Chapter 50: Pieces in Place

As the Westerlands began marching against Kings Landing with the goal to rescue Joffrey from Robert's clutches and to reinstate him as King, Aiden was had not only grown closer to Dacey as well as the other northerners, he had also split himself once again.

This third copy was sent into space, to explore what was out in this universe, he wanted to see if there were other worlds within this universe. He also learned that each split forced his mind to improve.

He gained more processing power and thought processing each time he created a copy, it did take him a bit of time to acclimate to the increase in sensory perception, but he began to build an internal filter of sorts, it allowed him to seperate his thought's from each copy, only accepting knowledge from the others rather than sensory information all the time.

Before he would basically have overlapping sensory input, seeing and hearing two different things at once which thanks to his kryptonian brain he was able to acclimate to this, now he only saw what was in front of his copies, he could still share senses with them, but he had to want to see or hear thru the copies.

This was a big step in his development, now he had more focus and ability to utilize his powers more precisely. He wasn't flooded with the thoughts of others that were around each copy.

Within the darkness of space, Aiden began to push himself to levels he couldn't do on the planet, he knew with one stomp of his foot he could destroy a planet. So he was never able to truly let out his strength, even his heat vision could scorch the atmosphere if he fully let it out.

But in space, those restriction were lifted, he flew past dead planets, searching for any life, he followed his gut, he felt a pull in a certain direction and followed it. He felt there was other worlds within this universe, there was one that was a bit stronger than the others, but it was far away.

Even at traveling multiple times the speed of light it would take time to arrive at the location his instincts were taking him, he was curious to see what and where he would end up, would it be other humanoids, advanced civilizations, or another less technologically advanced place as his original starting world within this universe.

As his third copy sped thru the cosmos, back on Planetos his original self was traveling around the North, locating various metals and resources the lords could use to help the North become independent.

It wasn't that he was trying to harm the Reach by having the North produce its own food, the issue was land. The North by itself had more land than all the southern kingdoms put together. So as time went on, with the improvements to living conditions for the people, even the Reach wouldn't be able to produce enough food to feed the North.

Proper land development took time so Aiden was mearly drawing out a future layout for development of the North. Not only did he find mines, he found underground water supplies, and nutrient rich soils.

He didn't just do this for the North, he did it for all of Westeros, including beyond the Wall, he had been in discussions with Ned regarding the Free Folk. In fact the Free Folk and Northmen had common ancestors, they were all descended from the First Men.

However the Free Folk had refused to bend the knee to Brandon the Builder, the first King of Winter, and were trapped by the Wall he built to keep out the Night King. Brandon Stark had gave them the option to move before he built the massive Wall, some chose to submit and moved before it was built, while others refused.

Aiden knew it would take time for the Free Folk and northerners to reconnect, in fact Aiden suggested the Free Folk could remain autonomous from the seven kingdoms, and if the North wanted to rebuild a wall, albeit one of a none magical kind, they could do so.

They could still have productive relations with one another, much like the North, beyond the wall had a vast amount of untapped resources. There was more gold, silver, copper, and Iron in both places than the rest of the world combined.

The reason for this was it had never fully developed, the North wasn't just a harsh climate, the North was harsh culturally as well. They had fought wars amongst each other for ages, even before Brandon Stark, there were several kings and tribes spread out amongst the northern territory.

It was said that before the Age of Heroes and the legendary battle against the Night King, the population in the north was in the tens of billions, not in the few millions it is in todays time.

The several wars between themselves and then against the Night King had almost completely wiped out the First Men, many young men and women were killed which made it harder for the population to bounce back. Not only that but more wars began to spring up which, coupled with the decline in magic and the harsh climate, it has led to what the North is today.

Not even twenty percent of the land was currently in use in the North, vast stretches of unused land seperated the various castles and villages. They just didn't have the people or infrastructure to utilize what they had, unlike the south which had multiple roads and rivers that could be used to transport goods and people quickly and easily.

