The Lord of Light's gift

The North, Sea Dragon Point Peninsula, Crystal's Scar, the castle Godswood.

The night sea breeze still carried a faint salty tang, and its arrival lent a little life to the castle's silent, secluded Godswood. Otherwise, any coward who wandered in by accident would probably have been frightened off by its terrifying atmosphere.

Yet there were people in this world who feared nothing, and in some respects, they were even more terrifying than this deep, silent Godswood. Eddard, whose head felt somewhat numb and tingly, was slowly walking along the path toward the Heart Tree.

Beside Eddard walked Sinvara, the red-robed Red Priestess of the Lord of Light. She had regained her original poise and elegance, and beneath the moonlight, she looked like a fairy bathed in its glow. Soon, under Eddard's guidance, the two of them arrived directly beneath the enormous Heart Tree.

The Heart Tree, inhabited by the White Holy Tree through Skinchanging, looked like an exquisite work of art beneath the night sky at Eel's hour. When the sea breeze blew, its branches and tender shoots swayed gently.

"All right, esteemed former High Priestess, no one will come here to disturb us. Can you tell me your purpose now? Or rather, what exactly does the being behind you want?"

After arriving beneath the Heart Tree, Eddard suddenly turned and spoke to Sinvara. A mysterious force field had surrounded her all along, distorting the time and space around her and preventing Eddard from sensing her actual condition at all.

However, ever since the latter half of the banquet, Eddard had felt that some being was watching him. The sensation was not particularly clear, and even the White Holy Tree had not detected it, but that gaze truly existed. It seemed that Eddard's soul was warning him.

"Whoosh... roar..."

Just then, a barely perceptible source of heat suddenly appeared on Sinvara's body. Immediately afterward, its temperature began rising rapidly, and before long, visible flames appeared around her.

Her blood-red robe quickly charred beneath the flames and was soon carried away by the ever-rising pillar of fire. In only a few seconds, Sinvara's naked body, as smooth as mutton-fat jade, appeared before Eddard.

Then strange, vine-like patterns appeared along Sinvara's graceful curves. They shimmered gold in the firelight. Upon seeing her golden eyes, Eddard distinctly sensed an immensely powerful being. Its arrival was abrupt, appearing in Eddard's perception without any warning whatsoever.

"I am... the god... of heat... light... life. Strange... mortal... would you... become my... representative!"

Fragmented messages of consciousness came from where Sinvara stood. In Eddard's perception, it was a strange aggregate composed of countless cell-like substances, and within that translucent gelatinous material were bizarre "lumps of flesh" resembling embryos.

In Eddard's perception, this powerful being seemed only a few meters tall, yet that gelatinous material seemed to contain all the matter and energy in this world. The deeper Eddard probed, the more he sensed its power and strangeness.

"Well... I would still prefer to do what I want here. I only want to live the life I want, without shouldering any responsibilities or getting involved in events beyond my control. To gain something, you have to give something. Everything has a price. I understand that very well."

Countless thoughts ran through Eddard's mind upon hearing its question. However, he knew very clearly what he wanted to do, so after a little consideration, he spoke to this strange being that called itself the Lord of Light.

"You..."

After the Lord of Light fully understood Eddard's meaning, it seemed to enter some strange state. Streams of inexplicable messages of consciousness continually intertwined throughout the area, like tangled balls of yarn.

That strange substance resembling enlarged cells simply "watched" Eddard, while the "embryos" inside seemed to come alive. "They" simply "watched" him, making every hair on his body stand on end.

"Time... destiny... a bargain, per... perhaps, we... could... make..."

After an unknown length of time, a message of consciousness suddenly entered Eddard's perception. It seemed unable to form complete sentences, or perhaps no creature had ever been able to communicate normally with it throughout its long existence. Its composition was extremely chaotic, and Eddard had yet to discern its nature.

Worship of the Lord of Light was a mainstream faith in Essos, but unlike the Faith of the Seven, it had no complete set of dogmas and doctrines. All nine of the Free Cities in Essos could be said to have their own versions of the faith, and followers of the Lord of Light in some regions even went to war over different interpretations of doctrine and divine revelations.

It did not seem to be the kind of god Eddard had imagined. At first, he had thought the Lord of Light was a god of faith, but now this so-called one true god its followers spoke of did not seem to be one of the Faith Gods in the simple sense, either.

The Lord of Light's existence more closely resembled the Primordial Gods and Consciousness Gods described in demonic knowledge, or perhaps some other, stranger form of existence. Now Eddard finally understood why the Lord of Light's "blessings" sometimes seemed rather arbitrary.

As things now appeared, these so-called followers of the Lord of Light had not actually gained its favor. They were more like bloodsucking mosquitoes and flies. A casual wave of its hand to shoo them away, and the blood it lost, made these believers think they had received divine revelations and power.

The so-called divine revelations received by the Lord of Light's followers were actually more like extensions of their own destinies, or some sort of blessing obtained through sacrifice that hardly resembled a blessing. Whether reviving the dead or foretelling the future, they sometimes seemed like incomplete versions.

Perhaps Eddard's power had drawn its attention, or perhaps it had seen something unusual in him. In any case, it had not grown angry at Eddard's refusal, or perhaps throughout its long existence, it had never possessed such an emotion as anger.

