Arc 23Chapters 552–576

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Chapters 552–576 Vol. 6 Read

Ch. 552Lady of the Waves

Danyla and Rafa flew into the unnatural mist over the Three Sisters and discovered thousands of human-shaped sea monsters, which Danyla and the dragons burned to ash. A gigantic mermaid rose from a sea altar and addressed Danyla as a mortal who had finally come.

  • Rafa warned Danyla that a vast, rotten, chilling force lay within the Three Sisters' mist.
  • Danyla drew Frostmourne and sensed that the fog was unnatural as the sword absorbed its magical energy.
  • Rafa blasted the sea with dragonfire, revealing thousands of monstrous creatures transformed from humans.
  • Danyla chanted a bloodmark spell, and Rafa, Myracis, and Dreamfyre burned the monsters to ash.
  • A coral-and-wreckage altar emerged from the sea, and a gigantic mermaid rose from it and told Danyla she had finally come.

Ch. 553Battle with the Lady of the Waves

Danyla and her Great Dragons battled the Lady of the Waves and her monsters, ultimately destroying the false goddess and planting a weirwood seed where she had fallen. As the fog lifted around the islands, Danyla ordered the remaining humanoid monsters burned, but a clear cry sounded from the direction of the Vale.

  • The Lady of the Waves summoned hurricanes, merfolk monsters, and ice attacks against Danyla and her Great Dragons, who countered with dragonfire.
  • Danyla and the Great Dragons wounded the Lady of the Waves, but she shattered her altar and summoned a Deep Sea Giant.
  • The Deep Sea Giant badly injured Dreamfyre, and Rafa destroyed it with a powerful black-and-red blast of dragonfire.
  • Danyla used the God-Sealing Technique to tear a gray energy crystal from the Lady of the Waves, then planted a weirwood seed in her body and destroyed her.
  • Danyla planted the weirwood at Long Sister and ordered her Great Dragons to burn the humanoid monsters, before a clear cry came from the Vale.

Ch. 554An eagle's cry broke the dawn

Danyla encountered Ares, the Lord of the Skies, who revealed the danger of a Source Stone and offered an alliance against evil gods. They sealed a Divine Contract, and Danyla learned that faith sustained the weakened old gods.

  • Ares appeared over the Three Sisters, awakened the weirwood sapling, and sent a flame into a newborn in the village.
  • Ares asked Danyla to spare the Lady of the Waves' reincarnated body and showed her nobles sacrificing infants to a Source Stone in the Mountains of the Moon.
  • Ares explained that Source Stones came from fallen primordial gods and could consume life to nurture their consciousness.
  • Danyla offered Ares access to the Maiden's faith under three iron laws, and they sealed a Divine Contract.
  • Ares cleansed the Three Sisters of the Lady of the Waves' corruption, and Danyla realized that faith nourished the old gods as they weakened without it.

Ch. 555Dawn over the Vale

Danyla discovered that divine power came from controlling natural elements and used Heaven and Earth Resonance to open a fissure into the Sea of Elements. She reforged the Lord of the Skies and unleashed elemental power across Westeros, melting the Long Night’s ice and destroying the newly reborn King of the White Walkers.

  • Danyla learned from the Lord of the Skies that resurrected Old Gods depended on weirwoods and that mortals could not perceive them without magical energy.
  • Danyla used Heaven and Earth Resonance, overwhelming the dragons and forcing the Lord of the Skies to the ground.
  • Danyla tore open the Sea of Elements, and a flame dragon shot from her brow into the fissure as howls echoed across the heavens.
  • Danyla reforged the Lord of the Skies in purple flame, restoring his body and cleansing the Three Sisters as he named the islanders the People of the Silverwing.
  • Danyla channeled elemental power across Westeros, melting the northern snows and the Wall and destroying the Wights, White Walkers, and the newly reborn King of the White Walkers.

Ch. 556Still Rife with Hidden Dangers

Danyla restored the world's elemental balance and ended the extreme weather, but the Sea of Elements left her severely weakened as supernatural creatures and events spread across Westeros. She sensed the growing dangers but could not act, leaving the realm in peril.

