Chapter 76

(Catelyn Mudd, Firmridge)

Her son's exasperated sighs were getting more dramatic by the minute.

She could easily see the tell-tale signs of a man who looked like he wanted to cause havoc, and she wasn't about to let her boy do so in the solar.

There were far too many priceless objects within it to let it all go to waste.

"Edmund Mudd… If you so much as light a fireball in this Solar, there will be hell to pay, young man!"Her voice rang through the room, stopping the young prince from doing anything stupid.

"But mom, Cella is driving me mad with her antics. I thought we made up already, it's not my fault that the dwarf bastard wants to tie his son with us." He whined, unbefitting someone of his station.

Her lips twitched at the remainder of the hellion the youngest princess had recently become. The usually sweet girl wasn't exactly thrilled about her newest suitor.

Small mercies, he wasn't a dwarf like his father or a man thrice her age. The baby was quite cute, with the same heteromatic eyes as his father and the beaten gold hair his family was known for.

All things considered, Myrcella would benefit from marrying the younger Lannister heir. Catelyn shuddered in disgust, remembering the senile lord who had attempted to woo the little girl. Suffice to say, Erlend had not been all too pleased and the man 'tragically' passed away only a moon later.

Looking at her brooding child, "That dwarf is the Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Edmund. Do not underestimate him just because of his stature, he is someone who was able to deal with the machinations of that Queen of Thorns, hardly someone to be trifled with." She warned.

Nodding his head absently, "I know Mother. It's just that, I would have loved it, if the man arrived in court only after father returned, then I wouldn't have to deal with Cella's tantrums." He looked completely done with it all.

Give him paperwork any day over dealing with an infuriated Myrcella, being mentally exhausted was far better in his opinion.

Therefore he was quite resentful at the little lord for hoisting this issue at him.

"Don't worry too much about it. At the same time, your father would appreciate giving Myrcella the Westerlands, wrapped and gifted as it is by the Lannister right now. He cares too much to force any of you to marry against your will."

"Yet Jasper gets along splendidly with Yohn's granddaughter, it is ridiculous how different their reactions were."

Catelyn shook her head bemusedly, her nephew was by far the most approachable of the Royal Children. He didn't seem to mind the betrothal and even befriended the girl in question.

Yohn's expression of relief was apparent to everyone who had been present for the interaction. Admittedly, she felt relieved too, she knew her sister would raise hell if Jasper showed any dissatisfaction.

"Your father is set to return soon. Just tell your sister to go to him when the time comes."

Serves Erlend's right to drop so much workload on their son. While she understood his reasoning and even supported it, there was no reason not to let her son get one over his old man.

Knowing her husband, he would no doubt find the whole situation beyond amusing.

Edmund brightened up, suddenly recalling something, "Did you know Aunt Shara finally beat Arthur, you should have seen Edric's face when it happened." He said excitedly.

"Hmm… Yes. It's been all that everyone could talk about these past few days." Color her surprised when she found out that Ashara could wield her House's legendary sword just as well as her elder brother.

"Yup, Saera has been jumping all over the place lately because of it." Little Saera had hounded the Dayne Swordswoman day and night to teach her.

If you told Catelyn more than a decade ago, that there would be such a thing as female knights, she'd have scoffed at the absurdity of such a thought.

Now, not so much.

The Banners had allowed women to enlist for a few centuries now, the most prominent ones these days being Feld's adoptive daughter Mya and Selwyn's daughter Brienne. There were others, but those two stood out the most.

Now Ashara had joined their ranks, increasing the number of recruits who wished to emulate the 'Dame of the Dawn'.

Erlend had mentioned how it would be tragic to reduce the number of troops the Banner could raise by ignoring half the damn population, so he kept that policy intact once they were made the Crown's official army.

Sure there was a lot of grumbling and even complaints from the landed nobility, but they fell on deaf ears, as Erlend didn't care.

"Why should I weaken my military power for their bloody feelings? Get over it, fucking pansies." Were his exact words at the time?

Edmund handed over one of the parchments he was looking over while she was deep into her thoughts. "According to some reports, some walkers have been sighted by the contingents up north. They've alerted the Watch and requested support be sent."

Catelyn grasped the parchment tightly while skimming over it, "This is troubling, those monstrosities are finally beginning action."

"I'll send a patronus to my father just in case, though I doubt that he's unaware." 

Her husband's imprints were everywhere in the North and beyond, Erlend had no desire to be taken by surprise by the biggest enemy and thus had been preparing to take action against him for a long time.

