Lost in Sothoryos | A Game of Thrones fanfic

(AN: thought I'd release a chapter early since the last one was kinda boring, hope you enjoy it)

(Location: Jon's hill)

(Time: Early Morning)

(3rd Person)

The early morning sun was shining over the continent of Sothoryos, as the young hidden prince was standing at the top of the hill he'd claimed.

Next to him was his sworn sword and ex member of the kingsguard as he will only ever call himself a kingsguard when the young man next to him decides to be the king he knows he can be.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to leave" Arthur says looking off into the distance, the wind blowing through his pale blonde hair hand on his sword.

"Not a chance" Jon says bluntly as he also looks off across the distance.

"You know there's a very good chance it will go wrong, you'd be delivering the final ingredient to them" Arthur says finally turning around to face Jon with a serious expression on his face.

"You say you know the type of man I'll become and that I could be an even better king" Jon states as he turns to Arthur "Would that king ever abandon a member of their family even at the risk of their own life" Jon says in a cool tone as Arthur looks conflicted may at him

Arthur then sighs and shakes his head to which Jon smiles and says "I didn't think so".

"I'm afraid though Arthur, how are we supposed to find her in such a vast expanse" Jon says a frown replacing the smile he had on his face.

"The Starry mountains" Arthur says bluntly.

With a surprised look on his face Jon turns his head to Arthur.

"What makes you think they are there" Jon questions.

"I'm not sure but I've read accounts of sailors who've met with the Sathoryi who live on the coast and they always mention to stay away from that place as the people who live there worship dark gods and eat human flesh" Arthur states with mild disgust in his voice.

"I guess it's a better place than any to start" Jon sighs as he looks over the horizon.

In the distance he could see a large mountain range meaning that they weren't too far away.

"Why're they called the Starry mountains" Jon asks Arthur as the latter is searching for something in his bag.

"I heard thousands of years ago before the dawn era there was a god here who people worshiped as the god of earth" Arthur says as he brings a small book out of his bag and closes his bag.

"When all the gods ascended to heaven he was left behind as he was a loner and none of the gods would help him ascend and his connection to the earth prevented him from doing it himself" Arthur continued.

"He grew angry and jealous and so with his power he thought to create a stairway to heaven, a mountain so big that it could reach the stars but he began to run out of power as he ascended higher and higher and eventually the mountain collapsed on its side, so that huge mountain range you see used to be one big mountain" Arthur states with a laugh.

"Some of the weirder people even think that the god is buried underneath the mountain range and soon he will awaken' Arthur says in a spooky tone.

"Is that really true" Jon naively asks as he looks worriedly at Arthur.

Arthur just shrugs his shoulders "You can ignite flames out of your hands, but I do not consider you to be a god, stories change over time im sure maybe elements are true and some not" Arthur says.

Arthur walks up to Jon and claps him on the back "Come I need to show you something, but first let's go back to the cave and pack away anything we can use on our journey, I don't imagine we will find very many food sources that won't make us shit our guts uo" he says with a chuckle.

(In the cave)

Arthur lifts the book he has had gripped in his hand and shows it to Jon.

"This is Rhaegars diary, he left it in my care before he went off to the trident, all his research is in this" Arthur says shocking Jon as he just stares at the black leather bound book.

"I placed it under a loose brick in the tower of joy and even though your uncle burned the place to the ground it managed to survive" Arthur continues as he places the book in Jon's hand.

"It was the second thing I collected after dawn when I arrived in Westeros, it is a bit damaged from the sea but a lot should still be legible" Arthur says with a small smile.

"Thank you, Arthur" Jon says feeling choked up as he squeezes the diary in his hands.

"Come now we need to get going, have you learnt how to carve the runes properly" Arthur asks Jon as he begins packing away food and water.

"Yes yes I can do it fine, we should be fine though I saw a city south of here in the direction we were heading we can carve a rune on a room snd it'll be fine no need to find somewhere for protection" Jon states in a light tone as he uses the skeletons own satchel to begin packing stuff away.

Arthur stops what he's doing and rushes towards Jon and lifts him up by his shoulders "Jon you must promise me to never go into that city under any circumstances" Arthur says in an aggressive and serious tone.

Feeling confused with this sudden outburst Jon asks "Why what's the problem it'll take a day off of our journey".

