Chapter 183: Chapter 183 - Sothoryos 02.
[Chapter Size: 3100 Words.]
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Thrid Person POV
Essos, 296 AC.
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And so the Articans ended up following the group of natives from Sothorys, while Jon and his group were close behind, with their guards maintaining a high level of caution.
"My king... are you sure we're safe, going along with these natives so easily?" one of the royal guards spoke, following them cautiously.
"It's all right. There's something interesting there I'd like to investigate. Besides, we're very safe; I'm in control of all the nearby beasts," Jon said calmly.
Hearing this, the royal guards nodded, still wary, and followed him along the narrow forest trail with the natives ahead.
Curious to get to know these people, Jon wouldn't miss the chance to see them before the group returned to the fleet.
They walked for about twenty minutes, while the men of the tribe occasionally looked at him with expressions full of both curiosity and caution, as if wanting to keep an eye on every movement of this stranger dressed in metal.
Jon, however, was unbothered by this, keeping his attention on the sights unfolding before him. The forest was rich, filled with plants and all types of vegetation one would expect in a tropical forest.
In Westeros, this type of fauna and flora didn't exist. Although the climate varied there, ranging from a desert kingdom to a freezing area at the two poles of the continent, the most fertile region of the Seven Kingdoms was still nowhere close to being tropical.
The only place to create such a forest would be… Artica. Additionally, Jon found himself captivated by the trees, plants, and flowers, making a mental note to collect many seeds before leaving this place.
Jon also couldn't help but think how, as a young man in Winterfell, he'd never imagined he'd be in Sothorys someday, and yet here he was, exploring the known world and beyond.
"Do you like our forest?" The voice of the elderly woman surfaced as she asked, walking beside Jon and breaking his train of thought.
"Yes, I can't deny it; it's one of the most beautiful pieces of vegetation I've ever seen in my life," Jon responded calmly. He had many seeds in Artica, enough to grow all the world's fruits, but this colorful vegetation was something quite different. Everything here caught his attention, from the animals to the forest itself.
"Tell me, you are connected to the forest, aren't you? Do you make the trees rise from the ground? How did you do that?" she asked again with great curiosity. Their language was a bit limited, and sometimes they spoke in loose words, but Jon could understand her while she spoke to him.
The Artican king just gave a slight smile. "I've been blessed by the gods," Jon replied simply.
"Really? By Inti?" She looked at him in surprise.
"Who is Inti?" Jon asked.
"He is the Sun God. We worship him; he and his guardian, who walks in this forest, protect us," she said.
"Well, in the few years I've lived, I've discovered that this world has many gods. I wouldn't be surprised if one truly existed," Jon responded. After all, there was nothing that documented all the gods in existence, making it difficult to believe in or deny them. The Seven didn't exist from what he'd seen, only the Old Gods and the Red God, whom he'd encountered in Volantis.
"Maybe you are blessed by him," she continued murmuring, clearly not believing in other gods, but Jon shook his head, almost laughing.
"No, it wasn't he who blessed me. I have my own gods," he replied as they continued walking through the forest.
It wasn't long before they came across a village in the distance, in an area lower than the level of the forest. The straw and wood houses were shaped like huts, and smoke rose from various points in the village, which seemed to house at least 300 inhabitants, with no walls separating the village from the forest.
The men with bone spears at the front quickly began murmuring orders to others waiting in the village, adjusting the entry so that those who had come to see the strangers at the village entrance opened a path for them to pass.
The royal guards remained alert to any enemy attack, but Jon had already assured them that he was safe. He could see this through the many birds flying in the sky, controlled by him, as he had already mastered the area.
The old woman led him to the center of the village, where people, dressed in short and rudimentary clothes made from forest materials and animal skins just to cover their private parts, gathered and looked at them, forming a large crowd. They murmured about Jon and his guards in armor, calling him the "man of metal" and wondering who these strangers emerging from the forest were.
"Come with me; my granddaughter is very ill in her home," the old woman said, approaching one of the huts.
She exchanged a few words with another woman standing at the hut's entrance, speaking to her in a low tone. A small argument broke out, and the woman, who seemed to be either a daughter or daughter-in-law, exclaimed something to the elder, casting a suspicious look at Jon and the others.
But in the end, the old woman managed to convince her to let them in. The royal guards, not understanding what was happening, merely nodded and followed Jon inside the hut.
The place was entirely primitive, made only with resources the forest could provide. In the corner, there was a bed of straw and animal skins, where a young woman of about 18 years lay. She was burning with fever, sweating, and had nothing covering her body to allow the heat to escape and keep her cooler.
The old woman looked at the young girl, touched her forehead, then turned to Jon and asked in the local language, "Can you help her?" She practically pleaded.
"Let me see her condition," Jon requested.
