Chương 6: Chapter 5: Path of Wanderers

While Ymir took on the task of crafting stone chains and manacles for the Dothraki out of thin air, I commanded my followers- those who were uninjured and had enough strength left in them- to wrap up the camp. They were not to take anything from the loot for themselves but were to bring it to a designated spot where I would distribute it accordingly. I placed Marius and Farwan of Nefer- the weird bearded man- in charge of calculating the value of the loot and crowd control, respectively.

This would not only put idle minds and hands to work but also provide an opportunity for any disloyal fools and thieves to play their hand.

Any injured individuals were tended to by two Lhazareen midwives who knew enough of healing wounds to clean and sew up the most alarming ones and make sure the less alarming ones did not get infected.

With a mere thought, the titans looming above the camp began to vanish bit by bit into clouds of scalding hot steam. Gasps, whisperings and confused glances were sent my way. I calmly walked up to the entrance of the old Khal's tent and sat down on a smooth, high-backed, grey stone throne that rose up out of the earth.

I closed my eyes and looked inwards. It was time to ask some very pointed questions to the being that had attached itself to our bodies. Or was it our souls? Either way, it had much to explain about itself and I wasn't going to trudge through my life ignoring the existence of an eldritch worm that gave us access to physics-breaking power.

I didn't know what I expected to see when I reached out to the worm, but a vast white sand desert with a thick, tall glowing pillar in the middle wasn't it. Its pulsing colours were in shades so awe-inspiring and magnificent, that for a while I stood there on the dune, entranced.

Finally tearing my eyes away, I looked up to see unknown constellations glittering in the sky. Every so often, a shooting star would streak across the heavens in pursuit of some unseen destination.

I felt the draw of the pillar and began my trek across the greyish-white expanse. I did not tire here, not exactly, nor did I hunger. There was no heat or cold nor any wind, yet I had no trouble breathing. My feet carried me up and down over dunes and long stretches of flatlands and silence.

How much time had passed, I did not know, but the pillar was closer now and more massive than it had first appeared, so much so that it took up much of my vision. I did not feel any fear or any anxiety. I was hesitant, certainly, but who wouldn't be?

What I felt standing close to the pillar, I could not describe in mere words. The buzz and thrum of overwhelming power, of something beyond what humanity was capable of comprehending. Yet despite that I did not bow to it, nor did I allow myself to be overwhelmed. Just because a thing was powerful, did not make it a god. I had no wish to be worshipped by ants and as such, I refused to worship this thing. That did not mean that I did not respect it.

I reached out and placed my right hand over the shifting blue plasma-like substance that made up the pillar. My hand passed through the plasma coating and I felt its presence.

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"What are you?" I asked the being.

While the response I received was not audible, I understood it regardless. It 'spoke' in its own tongue- one of struggle, survival, and the will to live and persevere.

From what I understood, it was a creature that was born among the stars far away from the world I had found it in. Its home was the belt of stars- bright, hot and mighty. They provided its species with enough energy to survive, reproduce and live comfortably for millions of years. The spatial distortion due to the cosmic movement of nearby neutron stars helped their species adapt to the ever-shifting fabric of space. This ability aided them in travelling to and from the closest stars, seeking out the occasional gamma-ray burst remnants that passed by.

The species enjoyed an era of prosperity and lazy comfort for a million years or so until that fateful cycle when an object accelerating at the speed of light smashed into one of their homes. The star instantly exploded, killing all inside and those in the vicinity. I could sense the being's sadness and loss.

At first they had thought it a cosmic accident- a tragedy. However, that theory was quickly abandoned when another star exploded. This was clearly an attack by an individual or a civilisation that had mastered the art of light and space and were able to calculate the current and future positionings of celestial bodies. They were trying to eliminate their people and the worst part was that they were succeeding.

I wondered how that could be. Clearly the worm had mastered some power over light, space and time, and likely much more. So what made the mysterious genociders so dangerous? Apart from the benefit of surprise.

The worm shook its head in dismay. No, the attacks came with increasingly deadly precision, with less and less intervals between the last. Any attempts to strike back were thwarted when its people failed to trace where exactly they had originated from. Part of the reason why was that they had lived too long without any natural predators, another was that their enemy was an old hand at this game. Once they had exhausted all immediate avenues, a small remnant of their people fled the belt and wandered among the stars for centuries.

Over the years it became easier to predict when their new home would be struck. It became easier to avoid too once they realised that the enemy was tracking them down through their unique energy signatures. And so they were forced to learn how to hide, something they had never done before. They began travelling under the cover of gamma-rays and nebulae, riding the waves of supernovae, avoiding burning their own fuel.

Stars did not hide their presence for too long as the enemy noticed their smaller blue flame bonfires hiding among orange/red flamed ones, so to speak. Thus, their species never stayed in one star for too long.

Unfortunately, while their enemy did not explode as many stars as before, it had certainly not forgotten about them. Its people would soon learn what it meant to defy, frustrate and persist against such a foe. For this time, their enemy did not send an accelerating object, but something much worse. The worm tried to describe what happened in the simplest words it could manage.

While they were in transit, the worm was ahead of the 'caravan' due to being much younger in age, while the elders took up the rear. It happened suddenly and without any warning. Space-time behind it screeched as a tiny patch of it was forced to occupy a higher plane of existence for a zeptosecond. That was all the time needed for its people to be sent into a higher spatial dimension. A spatial dimension they had never before occupied or adapted to- a death sentence for a species born and raised in 3D space.

