Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 218 Punishment
"Freehold, Valyria, such a great city, how many years will it take us to build such a magnificent city,"

The old scholar in bachelor's gown sat at the long table and sighed softly.

The bachelor's hall, lit with candles and torches, was half illuminated by lamps and sunlight from the windowsills, and half shrouded in darkness.

The old scholar sitting on the dividing line between darkness and light, with a face whose true emotions are difficult to discern, is just like the bachelor's hall where darkness and light coexist, darkness and light coexist as one.

"For thousands of years, the Valyrians were at the top of the world in every aspect, but I think they will no longer be."

Another maester in the darkness spoke up, "Although they respect the cults of various gods, they do not believe in the gods. They should be punished by the gods. Among them, the light of the Seven Gods should also descend upon Valyria."

Tuk, Tuk, Tuk

The great nobleman sitting in the main seat, the patriarch of the Hightower family who had come to Westeros in the time of the ancestors and settled there, the current head of the family tapped the long table lightly while thinking.

Oldtown, the oldest and most powerful city in Westeros, is controlled by the Hightower family.

Although most of the patriarchs of the Hightower family liked to lock themselves in high towers to study theology and mystical magic.

But the powerful Citadel of Oldtown is nothing more than an extended tentacle and a chess piece used by the Hightower family, who are good at keeping a low profile, to control the continent of Westeros.

According to rumors, the Hightower family came from the same place as the earliest ancestors of the Valyrians, who founded the Freehold, the world's great overlord civilization.

That is Yi Ti in the east of Essos, where there are rich and well-organized green farmlands and large tracts of lush rainforests. The legendary long-bodied snakes still lurk in the Yi Ti jungles.

Saffron is the main export product of Yi Ti, and the Night Lion is the god of Yi Ti. The civilization that once ruled Yi Ti in ancient times was called the Kingdom of Dawn.

In ancient mythology, the first long night in the world was caused by the Kingdom of Dawn.

The Kingdom of Dawn was destroyed in the long night, and the civilization that now rules Yi Di - the Golden Dynasty - was born in the world where the Kingdom of Dawn was reborn from the ruins.

The Golden Dynasty is a general term for the many dynasties that now rule the Far East. To this day, there are three emperors in the Golden Dynasty.

The emperor of the Wei Dynasty, who occupied Yidu, only retained limited power in the capital, while the princes outside the capital all retained actual control over their territories.

Throughout the dynasties, they were constantly plundered and pillaged by the Jugsnai people from the northern steppes, and wars and conflicts between the two sides continued.

Many generals of the Celestial Empire and three emperors had led their armies to conquer the Jugsnai people, but most of them had no results.

As the predecessor of the Golden Dynasty, the legendary empire - the Kingdom of the Dawn, has a vast territory, stretching from the Skeleton Mountains in the west that cuts off the continent of Essos from north to south, to the Grey Wasteland in the east, to the Shivering Sea in the north, and to the Jade Sea in the south.

Even the islands in the Jade Sea were ruled by the Kingdom of the Dawn, a powerful nation no weaker than Valyria.

The first ruler of the Kingdom of Dawn was called the Human Emperor, the only son of the Night Lion and the Daughter of Light.

The Hightower family, the ancestors of Valyria on the Valyrian Peninsula, are said to be descendants of the branch of the bloodline of the Emperor of Man in the Kingdom of Dawn.

The mysterious places in the world today, Asia and the Shadow Land of Asia, also have mysterious connections with the former Kingdom of Dawn and the Golden Dynasty.

The ancient book of Asshai predicts that after the long summer, the stars will bleed and the cold will cover the earth. Azor Ahai, the hero who once defeated the dark night brought by the God of Cold with the "Light Messenger", will be reborn in the land of smoke and salt.

And awaken the dragon in the stone.

In the eyes of the Hightower family patriarch, this prophecy has another interpretation.

Azor Ahai represents the sun, while Shanisa, the hero's wife who was once sacrificed to the Lightbringer and allowed the Lightbringer to be born, represents the moon. The Lightbringer represents the falling star, that is, the dragon.

