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Chapter 30 - Furious Storm
🕑 Added 2025-07-27 18:47:07 +0000 UTCStorm Kingdom
Storm’s End
8 BAC
Ei, Argilac, and Lucan sat inside the king’s solar in silence, with the king nursing a cup of wine.
“What are you?” Not long ago, the answer to that question had not satisfied him, not entirely at least, but he took it nonetheless.
Now, the cat was out of the bag, and he wanted answers.
It was Lucan who answered instead. “She is a god, reborn as you and Joy’s daughter.”
The incredulous look on the Storm King’s face was very expected. “And you believed her?”
“I can split this continent, or the Narrow Sea, in half if it would convince you.” Ei replied dryly, pointing out to the sea with her thumb.
“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Lucan would rather see that kind of destruction brought down upon the Ironborn.
“No, just explain, please.” Argilac didn’t remember the last time he said please to someone, even if it was Argella.
Was she even Argella in the first place?
He didn’t know.
Ei explained the situation of her rebirth in this world, with how she placed her own consciousness inside Musou Isshin, and the death of the Heavenly Principles damaging the sword and sending it to Westeros, through tears in reality, leading to her being reborn in this body.
Argilac swirled his cup, watching the wine inside, before putting the cup on the table.
“A god? And you knew about this, old man, and didn’t tell me?” The Storm King turned to his good-father to vent his fury, since he couldn’t do that to his daughter.
Lucan held out his hand in peace. “I am old Argilac, not senile. I wasn’t going to spill the secrets of a god like that. I advised her to tell you, but she didn’t want to.”
So this was the secret Argella was keeping, the one she would tell “in time.” “I, I don’t know what to do or say now.” Argilac downed another cup of wine to soothe his mind.
“Perhaps we should focus on more immediate matters, such as the Ironborn.” Owing to the manner Ei arrived in Storm’s End, Harwyn was taken to the dungeons immediately, without even the chance for him to be brought before the king and the court.
“Yes. It won’t be long before Harren learns that his heir, Harwyn, is in our dungeons and some of his greatest raiders are dead. He will have no choice but to fight us, lest he look weak.” Lucan coughed as he finished his sentence, taking a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.
Ei wanted to ask if it was something important, but Lucan wouldn’t say anything even if it was.
“What do you want to do?” This was going to cause problems, many problems in fact. Everyone had seen Argella appear out of a wound she opened in the sky and walk down the air as if on stairs, as a fully grown woman rather than the twelve-year-old child she was.
The High Septon and the Faith would call her divine nature foul sorcery since they didn’t know better, and if they did learn Argella was a god, or at least claiming she was one, then the Faith Militant would rise against the Storm Kingdom.
Then again, without the Seven themselves descending on Westeros, the Faith Militant wouldn’t be an obstacle for a god.
“Abdicate the throne for me.” It was time for Ei to start ruling directly, rather than just propping up the economy.
“Why?” Not that Argilac was particularly opposed to the idea of relinquishing the Storm Throne to a god.
“Because I intend to eliminate the Ironborn, and being the queen is the best way for me to prepare the kingdom for the war.”
“Lords won’t like a woman on the throne, even if it is you, not unless you reveal yourself or cow them into submission.” There would no doubt be someone foolish enough to cross her, but at least Argilac didn’t have to worry about the future of the kingdom anymore.
“I know how to deal with the nobles. In the meantime, order them to call the banners. We should be able to gather at least twenty-five thousand soldiers.” It was time to go to war, and this time, Ei would lead it herself, since she didn't have a general to lead the army in her name.
“That is if we pull the men defending the Marches against the Dornish.”
At that moment, lightning strikes were heard, and Lucan looked out the window, seeing a massive storm roll out as far as the eye could see before it abruptly disappeared, leaving the sun shining in the sky.
“I shall cover the Dornish side of the Marches in a violent storm to discourage any raids.” She also considered sending the Thunder Dragon Puppet, but a mobile platform like it would be more useful in an active war theater, with the Ironborn being spread all over the Riverlands to keep the local lords and populace under control.
“I am not the most religious person out there, but what if other gods, mainly the Seven, try to stop you?” Lucan always worried about a possible clash between Argella and the Seven.
“They did not respond to the prayers of Reach’s host when I summoned a storm to batter them, nor did they interfere when I ruined the Stepstones. They either don’t exist or don’t care about what happens in this world.” Unlike with the Old Gods, Ei received no communique from the Seven, and seeing as they did not respond to any of her actions, she was curious.
What kind of gods were the Seven that the actions of a god in their domain were tolerated?
And if they did not exist, how did the religion come to be in the first place?
She would have answers, eventually.
Ignoring the possibility that the religion the majority of the Seven Kingdoms worshiped for thousands of years might just be fake, Argilac wondered if his daughter—and he wasn’t sure if he could call her that any longer—was all-knowing too. “How did you know they prayed in the first place?”
“I was there to watch the battle and interfere should something happen to you.”
