Chapter 22: The Red God's Shadow, The Weaver's Web
The fires of R'hllor, Lord of Light, Heart of Fire, burned bright across much of Essos, and even cast flickering, hopeful or terrifying shadows into the corners of Westeros. His was a faith of stark dualities, of absolute light against absolute darkness, of nightly vigils where flames danced with prophetic visions, and of priests and priestesses who claimed to command the very essence of their god – conjuring fire from thin air, seeing futures in the flames, and, it was whispered, even calling back the dead. To his fervent followers, R'hllor was the world's only true salvation, his warmth the only bulwark against the encroaching night of the Great Other.
To Sōsuke Aizen, R'hllor was an intriguing concentration of spiritual energy, a particularly potent egregore fueled by millennia of sacrifice, fervent belief, and the raw elemental power of fire itself. It was, in essence, a vast, self-perpetuating psychic construct, its pseudo-sentience distributed amongst its most devout and powerful adherents, its influence maintained through dramatic displays of fire magic and seductive promises of protection and rebirth. A prime candidate for consumption, its unique fire-aspected energies a desirable addition to Aizen's ever-diversifying divine portfolio.
The campaign against the Red God began not with a clash of celestial powers, but with the silent, insidious infiltration characteristic of Aizen's methods. Argent, his ever-reliable right hand, now a master of espionage and covert operations whose skills were augmented by Aizen's own arcane knowledge, coordinated a global network of Faceless Men and Aizen's specialized, human-form Sentinel constructs. Their primary targets: the bastions of R'hllor's faith.
The Great Temple of the Lord of Light in Volantis, a colossal edifice of red stone and eternal flame, became a particular focus. Faceless Men, their identities shifting like smoke, seamlessly integrated themselves into the temple's vast hierarchy – as humble acolytes tending the sacred fires, as servants in the priests' quarters, even as laborers maintaining the temple grounds. Their true purpose was to observe, to listen, to map the temple's spiritual and physical defenses, and to identify the true conduits of R'hllor's power within its leadership. Kyōka Suigetsu's influence, subtly projected by Aizen from afar through his connection to these agents, smoothed their passage, making them appear unremarkable, their questions innocent, their presence benign.
Similar operations were launched in Myr, Lys, Pentos, and any other city where R'hllor's temples burned bright. Sentinels, with their arcane senses, meticulously charted the flow of spiritual energy during nightly rituals, noting how belief and sacrifice were transmuted into magical power by the Red Priests. They gathered whispers of internal temple politics, rivalries between high-ranking priests, doctrinal schisms, and the secret fears or ambitions of those who served the Lord of Light.
The most influential Red Priests and Priestesses were singled out for special attention. Aizen was not interested in a campaign of indiscriminate assassination – that was crude, and dead priests offered fewer insights than compromised ones. Instead, he sought to understand them, to find their pressure points, their hidden doubts, or their unbridled ambition.
* In Myr, a renowned Red Priestess famed for her startlingly accurate fire visions found herself subtly guided by a "newly converted" acolyte (a Faceless Man). This acolyte, with uncanny insight, would ask leading questions that nudged her interpretations of the flames, introducing new symbols, new anxieties, subtly shifting her prophecies towards outcomes that served Aizen's long-term destabilization goals in that city.
* In Lys, a powerful Red Priest known for his ability to conjure shadow-flames and bind minor shadow demons (a curious offshoot of R'hllor's usual fire magic that Aizen found particularly interesting) was approached by an enigmatic "scholar from a lost Valyrian house" (Aizen himself, in a brief, meticulously crafted illusory projection, amplified by Kyōka Suigetsu). This "scholar" spoke of deeper, more ancient understandings of shadow and fire, of powers that predated R'hllor, hinting at a source of power that could make the priest a true master, not just a servant. The seeds of doubt in his current deity, and ambition for greater power, were carefully sown.
