(A/N):
Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
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Eldoria...
Dawnfire Cidatel Castle...
The moment they stopped, the air itself seemed to tighten.
Helaena felt it before she fully processed what she was seeing.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Three women stood ahead of her, framed by the warm glow of Dawnfire Citadel's crystal-lit halls.
White hair, each shade carrying a different story. Power. History. Blood.
Her steps slowed. Then halted.
Instinct took over.
She shifted behind Leo, fingers lightly gripping the back of his coat, half-hidden like a startled fawn.
Her shoulders drew inward, chin lowered, eyes peeking out cautiously.
Aemma noticed immediately.
One elegant brow arched, crimson eyes glinting with amusement.
"Well," she said lightly, lips curving, "she's adorable."
Rhaenyra's smirk widened, sharp and knowing.
-Smirk
"So,"
She drawled, eyes flicking between Helaena and Leo,
"this is the surprise that vanished from King's Landing."
Rhaenys exhaled through her nose and rolled her eyes.
"Of course she hid behind him," she muttered. "Figures."
Leo stopped walking, calm as ever, and glanced back at Helaena.
"You're safe," he said quietly.
"They won't bite. Well—" he tilted his head slightly toward Aemma,
"—not without consent."
That earned a soft laugh from Aemma.
-Fufu
Helaena swallowed, then stepped out from behind him, hands clasped tightly in front of her.
-Gulp
"...."
"I–I'm Helaena,"
She said softly, voice steady despite the storm inside her.
"Helaena Targaryen."
Her gaze lingered on Aemma for a fraction longer than the others.
The woman her father had killed.
The woman who stood here alive, radiant, terrifying, and undeniably real.
"I… I know who you are,"
Helaena added, bowing her head slightly.
"All of you."
Aemma studied her closely, not unkindly.
There was no hatred in her gaze.
No resentment. Just curiosity… and something like distant sorrow.
"You look nothing like him," Aemma said at last just a moment a killing intent leaked which she quickly masked it off with a laugh.
-Haha
"That's a relief."
Rhaenyra stepped closer then, her expression softening just a little.
"You ran," she said, not accusing.
Just stating a fact. "That took courage."
Helaena nodded faintly, then reached into her satchel with trembling fingers.
-Nod
"There's… there's a letter," she said.
"From my father. He told me to give it to you. Only if… only if I was in danger."
She extended the folded parchment toward Rhaenyra.
The hall grew quiet.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Rhaenyra took it slowly, fingers brushing Helaena's by accident.
When she opened the letter, her eyes moved across the lines once… then again, more slowly.
Her jaw tightened.
Aemma leaned in, reading over her shoulder.
Rhaenys watched their faces, already sensing what the words carried.
"...."
"...."
"...."
After a long silence, Rhaenyra folded the letter carefully and looked up.
"He knew," she said quietly.
"About Aegon. About Aemond. About what they'd become."
Helaena's voice trembled.
"He told me you'd protect me."
Rhaenyra held her gaze, something fierce and protective igniting in her eyes.
-Snort
"He was right. And this was the only good decision he made."
Aemma stepped forward then, placing a gentle hand on Helaena's shoulder.
The touch was warm. Reassuring.
Not undead. Not monstrous.
"You are welcome here," Aemma said.
"Not as a hostage. Not as leverage. As family."
Rhaenys sighed, shaking her head.
-Sigh
"Seven hells," she muttered.
"The realm truly has no idea what it just lost."
Helaena's eyes stung. For the first time since she fled the Red Keep, her shoulders relaxed.
A soft, almost musical chime echoed inside Leo's mind.
[-DING...]
[System Notification]
[Hidden Objective Completed: Rescue the Silent Princess
Target: Helaena Targaryen
Status: Successfully extracted from Red Keep]
[Reward Acquired:
• Shadow Summons Card: Beru.]
Leo didn't react outwardly.
He only smiled faintly, the kind of smile that carried quiet satisfaction.
Another piece had fallen into place, exactly as fate intended.
He accepted the reward without ceremony.
Beru would be useful later. Very useful.
His gaze lifted from the invisible system panel to the scene before him.
Helaena was already being gently encircled.
Aemma stood closest, her presence calm and strangely maternal, a hand resting lightly on Helaena's shoulder.
Rhaenys observed from the side, arms crossed, sharp eyes assessing the girl not as a political piece but as a survivor.
Rhaenyra, meanwhile, had leaned in with an unmistakable grin, already halfway into teasing mode.
-Grin
"...."
Helaena looked overwhelmed.
Not frightened. Just… overstimulated by warmth she had never been allowed to have.
Leo let out a quiet chuckle.
-Chuckle
"Well," he said lightly, breaking the tension,
"if you all keep staring at her like that, she's going to think she walked into a tribunal instead of a castle."
