[Edric's POV]
"You have not advanced," The Night King remarked.
"Why should I? I'd lose every advantage I have."
"Those advantages are… trivial."
"We'll see about that, won't we?"
"You were more of a threat to us five years ago than you are today."
He dismounted and stared into my soul, face to face. He was no longer the towering shadow - an equal in height… if not a tiny bit shorter.
"That fire in your eyes has faded."
"There's plenty enough for me to destroy you, don't worry," I smiled.
"You have settled, like many men tend to do. Matured. You are no more the harbinger of chaos and destruction. You… don't seek to fight."
"I have no choice, do I?"
"Without destroying me, you could never attain what you truly desire. Could you forgo that possibility? We do not need to fight. If you allow us to pass, we will not harm a single one of your people."
"First of all, trust you? Second of all, why would I let you pass and watch from afar as you put the rest of the world to ruin?"
"Rebirth is a better word… but you can trust us. We have no interest in killing you other than for our survival. But if we do not fight, both sides thrive. We would leave Westeros and spring would come. You can have your peace, and we can have ours. Is your love so important that you would risk everything for it?"
For some odd reason, I felt that he was telling the truth.
"All you have to do is give up her."
I never imagined the Night King would try to be diplomatic. I never imagined having to make such a choice… I had always imagined our battle to be entirely inevitable. But this offer…
If I could trust him, everything would improve. No one would have to die. Westeros would be my domain, as for the rest… do I care? Could I watch the world fall from afar?
Perhaps even Raiden herself would want me to accept it. Always sacrificing herself for me…
No.
"If you cannot trust us, then what of our mutual benefactor?"
"Who are you talking about?" I questioned.
"Don't be ignorant, we know from you… from the short time that we were connected. The God who brought you here."
"You can forget it. I have no interest in surrendering to any of your requests."
"You did think about it," The Night King circled me. "Was it Raiden Shogun… or having to admit that you cannot defeat us without it being too costly?"
"If I can defeat you, why would I let you walk past me?"
"The spirit of a hero… just like Azor Ahai. Except, the truth is you can't give her up. To throw away that chance of having her and fulfilling your promise… you'd sooner sacrifice everything else. Should we have expected better?"
The Night King seemed to laugh.
"Did you seem to forget that I've spent fifteen years preparing for this day? You prepared to bring the apocalypse, but I prepared to end it. To end you."
"You might say we see the bigger picture."
"You know I am perfectly capable of destroying you."
"Will you sacrifice your current wife to embrace your new one?" The Night King questioned. "Some may call that an… upgrade. Out with the old, in with the new. A seamless transition. Azor Ahai did not have that privilege - his life was forever scarred for that sacrifice."
He started sounding like me.
"How selfish can you be? It would entirely benefit you. Cruel, but pragmatic. Ruthless. It's all too perfect. Almost as if you groomed her to be your sacrifice…"
"That's a ridiculous thought," I refuted.
"I would do it without hesitation," The Night King added.
"Would you love her if you did? Oh, right, you're not capable of that. You're not capable of feeling anything. And because of that, you wish for the rest of the world to suffer the same fate as you - is that it? How bitter."
"..."
The Night King stopped with his back turned to me.
"You were human once… or was it more than once?" I questioned.
"Twice."
"What was the second time?"
"We were the Night's King."
"You couldn't give up shagging an Other?" I raised an eyebrow. "It was so good the first time you had to do it twice and bring it home?"
"No… Brandon Stark had no memory of the First Other, until we became one. The First Other, Brandon Stark and the one you call the Night King… we are three of one whole."
Brandon Stark? The Night's King was a Stark after all... it wasn't just a myth.
"You've had more lives than me."
I had always thought his reason for addressing himself that way was because the Others functioned as a hivemind with the Night King puppeteering it all. But, now… it may be because he's been three different people put into one.
"Speaking of, Isn't it rather tragic you've played the same role three times now?"
"The Other fated to be destroyed by some 'hero'?" The Night King questioned. "It will be different this time."
"Oh? Answer this... you don't seem to be the impatient kind, yet you've suddenly chosen to mobilise your forces. Something has changed - you sense that time is, at last, against you after stalling for so many years."
"It wouldn't be you."
"I know precisely who it is," I smiled, shaking my head. "The person who can undo the winds of winter in the future has you shivering your timbers. Your offer from before... it was quite disingenuous. The tides are shifting."
"Not for long."
"We will see."
I cut him off.
I had slightly less time than I thought.
~
I spent much of the night planning for the immediate future. In the early morning, I heard something familiar, yet different. The flapping of a dragon's wings - only smaller. I went out to the balcony and saw the source.
"Father, I can flyyy!"
And there she was, dragon wings black as night on her back and longer than her own body. Victoria was... definitely a gifted child. Not even I had been able to grow wings quite yet.
"Wonderful, but be careful..." The father in me spoke first. If I had wings, I know I'd be flying all over the place without a care in the world. "Don't strain yourself and fly too high."
