5 Plans

Jon

Roughly a year later...

Jon had only just recently turned 16, Gerion found out, Gerion took him out and Gerion got him royally hammered. It's the first time he'd been blackout drunk and the morning after was one of the worst things he'd ever experienced, and in the past year he'd experienced a lot of things.

For starters, him and Gerion got on like a house on fire now, they bantered with each other, took the piss out of each other but it wasn't all just jokes and japes with the pair of them. They both had each other's back as well whether it be in an argument or fight with some stranger or just even the smallest things like cooking for each other, doing little favours here and there.

Gerion wasn't really a friend to Jon, he was more like an uncle...a mad and annoying uncle but an uncle all the same.

Speaking of Gerion, his 'uncle' had managed to get him a job working on the docks so that he could pay his way, it wasn't really fair leeching food and accommodation without contributing so he asked Gerion if there was any work going around and he managed to be earning coin the very next day.

He spent most of his morning, from dawn to midday, in his lessons with Master Miyamoto and the afternoon on the docks, moving crates and pulling ropes was the main gist of it.

Speaking of Master Miyamoto or Master M as him and Gerion liked to call him, that relationship had also grown as well, Master M was the closest thing to a grandfather that Jon had ever had. The man was a pool of knowledge and it sometimes scared Jon how much Master M knew about him, either the man was a brilliant judge of character or he could actually read a person's mind like an open book.

Master M had kept Jon on the right track since day one of his training, at first, he wondered why he was even doing all of this intense training but Master M told him or believes he told him if Gerion's translation was accurate that 'every man and woman should strive to be the best version of themselves', Jon couldn't argue with that and the fact that the whole reason for leaving home was to discover himself and improve himself helped with agreeing with the man's statement.

His lessons were more of a war between him and his own sanity, each lesson was so intense and cut throat that he thought he was actually going to die at points. He would go home battered and bruised, he was sure his bruises had their own bruises it was that bad. Gerion would tell him each night that in the end it would be worth it so he stuck it out.

The Master had claimed that he had a natural gift with weaponry whether it be swords, daggers or even the odd weapons that were native to this land, he'd taken to them like a duck to water. He'd also trained with bows but was quick to determine that the bow was something he should avoid, to put it bluntly, he was awful with a bow, that was more Theon's expertise Jon hated to admit.

The Master had him doing all sorts of different physical exercises when sparring wasn't on the agenda for the day, running up and down the mass hill of stairs that led up to the town hall, 50 to 60 times in one sitting at times. Jon had counted the number of stairs due to the fact that he'd ran up them that many times, it was a rough estimate but he guessed around 180 to 200 steps made up the 'Stairway to Hell' as he'd had dubbed it.

He'd been tasked with climbing the face of a steep almost sheer cliff that he'd later learned was actually just the base of Mount Hakusan, he couldn't for the life of him even think about climbing the entirety of it and if Master M tasked him with doing so, he'd probably tell him where to get off, that was a hard no from him.

One of the more embarrassing exercises he had him doing was chasing the same macaques that he'd seen when he was fresh off the boat. Not only were children also chasing these little arseholes around but he was confident that it was all just a game to these bastards. He'd managed to catch quite a few of them ever since he started but his reward for capturing these wily little things was just an abundance of scratch marks with a few of them pissing on him, 1 or 2 of them had even thrown their own shit at him, knowledge he'd kept away from Gerion.

Not only had his sword skills improved but so too had his more stealth inclined skills, the ones he had learnt to adapt to living under Catelyn Stark's glare. The skills in question had become quite handy when it came to pissing Gerion off, the man was adamant he was trying to get rid of him by causing a heart attack whenever he snuck up on him.

Jon would always tell him he couldn't get rid of him because who on earth would carry on teaching him nihongo. He wasn't fluent in the language but he believes he can take part in a cohesive conversation with his Master and the natives of the island. Gerion would say that he's learnt the words well but his northern burr made some of the pronunciations sound ridiculous and hilarious, Jon would always tell him to piss off.

