From the flame.
Rising toward the heights.
Raegon felt the weight of his limbs fall away, as though floating through an endless sea of warm air.
My past self certainly had a flair for theatrics, he thought, keeping his eyes squeezed shut.
When his boots finally felt solid stone beneath them, a thick, muscular coil brushed softly against his flank.
A chill ran down his spine.
He kept his eyelids pressed tight until long, slender whiskers lightly swept across his cheek.
Whiskers?
Raegon opened one eye by a slit.
Raegor stood before him.
Then he looked past the old beast, and his breath caught.
Seven suns rose together across the void, coalescing into the radiant form of an immense, celestial dragon.
Raegor flared his great wings instantly, sheltering the boy beneath his chest while baring his teeth in a low hiss at the blinding presence.
“Easy, grandfather,” Raegon said, lifting an arm against the glare.
The brilliance was unbearable; he shut his eyes once more and raised his voice into the empty expanse.
“That is me as well.”
The ancient beast let out a low rumble, adjusting its wings to block out the light and keep the boy safe in the shadow of its frame.
You have accepted this at last, my mortal self.
The voice resonated from deep within Raegon’s own chest.
“Not quite,” Raegon replied, shaking his head.
“I had planned to live an ordinary life without all this madness.”
Then why step into this pit?
The voice of the Sun-Shepherd held a faint, wry amusement.
You knew the wyrm-healing rite, binding blood and soul with a living dragon, was the key to unlocking your inheritance.
The moment you offered your blood to Raegor, the power sealed into your flesh.
Raegon scratched the back of his neck in mild confusion.
“I knew none of that.
I heard an old beast dying, remembered the rite, thought I could save him, and climbed down here.
That was all.”
A deep, echoing laugh shook the space, carrying satisfaction rather than malice.
As expected.
Since you have taken the power, you must bear the duty that follows.
Raegon’s shoulders dropped.
Sitting beneath the dragon’s wing, he rested his palm on the beast’s talon.
“To be honest, my past self, I rather resent you.
If not for your lingering soul, I would not have spent seven years lying in bed wondering who I was, terrified of what this inheritance might turn me into.”
Yet you cannot set it aside.
“I know,” Raegon said, crossing his arms and looking away from the blinding light.
“Purging the rot, cleansing corruption…
It is your
“Enough,” Raegon cut in.
He pushed past the wing, his amethyst and golden eyes looking directly into the brilliant shape.
Raegor pulled back his neck, keeping a wary eye on the glowing entity.
“Spare me the speeches about duty and ancient oaths.
You are me; you already know my mind,” Raegon said quietly.
“In this world, I have a family that loves and shields me.
If they protect me, I will protect them.”
Indeed, the voice answered, softer this time.
Look past this veil, and you will see your brother and sister throwing themselves against the wall of healing flame just to pull you out.
Raegon froze, his composed expression immediately collapsing.
I am going to catch a hiding for this, he realized with dread.
There goes any hope of keeping this quiet.
You intend to share your nature with mortals?
“Without them, I would have died before the power ever woke,” Raegon said with a sigh.
“I meant to keep it hidden until I mastered every craft, but…”
Mortal vessel, you underestimate the origin of our strength.
It is the legacy of the Astral Dragonlord, our progenitor, the supreme master of the starlit abyss.
Even within this fractured, mortal song, the power requires no clumsy mortal practice.
“Right,” Raegon muttered, rolling his eyes.
“Are we finished?
I would rather not spend another minute in this dream.”
The radiant dragon fell silent.
Then, looking down upon the vigilant old beast, its voice swelled, echoing across the boundless cosmic expanse.
The composition supporting this realm has been touched by the rotting core that fell across the void.
Creature of flame, triumph of mortal ambition over the unseen, dragon known as Raegor.
You have taken the blood of the Astral Lord’s line; you shall serve as the sword of his child.
Honor his mercy, the first traveler across the dark, guide of fate and time.
Your destiny is rewritten.
Shed the dead scales; let new bronze and gold take form.
Return, sovereign of the sky.
Your flight has only begun.
Raegor lowered his broad head in silent reverence.
A sharp roar tore through the void.
Could you not warn a person before doing that?
Raegon cursed inwardly as the expanse shook.
I am seven namedays old!
Laughter rolled through the collapsing space. Find the original chapter at g.com.
We are one and the same from this day forth; what need is there for warnings?
Take this final gift and return.
Before Raegon could curse again, a cascade of voices flooded his mind.
Instead of driving him into darkness, the tide of knowledge sharpened his senses, settling into his blood like an ancient cadence.
A verse echoed through his mind:
Child of the sun, child of man.
You shall witness life torn from the ashes of death, drive the chariot of the sun across the border of ice and fire, and leave the marks of war upon the earth.
You shall witness the fall of an ancient age and shape the rising of a dynasty.
You shall take up the roaring blade once more and sever the tendrils of corruption.
You are the song.
You are the dawn that follows the dark.
The verse resonated until it broke through the boundary of the vision, casting him downward through the light.
Back into the cavern of stone and heat.
Outside the inner sanctum, Aegon threw himself at the barrier once more.
Visenya joined him, bracing her boots against the stone to strike the fire together.
Before their shoulders made contact, the wall of golden fire dissolved into wisps of smoke.
Aegon stumbled forward, nearly losing his footing on the loose shale before Visenya caught his arm, steadying him with a firm grip.
Then they both stopped, staring into the center of the cavern.
Raegon stood naked with one small hand resting against Raegor’s broad snout.
His eyes remained shut, his silver hair and brows completely untouched by the blaze, though his linen clothes were burned away.
His ribs were no longer visible through pale skin; his limbs carried healthy, firm muscle, and the sickly pallor of his cheeks had vanished.
Yet what held them motionless was the transformation overtaking the beast.
Golden fire wrapped around Raegor’s massive frame.
Worn, cracked scales shattered and melted away, peeling off like molten slag to reveal raw muscle beneath.
The flame burned away every ancient scar, knitting new sinew over black iron bone.
The fire settled, hardening into brilliant golden plates that caught the dim cavern light like polished brass.
The tattered wing membranes tore loose, replaced by fresh, vibrant sails of golden leather stretching wide against the cavern walls.
The dull whiskers beneath the jaw regained their dark amber luster, swaying in the heat.
The broken, stag-like horns snapped off in chunks of ash, reforming into larger, sweeping crowns of pristine bone.
The dull talons fell away, replaced by razor-sharp black hooks digging deep into the bedrock.
A surge of vitality rolled off the dragon like a physical wave.
Outside, Rhaenys dropped from Meraxes’s saddle, preparing to run into the cave, only to freeze as a deafening roar shook the entire mountain.
It was Raegor’s voice, full and deep, vibrating with the strength of a beast in its prime.
Before she could process the sound, Vhagar and Balerion lumbered forward, slinking past the cave entrance and stepping into the lingering golden haze, basking in the warm light that washed over their scales with low, contented growls.
Meraxes nudged Rhaenys’s shoulder, her golden eyes fixed on the cavern with clear longing.
Rhaenys looked at the fading golden smoke rising into the overcast sky.
A long, trembling breath escaped her lips.