Chapter 145: The Origin of the Dragon

Despite the intense battle throughout the night, Arthur's stamina remained at a high level, though his stomach was already growling.

The fulfilled Princess of Dorne stared blankly at the top of the tent, "I'm dying!"

Arthur stood up and said, "It's still early, I'll go have someone get some food. By the way, what do you want to eat?"

"Just get some lamb chops or chicken or something, I'm hungry and tired now," Arianne said weakly.

The Riverlands King tidied up and finally put on his casual clothes, but just as he was about to leave, he was called back by the Princess of Dorne.

"What is it?"

Arthur turned his head and saw Arianne, propping her head up with one hand, staring at him with seductive, watery eyes.

"Nothing, just wanted to say one thing: the little dragon is really great, I will only 'duel' with you from now on."

The Riverlands King held his head high and chest out, "After witnessing the radiance of the sun, one will surely not submit to the dim light of a candle. I believe you have made the right choice."

Having said that, he lifted the curtain and went out to instruct Meidan to prepare breakfast for five.

Abundant stamina corresponded to a bottomless pit of a stomach; Arthur felt he could eat four people's worth of food this morning.

After a hearty breakfast, the Riverlands King fed the Princess of Dorne some nutritious porridge, and then the two began to clear the trays and food scraps from the small table.

"Where did that black dragon of yours come from?"

The three great friendships in life are fellow soldiers, fellow prisoners, and fellow students.

Arianne and the Riverlands King already possessed two of these great friendships, and their relationship had grown very close.

Arthur thought for a moment and decided to keep the origin of Alduin unified for the outside world as having flown in from the Kingswood.

"Amazing. My uncle Oberyn Martell has traveled across two continents and also studied at the Citadel for several years, but the conclusion he reached is not the same as the truth you speak of." Arianne brushed her large black wavy hair and sat down beside the Riverlands King.

"I am also very curious about what the Prince thinks."

Arthur was very interested in the origin of dragons, so he took the Princess of Dorne's hand and began to analyze the origin of the magic dragons with her.

"According to the records of the Citadel and the legends on various continents, there are generally two origins for fire dragons: the taming theory and the blood magic fusion theory. My uncle Oberyn supports the blood magic fusion theory..."

There are several different theories regarding the origin of fire dragons and the Valyrian Freehold, but after summarizing all records and legends, they can generally be divided into two categories and three types.

The first major category is the taming theory: the Valyrian people tamed fire-breathing dragons and then began to dominate the entire Essos continent.

The taming theory is further divided into two sub-categories: the Fourteen Flames discovery theory and the Asshai discovery theory.

The Fourteen Flames is a massive chain of volcanoes linking the Valyrian Peninsula to the Essos continent, with deep mines buried beneath. Four hundred years ago, the fire peaks erupted, swallowing the entire Valyrian Peninsula and even turning the peninsula into an actual island, forming what is now the Smoking Sea.

In the first theory, the extremely backward nomadic Valyrian people discovered dragons near the Fourteen Flames and mastered the method of taming them around five thousand years ago, thus evolving overnight from a nomadic people into a Freehold and beginning to expand outward.

But this theory has four extremely obvious loopholes:

First, how did the Valyrians obtain the method for crafting Valyrian Steel?

Second, the Valyrians were once more backward than the Dothraki; how did they mutate from a tribal state into an enlightened society where even Free Folk could discuss governance?

Third, how were the Black Stone structures of Valyria built?

Fourth, if fire dragons were truly tamed, why could only forty Dragonlord families ride them, while ordinary Valyrians did not receive preferential treatment in front of the magic dragons?

These loopholes could not be patched for the time being, so an advanced version of the taming theory arrived: the Asshai discovery theory made its grand entrance.

In this patched theory, a mysterious race called the "Dragon-Keepers" discovered and tamed dragons in the Shadow Lands far to the east, east of Asshai, and then handed the method of crafting Valyrian Steel, the Black Stone architecture, and the method of taming fire dragons all at once to the nomadic Valyrians, and changed the backward tribal system into a Freehold system where all Free Folk could discuss and participate in politics.

Arthur couldn't say whether these "Dragon-Keepers" were there for poverty alleviation, but at least there was still a loophole.

Since the dragon-taming method was taught, why was there a difference between ordinary Valyrians and the forty Dragonlord families?

Thus, another, more cruel but much more realistic blood magic fusion theory was compiled by Maesters, Septons, and knowledgeable nobles.

The forty Dragonlord families were actually top-tier magical creatures fused together by the "Dragon-Keepers" using blood magic, and the fire dragons were also fused during the same period.

There are basically no ancient legends supporting this view, but many historical ruins vaguely point to this shocking truth.