"Jon, you see those runes they didn't stop the brindlemen from coming in but they stopped the shadows from the forest right?" Arthur asks rhetorically as Jon nods his head rapidly.

"The shadows in the forest aren't physically real they can't touch you they use your own madness against you making you hurt yourself without even realising it" he continues speaking his tone growing more scared by the second.

"But, when I first got to this cave i felt myself be dragged out by one of those things" Jon interrupts Arthur before he can continue.

"No Jon you were obviously paranoid and terrified that you would be taken, they used that to trick your mind into believing it, what you thought was a monster taking you out was just you walking out, and they would've led you right towards that city" Arthur says gulping as a cold sweat starts forming on the sides of his face.

"Why would they lead me there" Jon asks growing more and more concerned.

"That's where they exist, they aren't a projection there, as soon as you walk into that city they can touch you for real" Arthur says sending chills down Jon's spine.

"I guess we better take the long way round" Jon says trying to lighten the mood.

"Don't forget this place is nothing but danger" Arthur says warning Jon, then let's go of him and continues to keep packing.

As Arthur opens one of the crates he spots gold snd precious stones that he'd never seen before. A red stone that seems to have a life of its own as tiny particles of light seem to swirl in it, though this seems unimportant as he sees the blue scaled stone in the centre of the treasure trove.

"Jon" Arthur says in a low tone as he seems to be in shock.

"What is it Arthur?" Jon replies as he stops packing and looks up from where he's bent over.

"Did you know this was here" Arthur asks as he reaches into the crate and brings out the blue scaled stone and holds it, he needs to use two hands as the stone it very large.

"Oh that, yeah I saw it I thought it was just a marble statue as it was placed with the treasure, why?" Jon asks as he walks towards Arthur with visible confusion on his face.

"This, is a dragon egg Jon" Arthur says in awe "it's the largest one I've ever seen"

"It seems like the ages have turned it to stone, it will never hatch" Jon states uninterestedly as he barely spares a glance at it before looking at Arthur.

"We need to take this with us, Rhaegar always thought there was a way to hatch them" Arthur says still amazed at the blue scaled egg.

"No" Jon says bluntly

Arthur looks up at Jon in disbelief seeing his bored expression, but before he can argue Jon speaks.

"The last time someone tried to hatch an egg it ended up wiping out most of the Targaryen dynasty" Jon says seriously "That is a relic of the past just like how people are losing their magic, dragons won't come back" he continues.

"That will just weigh us down walking through the rough terrain, especially when we finally reach the mountains" Jon says as he takes the egg out of Arthur's hands.

Though he does feel surprised at the warmth he feels in the egg as well the pulsing as if the egg was breathing. But he ignores it and places the egg back in the treasure pile.

As Jon finishes packing he heads to the exits of the cave unaware that Arthur slipped the egg into a backpack he'd found on one of the skeletons.

(Hour later)

Jon and Arthur are walking along the river keeping a safe distance away as they make their way to the story mountains.

Jon was currently engulfed in reading his fathers diary, more and more amazed at the depths that he researched different places in the world.

He even managed to find old Valyrian scrolls that he transcribed from Volantis.

"From what I can tell these notes look like he transcribed old Valyrian magic incantations" Jon says while looking up at Arthur.

"Ah yes I remember those, the merchant lord that owned them was charging a ridiculous amount due to Rhaegar being the Crown Prince and we ended up having to break in and steal them later on" Arthur says while reminiscing.

"Had to rush right back to the harbour after that, the merchant was not happy I'd imagine" Arthur chuckles

"Unfortunately Rhaegar was never strong enough to use many spells" Arthur continues.

"I thought you said he could barely light a candle" Jon interrupts as he wipes his forehead of the sweat accumulating in the midday heat.

"Yes using the primal magic that you've become proficient in, you might be one of the only people in

The world capable of performing feats without any incantation" Arthur loosens the collar on his tunic and loosens the straps on his leather cuirass not dealing with the heat as well as Jon.

"From what I understand though magic hasn't been very prominent in the world for centuries, an incantation is very similar to a prayer, you sacrifice a small amount of your magic and you're able to use it to manipulate the magic that surrounds us, who answers your prayers I am not sure but it allows those mages to perform large feats of magic if they have the right incantation" Arthur continues.

