Ballad of the Phoenix

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best read in smallest size times new roman

ballad of the phoenix • a house of the dragon fanfiction

written by ohsirened, 2023.

Then the storm broke,
and the dragons danced.

     But what is a dance without an accompanying melody? Or a battle without a war cry thundering the skies? To be left standing amongst a mountain of corpses, and the sun hidden by smoke so thick—so dark—all that remains is nothing but an endless night. Who will sing the glory for the victor, or a lullaby for the fallen, when there is none left? A hymn for the Stranger, a prayer before the Mother— it is of no consequence that those who survive the great war are the ones most desperate, the ones who would rather scrabble like rats beneath the foot of their gods, if they utter but a promise to raise the dead. It is those kneeling before pyres and tombs of stone who finally understand the value of lives of men when there is none.

A war is a dance of dragons, and the audience is the folk who pay for it, in fire and blood and destruction. The cries of war is the ballad of the phoenix, a song repeated for centuries through generations, relived through the tales of old wives and withering tomes kept within the Citadel.

Life. Death. A wheel of mortality that keeps on spinning, born of fire and reduced to ash. A phoenix, a dragon, encircling each other in a halo of flames. Frozen tears replaced by sapphire, mother's blood in the veins of her child, bordering between devotion and corruption. Black feathers and green scales, palms of light and the fossilised carcass of a stagnant birthright.

     How bittersweet it is that history repeats itself, an endless return to a vicious fate.

format inspired by crierayla 

author's note.

[ I ] i wanted to thank everyone who has stuck by my side with this story-- to everyone who have witnessed my atrocious first, second, third and god knows how many more drafts of this fanfiction. i am grateful for everyone who has seen, read and listen to me talk and write house vaharys' journey and its development in the almost two years since i started planning this fic.

[ II ] house vaharys is a dragonless valyrian house, and i have presented them to be an asian inspired household. black representation for valyrians in house velaryon was what first inspired me to create my own original house with asian representation in the world of george r.r. martin as there is little to none. i must say, though, that house vaharys are a melting pot of asian influences, as they do not always practice the valyrian custom of incest and having relations with the sothoryi, the yitish, the dornish and of course, the essosi.

i am aware that phoenix birds are not mentioned in the lore of old valyria, nor is there any references to phoenix birds within the asoiafverse, aside from the phoenix empire—an empire born of valyrian exiles and nobles which rose to power after the doom, however there remains little information to develop from. as such, this fic will be canon divergent to the lore and also to the events of hbo's house of the dragon. i have spent a better part of this fic developing centuries' worth of original lore for house vaharys in order for this fic to make sense-- some which might be published separately, if anyone is interested to read it (think of it as my version of grrm's fire and blood for my original house).

[ III ] even though i started writing this fanfiction before reading it, my inspiration draws from rebecca f. kuang's the poppy war trilogy. i have also incorporated some elements of animism as well as chinese and filipino mythology.

[ IV ] most importantly, trigger and content warnings include death, gore, typical got-style violence, war, war crimes, mentions of incest, religious trauma, PTSD, implied sexual assualt, canon-typical mentions of misogyny, ableism and racism. extreme details of the above will be tagged at the beginning of the chapters they will feature in, so please read at your own discretion. i should also disclose that i am not a smut writer, nor will there be any heavy smut or spicy scenes in this fic, and such mentions of explicit sexual content are only implied. if that is what you wish to read, please know that it will not be present in this fic, and my reasoning is that i just do not feel comfortable writing such content.

[ V ] aemond and naerys are extremely chaotic individuals so i am disclosing that their relationship is not the healthiest, and can be depicted as slightly toxic. it is a slowburn ship, and even though this fic started out as an aemond fic, i should say that the romantic relationships are sub-plots to the main political events of the dance.

[ VI ] i do not own house of the dragon, nor do i own fire and blood. all rights go to george r. r. martin, hbo and warner brothers. i only own my original characters, and the canon divergent plot -- all of which i have devoted my heart and soul to develop since this idea popped in my head in december of 2022. if anyone plagiarises my work, i will actually hunt you down and sleep in your walls. other than that, all i ask is for comments and votes with my work, as it keeps me highly motivated to write!

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© ohsirened | 2023 rev. 2024