Song of A Northern Sorcerer

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As the first boat carrying Nox, Jon, Obara and Oberyn neared the stone pier, the sailors onboard immediately jumped off the moment they were close enough and began to tie off the boat while the other four boats found separate parts of the pier to tie off onto.

Stepping onto the pier, Nox took a moment to shake out his legs to get the blood flowing back through them after sitting for only the Force knew how long. The rest of the boats emptied rather quickly as everyone was rather anxious to get back onto relatively safe land. Or as safe as the land could be on this peninsula.

"By the Drowned God and gods of old and new…" Asha murmured, coming up and standing beside him as the two peered into the ruins that was Old Valyria. "Sorcerer…if I could give you my eyes for a day to see this, I surely would in return for this gift of bringing me here. This…This will be a tale none on the Iron Islands will ever hope of topping for a hundred years."

"No need to gift me your eyes, Asha," Nox replied, stepping towards the base of the pier and onto the stone walkway that led towards a street running between the ruined houses of Valyria. "I can see just fine."

And he could. Valyria, just like almost all larger cities on this world, was filled with buildings that were stacked nearly on top of each other. But that was about where the similarities ended. For while White Harbor, Braavos, and Volantis all had buildings made up of stone, wood and mud, every single building within Valyria was made of a black stone substance that a had faint echoing of the Force within. Almost as if this entire city were made in manner similar to the Jedi and Sith Temples on Tython and Korriban respectively.

But that was about all the good he could say, as evidence of the Doom that cause the fall of Valyria was very evident in hardened lava lining parts of the streets. Most if not all the once perhaps majestic buildings had been damaged or outright destroyed. And most telling of all was the settled and very thick layer of ash that nearly went up to his knees, and in some places even deeper.

"So, it was a volcanic eruption hat caused the Doom," Prince Oberyn observed, poking at the hardened lava resting against one of the houses.

"What in the gods' names is a…volcanes….whatever the fuck you said?" Small Jon mumbled, staring down at the hardened lava, poking it with the tip of his sword.

"A volcano is a fissure in the surface of the planet leading down to a pocket of molten rock, magma or lava if you will," Nox explained, taking a moment to further examine the immediately area in as much detail as he could. "Over time, pressure from natural gasses will build up beneath the fissure and eventually the fissure will rupture, spewing forth the magma, volcanic ash, and gasses that'd been pressurizing beneath the surface. A small eruption can affect anything with a mile or so of the eruption point. However, a large-scale eruption can affect everything within several leagues. Falling ash thick enough to choke a man. Lava running across the ground hot enough to burn a man to death just from passing too close by. Falling rocks and melted stone larger than a carriage falling from the sky. What happened here was no doubt a large-scale eruption."

Everyone, including Prince Oberyn, stopped and stared at him. "Are you sure you have never been to the Citadel, Sorcerer?" Oberyn asked, shaking his head. "You speak with the knowledge of an Archmaester who has forged enough chains to weigh a man down."

"If…If such a thing caused the Doom…then are we safe even standing here?" Eddard Karstark asked uneasily. "What if this…eruption thing happens again?"

"Unlikely," Oberyn answered before he could. "A volcanic eruption on this size is believed to happen only once every several hundred years. At least that is the theory proposed by the most learned men in the Citadel and confirmed by scholars in Essos. So, there shouldn't be any concerns of us getting caught in another blast anytime soon. But…this cannot be all that caused the Doom."

"Why not?" Nox's acolyte asked, his tone curious. "It looks like everyone here died from exactly what Master Nox described."

"Because it is unlikely that a volcano caused the breaking of the peninsula," Nox answered. "There is only one other such recorded event similar in history. The tale of the Children of the Forest breaking the Arm of Dorne to try and prevent the First Men from crossing the land bridge from Essos to Westeros."