Rhaenyra snorted.
-Snort
"She walked into Eldoria. That's worse."
Leo turned to her, amusement clear in his eyes.
"Take her with you. Show her around. The castle, the streets, the capital. Let her breathe."
Rhaenyra blinked, then her grin widened into something genuinely bright.
-Blink -Blink
"Oh, I like that assignment."
She stepped closer to Helaena and gently took her hand, not forceful, not possessive. Just warm.
"Come on," Rhaenyra said.
"Dawnfire Capital isn't like King's Landing. No whispers behind pillars. No knives hidden in smiles."
Helaena hesitated for a heartbeat, then nodded.
-Nod
"Yes… thank you."
As Rhaenyra guided her away, Aemma watched them go, her expression unreadable for a moment before softening.
"She's fragile," Aemma said quietly.
"But not broken."
Leo nodded.
-Nod
"Which is why she made it here."
Rhaenys exhaled slowly, shaking her head.
"The Iron Throne chews its children alive. This one escaped."
Rhaenyra led Helaena through the inner corridors of Dawnfire Citadel, her steps unhurried, almost fond, as if she were walking through a place that had long since become home rather than a conquered marvel.
"You know," Rhaenyra said casually, glancing sideways,
"the first time I met Leo at lake, I thought he was just another strange man with prettier eyes than sense."
Helaena looked up at her, curiosity flickering like candlelight.
"At the lake?"
"The full-moon lake,"
Rhaenyra nodded, smiling at the memory.
-Nod
"Syrax was circling above me. I was… angry. Lost. I didn't know it then, but I was already standing on the edge of my old life."
They passed a wide balcony where the city opened below them.
Streets curved like living veins, lanterns floating in the air beside griffins perched on rooftops.
Beastkin laughed with merchants.
Elves bartered calmly with humans.
A vampire child ran past, chased by a fox-eared girl, both giggling.
"...."
Helaena slowed without realizing it.
"So many…" she whispered. "They're all different."
"And yet," Rhaenyra said softly, "no one looks afraid of being themselves."
They resumed walking.
Rhaenyra continued, her voice lower now, more intimate.
"That night, Leo didn't bow. Didn't flatter. He teased me. Then he saved my mother."
Helaena's steps faltered as her brow frowned thinking who would endanger a queen.
"Saved… Queen Aemma?"
Rhaenyra stopped and turned fully toward her, violet eyes steady.
"My father chose prophecy over her life,"
She said simply about the prophecy.
"Leo chose her. He took me with him, broke into the Red Keep like it was nothing, and when all hope was gone… he resurrected her."
Helaena inhaled sharply hearing the word resurrection.
"...."
"As his vampire bride,"
Rhaenyra added with a small, amused smile.
"Which, trust me, shocked me too."
They shared a quiet laugh, the sound echoing gently against marble walls etched with runes of light.
"And then?" Helaena asked.
"Then he took us here," Rhaenyra said, spreading her hand toward the city beyond the windows.
"Eldoria. A place where gods are questioned, not feared. Where blood doesn't decide your worth."
They descended into the lower gardens, where glowing flowers opened and closed like breathing things.
A pair of yokai passed them, bowing politely.
One waved at Rhaenyra.
Helaena hesitated, then spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
"...."
"At the Red Keep… your name was forbidden. Father ordered it. No one was allowed to speak of you. They said you were cursed. Mad. A traitor to the blood."
Rhaenyra's smile didn't fade, but something sharper glinted beneath it.
"They always do," she said.
"It's easier to silence a ghost than admit she walked away."
Helaena looked around again.
At the harmony. At the absence of fear.
"I thought I was alone," she confessed.
"That no one would understand. That if I stayed… I would disappear."
Rhaenyra stopped beneath a great sun-lit arch where dragons could be seen circling far above.
"You weren't wrong," she said gently.
Then she placed a hand on Helaena's shoulder.
"But you're not alone anymore."
Helaena swallowed, eyes shimmering, not with despair this time, but relief.
-Gulp
"And King Leo?" she asked hesitantly.
Rhaenyra's smile turned knowing, almost fondly dangerous.
"He doesn't save people because he wants worship," she said.
"He saves them because he refuses to let the world decide who gets to live quietly and who must suffer loudly."
She gestured ahead, where laughter drifted from the city streets below.
"Welcome to Eldoria, Helaena. Here… even forbidden names get to be spoken again."
Sensing the heaviness settling in, Rhaenyra suddenly clapped her hands together, the sound sharp and mischievous.
"...."
"...."
"...."
"Enough doom and destiny," she declared with a grin.
-Grin
"You didn't flee halfway across the world just to mope."
Helaena blinked. "I… didn't?"
Rhaenyra leaned closer, eyes sparkling.
"Nope. You came to live. Which means"—she spun on her heel—"games."
