This was the third time Viserys Targaryen had come to Nasar, and by now the path felt familiar.
From a distance, he could already see the River Elder waiting on the shore.
The massive figure stood there like a statue embedded into the riverbank.
It was as if he had known Viserys would come.
"Ser Arthur, wait here," Viserys said.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Arthur replied.
Leaving his guards behind, Viserys walked forward alone.
"The king can really speak with the River Elder!"
Nearly a third of the dragonriders were Rhoynar.
They had heard the rumors that Viserys could summon and converse with the River Elder, but only now, seeing it with their own eyes, did they understand how astonishing it truly was.
Some among them had even accompanied Viserys years ago when he came to Nasar in search of the Prince's Spear.
They were less surprised, but still stared intently, unwilling to miss a single moment of this spectacle.
...
"Viserys, you've finally come."
The River Elder looked exactly the same as when they first met years ago.
His turquoise eyes had not changed in the slightest.
It was as if the passage of time meant nothing to him.
Perhaps because Viserys had built a temple for him in Gohor, the old turtle's gaze now seemed more human than before.
The weight of countless years lingered in his presence, carrying with it a faint sense of sorrow.
"In Drogo's khalasar, even children and old men have suddenly become capable warriors. Do you know why?" Viserys asked.
"You don't know?" the River Elder replied slowly. "Recently, there was a large-scale blessing. I thought you would have sensed it."
His calm, unhurried tone irritated Viserys, but he held back and listened.
"The Horse God, Bargo, granted a massive blessing to Drogo and his people. It gave the old and the young the same combat strength as men in their prime."
So the Horse God's name is Bargo, Viserys noted silently.
"You should understand that blessings consume divine power," the River Elder continued.
"For Bargo to act like this against you means your conflict with him has reached a point where it cannot be resolved."
"I don't know why he is willing to spend so much power on you, but one thing is certain."
"You are in serious trouble."
The words echoed in Viserys' mind, and he realized the situation was even worse than he had imagined.
"Is it because I plan to attack the Mother of Mountains?" he asked.
"That alone shouldn't be enough," the River Elder said. "But there's something else you should know."
"Bargo is a true god."
"He is far stronger than I am, possibly even stronger than your Seven Gods. And he can have a Chosen."
"A Chosen?"
Viserys recalled that the River Elder had mentioned this concept the first time they met.
At the time, he had even suspected Viserys himself might be a Chosen, before later concluding he was some kind of reincarnation.
"To create a Chosen requires enough power to create a thousand blessed followers," the River Elder explained. "Drogo is his Chosen."
"Right now, Drogo is the most powerful being below the gods... You would be wise to avoid facing him directly."
'A thousand blessed...' Viserys thought about the two thousand screamers' essence he had absorbed and didn't feel overly concerned.
If anything, he felt a surge of anticipation.
If I kill Drogo, would I gain the essence of a Chosen?
"Wasn't he already the Horse God's Chosen before?" Viserys asked.
"He was always the most qualified candidate," the River Elder replied.
The River Elder then explained a new concept.
Gods drew power from their followers acting in accordance with their faith.
The more faithfully a believer embodied that faith, the more favor they would receive.
The Dothraki worshipped plunder.
They looted wealth, enslaved people, and even seized the gods of other cultures to display along their so-called Road of Gods.
Drogo was the perfect embodiment of that belief.
Compared to other khals who sought limited conquests, Drogo's ambition stretched far wider.
He dreamed of sacking the great cities of the east.
But dreams alone meant nothing.
What mattered was action.
When Drogo inherited his khalasar from his father, it had not been the strongest. It was Drogo who built it into power.
And he had not done so through peaceful growth, but through relentless raiding.
The more he plundered, the more the Horse God rewarded him.
Better fortune. Greater strength.
In the original timeline, the fact that he became the only khal to take a dragonlord's daughter as his bride might not have been coincidence.
It could have been the blessing of the Horse God.
"It is said that the blessings of true gods possess a miraculous power," the River Elder said, a trace of longing in his voice. "They can grant... or even create life."
It was clear he deeply desired to become a true god himself. That had always been part of the agreement between him and Viserys.
Before leaving, the River Elder repeated his warning.
Withdraw.
Defend.
Survive.
Then he sank back into the waters of the Rhoyne.
...
When Viserys returned, Arthur stepped forward immediately.
"What did he say, Your Majesty?"
Viserys glanced at Arthur, then at the soldiers behind him.
"The River Elder told me many things," he said. "But it all comes down to one sentence."
"We have no choice but victory."
The soldiers did not understand gods, Chosen, or divine blessings. They only knew one thing.
Viserys had never lost.
As long as they followed him, defeat would never reach them. And just now, they had seen their king speak with a god.
That meant the gods stood on their side.
"Victory!" Arthur shouted first, saluting.
"Victory!"
"Victory!"
"Victory!"
The dragonriders roared in unison as they turned and left Nasar, returning to the main army.
Viserys did not care why the Horse God had chosen to stand against him. But if a god stepped into his path...
Then he would choose to slay a god.
And as for the soldiers, they needed no understanding of gods at all. They only knew that their king could speak with them.
And that meant victory belonged to them.
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