Dragons and Wolves

For a family who have tried to keep their blood pure, the Targaryens definitely sired perhaps the most bastards out of any single noble house in Westeros, if not all the houses combined. So it is no surprise to meet someone with the name Waters or Stone (bastards get their identifying surnames depending on the geographic location in Westeros of the noble parent's family home), but it is also the easiest way to hide yourself if you want to run from someone or keep something a secret.

Name: Visaera Waters
Father: Aerys II Targaryen
Mother: Lynis
Current age: 27
Race: Valyrian/Westerosi mix
Societal class: Bastard (illegitimate child out of wedlock - usually on the same level as common folk but can easily be legitimized by the head of their household or by being named heir to a noble)
Hair color: White blonde
Eye color: Lilac
Complexion: Pale
Sex: Female

Rumoured to be one of Brandon Stark's illegitimate children he sired, before his death by strangulation and wildfire burning together with his father by the Mad King, Aerys II Targaryen. In truth, nobody knows him in the town he claims to be from, and his mother cannot be tracked down. Though he tries to blend in with the common folk, his mannerisms betray his noble upbringing, and the more one digs, the more questions rather than answers they find. He presents himself as a bastard, but judging by his attitude toward his 'predicament', he has no bitterness about it, unlike all the other bastards anyone would meet out there in the world. And the fact that he seems to have two names, which is uncommon.

Name: Aver Aether Snow
Father: Branndon Stark, brother to Eddard "Ned" Stark (rumored)
Mother: Ingrid
Current age: 29
Race: Westerosi
Societal class: Bastard (illegitimate child out of wedlock - usually on the same level as common folk but can easily be legitimized by the head of their household or by being named heir to a noble)
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Blue
Complexion: Pale
Sex: Male

The magic system created by the author is a soft one with just some things across different cultures repeating enough to point toward some rules.


Before Old Valyria's fall, the history is that in that culture of slavers, the people bred and owned dragons, and they made the strongest known metal as well as something that looks like obsidian and is known as dragonglass. Blood and fire magic, and human sacrifice, are an integral part of owning dragons and making the metal and obsidian. And inc.st is at the core of the culture as well to keep power in the family. Members of established households, once they've had children, willingly volunteer to be sacrificed so their spirit enters a dragon, and from then on, the person's children and their descendants can form a bond with the dragon and become its rider. Preferably, the dragon would be female so that it lays eggs and its offspring would carry on the bond with the family from which the human spirit comes. Also, the people pride themselves on having dragon blood, which implies cross breeding(which exists in the world of ASOIAF)/beast.ality but as far as is known, there is no confirmation, only the scary saying to explain away blind rage and vengeance. And, with all the sayings about dragon blood and not to wake it and whatnot, and one case of a stillborn baby having a lizard tail, no one of that lineage or any other from that overthrown society has ever had the power to turn into a dragon and wield fire without spells.
The creation of the famous steel and dragon glass also involve dragon fire and human sacrifice. The melting and remolding of the steel requires them as well.
Additionally, the people belonging to that culture have prophetic dreams (as ones in many other cultures do too) and call the power dragonseeing or dragondreaming.
Now, the place where old Valyria once stood in Essos is so cursed that even the most experienced sailor will never go close to it no matter what money he's given. The Targaryen dynasty as a horror mystery about one of their princesses who claimed the dragon Balerion the Black Dread went missing with the dragon for two years and could not be found no matter how much the king and queen searched for her with their people and personally on their dragons. Suddenly, she returned together with Balerion, the dragon badly injured despite being extremely large, experienced in war, and his fire having gotten hotter with age. The injuries scarred. The princess was in bad shape and collapsed the moment she got off the dragon. The true nature of her death was too horrific for the royal maester to disclose. No matter how he tried to alleviate her agony and save her life, the princess burned up alive and horrific worms with human faces, some as long as her arm, ate their way out of her body. The only possible theories about the nature of her death and Balerion's state are that either Balerion took the princess Aerea back to his home, Old Valyria, and encountered unknown horrors in the cursed land, or took her over the terrifying western lands past Asshai.