Don't need a case of Icarus in my family.
"I'm nowhere near strained!"
The adrenaline must be mental. Flying from the back of a dragon is one thing; flying yourself is another. Nothing is quite as thrilling as that. It's why Greenseer may have become my favourite magic tree... I can be anything I'm not. It's not too surprising that skinchangers have fallen for the thrill and entirely abandoned their humanity before.
She kept spinning through the air without pause. I chuckled, shaking my head.
Eventually, she landed on the balcony and retracted her wings seamlessly. That kind of magic seemed to come to her naturally. Perhaps it was the Targaryen blood.
"You were right, father," she said, excitedly, with glistening, big blue eyes. Her antlers had remained, growing a bit bigger than yesterday. "I allowed what other people thought of me to suppress my own gifts. They were afraid... which made me afraid. But I realised that it isn't a curse - it's a gift."
"Once I realised that, I grew those wings."
"Good girl," I smiled, patting her head.
Dragon scales grew on my other hand, covering it entirely. The ends of my fingers were like valyrian steel blades, long, utterly sharp and unbreakable. I could rip right through a man's chest and drag out his heart with that hand.
"Rather than following the tide, you have to make your own waves, and the rest will follow. You're different from anyone else... there's no use in trying to fit in."
Most princess-esque activities didn't interest her in the slightest; she didn't have any true friends outside of family and seemed to prefer being alone more often than not. She is a misfit... just as I was.
"The dragon doesn't concern herself with the opinion of the sheep, right?" Victoria questioned with a cheeky tone.
"Indeed, something like that," I chuckled. "Don't get too big a head, though. Confidence is important, but arrogance... it's no good for anyone."
"I know," She nodded, turning to the side and blowing fire. "Also... I can do this now."
It wasn't anything huge, but it was definitely dragon fire.
"Aaand this."
She raised her hand, targeting a bird in the sky. With one clench of her hand, it exploded in the sky - its blood spraying out across the sky. That blood then gathered around her hand, flowing freely like Hydro elemental energy would. To my knowledge, blood wasn't an element in Genshin... and seems entirely unique to this world.
Poor bird, though.
"It goes without saying, but don't-"
She drank the blood. I raised an eyebrow.
"Yummy," She smiled.
"Don't use that against anyone good... or pets. I don't want complaints that my daughter killed someone's cat."
"Okay, I won't."
I spent a couple of hours teaching her some things that I knew, and used that time to observe her abilities in greater detail. Her blood magic was fascinating... and frighteningly deadly to anything with blood inside of it. It came to her naturally. No doubt that, in the future, she would outclass every 'blood mage' as she isn't only deeply in tune with blood magic... she was born in it.
There would be no equal to her in that regard.
I could see that much in the future.
...
"Soon enough, you'll be going back to Storm's End," I told Garth and Alysanne.
"Why not King's Landing?" Alysanne questioned.
"Storm's End is safer," I explained simply. "It's a much better fortified stronghold, naturally, and where I've built the most magical defences. There are two dozen warriors, similar to the stone golem, which I've built myself and a device that contains all the magic to power them. There is also a place that controls all the other magical defences... which you could help operate if it comes to it."
"Is it the Others?" Garth questioned. "But if they can get there, then the Wall..."
"... Isn't going to last," I nodded. "Once they're past it, containing them in the North is going to be impossible. Hence, the measures I've set in place. Hopefully, I can end it before they get too far, but... there are no guarantees."
It wasn't exactly reassuring, sure, but I'd rather not make false promises.
"That doesn't sound good..." Alysanne remarked.
"Most importantly, you will all be safe. That's my priority..." I took a deep breath. "... Be free and lead the lives you want to live. Of course, you two already know this, but... I want to say it again. The bastard name doesn't matter. It's not some curse, it's a gift - you have the freedom that so many nobles do not. You are my firstborns, and nothing will change that. I love you both so very much... mayhaps more than anything else."
I embraced them both, one arm each. As the memories of their childhood, from the newborns in my arms till now, flooded my mind, I felt wistful. Almost overwhelmed.
"Why are you saying all of this now?" Garth questioned.
"Are you... afraid that you won't be able to?" Alysanne added. She could always see into the hearts of people and, well, couldn't be more right.
"Yes..." I admitted. "Always remember what I've said."
"But... nothing bad will happen, right, father?"
Alysanne's poignant expression made me wish it were so more than anything.
"..." Not a sound could leave my mouth for a moment before I managed a smile. "Yes. I'll be back before you know it."
"You can do it, father," Garth nodded. "No one can defeat you."
I wanted to chuckle.
"Of course... you're right."
The Night King believed that my fire had 'faded', but he couldn't be more wrong. It was brighter than ever, with all the more purpose. All the more reason to fight, all the more to protect... and all the more to look forward to in the future.
There has to be a way... there must be.