Chapter 528 The Origin of the Long Night

Meera Reed pushed Bran Stark in a wheelchair to the window.

Looking to the north, different shades of green light cover the sky, which is strangely beautiful and terrifyingly beautiful.

 The hot wind howled, giving her the illusion of being in midsummer.

　　【Wildfire】The green flames produced by burning are so conspicuous in the snow, and a Great Wall of Flame has been erected in front of the entire long Neck Defense Line.

The tide of corpses that was surging just now disappeared in an instant.

 The flames reduced them to ashes and smoke.

 The ghouls have no consciousness, are not afraid of death, and do not know how to be afraid. The front row has just been swallowed up by the flames, but the ghouls in the rear continue to rush forward, like moths fluttering into the flames.

“Isn’t it time for the ghoul to be over now?”

Meera looked at the terrifying green sea of ​​fire and murmured with lingering fear.

"It won't be that simple." Bran Stark said softly, sitting in a wheelchair. "Wildfire can't last forever."

Meera lowered her head and glanced at the young man, her gaze lingered on the boy’s empty eyes for a while, and then said:

 “Can you see it?”

Bran shook his head and said:

 “Can’t see. But I can hear.”

“Then you should have heard the shrill howl of the corpse.”

"Yes." Bran nodded, "But I also heard the roar of the cold wind and the roar of the ice and snow, which was deafening."

Meera frowned, but before she could speak, she heard Bran continue to explain:

"The White Walkers and the Wights are the messengers of winter and the masters of the long night. This [wildfire] cannot dispel the darkness, let alone turn winter into midsummer. And in this cold night, the White Walkers and the Wights will only Get a steady stream of power, endless, and you can never finish killing..."

 “Then what do you think we should do?”

Meera was about to ask, but found that someone had already asked the same question.

She turned her head and saw King Caesar appearing silently at some point.

“Your Majesty,” Brand said, “if we want to end this war, we must end the Long Night.”

 Samwell twitched the corners of his lips and said:

“I was told that in order to end the Long Night, the White Walkers must be defeated.”

"That's true." Bran said, "But what we are killing now are all zombies. They are just servants of the White Walkers. No matter how many we kill, it will not help. Our real enemy is still the White Walkers, or more accurately Said to be the leader of the White Walkers and the source of the long night - the Night King.

 Only by killing him can the long night end and the war end. "

"Night King?" Mera asked doubtfully, "Isn't this the Commander-in-Chief of the Night Watch who wants to establish his own country? And the Night Watch was established after the first long night to prevent darkness from coming again, so the Night King should Appearing after the long night, how can it be the source of the long night?”

"Because the first long night and the current long night are not from the same source..." Bran hesitated, his face full of sadness and grief.

“Then what is the root cause of this long night?” Meera asked.

 Bran said nothing.

 At this time Samwell spoke:

“The oldest historical records of Westeros were written after the arrival of the Andals. Before them, the First Men only left vague runes on the rocks.

 Hence, the so-called historical facts we think we know about the Age of Dawn, the Age of Heroes, and the Long Night were all made up by maesters thousands of years later. As for authenticity, haha.

 There was a Dr. Formas in the city who wrote a book called "The Lies of the Ancients". The book claimed that the White Walkers were just a tribe of ancestors who came from the land of eternal winter and were the ancestors of today's wildlings.

As the long night fell, they were forced to move south, and then they had a series of wars with the humans in the south, who are now the northerners.

Thousands of years later, they evolved into undead monsters in stories and legends, as the Night's Watch and the Starks sought to establish themselves as heroic saviors of humanity. "

 “But the White Walkers are indeed immortal monsters.” Mera argued.

"I didn't say that Dr. Formarth's statement must be true." Samwell said, "But you have to admit that his ideas are very interesting. Bran, I have been to the tombs under Winterfell. The tomb of the King of Realm has long been empty, right?”

Bran lowered his head, unable to see his expression clearly.

 But he did not deny it.

“The Commander-in-Chief of the Night’s Watch who tried to establish his own country back then was said to be a Stark.” Samwell said, “The Night King today is also a Stark, right?”

Meera was taken aback and quickly looked at Bran, wanting to hear his explanation.

Kebulan still bowed his head and said nothing.

It seems that he has acquiesced.

 “I will find him,” said Samwell, “and kill him!”

 After saying this, the king turned and left.

"Bran," Meera asked in a low voice, "The Night King...is he really from the Stark family? How is this possible? You Starks have always been the patron saint of the North..."