The fall of Old Valyria, also knowing as the Doom of Old Valyria, was prophesied and brought about by the Valyrians trying to avoid the prophecy. They knew that the gold of House Lannister will cause their fall, so when the house wanted to buy a Valyrian steel sword from the Valyrians, they refused the Lannisters. Though it is not known for certain and almost lost to time, the bread crumb trail hints that the Lannisters in response hired a faceless man, a worshiper of the Many Faced God of death and assassin, to cause the downfall of the Valyrian empire. Additionally, this coincides with the story of the first faceless man, who heard a Valyrian slave's prayers to his god. The slave prayed first for his own death, and then he prayed for the death of the slave master. And so, two things combined to bring the faceless man to Valyria, even though he would have come even without money offered. Old Valyria was situated on a volcanic range because dragons flourish there, choosing the live among volcanos and seeking them out as breeding grounds and to lay eggs there. For the civilization to stay at the volcanos unharmed, they used the fire magic of their pyromancers to keep the volcanos from going off. Rumor has it there was strife between the Valyrian noble houses and the pyromancers, and the faceless man assassin made use of that. Whether it was the nobles or the faceless man himself, somehow the fire magic stopped and the volcanos erupted. There was so much ash and deadly gas in the air, and boulders flying, that even dragons fell from the sky.
Only few Valyrians survived by going to Westeros before the fall of their civilization.


Green men (horned and hooved half beast half man elves with glowing eyes stewarding the forests), children of the forest (elusive eternally youthful woodland fairy/elf type creatures), weirdwood trees harboring souls of the green men and the children, and being worshipped as the old gods of Westeros, wargs/skin changers (the members of the noble house Stark have this ability passed down through generations, but this ability is also common among the free folk/wildlings). The Stark stronghold, Winterfell, has multi-level underground crypts harboring the bodies of the previous Stark lords with a prophecy about them rising one day.
Most of all, the scariest are the white walkers/others, which are tormented spirits of deceased green men that got torn out of the weirwood trees and unable to rest, now haunting forests north of the Wall, killing wildlings and night watch rangers, and raising them as ice wights/ice zombies, taking babies sacrificed to them in return for not killing the parents of the babies and then turning those babies into more white walkers as they cannot reproduce themselves. Most of all, white walkers seem to have a parallel link to The Great Other, the enemy of the fire lord, Rhllor, and the whole prophecy of 'the prince that was promised' has to do more with the rivalry between The Great Other and Rhllor than with any other deities, including the Old Valyrian gods, even if the prophecy includes the Targaryens who descended from some of the last Old Valyrian survivors. So, Starks and Targaryens (through marriage also Velaryons) have the central role in the prophecy. A huge hint to that is the Valyrian steel (that famous dragon fire and human blood forged metal) sword that is passed down through generations of Stark lords. And only Valyrian steel and dragonglass can kill white walkers/others and their raised wights. Also, the motto of House Stark is 'winter is coming', which hints toward the first Long Night coming a second time, not just House Stark being the most northern noble house and enduring harsh winters every year. And, the Long Night is part of the Targaryen visions and prophecy about the prince that was promised.
Then there's also the greenseers (the chief of which is the three-eyed raven who was a Targaryen prince before being sent to the Wall to join the night watch), and for one to awaken the greenseer genes they need to eat the flesh of another greenseer after that one is sacrificed in some children of the forest magic ritual together with the weirdwood trees drinking the sacrifice's blood. And the greenseers can see the future, present, and past through the weirwood trees, which are outside the flow of time. Also, if a weirwood tree is cut down and something is made out of its wood or built in its location (like cursed Harrenhal Castle), then you can expect to get trippy visions in those places or by owning something made from a weirwood tree.
There is also a previous Stark lord being a generational horror story in the North of Westeros, so terrible that even his name was erased by his brother from the Stark family tree. The Starks, out of all Northerners, have a better withstanding against the Northern cold. Speculation about the reason for this points to when one of the Stark ancestors, who was Lord Commander of the Night's Watch at the Wall, and later called himself The Night's King, fell in love and married a white walker woman. It was a terrible time for noble and peasant in the North alike, and something must have happened that impacted all the following generations of Starks, even though the couple didn't have their own children because white walkers cannot reproduce. It's possible that some sort of magic took place, because that Stark man sacrificed human children to her, and only the union between the Lord of Winterfell, Brandon the Breaker, and the King Beyond the Wall (leader of the free folk/wildlings) brought him and his corpse bride down. So either that, or the Starks being able to warg into their direwolves and some of them being greenseers somehow also helps them withstand the cold better. But still, they do need their winter cloaks.
Also giants. Those are a thing in the North, but more North of the Wall, where the wild free folk (wildlings) and the white walkers are. Though, the giants are not as tall as mountains, or even hills. They are more 1 and a half stories tall if compared to a building.
The Wall itself is magic and only the Horn of Winter can bring it down. It was built by one of the Starks, Branndond (Bran) the Builder, and the guess is to mainly keep out the white walkers after the first Long Night (a supernatural winter). The Wall has a gate with a face on it like the faces on the weirwood trees, which obviously hints toward magic and a potential link to the old gods. The Stark stronghold, Winterfell, is magic as well. The saying 'there must always be a Stark in Winterfell', even if it's a baby, is passed down through generations. If all Starks leave Winterfell, then a magical winter (not the same as the Long Night from The Great Other that promises to ruin the whole world) sets in and Winterfell is at the very centre of it, almost like the source of it, to make life in and outside the town impossible in order to protect it and the crypts. The crypts get snowed in so that no one can find them. In A Song of Ice and Fire, when a Stark girl's friend pretended to be her in a wedding to a cruel illegitimate son of the conniving and scheming house Bolton, another character who has lived at Winterfell for a long time said that the girl looked like a corpse bride and everything around them looked like a funeral and not a wedding. The bastard of the Bolton house wanted to marry a Stark so he could legitimately own Winterfell, a legitimate Stark daughter's friend pretended to be the actual daughter, and no living person saw the girl since she was a child so they could not corroborate the claim or argue against it, but by magic Winterfell and the dead Starks in the crypts knew.
And, this might not be magic, but there are blue winter roses in the North that bloom in winter (hence the name).

