Soul Space

In Winterfell the family all sat on the table for supper. The sound of clinking as they all focus on the meal is the only constant for at least ten minutes. However out of the blue, Caitlyn slapped the table and glared at her son Bran.

The boy didn't lift his head and continued eating but everyone else is now watching what would happen next.

"Bran, were you ever going to tell me?" She asked with her lips forming a thin line.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I am not obligated to share other people's secrets." Bran answers her politely.

"This is not about other people."

"Is it really me you are angry with?" Bran asked flatly. Caitlyn looked around and took all her family members to the office of the king.

"Olivia is the legitimate heir of the iron throne." Sansa's breath hitched the others opened their eyes wide in surprise with the exception of Robb and Bran.

"You knew?" Caitlyn asked Robb who nodded.

"Then why didn't you help Bran convince her to take the throne and end all the wars currently going on south?" She said anxiously. Her father's lands are in the middle of conflict, the sooner the war calms down the better.

"Olivia is unpredictable and extremely powerful. If she wanted the throne, she wouldn't need to be legitimate or even a Targaryen. In fact I doubt she even needs an army to do it." Robb said calmly.

"But it is her birthright." Caitlyn said with agitation. Sansa couldn't help but laugh at her mother.

"I have seen everything. My mother advocates for the bastard to become queen? This is new."

"She is not a bastard." Caitlyn defended.

"Aye, but your tune shouldn't change so fast, after all I grew up with you whispering in my ear." Sansa seems annoyed more than anything by this news.

"So, Olivia is not our sister?" Arya asked on the side.

"No, she is our cousin. Born from aunt Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen during Roberts rebellion." Bran explained.

"Will she not love us anymore?" Rickon asked sadly.

"She will still love us. You shouldn't change how you see her too, lest you make her sad." Bran said comforting Rickon.

"Robb, I think it is best you marry her and unite the North this way. The entire North under the same banner." Caitlyn is full of ideas today.

Robb watched his mother in shock. This idea, she is not the one who fed it to his men is he? Because Olivia is all they would talk about in meetings he ended up scolding them sternly.

"Mother, stop talking." Robb comforted Talisa and gave his mother a stern look.

"I will go check on the baby." Talisa stood up and walked away with glistening eyes as tears threatened to fall.

The room is silence after she left. Robb is very upset his mother would say something like this. "Olivia is my sister, we grew up together like siblings. I will pretend you had a slip of the tongue just now."

"Robb, you said it yourself she is extremely powerful and if you don't bring her into the fold somehow she will always be a threat to your rule as king in the North." This time it is Sansa who said these words with a voice sounding like a wise old woman.

"There is still a war to fight, perhaps we should focus on surviving it first then we can think about whether or not other humans are a threat to the king." Bran said in his usual calm voice.

That day Robb had felt overwhelmed having to listen to his mother and not to mention how his advisors had been commenting about Olivia. He ignored them but for how long? He made a decision right there to marry his first love, the mother of his first born. Then all the noise will stop

Opening the chest Olivia had given him he took the crown, this crown is a work of art. It has runes of the first men and wolves carved vividly with bright red eyes. It is made from iron, wood crystals?

He hasn't put it on because it always felt like she is telling him that 'I am allowing you to be king' which made him displeased. Sighing, he put the crown on his head and waited. Olivia had told him the crown will test him, whatever that means.

He chuckled finding it ridiculous that he would believe that an object would have a will of its own.

(Oi I am not the will of this item I am the spirit of the land. I was here long before your human counterpart started running around fighting with the children of the forest) A voice came from inside his head.

"Aaaaah!" Robb screamed like a girl in surprise.

"Where are you?" He tried to take off the crown but it is no longer on his head. Looking around he realized the faint sound from people going about their business outside has disappeared.

"Where am I?" He asked coming out from the royal chamber. There are no people outside but the building is still the same.

"Love what you've done with the place." Now the voice sounded next to him. Robb jumped away pulling his sword only to find the person looks like his father. But he sounds nothing like him.

"Am I going crazy?" Robb shook his head.

"Like I said I am the spirit of the land. I chose this appearance because you are fond of it in your memories. Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"What is going on?" Robb calmed down and tried to understand.

"You are about to take the test of king ship designed by yours truly. You are welcome." That playful voice on his serious father's face seems wrong.

"The test is not designed by Olivia?"

"No. She just put a way for me to direct the wearer of that crown. I am a spirit so I have a few powerful blessings I may bestow upon you should you pass, that is why she put me here."

"Blessings?" Robb is confused but thinks he may know what these 'blessings' are.

"Yes. When a place has been contaminated with the breath of the living it will eventually become conscious and watch over its inhabitants. I have access to the abilities of thise residing in my domain. I can transfer some power around with permission from the owner if they are conscious."

"What is the test?" Robb got confused again.

