AN: I'M LATE
Alright I know, I'm way overdue for a chapter. I had finals and giant projects for university so I've been busy. Don't expect a bunch of chapters because I'm still busy with work but I hope this can satisfy you all.
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...
Brandon and Fae stood back to back as corpses ran at them trying to strike down those who still had warm blood.
Fae swung her blade in a fiery dance. She swung her blade with the precision and grace of a master swordsman. She had been swinging a sword for a hundred years and trained by the greatest masters the world could offer.
Behind her Brandon hacked and slashed at the corpses with less precision and more brute strength.
The unrefined form of Brandon was useful with the large crowds of undead swarming the pair but was little help when faced with the enormous spiders covered in ice and snow.
"You getting tired yet Bran?" Fae called out to Bran, mocking him and his inferior stamina to her godly perks.
Bran hacked another corpse in two. "Shut up!"
Fae laughed as she sliced cleanly through three heads. "They're starting to disperse, give it a couple more minutes, and then run to the horses."
Bran nodded back to Fee "Right." With another swing of Bran's sword, another corpse fell.
The pair sprinted towards their steeds. One with a pup in their hands, and the other hacking away making a path for them.
The duo reached their horses and scrambled to mount them. The pair commanded the horses forward and they were off with the wind.
Bran and Fae raced through the forest finally losing the dead men and finding some calmness for the moment.
Bran looked down into his arm at the little Direwolf pup that shook with fear. "Poor little guy."
"Worry about him later Bran, we aren't alone." Fae rode in front of Bran drawing her sword and igniting it in flames.
Fae's eyes followed something in the trees that Bran couldn't find. "What is it Fae?"
Figures began to emerge from the trees. They were gaunt pale creatures, with skin as pale as snow. They wore ice-like reflective armor, with swords of crystal ice grasped in their hands.
Fae pointed her sword forward toward the newly arrived figures. "And who the hell are you."
The pale creatures strode forward with an intimidating silence. They left no print in the snow as they approached and they stood as tall as Fae's father.
Fae rode forward swinging at one of the pale men only for her sword to collide with a sword of crystal ice.
When the flaming blade and the crystal sword collided, it wasn't like a normal blade striking another but a screech as sharp as a needle resounded out.
Fae struggled against the sword of the pale demon as she tried to push the blade aside.
Another of the pale figures swung at Fae's back, but Bran managed to block its swing with his blade.
The sound of an animal screaming in pain resounded from the blades striking one another.
"The hell are these things" Bran struggled against the creatures that began to surround them.
"I can only assume... ngh." Fae broke away from the pale creature. "That they're the ones responsible for the corpses."
Fae kicked one of the pale creatures square in the chest to knock it away, but as her foot landed against the pale creature, she felt like she had kicked a mountain.
The pale creature's arm moved faster than Fae could follow, catching her ankle in a grip as strong as steel.
"Let go of me you icicle stick!" Fae slashed through the pale creature's arm, amputating its arm from its body.
The arm fell to the ground with a thud. The creature took a step back, expressionless. silence swallowed Fae's surroundings.
That silence was broken by the sound of cracking ice on a winter lake.
The creature screamed and all that could be heard was the shattering of ice.
More of its kin rushed towards Fae, choosing to ignore Bran, they had found a threat and acted swiftly in hopes that the threat would not last to see them fall.
Fae watched as all around her the creatures sped towards her. Bran could barely see the speed the creatures ran.
Fae realized she couldn't mount a defense on all sides, and that there were far more of the pale creatures than she had thought.
For the first time in many years, Fae was scared. Never had she felt so helpless. She was going to die, Bran, was going to die, the man she lov...
Two great claps of thunder resounded through the forest. Faster than even Fae could see, the pale creatures vanished into puffs of powdered snow. The undead collapsed, lifeless, and returned to their proper state, and the ice spiders lay torn to unrecognizable paste.
The sight before Fae changed instantly. Moments ago, the pale creatures had her inches away from meeting death, seconds later they were replaced by a pillar of darkness.
A pale set of arms wrapped around Fae. She felt as the back of her head pressed against something pillowy. She looked up and found her mother's eyes staring back at her.
Aina held her daughter close, fearing the moment she let go she would lose her precious little girl.
Fae looked at the pillar of shadow that stood in front of her, surprise etched over her face. "Father? I thought you went south."
Melkor turned to her daughter, his face was emotionless, but Fae could see in the depths of her father's eyes burned a fury brighter than the sun.