With all the training and lugging around on the docks, Jon would return home at night feeling like a dead, aching weight. This went on for nearly 5 moons but eventually he and his body got used to and adapted to the stresses of the day. The results of it all were shocking to say the least.

Jon would often wake up on a morning and just stare at his reflection in the looking glass, Gerion would jape that he fancied himself, but it wasn't that, he just wondered what the fuck had happened to the old Jon Snow.

His hair was exactly the same as it had always been, shoulder length raven curls. Although he did try it out in a bun at one point but Gerion just took the piss, always asked him why there was a rat on his head and thus the bun was no more.

His beard was a little bit thicker but still neatly trimmed, something to this day Gerion was jealous of.

No, the thing that shocked Jon the most was his overall physique.

He'd grown a few more inches in the past year and he now had a couple on Gerion, something he would always grin about. Something he would also grin about is his progress with his body in general, a combination of a balanced diet consisting of the right meats, vegetables and fruit with the sheer hard work he's put into his training with Master M and the hard graft when working on the docks has left Jon a wall of solid muscle.

His hard work had paid off and Gerion was always quick to agree stating that he should 'Always listen to uncle Gerion, you'll never go wrong'. He would always roll his eyes at him whenever he said that but had to agree with him somewhat, if it wasn't for that little push at the beginning, he wasn't sure how it had have turned out.

Him and Gerion weren't the only ones who appreciated his hard work if the looks he would get in town were anything to go by.

Jon had never really taken much notice of the opposite sex in recent years, he'd always been too lost in his thoughts about this and that or 'Brooding' as people like to call it, always too busy to notice the looks.

But 16 year old Jon was a little bit different from the younger Jon. He'd lived away from a repressive society that put the man down whenever it could for over a year now and it had done wonders for his confidence and self-esteem. Gerion had called it body confidence but Jon was pretty sure it was getting away from that shit society that had done it.

Now Jon would find himself doing things he wouldn't have possibly thought he would do ever, he flirted with girls when he was out and about, actually flirted, Jon Snow did not flirt or at least he didn't.

Harmless flirting was as far as it went though, the word 'Bastard' had somewhat lost its meaning to Jon whilst living here but it was still always in the back of his mind, a niggling reminder of who he was and what he wouldn't wish on somebody, especially a child. Therefore, Jon had come to the conclusion that he'd be saving himself, to Gerion's amusement.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when a wet cloth slapped across his face.

"The fuck was that for?" He asked as he glared at Gerion who was washing the bowls.

"Stop brooding and help me out with the washing up." He replied.

Jon got up from where he was sat a went over to help. A comfortable silence took over the room whilst they cleaned up until Gerion side eyed him and nudged his shoulder.

"What's all that about then? Not seen you brood since Master M told you about the whole 'destiny for greatness' thing."

Jon remembers that day, it happened a few moons ago whilst training with the old man. The praise he received from him because of his progress in training was always welcome, it always justified his hard work but when Master M followed it up by telling him he had a 'destiny for greatness' and that he wants to test him further, Jon felt a sense of foreboding creep up his spine, almost an outer body experience. Just looking into the old man's eyes made Jon think he knew more than he was letting on.

Jon answered Gerion who had been patiently waiting, "Nah, its nothing. I was just thinking about how much of a difference a year can make that's all."

"Ah, so this does have something to do with Master M, he's been harping on at me about how he thinks you're ready or something along those lines. and I'm guessing he's mentioned about it to you?"

"I'm ready? Ready for what? He's mentioned nothing to me." Jon replied, 'this better not be about this destiny thing' he thought.

"Well I don't know if you've noticed or if it's just the naivety of youth but the town has been preparing for war for months now. Food stockpiled, buildings reinforced, head counts, the Daimyo are not taking anything for granted now that talks with the other islands have completely broken down." Gerion said and for the first time meeting the man, he looked concerned.

