Song of A Northern Sorcerer

Even with the light of nearly a dozen torches to help guide their way, Jon still had to squint into the darkened corridor to have even the slightest of hopes of seeing where they were heading. And he knew the others were having the same problem as he with the darkness. All except Master Nox of course. There were times when Jon truly envied the fact that his Master didn't need to use his eyes to see. Not that Jon would ever want to go without his eyes. But still, to be able to see the world around them as Master Nox did, even for a day, would be an experience.

"Alright," Small Jon growled, drawing attention to himself as Master Nox continue to lead them down through the lower levels of the palace, pausing only even now and then to clear debris from their path with Jon's help. "Am I the only one who thinks that us talking to a fucking ghost of a gods damned dragon lord was fucking…strange?"

Ahead of them, Master Nox chuckled as he moved yet another pile of debris, this time a section of wall the size of a carriage, out of their path with barely a flick of his wrist. "Finding and talking to the ghost of a four-hundred-year-old dragon lord doesn't even enter the top ten of strange shit that has happened in my life, Lord Umber."

"Ugh, forget I said anything then," Small Jon mumbled, holding his torch higher above his head to try and let the light shine farther. "Hells, how deep does this fucking place go? And the fuck is the damn vault that…ghost…thing…was talking about?"

"We haven't even gone that far down, Small Jon," Nox stated before stopping suddenly. "But to answer your question: right here."

Turning and facing the direction of his Master, Jon found himself facing a section of wall that was covered with multiple dragons that'd been etched into the black stone wall. Focusing through the Force, Jon could just barely make out the edges of what appeared to be a door and the vast room that lay beyond.

"So, this is the vault, huh?" Prince Oberyn half questioned as he stepped up and began running his fingers along the wall trying to find the edges of the door that was all but invisible. "I trust your judgement, sorcerer, but how do you intend to open this…door, without the key that ghost told us about?"

"This vault has been through earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and four hundred years of disuse, Prince Oberyn," Lord Nox lectured. "Do you really think the locking mechanism still works after all of that?"

"Fair point," Prince Oberyn agreed, stepping away. "Question still stands, though. How do you plan on opening the door?"

Merely giving a smirk in response, Lord Nox stepped back away from the section of wall and motioned for everyone else to do the same. Once clear, Nox raised his hand, palm towards the wall. Jon could feel the pressure building from the Force as the wall groaned loudly before something snapped and the section of wall jerked away from its holdings only to hover in the air for a moment or two before Nox carelessly tossed the door, its frame, and even sections of the wall off to the side.

It took a moment for Jon's eyes to adjust to the dim light, but as he got a good look within the vault, he felt his jaw just about hit the floor. The vault, although Jon wasn't sure if it truly deserved to be called that, was nearly the size of the great hall in Winterfell! And there were more shelves within the room than the Winterfell's library! And each shelf was full of jewels and books. And interspersed throughout all the shelves were manikins wearing armor that had the same distinctive Valyrian steel coloring. And there were also dozens, maybe even hundreds, of Valyrian steel weapons of just about every type Jon could name! Swords, spears, axes, maces, shields…name it and it was appeared to be in the vault and made of Valyrian steel. And that was just from what he could see from the entrance.

"Holy…Seven's hairy ball sack."

"Eloquent as always, my large friend." Prince Oberyn remarked, shooting the Small Jon a look out of the corner of his eye while keeping his attention firmly on the treasure before them. "But your point is well made."

"Well," Lord Nox called out, stepping into the vault. "What are you all waiting for? This is why you all came with me on this crazy adventure, is it not?"

The sailors, Lords, and Ladies did not need telling twice as they all rushed into the opened vault with such speed that Jon was sure there were dust clouds forming behind them. He could hear cheers coming from all the men and women as they pulled Valyrian steel weapons off the shelves, lifted Valyrian armor off manikins, and dug their hands through chests full of gold coins. A not so small part of Jon itched to join in with the revelry, but he resisted the impulse and stayed by his Master's side as Lord Nox calmly and slowly made his way between the shelves of the vault, all but ignoring the treasures around him.

