Chapter 482

“It’s true. If the ‘aunt’ of this lady before me… possessed the strength to exile her mother—a true dragon—from her original world, calling her a goddess wouldn’t be an exaggeration. One can only imagine: if such a divine being had a younger brother—R’hllor’s father—he, too, would hardly be a mere mortal. But what kind of deep-seated hatred would compel this ‘divine aunt’ to ruthlessly banish her brother’s lover, even when she was carrying her niece?”

Was it a clash between humans and high dragons, or something more complicated—an entanglement of emotions?

“My aunt fell in love with her own brother and firmly believed she was destined to be his wife and the mother of his children,” R’hllor explained, her words cutting through Aegor’s speculation with brutal clarity. It wasn’t clear whether she had read his doubts or simply intended to clarify everything from the start. Either way, she left no room for wild guesses. “But my father refused to accept her, insisting on finding a mate outside of his own bloodline. When news of my mother’s pregnancy reached my aunt, it ignited all of her fury, setting into motion everything that followed. Why the strange look? Do you think beings as powerful and otherworldly as gods are bound by your mortal notions of ethics and propriety?”

She shrugged, clearly unwilling to waste more time on such sordid family matters. “As a half-dragon, half-divine being, I displayed an extraordinary growth rate in the early stages of my life. I could sense the threshold my mother could never cross standing just ahead of me, faintly visible—crossing it was only a matter of time. Yet, as I neared the end of my first century, something strange happened. Though I could feel that only a fraction of my potential had been unleashed, my growth stagnated. My strength and power hit an inexplicable bottleneck that should never have existed.

“I sought answers everywhere, even disturbing my mother, who was resting and recovering, to ask her for guidance. After much investigation, I discovered the truth: the problem wasn’t me. It was this world. Its energy level and natural laws could no longer sustain the existence of a more powerful being.”

‘It’s not me—it’s the world?’ Aegor thought. Was that arrogance, or a truth born of absolute self-awareness?

Unlike Tyrion, Aegor knew when to keep his sarcasm to himself. He nodded silently, signaling her to continue.

“Don’t bother asking why I couldn’t simply settle for a quiet life instead of chasing higher realms. I won’t answer such a foolish question. I doubt I can even explain to a mortal like you the suffocating feeling of being shackled by this world. But perhaps this example will help: the same species of fish will grow to different sizes depending on whether it lives in a stream or a lake. As for me? I’ve been raised in a fish tank. The tank’s size and resources define my limits. This world cannot support my natural instincts and drive to transcend. The only option left to me is to break the tank and leap into the rivers and seas beyond.”

Aegor’s heart stirred as realization dawned. No wonder, when he had asked if there was a way to return to his original world, she had told him to wait. She, too, harbored a similar desire.

“This is the task you mentioned earlier—the one that kept you too occupied to deal with the Cold God?” Aegor asked carefully, without realizing he’d instinctively adopted a more respectful tone.

“Correct. I have been searching for a way to reopen the passage between worlds and return to the place where my mother was exiled from—a world that was home to both her and my father. A world capable of nurturing beings as powerful as them. Whether it’s a river, a lake, or an ocean, it will undoubtedly be better than this fish tank.”

So R’hllor was also seeking a way to go “home.” But since they were having this conversation, it was clear she had yet to succeed.

“Aren’t you worried about your aunt? If she attacked your mother out of jealousy, what would stop her from targeting you if you returned?”

“Don’t flatter yourself by thinking you’re the only one with clever ideas,” R’hllor scoffed. “Of course, I’ve prepared countermeasures. As long as I survive the most perilous stages of reentry and seeking out my father, I’m confident he won’t let his sister harm his daughter once he learns the truth. The real difficulty doesn’t lie in what happens after I return—it’s the question of how to return.”

How indeed?

Though their conversation seemed to have veered far from its original course, Aegor finally felt they had reached a topic of interest to him.