The process of awakening the dragon through the death of the moon is called exchanging blood for fire.

His idea came from the origin of the magic dragon.

There are two theories about the birth of the magic dragon circulating in the world.

One of them is that according to the legend, the world once had two suns and one moon, and one of the moons was too close to the sun and was ignited by the scorching sun.

The moon exploded in the sky, and countless meteorites fell from the moon, but they were not meteorites, but thousands of magic dragons that descended on the earth at this time and absorbed the sun's flames, so the dragons could spit fire.

According to many historical records, not only did the Valyrians of Essos own giant dragons, but even on the continent of Westeros, there were many dragons.

Even now, many dragon bones are still being unearthed in the Shadow Lands of Asshai and in the far north and south of Essos.

An old rumor from the land of Asshai states that an ancient people first tamed dragons using some kind of magical spell in the Shadow Lands of Asshai, and later brought them to Valyria.

And before disappearing from the history books, he taught the Valyrians the secrets of the dragon.

Another theory comes from the monks of the Citadel, who said that the dragon was created by Valyrian blood wizards using winged dragons and a magical creature found in the Fourteen Fire Peaks of Valyria - the fire dragon worm - and blood magic to create the product.

Although these statements seem contradictory, the patriarch of the Haital family, as one of the surviving families of the Dawn Kingdom, knows a rough idea through some information.

The dragon was born from blood magic. When the second moon was destroyed, it was born from countless falling stars, and magic was brought into this world.

Because of meteorites, there were dragons everywhere in the world.

Later, an ancient nation in the Shadowlands tamed dragons and built the Five Fortresses that stand in the Dawnlands, bringing dragons to Valyria thousands of years ago.

This nation also taught the Valyrians knowledge about dragons and related blood magic, and the Valyrians used blood magic to control the dragons.

Although this was only a guess by the patriarch of the Hightower family based on the information he knew, no matter what kind of guess it was, it was consistent with their purpose.

Although the Hightower family was not taught knowledge about dragons or the magic of taming dragons, they had their own inherited knowledge, which was the wisdom from the ancient empire, the Kingdom of the Dawn.

The patriarch of the Hightower family looked at the thirteen scholars at the long table. In the Oldtown Citadel, all identities were accepted.

No matter you are a lord, a peasant, or a bastard, your origin is not important, only your achievements are counted. It seems to be extremely equal, at least in front of the rules and regulations of the academy.

When an apprentice has proven his expertise in a particular area, he can forge a link in the chain to demonstrate his expertise.

Dark iron represents raven lore, gold represents economics and finance, silver represents medicine, iron rings represent military strategy, and Valyrian steel represents high-level mystic magic.

Every bachelor here has his own forged chain link, enough to form a complete necklace, and a deeper one, representing the display of a doctorate degree. Rings, scepters and masks forged from metals corresponding to their fields of expertise. Without a doubt, every bachelor here has his own proof.

The most outstanding among these doctors will be regarded as guests of honor by the major kingdoms on the continent of Westeros and become the extended tentacles of Oldtown Academy, helping the academy collect information and establish networks.

But in the Citadel, no scholar likes to mention the words magic and dragons.

They don't like to explore the power of dragons and the mysteries of the dead.

Although the library of the academy contains scrolls from all over the world, describing everything in detail.

From trivial matters to everything, there is some knowledge that is forbidden to be spread.

This simply represents the city's belief in mastering the mysteries of everything.

But in the academy, no one could have imagined the ultimate goal of these university scholars.

Finally, the patriarch of the Hightower family fixed his gaze on the long table, on the glass candles with flickering flames, representing some kind of magical existence.

A maester stretched out his hand, covered the burning glass candle, and extinguished the flame of the glass candle.

Yes, their goal is to build a world without magic.

These maesters want the glass candles in the world to no longer be lit, and want those wizards who pretend to be ghosts to no longer be able to make predictions about how things will develop.

They wanted the witches who believed in the gods to be unable to predict the future from the flames again.

