Valyria VII

Viserys suppressed his surprise. "King Ghidorah?" He tentatively gathered his thoughts and sent the name to her.

The Dragon's three heads seemed to make something like a brow-raising gesture at the same time. "King Ghidorah-is that the name your branch of humanity gave our species? Have you met others of my kind? It seems your 'origins' are even more interesting than I imagined. Still, you may call me that."

Her answer sent a shock through Viserys's heart. Others of her kind? The King Ghidorah of Earth was a Titan from the depths of the cosmos. He had never expected such beings to exist in this world of ice and fire as well.

"There is no need to be surprised. The universe is boundless, and the forms and journeys of life extend far beyond the imagination of your short-lived, carbon-based kind." King Ghidorah seemed to sense the fluctuations in his thoughts and explained, "By your reckoning of time, I must have arrived in this world several ages ago."

In the mental exchange that followed, King Ghidorah unfolded a long and brutal history before Viserys.

The King Ghidorah before him had come from a distant galaxy. Her species were that galaxy's apex predators and masters of energy, possessing a vitality that bordered on immortality.

Yet even a species as powerful as hers had a natural enemy: a terrifying existence they called the "Void Star Eater."

A war had swept across the entire galaxy. Her species had been defeated, and their home had teetered on the brink of destruction. Countless members of her kind had scattered, fleeing in search of new places where they could survive. Gravely wounded herself, she had relied on her species' formidable innate abilities and, by sheer luck, escaped to this world of ice and fire.

"When I first fled to this world, I was on the verge of death." A trace of pain and exhaustion, still unmistakable, seeped through King Ghidorah's thoughts. "The energy in this world is active, and its laws are intriguing. This place in particular, where subterranean fires seethe, contains a certain energy I can absorb. Though sparse, it allowed me to enter a deep slumber and slowly draw upon it to heal my wounds."

That slumber had lasted countless years. The world had undergone earth-shattering changes, with countless races emerging and bringing conflict and civilization. Occasionally, she sensed the clamor and extinction of life beyond her resting place, but she had never truly awakened-not until roughly ten thousand years ago.

"An individual with very unusual energy fluctuations discovered my existence." King Ghidorah's thoughts seemed to pierce time and space as she recalled the past. "She was called the 'Maiden of Light.' Among this world's living beings, her talent for magic was, in your terms, exceptional. She sensed the energy fluctuations I unconsciously released, which were utterly different from the source of this world's magic, and glimpsed in them a possibility of transcendence."

At the time, the Maiden of Light was already one of humanity's most powerful magic users. She was active in a mighty empire known as the "Great Empire of the Dawn."

She longed to break the shackles of life and attain true immortality and supremacy. The higher-dimensional energy leaking from King Ghidorah opened a door for her unlike anything she had ever seen.

"She was bold, and clever." It was impossible to tell whether King Ghidorah's thoughts conveyed approval or indifference.

"She did not directly disturb my body. Instead, while I slept, she arranged ingenious rituals along the edges of the leaking energy field, stealing and transforming the power I released and combining it with this world's laws. She successfully crossed your human threshold for what you call a 'god' and kindled a 'divine fire' of her own. Though she transcended the constraints of life, she also became bound by this world's laws and could no longer interfere directly in the world of ordinary people. So she began calling herself 'R'hllor,' the Lord of Light, and spreading her faith in the Red God, relying on belief to strengthen her hold over the world."

Understanding dawned on Viserys. So that was the origin of the Red God's faith. This was the truth behind how the revered Lord of Light had become a god.

Yet no one could resist the temptation of godhood. Another powerful magic user, the "Night Lion," noticed the Maiden of Light's breakthrough and likewise yearned for eternal life. But the Maiden of Light, now a god, had no desire to share with others and was all the more wary of these potential rivals.

Conflict was therefore inevitable.

"The Night Lion's powers leaned toward shadow, cold, and death, fundamentally opposed to the Maiden of Light's fire, light, and life," King Ghidorah continued, recounting these ancient secrets. "The Maiden of Light had already become a 'god,' so she could not act directly, especially while she was still consolidating her divine position. And the Night Lion seized upon that."

The Night Lion launched a war. Using his mastery over the laws of shadow and cold, he created the "Long Night" that swept across the world. Eternal winter shrouded the land, and darkness and cold devoured life. The first place he destroyed was the heart of the Maiden of Light's faith, the "Great Empire of the Dawn." This prosperous and powerful imperial civilization perished in the Long Night, and countless lives were extinguished.

"Though the Maiden of Light could not act directly, she could offer 'guidance.'" King Ghidorah's thoughts carried a hint of indifference toward mortal fate. "She chose a human, Azor Ahai, and granted him revelations, guiding him to forge a weapon capable of bearing her divine power: the legendary 'Lightbringer.' But forging that sword required the most extreme emotion and sacrifice. Azor drove the blade into the heart of his beloved wife, Nissa Nissa, with his own hands, offering her life as a sacrifice to complete the final ritual."

Afterward, wielding Lightbringer and empowered by the Maiden of Light, Azor Ahai ultimately defeated the Night Lion in the decisive battle known as the "War for the Dawn." He was hailed as a hero. Yet Viserys sensed a faint note of mockery in King Ghidorah's thoughts.

"The Night Lion was cunning. He was not completely destroyed. After suffering grievous wounds, he fled to the other end of the world, to what you now call Westeros. There, he encountered another group of native intelligent beings, born with a command of nature's power: the Children of the Forest."

At the time, the Children of the Forest were at war with the First Men. They were suffering defeat after defeat and had lost most of their homeland. The Children of the Forest needed a power far beyond ordinary means to turn the tide, while the Night Lion desperately needed a "vessel" that would allow him to survive. Both sides found common ground and saw an opportunity to use the other.

They undertook a dangerous and forbidden fusion of magic, experimenting on captives from the First Men. The result was the birth of the first Other. It retained a partly human form, yet had utterly lost the warmth and emotions of the living, becoming a walking embodiment of ice and death.

The Night Lion thus embarked upon an alternative path to "immortality." Though he lost his original form and power, he "lived" on in another form. Even so, he could only be considered a "false god."

Viserys listened, somewhat shaken. This was rather different from what he remembered from his previous life.