Chapter Text
Death was inevitable, it was one thing that no one can ever escape from. They can avoid it but never escape something that was destined to them from the day they were born. Death can come from everywhere, from sickness, to their surroundings, and even from people.
But for Lucerys, it came with wings.
Looming over him as it overtakes his whole being. However, he wasn't alone facing the maw of death, he was with his companion, his twin-soul, Arrax. They both were trying to escape the incoming doom, flying through the storm. Each raindrop felt like weights weighing them down, clouding their vision.
“Arrax, rȳbās sōva se nūmāzma naejā.” Arrax! Fly faster! Descend now!
The pearly white dragon roared and descended to the rocks, swiftly avoiding every sharp obstacle in their way. A terrifying roar reverberates through the sky as immense wings pound the air, ascending above. Lucerys wipes his eyes, feeling overwhelmed with the thunder booming and the waves growing stronger as it thrashes on the rocks.
As they exit through the cracks, they immediately try to hide through the fog.
“Jemēla gēlȳni enkā!”
You owe a debt.
Lucerys shivered from both the cold and the voice of his tormentor. The threat shooting through his spine, his panic bleeds through his and Arrax’s bond making his companion shake his head.
“Lykiri Arrax,” Lucerys commanded, but more so to tell himself to calm down, “sōvēs ūndegon!”
They fly up, Arrax’s wings flapping furiously as much as possible trying to be as far away from the predator. Lucerys gripped onto the reins tightly, making sure he did not slip off the saddle. As they plunged forward, Lucerys felt Arrax take a turn. He looked down in confusion, and only then did he realize what his companion truly intended.
Arrax’s throat lit up, Lucerys pulled the reins trying to steer away.
“DAOR ARRAX!” He cried.
It was too late, the fire hit their doom, inciting a challenge.
Lucerys steels his resolve, he pulls onto the reins making Arrax go up. He tries not to look at the ferocious beast that has been chasing them, focusing more on his dragon.
“Dohaeras Arrax! Ñuha jēda sōvēs ēdruta vezof!” Lucerys’ command finally reached Arrax, compelling him to respond.
They push through the fog and rain until they reach above the clouds. The rain was gone, only the nimbus clouds surrounded them. With orange and yellow hues coloring around them, it looked breathtaking, and it felt peaceful. But it felt like a trap, it was luring them to put their guard down. It would have been a beautiful sight if only it were just him and Arrax.
Lucerys surveils his surroundings, holding his breath as he could not see where the beast of death has gone. After a few beats of no sign of his tormentor he lets out a breath as he leans forward to place a hand on Arrax’s scales. Trying to quell down their anxiety, but somehow Arrax is still on alert.
He was about to speak when a colossal maw rose from the depths below, reeking of ash and rot, about to devour him and his cradlemate whole.
Get away. Get away. GET AWAY. GET AWAY!
With all his strength, Lucerys struggled to pull Arrax away from the monstrous jaws below. He tried to scream a command, but only panic and fear spilled from his lips.
Then everything went dark.
Everything was cold, he felt like he was drowning, as he sinks deeper and deeper into the void. An invisible force on his chest pushing him down to nothingness.
Is this what death felt like?
Alone and sorrowful?
He thought maybe he could see his father on the other side or his grandsire the former king, or even Ser Harwin. He would love to see them or anyone at this point. He felt like his throat was being crushed and his chest about to explode as pressure builds up from within. He tried to move but he could not, everything felt heavy for the drowned prince.
“Lucerys.”
Someone or something calls the young prince, his eyes open wide but nothing else. His lips sealed shut and he is kept still, the pressure no longer there in his throat and chest. He tries to look around but it is nothing but the darkness, but low light above him. He tries not to look down as if something will pull him down if he does.
“Lucerys Velaryon.”
Lucerys’ eyes dart forward as he stares at the darkness, he squints trying to make out anything in the void. The young prince kept staring at the nothingness in front of him waiting for anything to come forth. Lucerys was about to look away to find where the voice came from until wide green illuminating eyes appeared before him.
The eyes then took the form of a man’s face, the lower half encrusted with barnacles. Dark, unruly hair drifted through the water like tentacles—so much so that, if it were not hair, Lucerys would have thought them the tendrils of a kraken reaching to engulf him. The face looming before him had chapped lips, as if it had not tasted water for centuries, and strands of seaweed spilled from its mouth.
Lucerys stared at the creature, his eyes wide with terror. His mind was racing as the staredown continued on , it felt like centuries have passed. Green eyes scan over him as if staring at his whole being, his soul laid bare in front of the barnacled faced creature. Only then did he begin to wonder if this being was something omnipotent.
“I see you have died an unjust death,” the being said, its presence vast and unknowable, like that of a god.
The voice sounds like a thousand men all at once speaking over each other. Lucerys still stares at awe and fear as the being before him communicates to him.
“You died in the burning jaws of a beast, when the sea should have claimed you. You were meant for the depths, to dwell with the drowned,” The God-like creature says, a hint of anger as some voices of the men roared in rage.
Lucerys eyes widened at that fact. He knows he is not a true Velaryon, just like what Vaemond has shouted in the throne room. Only by statement and name is he Velaryon but not by blood. Then he realizes who is speaking to him, the one that the Ironborns worship and what the Velaryons have respected.
The Drowned God.
Lucerys now sees the God before him in a different light, now in awe and reverence. He has heard many stories from the sailors on the dock, though they mainly follow The Sevens Faith. The Drowned God was still revered by some seamen.
“The sea was denied its due when the jaws of fire took you. For that wrong, I grant you the drowned man’s rising. You shall live again—yourself still—but in another body, upon a distant shore and in another turning of the tides,” The Drowned God decrees to Lucerys.
Lucerys eyes widened at the god’s words.
Another chance? Another chance to live and not fail his mother and see her rule over the seven kingdoms?
Then he felt himself rising. Lucerys shut his eyes against the force as something unseen carried him upward. Higher and higher he drifted, as though the tide itself had taken hold of him. Up he went still, until at last the ascent ended—and he opened his eyes in another body.