Another future

The Night's King led his vast army of White Walkers to the crater Gary had made when he fell to the ground.

Unfortunately, the damage from the ice spear's impact and the scattered tracks left by fleeing animals had thrown the entire area into disarray.

On top of that, the swirling snow had covered the ground in a thin white veil, erasing Gary's footprints completely.

With no other choice, the Night's King ordered his army to spread out and widen the search. They slowly advanced south, looking for traces of Gary.

After an unknown amount of time spent searching, the sun gradually sank.

In the light of the setting sun, the Night's King and his army finally reached the southernmost edge of the snow-covered forest. There, they found a familiar hide swaddling blanket.

South of the forest stretched the seemingly endless Frostfangs, a natural barrier separating the Lands of Always Winter from the south.

Peak rose beyond peak, all but impossible for ordinary people to cross.

The Night's King had yet to find the Three-Eyed Crow or a way to breach the Wall, so the army of White Walkers still needed to lie low.

"Aah!"

He clenched the hide in his hand and glared south, roaring in frustration.

Beneath a snowy peak in the Frostfangs.

A Direwolf raced through the wind and snow with a human infant on its back.

Gary parted the fur on the Direwolf's back. Its outer coat was stiff and prickly, but underneath it was soft and dense. He burrowed into the downy fur, using the Direwolf's body heat to slowly warm his stiff limbs.

As for the hide swaddling blanket from before...

The wind had probably blown it away.

North of the Frostfangs lay the Lands of Always Winter, where the army of White Walkers dwelled. To the south lay a vast expanse of frozen plains.

With its year-round frozen ground and harsh conditions, this region was collectively known as Beyond the Wall.

Beyond the Wall was home to tens of thousands of Wildlings. They lived together in tribes, scattered across every corner of the region.

And so, the human and the wolf traveled together. After a full day and night on the move, they finally crossed the Frostfangs and reached the plains Beyond the Wall.

The Direwolf was extremely cautious to avoid being spotted by the Wildlings. It chose a little-traveled mountain trail through the snow, deliberately keeping away from the broad plains where the Wildling tribes lived.

Before a secluded cave southwest of the plains Beyond the Wall.

The Direwolf stopped there, slowly lowering itself until it lay steadily on the ground.

"Get down. We've arrived."

Noticing the Direwolf's movements, Gary climbed down from its back. He understood what it meant: they had reached their destination.

The Skinchanger controlling this Direwolf was probably inside the cave before him.

Having completed its mission, the exhausted Direwolf slipped into a small grove nearby without looking back and vanished into the wind and snow.

Gary was left standing alone and naked before the cave in the howling wind.

Gary had also gone a full day and night without sleep and was utterly exhausted. But to stay alive, he could not rest yet. He had to remain alert at all times.

He took a deep breath, bent down, and scooped up a handful of snow to wash his face...

"Ahem..."

Someone's here? Gary quickly lowered his hands and looked up.

A "grubby" woman stood at the cave entrance, studying Gary with a strange expression.

Why call her grubby? Because her hair was as dry and tangled as tree roots. And the clothes she wore seemed to be made of bark, roots, and leaves?

Wait, she looks like... one of the Children of the Forest?

The Children of the Forest were a humanoid race in the world of Game of Thrones. Unlike humans, they had gray-green skin and golden eyes.

They were the original inhabitants of Westeros and had once ruled the continent. That lasted until over ten thousand years ago, when the First Men landed in Westeros and forced the Children of the Forest to surrender vast swathes of land through war.

By now, the Children of the Forest were nearly extinct, with only a small number still living north of the Wall. Their lives were even more primitive than those of the Wildlings: they used stone tools, wore bark, and lived in caves deep in the forest, cut off from the world.

With such habits, it was little wonder they looked a bit "grubby."

Gary breathed a sigh of relief. The Children of the Forest were also enemies of the White Walkers, so he was most likely safe.

He deliberately acted like a little baby, toddling toward the Child of the Forest with his arms spread as though asking to be held.

The Child of the Forest visibly hesitated, but emotion ultimately won out over reason. Unable to help herself, she bent down and gathered Gary into her arms with pity.

This child might be a little strange, but he was only a child.

The cave contained a reasonably spacious chamber. Stalactite columns and vines filled it, making its otherwise open interior feel "crowded."

Human and animal bones littered the ground, visible everywhere.

The light inside the cave was dim, and visibility was poor.

Through the gloom, Gary could just make out an ancient tree with tangled roots and branches.

On its trunk, behind the unevenly draped vines, there seemed to be a corpse tied up?

No, it was not a corpse, but an old man who had become one with the ancient tree.

The old man's lower body had disappeared, merging completely into the trunk. Vines sheltered his upper body, binding him firmly to the ancient tree.

At that moment, the old man was resting with his eyes closed. Before long, the Child of the Forest walked up to him with Gary in her arms.

The old man slowly raised his eyelids, revealing an extraordinarily piercing gaze. Staring at Gary in the Child of the Forest's arms, he said, "Leaf, I believe I warned you that this child is extremely dangerous."

The Child of the Forest named Leaf did not seem concerned. She smiled. "Greenseer, he's only a newborn human infant. How dangerous could he be? Look how well behaved he is in my arms."

Well behaved? The old man's face twitched.

This baby could knock out a Direwolf's tooth with one punch! How was he not dangerous?