Jon had noticed a lot more movement around town in the recent months but didn't realise that the situation was so dire. As much as Jon acted the confident, silver tongued youth around people, the prospect of war worried him quite a bit. For starters, he's never killed a man before, the prospect of taking hold of another person's life and choosing to end it disturbed Jon somewhat.

He'd talked about this with Gerion and he'd said that the first one is the hardest and that you have to remember that these people are trying to kill you as well, it's you or them. It somewhat helped.

He replied to Gerion, "I've seen the influx of activity in town yes but I still don't understand what that has to do with me 'Being ready'."

Gerion sighed, "He's grooming you Jon, he..."

"I'm not fucking him."

"Will you shut the fuck up for once and listen?" Gerion sighed, "He's grooming you for war, he's told me that he sees himself in you, he..."

"And he's not fucking me."

Gerion just looked at him exasperated, "Can you be serious for once?"

"I'll try." He replied.

And so Gerion explained everything to him, on how Master M has been training him to be a Samurai, a highly respected soldier of the field, so that he could fight alongside Master M when the inevitable war arrived. He explained that spies the Daimyo had sent to the other islands have discovered a group calling themselves 'The Imperial Clan' and that they've been consolidating power by ripping existing clans apart and absorbing whatever numbers they had left into a major powerhouse.

To Jon this sounded just like Aegon the Conqueror if history was anything to go by, but if what the spies were saying were true, it sounded like they were doing it in the most brutal way.

Gerion explained that Hokkaido, the most easterly of the four islands had already fallen to this clan and that the Honshu resistance was already fighting them...and losing. This group was making their way west across the entirety of the four islands, and theirs was next.

"Do we know their motives? It can't all be about wealth and power." Jon naively suggested.

Gerion just looked at him.

"It's about wealth and power Jon, no two ways about it. Towns and villages and being pillaged for valuables, women are being took for...reasons and children are being trained to fight for them." Gerion shook his head.

"It's all being spearheaded by a man claiming to be a god, he's declared himself Emperor of the four islands and everybody has become an automatic enemy of the state."

"So, this Emperor is just a tyrant lusting for power, is that what you're saying?" Jon asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Gerion sighed, "The Daimyo and Master M have been preparing for this for months but aren't very optimistic. The spies relayed their numbers to us and the Imperial Clan have numbers close to fifty thousand soldiers, the Honshu resistance apparently have twenty thousand soldiers but are fighting a losing battle. When Honshu inevitably falls, the Imperial clan will have numbers close to sixty thousand."

"Shouldn't we be helping them? Consolidate our troops just like they have." Jon asked.

Gerion just shook his head, "By the time we have everyone armed, ready and traveling there, Honshu will have fallen and we'd be sitting ducks."

"Well Kyushu will be the last island to be attacked since they're the most westerly, we should group up with them and compile a defence strategy. We can't just sit around waiting for the inevitable as you put it." Jon said, annoyed with Gerion's defeatist attitude.

"At the end of the day Jon all we can do is fight, it's a fight none of us think we can win but it's a fight we have to take on. Nine times out of ten, war is a numbers game, and we don't come close to having the numbers."

"How many fighting men does Kyushu have?" Jon asked. He was trying to formulate a plan, maybe some sort of suicide mission was in order.

"Six thousand." Gerion answered.

"SIX!...And how many do we have?" Jon asked, dreading the answer.

"Three thousand." Gerion finished.

And now Jon understood why they all thought the fight was over before it had even started.

"Wouldn't it make the most sense then to just accept them as your new rulers for the sake of all these people's lives?" Jon wondered.

"Don't you see Jon, they aren't giving people much of a choice. The people they have recruited into their clan from these islands haven't joined because they wanted to, they've joined because their families are being threatened and held captive. A third of their clan are essentially slave soldiers fighting for their family's wellbeing."

"How long do they think it will be before they arrive..." Jon asked.

"2 moons, 3 moons tops." Gerion answered, he'd never seen him this downtrodden, made sense if you thought you were gonna die soon he supposed.

