Chapter One

The only red witch who survived the doom was making her way to the place where she knew, other three Valyrian families made their home.
House Targaryen, House Velaryon and House Celtigar.
Over two hundred years had passed and she still had wandered in the ruins of Old Valyria. She remained unburned and untouched during those cruel times.
The daughter of Vhades Dragonlord, the most important Dragonlord of that time known for possessing the largest and oldest dragon who unfortunately passed along with its owner during the doom.

In Valyria there were no rulers, only many dragon lords, the ones who were in possession of a bigger or older dragon, had more power and their words were taken in consideration by the others.
She never had any passion for dragons, only magic, so she had never bonded with one.
Her mother was a princess from Yi Ti, the youngest daughter of The Opal Emperor, she immigrated on the Valyrian peninsula after The Opal Emperor was succeeded by his daughter, the Amethyst Empress. Their brother slew their sister and usurped the throne, an event which is remembered as the Blood Betrayal. He proclaimed himself the Bloodstone Emperor and began a reign of terror, practicing dark magical arts and necromancy. He cast down the true gods to worship a black stone which had fallen from the sky.
Now Bu Gai, seventeenth of the azure emperors was the ruler, he was known for the little amount of power he was holding despite being a ruler, he couldn't even compare to the old god-emperors of Yi Ti.

The only time she had ever seen a person in Valyria after the doom was a little girl who was brought by her dragon there.
The lands were still extremely dangerous, even for the witch, she couldn't get near the white haired girl, fearing her dragon, who seemed to be at a small size from what she was used to. His scales, wings and even his fire was black, she indeed found it interesting to see a dragon after such a long time.
That was the time when she understood that there were still Valyrian Houses who survived, she only needed to learn, where.

In 129 AC, she noticed the presence of another dragon giving Valyria a whirl, flying around and from time to time taking a break to devour the animals that he was bringing with him.
Once she finally got closer to him, she observed his pale gray-white skin, the color of morning mist.
The few times she tried to approach him, he avoided her, flying away.
She had noticed the few fishes that were remaining in his way once he was living, notably more than bones of any other animal.
When he had returned, he found as many fishes that would be able to feed an entire village with, he knew that the girl who wouldn't give him peace had left them for him.
The dragon chose to ignore them and fly high in the blue sky, until his eye found her silhouette. That was the day he had let himself be claimed, a wild dragon who for so many years remained unclaimed, known for his shyness, found the one to finally bond himself with.

The witch fled that year across the jade sea first, to Yi Ti hoping she would find other dragon riders there.
At that time, the sea snake was on one of his great voyages, and of course, a dragon would have been the rarest sight he would have expected to see in the YiTish lands.
He was very well familiar with the Grey Ghost because he preferred to feed on fish and was often glimpsed flying low over the narrow sea, snatching prey from the waters and would often notice him in his voyages, but not so far away from home, how the dragon's lair was at Dragonstone.
And not only was the dragon alone, he had a rider this time, a young woman with long red hair, braided in a few sections and some parts left freely falling down her shoulders.
She wasn't flying very high so she could have been easily noticed by everyone, flying above the jade sea, coming from the Valyrian lands.

That day he had sent a raven to the palace announcing that one of the wild dragons from Dragonstone had been claimed and stolen by a stranger who possessed Valyrian blood, he couldn't do anything about it, only try to find that girl and give the news to the ones who were in possession of the flying creatures.

The first two days he only had heard about the doings of the woman, how many things she destroyed with the dragon, fortunately, no people were truly affected but someone had to stop her. It seemed like she was unfamiliar with the nature of the wild beast. It made the sea snake wonder where she was even born to be able to control a dragon never claimed before.

A day later, the largest dragon alive made her presence felt in the foreigner lands. Aemond Targaryen, sent by his mother to come in help to the sea snake to find the girl along with the dragon and bring her before the king.

What terrified the people of Yi Ti capital the other day was nothing compared with the fear Vhagar put in them with a single roar.
Aemond wanted his presence to be felt, to make the unknown girl come out before he would go to find her. With a dragon wasn't even an easy thing to hide, and Merilya didn't even have the intention to, not knowing that she was being hunted by the ones she was searching for across those lands.

