At the gates of Heaven, shrouded in immortal mist.
"Ah, so this is Heaven? Wonderful, I've finally made it in." The pockmarked knight burst into savage laughter.
"Seven hells, you, you, you, why are you here? Could it be that the evil god R'hllor is going to attack Heaven?" King Aegon's eyes widened, babbling incoherently in agitation.
"Ah, why is it you? Where's the High Sparrow?" The pockmarked knight turned around and spotted an old acquaintance, instantly becoming extremely embarrassed.
With great effort, he forced an awkward, exceedingly ugly smile onto his face and hurried toward the usher.
Seeing the visitor's "snarling grin," King Aegon seemed to fall into a nightmare. It had been Richard who threw him into the fire that day. He shuddered violently and bolted.
As he ran, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Mother, Holy Sparrow, Warrior, quick, someone come! A follower of the evil god R'hllor has infiltrated Heaven's Mount!"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't shout! I'm no longer a follower of the evil god R'hllor. I've renounced evil and returned to the embrace of the Seven!" Richard hurriedly called out.
"What?" King Aegon stopped in his tracks. It was not that he had been deceived by the sweet words of an evil god's follower, but that he suddenly came to his senses. This was the gate of Heaven. If a follower of the evil god had truly infiltrated it, the High Sparrow would never have allowed him to serve as an usher.
"What's going on with you? You're Richard Horpe of the Stormlands, aren't you?" Aegon examined him suspiciously: a lean frame, short cropped black hair, a face covered in pockmarks and old scars, and on the iron armor over his chest was the emblem of a blazing red heart.
There was no mistake. This was Stannis's knight, a follower of the Red God, and the man who had directly killed him.
"It's me. I'm Richard Horpe. We met several times when we were alive. Don't doubt it. I was indeed bewitched by the dark evil god before, but now I've returned to the right path. The Mother has accepted me as well," the pockmarked knight said awkwardly.
King Aegon neither confirmed nor denied it, merely asking blankly, "You didn't even change your clothes. How did you get into Heaven?"
"My clothes?" The pockmarked knight lowered his head and noticed the emblem on his armor. "Ah, I died. Did this ancestral armor come up to Heaven with me?"
"That only proves you still acknowledge this outfit in your heart," Aegon said coldly.
"No, I don't acknowledge it. I believe in the Seven!" Richard shouted excitedly.
Before he finished speaking, something miraculous happened. The emblem on his armor blurred, then transformed into the seven-pointed star of the Faith of the Seven.
"Look, look!" he said excitedly, pointing at his chest.
"You really changed your faith? What happened? How did you become a saint so quickly?" Aegon asked uncertainly.
"After I died, I saw R'hllor's true form. Only then did I return to the faith of the Seven," Richard said haltingly.
"After death?" Aegon looked incredulous. "Impossible. You already saw R'hllor. How could you still ascend to Heaven?"
"It was an indulgence. I rendered great service to Her Majesty Daenerys, and she gave me an 'indulgence.' After I died, I was able to ascend directly to Heaven."
"An indulgence? A single indulgence lets you ascend to Heaven? That's far too cheap," Aegon said, nearly losing his composure.
"If you understood what I did, you wouldn't say that," Richard said bitterly.
"What did you do?" Ser Quincy asked curiously.
Richard Horpe also came from a well-known noble family in the Stormlands. In his early years, he had served as a knight's squire in the Red Keep. If not for Cersei's interference, he might have become a member of the Kingsguard.
Such a figure was by no means obscure. After arriving on Heaven's Isle, many people, including Ser Quincy Cox and a group of Night's Watch brothers, recognized him and knew that he had originally been a fanatical knight of the blazing red heart.
Naturally, they shared the same doubts as King Aegon.
Richard looked at his former comrades from Eastwatch and said solemnly, "Do you remember how you died?"
Back at Eastwatch, dozens of Night's Watch brothers had died at the hands of a bull-headed serpent-bodied monster. Now they encountered the pockmarked knight again in Heaven.
"I killed that skin-wearing monster. Sigh, it wasn't some skin-wearer at all, but an incarnation of the evil god R'hllor!" Richard said, as if chewing on a piece of bitter melon.
"Hiss, are you sure that bull-headed monster was R'hllor?" A middle-aged Night's Watch brother with curly purple hair turned pale, his eyes filled with sympathy as he looked at the pockmarked knight.
He was a knight with ancestral armor. After his chest was slashed open by the shadow demon tiger's claws, he lasted longer than the Night's Watch brothers in plain gear, so he had witnessed the pockmarked knight's dazzling feat.
"It was Him! That evil god doesn't even spare the souls of His followers. Forget the legendary wine, gardens, and maidens. He dragged us straight into hell!" Richard ground his teeth.
"Well, perhaps you were dragged into hell because you committed blasphemy?" the seaweed-haired Night's Watch brother said, his lips twitching.
"No. My former friends and comrades were also dragged into hell. Their souls were forged into chains…" Richard recounted the events of that time with lingering fear.
"Hiss, I always thought R'hllor was the Lord of Light. I never expected Him to be so evil!" The crowd was horrified.
"So now you understand the mercy, justice, light, and greatness of the Seven, don't you?" The Holy Sparrow's expression was solemn as he began preaching at the perfect moment.
"I have no regrets in this life as a follower of the Seven!"
"I am proud to be a follower of the Seven!"
"To be born under the glory of the Seven and raised in Westeros is the greatest fortune of my life!"
"Long live the great light of the Seven that shines upon Westeros!"
The followers of the Seven who had ascended to Heaven voiced their declarations loudly.
"But isn't the indulgence a bit too outrageous? Does the Dragon Queen really think Heaven is her own domain, handing out indulgences to whoever she pleases? That's far too unfair to us saints!" Ser Quincy complained.