  • Danyla sealed the Heart of Winter, ended the long night and torrential rains, and was hailed as the Holy Flame Empress.
  • The Sea of Elements drained much of Danyla's soul and magical energy, leaving her mind foggy even as she gained a clearer sense of the world's elements.
  • Extraordinary beings and threats appeared across Westeros, including a white direwolf pup, a golden lion in Casterly Rock's mines, sea monsters, Flayers, a child named Garth, and gargoyle-like predators.
  • Shirei moved most of the Iron Islands' population to Oldstones after sea monsters grew more aggressive and brought a giant stone egg to Holy Flame Island.
  • While Danyla recuperated at the Eyrie, Rafa urged her to rest, but she sensed the spreading abnormalities and lamented that her weakened body kept her from responding.

Ch. 557Blood Sacrifice of the Source Stone

After recovering from the Long Night, Danyla secured the Vale’s loyalty to the Divine Eagle Ares and refined the Source Stone with Rafa. She then flew to White Harbor, where Earl Torrhen Manderly showed her the devastation of a plague that ordinary remedies could not stop.

  • Herb treated Danyla with weirwood-seed porridge until she regained her vigor and escaped her divine avatar’s influence.
  • Danyla had Jeyne proclaim Ares the Vale’s guardian, and Ares gathered spiritual creatures and slew monsters across the mountains.
  • Danyla and Rafa found Reyes, the Mountain Clan survivors, and other nobles guarding the Source Stone, then burned them in a blood sacrifice.
  • Danyla used Rafa’s dragonfire to refine the Source Stone into a golden crystal and placed it in Rafa’s Dragon Saddle.
  • Danyla flew to White Harbor and found its people dying from a plague as Torrhen told her that every treatment had failed.

Ch. 558Pale Holy Child

Danyla fought the Pale Holy Child, whose plague magic fed on abandoned children, and rescued more than a hundred victims near White Harbor. In Braavos, she destroyed a malformed creature in a sewer, but its final words hinted that a lord in the abyss was still a threat.

  • Danyla used her magical flames to heal Torrhen and searched plague-stricken White Harbor for the source of the infection.
  • Near the Wolf's Den, Danyla found the Pale Holy Child draining an infant's life through a stone idol, but she failed to save the child and its mother.
  • Danyla discovered imprisoned children in an abandoned village and burned the black threads infecting their bodies, clearing the plague's source in the surrounding region.
  • Danyla rescued more than a hundred children over the next half month and housed them in the Cremation Tower's church.
  • In Braavos's sewers, Danyla found and destroyed a malformed creature in a jar after burning away its illusions.
  • As the creature died, it warned Danyla that a lord in the abyss had already acted.

Ch. 559Thunder Great Dragon

After the plague ended, Danyla visited Ozarion in Braavos and tried to repair their distant relationship. She met his unusual young dragon, Soltrion, and promised to spend more time with her son while keeping the dragon’s powers secret.

  • Torrhen Manderly thanked Danyla for saving White Harbor, and she urged him to lead the city’s recovery.
  • Danyla flew to Braavos, regretting how little time she had spent with Ozarion.
  • A violet-blue young dragon named Soltrion confronted Rafa and Myracis, and Ozarion explained that lightning had split his egg during a storm.
  • Danyla embraced Ozarion and apologized for being absent, while he admitted he had wished she would visit him.
  • Danyla promised to visit Ozarion often and invited him to Holy Flame Island, asking him to keep Soltrion hidden until he was grown.
  • That evening, Danyla and Patirius watched Ozarion and Soltrion play in the palace gardens.

Ch. 560The Red King

After recovering in Braavos, Danyla learned that Iseryn had gone missing and tracked her to the Dreadfort, where blood magic and the Red King’s servants awaited her. She found Iseryn suspended in a ritual chamber, apparently pregnant and warning her mother of a trap as the floor opened into a pool of blood.

  • Spring returned in Conquest Era 130, and Danyla spent nearly half a month in Braavos recovering and teaching Ozarion magic before Hogdera accepted him as its rider.
  • After receiving word from Winterfell that Iseryn was missing, Danyla used the weirwood to trace her to the Dreadfort and rode there with her dragons.
  • Danyla found blood runes and a mist filled with imprisoned souls surrounding the Dreadfort, where an old woman told her the Red King had awaited her.
  • Danyla entered the castle and followed the sound of chains to find Iseryn hanging from the ceiling with blood markings on her back and a life growing inside her.
  • When Iseryn warned Danyla not to approach, the corridor floor opened into a blood pool and skeletons emerged, prompting Danyla to attack with her sword and cry, “Blood and Fire Share One Source!”