That fury died as Melkor's gaze landed on his daughter. He cracked a smile and enveloped his wife and daughter in a great hug.
"I'm sorry Fae."
Fae looked up to her father confusion written all over. "Why are you sorry? I was the one who ran head first into danger." Fae's voice quivered as tears began to form.
"It's our job as your parents to protect our child, and today we almost failed. But that's just an if and we don't need to think about that anymore." Aina reassured her daughter that none of this was her fault.
Fae couldn't hold her tears back and let the waterworks loose. She enveloped her father in a hug as her mother hugged her from behind.
"I'm sorry papa." Fae cried into her father's chest. "Please, I just want to go home."
Melkor somberly smiled as Fae begged to go home. Wishing to take his family to the land he once called home. But knew it was impossible to return with open arms.
Melkor knew what he needed to do in order to guarantee the safety of his family, but that would have to wait.
"My love, take Fae and Bran back to Winterfell, meet with Beorn and Brandon, and march North, I shall meet you at Last Hearth and inform you of my findings.
Aina nodded to her beloved. "It will be done. Come Fae, hold on to me."
Melkor had to pry his daughter and give her to her mother. As Fae grabbed hold of Aina Melkor kneeled down to his daughter. "Don't worry about me, just stay with your mother and I'll be right back, promise.
Fae nodded to her father as she wiped her dried tears away.
Melkor rose to his full height and turned to his side and stared at a boy no older than his daughter leaning against a tree, with a small ball of fur in his arm.
"You go as well Bran, I shall not be the one to deliver my friend's lifeless son to him, go with them, Bran."
"Bran nodded, too scared to say a word to the monolith of shadow that stood before him. He hobbled over to Fae and Aina, and as he clasped his hands with Faes, a great thunderclap resounded through the woods.
Where there were once four, there now stood one.
Melkor began his walk to Last Hearth, giving his wife and friend time to gather their forces and plan for the coming days.
...
For a short and swift month, Melkor had been trekking his way to Last Hearth. Finally, he had arrived.
Melkor's gaze washed over the keep known as Last Hearth. The keep itself lay in ruin. Snow and ice covered what remained. The keep sat atop a hill with a great stairway to the keep door. And at the top of the stairs stood a being that few could describe and fewer stomach to even look upon.
The being was clad in a makeshift armor of black steel that covered its chest and rose from its neck if it even had a neck. Its body seemed to be made of willowing snow or ice, without a solid form. Where its head should be sat a dozen small heads like a newborn's. In its hand it griped as large as itself that seemed to be made from the very substance the creature was formed out of.
Melkor never looked away at the abomination that stood atop the stairs. He began to scale the steps of the ruined keep, willing a great hammer out of shadow, ready to obliterate the foul creature that watched his fast approach.
As Melkor reached the creature, his height dwarfed the foul thing. His nine-foot frame gave him many favors through his travels when meeting other lords and kings, intimidating them and enhancing his goldy appearance, but this creature seemed unfazed.
Instead of the battle Melkor had thought was to ensue, the creature simply turned around to lead Melkor inside the ruined keep.
As Melkor passed the fallen walls and rubble, he failed to see a single corpse. Not one fallen soldier that defended their liege lord's home, no servants littered the ground, and no lords lay dead. Some would think the once great keep was abandoned long ago before the northern threat approached.
Melkor was broken from his thoughts as the abomination came to a stop before the only working door left. The walls lay broken around it that one could simply walk around it, but as Melkor looked around the door he found nothing but ice and snow as far as the eye could see. Melkor knew the door was more than it seemed.
The Creature opened the great doors and as they opened, Melkor found a broken hall, walls barely stood, but at the center of it all lay a table with a vaguely familiar figure at the head of it.
The strange creature that had led Melkor to this room took its place by what he could only presume was his master.
What sat at the table seemed just as odd as the one who had led Melkor to the very room.
The figure seemed to not have a true body, made of billowing smoke and shadow. If one tried they could see through it but discern the smoke and shadow was more cloak than body. Its face was like a fire of night that rose and billowed with the cold wintery air. The only thing that Melkor could tell for certain of this creature was its eyes. Its eyes shone like ice.
Melkor approached the table and sat directly across from the shadowy form.
"It's only polite to introduce oneself to guests." Melkor tried to antagonize the creatures, he wished for questions, but would not show weakness before such lowly creatures.
The shadow spoke with a haunting echo that resounded through the room, sending shivers down even Melkor's spine.
"My siblings have foretold of my coming, I have no name, but they call me the great other, and I shall embrace all the lands in my cold touch."