Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire it is owned by G.R.R. Martin.

Return of Valyria

Prologue

The first sign that something had gone terribly wrong was a blinding flash of light, backlighting the dragon and its rider as they rode high in the sky, on patrol over the waters of the Summer Sea. As the light faded, the rider turned her head, violet eyes widening and mouth falling in shock and horror as a wave of displaced air blasted outwards from the horizon, blowing the clouds outward even as the skies beyond glowed a sullen red.

"Aelarys, brace yourself!" the rider shouted, pulling on the steel chains that were her mount's reigns, and doing likewise on the mental bonds between her and her dragon.

Aelarys snarled in understanding, beating his wings and picking up speed and altitude, to ride out the incoming wall of air. Already its edges were flowing over dragon and rider both, whipping through the rider's cloak and stray strands of gold-silver air. "Courage, Aelarys." Jaenera Targaryen breathed, and holding tight to both her dragon's reigns and bonds, as she shared in Aelarys' instincts warning him of what was coming from behind them. "Courage."

And then it struck, sending dragon and rider alike plummeting and spinning through the air, down towards the waters below. Jaenera nearly found herself thrown off her saddle, were it not for the chains which bound her to the saddle itself. Even then, the force of impact nearly knocked her unconscious, the dragonrider struggling to regain herself, a task made even more difficult by their uncontrolled fall from the sky. Aelarys was no different, the dragon flailing and snapping as they fell…

…but slowly and steadily, they regained their minds, and steadying their fall, Aelarys beat his wings, spray flying off the ocean surface from the dragon's claws and tails as they skimmed low, picking up speed until finally, they rose up into a bright and sunny sky.

Jaenera looked around in confusion, over the waters and back to Valyria. There were few clouds in the sky, and no sign of the cataclysm that had nearly struck them down to the waters below. Only a clear and sunny sky in summer, the Sun shining bright and hot high overhead.

"…what's happened?" Jaenera muttered, and then narrowing her eyes pulled on Aelarys' reigns. "Aelarys! Come about! We need to get back to the Freehold! Something's not right here!"

The dragon snarled his acknowledgement, and then banking to one side, shifted direction, flying over the Summer Sea, back to Valyria. It took them nearly two hours to reach their destination, the city of Aryros, along the west coast of the Valryian Peninsula.

Great black walls of fused stone, forged by fire and magic, rose from the land in a mighty seawall, with long quays of grey stone jutting out to sea and lined with piers and docks for ships. Great gates offered passage from these quays into the city through the seawall, though at present they were open. Flying over the seawall, Jaenera noticed there was plenty of agitation down in the city below…

…no, not agitation. It was a full-blown slave revolt from the look of things, and the City Guard was hard-pressed to keep the slaves from completely overrunning the city. The garrison had had to be called in, and smoke was rising from many parts of the city as Valyrian Legionaries and Aryros Guardsmen fought rebels in the streets.

Hearing a roar in the distance, Jaenera looked in its direction, and saw twelve dragons and their riders flying in a great V over the city. The rider at the lead gestured as Jaenera approached, and nodding at the signed instructions, took her place at one end of the formation.

The lead rider gestured again, the dragons beating their wings and climbing ever steeper at their riders' instructions, and then folding their wings, allowed themselves to fall, backwards, and then down to the city below. Striking down with the light of the Sun behind their backs, they fell on the rebellious slaves below with a shouted command, a single word dreaded by countless peoples from one end of the known world to another.

"DRACARYS!"

Days had passed since that terrible day, when the ground shook and fire split the sky for a single, terrible moment of fire and power, only for it all to end, to disappear as though nothing had happened, in a single moment. That single moment however, had triggered numerous riots and outright slave revolts across the peninsula, which in many cases had overwhelmed local militias and had required the Freehold's legions to step in, and in several cases, the dragonlords themselves.

Now however, order had been restored in the cities and much of the countryside, though a significant number of slaves had gone to ground in the countryside, attacking random holdings and travelers across the peninsula. The hunt for such miscreants was already well underway, and with a premium being placed on the capture of the rebel slaves: examples needed to be made.