For example, some strange customs popular among the original inhabitants of Norvos and their iron-smelting and forging technology that far exceeds other city-states.

This Free City built on hills has several famous characteristics: a love for performing blood sacrifices by burning with fire; the presence of small, humanoid creatures nearby that are exceptionally beautiful; and a forging level that far exceeds that of Westeros and the vast majority of regions in Essos. Any renowned master blacksmith is generally from Norvos, and any blacksmith in the world capable of reforging a Valyrian Steel sword must be a Norvoshi. They worship the Black Goat, but followers of the Lord of Light, Lohra, who loves to burn people with fire, also exist here in some numbers.

"During the time my uncle was a mercenary on the eastern continent, he once stayed in Norvos for a period of time, and the unusual customs there sparked his thinking. He believed that if that mysterious race had truly conducted blood magic fusion sorcery there and taught some iron-forging skills to the natives during that time, then the strange customs of Norvos would not be hard to explain," Arianne said.

The Riverlands King crossed his arms in thought and said, "I also feel that fire dragons and the forty Dragonlord families are products of blood magic fusion."

Blood sorcerers in ancient times once performed blood sorcery involving burning people all over the world; perhaps the Fourteen Flames, the Shadow Lands, and the Norvos forest were all experimental sites, but only the area near the Fourteen Flames succeeded.

Many known facts can align with blood magic fusion.

For example, there was once a Targaryen Princess who rode the peak-era Balerion the Black Dread to the Smoking Sea and the Valeria Feixu, but returned wounded.

It is known that all fire dragons at that time were under the control of the Targaryen family, and the Black Dread had grown to a peak size of one hundred meters in length and three hundred meters in wingspan, making him an absolute overlord of the sky.

Yet, under the protection of such a dragon, that Targaryen Princess still suffered severe injuries, and the Black Dread was also wounded.

Paradoxically, after being wounded, blood worms and fire wyrms with human hands and faces began to appear inside this Princess's body.

And these two strange creatures had both appeared in the records of the Citadel, both coming from the Sothoryos continent south of the Essos continent.

Even more coincidentally, the natives of Sothoryos and other places have a characteristic: whenever the women of that land intermarry with other races, they give birth to non-human monsters, and they are stillborn. This corresponds to the situation of the descendants of "the Cruel" Maegor.

It is rumored that Maegor was not born of Visenya and her brother Aegon I, but was created by the two using blood magic.

All these known facts vaguely point to a conjecture: members of the Valyrian Dragonlord families were fused from several types of creatures, including ordinary Valyrians, fire wyrms, blood worms, and Sothoryos natives, possibly mixed with the beautiful humanoid creatures from the Norvos forest to give the Dragonlords their "inhuman" beauty.

The injury of that Targaryen Princess could then be explained: she endured extreme heat in the Valeria Feixu, causing her body to become unstable, so the "original shareholders," the fire wyrms and blood worms, chose to withdraw.

As for the origin of fire dragons, it can also be explained by this blood magic fusion theory.

The characteristics of fire dragons are: they can breathe fire; if space is not limited, their size can grow infinitely; they possess human-like intelligence; and the only people who can ride dragons are the forty Dragonlord families.

There are three types of dragon-like creatures living in Sothoryos: wyverns, spotted wyverns, and swamp wyverns.

Similar to the above, the fire-breathing magic dragons were fused from three types of dragon-like creatures, members of the Valyrian Dragonlord families, and heat-resistant fire wyrms.

This explains why fire dragons only feel close to members of the Dragonlord families and can understand pure Valyrian.

"At the same time, my uncle believes that purple eyes and silver hair may not be a characteristic of the Valyrian people, but just a mark left after blood magic fusion. For example, the Hightower family of Oldtown and the Dayne family of Starfall—they both once had the appearance of silver hair and purple eyes, only fading due to thousands of years of intermarriage with outsiders," the Princess of Dorne stated her final conjecture.

The Dayne family and the Hightower family are both ancient families that existed since the time of the First Men. What is certain is that these two families are not Valyrian, but a considerable number of family members have the characteristic of purple eyes and silver hair.

The number one simp in the Game of Thrones world, "Big Bear" Jorah Mormont, married a Hightower wife at a Tourney who had white hair and purple eyes.

This is also part of the reason why Jorah, who was assigned by Varys to approach Daenerys Targaryen, immediately pledged his heart to Daenerys and defected after meeting her.

Because the breathtakingly beautiful Daenerys is simply a deluxe, upgraded, diamond-encrusted version of Jorah Mormont's wife.

Arthur said, "I hadn't thought of that, but I know there must be some secret in the Hightower; this secret might reveal the nature of prehistoric magical civilizations, the Dragon-Keepers, and the long winters and summers."

