"One," I murmured as I let the arrow fly, watching as it sailed through the air before stabbing into the outer ring of the target."
"Two," Another arrow flew through the air before hitting the inner ring this time, just one short of the centre.
"Three," Another arrow hit the inner ring, but on the opposite side of the second one and a bit further away from the centre.
"Four," Letting loose, I grinned as the arrow stabbed into the centre, but it was not dead in the centre like I was expecting.
"And five," Exhaling softly while shooting the arrow at the same time, I watched as it sung, slicing through the air and stabbing into the centre of the target. Yet, it was not the dead centre as well and was instead right next to the fourth arrow.
"Well, I must say that there are not any boys I know that are as well of a shot as you are."
"I'm sure the royal family has their skilled archers as well, most likely far more skilled than I am," I spoke with a smile as I handed the bow to the knight beside me, turning to see Larys simply smiling and shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, not. Prince Aegon and Prince Aemond are more skilled with the blade than with the bow."
"And what of Princess Rhaenyra's sons? Prince Jacaerys and Prince Lucerys?"
"Unfortunately, it is the same for them. It appears that being a skilled swordsman is all the rave amongst the noble young lords and princes of today."
"Well, I suppose wanting to fight on the backlines is something only a second son would do, my lord. We are the ones that like to make the most of an opportunity, after all," I spoke with a smile, watching as Larys narrowed his eyes ever so slightly before nodding.
"I suppose we are. May I ask why the sudden questioning of the princes?"
"I simply wish to learn more about the family of my betrothed. After all, they will be my family as well and I'd rather learn more about them."
"That is also true."
'Is that all you can say? Or are these simply tests that you're giving me?'
"May I ask you a simple question, Torrhen?"
"I don't believe I'd be able to deny you, my lord. After all, you have given me nothing but warmth, safety and a full belly whilst I am under your roof."
"Is there any truth to your unique…capabilities?"
'Ah, straight to the magic stuff. Now, we're speaking my language.'
"What capabilities are we perhaps referring to here?"
"Your ability to…enchant places to do as you please."
"Well, there is some truth to it," I answered, watching the man raise an eyebrow before I continued.
"I can enchant things, but it's a lot more complicated than just simply making something do as I please. It's a long and tedious process."
'If I didn't have Bran's notes, that is.'
"And if I make a single mistake, the enchantment may in fact lead to…disastrous consequences."
"Have you had one of these consequences?"
"Fortunately, no. The gods, the old and the new, have seen it fit to spare my life with every experiment, but I'd rather not test their patience time and time again."
"That we do not need to do. After all, I'd rather not have Princess Helaena upset at me for being the cause of her betrothed's death."
"…May I ask a question now, Lord Strong?"
"You already have and please, call me Lord Larys. Lord Strong is far too formal for our civil conversation."
"Very well. Lord Larys, may I ask a second question?"
"You have once again."
"…May I ask a third and fourth question, then?", I asked with a thin smile, not surprised to see the thinly veiled amusement dancing in the man's eyes as he nodded.
"Of course. Ask your fourth question," He said while gesturing for me to sit down beside him, which I did as I watched him order the knights to leave us.
"Have you known the members of the royal family for long?"
"I have for a bit of time, yes."
"And what did Princess Helaena think of this betrothal? Truly think, I mean, and not the image she put up to her family," I clarified, watching as the man looked at me before looking up towards Harrenhal with a soft hum.
"Well, I will admit that she did not show much emotions towards the news when her Father, King Viserys, told her. In fact, if I recall correctly, she simply responded with the words, 'The dreams of the dragon and wolf shall be stronger together.'"
'…Okay, so either she knows about my prophetic dreams or she's had one of her own. I'd like to bet it's both of them.'
"The dreams of the dragon and the wolf?"
"You'll have to forgive the princess' words. She tends to speak in riddles and not many understand her."
"I think I'll be able to learn to do so by the time we get to King's Landing," I answered with a smile, Larys lifting an eyebrow slightly at my words before he spoke.
"In any case, there is one requisite before this marriage is allowed to happen. How good is your High Valyrian?"
'Son of a cheese biscuit.'
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"It looks like this is the most ruined out of the five towers," I muttered as I stared at the melted tower in front of me, glancing to the sept to the side that laid in melted ruins before turning back to the tower with a frown.
However, my gaze was more focused on the dark eerie atmosphere surrounding the melted tower, noting the soft wailing and whistling in the air that had appeared just moments after I had stopped in front of it.
'Harren the Black was in the main castle when Balerion burned it down along with his children while his guardsmen were trapped inside this tower when Vhagar and Meraxes burned it down,' I thought as I walked closer, placing a hand on the side of it and surprised at the warmth I felt.
