[Chapter Size: 3100 Words.]

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Thrid Person POV

Essos, 296 AC.

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Jon had just stepped back onto the main ship, arriving with his men. Everyone there was waiting for his arrival, while those who accompanied him were right behind him, having passed through a screening to avoid bringing diseases onto the ship.

“Finally, we’re here!” Wind exclaimed right behind Jon, heading to meet her family who was waiting for her.

“You make it sound like this stop was more interesting than you expected,” Arya asked her friend.

“Jon tamed an ancient mythical animal… it was amazing! Although I wasn’t there, everyone talked about how Jon saved a woman from being sacrificed to the prehistoric beast!” Wind said excitedly.

“Is that true, Jon?” Ygritte asked, standing next to Rhaenys as Jon approached them to greet them.

“More or less,” Jon replied. “I can tell that story later, but first, let’s get the fleet back on course.”

Everyone was finally boarding the main ship, even the two royal guards, who were now much better. Their skin was finally starting to heal, although they needed rest, as the affected area would be removed before their bodies began to regenerate fully. Despite the scar that would remain, they would be fine.

Some men saw Jon and made a few jokes as he talked with his family. His new son was cradled in Rhaenys’s arms, with the gray dragon at her feet, along with the other thirteen dragons waiting nearby.

Jon chatted with the girls for a while, then went back to giving orders with his chief captain for all the ships as they began to align again to continue the journey.

Jon spent the next few days in the same routine he had been following, even training more with his men and sister, as he wanted to perfect his swordsmanship with katanas, fighting alongside various royal guards.

As his fleet advanced toward the region of Great Moraq, an island near the continent separating the Summer Sea and the Jade Sea, he noticed not only the sea division but also a similar division on land. A mountain range extended from the extreme north to the far south, separating the Dothraki Sea on the western side of the continent from the eastern side, where the Great Sand Sea lay, along with the Plains of the Jogos Nhai, above the vast country of Yi Ti. This area was notably one of the few non-desert lands in eastern Essos, alongside a few other sparse locations.

Leaving aside Essos’s structure, the ships began entering the area known as the Cinnamon Straits. This region comprised several scattered islands, some impressively large, even larger than Stepstones, though surrounded by the sea between Great Moraq and Sothoryos.

At the same time, they were now sailing in unfamiliar lands. The Arctic flag, unknown in these parts of the world, drew attention. Many merchant ships that crossed these waters, passing by small villages or even heading to major cities in the region, noticed the fleet. When they saw the fleet’s sheer number of large ships, some pirates, who would usually seek riches by robbing and seizing vessels, thought twice about it, turning back at the sight of over 400 ships in the sea, which looked more like an invasion than anything else.

This movement sparked rumors in the coastal cities Jon passed by, or where ships that had spotted the fleet docked, leaving many people concerned. Fishermen reported the large fleet in the sea, suspecting it could be an attempt at conquest, given the unfamiliar flag.

However, Jon’s fleet did not stop at any of those cities, islands, or places accessible from those waters. They only skirted the area around the islands and south of Great Moraq, heading eastward before turning north toward their next stop, Yin.

After several weeks, the ships were finally heading toward the famous Jade Sea, known for its islands and the powerful Kingdom of Yi Ti, the largest realm on this side of the world.

“Incredible! Look at this water; it’s beginning to take on a deep teal-green color… How is that possible?” Daenerys murmured in awe, standing at the bow of the ship beside Jon. The lead ship of the fleet, of course, was the first to enter the Jade Sea, and the name, as they noticed, was quite literal, with the color of the waters matching its name.

Jon held his newborn son in his arms. It had been two moons since the boy’s birth. He still needed his mother frequently for nursing, but Jon held him whenever he could, making up for what he couldn’t do with Jon and Lyanna due to needing to undertake this journey before finally staying in Artica.

The dragons followed him, unsurprisingly, with all thirteen gathered at his feet as he stood with Daenerys. They were always close by, divided between Jon or his son, while Rhaenys and Daenerys kept their own dragons by their sides.

Ygritte, meanwhile, was beginning to show a noticeable belly; their child was developing well, and it was already clear it would be a boy. The fleet’s routine remained intense, and more than three weeks had passed since they had left Sothoryos.

This delay was significant, as, at certain points in the journey, pirates attempted to ambush the more distant ships. At one point, the ship carrying the forge, being towed by others, was attacked by 20 pirate ships, as the pirates assumed it contained a great treasure—something so shiny and heavy that it even made the ship list in the water. But in the end, for the first time in these parts of the world, wildfire was witnessed as all the pirate ships exploded in a spectacular display of light and green flames.

Back on deck with Jon, his son, dragons, and his aunt, he looked at the color of the sea with interest. “It’s truly impressive…” Jon admitted, showing the landscape to his son, who looked curiously but without much understanding.

“We’ll still be a few weeks from Yi Ti, and it seems Serume doesn’t like the algae that make the sea look green, as they release some substances into the water to give it that color… But at least there are more currents here, so we’ll reach our next stop faster.”

