Chapter 1: The Transmigrated Night's Watchman
The horn sounded, and then it sounded again.
One blast for brothers returning, two for wildlings attacking, but today, why did it continue?
It had been thousands of years since a member of the Night's Watch had blown the horn three times, so much so that some of the more confused brothers in black had almost forgotten its meaning, but Aeg had not. Just as the third blast, higher and more prolonged than the first two, pierced the cold air atop the Wall and echoed into his ears, striking his eardrums, he had drawn the lot to stand watch on the Wall's summit. Trembling, he leaned against the ice wall and looked down from the northern edge. There, he saw a terrifying scene that he had never witnessed before, one that sent his soul flying in fear.
*****
Aeg jolted awake, his back once again soaked with sweat.
The nightmares of the White Walkers' attack had plagued him for a long time, ever since he joined the Night's Watch and began standing guard as a new recruit, until today when he became a full-fledged ranger. It was undoubtedly laughable to be so afraid of a legend from thousands of years ago, but he was different from those around him; he knew that many of the accounts of the White Walkers were true.
Aeg was a transmigrator, a "Night's Watchman who crossed over."
A visitor from another world, arriving in this colorful, magical realm... instead of starting a harem or vying for power, he ended up in the desolate, godforsaken place of the Wall, swearing to take no wife, hold no lands, father no children, becoming a guardian on the Wall, a steadfast shield protecting the realm... defending the people of Westeros from the threats emerging from the far north. What a noble sentiment, a spirit of dedication that transcends worlds?
But the truth was, he did not willingly don the black cloak.
The story began a year ago. Aeg wasn't actually called Aeg. he was an ordinary college graduate from the world he originally came from. After leaving campus, he worked in the quality inspection department of a large state-owned enterprise, doing a job that "had some technical content and was somewhat related to his major." Relying on a salary that wasn't much but was stable and could easily support himself, he spent day after day in a life devoid of passion...
Until one day, he suddenly woke up from the cold, finding himself in his pajamas lying in a wilderness. With no road in sight, he wandered aimlessly for most of the day before discovering a village with inhabitants, only to be dumbfounded by the realization that all the villagers had Western features and spoke a language he couldn't understand.
Unable to communicate, driven by hunger and cold, he stole some potatoes and clothes to eat and keep warm. As he passed a chicken coop, he even contemplated stealing a couple of eggs, but unfortunately, he was caught on the spot and brought before the local official.
Stealing small items wasn't considered a heinous crime, and under modern law, it would be deemed a clear case of necessity. Unfortunately, due to the inability to communicate, the village official, who looked like a farmer, impatiently placed two items in front of Aeg, a cleaver and a black cloak. Using gestures, he told the unfortunate time traveler that he had two choices, to have a hand chopped off or to wear the black cloak.
Aeg was not prepared, nor did he intend, to become disabled on his first day of crossing over. Thus, he was sent to Castle Black as a criminal and became a "glorious" member of the Night's Watch. As for the name "Aeg," it was a nickname given to him by the villager who caught him, and it became his name in a muddled fashion.
He still remembered the moment the Wall, towering and majestic like the edge of the world, appeared in his vision, nearly taking his breath away. Without any slope, this 200-meter-high man-made structure looked more spectacular and imposing than any mountain he had visited during his travels before crossing over. The visual impact of this landmark was so strong that he instantly knew what he had encountered: he had crossed over into the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, or rather, Game of Thrones. Which specific one it was, he didn't have enough information to judge, temporarily confined to the Wall as if in prison.
***
"Awake?" Gared, who shared his room, was already organizing his pack by the window. Hearing the movement, he glanced over, "Then get up. Start preparing early so you don't always find yourself missing something at the last minute before leaving."
The speaker was a veteran of the Night's Watch. Orphaned at a young age, he had joined the Watch and, though not yet fifty, had served in the ranks for forty years. He was one of the few in the legion who could truly claim, "The legion is my home." Although his constant posturing as an old soldier was quite annoying, he had indeed provided a lot of care during the unfortunate time traveler's process of integrating into this world, Aeg couldn't ignore his words.
Nodding reluctantly, Aeg crawled out of bed, lifting the covers to release the dampness. The young man slowly began to dress.
As a fine young man of the new era, with a higher education, Aeg was naturally someone with excellent adaptability and learning ability. One year was more than enough to become familiar with and integrate into this world. Apart from his typical Eastern features that made him slightly stand out, he could already communicate smoothly with the other members of the Night's Watch in daily interactions... Speaking of which, there was something that really bothered him: in this blasted alternate world, the "common tongue" of the continent of Westeros was not the British-accented English he was used to hearing in the TV series, but a language with grammar and letters slightly similar to English, yet unfortunately, with very little correlation.
If not for this, with his fairly good English level, how could he have ended up in such a situation?
Once dressed, Aeg joined Gared for breakfast. With everything packed, they met with the other two rangers who would be on patrol duty this time. The four of them rode their mounts from the stables to the tunnel entrance through the Wall, ready to set out.
