As Dani prepared to open the next wooden door, Big Black stretched out his serpentine neck, opened his mouth, and let out a piercing shriek. Smoke rose from between his teeth, and Dani understood his urgent warning: *Don't enter Dragon Spirit state.*
"What's wrong?" she asked, turning her head to look at him.
But the moment she turned back, Dani was shocked to see the torches behind her extinguishing one by one. The long corridor seemed to be stretching like a piece of noodles, being devoured by some monstrous creature lurking in the darkness, bite by bite.
"Shit!"
Cursing, Dani broke into a desperate run.
After what felt like over an hour of running, she finally reached the end of the corridor. Instead of a wall, a bottomless, dark abyss stretched before her.
There were no doors on the right wall, leaving her no choice but to enter the last door on the left.
Just as she was about to step through, she froze.
*How could I possibly have this much stamina, running at full speed for hours while carrying a dragon on my back?*
*Impossible!*
Not only was she burdened with tens of pounds, but even marathon runners couldn't maintain such a pace for more than half an hour.
*Is it the power of magic? Or have I been trapped in an illusion this whole time?*
Yet Big Black behind her felt all too real, and her Dragon Spirit vision revealed no anomalies.
Dani was utterly bewildered.
*Knock, knock, knock*
Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed from the depths of the dark corridor where the torches had extinguished, as if something was dragging its feet slowly along the faded carpet.
"Hiss—" Big Black urged her to hurry.
Sighing, she entered the last door.
Another series of square stone chambers followed, each with four doors. She chose the right one.
This time, Dani finally felt exhaustion creeping in, body and mind weary to the point of dizziness.
Square stone chambers, square stone chambers, square stone chambers...
Right, right, right...
Anyone would have their vision blurred and their spirit drained by such relentless repetition of identical scenes and actions.
Just as Dani decided she would sit down to recover her strength in the next chamber, she entered a damp stone chamber... Opposite her stood an oval door, shaped like an open mouth, and outside, beneath the shade of a tree, stood the great sorcerer Paiya.
"You're done talking to the Immortals already?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief.
"Talk to shit— I didn't even see them," Dani gasped, panting.
"You must have taken the wrong path. Never mind, I'll guide you." With that, he stepped into the chamber and extended his right hand to Dani.
Dani recoiled, her voice strange. "What are you? You're almost identical."
"I'm Paiya Buli. Are you out of your mind?" His blue lips parted in confusion.
"It's probably getting dark outside. I don't have time to waste arguing with you, you demon." After resting for a few minutes in the Dragon Dream state, Dani turned and walked toward the door on the right.
"No!" Paiya screamed. "No, come here! Come to me, here, here, here—"
His face collapsed inward, and pale, fat maggots swarmed through the cracked flesh.
The room shifted again. Dani found herself at the bottom of a downloaded stairwell, its top lost in the darkness far above.
She began to suspect she was under an illusion.
The Hall of Immortality had no towers, only low, squat buildings. Where could this stairwell have come from?
But she had already entered the Hall of Immortality. There was no turning back, and she couldn't ask Paiya anything.
So she climbed, and climbed. When her back and legs ached, she entered the Dragon Spirit to rest.
After an unknown amount of time, Dani finally reached a corridor lined with half-open, massive wooden doors on the right.
The doors were made of ebony and fish-bone wood, their black and white grain twisting into bizarre spiral patterns. They possessed a strange beauty, but staring at them too long filled her with a sense of cruel evil.
"This..." Dani jolted awake.
Several scenes from American dramas flashed through her mind. *This anti-spiral pattern... isn't that the magical symbol the White Walkers use?*
*Could it be a universal rune of the mysterious one?* she mused, gently tracing the carved lines with her fingers, her mind racing.
Beyond the door lay a grand hall filled with wizards in opulent attire.
Some wore luxurious robes of white ermine and ruby-colored velvet interwoven with gold. Others donned exquisite armor inlaid with gemstones, while some wore tall, pointed hats adorned with stars.
Among them were also female wizards, their garments even more lavish and vibrant.
Sunbeams slanted through stained-glass windows, and the hall resonated with the most exquisite music, as if the very air had come alive.
A man in regal robes, who seemed to be a king, rose and smiled faintly at Dani. "Daenerys of House Targaryen, welcome, welcome. Please join us for the Eternal Feast. We are the Immortals of Qarth."
"We've been waiting for you for a long time," said the woman beside him.
She wore rose-red and silver garments, her left breast left bare in the Qarth fashion, flawless and perfect.