Jon talked a bit more with Daenerys, then invited her to accompany him to his cabin, where he handed his son to Rhaenys for nursing. The dragons settled on the bed in the room, and Jon went over to Ygritte, who was painting in a corner, to look at her paintings and read a book.

He spent the next few days in anticipation of finally reaching Yin and witnessing one of the oldest kingdoms in the world, as Yi Ti had stood since the Age of Heroes.

The feat of traveling from Westeros to the Far East was rare—only the legendary Corlys Velaryon, nearly two hundred years ago, had reached Yi Ti from Westeros as the only recorded Westerosi to do so. Jon would be the second man in Westerosi history to achieve such a feat.

What he didn’t know was that the country was now in the midst of a war, and the presence of the Articans there would soon become a historic milestone for those lands as the fleet of more than 450 ships advanced through the Jade Sea.

As the fleet disappeared into the Jade Sea, heading northeast to Yin, thousands of miles away to the west, back in Westeros, and to the north beyond the Wall, a group of 16,000 men continued to wander through that land of ice and dark creatures.

They had begun their journey passing by the area of Craster’s Keep. The Night’s Watch members accompanying the group made initial contact with Craster and then proceeded north without further incident, after the man who married his own daughters shared what little he knew—which, unfortunately, didn’t help the group much.

Craster knew little about the Articans, although he had heard some rumors from other wildlings passing through the region. He could never have imagined that the boy he had once tricked by exchanging common but well-crafted steel for an old map over seven years ago would become the very person they were now searching for.

Without realizing it, he had become the target of a powerful king after all these years, for Jon had never forgotten what that man did to him. Although the boy hadn’t bothered seeking revenge until now, as he hadn’t visited that region since his last trip to the Wall.

Even so, Jon still intended to visit that man one day; after all, there was a debt between them. He wouldn’t condemn him to death, as the crime didn’t warrant such a sentence, but perhaps his fortress would end up as a pile of old wood.

Craster no longer remembered this incident, but he had laughed a lot back then, for he had managed to trade something far more valuable than the nearly worthless map—a poorly drawn depiction of the lands beyond the Wall.

Meanwhile, the southern soldiers were leaving that area and slowly marching north. With thousands on the move, they faced the great challenge of difficult terrain, full of slopes, forests, and even mountains, which considerably delayed their progress. Weeks started to pass as they ventured into the region in search of the kingdom of Artica, though there was no sign of it. They had to stop constantly to set up camp each evening.

“We must be close by now, right?” Gawen Westerling, the commander of this campaign, asked a member of the Night’s Watch. Qhorin Halfhand, one of the men who had volunteered to accompany them and was known for his expertise in that region, looked at the mountain- and forest-covered horizon.

“Not yet,” he replied, knowing they were still far off. “There’s a giant tree in this place; according to the wildlings who informed us, it’s not here, and we would be able to see that tree from a great distance… But if we can reach a higher point, we’ll have a better view. I believe we’re on the right path.” It was difficult to pinpoint their exact location north of the Wall, but heading north, Qhorin Halfhand believed they might be close.

Lord Westerling nodded as they continued forward, with 16,000 men right behind them.

He left the ranger and moved to the side. “Hey, are you going to tell us anything?” he asked, looking at a wagon with iron bars, where several men dressed in animal furs were staring back at him with hostile expressions.

“Why should we, southerner?” one of the wildlings sneered.

These wildlings had been captured near the Wall when the Watch’s scouts were surveying the area. After an encounter, they clashed in battle, but with inferior weapons and fewer numbers, the wildlings were defeated.

The prisoners had been interrogated for information. The commander decided to keep them as guides, thinking they might be useful. After all, they knew the North better than even the Night’s Watch.

“It’s your choice. As I said, it’ll be better for you if you cooperate,” Lord Westerling replied, giving a slight smile, though the members of the Night’s Watch didn’t agree with trusting a wildling.

“We’ll never help a southerner bringing this damned iron army up here. Mance will come soon and crush all of you!” the man replied firmly.

“And who is this ‘king’ you claim rules the Wall…?” Westerling mocked, smiling again. “I thought the King beyond the Wall was Jon Arctic, the bastard of Winterfell…” he said.

“We don’t know anything about this Jon Arctic or this place you’re looking for!” the wildling retorted with disdain. “So, even if you torture us, it won’t make a difference because we couldn’t tell you anything anyway,” he mocked.

This group, from a tribe in the far northern lands, had come from the west. They had seen Mance a few years ago and decided to head south to wait for him. As they made their way toward Hardhome, they were captured, surprised to see so many southerners entering their lands with a large army. The most surprising thing was that these southern soldiers were looking for a place called Artica, a kingdom rumored to exist beyond the Wall. The wildlings laughed when they heard this, as they didn’t believe in such a place. However, those who traveled further east near the coast knew of the waterway leading directly to the kingdom, while those in the west couldn’t believe such a place existed in their land.

