The Burnt Prince- GOT SI Ch.44

Chapter 44-EPILOGUE

The Second Battle of the Dawn would mark the era of new beginnings for Westeros, and would see the beginning of the expansion wars, a series of battles and conflicts that would see the Targaryen empire double its landmass over the next half a century.

Most people credit the King Aerion Targaryen for the rapid expansion and consolidation of the Targaryen power in the Stepstones and in Essos, however such a statement is actually false, for even the Great King Aerion would write in his diary that none of this would have been possible without the efforts of his late Father, the Burnt King Daemon Targaryen.

Having take the throne from his father, the Mad King during the Baratheon treachery, the Prince had come to power in one of the most troubling times for the Targaryen regime. The once mighty House of the Dragon had been reduced to a shell of its former glory, the whole family having been reduced to but four members. Two of whom were children, and the other the aged Queen Rhaella Targaryen.

The Prince himself was long thought dead, having been burnt by wildfire by the Mad King, having been named as an accomplice in the plot of Duskendale, a ploy from the then Master of Whisperers known as the Spider who was in truth a descendant of the accursed Blackfyres.

And after taking the throne in 282AC, life would be a continuous struggle for the Prince who would end the war single handedly, and then by some legends go on and slay a dragon in Dorne to save and protect the future Queen, the Lady Ashara Dayne.

And with that would begin the reign of the reformer, and for the first time in three hundred years the map of the world would change, as the Prince would redraw the boundaries and expand the capital’s lands.

Much would be done in these years, an army would be trained, the city would be rebuilt even as hostile forces gathered and got together across the Narrow Sea. Forces which boasted of a dragon, much to the horror and greed of the lords and ladies of the Seven Kingdoms.

And their greed, and grievances with the King would see them join hands with these pretenders, yet none of their betrayals would be a surprise for the King saw it all, and planned accordingly.

The Blackfyre rebellion would begin and end in but a few moons, the might and fear of the Black dragon would be made useless as the King’s secret weapon would be revealed.

A Dragon, one as large as the Bronze Fury and yet far more deadlier. Cannibal, a relic from days long past the dragon would be tamed by the King and would wreak havoc on the armies gathered by the pretender King, ending the whole rebellion in but a single night.

And that would mark the beginning of the expansion campaigns in truth.

However, the Royal Army would begin a march in a new direction, and head up North for while the King had many enemies, he cared for only one. Feared only one—the True Enemy. The inevitable enemy.

Death.

Cold winds had begun rising from across the Wall, as an enemy a thousand years old lay awake ready to decimate the world, and many think that it was because of this very enemy that the fates had blessed them with Daemon Targaryen, for many understood that if not for him, the world as they know it could have ended on that day.

A decade, that was how long the King Daemon had spent preparing for this enemy arming both the free folks and the Night’s Watch with weapons of obsidian, one of the only three weapons that worked on the dead.

And so a decade later the battle would happen, and in many ways it was dreadful and dangerous as the King had feared, and in some ways it was far too underwhelming.

The second Battle of Dawn would end in but two nights, with the king slaying the Night King with his own hands, however he would name not himself as the Hero.

That title would go to Eddard of House Stark, and the Princess Val, a wilding girl who had held back the demon and saved the life of the King from a vicious attack.

And in many ways it would be last battle of the King Daemon who would return to teh capital afterwards and speak a few words to his family and Council.

“My wars are over,” and for the first time in a decade the Burnt Prince could rest easy.

But the Gods were cruel. Much too cruel, and it would be as if they had been keeping him alive just so he could defeat the Dead. Years of wounds and scars would begin to take a toll on the King, and within half a decade he would be bed ridden, and dead at the end of the next half.

It was a tragedy that would embolden many of their enemies, most of them from across the Narrow Sea into thinking that they could strike back at the empire with no fear.

Alas. They were wrong.

Even in his deathbed, the King Daemon had strengthened his armies in fear of what was to come.

And so in 306AC, the expansion war would begin in full with the burning of Myr as the Cannibal would take to the skies once more, yet this time being ridden by the young King Aerion, who had inherited more than his father’s features. He had inherited his valor, his mind and his bravery.

Two more dragons would be born, one to the young Princess Daenys, and one to the older Princess Daenerys, the King’s sister. And House Targaryen would hold the powers across the Narrow Sea accountable for their treason and treachery, for supporting the pretenders when they had.

And Myr would burn first, and then Lys and lastly Tyrosh in three decades, and governors would be appointed to these lands, where slavery would end, and the age Empire of Valyria would be born, one ruled by not forty.

But by one family.

The Targaryens.

And all this was made possible through the efforts and resilience of one man, the Burnt Prince. The man who beat death and dragons.

And for all his ferocity and valor, the Prince had another side. One hidden from the world, of a loving father who taught his children all he could of the world, trained them himself in teh art of war and peace.

Of a loving brother who doted on his siblings, who did not always make it easy. Evident by how when a lord demanded the hand of the Princess, threatening to dishonor her, the King cut the man’s head off infront of the whole court, refusing to hear any slander against his kin.

Daemon Targaryen in truth was a kind man, in an unkind world. The commoners prospered in his reign, their rights cemented, laws protecting them, their honor and their possession were all passed and implemented in his reign.

I write these records as I approach the end of my life, to preserve the legacy of the man I called my brother. To see his tale told from the eyes of a person who saw beyond the mask of the King, that saw the real person hidden behind that Valyrian Steel mask.

Some make him out to be God, others name him a devil. Yet in the end, Daemon Targaryen was a man with a tragic life, one whose life is the pinnacle od duty.

Duty to his blood, to his kin, to his love, to his people and to this world.

The procession for his funeral was perhaps the largest gathering the world has ever seen, people from all over the world came to attend his funeral. And they all wept as his body was laid into the ground, as the world lost its protector.

A protector it did not deserve. But the one it needed the most.

~From the Diaries of Princess Daenerys Targaryen, the First Governess of Lys~

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CLAP. CLAP. CLAP.

Daenerys Targaryen smiled as she read the excerpt they had just recovered from one of the hidden manses of Lys, a year ago. The writings had been in, High Valyrian, an ancient tongue spoken by but a few people.

“The Princess Daenerys wrote three volumes detailing the life of her brother,” she spoke to the Hall full of reporters and historians, as she stood there in the Dreamer’s Hall of the Royal Targaryen Institute.

And at her command, her associate removed the cloak from the three tomes they had recovered and their translated versions.

“The First comprises of tales narrated to her by the Queen RHaella, the mother of the Princess and the King Daemon, the Lady Elia Martell, the King’s lifelong friend and adviser, and lastly and most importantly, the Lady Ashara Dayne,” and as she took that name the whole Hall gasped, for to this day no records existed from the Queen of Beauty herself, and all they ever had was heresay.

“The First Volume ends with his presumed demise from the tragedy known as the Great Burning. The Second volume covers the Rebellion of Robert Baratheon and its aftermath, and the last volume covers the end of his reign from the Great Battle of Dawn to his ultimate demise, a decade later,” and to this day it was the greatest discovery they had made in five hundred years.

“The Royal family has acknowledged these records and donated them to the Royal College for studies, and today as both a member of tis esteemed institute and a member of the Royal Targaryen family, it is my privilege to present to you these historic documents...” and at that she pointed towards the tomes.

“...dubbed the Dawn’s Chronicles.”