18th day of the 8th moon, 269 B.C.
The Hour of High Sun (11 A.M.)
Ser Alaric Mormont, Lannisport, Lion's Den
With hundreds of people murmuring, the great hall was consumed by the sound of whispering. A sound similar to rain.
Looking back at the Hightower girl, I see her still staring at me, while the two men at her sides stare at the septon and speak something between themselves.
Locking my gaze with the girl's, I feel the tentacles again trying to enter my head and failing.
'Stop!' I speak telepathically to her, causing another shocked expression.
"What is this now…" Jeor speaks, weary from the addition of more drama.
"Order!" I hear Tywin shout.
Turning back to the throne, I see Aerys staring at the septon with slight interest.
"You are before the king and shall act in an appropriate manner!"
Hearing the lecture, the crowd slowly falls silent, though internally they remain restless.
With silence returned, Tywin turns to the septon.
I catch something when the lion looks at the septon. Is that… recognition? Does Tywin know who he is?
Is this part of his plan? No. There is also frustration in his eyes.
"Septon Mycah, explain yourself, and be careful. To pose as a prophet is heresy."
I cannot see the Septon's face, but judging by his firm posture and raised head, he was not intimidated by the threat from the King's Hand.
"I am no heretic, my Lord. I am sincere in my words. I bring a vision given to me by the Seven and I believe it is in their interest that I expose it."
There was no nervousness in his words.
Since he did not possess the Deception or Performance skill, it is very unlikely he is lying without letting anything slip that my Insight hasn't caught, so this could only mean two things: Either he believes he is right, or he actually is right and truly received visions from the Seven.
"Bold and dangerous claims, Septon. How can we know the veracity of your words-"
"What did you see?" Aerys asks, nearly cutting off Tywin's own question.
Aerys's curiosity was so clear that, even distant from him, I could see his eyes gleaming.
Tywin leans down until he is at the height of the seated Aerys and says something, initiating a dialogue with the king that was inaudible to me.
Despite not being able to hear, it is not hard to deduce that Tywin was trying to convince him not to let the septon continue.
Judging by Aerys's irritated expression and his casual wave of the hand toward Tywin, the Lannister seemed to have failed to convince him.
As Tywin rises and fixes his posture, Aerys coughs and returns to speaking with the septon:
"My Hand… wisely points out the chaos that would follow should I let anyone spread around that they had received divine visions and are chosen by the Seven."
With chin raised, Tywin stares at the septon in a victorious manner.
The Septon, from my view, did not seem to look back at Tywin, continuing to stare at the king.
"So I will give you a chance to prove yourself."
Tywin turns his head back to Aerys so fast it might have cracked his neck.
He did not expect this.
And by his clenched jaw, he did not want it either.
He does not wish for the septon to prove himself?
"How may I prove myself, Your Grace?" There was hope in his voice.
Tywin leans down again, but Aerys ignores him.
"The Seven Who Are One are wise; they would not send their prophet without a way to prove himself, would they? It is impossible they did not know that anyone claiming to carry their visions would be received with skepticism and did not prepare him beforehand. So, what did the gods give you?"
The air was tense, almost touchable.
Observing the surroundings, I see all eyes on the septon, waiting to see how he would respond.
The faces of the crowd revealed a mix of scorn and genuine curiosity.
Both hoped to see if the septon was a fraud or a prophet, a… saint.
I understand now.
This Mycah, this septon, has been speaking or performing actions like this for a while.
And the fact that there is a balance between those who are curious, those genuinely interested, and those who are skeptical shows that, whatever he has been doing, it worked.
Observing the septon's still firm posture, he remained calm, perhaps even confident.
"Wise observation, Your Grace."
Is that amusement?
He moves. Since he positioned himself beside Hoster Tully, who watched him nervously, he moves for the first time.
I see him raise his right arm to his chest and then extend it toward Aerys.
He seems to be showing something. Something that is out of my sight.
I don't know what he is showing the king, but by Aerys's disinterested expression, it did not impress him.
"A seven-pointed star is no proof. Anyone can buy one, especially an iron one like that."
He showed his seven-pointed star as proof? Is there something special about it?
By Hoster Tully's incredulous expression and Tywin's satisfied one, it didn't seem so.
"May the Radiant light of the Seven cast the darkness away from thy hearts."
Particles.
Particles of light.
As soon as he begins to speak those words, particles emerge around him.
In the next instant, an explosion of light bursts from him, consuming a radius of just over two meters in its light, making everyone caught by it disappear.
The dome of light does not last even a second. In the next millisecond, everyone caught by the light returns to the exact position they were in.
He knew how to use magic.
He was a cleric who knew how to use magic.
A real cleric. One who was recognized and accepted by the deity he venerates.
He is not a fraud.
Hoster, previously inside the area of effect and caught off guard by the demonstration of magic, looks around frantically with his mouth open.
The other two men, who appeared to be knights and who followed the septon as his guard, showed no surprise or shock at the demonstration.
The hall was initially silent. Then, whispers. Low. Smaller than before.
On the lord's throne, Aerys stared at the septon in a manner so obsessed it made the way he looked at me last week seem healthy in comparison.
At his side, Tywin seemed to be grinding his teeth.