"Gods help us, we need a miracle." Jon said to him.

"That we do." He replied "That we do."

Ned

Panic struck like a lightning bolt as he read the raven his wife had handed him. Sitting in the godswood under the heart tree was supposed to bring him calm and ease but at the moment, as he broke the Hand of the King's seal, he felt dread.

'Do they know?' He wondered as he unrolled the parchment and laid his eyes on its contents.

Dear Lord Eddard of House Stark,

It has come to our grace, The King's attention that his most northern kingdom has been somewhat neglected by the crown since the conclusion of the Greyjoy rebellion.

With that in mind, his and her grace, King Rhaegar and Queen Elia, along with Princess Rhaenys and Princess Daenerys will be making the journey north to visit and deal with any grievances that you or your people may have.

By the time you receive this letter, the Royal retinue will be roughly a month away from Winterfell and his grace hopes this amount of time is satisfactory for preparations to be made for their arrival.

His grace looks forward to meeting you again.

Sincerely,

Lord Jon Connington ,

Lord of Griffin's Roost and Hand of the King.

Ned read through the letter two more times to make sure he hadn't missed anything, any clues to whether or not they knew.

'His grace looks forward to meeting you again', Ned thought that sounded a bit ominous if he was being honest, he suspected there was more to this visit than what the contents of the letter suggested.

"What does it say? Is everything alright Ned?" Cat asked, a concerned look on her face.

"The Royal family is going to be visiting us, they'll be arriving in a moons time." Ned replied as he skimmed through the letter a third time.

"Did they say what they were travelling so far for?" Catelyn asked, Ned could already see the gears turning.

Ned handed her the letter, "The Hand of the King said that the King and Queen believe they have neglected the north and this visit is a means to fix that."

Catelyn read through the letter and replied, "It says that the two Princesses will be travelling with them as well. Why would that be?"

"I'm not sure, all I know is that we need to prepare." He answered, he didn't like the gleam in her eye when she handed him the letter back.

"I'll get right on it, first things first, Robb and the boys need new clothes for the visit and the girls need new dresses as well." Catelyn said as she walked out of the godswood, rattling off tasks that needed to be dealt with.

Ned picked up Ice that he was previously sharpening before Catelyn turned up and carried on with his task. The letter and subsequently the reason for his troubled mind completely taking over his thoughts.

Jon.

Ned had lost count on how many months it had been since he'd last seen him, if he were to guess he would say a year and a half. Not knowing if he was alright was the worst of it, for all he knew Jon could have died a year ago, something he refused to believe even though it was a genuine possibility.

The majority of the household had somewhat recovered from Jon's disappearance but to say everything was back to normal would be far from the truth.

The boys missed him, the girls missed him, Jory, Ser Rodrik, Mikken, Gage, they all missed him hell, even the household staff missed him, mainly the maids, something Ned was quite sure he knew the reason why they missed him.

Arya, gods Arya.

She has been her mother's worst nightmare ever since Jon left. Something Catelyn likes to blame on Jon which in turn makes Arya even worse towards her. Sly comments, cold behaviour and a rebellious streak had turned Arya into a force of nature.

It's mainly her mother and Theon who get the worst of it but Sansa receives some of it as well if you count completely disregarding somebody's existence. Ned knows Sansa is sorry for her attitude towards Jon, she had said so herself but Arya is very reluctant to forgive and forget.

Ned sighed, Catelyn was fighting a losing battle if she thinks she can get Arya to wear any of these new dresses she's planning on getting, she'd destroy them in front of her mother's eyes if she was forced.

He'd have to have another sit down with her, the last one he'd had with her hadn't gone too well, she'd started to behave somewhat but after a week she'd returned back to her rebellious self again. And Ned didn't even want to think about the dirty looks he'd received throughout that week from her, it wounded him seeing his little girl look at him like that.

Ned rose to his feet and sheathed Ice, he too had a lot of planning to do, whatever the reason was for the Royal family to be heading their way, he still had to prepare his home for their arrival.

