章 27: Chapter 24
Two years have passed since the day I shaped the earth. When I made it back to my people they were glad to see me. They were also shocked by the sudden change of the lands. Many questions were asked but I told the populace that I had no idea what had happened. To my inner circle however, I explained to them that I had fully unlocked my power.
After everyone calmed down, Ivar ran me through the progress he was able to make. They had started plotting out the land. Where certain things would go, how the city would expand, things like that. After looking over the plans he came up with I put in my own thoughts. Now that the land had changed, modifications needed to be made to our plans.
But before anything else could be done, I called everyone over and gave them positions. I made Ivar my Castellan. He had a sharp mind and preferred the management side of things. I appointed Brant to the position of captain of the guards. It was an obvious choice and one he was happy to take. I formally announced Gentle and Gunnar as my bodyguards. I couldn't come up with a more appropriate name. I tasked Aela to create a group of rangers. I even gave her the idea of turning these rangers into werewolves. She was not adverse to the idea, but she wanted to first test out what her transformation looked like and how it would work in this new world. Jaren was made town governor, in time should he do well I will appoint him to city governor.
After having settled those matters we went to work. We began chopping wood to clear the area for as far as we could. We began building the city in the way that was agreed upon. The work was slow but people worked eagerly. Everyone pitched in, even the children.
We decided to build at the start of the peninsula and work our way down. Since we didn't have many people, all we could do was lay out borders. We created a small town that could sustain us. I went to work using my thu'um to create a smooth stone wall ten feet high separating the peninsula from the mainland. I had plans to raise it even higher, but for now ten feet would do.
We created small docks that would later expand. I decided to postpone the creation of my tower. For now it served as a simple island. By the end of the year, everyone had a home. There was the issue of it still being winter, so I came up with a great idea.
I went to Ivar and asked him to place heating enchantments on the floor of the homes. It took a lot of trial and error but we figured out a way to get it done. Ivar was more of the scholarly type, a true mage. The problem was that he lacked power. I used magic solely for my thu'um. I was unable to cast any true spells. So, we improvised. I channeled power into Ivar and he wove the spells.
When he learned of my enormous magic reserves and how I could channel magic to him for his use he went crazy. Ideas he wouldn't have even considered began bubbling up in his mind. He even had the idea of creating a massive formation spell that would cover the entire city. It could be used for many things like security and other things. There were times I had to fight him off me since he got clingy.
After six months of work, people began trickling in from various places. All northerners mind you but at least we were growing. This allowed Aela to screen more people for her rangers. In between working and doing other things, I spent time training. Physically that is, I needed to beef up so I trained with Gentle and Gunnar.
The second year was filled with surprises. Ivar, using his magic with myself as the battery, found iron and gold deposits in our mountain range. The gold vein wasn't that great, but we found plenty of iron. Sadly I was unable to mine it at the moment, so we just sealed the area off for later use.
Speaking of gold, I had Ivar magically alter the golden septums I had in my inventory into golden dragons. Now we had money we could use. Five hundred thousand golden dragons.
By the end of the second year our population reached one thousand people give or take. It wasn't much, but we had plenty of room to grow. We were making steady progress and our future looked bright.
I now sat in the conference room of the governor's home. Jaren called me over to discuss a few matters.
"How have you been, Jaren?" I asked.
"Good, my Lord. Can't complain, wife is happy and kids are busy. What more could a man want?" He asked with a smile.
"I'm glad to hear that. Now onto business, what do you have for me?" I asked getting serious.
"Yes, we sent a ship out like you asked. With enough luck, they should reach Kings Landing in two months. From there they can start recruiting able bodied people. Even taking in children. Though, my Lord I must ask, are you certain you want to invite, whores?" He asked looking troubled.
"Yes, I'm sure. I plan to come up with other forms of entertainment, but for now they will have to make due with a whore house. Not only that, whores make excellent eyes and ears when trained properly." I replied.
