Chapter 63 - The Future Worth Fighting For.

 

[Chapter Size: 2600 Words.]

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Third Person POV

Harrenhal, 101 AC.

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"What happened to you, boy?" Lyarra stepped closer, her face filled with concern.

While Jon gave a faint smile, he replied, "I had to think for a while... I needed a place to calm myself..."

His eyes returned to Lord Stark, who was also approaching alongside the other Green Men.

But Jon looked away and turned his attention back to the heart tree. Before he could hear any response from Lady Stark, he once again felt the same presence of the person who had been watching him earlier from the other side of the island when he had been alone with Ghost and Shadow.

This time, he saw the head of what appeared to be a child behind the sacred tree, but as he looked more closely, he realized it was not exactly a child. Its skin seemed to be covered with leaves.

He knew what she was now...

"You're a Child of the Forest, aren't you?" he said, making all the adults immediately turn to look in that direction.

At the same time, the child hid herself and seemed to flee into the forest behind the tree.

"You saw her?" The oldest of the Green Men stepped forward.

"Why did she run away?" Jon asked the man, whom he had learned was called Garth Greengrove.

"They are shy sometimes, my lord," Garth Greengrove said.

The Children of the Forest certainly had their reasons. Even so, he had seen so many of them in that other life that he had even expected her to approach him, especially since it was clear she had been watching him the entire time.

"Hey, don't go away!" Jon turned his attention back to the forest.

When his voice echoed, everyone looked at him differently. The Starks did not know what to think. Even though they had not seen the girl's head as he had, they had certainly heard Jon mention that she was a Child of the Forest, while the Green Men remained silent.

Nothing happened over the next few seconds, but Jon kept his gaze fixed on that side of the forest, behind the heart tree. A few branches rustled, and once again, a small head began to emerge. She had not left.

"Please, don't be afraid." Jon said, and the child looked at him with curiosity, but also with a certain caution.

"We don't want to hurt you. But you are a Child of the Forest, aren't you?" Jon continued.

The Green Men remained silent, but the rest of the Starks widened their eyes as they saw her for the first time.

The girl began to step out from behind the trees, pushing aside a few branches as she approached Jon. She looked only at him, still wearing a cautious expression toward the humans.

"By the gods..." Lord Stark murmured, the words escaping his lips like an involuntary sigh.

The child looked at Jon for a few seconds and came closer, all the while watching for any sign of danger toward her.

"You are blessed by the gods..." said the Child of the Forest, remaining curious but also showing a mixture of surprise and a glimmer of hope. Her eyes studied Jon's green eyes directly.

"You see hope in me?" Jon asked, noticing her expression. "Shouldn't you see that in the Old Gods?" he asked, while she became a little more cautious.

"It's not that I don't believe in the gods. But we've been hiding since I was born, and our situation has never changed," she replied with a trace of sadness.

"She is one of the last who remain," Garth Greengrove said. "And the youngest here. Perhaps the last of her entire kind to be born."

Jon was surprised by that. "How long ago were you born?"

"Two thousand years ago," she replied.

"I see... It couldn't have been easy to remain here for two millennia without hope," Jon murmured in a childlike voice. What else could he say?

She simply nodded, keeping a sorrowful look. Ignoring all the astonished stares behind them, Jon took a step forward.

"My name is Jon." He emptied his heart of every dark thought and approached her.

It was obvious that he was curious to meet a Child of the Forest for the first time, at least in this life. There was a strange feeling of connection between the two of them.

She looked at his hand, then at his face. She also approached with curious caution until she reached him, placing both of her small hands on his. She remained watching that gesture for a few moments, just as everyone around them did, before a smile spread across her face.

"My name is Wind," she said, more relaxed and cheerful, as if she had discovered something very interesting and new.

"Wind..." Jon murmured.

"My lord, allow us to offer you something to eat." Garth Greengrove stepped forward while some of the Green Men carried trays filled with fruit.