"Let's hope it IS just a visit." He said to no one in particular.

Gerion

Jon had just left for his shift on the docks which in turn had given him the opportunity to sit down and think about what had just transpired. Jon was now aware of the current situation they were all in and his reaction hadn't surprised him at all.

Even after a year of knowing the lad, Jon was still an enigma to him, he had an unexplainable aura to him. One minute he could be chatting away with him, having a laugh and good naturedly ribbing each other, the next he would end silent and almost melancholy.

And his progress with his training was not something that could be easily ignored either, the boy was a demon with a weapon in his hand. The closest person he could compare Jon to at his age would be his nephew, Jaime. He loved his nephew but if Gerion was being honest, that would be an insult to Jon's ability. To put it simply, Jon was the most naturally talented fighter he'd ever met, something Master Miyamoto would one hundred percent agree on.

Master Miyamoto as of late was being very mysterious when the topic of Jon popped up lately. He knew the old man saw an incredible amount of potential in Jon but only recently has he been more intense with that belief.

Him and Master M had a conversation about Jon just yesterday and some of the comments he made painted Jon as being some sort of demigod and the suicidal task he was planning to give to him was just a waste of time...he also didn't want him to die.

Gerion had to reluctantly admit he'd grown rather fond of the young northerner. The attitude, the banter, the genuine care they had for one another was very familial. He enjoyed his company to put it simply and although he'd never told the lad, he saw Jon as almost like a son.

Jon had talked about his family to him, talked about his brothers so Gerion talked about his, Jon's opinion of Tywin was identical to his and the line "He sounds like he needs a hug...that or a ruddy good caning." from Jon always made him chuckle.

Jon had also mentioned his father Eddard Stark and how he was one of the factors that made him make the decision to leave home prematurely. Jon didn't understand and neither could he if he was being honest why Lord Stark would hide the identity of his mother. Jon thinks he's hiding something that could hurt his image and he was inclined to agree with him.

Gerion was lost in his thoughts until he heard somebody knocking on his front door. A peak through the peep hole confirmed the identity of his visitor, Master Miyamoto.

'Odd, he never visits unless it's really important.'

...And an hour later he understood the reason for his visit.

The Imperial Clan had sent a small splinter group of roughly ten thousand men to their island, Shikoku, in advance of their main group. Scouts had reported back and claimed the group was at most, a fortnight away.

Master M had also left clear instructions for Gerion to help prepare the defence of the town and to send Jon to his hall when he returns home from the docks. Gerion wasn't one hundred percent sure why he needed to see Jon but he had a funny feeling it had something to do with this final task of his.

His idea was a complete suicide mission, it all rested on Master M's belief in Jon and in Gerion's eyes, it was completely insane. Master Miyamoto was rarely wrong but he had a feeling this might be one of those times where he is...and it would cost Jon his life.

'Master Miyamoto is going to get my friend killed' Gerion mused, a sinking feeling in his stomach but he had to reluctantly admit, it was the only plan anybody had and was probably the only chance that any of them were going to survive this.

Jon

The trek back home was a peaceful one, well, apart from the cheeky little monkeys trying nab his wage from his pocket. 'They would be an absolute nightmare in Kings Landing' he thought to himself, the image of seeing a perfumed lord running through the streets chasing a monkey as it threw its own making at the man was a rather amusing thought.

As he turned a corner and started his ascent up a set of stairs, his thoughts went back to his and Gerion's conversation earlier, war. Something unavoidable by all accounts, something Jon was reluctant to be a part of but the fact that this town and subsequently this land had accepted him and allowed him to start a new life here kind of made Jon indebted to these people. At the end of the day, it was the right thing to do, whether or not it got him killed.

He also owed it to Master M, the old man had spent an entire year training Jon, moulding him into the refined fighter he was today. He'd made him work hard for it but the result of all the blood, sweat and tears was definitely worth it in the end.

