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Chapter 82: Storm's Arrival
🕑 Added 2024-08-13 23:08:16 +0000 UTCMy stay at Winterfell had been short. Before departing, I’d show Bran my type of longshot as promised. After a good ride, I could feel the difference in temperature. Winterfell had been warm and comforting at times, whereas the Kingsroad grew less forgiving. Nevertheless, I was used to it now.
What I couldn’t get my mind off was the Night King…
I felt that my warhammer, lightning, or anything I could get my hands on wouldn’t so much as dent him. No, I didn’t just feel that way; I knew it to be true. My body had desired nothing more than to turn back and run as far away as possible. It made me wonder how much the efforts of others truly mattered… if everything fell on me.
If I couldn’t best the Night King, then even if the entire world magically united as one, they’d all just be lambs for the slaughter.
“You have felt dismayed ever since.” Raiden Shogun said in the following night. “Do you not feel up to the task?”
“I will not lie and say that my confidence is greater than it was before.” I managed a smile, shaking my head. “But… if I don’t stand against him, who will? It’s either victory or the end of this world. In a way, it has steeled my determination rather than diminished it. I know how far the gap is and have no reason to feel overconfident.”
“I’ll do everything in my power to bridge that gap and see this through to the bitter end.” I looked at her. “To that end, I need you more than ever, Raiden. I want to be the strongest that I can be, and you’re the only one who knows how to maximise my strengths. You’re the only one who’d know anything about fighting beings like that as well.”
“Is this your way of undoing your resignation?” She questioned.
“Is that what it would take to have your support?”
“No.” She smiled, shaking her head. “You’d make for an awful retainer, Edric Storm. You have a king’s pride - one that does not allow you to bend easily nor accept actions that you disagree with. In that way, Kujou Sara eclipses you.”
“Unsurprising.”
I nodded, feeling grateful for her remaining by my side. I had been cold at times - perhaps too cold. She had done what she believed was for my betterment, no matter how extreme. While my treatment may have been justified, she could have just as well replied in kind and never helped me again. Yet, she was always there, through thick and thin.
“You don’t need to say it,” Raiden said, as if she had just read my mind. “I will do what I can to prepare you for that fateful day… as I’ve been doing. Do you truly believe I’d hold back on you?”
“... Well.” I shrugged. “It’s more of a motivational speech kind of thing, you know? Something to kick me into my highest gear and wash off the dread. Mayhaps it motivated you, too.”
“You do love those speeches of yours.” Raiden acknowledged with a slight smile. “I will admit that your words flow with charisma. Alas, I have no need for further motivation. I have one dream that is a greater source of incentive and action than any other.”
She offered her hand.
“What now?” I blinked. “Better not be another extended nap.”
“Better not be?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow. “You nestled on my thighs rather comfortably, I’ll have you know.”
“...” I chuckled, shrugging my shoulders “Well, the pillows were soft. How could I not sleep soundly after being on the road for so long?”
“You got a little too comfortable, I might add.”
“And what did I do, exactly?” I blinked, feeling a little embarrassed. I almost didn’t want to know.
“My little secret.” She said, suggestively. “Anyway… I will teach you something new. It may be difficult to grasp at your level, but it’s well worth the struggle if you manage it. You’ll be able to fight with greater strength, endurance and sustainability.”
Part of me was supremely curious, seeking to realise the truth behind this ‘little secret’, but she had changed the topic, and I wasn’t going to linger on it. There was a chance that it wasn’t all that big of a deal and she was just teasing me, too.
“I’m all for learning new things.” I stroked my chin. “In regards to that… Is it an electro technique?”
“Yes, indeed.”
“Even better.”
…
The little break at Winterfell didn’t just help me regain my strength. The rest of my men were better for it, too. We rode swiftly, day by day. We were a tad bit faster after letting go of Sansa, who had not been very fond of such a rapid and unforgiving pace.
It was not long until the Wall loomed large - and larger still, the closer we came. It was a world wonder, undoubtedly, and I was rather eager to stand on top of it.
On the dawn of the first day of 300 AC, I’d do just that.
~
[Arya’s POV]
It was the first day of the new year when they rode into Castle Black, Edric leading the charge. The last couple of hours, they had been pushing forward for that final stretch of land. Arya would watch Edric leave his horse first before helping her down. Then, he’d turn to the north men around him.
“It’s the bloody King!” A man wearing the arms of House Umber let out a roar.
More and more men gathered, despite the distant sounds of battle up top. Arya looked up at the wall, enamoured by its sheer size. How could a wall like that ever be breached by an army? As long as they had enough men to man it, even a hundred thousand wildlings wasn’t enough. Then again… it stretched far and wide. The number of men needed to man each part of it properly was not small.
“What is the state of the Wall?” Edric immediately questioned, his blue glowing as if he had woken.
“We’re holding them off, Your Grace… but there’s just so many o’ them everywhere down below. Then there’s those giant cunts. Their arrows are like scorpion bolts.”