"So, you're saying someone broke the peninsula of Valyria just like the Children are said to have broken the Arm of Dorne," Prince Obery summarized. "An interesting theory, but one that you are not alone in thinking. One of the Archmaesters in the Citadel, Marwyn, brought forth that same theory some years ago. And he was nearly laughed out of the Citadel and strip of his chains just for suggesting it. But looking at this place, perhaps he truly was on to something."

This was not the first time Nox had heard of this Archmaester. 'Marwyn the Mage', Maester Luwin called him. A name he had garnered for his near obsessive research into the arcane arts. 'The more I hear of this particular Archmaester, the more I am inclined to invite him to Winterfell to speak with him. Or perhaps even make a trip to the Citadel. The library is said to be the only one that surpasses the library of Winterfell.' "Yes, I do believe that something caused the Doom, or at least kickstarted it."

"Then, why didn't they flee?" Jon asked. "I mean, they had to know something was going on. Couldn't they have outrun the eruption? And whatever or whoever caused it?"

"Possibly. But I think they had more on their minds than simply fleeing once whatever started the Doom happened." To accent his point, he pointed off to his right and with a gentle wave of the Force, created a small gust that parted the mist at least momentarily.

What was revealed made everyone gasp. And the few swords that were not drawn were suddenly pulled from their sheaths and held at the ready. Barely fifty paces away from them laying across the destruction of several stone buildings were the two dragon skeletons. At least he believed they were dragons given what he knew of the creatures. Each creature was nearly half the size of the Sea Wolf with a wingspan that could rival the great Northern ship. But what was most curious was not the fact that there were two dragon skeletons that had crashed into several homes and presumably died upon impact. No, what was most curious was the fact that one dragon clearly had the neck of the other in its powerful jaws and had not let go even as they crashed and died together.

"Put those down," Nox commanded. "They're dead. And even if they were not, I doubt simple swords and clubs would be enough to even make those things blink."

Keeping his spear held level, Oberyn moved through the ash towards the two skeletons. "They were battling one another," he noted, coming to the same conclusion as Nox. "Civil unrest and infighting during a volcanic eruption…I wish I could say I am surprised. But what little history remains of the Valyrian Freehold would say that this would be a normal occurrence."

Turning around, he motioned towards the dozen sailors that were trailing behind the main group. "You lot stay here at the docks. Do not venture beyond eyesight of one another. And whatever you do: do not touch anything with your bare hands. Not until we have a chance to examine it better. And keep an eye on the Lannister. Should things go tits up, we might need to awake him for his sword arm if nothing else.""

The men nodded, needing little encouragement after seeing the corpses of the two dragons, before backtracking the short distance to the boats. Down nearly a quarter of their manpower, Nox took a pause to search the area once again. This time he was focused more of his power into the buildings, piercing through the strange stone that seemed almost resistant to the Force. And then he felt it. A slight resonance within the Force that nearly had him jump in surprise. 'How could this be?'

"This is strange," Prince Oberyn observed, his gaze pointed skywards as if he were trying to pierce the darkness looming over their heads.

"No shite," Small Jon muttered, shaking his head. "We're standing in the middle of fucking Valyria of all places…what hasn't been strange so far?"

"Not that," Prince Oberyn shot back hotly before pausing and recollecting himself. "Well, in part it is that. But listen. What do you hear?"

The rest of the expedition stopped in their tracks and turned their heads skywards. "I don't hear a fuckin thing," Small Jon muttered, breaking the silence.

"Exactly," Oberyn stated as if it were the most obvious thing. "No birds. No wind. No creatures scuttering about. No rippling of the water. Nothing. Even on our way through the cursed land to reach this city we could still hear the sound of wildlife. But here, here there is nothing but silence."

Nox was seriously starting to like the Prince of Dorne. The man appeared carefree and reckless. But, in reality, he had a very keen mind that made him dangerous both on and off the field of battle. And while he might not be exactly what Nox was looking for in an ideal rival to keep him sharp, he was close. "Jon," Nox called out to his acolyte. "Reach out with your senses and search for anything in the area that feels…off."