"Why don't you try one of the spells written in the book" Arthur asks Jon.

Nodding his head Jon decides to try one, he reads a passage in the book, then he comes to the spell instructions.

Jon takes out his sword and in a clear voice says "āeksiō ōños" and to his surprise his sword lights up in flames though these aren't regular flames as they swirl around the blade in a deep violet colour.

After a few seconds he has to drop the sword as the sword starts to melt and drip down the handle.

"Seven hells!" Jon shouts as he checks his hand for burns before realising there were no marks.

He turns with a frown as he hears Arthur laughing at him.

"Incantations and spells were made for those who have a lot less magic than you do" Arthur says while wiping a tear from his eyes.

"What they sacrifice would be a lot less than what you would, so be careful on what spells you use you could end up blowing up a castle" Arthur says in a slightly more serious tone.

"Would've been useful information before I lost my sword" Jon says as he disappointingly looks as the molten metal strewn across the grass.

"We'll have to find you a Valyrian steel sword hopefully that'll be strong enough to handle your flames" Arthur says his light tone returning.

"Oh yes we will just go find a Valyrian steel sword, maybe after that I'll find a dragonbone bow and if that's not enough maybe I'll just hop on a dragon I'm sure they're just as easy to find" Jon says in a sarcastic voice as he puts the book back in his satchel.

"Yes yes I know it is not as easy as I make it out to be but there are rumours that the golden company have the ancestral sword of house Targaryen" Arthur says slapping his neck as he felt a bug land on him.

"Blackfyre? I thought it was lost" Jon states in surprise as he looks questioningly at Arthur.

"It is, it's only a rumour not sure how much truth to place in it" Arthur says shrugging his shoulder.

"Get back to reading, you never know when you might need those spells, especially when you don't have a sword" Arthur tells Jon to which he nods his head and continues reading as they walk in the midday heat.

As Jon and Arthur turn at a corner of the river they see in the distance the ruined city of Yeen.

"It stretches for miles in both directions, we won't have an easy time going around it" Jon says to Arthur as the atmosphere becomes gloomy in sight of the black stoned city.

"We won't have an easy time if we die" Arthur simply states not leaving any room for argument.

Jon huffs as they keep walking.

(Near sunset)

"Arthur we are in trouble, we haven't found anywhere to take refuge, this is all just open space" Jon says in a panic as they rush through the trees and brushes running in parallel to the ghost city.

"I know Jon! Just let me think" Arthur snaps as he too starts to succumb to the panic of being out after dark.

Arthur stops suddenly getting an idea taking out his dagger he finds a flat rock starts carving into it.

"If we carve the runes into the stones and keep them on us then that might protect us from the madness" Arthur says quickly as he is on one knee carving the rune into the stone.

Jon joins him on the ground after finding his own stone and begins carving into the stone with his own dagger.

They finish just as the last of the light disappears beyond the horizon, Jon wraps a bit of cloth around a nearby stick and lights it by producing a flame from his hand.

Jon and Arthur stand there in absolute silence waiting for the worse to happen, but it doesn't they do not hear any voices nor do they suffer any hallucinations.

Taking a breath they didn't know they were holding they relax slightly.

"Now all we have to do is survive the wildlife that come out at night" Jon says grimly.

"Come on let's go we may as well walk through the night, we won't find a safe place with no light" Arthur says as he takes the torch off of Jon and walks forward into the forest as they start to hear the sounds of wild life awakenings.

"But now that we won't succumb to the madness I'm sure we can handle anything else" Arthur says smugly as he looks back at Jon.

(20 minutes later)

Jon and Arthur are currently running for their lives going back towards the river, once they reached the city of Yeen they decided to go left as the right part of the forest was filled with webs spun across trees nearly engulfing them entirely.

5 minutes after they drew their protection stones they were met with an ape like creature similar to the 60 foot one that Jon had faced when he found the Fruit grove, but these ones were small about the size of a man.

It tried to attack the duo but Arthur dispatched it rather easily decapitating it before it could even swing its meaty paw.

Though what Jon and Arthur failed to realise was they had just killed was barely more than an a child of this particular type of ape.

Though Jon and Arthur did realise this when Apes that ranged from the size of Arthur to the size of the Mountain that rides.

"Why did you decapitate it!" Jon asks Arthur incredulously as he dodges branches and stones being thrown at them.

