On the highest floor of the Yin Yang Tower, Natasha sat with a distracted look on her face. This entire floor used to be where her master spent most of his time. But now it belonged entirely to her. The Master of Whispers had personally come and brought her terrible news, and then he helped her take control of all the wealth and resources in the tower that now belonged to her.
After that, he instructed her to begin a lockdown in the tower until she was confident in defending it. This was to prevent adventurers, explorers, and looters from coming. He then observed the lower floors and placed various seals and wards on several of his master's dangerous experiments, leaving the key to these seals in her hand so that she could open them when she was confident.
What shocked Natasha the most was the story about her master's cruel past. The murder of his teacher due to greed, and the disappearance of his disciples throughout hundreds of years. He made it clear that she shouldn't think about taking revenge, and that there was even a chance that she would become one of White Shadow's victims, but she felt that he treated her almost like a daughter. After all, he didn't need to take so much care of her, nor try so hard to create bonds, if in the end he was going to do something like that to her...
Pushing these thoughts to the back of her mind, Natasha began to leaf through several magic books in her master's old room. At the same time, she looked at the two human-sized glass tubes next to his bed.
Inside one of these tubes, there was a translucent soul, the soul had a female figure with half of its body black and the other half white, making the soul unique... It had its wings wrapped around itself and its eyes closed. On the cover of one of the books she was reading, it was written in large letters: Yin Yang Angel Creation and Control Ritual...
***
Not far from the city of Braavos, there was a very peculiar and mysterious place. The city of Lorath was ingrained in the minds of the locals as a place full of magic and strange things. There were mysterious deaths, abnormal phenomena, appearances of strange creatures, and diseases. Due to the many rumors, everyone kept their distance from this city, and only a few Lorathian merchants used to travel to carry out local trade, doing constant business with their neighbor Braavos.
All the mysteries and rumors about the place were intentionally spread to prevent curious outsiders from snooping where they shouldn't.
At that moment, it was already night, and an undead bird flew over the city, heading towards a huge forest that was not far away. This forest was avoided by the locals due to even more terrible rumors and few dared to enter the place. The bird flew for almost 20 minutes before finding a tower made of black stones full of moss and vines in the middle of the forest. As soon as the bird landed on the roof of the tower, the duo that was the Pope and the Jester descended and were greeted by a man dressed as a butler.
"Welcome, my Lords. Everyone else has arrived. Do you wish to rest for a while or begin the meeting immediately?"
"Keke, we better start the meeting, or they might get impatient since we're the last ones to arrive."
"I will make the preparations."
30 minutes later, inside a luxurious hall, there was a huge table with various details and maps on display. Anyone who saw it would be reminded of the Targaryen war table mixed with the small council table. There were 7 seats at the table, but only 5 people were present.
In the main seat was the Court Jester, to his right was the Pope of Bacalon, to his left was a little girl with brownish-green skin that few would recognize as a member of the race of the children of the forest. In the last two occupied seats was an old man with a kind smile and clothes familiar to those of the Maesters of the citadel. The last figure was a middle-aged man with a beard, black eyes, and hair. He was well known to many in the present world and his fame was steadily growing after the fall of Valyria. His name was Von Braganys, the current owner of the Iron Bank of Braavos.
Once everyone was seated, the Jester continued to smile and began his speech:
"Welcome, it's been over 100 years since I've seen some of you. Our group has also suffered two major losses, and it was only a few days ago that we finally avenged Master Purple Shadow and recovered his share of the key. First, I want a report on your recent missions. You may begin, little Aly."
As soon as he gave the signal, the daughter of the forest began: "Since we lost the Puppet Master, it has not been easy to maintain the collection of resources in the forest I control. Several Master Hunters have appeared since one of my children was seen, and we have had to suspend several operations of some mines and natural gardens. Thanks to our dear Papa and his latest venture in Asshai, our resource vault has been emptied to critical levels."
After her speech she gave a critical look to the Pope of Bacalon masked in priestly robes in black and pale blue. Taking advantage of the "girl's" cue, he was next in his report:
"The strength of Purple Shadow's disciple was at a higher level than anticipated. Without our two best fighters, I had no choice but to use our resources to hire several Masters. Our esteemed leader witnessed the battle, so he can confirm that the resources were well spent. We recovered the key and avenged our ally, in addition, we gathered important information."
The owner of the Iron Bank smiled at the girl and said, "Remember Alyxia, 'problems that can be solved with gold or magical resources are not a problem'. You and I used that phrase quite often a few centuries ago."
After that short sentence, everyone would think that Von Braganys was defending the Pope's excessive spending on his latest mission. But Alyxia knew he was comforting her and preparing to say something even worse about the Pope…
The Jester watched the dialogue and nodded in confirmation. He then turned to the Lord of Braavos, a signal that he understood meant he should begin his report.