His acolyte gave him a quick nod before shutting his eyes. Nox could feel the young man reach out through the Force, grabbling blindly as he tried searching for anything. 'Going to need to work on this more.' Nox thought with a frown as he watched Jon search through the Force. 'He's reaching blindly. Searching without a pattern and backtracking over himself without even realizing it. At this rate, I'm going to have to forcibly direct him in the location of the resonance if I want us to keep moving at a reasonable pace.'

Just as he was about to do just that, he felt Jon's senses sharpen as he honed his attention onto the resonance Nox had found. "There," he said, pointing towards the resonance with his eyes still closed. "There…There is something in that direction."

"Well done," Nox commented as Jon opened his eyes, a swell of pride coming from his acolyte. "But your searching was faulted. You backtracked over yourself multiple times. You need to work on developing a search pattern when you reach out through the Force, otherwise you will never find anything that isn't sticking out like a sore thumb. Now, let's keep moving. Jon, you're on point with me."

Setting off down the street, or at least what was left of the street, Nox and the others nearly had to high step as they trudged through several hundred years of dirt and volcanic ash that'd only semi-hardened over the years. 'It's almost as if this place has been frozen in time. But the barrier we passed through wasn't near strong enough to cause such an effect. Yet, this place is so remarkably well preserved.'

As if to prove his point, as they passed by an alley the group pulled to a stop as Dacey let out a light gasp. Tucked against the wall of a building was a skeleton that was clutching another skeleton close to its chest. "A young woman, judging by the structure of the hips. And child in her arms." Oberyn observed, using his spear tip to lift the gilded collar around the skeleton's neck which, amazingly, did not cause the skeleton to crumble. "A slave. But the child doesn't wear a collar."

"She was protecting the child," Dacey said mournfully before whispering a prayer to the old gods under her breath. "Let's…Let's move. No point in standing around with our thumb up our asses."

"Oh, interesting. Didn't realize that sort of thing interested you, my beautiful she-bear."

Rolling her eyes, Dacey waved her mace just under the Prince's nose. "Keep those thoughts in your heard Viper, or my mace will find its way up your ass."

That was the wrong thing to say as Oberyn merely winked at the young woman. "Well, I'm usually the 'giver' in such situations my dear. But I am not opposed to be a 'receiver' in the right company. And if such a thing truly interests you, I might just be willing to make that exception. Though, we might want to find something smaller. I understand pleasure houses in Yunkai have these wooden polished fake phalluses that women can wear around their waist for such occasions."

The half of Dacey's face that was visible above her leather mask went red as she tried to stammer a reply, only to come up short as several of the men chuckled or gave her wolf-whistles, making the she-bear glare at them threateningly before holding her head high and purposefully marching away from them. Nox allowed the moment of levity to go. Given the situation they were in, and just where they were, a bit of humor wasn't the worst thing for the men and women currently under his command.

After nearly an hour of trudging through the ruined city, the expedition found themselves before a dome structure that, like the rest of Valyria, had seen better days. 'But what better days they were,' Nox thought, marveling at the architecture as he led the group up the stairs towards a towering set of double doors that were left ajar. 'The strange Force-touched black stone. The masonry. All of it: it's extraordinary! And even more so due to it being built by hand instead of with machines. It's still so remarkable to me…just what works of art this world can create without the use of droids or advance building techniques.'

Walking through the doors, Nox paused as he turned his head skywards. The room they'd walked into was about half the size of Republic Senate chambers, making it almost ridiculously massive even by this world's standards. Around the edges of the room were columns of black stone statues, separated out evenly to provide both support to what was once the roof, as well as to add an artistic flare to the room as each column was carved into the visage of beyond beautiful human men and women standing in heroic or suggestive possess. And on the far side of the chamber, sitting upon a dais that rose nearly twenty feet from the main floor, were a set of seven chairs, evenly spaced from one another. No doubt a throne, but for seven chairs…and despite most being little more than piles of rubble, each was just as extravagant as the last. No more, no less. And below the main dais, spaced out amongst the pillars on lower platform, were thirty-three other seats that, while less extravagant than the ones one the highest dais, were still of high quality.

