Chapter 54: Explanation and Reflection
Whether she sensed the murderous intent radiating from the man or simply felt herself in the wrong, the casual air on Melisandre's face faded. She stared into Egger's eyes in silence for a moment before her lips suddenly curved upward. "Very well."
The Night's Watch was the backbone of the struggle against the Great Other's ancient foe, and Egger was the first member of the black-clad brotherhood she had encountered since arriving in Westeros. Even if she looked down upon mortals, she ultimately decided not to alienate a potentially vital ally so quickly.
The Red Woman turned and led him toward two chairs in the corner of the room, motioning for him to sit. "Ask then. So long as my Lord does not forbid it, I shall tell you all I know."
Egger offered no pleasantries and strode to a chair. "You said I carry the aura of alien gods. What is that about?"
"To be precise, you carry two. One is thick with malice, yet incredibly faint. The other contains a remnant of immense power, yet harbors no ill intent... Generally speaking, it is a miracle you are alive today."
"Why would I have these two auras?" Egger asked, half-doubting. He was a materialist, but this was not his original world, and the woman before him had displayed power he could not explain. Even if he didn't believe in the supernatural, he had to adopt a cautious "better safe than sorry" attitude toward her words. "I am just an ordinary soldier of the Night's Watch."
"No, you are not. I just saw in the flames the scene of you battling a servant of the Great Other. You were valiant; it is rare for a mortal to slay such a magical creature. The moment you killed that thing, you ceased to be an ordinary Watchman—you became one who has drawn the Great Other's gaze." Melisandre waved a hand, signaling the guard to leave and close the door. "The malicious aura is a remnant from that battle. Because of it, should you ever step back into the perception of the Great Other or its servants, you will be discovered far faster than your brothers."
Egger's heart chilled, both at her ability to see his past with just a few drops of blood and at the content of her warning. He was being watched by the Great Other—but what the hell was 'the Great Other'? A nickname for the Night King? Wait, did she truly see him killing a White Walker in the flames, or had Eddard Stark or Jeor Mormont mentioned it in a letter to Stannis, which she then intercepted?
...
"And the other 'powerful' aura?" Egger asked calmly, his mind churning. "I did kill a White Walker, but that was the strongest foe I've ever faced. I only won by luck because it underestimated me. If that battle only left a 'faint' trace of malice, then what kind of monster must I have fought to carry an aura you consider 'powerful'?"
"That is what puzzles me. The entity that left the other aura upon you is far weaker than the Great Other, yet the mark left behind is strikingly clear. Theoretically, such an anomaly only forms if you directly clashed with—or even stood in confrontation against—the deity itself. Yet, as a mortal, it is impossible for you to remain whole after a battle with such a being. More strangely still, the vision I saw in the flames was this: a young boy falling from a great height. If you want me to explain further, you must first tell me—what happened there?"
"Don't you see everything? Why do I need to tell you?"
"Gleaning the past from the flames is not as miraculous as you imagine." Melisandre waited for Egger to settle into his chair before sitting opposite him. "I cast your blood into the fire and saw things—but in that step, it is not your blood that acts, but the two powers contained within it. The malicious aura was weak, granting me only a few brief images. I saw your clash with the servant of the Great Other—the one you Crows call a White Walker—where you both nearly perished, and the moment you drove the dragonglass into its gut. Though that was all, it was enough to explain everything. The other aura is the opposite; it is so intense that it allowed me to see several continuous sequences. You were running about, speaking to a boy on a rooftop, and finally, he fell. I cannot hear your conversation, nor can I discern what this has to do with a god. That is why I require your account. What exactly were you doing?"
"I was trying to stop..." Egger explained, frowning, when a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind. A single term crowded out all other thoughts: The Three-Eyed Raven!
...
A tidal wave of shock surged through the transmigrator's heart. Failing to stop Bran's fall was embarrassing, but it had taught him a lesson: interfering with the plot required subtlety; one could not simply charge in with brute force.
Egger had always prided himself on learning from failure. But hearing Melisandre today, was it possible his failure to change the outcome wasn't due to poor planning, but because he was working against a powerful entity?
It was like the stock market: no matter how god-like a retail investor's maneuvers were, they couldn't stop a major institution from harvesting them. And no matter how much capital or influence a major institution had, they would never dare go head-to-head with the government. When the levels of play were this lopsided, the result wasn't even a question!
Bran's fall wasn't a coincidence; someone, or some God, had moved heaven and earth to make it happen!
The prime suspect was the Three-Eyed Raven. But why did he need Bran to fall? Was the boy unable to travel beyond the Wall to inherit the mantle unless he was a cripple? And that day, the two Lannisters had acted like they were possessed, trysting in the First Keep right in front of him, and the Stark boy had been hell-bent on climbing to the top to feed the crows. Was all of it the Three-Eyed Raven's doing?
Seeing Egger hesitate, his expression shifting as he fell into deep thought, Melisandre assumed he was hiding something. A shadow of irritation flickered across her beautiful face. "Brother of the Watch, I have been quite rude. I haven't even asked your name."
"You can call me Egger."
"Then, Egger, if you know something, it is best that you tell me."
The priestess was still human; she had her own first impressions of the things she heard. Unlike the common folk of Westeros who didn't believe in the Others, in her eyes, the Night's Watch standing on the front lines against the darkness were all hard men. Thus, after some consideration, she decided to try the soft approach. "The two gods who left their marks upon you have little power in the south, but they are beings who could crush you with a flick of a finger. Now, only the Lord of Light can protect you."
Egger hesitated. He didn't know if the Gods of this world were truly omnipotent, transcendent beings as the legends suggested, or merely more powerful lifeforms that had mastered magic. But regardless of which it was, one thing was certain: the Lord of Light, also known as the Red God, was one of the undeniably real and extraordinary forces in this world.
If he had to cling to a thigh for protection, R'hllor's was certainly thick enough. Under normal circumstances, becoming a believer wouldn't be a bad choice. But Egger faced a problem: he wasn't an ordinary man. He held too many secrets. As the saying goes, 'An ordinary man is innocent, but carrying a treasure makes him a target'. If he recklessly threw himself into a god's embrace—if they could cooperate openly, that would be fine. But what if this God coveted the vast knowledge in his head or was curious about the wider world beyond this one? If they wanted to squeeze every bit of information out of him before discarding or silencing him, he would have no power to resist.
He couldn't even handle a single priestess; he had no standing to bargain with any entity in this realm. Until he had the strength to sit at the same table, placing his life in the hands of a being he didn't understand was far from wise.
Furthermore, he had to consider the identity he had crafted: an outsider who had crossed the Sunset Sea. To have integrated into Westerosi society so quickly was already rare—how could he also speak of ancient mysteries that even the locals didn't know?
In this cold, cruel world where incomprehensible supernatural powers existed, a little caution was absolutely the right move.
Egger feigned a confused expression and organized his words. "That was during King Robert's visit to the North. I had traveled south to accompany First Ranger Benjen Stark to report on the Wildlings and White Walkers to the Warden of the North. That day, I was training alone in a corner of Winterfell when I saw Lord Stark's second son climbing the walls. I feared he would fall, so I tried to talk him down... but the boy wouldn't listen. In the end, he was startled by someone sticking their head out of the First Keep and fell. By any measure, it looks like an accident. If I offended a god in the process, does that mean some god wanted Bran to die or be crippled? What would be the point of that?"
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