Chapter 20 - The Wall (II)

Chapter 20 - 20 - The Wall (II)"You love surprises or you hate them. I hate it with all my might, but maybe it's because I can see the future and I've gotten used to expecting what's to come." Aenar Targaryen said to Tyrion Lannister.

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Kraner swallowed as he caught sight of the three-eyed raven. Ancient legends invaded his mind as his hands began to sweat, despite the cold that surrounded him. Legends of a green seer from the Children of the Forests.

"Don't worry, he doesn't eat people... or at least, I don't think so," commented Jon, with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

As for the Three-Eyed Raven, he had never met this relative before. He had only sensed, at one time, someone trying to get a glimpse of his future - an arduous and, one might say, potentially deadly task.

Jon, however, already knew the identity of the man behind the raven.

Brynden Rivers - one of the Great Bastards of Westeros and illegitimate son of Aegon IV.

The raven flew elegantly through the air, landing on Jon's shoulder. Its three eyes stared at him deeply and calmly, not like an ordinary bird, but like someone endowed with true consciousness, it was a human who looked out from behind the raven's eyes.

Jon ignored the fear on the faces of the three Savages in front of him, concentrating only on the crow perched on his shoulder.

"Hello, great-uncle," Jon greeted with a smile. Brynden's arrival was an unexpected but welcome surprise.

The crow cawed, as if in reply, before taking flight again, landing next to the three Savages.



"I apologize for disturbing you, but I need you to guide these people to Mance Rayder," said Jon, fixing his eyes on the raven, who was now analyzing the three brothers with an intense and enigmatic gaze.

Unlike Jon, the three Savages felt nothing but fear and dread before those frightening eyes.

"As you can see, you can return without danger. If you want, you can even bring more people. Consider it an additional reward for your services," declared Jon, looking directly at Kraner. His voice was calm, but carried a majesty that made the man, already over forty, fidget uncomfortably.

Faced with that regal gaze, Kraner weighed up his options: accept and live or refuse and die. The choice was obvious to anyone who valued life.

"We accept," he answered quickly. At that moment, he just wanted to be as far away as possible from this southern cub. He'd never seen anything so scary before, even the White Walkers weren't as scary as a boy who seemed to know something about them.

Jon nodded and took out a sheet of yellowed paper and a charcoal pencil from his bag. Something more refined would be ideal, but the North was far from offering the luxury of Essos. After about fifteen minutes of writing, Jon drew a three-headed dragon at the bottom of the sheet.

He then rolled up the paper and secured it with a small malleable twig. Although it wasn't a parchment fit for a king, Jon didn't mind, he had to use what he had in his hands at the moment.

Watching the three savages leave with his great-uncle, Jon smiled, although it was an unusual meeting, he liked how it turned out. With the letter sent from Mance Rayder, he could save time and weaken the undead army led by the Night King by at least a few hundred thousand potential recruits.

Letting out a sigh, Jon closed his eyes and began to dream. He knew that the moment he entered the dream world, he would meet his grand-uncle, Brynden.

As Jon imagined, as soon as he opened his eyes, he found himself in front of a gigantic tree with a trunk as pale as bone and crimson leaves, a deformed, weeping face could be found carved into the throne, weeping what looked like blood.

It was a Weirwood.

Jon soon focused on the roots of the Weirwood where a withered, pale man could be seen. White hair fell in disarray to the sides as the smell of the forest emanated from the man. One of his eyes was empty, showing the eyeless eye socket.

He wore black leather armor and a long, worn cloak over his shoulders. Roots wrapped around his body as if he were part of the Weirwood.

"We met in person, Uncle Grandpa." Jon greeted the man again, his lips curved into an amused smile, noticing that the man was trying to see into his future.

"Nephew... who I never saw coming... you look just like your father..." Brynden spoke, his voice as hoarse as could be expected from a man a hundred and eighteen years old.

"That's a compliment given that my father was the most handsome man on the continent." Jon shrugged as he looked curiously at his surroundings.



He knew that this landscape was Beyond the Wall, a very beautiful place, although the giant ice spiders and the undead could affect the experience of visiting the place.

Brynden let out a laugh hearing the smugness in the boy's tone, he never thought he would laugh again in this life, but here he was, smiling with his family after a long time.

"It seems you have the Gift to be a Green Seer." Brynden said, looking at the boy with white-gold hair and purple eyes, very handsome, more handsome than any other Targaryen. He looked like a Valyrian Pureblood.

Sitting down on the floor, Jon replied in a calm, confident tone. "In terms of seeing the future, there is no one more powerful than me, that I can say."

Brynden didn't deny it and looked deeply at his great-nephew. Ten years ago he could no longer see the future as clearly as before, only vague images of the future.

Previously, he had tried to find the source of the interruption of the Green Dreams, but when he tried to see, there was only a gigantic blue and silver vortex floating in the immensity of the void.

But he suffered the brunt of seeing something he wasn't supposed to, his other eye was badly damaged and if it hadn't been for the help of Leaf and the other Children of the Forest, he would have lost another eye.

If Jon had heard Brynden's description, he would have known that the man was talking about the Time-Space Nexus, he would have been even more surprised that Brynden had managed to survive in front of the most chaotic and anarchic place in the universe.

"Since you claim to see the future, I assume you already knew what was coming?" Brynden asked, changing the whole atmosphere of the room, becoming serious and almost suffocating.

"Yes." Jon's face also became serious. He was under a lot of pressure. Taking the throne, dealing with an army of undead and surviving a few years without sunlight and all in less than a decade!

Only he knew how much pressure he was feeling at the moment, he would have loved to play on easy mode, but the world automatically chose Dark Souls mode.

"What do you plan to do?" Brynden didn't speak his own opinions about the future, instead asking about his nephew's opinions.

"Take the throne, fight the undead army and live a comfortable and enjoyable long life." Jon answered with an indifferent expression, he himself knew that his own words were just self-deception, especially the last part about the long and comfortable life, he would indeed have a long life, but a long life full of problems.

Brynden's lips twitched when he heard his nephew casually refer to the war that had decided the future of humanity. A world of ruins or the survival of the human race.

Noticing Brynden's small movements, Jon didn't need to be a mind reader to know what the man was thinking. "Don't worry, Uncle. I have a dragon, an army of fanatics, although the situation may seem extremely dangerous, I'm preparing for my reconquest in the year 296."

Jon's words made Brynden show an expression of surprise. He ignored the other names and focused on the most important one.

"Dragon?" Perhaps because he was a Targaryen, the name dragon had an irresistible charm for any Targaryen. It was like a yearning from the bottom of his heart, pulsing like a strong desire to possess something that every Targaryen should have the right to own.



"Yes, my brother and fellow warrior, Caraxes." Jon rolled his eyes at Brynden's gaze, almost like a child listening to a favorite story. Although he could understand the longing in the man's eyes, only a dragon rider knows how wonderful the bond between rider and dragon is.

Waving his hand, the dream world began to change and a huge beast appeared before them. Brynden held his breath at the sight of the huge crimson beast.

It was a dragon!

Caraxes at this moment was much bigger than four years ago, his length had grown from 20 meters (65 feet) to 51 meters (167 feet). He had twice that number of wingspan, with his wings fully spread.

In all honesty, Caraxes' growth exceeded Jon's expectations, but the rapid growth brought some difficulties, which were easily overlooked by thinking about the dragon's growth rate. The bigger Caraxes, the better for Jon, who could easily intimidate some dishonest people.

However, the amount of food the dragon was eating was no joke, Jon had heard reports of a huge beast flying over Ice Bay and whale carcasses left on the beach. It was obvious that Caraxes was dining on whales at night.

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