'I suppose what I read was true,' Nox thought as he took a single stepping into what he assumed was once the massive throne room of the Valyrian Freehold. 'Valyria wasn't rule by a single ruler. But rather by a set of Archons that oversaw the other dragonlords. Impressively forward of them. Almost like Volanits.'

Another step and Nox felt it. The unmistakable Force presence that he, and he alone, was uniquely qualified to deal with. "Stop," he commanded, holding out his hand and stopping the rest of the expedition from entering the hall. "Whatever you hear or see, none of you will take a single step into this hall until I say otherwise. Understood?"

There was mumbling from the expedition, but none dared question him. Especially after he sent a small bolt of lightning that struck the floor right near where Jon Snow had been about to step. "That means you as well, Jon," he said and then took his attention off the expedition and onto the hall before him. "You are not ready yet to deal with what is to come. And the rest of you, honestly, you'd just get in my way."

Walking into the middle of the room alone, Nox waited as he felt the familiar Force presence start to gather itself at what it felt to be an intruder. A loud cracking cut through the silence of Valyria, giving Nox more than ample opportunity to sidestep as one of the columns behind and off to his side broke loose from the floor and ceiling and flew towards him like a spear. Letting the projectile fly uselessly past him, he traced the ambient Force signature until he found what he was looking for.

"Oh, no, you don't," he grinned, holding his right hand out, his fingers curled inwards as if grasping onto something. "Time to reveal yourself, apparition."

A low moaning howl reverberated through Nox's very bones as light and dark mist materialized atop the tallest dais in front of the center chair. Within a heartbeat, where there was once nothing, a semi-translucent being appeared and immediately fell forward onto its hands and knees as it gasped desperately. "Impressive," Nox noted, lowering his hand having completed the first aspect of the Force Walking technique. "I did not realize that the Force sensitivity in this land had developed to the point where one could reject joining the Force after shedding their mortal coil…or did you?"

Watching curiously, Nox kept himself ready to act as the spirit rose to its knees and stared down dumbly at its hands. For a time, the spirit said nothing and did nothing as it just sat there, staring at itself as if trying to understand just what had happened. "How long?"

The question was simple, yet full of anguish. "Four hundred years, give or take a decade or two."

The apparition disappeared, only to reappear less than a few paces before Nox. "You…I know not what you did, yet for the first time since my death, my mind is clear," the ghost stated. "Yet I know not from where you hail. You are not Valyrian. Nor are you from any region of Essos. Sothoryos, perhaps? But your magic, Asshai?"

"Neither," Nox countered. "I am a wanderer with a particular set of skills that is far, far away from anywhere I would consider home."

The spirit seemed to accept that. "Then, perhaps, you would tell me…Did any of the dragon lords make it out?"

"No. All those that were within the city or even the peninsula died during what has now been called the Doom of Valyria," he answered, seeing no reason to beat around the bush with the spirit. In his experience, telling anything but the explicit truth to a spirit never really ended all that well for any party involved.

"Then our failure is complete," the spirit mourned, turning away sorrowfully. "I am Archon Dracequitem, leader of the Archons of the Valyrian Empire…or at least I was. Not much of an Empire now, is it? I would know the name of the man who gave me peace after so long, and his companions as well. They have no need to fear my losing control."

"Darth Nox," he introduced himself while motioning for the rest of the expedition to enter, which they did with no small amount of trepidation. After all, it wasn't every day that one has an encounter with an actual spirit of the dead, let alone one that belonged to a long lost dragonlord of Valyria. To be on the safer side of things, however, Nox carefully wove a barrier around Jon to protect his identity. The last thing he needed right now was for the spirit to recognize the ancestry in Jon and say something about it. "The 'Northern Sorcerer', as some have decided to call me. Currently in service to Lord Eddard Stark, Warden of the North."

