Under the Red Dragon

"Ice and fire. Hate and love, bitterness and sweetness, female and male, pain and joy, winter and summer, evil and justice. Death or survival. Opposition has existed since ancient times, and war is everywhere."

The witch Nalia, draped in a scarlet robe, circled a massive bonfire, scattering powder from her wide sleeves.

She had a heart-shaped face and red eyes, with copper-red hair beneath her red hood.

Before the flames, she resembled another fire burning on her head, and the ruby necklace around her slender, snow-white neck made the witch's glory even more captivating.

The orange flames, in the instant they rose, transformed into scarlet blood flames like the robe draped on the witch Nalia, burning fiercely.

Nalia, the witch who served R'hllor, the Lord of Light and Fire, turned at that moment to the nobles gathered around the Grand Fortress of the Freehold.

This was the Freehold, the seat of the highest power in the city of Valyria, and the place where the 'Grand Master,' who nominally ruled the entire Freehold, presided.

Now, at the request of all the temple priests of R'hllor, the Lord of Light, in the Freehold, these Dragonlords, who thought so highly of themselves and relied on the power of dragons to rule the Freehold, were finally gathered together.

These Dragonlords had pale skin, hair of gold, silver, or platinum, and eyes of purple or light blue.

The Dragonlords could wield powerful magic and control dragons to turn stone into liquid with dragonflame, shaping it into various forms with magic.

The Freehold believed in religious freedom, but the Dragonlords did not believe in any gods. In their eyes, they were more powerful than all deities, and religion was merely a comforting lie for 'the poor, barbarians, and slaves'.

However, the Freehold, lacking a truly mature and complete political structure, valued the faith of the Lord of Light, which was spreading across Essos, in order to solidify their power and rule.

The red priestess Nalia scanned the nonchalant Dragonlords. The head of House Targaryen, wearing the Valyrian steel sword 'Blackfire,' had a calm expression, earnestly awaiting her words.

The Dragonlords and representatives of House Aurion, House Belaerys, and all the other Dragonlord families did not seem to attach any importance to what she had to say.

On the contrary, the lowly servants and managers who performed daily duties on behalf of the Dragonlords seemed more like wise rulers, listening attentively to her words.

Nalia furrowed her brow and raised her voice, speaking loudly, "But in the face of the enemy that has already descended, even the God of Fire, the True Lord of Life and Warmth, must put aside disputes and opposition with his eternal enemy, the Cold God who brings eternal cold and darkness to the world, and unite."

"A God of Light who brings love and joy, and a God of Darkness who brings evil and fear, must also put aside everything to confront that common enemy."

The Grand Master ruling the Freehold, one of the Forty Dragonlords of Valyria, wearing a crown of Valyrian gold and gems, sat high upon the Grand Master's seat. Upon hearing this, he chuckled softly, immediately eliciting laughter from most of the surrounding Dragonlords.

"The ancient Ghiscari Empire, the powerful civilization that ruled Essos for nearly several centuries, was destroyed by us Valyrians with only a few dozen dragons."

The Dragonlord Grand Master's contemptuous tone was evident in his aristocratic, hypocritical choice of words. He laughed, "The Rhoynar of old possessed countless cities and powerful water magic, but Valyria only needed to send out three hundred dragons to evaporate the river and destroy their civilization. Even the once-mighty Rhoynar still wail beneath our mines."

"Even if the enemy is more powerful than the Ghiscari Empire and the Rhoynar, we have more than just dozens of dragons, and more than just three hundred dragons. We have thousands of dragons."

The Dragonlord Grand Master looked down at the red priests and priestess Nalia present, and said, "What enemy can withstand Valyria's dragon army? What enemy can withstand our magic and not be burned to ashes and molten slag?"

The Dragonlords present laughed, their mockery incessant.

The red priestess Nalia waited with a solemn expression for the Dragonlords' laughter to subside before bowing to the Dragonlord Grand Master and the many Dragonlords, "Please, esteemed Dragonlords, allow me to demonstrate."

The Dragonlord Grand Master gazed at the red priestess's beautiful face and nodded, "You are, after all, a follower of the Lord of Light, the Dragon God. You have such qualifications."

The red priests, having received permission, pushed a bound slave beside them and threw him into the burning flames.