The old woman stepped back, and Jon approached, touching the young woman's forehead. As he did so, he emitted a green glow that made the old woman widen her eyes as if she were witnessing a miracle.
But Jon didn't stop there. He felt the fever burning in the girl's body, but he sensed the problem wasn't in her head. He moved his hand downward, while the glow spread through her body, until he located the source of the fever and her weakened state.
"She has green fever…" Jon remarked, not too surprised to see this here… but surprised that these people should have a high immunity to this disease.
"Is there a cure?!" The old woman asked, not surprised by Jon's words.
"I can try to develop it, but I won't be able to cure her just like that…" Jon admitted. He needed to study how the disease functioned, and he already intended to do so by taking blood samples from some of these people. He had, however, found a perfect subject for his experiment; after all, he could work on a remedy directly.
"That's good…" The woman said, though with a tone not as joyful as before.
"You're hiding some things, aren't you? You already knew she had this disease." Jon accused her as the atmosphere grew tense in the hut, and the royal guards glanced at the woman, even though they didn't understand what the king was saying—it didn't sound good.
"I knew…" she admitted.
"I figured… but you were hoping I'd cure her, from what you're saying… this must happen often in this village, doesn't it?" Jon asked, now more curious.
"Yes…" the woman said and continued. "Every month, someone suffers from the disease… so we must take them as a sacrifice to Inti's guardian, who resides in the forest and protects us," she said, and Jon raised an eyebrow.
"So you send all your sick to die…" Jon repeated what she said in the common tongue, and this time, his men listened.
"Yes… but I didn't want Akila to go; she is my only granddaughter… and it would be a disgrace if my only descendant were to die…" she said, naming her granddaughter for the first time.
Jon remained silent for a moment before he responded to her. "I can try to heal her. How much time do I have?" Jon asked.
"Three days before the ritual begins," she said.
"I'll work as quickly as I can, but I can't promise anything," Jon said, and she nodded in agreement.
It didn't take long for them to start leaving the village, with the crowd watching as Jon departed, carrying a vial of blood drawn from the young woman.
"Are you going to help her, my king?" one of the royal guards asked, and Jon nodded.
"Of course. I see no reason not to do it; I may find a cure for two incurable diseases here. I won't miss the opportunity," Jon replied with a serious tone, and the others nodded in agreement with their king.
As with most in the village, the old woman and the girl's mother could only watch Jon leave while some warriors spoke to the village matriarch, complaining that she had brought strangers among them and then let them go like that.
They argued that not everyone would welcome the sight of men clad in metal emerging from the sea and coming to them. After all, although some ships had come by, everyone who encountered this place usually fled without understanding why. And everyone on the continent knew about the green fever; no one wanted an incurable disease, so no one dared venture here.
A discussion broke out in the village, with some saying Jon was blessed by a foreign god since he could make plants grow and even control animals.
Meanwhile, Jon returned to the beach and resumed his research work, which involved collecting plants and analyzing them to see if they could be used to create some form of drug to combat the diseases he aimed to cure.
At one point, he returned to his men, who were surveying the forest, watching for any attacks. "I want you to enter the forest and gather as many seeds as you can from every type of tree. I need to bring them back to Artica," Jon instructed as he tended to the terrarium he had set up two days prior.
His men nodded and began to follow their king's orders, heading into the forest. They continued this for some time until night fell, when Jon returned to the ship with his men in a small boat, carrying seeds to work on throughout the night.
And so he did. First, he began working with his infected men, studying greyscale and getting closer to a cure. Then, he moved on to examining the blood he had collected from the young woman, trying to understand the effects of green fever and find a way to combat it.
This continued for some time, and Jon didn't even realize when dawn broke. He sighed, and despite having stayed up all night, he rose and left his laboratory to have his first meal with his men.
Returning to work a while later, he maintained the same routine for another day, going back to the island to cultivate more medicinal plants.
Meanwhile, the natives observed him from a distance, curious but not wary of the group.
However, not everything was in vain that day. Jon finally managed to find a combination of substances that could destroy the corrosive effects of greyscale during the night in his lab. Excited, he called his men to apply his discovery.
"This should do…" Jon prepared more of the same liquid formula, handing vials to them. "Take this every five hours; you should start to feel better in the coming days. Keep an eye on it and let me know if there are any issues," Jon instructed.
"Thank you, my king!" his men replied, encouraged to know their king had found a cure for them.
Meanwhile, Jon was now fully focused on green fever. His time, however, was running out, and he hadn't slept in days, yet he continued to work tirelessly over the next few days.
Then, the worst was about to happen. In the village, the old woman was crying, devastated, as the men carried her granddaughter out of the hut—now covered with leather cloths, though still unconscious—outside the village.