"Tell me, acolyte, do you sense anything from within this room that resonates with you?"

The sudden question caught Jon off guard, especially as he had been staring longingly at a Valyrian hand-and-a-half blade that was nearly screaming for him to take it up. Forcing his attention away from the sword, Jon instead focused inwards before letting his senses flow out like ripples in a pond. "There's…There's something in that direction," he stated, pointing towards and frowning at the strange sensation.

"Very good," Lord Nox congratulated him as he led the two of them in the direction Jon had sensed the disturbance from.

In the end, it turned out to be a series of shelves twice as tall as Jon and spanning the length of five horses. And on each shelve, situated carefully with a holder, were gems nearly the size of his fist. If Jon thought the wealth that he saw at the entrance to the vault was something, this shelve completely outdid everything he'd seen so far. Granted, the only jewels he'd ever seen were the few gems and that decorated the necklaces and bracelets that were owned by Lady Stark. But none of those were any bigger than this thumb at best!

"Before you get the wrong idea, these are not diamonds, rubies, emeralds, or any other type of valuable stone. These are manmade crystals, forged in the heat of the Fourteen Flames or perhaps with the aid of dragon fire. But their worth is not material…but rather…that they are imbued with the Force. Hmm…I wonder. Just how advanced Force-wise were these Valyrian Dragon Lords?" Lord Nox cut in, raising his hand and using the Force to pull one of the crystals off the shelf so he could examine it.

Jon honestly didn't know what to make of the strange crystals. To him, they looked expensive, but that was about it. Sure, he could feel something…off about them when he focused on them through the Force. But that was it. His Master however, he was holding the crystals as if they were a newborn babe.

"Should have figured that a man of your tastes would forgo all the gold, jewels, and rare steel, and head straight over to the books. Although…considering what is before you…perhaps you do have an eye for valuables, no?"

Jon just barely managed to keep himself from jumping into action as Prince Oberyn came up to them. 'Force, I don't understand just how the Prince can do that!' Jon cursed at not having sensed the Prince of Dorne's approach. 'Master Nox says that he has some Force sensitivity, not enough to be trained like myself or the others. But he still has some skill. And that even without proper instruction, he'd managed to turn his slight Force-sensitivity to his advantage, which also help make him one of the most dangerous fighters in the world.'

"Not all valuable treasure can be measured in gold and jewels, Oberyn," Lord Nox said, seemingly not put off in the slightest at the Prince's sudden arrival. "In fact, I would argue that the treasure that cannot be measured in terms of monetary gain is the most valuable of all."

"Tell that to the others," Prince Oberyn smirked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "Small Jon has gone through four damn claymores. Each time he finds a bigger one, he discards the one he has and grabs the next one. I swear he's trying to compensate for something. The she-bear is scrounging through maces trying to find one she likes, and Asha is currently deciding between two different axes, though I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to claim both as her own."

"And I see that you didn't waste time, either."

Jon's eyes widened as he finally noticed the spear in the Prince's hand. One that he had not come ashore with. The pole was nearly as tall as the Prince and one end was adorned with a long-curved blade nearly the length of a man's arm with the other was topped with a spike. The blade and spike were both made of Valyrian steel and the pole had, if his eyes weren't deceiving him, Valyrian steel inlaid within the wood. "Yes," the Prince nodded, holding the spear aloft and admiring the weapon. "I have great plans for this beauty… Great plans, indeed."

"Plans that do not pertain to our current arrangement and can wait until we are clear of this land."

The Prince looked affronted as Lord Nox placed the crystal back on the shelf. "My dear sorcerer, revenge is like a sweet wine. One that is to be savored over a long period. Not rushed and gulped down in one go."

"I cannot argue with you on that point," Lord Nox shrugged, shocking Jon slightly with just how…sincere he sounded. "But there is a time and a place for such thoughts, and this is neither the time nor the place. We have work to do. All of us."

"True enough." Oberyn nodded, looking around the vast darkened room. "Even if we load each of the boats to the point where they nearly submerge themselves, I doubt we will even be able to take a quarter of what is in here."

