Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Origin of the Night King
Time passed by quickly, Aiden and his group had varied success at convincing multiple clans to relocate. Seeing that Spawn and the others were able to handle things without him, Spawn had grown in strength himself and was able to fly Val and Ygritte around with ease, Aiden left them to it.
Aiden returned to Bear Island to spend time with Dacey, their wedding was coming up and Aiden wanted to ensure the defenses were in place for the island. He was receiving regular updates on the situation in the south.
Jaime, as predicted, had been made a general of Tywin's army along with Barristan, so they were able to direct Tywin's focus towards the Vale to hinder Petyr's plans as much as possible.
Varys had also began to enact his own plans towards the throne. He had convinced Tywin to hire the Golden Company, who was in Essos, to bolster his army. Tywin had eventually agreed after seeing that it wasn't so easy to move his own navy around thanks to the Greyjoy fleet.
The Golden Company had a extremely good reputation, it was one of the best and largest mercenary groups in Essos. They always completed their contracts and never backed out no matter what happened, even if the contract ended up being more difficult than what was originally thought, they never abandoned the task.
However, what most people didn't know was that the Golden Company was created by what remained of the Blackfyre line. After losing to the Targaryens during their rebellion they were exiled to Essos. So Varys planned to use the current war to get the Blackfyres back onto the board.
Once they had earned Tywin's trust, they could easily do away with him and the rest of the Lannisters. Varys knew that once they revealed their true identity that the south would easily be able to be brought back together, at least the Vale, Crownlands, and Stormlands.
The reason for this was that many houses in those region were Blackfyre loyalists, in fact the Baratheons were descendants of the Blackfyre line of the Targaryens. There were also a few houses in the Riverlands, Westerlands, and the Reach that had sided with the Blackfyres during the Blackfyre Rebellion, so Varys knew it could turn the tide against the Targaryens.
Gerion Lannister was making moves as well, he was able to coordinate with the Reach and Riverlands to ensure that they knew what lords would cause the most issues when he openly took power over the Westerlands. This allowed them to begin making excursions into the Westerlands to remove these pieces from the board.
Doran Martell had sided with Stannis, coming to an agreement that Dorne would assist him against the Lannisters. Doran wanted Joffrey's and Cersei's heads for the death of his two children. Part of the agreement for their helping Stannis was that Dorne would maintain its independence, much like how it did when the Targaryens ruled the realm.
Euron Greyjoy too had changed tactics, he sailed much of his fleet to Essos, he needed to capture more Thralls and Salt Wives for his men to keep up moral, he was also after an alliance with the Golden Company. The Drowned God had came to him in his dreams and told him of the Golden Companies true identity, so he saw an opportunity to gain power.
In the Vale, Petyr Baelish had also began to slowly poison Lysa Arryn, he wanted her gone so that he could control Robin Arryn much more than he could currently. Petyr was also slowly beginning to manipulate Catelyn, feeding her false information on what was happening in the north.
The High Sparrow too had began to grow the Faith Militant with the aid of Petyr Baelish, many of the people in the Vale were devout follows of the Seven, including the houses located on the islands of the Three Sisters, so the High Sparrow did make a trip into the Vale.
The Citadel had remained quiet, after learning of not only the failure of the Warlocks but also the complete destruction of the House of the Undying, they began to make preparations to ensure the survival of their order by leaving the Citadel on research missions. They didn't want to all be in one place, in case the Targaryens decided to deal with them.
As Aiden flew over Bear Island he could see the festive atmosphere of the people. Their economic situation was taking a turn for the better as of late thanks to Aiden, it wasn't just them but all the north was seeing vast improvements.
They were taught new farming techniques as well as receiving genetically modified seeds from Aiden which allowed them to increase their food output all over the north. Bear Island especially since Aiden had shown them how to create fertilizer using the various fish carcasses and other waste.
This allowed them to begin to sell this fertilizer to not only the north, but even Essos was interested in this magical ingredient that drastically improved a crops quality and quantity greatly.
