"Dark creature? What kind of dark creature?" Dany asked in surprise."Go out and see for yourself," the Gatekeeper replied.
With a nostalgic tone, he continued, "Brandon Stark was the most outstanding formation master of the Age of Heroes. The runes he inscribed could ward off evil, dispel corruption, and suppress darkness.
The Wall was the culmination of all his magical formations. No demons, monsters, or even dark gods could pass through it.
Over the millennia, the Night's Watch, whether intentionally or not, sealed many things beneath me—things that should never have existed in this world.
Taking the Song of the Wind was the same as breaking the seal. Those evil entities seized the opportunity, and most have now escaped."
What the hell—is this the Wall or a demon suppression tower?
Dany's mouth twitched, but she still couldn't bring herself to leave just yet.
This was a true god!
And more importantly, this god belonged to the good alignment—and was being so kind to her.
"The Wall cracked—that's my fault. Is there any way to fix it? My magical power isn't much weaker than Brandon's. He had the Children of the Forest helping him; I have dragons. Can I repair the magical formation?" Dany asked quickly.
"Especially the Song of the Wind—it must be guarded securely, sealed entirely. No one should be allowed into this space again.
You have no idea how much I struggled, how much I suffered under its temptation," she emphasized solemnly.
The Gatekeeper gave a muffled chuckle and said, "Hold the Song of the Wind again and pour your magic into it. That will restore the broken runes within the Wall."
Dany hesitated—not because she thought the Gatekeeper was lying, but because she feared she wouldn't be able to resist the urge to claim the Song of the Wind again.
The sensation of wielding the power of wind was simply too wonderful—her soul felt elevated, entering a divine, transcendent state.
The most addictive, hardest thing to let go of in the world has never been drugs—it's power.
And even harder to relinquish than power—is strength itself.
But she couldn't let her own selfish desires destroy the Wall. With the Long Night approaching, the Wall was critical to the lives of tens, even hundreds of thousands.
"Are you fixing it or not? If not, then leave immediately," said the Gatekeeper.
"Alright!" Dany grit her teeth and reached out her hand.
This time, the green crystal didn't vanish. The moment it touched her palm, a three-dimensional projection of the Wall unfolded vividly before her "eyes."
Her vision could penetrate the ice and stone, "seeing" the tree trunks acting as internal scaffolding, "seeing" the network of magical runes woven into the stone, ice, earth, and wood.
The nine-colored vortex and the second soul ring began spinning rapidly. Dany's magic was like a cup of wine poured into a lake—almost insignificant.
"Big Black, Little White—come here," Dany said, panting.
The Gatekeeper's consciousness realm was quite mystical; even without entering a "godlike state," the magic of the two dragons could still flow through Dany and into the green crystal sphere.
If Dany's magic was a cup of wine, Little White was like a home pool, and Big Black was like a public pool. Not as vast as a lake, but still enough to raise the water level significantly.
Castle Black.
The Wall suddenly cracked with a thunderous roar. Huge chunks of ice broke off and fell to the ground. Then, without any warning, the "wounds" healed themselves.
The sudden change had long since alarmed all the Night's Watch and the wildlings.
They rushed out of their towers, huts, and tents, standing below the Wall, pointing at the marks on the ice, shouting loudly, faces full of panic.
"Fire? Fire—fire!" someone suddenly rubbed his eyes and cried out in disbelief, "The ice on the Wall is burning—the Wall is on fire!"
As ridiculous as it sounded, no one laughed—because everyone, as long as they looked up, could see the red flames flickering and dancing inside the ice, on the surface, and within the previously cracked gaps.
"Run! The Wall's collapsing! The ice is burning—it's going to crack again!" the crowd screamed and scattered, fleeing away from the Wall.
"What's going on?" Stannis asked dumbly.
He didn't run. He just stood there, staring blankly at the Wall glowing red under the night sky.
The entire Wall seemed to be trapped within a massive net of flames. It wasn't a dazzling blaze, but in the darkness, it flickered with eerie red light—very noticeable.
"…The ice on the Wall hasn't melted. That's not ordinary fire—it's the external manifestation of the magical formation being activated."
Even Melisandre couldn't fully understand. Though she had cultivated for centuries, had deep power and rich experience, and no longer needed food or water like a mortal…
Her specialty was simply unrelated. She had trained alone in Asshai for so long—she didn't understand the Wall, nor did she know its core secrets.
"Don't worry. The magic within the Wall is strengthening," she said with certainty.
"Do you know why?" Stannis asked.
"I suspect it has something to do with Daenerys. Where is she?" Melisandre frowned.
Stannis scanned the surrounding knights of the stag banner—they had never stopped keeping an eye on the Dragon Queen.
Sure enough, "Giant Slayer" Gawen Farling immediately said, "She didn't leave the Wall right away. She took Night's Watch Samwell Tarly westward. Said she'd return him before morning."
"West? What for?" Stannis asked, puzzled.
"Nightfort!" Melisandre blurted out.
She suddenly remembered: that day when Gawen Farling challenged the Dragon Queen's captive giant king, they were arguing in the training yard, and that fat Sam brought a wildling girl…
"Ah," Gawen remembered too, shouting, "Sam came back from the Nightfort with the wildling girl! The Dragon Queen even asked him about the hidden passageways there!"