Name: Jacaerys (Jace) Velaryon
Age: 18 (at death), unknown (as a wight)
Sex: Male
Race: Valyrian (in life, Valyrian/Westerosi bastard according to rumors), wight (after being raised from death)
Height: 1.7 meters (170 cm)
Hair: Black, shoulder-length, curly (in life), white, shoulder-length and curly (as a wight)
Eyes: Brown (in life), vary (as a wight)
Skin: Warm ivory (in life), pale (as a wight)
Father: Laenor Velaryon (officially), Harwin Strong (rumored), Daemon Targaryen (step-father)
Mother: Rhaenyra Targaryen
Siblings: Lucerys Velaryon, Joffrey Velaryon, Visenya Targaryen, Aegon Targaryen, Viserys Targaryen
Cousins: Baela Targaryen, Rhaena Targaryen, Jaehaerys Targaryen, Jaehaera Targaryen, Maelor Targaryen, unknown bastard cousins
Uncles and aunts: Aegon II Targaryen, Aemond Targaryen, Helaena Targaryen, Daeron Targaryen, Gwayne Hightower (step-granduncle)
Grandparents: Viserys I Targaryen (grandfather and late king), Aemma Arryn (maternal grandmother), Alicent Hightower (step-grandmother), Rhaenys Targaryen (paternal granmother), Corlys Velaryon (paternal grandfather)
Personality: Driven, loyal, devoted to his family, impulsive and hot-blooded, humorous, loving, faithful, strives to prove himself, insecure about his worth and identity due to rumors about him being a bastard.
Partner: Sara Snow (rumored), Cregan Stark (rumored)

