"To awaken a lifeless dragon egg, blood must be the catalyst, and life the fuel."
He paused, his voice soft, yet carrying a calm that defied all convention.
"Traditional blood sacrifice always takes countless lives at once, awakening power through violent death."
"But I don't want to do that."
Melisandre faltered slightly, thought and confusion flickering in her eyes. "What do you mean, Your Highness...?"
"There is no need for slaughter, no need to seize hundreds or thousands of lives at once, no need to make the most savage death the only form of offering." Aegon's voice was perfectly calm, yet every word challenged the established order.
"We can take another path... a steady flow, accumulated drop by drop. Countless small contributions of blood can gather into a stream strong enough to nourish and awaken the dragon eggs."
"Without endangering life itself or destroying its source, we can establish a stable, sustainable system of nourishment. Each donation would do almost no harm to the individual, but together, they would become a vast force capable of stirring that ancient dormancy."
As his words settled, Melisandre froze where she stood, her deep red pupils contracting in utter shock.
She had studied magic and the Eastern Mysteries for decades, traveled through the shadows of Asshai and many secretive places in Essos, and heard countless tales of bloody, horrifying rites. Yet she had never heard of an approach so... inconceivable.
In her understanding, blood sacrifice had always been violent and absolute, steeped in the terrible beauty of sacrifice and destruction.
It was the brilliance of life bursting forth through supreme agony and devotion, a single, heavy price paid to the gods.
Only then could the corresponding power be seized.
Yet the path Aegon described was... gentle, controlled, precise, and even possessed a chillingly cold,