“According to my mother, interdimensional travel was a specialized discipline in her original world—a profound skill few could master but one that was indeed possible to learn. Unfortunately, spatial magic wasn’t her area of expertise, so she couldn’t provide any guidance or support. After her death, I had no choice but to take on this monumental task alone: to independently study and master space magic without any outside assistance.”

“I spent decades figuring out the fundamentals of spatial theory, and more decades discovering how to manipulate energy to affect it. When I finally made progress and began achieving breakthroughs in this field, I calculated the power required to tear through space. The result was devastating: the level of magic needed far exceeded the limits of what this world could support. To break the fish tank, I needed more power. But to gain more power, I first needed to escape the fish tank. I was trapped in an unsolvable loop. The invisible, intangible barrier of space confined me like a cage, leaving me utterly helpless.”

Aegor took a sharp breath, torn between sympathy for her plight and awe at her persistence. Only someone like her—a half-dragon, half-divine, immortal being—could devote endless time and energy to such a seemingly impossible endeavor.

“Did you give up?” Aegor ventured, sensing her personality enough to push the question.

“No. The disheartening calculations left me despondent for a long time, but fortunately, time is the one thing I have in abundance. I temporarily set aside the problem and turned my attention to other areas of study. In doing so, I stumbled upon a revelation that proved a mortal proverb my descendants would later coin: ‘All roads lead to Valyria.’”

R’hllor’s tone was detached, as if narrating the efforts of someone else rather than her own centuries of trial and error.

“First, I located the exact point where my mother was exiled into this world. It lies suspended in the Smoke Sea, between the Lands of Long Summer and what remains of the Valyrian Peninsula. The spatial fabric there was violently disrupted by her arrival. Though it has mostly healed, it remains weaker than other areas—a spot most likely to be breached. While the magic required to tear through it still exceeded my capabilities, the gap had narrowed. What once seemed an insurmountable chasm was now a solvable problem.”

“Then, through my exploration of non-spatial magic, I began to recognize a critical flaw in my mindset. My immense power and self-reliance had led me to ignore the potential of tools and allies. I had fallen into the trap of believing that if I couldn’t accomplish something on my own, it was simply impossible.”

She gestured toward the planet below, shifting its perspective until the Valyrian Peninsula came into view. Unlike the broken land Aegor knew, this peninsula was whole.

“After overcoming this misconception, everything became clear. While I couldn’t singlehandedly cast a spell powerful enough to tear through space, I could design and build tools to amplify my magic. With the right preparations and magical constructs, even an individual spellcaster could achieve feats beyond their natural limits. Though such methods are impractical for combat or daily life, they are perfect for targeting a static, unresisting spatial rift.”

“After decades of research into auxiliary magic, I devised a colossal magical array—capable of gathering and concentrating the world’s ambient energy to amplify my spatial magic. Constructing this array required astronomical manpower and resources, far beyond what I alone could achieve. Fortunately, while I was preoccupied, my descendants—through their half-dragon, half-divine lineage—had quietly built a powerful nation known as the Freehold of Valyria. Without my intervention, they nearly conquered the known world, creating a vast, efficient empire. It was the perfect instrument for my plan.”

“At my command, my descendants enslaved countless laborers and pillaged the world for magical artifacts and materials. Using the Fourteen Flames as the core and the Valyrian plains as the foundation, I constructed an enormous spatial rift array, spanning miles. When a rare magical tide reached its peak, I activated the array. It drained nearly half the world’s magic, unleashing a spatial spell far beyond my natural limits. It tore open the scar left by my mother’s exile.”

As R’hllor narrated, Aegor’s mind churned. His knowledge of Valyria’s fate clashed with the tale she wove. The map before him depicted a complete peninsula, but the one he knew was fractured, surrounded by the Smoking Sea.

A chilling realization gripped him. Could the Doom of Valyria—long believed to be a natural disaster—have been caused by her spatial array?

Suppressing his unease, Aegor carefully voiced his suspicion. “Did… something go wrong with the array? Did it trigger the unprecedented eruption of the Fourteen Flames, sinking part of the p