"Stark?" the Archon stated, its attention shifting off Nox and onto the rest of the expedition that dared to approach, namely the Lords and Ladies that were with him, before settling on Jon. His attention focused on the pendant Jon wore on his chest that Ned had given him for his last name day. "You, boy. You wear the sigil of the Kings of Winter. Be you a son of the Starks?"

Jon, not expecting to suddenly be called upon, started. "Um, aye," he muttered. "I – I mean, I'm…I'm Lord Stark's bastard son."

"Bastard means nothing," the Archon replied dismissively. "You are a son of the Kings of Winter. That is all that—wait. You said, 'Lord Stark', not 'King Stark'. And you, sorcerer, referred to him as the 'Warden of the North'. Not the 'King of the North'. Why?"

"Fucking Targaryens, that's why," Small Jon spat, drawing the attention of the specter.

"The Targaryens? Why would those upstarts have anything to do with why the Kings of Winter no longer have their title?" the Archon asked, clearly curious.

"Because a hundred years after the fall of Valyria, Aegon Targaryen and his sister-wives took their dragons and conquered Westeros one kingdom at a time," Nox answered.

The spirit of the Archon stayed silent as he absorbed the information. "Ha. We must have greatly overestimated the strength of Westeros then if that pathetic House was able to conquer the whole continent with but three dragons. But how did the Targaryens managed to get the Kings of Winter to kneel? Did the next generation marry to solidify the alliance? Or did those idiotic fools continue their ill-advised practice of fucking within the family to keep their blood 'pure'?"

"No," Jon answered, his eyes downcast much like the rest of the northerners. "The King of the North at the time knelt to prevent his men from being bathed in dragon fire."

Deciding to head off more questions, Nox launched into an abridge history of the Seven Kingdoms from the time of Aegon the Conqueror to the fall of the Targaryen Dynasty. By the time he'd finished, the Archon's spirit had noticeably dimmed. "So, those fools not only failed in the one task they were given before setting out for Westeros, over the course of three hundred years they managed to lose their magic and their dragons. And now the last ember of Valyria now resides in two children on the run and alone in Essos. Pathetic." The Archon growled.

"What was the one task that was given to House Targaryen?" Nox asked as he started to struggle to keep the spirit solidified. They would have to make this quick. "As far as history states, House Targaryen left Valyria of their own accord after Daenys the Dreamer predicted the fall of Valyria to her family."

"And your history is only partially true," the Archon sighed. "This was not common knowledge, but with our Empire nothing more than dust on the pages of history, I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. But the dragon lords were losing their magic. Each subsequent generator being born progressively weaker in terms of magic. And because of this weakening, our holds on our dragons, our greatest strength, was weakening. Where normally a rider could last their lifetime before the mind of the dragon overtook their own, now a rider could only bind for a decade, maybe two, before the link had to be forcibly severed and transferred to a new rider."

Pausing, the Archon turned his back on the group and walked a few paces towards the dais before continuing. "Valyria grew strong not because we decimated or subdued our enemies but rather, we grew strong because we took what made our enemies strong and incorporated it into ourselves. Usually through marriage. A lesson the Targaryens failed to realize. As our powers began to decay, we recognized the need to bring new, powerful magic blood into the line of the dragon lords. And there was only one line that was considered that would be beneficial to us. The one line that kept an invasion of the Western continent from happening; the Kings of Winter, the Starks. We sent out the Targaryens with the hope that they would negotiate with the Kings of Winter for a bride that would become the wife to my son. And that through that union, we would create a new generation of dragon riders that were hopefully not as susceptible to pull of the dragon's mind. It was hoped that by going through marriage, we could avoid a repeat of the bloodshed that transpired when we tried to bring the Rhoynar under our rule and gain obtain their water magic."

"Wait," Prince Oberyn said, stepping forward and catching the attention of the specter. "You mean to say that the reason for the Second Spice War was because you wanted the magic of the Rhoynar? And you wanted to take the women and men as your…breeding stock?"

