Chapter 14: The Wyrmling's Shadow and the Forging of Legacies
The hatching of Veridian, the true dragon bound to the infant Aegon Vaerion, sent a shockwave of awe and recalibration throughout the Valyrian Freehold. House Vaerion, already a formidable entity under the long, unbroken guidance of Valerius (currently embodied as Lord Maelys), was now undeniably restored to the highest echelons of Dragonlord heritage. The presence of a Sylvaen-descended dragon in their mountain stronghold was a potent symbol, silencing detractors and compelling even the most arrogant of the Forty Families to acknowledge their resurgence.
Valerius watched the development of his grandson Aegon and the wyrmling Veridian with the intense, dispassionate focus of a master strategist observing a critical new weapon coming online. Veridian grew with astonishing speed, fueled by the rich geothermal energies of the Vaerion domain and the innate potency of his Sylvaen lineage. His scales, a mesmerizing blend of forest green and molten bronze, hardened into a hide tougher than ironwood. His amber eyes, ancient and intelligent even in youth, rarely left Aegon. The bond between them was palpable, a vibrant thrum of shared life force and burgeoning magic.
Aegon, in turn, thrived. The draconic bond accelerated his development, both physical and arcane. Even as a toddler, he displayed an instinctive understanding of fire, an uncanny empathy with the natural world (a gift from his Sylvaen mother, Lyraenys), and a nascent willpower that impressed even Valerius. He would sit for hours in the specially constructed aerie, babbling to Veridian, who would respond with surprisingly nuanced chirps and rumbles, his great head resting gently near the child. Valerius subtly guided this development, using ancient Vaerion techniques to strengthen the boy's magical channels and using Sanguine Harmonics to ensure Aegon's spirit remained exceptionally receptive to future… integration.
Lyraenys took primary charge of Veridian's early care, her Sylvaen expertise with dragons proving invaluable. She taught the Vaerion beastmasters the subtle arts of true dragon husbandry, so different from the management of their engineered fire-drakes. Valarr, Aegon's father and Valerius's chosen successor, watched his son and the young dragon with a mixture of paternal pride and the fierce ambition his own father (Maelys/Valerius) had so carefully instilled. He understood that Aegon and Veridian were the keys to the next stage of Vaerion ascendancy.
The political landscape shifted around House Vaerion. Invitations to the most exclusive circles in Valyria's capital, once sporadic, became commonplace. Rival houses, once dismissive, now sought alliances or offered wary respect. Valerius (as Maelys) navigated these new currents with consummate skill. He solidified beneficial trade agreements, leveraging their enhanced prestige to secure access to rare resources and lucrative markets. He declined several offers of marriage alliances for other, more distant Vaerion kin from powerful but volatile Archon families, preferring to maintain a degree of strategic independence rather than be drawn into their increasingly dangerous internal power struggles.
One significant challenge arose from House Volantenos, a proud and ancient family of the Forty, known for their mastery of storm-magic and their vast fleet that dominated trade in the Jade Sea. Lord Volantenos, a haughty and ambitious Archon, viewed House Vaerion's rise with ill-disguised jealousy, particularly their growing influence over the trade of rare metals essential for enchanting dragon armor and weaponry. He began to subtly impede Vaerion shipping, levying exorbitant tariffs in ports controlled by his allies and sponsoring "pirates" to harass their caravans.
Valerius met this challenge not with direct confrontation, which could escalate into a costly conflict, but with his preferred methods: intricate countermeasures and overwhelming, targeted force applied at the point of maximum leverage.
He tasked Valarr with a critical mission. "Lord Volantenos believes his power lies in his fleet and his control of sea lanes," Maelys explained to his son in their war council chamber, the walls glowing with strategic maps. "But his true vulnerability is his reliance on a single, heavily fortified island fortress in the Summer Isles, where his family's ancestral storm-weaving rituals are performed, the source of their unique magical dominance. This fortress is considered impregnable."
"You wish me to… assault it?" Valarr asked, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. Their current Vaerion "drakes," including his own mount Ignis, while powerful, were not designed for sustained sieges against true Dragonlord strongholds.
"Not assault, Valarr. Neutralize. I have… acquired… certain knowledge." Valerius had, through his network and centuries of accumulating obscure lore, pieced together the exact nature of the Volantenos storm-rituals and, more importantly, their critical dependencies on specific celestial alignments and telluric ley lines. He had also identified a crucial, magically amplified resonant frequency that, if generated with sufficient power and precision, could disrupt their storm-weaving capabilities catastrophically.
Valerius then unveiled his true gambit. "You will lead a small, elite force, including your swiftest fire-drakes. Your purpose is not to engage their fleet, but to reach their fortress during the next neap tide and new moon – the nadir of their storm-weaving cycle. There, you will deploy a device of my own creation." He gestured to a complex obsidian sphere, intricately carved with Ignis Chalybs glyphs, pulsing with contained geothermal power. "This Resonant Nullifier, when activated at the precise nexus of their ritual site, will create a localized disruption in the telluric currents they draw upon, rendering their storm-magic inert for a critical period. It will also… attract attention."
