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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
ASOIAF and all of its characters belong to GRRM
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 70: Visions From The Dark
The chamber was warm, lit by candles that burned with soft yellow flames, not the cold blue fire of Asshai.
The heat from the hearth painted the walls in shades of amber and gold, and the scent of jasmine hung heavy in the air.
Joffrey lay on the bed, his long golden hair spread across the pillow, his green eyes half-closed in contentment. Sweat cooled on his skin, and his breath came slow and deep, the rhythm of a man who had spent himself thoroughly.
Saera lay beside him, her naked body pressed against his. She did not bother to cover herself. There was no need. He had seen all of her, had touched all of her, had taken her in ways that would have scandalized the septas of King's Landing.
She pressed herself against him, her thigh sliding between his, her head resting on his chest, her fingers tracing idle patterns on his skin.
"How was it, my prince?" she murmured. "Did you enjoy it?"
"I did." He admitted. "You have improved a great deal."
"I was merely an innocent maid when you met me. But now..." She blushed slightly and lowered her head.
Joffrey chuckled and stroked her hair. "Now you are a woman. There is no shame in that."
"You have been somewhat distant lately," she said after a long moment of silence.
"Have I?" He asked. "Mmm... perhaps I have been busier than usual. There is much on my mind of late."
"Much on your mind?" She propped herself up on one elbow, her blue eyes searching his face. "Perhaps a certain dragon princess with violet eyes?"
Joffrey did not rise to the bait. "The princess is essential to my work."
"And I am not essential?"
"You are essential in other ways." He reached up, brushing a strand of golden hair from her face. "Do not be jealous, Saera. It does not become you."
She opened her mouth to reply...and froze.
The glass candle on the desk had begun to glow.
It was not the faint, ambient pulse that sometimes emanated from the black stone. This was something else...it was a sharp, pulsing light, pale and cold, that cast strange shadows on the walls.
The flame at its tip had ignited on its own, burning with a sickly green fire that gave no heat.
"I have never seen it do that before," Saera whispered.
"It is not supposed to activate on its own." As far as he knew, at least.
Joffrey rose from the bed, his naked body illuminated by the green light of the candle. He crossed to the desk and reached out, his fingers hovering over the candle's surface.
"Do not touch it," Saera said, clutching the sheet to her chest. "It could be dangerous."
"You cannot get anywhere without taking a few risks." Joffrey's voice was calm. The truth was that he already knew what this artifact could do. There was nothing there that could harm him. Its inner workings were very similar to the crystal ball that Luna had used in another world, another life.
His fingers closed around the candle.
The vision came without warning.
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
Darkness. Endless, suffocating darkness, cold as the void between stars.
He found himself in a vast cavern of black stone, its walls slick with moisture.
The air was thick and heavy, and it smelled of ancient dust and older things...things that had been sleeping since before the first men learned to walk upright.
Before him, something massive began to stir.
Its form was impossible to discern. It was made of ice and darkness, of things that had no name in any language he knew. It shifted in the gloom, its limbs...too many limbs, unfolding like the petals of a nightmare flower.
Its eyes, if they were eyes, glowed with a pale blue light that was not light at all, but the absence of it.
It was waking.
'The creature from the east,' he thought. The thing Lyssara saw in her flames.
The vision shifted.
He saw ruins...a city of black spires, crumbling beneath a sky that had never known sun, with a massive black pyramid towering over everything else.
The Ash River flowed into it, its waters glowing pale green, and the fog clung to the streets like a blanket. The buildings were curved and organic, as if they had grown from the earth rather than been built. And somewhere in the depths of that city, something waited. Something that had been sleeping for millennia.
Stygai.
Joffrey recognized it, though he had never seen this city before. The name came to him as if whispered in his ear, though there was no one there to whisper it.
The image dissolved, and Joffrey found himself back in the chamber.
The glass candle had gone quiet. Its surface was dark and cold, as if it had never been lit at all. His heart pounded, his breath came short, but his face betrayed nothing.
"What did you see?" Saera asked, her voice trembling.
Joffrey set down the candle. "Something I need to find for myself."
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
Some days later.
The laboratory was cluttered with scrolls and books, their pages covered in Joffrey's cramped handwriting.
He had been studying the texts taken from the warlocks' hideout, cross-referencing them with those already found inside the tower, searching for any further mentions of Stygai.
Most of the descriptions were sparse, almost dismissive. A ruined city further up the Ash River, deep in the Shadow Lands.
A place where even shadowbinders feared to tread. A place that held the secrets of a lost civilization...perhaps the origin of dragons, the source of the black stone, and even the key to immortality.
It was mostly speculation from those who did not dare to venture beyond the black walls of Stygai. The truth was that nothing was known about the civilization that had built it.
They were long gone by the time Asshai came to be, their language forgotten, their gods dead. Everyone seemed to fear something lurking inside the bowels of the dead city.
'Could that something be the same thing I saw in the candle's vision?' Joffrey wondered. 'Is this the entity that the red priestess warned me about?'
She had said that his presence in this world had awakened something that should have remained slumbering. He was not sure how much of that was true. But he could not ignore the possibility.
Regardless of what this creature was, he needed to see this dead city for himself. If there was even a tiny chance that the secret he sought could be found there, he could not pass up the opportunity now that he was here.
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
Over the next few days, he began his preparations for the journey.
At the end of the week, he gathered the members of his expedition in the main chamber of the tower.
The Hound stood near the hearth, his enchanted greatsword secured across his back, his scarred face hidden beneath his dog's helm.