* Some particularly zealous or incorruptible figures, those whose unwavering faith acted as strong spiritual anchors for R'hllor's influence in a region, were dealt with more permanently, but always with the utmost discretion. A sudden, untraceable illness; a "tragic accident" during a dangerous ritual; a rival priest conveniently "discovering" evidence of their heresy – the Faceless Men ensured these eliminations appeared natural or internally driven, further fueling paranoia and instability within the Red Priesthood.
While his agents dismantled R'hllor's earthly support structures, Aizen, from the serene depths of the Obsidian Spire, focused on the arcane. He pored over salvaged Valyrian texts that spoke of fire elementals, of the ancient worship of volcanic deities, and of attempts to bind or replicate the sun's energy. He cross-referenced this with the new intelligence gathered from R'hllor's temples, seeking to understand the mechanics of their fire magic, their methods of divination, and the true nature of the "shadows" they sometimes employed.
He conducted experiments, far from prying eyes. He would have Argent or his Sentinels secure "samples" – minor Red Priests captured discreetly, or potent artifacts from desecrated shrines. In his shielded laboratories, he would analyze their spiritual signatures, the way they channeled R'hllor's power, the composition of their sacred flames. He found that their fire, while potent, was often uncontrolled, relying on raw belief and emotional fervor rather than precise arcane understanding. It was a reactive, often volatile energy, starkly different from the controlled, soul-infused fire of his own dragons or the Kido-based energy manipulations he commanded. He also noted the curious symbiotic relationship their magic seemed to have with shadows – the greater the fire, the deeper the shadows it cast, and from these shadows, some priests could draw a different kind of power, a colder, more insidious force. This duality intrigued him; R'hllor was not as purely a "god of light" as his followers believed.
Ignis Primus, the colossal magma dragon, played a crucial role in this research. Aizen would commune with the ancient dragon, whose understanding of primordial fire was innate, absolute. Ignis Primus could sense the "flavor" of R'hllor's fire, recognizing it as a lesser, derivative form of the planet's own geothermal heart, tainted and shaped by mortal belief. Aizen began to train Ignis Primus not just to unleash its devastating magma-like flames, but to absorb and transmute other forms of fire. The goal was for Ignis Primus to become a living counter to R'hllor's primary weapon, a being capable of literally drinking the Red God's sacred flames and turning that power back against him or his followers. Vhagarion, too, with his unique emerald-black soul-fire, was prepared for a potential role, his flames perhaps capable of disrupting the spiritual matrix of R'hllor's manifestations.
Aizen also initiated a subtle but pervasive campaign of psychological warfare against the faith itself.
* The Whispers of Doubt: Through his controlled agents within merchant guilds, taverns, and caravans, rumors began to spread. Tales of R'hllor's prophecies failing, of sacred flames sputtering and dying in remote temples, of Red Priests being found powerless against new, unnamed blights or curses.
* False Miracles and Competing Divinities: In cities where R'hllor's worship was strong, "miracles" of a different kind would occur. A sudden, inexplicable healing attributed to a forgotten local deity. A bountiful harvest in a blighted area credited to the intervention of "benevolent spirits of the earth." These were often illusions crafted by Kyōka Suigetsu on a localized scale, or minor boons granted by Aizen's Kido, all designed to create alternative objects of faith, to dilute R'hllor's spiritual monopoly. He even had "Lord Aerion Vaelaros" (his phantom Valyrian persona, whose legend still echoed) make a brief, dramatic appearance in a port city in the Disputed Lands currently suffering from a plague that R'hllor's priests couldn't cure. "Aerion," atop Vhagarion, demonstrated a "Valyrian purification ritual" (a display of advanced healing Kido) that seemingly halted the plague in one district, leaving the populace awestruck and the local Red Priests furious and discredited.
