1 0. The Three-Eyed Crow: Brynden Rivers

(Author's Disclaimer: PLEASE READ FIRST!

I do not own the characters of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE and the TV series GAME OF THRONES; they belong to George R. R. Martin, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.)

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I bore many titles; I was known as Lord Bloodraven, the White Worm, Master of Whispers, Hand of the King, kinslayer and Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. I remember my Mother, Melissa Blackwood, and my older sisters Mya and Gwenys Rivers; I remember the name I was given by my Mother when I was laid in her arms after birth...Brynden Rivers!

I was born an albino with milk-white skin, long white hair and red eyes (until I lost one); I was called Bloodraven because of a red raven birthmark on the right side of my face from my throat extended up to my right cheek. I was not tall or muscular like my older half-brothers; Daemon Waters now known as Daemon I Blackfyre the Black Dragon and Aegor Rivers also known as Bittersteel.

But that had been over a hundred years ago and since then I have become the Three-Eyed Crow; I was the last Greenseer but I was also a Skinchanger. I had the Greensight sometimes called the Green Dreams; I can see the Past, Present and various Futures.

Yet as a Skinchanger or Beastling; I can enter the minds of any animals of land, sky or water, and use their senses as well as their instincts. Yet I find it amusing that as the fifth Great Bastard of King Aegon the Unworthy, I serve the Old Gods of the Forest as Their Oracle.

But here I am bound to and kept alive by a Weirwood Tree Beyond the Wall; the roots of the Weirwood has pierced into my body over the years that I am now apart of the Weirwood Tree that sits over my cave. I was always sensitive to the Sun and yet I now can enjoy its warmth when I warg into any animal.

Yet the mantle of being the Three-Eyed Crow has become a heavy burden to bear and the price of it is too high to pay but I am paying it. Soon one of the Children of the Forest came, carrying a Weirwood carved bowl filled with the red Weirwood paste and I could not help releasing a tire sigh.

Ever since I became the Three-Eyed Crow and becoming apart of the Weirwood; that red paste has since became my breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack, and if there was one thing that I have missed the most...it was human food! Granted the Weirwood paste not only strengthens my Powers but it also somehow nourishes me and I consume that paste like I was a starving man even though it has no taste.

But by the Old and New Gods; I miss cooked food and fruits, I practically have forgotten what an apple taste like or even the smell of a cooked rabbit. Yet I have never once vocalized my regrets or any guilt as the Forest Child carefully fed me the past silently before settling to keep watch.

I felt the Rivers of Time welcome me into its embrace as I looked between the Past, Present and various Futures. That is until a sudden vision began to form before me...something powerful, strange and wonderful...the feeling of cold winter winds was the first to hit me followed by a mighty wolf howl that drew me into the vision...

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A pack of direwolves wondered the white snow of the North and each wore ornate collars of gold or silver; except for two she-wolves who wore crowns. The first she-wolf wore a crown of winter roses but her sister, in fact, her twin was different.

This she-wolf was pure black and her eyes were like silver, and up her brow; she wore an open circlet of hammered bronze surmounted by nine black iron spikes in the shape of longswords. Swirls of snowflakes flowed about the black wolf like a cloak as she and her twin sister broke from the pack, and went to a Weirwood Tree with a carved laughing face where they curled up beneath its branches.

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"The Winter Wolf;" I said in awe.

I was once more pulled into another vision...

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A mad Dragon raped the Winter Wolf and she becomes pregnant; she births her child, a young girl the color of the Weirwood Tree with Dragon and Wolf eyes. Wherever the young girl-child would walk, nature grew about her and when she bled; she bled silver.

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When I returned to the living world I sensed presences; I saw the Child of the Forest on hands and knees bowing, and I realized why. Before me stood four Old Gods of the Forest in their pure elemental forms; Water, Earth, Fire and Air.

But They weren't alone as seven glowing Dragons of flames also stood before me and I know them; Balerion, Meraxes, Vhagar, Syrax, Caraxes, Tessarion and Aegarax. Seven of the Fourteen Flames, the Dragon Gods of Old Valyria; if I wasn't bound in the roots of the Weirwood Tree I would've bend the knee as I did my best to bow my head slightly in reverence, which was hard to do with a tree root growing through my missing eye.

*A new Song will be born;* spoke Caraxes and the Old God with a voice like the wind added: *The Winter Wolf is our chosen to be the vessel of the Song!*

I was drawn back into the Rivers of Time and another vision came to me...

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Arrax, Gaelithox, Meleys, Shrykos, Tyraxes, Vermax and Vermithor appeared before the self-proclaimed Emperor, Aurion. The other half of the Fourteen Flames whispered promises of new lands and glory of conquest.

The Emperor of Valyria gathered the remaining Dragonlords and their armies, and followed the Dragon Gods to new lands. A new empire began to form and Aurion built his seat to be the heart of his empire, and like a spider web taking form; Emperor Aurion began his conquest of the new lands as his armies began to march.

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*Our world is large; kingdoms rise and fall over time or have found ways to survive,* said Vhagar and the second Old God with a voice that crackled like fire explained: *We have foreseen Aurion's Empire rise in Power and like a hungry beast it will want to expand, and Westros will not be strong after the Long Night!*

It was Aegarax who touched my brow and showed me the visions; different versions of the Futures...

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A gold winged dragon eating its tail on a dark blue field waved in the wind over the Red Keep. It was the end of a seven-year winter; the invasion and attack was unexpected, and no one was prepared when the foreign armies came!

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Next vision...

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Throughout Westros during a winter night; shadows moved quietly through castles and keeps, and no guards took notice. People garbed head to toe in black, their faces hidden by black featureless masks, appeared out of no where as they killed the ruling Lords and Ladies where they slept.

A descendant of Aurion now sits the Iron Throne as the Great Sept burns. Lines of people in chains, nobles and smallfolk alike, were being marched through King's Landing; the elderly and sick were killed their bodies were fed to fires, and children between seven to ten and eight name days were being sorted by soldiers.

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"Surely there must be another way to protect Westros from such a fate?" I cried once I was freed from the visions. "What's preventing the Night King from continuing his own conquest over the living?"

*Our Siblings have Their own plans and we have been taking steps to counter them;* explained Syrax solemnly and the third Old God with a voice of earth added: *We make these changes with our interference and change how the War for the Dawn will be fought!*

I was drawn once more into the eternal embrace of the infinite Timestream...

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The War for the Dawn, the Battle between the Living and the Dead; one outcome shows the Dead winning, another shows the Living victorious but with a heavy price paid and more outcomes but none were clear!

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*The Prince That Was Promised will be born but he will be the herald and the sword,* said Tessarion while the fourth and last Old God with a voice that rippled like water explained: *The Song of Ice and Fire shall birth the Song of Nature; our chosen but she is both savior and destroyer!*

"Two Songs of Ice and Fire;" I said in realization, "this will change the game of thrones!"

*Be prepared for the change;* said Balerion and Meraxes added: *The Great Other will try to claim or destroy the Daughter of the Winter Wolf; the Song of Nature!*

"I will prepare the Winter Wolf and train her well;" I said solemnly.

I have been the Three-Eyed Crow for a hundred years now and served the Old Gods well, and when my successor is chosen; I pray that he or she will guide the Song of Nature and serve the Gods just as well!