Ch. 561The vanished Dreadfort

Danyla and Iseryn used the Blood Sacrifice Spells and the dragons’ fire to destroy the Dreadfort and confront the Red King, who had possessed Dominic. After Danyla killed the Red King, his essence burned away, but Iseryn’s unborn child convulsed violently, leaving its fate uncertain.

  • Danyla freed Iseryn and used magical flames to purge the Red King’s influence while the skeletons reassembled around pulsing masses of blood.
  • Danyla and Iseryn chanted the Blood Sacrifice Spells as Rafa, Dreamfyre, and Myracis burned the Dreadfort, feeding its blood mist and magic into the Source Stone crystal.
  • The Red King appeared on the bronze throne in Dominic’s body and revealed that Iseryn’s ring contained a fragment of his former heart.
  • Iseryn called on Dominic to resist the Red King, and Danyla bound the Red King and the throne with seven chains from the Source Stone crystal.
  • Dominic briefly regained control and urged Iseryn to kill him, so Danyla stabbed the Red King through the heart with her Proud Sun Valyrian Steel Sword.
  • Myracis’s Dragonfire consumed the Red King’s blood mist, Dominic’s body crumbled to ash, and Iseryn’s unborn child began convulsing as Danyla tried to protect it.

Ch. 562The Greatness of a Mother's Love

Iseryn accepted that she would love her unborn child even if he carried the Red King's memories, and later welcomed him into the world with the Red King's chain-shaped birthmark. As Westeros recovered from the calamity, Danyla's family gathered at Holy Flame Castle, where Ilisa's dragon egg hatched into Aphrodite.

  • Danyla comforted Iseryn and urged her to love her child unconditionally, whatever he might become.
  • Iseryn remembered Dominic and promised to love their child, and Dominic's apparition reassured her that the baby was theirs.
  • Months later, Iseryn gave birth to a child bearing the Red King's chain-shaped birthmark and welcomed him without fear.
  • After the calamity, Danyla returned to Holy Flame Castle with her unmarried children and gave dragon eggs to those who had lost their dragons.
  • Ilisa's egg hatched into the slender pink dragon Aphrodite, while Igaia asked Danyla whether her own egg would hatch.

Ch. 563Life at Holy Flame Castle 1

Danyla’s children gathered at Holy Flame Castle after Isara returned with a giant octopus for the newly hatched Aphrodite. The family shared a magical feast, and the chapter ended with Ityla struggling to master magic while Isara demonstrated her flaming swordsmanship.

  • Danyla’s children devoted themselves to their Dragon Eggs, while Ityla prayed with hers at the Divine Dragon Septon’s Hall.
  • Ishys and Isalorn gained many devoted followers after helping Andalos through recent disasters, and Ishys named Daenerylla her heir under a law granting equal inheritance rights to sons and daughters.
  • Isara returned to Holy Flame Castle on Azathos with a giant octopus as a gift for Aphrodite, whom Ilisa had recently hatched.
  • Azathos roasted pieces of the octopus, and Danyla held a rooftop barbecue for the children.
  • Aphrodite ate the magical octopus, awakened her ability to breathe dragonfire, and fell asleep atop the remaining meat.
  • Ityla tried to conjure magical flames while Isara displayed her swordsmanship and set her Valyrian Steel Sword ablaze.

Ch. 564Life at Holy Flame Castle 2

Danyla and her children shared grilled giant octopus at Holy Flame Castle while discussing the awakening of ancient creatures and the unrest in Dorne. After sacrificing the octopus’s remains to their Dragon Eggs and Aphrodite, the children’s magical energy grew, and Isara and Ityla manifested faint flames.