"I know you're called the Sword of the Morning but I'd really thought you'd know more than just swinging around a sword" Jon continues jumping out of the way of an even bigger rock almost crushing his head.

"It looked like it was about to attack what else would you have me do" Arthur snaps back as he quickly turns and deflects a rock aimed straight at his torso before turning back and running.

"It's an ANIMAL!, you have a torch of fire and I can literally summon it we could've just scared it off" Jon shouts back.

"Yeah? Well I don't see you doing that now" Arthur spits out.

"There are hundreds of them following us unless you want me to burn the forest down with us in it I can't take them all out" Jon states.

As they keep running Jon looks back and running backwards for a second focuses and fires a large ball of flames, the fire illuminated the forest revealing the army of apes chasing after the trespassers, in the background a lot further away the 60 foot ape can be seen weaving through the trees as it roars an earth shattering sound.

Jon's face drops as he turns back around and focuses on running.

"Looks like big daddy is here" Jon says humourlessly as he starts to feel less and less confident about the odds of surviving this.

"Shit, shit, shitting seven hells" Arthur says surprising Jon at the use of his crude language.

"Arthur I didn't say anything at the time but there is a small rowing boat, by the fork in the river" Jon says as they keep running through the forest occasionally dodging projectiles.

"It's on the shore but it looks to be intact" Jon continues.

"That won't help Jon that ape is 60ft tall he will just reach in and grab us" Arthur says as sweat begins to pour down his back as the roaring of the king ape gets closer and closer.

"They won't go into the city" Jon says bluntly as Arthur looks at him as if he is a madman.

"Jon did you not listen to me we will die if we go in there!" Arthur states in a loud voice

"We will die if we stay out here!" Jon snaps back

"Besides we will be in the boat and the river runs through one end of Yeen to the other, so we will at least have some protection" Jon says with hole in his voice.

As they finally reach the river Arthur is very conflicted on what to do, he begins pacing around with his head in his hand before he finally comes to a decision.

"Fuck! let's go" Arthur states as he starts to push the boat with Jon's help into the water, it's heavy but he managers to shift it. But he waited too long to make a choice and the first waves of apes break the tree line of the forest.

"Arthur keep pushing! I'll distract them" Jon shouts as he runs behind Arthur taking Dawn out of its sheath.

An incredible feeling flows through Jon as he touches dawn, it's as if this weapon was made for him, as if it was alive, as if it would obey him without question.

Shaking his head and refocusing his thoughts he gets ready for the first few apes.

"āeksiō ōños" he says calmly as a raging white inferno swirls around dawn, the grass around Jon seems to burn and a patch of burnt grass surrounds him.

As the first ape approaches Jon spins around and with a side swipe cuts the 7ft ape in half.

He doesn't have time to remain in disbelief though as he gets approached by more apes.

Blood fills the air as Jon savagely kills anything that approaches him with his fiery sword of death.

He then realises that he is slowly getting surrounded from three as the apes use simplistic tactics.

Jon decides to try another spell from the book, one that was linked to the first as it was an ancient Valyrian type of sword style.

"āeksio qilōnarion" He says quietly as he points his blade forward and then he spins around in a 360 degree motion slashing his sword, the air seems to ignite as the apes around him all got caught in a slash of fire.

Jon then realises his mistake as he turns around to check on Arthur, to his relief Arthur is okay as he was kneeling down still pushing the boat and has managed to get the boat into the river.

"Jon let's go the big guy isn't gonna be happy about what you've done" Arthur shouts as he hopes in and uses the old paddle to kick the boat off the shore.

Jon runs up the small hill slashing an ape that tried to reach for him and jumped into the boat.

"We made it" Jon exclaims in relief as he sinks done into the boat.

" I wouldn't relax just yet" Arthur says before pointing at the ruined city.

Jon and Arthur can't help but feel dread as their ship passes through the arches feeling a shiver down their spines.

*Welcome, I'm so glad you could join us the children were so looking forward to playing*

(AN: Another chapter, tried to do 3rd person throughout, I should probably start doing that more often and maybe do POV while they're alone or something. Let me know what you guys think).

Valyrian words:

āeksiō ōños: Lords light (Spell Melissandra used)

āeksio qilōnarion: Lords punishment