"At best," Lord Nox agreed as Jon moved himself back away from the two men. "I need youto assemble the men into two groups. The first is to start locating chest, trunks, sacks; whatever they can find and begin collecting things from the vault. As tempting as it might sound to them, gold takes the least priority here. There are things far more valuable in this vault and the gold will just weigh us down. The second group will scavenge the docks to try and find anything that might be seaworthy or working to make something seaworthy. We only get one shot at taking as much from here as we can. Once we reach the Sea Wolf, we will not be returning to this land. At least not for some time."

Prince Oberyn seemed confused, as did Jon if he were being honest. "Two things, sorcerer. Why would we leave such a large amount of treasure behind? It may take some time to transfer all of this to your ship, but surely now that you know the route through the waterway and we are aware of the dangers, such a return trip will not be as difficult as the first?"

Master Nox didn't answer immediately as he held the Prince of Dorne in a sightless stare, one that Jon had been under more than a few times during his tutelage. And just like Jon, it did not take long for even the Prince of Dorne to begin fidgeting uncomfortably. "Tell me, Oberyn, do you remember the first man who died on this expedition?"

Jon swallowed hard as the memory came back to him. "Of course," the Prince nodded. "He started ranting about hearing some maiden's song and jumped off the boat and got swallowed whole by that massive sea turtle."

"And since that time, I have been actively shielding your mind, as well as the minds of everyone else that is with us." Master Nox said, making the Prince of Dorne blink and raise a hand to his head. "The land itself is tainted. That man did not suddenly go mad, nor was he just hearing things. His mind was the weakest of the bunch and therefore the easiest to manipulate, and that led to his death. Since then, I have been shielding all your minds to prevent such an occurrence from happening again. But such a thing is taxing, and none of us are immune, not even Jon nor me. Given enough time in this land, all of us will go mad and attack one another just as has happened to every other expedition that has been launched in the past. Which is another reason why I am so interested in the Lannister we recovered. His mind, despite spending a year in this place, is still relatively intact. Such a phenomenon must be observed carefully and studied. And then there is the dangers we faced coming here. Again, the only reason why we were not attacked more frequently is because of my, and to a lesser extend Jon's, presence. And while you might not have realized it due to the lack of sun, it took us several days of rowing upriver to reach this port. And there were multiple channels and divergent streams that we could easily turn down that would lead us to our doom. So, having said all that Prince Oberyn, is your want of adventure so great that you are ready and willing to risk such a venture multiple time over?"

"Your point is…well made," Prince Oberyn agreed after only a moment's hesitation to think on what Lord Nox had said. "But to the second point, this is your expedition, sorcerer. Why do I have to be the one to organize the tedious part of it?"

"Because Jon and I both have tasks of our own that we need to see to," Lord Nox replied, making Jon start. "And of everyone here, I trust a learned man like yourself to understand the difference between items of true value and those that only give the illusion of value."

"Well," Prince Obery said slowly, drawing himself up so he stood taller. "When you put it like that…I guess I have my work ahead of me then. Good luck on…whatever crazy agenda you and that young boy have planned, sorcerer. I'll make sure to hold the boats until you return. Don't want to leave without our shield, after all."

The moment the Prince of Dorne left them alone, Jon immediately turned on his mentor. "Lord Nox, are…are we going after the one who caused the Doom?"

"I am," Lord Nox nodded, casting one last glance towards the crystals lining the wall. "You, however, will not. I have a different task in mind for you. A Trial, so to speak. Should you succeed, then you will officially become my apprentice, Jon Snow."

Jon stared dumbly at his mentor as his mind tried to process what he'd just been told. When he first started training himself and Robb, he had explained the ranks of the Sith and Jedi Orders with the best approximate comparisons that Westeros had of each level. An acolyte could be considered a page, an apprentice a squire, a Lord of the Sith a knight. And if one were to reach the rank of Darth, then they would be comparable to the Kingsguard. 'Apprentice, Lord Nox's squire…How many would do anything to have such and honor…and it is almost mine!'