"All right, we'll do as we discussed. You'll be responsible for raising this infant." The old man seemed somewhat weak, his voice listless.

Gary, however, widened his eyes in utter shock.

Merged with a weirwood, hiding in a cave, with a Child of the Forest for company. Could this old man be the Three-Eyed Crow from Game of Thrones?

Seriously? I've only just transmigrated, and I've already run into the Night's King and the Three-Eyed Crow one after the other?

This... is way too fantastical, isn't it?

Without a doubt, Brynden Rivers, the Three-Eyed Crow, was the Skinchanger who had possessed the Direwolf and saved his life...

No, he was an upgraded version of a Skinchanger-a Greenseer.

Gary wanted to know what they were saying, but the language barrier meant he could not understand a single word.

Leaf also noticed the Three-Eyed Crow's weakness, but she simply assumed he was exhausted from possessing the Direwolf and traveling for a full day and night.

So she did not investigate further. "Rest assured, Greenseer. I'll raise him."

The Three-Eyed Crow continued his instructions in a grave tone. "If he does anything unusual, kill him on the spot. Remember that. You must not show mercy."

Although Leaf did not know why the Three-Eyed Crow was so wary of a human infant, she understood the stakes. Since he had warned her repeatedly, there had to be a deeper meaning behind it.

"Understood, Greenseer," she replied solemnly.

The Three-Eyed Crow nodded, then closed his eyes again and fell asleep.

Leaf was long accustomed to the Three-Eyed Crow suddenly "disconnecting." Looking down at Gary in her arms, she murmured, "Little fellow, just what's so special about you?"

She stroked Gary's little head and added, "Never mind. Let's take you back to the wooden hut first."

With that, Leaf carried Gary out of the cave.

Once they had left, the Three-Eyed Crow suddenly opened his eyes again.

"Cough... ngh..."

He struggled to suppress his cough, and a trickle of dark green blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

The vines covering the Three-Eyed Crow suddenly moved, revealing his upper body. A wound so deep it exposed bone ran across his chest! This was the real reason he was so weak.

But he had stayed inside the cave the whole time. How had he been injured?

The Three-Eyed Crow had merged with the ancient tree and could not move. But with Children of the Forest guarding both inside and outside the cave, how had his attacker gotten in?

The vines around the Three-Eyed Crow seemed to come alive. They released green sap of their own accord, trying to help heal his wound.

With the green sap's help, the Three-Eyed Crow's wound quickly stopped bleeding and scabbed over.

"It's all right, old friend. This little injury won't kill me. But that man is far too dangerous..." He looked toward the cave entrance with a gloomy expression, his eyes full of conflict.

Greenseers possessed a special magic called Greensight. It allowed them to know everything that had happened in the past, but Greensight could not foresee the future.

The future was the domain of the gods, forbidden to mortals.

Only the very greatest Greenseers could occasionally glimpse fragments of the future. The Three-Eyed Crow, for example, could do so.

Time turned back to a day earlier.

The Three-Eyed Crow was over a hundred and ten years old and had long since grown indifferent to matters of life and death. He had also long known that the Night's King would kill him in the future.

But today, he glimpsed another corner of the future and discovered that his future had changed.

Although he would still die at the hands of a White Walker... the White Walker who killed him had changed. It was no longer the Night's King.

Instead, it was an unfamiliar young White Walker.

The young White Walker wore armor of ice and an icy crown. Clearly, he had replaced the Night's King and become the new king of the White Walkers.

Not only that, but in that future scene, he also killed the Three-Eyed Crow's successor, Bran Stark, who had originally escaped the Night's King.

At that moment, humanity's hope of defeating the White Walkers was extinguished...

"Oh? The Three-Eyed Crow from the past?"

After killing the future Three-Eyed Crow, Bran Stark, and the others, the King of the White Walkers suddenly turned around. He planted his greatsword in the ground and spoke to the empty air.

The Three-Eyed Crow could hardly believe it. This unfamiliar King of the White Walkers seemed even stronger than the Night's King. Could he actually detect his spying across time and space?

The King of the White Walkers said with interest, "So this is how the rules of time work in this world? Interesting..."

He suddenly sprang into action, drawing his blood-red greatsword and swinging it at the Three-Eyed Crow.

The Three-Eyed Crow remained as still as an old monk in meditation, making no attempt to dodge. He was only an insubstantial projection from the past. How could a physical blade possibly hurt him?

"Hiss!"

The greatsword sliced through the black clothing over his chest, leaving a wound deep enough to expose bone.

The Three-Eyed Crow's entire understanding of the world shattered, and his eyes filled with horror. As one impossible thing followed another, he hurriedly retreated several steps, preparing to leave this scene of the future.

The young King of the White Walkers did not pursue him. He laughed loudly. "I held back, old man. I'm giving you a chance. Well, a chance for myself, too. Go find me in the past. If you can make it in time, perhaps you can rewrite everything..."

The Three-Eyed Crow's projection vanished, with traces of the King of the White Walkers' magic lingering in the wound on his chest. With that trace of magic, he could indeed track down the King of the White Walkers in the past.

After the Three-Eyed Crow disappeared, the young King of the White Walkers walked out of the cave with his greatsword over his shoulder. Ignoring his army of White Walkers, he merely looked up at the sky and murmured to himself, "Can fate truly be changed?"