First Moon, 8014

Nyels Chambers, The Aegonfort

Stinging droplets of rain assaulted Nyels eyes, like shards of ice, she tried to cover her eyes but it was useless, the rain was unending.

She rubbed her eyes, holding her hands above her head and winning her some respite but even with the rain clear from her eyes she could barely see, the air was pitch black.

All around her the air shrieked a ghostly howl. She heard voices , shouts and yells but could not hear the words over the wind. The voices seemed close yet far away at the same time, echoing wordless cries.

Suddenly she was in the air and saw nothing but dark below, a lion, fat with a matted yellow mane stood, mouth agape, descending into the darkness, the stench of death filling Nyels nose and mouth.

She heard it before she saw it, an unhuman roar as a massive black shape hurtled down into the dark, towards her, eyes red as flames.

Dread She thought, the words entering her mind unbidden, as the dark shape approached fast, wind and rain clamoring on its side, she could scare stand the sound anymore and put her hands over her ears, crying for it to stop.

Nyel awoke in a cold sweat, frantically looking around her bedchamber, but there was no dark shape or howling winds….just the silence of the night.

Matarys Chamber, The Eyrie

The sound was the first thing he noticed, sharp and rhythmic like metal on a whetstone, softly at first then louder, till the sound filled his mind clamoring like a beating drum.

He saw the glimmer of a sword in the distance slowly fading until it was no more.

Matarys fumbled through the darkness unable to see anything, the world around him rocking, his balance unsteady.

Shards of wood flew about him, cutting his arms and legs, stumbling as he made his way forward in the oily black of night.

He heard and felt it before he saw it, a great burst of wind and the heavy crack of wings, a roar filling the air, a dark shape in the air, but no matter how hard he looked he could not see it.

Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of white, smooth as snow and pale as the moon, rolling away from him

It was his Dragon Egg, disappearing into the darkness, a moon in a sea of black.

He chased after it and suddenly he was falling, a crescent moon in the sky growing farther and farther away.

He looked up and saw with terror the huge dark shape was following him down into the darkness, dark red eyes fixed on him, he screamed but no words came out and he felt the air leaving his body, his lungs close to bursting.

He saw his egg and with the last of his strength reached towards it, but the moment he touched it long cracks appeared, slowly overtaking its smooth surface until a deafening crash destroyed it.

Matarys woke up with a shout……and was greeted with the sight of a dragon on his chest, eyes of blue ice staring into his, the remains of the dragon egg scattered at his bedside.

It was small, only about the size of his old cat Ser Whiskers, but it was white as fresh fallen snow, its scales thin as ringmail. He had seen his parents' dragons as well as the bronze dragon of his aunt Rhaenys, but this dragon was the most majestic thing he had ever seen, cat sized or no.

His heart still pounding from his dream, he reached out a chubby hand towards the dragon.

Moondancer He thought, the image of the moon in his dream burned into his mind, the Dragon recoiled at his touch however and flew to the other end of the room, hissing.

Matarys supposed he should be happy, his dragon egg had hatched, he had even seen it in his dreams, but he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that the hatching of his dragon had not explained what he had seen, no matter how hard he tried to put the dream from his mind he could not escape the images, the moon fading into black, the dark shape, the sound of a sword being sharpened, Matarys did not know what to make of it, but he was sure it was nothing good.