The Wizard King said, "We knew you would come. We've known for a thousand years, and we've waited all this time. The comet was our guiding light."
A warrior clad in gleaming emerald armor spoke, "We will share our knowledge with you and teach you to wield the weapons of magic. Come, hurry over. You've passed all the tests. Just join our feast, and all your questions will finally be answered."
A handsome young man smiled. "Shall I teach you the mysterious spells of Ancient Valyria? Come, come quickly."
Dani ignored them. After passing through the ebony and ironwood door, she looked around and finally spotted a small door hidden behind it.
It was to her right.
The towering wooden door completely concealed it, and most people would likely never find it, inevitably falling into their trap.
Having found the narrow door, Dani calmly turned back to the room full of wizards in their opulent robes. "Fine. Teach me your spells."
"Come here, and I'll teach you," the handsome wizard beckoned.
"Ugh, why don't you just paint your mouths blue, make your skin deathly pale, and then pretend to be Immortals?" Dani retorted.
With that, she pushed open the small door and strode through without looking back.
The room was narrow, dimly lit, and cramped, with no doors on any of its four walls.
Though surprised, Daenerys guessed she had finally reached her destination.
Her gaze fell upon the long stone table that nearly filled the space, surrounded by illusory blue figures.
Above the center of the table floated a human heart, swollen and putrid, its color bruised and mottled. Yet it still beat, each throb emitting a deep, resonant hum that scattered waves of dark blue light.
"I am Daenerys of House Targaryen. Are you Immortals?" Daenerys asked the figures.
*These guys are so rotten they're just souls left, and they still have the nerve to call themselves Immortals,* she thought.
Perhaps the journey ahead had emboldened her. As she gathered with a group of ghosts in this haunted hall, Daenerys felt no fear.
Initially, the figures remained motionless, neither speaking nor turning to acknowledge the intruder. But the moment Daenerys finished speaking, a voice began to echo intermittently through the room.
*Mother of Dragons... Daughter of Death... Mother of Dragons... Killer of Lies... Mother of Dragons... Bride of Fire...*
The words seemed to whisper and groan, echoing in the darkness: *Mo... ther... of... Dra... gons...*
There were male and female voices, old and young, as if a group of people were waving to Dani through a crack in hell.
The suspended heart continued to beat, occasionally glowing faintly, then plunging into darkness, its rhythm slightly quickening.
"It is I. I am the Mother of Dragons."
The scene in the room shifted. The pale blue figures now took on other colors, as if the group had been instantly 3D-printed into existence.
In the dim blue light cast by the decaying heart, Dani could clearly see the two figures at the ends of the long stone table. On the right stood an elder so ancient he seemed to have reached the absolute limit of human age. His face was a web of wrinkles and age spots, his scalp bare, his blue-purple skin stretched taut over his skull. Even the whites of his eyes were blue, while his lips and fingernails were a deep, almost black, blue.
On the left stood an old woman, equally ancient. Her pale silk robe had rotted into her flesh, making her look like a desiccated corpse exhumed from a grave. One of her shriveled breasts remained exposed in the Qarth fashion, revealing a sharp, dark blue nipple hardened like raw cowhide.
Dani suddenly understood: she was facing a group of dead people. Their bodies had perished decades, even centuries, ago, and the bizarre heart had preserved their fragmented souls.
The Immortals seemed to sense her thoughts. A faint, thread-like voice whispered, "We... are not dead. We have always... lived. Living, living, living. We... wait. We know all."
"What are you waiting for?" Dani asked, her guard rising.
"For you. We know all, Mother of Dragons. What do you... seek from the Immortals?" the deep voice replied.
"What can you give me?" Dani countered.
"We... know all. Past, future—all lie before us. We possess the wisdom to conquer death."
A sudden realization struck Dani. Kvisk had wanted her to obtain a prophecy from the Immortals.
But she had already seen the ending of *Game of Thrones*. What value could a prophecy hold?
Unless her presence had altered the outcome.
Still, compared to a giant watermelon, Dani would have preferred watermelon-growing techniques.
She was far more interested in magical skills.
"I want to learn a magic that suits me. I want to learn the Ancient Valyrian Dragon-Seeking Art," she said.
"She wants... to learn Ancient Valyrian sorcery," the deep voice sneered. "Tell her. Tell her. She..."
Dani's vigilance intensified, but before the voice finished, a indigo mass suddenly rose from the darkness. Countless images flashed before her eyes.
(End of Chapter)