Without the dragon, the Academy will be able to use knowledge to rule, control, transform and build the entire world and usher in their ideal world.

Dragons are closely related to the existence of magic, so dragons are an obstacle to the Citadel's transformation of the world.

"According to the news from the ravens, something unexpected has happened in the mines of Valyria. This can indeed be of help to us."

The patriarch of the Hightower family pondered and said, "But the gods of those faiths have all shown some miracles, and our seven gods have not yet been truly born in this world."

"So, we need some sacrifices," another Grand Maester said. "When the dragons are extinct and magic recedes, even the gods will cease to exist. At that time, our seven gods will rule the world."

Tuk, Tuk, Tuk

The Hightower family patriarch's feet suddenly felt heavy. He tapped his heels slightly, and finally looked around at the scholars behind the long table. He made up his mind and said, "In this case, how about we vote by raising our hands?"

"I agree," a scholar raised his hand, a Valyrian steel ring gleaming in the candlelight on his fat finger.

"I agree,"

"I agree!"

……

The soft silver long hair was like the most gorgeous silk in the world, spread on the wide soft cushion. The beauty with her eyes closed was breathing softly and sleeping peacefully in the dim candlelight.

Her beautiful face was like a goddess covered by a hazy veil, shrouded in a mysterious halo under the dim light.

But at this moment, the sleeping beauty's breathing suddenly became rapid. She frowned her beautiful thin eyebrows, and fear and shock appeared on her peaceful and quiet face.

Danielle Targaryen, she had the dream about dragons again when she fell asleep.

The dragon's scales were as dazzling as the sun and as gorgeous as a rainbow, but they were slippery with blood. That was her own blood.

Danielle Targaryen discovered that its eyes were two huge pools of molten lava, within which were hidden golden suns.

It opened its mouth and raging flames shot out from it. She was destroying and dying, and the family behind her, the dragon behind her, and the world behind her were all swallowed up by this terrible dragon.

Endless fantasies emerged, groups of magic dragons fell from the sky, warriors on the earth fell down in groups, cities were turned into ruins, and mountains collapsed.

She also heard a god-like voice warning the world, but the voice was faint and could not be heard clearly.

But in the end, she could only roughly see the appearance of the unique dragon, the six dragon horns rising into the sky, the head more majestic than any other dragon in the world, and the pair of vertical pupils that were indifferent to everything, like a flame that burned all order in the world.

"Uh,"

Danielle Targaryen rose from the bed with her beautifully curvaceous upper body, sweat all over her forehead. The sweat had already soaked between her forehead and ears.

She tried to slow down her breathing, but her rapid heartbeat made it difficult for her to calm down.

Danielle Targaryen suppressed her trembling, jumped out of bed, went to her desk, tried her best to recall the content of her dream, and began to write down line by line of dream warnings.

She is Danielle Targaryen, a Targaryen of the Forty Dragonlords in the Freehold.

Although the Targaryen family ranks at the bottom among the forty dragon king families, there is an extremely special existence in the Targaryen family, that is the Dream Walker who can predict future fragments through dreams.

And Danielle Targaryen is a rare dreamwalker in this family.

With trembling hands, she picked up the pen and wrote lines of shocking words on the paper.

"They hugged each other tightly, their backs turned to the impending doomsday. The mountains crumbled, the sky and the earth changed color, the scorching flames shot straight into the sky, and the dragon could not escape even if it had wings."

"This was definitely not the last scene they saw. They flew over the wall and saw the sea wind chasing the waves, surging and turbulent. The city-state of a thousand years and the learning of ten thousand generations were all wiped out in the catastrophe. They never looked back."

"This is the punishment for resistance, this is the destruction of the evil god, and it is also the answer of all gods."

"Oh my god,"

Danielle Targaryen came back to her senses and looked at the prophecy she had written. She echoed the voice in her mind, which became particularly clear at this moment.

"The gods have said that if we fail to resist, then we will be punished!" She screamed and ran out of her house.

(End of this chapter)