The North had only one main road, the Kingsroad, the rest were more pathways that branched off the Kingsroad to the various keeps and territories.

Aiden had a plan to rectify this, he had droids that could be used to create a road system that interconnected each major territory, which in turn would allow development of more towns, villages, and even cities. This was the main reason people of the north clumped together so much, it was very difficult to transport goods across the vast north.

Another unexpected change was in those who resided in Kandor, namely Gerold Hightower, Arthur Dayne, and Jaime Lannister. They had all seen massive improvements in their combat skills as well as leadership abilities. Rather than being just guards, they actually became closer to generals.

The three men had not relaxed a single day, even though they were safe within the city of Kandor, they utilized the training simulations and improved dramatically. They faced virtual life and death battles multiple times a day, knowing that they will one day retake the throne for the Targaryens.

Aiden knew he could resolve the issue within an hour, he could crush all who opposed the Targaryens with a single thought, but that would only fix things temporarily. It would make them too reliant on outside help, so their rule would only last a few generations since it would just be handed to them.

Aegon VI would need to retake the throne himself, only in this way would his rule have a lasting effect, as long as he ruled wisely rather than be like Robert Baratheon. It was the main reason Robert's rule was able to last so long with no real rebellions, he earned his right to the throne.

Granted it only lasted a single generation even in the original timeline due to multiple reasons and factors, but even with the kingdoms not doing as good as with the Targaryens, he was able to get many years of peace while he was alive. The one rebellion he had, the Greyjoy Rebellion, only lasted several months.

Aiden's interference had changed many things, like expediting Roberts fall into madness. Unlike originally, although he was showing signs of it here and there, it didn't show too much due to he wasn't put under too much stress. His council allowed him to hunt, drink, and sleep with as many women as he liked while they ran the kingdom in his stead.

Aiden's intervention thrust Robert into the thick of his Kingship, forcing him into high stress situations, making him be more involved since unlike originally, Rhaenys and her brother were killed, which only left a crazy Viserys and Daenerys as contenders to his rule, which no one wanted in the first place, so he didn't have much to worry about.

While Aiden was off building a layout for the north, the two Warlocks arrived in Deepwood Motte. They donated the shipment of food they had purchased, earning them the goodwill of the Glovers.

Using this goodwill, they were able to gain entry into the northern territory. The two were able to begin their journey into the north, they didn't head straight to Winterfell however, instead they began to scout magical laylines in the north.

They knew dragons were magical creatures, therefore any rider bonded to a dragon would have their magical potential enhanced thru the bond, they planned to use a spell to temporarily disrupt this bond, then subvert and pull the magical bond onto themselves to basically steal the dragon.

This was what they planned to do to Daenerys when she was lured to the House of Undying in the original timeline, they put her into a trance, as she saw various visions of the past, present, and future they began casting a spell to steal the dragons.

It almost worked had her connection with Drogon not been as strong as it was, it was he who detected what they were doing and attacked the Warlocks, which led to them trying to kill her to at least get their hands on her other two who had their bond disrupted. However Drogon put a stop to it by engulfing the whole tower in dragon fire, killing all the warlocks and stopping the spell which reestablished the bond with the other two dragons.

What they needed to do was perform a few blood rituals at the magical laylines of the land to empower a few artifacts that would allow them the ability to do maintain the spell circle. They couldn't use the laylines of Essos due to the magic of Westeros, although similar, was different.

It wouldn't be as potent had they charged them in their home turf, had Aiden or the Targaryens been in Essos then they wouldn't have to worry about such things.

"It seems we have our sacrifices." The man stated in High Valyrian.

"That we do. Men are so easy to lure away in this form." The woman stated with a smile as she sensed they were being followed.

The woman purposely didn't hide her beauty, in fact she had shown more skin than normal as they walked through the town of Deepwood Motte. They would need sacrifices and the easiest way to get prey that won't be missed is to target the unsavory men who were outlaws.