Initially, she had been terrified by the fact that such a creature truly existed, but she had eventually calmed down, confident that if her beloved was unphased by it, then he had a way to deal with it.

As he always did with these types of situations.

…

(Erlend Mudd, Pentos)

Erlend was left in a conundrum.

Should or should he not deal with R'hllor? This was more complicated than it appeared at first glance. While he could just kill the bastard, that would be depriving himself of a future source of power that could be incredibly beneficial in creating his version of sacred gears.

There was also the very relevant fact that the fire demon's existence was indeed pretty useful, as it kept the power of the 'Great Other' in check for the most part. What with being the literal opposite of the death deity?

On the other hand, leaving such a useful source of research material just lying out there did not sit well with the young god.

It was practically inviting trouble to his doorstep, especially if one of the other gods in this world decided to make a move behind his back. Erlend could see the Drowned God taking advantage of him being distracted by the Night King to try something with the R'hllor.

How troublesome.

"Whatever is pissing you off, just get rid of it." Visenya's husky voice sounded in his ears.

His beloved wrapped herself around him like a koala to a tree, refusing to let go. She had gotten annoyed by his distraction.

Rubbing her hands with his own, "It's the damn flame god, should I kill him or use him?" Erlend pondered out loud.

Snorting at his indecision, "Use him. The bastard tried to use you, so turnabout is fair play. It's not like he's in any position to object." His beloved advised.

Come to think of it, why was he even questioning his next steps? As a firm believer in recycling trash, Erlend already had the path he wanted to take, all he needed to do was pave it.

Turning around to give his other half a soul-wrenching kiss. Erlend jumped out of their bed, ready to deal with this idiot once and for all.

Technically R'hllor had no actual gender. If one of his descendants somehow managed to 'redeem' R'hllor and bring the deity to his family's side, then he would welcome them to his Seven Heavens with open arms and tears of pride.

Somehow, Erlend knew that the possibility of that happening was outrageously high.

…

(Valyrian Peninsula)

To say that Valyria was a desolate landscape would be understating the obvious.

There was nothing but ruin and devastation as far as the eye could see, the atmosphere was filled with fog and smoke that was tainted with dark and parasitic magic.

He wasn't talking about the cute 'dark' that the Ministry of Magic in the Potterverse slapped on everything they couldn't control. No, this was the real deal, as it clung to the lifeforms that made this broken land their home.

As a Lord of Nature and a God of the Earth, Erlend could feel the pervasive nature of these lands, it was suffocating and overwhelming for anyone not prepared for it. Their souls are slowly being drained by the fallen freehold and chipping away at their sanity.

No wonder no mortal could survive such an environment. Even the most powerful sorcerers and magic practitioners of this world would eventually fall if they stayed here too long.

Let alone opportunistic treasure hunters and overly ambitious adventurers.

It also explained a lot about Euron, who was already as mad as could be. Coming here would only have made his mental state worse.

The fallen spirits, the parasitic magic, and even the fucking earth tried to absorb his power, attempting to weaken Erlend and make him lose himself in the process. Scrunching his nose in distaste, Erlend released a bit of his divine power, sending these malevolent forces running for the hills, metaphorically of course.

It was a good thing he hadn't brought his draconian children here, while his power would have kept them immune, it would have drastically affected their emotions and that would have been a pain to deal with.

Erlend continued to search for his weakened enemy. Occasionally passing a town or city interesting enough to catch his attention and looting it for all its worth.

Mind you a lot of those treasures were cursed by their fallen owners, even in death those fucking Valyrians were still a pain in the ass. Erlend predicted long nights and days spent removing those curses due to the sheer amount he'd managed to collect.

If he wasn't already one of the wealthiest men in the world before, then this alone was enough to put him in the top five, minimum.

Come to think of it, why not send some of these 'treasures' to the Imperial Court in the East, if he forgot to remove the curses, well that wasn't his fault, was it? There were just so many of these treasures, forgetting to remove a few curses was to be expected really.

Whilst he was doing mental gymnastics in his head, Erlend absently paid attention to his surroundings, searching for the flame god at all sides.

He could faintly feel a gentle nudge to head eastwards, the world guiding him to his newest tool.

Oh how kind of her, as expected of the mother of his draconian children.

…

Eventually, he'd managed to find the damned deity. Boy did it look in a sorry state.