The air of Harrenhal and the riverlands have been cold since I've been here, but the tower itself was like that of a warm stone that had been sitting outside in the spring sun.
'I guess even the heat from Balerion's flames have transcended the passage of time.'
"May I ask what you are doing?", I stopped myself from jumping at the abrupt voice behind me, turning around only to be greeted by what was arguably the most beautiful woman I have seen both in this life and my old one.
It wasn't the type of beauty one could just ignore as it seemed otherworldly, her hair shimmering even in the dim light of the sun that was hidden by the clouds while her skin was fiar and without any blemishes.
'Wow, she is bea-No, this…this feels wrong,' The more I looked at the woman, the more I wanted to know about her, to be with her, to ser-
Slapping myself as hard as I could, I blinked as my mind cleared, looking back at the woman and narrowing my eyes as I saw the amused smile on her face.
She did not seem as beautiful as earlier as I now saw the faint signs of age settling in on her face, a soft laugh escaping her lips as I grumbled and turned back around.
"You know, it's not every day that a male is able to reject my beauty."
"Illusion or Compulsion?"
"A bit of both. Impressive that you noticed," She answered and I took a deep breath before exhaling, turning around and immediately pushing away the compulsion trying to settle in.
This seemed to impress her as I felt the effects growing stronger, but I just smiled through my grimace and spoke.
"I'm guessing the compulsion is fixed to how attracted a person is to you and this strengthens the illusion, which in turn strengthens the compulsion."
"Thus, creating a never-ending cycle of the person becoming more and more devoted to me until they would sacrifice themselves if it would make me happy."
"Yet, none of the people here are falling for you despite the fact that we're in plain sight," I did notice a few guards in the far back, but they looked more distrustful than attracted to her and she smiled before nodding.
"You are quite good for your age. Do not worry. They hear only what I allow them to hear."
"And what are they hearing?"
"How the witch queen of Harrenhal and bastard sister to their lord is busy trying to compel you to join you."
"And what is my response?"
"Considering they haven't marched over to kill me, what do you think?", She asked, to which I glanced at the guards before smiling and shaking my head. The woman looked amused as I watched the guards relax just slightly before I turned my gaze back to her.
"Now, who are you? Truly, I mean."
"Alys Rivers, bastard daughter to Lord Bywin Strong and half-sister to Lord Larys Strong. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"
"Torrhen II Stark, second son of Lord Rickon and Lady Gilliane Stark and younger twin-brother to Cregan Stark, the heir to Winterfell."
"Ah, one who is descended of the greenseers? It is rare to see one who knows how to use their talents."
"I have not met any that can use what you use."
"It is but simple parlor tricks I had taught myself. Now, what I hear of you on the other hand is something I assume you found in the notes of your ancestor. The great Bran the Builder, hmm?"
"One could say that, yes. Now, may I ask why you are here or have you come to meet the great Torrhen the Blessed?"
"The great? Quite the ego you have there, little lord."
"I've been told I should tone it down a fair bit," I answered with a smile, immediately stopping that when I remembered this to be the woman that's been trying to compel you.
"Don't fear. I am no longer trying to compel you, but I must warn you, little lord. You trust quite too easily."
"Yes, that is unfortunately something all of us Northerners struggle with."
"It appears so. As for your earlier question, you are partially correct. I have simply came to see the young warlock of the North for myself. As for the other part, I have come to speak with the fiery spirits that plague Harrenhal and they do adore gathering at this tower."
"Truly?", I asked in surprise, looking back at the tower while narrowing my eyes as I couldn't feel any change in its eerie atmosphere.
"Well, I can't say I can see what you mean."
"That's because you're trying to look with your eyes, little lord. Magic of this world does not follow the rules that everyone else follows. To see the flow of magic, you must abandon your sight."
"And how do you suppose I can come to do that?"
"That is unfortunately something I cannot help you with, but if I may offer some advice? There are two locations you can visit, one in Harrenhal and one across the lake. The spirits there would gladly show you how," She answered cryptically before turning and walking away, the guards making way for her to leave while I watched her leave before turning my gaze back to the tower.
'To see, you must abandon the ability to see. Don't you just love the cryptic messages that comes with the obscure arts of the world?'
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"I do not see the reason for why you would have any need to see the weirwood in our godswood, Torrhen," Larys spoke with narrowed eyes as he hobbled beside me, using my shoulder as support with his cane only after much persistence from me to do so. We were not the only one walking through the godshood as almost two dozen knights were following behind us, a smile on my face as I could feel their boredom.
