'Cyvasse is such an interesting game,' Aegon thought as he hunched forward while staring intense the wooden recreation of mountains and rivers.
He normally didn't like to indulge in games often viewing them as pointless wastes of time, but this Volantis creation was something extraordinary.
From the disposable and numerous 'rabbles', to the all-powerful 'Dragon' every piece had its uses but also a counter so every move you made had a risk to it.
The 'Dragon' was the strongest piece on the board because it could get past enemy lines to cause havoc before quickly retreating but the 'trebuchet' could knock the 'Dragon' from the sky even though the 'trebuchet' is incapable of moving once set on the board.
Cyvasse was game of building and planning, by the time the game starts you had already won or lost depending on how you set up your pieces.
"Why do I keep losing?" Aegon grumbled as he stared up at the man sitting across him. He was remarkably tall with a long grey beard and even longer hair that was partly hidden by his baggy robes.
He was Maester Farrin, the only man Aegon would admit to being smarter than him. Aegon liked Maester Farrin, others were suspicious of the outsider that his father brought to Dragonstone, but Aegon could see what his father saw in the man. Maester Farrin was a man who believed that only the mattered was objective fact. He was the sort of man who would tell you that you were a terrible or incompetent lord straight to your face. His blunt honesty tends to alienate others and get him in trouble. That's probably why he ended up working for a foreign lord like his father.
"Because you play it too safe. You refuse to sacrifice any pieces unless forced to." Farrin said as he reset the board once again and outstretched his hand towards Aegon who sighed and reluctantly gave the Maester a silver coin.
'That was my last one,' Aegon though with a grimace before speaking up "Isn't that the point? Having more pieces means having more options, therefore giving me an advantage."
Maester Farrin gently stroked his long beard as he shook his head, "But that's not how life works, Aegon. You can't get away where if you're not willing to sacrifice something." He held up the silver coin, "There is always a price."
Aegon frowned as he looked back at the board and began analysis the game. He spotted moments where he would have won if he had played a bit more aggressively, "What if you don't want to sacrifice something."
"We call it a sacrifice because we don't want to give it up. It wouldn't be a real sacrifice if it were easy." Maester Farrin said as he leaned back into his chair and let out a haughty laugh.
"Then what have you sacrificed?" Aegon asked challengingly.
Maester Farrin kept quiet as he looked past Aegon with sadness in his eyes, for a brief moment Aegon thought he wouldn't answer and prepared to apologies but the old man hesitantly spoke up in a whisper, "On Dragonstone, you call me a Maester, and although I have the skills and training of one, the Citadel doesn't officially recognise me as a Maester."
Aegon frowned in confusion, he didn't think that the Citadel would have such harsh standards as to reject someone as brilliant as Farrin, "Why?" He slowly asked.
"The same reason why a foreign lord like your father didn't mind employing me. I have no allegiance to anyone, not after being all but abandoned by the Citadel for a mistake I've made in my youth." Aegon could feel the weight of time in those words. He never really considered it but Maester Farrin was a old man.
'He's old,' Aegon thought with shock, despite his appearance Aegon had never considered nor entertained the thought of Maester Farrin's age simply because he never acted his age.
He was always carried heavy equipment and books up and down his tower and whenever Aegon offered to help, Maester Farrin would wave him off. 'I'm not that old boy.'
Farrin also enjoyed journeying close to the Dragonmont 'Keep up Aegon I want a better view of the dragons' He'd say before going ahead, leaving Aegon behind as he tried to catch up.
Maester Farrin was an old man and yet he never acted like it. He was always so jovial, so certain and quick-witted. That's why a pit formed in Aegon's stomach as he observed the haunted look in his teacher's eyes
Aegon shifted uncomfortable when he heard Maester Farrin let out a whimper as the man closed his eyes, "In my youth, I gathered a group of acolytes in secret to conduct a series of studies that resulted in the death of 50 people, 15 of which were children."
The young Valyrian held back the gasp as his eyes remained locked onto his teacher. All he could do was wait. He waited for the man to chuckle and jump up from his chair laughing, 'You actually believed that Aegon?'
And yet as the silence continued Aegon realized that that moment would never come.
"You must understand," Maester Farrin quickly began most likely noticing the look on Aegon's face, "The Maesters' main purpose was to gather and spread knowledge. We offer our services to anyone willing to pay no matter their standing but even the Maesters had limits on what they were willing to learn, and magic was that limit."
"Don't you have an Archmaester for magic?" Aegon asked with blatant suspicion
"Archmaester for Higher Mysteries," Maester Farrin instinctually corrected. "It's a rather worthless position in truth. It's always filled with Hedge wizards and mummers who can only do parlour tricks at best. That's why I was so eager to learn magic, it was an untapped field of study that could further elevate the Order if pushed to its limits."
Aegon was quickly beginning to see the image his teacher was trying to paint for him, and it wasn't a flattering one, "So you gathered likeminded people to conduct magical experiments, but they failed and the Maesters found out."
Maester Farrin shook his head, "You're mostly correct but…" He leaned closer to Aegon, his eyes wide with a hint of madness flashing by, "The experiments didn't fail, if anything they were more successful than we had ever anticipated."
"Then what went wrong? What happened?" Aegon raised his voice as he grew steadily impatient.
Farrin lowered his head in shame, "The substance….it didn't stop. The project was successful, but it just kept getting….I tried, I really did but no matter what we did the fire couldn't be snuffed out. I was a fool to have trusted that man…." And then he stared laughing, "I wonder what is stronger your dragon fire or…" He couldn't even finish his sentence before crackling once again.
The was silent save the mad laughter of Maester Farrin as Aegon stood frozen in shock. As the joy slowly died down that sullen, withered face had returned. "Sacrifice, Aegon. You must always sacrifice or else the world will do it for you, and it won't be kind about it."