Though he still wasn't sure what it was that made Master M look at him like some precious gem, he was Jon Snow, some northern bastard who happened to enjoy sparring like most boys his age, what on earth was so special about me?

Jon huffed, he'll probably find out sooner or later. The old man was getting more and more intense with his ramblings and they always seem to involve him in some sense.

Gerion's house came into view as he finished his climb, he was always appreciative of his hospitality and realised he'd lucked out hard when he first arrived here. Though, he did have plans on finding his own housing after the war...if he survived.

Upon entering the house, he could instantly tell something was up. One look across the room at Gerion's hunched body as he sat at the table, reading what looked to be something important and biting his nails in the process confirmed Jon's suspicions.

Jon greeted him to break him from his trance.

"Hey up, its busy down at the docks tonight, more boat traffic than normal, has something happened?" He asked as he headed over to the stove to boil some water for his bath.

Gerion looked up from his parchment "There's been a change of plan, Master Miyamoto came round earlier to explain everything...It's not looking good Jon."

That halted him in his tracks, "What do you mean a change of plan? What's happened? Master M never comes round here."

"The Imperial Clan has sent a splinter group in advance and that group is less than a fortnight away."

"How many?" Jon asked, brow furrowed in concentration.

Gerion sighed "Our scouts report around ten thousand, a thousand of which are mounted soldiers."

"Fuck." Was all Jon could reply to that with.

"Fuck indeed, Master M has got me making the necessary plans for a town defence. We have three thousand fighting men against ten thousand battle hardened soldiers, if we do survive this it won't be without huge casualties."

"And that's just fifteen, twenty percent of their total strength. This splinter team will do the damage and even if we do somehow manage to repel them, the main host will arrive and clean up." Jon finished.

"If we survive, not you." Gerion replied.

Jon looked back at him in confusion "Eh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Gerion shook his head "Master M has told me to send you to him when you returned from work. He's got a plan, a stupid and ridiculous plan but a plan all the same."

"And what does this plan entail?" Jon asked, the secrecy between Gerion and the old man was starting to get on his nerves. "You know, I've seen you and him whispering to each other whenever I'm training."

"I know what it is he wants you to do but he wants to explain it all to you himself, he thinks you'll understand what he's asking of you more if it came from his mouth. Even I can't grasp what his full intentions are."

Jon sighed, he'd just gotten home "Fine, does he want to see me straight away or am I allowed a bath beforehand, I stink of fish." Jon asked.

"Just take your bath and head out after, I'll get dinner going when you leave." Gerion replied.

"Good man, I shouldn't be too long. What you doing for dinner? Ooo, can you do those noodle things again with the chicken broth? That stuff was delicious." Jon asked.

"Yeah sure." Gerion replied as he folded up the parchment he was reading.

"Nice." Jon replied with a grin, Gerion really was a good cook.

He got cleaned up and left Gerion to it. Whatever it was that Master M wanted to talk to him about, he didn't want to leave the man waiting.

"Don't give him too much trouble Jon, the man means well even if he does seem to be determined for you to go through with his unrealistic mission."

"Ah, you know me Gerry, good as that Lannister gold your family likes to harp on about." Jon replied with a smirk.

Gerion rolled his eyes "You're right, I do know you, that's what I'm afraid of."

"Love you too." Jon replied as he headed for the front door, "Right, I won't be long, make sure you miss me." He finished as he left the house, all Jon heard was the faint response of "annoying shit" from inside.

The walk down to Master M's hall was brisk and in no time at all he was knocking on the old man's front door.

"Māzigon isse. (Come in)" Was the old man's response from inside.

'Odd, why's he speaking in high valyrian?' Jon wondered.

Since he was using high valyrian he decided to reply back in the same tongue.

"Skoro syt issi ao speaking isse Valyrio Eglie? (Why are you speaking in high valyrian?)" He asked the old man.

"Ao sagon nihongo's daor olvie sȳz se nyke ȳdra daor gīmigon se ēngos hen aōha lenton. Iksā daor se mērī issaros gerion ēza issare teaching udrir naejot. (You're nihongo's not very good and I don't know the tongue from your home. You are not the only person Gerion has been teaching language to.)" The old Master finished with a smile.

