Chapter 6: The Dream That Binds
Year 10363 AC — 16 Years Before the DoomLocation: Valyria, Emberlight Quarter → The Subterranean Codex SanctumWord Count: ~6,000
1. Whispers Beneath Stone
The egg pulsed beneath the Ashborn's inner cradle—warmth blooming like a heartbeat within the fire-forged metal. Aerion stood alone inside the ship's skeletal belly, runes flaring faintly underfoot.
Every day, the dragon stirred more.
Every night, his dreams darkened.
It began with fire—a sea of molten gold beneath a bleeding sky. A thousand towers shattered like bone. Screams echoed across mountains. Shadows moved through the flames—not men, not beasts, but forms... ideas given shape.
In the center stood a tree of obsidian, its roots coiling around a mountain of skulls.
And beneath it—
A door.
A voice called to him from the other side.
"Come. Drink deep. Know what Valyria forgot."
System Notification:Dream Marker: Forbidden Location Detected — Subterranean Codex SanctumEstimated Coordinates: 17° below Emberlight Quarter — Access Possible through Ruin Channel 7BWarning: Magical Interference, Sanity Strain, Cognitive Overload Risk: High
Aerion stared at the map the system outlined in his vision. A black spiral beneath their family vaults.
He smiled.
"Then it's time I visited my ancestors' skeletons."
2. The Secret Library
Two hours later, beneath layers of forgotten catacombs and rusting magiclocks, Aerion stepped into a forgotten world.
The air buzzed like lightning. His breath fogged with frost.
Massive stone bookcases towered around a circular chamber the size of a coliseum, each shelf holding bound tomes sealed in silver, chained in star-iron, or bleeding black ichor.
"Welcome, child of the fire."
The voice echoed from a pale figure seated atop a levitating dais: cloaked in parchment-colored robes, its face hidden behind a mask of gold leaves.
[Unknown Entity Detected: Librarian of the Codex Sanctum]Magical Signature: Ancient Sapient ConstructFunction: Gatekeeper to Forbidden LoreDescent Permission Required: Blood Sigil or Mind Duel
"Who made you?" Aerion asked.
"Your ancestors. Those who drank from the river of dreams. Those who traded eyes for knowledge. Those who burned stars to forge steel."
Aerion stepped forward. "I want access."
The Librarian's eyes glowed behind its mask.
"Then give me what they gave."
Suddenly, Aerion's mind erupted in light.
3. Duel of Wills
Challenge Initiated: Mind Duel — The LibrarianObjective: Survive mental invasion and seize cognitive control of a Codex Path.Mental Defense: 70Librarian Resistance: 88Passives Engaged: Eidetic Memory, Dreamwalker Seed, Flame LogicExternal Assist: Dragon-Bound Link (+5 Willpower)
Memories were ripped from him like pages—his first kill, his mother's last lullaby, Aenya's kiss under starlight.
He staggered, falling to one knee.
But then he countered—projecting a vision of his future: ships with sails of fire, dragons flying above a rising empire, a city reborn from ruin.
His mind burned, but it held.
And in that crucible, he reached for the knowledge locked within the Librarian.
"Show me," he hissed. "All of it."
Mind Duel Result: VictoryYou have been granted temporary access to the following Codex Sections:– Rite of Soulshaping (Ancient Ritual)– The Seven Forbidden Glyphs (Advanced Rune Sets)– Stellar Gatecraft (Pre-Valyrian Portal Theory)– Necrathaur Arcanum: Magic Beyond Flame (Shadow Magic)
4. The Forbidden Glyph
He opened the second Codex.
A flat plate of obsidian rose, etchings glowing dimly—each symbol writhed and twisted, rearranging themselves in his vision.
Glyphs for binding, splitting, condensing, and animating.
"Why were these hidden?" he asked.
"Because they do not respect life. They consume it."
Aerion placed his palm upon the page.
The glyphs bit into his skin, searing into his veins.
Skill Acquired: Glyphsmithing — Forbidden PathSub-School: Soul Runes EnabledWarning: Each use increases Madness Counter (Current: 0/100)
He gritted his teeth through the pain.
"I'll master them. Even if it breaks me."
5. The Serpent Priestess
When he returned to the surface, midnight cloaked the Wockenfd estate. Aenya waited by the fire pool, wearing a robe of red lace and gold thread. Her eyes narrowed as he approached.
"You were gone for hours."
"I found something."
He extended his palm. The glyphs flickered under his skin.
She frowned. "That's madness magic."
"It's control magic. If we're going to survive the Doom, I'll need it."
Aenya sighed. "Then you're going to need help. And there's only one woman in Valyria who knows how to teach it."
6. The Courtesan of the Ninth Flame
She was called Nyelarra—part priestess, part poisoner, part sex-mage.
She lived atop a burning spire surrounded by blood-fountains and pleasure vines. Her attendants were half-drugged slaves and fire dancers who spoke only in riddles.
Aerion visited her under a false name.
She recognized the glyphs on his hand before he spoke a word.
"I smelled you in the dream."
She led him into a chamber of veils and mirrors, where the walls whispered truths.
To learn from her required an oath and a rite.
Aenya watched with a cold gaze as the priestess laid Aerion on obsidian and carved new glyphs into his thighs, belly, and chest with a dagger of heatglass.
Then came the sex rite.
Nyelarra straddled him, each motion drawing power from him, weaving magic between pleasure and madness. Her words sank into his soul as he climaxed—
"Take what burns. Keep what scars. Wield your wound like a scepter."
Forbidden Magic Gained: Ecstasy Binding, Madness Cloak, Shadow ChainMadness Counter: 8/100Sex Rite: Successful — Forbidden Skill Copy AllowedNyelarra's Knowledge Absorbed: 42%
7. Plans in Motion
Back in the forges of Wockenfd, Aerion drew new designs.
Ships that could burn the sky.
Engines powered by glyph-infused dragon hearts. Warblades that bent gravity. A city built into a floating ring around a dead volcano.
And beneath it all—his system hummed.
He could feel it evolving with him. Shifting. Preparing.
Soon, it whispered.
And the egg beneath the Ashborn pulsed again, harder now—its heartbeat syncopating with his.
8. The Blood Pact
He summoned his allies.
Aenya, his cousin and forge-mistress.Nyelarra, the priestess bound by shadow-debt.Vhaessa, the dragonlady he seduced and blackmailed.
And one more—Vaezor, a bastard-born merchant-prince from Lys with a fleet of black-sailed ships and a thousand sellswords at his back.
In the forge chamber, before the egg, they each pricked their palms and placed blood upon the seal.
"Speak it," Aerion said.
Vhaessa's voice was the first.
"We ride the flame that devours empires."
Aenya followed: "We forge new law from old blood."
Nyelarra: "We bind dream and death alike."
Vaezor: "And we sell the gods their own secrets."
Aerion raised his hand.
"Let the old Valyria die. I will build a new one."
The seal flared red.
The egg pulsed.
And above them, in the sky, the clouds parted as a single bolt of silver flame cracked the heavens.
End of Chapter 6Word Count: ~6,000