Chapter 111 – Growing as Big as a House
Only now did Donne realize—it wasn't that Daenerys hadn't used enough force earlier. It was that Drogon's hide was simply too tough.
He tried two more spots, but the needle still wouldn't go in. His gaze drifted involuntarily toward Drogon's small head.
The moment his eyes moved there, he sensed something was wrong. Turning his head, he met Daenerys's violet eyes glaring straight at him. Startled, he hurriedly set the needle down on the bed.
Daenerys knew exactly what Donne had been thinking. There was no way she would allow him to touch Drogon's head—no matter what. Even if Drogon couldn't be woken for the time being, that was still unacceptable.
With everyone at a loss, Daenerys could only give up for now and tell Donne to return, promising to summon him again if needed.
After seeing Donne off, Daenerys stayed by Drogon's side for a long while, watching him closely. He looked no different from someone in deep sleep—his expression calm, with no sign of pain or distress. Only then did she feel slightly reassured.
As for why he couldn't be woken at all, no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't come up with an answer.
At that moment, Daenerys suddenly remembered that Shireen seemed to know a great deal about dragons. Perhaps she would understand why Drogon had fallen into such an unyielding sleep.
Shireen lived within the Great Pyramid as well, and Daenerys immediately sent someone to fetch her.
Seeing Drogon in this state, Shireen was also clearly worried. She explained to Daenerys several situations in which dragons might fall into prolonged sleep.
Dragons could enter deep slumber after hatching if their bodies were too weak, or while recovering from severe injuries. But she had never seen—or even heard of—a case like Drogon's.
Especially not one where a dragon wouldn't wake even when pricked with a needle.
After carefully examining Drogon's condition, however, Shireen instead began to comfort Daenerys. Though she didn't know the reason for his unbroken sleep, she believed it was caused by something they simply didn't yet understand.
Drogon ate far more than ordinary dragons, grew far faster, and could even change his size. He was unlike any dragon known in history.
He hadn't been injured before falling asleep, and the wound to his leg had long since healed. If he had entered this slumber, then it was likely just another sign of how different Drogon truly was.
And perhaps—
Another transformation was already underway.
After hearing Shireen's reassurance, Daenerys was still worried—but her heart felt lighter than before. For now, this was the only comfort she could give herself.
The three of them kept watch over Drogon until deep into the night, only drifting off to sleep at last.
In the morning, seeing that Drogon still hadn't awakened, Daenerys rose listlessly to wash and dress, forcing herself to prepare for another busy day.
Two days later, Daenerys was handling state affairs in her room when the maid Irri suddenly burst in, panting hard.
"K–Khaleesi! You need to come quickly—Drogon… Drogon seems to have grown bigger!"
"Bigger?"
For an instant, Daenerys thought Drogon had awakened. Then it dawned on her that Irri didn't mean his ability to change into his adult form.
She hurried back to her chambers with Irri. Shireen and Missandei, who had been working in the same room with her, followed close behind when they heard Drogon's name.
Pushing open the door, Daenerys saw it immediately—Drogon had indeed grown noticeably larger. Before, he'd been no bigger than a pigeon. Now he was nearly the size of an ordinary rabbit.
She clearly remembered that when she'd left that morning, Drogon was still the same as ever. And yet in just half a day, he had changed so much.
She bent down to examine him carefully. Drogon was still sleeping deeply. Aside from his increased size, nothing else seemed different.
Unable to focus on her duties anymore, Daenerys sat by the bed, watching him intently, waiting to see if anything else would change.
After more than an hour, she suddenly realized he had grown a little larger again.
The others exchanged glances in silence.
She looked at the bed, then at the room. If Drogon kept growing like this, the space wouldn't be much larger than his adult form. The first thing to collapse would probably be her bed.
By nightfall, Drogon had grown several times larger again—now bigger than an ordinary house dog.
"Your Grace," Missandei said hesitantly, "should we move Drogon to a larger space?"
She feared that by the next morning, Daenerys might wake up to find Drogon too large to even fit through the doors.
Daenerys had already thought of the same thing. She decided to clear out a section of the Great Pyramid's main hall and let Drogon sleep there.
An hour later, two Unsullied carried Drogon into the hall. Daenerys had originally planned to move him herself with Missandei, but despite not looking very large at the time, Drogon was astonishingly heavy—far too heavy to lift.
After settling him in the hall, Daenerys set up a small bed nearby to stay with him and ordered Grey Worm to strengthen security around the pyramid, forbidding anyone without authorization from entering.
Two more days passed.
Drogon was now nearly full-grown.
Everyone living in the pyramid—or coming there to conduct official business—knew that Drogon was sleeping in the great hall.
Starting from the second day after being moved, his snoring had grown steadily louder. Now, with each breath, the entire hall trembled. It was impossible not to know he was there.
Daenerys had never imagined that the tiny Drogon who slept beside her like a kitten could produce such thunderous snores once grown.
As the days passed, her worry gradually eased. She was certain now that something she didn't yet understand was happening to Drogon. Aside from sleeping and steadily growing larger, he showed no other signs of distress.
On the third morning, the earth-shaking snoring in the pyramid hall suddenly stopped.
Drogon's massive tail twitched slightly—
Bang!
[What's going on?]
Just as he opened his eyes, the sudden impact startled Drogon.
Before he could take in his surroundings, a sharp, violent pain exploded in his chest, making his entire body shudder.
Then the pain spread—no longer just his chest, but tearing agony throughout his body.
Gritting his teeth, he turned his head and looked at himself.
He clearly remembered falling asleep in his nest. So why had he woken up in the great hall of the pyramid? And why had his body grown to full adult size?
"Drogon, you're finally awake—I'll go—"
"Roooar!"
Irri, who had been keeping watch nearby under Daenerys's orders, cried out in relief and was about to run for Daenerys—only to be cut off by Drogon's anguished roar.
"D–Drogon! You… you…"
Irri stared in horror as Drogon's scales began to bulge outward, as if countless creatures were trying to claw their way out from inside his body.
The dense black scales on his chest split apart, blood seeping through the gaps and streaming down in thin red lines.
"Drogon…"
Irri had completely forgotten to fetch Daenerys. She covered her mouth, frozen in terror at the sight before her.
"Roooar!"
Another agonized roar burst from Drogon's throat. His tail lashed out violently, smashing into the pyramid wall and carving a deep furrow into the solid stone, as though it had been plowed.
At that moment, he had no energy left to wonder why he had awakened in the great hall.
It felt as though every bone in his body was splitting apart, forcing its way outward through flesh and scale. A terrible swelling pressure tore at him from the inside, skin stretching and ripping as scales mixed with shredded flesh fell away in pieces.