The skies over Dragonstone had turned to war.
Above the ancient island, two titanic shapes locked and collided in bursts of flame and thunder, their roars echoing like cannon fire across the narrow sea. The sky was blackened with smoke, streaked with embers and blood. Each wingbeat sent ripples through the clouds. Each breath was a furnace.
And below, the world watched in fear.
POV change
On the Cliffs of Dragonstone
Aline, a young dragonkeeper barely into her third year of service, stood frozen at the highest terrace of the keep, her mouth agape. She had seen dragons fight before young, posturing males wrestling in dominance but nothing like this.
Nothing like them.
The Cannibal was death incarnate: sagging, monstrous, his wings as torn as war banners. Green fire bled from his gullet, and his eyes old, alien, and full of wrath seethed with unnatural hatred.
And the other the one they called The Shadow was no hatchling. Not anymore.
Vezdaryon flew like a storm given form. Bronze and dark iron, rippling with raw power, each movement honed from years of surviving the wilds. Though the younger of the two, he was faster, hungrier, and sharper in every way. Where the Cannibal was raw power, Vezdaryon was precision. And fury.
"By the Seven," whispered Lord Staunton, watching from the battlements with a white-knuckled grip on the stone, "that's no dragon. That's a god's punishment made flesh."
High Above
The dragons met again mid-air, wings spread wide, claws extended.
CRACK.
The sound of their impact cracked the sky. They spun in a spiral, locked, screaming, wings tangled. Blood rained down in thin, crimson ribbons. The Cannibal's talons found Vezdaryon's left wing and tore deep, ripping through membrane. But Vezdaryon didn't fall he twisted, rolled, and slashed the Cannibal's underjaw with a hindclaw so sharp it peeled scale from bone.
The Cannibal roared, green fire pouring from his maw in a sickly torrent. It scorched the air but missed.
Vezdaryon shot upward, wings flaring wide, then dove.
He struck the Cannibal from above like shooting star.
Their bodies plummeted together, crashing through a thundercloud so thick it swallowed them both. Only the flash of fire within gave hints of the chaos inside a flicker of orange and green flame, claws like scythes, shrieks that chilled every living soul below.
POV changes
Leaner stood outside the walls, looking grim, his arms crossed as he watched the chaos overhead.
"It's like watching gods do battle," he muttered.
Corlys Velaryon, beside him, didn't respond. His eyes were fixed upward, jaw tight. "This is power"
Maesters scribbled with frantic hands, some too shaken to write. Smallfolk clung to their children, pointing and weeping as shadow after shadow swept over them, darkening the sky. The dragons above were titans so massive their passes shook the keep.
No song could capture this. No bard would dare.
In the Sky: Fire and Fury
Vezdaryon dove again, spinning through the Cannibal's blind side. His jaws found the older dragon's flank thick, scaled hide torn open as he bit down with terrifying force. The Cannibal screamed, twisting, and slammed his bulk into Vezdaryon. It was like being struck by a falling tower.
They tumbled toward the sea again, flames bursting from both in every direction. Fire splashed across the clouds. Even the sky seemed to recoil.
But Vezdaryon broke away, wings wide, smoke trailing from his wounds. He circled fast, higher and higher. He was bleeding yes but so was the Cannibal. The old beast's left wing drooped, slow and heavy. Fire curled lazily from his mouth now, not wild but strained.
The young dragon growled low in his chest, circling his prey again. His nostrils flared, eyes locked. He could smell it.
The Cannibal was tiring.
But it wasn't over.
Not yet.
The skies would burn a while longer.
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Hope you enjoyed the chapter