The mainstream faith of the Ironborn is the Drowned God. They believe the Drowned God resides in a watery palace, brings fire from the sea, carries a sword at His side, and roams all the oceans of the world.
In the teachings of the Drowned God, He created the Ironborn and taught them to follow the Old Way: to replace production with plunder, and to write their lives with blood, flame, and song.
In other words, rape, pillage, arson, murder, and theft, committing every evil and doing no good.
A religion deeply opposed to humanity and society.
The Storm God is the eternal enemy of the Drowned God, dwelling in halls among the clouds, with ravens as His servants.
Compared to the Drowned God, the Storm God's teachings are even more heretical. He tempts His followers onto the wrong path, leading them toward self-destruction.
"Crow's Eye" Euron had never seen the Others.
He did not take part when the wildlings attacked the Wall, nor did he participate in the Battle of Winterfell.
Long ago, he already knew that the Others existed beyond the Wall, that the Long Night was coming, and that the Others would plunge the world into a cold, dark abyss just like in the old nurse's tales.
But knowing was one thing. Neither he nor the Ironborn had any real impression of the Others.
And so, tragedy struck.
When he left King's Landing, Euron was in high spirits. He had fought brilliantly in that battle, practically playing Stannis like a puppet.
He had deliberately abandoned the city gates, inflicted heavy casualties on Stannis's forces in street fighting, and even shot down three wyverns.
Afterward, he disguised his soldiers as deserters, withdrew completely intact, and even blew up the Red Keep, nearly making all of Stannis's efforts pointless.
No one was allowed to take what was his.
Before destroying the Red Keep, he knew it would enrage Stannis, so before leaving King's Landing, he set one final ambush.
If the "Second Stag" had still been an ordinary man, he would have been killed by Euron's dragon-killing crossbow.
Unfortunately, in this era of Others, resurrection had become commonplace.
Still, Euron had reason to be pleased. Everything he did in King's Landing had greatly pleased the Storm God.
The god had blessed him.
Not only had the magic that Saint Matthew once destroyed been fully restored, but after sacrificing the Red Keep, the Iron Throne, and King's Landing, he had advanced even further. He was now only a step away from becoming a demigod priest of the Storm God.
Indeed, his actions, sniping soldiers, killing wyverns, burning King's Landing, and detonating the Red Keep, were not mere acts of rage.
He had been conducting a grand sacrificial ritual of destruction, ruin, and death, something both the Storm God and the Drowned God delighted in.
But the one he offered to was not the Drowned God, it was the Storm God.
Just as he had done in the Shield Islands and Highgarden, he pleased the Storm God and received power and divine magic in return.
Moreover, although Euron left King's Landing, he did not leave empty-handed.
After the Vale lords betrayed him, he knew the city would inevitably fall. Walls could not stop wyverns.
So the wealth of King's Landing had long since been transferred to the Reach.
Wagons coming from the Reach carried grain, while those returning to Highgarden were filled with gold and jewels.
The amount was enormous, more than three million golden dragons, all obtained by trading Reach grain.
The Iron Throne did not distribute food for free. It stabilized the market with affordable grain to give the people hope and prevent riots.
Euron himself did not care much for gold, but the Ironborn did. With this wealth, even after leaving King's Landing, he could firmly control them.
And not just the Ironborn. He also held the key to the throne of the Reach.
Margaery Tyrell.
The "Little Rose" had not died. She had been kept in the Maidenvault under the supervision of septas, treated much like Cersei.
Before Stannis took King's Landing, Euron took Margaery away. On the road back to Highgarden, after disposing of Cersei, he married her.
The Reach was the richest, most populous, and militarily strongest kingdom in the Seven Kingdoms, more than enough for King Euron to play with.
With Ironborn support, Reach grain, and a claim to the Reach's throne, Euron believed that even if the Others swept across the Seven Kingdoms, he could sit in the Shield Islands and watch events unfold.
Just as his former wife had once planned, let the heroes fight the Others, and when both sides were exhausted, he would appear with his preserved strength.
With such hopeful visions of the future, Euron left King's Landing happily.
Then, about four hundred kilometers northeast of Highgarden, by the Mander River, he saw the undead for the first time.
Over the past half month, especially the last two days, hundreds of thousands, even millions of wights had poured out of the Westerlands. The Ironborn, traveling in the open, ran straight into a force of a hundred thousand.
For the Dragon Queen and the Westerlands militia, a hundred thousand wights was nothing unusual. If fewer gathered, they would not even bother intercepting them.
But for the Ironborn, this was the first time in their lives seeing such a massive horde of the dead.
During their journey from King's Landing to Highgarden along the Mander, they had encountered small groups of the dead wandering near cities, graveyards, and villages. But when faced with the main Ironborn force, those wights had always avoided them.