1

So much is happening in Westeros. Too much to keep up with. And if only it were possible to catch at least one end of this massive tangled ball of yarn. No matter where you look, both the allies and the enemies are confused. Unlikely partnerships are formed out of the fear of the unknown. "Magic is gone!" The Maesters insist. And yet, who are these strange people who wield powers not seen before? Is this how strong the mages of Old Valyria had been? What kind of sacrifice does one need to make in order to get this kind of power? It is horrific to even think about for those who know even a little bit about magic and what it takes to use it. That's right. It takes, and takes, and takes, and takes. Taking more than it ever gives is all magic ever does, and the greedy gods who grant it are like bottomless pits. Are they the mages from Asshai? Or possibly the dead city beyond it where even the strongest sorcerers fear to even think of stepping? Wherever they are from, even though the Hour of the Wolf had passed and Cregan Stark insists on being in the North and preparing for winter, and there are regents to guide Westeros, he is called upon again. The Realm must unite, and everyone wishes that the dragons they hated and so brutally killed were now with them, because doorways are opening in the middle of the sky and creatures smaller but more terrifying the dragons and wights are emerging. And whose side are those unknown mages on? They kill both people with no clear link between them, at least none that Cregan can see yet, and those monsters as well. And one such mage comes to the North. On the other side of the wall, the dead are rising more and more. And the Winterfell crypt gives off such an eerie feeling that no one can stand even walking past it.


2​

All these confusing dreams. What is up and what is down anymore? Jon thinks he's all alone, but Bran is alive. And if only they were together, then Bran surely would be the one to figure out what's going on in Jon's dreams. In some of them, he feels like he's asleep in a cold room. In another, he is a dire wolf and is running through the woods, and there is blood on his muzzle and in his maw. It's as if he has become Ghost. And in a different dream, he is atop one of the walls surrounding Winterfel, fighting off wight walkers left and right with his Valyrian steel sword that in his dream is burning. He slaid a giant, raised members of the Nights Watch, even Ygritte was among them. "Winterfel is mine!" Jon shouts. But then everything stills, because he sees Robb in front of him, his eyes blue, but he is not just any wight walker or one of those others. No, he is their king.
In due time, the first two of those dreams come true. The Nights Watch feel like he has broken his vows and what's more, gone against everything that the Nights Watch is supposed to be, at least according to them, by letting the wildlings in, sending Sam Tarly to the Maester Cytadel, getting involved in politics, and so they stab him to death. His body sleeps in a cold room, and his soul is wargged into his dire wolf, Ghost. He doesn't know how much time he had spent like, but one day he wakes up on that table back at the Wall. He told Melisandre he wouldn't need her, and yet he ended up needing her. No one comes back the same when they're raised as a wight. But he is not an ice wight, he is what Melisandre and Beric Dondarrion are, a fire wight. And so, as he was told, Jon killed the boy and let the man be born. But he is different, more brash. His nature had changed. The wolf blood awoke in him, or is it the dragon blood? It would be way worse for those who have earned his ire if it's both. Before, he looked more like his mother, Lyanna Stark, without knowing it. But now, with white hair, he looks way more like his father, Rhaegar Targaryen. But no one who knows of it is with him to tell him that. All this awakening seems to be coming in time, because on both sides of the Wall, things are becoming weird. The rangers going out keep finding massacred groups of ice wights and sometimes dead others. The faces on the weirwood trees contort into those of anguish and rage. Something is coming... or is it already here?


There's more down below in Lucerys's last 2 sections.

Prince Lucerys was Princess Rhaenyra's secondborn son. His mother was set to inherit the iron throne from his grandfather, king Viserys Targaryen, however, the throne was usurped by his step-grandmother and her side of the family when they hid the king's passing and put his uncle, Aegon II Targaryen, on the throne. Since then, his mother and step-grandmother have been in an even worse political struggle as alliances were divided between the expected heir and the sudden ascender to the throne. Lucerys and his siblings as well as the rest of the family on both sides were pulled into the conflict, and everything went from a war of diplomacy to a full-out war when Lucerys's uncle and brother of the king, Aemond Targaryen, killed him.

