14 Prayer Day and Reformation

284 AC, Lys…

In Eragor Manor, a young woman was chasing two young children.

"Rhaenys, stop at once and put down your brother! He needs to bath!" Elaese was shouting while chasing them. She was just going to wash Aegon but Rhaenys picked up his brother and escaped.

"Nooo!! No bath!" Aegon screamed while being carried in the arms of Rhaenys.

Just when they turned a corner, they bumped into a young man and fell to the ground. Rhaenys quickly looked over her brother and checked whether he was wounded or not. Then, she raised her head and looked at the person they bumped.

"Oh, who do we have here? A young girl carrying his brother in his arms and running in the corridors. I think that's not something a princess should be doing, right?" said the young man.

Rhaenys immediately hugged the young man's legs and cried, "Father Gerold, Elaese wants to wash Aegon. She just washed him yesterday and Aegon does not like water!"

"Ohh, is that so, Elaese?" asked Gerold.

Elaese hesitated a little but eventually, she bowed her head and said, "Yes, Father Gerold. They play a lot in the garden so they get dirty every time."

"Hmm, I think nothing would happen if they don't wash for today, right?" Gerold looked at Elaese.

"Well, we can do that but it's just for today, okay?" Elaese looked at Rhaenys and Aegon with an intense glare.

"Yaayy!!" Aegon shouted and hugged Gerold's other leg.

Gerold squinted his eyes and asked, "Okay, okay. Now, Rhaenys, why are you not at your lessons? I thought you have history lessons right now?"

"But… but history is boring. I want to train my sword skills!" Rhaenys were looking at Gerold with puppy eyes.

"You are already spending three hours a day with the sword master. Tell me then, how will your people accept you if you don't even know their history?" asked Gerold.

"I will show them my sword skills and they will recognize me!" shouted Rhaenys.

"Yes, they will but… you will be nothing more than a skilled swordsman. They will make you do things you don't want to. Do you want this to happen?" said Gerold with a stern face.

Rhaenys's face fell and she said, "No."

"Then, go to your lesson, okay?" asked Gerold.

"Okayyy." Rhaenys turned to kiss her brother and went to the study room.

Gerold watched her while she is going and turned to look at Aegon, "Now, if you're not going to bath then you will come with me to the temple."

"Templeee!" shouted Aegon.

Gerold took Aegon to his arms and looked at Elaese, "Elaese, come to the temple with others when it got dark. We will talk before the Big Prayer."

"I will, Father Gerold," said Elaese while bowing her head.

The reason why Elaese was acting like this was the figure Gerold had become. In just one year, Gerold converted nearly all of the Lys and people began to see him as a holy being. Whenever people saw him, they were bowing their heads. From rich to poor, slave to free people, everyone was praying with him every night. There was no discrimination between people in the meetings. Rich and poor were praying together. Free people and slaves were sitting side-by-side. Even in other Free Cities, there were people who worshipped the God. People were building their own temple in the cities. Each month, they were sending men and women to be recognized by Gerold as the head of the temple and to receive blessings.

These blessings were not just symbolic. Each head of the temple was purified in body and soul by Gerold. They were also given holy light to heal people and banish evil. They were doing this without nothing in return. It didn't matter whether people believed in God or other evils. There was even a time when a red priest cursed one of the followers of R'hllor because of his question, head of the Volantis's temple came and banished the evil from that follower's body. After that event, the members of the temple began to increase. Such examples were common in other Free Cities too because people were afraid of new unknowns. A new religion was always oppressed by others but this time, things were different because this religion has powers to benefit common people. They were not just for the benefits of rich and nobles.

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Soon, Gerold arrived at the temple. Temple was built on a hill, to reach it you had to walk a long way. It was able to house at least ten thousand people. It was designed similar to modern day churches. Everyone who saw him bowed and called him Father Gerold. They were looking at him with respect.

Gerold went towards a door. He took out a key and put it into the keyhole. He opened the door and went inside with Aegon.

This was his personal room. From blueprints to scriptures, everything he had was here. Of course, the room was protected by spells. If someone gets in then Gerold would have been alerted and that person would have died immediately.

Gerold went towards a corner. There were toys different from this world's, plush toys with various shapes, wooden soldiers holding sticks and wooden cars that were able to move. Then, Gerold went towards a big table. On the table, a map of the world was carved. From rivers to hills, everything was on the map. There were crosses on every big city in Essos. On Summer Islands, there was just one cross and that was on the Omboru. And in Westeros, there were two crosses. They were on the White Harbor and the Lannisport. The crosses on Free Cities were bigger but Lys's cross was the biggest one. The smallest one was on the White Harbor.

Gerold opened the drawer of the table. There was a great number of the red cross in the drawer. He picked all of them and started to change them with the yellow ones on the table.

Today was the day of the Big Prayer. All of the temples were going to be filled with people who were going to pray all night. The first day of the eighth month was considered a holy day because that day was the day Gerold came to this world. People were going to celebrate Gerold's coming. However, Gerold had something else on his mind…

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284 AC, Lys, Before the Prayer…

Three men were looking at a map in Gerold's room in the temple. One of them was Raenar, he was wearing a black robe and there was a serious expression on his face. The other one was one of the first believers of Tyrosh's temple, his name was Sargoso. Once he came for the pilgrimage to Lys, Gerold took him to his side as his own speaker. He was known as the Voice of the Prophet. He was the head of Lys's temple when Gerold was not in Lys. He was also in a black robe but his robe was adorned with white stitching.

The last one was of course Gerold. He was dressed in white robes adorned with golden engravings. His hands were on the table and he was looking towards the map.

Gerold looked at their eyes and took a deep breath, "Today, after the prayer, some limitations will be put on the uses of holy powers and the position of temple head. Only the members of our faith will be able to receive blessings from our people. Without an order from me or the head of religion, no one shall use their power for offensive means, they shall only use it for the protection. Every head of the temple will be subjected to examination every ten years. Their faith and pureness will be tested. If they don't pass the examination, they shall be excommunicated from their temple and if they want to be head of the temple again then they will have to seek forgiveness from every member of the temple."

Sargoso looked at Gerold and said, "Your Holiness, we should also expel heretics from Lys. These people are smearing our God's name in the streets."

"There will be a time for that but not now. However, these people you talked about should be punished. They will be ostracized and no one will talk with them. You can deal with it by my orders." said Gerold.

Sargoso's eyes were shining, "As Your Holiness wishes..."

Gerold turned to Raenar and said, "And Raenar, your wealth already suppressed the rest of magister's wealth. The time has come for you to take over the city. Eight magisters are already accepted to step down from their position and accept your rule and the last one is opposing so he will be crushed, if it's necessary. After you take over the city, you shall forbid slavery. All of the slaves shall be freed from their captivity."

Raenar was expecting this moment his whole life and he didn't expect it to happen suddenly. All he wanted was to raise his house to its old glory but with Gerold, he thought that he can even suppress his own ancestors. He was going to bring his house to new heights, "As Your holiness wishes…"

Raenar turned around to look out of the window towards the sea and said, "Okay then this meeting ends here… everything happens because God's Will It, brothers."

Raenar and Saragor shouted at the same time, ""God's Will It!!""