Sothoryos...
The Basilisk Isles...
This was a place of no law. There was no order, only chaos reigned, filled with pirates, dark god worshipers, and every type of disgusting mongrel.
The islands themselves weren't mundane nor ugly, they were stunning and exotic, with towering trees so great and high that they resembled the citadel in Oldtown, dark and oppressive, branching and denying the world its light.
There were many intriguing birds, some as big as dogs or cows, many slithering, insidious snakes and lizards, and all kinds of abominable beasts.
And thus, since there was no order, the only law that existed here was the law of the strongest.
"Master Eclipse." A hunter with tattered robes, his face covered with the skull of a boar, spoke with a nod. "Pirates are coming. They've heard about it already."
Hihkran hummed to himself, staring at the map of Basilisk Isle with a furrowed brow, his face covered with a fearsome mask with gleaming ivory fangs, nine eyes, and a lone horn curved backwards.
"I see... Not bad." He murmured with a pale smile and looked up. "It's good we kept prisoners alive."
He grabbed his coat and left his room, holding a meter-long saber made from Valyrian steel, dark with vicious serrations. It had a segmented spine-like back that looked like exposed vertebrae. The crossguard and pommel resembled talons gripping the saber itself, as if the weapon was holding itself together.
Stepping outside, Hihkran looked at the bleak, ruined city that pirates were using for transporting slaves. But they were mostly carrying children, no one wanted old slaves, after all.
Sighing, he glanced at his fellow hunter, issuing a command. "Drag out our prisoners, Verikor..."
"May I ask for a reason?" Verikor asked, his spiky hammer resting on his shoulder.
"Enemies sent spies to observe us and gather information, without a doubt." Hihkran said, adjusting his ferocious mask and walking out. "But all they will see is... their destined end."
Verikor stared at Hihkran for some time and sighed bleakly, shaking his head. "We need to finish this quickly, brother. Before we are forced to kill our brothers and sisters, or they are forced to kill us."
"I know..." Hihkran looked back, his eyes deep and thoughtful. "But for now... we still have time. No child of Death fears facing the end."
Verikor nodded with a shrug, he was a towering man of great might, even taller than Hihkran, with broad shoulders, dark hair, and blue eyes, his muscular body filled with scars.
A few minutes later, hunters, each of them covered in tattered robes and horrifying masks, were dragging out prisoners who were begging them for life, some were trying to bribe them while some were cursing and threatening them.
Yet... their end would remain unchanged. Retribution of the Goddess would drag them into the abyss when Her hunters would deliver destined death upon them.
And so they did. Raising their weapons, hunters began massacring them like pigs.
It was a chaotic and deeply disturbing thing to witness. Pirates were crawling like maggots when Verikor's hammer descended like a meteor, its spikes biting deep into a pirate's head, shattering his skull into countless small fragments until the hammer reached the brain and crushed it like when a man steps on a grape, geysers of blood exploding outwards as brain matter splattered on the stone, squirming and twitching as blood pooled beneath the dead.
Rivers of blood flowed outward, each branching like tributaries of a great river, slithering like serpents until they gathered into a pond of rotten red.
Hihkran was right about spies, sailors sneaked into the city, observing the chilling scene with horror and disbelief as hunters butchered their comrades.
"Please, mercy!"
"You do not deserve mercy. What mercy did you give to those pitiful children that you raped and sold and killed?" A Hunter's gauntleted fist closed around a man's throat and ripped it out, blood erupting across his body, windpipe dangling from his hand.
"Wait, they may help us." One of the hunters, unaware of Hihkran's plan, said coolly, his voice composed and indifferent despite witnessing such a sight, still thinking about gaining an advantage and not letting rage blind him.
Yet, hunters weren't known for mercy and hesitation. Some were softer than others, correct, but most of them were cold-blooded and ruthless.
"They can die for us!" The hunter shrugged him off and grabbed the pirate's hair, punching through his mouth, shattering his teeth that he involuntarily gulped down, and cut his own throat, blood flowing inside and choking him, but before he could die, the hunter raised him in the air and impaled him on his spear.
"Make sure they're all dead!"
"Kill them all!"
"Wipe the scum from the streets!"
At the same time, the sailors that sneaked into the city were watching this, one of them even vomited when he saw a hunter dragging one of their comrades with his intestines and wrapping it around another's neck, choking him.