"I…" Aegon began but no words came out.
"That was quite burden a lot wasn't it," Maester Farrin said cheerfully as he stood up. He gave his usual warm smile yet this time it felt wrong. "I think that's enough for today"
'What would Rhaenys say in this situation,' Aegon thought as his teacher walked towards his desk where parchments and books were laid out disorderly. He knew that he was supposed to say something but all he could do was slowly walk towards the door. 'Perhaps I should just give him space'.
He reached the door and gripped the handle tightly. Aegon looked over his shoulder at the old man who had his back turned as he slowly cleaned up, "Maester Farrin?"
"Yes, Aegon?"
"Are you alright?" He blushed in embarrassment, he should have said something better.
"Have you learned something today?" Farrin asked as he kept his back turned.
Aegon blinked at the odd question but nonetheless gave it some thought and indeed he had learned something about the old man, "I suppose I have."
"And for that I am happy; now run along."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
This one was different.
For the first time he wasn't by the throne of swords. There was no ruined or decayed room and there was no armoured man.
Dragonstone was considered the optimal location to shelter dragons, so it went without saying that it never snowed there. Sure, it occasionally got chilly, but snow never occurred which was a shame because he and Rhaenys often fantasised about building a snow dragon the size of a war horse.
But here he was in an open field covered in snow. Hie feet were buried, and he could see every breath he let out, every step he took had to be slow lest he lost his balance. He didn't know where he was going or what he was supposed to do but he kept walking taking frequent breaks to play around with the snow.
For Aegon this dream differed from the usual, which was strange, but it wasn't unpleasant. This was just a normal dream about snow nothing mystical or magical about it.
An excellent change of pace all things considered.
As time progressed the clouds got significantly darker, and the winds picked up speed before Aegon knew it he was caught in a blizzard. No longer was this a wonderful experience for the boy as his body shivered in the frigid winds, the pieces of clothing were practically no existent because they did nothing to protect him from the cold.
All Aegon could do was continue walking despite being unable to see five steps ahead of him. He walked for what seemed like days hoping this dream turned nightmare would end. His body felt numb will all sense of feeling gone but he still walked on until he saw something peculiar.
It was only for a brief second, but he was certain he saw a silhouette.
"HEY!" Aegon shouted, he knew that the raging winds meant he was probably not heard but he still tried nonetheless, "OVER HERE!" He started running as fast as he could, desperately trying to catch up to the figure and yet no matter how hard he tried Aegon failed and ended up stumbling headfirst into the snow.
He slowly pulled himself up and dusted the snow off.
And then he heard it, the soft crunch of feet on snow, Aegon turned and saw the same silhouette that he'd been chasing after had somehow ended up behind him. It was unnaturally tall, being cloaked head to toe in all black. It seemed to lean closer him, but no face was visible to Aegon underneath that hood, only a darkness that unnerved him.
"I don't suppose you have shelter from this," Aegon said with a disarming smile.
The hooded figure stood still as it seemed to stare intensely at him. Seconds when by in silence before tilting its head in what Aegon assumed to be confusion but it just looked wrong to him, like a puppet imitating human movement its appendages shifted in all the wrong places.
It once again leaned even closer being practically face to face and yet still Aegon failed to make out a face in the darkness of the hood, yet even with no real face Aegon still felt exposed as if he was being examined.
He always trusted his instincts and when they all but screamed at him to run, to get away, to put distance between him that thing, Aegon didn't waste a second to even think.
His boots slipping on the snow, his breath was ragged with visible gasps. The cold bit deeper with every step, his limbs grew heavy as if the very air conspired to drag him down. Behind him, the thing pursued not with footsteps, but with finality you'd expect from a coming a storm. The darkness thickened, he heard the whispers of a thousand voices and yet none were human.
"Aegon…"
His name was not spoken it was pulled from the void, a sound that slithered into his ears and coiled around his heart. He ran faster, his pulse a frantic drum, his lungs burning. The ice splintered beneath him, black fissures spreading like veins. From the cracks rose mist pale, grasping fingers that brushed his ankles, his wrists, urging him to stop, to sleep, to let the cold take him.
'Don't stop!' Those two words seemed to constantly ring in his head as he pulled and struggled. 'Don't stop!'
A cliff loomed ahead, a jagged edge over a bottomless abyss. He quickly skidded to a halt, teetering at the brink. There was no escape. No dragon to fly him away. Only the endless fall or the thing behind him.
He slowly turned.
The thing cloaked in black stood before him, its form shifting, its presence a weight that crushed his will. The cold was inside him now, freezing his blood, his thoughts, his heart.
It reached for him…
And then, just before its touch, the world shattered.
Aegon jolted upright, drenched in sweat, his hands trembling. The hearth's embers glowed faintly, but no warmth could banish the chill in his bones.
"A dream… only a dream." He whispered out as his teeth clattered, "No reason to be scared."
But no matter what he told himself he knew that he was scared.
Aegon was frightful and that fear clung to him like a second skin.
"I need a quill and some parchment," Aegon told himself as he wobbled out of bed and tried to ignore the shifting of shadows in the corner of his eye.
They were waiting.
Waiting for him to sleep, to visit them once again. And just for that pleasure they were willing to wait.
No matter how long it took
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(A/N: When I normally write a story, I always have an endpoint in mind and just work my way back from there but after thinking about this story and what I want out of it I found that my vision didn't feel right. It goes beyond writer's block and starts to become questioning what I even want out of this story but I'm back.
Funny enough I actually had a chapter ready two months ago but I never had the courage to upload it because of how lacking it felt to me, maybe I'm just being overly critical of myself or it actually was trash, but this is a complete rewrite of this chapter. )