  • Isara grilled giant octopus on her Valyrian Steel Sword and shared it with Danyla and her younger siblings.
  • Danyla told the children that ancient creatures had awakened around the world and advised them to wait for their rivalries to unfold before restoring order.
  • Isara suggested that the children give the octopus’s magically nourished ink sac to Danyla, and the servants collected and prepared its valuable parts.
  • Danyla and the children performed Blood Sacrifice Spells, offering the remaining octopus flesh and blood to their Dragon Eggs and Aphrodite.
  • The Dragon Eggs absorbed vitality and magical energy, Aphrodite grew larger, and Isara and Ityla each produced a faint magical flame.

Ch. 565Life in Holy Flame Castle 3

Danyla surveyed how magical energy gathered across the world, while ancient powers and gods began to awaken. She ended the chapter granting the Faith of the Seven financial relief as regional peace started to break down.

  • Danyla sensed magical energy concentrating at ancient sites, including Oldtown, Holy Flame Island, the Valyria Ruins, and the Fourteen Flames, where House Targaryen's dragons helped stabilize the volcanoes.
  • Danyla sensed an ancient power awakening in the Rhoyne and suspected that the Rhoyne consciousness had returned.
  • Isalorn swallowed an ancient black goat god in Qohor Forest, then fell into a deep sleep after absorbing its divine power.
  • Ishys placed three ancient bronze bells in Ny Sar City Castle, where people prayed to them after they rang at Daenerylla's birth.
  • A girl born in Lys proclaimed herself the Goddess of Spring and told her followers to place the Holy Flame Emperor above her in their temples.
  • Danyla waived five years of the Faith of the Seven's dragon subsidy payments and previous debt interest, as ancient beings staying awake began disrupting the peace.

Ch. 566The Trout King's Submission

Danyla visited Riverrun, where the Trout King submitted to her and agreed to protect the Three Forks in exchange for worship and a bloodline pact. She left Ityla in Riverrun with Kermit before continuing her tour.

  • Myracis devoured huge numbers of trout in the Red Fork, revealing a new ability linked to her crystallizing heart.
  • Duke Tully urged Kermit to win a marriage tie with House Targaryen, and Kermit resolved to try.
  • The Trout King appeared to Danyla and offered to guard the Three Forks, blessing the region with good weather and plentiful fish.
  • Danyla arranged for the Trout King to receive worship and sent him a Flame Rune as part of a pact to protect her descendants.
  • After a trout rescued a sinking fishing boat, Danyla ordered Duke Tully to erect a monument and allow halls of worship; she later left Ityla in Riverrun with Kermit.

Ch. 567The mad "Daughter Kingdom"

Danyla visited Oldstones, where women held nearly all positions of power and men appeared fearful and subdued. After Omanrion encouraged the children to mix freely and Danyla learned the region was recovering well, she considered granting Oldstones to him.

  • Danyla flew to Oldstones with Omanrion and saw its powerful female army and male residents keeping their heads down.
  • Omanrion warned Danyla that Oldstones’ treatment of men risked replacing one oppression with another, and she praised his judgment.
  • Walda and Maggie welcomed Danyla and her family, while Omanrion and the other royal children made a point of speaking with the boys as well as the girls.
  • Walda reported strong harvests, abundant livestock, and Sheepstealer’s new lair near the hill of ancient Oldstones; Danyla suspected the King of the Hill had awakened.
  • Maggie told Danyla that Bear Island had enough food to last until the harvest, and Danyla considered granting Oldstones to Omanrion after seeing him help the boys relax.

Ch. 568The New Duke of Oldstones

Danyla examined Oldstones’ abuses and falling birth rate, then decided to grant the city and the Iron Islands to Omanrion, who recognized the need for change. When Ityla and Ishina objected, Danyla defended her choice and told her daughters to prove their ability to govern before receiving lands.

  • Igaia and Ilisa witnessed the exploitation of men at Dragonkiss Garden, and Danyla took them away from the pleasure house.
  • Omanrion reported Oldstones’ population and birth-rate figures, and Danyla explained how past persecution had fueled the women’s revenge against men.
  • Danyla announced that Omanrion would receive Oldstones and the Iron Islands, prompting Ityla and Ishina to challenge the decision.
  • Meera supported Omanrion because he had recognized Oldstones’ crisis, while Walda and Maggie pledged to follow Danyla’s command.
  • Danyla arranged Ityla’s betrothal to Kermit of House Tully and criticized Ishina’s record governing High Heart.