During the diplomacy race between Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and Queen-dowager Alicent Hightower, Lucerys ran into his uncle, Aemond Targaryen, when visiting House Baratheon as an envoy. The nephew and uncle had a long history of animosity due to the tensions between their mothers. Though close in age, they grew up as rivals rather than as friends, and on one night in the heat of the moment Lucerys cut out Aemond's eye after the latter broke the order and bonded with Vhagar, the largest dragon and the deceased Laena Velaryon's mount.
Both Aemond and Lucerys had tough childhoods, and after spending years apart with Aemond in Kings Landing and Lucerys at Dragonstone, tensions only built at every encounter as outside pressures due to the ongoing political struggles were added fuel. Finally, when it was just the two of them, Aemond sought to get back at Lucerys for his lost eye and sicced Vhagar after Lucerys while the latter tried to escape on his dragon, Arrax. Aemond chased Lucerys on dragonback until the nephew briefly escaped by flying above the storm clouds, but Vhagar swooped in from bellow and bit Arrax's neck in half and wing off, sending Lucerys falling down into the sea to a watery grave. The only things that were recovered days later were Arrax's remains and Lucerys's clothes that had washed up on the shore. Accounts vary between whether Aemond lost control of Vhagar or had ordered his dragon to kill his nephew. Some see the king's brother as a heartless murderer lacking any compassion or regret, and others say he genuinely did not want things to go that far as much as he had hated his nephew.

What happened exactly with Lucerys after his death and how he was brought back from it is not clear. Even he himself does not know the whole story of what happened. He had fallen into the sea and so the drowned god (worshiped by the ironborn) would have first claim. But due to his Valyrian lineage, his ancestral gods, the old gods of Valyria, asserted their right to him as well. The god of 7, the new god of Westeros, laid down their claim as the Valyrians had begun to worship them after coming to Westeros. And, lastly, the god of light R'hllor staked his claim on Lucerys. It is not known what the other deities did, but after his rising, Lucerys finds that wherever he goes, a priest or follower of one or other religion will recognize that he is undead and either avoid him purposefully, raise up praises to their deity, or simply acknowledge that he is a mystery which had not yet been revealed. No priest or follower of any religion that Lucerys had asked could or would tell him which god it was by whose power he was raised in the end. With no fault of his own, however, Lucerys assumes it must be R'hllor as he has gained control over fire like no known red priest out there without being a follower of the said god. At the same time, he has his suspicions about the old Valyrian gods because he can now turn into a dragon. At the same time, his father Leanor, had told him after they had reunited in Pentos, that the old gods granted some people the power to warg, or skinchange. That was food for thought, but Lucerys found himself with more questions and doubt than with answers, since he wasn't temporarily warging into a dragon, but was actually taking on the form of a dragon himself.
Needless to say, Lucerys is unlike any wight out there. He is different to all other wights that had been raised before him, and also those who will be raised after him. The only thing that had changed about him is the color of his hair. Granted, he looks way more like a Velaryon, or a Targaryen, now that he had died and been raised as a wight as that made his hair white, than when he was alive as he had dark brown hair. But the similarities to his Valyrian anscestors or other wights end there. Unlike all the other wights, save for his white hair, his eyes are not red, he breathes, eats, sleeps, and continues to grow. It is unknown if he will stop aging at a certain point and stay as he is until something or someone ends him, or if he will live out his life as a normal person and die of old age. The spoiler is that he will reach maturity and stop changing from there. While other wights have open or sealed wounds by which they had died while they were still human, Lucerys can either conceal or show his with the same ability that lets him change into his dragon form. However, it is at these two that his form-changing abilities end. When he chooses to show his fatal injury, it appears as scars in a few places on his neck. When Arrax's dead body fell flat into the sea, Lucerys suffered a concussion and a jolt that broke his neck as he had been still saddled on the dragon's torso when it hit the water. As he sank with his dragon, Lucerys drowned while unconscious. It is unclear how his clothes washed up on the shore with Arrax's remains without his remains in the clothes, other than the explanation that the gods had claimed his body.