"Ah, I regret it, let me go, let me go," the slave in the flames cried out piteously, despite having 'volunteered' as a sacrifice, due to the pain of being burned by the fire.

But everyone present remained indifferent.

Because even the God who grants humanity fire and light must use the fire of human life as the price to perform miracles.

Even R'hllor, the Lord of Light's eternal enemy—the Cold God—his miracles descending upon the body of a servant, the Others who stepped out of the Long Night in legends, also required life as the price.

The disappearance of a life is exchanged for the birth of a magical life, although whether the Cold God's servant can be considered a true life is still questionable.

Having received the sacrifice of the fire of life, the scarlet blood flames soared, and a scene was born in the leaping flames.

Through the high hills in the forest, there were groups of warriors, strong, perfect, and resolute, although their bodies were shrouded in strange armor.

There was a dragon that appeared smaller in size compared to the dragons, but its black scales were more translucent than a whole piece of obsidian, unlike the dragons of Valyria, whose scales always had various colors but were rough upon closer inspection.

This dragon looked so perfect. Compared to the dragons of Valyria, this dragon seemed more like the dragon god descended in the Dragonlords' words.

The dragons of Valyria, although intelligent, did not actually have enough wisdom, but in the vertical pupils of this black dragon, even if it was just an illusion in the flames, the Dragonlords of Valyria could tell that those pupils were filled with the arrogance and unique aura of a wise species.

Most importantly, that black dragon had four limbs and two wings, like six limbs in general. Compared to this black dragon, although the body of Valyria's dragons was larger, the figure that the Dragonlords had previously considered perfect now seemed like a cripple.

The red priestess Nalia looked at the many Dragonlords and pointed to the illusion in the flames, "This is the enemy we will soon face, an evil dragon with powerful magical power, but he is far from the ultimate enemy."

"He is just a pawn of the enemy, the vanguard of the enemy. Even so, this black evil dragon's power is also beyond our comparison."

But the red priestess's words did not achieve the effect she wanted. She heard the Dragonlords discussing, and the expressions on the Dragonlords' faces were not fear, nor vigilance, nor worry.

The expressions on the Dragonlords' faces were curiosity, excitement, and desire.

The red priestess Nalia heard the Dragonlords' discussions. These Dragonlords wanted to send out dragon knights to capture this black dragon, tame it, and then keep this black dragon as a breeding stud.

So the red priestess Nalia nodded and walked around the huge torch, while the other red priests pushed another slave and threw him into the torch.

The red witch Nalia scattered potions and powders from her wide sleeves, re-igniting the scarlet blood flames. As the scarlet blood flames rose, and the slave's screams echoed in the fire.

This beautiful priestess untied the red robe draped over her white fingers, and then it fell to the ground from top to bottom, revealing a body as white as a lamb.

At this moment, the naked witch's eyes were also as bright as pale red candles. At this moment, the witch's aura became soul-stirring like a black angel, extreme beauty and extreme danger mixed into one, complex and abrupt.

"Shadows are the servants of light, the descendants of flames..."

The priestess, blooming with a dazzling white halo, did not care about exposing her body, and she chanted ancient languages before the torch with her slender feet.

"The person whose flames burn fiercely..."

"With your fire of life, create..."

The beautiful witch's voice reached its peak at the last moment, like the pleasure between men and women, reaching the most joyful moment.

Many Dragonlords held their breath, because at this moment they saw a shadow, a vague and clear shadow, struggling and howling silently, squeezing out of this beautiful and moving witch's body.

The Dragonlords recognized this shadow, recognized the person reflecting the shadow. It was the slave who had just been burned to death in the flames, becoming a sacrifice to the Red God R'hllor.

The Dragonlords knew that this priestess who believed in the Red God claimed to be from the mysterious land of Asshai, a city in the east of Essos, where all kinds of magic users gathered.

The Dragonlords also knew that in Asshai, there was a famous magical profession—Shadowbinder, but how could the witch in front of them have magic that was close to the legendary Shadowbinder.

"Could it be that the witch and the red priests call the Red God 'Lord of Light, Heart of Holy Fire, God of Shadows and Flames', which represents the two sides of this god? The person who can truly understand the two sides of R'hllor, the Lord of Light, can have unique power?"

A servant manager stood in front of the Dragonlord, thinking silently.

