Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 217 Future
This is an ordinary plane world in the endless world, but for the billions of creatures living in this plane world, their own world is so unique and mysterious.

According to ancient historical records, the priests and scholars of the Church of God all knew that their world was boundless, but was roughly divided into four major continents.

The continents of Westeros, Essos, Sothoryos, and the most mysterious continent, Ultes, located south of the mysterious land of Asshai at the southeastern extreme of Essos.

According to historical records, the vast continent of Essos stretches from the Narrow Sea on the far left of the continent to the legendary Jade Sea on the far right.

This continent is the birthplace of all currently known civilization, and the first great civilization of mankind took root in Old Ghis.

Old Ghis is located in the southern-eastern coastal area of Essos, with the inland sea - Slave Bay on its left.

Old Ghis was a slave city-state that created an infantry legion armed with spears and shields, in tight formation and with strict discipline.

It was with this legion that Old Ghis expanded everywhere and became the first huge empire in human history. He ruled the empire for many centuries.

However, a nation that rose on the peninsula across Slaver's Bay ended the long rule of the old Ghis.

This is Valyria, a large island cluster located below the central southern continent of Essos, separated from the continent of Essos by a strait. This sea area is called the Sea of Smoke.

Valyria was a small structured civilization made up of shepherds.

This small civilization of shepherds discovered the dragon's lair in a special area of Valyria - the Fourteen Fire Peaks, a huge volcanic group.

After a long period of exploration and learning, the Valyrians developed the secret art of taming dragons and trained them into cruel weapons to conquer the world.

Valyria has no king, they are led by an elected High Lord and call themselves the Freehold.

Freehold fought five large-scale wars with Old Ghis, each of which ended with victory for the Valyrians. The last time, Freehold decided to wipe out the enemy completely.

The old city of Ghis was razed to the ground by the dragon's army. The magnificent pyramids, temples and houses were burned by the dragon's flames, and the land was buried with salt, ashes and bones.

The old Ghis suffered heavy casualties, and the survivors were reduced to slaves, while countless others died of exhaustion in the mines of Valyria.

The burning mountains of the Fourteen Fire Peaks are home to a unique ore that the Valyrians used to forge their legendary steel swords.

The increased demand for ore after the rise of the Valyrians prompted them to intensify their conquests in order to replenish the slaves in the mines.

To the east, they crossed the many federations where the old Ghis once ruled - the Ghiska region. To the west, they reached the coastline of the Essos continent and established many colonies along the way.

These conquered colonies were also the predecessors of the later free trade city-states.

In the Andals, the Valyrians defeated the iron-clad Andals and forced them to flee to Westeros, another continent west of Essos.

The enraged Andals settled on the continent of Westeros. They defeated the First Men and the Children of the Forest who lived on this continent and conquered all the lands outside the North.

And brought the belief in the 'Seven Gods', the chivalry system and iron weapons to the continent of Westeros.

The Loi River is the largest river on the continent of Essos and also the longest river in the world.

In the Loi River basin, the Loi Na civilization, which is as ancient as old Ghisla, was born.

The Rhoynar were pioneers of iron forging and could summon water magic, but they too were defeated by dragon fire.

These Rhoynar are a unique race who believe in equality between men and women, and each city is ruled by its own prince and princess.

When the Valyrians came to conquer with their dragons, the Rhoynar rose up in resistance. Under the leadership of Prince Garin, they relied on courage and passion to fight against the three Valyrian dragon kings who led the conquest. Those families who controlled dragons in battle were called dragon kings.

As well as the more than 100,000 vanguard troops and more than a hundred tall and ferocious war elephants sent by Valyria.

But with their great courage and spirit, the Rhoynar used magic and crossbows to kill two huge dragons and repel the first attack of the Valyrians.

But then the furious Freedom Fortress sent out three hundred huge dragons, covering the sky of the Loyna people. Countless dragon flames fell from the sky, countless warriors were burned to ashes, and even the Loy River was boiled and evaporated by the dragon flames.

The Valyrians burned down the homes of the Rhoynar and reduced countless cities to ruins. The survivors sailed out to sea and, after enduring untold hardships, fled across the sea to the Dorne Desert in the south of Westeros, where they settled down and lived with the yellow sand from then on.

Since then, the Freehold has become the most powerful empire in the world, and Valyria is the proudest nation in the world. Its territory stretches from the Narrow Sea in the west of Essos to the Slave Bay on the right, and from the Summer Sea in the south of Valyria to the Shivering Sea in the north of Essos.

The western and central parts of Essos were all vassalized by the Free Fortress, except for the flat grasslands of Dothraki in the middle east of the continent, and the arid wasteland with no grass growing next to Dothraki, the Red Wasteland.

Their tentacles have even spread to Dragonstone, an island in the sea east of Westeros, and they have established an outpost on Dragonstone.

Perhaps this is a preparation for the Freehold to continue its conquest of Westeros.

This is the dominant civilization in this world, the free fortress of Valyria. They have thousands of dragons, and no civilization dares to confront them.