"What is my task, my Master?"

Motioning for Jon to follow, Nox led the two of them towards the exit of the vault. Jon's fingers itched to grab hold of some of the Valyrian steel weapons and armor that the others were going through, but he fought that impulse and focused on following Lord Nox. And it was a good thing that he had, as his Master had begun talking to him just as they were passing by the others. "The spirit of that fallen archon had stated that there will be something we need in the fight to come. Something that will help to firmly tilt the scales of battle in our favor. You are going to collect this item while I go and confront the one who brought about the Doom. And you will do so alone. Succeed, and you will earn your place as my official apprentice."

Listening carefully, Jon committed every word his Master said as to just what his task would entail.

As he descended through the darkness into the depths of Valyria, Nox let his hand run across the wall of corridor while feeling every inch he could through the Force. The familiar cold, the despair of the dark side, increasing with each step he took. Letting his head lull to the side, he took a moment to bask in the familiar cold, the hatred, the anger. It was disconcerting. But at the same time soothing in a familiar way. For it was in the darkness, alone, that Nox was made. In the deep of the mines belonging to his first master while he was still but a slave boy. For a long time, and even now, the darkness was all he knew. His time with Ashara, with Nyra, had given him a taste of the light. A taste he thoroughly enjoyed. But the darkness would always be his home.

His journey to this cavern was not easy nor quick. The Fourteen Flames were a fair distance from the actual city of Valyria. And seeing as how there were no rivers for his to boat down nor any creatures easily available for him to ride, he was stuck walking. Or rather running. And even then, after reaching the base of the Fourteen Flames, many of which had been destroyed during the massive eruptions four centuries earlier, finding the ritual chamber was not simple. Although, that wasn't necessarily true. It was easy to find the general location of the ritual chamber given the heavy concentration of dark side energy surrounding it but getting there was difficult considering he had to remove centuries of rocks and landscape that'd covered the entry way. And if that wasn't bothersome enough, the land around Valyria seemed to have become infested with strange slug-like creatures that reminded him greatly of Kor'slugs from Korriban. Troublesome, pack-ambush hunters, and vicious against anything that entered their territory.

Feeling the ground leveling out under his feet, Nox found himself before a towering set of stone double doors that were nearly three times his own height and, judging by the feel of the door beneath his fingertips, covered in runes of varying styles though there was a distinct lack of Force presence within the runes. Meaning they were more for show than anything else. 'Although from what I've seen of these dragon lords, I shouldn't be surprised. They did seem to adore showing status, even if all their posturing meant next to nothing in the grand scheme of things.'

Letting his hand fall, Nox went for the simplest means of opening the heavy doors. Which was by throwing them open with a Force Push hard enough to knock them off their hinges and fall inwards. Stepping into the ritual chamber, Nox could immediately feel the pressing weight of the dark side that was not his own press down in his mind, trying to dominate his very being as the lost soul that died in this chamber centuries ago cried out in agony and pain. Lessening his shielding on those that came with him, Nox reinforced his own mind and kept striding into the middle of the darkened circular ritual room. "Trying to dominate my mind already, tsk tsk… Not a very good way to make a first impression."

The darkness pressing on his mind receded slightly. "Who…are…you?" A disembodied voice reverberating in the dark side called out to him.

Holding his hand aloft, Nox waited with the patience of a fisherman as he searched the room for his prey. Feeling something brush by the edges of his power, Nox closed his hand, grabbing the presence in a Force Binding and forcing it to the ground before him. "Ah! What have you done?" the presence screamed as Nox contained the entity, forcing the miasma that encompassed the being to condense, forming into the shape of a man that could make even the withered husk seem attractive in comparison.

"Sorry about that." Nox shrugged as the being tried to disembody itself again, only to find it unable to do so. "Yeah, that's not going to work anymore. See, I prefer being able to talk face to face and eye to eye with an individual. Well, maybe not so much 'eye to eye', but you get my drift."

The pressure on his mind increased as the entity tried to push its influence. "Who are you?" the entity screamed as the pressure continued to increase, making Nox want to submit. "You are no Dragon Lord! Yet you stand before me like you think you are my equal! Submit! And tell me your name!"