There stood an altar Jon hadn't seen when he first visited, positioned facing the forest to the south.
The men of the tribe carried the girl to the altar and laid her there, and everyone watched in silence from a distance while the old woman and the other woman, who had spoken to Jon outside the young woman's hut, wept. There was nothing more to be done. Jon hadn't appeared with a cure in the past few days, and now they needed to offer her as a sacrifice to the guardian as an offering.
They began preparing the area, placing some plants around the altar to burn, hoping the scent would attract the forest guardian—and it did.
After some time, heavy footsteps started to approach, causing the entire village to stir, waiting for the guardian, with some villagers praying while looking directly at the sky.
The guardian was drawing near, lured by the scent the men had set up. With each step, the tremors grew more intense until the creature emerged from the forest amidst the trees.
It was an awe-inspiring, gigantic figure, towering over 15 meters high, with red spots across its body, walking on two legs, and with arms too small for the size of its body. It balanced only on its two legs due to this unusual body structure for an animal.
As the creature drew closer, its shadow covered the girl's body while it slightly opened its mouth, staring at the offering the villagers had left for it. As it finally reached the altar, the villagers watched, accustomed to the sacrificial ritual. The creature began to open its mouth full of teeth, leaning in, ready to devour the sick young woman.
But just as everyone thought the creature's jaws would close around the girl, with her relatives weeping and even turning their faces away, it suddenly stopped. This made everyone look on, bewildered, as the creature slowly drew back, pulling its head away from the sacrifice.
"She doesn't have to die." Suddenly, Jon's voice sounded as he stepped out from the forest and walked to the front of the entire village.
The village fell silent, astonished to see Jon, still in his armor, walking right up to the guardian. Everyone was shocked, watching him approach the creature in a way no one else dared.
Jon looked at the beast, surprised at what he was witnessing, having never seen anything like it up close. Sothorys was home to all kinds of creatures, even prehistoric ones that still roamed here.
He had seen it while observing the area during his first night, with his animals patrolling the forest, and had hoped to encounter it. Though he hadn't known exactly what it was, he was impressed by its unique form. He hadn't imagined such creatures existed in the world. But, being an animal, Jon knew he could control it. If he could command giant wolves, dragons, and even the Kraken itself in the sea, this creature wouldn't be a challenge.
And that's exactly what he did. He quickly took control of the creature as a warg, making it obey him, with its mind under his influence. "Stand aside," Jon ordered, pointing to where he wanted the creature to stay.
The creature obediently stepped back, breaking the ground beneath it, and stopped exactly where Jon had indicated.
The men and women of the tribe looked on, speechless and terrified, witnessing not only someone approaching the guardian without being devoured but also someone with the power to control it—something they had never imagined possible.
Jon ignored the villagers' amazement and turned his attention to the young woman on the altar, checking if she was still alive. Seeing that she was still breathing but urgently needed treatment, Jon opened her mouth and took out a vial he had developed as a type of antibiotic remedy, hoping the effects would start in a few hours, though he knew it would take days for her to recover fully.
After making sure the young woman had drunk the medicine and continued to sleep, Jon sighed, realizing she could be saved after all. But suddenly, Jon noticed the absolute silence around him. He looked up and was surprised to see the entire tribe kneeling before him, gazing at him in reverence.
"What is this now?" Jon murmured, not quite knowing what to make of what he was witnessing.
A moment later.
"Let's leave this place…" Jon was on the ship at that moment, while a group from the tribe watched him from among the trees with admiration, their gaze fixed on him as the giant creature stood by his side.
"My king… what is that?!" The royal guard was visibly afraid, watching the creature with caution.
"They call it a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a very ancient type of creature, but they're common here in Sothorys," Jon explained, noticing the creature staring back at him.
"Do you plan to bring it to Artica, my king?" one of them asked, concerned, as they wondered how such a creature would even fit on the ship.
"No… I mean… not yet," Jon replied, a smile forming on his face. "After the Yi-Ti voyage, we'll return here. I plan to bring it to Artica then," Jon said, but he wanted this one to find a mate. From what he could see in its memories, this creature was over a hundred years old, which was why it was seen as the guardian of this region by the tribe, keeping other creatures away. Jon wanted a pair of these in Artica.
"Anyway… let's get back to the ship and leave," Jon said, ignoring the entire tribe behind them. In the end, Jon continued onward.
"My king… why did they seem to be expecting something from you?" another royal guard murmured.
"They hoped I would take them with me… after I controlled the creature… they think I'm a god or something like that. But I told them I'd return someday and would think about it," Jon admitted.
And so they left Sothorys behind as Wind asked questions about what had happened, watching the creature step back into the forest and disappear. The natives remained, watching the ship as it departed, hoping that one day, Jon would return to them.
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