*****
The iron gate, pulled by pulleys and ropes, clattered slowly upward, revealing the dark tunnel behind it. Ser Waymar Royce straightened his chest, saying nothing, and nudged his horse, leading the way into the tunnel.
The passage was perpetually dark and cold, with only the sound of air flowing through it. Under the light of torches, they passed through three iron gates in succession. As the last barrier rose slowly, everything before them became clear, they had set out from the Night's Watch's main base, the center of supplies and manpower and the rookie village known as Castle Black, crossing the Wall to patrol outside it, investigating and tracking the wildling tribes that had recently been sighted frequently to the north of the Wall.
Before them lay the haunted forest. The Night's Watch regularly sent craftsmen out to cut down trees to ensure that the forest beyond the Wall would not extend within half a mile of the Wall, preventing wildlings from using the cover of the trees to approach and launch surprise attacks. As the power of the Night's Watch waned year by year, only three castles still manned could barely maintain this tradition, and the size of the entire buffer zone had long been shrinking.
Aeg looked back at the towering Wall and saw that the ice was "weeping"—this was good news, indicating that the temperature was near freezing. If the weather didn't change, the patrol team would at least not have to worry about freezing at night.
The horses trotted forward, and the four of them crossed the buffer zone and approached the forest. The haunted forest, which had been almost untouched by logging and stretched northward to the Lands of Always Winter, was the second-largest forest on the continent of Westeros. Aeg had participated in patrols several times, but each time he entered this forest, he still felt his scalp tingle and a chill run down his spine.
It was now the 297th year after Aegon's Conquest. Jon Arryn had not yet been assassinated; Eddard Stark was still in Winterfell, muttering "Winter is coming" while enjoying the warmth of his wife and children; Robert Baratheon was still on the Iron Throne, drinking and squandering, leaving a trail of offspring... Daenerys Targaryen was still a pitiful teenager living under the roof of others across the narrow sea; the White Walkers had just emerged from the Lands of Always Winter, beginning to attack small groups of wildlings and growing their army of the dead.
The familiar plots known to fans of the show or books in the original world had not yet begun; the clash between ice and fire, the power struggles at the center of the kingdom's politics, were still simmering. To be fair, crossing over to Westeros at a time when summer had not yet ended and the realm was at peace wasn't the worst luck. The problem was that Aeg had become a damned Night's Watch ranger. This meant that not only could he not stay far away from the human predators north of the Wall and find a place to enjoy life in another world, but he also had to leave the Wall every now and then, delivering himself to the doorstep of the White Walkers!
All members of the Night's Watch are combatants, but only the rangers make venturing north of the Wall a regular part of their duty. What made Aeg frustrated was that he became a ranger not out of his own volition. During the months he spent training as a new recruit at Castle Black and waiting for his assignment, he had tried hard to showcase his flexibility and broad knowledge as a science student, hoping to catch the attention of Lord Commander Mormont or Maester Aemon and become a trusted aide. At the very least, he hoped to stay within Castle Black as a steward or craftsman, but all his plans came to naught. After a series of maneuvers, he was assigned to Benjen Stark's command, becoming the elite of the elite, a ranger, which was the last thing he wanted to be.
It wasn't that any officer was deliberately trying to make things difficult for him. In fact, many would have loved to switch places with Aeg. Although rangers occasionally had to venture north of the Wall, the temperature hovering near freezing during the summer couldn't be considered cold, and their mission was merely patrol and reconnaissance. With the Night's Watch growing weaker and manpower becoming increasingly scarce, commanders usually instructed rangers to prioritize their own safety and avoid risky engagements with enemies. Over the years, the number of rangers who died in combat or on patrol was far fewer than the craftsmen and stewards who died from freezing or accidents.
But winter was coming, the White Walkers had awakened, and the King-beyond-the-Wall had gathered all the wildlings to prepare for a southern invasion. Since a few months ago, there had been sporadic casualties among the patrol teams. Aeg was well aware that rangers could no longer be as carefree as they had been in the past few years.
After the initial confusion and resentment, Aeg quickly understood the reasons behind everything: he was no longer the only child and top student from his former world. He did not have the noble name of Benjen Stark, the chief ranger, nor the aura of Jon Snow, the bastard son of the Lord of Winterfell. No matter how much he knew about astronomy, geography, or chemistry, in the eyes of the Night's Watch officers, he was just a "foreigner" who had committed the crime of theft. In a Night's Watch legion of nearly a thousand men, who would have the time to pay special attention to and take care of him? As a healthy and strong young man standing 1.8 meters tall, with decent training results, he was destined to be picked by the rangers.
No one would care whether he wanted to be a ranger, and he was certain that if he went missing during a northern patrol, the Night's Watch would never make a big fuss to search for him, as they would for Ser Waymar Royce or Benjen Stark. Here, he was just a foot soldier of the Night's Watch, and it was easy to imagine that in the upcoming battle between humans and the undead, he, who had only just learned to use a sword and ride a horse, would likely be just cannon fodder.
If he didn't want to end his time traveler's journey here in confusion, he would have to find a way to change his fate.