"I see, we'll if you say so." He replied, not sounding at all convinced.
"And the children, my Lord?" He continued.
"Children are the future, Jaren, and they are very impressionable." I answered.
"Impres, what?" He asked, not understanding the meaning of the word.
"Don't worry about it, how is the school coming along?" I asked.
"Quite well, though I must say it's very unusual." He said.
"Best to keep them busy Jaren, they soak up knowledge faster than you'd think." I replied.
"Not surprising coming from you, you are the first Lord I ever heard of putting children to work." He replied with a raised eyebrow.
"That was because we needed the extra hands. And they could fit in small places. But now I need them in school." I answered.
"Okay, That's all I have. Oh, Ivar told me to tell you that he's ready to work on the island whenever you're ready. He seemed excited." Jaren finished while rising to his feet.
"That's good news, I'll go to him now." I replied.
Saying my goodbyes to the man I made my way towards the end of the peninsula, where Ivar made himself at home. Reaching his shak, I knocked on the door and he welcomed me in.
"I hear you're ready to work on the island." I said.
"Yes, I've finally worked out the proper spells to complete the tower. We can start today, and if we're uninterrupted, we could finish in a week." Ivar explained.
"That's good, I'll let Jaren know that we'll be away for a week or so, then we can leave." I replied.
In a matter of hours, Ivar and I stood at the edge of the peninsula. In the distance we could see the island. We had long since come up with a way to reach the island. By midday we were on the island and I stood by while Ivar went about setting his spells.
We decided to recreate the white gold tower of the imperial city. The island was the perfect shape for it and we thought it was fitting. The edges of the island would form the curtain wall.
One of the reasons why we put it off for so long was that Ivar needed to personally create the spells to set the construction into motion. I say construction, but what will really happen is Ivar's spell will build the castle on it's own.
Ivar just needs to set the framework and let the spells do it's work. Truly an amazing spell, the only problem is the time it would take to build the spells and the astronomical amounts of power required to make them work. Thus why it will take us a week to finish. Once done we simply let the castle grow, like a tree. The only downside is that it will take ten years for the tower to be completed.
Yes, a very slow process, but in the grand scheme of things it will be worth the wait. This way we save gold, resources and people on construction. Not only that, we get to design the entire layout down to the broom closet.
Ivar did most of the work. All I had to do was supply the power. I did aid in the creation of the interior, and defenses. Secret passages, underground tunnels, even a torture chamber. In case we ever need it.
The week passed quickly and by the end of it we were exhausted. As we sailed back to the mainland I turned and used a thu'um to cast a perpetual fog around the island. Obscuring the vision of any who wished to look. This also made it so that people wouldn't freak out by the sight of a tower growing out of the ground.
The year passed by smoothly after that. We continued our work, further expanding the town. We received a fresh shipment of people and orphans. Word seemed to spread about land in the north becoming available for new residents. Despite our steady growth, the other Lords have yet to even send a raven. Not even my neighbors, house Glover. I didn't mind, let me build my power base in peace.
I made a return trip atop the mountain to use my thu'um once again. This time it was to control the weather. I made it so that the area was slightly warmer than the rest of the north. Not like the south, but definitely more bearable compared to the rest of the north. This wasn't permanent however as I would have to repeat this task twice a year.
Now I stood in the woods with Aela. She was finally ready to attempt to change into her werewolf form. I was confident in restraining her with my thu'um should she lose control.
"Are you ready?" I asked.
"I've put it off long enough. This needs to be done." She said,
"Okay then, let's begin." I said
Aela was naked as she stood before me. She hunched over as the moonlight shone down on her. She dropped to her knees and growled. I could hear her bones shifting and I could tell the process was painful.
Her body shifted and morphed in unnatural ways. Hair grew on her body. Her face elongated into a snout and her hands into clawed ones. As she was in the process of taking the form of the werewolf, something odd happened.
