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[---]
123 AC, Chroyane
As their boat drifted slowly towards the entrance, the princess felt as if some boundary had been passed, with the mist becoming even more oppressive than it used to be. And so, in complete silence, they finally entered the city of Chroyane.
If Helaena Targaryen had to describe what remained of the great city of Chroyane, she would say that it was grey. She had first thought that it had been the mist clouding the sun around them, but as she looked closely, she could barely tell that only Lord Harry and Lady Daphne were the only things of colour in this cursed place.
Everything else was made of shades of grey. The ruined buildings and structures, which must have been made of marble, even the vines and moss that covered them all, were seemingly devoid of life, drained of their colour, by some kind of twisted magic, if she had learned anything from her time with the Potters.
And yet, it wasn't just the lack of colour that unnerved her so. It was the stillness. Nothing moved, save for the occasional ripple in the water caused by their boat. No birds, no insects, no breeze, only the mist moving around as if it had a mind of its own.
It was a sharp contrast to the ruins of Old Valyria, where everything was some kind of horror that ached to rip them apart, and yet it felt just as disturbing. She turned towards Lord Harry and Lady Daphne, who seemed to be focused completely on the river. Helaena followed their gaze and gasped as she looked down at the surprisingly clear water, seeing hundreds of stone men drifting away in the depths of the Rhoyne.
However, far away in the river, she noticed a familiar figure, one that made her gasp audibly in shock, "That's a dragon."
The sorcerer nodded, "I suppose it once was. I don't know if it can be called that anymore. The greyscale must have ravaged it had been. I'm sure that there are probably other scattered around the river. They've probably been here since the day Chroyane fell, victims of Garin's last defiance, or so they say. Then again, they had come to burn this entire city to the ground, so it might have been justified."
"How is this possible?" the princess asked.
"The dragons' magic failed because of the mist, but the greyscale doesn't allow them to drown. And so, the Valyrians remain here, for centuries, unable to die, their minds too ravaged by the disease to even know their plight, for it to matter, a very cruel fate indeed, even if some would find it fitting. But that's in the past. I'm more concerned about what we're seeing now. It's definitely… unusual and concerning."
Helaena tilted her head. She knew many things that looked unusual, including the mutated stone dragons and stone men drowning for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. If anything, his comment was an understatement. However, Lord Harry being troubled by something rarely boded well. "What do you mean?"
"You must have noticed everything changing when we crossed into the city, when everything doesn't feel quite right."
Helaena nodded. Of course, she had noticed the world all but turning grey. By the gods, even their voices sounded different, more like echoes than proper sounds. It had felt as though they had crossed into a painting, one half-finished and left to rot in the rain.
She remembered one of his many lectures back at the manse and asked, "Is this one of these other realms that you spoke of?"
"A very nice guess, but no. We're still on the material plane, just shifted. We're in someone's perception of the world, a dream perhaps. If I had to guess, it would belong to someone who sees the world without its colour, without its beauty, a vision that we are intruding on. The rules of the world do not apply here, so be very careful. Be ready for anything."
Helaena's hands went instinctively to her dagger, the one that Lady Daphne had just given her. Lord Harry also walked towards her and touched her head for a few moments. Warmth spread throughout Helaena's body, and she turned towards the sorcerer with a questioning look on her face. He smiled back at her and answered her unspoken question, "Just a bit of protection in case something with greyscale touches you. We still haven't figured out how greyscale even works, and while I do have a couple of theories, I'd rather not test them. Still, don't rely on it too much. It's much safer not to get infected in the first place. This is only a last layer of defence."
She nodded gratefully. Lord Harry's worry was, by itself, a very bad sign, but if he felt like she needed more protection, Helaena would follow his advice. After all, she would have likely died many times over in Valyria if it hadn't been for the Potters.
The princess was preparing to give her thanks to the man, only for something to distract her as something moved from a distance, almost too quickly for her to notice. Lord Harry had immediately snapped his hand, making it stop in the air.
Helaena now had a closer look at the thrashing creature, a creature that was entirely unnatural. It looked like a giant rodent, but seemed completely devoid of hair, with only grey skin that had patches of stone around it. However, its teeth were extremely sharp, like those of a lizard. Its limbs were uneven, with some form of leathery wings with holes inside them. It looked like a mixture of a bat and a lizard, obviously also infected by greyscale.
Harry stared at it with a fascinating look, mumbling to himself, "Huh, some kind mutation..." She didn't exactly hear the rest, her attention being completely taken as she saw a familiar figure beneath the sea, which almost made her gasp in shock and horror.
Amongst the living corpses of Dragonriders was her mother, Alicent Hightower, the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Yet, she looked different, with small patches of stone marring her beautiful face. She looked grey and in so much pain.
Helaena felt the compulsion to save her. Her mother had many failings, that was true, but she did not deserve to suffer so, constantly drowning beneath the water of a cursed city. The urge became too much.
Before she even realised what she was doing, Helaena lurched forward, arm outstretched toward the river. The river seemed to understand her plight, all but rising faintly, as if wishing to help her achieve her purpose.
