Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.
Chapter 153 Responsibilities
Chapter 153 Responsibilities
Viserys walked into the dark and gloomy dungeon.
There were torches in the torch stands on the corridor walls, and the faint and flickering light shone through the black iron bars into the cell, the back of which was still immersed in darkness. The cell was warm and a little damp, like an oven regardless of the season, which was to be expected in a place like Dragonstone, with the sea so close and the black cell built on lava.
Stannis was brought here wounded.
It was not easy to charge against a dragon. The riders' horses went crazy in the wind and heat waves raised by Viserys' wings, neighing and galloping in chaos.
More than a dozen unlucky riders were trampled to death by the chaotic horses' hooves, and many were even caught in the strong wind and broke their spines and thighs.
Stannis was lucky. The first gust of wind from the dragon blew him off his horse. He was blown seven or eight meters away and was surrounded by his guards in a circle.
But they were no match for Viserys' second storm, and many were scratched by the sand and rocks that Viserys's wings whipped up, and were blown away by the wind. Stannis was blown away by the wind in the second round, and finally hit his head and fainted.
When the people who were cleaning up the battlefield found him among the scattered crowd, he was still unconscious. Like everyone else, he was severely scratched by the flying stones, and some of the broken stones even embedded in his thighs. He was still bleeding when he was treated.
After the war was lost, like many others, the wounded were almost exhausted by the dragon's hot wind, with blood blisters on their lips. Many people had infected wounds and fevers.
It was under such circumstances that Stannis was captured and taken back to Dragonstone by ship.
Shireen organized her army at the mouth of the Wender River, preparing to return along the original route of Stannis's march, and went to see him when she returned to Storm's End with the support of her loyal knights and the newly surrendered lords of the Stormlands, but Stannis pursed his lips and said nothing after waking up, not a word to his daughter Shireen. He just closed his eyes in silence.
Stannis was then escorted back to Dragonstone along with all the captives on another ship, and he said goodbye to Shireen from then on.
Maybe this is the last time they see each other in this life.
Stannis began a hunger strike in the dark cell on Dragonstone, lying motionless and silent in the dark corner of the cell.
Young Maester Pylos followed behind Viserys, preparing a fish stew with carrots and onions and milk of the poppy—the wound in Stannis' thigh had not yet fully healed and might cripple him if left untreated.
Stannis is also hard on himself, his grief and rage frozen inside him.
His injured leg must still be painful because he had been lying still, but the jailer said he still groaned in pain occasionally.
Viserys dismissed Pylos. "Maester, give me the things. I will speak to him alone."
Maester Pylos nodded and left.
Soon, Viserys and Stannis were the only ones left in the black cell, and he specially arranged a separate cell for Stannis.
"Since your Excellency does not wish to eat, I have brought wine." Viserys opened the cell door with his key, put Maester Pylos's things aside, and pulled out a wineskin from his bosom. "Will you drink?"
Stannis opened his eyes and raised his head to look at Viserys's approaching figure. He was weak, his lips were cracked, his throat was dry.
Viserys opened the wineskin and poured himself a mouthful, hissing gulp, then held the wineskin to Stannis's lips.
He persisted, but thirst still made him swallow instinctively, and the sweet aroma of wine entered his nostrils. Finally, he stretched out his hands to hold the wine bag, and swallowed it eagerly. The wine flowed from the corners of his mouth and dripped into his neck. His stomach cramped and his stomach spasmed. Soon he vomited it all out.
"I always heard people say that Stannis Baratheon was a fair and responsible man, but after seeing it for myself, I found that the rumors were not entirely true. You are afraid of taking responsibility and evading it. You are not as fair as the rumors say, selfish... yes, and cowardly."
"..."
"I know you will think that I won the battle and you lost. I am being shameless here. But you cannot deny that you are seeking relief. You dare not face the fact that you have failed, and let the lords and people of Stormland continue to suffer with you. You flaunt responsibility, but you are unwilling to manage the territory down to earth. Instead, you continue to use military force to do the impossible with the lives of those who serve you. People say that you are fair, but you rely on the power of the Red Witch to spread fear and treat your followers coldly to command the army. You are seeking death, wanting to die once and for all, and you still want to drag hundreds of loyal ministers to die for you. It's strange that you are afraid of responsibility. In order to avoid it, you are not even afraid of death, because death is a relief for you. I am very curious, have you ever thought that this is a kind of cowardice in private?"
