Jon stood atop the Great Pyramid, his gaze fixed on the distant horizon, towards the glittering expanse of the Slavers' Bay.
Below him, the sea was alive with motion. More than thirty ships had just departed from the port of Meereen. Each was filled to the brim with soldiers, the first wave of his invasion navy force sailing westward toward the Free Cities.
The rest of the fleet would soon follow, departing from various points along the bay. In total, Jon commanded one hundred and forty warships, and of them, one hundred and ten were now committed to the campaign.
His armies had already begun their march days earlier. Now, with the fleet setting sail, the message was clear to the rest of the Essos.
"Congratulations, Lord Aeos," Melisandre said softly from behind him. "Very soon, you will have more cities under your command. Entire Essos would follow soon enough."
Jon merely smiled, a small, knowing smile. Like everyone else, he too was certain of the victories to come. Major victories.
Melisandre was the only one of his three trusted subordinates still in Meereen. Slyvia led the great army westward, while Rhaenys had been sent north on a mission of her own.
"Melisandre," Jon said at last, his eyes still on the horizon, his voice thoughtful.
"Dragons," he murmured. "What was their connection with the warlocks? And how did my arrival in Qarth wake that first warlock from his slumber?"
"I see," Melisandre smiled a bit. "You are ready to discuss the matter again."
"Yes," Jon nodded. "I want to understand a few things and then put a permanent end to the topic of the House of the Undying and the warlocks."
"Dragons," she began slowly, "are not directly related to the disappearance or return of the warlocks' magic. They are more like a symbol or, if one could theorize the initial spark that signals change."
"The disappearance of magic for the House of the Undying," she continued, "was synonymous with the extinction of dragons. When the world's magic began to fade, the dragons began to die. Their eggs no longer hatched, their flames weakened, and their bloodlines thinned. And in the same way, when magic drained from the world, the House of the Undying lost its power."
"Hmm," Jon murmured, his brow furrowing. The logic in her words was undeniable but there was still one part that needed an explanation.
"Their return," he said quietly. "The return of their powers, how did that happen? How is it connected to the birth of dragons?"
"By the logic you explained," Jon said slowly, his voice thoughtful, "if there is only synonymity between the dragons and the warlocks because of the appearance and the disappearance of magic, then even if I had not hatched the dragons, the warlocks would have regained their powers since it is about appearance of magic. Would they not?"
Melisandre shook her head gently.
"This is not how it works," she said. "When the magic was marking its return, the dragons had to be reborn. You were the medium chosen by that magic or, perhaps, by fate itself."
She paused for a moment, her gaze fixed on the flickering horizon.
"If not you, then perhaps another would have hatched them. Or maybe, in some distant land, they would have hatched on their own. But one way or another the dragons would have returned. When the magic began weakening or disappearing, the dragons had to vanish. The doom of Valyria and the dance of dragons were only the medium."
Jon fell silent. Her words made sense, but they still did not sit perfectly in his mind. There was something deeper, something still missing.
"Actually," Melisandre said after a moment, her voice lowering to a near whisper, "there is another theory. It is not widely accepted even among those who study the flows of magic, but I think it will give you an explanation that fits better with what you seek."
"What is it?" Jon asked, his tone calm but laced with curiosity.
"The theory," Melisandre began, "says that the disappearance of magic does not mean it truly ceases to exist. Magic never dies, it simply becomes dormant. Hidden. It is waiting for the right time and opportunity."
"And when the time comes for that dormant magic to awaken again, it needs a spark, a single ignition to set everything in motion. Like a massive boulder tumbling down a hill after a tiny stone nudges it loose. A small beginning that unleashes something far greater."
"They say the birth of dragons was that first spark," she continued, her voice taking on a quiet reverence. "Dragons are born steeped in magic. Their bodies are living vessels of fire and power. Of powerful magic. And with their rebirth, the dormant magic of the world began to stir again, spreading slowly outward from them like ripples in water."
Jon's expression turned thoughtful. This made sense. Far more than anything else he had heard.
"And this," Melisandre added, "would explain how the first warlock woke from his slumber when you reached Qarth. Just like the dragons, your body and mine carries immense magic within it. Our presence also acts as that spark, reigniting what had long been asleep."
"Our arrival in Qarth accelerated the awakening for the nearby area. The dormant magic of that place was stirred and the First Warlock, bound to it, woke from his long sleep."
Jon looked thoughtful and made far more sense to him than the first explanation. And this would explain what he could not voice to Melisandre.
In the canon, the warlocks had gotten their powers when Daenerys had hatched her dragons and that, without his intervention, would have happened a couple of years later. And since her dragons were not as powerful as his and neither had she had magic within herself, the first warlock was not able to wake from his slumber.
He might have woken up in future as the magic would have strengthened slowly, but he could only speculate about that matter.
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