth remembering for you, no?”

  The silehat followed was heavy, and I saw her mouth press into a tight line. Good. Doubt made people easier. I oward the first body, the bandit whose eyes were still frozen in that moment of disbelief. “Use that one. Fresh blood. Draw the glyphs.”

  For a heartbeat, Kinvara stared at me, eyes unreadable, before her gaze hardened, being sharper and colder. Her fiwitched, and with a practiced motion, she opened her hand and then closed it into a fist.

  The body vulsed, a grotesque shudder, before the skin split open, and blood surged out, painting the ground in curving intricate strokes. It spread like a living map, f symbols that seemed to pulse in time with my heartbeat.

  I brought the Dragon Egg out of my iory. It thrummed in my hands.

  “O-ohh my!” The old witch gasped. She had been staring at me in stunned silence from the moment I took out the gss and the spear out of thin air. She was trembling. Her eyes were wide, trembling as though she were on the edge of a vision.

  She seemed to have reached a realization of her own.

  “Go inside,” Kinvara pushed her gently. “Ahor Ahai is waiting for you.”

  “Azor… Azor Ahai...” she breathed, and I saisting her lined fato something grotesque. I almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

  She walked into the fme, her skin ing off as she walked closer to me. The fmes roared around us, fed by the dead, reag higher as though trying to touch the sky. Heat ed itself around my body like a lover with sharp teeth.

  I gripped the egg tighter, feeling its cool, solid weight. It was the st relic of a lioo proud to stay buried. I stepped closer to the inferno, my boots scraping against the blood-slick ground.

  The fmes trated around me while the witch touched her forehead on the ground. She started to t. Kinvara's gaze flickered between me and the fire, her mouth opening as if to speak, but she said nothing. Good.

  Words wouldn’t ge anything now.

  The heat stole my breath, pain fl ay skin as I settled cross-legged on the ground, the egg cradled in my arms. I closed my eyes, the witch's ting weaving through the crag of fmes, the edges of my mind fraying with each sed.

  Every nerve screamed, and my teeth ground together, a snarl tearing itself free as the fire ed around me. But somewhere in that agony, where the edges of life ah met, the egg in my arms throbbed, warm, hungry, and alive.

  Minutes or hours, I couldn’t tell how long passed. The fmes obscured the sky, I couldn’t even tell if the sun had set or not.

  My focus was all here as the System fshed notifications before me.

  [The Dragon Egg is asking for food.]

  [Would you like to feed it 5 Levels?]

  [Yes - No]

  The choice was simple. The fire burned brighter, and Kinvara’s ting grew louder outside. Something cracked. Until—

  “Kreach! Kreach!”

  A sharp cry pierced the fire, something small and fierbsp;

  Warmth brushed my cheek, different from the searing pain. It was a rough tohat licked at my skin, pulling me back from the abyss. My eyes cracked open to see twht, wild eyes staring back at me as a winged golden lizard croaked on my arms.

  The fmes died out slowly as the sun rose in the m sky. Kinvara walked over, eyes wide and trembling, while a crazy grin quivered on her lips. She muttered a curse, followed by a gasp of moan. “Oh, my god. It’s a Dragon. ”

  It was. I had awake. A golden little thing… A Gold Dragon with separate arms and wings. Viserion, the dragon who'd bee the stro. The most powerful.

  Spoiler

  [colpse]**

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  Author Note: I hope you like the story so far. I was w which dragon to choose among the three. I was urged to go with Drogon, but in the end, I chose Viserion to allow Daenerys to keep some personal power. Plus Viserion was the dragon that was named after Viserys, it's only natural that it should be the egg he stole.

  Question: Future dragon-girl or nah? Do we just keep it as a pet?

  Additionally, I have a Discord to e and hang out with me and 6,000 more members. I also have a Patreon for those ied in supp me and/or wanting to read chapters before public releases. Of course, Patreon is merely a donation servie, so chapters will ALWAYS be ing here for free as usual, so NEVER worry about that. I think I’ll be going with a 5-chapters/weekly update. Happy reading!

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