"You know how to use magic?" Aerys asks, in almost juvenile fascination.
"No, Your Grace. According to the Seven, magic is demonic. What I have just shown you is a miracle taught to me by the Seven Who Are One themselves. It is called 'Word of Radiance'."
Miracle. Is that how he justifies knowing how to do something that his own religion abhors?
"Alaric, they are leaving." I hear Jeor speak at my side.
Turning to him, I find him with a worried face. The demonstration had left him restless.
Unlike Rickard, who continued observing the scene attentively.
"Hiding will not make the problem disappear. It is better for us to stay and see where this leads."
"Hiding might not make the problem disappear, but it could prevent our, your, inclusion in it."
Sensible, but too late.
"Ser Alaric Mormont! Step forward!"
My name is summoned by King Aerys.
Jeor turns to the king in shock, while Rickard and the other northerners turn to me.
What is this now?
"Ser Alaric Mormont!" Aerys calls again, this time with irritation present in his voice due to me not answering his call instantly. "I know you are here. Do not make me repeat myself once more."
"Damn it," Jeor curses, anxiety flooding his tone.
"He will not dare pressure you with so many people watching. Go," Rickard says.
"But do not test your luck," Jeor adds.
Taking three steps forward, I leave the visual protection I had while being surrounded by the northerners and expose myself to the crowd.
Once again, I become the center of stares and murmurs.
"There you are. Come closer."
I do as he commands. I stop beside the septon, who was giving me a curious look.
Looking at his face for the first time, I realize that time has not been kind to this one. At only thirty-eight years old, he looked as if he had already passed forty and entered his early fifties.
"Your Grace, to what do I owe your attention?" I speak with the greatest amount of politeness possible.
This was not just for Aerys, but also for the crowd.
I do not want them to start spreading rumors about the sorcerer's lack of manners and use it as a justification to attack me.
"This septon claims to use magics-"
"Miracles," the septon corrects.
The nerve.
"Miracles…" Aerys gives him a glance that is not at all amused. "They were taught to him by the Seven. What is your opinion, as another user of the higher arts?"
Now that he asked me... the sensation I felt coming from his magic is quite different from those cast by me, resembling more those cast by the Faceless Men and the avatar of the Drowned God himself.
There was a different 'flavor' to their magics. An 'alien' flavor, which differs from the two energies I feel permeating the world: nature, which I use, and the other unknown to me, but which I assume could be the one used by mages.
In other words…
"I think he may be telling the truth, Your Grace."
My positive response causes more murmurs.
Beside the king, I see Tywin's face contort, in total contrast to the king's, which was breaking into a smile.
Tywin is not liking this. Why?
Could it be that, with the arrival of this septon, he thinks Aerys will shift his attention to him and make his attempt to steal Red Rain more difficult?
No.
If it were just that, my confirming this septon's claim would not have bothered him so much. The mere fact that he knows magic should have been enough.
There is something more. And the fact that Tywin seems to already know him only increases my intuition.
"How do you know? How can you know? What is the sign?" the king questions.
He is using the septon to question me about magic. It seems that, even with the arrival of another magic user, he will not let me go.
"I can feel it, Your Grace. This demonstration of the 'Miracle' made me feel the same thing I felt when witnessing the magics of the Faceless Men and that of the avatar of the Drowned God. There is a unique 'touch' behind all of them that resembles nothing I have ever seen. So, because of the concrete divine nature of one of them, I think it right to assume that the other two truly have a divine being behind them."
"Interesting."
Although his verbal reaction gave off the air of a scholar learning something fascinating, Aerys's face made him look like an excited child after hearing a fantastic story.
And it seemed he wanted to ask more questions. Fortunately, he is interrupted before he can.
"Your Grace, my vision," the septon says, drawing the king's attention.
There were no traces of impatience in his voice for having been set aside. And turning to him, I also see no trace of it on his face. He remained as calm as before.
Aerys was again visibly irritated by being interrupted, but he did not speak or do anything.
It seemed that the fact that the septon was a genuine envoy of the Seven prevented him from treating him with disrespect. Interesting.
This was almost as interesting as the septon appearing apathetic about having me at his side: a magic user, the demonic art according to the teachings of the Seven.
Again, he does not have Deception or Performance on his Skill list. So, unless he is just lucky and managed to deceive me even without them, he did not really seem to be bothered.
Now, was he not bothered because he did not see me as a threat or because, despite the teachings of the Seven, he did not believe in the demonic nature of magic and was acting before?
"Yes, the vision. What did you see?"
Despite the perceived disrespect toward himself, there was still more curiosity than frustration in his voice.
"I saw Westeros equally consumed by ice and fire. Everything north of Lord Harroway's Town was totally consumed in snow, while everything to the south was burning. I saw corpses walking the frozen lands as if they were alive, and men and women dressed in red robes summoning fire demons that burned everything in their path up to the north, just as the corpses marched and brought winter to the south. The only lands unaffected, untouched by ice and fire, were the Iron Islands."
The great hall fell completely silent during and after the telling.
I feel a chill run down my back, and I assume everyone else felt the same.
What the hell. Didn't the Children say they had resolved the issue of the White Walkers?
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