The cold wind howled through Winterfell as another day under siege came to an end.
The snowfall that had persisted for days had finally ceased, but the thick layer of snow covering the ground and the heavy clouds hanging overhead would not vanish so quickly. The snow absorbed sound, and the clouds blocked the moon and stars, plunging the world into a silence so deep it felt suffocating, and a darkness as thick as ink.
Yet, despite the compromised visibility and muffled sounds, t...
"A-Are you saying… Lord Bolton… conspired with you to overthrow House Stark!?"
Watching the girl’s mouth open in shock, Aegor nodded. He was about to continue when doubt suddenly crept into his mind.
He and Myrcella hadn’t known each other for long—barely a year or two—but in that time, she had proven herself to be intelligent, kind, strong, and brave. And now, she had risked herself to deliver such a crucial message. It was only natural that Aegor had begun to see h...
Myrcella could understand Aegor’s motivation to reclaim the Iron Throne out of gratitude to the Queen for her aid, but she couldn’t accept his decision to march south and become an enemy of the North. In her worldview, that was not how things were supposed to work.
The Night’s Watch was tasked with guarding the Wall, defending against the White Walkers and wildlings to ensure the safety of the Seven Kingdoms. Doing anything beyond that was a breach of duty and pure recklessness.<...
The besiegers sought to lure reinforcements into a trap, while the defenders of Winterfell aimed to buy time, hoping for a shift in the tide. Each side harbored their own schemes as the negotiations dragged on, day after day. To maintain the appearance of sincerity, both parties met daily, going through the motions—haggling over demands and concessions, drafting preliminary terms and agreements, and following every step of the diplomatic dance. Yet as days passed with no reinforcements arri...
2025-01-29 17:14:43 +0000 UTC View Post“Where is Uncle? Tell him to leave immediately!” Clambering aboard the Sea Song with the help of steady hands pulling and pushing her up, Asha Greyjoy’s first act was to shout a warning. “This is a trap! Euron’s true goal is to eliminate both of us at once, openly and definitively!”
“Raise anchor! Hoist the sails! Lower the oars!” Rodrik Harlaw, Lord of Harlaw and the Reader, issued his orders with calm authority. Only after ensuring his crew had set about their tasks d...
The hollow growling of her stomach urged her to seek food, but the prison meals sent by Euron Greyjoy were hardly edible—maggot-infested bread, salted meat as hard as wood, or fish beginning to rot. These were things Asha Greyjoy would only touch if she were on the brink of starvation. Around her, the darkness was absolute. The manacles around her wrists and ankles bit into skin already calloused from long captivity, rats scurried past her feet, and lice burrowed under her clothes, leaving ...
2025-01-29 17:14:00 +0000 UTC View PostAs the supreme commander of the army, Aegor had issued strict orders to his officers: discipline the troops and prohibit any form of harassment or harm to civilians.
For an army in this era, such a command was a high standard. Yet, given the Gift's relatively small and manageable force, coupled with his fearsome reputation earned through numerous exploits, Aegor was confident his orders would be strictly followed. He wanted the North’s common folk to witness the stark difference betw...
Leaning against the railing on the second floor of the guest wing, Arya Stark gazed down at the chaos engulfing Winterfell.
She wished this was all just a terrible dream, but every time she woke up, she found herself still trapped in it.
The gates of the castle stood wide open as waves of refugees poured inside. Soldiers clad in mismatched armor rushed about, fortifying defenses, while the training grounds—normally reserved for the castle's garrison—had been transformed into...
Inside the cold, thick granite walls, Winterfell was abuzz with an intensity it hadn’t seen in years, as preparations for war unfolded.
The ancient castle, long hailed as the seat of the North, was said to have been built by Brandon the Builder with the help of giants. Over the centuries, it had endured sieges by most of the major houses of the North, yet it had never fallen. But this proud history did little to comfort its defenders now, for the enemy approaching was unlike any Wint...
“Mature? I wouldn’t go that far, but plans... I certainly had them.” Roose Bolton flexed his wrist slightly. “However, now that the Gift’s army has marched south toward Winterfell, those plans are meaningless. Aegor Wester is a meticulous man. If he has mobilized his troops, it means he is thoroughly prepared and confident of success. I’m no longer worried that the Stark family’s schemes could threaten Her Grace’s dragons. Instead, I’m concerned about something else—someth...
