Lord Leyton's body jerked violently. The color drained from his face as he blurted out, "You… you're talking nonsense! I don't know what you're talking about!"
Euron gave a crooked smile, the tip of his blade shifting toward Malora. "Don't know? Did that enormous black stone foundation beneath the High Tower simply grow out of the ground? My dear lord, are you really telling me that House Hightower is not descended from those who crossed the endless Sunset Sea from the far East and eventually reached Westeros, heirs of the Great Empire of the Dawn?"
"We are not!"
Lord Leyton denied it outright. "The black stone at the base of the tower is far too massive. How could we possibly have brought it from the East? It is an ancient miracle!"
Euron seemed to lose interest in pressing him further and turned his full attention to Malora instead. The cold edge of the dagger rested against her chilled cheek.
"Then what about you, dear Lady Malora? You've devoted your entire life to pursuing the truths of magic. Do you also think I'm spouting nonsense? After all these years of study, aren't you curious about the black stone's true power?"
Malora's body trembled faintly, yet her gaze stayed locked on Euron. Fear and an overwhelming hunger for knowledge clashed violently in her eyes.
Euron bent closer, his voice thick with temptation. "Tell me where the black stone is. I know how to unlock its secrets. On your own, even another hundred years of study wouldn't bring you anywhere near the truth. But I can open that door for you."
Seeing the clear hesitation in Malora's eyes, Lord Leyton shouted in terror, "No, Malora! You mustn't tell him! It's the sacred duty our house has guarded for generations. We swore an oath!"
"An oath?"
Euron bared his teeth in a cruel grin, his voice heavy with disdain. "Oaths exist to be broken, unless you're content to remain a fool forever, wandering outside the gates of truth, never laying eyes on real power."
Malora took a deep breath. The fervor in her eyes flared, her voice turning urgent, almost unhinged.
"At the top of the tower. The true black stone is at the top! The one our Hightower ancestors brought lies beneath the flame-lit platform at the summit! The foundation stones were made later, forged from some kind of material mixed with blood magic. Only the one at the top is the real treasure."
In a single breath, she laid bare her house's greatest secret.
Lord Leyton's face collapsed into utter horror and despair, as if a hundred years had been added to him in an instant.
Euron threw back his head and laughed triumphantly. "Excellent. Truly excellent. Take me there at once, Lady Malora. You're about to witness history."
Guided by Malora, they ascended to the top of the High Tower.
Up there, fierce winds howled, and a massive flame burned at the center of the high platform.
Malora felt along the edge until her hand pressed against a stone darker than all the others.
A dull mechanical sound echoed as part of the stone wall slid aside, revealing an opening leading downward.
Euron stepped inside without the slightest hesitation.
Beyond lay a small, circular chamber, nearly devoid of light. At its center stood something that seemed to swallow all illumination, a black sheen that refused to reflect.
This was the true black stone from the far East, steeped in forbidden power.
Roughly the height of two men, it formed an irregular cube. Its surface was impossibly smooth, yet it felt like no known material.
It stood there in silence, radiating an ancient, icy presence, as though staring at it for too long might draw one's soul in and devour it whole.
Around the black stone stood several glass candles, their flames burning soundlessly.
Malora grabbed Euron's sleeve in excitement, her eyes blazing with fanatic fervor.
"Do you see it? That's it! The secret our house has guarded for thousands of years! Tell me. How do we unravel its secrets? How do we wield its power?"
Euron pinched Malora's chin, a twisted smile curling his lips. "It requires magic, my lady. Magic as vast as the sea itself must be poured into it to awaken the will sleeping deep within."
Malora stared at him in shock. "Magic as vast as the sea? That's impossible. Even if we gathered the power of every warlock and sorcerer…"
"No. You're wrong."
Euron cut her off, his single eye flashing. "Life itself contains magic. In the Shadow Lands, I saw ghost grass. The shadowfolk told me that every stalk grows only after a life is extinguished to nourish it. Life is the most fundamental, the most powerful source of magic. Blood… is magic."
His voice rose with mounting fervor.
"All it takes is spilling the blood of everyone in Oldtown upon this black stone. Soothe the true source of power. Sate its endless hunger. Then the black stone will answer. It will reveal its true strength."
Euron's face was alight with triumph and madness.
His journey across the world, more than a year long, had never been just about plunder or adventure. It had been a frenzied pursuit of hidden knowledge and forbidden power scattered across the world.
He had cast aside faith in the Drowned God and every other deity, becoming obsessed instead with mastering this most primal force.
He looted libraries and temples along the Jade Sea and the Summer Sea, piecing together legends of the Great Empire of the Dawn and the black stone from vast stores of forbidden histories and the prophecies of the Undying Ones.
From them, he learned that the emperors of the Great Empire of the Dawn were the black stone's masters.
Beginning with the Pearl Emperor, every ruler of that empire had sought to unlock its secrets.
After ascending the throne, each emperor drew upon a portion of its blood magic, reshaping their own bodies in the process.
But the last emperor of the Great Empire of the Dawn, the Bloodstone Emperor, was not satisfied.
To fully unravel the black stone's secrets and obtain power surpassing all his predecessors, he slaughtered countless subjects, drenching the black stone in their blood as he performed rituals of unspeakable evil, attempting to achieve some final, ultimate transformation.
In the end, the Bloodstone Emperor failed.
Yet his research and records endured.
From the moment Euron learned of them, his desire for that power became impossible to restrain.
He longed to seize what the Bloodstone Emperor had failed to fully control, to use it to ascend to godhood, to accomplish feats never before imagined, and to rule the entire world.
That very craving drove him back to the Seven Kingdoms at once. And just as the Bloodstone Emperor had murdered his own sister, the Amethyst Empress, Euron did not hesitate to hire the Faceless Men to assassinate his own brother, King Balon.
"No! You're insane!"
When Lord Leyton heard that Euron intended to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands in Oldtown, he screamed in absolute terror.
"You can't do this! That's hundreds of thousands of lives! This is blasphemy. This is annihilation!"
"Blasphemy? Annihilation?"
Euron burst into contemptuous laughter, his voice echoing through the hidden chamber at the top of the tower.
"When I succeed, I will be the new god. Old Gods or Seven Gods, it makes no difference. They will all kneel at my feet. Those hundreds of thousands will become the steps upon which Euron Greyjoy ascends the throne of godhood. That will be their greatest honor."
His single eye fixed on the black stone, dark and seemingly bottomless, as though he already saw it soaked through with endless rivers of blood.