"Games?" Helaena repeated, clearly lost.
"You mean cyvasse?"
Rhaenyra laughed, a bright, unrestrained sound.
-Hehe
"Oh gods, no. Much better."
She didn't even wait for a proper answer.
Grabbing Helaena by the wrist, she tugged her along through the halls, practically dragging her back toward the heart of the castle.
"Come on, I'll show you," she said over her shoulder.
"Leo calls them 'PS games'. I don't know what PS stands for, but I do know they're addictive."
They entered the grand hall that had quietly become their favorite place.
Plush couches faced a large enchanted screen glowing softly even without candles.
Controllers lay scattered on the table like strange artifacts from another age.
Helaena stopped dead.
"...."
She stared at the screen. Then the couches. Then the strange objects with buttons.
"…Rhaenyra," she said carefully, "is this sorcery?"
Rhaenyra burst out laughing and flopped onto the couch.
-Haha
"That was my first question too."
She grabbed a controller and tossed another gently toward Helaena, who fumbled and barely caught it.
"Relax," Rhaenyra said, patting the seat beside her.
"No spells. No dragons. No prophecies. Just buttons. Press the wrong one and you get punched in the face."
Helaena's eyes widened.
"That doesn't sound reassuring."
"It's great," Rhaenyra replied cheerfully she lied without blinking.
"Leo learned that the hard way."
Helaena hesitated, then slowly sat beside her, holding the controller like it might explode.
"...."
Rhaenyra leaned over, pointing.
"Alright. This moves you. This hits. This one—don't press that yet unless you want chaos."
The screen lit up fully as the game started.
Two characters appeared, facing each other in a colorful arena.
Helaena stared. "…They're moving."
"Yes," Rhaenyra said proudly. "Because you move them."
Tentatively, Helaena pressed a button.
Her character jumped. She gasped.
-Gasp
"I did that."
Rhaenyra grinned wide.
"See? Power without bloodshed. Eldoria's specialty."
Helaena pressed another button. Her character punched.
Then another. Then accidentally smashed Rhaenyra's character straight across the screen.
There was a beat of silence.
"…Did I just—"
Rhaenyra gaped, then laughed so hard she nearly dropped her controller.
"You did! Oh, this is perfect."
Helaena felt it before she realized it.
The tight knot in her chest loosened.
A small, startled laugh escaped her, like she hadn't used that sound in years.
"This is…" she searched for the word, "…fun."
Rhaenyra nudged her shoulder.
"Careful. That's how it starts."
As the game continued, the hall filled with laughter, surprised yelps, and mock accusations of cheating.
Outside, dragons circled the skies and kingdoms reshaped themselves.
Meanwhile, Leo stood alone on the high balcony of Dawnfire Citadel, the wind tugging lightly at his cloak as the vast kingdom stretched beneath him like a living map.
His gaze wasn't on the streets, or the dragons circling lazily in the distance.
It was inward.
A translucent system panel hovered at the edge of his vision, quiet but ever-present.
[World Quest: Keeper of Balance
Status: Ongoing
Condition: Maintain large-scale peace
Time Remaining: 6 years]
Leo exhaled slowly. Six years.
Not conquest. Not domination. Not annihilation.
Peace. Ironically, the hardest task of all.
He leaned against the railing, crimson eyes thoughtful.
Westeros had been broken, reshaped, and frightened into stillness.
The crown was weakened.
The gods had retreated behind their pact.
Eldoria had risen as a stabilizing force rather than an empire of chains.
But peace wasn't silence after war.
Peace was restraint.
It meant stopping Viserys's remnants without erasing them.
Letting the Cold War burn itself out without turning it into an apocalypse.
Keeping the Citadel in check without slaughtering knowledge itself.
Letting people choose Eldoria not out of fear, but because it worked.
His lips curved faintly.
Six years of diplomacy, deterrence, culture, trade, education, and just enough overwhelming power displayed at the right moments to remind the world why escalation was a bad idea.
"No god-kings," he murmured to himself.
"No endless wars."
From inside the castle, laughter echoed.
Rhaenyra's unmistakable voice, followed by Helaena's softer, surprised laugh.
Alicent's embarrassed protests weren't far behind.
Leo glanced back through the open doors, a rare softness crossing his face.
This, too, mattered.
If the next generation could laugh instead of scheme… If children learned instead of being molded into weapons… If death became a reunion instead of terror…
Then six years was nothing.
The system chimed once, almost approvingly, before fading back into silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Leo straightened, the weight of worlds settling comfortably on his shoulders.
"Alright," he said quietly, eyes turning toward the horizon.
"Six years of peace it is."
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(Author's POV)
(A/N)I hope you guys are enjoying the story.
Thanks for reading the chapter!
Please give areview
And power stone!!!
It will Motivate Me.