Dragon King Part 1 (Patreon)

Rhaenys Targaryen knew they were going to die, she could hear the dying and broken screams of their guards, the pounding of iron on the heavy wooden door and the groaning of iron as the hinges failed under the monstrous strength striking it. She felt a shiver as she watched her terrified older brother go from shaking like a leaf as he watched the door barely able to keep his 'dagger' steady to standing tall or at least as tall as a five year old could.

Myst wasn't sure who or what the hell had dropped him in Westeros or caused him to 'wake up' but he had vague memories of the last couple of years, mostly of trying to cheer up his younger sister and avoiding his insane grandfather. Not that he really blamed the child that he'd been for wanting to avoid his insane grandfather considering kings generally weren't called mad without a very good reason.

The grinding of metal on metal pulled his attention away from his memories and back to the task at hand, namely surviving the next couple of hours. "Not today," Myst muttered as he opened his skills page and looked for something that might save his life, pushing aside his excitement at having magic and powers for the moment as he tried to figure out a way to win against nearly impossible odds.

'Firebreath?' He stared when the second 'Skill' he saw was Upgrade. 'You poor bastards,' he mused as he looked at the details for his upgrade skill. 'Someone hates you Tywin.' He glanced at his mana regeneration then glanced over the rest of his skills. 'Luck of the hero? That's better than another point of agility.' He ignored his Skill Book Creation skill and opened his gacha menu, knowing that he'd have to trust luck to get everyone out of the mess they found themselves in.

Myst paid for the weapons wheel then focused on the lock and pushed the rest of his mana into improving the quality of the lock. 'I have one chance, he's not going to be expecting me to charge him, he's probably only eight feet tall, cut his knees and he'll fall,' he lied to himself, rather worried about dealing with the freakishly strong monster he knew was coming for them.

Myst stared in horrified disbelief when a mountain of a man burst through the door, nearly filling the entire doorway. "Fucking hell…" he trailed off when a large hand gun appeared in his hand and 'We are the Champions' started playing in the background. He dropped his dagger, put both hands on the gun he could barely hold and aimed at the man's head as the monster shoved the door out of his way and stepped into the room.

"This is going-" whatever else the Mountain was going to say was lost when the room was rocked with thunder and a bullet ripped through the eye slots of his helmet and tore through his brain, bouncing around several times and killing him near instantly.

Myst stared in disbelief from the ground as the Mountain crashed to the ground, his regeneration already fixing the damage the gun had caused his elbows and the fall, his backside. 'Better lucky than good.' He pointed his gun at the man staring in shock at the fallen Mountain and pulled the trigger, managing to blow a hole through the idiot's neck.

"What was that?!" Elia Martell asked looking at the strange object her son was holding.

"Magic," Myst replied as he picked up his dagger and put it on his belt after getting to his feet, making a mental note to do something about the recoil when he had a chance. He stepped forward as a group of soldiers stepped into the room with the Mountain's symbol on their filthy coats and breathed out a stream of fire at the group. He wasn't particularly impressed by the quality or quantity of fire coming out of his mouth but it was certainly causing the soldiers to panic which gave him a chance to shoot the brave idiot that charged him through the fire.

Myst scowled when he pulled the trigger and the gun clicked, letting him know it was out of ammunition. 'Three fucking bullets?' he complained mentally as he tossed the gun on the bed and drew his dagger. "I am a dragon!" he shouted as he charged the group of startled soldiers that were trying to put out the flames crawling over their clothes. He deflected the closest soldier's wild swing, redirectly the force rather than trying to block it, then kicked the man in the nuts. He lashed out with his dagger, cutting the man's throat when he dropped to a knee then jumped backwards and breathed another stream of fire at the men rushing at him.

Elia Martell stared in shock as her son managed to kill the soldiers trying to kill them, mostly by burning them to death but also by slashing some of them with the dagger Rhaegar had insisted he keep with him as every dragon needed talons. "Where did you learn that?!"

"By watching father," Myst replied, not sure what else to say as he didn't see a reason to explain his martial arts knowledge or the fact that he'd woken up with an unnatural talent for blades. He turned his attention towards the door when he heard half a dozen people in armor running down the hallway. He glared at the 'familiar' man with bright green eyes and hair like spun gold. "You should be guarding the entrance."

Jamie Lannister stared in disbelief at the Mountain's corpse and the rest of the burned guards then looked at Myst. "What happened?"

"They tried to kill my family," Myst replied coldly, fairly sure he wouldn't be able to stop Jamie if it came to a fight. "Is my grandfather dead?"

"He's dead," Jamie acknowledged.