It was thanks to the channel that most of the Free Folk found the kingdom of Artica, making their way to the city walls. Jon had established a filtering system, allowing only those deemed suitable to pass; after all, Jon would never permit people with questionable behavior, let alone those from cannibal tribes. This minimized issues, though it wasn’t always fully effective, as some crimes still occurred in the city. Nevertheless, justice was swift and punishments were meted out based on the severity of each crime against the kingdom’s laws.

Commander Westerling raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. “Even so, you might be able to help me with some questions. Tell me more about this Mance.” He was intrigued, considering it new and potentially vital information for the king of the Seven Kingdoms and Lord Tywin. After all, the only king he knew of beyond the Wall should have been Jon Arctic.

“We’re fleeing from the cold shadows with the dead, who dominate and roam these lands. Soon, everyone will be dead. That’s why we want to cross the Wall with Mance!” the wildling replied, speaking openly.

“Dead?” Westerling made a face. “I already regret asking. You’re all insane!” He scoffed, finding it absurd. After that, he decided not to discuss further and walked away, realizing it would be useless to argue with them.

The journey continued, and the group spent an entire week reaching a higher point, starting to climb as they entered a new area. Passing through a forest slowed the troops’ march even further.

It was one of the last days, just when they thought they were nearing their goal, that something strange happened. One night, as the men tried to keep warm, unaccustomed to the cold, they began to curse their discomfort.

“Hey, why did we have to come here?” one of the men exclaimed irritably.

“Quiet! Can’t you see I’m trying to warm up here? Damn it!” another shouted.

“Why do we have to be in this freezing place?!” a third man growled angrily, trying to warm himself as much as possible on that icy night.

“Do we have any other choice? Stop whining and be grateful we’re freezing in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know how those Wall folk live, without women and in this climate. I’d prefer castration!” another said to the first.

“Whatever!” the first responded, as he continued warming himself, not wanting to argue further. They stayed around the fire for a while until suddenly, they heard a scream coming from the forest.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” The scream echoed like that of a wild animal, but it was clearly human.

“What was that?” One of the men shot up, grabbing his sword beside him.

“I don’t know… Wasn’t the scout supposed to be in the forest?” another replied, concerned.

“Quick, alert command! We may be under enemy attack if the scout has fallen!” they shouted, as some in the group began to run. More people who had heard the scream gathered at that edge of the camp.

Then, everyone began to see a shadow emerging from the forest, illuminated by the campfires, moving slowly and holding an old sword.

“Hey, it’s a wildling!” someone exclaimed.

“Just one? Why is he coming alone?” another asked.

“No, there are more of them! Look over there!” More shadows started to appear from the forest, walking in that same strange way, with their heads lowered as they drew closer and closer to the line of men.

“Those damn creatures… Prepare for battle!” one of the men commanded. Quickly, everyone began readying themselves, forming a defensive line, as they awaited the first wildling to launch an attack, far ahead of the others.

Then, the wildling stopped in front of them all, showing no fear, and slowly began to lift his head. The men watched closely until the creature revealed a terrifying sight: half of its jaw was torn away, leaving its teeth exposed, and its eyes glowed with a vivid blue light. Its face looked more like that of a corpse than a living person. This froze them all, paralyzed with fear, until the monster suddenly began to charge at them with a growl.

The first man, hailing from the stormlands, quickly raised his sword to strike whatever that thing was, driving it deep into the creature’s chest as he shouted, terrified and nervous, watching the creature, hoping it would fall to the ground.

But he barely had time to celebrate the blow. Even with the sword buried in its chest, the blue-eyed, corpse-like wildling continued advancing. Raising its own weapon, the creature struck the southerner, who could only watch helplessly as it landed a blow to his neck, rendering him speechless before he fell, choking on his own blood.

“What is this? What are these monsters!?” The men at the camp who witnessed this horrifying scene were terrified, watching as the wildling, even with a sword embedded in its chest, continued moving toward them as if unfazed, causing everyone to take fearful steps back.

“May the Seven protect us!” another man exclaimed, raising his trembling sword as his gaze fell upon the entire group emerging from the forest.

All the other wildlings following the creature also lifted their heads, revealing the same eerie blue glow in their eyes. In the next moment, they charged toward the group, and more and more undead appeared from the forest. Terror had descended upon the southern folk that night.

Meanwhile, several owls watched the screams and chaos that had erupted on that side of the camp, drawing everyone’s attention. Even the command noticed the commotion and began moving to see what was happening.

One of the Artican scouts, observing from afar through an owl’s eyes, opened his own back within the walls of Artica and sighed, quickly rising to inform his superiors.

The southerners were already near the kingdom, but now it seemed the White Walkers had reached them first. After all, there were 16,000 new corpses ready for their army.

Raccoon Here: Attention, everyone: I won’t be posting anything during the week from the 25th to the 1st, as I’ll be taking some personal time off. 

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