"You are human so I can test your humanity and competency as a ruler. But first we need to talk about the elephant in the room." They appearing a deem place, it is better to call it dark.

Robb could vaguely see what is all around him. This is where they bury their dead but maybe much lower. There is a dusty throne in the far end of the room with wolf carvings on either side.

"The throne of the winter kings." Robb exclaimed but the man besides him laughed.

"That is just a throne for a Stark king. Winter king is something else entirely."

"What's the difference?" Robb frowned.

"The regular king is someone who is like you only concerned with the matters of humans. The winter king is a northern sovereign who rules over humans, giants and children of the forest willing to lead them to battle fierce creatures that threaten his lands. Like your relative up North."

This statement left a bitter taste in Rob's mouth. He can tell which is more powerful between the two.

"Don't be down. She hasn't claimed the winter throne yet. See it is still here as well." He pointed at a blue ice throne with glass like appearance and snow icicles all over its body. Even under all that dust Robb can seeit's magnificence.

Robb smiled bitterly. It even look to have been made for her.

"The test will start as soon as you say your oath in front of the throne. The old gods are watching."

Robb is given a piece of wood with the said oath but it is written in old tongue. It seem to be in a difficult old tongue at that.

"I don't understand the language." He said lightly. The spirit looked at him in surprise.

"This is the language spoken longest in my lands. As its king, how can you not understand it?"

"Times have changed?"

"That was your first test. You failed." The words woke him up from his dazed state as the throne started feeling so heavy he had to take it off before it crushed his head.

Robb hurriedly took it off. That was the first test? He can not imagine what the first test of the winter throne will be. Looks like he has to go learn old tongue.

....

On the other side of the wall, Olivia's subconscious mind is pulled to another spiritual plane with four floating orbs. One white, one gray one yellow and one light brown. She is still in a disoriented condition when she first came but rich spiritual energy her soul is breathing in through her spirit body is astonishing. She felt her fractured spirit from over use of power at that time heal in record time.

The arguing voices from the four orbs sobered her up. The space is colorful but the several orbs that are talking about her.

"I told you we chose well." One said.

"She achieved it sooner than I had initially thought."

"Do we let her die like this?" A saddened orb asked then a silence followed soon after.

"That would be cruel, she hasn't even lived. Besides, the world is still broken and she was just starting to mend it with her nature power. I say we put it to a vote."

"All in favor of letting her die turn bright." A soothing voice sounded.

"Winter, you want her dead?"

"I don't want her dead but I don't think reviving her is worth it either." An indifferent voice sounded.

"After she cleaned up that death menace infecting the snow you would say that? What an ungrateful brat." An annoyed voice sounded.

"So if we are not letting her die, how to revive her?"

"A blessing from each of us. It should elevate her human status to a minor god of nature that way we can give her our gratitude while allowing her to do what she loves doing...healing the world." The previously irritated voice said.

"Isn't turning her into a god too much?"

"We have been here for ions but everywhere when those of her species gain a bit of power they will leave the world worse than they found it. Not only did she not ride her dragons to conquer others she built her own kingdom in a place where even the residents wanted to leave."

"I think with her as a nature minor god, the world will see all seasons again we can finally grow stronger again."

"You are aware that if she performs nature's duties with the blessing from all of us she could one day surpass us? Are you all willing to give that much power to a human?"

"That will be many years into the future and she would have gained the power to leave this world by then. By my calculations she will probably go back to where we had plucked her soul from. That world of immortals she wouldn't even look back at that time."

"Then why bless her at all if we want her gone still?"

"Because she did us a great service and if we are ungrateful how will our power ever grow? Will we be transcendent enough to ascend to true godhood?"

"We might just be spirits of the four seasons with four elements and not one of those old gods but we are not without honor. I say we bless the human, with some luck she will leave here as soon as there is no longer any need for nature's touch."

"I spirit of the spring bless thee with earth."

"I spirit of autumn I bless thee with wind."

"Sigh...I spirit of summer I bless thee with fire."

"I spirit of winter I bless thee with water." Winter grumbled in the end.

A multi colored small ball spun in the middle of the four spirits and shot to Olivia's forehead while she is in her soul / spirit body. The four spirits jumped in surprise.

"This...." One of them said in dismay.

"She had come to the spirit world all on her own. This is not supposed to happen while she is separated from her actual mortal body. Now that she received the blessing while in spirit form...."

"She will be able to keep the power even if she leaves this world. But on the other hand it will take longer for her to fully manifest her god head now."

"Instead of having an immortal body she will grow old and die, reincarnate with her power and memories from the last life." This voice sounds sad.

"At least she doesn't have to become a lonely person never aging, and never to grow old with the ones she loves..." Summer said with another sigh.

"At least her journey to god hood just became twice as long." Winter felt to be in a good mood.

