The dragon's shadow once again blotted out the sun over King's Landing.
The capital fell silent for an instant.
Then came muffled cries of alarm, and people instinctively fell prostrate.
The beggars still lingering in the streets, the merchants hurrying about, and the fully armed patrols all involuntarily raised their heads, staring at the terrifying presence sweeping low overhead and casting its enormous shadow.
Fear and awe swept like an icy tide over the city, which had only just endured the ravages of war and was still gasping amid its ruins.
King Ghidorah landed before the Red Keep.
Even though the dragon deliberately restrained the force of the landing, the gale it raised still sent the welcoming party in the square staggering, their robes snapping in the wind as they struggled to keep their footing.
Aegon slid down King Ghidorah's lowered left wing.
His movements were fluid.
His dark red cloak billowed behind him.
Without looking at the enormous beast slowly lowering its body behind him, he strode straight toward the Red Keep's wide-open gates.
Jon Connington was the first to greet him.
Steadying himself in the dying wind, he bowed deeply, his face brimming with irrepressible excitement and reverence.
"Welcome back in triumph, Your Highness!"
Behind him, the officials and commanders who had remained in King's Landing, along with Margaery Tyrell and the others staying there as envoys from the Reach, bowed and offered their congratulations in unison.
Their voices echoed across the empty square with an almost devout fervor.
Since Aegon's landing, he had taken King's Landing and swept through the Riverlands in just a few months, without suffering a single defeat.
There had not even been a proper stalemate.
Now the Riverlands had submitted, Riverrun had changed banners, and the northern army had been annihilated...
Jon Connington