"Good, he was a lunatic," Myst said, understanding that sometimes you had to guard the realm from the king even at the expense of a vow. "Now we just have to deal with the criminals looting and raping their way through the city despite your father's orders," he gave Jamie a look, letting him know he wasn't stupid enough to believe that his father had lost control but giving him more room to deal with the problem, "do you have any suggestions?"

"I can try to talk to my father but soldiers get carried away," Jamie explained, more than a little unnerved about how a five year old had killed six soldiers and the Mountain That Rode.

"Kill any soldiers that are looting and guard the tower, I'm holding your father responsible for the mess in the city, five gold dragons per civilian killed for failing to control his men. If you see Grand Maester Pycelle, arrest him if at all possible. I don't need a Maester that corrupt or stupid," Myst explained, half expecting Jamie to attack him but doing his best to stay calm and in control.

"What are you going to do if you find him corrupt?" Jamie asked, trying to figure out what side of the coin this particular Targaryen fell on.

"If I find out that he willingly committed treason for profit instead of the safety of the realm and its people, I'll have him lashed to death or sent to the Wall. Ten lashes for every death his greed caused should give the next Maester a reason to be more careful. On the other hand, if he can prove that he was merely stupid, I'll send him back to the Citadel after fining him a gold dragon per death his actions caused," Myst explained, trying to get Jamie to understand that there was a path moving forward that would satisfy his honor or at least let him keep his head without going against him.

"Understood. Let's go." Jamie turned and left after giving an uneasy glance at the Mountain's corpse, more than a little unnerved by the child that had managed to kill him.

'Better lucky than dead,' Myst mused as he walked over and shut and barred the door. "We just have to keep moving forward..." he trailed off as his sister pounced on him and hugged him. He patted her on the back. "Don't worry, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"What happens if Jamie turns on us?" Elia asked, forgetting for a second that she was asking a five year old for advice.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Myst replied as he shuffled over to the bed with his sister. "I know a secret the Alchemist's couldn't get working. Can you hold Rhaenys for a bit?"

Elia walked over and sat down on the bed and picked her daughter up and set her down in her lap, putting her youngest in her daughter's lap. "It's going to be alright."

'One can hope,' Myst thought as he walked over to the Mountain and checked his wound, discreetly getting his blood on his finger. 'Rest in hell monster,' he thought, fairly sure the only reason he was alive was the ability that boosted his luck. He walked over to a 'clean' patch of stone by the bed and sat down.

He took a couple of seconds to reflect on his knowledge of crafting skill books then focused on the Mountain's blood sample and used his skill. He smiled at the popup window that appeared, much like a video game. 'Strength of the Mountain, nice.' He frowned when he noticed the drawback that was part of the Size of the Mountain ability. 'Yeah, I don't need bone spurs growing into my brain causing me near constant pain.'

He selected the Strength of the Mountain ability and got to work making a skill book, knowing he needed to stack the deck as much as possible if he wanted to survive. Thankfully, no one started banging on the door or otherwise disturbed his work for the five minutes it took to create the skill book that would give him the strength of a monster.

Elia stared at the book that had magically appeared in her son's lap. "What's going on?"

"I have magic," Myst explained. "I know a couple of tricks that might let us survive the next couple of days if we're careful."

"We can hope," Elia said, hoping her brother came to save her as she didn't have any faith in Jamie's ability to deal with his father.

Myst opened the book and smiled when a popup appeared detailing the new ability and asking if he wanted it. 'That should cut down on mistakes and getting flaws I don't want.' He hit accept after reading through the description twice to make sure he wasn't going to get stuck with a flaw or an insane amount of muscle. Thankfully, nothing changed physically when the book turned into motes of light and sank into his skin, granting him what amounted to low end supernatural strength.

"Vanishing books?" Elia asked.

"Just part of the magic," Myst replied as he walked over and climbed up on the bed, figuring he might as well make his 'mother' more comfortable while he tried to meditate to improve his mana regeneration.

0o0o0

Myst did his best to ignore the screaming he could hear in the distance and the various fires running out of control in the city as he carefully threaded the ambient death tainted magic into his gacha ability so that he could buy another wheel, figuring that was the best use for the tainted mana. He turned and headed back inside when the bracelet gacha wheel started spinning. 'You're a dead man walking Tywin,' he promised himself as he shut the doors on the balcony, wanting to make sure no one got the 'bright' idea to shoot an arrow through the door and hit his family.