Jon did not know what to say, but when he saw Wind's mouth begin to water at the sight of the fruit, he simply nodded cautiously, wondering whether that Child of the Forest was really all right in the head.

The Starks said nothing. They merely watched as everyone sat down. Jon spoke with the Child of the Forest, Rickon stared at him full of questions, while Lord Stark and Lyarra remained silent. The Green Men also exchanged a few words among themselves, offering food and even a few gifts to Jon.

There were still many questions among the Starks. After all, no one had said anything since Jon had run off after glowing and transformed into an animal. The guards also remained silent, watching every unbelievable scene unfolding before their eyes.

"I imagine you saw something important. Something beyond mere words, didn't you, my lord?" Garth asked, still showing reverence the entire time.

"Yes," Jon replied. "They showed me..."

He paused when he realized everyone was watching him. Even the Starks looked at him with curiosity and caution.

"They showed me why I have all these dreams, which are fragments of a whole... They showed me a kingdom beyond the Wall. The first line of defense to save humanity from the enemy..." Jon spoke quietly, noticing that the questioning looks directed at him only grew stronger.

"A kingdom beyond the Wall?" the old man asked curiously. Even Lord Stark frowned slightly.

"No. Not a kingdom of wildlings. Over there, they studied. They were educated. It had the greatest library in the world and the greatest university. Everyone had access to education, even the common people. The farms were incredibly productive, supplying not only the kingdom itself but also selling resources to Essos and the south of Westeros."

Jon paused, trying to process everything he had seen. "The smartest people in the world... The next great philosophers, engineers, mathematicians, and thinkers would live in that place or go there to study... People from all over the world traveled there to learn."

No one there knew exactly what those terms meant, but he had no other way to describe them. He could have called them maesters, but that would have been insulting considering the level of specialization and knowledge each one possessed. In Arctica, there simply was no other word that better represented what they were.

The Stark mother and son exchanged a glance. It was difficult to believe that any developed kingdom could exist beyond the Wall, especially among the wildlings. To both of them, the wildlings were enemies. In particular, they both carried hatred for them. After all, the late Lord Stark, Lyarra's husband and Benjen's father, had been killed by a wildling, struck by an arrow whose infection had ultimately claimed his life.

Jon knew he could not say much, especially after seeing the expressions on their faces. They certainly would not understand what he meant and might even become angry if he insisted that some wildlings could become brilliant minds, capable of shaping an entire society and influencing the world from that kingdom.

"What was that kingdom beyond the Wall?" Rickon asked, curious and the most innocent of the Starks, even though he knew very well what wildlings were and how the North had treated them as sworn enemies for millennia and countless generations before him.

"I can't say much. It's only what they showed me. Images of experiences I never had... After all, I'm only ten years old," Jon murmured.

"That sounds fun," Wind was the only one who showed any enthusiasm, looking at Jon expectantly, hoping he would tell her more.

Jon looked at her. He did not know why, but he had a vague feeling that Wind was also part of his future. He simply could not remember her very well. He had certainly met many Children of the Forest in that other life, where their population numbered around ten thousand, but he could not recall the vast majority of them. The ones that stood out most in his memory were someone named Seraphine and another named Leaf.

The details of that life had still not fully reached him. All he had was the general understanding that his other self was Jon Arctic, living in another era, in another world.

The gods had sent him to this place because this was a different universe, separate from the previous one. The other existed in the future, while this one followed a different flow of time. They were centuries in the past.

The coincidence was that there was also a Jon in this world, someone who likewise possessed both bloodlines. But unlike that Jon, he was even more special.

His brother Sam did not possess the same abilities as he did. Even though he was another child born from the union of the two bloodlines, his brother seemed ordinary by comparison, a normal boy. He had some magic within him, but it was insignificant, not enough to accomplish much, all because he had absorbed it from their mother's womb.

And Rowena, Jon's mother, had more, even if she could not be compared to Jon. She still possessed some abilities, with Jon clearly being the reason that bloodline held such great power.