Later, his body was recovered by fishermen from Pentos who saw him drifting in the sea on a plank. They thought he was dead but he regained consciousness right before they were about to decide with the head of the port if his body should be taken to the red priests or the undertakers. Though he knew who he was, Lucerys felt that he should not be revealing himself to the fishermen, merchants, and port staff all curiously asking him who he was and how he happened to be in the sea. It was when he was being led by the head of the port through a merchant street that his father, Laenor, and his lover, Qarl Correy, recognized him while they were out as well. Leanor was quick to claim Lucerys from the head of the port, and though the man was doubtful, Lucerys insisted on knowing Leanor so the man let them be and do whatever they were going to be up to. As mentioned before, it was with his father that Lucerys learned about the different gods out there. Also, Lucerys learned that his father had faked his death and both his mother and step-father had helped him in that by recruiting Qarl. It was never a secret between Laenor and Lucerys or his brothers that Harwin Strong was really their father, but whereas before they had not spoken of this truth, now they could speak plainly, and Leanor still loved Lucerys much as if he was his own as he had raised the boy as such, and given him his name legitimizating him as his own. Also, Leanor learned of his son's death at the hands of Aemond and the jaws of Vhagar, and his newfound abilities to produce and use fire as well as turn into a dragon.
Though doubtful of which deity he really belonged to, Lucerys felt a strong pull toward the prophecy of the prince who was promised, which had to do with R'hllor. His purpose in the prophecy about the great other, the enemy of the lord of light, and the prince who was promised is not yet clear to him or anyone else, but one thing Lucerys believes is that he should follow the prophecy and at some point it will lead him to the answers he craves. After years in Pentos with his father, though he knew of the developments back in Westeros following his death, Lucerys returned only when he felt the call to go back. As much as Leanor did not want to be parted from his son, Lucerys convinced his father to let him go. Once in Westeros, he would lead a life of secrecy. Whenever he was asked where he came from, he would say he was from Essos and grew up in Pentos. No more questions were asked of him as current-day Essos is where Old Valyria, the previous Targaryen and Velaryon stronghold was. When he would travel further north, he would resort to dying his hair and hiding his face as inconscpicuously as possible to not attract attention to himself. Though people could not tie it to him, but since his landing back in Westeros, occasionally there would be sightings of a pure white dragon. The sightings were few near Kings Landing, none at Dragonstone or Driftmark. Surprisingly, and suspiciously, the sightings were more frequent in the Riverlands and just a few rumors came from the North. One rumor even came from the Wall, that during a night of a great snowstorm, the watchers on the Wall briefly saw the shadowy form of a dragon passing overhead in the clouds when lightning lit up the sky. Cregan Stark, lord of Winterfell, was much surprised by these rumors and that nearly all watchers assigned to the posts on that night stuck to the claim, but he brushed it off as it was well known in Stark history that Aegon the Conqueror's dragons refused to pass the wall due to its magic, it was a strict divide and nothing from either side could pass to the other unless the Wall came down. However, he did not completely dismiss the claims in his mind and was much distressed by the possibility that perhaps, after all, there was something that could pass the Wall.