He reached up and grabbed the silver celtic knotwork bracelet that dropped when the wheel stopped spinning. 'Death's Embrace: Protects against pain and causes 10% of the user's maximum health in unsoakable damage per minute in exchange for restoring an equal amount in mana, yeah, sounds like a good way to die if you don't have regeneration.' He glanced at his sister and mother who had fallen asleep curled up with his little brother on the bed. 'Screw it, I'm not afraid of pain.'

He slipped the bracelet on and watched his current hit points start to drop while his mana pool slowly filled. 'The worst part, I can't even feel it and I doubt most people have exact numbers which means they'd be dead in ten minutes.' He walked over and sat down in a chair and concentrated on feeling his internal mana, trying to make sure it wasn't tainted like the death magic he could feel swirling through the city.

Myst gave up after three minutes of searching when he realized he was getting hungry which wasn't helping things. 'Shit,' he cursed mentally as he pulled the bracelet off. 'So much for free lunches.' He stuck the bracelet in his pocket then spent the mana on improving his mana regeneration, knowing he needed his regeneration higher. He nearly fell off his chair when someone knocked on the door. "Yes?"

"Lord Eddard Stark would like a word," Jamie called out from the other side of the door.

'Great, they sent the one guy I can't kill,' Myst thought as he walked over to the door, snagging a sword off a dead guy on his way in case it wasn't actually Eddard. "Give me a minute," he said as he dragged one of the soldiers over to the door to use as a doorstop in case they tried to force the door open. He unbolted the door and let it open an inch so he could see the man next to Jamie Lannister, ready to slam it shut if they tried anything. 'Thick brown hair and a warrior's build, could be Stark, might be some random idiot that looks the part.' He glanced at the man's scabbard on his back. "Let me see a couple inches of Ice's blade."

Eddard carefully pulled his blade on his back free three inches, showing the prince that he was carrying a Valyrian Steel greatsword. "Is that enough proof?"

"Close enough," Myst replied, fairly sure they wouldn't have bothered making a fake sword. "If you're here for an apology, nothing I say will change the fact that my grandfather was a monster or that Tywin Lannister unleashed an army on my city. Let me give you another fact, my father married Lyanna Stark. She left with him willingly because Robert would never have kept to his wedding vows."

"Do you know where my sister is?" Eddard asked, fairly sure someone had lied to the child about his father.

"Yes," Myst replied as he walked over to the writing table and grabbed the skill book of his regeneration that he'd planned on giving his sister then walked back over, opened the door and handed the book to Eddard. "You'll need this."

"Why?" Eddard asked.

"Because Lyanna is dying and that book can cure her, I can't replace your family but I can save your sister. All you have to do is open the book and you'll have the power to heal her," Myst promised hoping he'd take the olive branch.

"How does it help?" Eddard asked, wondering why they hadn't just sent a Maester.

"It gives the person that reads it the ability to heal themselves and others, it's one of the secrets of my family, use it well," Myst ordered.

Eddard opened the book, wondering what types of cures it provided and blinked when it turned into motes of light and sunk into his skin. "What was that?"

"That was an investment in the North. When you find your sister in the Tower of Joy, touch her hand and wish her well with all your heart, she'll survive," Myst promised.

"Why is she dying?" Eddard demanded.

"Rhaegar had a vision before he left for the war that something horrible would happen," Myst explained.

"I can write you a letter to get the kingsguard to let you see her," Elia spoke up as she walked over. "Rhaegar married your sister, they were happy. We were happy."

"Shit," Eddard cursed as he realized they were telling the truth. "We fought a war because he kidnapped her."

"No, you fought because my insane grandfather killed your family," Myst cut in. "If someone came for my sister, I'd kill them." He turned to look at Jamie, more than a little annoyed that he had to look up at them. "Have you had any luck capturing the criminals that were looting and raping their way through the city?"

"Lord Stark's people have been a lot of help putting a stop to the looting," Jamie said, glad for the man's help.

"Good. Have you tracked down the pyromancers yet?" Myst asked, hoping he hadn't.

"No," Jamie admitted. "I'm still working on that."

"Try to capture them if you can, they probably know how to dispose of the shit," Myst pointed out, knowing there were caches of the shit below the sept and the dragonpit.

"Wildfire? Eddard asked warily.

"My grandfather wanted to be able to burn the city to the ground if Robert looked like he was going to win," Myst explained.

"Which is why I cut his throat, he ordered me to burn the city," Jamie admitted.

'I don't know that I would have done differently,' Eddard admitted to himself.

"I can't blame you," Myst assured the younger and older man, knowing he had to be rather conflicted. "Unfortunately, I can't see Robert Baratheon calling off the war despite the fact that my grandfather is dead. Do you have any suggestions on making him see sense?"