However, even such a dominant civilization could not explore the continent of Sothoryos, located at the far end of the Summer Sea. There once was a dragon knight of the Free Fortress, Geninara Belleris, and her dragon Terex.

A man and a dragon hoped to find the legendary boiling sea and steam river on the continent of Sothoryos, but they only found endless jungles, deserts and mountains.

Moreover, this continent is a place where plague and wild beasts are rampant. There are various powerful snake monsters, crocodiles and ape monsters. They are huge in size and can kill an elephant with one punch.

There are also vampire bats that are said to be able to suck a person's blood, and tall lizards with claws on their legs that have tattoos that look like some kind of dinosaur. There are also sea beasts the size of islands in the sea.

Most terrifying of all, there is a type of wyvern that is similar to the dragon, but instead of breathing fire, it makes up for it with more fury. Some types of wyverns travel in packs of up to a hundred to hunt together.

It is said that there are lizard people and cave dwellers in this land, and there are also spotted people who have been discovered.

The dragon knight Geninara flew on a dragon for three years but was unable to find the border of Sothoryos, so he had to return to the Free Fortress and claimed that Sothoryos was as vast as Essos.

"So, this is the so-called 'Freehold of Valyria'?" Several scholars, wearing robes, looked at this great city-state.

This was a huge city that even these scholars could not help but admire. It was rich and glorious, with the Valyrian Road and the Dragon Road, which were extremely broad and created with exquisite carving techniques, fire, and magic.

In this city, there are a large number of huge topless towers for dragons to climb up and down, and there are also countless buildings decorated with sphinxes.

The city transports a variety of unique tropical and cold-zone crops produced in various colonies.

Sturgeon and whale oil from Lorath in the north and fine wine from Lys in the south were all offered to the Valyrians.

Each of those Valyrians with silver-gold hair and purple eyes has a beautiful appearance and figure, just like the elves born in this world, with their own charm.

Moreover, the hair of these Valyrians ranged from white to silver-gold to gold, and their eyes ranged from lavender to dark purple and light blue, each with its own style. Even though these maesters were well-informed, they were still amazed by the beauty of the Valyrians.

However, the ethnic composition of the city of Valyria is quite complex, and there are also a large number of races that have migrated from other conquered areas.

There are also dozens, hundreds, and thousands of huge dragons that often rise and fall above the scholars' heads, controlled by powerful wizards and dragon kings with whips, magic horns, and witchcraft.

"What an exciting civilization," a scholar sighed. "It makes me want to apply immediately and ask those powerful warriors to capture a few dragons so that we can study them carefully. I haven't felt this impatient for a long time."

"Although the magic power in these dragons is low in detection, they have such a huge body. Even the ancient dragons in the Ekania world are not as big as the dragons hovering in the sky. I am really surprised."

The scholar stared at his prey with the eyes of a hunter, looking at the two-hundred-meter-long dragon circling and roaring in the sky. His eyes were filled with surprise, admiration, and desire.

"Don't act rashly for now, we still need to be careful," the young spellcaster next to them warned the scholars, while the young spellcaster was also supporting a Valyrian who was dressed like a priest.

These were the high priests of Valyria, for the Valyrians worshipped many different gods, including Balerion, Meraxes, and Vhagar, as well as the mysterious cults worshipped by the bearded monks of Norvos.

Although these spellcasters used spells to confuse the high priests of the Valyrians, they learned that the dragon kings who ruled Valyria believed that all faiths were false. The rulers here despised the clergy and temples, believing them to be merely products of primitive worship.

But in order to appease the lower classes and slaves and let them fantasize about a better life after death, Valyria encouraged theism.

The Freedom Bastion also promotes religious tolerance, keeping believers divided to prevent them from uniting under a monotheistic unity and rebelling against the Dragon Lords' rule.

But these spellcasters and scholars are not local natives, they have their own thoughts.

"Before we understand the true power of this world, we need to act with caution," said the young spellcaster. "Lord Rosani is still waiting for our investigation results and reply. We cannot lose sight of the big picture because of a small matter."

Many scholars and mages nodded.

"However, it is such a slave civilization that forces people to pray for death every day, but it claims that the people who are born in their own country and own the land have a say in the rule," a scholar laughed with some disdain. "These forty dragon kings of Valyria loudly declared that their country is 'freehold', the fortress of freedom, which is enough to make me laugh."

"And their colonies outside of their homeland are all slave societies without exception. They all employ the Unsullied as mercenaries to become their violent institutions, but they call themselves the Nine Free Trade Cities."

The scholar lowered his head and wrote two lines on his notebook, then raised his head and said, "My opinion is that these Dragon King families need to be purged, and then people need to be trained to rule again and deliver benefits to the empire. What do you think?"

"Since they don't respect the gods, we, the gods' followers and subjects, will grant them the final liberation."

……

Valyria, the mountains of the Fourteen Peaks, are rich in ore, and the Valyrians are hungry for it. Valyria captured many slaves from conquered lands and forced them to mine ore from the flames of the Fourteen Peaks.