But with the slave revolts put down and all that was left cleaning up the remaining pockets of resistance, the leaders of the Freehold turned their attentions onto more pressing concerns. In the Palace of the Freeholders, located at the heart of the city of Valyria itself, the three Triarchs of the Valyrian Freehold met.

They stood on a raised dais at the bottom of a large, marbled amphitheater, arched, open windows high above and candles on golden stands across the amphitheater providing light. The Lords Freeholder or their proxies sat on the tiered seats, those of lower rank and standing at the higher and more distant levels, while those closer to the Triarchs were those representing or leading the forty dragonlord families, greatest and mightiest of the Lords Freeholder.

"…unable to raise any of our outposts outside of the peninsula," a civil servant reported to the Triarchs and the Lords Freeholder from the speaker's podium. "Whether it be at the Jade Gates in the east, Dragonstone in the west, Sarnor in the north, or Gogossos in the south. Furthermore, the large numbers of slaves killed in the recent uprising, along with property damages both in the cities and the countryside, will cost the Freehold an estimated nine hundred thousand gold marks in cold coin. It must be noted that this is only a preliminary assessment, and may still change in the future."

The Lords Freeholder immediately began muttering and talking softly to each other, the Triarchs allowing them to speak for a whole minute before gesturing for silence. "What of the Free Cities?" Triarch Laemar Lennareon asked. "Have we been able to raise them via glass candle?"

"There has been no response from any of the Free Cities via glass candle." The civil servant answered. "However, on the matter of glass candles, our sorcerers put forward disturbing reports based on remote viewing through those same glass candles. First of all, our subject kingdoms in the north have apparently been destroyed, and Dothraki tribes now wander freely at will across the ruins and the Great Grass Sea."

The civil servant broke off as the Lords Freeholder erupted in consternation and outrage, the loss of Valyria's subject kingdoms in the Great Grass Sea a heavy blow to Valyrian pride and power. Those subject kingdoms had been among the Freehold's first conquests outside of the Valyrian Peninsula, won during the Third and Fourth Ghiscari Wars. Furthermore, they provided significant revenues both in coin and in kind, while the annual levies provided plenty of men for both the legions and the auxiliaries.

It was no surprise then, that the Lords Freeholder exploded in anger, calling for the Dothraki to be put back into their place, and demanding to know how this had happened.

Again, the Triarchs allowed the Lords Freeholder to express themselves for a full minute, before calling for order. Once the Lords Freeholder had calmed down, the Triarchs motioned for the civil servant to continue.

"Second," the man continued. "To our east, the Ghiscari culture has apparently enjoyed something of an upswing, though thankfully a new, Ghiscari Empire has not actually risen."

There were murmurs and small eruptions from the Lords Freeholder, expressing their discontent at the despised Ghiscari somehow reviving themselves from the depths into which the Valyrians had cast them into thousands of years ago. "Qarth has apparently seized control of the Jade Gates," the civil servant continued. "Which would explain our inability to contact our outpost therein. However, the sorcerers saw no signs of battle damage over at the Jade Gates, and indeed, if anything the infrastructure of the regions shows decades, if not centuries of Qartheen influence and rule."

The Lords Freeholder again began speaking amongst themselves, this time in confusion and disbelief, before being silenced by the Triarchs once more. "To our distant north," the civil servant continued. "Our tributary of Sarnor is in ruins, with only what appears to be a small, barely-subsisting city left. And once again, it seems the Dothraki are to blame for this."

Ripples of anger again echoed across the amphitheater, a retribution campaign against the Dothraki now all but guaranteed. "To the west," the civil servant said. "The continued existence of all Free Cities has been confirmed, though as with the Qartheen influence on the Jade Gates, the cities all appear to be older than they should be. Furthermore, there appears to be open, if small-scale warfare across the lands between the cities of Volantis, Lys, Tyrosh, and Myr. Judging from the quality and standards of the forces involved…mercenaries, contracted to one or another of the aforementioned cities."

There was muttering again, the Lords Freeholder grumbling among themselves on why the Daughters of Valyria had descended to killing each other, and what had happened? Why did the Free Cities seem older than they ought to be? How could Qarth have gained control of the Jade Gates, and held them for what seemed to be centuries?