“Have you heard of the story of Bael the Bard?” Bran finally spoke, but asked a seemingly irrelevant question.

Meara nodded despite her doubts:

"I've heard of it. It is said that he was a king beyond the wall. He was called the coward Bell by his contemporary King of Winter. In order to retaliate for this insulting name, Bell climbed over the Great Wall and entered Winter as a bard. City, playing songs at the Stark family banquet.

The King of Winter was impressed by his skill, but did not recognize this man as the King Beyond the Wall, and promised him a reward.

However, Belle only asked for a winter rose.

 But early the next morning, people discovered that the only daughter of the King of Winter had disappeared, and only a winter snow rose was found on her empty bed.

Later, the Stark family sent people to search outside the Great Wall, but they never found the princess and the bard.

The bloodline of the Stark family was almost cut off, until one day, the princess herself returned to Winterfell and brought back a baby. "

Bran also nodded and continued:

“Later, the baby became the new King of Winter. During a war where the wildlings went south, he personally led his army north to support the Night’s Watch, and personally killed the enemy leader, the King Beyond the Wall, at the Ice Ferry.

But when he returned to Winterfell in triumph carrying the enemy's head, he saw his mother jumping from the tower..."

Bran paused, and finally concluded sadly:

“Sometimes, you don’t even know that the enemy you are fighting to the death is actually your closest relative.”

Meera then understood why Bran told this seemingly unrelated story, and her heart was filled with sadness and shock:

“Could it be that...the Night King is really a Stark? The White Walkers we fight..."

Bran didn’t speak any more, but stared straight ahead with his empty eyes:

 “Fortunately, I had my eyes removed…I don’t have to witness my loved ones die in front of me…”

Meira felt as if something was blocking her chest. She wanted to speak several times, but she didn't know what to say. In the end, she could only lean down and gently hold the boy in the wheelchair into her arms.

 He is so cold.

　　——————

Lady Catelyn Tully felt very cold.

The cold wind howled in the cave, like the whisper of death.

She wrapped her fur coat and cloak tightly, but she still couldn't stop the pervasive chill from drilling into her bones.

The fire was dim and the heat emitted was drowned out by the overwhelming chill.

To be honest, lighting a fire in this situation is extremely risky now. The North has fallen, and their actions are likely to attract the White Walkers.

However, Caitlin no longer cares about this. If she doesn't light a fire, she will freeze to death.

 But such a small fire gradually tends to go out. Wisps of black smoke rose up, emerged from the cave, and merged into the darkness.

Caitlin tried to move her hands and feet, but found that they were frozen and had no feeling at all.

Beside her, her daughter Arya was sleeping peacefully, with a contented smile on her red face, as if the biting cold had no effect on her at all.

They Starks indeed have a far greater tolerance for cold than ordinary people.

Having been married to Winterfell for so many years, Catelyn has certainly known this for a long time.

She can only envy this.

 “Arya, Arya…”

Hearing her mother’s call, Arya raised her head in confusion:

 “What’s the matter, mother?”

"Come here..." Arya rubbed her eyes and adjusted to the darkness, then noticed her mother who was pale and trembling.

 She quickly crawled over and hugged her mother:

 “Ah! Your body is so cold!”

Arya flicked the fire, but saw that the wood was almost burned, so she said:

 “I’ll go out and find some more firewood!”

"Don't go!" Mrs. Caitlin grabbed her daughter, "It's too dangerous outside. You are alone..."

“It’s okay, Big Guy and Nymeria are with me.”

As if hearing his name, the direwolf sleeping at the entrance of the cave raised his head and looked over.

"Then you must be careful." Lady Caitlin warned, "This should not be far from the Neck. Further south, it is probably the front line of the battle between the Seven Nations Army and the White Walkers. You must not join in the fun."

"No, no," Arya said firmly.

“Don’t get entangled with the White Walkers when you meet them. Let the big guy take you away. Do you understand?”

 “I know, I know.”

Arya was afraid that her mother would continue to nag her, so she hurriedly ran out.

Nymeria also followed.

 “Big guy! Big guy, wake up!”

At Arya's call, a huge figure moved slowly on the back of the mountain. A pair of huge eyes opened, like the blue stars in the sky.

“Let’s go find some firewood.” Arya greeted. “I remember there is an ice lake not far to the east. Maybe we can get some food by breaking the ice.”

The giant muttered a few incomprehensible words, then stretched out his palm and asked Arya to stand up.