What is certain for now is that some Black Stone structures existed in this world long before the rise of Valyria, such as the Hightower of House Hightower, the Seastone Chair of the Iron Islands, the Toad Stone of the Basilisk Isles, and the massive black stones worshipped by the Emperor of Yi Ti.

These Black Stone structures are oily and greasy, slightly different from the dry, non-greasy Black Stone structures built by the Valyrian people.

If the "Dragon-Keepers," composed of Blood Witch sorcerers, once performed Blood Magic across the world and left their traces behind, then some of the mysteries of this world could be explained.

As for their motives, it is likely because the deities they worship can gain power from creatures stitched together by Blood Magic, just as Weirwood trees can provide power to the Old Gods.

As the two were exchanging their views, Podrick suddenly reported from outside the tent, "A raven has arrived from Harrenhal with important intelligence."

Arthur had no choice but to end the discussion with the Princess of Dorne for now, agreeing to have an in-depth discussion on this matter when there was time later.

"Come in!"

Round-headed Pod walked in and handed over a rolled-up note.

"What is it?" Arianne, already dressed, lay on the Riverlands King, looking at the contents of the note.

"Lady Whent is critically ill and about to pass away."

Arthur read aloud in a low voice.

"Is that the Lady Whent in Harrenhal? Why didn't the curse take effect on her?" the Princess of Dorne asked.

"Hasn't it already taken effect? She is the only member left in her family, her closest nephew Edmure is also on the verge of death, and her two nieces, Lady Stark and Lady Lysa, are no better off."

Arthur replied casually.

The sigil of House Tully is a trout, and its most famous trait is fertility; simply put, family members hit the mark every time—as long as there is a relationship, pregnancy follows.

With such a potent bloodline, after Duke Hoster married a Whent woman, House Tully is now staring at extinction; one has to say the curse of Harrenhal is truly powerful.

And now, this curse is about to fall upon Sansa Stark, who is about to become the new mistress of Harrenhal.

Although that Weirwood tree has already been removed from inside the castle, the First King's side has not been broken yet, so there is no guarantee what other curse effects might remain.

"I must go to the barrowlands in The North before Lady Whent dies; time is truly pressing!"

Arthur thought for a moment; he must quickly resolve the war here in the Crownlands so he could free himself to take Alduin to The North and raze the First King's grave.

"Why go there? I want to go with you," Arianne said coquettishly.

The Riverlands King had the least patience for such dainty female voices, so he replied, "There is a very important matter I need to attend to; you can come along if you want. For now, I must first finish off these Reachmen."

After soothing Arianne, he turned and left the sleeping tent, preparing to start plotting against Mace Tyrell.

Everything went according to plan; after Tristan went to the Reach Army camp to announce the news of Tommen's death, the Inflated Fish Lord indeed sent Mathis Rowan as invited to negotiate a temporary ceasefire so they could retreat outside King's Landing.

King's Landing, Maegor's Holdfast in the Red Keep.

Stannis, his brows furrowed even tighter, stared at the map on the table.

For over ten days, the enemy troops outside the city had gradually filled in the trenches, traps, and pits he had ordered to be dug, and even several bunkers outside the city had been smashed into ruins by massive Trebuchets.

To keep the enemy outside the city as much as possible, Stannis had sent men to establish several lines of defense on the perimeter, including trenches and trap zones designed to block the massive Cavalry legions of The Reach, but Kevan, who was exceptionally steady in his command, used tens of thousands of soldiers and laborers to advance step by step, filling in all the trenches and traps and destroying all the defensive works outside the city.

Now the army was at the city walls, just waiting for the wall-assault battle to begin and for both sides to have a grand clash.

The exceptionally alluring Melisandre swayed in and handed the tray in her hand to Stannis.

"The previous four false kings are already dead, leaving only you alive in this game; now that Tommen is also dead, let the other three false kings die by the blessing of the Lord of Light, and you will be the only true king."

Stannis, with a gloomy face, took the tray, walked to the brazier nearby, and threw three leeches, engorged with king's blood and a meager amount of dragon blood, into the fire.

"Aegon Targaryen VI."

"Arthur Bracken."

"Euron Greyjoy."

The three leeches crackled and popped in the fire, then turned into three black solid substances until they burned into three trails of black smoke, which drilled into the flames and disappeared.

"Is that it? No prophecy in the flames?"

Melisandre feigned absolute certainty, "This is enough; the Lord of Light is the most powerful deity, and no one can escape his curse."

What she did not explicitly say was that while it was true they could not escape the curse, if the enemy was proficient in magic, there were many ways to break it.

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(End of chapter)