In the pitch-black sea of the Raven's consciousness, a man and a woman stood facing each other.
As the chants of the followers of the Red God grew louder, a shallow yet sky-covering vortex appeared above the head of the weathered-looking man.
A powerful suction force enveloped him, as if trying to pull him into some mysterious place.
"It's starting," Jon said.
"Open your mouth," Dany said with a smile. "In ancient times, there was the sword hidden in the fish's belly; now, there is the soul hidden within a soul."
Jon did as instructed and opened his mouth. Dany's thought instantly turned into a speck of green light and flew inside.
It wasn't truly stored inside Jon's body. He was nothing but a wandering soul at this point—there was no body or belly to speak of.
A skinchanger could fuse their own soul with that of an animal, so could a skinchanger's soul merge into another skinchanger's body?Yes, it could.
That was the very foundation of the Three-Eyed Raven's inheritance.
When one skinchanger did not resist and instead welcomed the soul of another, the two merged completely, as water blends with milk.
Dany's second soul was based on the meditation method of the Greenseers. She was a "nontraditional" Greenseer, while Jon himself was an exceptionally gifted skinchanger.
As long as he willingly accepted her, Dany's soul fragment could merge seamlessly within him.
In essence, it was somewhat similar to the bond with dragon souls.
A human soul, rather.
Therefore, when Jon's soul was drawn into the enormous vortex above, Dany's soul fragment was not filtered out.
Instead, the raven's soul—the Old Bear's spirit—was expelled from within Jon.
The raven had already possessed a soul of its own, a second life given to it by the Old Bear.
Once Jon left, the raven regained full control over its body.
"Caw! Caw! Caw!" The Old Bear's soul returned to the raven's body, and it immediately screeched, flapping its wings as it flew away.
It flew straight toward the White Knight who was standing solemnly at the Dragon Queen's side.
"Caw! Caw! Caw! Jorah! Jorah! White Knight! White Knight!"
The raven hovered in front of the great bear, flapping its wings.
Its red eyes shone with human emotion, and its shrill cries were filled with complex feelings—grief, relief, and joy.
"Get away!"
But the great bear showed no gratitude. He swatted the raven aside with one powerful slap, sending it tumbling clumsily into a pile of snow.
"Do you know who that is?" Dany asked, the corner of her mouth twitching.
The thought that had entered Jon's soul was only one fragment of her mind. She still had her main soul, three blank sub-souls, and half a Greenseer fragment—none of which affected her body's actions.
"I know. It's Jon Snow's animal companion," the bear said.
"No, that's your father," Dany said seriously.
The bear's face twisted in displeasure. "Even if it used to be my father's pet, you can't just call a feathered beast—"
"I'm as surprised as you are," Dany interrupted, waving her hand dismissively at her 'unfilial son.' "But he really is your father's second life, just like the two ravens we brought back from the sanctuary."
"Your father was a skinchanger. The raven was his animal companion."
"What?" The bear's entire body trembled. His eyes widened as he turned to look at the raven, who was also gazing back at him. "You're not joking, are you?" he asked, voice shaking.
"Your family, like the Starks, has worshipped the Old Gods for generations. Their house is full of skinchangers. If one from your family awakened as well, what's so hard to believe?"
"Jorah, Jorah!" Tears welled up in the corners of the raven's eyes as it called out, its cry filled with both sorrow and joy.
"Father?" The bear took a step forward, then hesitated, stepping back half a pace before softly calling out.
"Jorah, you are good. White Knight, very good!" The raven leaped up and landed on the bear's shoulder.
"Ah—it really is you!" Jorah howled as he clutched the raven tightly, tears streaming down his face.
The bizarre scene was both laughable and touching, enough to bring a sting to one's eyes.
But Dany had no time to dwell on the peculiar reunion between Mormont father and son. She had far more important matters to handle.
Jon's soul had returned to its original body—a broken, lifeless sea of pale blue consciousness.
It resembled a dying universe.
There was no vitality, only decay, withering, and ruin.
At this moment, Jon's consciousness was hazy, lost in a fog, and only Dany at the core of his mind remained aware.
She sensed a strange divine power entering the shattered sea of consciousness, like a master craftsman swiftly patching the cracks of a collapsing house.
Golden light scattered through the air, dispelling the aura of death and restoring vitality.
This was no mere spiritual essence.
Dany knew spirit essence too well—she immediately recognized that these golden motes of light were not it, but a form of divine power with unique attributes.
She grew excited.
It was similar to the divine powers of "the Mother's Healing" or "the Smith's Forging."
Most likely, this was divine power of the death attribute.
It was strong, but it had not expelled the yin essence within Jon's corpse.
Such a resurrection was not perfect.
According to her agreement with the Three-Eyed Raven, Dany quietly guided in the water-element divine power transformed from the Song of Water, using it to soak out the yin essence within Jon, then absorb and purify it into yang essence.
In the process, she spent half of the Song of Water.
What a cost.
Dany made a mental note: now that she had gained three more sub-souls, she would study a water-element meditation technique upon returning to see if she could cultivate her own Song of Water.
"Buzz…"
While Dany's thoughts drifted, Jon's nearly restored sea of consciousness suddenly quaked. A massive dark-red star, trailing a long comet tail, came crashing down from the void.
"Boom!"
Jon's soul was like the Earth, and the dark-red star falling from the void was like the Moon.
At this moment, the Moon struck directly upon the Earth's surface.
There was no towering mushroom cloud, no shattering of worlds.
The two celestial bodies—one large, one small—vaporized upon impact.
