llxcifers / izabela presents
( a story from the Continent )
DREAM CATCHER

❝ the stars above will enact the witness
to this whispered secret that we share:
is it possible to love dreaming
until your dreams grow into flesh?
listen to the nocturnal silver silence;
the moon beckons you out of your bed.
her hum is not the call of madness,
but the key to your burning distress. ❞

          EAST OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOMS throne in towering peaks the Blue Mountains, a natural wall that many would call the only mercy of the Continent towards its people. Far past the challange of their snowed-in summits, towards which the path was littered in skeletons forgotten by time, the world promised itself different and strange, draped behind a hopeful mystery of a bygone legend slurred in a tavern by some drunk old merchants who once reached Haakland itself to buy silk :

" From Loc Muinne, you climb to its right until the path turns steep enough so you must crawl. And when your chest drags across the snow and your hands start grappling on bones sticking out of frozen snow, you'll hear a song that would lure you to believe the end is near. Only it's not, and you will keep on climbing while ice forms around your eyes, because it is not the end. The higher you climb, the clearer it will get there's dancing too, vibrating into the ground lost beneath the snow. It is not towards the hands of those Haaks you go, but towards heaven made flesh, you see. The Gods built a blessed city in the heart of the mountains. Towards a citadel of stars you climb so hopeful, towards those angels closer to the Heavens than to us, common folk. Zvezdnaya. "

There's as many legends on the Continent as there's hairs of grass on a field; Zvezdnaya was amongst those that sounded very unlikely to be true, but she was from that fabled citadel.

          ALIA ZVEZDA WAS TO BE QUEEN. As the only child of King Vyatrov, the crown passed onto her the second word reached the Citadel about her father being struck down in battle. To end the thousand year war, her father's advisors set a deal behind her back with the Queen of Zerrikania that her youngest marry the new Queen of Citadel of Stars. Her coronation was hijacked by the dragons of Zerrikania and the enemy being allowed into the city with open, docile arms.

It was by no means a peace that was sealed that day. The betrayal was only a bitter admission that they have lost the war, that Zvezdnaya surrendered and its people would never know of the Council's treason, all they will remember would be that Alia's first act as their Queen was to marry the son of her father's murderer and bend the knee to the savage Cult of the Dragon.

With tears streaming down her face, knelt on the balcony of her room, she prayed to the stars to be spared from living with the enemy, to be be shown a spark of mercy, or be given one ally she could trust still when the world loathes her with curses foaming their mouths. That night, the stars answered — a ghost appeared in her room. A man who called himself a 'Witcher'.

          AKA . . .     In which Geralt of Rivia starts dreaming of an auburn haired queen every time he falls asleep, only to find out that she is real and needs his help out of the dragon's mouth.

❝ MAIN CAST .. ❞ ✧ ೃ༄

Olivia Cooke as
QUEEN ALIA ZVEZDA

" The Weeping Star "

🌟

Henry Cavill as
GERALT OF RIVIA

" The Witcher "

🌟

Tom Glynn-Carney as PRINCE IVAN ZVEZDA
Phia Saban as PRINCESS KATINA ZVEZDA
ETC . . .

❝ SOUNDTRACK ❞ ✧ ೃ༄

I.    LABOUR by paris paloma
II.    ME AND THE DEVIL by soap&skin
III.    WHO IS SHE? by i monster
IV.    KING by florence + the machine
V.    DEVIL'S BACKBONE by the civil wars
VI.    SEVEN DEVILS by florence + the machine
VII.    THE POLITICS & THE LIFE by daniel pemberton
VIII.    ONCE UPON A DREAM by lana del rey
IX.    CITY OF THE DEAD by eurielle
X.    WORLD ON FIRE by les friction

YOU WERE A DREAM ..

THEN A REALITY ..

NOW, A MEMORY.

DISCLAIMER |     I do not own The Witcher, thus claim no right over its canon characters, events, settings and lore. I only own my own original characters, with their afferent backgrounds, and therefore the entirety of this story's plot as well, with all the alterations, modifications and deviations it brings to canon. Unless stated otherwise, all graphics and visuals featured in this book have been made by me. Please do not steal anything.

COPYRIGHT |    llxcifers / izabela
( the moodboards featured in this chapter are made by raichia )

RATING |    Rated Mature.

DEDICATIONS |   
To all these wonderful souls who have hyped me up about this little thing, as well as my huge inspirations for having published this in the first place :

raichia VRPond -spidersam diorlovexx
Winter326 -folklorist misshiraethsworld
lionessoftheseas -kindredconfetti fciryriots
JKV1999 -CELESTIELS aurunium courscants
Lady_Ataraxia gracefulinfiniti tisiix astrxids

NOTES |   
• A lot of things served as inspiration for this book, but the most significant inspiration sources are: "Luceafărul", a Romanian poem by our national poet, Mihai Eminescu & of course, House of the Dragon, hence the casting choices — been dying to have Olivia Cooke as a fc for something and since I had no worthy Alicent Hightower fic ideas, this was the next best thing. 💖