The night was deep. White Stone Town's castle was enveloped in the moist evening wind blowing from the God's Eye.
Luke sat up from the Hastens "Vividas" mattress, gently lifting the silk sheet.
Beside him, Annie was curled up, her chestnut hair spread across the pillow, breathing steady and deep. The passionate encounter had exhausted the young girl; she slept soundly, her fair arm still in an embracing posture, the corners of her mouth curved in a satisfied smile.
Luke stepped barefoot onto the warm wooden floor.
The bedroom had been completely renovated with materials, furniture, and appliances from Earth. Underfloor heating was installed beneath the solid wood planks, keeping the room as warm as spring even on Westeros's cold nights.
He poured himself half a cup of warm water from the dispenser and sipped it slowly by the window.
Outside, the God's Eye shimred with moonlight. In the distance, the Draco construction site glowed brightly (they were working two shifts for the schedule—must work two shifts). That was his future imperial capital!
Thousands of laborers toiled through the night. According to Matthew's blueprints, the foundations of the city walls were already taking shape.
He had plenty of "money" and had to add more funds to accelerate the glacier… no, the project!
He savored the recent intimacy. Annie always brought him the ultimate pleasure. Perhaps her love for Luke was more "pure," so he felt she pleased him even better than her sister Emma.
While his thoughts drifted, Luke suddenly froze.
A crow had landed on the windowsill at so unknown mont.
This was not strange in itself… Westeros was full of crows, and the Citadel used them to carry ssages.
But this crow… Luke's hand gripping the cup tightened slowly.
It had "three eyes."
The vertical eye on its forehead was open, pitch-black as ink, yet reflecting a starry river.
The crow tilted its head. All three eyes stared at Luke at once, with a gaze that transcended that of a re bird… inquisitive.
Like a living person looking at Luke!
A chill shot from Luke's tailbone straight to the top of his skull.
He instinctively wanted to step back, to call for Bronn in the next room, to pull a gun from his personal space.
But it was too late.
The third eye of the three-eyed crow suddenly enlarged, like a rotating black hole.
Luke felt the world spinning. The entire room, the castle, the whole world was collapsing, rotating, being sucked away.
He wanted to struggle, but he couldn't move a single finger. He could only watch helplessly as he was pulled into that irresistible force.
In his final mont of consciousness, he heard Annie mumble sothing indistinctly on the bed, turn over, and continue sleeping.
Then everything returned to nothingness.
The bedroom remained unchanged. The water dispenser still glowed with a faint blue light, and the underfloor heating continued to radiate warmth.
When Luke opened his eyes again, he found himself in a pitch-black world.
No up, no down, no left, no right, no sound, no sll… pure nothingness. He felt like a speck of dust floating in the depths of the universe.
Yet his emotions strangely stabilized.
As the saying went: "If it's weird enough, there must be a ghost."
Since the other party hadn't killed him imdiately, it either couldn't or didn't dare. As long as there was room for negotiation, he had nothing to fear—he had never known what fear was!
"Show your head and get insta-killed, but I wasn't insta-killed… Where did this poser co from trying to act cool with ?"
With that thought, a cold smile curved on Luke's lips.
"Swish—"
A beam of light suddenly lit up behind him, like a stage spotlight, illuminating the spot where he stood in brilliant white.
Luke turned. At the end of the light, a gigantic eye was staring fixedly at him.
The eye was impossibly large, the pupil pitch-black, the iris a strange dark gold. The eyeball alone was taller than a man. An ordinary person would have gone weak in the knees from terror.
Luke rely narrowed his eyes, studying this "thing."
"Luke Jaqenion."
A voice echoed from all around, old and kindly, yet carrying an indescribable arrogance and detachnt, impossible to pinpoint the source.
"Where do you co from? I have never seen you in the river of history, nor have I seen the family 'Jaqenion'."
Luke slightly raised his chin: "I am Luke, the most noble Celestial Dragon, the most noble magical bloodline. And what are you?"
The voice fell silent for a mont.
"I am the Three-Eyed Crow."
As the words fell, the light suddenly expanded. The eye pulled back and unfolded, revealing its full form: a colossal bird that blotted out the sky, covered in pitch-black feathers, with a third eye clearly visible on its forehead.
Luke stood before it like an ant at the feet of an elephant.
"I can see through the past and present, and foresee the future."
The Three-Eyed Crow's voice echoed in the void.
"I have lived for a very, very long ti, always guarding humanity from destruction by other races."
It lowered its head, the vertical pupil staring fixedly at Luke.
"Since you appeared, I can no longer see the future clearly. The closer I get to you, the harder it becos, as if a fog shrouds everything. You… who exactly are you?"
The surrounding space suddenly twisted. Countless images flooded in like a tide.
Luke saw himself standing on the construction site of Draco, passionately addressing thousands of citizens: "My goal is to let more people eat their fill and dress warmly, to free people from the tornt of disease, to gain more wealth, and live lives of dignity!"
The audience in the vision cheered and wept with emotion.
The scene shifted to his daily life in King's Landing: bargaining with spice rchants, private etings with Petyr Baelish, drinking with the Imp in a tavern, laughing with Bronn on the way to White Stone Town, training soldiers in the barracks at White Stone Town…
But all the images were blurry, as if viewed through frosted glass or an old TV with poor signal.
The invisible force tried hard to replicate them but could not penetrate so barrier.
Luke watched these "mosaic" images, his cold smile deepening.
Suddenly, the images stretched and zood infinitely.
A strangely shaped weirwood tree abruptly appeared before Luke. The trunk was bone-white, the leaves blood-red, and a human face was carved into the bark.
The face's eyes opened.
No, it wasn't the face opening its eyes—the trunk contained a person embedded within.
An old man with white hair, most of his body fused with the tree, as if growing out of it or being devoured by it.
The sight was extrely eerie, sending chills down the spine.
The old man smiled. His voice was still that arrogant and detached tone: "Have you seen the river of history?"
--------------------------
Support us on P@tre0n and gain access to 100 chapters in advance!
[email protected]/inkshield
User Comments
0 comments from readers