"You are forgetting something. With our blessings she has a space in her soul body." Summer reminded Winter, chuckling when his blue orb became visibly darker. This space is a way to pass on your own inheritance to your future self.

On the outside world Olivia's body started emitting waves of power possessing a hint of four seasons. One minute she would grow lush green grass all around her tent, then snow would cover the grass at times the grass would wither and become a sickly brown color then out of the blue it will catch fire, this scared her guardians to no end.

After Olivia fell at that time, her guardians had taken her after 'convincing' the dragons to make way. They then stayed in the same place waiting for her to wake up but when days went by without her waking up the supplies started running out so they went back home.

However, when they arrived they found that the entire forest, city walls and even the harbor is covered in thick transparent ice. No matter how much they tried breaking it they couldn't get through.

They had no choice but to wait outside. Days passed by. They hunted and ate what they caught. Luckily all those present are of strong body.

Olivia's army may have been underestimated by her because 72 thousand soldiers remained out of 157 because she had sent 10 giants and 20 thousand soldiers to the red lands.

This may have been because she gave them that flame fruit preventing their fallen comrades from being resurrected and used against them. They were able to heal from minor injuries without bleeding out and losing strength and continue fighting since they were already superior in terms of physical prowess to normal people.

By the time Olivia woke up the enchanted wooden bracelets from the soldiers wrists have long stopped working. Opening her eyes, a powerful green light shot from her eyes and passed quickly.

She felt fatigue and ache from all over her body. Remembering what happened a while ago she instantly disappeared from her position appearing inside a space within her soul currently only a few acres of fertile land. This is where her god head will manifest within this soul space when she is ready.

There is fresh air, the light and a refreshing breeze in his place. The rest of the place is covered in white fog. She had always wanted to have a space item that can not be stolen. This is what makes her very happy about this place.

As a future god of nature all the land she heals and infect with a strong nature's breath allowing it to strive and prosper she will receive the same amount of land in her soul space. Looking around this is equal to the land of her tent. She must have released a lot of power in her sleep but while lying still, it can only reach a small distance.

If Olivia manages to nurture a place where there was no hope of growing life, the quality of the land in her space soil will upgrade to a dark shade, the darker the better, she can even have a spiritual spring in the future if she purified a water stream.

She can grow her medicine in this space and take them to the next incarnations. She came out of the space feeling better than before. That spirit place she went to was full of spirit power, even that power they called a 'blessing' rearranged her spirit root into a pure plant spirit root.

In her last life she was a fire plant spirit root which reduced her cultivation speed but now she is an absolute genius the only down side is the loss of her fire attribute. In any case in this life she has fire power in her blood.

Not ro mention her element blessings she will take to the next incarnations. This makes her able to command elements. All she needs is to grow a strong soul and spiritual power. Then she can command elements as if it's her nature.

As she walked around she can feel every tree and the state of the soil for several miles in distance.

She walked out of her tent and saw the results of Lola's subsequent breakthroughs over the past few weeks. Olivia put her had on the ice, her winter's blessing helped her absorb the ice into her world leaving the ice poison in the air which she quickly purified with her white flames which have now become very powerful.

So powerful they can purify a grade 4 ice poison in a matter of seconds at such a large scale. A man standing on the wall saw a huge white flame covering the city, it's forest and spilling over to the harbor.

He looked at his cup that was filled with wine and put it down. It seems he is hallucinating.

Olivia found Lola hibernating or cultivating but she shouldn't be disturbed so she put her barrier around her nest again.

On the other hand Olivia's people are so happy to see her they started shouting questions. Olivia couldn't help but smile at them. Her guardians were the first to see her but they didn't disturb her.

Olivia felt overwhelming feelings of joy from someone but she will not try to find who it is. It seems her blessings will keep surprising her as time goes by. She can sense people, animals and plants state of being.

"Let's go home." She said lightly but everyone heard her. They are very excited but then Olivia sent out her power and retrieved all the dead animals in the forest sending them into her space.

They were poisoned by Lola's ice poison and died frozen but her flame had removed all the poison now it is just frozen meat she will take to the cooks.

It has been an exhausting few months but they are all finally home. Her dragons didn't want to leave her even for a moment. They must have been very scared when she passed out like that again.

The soldiers had burned the bodies of their comrades and did a farewell speech while Olivia was unconscious. Winter has finally come for all of Westeros although it is only slightly chilly in the south, it is very cold here.

Some decided to go to the red lands while some from the red lands came back. It is one kingdom and there is still enough space so people can go wherever for the time being.

Olivia released Theon and Jaime Lannister as promised after ensuring they are not within the winning people who had worn her wooden bracelets. There was not much to discuss between the thre of them. But they both surprised her by bowing and kissing her hand before they left.

It means they acknowledge her and she has their respect. They each boarded a ship and went to their destinations. Having lived after facing death would change any man. Olivia couldn't wait to see what becomes of these two people.

....