"The mission to exterminate the Bloodmages of Valyria was a success, but my Faceless Men suffered heavy losses, it will take about 10 years to recover our numbers and as you already know we lost the Puppet Master 15 years ago, but even in his death he still caused severe casualties to the Dragon Lords and their Mages using his puppets that were still alive using the "Final Command"."
Letting everyone digest the first part of his report, he then continued:
"Just as the Alpha Maester predicted, when the numbers of Valyrian Bloodmages reached a critical level, all 14 volcanic chains erupted. There were some minor side effects involving some innocent Masters and apprentices and this greatly damaged our image, but everything is under control. We collected and stole a lot of gold before the disaster and all of this gold now belongs to our Order, I will use some of it to revitalize Braavos and make the Iron Bank the largest financial organization in the world. With this, we will control the fall and rise of various powers. At this time, I will focus all my forces on rebuilding and training new faceless men and protecting Braavos from greedy eyes during the conflicts with the surviving dragonlords."
The Pope listened to Von Braganys' report and began to laugh:
"Haha, you call it a minor side effect, but your organization is banned from entering Asshai. There have been similar threats circulating throughout Essos. What is the point and purpose of destroying totems when all of Valyria would soon be destroyed… That was very sloppy work on your part." His tone, which had previously been that of an elder narrating his mission, now became that of someone completely different as he criticized the leader of Braavos.
"I will not listen to a lecture from an incompetent walking corpse, because you did not use your "powerful" specters to retrieve the key? You talk a lot for someone who has done nothing for our Order lately. Just to be clear, I used the slaves' hatred to control them, but our leader knows that this kind of control is superficial, and I could not stop them from destroying the totems during their rampage against the Valyrians."
"Great idea! Revealing all my power to the temple of R'hllor and risking a war starting between us."
"The Order should not bear its burdens and enemies, and you…"
"Keke, be quiet both of you! You always argue… Von takes 10 years to recover, and after that continues hunting the surviving Dragon Lords. They are easy targets now that they are without their powerful Bloodmages."
The Alpha Maester was the last with his report:
"There is not much to report, this time, I brought my successor from the Citadel to perform the possession ritual, I am already very old and this body of mine is full of weaknesses… In general, Westeros continues with its petty and primitive conflicts, it is easy to manipulate all of them, especially those illiterate Lords… My only question is about the Targaryens… Should we get rid of them now that the other Valyrians have fallen?"
"Keke, as long as the Targaryens remain on their island there is no need for us to be hostile, they have few surviving dragons since they fled. And their Bloodmages lost their lives before Von's mission even began, your dragons and your family will lose their magic naturally over time now that they are away from Valyria, there is no need to do something that time itself will do for us. Just keep watching them as Alpha always has, and if we need any information we will contact you as always."
The Maester made a sign of respect to his leader and remained silent. Finally, it was the Pope's turn again:
"I have been observing many candidates for the seats of Purple Shadow and the new Puppet Master. I have seen some promising young people in Asshai, and my specters have been keeping a close eye on them all. But time is forcing us to choose quickly due to the lack of manpower, and in the last battle we found someone suitable, and our leader has already approved him as well. As for the Puppet Master's legacy, we can choose between the two necromancers who survived the fight. Their souls are suitable for the legacy, and this is a disposable position anyway... With their powerful souls, they can more quickly assimilate the knowledge of the Puppet Master's legacy..."
After a vote, Master Blood Armor was appointed the new warrior and keykeeper, and Master Baron Bones was chosen as the new Puppet Master. There was no discussion about whether the individuals would refuse the position, as they knew the benefits were too tempting to refuse.
Finally, the Jester also ordered the Pope to have Kalindor watched by his specters since he was the only survivor who might have the knowledge to strengthen the blood and power of dragons. For little Alyxia, he instructed that until help arrived, she should prioritize protecting a certain garden that should never stop producing, since it was something that Von Braganys and the Alpha Maester often needed for their possession rituals... After some more discussions about minor matters, everyone stood up, placed their right hand in the shape of a fist on their chest, and shouted the same phrase out loud.
FOR THE END OF MAGIC!
End of volume 3 (Asshai)[1]
****
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan!
Magical Apprentice: Parsa, Pato Senalima, Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Vinnie, frimorigo, Scott Robertson, Takatchi, Leery Falcon, Austin, mandeep singh, and Kobe Robertson!
[1] Thank you to everyone who has read this far, leave a comment about what you thought of this volume and this chapter where the villains of the fic are finally revealed.
If you follow Asoiaf's theories, you know what this is about... Here I am making one of these theories come true, and making it much bigger than anyone tried to predict. I hope you like what I have prepared for the final volume of this book, and the next ones to come.