The pyromancer swallowed hard. "The Mad King was a madman among madmen. He didn't just hide wildfire beneath the Red Keep—he buried it all throughout King's Landing. Under the foundations of the Great Sept of Baelor, the ruins of the Old Dragonpit, Flea Bottom, even beneath those fancy houses on Silk Street. Wildfire jars everywhere, too many to count. What we found was only a fraction."
The captain's face turned pale. "What did you say? Wildfire all over the city? Why wasn't this reported sooner? His Grace only ordered us to blow up the Red Keep, not to send all of King's Landing up in flames!"
"There was no way, Captain. We only realized how bad it was after we went down there, and…"
The pyromancer trailed off, his expression growing more uneasy.
"And what? Speak up!"
A sense of dread gripped the captain's heart.
The pyromancer shrank back. "Besides the wildfire left by the Mad King, that madwoman Cersei ordered that sly old fox Hallyne to stuff every bit of wildfire from the Alchemists' Guild's stockpile into the tunnels and caverns beneath the sewers. They even lit candles down there. It's a wildfire hell now."
"What?!"
The captain gasped. They'd only meant to let Cersei take the blame for blowing up the Red Keep. He hadn't expected that madwoman to go even further—trying to blow the entire city sky-high.
"Why would Hallyne and the others listen to her?!"
He could barely believe his ears.
The pyromancer's expression turned painfully awkward. He hesitated, eyes darting about. "Um… Cersei used some 'special' methods…"
"Special methods?" The leader froze.
The pyromancer rubbed his nose. "She had Hallyne pass along a message: if the Alchemists' Guild fully cooperated with her plan, she'd let the guild's pyromancers share her bed. Those maniacs got so worked up, Hallyne couldn't stop them. In the end, every last one of those fire-crazed bastards was completely won over by her…"
The leader's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. He stared for several seconds. "You didn't also—"
The pyromancer muttered under his breath, "Only twice. Couldn't miss the chance. Ahem… gotta admit, the Queen's pretty smooth."
The leader was utterly speechless.
Cersei, to take revenge on the people of King's Landing, had gone so far as to use her body to bribe a bunch of fire-obsessed lunatics?
And this fool under his command had actually…
He shook his head violently, as if trying to shake off the ridiculous image.
Enough!
The black-clad leader cursed under his breath. "Forget it. The candles beneath the Red Keep are lit. Our mission's done. As for the rest of King's Landing… that whole mess is Cersei Lannister's problem. Set sail, now! If those candles of hers blow first, we won't make it out in time!"
He didn't hesitate any longer and waved his hand sharply.
The oars plunged into the water, propelling the ship swiftly toward the open bay.
...
Red Keep, Great Hall.
After rooting out the traitors, Renly began appointing the kingdom's new Small Council.
His voice rang with fervor. "My lords, the war is far from over. Stannis still holds Dragonstone, coveting the throne, and Tywin Lannister's armies lie in wait. We need a strong Small Council to help me crush the rebellion and restore order to the realm."
The nobles held their breath, listening closely to Renly's next words.
Renly smiled, his lips just parting—
BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An indescribable roar thundered through the air, like a million lightning strikes exploding at once!
The vast Great Hall shook violently. The solid black stone floor heaved beneath their feet, trembling uncontrollably.
Dust and bits of stone rained down from the high ceiling, blurring everyone's vision.
The ornate stained-glass windows splintered with web-like cracks; several shattered completely with a sharp crash.
"What's happening?!"
"An earthquake?!"
"Have the gods gone mad?!"
Panic replaced solemnity in an instant.
Nobles turned pale, stumbling and shoving each other as they tried to stay upright. Knights instinctively gripped their sword hilts, eyes darting around in confusion.
Renly leapt from the Iron Throne, the smile gone from his face, replaced by sheer shock. He felt the floor roll beneath him like waves at sea.
The deafening roar tore through the thick stone walls, battering his eardrums.
Boom! Boom! Boom boom boom—!!!
A second blast. Then a third…
A series of thunderous explosions erupted one after another.
This time, the Red Keep shook even more violently.
Someone screamed, "Come outside and see!"
At the sound, Renly forgot all pretense of royal composure. He nearly stumbled as he rushed down the cold steps of the Iron Throne and sprinted toward the terrace that led from the Great Hall to the castle's heights.
A crowd of terrified nobles and knights stumbled after him, barely keeping their footing.
They burst through the heavy oak doors of the Great Hall, only to be swallowed instantly by blinding sunlight and an even louder, deafening roar.
The sight that met their eyes froze the blood in their veins.
Below the heights of Aegon's Hill, King's Landing had become a burning green hell.
Flames of unimaginable heat, glowing with an eerie emerald hue, surged toward the sky. The inferno rolled and swelled, forming a colossal green mushroom cloud that climbed higher and higher, devouring houses, inns, and taverns alike.
Everything it touched erupted into even fiercer fire; the buildings on the ground melted and vanished in moments.
A massive shockwave, carrying shards of searing flame, swept across the city like a green tsunami. With terrifying speed, it raced down streets and through districts, spreading outward in every direction.
Wherever the flames reached, explosions followed—one after another—cascading toward the Red Keep.
In their wake, sturdy stone houses, towering keeps, and narrow wooden sheds alike were ignited, torn apart, and reduced to nothing.
Thick black smoke rose from the emerald sea of fire, blanketing half the sky and staining the sunlight a sickly, apocalyptic yellow.
"Wild... wildfire..."
Beside Renly, a noble who had once witnessed the Mad King's madness collapsed to the ground, whispering numbly as a dark stain spread across his trousers.
"The Mad King's... wildfire..."
Terror consumed Renly.
The eerie green light turned his face corpse-white. In his pupils burned the reflection of that endless, devouring fire.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
It was over.
Everything was over.
His crown, his kingdom, his ambitions—fragile as parchment—were nothing before that world-consuming green.
He had no time to wonder who had lit it, no breath left to curse.
The emerald tide of death swept from the city's southern edge, tearing through everything in its path. Buildings crumbled like sand before it as it leapt over squares and streets, surging toward the towering walls of the Red Keep.
Inside, every eye was filled with pure, unbroken green.
That color seemed to consume the world itself—and time with it.
The last thing reflected in Renly's eyes was the frozen despair etched on the faces of the nobles around him.
Then came nothing but green.
No sound. No pain. Not even the sense of burning.
In the instant the inferno reached them, bodies, armor, stone, banners—everything—vaporized silently, like ice under a blazing sun.
At that moment, a new round of explosions tore through the Red Keep. Roaring waves of green fire engulfed the mighty fortress, consuming every last trace of it.
King's Landing—the proud capital of the Seven Kingdoms—along with the king and his followers who had entered less than an hour before, were wiped from existence by the same mad fire born of the past.