When Nox had first left Korriban, that might've worked. But that was neither here nor there. He was now older and far wiser than the naive apprentice he was when under Darth Zash. During the short trip to the ritual chambers from the Archon's Throne, Nox had been preparing his mind for what he would face. And now the pressure was more of an annoyance than anything. Obviously, this creature had never had to deal with one on equal terms.

Sighing, Nox rolled his neck. "You mind stopping with the whole influencing shit? You can't influence me, no matter how much you try. I've had more than enough time to prepare myself for the likes of you."

The pressure increased tenfold as the entity launched one last mental assault at him. But the thing might as well have been throwing rocks at an Imperial Cruiser for all the good its attack did. "Hmm, interesting." The entity hummed, the pressure slowly ceasing. "You have power…but you are no dragon lord. You are lowborn, are you not? How pathetic must the times have come that the lowborn are the ones who are born with power? …Wait, no. You cannot be lowborn. You must come from a line of dragon lords… Could it be…It is. You are a descendant from the Targaryen upstarts, are you not? You have the look of one, despite not having any eyes to for me to see."

"I'm not a descendent from that incest ridden family," Nox denied, waving the suggestion off. "And as for being 'lowborn', I guess you can say I am. After all, I was born a slave before I broke my chains and made a name for myself."

"A slave?!" the entity shouted. "A slave dares to stand before a god of the dragon lords as if he is my equal?! I will smite you to all the hells for your blasphemy!"

Nox felt the buildup of power as clear as day. 'Primitives. No subtlety at all. They get the tiniest taste of true power and suddenly they think they are gods. How pathetic.' Rolling his wrist, Nox waited as the entity collected a whirling vortex dark side energy between its hands. As the vortex reached a critical mass, the entity threw it at Nox. Standing his ground, his hair and clothes fluttering against the wind created from the vortex, he waited until the attack was almost at him and then raised his hand and backhanded the sphere of energy away and into the wall where it dissipated with barely a flutter.

"Really? That's all you got?" he asked, shaking the minor sting out of his hand. "How pathetic. I didn't even need to exert myself at all to knock that pathetic attack away. Now, let me show you a true attack."

Force Lightning leapt forth from his fingertips. Traversing the distance between them in a blink of an eye and catching the entity full in the chest. The being didn't even have time to cry out as the lightning broke the entity down at the near-molecular level and disintegrating the body. A body which quickly began to reform the instant his attack ceased.

Across from him, the newly reformed entity began laughing. "Hahaha! Not bad, slave. That tickled! Hahaha, tell me, what is your name, slave? Perhaps I won't kill you, after all. No, one of your power deserves more than to just die. Instead, I will take you on as my disciple! Yes, you will be the disciple to the newly reborn Balerion! God of Valyria! Kneel, slave! And accept your new place at my si-"

Another blast of force lightning and the so-called god was once again destroyed. "Sorry, did I break your concentration?" Nox asked rhetorically as the would-be god reformed itself. "I must say, your definition of godhood must be severely lacking if you can consider yourself a 'god'. At best, I would consider you a lich. But, in reality, you are nothing more than a wound, a blight in the Force. One that I intend to cleanse."

Once fully reformed, the so-named Balerion tried to retaliate with an attack of his own, only for Nox to once again casually grab the attack with his bare hand and throw it back at the Wound, once again causing it to dissipate. "It seems we are at an impasse, slave," Balerion growled as he reformed yet again. "Your power is indeed incredible. I will even grant you the honor of staying that your power might even be near equal to my own. But that will not help you here. For I cannot die! How many times must I say it before you finally realize the futi-"

Crossing the distance between them, Nox snapped his lightsaber into his right hand, slashing across the entities chest as he passed him by, cutting him in two. "I should've expected as much from a slave. No class at all." Balerion sighed as the wound bisecting him healed over. "Your magic has failed you, so you resort to brute strength. How dull. But if this is the way you wish to die, then I will oblige your request."