The roar woke her up, a roar that could be heard from miles away.
Last night she had ended up on Leng, which was a large island in the Jade Sea, off the southern coast of Essos. Not because she wanted to get there but because that's where Grey-Ghost landed, so she came at peace with it and fell asleep under her companion's wing.
The island was home to many wild animals since it was formed of forests and jungles, and each one of them that tried to get near her that night while she was asleep, was scared off by Grey-Ghost who made sure to protect her. He had felt her being tired, landing there was the only option, and to be honest, he was tired as well after flying such a long way across the Jade Sea.
At that moment, not only did he open his eyes because his rider woke up but because he also was disturbed by the roar, he knew another dragon was approaching.

Without any hesitation, she climbed on her dragon. Both had different destinations in mind, while the red-headed girl wanted to fly towards the place where she had heard the roar in hope to meet another one of Valyrian blood, Grey-Ghost thought wiser for her own good and brought her across the narrow sea to Dragonstone. Flying like that for an entire day, she couldn't be against it, she didn't know any places other than the remaining ruins of Valyria and if he wanted to bring her somewhere, she would follow his lead. She didn't want to control her dragon the way her father did, she wanted him to have his free will, she never commanded him since they got bonded, it was like they knew what the other wished so they just accepted it and went on with it.

When Grey-Ghost landed at the gates of Dragonstone, he leaned his head down to let her get off, then let out a powerful roar to make sure someone would come outside and greet his rider, it didn't matter who, but anyone.
And that's how it was, after a while, another dragon made its presence along with his rider. The Velaryon young prince who saw them coming from his window was very delighted at the sight of someone he had never seen before, he was a shy boy but seeing that someone was finally riding Grey-Ghost made him very curious to see its rider.
He got off Arrax and went before her to greet her.

Merilya was also thrilled, she finally had met another dragon rider, after so many years, she couldn't believe it even though the boy was standing right before her eyes with the dragon by his side.

"Hello there...my name is Lucerys."

Before she could even answer the boy's greeting, another bigger dragon arrived, he seemed deformed, with a much longer neck than the usual dragons.
A man with white hair came down off it, making his way in front of her, keeping the boy out of her sight.

"And who are you?" Daemon asked the young looking lady.

Grey-Ghost approached her letting out a roar towards Daemon, receiving back a roar from Caraxes. Both dragons, very protective of their riders.

"My name is Merilya of House Dragonlord, sir." She maintained her straight posture and poker-face, she didn't want to look weak in the man's eyes, no matter who he was, he seemed to embody the energy of a dragon, she was a dragon as well after all, probably one even older than him. She wasn't sure if they practiced blood magic outside of Valyria, times changed, but she was still in the body of a young looking girl, now at the age of three hundred and twenty.

"Don't fool around, young lady. All the dragon lords have died with the doom. If you were truly from Old Valyria, you would have known that."

All have died.
This truth had hit her right in the heart, and for a split second, she could still hear her family's screams.
She had a dream, a vision in her sleep before the night of the doom.
She wanted to leave, she had a feeling that something bad would happen to them, but she had no dragon, and it would have been hard for her to take a ship and sail. She always thought it might have been the same dream one of the Targaryens had but she will never know if it was like that or not, she tried to warn everyone but no one listened, but her family, that was the time when the Targaryens left Valyria and headed to their seat from Westeros, Dragonstone.

"There's a new Valyria?" She pulled herself out of the trance and confused asked the first question that wondered in her head.

"Of course not, that's how we call it now since all the dragon riders came here to Westeros. Who are your parents? You seem to know nothing about our history. Are you a bastard?"

"I told you who I am, sir. My house was the most noble out of Valyria, it is an insult to call me a bastard when I'm of the most noble Valyrian blood. You're a dragon rider as well, tell me your house, I shall tell you what rank in nobility your house used to have in my days."

Daemon laughed in her face, he thought her mad.
"Very well, you even have a good sense of humor."

"I am not joking around when it comes to who I am, sir, I can tell you the entire history of Valyria...or what I remember of it, many years have passed, and if you won't believe me, then so be it.
I hope you know the noble houses were doing not only blood magic to bond with their dragons but also so they would stay young and assure that their houses would prosper for many years to come."

"Hm...we'll see about that. Take your dragon and follow me. Lucerys, you could have been put in danger, you shouldn't wander like that around without your brother. Your mother would raise hell upon the seven kingdoms if something happened to you."