Landing within the courtyard of Mormont Keep, Aiden was welcomed by the sight of the Mormonts all training along with many of their warriors. He couldn't help but observe Dacey's figure as she lead the group in exercises that Aiden had taught her which would improve their speed and endurance in battle.
"Aiden! Your back!" Dacey's youger sister, Jorelle Mormont or Jory for short, shouted as she ran over to greet him. As soon as she got near Aiden she lept onto him and latched on like a Kuala bear and began climbing up to his shoulders.
Aiden couldn't help but chuckle at the excitable and energetic girl. Jory was five years old and was already training with her older sisters Dacey, Alysane, and Lyra. Aiden could tell she was going to be a handful wether on or off the battlefield when she got older.
"Yes, yes I am back little bear cub. You would think I have honey in my hair the way you always climb onto my shoulders." Aiden chuckled as he responded.
He was amazed by how she was able to climb up his body with such ease, he liked the little girl, she was full of life and bit mischievous, she reminded him of his aunt Daenerys. Like all the other Mormont girls, she dressed like a boy, hardly ever wearing dresses except when the situation called for it.
"I want to go flying! Take me flying around the island." Jory stated as she took up her position on top of his shoulders.
Just as Aiden was about to agree Alysane shouted, "Don't even think about it Jory! You haven't completed your training, had you not messed around all morning with your pranks on the guards, you would've already been done."
Hearing this Aiden shook his head and picked Jory off his shoulders and placed her on the ground then replied, "After you finish what your supposed to do I can take you flying, ok." Aiden ruffled her hair as he spoke to her.
Puffing out her cheeks in annoyance, Jory let out a sigh, "Fine, but you have to take me to see a shark and a whale when we go."
"As you wish my Lady." Aiden said with a playful bow.
Jory pumped her fist in excitement then ran off to quickly complete her training. Alysane just shook her head at her sisters antics and gave Aiden a nod hello before following after her sister to ensure she completed her daily routine.
"About time you showed up, thought maybe you were getting cold feet." Dacey walked over with a smile.
Aiden couldn't help but admire her beauty, she was all sweaty from her training but that only highlighted her toned body even more as the sweat glistened in the suns light.
"Never, just been busy handling a few things is all. Been trying to limit the Others ability to increase their numbers too much, or at least thru killing the living. Its actually quite shocking how many bodies are under the ground but I have been cremating them as I go." Aiden replied with a sigh.
Beyond the wall the temperature was so cold it basically mummified and preserved the corpses of the dead much longer than anywhere else. So even with what Spawn and the others were doing the White Walkers still had access to a formidable army.
The White Walkers were special existences and were just below the Night King himself, originally their were only twelve in total, that was how many the Night Queen had birthed for the Night King back during the age of the Long Night.
However now there were many more thanks to Craster, when providing his newborn sons as an offering to the Others, more were able to be created. This is what became of the babes left out in the woods by Craster, a White Walker would receive the baby boy and it would convert the child into a White Walker, then the babe would be brought into the domain of the Night King.
Craster pumped out more and more babies each year, as he had more daughters and they came of age, he would have three to five pregnant all at once. He basically was a White Walker factory for the Others.
He wasn't the only one to make such a deal with the Others, he was just the more perverse one. Generally those that did make the same deal didn't begin to impregnate their own daughters like Craster did.
Instead they just gave up one son per year that was born from their tribe to keep the undead at bay, some even attacked other villages and captured baby boys to be offered rather than giving up their own.
Rather than being killed then resurrected like the Wights, these babes were transformed into magical creatures themselves. They didn't remain children, they could grow up and become adults, in fact due to this process they actually grew much faster than a normal human child.
"I understand, it's hard to believe that those stories are all true. I used to think that they were all destroyed by King Brandon Stark, but now that I look back at the stories, I noticed that it was I who had changed the wording. It doesn't say they were destroyed, it only says that they were defeated." Dacey said with a complicated look on her face.