Every settlement had an underbelly, they would use the settlements as scouting grounds, upon finding an easy mark, or locating something or even someone they desired, they would stalk the party and take what they wanted. It was why travelers always went along with large convoys, although it didn't always deter attacks, it did reduce them since smaller bandit groups or gangs wouldn't risk attacking.

So the Warlocks used the easiest lure of them all, a unique beautiful woman, no bandit group could resist the temptation of a unguarded beauty traveling the road. Not only would they be able to enjoy her themselves, but as long as they kept her alive and allowed her to heal up, they could sell her once they had their fill.

Although slavery was illegal, slavers disguised as merchants frequently came to major cities.

It was how Jorah Mormont was able to begin selling his people into slavery in the original timeline, he did so to try to gain money for his bride, Lynesse Hightower, who he wed after winning the tournament in Lannisport, but due to Aiden this didn't happen. She was used to living extravagantly, her family was very rich, while the Mormonts were a poor family. So due to her lavish desires, Jorah went bankrupt and turned to selling slaves, which led to him running to Essos to escape Ned Stark.

He ended up as a sellsword and eventually Lynesse left him to become a concubine to an Essosi Prince. So in the end she cost him his honor, reputation, and his home to end up leaving him anyway.

The two warlocks ignored the small group of bandits, pretending not to notice them, the woman made sure to cover up once they had baited a group. Although they were powerful sorcerers, they didn't want to attract too many bandits, they could still be overwhelmed.

Much like Red Priests and Priestesses, Warlocks had the abilty to use Pyromancy, glamour, blood magic, and dark arts, some even had shadowbinding abilities. The only difference was they didn't have resurrection magic like those from the Red Church.

As they led the bandits further away from town, back in Kings Landing the small council was in distress. Robert wasn't attending the meeting, he was enjoying a hunt with Arianne as she tempted him, she was taking full advantage of the situation to become the next queen.

"Tywin is leading an army to our doorstep, and the king is out playing. Does he not see the situation we are in? The people are against him, his brothers are against him, the one thing we have going for us is Renly hasn't been able to gain the full support of the Reach. Stannis is just waiting at our doorstep to invade by sea, probably to wait till after we fight the Lannisters so he can fight the weakened winner." Arstan Selmy stated in frustration.

"It seems our king is busy trying to seal an alliance with Dorne, my little birds sing of how close he is becoming with the Dornish Princess as of late. It won't be long till he beds the girl if he hasn't already during this hunting trip." Varys said calmly, his hands hidden within his sleaves.

He wasn't as worried as the others, he did assist Barristan in saving Tyrion and a handful of Lannister men, so he knew even if Tywin attacked, his life was assured. A Lannister always pays their debts.

Jonas Slynt spoke up, "I have half the men of the City Watch trying to gather recruits, but we aren't very successful. We will have to order a royal conscription, but even then I doubt many will actually fight even if we do so, we need men."

"Aye, I don't doubt that the people will be willing to fight off the Lannisters, and pulling men from my house is next to impossible thanks to Renly, my house follows Storm's End, so I doubt any will heed my request I sent. We may get some that are loyal to me but it won't be enough." Arstan stated with a sigh.

"May I suggest instead of issuing a royal constript, you remind the people what had happened the last time the Lannisters attacked Kings Landing. It may sway more to join." Varys suggested.

"Yes, Tywin can't be allowed to enter the city. Not only will he kill all of us, but King Robert will definitely be beheaded which will spark the two brothers into action." Pycelle stated as sweat poured down his back.

He knew his death wouldn't be quick should Tywin retake Kings Landing, he cursed himself for allowing his desire to trump reason.

(A/N: Double Chapter Day for all you wonderful readers, rather than a doing a time skip of several months I thought I'd intro a new world. One rarely ever seen in fanfiction. Dont worry will come back to this world after a few chapters after I set up a new adventure, we got Warlocks to kill soon anyway. Hope no one gets triggered by the New World and that you enjoy it. I'll give you a hint, although it is a different universe than GOT, they are connected in a way. Think of my analogy of the Omniverse, this universe is in same building but different floor. Mwahaha)