But before her fingers could break the water's surface, a hand seized her wrist with a grip like iron. She turned towards its source, feeling very betrayed, only to see the familiar face of Lady Daphne, staring blankly at her, "This is not your mother, Helaena."
She waved her hand, and immediately, the familiar figure of her mother was gone and in its place was a stone man drifting away in the depths of the river. Harry turned away from the odd rodent creature, which suddenly burst into some kind of black fire, that swallowed it whole in seconds.
The sorcerer turned towards her and said, "Don't disturb the water no matter what. But I suppose this wasn't your fault. You were explicitly targeted with the illusion, after all."
As if it had been responding to him, a sound echoed around the city, which reminded Helaena of a hiss rather than an actual voice, and yet it spoke nonetheless, "Valyrian."
The sheer hate that she could feel in this single word, in this accusation, was enough to make Helaena flinch. Suddenly, a figure emerged from the mist; this time, it was humanoid. It faintly looked like a man, at least the top half of it. She couldn't describe its features, as it was wearing a shroud that hid its face. The bottom half of the creature looked as if it were joined with the perpetual mist that enveloped the ruined city of Chroyane.
It leapt towards Helaena, appearing from above, almost flying. Its hand was outstretched, reaching for her throat. The young princess froze, unable to react, but before it could touch her, a golden ball of light struck it in the chest, sending it away, where it disappeared in the distance.
Harry stared at the retreating figure, and his wife spoke up with a joking tone, "Any chance it would give up?"
The sorcerer snorted in amusement, "Out of experience, I don't think that it's very likely."
Helaena did not have the time to recollect herself, as the mist morphed to reveal the shrouded man once more. Only, this time, he floated above the ship and stared down at them. She couldn't see his lips moving, but she heard his voice echo from across the city, "You dare come here, with that filthy Valyrian blood in your veins."
The voice echoed across the river, almost making it move with its sheer intensity. Helaena felt the weight of the creature's cold hatred and couldn't help but shiver as it was directed completely at her. It was odd. This was probably the only time during her adventures with the Potters that some creature focused on her instead of them.
She had to admit that she did not like the experience very much.
Helaena remembered the warning from the Old Man of the River when he spoke of the Shrouded One. That must have been who the giant turtle was talking about, but given the fact that the god had warned them about the creature, she did not like their chances much.
Lord Harry must have seen her discomfort, given the fact that he walked forward with a wide smile on her face, "Oh, hello there. I'm Harry Potter, and this is my wife, Daphne. I'm also afraid that young Helaena here is a travelling companion of ours. You must be the Shrouded Lord I've heard so much about. I think there are pirates who have nightmares about you or something. Now, I'm sure that you're busy and all, but we were hoping to go to the main palace of this city, or at least, what remains of it. If you would be so kind as to give us directions, and we'll be on our way."
"Your arrogance is impressive, Harry Potter, even in the face of certain death. To demand entrance to the Palace of Love, to the very temple built in the honour of Mother Rhoyne, with a Valyrian in your midst, is tantamount to heresy. What do you seek that you have you go to such lengths?"
"Answers," Harry simply said, despite the rising tone of the Shrouded Lord, which was quite intimidating.
The shrouded creature burst into horrible laughter, "I have not been this entertained for centuries. For this reason alone, you may return to the Sorrows and leave Chroyane unharmed. However, the Valyrians must stay."
Helaena couldn't help but flinch, instinctively reaching for the dagger at her hip, even if she knew that the Potters wouldn't give her up so easily.
Her faith in them was proven to be correct when Harry's smile vanished, "I'm terribly sorry, but I suppose you would be a bit out of the news. Valyria fell. There are no Valyrians anymore, just remnants scattered across the world. Helaena here was born in Westeros, on a completely different continent."
The Shrouded Lord did not answer immediately. His veil rippled, and the mist around him pulsed faintly. Eventually, his voice returned, "I can feel their cursed blood in her veins, and that is enough. All Valyrians must pay the price for what they took from this place. Give me the girl, and you can leave."
"No," Lady Daphne simply answered, leaving no place for arguments.
If anything, the shrouded creature looked excited, and it returned to the mist, "So be it."
Suddenly, the river started to move wildly, as if it were a raging storm in the middle of the ocean. The mist around them started to take shape, coalescing into a giant mist serpent that leapt towards them.
Lord Harry conjured a golden shield of light that protected them, and the impact of the giant creature with the shield almost parted the river behind them. However, a golden symbol appeared on the shield, which started to glow, before releasing a pulse that the giant serpent did not have the time to shield against, and lost its shape, having returned into mists.
However, it seemed like the Shrouded Lord had another trick, as a large creature emerged from the depths of the river, specifically one of the stone dragons, or more accurately, a dragon that had been turned to stone thanks to the Greyscale. It broke free from the river with a heavy splash, almost making the ship topple.
Lady Daphne sent a beam of red light at it, only for a mist to form around the creature, somehow protecting it from the impact. The stone dragon then dove from the sky, aiming at her. Lord Harry quickly moved his hands, and the giant creature all but stopped, seemingly endlessly falling but without reaching any of it.