Obviously, no one, including Lucerys, could anticipate that the secondborn prince of Rhaenyra Targaryen would be any more special other than what his station added to him, but his death catalyzed the bloody war that became known as the Dance of Dragons. His legacy could have peaked there, but higher powers had other plans, and though he had learned of the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy from his mother and step-father, he never anticipated that his part in it would be way more tightly involved than him simply being part of the Targaryen bloodline.

His death impacted the peace of many people, both small folk and nobles. But there were some individuals he impacted more personally than even his own family. Surprisingly, his very killer, his own uncle, is the most torn up second to Lucerys's mother, Rhaenyra. Aemond was plagued by nightmare in which Lucerys appeared before him, and Aemond saw himself falling to his knees and pleading for forgiveness. "I have done wrong. It is completely my fault. I will not deny it or make any excuse. Me losing control of Vhagar is my responsibility. I have wronged you terribly!" Aemond heard himself uttering words that in his pride he would have never considered uttering to anyone, and saw himself on his knees begging Lucerys with desperation, and his nephew stood still and silent as he looked down at his uncle. The words were one thing, but Aemond seeing himself reaching up to cup Lucery's cheeks, hold his shoulders, kiss his forearms and wrists, bow down to the ground before him and hold at his calves and ankles while he placed his forehead on Lucerys's feet, and then saying the following words. "I will spend my whole life trying to make up for what I have done. Please, do not send me away." That was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. What witchcraft was this? That was not him in his dreams saying and doing those things. That could never be him!
And then he also sees other kinds of dreams, but they all involve him and his nephew. The most common one is him reliving in his nightmares the moment when Vhagar chewed through Arrax and in that way doomed Lucerys to a watery grave. The other was a nightmare of him and Vhagar fighting his uncle, Daemon, and Caraxes until Daemon pierces him through his fake eye and both of them plummet to death with their dragons fatally wounded as well.
No matter what Aemond does, no matter if he stays up and doesn't sleep, drinks himself to unconsciousness, or takes medicine from the royal maester - nothing helps. Those are the only dreams he sees and he is on the brink of losing his mind. One time, at his wit's end, Aemond punches at the sky and air, cries out in anger and desperation to Lucerys, and falls on the ground to weep bitterly. No other terrible actions he did in his life have ever haunted him as much as the death of his nephew. But what he sees as a punishment is not only that, but it is also a call for him to wake up. He can yet choose to change the course of his life and avoid death at his uncle's hands with a sword to the very eye that his nephew had previously cut. The choice is his.

Much later though, Westeros is plagued by sightings of a mysterious white dragon without a rider. The Dance of Dragons is over, and yet the skies overhead are not deemed peaceful. A stranger with white hair moves north through the 7 kingdoms, hailing from across the Narrow Sea, claiming to have been born in Essos and grown up in Pentos. The farther north he goes, the more attention is drawn to his white curly locks. And then he disappears into thin air, only for a terrifying rumor to shake Winterfell and the rest of the North weeks later. Many of the watchers stationed on the Wall claimed to have seen the shadowy form of a dragon in the clouds when lightning lit up the sky overhead during a snow storm. Cregan Stark was just settling in after his return from Kings Landing and was making remaining preparations before winter finally came, and now this news fell upon him. He grew up hearing over and over that Aegon the Conqueror's dragons could not pass over the Wall same as wights and white walkers could not pass it. Yet now more than 10 people saw what appeared to be a dragon flying over the Wall and heading farther north? Unthinkable, and utterly terrifying. But no more strange things occurred since then, and though the matter was still in the back of Cregan's mind, winter was upon the North and a stranger showed up on Winterfell's doorstep. He brought moose he had hunted with him as an offer and asked to be allowed to stay at Winterfell as he had been separated from his party and now it was too dangerous to travel alone. The offering of a whole adult male moose was impressive enough, but the stranger assured he would not be a burden and was a good hunter to make up for being an extra mouth to feed. Cregan would take him in, but something did not sit right with him, even if this stranger did not give off any signs of danger. And one day Lord Stark happened upon the man not having black hair, but white instead, and in the middle of dying it. And then, one day, before Cregan could confront him, the man had disappeared without a trace the same way he had appeared out of nowhere.

Years later, when young Jon Snow would be raised by the power of R'hllor as a wight himself, he sighted the white dragon the tales of which were covered in mystery. Each rumor about this dragon had plenty more rumors surrounding it. "Are dragons still alive? Is that one mine since I'm a Targaryen?" He took back Winterfell, Arya and Rickon are at his side, Sansa is alive, Bran apparently is a warg and is doing well himself somewhere on his own quest, and he had gone down into the crypts and discovered his true heritage in his mother's tomb and by speaking in a dream with, who it turns out is his uncle, Ned Stark. Lady Stoneheart, Catelyn Stark, is an issue to deal with as well, but he really doesn't want to because Jon empathizes with her cause, just not her methods and unreasonable black-and-white thinking. But there is a more pressing problem. The white walkers are a much closer danger than Daenerys Targaryen, his aunt, is a rescue. Can he wait for her? Would she even bother helping and prioritizing the fight against the white walkers and the great other over her primary goal, claiming the iron throne? Jon believes his answer is clear when he sees the taled white dragon as it flies overhead and descends onto the prairie bellow the hills. But wait... what's that? Where is the dragon? And did it have a rider on it? He could swear it did not, but one moment there was a dragon, and when he came to the other side of the hill to see it better, there was no dragon and instead a white haired man.