The true purpose was not just to disable the fortress temporarily, but to expose a critical vulnerability. Valerius had already leaked information, through cutouts, to House Volantenos's most bitter rivals within the Forty Families, hinting at this very weakness and the optimal timing for an attack.
Valarr executed the plan flawlessly. His daring raid, under the cover of a magically augmented storm of his own (a trick learned from his mother Lyraenys, combined with Vaerion fire-magic to create unsettling atmospheric phenomena), reached the Volantenos fortress. The Resonant Nullifier worked as designed, and as the Volantenos storm-mages found their powers inexplicably failing, two rival Dragonlord houses, alerted by Valerius's discreet intelligence, launched a devastating surprise attack on the temporarily defenseless island, seizing it and shattering House Volantenos's primary source of unique power.
House Vaerion was never overtly implicated, but the message was clear: they were not a house to be trifled with, and their Lord Maelys possessed a strategic and magical acumen that was terrifying. Lord Volantenos, his power base crippled, ceased all interference with Vaerion interests. The other Great Houses, while perhaps unnerved by the Vaerions' reach, were also given pause, their internal rivalries further stoked by this shift in power. Valerius had, with one surgical strike, eliminated a threat and sown further discord amongst his potential adversaries.
Amidst these grand strategies, Valerius continued his personal arcane pursuits. His current vessel, Maelys, was now approaching sixty. The strength of Aerion's absorbed soul still provided considerable vitality, but the limitations of flesh were inevitable. His focus intensified on perfecting the techniques for his next reincarnation into Valarr, and beyond that, to the young Aegon.
He spent much time with Aegon and the now adolescent dragon Veridian. Veridian was a magnificent beast, his scales like emeralds and bronze, his intelligence keen, his bond with Aegon absolute. The dragon's breath was not mere fire, but a unique, incandescent plasma that seemed to draw power from both geothermal heat and the vital energies of living things – a potent combination of Vaerion and Sylvaen draconic traits. Valerius guided Aegon's early magical training, subtly attuning the boy's mind and spirit to his own vibrational frequency, ensuring the smoothest possible transition when the time eventually came, decades hence.
Elaena, the ancient matriarch, watched these interactions with her usual quiet intensity. Her relationship with Maelys (Valerius) was one of profound, weary understanding. She had seen this entity shape her husband Rhaelor, then her son Aerion, and now she saw it grooming her great-grandson Aegon, even as it prepared to possess her grandson Valarr.
"The boy Aegon shines brightly, my lord," she said to Maelys one day, as they observed Aegon and Veridian soaring high above the Vaerion stronghold. "His spirit is… strong. And his dragon echoes the deep magic of both our lines."
"He is the future of House Vaerion, my lady," Maelys replied, his voice carefully neutral. "As Valarr is its present strength."
"Futures are often shaped by ancient pasts," Elaena murmured, her gaze distant. "Ensure the light you forge in him, Maelys, does not consume the very essence of what makes him… him. Some souls are not meant to be mere vessels, however grand the spirit they carry."
It was perhaps the most direct warning she had ever given him, a plea for the individuality of her descendant. Valerius acknowledged her words with a slight inclination of his head, but his resolve remained unchanged. All souls, in his grand calculus, were potential fuel, potential components. Individuality was a fleeting illusion; only power, true and eternal, endured.
Valerius sensed the continued degradation of the Valyrian Freehold. The successful, if brutal, suppression of a massive slave revolt in the Old Ghiscar territories had led to even harsher measures across the empire, breeding deeper resentments. The Archons in Valyria indulged in increasingly decadent and perilous magical contests, their hubris seemingly boundless. The vision of the Doom remained vivid in his millennia-spanning memory, a constant impetus for his relentless preparations.
He initiated a new grand project: the creation of a series of deeply buried, magically shielded "Seed Vaults" in his most secure, hidden strongholds. These were not for crops, but for knowledge – noetic crystals containing all his accumulated arcane lore, detailed histories, scientific principles, and, crucially, genetic samples of his prime bloodline and their bonded dragons. If the Doom was as absolute as his vision suggested, these Seed Vaults were designed to allow a remnant of his lineage, guided by his stored consciousness or a pre-programmed magical intelligence, to rebuild, to rise again, even in a world scoured of Valyrian civilization.
Lord Maelys Vaerion knew his time in this vessel was drawing to a close. Another decade, perhaps less. Valarr was ready, a powerful sorcerer in his own right, his mind meticulously prepared. Aegon, with Veridian, represented the next magnificent chapter. The legacy Valerius was forging was one of terrifying ambition, of power accumulated over ages, of a will set against the erosion of time and the caprice of fate. The wyrmling Veridian's shadow had grown vast, covering not just House Vaerion, but casting its influence into the very heart of the Valyrian Freehold, a shadow that concealed the ancient, undying serpent preparing for its next rebirth.