The specter nodded. "Yes. And for a time, it worked. The water magic of the Rhoynar helped to stabilize the fire that came from binding a dragon to a rider. We still lament that your ancestor, Nymeria, escaped our grasp. What an Archon of Valyria she would've made. But while the war was bloody and almost pointless as the ones who survived barely had any magic talent, it did teach us a valuable lesson. Which was why we decided to try a gentler hand with the Kings of the North." Sighing, the spirt shook his head. "But there was another idea that was brought forth at the same time by those who were not willing to wait. A blood ritual that would require the sacrifice of thousands to reignite our magic back to its former glory. But the idea was shot down due to the unpredictable and potentially violent nature of the ritual in question. However, it appears that we should have shut the notion down harder than we did."

Nox immediately connected the dots. "The one who proposed the ritual went ahead with it, anyway, didn't they?"

"Yes," the Archon nodded. "His plan was perfect. He waited until all the dragon lord families had gathered in the capital, and then he and his acolytes went into a ritual chamber within the Fourteen Flames and performed their sacrifice. The magical backlash from the sacrifices caused all the volcanos to become active and erupt nearly simultaneously. But that was only the first problem. The moment the ritual was completed, and the destruction began, those of us with sufficient power could sense the true purpose behind the ritual."

"The warlock, or sorcerer, or however you want to title him wanted to absorb the souls of not only those he sacrificed, but all of those in Valyria as well," Nox stated, surprising the Archon and drawing more than a few sharp looks from those around him.

"You are very knowledgeable, sorcerer," the archon nodded slowly.

"Amongst my people, I was the head of Ancient Knowledge and charged with the safeguarding of the secrets of my order," Nox replied. "And my people had a variation of the ritual you described. To our knowledge, it has only been successfully used once. And the effort it took to bring that bastard down is, well, let's just say you cannot imagine just what it took to bring an end to him."

"Yes, I can only imagine," the Archon nodded. "When his intent became clear, those of us with the power to do anything were left with a choice. Try and protect the lives of our people, or their souls."

"The barrier," Nox deduced. "It wasn't to keep anything out necessarily. It was to ensure that the one who did the ritual would not be able to claim the souls of the dead and thereby exponentially increasing his power."

The Archon again nodded. "You are correct. We were able to save the souls of our people, but we were not able to save their lives. The ritual… The sorcerer who performed it… It effected more than just the land. It affected our dragons as well. Severing the connections between rider and dragon, our beasts went feral and began attacking anything and everything that moved. Add to the destruction with the eruption of the Fourteen Flames, and it truly was the end of our great Empire."

Remaining silent, Nox gave the spirit a moment to compose itself. "While this will be of little comfort, I am here for the sole purpose of destroying the one that caused the Doom and brough an end to your people."

That got the spirit's attention. "I doubt that is your only purpose here, sorcerer," the Archon countered and sighed. "You seek the secrets of our people. Our steel. Our magic. And our gold."

"Yes," Nox nodded, not bothering to hide it. "The lost knowledge of your people can go a long way to advancing the world at large. And I am a sucker for lost knowledge you could say. And as for the gold and Valyrian steel, well, you can consider them payments for getting rid of the being that killed you and continues to haunt this land."

The spirit appeared to think it over. "Not like I can stop you. And I'd much rather our legacy and knowledge return to the world than rot." Turning, the Archon pointed towards the dais. "Upon the center chair in the base, there is a hidden chamber. Within is a key that will open the vault in the lower levels of the palace. It may take some work to reach the vault…but, within, you will find all that you seek. Our lost knowledge. Steel. And gold. It is yours…should you swear to me now that you will end the creature that caused our destruction."

"You have my word, Archon Dracequitem. The one who brought about the Doom shall not exist to torment you or your people any longer."

"Then I shall see if your word is good soon enough," the Archon said, accepting his oath. "But if you truly intend to end the one who did this…then you will need aid. For he will call forth his own companion, even from the grave, to fight against you."

"I'll take all the help I can get, Archon," Nox agreed. "Let's hear what you have to say."