The winds over Blackwater Bay were calm as the royal fleet cut across the waters, sails bearing the crowned dragon of House Targaryen rippling in the breeze. The sky hung low with mist, as if the realm itself held its breath.
The King had come to Dragonstone.
Not for war. Not for peace. But to see what many whispered was an omen.
The death of the Cannibal a monstrous wild dragon as old as the Conquest had reached King's Landing by raven. Killed, not in battle with another Targaryen mount, but by The Shadow, the mysterious, massive dragon whose origin no one could confirm. Now, its skull rested deep within Dragonstone's hollowed mountain. The realm was abuzz with fear, awe, and questions.
And Viserys needed to see it with his own eyes.
The Journey and Arrival
Queen Alicent stood at the prow of the ship, her expression unreadable as she watched the jagged silhouette of Dragonstone draw closer.
Behind her stood her children, Aegon lounged lazily but not entirely disinterested, Helaena, humming to herself, fingers twitching in small patterns only she understood; and Aemond, silent, ever watchful, his eyes fixed toward the skies as if hoping to catch a glimpse of wings in the clouds.
When they docked, the welcome was minimal. Ser Erryk Cargyll led the small receiving party Dragonstone's garrison was wary, but not hostile. The king had not come with soldiers. Just his family. Just curiosity. And unease.
They walked through stone corridors lit with torches, every step echoing off walls that had once housed the greatest dragons in Westeros.
Now, something greater had come.
The Skull
The chamber was dim, carved into the very bones of the volcano. And there, displayed with solemn reverence, was the skull of the Cannibal.
Even in death, it radiated dread.
Charred bone. Enormous jaws, lined with shattered black fangs. Its size dwarfed most other dragon skulls and yet, the damage told the story. Jagged tears through the lower mandible, cracks along the cranium. Scorch marks green, oddly luminous in places spoke of unnatural flame.
It had been killed violently. Brutally. The kind of kill not made in defense but in dominance.
Alicent stood still, gazing up at the massive skull. "You can feel the weight of it," she murmured.
Viserys nodded, breath unsteady. "I never thought it would die. Not that one. It refused the Targaryens, outlived kings. Then… he comes."
They still didn't know its name. No rider. No claim. Just The Shadow. A beast as large as Vermithor, perhaps larger, with the mind of a predator and none of a servant.
The Children React
Aegon paced ahead, boldly standing directly beneath the skull's eye sockets. "He ripped its head off?" he asked, voice tinged with disbelief.
"That's what the keepers say," replied a Dragonstone retainer. "Mid-air. They say it sounded like the mountain cracked."
Helaena stood off to the side, whispering something about teeth and fire and forgotten names. No one asked.
But Aemond stared, unmoving.
He walked slowly around the skull, observing every fracture, every burn. "It took this from the skies," he said. "Alone."
He looked up to where the rock ceiling arched. "And it is still here, isn't it?"
"Somewhere," Alicent said cautiously. "But no one commands it."
"That could change," Aemond whispered.
Alicent narrowed her eyes. "No. It will not."
Tension and Wonder
Viserys finally stepped back, cane in hand, his face pale. "Balerion died peacefully. In the pit. This one?" He motioned to the skull. "This one died screaming."
"And by a dragon no one raised," Alicent added.
"They call him 'The Shadow,'" the retainer said. "Seen from a distance. Big as Vermithor. Dark, with wings like sails and fire that burns white-hot."
"And untamed," she said again. Her tone sharper.
Later, in the Courtyard
The wind had picked up by the time the royal family emerged from the stone hall. Somewhere in the distance, a roar split the sky distant, but unmistakable.
Not Vhagar. Not Caraxes. Not Meleys.
A different voice. One lower, heavier.
Even the guards looked up, wary.
They did not see him. But they felt him. Somewhere in the clouds above Dragonstone's jagged cliffs, The Shadow watched.
And for the first time, King Viserys felt the shiver of something stirring.
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