Some of the more learned Lords Freeholder, especially among the Dragonlords and those known to dabble in sorcery, had their suspicions about the answer, though they kept their silence…for now.

"Across the Narrow Sea," the civil servant continued with his report. "Dragonstone appears to have fallen under the control of one of the Andal nobles if the standards flying above the castle and its fleet is any indication. Driftmark and Claw Isle appear to have suffered a similar fate."

The civil servant paused to allow the Triarchs and the Lords Freeholder to absorb the report. Murmurs and conversation echoed in the amphitheater as the Triarchs and the Lords Freeholder considered the news brought before them, and to prepare ideas and proposals on how to proceed. Eventually, the Triarchs called for silence, and then turned back to the civil servant.

"Do the sorcerers manning the glass candles have any answers to the questions how and why?" a Triarch asked.

The civil servant drew himself up. "They do, Honored Triarchs." He said. "The sorcerers believed the upheaval of the earth during the previous week was caused by an unprecedented mass eruption of the Fourteen Flames."

Gasps of shock and horror echoed across the chamber, but no one could say anything. Not when they knew the only possible outcome of such an event, and how and why the world had changed so much beyond recognition.

"Then how are we still here?" Triarch Laeraenar Aggaeron asked.

"The sorcerers believe the eruption triggered a fail-safe, a final and incredibly-powerful enchantment cast by some of the mightiest sorcerers among our ancestors, in the event such a disaster occurred." The civil servant answered. "As for what it did…they hypothesize that the fail-safe moved the Freehold, or at least its heart, to the future…where we are now."

For several long moments, there was only silence. And then the Triarchs began to nod among themselves. "Yes." Triarch Aenerya Baelarion said. "That would explain why the Dothraki have been able to run rampant, how those Ghiscari were able to pull themselves out of their graves, how our tributaries have either become shadows of themselves or too big for their boots, and how the Daughters of Valyria have descended into killing their sisters. Without Valyria, without our strong hand upholding the values of civilization, Essos has all but fallen apart."

The other Triarchs nodded their agreement, and the Lords Freeholder murmured among themselves, but with a general air of agreement. "So," one of the Lords Freeholder, seated on the second tier of seats from the ground, began. "How far in the future are we?"

"It is difficult to tell." The civil servant said. "The sorcerers estimate between one to five centuries. It cannot be less as if so then Essos would be more chaotic from the fallout of Valyria's apparent destruction, and more…well, in truth the sorcerers used an upper limit of five centuries as a reasoned assumption to base future adjustments on in the future."

"That is reasonable." The Lord Freeholder said with a nod. Looking around him at his fellows, he rose to his feet. The Triarchs drew themselves up in response.

"The Triarchy recognizes Lord Freeholder Aenarion Gaeltigar." Triarch Aenerya said formally.

"Honored Triarchs," Aenarion began. "Fellow Freeholders, I move that the Valyrian Freehold immediately begin preparations and to gather additional information on the state of the world, with the goals of first reclaiming traditional Valyrian territories and spheres of influence, and second to restore time-honored law and justice to the known world."

"I second the motion." A Lord Freeholder from the upper tiers called out, followed by a chorus of support from across the Lords Freeholder.

"Order!" Triarch Laemar shouted. "We will have order!"

"As the motion has been seconded," Triarch Laeraenar began. "The Lords Freeholder will vote on the motion to prepare and gather information for the reclamation of lost lands and to uphold the mandate of law and justice over the known world."

The Lords Freeholder shouted their support, the clerk on duty pulling out a sheet of paper to tally the votes. Once he was done, the Triarchs gestured and called for silence, and as it fell, the clerk began calling names. One by one, the Lords Freeholder voted on the measure, the Triarchs abstaining at the very end.

The clerk tallied up the votes, and then signing off on the final result rose from his bench to approach the Triarchs. Presenting the results of the vote to the Triarchs with a bow, the Triarchs accepted and examined the result.

"By unanimous vote," Triarch Laemar said solemnly. "The Valyrian Freehold adopts the motion to prepare and gather information for the reclamation of lost lands and to uphold the mandate of law and justice over the known world."

A/N

Welp, let's see where this goes, shall we?