“Who is leading the defence?”
“Lord Robb is. He’s at the top of the Wall, Your Grace.”
“We shall join him.”
Edric left her to the iron cage that was attached to a winch as he raced the switchback stairs, looking all too pleased to be in a battle again. Meanwhile, Arya was accompanied by Tyrion Lannister, Brienne and some other men who were secretly afraid of climbing the stairs. It elevated them upwards, reminding Arya of the Eyrie’s oaken baskets. It felt like a century in there… slowly sliding up and up.
“I wonder if I shall see my brother up there.” Tyrion mused, breaking the silence that had washed over everyone. “He was scarcely ever fond of archery, though he would hardly have a choice this high up. Mayhaps he’d be throwing rocks or blocks of ice…”
“We will see quite the display from our King, of that I am certain,” Tyrion added, changing the subject. “There is no better place for an archer of his skill.”
Arya didn’t pretend to be fond of the dwarf, for it had been the Lannisters who took her father’s life. His appearance wasn’t doing him any favours, either.
“A difficult crowd,” Tyrion remarked.
“Just because you can talk doesn’t mean you should,” Brienne replied.
“This will be a dull time, it seems.” Tyrion didn’t look too offended, shrugging off her remark.
By the time they reached the top of the wall, Edric was already speaking with her brothers.
“They’ve stretched themselves across the Wall, using their greater numbers to make an attempt at climbing the less defended parts while splitting into three greater armies to attack the unsealed gates,” Robb informed Edric, looking rather tired. It looked like he hadn’t slept in days. “We’re stretched thin, and while the gate of Castle Black will stand, I am not so certain of the other two… especially Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. They’re attacking that castle on three fronts, from what I hear.”
“And you said you’d handle everything on your own in the letter,” Arya added, stepping in.
“... We are doing well enough, so far,” Robb said, confidently.
“Arya… it really is you.” Jon’s face lit up as he saw her, swiftly moving in for a warm and tight embrace. “How have you been? It feels like a hundred years since I last saw you.”
“Well, lots of things happened…”
Shew…
"AHHHHHH!"
A massive arrow, which was more like a sharpened plank, struck one of the men and sent him flying into the air - screaming. For a moment, they had all forgotten that there was a battle to fight. Edric removed his dragonbone longbow from his back immediately after, turning to the other side of the wall.
“How about we spare the merry reunion for when we have a moment of peace?”
“Yes, Your Grace.” Jon dutifully stepped back, taking his own longbow.
Robb nodded, his cheery expression turning serious.
Arya joined them, looking down. She saw an army so vast she couldn’t even begin to count how many were down there. They were small, like ants sprawled all across the land. As far as she could see, they were trying to climb the wall at every point while a great force of wildlings attacked the gate with a ram. The ram was also protected with a turtle, making it difficult to fire on the men operating it.
One of the giants fired once again… and that arrow went straight for Edric.
He stood still and calm as a lake at dawn. He was completely unphased.
The arrow suddenly stopped only a couple metres away from him. A strong gust of wind went over Edric as his hair swayed wildly, pushing several men a step back while he remained perfectly still. Arya had almost fallen down onto the ice herself. It was rather slippery.
He raised his hand, and the arrow followed his gesture, pointing downwards at the battering ram. The shaft burst with lightning in an instant, shooting downwards like a bolt of lightning.
BANG.
The turtle exploded while the battering ram below burst into flame, along with most of the men below.
Jon and Robb both looked completely dumbstruck - along with most of everyone there. Arya was the least surprised of them all, yet even she hadn’t seen him wield his magic so effortlessly. At that moment, he looked more like a God than man - bending the forces of nature to his will.
“They shall rue the day they decided to invade my Realm.”
Edric had determined, grabbing a shaft from his quiver and eyeing one of the giants firing arrows at the battlements.
That giant wouldn’t live for ten seconds longer.
~
[Lil Mance POV]
Mance Rayder observed the ensuing chaos, his eyes widening as the battering ram burst into flames. He couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. Suddenly, the sky darkened greatly—the morning sun fading under an ominous, thick veil of grey clouds. Thunder boomed in the skies, its sound deafening.
This sudden change unsettled him greatly.
Then, a strange purple symbol opened in the distance, hovering atop a single figure. It almost looked like an eye. Lightning emerged from the skies and gathered around that single figure, growing and growing.
It formed an arrow in an instant…
Before Mance knew it, this arrow flew out and pierced Mag the Mighty right in the chest. Once it struck him, the arrow exploded in devastating fashion - his body bursting out like a waterfall of blood. Sparks flew out from the explosion, too, electrocuting anyone near it.
Despite standing a good distance away, Mance got a spit of Mag the Mighty’s blood on his eye.
He looked up at the figure that had fired that arrow, feeling a sense of dread.
It was at that moment he knew… he fucked up.