Stannis asked in a hoarse and cold voice: "You spared my life just to taunt me?"
Viserys shook his head solemnly and said solemnly: "I wonder if anyone has ever told you, Lord Stannis, that your destiny lies in the north. The ancient gods, unknown to mortals, are gathering strength, a terrible, evil and powerful force that mortals cannot resist. The cold winds are already blowing, and soon there will be a long night that will never end. And you occupy a key position in it."
Stannis snorted and sneered. "So you believed that lie?"
"That is not a lie, Stannis." Viserys looked at him seriously, "It seems you don't know why you failed. You have been evading your responsibilities from the beginning, and running in the wrong direction from the beginning. Whether it is the prophecy of the red priest or the ancient legend of the Targaryen, they all indicate the catastrophe that will start from the north and sweep across the world. And you betrayed the responsibility given to you by fate, and ignored the crisis sweeping the world for your own selfish reasons. Now not only are you unwilling to take this responsibility, you even want to use death to throw your responsibility to others. How selfish, how cowardly!"
"You," Stannis looked at Viserys grimly, "turns out you are a madman too. I should have known earlier that you are the son of the Mad King after all!"
"You really don't understand anything, Stannis." Viserys looked at him disappointedly. "Why do you think I called for peace, why I encouraged autumn planting, why I wrote to you to govern the country? The world is facing a critical situation! The real war has already started in the north. You have the Lightbringer in your hands. You should have gone there long ago. You should have become a hero long ago and strangled them outside the Wall!"
"If you think I'm a hero, then you should tell me—"
"I didn't expect that you still have such selfish thoughts at this point. Stannis, Azor Ahai is a hero who has given everything for all mankind and a warrior who never gives up, but he is not a king. Have you ever thought about how a hero who is willing to sacrifice for mankind can hypocritically deal with those hypocritical princes, and how a warrior who never gives up can tolerate the weakness and despair of ordinary people? In which legend have you heard that Azor Ahai is a king? You want to become the king of Westeros first and then become a hero, just like climbing a tree to find fish, or drilling through ice to find fire. What you are doing is constantly deviating from your mission and destiny, or are you hypocritical and just want to use this destiny to seek personal gain?"
Stannis was surprised: "Are you a believer of R'hllor?" "No, but I know you are the chosen one of R'hllor, and I know the prophecy of the end of the world. I saw our fate in the prophecy of the Targaryens. There is magic in this world far beyond your imagination, Stannis. The red-robed woman beside you only shows you the tip of the iceberg. Go to the north, your mission will show you the truth of the world, and then you will know that compared with the real war, our war in Westeros is like child's play. When the terrifying darkness falls, the cold world is dark, the king in the castle and the most humble servant will not be spared, the noble nobles and the humble civilians will die together, but death is not a real relief. By then, people's tears of regret will be frozen, and people's desperate cries will be annihilated in the cold. And that is your responsibility, you, Stannis! Lightbringer, the hero's red sword chose you, but you betrayed it!"
"You are crazy! That sword just glows, it's no different from other swords."
"You sound like a fool now, Stannis, shallow and dull," Viserys lamented, "because you have turned your back on your destiny, and therefore cannot unleash your power. 'The prince who was prophesied, the dragon who had three heads.' Have you heard the old prophecy of the Targaryens?"
"What do you want to say?"
"You will never believe what I say if I don't show you something. Stannis, did you know that Melisandre cast a spell on me on the battlefield, but her shadow magic could not hurt me? Have you ever wondered why?" Viserys stood up, looked deeply at Stannis, and then he turned the iron-barred cell door.
As Stannis looked on in wonder, Viserys mouthed a Valyrian word.
"Dracarys!"
Then, under Stannis's shocked gaze, Viserys spewed out red flames from his mouth. The flames were bright and hot, with a scorching breath, and the whole cell seemed to have instantly turned into the furnace of a blacksmith's shop.
The bright light from the blazing flames illuminated the entire dark cell so brightly that it was blinding.
As Stannis watched in horror, the black iron bars of the cell door began to glow red in the flames, and then began to melt into a red-hot iron liquid under the flames from Viserys' mouth.