A hundred thousand wights charging across the snow was like a flood breaking through a dam.
The Ironborn rode horses and drove wagons along the frozen river, stretched out in a long line. When the enemy appeared, they were completely unprepared.
Yet they were fierce. At first, they did not panic or flee.
"What is dead may never die!" they shouted, dropping their leather bags filled with gold dragons, drawing their iron swords, and charging forward.
Then Euron's bodyguard, Robert Strong, suddenly turned against them, his eyes gleaming, slaughtering Ironborn at his side.
Before they could react, the tide of corpses arrived. In close combat, the living cried out in terror, shouting "Seven save us," "Mother have mercy," "Drowned God protect us," "Seven hells," "Help!" before being swallowed by the undead.
Not even a ripple was left behind.
When Daenerys chased the undead army to the Mander River, she saw this scene.
To her, the so-called corpse tide was nothing more than prey she had been hunting. It was not even a flood, at most a basin of dirty water.
And the Ironborn were like filth on the steps before a hall, instantly washed away.
But the rat that made the mess had not been washed away. It was still struggling.
Euron did not travel on foot. He had a luxurious and spacious dog-drawn sled.
Before the undead tide arrived, he sensed the cold intensifying, and his sled dogs also detected danger ahead. When the wights appeared, they still had a chance to turn and flee.
Besides Euron, there were dozens of sleds and over a hundred riders on shaggy ponies.
From the sky, the scene was almost comical.
Across the vast, flat snowy plains of the Reach, Euron's remnants were in front, scattered wights in the middle, and the Dragon Queen pursuing from behind.
Euron weaved his way through, dodging dense groups of wights.
The wights tracked the scent of the living, converging toward him, their formation becoming denser.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Queen's tornado had only a limited attack range. With the wights scattering, she could only target the densest clusters, letting others escape in all directions.
Perhaps the Others controlling them noticed this and deliberately left a rearguard while the rest dispersed.
Since they were already sacrificing themselves, they did not mind killing the living ahead of them. They pursued Euron even more fiercely.
Thus, Euron, the wights, and the Dragon Queen's tornado traced S-shaped paths across the snow.
At first, the distance was great, the sky dim and visibility low. The Ironborn did not see the tornado kilometers away. As he fled, Euron stood atop his sled, arms outstretched, facing the wind striking his face, loudly praying to the Storm God.
Mysterious, powerful incantations drifted through the wind. The Ironborn who saw him were filled with awe and expectation.
King Euron was a priest of the Storm God. He had demonstrated divine miracles countless times, and many had converted because of it.
They hoped to see another miracle.
Euron himself was confident he would escape.
For many years, whenever he faced danger, his prayers had always been answered.
By the most popular belief in the Seven Kingdoms, King Euron was the son of the Storm God, on the same level as Saint Daenerys and Saint Stannis.
Of course, afterward he would need to repay the gods with blood sacrifice. But he did not care, as long as he was not the one being sacrificed.
Gradually, the wind rose.
A storm gathered above him. The will of the Storm God descended upon the world.
But this time, instead of guidance or blessing, the Storm God mocked him.
"Euron, my favorite follower, this is your fate. Please me one last time. Let your pitiful, absurd, unexpected, and miserable death amuse me."
"No, Storm God, my fate should not end here!" Euron shouted, his face twisting.
"Hahaha!" the Storm God laughed. "At sea, you sacrificed passengers and crews to me. On land, you offered death, blood, and wailing songs.
That sacrifice of House Tyrell at Highgarden especially pleased me. It was my greatest joy in thousands of years, second only to when you offered King's Landing and the Iron Throne."
The Storm God smacked His lips as if savoring something.
"Kings have king's blood. Kingdoms have kingdom's blood. Compared to the latter, the former is scraps.
You let me taste the blood of a kingdom before R'hllor could. Euron, you truly are my favorite."
"My lord, I can offer you more sacrifices!" Euron cried.
"From sea to land, from common travelers to nobles, from minor lords to great lords, from great lords to kings of the Seven Kingdoms, you have reached the peak of your life.
Now it is your turn. You are the final sacrifice."
"No! You just granted me power. I will become a demigod. I will watch the Seven Kingdoms and rise again stronger!" Euron roared.
"Heh, I will watch and see how you survive today," the Storm God said with a chuckle.
Euron's struggle and resistance were already pleasing Him.
Tempting mortals toward their own destruction was the core doctrine of the Storm God, just as justice belonged to the Father and mercy to the Mother.
It was His nature, His divinity.
If the Ironborn and the Iron Islands were a world of their own, the Drowned God would be their God, and the Storm God would be the devil who tempts them into corruption and destruction.
Those who worship the devil are destined to fall into hell.
(End of Chapter)
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