"There's a secret about the Wall hidden in the tunnels beneath Nightfort!" the Red Priestess exclaimed in realization.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go now! Nightfort's not far—we can't let her keep the secret to herself," Ser Justin Massey shouted.
Stannis turned to the Red Woman—she was the expert here.
A red gleam flashed through Melisandre's eyes. She nodded. "We should go. I suspect there's an artifact at Nightfort that controls the Wall's magical system."
"Screeech—"The two dragons let out a weary cry and retreated back into Daenerys's sea of consciousness.
"All right, it's time for you to go," the Gatekeeper said in a distant tone.
"Hey, let me catch my breath first," Daenerys replied calmly. She pointed to the "flower" above her head and asked, "What's the deal with the Song of Ice and Fire? I haven't mastered the power of life and death."
"You only have the potential. You're still a long, long way from mastering the Song of Ice and Fire. Maybe... you'll never reach the end of that road," said the Gatekeeper.
"Then help me out, will you? My Green Seer meditation technique is still incomplete. Great One, lend me a hand and finish it for me," Daenerys said, shamelessly.
"Sorry. I don't have it," the Gatekeeper replied.
"Heh, but you're the big boss of the Green Seers," Daenerys said with a smile, shaking her head.
The Gatekeeper to the Green Seers was like the Seven to the High Septon, or God to Christians.
After a brief silence, the Gatekeeper explained, "You've misunderstood. I've never taught anyone magic. Other than singing the Song of the Wind, I don't know any magic, and I can't teach what I don't know.
Long ago, a Child of the Forest came beneath me and listened as I sang the Song of the Wind. Then he climbed up my body and slept on a branch.
When he woke, he had gained the ability to communicate with me.
The Song of the Wind holds information from all over the world, from different times. He understood it, came to know many things, and then the other Children of the Forest began calling him a 'Green Seer.'"
"The Green Seers' abilities have nothing to do with you?" Daenerys asked, skeptical.
"Of course they do," the Gatekeeper affirmed.
"Do you know what the Power of Faith is? It's the strange spiritual energy produced when many beings believe in another existence," he asked.
"I know."
The Gatekeeper said, "The children believed in me, but I had nothing to give in return. So I refined all the faith into a pure soul energy and let the wind carry that power back to those who believed in me.
Those are the ones you call 'Green Seers.'
But they're not like the first Child of the Forest who listened to the Song of the Wind. They may not be able to understand it. And I've been dead for a long time. I can't sing anymore.
Now they can only observe the world through weirwood trees."
"So that's how it is..." Daenerys muttered, then asked, "The Power of Faith is useless to you? It can strengthen a god's power!"
"I'm a big tree. What would I want with such power?" the Gatekeeper replied blandly.
Uh... such a Zen tree. No wonder someone chopped it down to build the Wall.
"Then... could you sing the Song of the Wind for me now?" Daenerys asked.
"I already have. And you understood it," the Gatekeeper said.
"Did I lose my memory or something?" Daenerys said unhappily.
"Through the Song of the Wind, you witnessed the entire construction of the Wall," the Gatekeeper said with a sigh.
"Uh..." Daenerys stood dazed. "Wasn't that your memory?"
"Go now!" the Gatekeeper sighed again. Azure starlight gathered around her like iron filings drawn to a magnet, embracing her and lifting her upward.
Endless blue winds whirled around her. She shot out of the sphere of wind, but instead of falling into the white world below, she rose upward. The blue winds thinned gradually, and darkness returned to engulf her.
"Your Grace? Your Grace, are you still down there?"Barristan's anxious voice came faintly from above.
Daenerys jolted, looking around, blinking—an illusion? Or not?
The mouth of the door was wide open. She had one foot stepping over its wrinkled upper lip, planted on a soft wind cluster. The other foot was still on the stone slab by the well wall.
Barristan was overhead, reaching out to her.
Her body felt like it was leaning back from inertia, as though nudged gently by the breeze. Uncontrollably, she took a step back—and fully left the mouth of the gate.
Drip!
A drop of water rolled off the upper edge of the gate and landed on her face, trickling slowly down her nose. When it reached her lips, she licked it—warm and salty, like a tear.
When she opened her eyes again, she was facing a cold, damp brick wall.
The gate... was gone.
Daenerys stood in dazed disappointment and shouted upward, "I'm here. Ser, how long has it been?"
"Oh!" Barristan let out a long breath of relief. "About an hour. The gate was already closed when I climbed down, and then it disappeared. So I climbed back up.
Not long after, the ice on the Wall's surface suddenly cracked, thundering like a storm. It was terrifying. Huge chunks of ice fell down—I thought the Wall was going to collapse.
But shortly after, the cracks mended themselves, and strange firelight flickered through them."
"By the way, what were you doing down there? Why was the water in the well bubbling so much?" the White Knight asked, puzzled.
"Bubbling?" Daenerys snapped back to awareness and was startled to find that the bottom of the well nearby was boiling like a cauldron, with face-sized bubbles rising in bursts.
An old turtle flipping over?
No!
Daenerys suddenly realized—The seal had broken.Some evil was being released into the world.
"Up! Ser, get back up—quickly!"She turned and dashed up the stone steps, shouting urgently.
(End of Chapter)
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