Ch. 569Strange Dragon Eggs and a Hatchling

Danyla reorganized dragon and military duties across the realm while helping Omanrion establish a balanced government at Oldstones. After Sheepstealer’s strange gray-white eggs appeared, one hatched into a unique dragon that Omanrion named Das Radon, leaving his siblings envious and focused again on their own eggs.

  • Danyla ordered Ishina to hunt sea monsters with Meleys and sent Rhaenyra to patrol Biter Bay and the Shivering Sea, while assigning other Great Dragons to campaigns beyond the Wall and on Skane Island.
  • Sheepstealer returned to Oldstones after years of work, larger and stronger than before, and laid five grayish-white eggs that she began incubating.
  • Danyla transferred six thousand female soldiers to Andalos, Cisland, and Cairns Road, then helped Omanrion recruit new troops to balance Oldstones’s military and guide its reforms.
  • After more than three months of Danyla’s guidance, Omanrion took charge of government at Oldstones and gained prestige for advancing gender equality.
  • One of Sheepstealer’s eggs hatched, and Omanrion named the distinctive hatchling Das Radon, the Reaper Stone Dragon.
  • Envious of Omanrion’s new dragon, Ityla returned with Kermit to Holy Flame Island to incubate her egg, while Danyla recalled Myracis and toured the Westerlands with her remaining children.

Ch. 570The monster in the mine

Danyla investigated the monster attacking Casterly Rock’s mines and discovered that an awakened Old God was turning its victims into metal to gain faith. Jason revealed that the miners had uncovered a carving of three lions before the attacks began.

  • Danyla noticed Casterly Rock had few guards, and Lann told her that more than a thousand people had died in the mines and nearby villages.
  • Danyla left Myracis at the castle to protect the children and went to the mine with Aphrodite.
  • Jason Lannister warned Danyla about the monster, while Lansent showed her soldiers whose bodies were transforming into gold, silver, and iron.
  • Danyla touched a victim’s golden arm, sensed an ancient power, and concluded that an Old God had awakened and was seeking faith.
  • Jason told Danyla that miners had found a stone relief of three lions deep underground before they dug farther down.

Ch. 571Blinded by Wealth

Danyla explained that three metal lions beneath Casterly Rock had been created to suppress an ancient evil, and she led Jason Lannister and a group of warriors into the mine to subdue them. In the cave, the warriors were tempted by a pool of liquid gold, but one man was transformed into a statue after touching it, revealing the pool's danger.

  • Danyla told Jason Lannister that Lann the Clever had used three metal lions to seal an evil underground and that only a pure-blooded Lannister could control them.
  • Danyla descended into the mine with Jason Lannister, Head Instructor Jassent, Aphrodite, and the warriors, giving them obsidian pendants for protection.
  • The group reached a vast cave containing a pool of liquid gold and metal statues, and Danyla demonstrated that the liquid gold could transform an iron sword.
  • The warriors eagerly tossed their weapons and belongings into the pool, while Jason Lannister questioned why people had become statues.
  • A warrior's fingers turned to gold after touching the pool, and a claw of liquid gold seized him and dragged him in, transforming him into a statue.

Ch. 572The Golden Lion

Danyla brought Jason Lannister to meet Oryxos, the Golden Lion, and learn the terms of the ancient pact binding it beneath Casterly Rock. When Lann Lyon arrived, Oryxos sensed something unusual about him and cautiously retreated.

  • Oryxos emerged from the golden pool and challenged Jason Lannister to prove the purity of his Lannister blood.
  • Oryxos tested Jason by licking his cheek, then explained that Lann had traded his blood and the lions’ freedom for Casterly Rock’s safety.
  • Danyla asked Oryxos about the original pact, and the Golden Lion warned that the weakening seal was allowing an ancient evil to awaken.
  • Jason drew Bright-Roar, whose golden light made Oryxos pause, but the lion insisted Jason’s blood was still not enough.
  • Lann Lyon entered with Light-King, and Oryxos reacted warily to his scent as the boy said he had come to help.
  • Lann Lyon wondered if Oryxos meant the scent of lemon cake he had sneaked from the kitchen.