"Gerion ēza caught nyke bē va everything se ēza ivestretan nyke emā iā kȳvanon. (Gerion has caught me up on everything and has told me you have a plan.)" Jon said.

"Indeed eman. Issa jāre naejot require ao naejot prepare syt aōha journey ahead. (Indeed I have. It is going to require you to prepare for your journey ahead.)" Master Miyamoto replied.

"Ñuha journey? skoriot iksin nyke jāre? (My journey? Where am I going?)" Jon asked, completely baffled.

The old man motioned for Jon to follow him, they both walked in silence out on to the backyard of the hall. Master M looked up at him then looked towards Mount Hakusan and pointed up to the peak of it.

Jon just looked at him like he'd gone mad.

"Bē konīr? skoro syt? whats bē th... (Up there? Why? Whats up th...)" Realisation hitting him like a hammer to the chest.

"Ao gīmigon skoros's bē konīr yn ao refuse naejot pāsagon isse ziry. (You know what's up there but you refuse to believe in it.)" The old man mused.

"nyke ȳdra daor pāsagon isse ziry kesrio syt zȳha horseshit! (I don't believe in it because its horseshit!)" Jon answered back. 'Was the man senile?'

Master Miyamoto shook his head "Ziry iksos se mērī ñuhoso mirre hen īlva kessa botagon bisa purge. Ziry iksos iā ribazmoqitta kȳvanon ao sagon paktot, yn ziry iksos se mērī kȳvanon. (It's the only way any of us will survive this purge. It's a mad plan you're right, but it's the only plan.)"

"Nyke pendagon ao sagon putting tolī olvie stock ezīmagon ñuha abilities, sesīr lo these ra issi real, skoros mazverdagon ao pendagon nyke could harness zirȳ? (I think you're putting too much stock into my abilities, even if these things are real, what makes you think I could harness them?)" Jon asked. As much as he hated to admit, the old man had a point, nobody else had a plan.

Master M held onto his shoulders and looked right into his soul "Iksā ready syt bisa journey, pāsan isse ao. (You are ready for this journey, I believe in you.)" The old man answered in such a sincere way it nearly made him tear up. 'He believed in me', nobody had ever said anything like that to him before. He was finding it hard to say no to the man when he was bestowing that much belief in him.

"Gaomā realise bisa iksis ribazmoqitta paktot? iksan jāre naejot jikagon bē konīr, find daorun se return naejot find se entire lentor isse ñuqir. (You do realise this is mad right? I'm going to go up there, find nothing and return to find the entire town in ashes.)" Jon said.

"Kesā find skoros iksā seeking, sepār pāsagon, ziry iksos mirre emi geptot. (You will find what you are seeking, just believe, it's all we have left.)" The old man answered.

Again, with the belief, Jon had to admit, it was rubbing off on him and it didn't take him long to come to a decision. Not like he really had much of a choice, if there was a slim chance of this saving the town then he'd do it.

"Okay, nyke'll gaomagon ziry, iksan daor sure skoros iā skoriot iksan jurnegēre yn nyke'll jikagon bē konīr se jurnegon, kesrio syt ao pāsagon isse nyke. (Okay, I'll do it, I'm not sure what or where I'm looking but I'll go up there and look, because you believe in me.)" Jon said, pride blooming his chest when Master M answered him with a beaming smile.

"Nyke knew ao wouldn't ivestragī īlva ilagon, ao'll sagon successful iksan certain. (I knew you wouldn't let us down, you'll be successful I am certain.)" Master M replied.

The man's belief in him was approaching dangerous levels and if he wasn't careful, he could end up with a big head.

The old man motioned to follow him back inside where he took Jon into the armoury and pointed out a large sack.

"Gūrogon bisa, ziry iksos iā bag hen mirre se equipment kesā jorrāelagon skori climbing bona run. (Take this, it's a bag of all the equipment you will need when climbing that thing.)"