"Give up the crown, take the Black and go to the Wall?" Eddard asked, not sure what else would be enough.

"Not a chance for the Wall considering none of this shit is my fault but if he wouldn't be a terrible king, I'd consider handing the crown to him and laughing while I run off to Dragonstone and let him deal with the politics but he'd run the country into debt with tournaments and lavish parties."

"Would you demand the Black from him?" Eddard asked, knowing his friend well enough that he had to agree with the prince's assessment of his character.

Myst shook his head. "He'd end up dead for breaking his vows of celibacy within a year, not to mention I'll need people to send after the Ironborn when they revolt."

"What makes you think they'll revolt?" Jamie asked.

"They're Ironborn, most of them are little better than pirates. I just want the chance to pick up all the pieces and make sure my grandmother doesn't crown my uncle king or something idiotic, he's already showing signs of being twisted, I don't need him near the throne."

"And you're sane?" Eddard asked.

"Reasonably," Myst replied as he pulled the body out of the way so he could open the door. "I'd like to stay that way." He opened the door. "They came for my family, they're dead. I'm willing to acknowledge that Robert had his reasons for killing my father and let things go. If he comes for my mother or my siblings, I'll do my best to kill him."

"I'm willing to sign an agreement," Elia offered. "We'll lift the siege of his family's lands and let the war end, everyone has already lost too much. Tell Lyanna that she's welcome here anytime she wants to come and please save her."

"I'll need you to write the kingsguard a letter," Eddard said, hoping that would stop him from having to fight some of the best knights in the world.

"Of course," Elia replied as she headed towards her writing table. "We can also send a raven to let them know to expect you."

"Thank you," Eddard said, looking forward to seeing his sister and being done with the war now that the old king was dead so that he could go home to his wife.

Myst gestured for Eddard to come in then looked at Jamie, fairly sure that Tywin would be happy to have Jamie leave the kingsguard. "Don't take this the wrong way but do you want to stay in the kingsguard?"

"I broke my vows, even if I had a good reason, I still broke them," Jamie admitted, looking forward to getting back to his sister.

"In that case, you're free to go after you help clean up the mess that your father caused by letting the idiots off their leashes," Myst promised, wanting to give Tywin a reason to get with the program.

Eddard nodded his head towards the princess then followed Elia over to her writing desk, fairly sure Robert wasn't going to forgive him for wanting to end the war but he hadn't even blinked at the idea of sacking the city.

"Thank you." Jamie turned to look as two of his knights walked up to the door dragging Grand Maester Pycelle with Varys following behind them. "Where was he?"

"In a whorehouse, trying to hide," Varys spoke up.

"It's a mess out there," Pycelle tried to defend himself, eyes going wide when he noticed the dead bodies.

Myst scowled at the overweight Maester. "Is there a reason you gave my grandfather horrible advice?"

"What do you mean?" Pycelle asked, trying to pretend to be harmless.

"No one in their right mind trusts Tywin to do anything that isn't in his best interest which means you're either stupid or corrupt, which is it?" Myst asked.

"I assure you I had no way of knowing that his people would get out of hand," Pycelle defended himself.

"Lord Varys, do you have proof that he paid any of the whores for sex?" Myst asked, fairly sure Varys could prove it or at least make something up that would let him banish the Lannister flunky from the city.

"On numerous occasions my prince," Varys offered, seeing a chance to damage Pycelle's credibility.

"Lord Stark, is that normally something that would result in him being sent to the Wall?" Myst asked, glancing over at Eddard.

Eddard shook his head. "Not unless he broke the law, their vows are between them and their order."

Myst turned to look at Jamie. "In that case, place him in the dungeons until Varys can look into the matter or until the Citadel can send someone to take his chain."

"Make sure he gets food," Jamie said, wanting to avoid trouble with the Citadel.

"And water," Myst added. "We're not monsters."

"I am happy to be of service," Varys said with a nod.

"If that's your wish," Pycelle said hoping he could convince the guards to take him to one of the nicer prison cells.

Myst waited until the guards left with the old man then focused on Varys. "Speaking of service, do you have any suggestions for ending the war without more bloodshed?"

Varys glanced at Eddard then looked back at the prince. "I'm sure we can work something out."

"Good," Myst replied, less than happy about the entire mess he'd been dropped into even if the powers were fantastic. "Before you start on that, I'd like a letter sent to my grandmother. Tell her the situation is being dealt with and to stay safe. I don't need her doing something stupid like crowning Viserys because she thinks we're dead."

"That would be unfortunate," Varys said, thinking about Viserys' personality and tantrums.

"Very," Myst muttered.