GoT: Lightbull Chapter 17 (Patreon)

Third Person Point of View

A man walked through a lavish mansion. There were some dried blood stains on the rugs, but the new inhabitants moved in recently enough not to remove them yet. He gulped, worried about what he was getting into. Was the offer real, or was he getting himself into something he wouldn’t survive? Would he become a slave, or become wealthy enough to buy an army to fight his brothers for heirship?

Men stood, guarding a room, and the rich heir made his way inside, once again wary whether this was a trap or not. He looked around the room, finding it to have a large dining table with lavish food sitting atop, waiting to be eaten. He was smart enough not to sit or begin eating, although he was famished. Searching the room further, he increased the count of the armed men he had seen up until that point to sixteen, all wearing full plate armor as if they were prepared for war.

He didn’t wait very long for the door to open across from him, which was abrupt enough to scare him. A short man at first glance, but after a closer look, it was a child who wiped blood off his sword as he casually spoke, two men on either side of him not speaking. “Sorry about the meeting place. This nobleman tried to cheat my men while I was away; that was a big mistake on his part. Now, what are you here for?”

The man thought they knew and asked. “Umm, don’t you know?” “I have a lot of things I’m looking for, a lot of deals I plan to make, whatever you’re here for is important to you, but it’s only a small part of my day… Now, there’s no reason for this food to go to waste. Let’s eat while you discuss why you’re here.”

The little boy whistled, and as if on command, most of the guards moved in tandem, their silent vigil broken immediately as they all came in and sat down at the table before causing a ruckus. Three other children also came, a little silver-haired girl, and two boys. Once again, the man only looked wary at the sudden action all the men took as they ate with abandon while joking, laughing, and cheering; even the boy got into it as he snapped a chicken leg off and ate like a man starved.

Thankfully, he didn’t leave the man in question. “We’ve just returned from the sea a few days ago, and everyone is just happy to be alive and have anything but fish to eat.” He savored the food as he looked at the man again, and he finally realized the boy was waiting for him to speak. “Ah, umm. It’s about the unicorn, sir?” Still with a mouthful of food, the boy answered. “Arthur, you can just call me Arthur. I hope it’s real; if it’s another horse with a fake horn glued to its face. I’ll kill you if it is.”

He knew his unicorn was real, and he began travelling ever since he heard someone was willing to pay handsomely for one. He needed this money, even willing to put up with the stench of carting a horse-sized creature for months by boat, stinking up the entire ship because it was necessary to transport it from where it came from, his homeland on Skagos was technically under the rule of Stark, but a Stark lord hadn’t visited in over a hundred years.

They were left to their own rule, and those who ruled were the Skagosi lords, one of whom would be him… But his brothers took his birthright and overthrew him; now he needed an army to reclaim his right to rule. That was why he was here with the unicorn. Another sudden intrusion as a man came into the room, screaming, with a sword raised above their head.

He made it three steps before the boy shot him dead; it should have been an impossibility, he held no crossbow in his hands, and it would have taken him longer than it did to bring it out from under the table if he was hiding it. A brief moment passed before the boy spoke, now with steel in his voice. “Who cleared that room?”

One of the men stood up and, with a shaky voice, spoke. “M-me, my lord.” Still with everyone sitting around in that silence, they waited for the child to speak. “Well, it appears you missed at least one. Go find where he came from, and see if anymore our hiding.” He got up and ran off immediately. “Alright, I think I’m done eating now… Let’s go see that unicorn.”

…

I couldn’t help but smile. After I paid the man his coin for bringing me something I needed, I warned him to hire some guards. I rubbed my hands together after he left, as I knew this was the real deal. It didn’t look like the unicorns I was used to, more like a goat than a horse, but I could feel the magic the creature contained. Unicorns were indeed magical creatures.

The weird thing was, the magical feeling coming from the unicorn was mostly focused around the horn. I wondered what that meant. Would I develop more magical bones or grow a horn by sacrificing this unicorn? I wasn’t sure, and wouldn’t be until the ritual started, but I knew that as plain as the unicorn looked, it was most likely more magical than any other creature besides direwolves, krakens, and dragons.

That being said… It was my choice for sacrifice. Getting any of the other three would be far more difficult, and I didn’t know the effects I’d gain from sacrificing them either. Right now, it makes more sense to go with the easier option just to push the questline forward. I knew it was more important than the money quest; I just knew it would make a difference going forward, and while money was great for strengthening my own troops, blood was necessary for strengthening myself and those close to me.

The unicorn didn’t know what was happening; it ate grass as it was ushered into the ritual circle, a loose rope tied to a stake to hold it in place as it ate from the bucket of grains. I began to chant, moving into the right place to be the recipient of the effect. I kept speaking, and the unicorn finally felt something and began panicking.

It was already too late. With the last few words spoken, the unicorn began leaking blood from all its orifices. The unicorn fell to the ground, seizing as its horn began to crumble and float up in the air, with the blood following shortly after, creating a multilayered orb. I had a gut feeling that the orb wanted to embed itself in my chest, but I didn’t want that. Having a giant, visible, vulnerable core weakness would be a mistake.

The orb floated over as it deactivated, dropping into the bucket one of my men hastily ran and brought back… Now was the hard part. I picked the bucket up, took in a deep breath, and began to drink. Yep, it tastes exactly like blood, and I had to drink an entire bucket of it. I got sick of the taste and wanted to see how consuming the core would work.

I pulled it out and bit into it like an apple… Yep, that tastes even worse. I was glad to be doing this on an empty stomach, but this was the sacrifice I needed to make to not put an ugly weak point on my body. I knew that there were vials of congealed dragon's blood on the market, which might be a way to improve my dragon's blood quantity without spending points. I also might be able to boost the strength of some of my men by giving them the dragon's blood in a ritual.