2025-01-29 17:12:36 +0000 UTC View Post"A Night’s Watch assault on Winterfell?"
After waiting in the freezing wind for over an hour, Roose Bolton finally received news—a development that was both unexpected and deeply gratifying. Aegor, the man who had betrayed him and nearly rendered years of scheming and patience worthless, had, through a bold and brilliantly executed military maneuver, pulled him back from the brink of disaster.
The emotional whiplash—from anger to despair to surprise—was so intense and so...
Lying flat in the cold snow, even Rhaegal couldn’t understand why he had suddenly performed such an unprecedented act of submission. Ever since receiving the gift of the Red God, Aegor no longer needed gloves, earmuffs, or other items to keep warm. As a result, when his bare hand touched the scales on Rhaegal’s face, the “true dragon’s aura” transmitted directly through the bioelectricity on his skin. The effect was dozens, if not hundreds, of times stronger than the usual radiated ...
2025-01-29 17:11:54 +0000 UTC View PostAegor had hoped the snow would stop after they set out, but by nightfall on the first day of the campaign, it was still falling. The next day, too, brought no reprieve. He had worried this would hinder his strategic plan to strike Winterfell in a lightning assault, but fortunately, reality proved less dire. The snowfall—somewhere between "light" and "moderate"—hardly made a difference to an army drawn mostly from the mountain clans and Free Folk of the Gift. And so, with flurries dusting ...
2025-01-29 17:03:45 +0000 UTC View PostRoose Bolton stood at the edge of a small grove, half a league away from Last Hearth, his face as cold as the snow swirling in the wind.
He was not pleased.
For the sake of sustaining the war effort against the White Walkers, and ensuring rapid troop movements when needed, the Kingsroad, stretching from the Gift to the Wall, was kept clear of snow even in the depths of winter. Special teams were assigned to this task, working tirelessly to ensure supplies could flow north and re...
Euron was mad—this much even his own supporters would admit. But he was not truly insane or foolish. He would never commit kin-slaying in front of an audience.
Surviving him was easy.
Escaping the fate he had arranged for her—marriage to Erik Ironmaker, a man who, by the law of the Iron Islands, was technically her legitimate husband—was far more difficult. If she wanted to avoid being forcibly sent to House Ironmaker as a docile wife, her best bet was simple: ruin herself...
Pyke was so ancient that no one could say for certain when it had first been built.
It was commonly assumed that, like the Red Keep and Storm’s End, it had originally been constructed as a defensive stronghold. Positioned atop a cliff that jutted into the sea, it was designed so that attackers could only approach from a single direction, forced to fight their way up.
A fine idea in theory—except that the cliffs of this island were not as firm and unyielding as those of the m...
Crimes Against Humanity!
Though none of the five thousand gathered had ever heard this phrase before, the combination of three simple words—"crime," "humanity," and "against"—possessed an intuitive clarity, much like the circulation of gold coins. It required no elaborate explanation for anyone, regardless of their education or cultural background, to instantly grasp its meaning. And so, the moment it was spoken, the entire oath-taking assembly erupted in fervor.
Aegor watch...
The morning after the three vanguard forces of the Night’s Watch ventured beyond the Wall, the skies offered no respite. Snowflakes cascaded from the heavy clouds above, blanketing the world in fine white crystals and shrouding the distant horizon in a foggy gray mist.
The vanguard, which had departed from the three fortresses, cautiously trudged through the snowy expanse of the true North. Following the meticulous plans of the High Command, their mission was to carve a path through ...
The morning after the three vanguard forces of the Night’s Watch ventured beyond the Wall, the skies offered no respite. Snowflakes cascaded from the heavy clouds above, blanketing the world in fine white crystals and shrouding the distant horizon in a foggy gray mist.
The vanguard, which had departed from the three fortresses, cautiously trudged through the snowy expanse of the true North. Following the meticulous plans of the High Command, their mission was to carve a path through ...
The greenseer dutifully made his way to Castle Black to assume his new role, and the Red Priest, Machiro, boarded a ship at Eastwatch without complaint to begin his journey across the Narrow Sea. Along the Wall, the vanguard forces preparing to pave the way for the "expedition" stood ready. Meanwhile, the Gift’s main army had assembled in and around Queenscrown.