Her body shook and jolted. Her bones broke anew and she howled in pain. Her body broke. Her semi upright posture was crumbling and she laid on the floor as her body continued to shift.
After seemingly every bone in her body re-broke, she began to shift into another form. Her bones moved under her skin, popping and locking into place. Pulled by an unseen force. Her spine was quite vocal as it popped and cracked. Her body became covered in fur and she stood on all fours.
Eventually the transformation was complete. What stood before didn't at all resemble the werewolves of Hircine. She now resembles the creature of her namesake. Standing before me was an auburn colored wolf the size of a horse.
The familiar green eyes stared back at me. I was prepared for anything. With a thu'um ready in my mind, I called out to her.
"Aela, are you in there?" I asked.
The wolf stared at me for a long moment before nodding. It walked over to me and we stood eye to eye. She lowered her head and brushed against my chest. I released the tension I had been holding and scratched her head.
"Good to see you're alright. This form is unexpected though. Can you turn back?" I asked.
She stepped back and at a speed I would not have expected, she reverted to her human form. She stood before me and had a sad smile.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"The call of Hircine is gone, it's gone Ragnar." She said as she choked up near the end.
I walked up to her and pulled her in my embrace as she sobbed. I let her release all her emotions, she had lost that tiny bit of hope that she would be able to join Hircine in the hunt upon her death.
I couldn't imagine being sent to a world to be used as a hunting dog for eternity. Nor would I want such a fate, but Aela was different. It was her dream, her desire, her goal, and now it was ripped away from her. It's akin to knowing your god exists and that you were for sure going to be with said god in the afterlife doing what you love. Then having that security of knowledge ripped away to never be attained again. To be forever barred entry into the promised land.
After calming down, we went on a hunt. We spent weeks just hunting and living off the land until she was ready to return. Once back it took Aela months to recover. But she did. She dove into her work. She trained her rangers until they became predators of the woods. They could hit a shot from ridiculous distances. They were elite, and frightening during the dark. I suspect she gave them the gift.
More work was being done. We received farming families and they were quickly given land to work. I didn't know anything about farming so I left them to their work. We had a decent set of longships in our ever expanding port. By now we had three thousand people.
Months later we received word of a band of bandits in the area. Gentle and Gunnar insisted that the three of us go out to handle it personally. They grew tired of doing nothing and wanted to taste battle. I agreed as I too was growing restless.
We were in the woods, weapons in hand, moving as quietly as possible. Ahead was a camp of twenty bandits. We tracked them for weeks but now we found them. And it appeared the feast was bountiful.
I looked over towards Gunnar who stood behind a tree with sword and axe in hand. He signed to me and Gentle and we nodded in understanding. After silently communicating amongst ourselves we came up with a perfect strategy. Run in with a powerful warcry and kill everyone in sight.
"Aaaaaaaaargh!" We yelled as we ran into the camp, weapons raised.
I held my greatsword in both hands as I swung at the first man I saw. He was too shocked to put up a defense and my blade bisected him from shoulder to hip. Blood and guts rained on me but I didn't care.
By now the others had the sense to grab a weapon. I ran to the next man and swung, he raised his sword but my blade shattered his and sunk into his chest. Withdrawing my blade quickly as five others ran to me.
They thought they had me surrounded but I just laughed. Moving faster than they expected, I ran one man through and rolled with him as he fell. Getting to my feet I slashed blindly and was rewarded with a cry of pain as I caught one unsuspecting.
Standing quickly I had to dodge a wild swing and duck another. With quickness belied my large frame, I lashed out with my fist, smashing bone as it sent my assailant toppling over.
With bloodthirsty savagery, I knocked the other mans sword aside and drove my cross guard into his eye. Yanking it free as he dropped dead I raised my foot and stomped the other man's face. Ending his wailing and caving in his skull.