"You wished to see if there were any other truths to my unique capabilities, did you not my lord?", I asked, not surprised at the slight flinch in his hand on my shoulder as well as his eyes looking at me before we looked forward.
"I did, but I thought you would rather keep such capabilities safe to your chest. You are too kind to trust me with such information."
"The first step to a trusting relationship is to take that leap and show the other person that you trust them with vital information. Is that not true, Lord Larys?"
"I believe it is."
"Then, see it as me wanting to form a trusting relationship with you, my lord."
'Besides, you aren't going to see anything at all. If anything, you're probably going to see me meditate and pray under the tree at most,' I thought as we reached the centre of the woods, staring at the snow white bark of the heart tree while its red leaves slowly fell down around us.
"Now then, allow me to see this…magic of yours," Larys spoke and I bowed my head before walking over to the heart tree, noting the look of hatred on the face carved into it.
Reaching forward to touch the cheek of the weirwood, I smiled as I felt the energy of the tree dancing at my touch, cupping my hand under its eye to catch the drop of bright red sap it had before downing it in one gulp.
"Old Gods who watch with a thousand eyes, let your whispers pass through bark and bone. Let your will pass through blood and breath. As I drink the red sap, memory made flesh, let me dream as you dream. Past the veil of now beneath the skin of the world.
Show me the paths beneath the snow, the ghosts in the mist and the storm yet to come. Bind me to leaf and shadow, to root and raven so that I carry your sight as blade and balm," I whispered the chants that I had studied in Bran the Builder's journal, immediately feeling the energy in the sap coursing through my body while closing my eyes with a gasp.
Opening my eyes once again, I found myself no longer in Harrenhal. In its place, I stood in a snow-covered forest under a sky split between day and night, a thousand red leaves drifted in the wind like bloody feathers.
That was not all as the trees here were tall, all weirwood with sap dripping down their faces as they watched me with wide red eyes. Some were grimacing, some glaring and some smiled, but all of them watched before I turned my gaze to the tree in the centre.
It was a great weirwood tree, larger than even the tallest of Harrenhal's tower and its roots connecting to every tree as its gaze was focused on me.
'Well, I suppose I need to walk,' I thought as I began making my way to the tree, the snow not even crunching under my feet as a mist began to settle in.
In it, I could see large wolves with eyes like rubies, the shadow of a stag with a crown, a pale child with striking icy-blue eyes and numerous ravens that cawed above.
Moments later, as I stopped in front of the gigantic tree, I saw the ravens landing on the branches of the tree, all of them silent as I heard a voice rumbling in my head.
"Torrhen, Stark of the North. You drink of the tree and you dream our dream. What do you seek?"
"I seek to understand, to see and to learn what I can do to make sure that the Others do not win," Normally, I would not care for the world around me and just try to figure out a way to power, but considering that I'm dealing with the ASOIAF universe and not the Game of Thrones one, that meant that it was less of the White Walkers and more like the actual Others of the stories.
Actual ice wights and necromancers that had an army of undead numbered in the millions upon millions that they have grown in the millennia that they have been in hiding.
That was not something the average army of Westeros or the world could handle, which means that I needed to get some way to either get rid of them or permanently seal their army away forever.
Whichever one comes easiest.
"Then see and remember. All things live again in time, even fire and ice and shadow and ruin," The tree rumbled before its bark split open like flesh, my eyes wide as a thousand scenes bloomed before my eyes.
Dragons fell from the skies by the dozens, their riders screaming as blue flames consumed them. A boy in chains of ice knelt beneath the shadow of a crowned corpse, its eyes sparkling like stars and its skin as dark as a storm.
I saw myself and a young woman with silver hair and amethyst-coloured eyes walking barefoot across a field of ash, a dragon of bronze and one of silver following behind us. I saw a direwolf howling at a blood-red moon, a crown of thorns on its brow while every tree in its vicinity knelt to him.
Just as quickly as the visions appeared, they vanished and I stumbled back from the heart tree. Catching myself before I could fall over, the sap still burned on my tongue as I turned around, not surprised to see the knights all standing wide-eyed with their hands on the hilts of their swords while a calculative look was in Larys' eyes.
"What happened?"
"Your eyes turned red and your shadow…it was not yours," He answered and I looked at my shadow before shaking my head as I stood up straight.
"I see. Well, do you believe me now, my lord?", I asked, unable to hide my small smile as the man just looked at me before turning and walking away.
Yeah, that's to be expected. At least, I got something good out of this.
A/N: And we end it here~! A bit more mystical things and visions before we move on to King's Landing.
Also, I know it's been a lot of mystical stuff, but I'm just getting this out of the way because it will be a political fiesta once we get to King's Landing and no actual time for the magic.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…
Ba-Bye~!