Just after finishing his complaint, he suddenly felt a chill rise up his back, as if some monstrous beast were staring at him. An inexplicable sense of danger washed over him.
Old Quincy looked left and right, up and down. The sky was clear and the breeze gentle. He found nothing unusual.
"You must not speak blasphemy!" Aegon shouted angrily, his expression stern. "This is a special time. The Long Night has descended, and it is only right for the Seven to save the people. Her Majesty the Queen, as the last remaining Holy Son of the Seven, is strictly carrying out the doctrines of the Faith. What is wrong with that?"
He had little regard for this old knight, who spent all day speaking ill of Aunt Dany, yet showered the High Sparrow with endless flattery whenever he was present.
"Your Holiness…" Old Quincy dared not retort against King Aegon, so he turned his aggrieved gaze toward the patron he had been currying favor with.
"Alas, this should have been my responsibility!" the High Sparrow sighed toward the heavens, his gaunt face filled with regret and chagrin. "The Long Night stretches on, dangers lurk everywhere. Only the Seven can save the common folk. This was a mission the Mother entrusted to me long ago.
Yet because of the power struggles in King's Landing, I died unexpectedly, and this heavy burden fell upon Saint Dany."
Ser Quincy suddenly understood and nodded with a sigh. "So that is how it is. With Your Holiness's just and selfless spirit, even if you held the authority to issue indulgences, you would certainly never abuse it. What a pity, what a pity!"
"Perhaps indulgences should not be distributed for free. A small fee could subsidize impoverished believers," the High Sparrow said hesitantly.
"Your Holiness is merciful!" Ser Quincy exclaimed, giving a thumbs-up in praise.
The pockmarked knight moved closer to the middle-aged Night's Watchman with seaweed-like hair and whispered, "It seems there are factional struggles even in Heaven?"
"Heaven is inhabited by people too. Wherever there are people, there are factions. Compared with the mortal world, this place is already very peaceful. Those saints simply look down a little on us who came in through the back door," the middle-aged Night's Watchman replied in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"Then shall I stay with you as well, on the outskirts of the Third Ring?" the pockmarked knight asked.
On the way to Paradise Island, King Aegon had already explained the basic structure of Heaven to him.
"Richard, are you willing to join the Church's armed order? Become a Holy Warrior and you can live in the First Ring, in the detached villas surrounding the Grand Cathedral," the High Sparrow said.
"There's a Church militia in Heaven too? Who are you fighting?" the pockmarked knight asked in shock.
"There is no war at the moment, but who can say about the future? In a Heaven called 'Earth,' I have seen many records. Some fallen ones have twisted values. They cannot tolerate justice, order, and goodness. It was not enough for them to wage war against the Radiant Faith in the mortal world; they even fought their way into Heaven itself. Outrageous.
There are also evil gods who believe that 'the throne of God rotates; today it is my turn,' seeking to seize Heaven and take the thrones of the Seven.
And there are even mad unbelievers who shout, 'I want this sky to no longer block my sight. I want the gods of Heaven to vanish in smoke,' and they end up shattering the entire world.
So we must prepare in advance. It is better to be ready than caught unprepared. We cannot always rely on the Seven when trouble comes," the High Sparrow said gravely.
"Seizing the Seven's thrones, smashing Heaven… that is terrifying." Richard's ugly face turned pale as he said fearfully, "I am just an ordinary knight. Can I really deal with such fiends?"
"You have slain an evil god, and Daenerys herself called you a 'Demon Hunter,'" the High Sparrow reminded him.
"Very well. I will join the Sons of War." After thinking it over, Richard realized that aside from fighting, he knew nothing else; and apart from pursuing glory in battle, he had no other ambition.
At least the待遇 were good. He could live in the very center of Heaven, the First Ring.
The envious and resentful gazes of the surrounding Night's Watchmen said it all.
"Not the Sons of War. A Holy Warrior, a sacred warrior who defends the Seven and Heaven," the High Sparrow corrected solemnly.
Unfortunately, Richard had just received a set of Golden Holy Warrior armor personally blessed by the Mother in the Grand Cathedral. He had not even had the chance to step outside and show it off to the Night's Watch when he suddenly felt a powerful force seize him.
"Hey! What is happening to me? Your Holiness, save me!"
Clad in dazzling golden armor and looking extraordinarily majestic, the pockmarked knight was enveloped by a beam of white light descending from the sky. His body could not move at all.
"Th-this is a resurrection spell!" the High Sparrow cried out in alarm. "You are being resurrected."
"Resurrected?" The pockmarked knight's face twisted with distress. "I finally made it to Heaven with great difficulty. Who is so heartless as to resurrect me?"
Whoosh. In the next instant, his figure vanished from the Grand Cathedral's training grounds.
"Oh no!" The High Sparrow stomped his foot in frustration. "This is bad. He has been resurrected, but he did not remove the Holy Warrior armor."
"Ah, what will happen then?" Aegon exclaimed.
"Perhaps he will become a war god in the mortal world?" the High Sparrow said uncertainly.
"That is too exaggerated, is it not?" King Aegon said in disbelief.
"That is sacred battle armor forged by smiths, enchanted by warriors, and blessed by the Mother herself! There are only twelve sets in total," the High Sparrow said gloomily.
Sorry for the late update again today. I started proofreading the chapters posted today at 8:50 p.m., checking for typos and awkward sentences. After finishing three chapters, I realized it was already nearly ten o'clock.
On ordinary days, it only takes half an hour, and then I post at 9:30. There were no major revisions today either, so how did it suddenly take more than an hour?
Could aliens have stolen that half hour from me?
(End of chapter)
Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon
https://patreon.com/Glimmer09