They dissolved, mingled, merged, and then condensed into a new "planet"—a new soul.
It was exactly as Brynden had suspected. During Jon's resurrection, R'hllor had meddled, adding something into Jon's soul.
Dany could not quite define what had been added. To call it a soul would be inaccurate, for it contained no personal will.
The essence of a soul lies in memory and personal consciousness.
Yet within that dark-red star, there was neither memory nor any distortion of Jon's will.
It wasn't purely spiritual matter, but it contained spiritual essence.
It wasn't divinity, but it possessed divine elements.
It wasn't godhood, but seemed to hold some kind of special divine power.
It wasn't a Song of Law, yet it emitted fluctuations similar to one.
This was the first time in her life that Dany had encountered such a peculiar substance.
"This is destiny—the destiny of Azor Ahai."
Suddenly, Dany's vision blurred, and Brynden's figure appeared beside her.
"You've been here all along?" Dany was startled for an instant, then quickly regained her composure.
Brynden could infiltrate her sea of consciousness without her noticing; concealing himself any further would be simple.
"After Bran entered the body of the raven and met Jon, I stayed here and didn't leave," Brynden explained, then extended his right hand. His middle and index fingers formed a sword-like gesture as he drew a circle in the air. A green halo appeared, seemingly connecting to some distant void.
"Hurry, let your primary soul enter the dragon-spirit state."
Dany did as instructed.
In the next moment, another Brynden entered Drogon's sea of consciousness and also drew a circle with his fingers. "Divine power will enter through here. It won't attract R'hllor's attention."
Dany didn't move but frowned. "Tell me the truth. Are you hiding something from me?That red star fused with Jon isn't just Azor Ahai's lingering soul.
Azor Ahai wasn't a demigod, much less a true god, yet that red star contains both divinity and fragments of the Song of Law."
"I swear to the Mother, it's merely Azor Ahai's destiny," Brynden said solemnly.
"Hurry. The arrow is already nocked—don't let it all go to waste."
Hearing him swear in the name of the Gatekeeper Goddess, Dany still harbored doubts but didn't hesitate further.
Drogon, Dany, the power of faith, and the aura of the Song of Fire—all fused into divine flame, surging into the green halo, then bursting out from the one inside Jon's sea of consciousness.
Immediately, Dany's consciousness within Jon's mind controlled the incoming fire priest power, unleashing a sky-burning, sea-boiling inferno.
"Roar!"
From the slowly fusing "soul mist" at the center, a majestic five-clawed fire dragon burst forth.
Its head resembled a camel's, horns like a deer's, eyes like a rabbit's, ears like an ox's, neck like a serpent's, belly like a clam's, scales like a carp's, claws like an eagle's, and palms like a tiger's. Whiskers framed its mouth, and a bright pearl hung beneath its chin.
It was a lifelike Eastern divine dragon, each scale and whisker vividly clear.
The fire dragon opened its mouth and roared.
Though it was merely divine fire, it swelled like a world-manifesting demon dragon, expanding a millionfold. It turned back and swallowed the "soul mist" whole.
The sight was like a flaming dragon on Earth soaring into outer space, its body growing countless times larger, coiling around the planet again and again before finally opening its jaws to consume the Earth itself.
The Eastern dragon was but an image; its true nature was Dany's strongest fire attack—to burn away the "Destiny of Azor Ahai" within Jon's soul.
The dark red mist that had been merging with Jon's bright black soul ignited in the divine flames, then began to transform.
Masses of dark red fog dissipated.
"What is that?"
Within Jon's consciousness, it was as if a beast capable of devouring heaven and earth had awakened.
It struggled to its feet with a deafening roar. The entire world of his consciousness shook violently, as though an earthquake of magnitude nine, a tsunami of twelve, and a typhoon of twelve all struck at once.
"What is that?" Dany exclaimed as well.
The beast possessed its own will, clearly independent of Jon's.
Could it be Azor Ahai?
No, impossible—such overwhelming might…
Dany's expression changed as a terrible thought flashed through her mind.
"R'hllor!" she turned sharply, glaring at Brynden, whose face had also grown grim. She gritted her teeth."You deceived me! That isn't Azor Ahai's destiny—it's a fragment of R'hllor's soul, the soul of a true god.
You used me as bait, to stand against R'hllor himself!"
"I didn't lie to you," Brynden said softly, shaking his head. "Who do you think Azor Ahai really is?"
Who was Azor Ahai?Wasn't he the savior?
But in the faith of the Red God, Azor Ahai held a status almost identical to Jesus in Christianity.
This realization made Dany's face darken.
She knew she had been tricked.
"No matter who Azor Ahai was before, the savior is, and always has been, R'hllor. The savior's glory belongs to R'hllor," Brynden said calmly.
"I should've known." Dany let out a bitter laugh.
In a dualistic pantheon, R'hllor and the Great Other were eternal enemies.
So during the first Long Night, R'hllor couldn't have simply watched from the sidelines. He must have taken part as well.
"This is Westeros—my kingdom. Jon's sea of consciousness allows entry but no escape. As long as we destroy this will, even R'hllor Himself will never know it was you," Brynden said.
"That's a true god. There's nothing I can do against Him."
As the will of R'hllor awakened within the "Destiny of the Savior," Dany's divine fire could no longer burn the soul mist that had turned from dark red to bright crimson.
Instead, her flaming dragon began to crack like shattered porcelain, layers peeling away, inch by inch collapsing—it could barely hold together.
"It's all right. I'm here. I'll help you."
(End of chapter)
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