Valyria gained great wealth from this, as well as the magical ore for forging Valyrian steel swords.

In the Fourteen Fire Peaks, the most common way for slaves in the mines to die is by being suffocated to death by the hot mines, which leads to long-term uprisings.

However, because the Valyrians are proficient in magic and the ability to control dragons, rebellion is often suppressed in a moment.

The number of slaves who died of exhaustion in the mines was unimaginable.

During the rare rest time, countless Valyrian slaves from all over the world prayed to the gods of their respective faiths. What they prayed for was not hope, but liberation after the end of this life.

It was dark and stuffy in the underground mine, and occasionally flames would suddenly burst out from the ground, igniting the numb bodies of the slaves.

But these slaves still used their remaining strength to pray to their gods.

Then the whole mine was filled with the low echo of prayers.

A slave knelt in the darkness of the mine, praying softly. He covered his head with his tattered shirt, blocking his ears and eyes, and also blocking the sounds of the other slaves' prayers.

He had his own name, but it no longer mattered.

Like slaves in hundreds of different countries, he prayed to his own gods in his own language, asking for the same thing - an end to suffering and liberation.

However, even this extremely ordinary and simple little thing did not receive a response from God.

In the red darkness, his face loomed, "Does this torment need to continue endlessly forever?"

At this moment, he heard prayers in hundreds of languages. Although he could not understand them, he understood that these people were praying for the same thing.

He suddenly understood that these countless slaves were not crying and praying to several, dozens, or even hundreds of different gods, but in fact, they were all crying and praying to the same god.

All Valyrian slaves are simply praying for deliverance to the same god, different incarnations of the god of death.

He smiled at this moment and stood up from the darkness. The King of Light, the Drowned God, the Goat, the Night Lion and the Stranger were all incarnations of the Thousand-Faced God, just one side of the Thousand-Faced God.

He stepped out of the darkness, slowly walked through the deep mine tunnel, and chanted in a low voice: "Before the Thousand-Faced God, all living beings are equal."

"All men must be served, slaves and sovereigns alike,"

"All men must die, whether good or evil,"

"People believe in their own gods, but at the end of life's journey,"

"The Thousand-Faced God is waiting!"

His low chanting drowned out the prayers coming from all over the mine, echoing in an overlapping manner.

A slave stood up, staggered behind him, and joined the chanting team.

Another slave raised his trembling hand and joined in the magical chanting in his own language.

Slaves gathered one after another, gradually forming a tide. They came from different countries and spoke different languages, but today, they were all given gifts from believers by the Thousand-Faced God.

"Before the Thousand-Faced God, all beings are equal."

"All men must be served, slaves and sovereigns alike,"

"All men must die, whether good or evil,"

"People believe in their own gods, but at the end of life's journey,"

"The Thousand-Faced God is waiting!"

In the remote and deep mines, mysterious ballads are floating.

In the city of Valyria, a crowded crowd of people and monks in red robes stepped into a church-like building as the night fell.

The symbol hanging on this building is a flaming red heart, representing that this is the church of R'hllor, the Lord of Light.

The King of Light, called Allah by the monks and witches who believe in him, is the god of heat and life.

Followers call it the Heart of Holy Flame, the God of Shadow and Fire.

These monks in red robes are priests serving the Lord of Light, R'hllor.

Many homeless children are often handed over to the Temple of the Lord of Light for upbringing. The temple also purchases slave children and raises them to become monks, warriors, or temple prostitutes.

Now, a blazing flame has already been lit in the temple. Many monks in scarlet robes are surrounding the flame, holding a unique ceremony to worship their true god, R'hllor, the King of Light.

The supplicant R'hllor granted them the dawn, and they stared at the flames, hoping to see a vision of the future in them.

Followers believe that at certain times R'hllor will appear in glory and show them a vision of the future.

A witch, also in scarlet robes, sprinkled powder into the flames and prayed for the glory of the Lord of Light.

哄，
In the next moment, flames suddenly swept across, and in the flames, an extremely terrifying head with infinite majesty appeared. The pair of dark golden eyes, with a light that seemed to pierce through all hearts, pierced the red-robed witch who was witnessing the moment with her own eyes.

"what,"

The red-robed witch screamed, and two lines of blood and tears flowed from her closed eyes. The monks around her hurriedly stepped forward and supported this red-robed witch who had a unique status.

But the injured Red Witch seemed to be strongly stimulated at this moment. She pushed away many monks and shouted in a sharp voice: "Stay away from me, stay away from me."

"Hahaha, hahahaha,"

"That is destruction, that is birth, that is the end, that is the beginning,"

"It's over, it's over,"

"The thousand years are over,"

"The evil god with a dragon's head was born from hell,"

"He has come out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth,"

"Come out to clean up the order in all corners of the world,"

"To gather the earth for war, to re-establish the rules of the world,"

"They are as powerful as dragons and gods, and as numerous as the sands of the sea."

"Those who obey them will be forgiven and rested, and those who resist them will be met with fire and thunder!"

　Thank you all for your support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)