But the shadow squeezed out of the witch's body at this time finally completely separated from the witch's body, turned into a cloud of dissipated shadows, and with a strange scream, reappeared in front of the servant manager who was frowning and thinking.

Then the dissipated shadow re-condensed, and a sharp blade revealed in the shadow was about to pierce through the servant manager's body.

The Dragonlords were startled by the shadow's actions, but in the next moment, a transparent streamer shield appeared on the servant manager's body, blocking the shadow's stab.

Before the Dragonlords could react, the shadow born from the witch Nalia suddenly expanded rapidly, and then exploded, making a violent explosion.

Boom!

Although it still could not break the transparent streamer shield on the servant manager's body, it shook the shield and made it sway. Several warriors and servant managers around the servant manager also raised transparent shields, already revealing their true colors.

The appearance of magic dissipated, and several scholars and mages wearing scholar robes and mage robes stood proudly, and several tall warriors were not afraid at all, facing the many Dragonlords.

The robes of these scholar mages all exuded a strong magical aura, which was an appearance that the Dragonlords could not understand, and the black-haired warriors, although only wearing light armor for convenience, revealed an aura that the Dragonlords could not speak of.

That was something that the Dragonlords could not find in this world. It was not the psychological pressure brought by being in a high position, but the powerful sense of oppression gained from personal experience.

It was like when these Dragonlords first tried to tame their dragons, the sense of oppression generated by facing the dragons' huge size.

Many Dragonlords were clearly in high positions and controlled the overall situation, but it seemed that the other party was the one in the upper hand.

"Capture them," one Dragonlord ordered loudly.

The surrounding private warriors immediately swarmed up, wanting to capture this group of strange guys.

But these strange guys were so powerful that it was somewhat outrageous. The weapons in the hands of those few warriors only needed to be waved gently to cut off the ironware and steel knives of these elite warriors guarding the Dragonlords, and then cut the warriors in half.

Those powerful warriors surrounded the scholars in the middle, rampaging through the hall. Under the waving of their weapons, not a single warrior could withstand even one round.

These elite warriors, who were selected to protect the scholar mages, were the strongest warriors in the various legions of the Qunlong Empire. Even if they were specially selected from the relatively weak humans of the various races of the Empire for convenience, they were still not something that the warriors of this world could stop.

What's more, there was also a warrior who was officially serving in the Empire's 'Burning Hoof' Legion.

Puchi,

One warrior after another swarmed up, but all fell under the swords of the Empire Legion warriors. The scholar mages released spells, propped up magical barriers, and resisted the fireball spells cast by the red priests and the red god priests who exchanged blood for fire.

But they seemed particularly leisurely, like walking in a crowd.

Seeing that there were more and more people in the hall, the scholar mages signaled the Empire Legion warriors to kill out, no longer holding the idea of taking down the Dragonlords on the spot.

"Even the God of Light who bestows fire and warmth to mankind must use the fire of human life as the price to perform miracles, or to borrow his power,"

The scholar mage moved towards the outside of the hall and laughed loudly, "As long as the Cold God and the Cold God's servants are not eliminated, this endless sacrifice will always exist,"

"But as long as the Lord of Light R'hllor exists in this world, then the ancient alien god—the Cold God—will not be eliminated. They are the two sides of your world, and no one can eliminate anyone, and no one can become anyone."

The scholar mage shouted, "You are just pawns of the gods, caught between the two gods of ice and fire, used as weapons, as sacrifices, to kill, destroy, and sacrifice. The fire of civilization will forever sway and cannot grow stronger."

"As long as the gods are immortal, this endless conflict will forever exist. Humanity will forever live in a cycle of killing and being killed. Even the demonic dragons are merely extensions of the gods' power. This is the sorrow of the gods born with the world, and the sorrow of the world itself."

The many Dragon Kings, priests, and monks were shocked and enraged, listening to the scholar's outrageous remarks. Suddenly, an intense light, like the first ray of light in the deepest darkness, illuminated everyone's eyes.

The intense light made it impossible for the Dragon Kings, priests, and all the warriors to see anything in the world. All they could hear was the scholar-mage's mocking voice.

"Turn to my Lord, believe in my Lord, and your civilization will flourish, your souls will find peace, and your gods will be liberated!"