It felt like staring at unforgiving monsters that knew no mercy.
"What should we do now?"
"Moron, we retreat and inform Lord Dagon immediately. We need to find 'Horn' and the 'Key of Dragon's Maw' before those abominations. They may kill our brothers, but Ironborn are unyielding, and we will offer their skulls to the Drowned God when the time is ripe."
And thus, the embers of conflict were already here and it wouldn't take that much time for it to become an blazing inferno.
Yet everyone knows that war leaves nothing behind but smoldering ashes.
_________________________
"Grayjoy, if the bastard won't appear, it will be your head I will be taking." A young man with tanned, bronze skin scowled in displeasure, gulping down wine and wiping his mouth.
"He will, nothing to worry about, Dorea." Dagon spoke with a dark smile, stroking his beard. He was wearing leather pants with a belt and boots, a white shirt and a dark coat, a sword sheathed at his side.
"Will this really work? Basilisk Point isn't safe. There are wyrms, wyverns, and well... basilisks. Those mighty beasts will destroy us as if we are ants. Might I remind you that there are legends that dragons are nothing but a fusion of fire wyrms and wyverns?" Dorea squeezed a serving girl's butt, slapping it as she giggled and tiptoed around.
"Hmm... I'm aware. But once we open Dragon's Maw and obtain the Horn, none of that would matter. Valyrian blood magic is magnificent, my lord. So are their dragons. Yet, despite witnessing such overwhelming might, you're still going to such lengths to kill one pitiful boy."
Dorea remained motionless for some time, grabbing his left arm, with burn marks all around it up to his shoulder. His expression darkened in displeasure and chilling, murderous hatred. "I have my reasons. There's no need to be concerned. You take the Horn, while I take the bastard's head."
"Fair enough, it benefits me greatly, thus I'm willing to cooperate. However, you need to follow my plan. Hunters are a deadly and bizarre group of people, if they can even be called that. They're murderous, cunning, and merciless." Dagon gulped down wine, emptying the bottle and throwing it back, only for another sailor to catch it without looking up.
"That's why we need to remain cautious. Even if we have many pirates, sellswords, Ironborn, and you here, it's still dangerous. Hunters specialize in traps, so vigilance and a clear mind are more necessary than any number of swords."
"Yes, we and they are competing to get the Horn... but why would they want it?" Dorea frowned, his expression growing thoughtful.
"Hmm..." Dagon licked his dry lips, staring at the map, and called the old man that he captured from Basilisk Isle, hoping to learn what little was known about hunters from him.
"What do you think, old man?"
"It's hard to guess what their purpose is..." The old man let out a breath, his eyes deep and glassy. "However... the Horn, from what legends say, is a catastrophic weapon. And hunters would never leave such a tool in the hands of mortal men. Basilisk Point was always saturated with wyrms and basilisks, many wyverns too. But years passed, one, few, dozens, hundreds... and the number of monsters dwindled. If there were tens of thousands of all kinds of animals, now there are only a few hundred, even less, I suppose. That's why hunters began moving now, in order to obtain the Horn... this is the perfect opportunity, while also making sure they prevent others from getting it."
"But why? Why would they want the Horn? Aren't they serving their whore of a Goddess?" Dagon spat with an irritated sneer, scoffing as he shook his head.
"Indeed, that much is true. Those barbaric beasts who follow their loathsome, harrowing goddess... They don't want to keep the Horn. All they want is to destroy it. They will never allow a weapon of such dreadful might to be kept in the hands of mortal men."
"Damnit..." Dagon cursed under his breath, ordering his men to take the old man to his cell, but slowly, he squinted his eyes, his gaze narrowing as he spotted a boat, and his sailors hauling themselves aboard.
"What are those cunts doing here now..." He stared at them bleakly as they dragged themselves onto the ship.
"I told you to gather information, why return so early..." He asked sternly, and added. "And know this, a wrong answer costs you your head."
"Y-yes, captain..." One of them swallowed, wiping sweat from his forehead and blurted out. "They... they're killing everyone."
Dagon grabbed his neck, tightening his hold and pulling him closer, his eyes dimming. "I don't have time for your nonsense, Pyke."
"It's true... I'm not lying! The entire city is filled with corpses, hundreds of them, I swear!"
What in actual... Bloody hell...