Feeling a sensation through the Force, Nox leaned back just in time to have a sword pass by where his neck had been. Grasping the hand and a half sword out of the air, Balerion gave it a few experimental swings before settling into a stance. "It has been sometime since I held Dragon's Lament in my hand… Even longer since I quenched her thirst for slaves' blood. Yours shall suffice. But you will not die. No, you will have to suffer first. I believe I'll cut off your hands and feet. Then make you watch as I kill those you came with one by one as you sit there powerless to-"

"Spare me the bullshit doom and gloom," Nox interrupted with an annoyed sneer. "I care not for grandstanding. But if you are so sure in your victory, tell me something. How many slaves did you and your acolytes sacrifice here in this room to start your ritual?"

Balerion seemed taken aback by the abrupt change. His very being screaming his curiosity as it tried to piece together Nox's thought process for asking such a question. "A thousand," Balerion finally answered. "A thousand souls to bring forth their new god. My six acolytes were nearly bathing in their blood by the time they finished."

"And you of course told your acolytes that you would be sharing the power amongst yourself and them," Nox stated. "And they, foolishly, believed you and went along. Right up to the point where you turned the tide on them and killed them to act as the catalyst for your ritual. A ritual which brought about the Doom of Valyria."

"The 'Doom of Valyria'? No, I saved Valyria!" Balerioin shouted. "The foolish Archons believed that they knew the path forward! But they were blind! They could only see what they had! Not what they could become! The Dragon Lords had grown stagnant, our Empire faltering. New power was needed. A rebirth! The others couldn't see what I could! The old had to be burned away to make way for the new! A new empire! Ruled over by the God of Valyria reborn!"

"Yet that didn't happen. Your ritual failed." Nox cut in coldly. "I recognize what you were trying to accomplish here. You weren't after just the souls of these thousand slaves and your acolytes. No. You wanted to absorb the souls of all Valyria. Yet that didn't happen. You managed to destroy Valyria, yes. But like all who get a taste of true power, you didn't have a clue of what you were doing. And because of that, the ritual failed in allowing you to gain control of those who lost their lives. And not only did you fail in that regard, you also failed in containing the thousand souls sacrificed here in this chamber. Even now they are fighting within you, not allo—"

Ducking, Nox spun out of the way of the Valyrian steel blade that meant to cut him down. Pushing off the ground with his left hand while parallel to the ground, Nox spun in a tight roll, his lightsaber cutting through the back of Balerion as he quickly put distance between the two of them. "If you're going to try and launch a surprise attack while your opponent is speaking, you are going to have to do a lot better job than that. You were practically screaming your intent well before you even began shifting your weight to strike at me."

Whole once more, Balerion turned to him. "You think you know me, slave?! You think you know what happened during my ascension… You are nothing more than a foolish slave who does not deserve to breathe the same air as one as divine as myself!"

"Fuck, make up your mind already!" Nox cursed. "First you want to kill me. Then you want to make me your acolyte or prophet or whatever. And now you're back to wanting me dead. Make a decision and stick with it already, will you?!"

Letting out a cry, Balerion launched a flurry of overhead attacks in quick succession. Back peddling, Nox didn't bother blocking as he merely shifted his weight ever so slightly from left to right to avoid each downward blow. The moment Balerion overextended, Nox struck, slicing through the being's wrists and severing them before striking upwards, cutting through Balerion's neck and retreating to the far side of the chamber.

Twirling his lightsaber, Nox waited once more for Balerion to reform. "Well, I guess we're going to be at this all day, aren't we?" he asked rhetorically. "At least we'll finally be able to answer the age-old question of what happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force."

Rolling his head, Balerion let out a crude crackling laugh that echoed throughout the chamber. "You still haven't learned yet, slave? I cannot be killed! The only question that will be answered today is how long you will keep up this charade until I kill you."

Tightening his hold on his lightsaber, Nox settled into his Form III stance. "You can't die yet, that's true… But that's simply because I'm not ready to lose such an interesting opponent. But mark my words: before I leave this land, you will meet your end. 'God' of Valyria."

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