The flame god was aimlessly shuffling, moving in random directions. One would be forgiven for mistaking it for a zombie or a particularly lethargic old person.

Landing calmly close to the sealed being, Erlend said nothing as he observed one of his former enemies. It was hard to take the being seriously knowing its pitiful history.

Being enslaved by the Valyrian Pantheon just moments after coming to being was just sad.

To put into perspective, Mother Rhoyne quite literally self-destructed to avoid falling into the hands of that despicable pantheon, preferring to fade away rather than come into their hands.

The Father of the Seven nearly did the same to protect his pantheon from them. That was how much the gods of this world despised and feared the Valyrians in equal measure.

'Death over Disgrace.'

No matter, pity wouldn't stop him from making use of the god or goddess, whatever it was. Erlend was not a man who appreciated someone coveting his body.

With a wave of his hands, several runic symbols appeared, surrounding the shuffling figure and forcing them to stop. Reinforcing the runes was his divine aura, trapping the ghastly figure on the spot, unable to escape.

His face devoid of emotion, Erlend floated above his former enemy. Before grasping it by the neck. Just taking hold of the trapped and silent deity, Erlend could distinctly feel the suppressive effect this physical form had on the god, who was no doubt raging inwardly at him.

With various runes and formations engraved on it, roughly translating to extinguish and hold.

Choosing to break the silence, "You've been quite the pest these past few years, haven't you." Erlend gazed squarely at his foe.

"Death comes for you. Death comes for you. You cannot extinguish the flame." The figure managed to rasp out, staring at him with open defiance.

Giving the trapped deity a look-down, Erlend curled his lips, questioning if the deity understood the position it was in.

No more words came from the god, who chose to remain silent at his opponents' mockery. Refusing to take the bait.

Erlend shook his head, as several runes appeared around the two deities. The first men's runes symbolize capture, hold, seal, and separation shining brightly.

The flame god's eyes widened at their appearance, not expecting that Erlend hadn't intended to kill it. Of course, just because he didn't intend to kill the being, didn't mean Erlend would just let it get away with just being sealed.

Two familiar flames appeared next to him, both burning bright, shining light on their gloomy surroundings. The flame god was understandably confused, who uses fire to deal with a fire deity after all?

Unfortunately, it hadn't taken into consideration that its opponent was a very vindictive person, with pettiness etched into his bones.

As the flames converged on the two, they swiftly struck the confused god, whose mind went blank as soon as it touched its body.

Pain. Indescribable pain filled it as it screamed in agony.

It's divine power that was trapped within this physical prison unable to withstand the sudden and unexpected torment forced upon it.

R'hllor tried to gain control over the two flames whose breaths spread all over its mortal constraints, but to its horror, not only did the flames resist its commands, they began to shake with excitement.

Increasing the levels of agony that filled its body and leaving it helpless to their mercy.

"Y… Yo… YOU DARE!" The god roared out in outrage, fury, and pain filling it in equal measure.

Refusing to back down, it tried its best to wrench control of the flames, demanding their absolute obedience and submission. Yet they refused, contemptuously increasing the pain and the searing heat, much to its chagrin.

Erlend watched the helpless deity struggle in front of him, there was neither pity nor enjoyment visible on his face as if this was just an everyday occurrence. Perhaps he should let the god experience this for a few more hours. Just to hammer the lesson into it, that not even its domain could keep it safe.

It was the least Erlend could do after all the pain it had caused him.

Looking around him, he could feel the desolate atmosphere lighten up in the area. The flames obliterated the resentment and curses that were present.

It was an interesting sight, especially seeing how the ground beneath them began to turn green. Life finally returns to this single spot with the help of his mere presence, on a previously ruined peninsula.

He doubted that it would remain like this once he left, actively terraforming the dead land would need him to be permanently present within the Peninsula, something he had little to no interest in.

Regardless, watching a flame god being burned to a near-death state was interesting. Erlend only needed to increase the power to make it a sure-fire death, the death attribute within his ironically living flames wasn't something R'hllor could counter or remotely prepared to deal with.

Perhaps only the Stranger who had helped in its creation could counter it.

Hmm, it was quite tempting to just kill the deity…

"AAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

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Note: It would be far-fetched for Erlend not to warn those close to him of the Night King, they are after all quite literally at his border and something you really shouldn't keep quiet about to those you can trust. Yes, I deliberately made R'hllors' gender not fixed, because I find the idea of one Erlend's descendant seducing it with pure raw charisma just hilarious, it's a canon event now.