He summoned a sharp gust of wind that tore through the mist, scattering it in all directions, followed by a burst of fire that struck the creature square in the chest. The dragon froze mid‑flight, its movements halting completely before it dropped back into the river with a heavy splash.
The Shrouded Lord appeared from the mist almost instantly, lunging toward Harry. The sorcerer waved his hand, and another gust of wind sent the figure sliding backwards across the deck. "A clever trick," Harry said calmly, eyes following the distorted shape. "Using the water to bind them to yourself."
The Shrouded Lord raised his hand to retaliate, but nothing happened. Despite not seeing his face, Helaena could almost feel the confusion that would be in his features.
Harry's grin widened. "Ah, you felt that, didn't you? A small dehydration jinx. The tricky part was to make her spread and affect anything tainted by greyscale. It wasn't that hard, the disease isn't exactly subtle, is it, but it was able to cut off the water inside them." He tilted his head slightly. "Not much on its own, but when someone's controlling them through that same water… well, it tends to make things difficult. And it's spreading across the river, all until eternity. You didn't think that I noticed thousands of them slowly moving to this position? No more greyscale army for you, I guess. You really shouldn't have shown your hand so easily at the start."
The Shrouded Lord remained frozen for a second before he turned to mist and disappeared. Immediately, she could hear his voice, having warped into something inhuman, echo around them, "You dare meddle in my domain?"
In the distance, Helaena saw something move, a dark mass rising through the mist. It grew larger with every passing second until she realised it wasn't mist at all, but water. The river was pulling itself upward, twisting into a massive wall that towered over the ruins. A wave
Thankfully, the Potters had noticed it as well, since Lord Harry released a pulse of green light, which halted the wave, and his wife sent a gigantic beam of light that froze the wave in its tracks.
In the meantime, Helaena felt something move behind her and was barely able to glimpse as the Shrouded Lord leapt at her back, and then the world slowed to a halt. It was as if her attacker was floating towards her, not leaping at almost blinding speed. Through pure instinct, she unsheathed her dagger, the one that Lady Daphne had given her, as the creature approached, and stabbed it in the gut.
The creature had tried to turn himself into mist once more, only for the blade to release a white glow, turning him back into flesh, and cut through him. The gasp he released had been surprisingly human, and she heard his voice mutter, "How?"
He looked at his own gut in shock, as well as the black blood that was dripping down from her still-glowing blade. Helaena herself did not know what had happened, or how everything slowed down so easily, but if she had to guess, it had likely something to do with the Potters.
Awareness seemed to return to the Shrouded Lord, and he released an inhuman screech as he leapt towards her again, only for golden strings to grab him, pulling him away from her. Dozens of golden strings appeared surrounding her, all of whom were pulling strands of the mist, which then morphed into a circle which somehow held the Shrouded Lord. She had no idea how that was even possible.
The princess turned towards the source of the magic and relaxed as she saw Lord Harry, who was glaring furiously at the imprisoned creature, whose mist was slowly fading away.
He turned towards Helaena worriedly and touched her head, before relaxing slightly. He turned towards his wife, who was staring at her intently, before she nodded, "Are you alright, Helaena?"
She nodded absentmindedly, and he turned back to glaring at the Shrouded Lord, "It took me some time to find your soul properly. It was all in the mist. Your control over it was impressive, like an extension of yourself, an extra limb that you have. That's because it is, isn't it? You bound your very soul to the mist. I have no idea how you can even retain your sense of self to spread your soul throughout something so large or so slippery, but I can't deny the ingenuity. The obscuring and magic-negating aspects of the mist would hide its true nature, your true nature. I suppose it also helped amplify your water magic, to use it in ways that it wouldn't have been imaginable before. Still, I can't help but wonder what kind of magic could have made this even possible…"
Lord Harry stepped and walked up to the imprisoned creature, whose mist revealed a far more human figure. He tried to bang his head on the invisible wall that stopped him, to no avail, "I underestimated you, you know. I knew that you were dangerous; I was warned about you, even, but I still did it. I haven't done that in a while, and someone under my charge could have paid for it. What I'm trying to say is that I'm really not in a merciful mood."
He closed his fists, and the circle narrowed, and the mist shrouding the man started to disappear from the Shrouded Lord completely, revealing the image of a man wearing a tattered shroud, whose bangs had gotten much weaker since they began.
With that done, Harry walked forward and stared at the man where his eyes would have been if not for the cloak hiding his face, "You can't leave this place. You can't use your magic, and your connection to the mist is severed. I have already underestimated you once, but I will not do so again. After all, that's what the Valyrians did when they came to this place."
The sorcerer waved his hand, and the shroud faded away. "Isn't that right, Prince Garin?"
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AN: Phew, that chapter was hard to write, and even then, I'm not very sure about it. I wanted the confrontation to be a bit different, since this was a bit of a different opponent, a trickier one, I suppose. I know that things feel slightly repetitive, but this arc will be kind of different (I don't want to spoil too much, sorry). As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
[---]
If you want to support me, check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions on them, so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.