Aggo and two other enhanced Dothraki warriors stood by the door.
Joffrey had not asked for them to come. They had offered themselves as volunteers, with the permission of their khaleesi.
Kovarro, along with the rest of the Dothraki warriors and Ser Jorah, was to stay behind to guard the tower, the princess, and the non-combatant members of their group.
Daenerys stood apart, her arms crossed, her violet eyes troubled. "Why do you have to go to such a place? Everyone says it is certain death. No one who has gotten too close to Stygai has returned to tell the tale."
"I have to agree with the princess on this." Saera rarely spoke in such situations, nor would she argue against a decision he had already made. But this time was different. "Why do you need to take such a risk? Please... do not go."
Joffrey turned to face them, his green eyes cool and steady. "I have not gotten this far by avoiding risks. I have survived by knowing which risks are worth taking." He glanced at the map spread across the table, at the dark smudge that marked Stygai. "This is one of them."
Daenerys stepped closer, her hand reaching out as if to touch his arm, then stopping short. "And if you do not return?"
"Then you will have the ships, the Dothraki, and the knowledge I have left behind. You will not be helpless." Joffrey's voice was matter-of-fact, almost dismissive. "But I intend to return. I have too much unfinished work."
Saera's eyes were bright with unshed tears, but she said nothing more. She knew him well enough by now to understand that once his mind was set, no words would change it.
Joffrey reached into his pocket and produced two small objects. One was a ring of dark silver, set with a small obsidian stone carved with tiny glyphs. The other was a pendant on a leather cord, the same black stone at its center.
He held out the ring to Tyrion. "Take this. Wear it always. Never take it off."
Tyrion took the ring, turning it over in his fingers. The glyphs caught the light, seeming to shift and move. "It is beautiful. But what does it do? I imagine you are not proposing..."
"It is a safeguard." Joffrey's voice was flat. "If you find yourself in mortal danger...if the Red Temple or someone else comes for you while I am away, if the city turns against you, if all seems lost, you must gather everyone you wish to save, hold them close, and speak the word to activate it."
"What word?"
"Hogwarts."
Tyrion raised an eyebrow. "What is that?"
"It was an important place to me, once. That is all you need to know. It is a word you will not say by accident." Joffrey's eyes were cold. "Do not use it lightly. The magic is... taxing. And it will only work once."
Tyrion slid the ring onto his finger. It fit perfectly, as if it had been made for him. "And if I use it, what will happen?"
"If it works as it should, you will go somewhere safe." Joffrey did not elaborate.
"Wait, hold on." Tyrion's voice was sharp. "Did you test this?"
Joffrey did not answer. He turned to Daenerys and held out the pendant. "For you, Princess. Wear it beneath your clothes. Do not take it off."
Daenerys took the pendant, her fingers brushing against his. The black stone was warm, as if it had been held close to a fire. "The same magic?"
"The same one. If something happens, take Jorah, take your dragons, take "The word you use to command your dragons. You will not forget it. And you will not speak it by accident." He stepped back. "If the Red Temple tries to take you, use it. Take Jorah, take your dragons, take anyone you can reach. Do not hesitate."
Daenerys slipped the pendant over her head and tucked it beneath her gown. The stone rested against her chest. "Thank you."
"Joffrey, I am getting worried that you did not answer my question," Tyrion said. "You are sure this is going to work, yes?"
Joffrey turned to Saera. "I am sorry. I only had time to make two of them. I will make one for you when I return."
Saera smiled, though her eyes were still bright. "Thank you, my prince."
"In the meantime, I have another task for you. There are some things I need you to take back to the ship for safekeeping. I want you to stay there until I return."
He turned to the others. "Ser Jorah, you are in command of the tower's defense. Keep the princess safe."
The knight nodded. "No need to ask. I will protect the Khaleesi with my life."
Lord Varys stepped forward from the shadows where he had been listening. His pale face was unreadable, his hands folded before him. "My prince, a word before you depart?"
Joffrey nodded. Varys led him a few paces away, lowering his voice.
"The Red Temple will watch your absence closely. Malachar may see this as an opportunity." Varys's eyes were troubled. "I will do what I can to monitor them, but I cannot guarantee—"
"Yes, I have predicted as much. But something tells me this is not something I can postpone." Joffrey cut him off. "I may not have as much time as I initially thought."
Lord Varys tried to hide his surprise. "What do you mean, 'not as much time'?"
Joffrey shook his head. "There is a lot about this world that your little birds and spies cannot tell you." He paused. "You need only watch and report. If they move against the tower, Daenerys has the means to escape. If they do not, all the better. I will return within a fortnight."
"And if you do not?"
Joffrey smiled coldly. "Then you will have a great deal of freedom, Lord Varys. I trust you will use it wisely."
He turned away before Varys could respond, walking toward the door where the Hound and the Dothraki waited. The Hound's scarred face was hidden beneath his dog's helm, but his posture radiated impatience. Aggo and the other two warriors stood like statues, their arakhs gleaming in the dim light.
Daenerys followed him to the threshold. "Make sure you come back, Joffrey."
He turned to look at her. "Are you truly concerned about me, Princess? And here I thought you did not like my company all that much."
She looked away. "Do not forget to bring my men back alive. They are very important to me."
He nodded once, then stepped out into the grey twilight.
The fog swallowed him as he walked toward the docks, the Hound and the Dothraki at his heels. Somewhere behind him, the tower's blue flames watched like a single, unblinking eye.
Somewhere ahead, the Corpse City waited.
And somewhere beneath it, something stirred in its ancient sleep.
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