“Then who was the one at Weeping Town at the time?” She was a god, so perhaps she could be in two places at the same time.
Argilac didn’t know.
“Ah, that. Give it a second.”
A shadow appeared on the sole window of the solar, and Argilac leaped to his feet. “What in the seven hells is this?” He kept looking between the twelve-year-old Argella and the grown one as the young Argella opened the window from the outside and stood next to the grown one.
“This is Kage, a puppet I built to take my place whenever I wished to leave without being discovered.” She gestured to the puppet, which she had to upgrade to use in battle.
With Kage, the Thunder Dragon, and herself, three different fronts could be pushed with the might of a god, something that could have saved the lives of her friends in the past back at Teyvat.
“All those times I thought you were just bored, you instead switched places with her?” So many things made sense to Argilac now.
“Yes.”
Argilac groaned, rubbing his forehead, feeling a headache settling in. “I need more wine.”
—
Ei, Argilac, and Lucan did not leave the solar for the day, with Ei explaining more of her origins as the God of Thunder and Eternity and then plans for defeating the Ironborn once and for all.
Argilac, after strongly considering the matter, agreed to abdicate the throne for Argella, though she would have to deal with the lords herself, especially Garin, who wasn’t going to be happy that his nephew wouldn’t be the king in the future, though, with how scared he was of Argella, it was unlikely he would make too much noise.
Ravens were sent to the lords to call the banners for the war against the Ironborn and to retake the Riverlands and Blackwater Bay.
—
Dornish Marches
Borders of the Principality of Dorne—Storm Kingdom
Storm Kingdom Nightsong Garrison
Ser Adrin hated patrol duty for the sole reason that either nothing happened and the soldiers had to ride horses in this sweltering heat fully armored and armed, or something happened and they had to fight the Dornish snakes for their lives.
At least everyone had steel plate armor these days and fresh supplies, all thanks to Princess Argella’s inventions.
God bless her.
Seeing as there were no signs of any Dornishmen, he ordered the patrol to turn back to rest, as the sun was slowly setting down.
His horse, Blacksong, seemed to be distressed by something and kept stumbling around, and something in the air gave Adrin the goosebumps.
Suddenly, the sky over the Red Mountains darkened as storm clouds gathered with an unnatural speed, and Blacksong reared up as purple lightning suddenly struck the mountain range.
He barely managed to get his horse under control and watched with his mouth open in shock as the storm clouds grew and grew, covering the mountain range between Nightsong and Blackmont, with no sign of stopping.
Within what felt like the blink of an eye, the lands of Dorne and Reach bordering the Storm Kingdom were facing the fury of a storm, one that had everyone who witnessed it agree on one thing.
It had something to do with Princess Argella.
—
Dornish Marches
Borders of the Principality of Dorne—Storm Kingdom
Blackmont
Ser Rymen screamed in pain as his horse threw him off, and he landed on his arm to avoid hitting his head.
They were heading for another raid in Nightsong when a storm appeared out of nowhere, startling the horses and drenching the lightly dressed raiders to the bone.
Gritting his teeth, he got up, trying to calm his horse while his arm throbbed in hot searing pain, most likely broken.
They were already close to Nightsong, and turning back right now would mean the men would be left under this accursed storm longer.
“Move, move forward; we need to get out of this storm.” He screamed orders to his men, who were busy with their horses or saving their rations from the rain.
Slowly, they began to push forward, getting closer to the lands of House Caron, before a bolt of purple lightning struck one of the men ahead, searing the color into their eyes.
When he could finally see what had happened, the man and his horse were turned to ash wholesale, which dispersed into the violent winds.
The last thing Ser Rymen saw was the sky glowing purple.
—
All along the border, the storm acted as a deterrent against the forces of Rech and Dorne, with the lords of the Storm Kingdom receiving letters calling them to war.
Ironwork orders for the foreign customers were delayed, with both installations working full time to arm as many soldiers of the kingdom as possible. Reparations would be made for the delayed orders in the shape of discounts for future purchases.
Bountiful grain, grown the way Princess Argella had taught and harvested with her machines, was transported to the soldiers going to war.
Fabric was purchased at a much lower price compared to other kingdoms to clothe the soldiers.
In the Storm’s End, Lucan stood before the Shipbreaker Bay with a bloodlusty grin that not even the persistent cough could erase.
Long ago, as his wife had given birth to his youngest daughter, Lucan was out there fighting the Ironborn, while his dear Lyessa died in the birthing bed, and he wasn’t there for it.
Now, he had the chance to see the Ironborn crushed under Argella, or rather, Raiden Ei’s divine might, and could die without any regrets.
—
Riverlands
A figure, fully disguised by a cloak, looked up to the sky, feeling the change in the air. The storm was far away, but even at this distance, and after centuries, it was easy for one familiar with it to feel the work of the Electro Archon’s divine nature.
War was coming, and the Ironborn were going to be on the losing side.