Ch. 573Suppressing evil

Lann Lyon awakened a powerful connection to the golden pool as the metal lions revealed that they guarded a seal imprisoning the Ancient Hunger. Danyla used her magic to protect Lann and transform the pool, but the sealed force began to awaken.

  • Lann Lyon connected Light-King to the golden pool, and Oryxos recognized a powerful sun-scent in him.
  • Black slime seeped into the cavern, and Oryxos revealed that the lions guarded the Ancient Hunger, which Lann had sealed underground.
  • Argentia and Cedros emerged and threatened to use Lann's blood to reinforce the seal or escape their bonds, but Danyla forced them back.
  • Danyla planted the weirwood root in the golden pool and channeled her flames into Lann, causing the tree to grow and the black slime to vanish.
  • Oryxos warned that the Ancient Hunger was about to wake, and Argentia cried that it had already awakened.

Ch. 574Reforging the Metal Lions

Danyla and Lann Lyon transformed the three metal lions into eighteen smaller lions, then used the Golden Weirwood and a blood sacrifice to attack the evil beneath the mine. The underground force erupted in torrents of black liquid, and the chapter ended with golden roots restraining one of its tendrils as Myracis dug toward the mine.

  • Danyla and Lann Lyon combined dragonfire and Light-King’s runes to destroy the black slime and reforge Sideros, Argentia, and Oryxos into eighteen smaller metal lions.
  • Danyla led Lann to the Golden Weirwood and began a blood sacrifice to seal the evil underground, while Jason Lannister approached the newly divided lions.
  • Danyla and Lann fed their blood, the Golden Weirwood, and Aphrodite’s dragonfire into the struggle as the tree’s roots consumed the black liquid and turned surrounding rock into metal veins.
  • Myracis sensed the magic and began digging into the mountain, while an explosion shook Casterly Rock and black liquid swallowed three Sworn Warriors beside Jason.
  • Danyla protected Jason with magic and sent Aphrodite to guard him as black tendrils surged from the fissures and the Golden Weirwood’s roots seized one reaching for Lann.

Ch. 575Eternity and new life

Danyla, Lann Lyon, Aphrodite, and Myracis battled the darkness beneath the mine while the golden weirwood absorbed blood-sacrifice energy. After the weirwood trapped the darkness within a black heart and grew to the height of Casterly Rock, Lann Lyon formed a bloodline contract with a Golden Lion.

  • Danyla and Lann Lyon, joined by the metal lions, fed the golden weirwood blood and sound as black corruption spread through its roots.
  • Aphrodite burned the black tendrils, but one wounded her before the mine roof collapsed.
  • Myracis entered the mine and incinerated the tendrils, giving the weirwood enough energy to bind the darkness inside a black heart.
  • Lann Lyon joined his sword's power with Myracis's dragonfire to trap the darkness in a violet-gold net.
  • The golden weirwood absorbed the heart's energy, grew as tall as Casterly Rock, and caused new gold deposits to form.
  • Lann Lyon placed a blood-red rune on a Golden Lion, awakening its intelligence through a bloodline contract.

Ch. 576Assigning the lions

After the crisis in Casterly Rock, Danyla and Lann Lyon arranged for metal lions and weirwoods to enrich ore veins across the Westerlands and Iron Islands. Danyla also began considering marriage prospects for Lann, and the chapter ended with magical energy gathering in the west.

  • Lann Gordon merged with the Golden Weirwood, accelerating gold production and causing the damaged mine to collapse as Danyla and the others escaped.
  • Danyla warned Jason Lannister that Casterly Rock's gold could not be mined recklessly, and explained that the Golden Weirwood and Lann Gordon would steadily enrich its veins.
  • After recovering from the blood sacrifice, Danyla and Lann Lyon placed a Silver Lion at Casterly Rock and an Iron Lion near Lannisport, where Danyla helped begin forming an iron vein.
  • Danyla and Jason discussed marriage prospects for Lann Lyon, including Susanna of House Stark and Danyla's daughter Sevielle, and Danyla volunteered to visit Winterfell.
  • Danyla settled Iron and Silver Lions at Old Locke Island and Tarbeck Hall, where weirwoods and concentrated magical energy could foster ore deposits.
  • Magical energy began rapidly converging on the Westerlands and the Iron Islands as more metal lions were established there.
Arc 23 of 24