The story of the Night King was very well known in the North, although much of the story had been lost to time, which was purposely done. The reason for this was because of the identity of the Night King, after Brandon the Breaker, son of Brandon the Builder who was the first King of the North, defeated the Night King he stripped all records of who he was.
The Night Kings real name was Bran Stark, younger brother to Brandon the Breaker, and was the 13th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and Lord of Nightfort Castle on the Wall which is the oldest of the nineteen castles that make up the Wall.
You see the Night King wasn't the first of the Others like many believed him to be. He came later, and became much more powerful than the original that was created by the Children of the Forest. The first Other created by Leaf had been defeated by the allied forces of First Men, Giants, and the Children of the Forest.
The story goes that Bran Stark, while out on the Wall had saw a beautiful maiden on the other side of the wall. It was said she had skin as white as the moon and as cold as ice to the touch, her eyes were like blue stars, Bran instantly fell in love with her the moment he first laid eyes on her.
So he went beyond the wall and brought her back to his castle, the Nightfort, and then proceeded to name himself the Night's King and the woman his Night's Queen. When he made love to her, not only did she take his seed, she also took his soul, making him just like herself.
After that night Bran gained a boon in sorcery and ice magic in particular thanks to his heritage as a Stark. He then proceeded to use sorcery to bend his fellow Night's Watch brothers to his will, using his newfound powers. He then proceeded to rule the Wall and the area around the Gift as his own, having the Night's Watch begin to make offerings to the Others in the form of human sacrifices, and he too began to create White Walkers with the woman he had named his Queen.
She birthed him many White Walkers herself, since she was a magical entity and not human, she didn't have to wait nine months to give birth to Bran's children, and she didn't have to wait a few months to get pregnant again. Every few months she would birth a White Walker using Bran's seed as well as the Heart Tree to create more thru human sacrifices.
Eventually King Brandon the Breaker teamed up with Joraman, the King Beyond the Wall to defeat his brother the Night King and his Queen, breaking the sorcery which enslaved the Night's Watch to their will. They had thought that they killed the Night King and the woman who became known as the Corpse Queen but they didn't, they mearly injured them both severly.
After their loss, the Corpse Queen brought the Night King to the Land of Always Winter where the original King of the Others was recuperating from his war, that was when the Night King subverted his rule and killed the original with ease, he was much more powerful since he was descended directly from Brandon the Builder.
After taking over as King of the Others, the Night King had used the help of the Corpse Queen to build a barrier at the entrance to the Land of Always Winter and began to recuperate from his injuries.
This is why the Night King hated the Starks the most, he felt it was his right to rule over the North since he was more powerful than his brother. But for a long time he left the lands south of him alone, content with the large swath of land that he took over from the original King of the Others.
It wasn't until Bryden Rivers began to invade into his mind, showing him visions of his and his wife's end within his own lands that he began to start sending his forces south to build up a large army. He thought that the living would invade no matter what, so he decided to strike first.
Unlike him and his wife the Corpse Queen, who didn't have the weakness towards the Wall's magic or to salt water, his White Walkers and Wights were vulnerable to both so he knew he would need an extremely large army to bring down the Wall his father built all those years ago.
This was also why in the original timeline he was able to bring down the Wall so easily, it wasn't just because he had the use of an undead dragon. He had intimate knowledge of the Wall, where its magic was weakest, he was there when his father built it.
"Well like I've said to you before, many stories that are thought to be just that, have an inkling of truth to them, though over time they have been exaggerated enough times that they actually become mythical and almost unbelievable. But if you get rid of many of the exaggerated parts to those stories you can usually find the truth. Most stories that are passed down thru the ages are warnings, whether it be to warn you of what can happen after performing certain acts, or of natural disasters that could repeat itself in the future." Aiden explained to Dacey as he shared a moment alone with her.
"That makes since. So you do plan on sticking around now that our wedding is set to be within the next moon, right?" Dacey said while giving him a look that told him he better say yes.
With a chuckle Aiden replied, "Absolutely, as long as nothing crazy happens, I'm all yours."
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