Its halting words echoed in Eddard's mind. Perhaps realizing how troublesome this method of communication was, it sent part of its aggregate directly over to Eddard. In reality, it was a mass of flame, but in Eddard's perception, it was a lump of gelatinous material dripping with mucus.

Soon, this aggregate entered Eddard's body directly. However, Eddard felt no sensation of some strange substance invading his body, because the substance spread directly into every cell within him.

From that moment onward, Eddard's perception instantly expanded countless times over, even enveloping the entire area. As his perception continued to grow, the outline of the entire Sea Dragon Point Peninsula appeared clearly within his Dream World.

The Sunset Sea, Brightflame Bay, Ironborn Bay, and the endless swamps of the Neck-although the surrounding lands and seas remained gray, misty regions, the Dream World as a whole seemed clearer and more real in Eddard's perception.

The Dream World now resembled certain strategy games Eddard had played in his previous life. Within this "map" world, Eddard could be called a god looking down upon all living beings from high above.

This state was fascinating, making Eddard unable to resist wanting to manipulate what lay within his control. Perhaps this was what many seekers of mysterious power had always pursued. That sense of absolute dominion over energy and matter was truly captivating. Compared with power and money, the feeling of freely manipulating an entire world was even more addictive.

Then Eddard's perception began expanding without limit, and under the influence of this power, the Sea Dragon Point Peninsula rapidly shrank. Planets, galaxies, nebulae-in the end, everything became boundless darkness.

Here, Eddard saw two strange beings of light and darkness. Each existed within the other. They mingled, devoured, wore away at, and coexisted with one another. They seemed not to exist, yet in truth, they were everywhere.

Eddard's perception simply watched their battle. Time seemed to have been fast-forwarded, and every clash between them produced countless fragments and energy. After undergoing changes over a long period, these fragments and energy became nebulae and galaxies.

After that, Eddard experienced everything the Lord of Light's consciousness had experienced. However, because it did not possess memories like those of an intelligent being such as Eddard, these scenes were fragmented. Even so, within those fragments, Eddard discovered what the Lord of Light wanted him to do.

It wanted him to defeat the Lord of Light's opponent, or rather, completely change the current situation. The powers of light and darkness had always been locked in endless conflict, neither ever able to replace the other completely. Ultimately, it wanted Eddard to choose a side. Even if he did not take its side, he could not be allowed to join the enemy.

However, the Lord of Light was merely overthinking things, or perhaps it truly had seen certain things and fragments. No matter how badly Eddard lost his senses, he could never turn to the being opposed to the Lord of Light. If Eddard's suspicions were correct, the powerful being behind the Others led by the Night's King was very likely the existence the Lord of Light feared.

The Lord of Light's payment to Eddard was also simple: the mass it had sent him, a part of its own body. This substance contained endless life force and was a perfect fusion of soul and flesh. It had now become one with Eddard's body, and in a certain sense, Eddard was now almost immortal.

Moreover, this immortality came without any side effects. When certain followers or beings that interested the Lord of Light received the power of its blessing, they might return from death to life. However, that resurrection had side effects: some memories would be lost, and wounds and missing organs could not be restored.

Eddard's was different. Although he could still be injured, bleed, and even fall unconscious, such damage would gradually heal until he returned to full health. It could be said that as long as he was not torn limb from limb, Eddard would recover little by little.

This ability was already equivalent to a weaker version of the Marvel superhero Deadpool's. Eddard was extremely satisfied with it, and he also discovered that aggregates somewhat resembling the Lord of Light's body had appeared in the oceans of the Dream World.

Eddard called these substances "Primordial Bodies." This substance, or life-form, was an aggregate of matter and energy. It was neither pure matter, or a biological organism, nor pure energy, but a strange substance somewhere between the two.

The appearance of the Primordial Bodies immediately made up for certain shortcomings in Eddard's biological experiments. With these things, Eddard could now modify new biological specimens, and both his animal enhancement experiments and magical creature modification experiments had a chance of success.

The Lord of Light departed as quickly as it had appeared. Before long, the presence of that powerful being gradually vanished. Now that it had an interesting existence like Eddard, it could settle down and watch his "performance."

After the flames dispersed, the completely naked Sinvara slowly recovered. Her graceful naked body lay fully exposed before Eddard's eyes, making his blood surge so fiercely that he nearly lost control.

"Ahem..."

Coming to his senses, Eddard hurriedly removed the coat draped over him. After covering her body, his hand brushed her soft, jade-like skin. The feel of a body so different from a man's made Eddard feel as though he might explode.

"Lord Eddard! Did you see 'it'?"

There was a slight tremor in Sinvara's voice. None of her original dignity and poise remained. She looked like a young girl feverishly chasing her idol, and her burning gaze seemed capable of setting Eddard alight.

"I have already communicated with the Lord of Light, and we have reached a certain agreement. I will continue gathering strength and prepare for that final battle!"

Eddard gazed into Sinvara's pale green eyes and spoke each word distinctly. His hands, resting on her shoulders, unconsciously tightened.

"Mmh... I have finally found my salvation. Lord Eddard, I will remain loyal to you always and fight for your cause until the very last moment. My body and my soul will belong to you alone. I will carry word to Essos and have those brothers in faith who believe in me and follow me join your ranks."

Feeling the pressure of Eddard's hands, Sinvara involuntarily moaned. After Eddard let go, she took a step back, bowed respectfully to him, and spoke her pledge of allegiance.