While Jon was still in her womb, the two had remained connected in a far more intimate way than anything else, through the umbilical cord. Naturally, Jon had transferred a small portion of his magic and powers to her. That was precisely why his mother was able to approach animals.

Jon also had no doubt that she possessed other abilities she had never spoken of, such as being a Warg in her dreams at night. Her ease in approaching animals, something completely different from what happened with his father or with Sam, was already proof that simply by giving birth to Jon, she had become someone special.

"Lord Stark..." Jon called at one point. The man immediately turned his attention to him.

"When we return to the North... may I spend some time with my family?" he asked.

He could have said it at another time, but he wanted to speak now, as soon as possible.

"Of course, Jon." Lord Stark did not try to understand his reasons just then. He simply assumed that the boy wanted to spend some time with his family after everything that had happened. He had no reason at all to refuse the request.

Jon simply nodded. He was deeply grateful that he could truly do that because now he had something the old Jon Arctic had never had.

He was not the son of a Lord Stark. His mother was not a future queen married to the prince of the realm.

His parents were nothing remarkable in the eyes of this medieval society; to most lords, they were regarded as little more than livestock.

But Jon had a mother. He had a father. He had a brother.

In that other life, he had none of that. His parents died. His brother was also killed as a baby. The only one who survived was his half-sister, Rhaenys, Elia's daughter, whom he did not meet again until much later.

This time, he would cherish every moment by his family's side. He would protect them from any threat. It did not matter whether it was a powerful noble, an entire kingdom, or even a king. Jon would protect his family.

But to do that, he needed to become even stronger. He needed to increase his strength.

He had already managed to buy many herbs since they had arrived at Harrenhal. Many travelers and merchants had passed through the region, and Lord Stark had been able to acquire them after sending letters to the lords of the Reach, with whom he had already arranged the purchase of the herbs Jon had requested back in Winterfell, asking them to provide everything for him.

Even so, Jon was no longer satisfied with just that. He would strengthen his body through potions. He would train harder than ever before.

He was already tired of being merely a prodigy or the future sword of the North.

It was time to regain the strength he had possessed in his other life, so that no one in this world could pose a threat to him or to those he loved.

And that included the Starks.

They had always helped him. Jon owed that family an enormous debt, and he would not disappoint them. They were his family as well... In that life or in this one...

After that, the conversation continued in a calmer manner. Jon revealed no further details about the visions, only concluding that the gods had already fulfilled the reason for bringing him to that place.

Even so, he asked a question about the Green Men. They had also settled in Arctica in that other world after Jon Arctic visited them and brought them from here to the far North.

They performed rituals and made animal sacrifices to the Old Gods. Jon allowed them to remain in Arctica and continue their traditions. He only established one condition.

The animals used in the rituals had to be hunted by them personally. He would never agree that any animal that had not been hunted would be worthy of the gods as proof of their faith.

If they wished to honor the gods, they had to prove their faith through their own efforts in the hunt.

Jon did not know exactly what to do about what lay beyond the Wall. The wildlings were certainly still clashing with the Night's Watch, which at that time was still far from being a small force. Around ten thousand men served as guardians of the realms, dealing with every new King-Beyond-the-Wall who arose and preventing the wildlings from organizing large invasions.

Jon still had much to think about regarding those matters, but not now.

Everything was peaceful. He had his life in the south, and there was no sign that the enemy would act at that moment. Jon knew that the enemy in the depths of winter would only make its move once the realm had become fragmented.

Now, he fully understood the danger that was about to unfold. Within three decades, the realm would be devastated, especially with the end of the age of dragons.

And if Jon had to make a guess, it would be during that very period that the Night King would make his move.

For now, he would simply grow stronger. He would become more powerful, travel through the kingdoms for a few years, and only then decide what he would do.

This time, he was no longer a child forced to run desperately to the North. There was still time to prepare.

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