A sharp pain flared up on my side and I looked down. An arrow, I looked up and eyed the archer as he notched another, ready to fire. Hah! You'll need more than little sticks to kill me! Before he could lose his arrow, I shouted.
"Yol toor!"
A visible force of fire rushed to the bowmen faster than he could react. The force hit him and his outstretched arms were burnt away in seconds. His chest charred and his clothes burnt. His face became a cracked black mask and his body fell to the floor.
I looked up at the rest of the camp and only saw carnage. Gentle was swinging his axe and laughing like a madman. His axe was a blur as it swung around him. Nothing they did mattered. Those who tried to block were torn apart, sword or shield knocked aside to make way for his axe.
Those that tried to parry lost their heads. And those who sought to dodge out of the way found that the singing notes of the axe as it flew threw the air, would suddenly change tone as it turned mid swing to allow them to be part of the symphony of death.
"Hahahahaha! Come at me! Come and embrace Svenn the Gentle! My axe will kiss you all! Hahahahahaha!" Gentle yelled as he cut a swathe through the bandits.
Looking over to Gunnar, it was like watching a berserker charge into a group of frightened children. Gunnar, usually quiet, was now howling incoherent babble as he swung and chopped his way through the poor fools.
His actions were so wild and seemingly without rhyme or reason that the bandits were left rooted to the spot, unaware and unable to react when the killing blow came. They died not knowing when the killing stroke even came.
"Ahahahhhhgr! bleetzpigubagu! ckaragukgdujakalrasreta!" Gunnar yelled as he ran into anyone he could find, arms a blur of motion.
"Hahahahahaha! Leave some for me brothers!" I yelled and ran at the nearest man and anointing him in the blood of his fallen comrades.
When it was all over the camp was eerily quiet. Blood covered the snow covered floor and caused a steam to rise. It looked like the smoke of a recent bombardment had befallen the bandit camp, so much smoke caused by hot blood and hotter intestines.
We stood in the center of this carnage and inhaled deeply the scent of battle. We took a moment to soak it all in. Until we heard a whimper. Looking over we saw a lone bandit sitting against a tree, eyes wide with terror. We walked over to him with relaxed steps.
"Ahh! S- s- s- don't co- come any closer!" The man stuttered out.
We looked over him, Gentle and Gunnar at my side. Gentle wrinkled his nose and snorted.
"This one smells if shit! He shit himself!"
Gunnar signed asking what should we do with him. Gentle was quick to reply.
"We could see how many of his fingers we could shove up his ass before he passes out!"
I looked at Gentle with a raised eyebrow.
"We will not be playing with this man asshole." I said shaking my head.
"I said we could not that we should, just giving options." He replied.
The man before us released sounds of his bowels liquefying and promptly passed out.
"He's gone, just kill him and let's be gone." I said and drove my sword through his heart.
The next week we were in sight of the city. As we neared, people recognized us and waved happily. We waved back and smiled in return. Suddenly from out of nowhere a kid leapt at me. I caught him and rubbed his head.
"Uncle Ragnar, uncle Gentle, uncle Gunnar! We missed you so much!" The boy yelled as other kids came running over. They surrounded us asking all kinds of questions.
"If you don't be carful, the great devourer Alduin will get you!" I yelled and growled at them. The kids laughed and ran in different directions to hide from the monster.
After playing with the kids for a while, we went home to report our success. Life moved on peacefully and another year passed. The city continued to grow and the people enjoyed their lives.
I sat in my office, just looking out the window, when a knock was heard. Granting permission to enter, Ivar walked up beside me with a grave face and scroll in his hands. Handing it to me I opened it and read. When I was done I smiled.
"The Greyjoys rebel, we march to war!"
クリエイターの想い 
Bigbaby
Bigbaby I didn’t know where to stop so I just kept going. Was it too much, should I have broken it down into smaller chapters? Let me know. Y’all know what to do, leave a comment and or review. Peace ✌️
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