Chapter 261: Ritual Preparations
Winterfell, Stark Lands
Third Person POV
The second round of the duel was postponed due to Ser Jamie's multiple injuries.
The Queen wanted to blame Lord Bolton for being hanged for the crime of trying to murder her brother.
The Queen wanted to blame her own husband for allowing this travesty to happen in the first place.
The Queen wanted to blame Lord Stark for officiating this duel.
The Queen wanted to burn Winterfell and all the occupants within.
The Queen wanted a lot of things.
But she received none of them.
Lord Stark and King Robert agreed that since Lord Bolton stopped on his own violation before Ser Jamie could be severely injured, he would not be disqualified, and the duel would continue.
Tensions in Winterfell were running high, so Lord Stark sent most of the Red Cloaks outside the castle to live in Wintertown for the remainder of their stay in the North.
Maester Lewin said that Ser Jamie's nose was broken. Along with a broken nose, he had suffered multiple cuts and multiple severe bruises around his chest and shoulders. None of his bones were broken, so he should be capable of fighting within a day or two.
Sansa had still not come out of her room after her episode in the courtyard.
Robb was apprehensive about his sister's health, as she had not eaten anything for a whole day.
Lady Stark wanted to grieve for her son Bran in silence and peace, but realized that she wouldn't be getting any due to all that was going on in Winterfell.
And today, she learned that her daughter, Arya, would soon be leaving Winterfell for Dreadfort, as Lord Bolton's ward. Worse still, it was a King's decree, and there was nothing she could do about it.
She, of course, blamed all of this on Lord Bolton, whom she had come to hate even more once she realized that her daughter, Sansa, had genuinely fallen in love with him and was suffering heartbreak.
She wanted to be there for Bran, but realized that she also needed to be there for her own daughters.
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POV of Domeric Bolton
While this was happening, Domeric left Winterfell and went further North to meet Bloodraven and talk to him about Bran Stark.
Unfortunately, the few remaining Children who did not join Domeric to help Bloodraven for the remainder of his days told him that the Greenseer had gone into a deep meditative state and wouldn't be coming out of it for a reasonable amount of time.
He told them that he would come back in a few days before he returned to Winterfell, where Lord Stark had given him and his men a small building inside Winterfell so that they would be able to protect themselves in case the Lannister men tried something.
He found Ygritte waiting for him in his bed, but he told her that he wouldn't be joining her this time, as he had some crucial matters to attend to.
She was a little disgruntled but understood. Domeric promised that he would make it up to her later before he left Winterfell once again and came out into the Underground Base in the ritual room, where a large ritual circle was lying half-constructed on the floor.
Almost one year has passed since he performed the first ritual to enhance his body.
It was now time to perform the Valyrian Dragonlord Ritual. A ritual that allowed the first mages in Valyria to bond with the free dragons, bind them to their will, and become a Dragonlord.
Domeric actually wanted to examine the System's new interface and features first. He was about to do exactly that before his encounter with Jamie Lannister, but after his encounter with the Kingslayer, an ordinary day had turned into a rather busy one.
But Domeric decided to clear up his pending tasks for the day first and then focus on the System. He worried that otherwise, he would get carried away and leave his work unfinished.
So, he took the ink and carefully started to draw in the required runes in the ritual.
The ritual was so large and complicated that it would easily take him two more weeks to finish.
The original ritual created by the Valyrian mages was not this complicated.
In fact, despite its efforts, the ritual was relatively simple and required the sacrifice of 1 living dragon egg and 100 human sacrifices.
He changed and upgraded the whole ritual repeatedly over the last year until it was to his liking.
Instead of human sacrifice, the ritual required only a sufficient amount of blood. The ritual involved a form of blood magic that transferred the dragon might within the egg to the performer, allowing him to become the Dragonlord.
So instead of human sacrifice, Domeric modified the ritual to collect blood from 11 animals of 7 different species and use their blood.
Using the blood of 77 animals not only freed Domeric from the necessity of human sacrifice but also strengthened the ritual.
The ritual would also provide a muscular structure that, unlike the body structure of normal Valyrians, would become more compact with the help of magic, rather than swelling when trained as Domeric had previously designed it. This would increase Domeric's physical potential.
Another aspect that Domeric changed in the ritual was the number of Dragon Eggs to be used.
Domeric had increased the number of eggs to be used from one to three. This would allow Domeric to bond with three dragons instead of one.
Normally, a Dragonlord could only form an unbreakable bond with one dragon. If they attempted to bond with more than one dragon, their bond with the dragons would weaken, and they would risk losing control over them.
In this case, their dragons could turn against them in some situations, or even rebel.
Domeric had foreseen something like that in the destiny line of this world, seeing Daenerys Targaryen facing this problem in the future.
If she had formed an unbreakable bond with just one dragon instead of three, and become its Dragonrider, she might have avoided it.
However, Domeric had found a partial solution to this problem. But, despite his efforts on the ritual, he was unable to increase the number of eggs beyond three, and he had to settle for this.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.262: Dragon Army Plan
Ch.263: Gemini Project in Action
Ch.264: System Interface