The molten iron flowed onto the floor of the cell, making the floor of the dark cell sizzle.
Viserys stopped breathing fire only when the iron bars of the cell door melted a hole large enough for a man to pass through.
Stannis' mouth dropped open, momentarily speechless with shock.
Viserys looked at him solemnly: "You have strayed too far from your mission, Stannis. You cannot imagine what the world really looks like. Take up your responsibility and use your eyes to see the truth of the world. In times of crisis, only responsibility is our responsibility!"
For a long moment, Stannis' eyes flickered with an inexplicable emotion. "Tell me, King Targaryen," he asked, "are there really gods in this world?"
"Before the gods truly appeared, people would have different answers based on the world they saw and their knowledge." Viserys answered in riddle, and then said, "Lord Stannis, your vision is too narrow, and your knowledge is still bound by the mediocrity of the past. Go to the north, and there you will see the truth that fate has revealed to you."
Stannis raised his eyes slowly. "You want me to wear black?"
"Like you, Stannis, the Night's Watch has long forgotten its true mission. The Night's Watch was originally an honorable organization that existed to protect mankind, and serving on the Wall was seen as a symbol of honor and selfless dedication to duty. The purpose of the Night's Watch was to protect the human world from invasion by aliens and to keep the dark and evil aliens outside the Wall. However, as history changed, the Night's Watch became a place of exile for criminals, and wearing black clothes gradually became a punishment and derogation."
Viserys spoke earnestly: "But the cold wind has blown, and the world is once again on the brink of darkness and crisis. You are a hero and a banner, pick up your mission. I swear in the name of my kingdom, when I unite all of Westeros, I will give you glory and support you in defeating the darkness."
".No, Melisandre said that Azor Ahai will be reborn in a land of smoke and salt and awaken the dragon in stone. Is that you?"
"That is the alternation of two prophecies. She thought it was the same person, but it was not." Viserys told him, "You, and Melisandre, have never known the ancient prophecy of the Targaryen family, nor have you seen the original Book of Asshai. There is a prophecy passed down from generation to generation in the Targaryen family, which is the 'Prince of Prophecy', and the prophecy of Azor Ahai is 'After the long summer, the stars will weep blood, and the cold darkness will cover the world. In this terrible hour, a warrior will pull a burning sword from the fire. That sword is the Lightbringer, the red sword of heroes. The one who holds the sword is Azor Ahai reincarnated, and he will drive away the darkness.'"
Viserys spoke eloquently: "Melisandre replaced Azor Ahai's name with the prince in the prophecy. She and many others confused the two prophecies, which was far from the truth. She couldn't even see that your destiny was in the north, which made you stray from your mission for so long."
".Her prophecy"
"You can ask her, ask clearly, Lord Stannis." Viserys said, "I know the prophecy about you. I know that you will defeat Renly, and I also know that you will be defeated by 'Renly'. The Battle of the Blackwater had not yet happened, and I know both are true." Viserys brought the fish soup and milk of poppies prepared by the maester to Stannis, "Saving yourself is saving the world. When your legs and feet are better, you can ask Melisandre about her prophecy yourself. She is on the next level below you. Please think about my words carefully and shoulder your true mission."
Viserys said, then turned and left, not even closing the damaged cell door.
The air still lingered with the smell of burning flames and the heat of molten iron.
Stannis pushed himself up on the cell floor and leaned his back against the warm black stone wall, the flickering firelight flickering on his face.
The sound of Viserys's footsteps faded away.
prophecy, he thought, mission, Azor Ahai, hero
He could not deny the power Viserys had demonstrated. He had seen Viserys riding a three-headed dragon, he had seen the fire from Viserys' mouth melt the prison door, and Viserys knew things that he should not know.
He thought about the secrets the other party knew, the truths the other party told him, about the world, about magic, and about prophecy, and he felt an indescribable uneasiness.
What on earth did this mean? He didn't like this feeling.
Suddenly he remembered the vision that Melisandre had shown him in the flames: the shadows in the snow. Even now, the thought of that scene sent a chill through him so strong that he shuddered all over.
Stannis's face showed a painful expression, he gnashed his teeth, and felt pain in his heart. He couldn't figure out: [Why me?]
(End of this chapter)
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