 “Oops, wrong, wrong, that way is east, go that way!”

Although darkness obscured everything, Arya could still discern the direction based on the dim stars in the sky.

The giant was obedient and immediately turned around. His heavy footsteps made the hill tremble slightly.

 “Oh, be gentle, be gentle.”

Arya reminded the giant as he patted his head.

However, she was not that scared.

Along the way, she saw a lot of ghouls and knew that these monsters were no match for giants and could crush several of them with one kick.

And if there are too many ghouls, the giants will run away, and the ghouls will not be able to catch up.

 So, even though she was stranded behind the enemy lines, Arya was not too afraid.

However, there was one thing that made her very strange—

Along the way, they often saw corpses, but they didn't encounter any White Walkers.

Once Arya saw a White Walker riding a giant ice spider staying not far away. She was sure that the other party had noticed her, but instead of chasing after her, she immediately turned around and left.

 The White Walkers must be afraid of giants. Arya concluded.

 So, riding on top of the giant's head at this moment, she was indeed a bit confident.

Legend has it that the Stark family once had an ancestor called Brandon the Builder, who could drive giants, such as the Great Wall, Winterfell, and Storm's End... to name a few of the most magnificent buildings in Westeros. Miraculous buildings were created by his hand.

Now that Arya discovered that she could also control giants, she had the idea to build several miraculous buildings for future generations to admire.

Perhaps you can rebuild the Great Wall of Despair yourself.

Arya thought rather proudly.

The giant walked very fast, and the cold wind blew in his face, but it couldn't blow away the heat in the little girl's heart.

Looking at the world from a high position, Arya felt as if she had become the hero in the ballad.

The only thing that made her feel a little disappointed was that she could not find her father this time.

Perhaps he had reached the Neck and joined the king's army.

Arya actually wants to continue going south. Even if the front may be a battlefield where the two armies are fighting, she is not afraid.

 Even a little eager to give it a try.

 How majestic a Stark girl must be to control giants and kill wights.

 Unfortunately, Lady Catelyn stopped her reckless behavior with a strong attitude.

Arya, whose dream was shattered, could only sigh from behind.

Arya knew the ice lake had arrived when she saw the direwolf stop, circle in place, and purr softly.

 “Big guy, smash the ice.”

The giant knelt down half-kneeling, stretched out a fist and hit the ice hard.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　——

 The thick ice cracked instantly, and spider web-like cracks spread rapidly.

The giant reached into the water, and when he took it out again, he had already fished out several lively mackerel fish.

Arya cheered and jumped down quickly to catch the fish.

Nymeria also bit out a fish from the ice hole.

 After working for a while, Arya, who had gained a lot, climbed back onto the giant's head and started to return.

When she passed a cedar forest on the road, she asked the giant to pull out one and carry it back for firewood.

Back on the hill, Arya was about to descend from the giant's head when she suddenly saw a dazzling green light flashing on the southern horizon.

The green light spot quickly spread to the east and west directions, and soon became a green line spanning the sky and the earth.

 “Wildfire…”

Arya blurted out.

When Stannis Baratheon attacked King's Landing, she was also in the city and saw the horrific scene where Tyrion Lannister used this terrifying substance to set the entire Blackwater Bay on fire.

 For this reason, she even had nightmares for several days.

 Unexpectedly, she actually saw this kind of thing again now.

After a brief shock, Arya immediately realized that that should be the front line where the king's army was fighting against the ghoul army.

 The two sides are fighting fiercely.

Arya quickly ran into the cave and pulled her mother out.

“Look, mother, the king’s army is there, not far from us! Let’s go over!”

Mrs. Caitlin was also shocked by the strange and gorgeous green flames, but she soon calmed down and shook her head firmly:

 “No, this kind of war is not something you, a minor girl, can participate in.”

 “But I’m big!”

"That's not OK!"

Arya pouted and was very unconvinced, but she was still forcibly pulled into the cave by Lady Catelyn.

 The two of them rekindled the fire and grilled a few more fish to eat.

With her stomach full and the warmth of the fire again, Lady Catelyn felt like she was finally alive again.

 But at the same time, sleepiness came over her, and she soon fell asleep again.

But Arya tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep again.

I don’t know how long it took, but she quietly got up and walked out.

At the entrance of the cave, Arya looked back carefully. Seeing that her mother had not been awakened, she immediately jumped out.

　　"Nymeria, big man!" she called to her companions, "Let's go! Let's go fight the White Walkers!"

 (End of this chapter)