* Exploiting the "Great Other": Aizen found the R'hllor faith's obsession with a binary opposite, the "Great Other, Lord of Darkness," particularly useful. He subtly amplified fears of this entity, even orchestrating minor "manifestations" of shadowy power (using his own shadow-aspected Kido or captured shadow-binding priests from Lys) in ways that R'hllor's priests struggled to counter, making their god seem less omnipotent, less capable of protecting his flock from the very enemy he defined himself against.
This multi-pronged assault – infiltration, targeted elimination/manipulation of clergy, arcane research, and psychological warfare – continued for several years. Aizen was in no hurry. He was meticulously dissecting an entire global religion, unraveling its spiritual and temporal power structures thread by thread.
A significant breakthrough came when Argent, after a long and perilous operation within the catacombs beneath the Great Temple of Volantis, discovered what appeared to be R'hllor's primary spiritual anchor in that city. It was not a grand flame, but an ancient heart-tree, a colossal weirwood, petrified and blackened, that had been secretly preserved and incorporated into the temple's foundations by its Valyrian slave-founders centuries ago. This tree, Argent reported, pulsed with an immense, fiery energy, and seemed to be the true source from which the High Priest of Volantis drew his most potent powers, a conduit directly to the R'hllor egregore, perhaps even one of its original points of coalescence. The Red Priests had co-opted and perverted an older, telluric magic.
This discovery was crucial. It confirmed Aizen's suspicion that R'hllor, like many "gods," was deeply intertwined with the primal energies of the planet, and that its power was not entirely self-generated by belief alone. It also provided a tangible target.
With this knowledge, Aizen finalized his strategy for the "devouring" of R'hllor. It would not be a single battle, but a phased campaign.
Phase 1 (Undermining): Continue weakening the faith, discrediting its priests, and sowing internal dissent. Isolate its most powerful nexuses. This was already well underway.
Phase 2 (Severing the Anchors): Target and neutralize key spiritual anchors like the Volantene heart-tree, either by corrupting their energy, siphoning it, or destroying them in a way that appeared to be a failure of R'hllor himself. Ignis Primus, with its ability to consume and transmute fire, would be instrumental here.
Phase 3 (Confronting the Core): Once sufficiently weakened and its primary anchors severed, Aizen would confront the R'hllor egregore directly on a metaphysical plane. Using his Hōgyoku-fused divinity, Kyōka Suigetsu's illusions, and his own mastery over fire and shadow (enhanced by his research), he would unravel its collective consciousness, absorb its vast fire-aspected spiritual energy, and integrate its unique powers into his own.
Phase 4 (Consolidation): The remaining R'hllor priesthood would either be eliminated, forcibly converted to his own (as yet unnamed) divine authority, or allowed to continue as a hollow, powerless shell, their faith unknowingly redirected to serve his purposes.
The first overt move in this divine chess game was about to be made. Aizen decided to target the Volantene heart-tree, the symbolic and actual heart of R'hllor's power in one of its most important cities. This would not be a subtle act of sabotage. It would be a demonstration.
He prepared to travel to Volantis himself, not as the unassuming "Master Kyoraku," but in a new, awe-inspiring divine manifestation, cloaked in illusions yet radiating unmistakable power. He would not arrive by ship. He would arrive in a way that would be etched into the nightmares and legends of Volantis for centuries.
Argent received his orders. The Faceless Men in Volantis were to create a specific series of diversions within the city on a chosen night, drawing the attention of the Tiger Cloaks and the temple guard. A squadron of Aizen's swiftest juvenile dragons, now fully mature and formidable, would create a perimeter miles out in the sea, ensuring no unwanted naval interference. Vhagarion would accompany Aizen, a terrifying herald.
And Ignis Primus, from its sanctum in the Obsidian Spire, felt the call. Its incandescent eyes blazed. Its purpose, long anticipated, was about to be unleashed.
Aizen stood on the precipice of another grand act of deicide. The Red God's shadow had loomed large over Essos for too long. It was time for a new, far more absolute shadow to fall. The Weaver's web was perfectly laid. The feast of fire and faith was about to begin.