The stage had been illuminated by bright lights, awaiting the arrival of its protagonist. For Aegor, this should have been ...
“Now that you’ve got the truth you were looking for, my lord, will you make your decision?” The greenseer showed no intention of seeking Aegor’s comfort after venting his frustrations. After a brief silence to give Aegor time to think, he continued, “I have no interest in the specifics of the task Lady R’hllor has given you, nor will I pry. But I can assure you this: no matter the goal, the power of the Green Sight will be an invaluable asset in achieving it. Say the word, and I a...
2025-01-29 17:00:56 +0000 UTC View PostA thousand years and another thousand? What did that mean?
Aegor and Melisandre exchanged confused glances, entirely clueless about what the greenseer was talking about.
“Heh, the Lady of Light hasn’t mentioned me to you at all, has she?” Seeing the puzzled look on Aegor’s face, Bran knew he had guessed correctly. Though his anger flared again, the thousands of years he had endured tempered his emotions somewhat. After venting with a single outburst, his fury faded, leav...
Using an incredible advantage of foresight and knowledge, he toyed with every opponent, effortlessly sweeping through and crushing the Seven Kingdoms and their schemes. He became the most trusted subordinate of the queen—the man behind Daenerys. By means of indoctrination, he controlled the rightful monarch of the Seven Kingdoms, ultimately establishing a new dynasty under his rule—the True Dragon Dynasty.
A flood of fantasies about a glorious future surged into his mind, nearly dr...
The moment Aegor spotted Bran from afar, he immediately realized that his earlier worries were nothing more than needless fretting.
The two senior priests and the Greenseer resided in the same dormitory district within the inner keep of Crowntown, just a short distance from Aegor's office and living quarters. While Melisandre and Macchoro were healthy and physically fit, Bran was paralyzed and reliant on others to push his wheelchair. Despite such physical limitations, the Greenseer in...
R’hllor’s divine sign did not alarm everyone—in fact, it only stirred a select few.
Within the densely packed buildings of Last Hearth’s inner keep, the daily routines of the ordinary workers and soldiers went on as usual. At the sound of the morning horn, they groggily sat up in bed, yawning, rubbing their bleary eyes, and dressing for the day ahead. The cleaning staff began clearing the ice that had formed overnight, patrol guards marched in formation to maintain order, wareh...
R’hllor chose to communicate with Aegor through dreams for a variety of reasons, but the most critical was efficiency. This method, compared to possession or physical manifestation, was far less taxing and conserved precious divine power—a necessity for the goddess to prepare for her long slumber and the upcoming struggle against the forces of darkness.
From a practical standpoint, “energy-saving” equated to a quieter approach, and indeed, no trace of their interaction within t...
Under identical conditions, people living in colder regions typically keep a greater portion of their bodies covered for longer periods to stay warm. The parts of the body shielded from sunlight often become noticeably paler compared to exposed skin.
As a perfectly normal human being, Aegor was no exception to this biological rule. Under the natural light streaming through the window, the skin on his chest, just below his collarbone, could almost be described as "snow-white"—a delica...
It was just a dream.
That was Aegor’s first thought upon opening his eyes. There was no surprise or emotion behind it, just a faint sense of relief.
Any lucid dreamer skilled enough to master their dreams would inevitably worry about this: what if one day, thinking they were in a dream, they let loose, indulging in all the darkest corners of their humanity, only to find they couldn’t wake up—that they had lost their grip on reality, confusing dreams for life?
That...
R’hllor’s expression turned cold, her head tilting slightly as she fixed Aegor with her luminous, piercing violet eyes. Her gaze bore into him, leaving him with an unsettling chill deep in his chest.
“It seems you’ve misunderstood something—this war against the White Walkers isn’t your noble act of assisting me out of the kindness of your heart. You’re fighting for your survival as a human, not because I asked for your help. I won’t deny that your presence has saved me ...
"Not done yet?" Aegor frowned in mild exasperation.
A great story should end at the right moment, and in Lady R’hllor's tale of apocalyptic calamity, the revelation about the true cause of the eruption of the Fourteen Flames would have been the perfect ending. Even the most thrilling, twist-filled narrative becomes cloying if it drags on too long—like an over-seasoned dish. "It’s obvious that you won that battle in the end," Aegor said, his tone pointed. "Otherwise, humanity woul...