Inside the bag was some mini scythe like tools, long, thick rope and a pair of spiked footwear that Jon guessed would be tied around his existing boots for extra grip. 'Well, this is actually happening then.'

Master M walked over to him and reached up to put his hands on Jon's shoulders again "Remember, issa bē naejot ao naejot save īlva tegun se kesā daor qringaomagon, gaomagon ao shifang? (Remember, it is up to you to save our land and you will not fail, do you understand?)"

"daor pressure. (No pressure.)" Jon replied, trying to lighten the mood a little.

The old man started to shoo Jon out of his hall "sir jikagon, prepare se rest syt se bantis, aōha journey rhaenagon rȳ ēlī ōños. (Now go, prepare and rest for the night, your journey begins at first light.)"

He bowed to the old man and made his way back home, thoughts and idea's running through his mind.

Upon entry of the house, he was hit with a delicious aroma, Gerion turned around from his cooking and greeted him.

"Ah, you're back, that was quick."

Jon went and placed his bag of equipment down and sat down at the table "Yeah, not much needed to be said really. He told me his plan and I've agreed to do it."

Gerion just looked at him "You agreed? Why? You must realise it's unrealistic to ask you to do such a thing."

Jon shook his head "He believes in me Gerry, I didn't have the heart to throw that kind of belief back in his face. Besides, he's the only person around here who's got a plan, a mad plan but it's still a plan all the same."

Gerion finished his cooking and placed a bowl of noodles and broth in front of him and sat down opposite him with his own bowl.

"You do realise there's a good chance that as soon as you leave it will be the last time we see each other." Gerion said as he filled his mouth with noodles.

"Aww, I'm gonna miss you too Gerry." He replied with a smirk, "Don't worry, I'll be back and this won't be the last time you ever do my cooking for me."

He just rolled his eyes, "Just be careful alright, I've never been up there or even attempted it but even I can tell there's numerous dangers to climbing that thing." Gerion said, looking concerned.

"You need to stop worrying about me and start worrying about those cunts attacking the town." He said as he filled his mouth full of noodles and broth, it really was quite delicious.

"Yeah, I suppose" Gerion replied, he looked so dejected.

"Hey, cheer up will ya, I'll be up there and back down before you know it and I'll return with a great beast at my back to save the day." Jon said, trying to lighten the mood even if he didn't believe anything he'd just said.

Gerion grinned "Only you could make light of the current situation we're in."

Jon grinned as he got up to wash up "That's because the sun shines out my arse. The light that breaks through the darkness."

"You're foul, do you know that?" Gerion chuckled.

"You love me, don't deny it." Jon responded

Gerion just shook his head as he headed to his room. He turned around at the door and spoke "I'm guessing you're leaving at first light?"

"Yeah, Master M told be to prepare provisions and get a good night's rest. I'll take some rations but I'll have to hunt whilst I'm up there." Jon replied.

"You'll be living off nothing but hares up there." Gerion smiled, he took one last look at Jon and said goodnight.

As soon as he'd finished cleaning up. He headed into his room and all but collapsed on his bed, he was drained.

It didn't take long for his thoughts to run away from him as his eyes grew heavy and he ultimately fell into a deep sleep.

Prisms of light flashed in his eyes as he looked left and right, the cavern was huge at first glance.

He could feel the earth breathing underneath his feet, a warm draft blowing across his face.

He could hear the dripping of water hitting an ice blue lake in the middle of the cavern.

"Look for me." A deep, feminine voice whispered in his left ear. He turned and saw nothing but darkness.

"Look for me friend." The same voice whispered in his other ear, again nothing but darkness greeted him as he turned towards the voice.

Straight ahead of him he could see pillars of ice or something that looked like ice at least, behind the pillars was a warm light.

"You know where to go, look for me." The voice came again but this time instead of hearing it, he felt it down to his bones, in his mind, in his soul.

He ventured forward towards the light.