Chapter 2 – The Silent Vaults of Valyria
The ruins grew stranger as Julius led his army deeper into the ashen terrain.
The Smoking Sea hissed in the distance, vents of steam rising like ghosts.
Every step echoed on black stone roads long dead.
The Valyrian Freehold had been gone for more than a century…
But its shadows still lived.
---
A City of Ghosts
"Your Majesty," Siegfried said as he rode beside him, "the men are uneasy. The ground shifts. The air smells… wrong."
Julius understood.
Every breath carried sulfur and metallic tang—dragonfire's scent.
"Keep them calm," Julius said. "We push until we find shelter."
He concealed the truth:
> We are in Velzyrion—the ruined military district where many Valyrian noble Houses kept private vaults.
The map from his memory was not perfect, but he recognized enough.
Obsidian arches.
Black stone roads.
Broken glyph pillars.
They were close.
---
A Strange Structure
Scouts returned twenty minutes later.
"Sire!" a Teutonic scout kneeled. "We found a structure unlike the rest. Not collapsed. Not burned. Sealed."
Julius's eyes sharpened.
"Show me."
They led him to a circular plaza of cracked volcanic stone.
At its center stood a triangular black bastion, perfectly preserved while everything else was destroyed.
Valyrian steel veins ran through its walls, glowing faintly blue.
A vault.
Julius felt a thrill.
> House Valzyrion. Dragon tamers. Weapon forgers. Their vaults were rumored to hold eggs, scrolls, and steel.
The army didn't need to know that.
He kept his expression neutral.
---
The Sealed Gate
The doors towered three times Julius's height—two slabs of dark stone carved with a three-headed dragon sigil.
Louis de Fontainebleau stepped forward.
"What manner of fortress is this, Your Majesty?"
"Ancient," Julius said calmly. "We will explore—carefully. No torches near the cracks."
"Why?" Karl von Achen asked.
> Because Valyrian explosive gas pockets can ignite from sparks.
Because this vault may hold dormant magic.
Because these locks react to blood… specifically, Valyrian blood.
But again, he didn't say that aloud.
"We proceed with caution. That is all."
---
Breaking the Seal
They set to work.
Engineers used steel tools
Teutonic Knights braced the hinges
Hospitaller medics watched for fumes
Julius personally inspected the runes
It took hours.
Finally, the left slab shifted.
Then—
BOOOOM.
The door cracked open with a deafening thunder. Dust and ash exploded outward.
Knights raised shields, expecting poison fumes—but instead…
A cold wind drifted out.
Raymond lowered his shield. "The air… is clean?"
Julius nodded.
"A functioning air-seal. Remarkably preserved."
Of course it was.
Valyrians built vaults to survive dooms.
He stepped inside.
---
Inside the Vault
Torches illuminated the interior—rows of stone pedestals, bronze chests, and crystal cylinders.
Strange dragon carvings lined the walls.
A massive circular emblem sat on the floor, depicting four sigils:
A three-headed dragon
A serpent
A burning sword
A winged crown
Siegfried whispered, "This is a treasury."
"No," Julius said quietly. "This is more."
His golden eyes scanned the room with knowledge no one else possessed.
> A House vault… made by Valyrian noble families before the Doom. Useful items:
Dragon egg storage chambers
Valyrian forging notes
Rare metals and star-forged ore
Spellscrolls in High Valyrian glyphs
Weapons inscribed with runes
Maps of the peninsula before the Doom
All incredibly valuable.
He approached the first pedestal and opened a bronze chest.
Inside lay a sphere of obsidian glass etched with glowing runes.
Karl gasped. "Your Majesty… what is this?"
Julius smiled softly.
"A relic of this land. We will study it later."
---
The Discovery That Changes Everything
A Hospitaller knight called out from the deeper chamber.
"Sire! We've found something!"
Julius walked through the vault's inner passage.
The room beyond was colder.
Silent.
Pristine.
A sealed metal cradle sat in the center.
He approached slowly… sensing what lay inside.
His heart raced—just a little.
He lifted the lid.
Inside—
Three objects wrapped in silver cloth.
Heavy. Warm.
He opened the first cloth.
Black and crimson scales shimmered under the torchlight.
A dragon egg.
The knights gasped.
Siegfried whispered, terrified:
"What… what have we found?"
Julius gently closed the cloth.
"Something that will change the fate of our army."
He looked at the other two bundles.
Three eggs.
A clutch.
> If I can hatch them… then I will possess power equal to House Targaryen.
If I gain dragons, the Dance of the Dragons will end before it begins.
And Westeros will kneel.
Julius stood tall, his voice firm:
"We take everything we can carry. This vault is now ours. Move quickly and carefully."
The commanders obeyed immediately.
As the knights began cataloguing treasures, Julius stepped back and looked up at the glowing sigils on the ceiling.
Old Valyria's secrets… now belonged to him.
And Planetos would never be the same.