Fortunately, for the worm, it had been just barely outside the reach of the spatial attack, and so while most of its body was swallowed up into 4D space, the portion which had housed its central consciousness, had been left behind in 3D space.

The worm was uneasy and angry as it recalled those first few moments when parts of its body expanded and contracted all at the same time. Those were some horrifying and painful moments. The worm had survived but at the cost of unimaginable suffering.

It suffered for a long, long time. It did not screech nor did it send out any calls for aid- that would be foolish, for who knows what might hear it in the vast cosmos.

It persevered and in time, little by little, its body and consciousness grew used to higher dimensions. If it was one thing that their species had found themselves to be masters of, it was quickly adapting to environmental pressures and challenges. How mournful it was then, that it was the last of its kind.

Once it had become proficient enough to pull its body in and out of dimensions, it chose to fully immerse itself into 4D space. There were far too many advantages not to do so. Finding someone by their energy signature or finding them at all was nearly impossible there. The rules that governed reality there were strange and sometimes downright fantastical. Travel times were cut short by quite a margin, and time manipulation on a scale that 4D space allowed, made hiding and escaping the notice of the enemy achievable.

However, just because the worm had transcended its prior existence did not mean that it could march boldly through the wider cosmos. It was very likely that their enemy lived in 4D space or had some way of using its power to strike down into lower dimensions. Better to be safe than sorry.

In the end it had arrived on a prehistoric Earth, shapeshifted into a local sea creature to blend in, then tied itself down to the fresh planet and hibernated until the moment it met us.

Wow. Ok. That was one hell of a tale and it was, quite frankly, terrifying to hear about civilisations so advanced that they could collapse portions of higher realities into lower ones and send FTL missiles to destroy suns just to kill a certain race.

I had several questions, of course. I could understand its desire to keep a low profile, however that still didn't explain why it had bound itself to us and obeyed our commands. A being as powerful as it had no reason to do so, right?

It let out an approximation of a laugh and replied that it did not want to risk itself in 3D space and we were to be the bullseye. That… did not please me. Not at all. The worm was amused.

A fair exchange. You use my powers however you want, I live through you. I live, you live. It shot back, and despite how offended I might've felt hearing that the worm was using us as an extension of itself in 3D space, I knew it spoke the truth. It was providing me with the power to live, heal from fatal injuries in an instant, and do crazy stuff that I would not have been able to do as I was right now.

Not extension, it corrected, We are one and the same. Neither is the master.

That made sense. "That's very reassuring but why us specifically? You could've had your pick out of thousands of humans over the years."

Hate being hunted. Hate being prey. You and the girl were prey. Helped become predators. It hummed in satisfaction then hummed once more as if mulling over something. Not the same universe, it trailed off.

This was not the most surprising news that I had received today, I had suspected as much. 'How?' Was the golden question. How did I skip across universes? Asoiaf was supposed to be a story, but here I was. Right in the thick of it, living in it.

The worm apparently shared my curiosity. It too, wanted to know how such a thing was possible. I sensed an undercurrent of excitement underneath the curiosity. The being was excited to finally be free of the shadow that its ancient pursuers had cast all its life. It was free and so were we.

I did not fully trust the worm but I knew deep down that it wasn't overtly malicious or evil. Moreover, I could fully command its power and it would let me. That was enough for now.

When asked about my magic, the worm was just as lost as I was. It could supplement this magic with its own energy but was confused about how magic did what it did. It had never come across something like it and encouraged me to perform any experiments that I needed to. A powerful skill is always a welcome addition to one's arsenal.

My talk with the worm continued for a while. I asked about the bizarre plane we were on, and it told me that its inner workings were far beyond what the human mind could handle. All I needed to know was that these- Paths- existed on a layer of reality different from realspace and made it easier for the worm to channel its power to our bodies.

Ah, a pipeline, or more accurately, a nervous system.

Satisfied and leaving with more answers than I had initially expected to, I opened my eyes and found… that only a minute had passed.

Huh. Interesting.

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I looked down at the pile of gold, silver, jewels and bolts of silk and linen. It was quite a sizeable haul from what I understood. Off to another side and in a much larger pile, were the personal belongings that I had ordered Marius to reappropriate.

He fidgeted under my gaze, worried perhaps that I was dissatisfied. I was not. What I was dissatisfied with was how much time it would take to ask every former slave about what they'd lost and then dig through that pile to return it to them.

At that rate we'd be here for another hour. Unacceptable. I reached out into their minds, and summoned tentacles made of stark white flesh to return their belongings to them. I waved away the mutterings of thanks and fearful gratitude.

"Marius?" I got up, my throne crumbling into the dirt.

"Yes, Your Excellency?" He gulped.

"How many wagons would it take to store all this?" I pointed at the remaining loot.

"Two wagons should do it, Your Excellency," he nodded.

"Then do so. We wish to leave for Vaes Dothrak as soon as possible." Marius bowed and Farwan began shouting orders to the freedmen.

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I've never properly ridden a horse before and attempting to do so now might backfire and embarrass me in front of so many people. I still vividly recall my father placing little-me on the back of a horse, how uncomfortable it was, and how every movement tickled my ass.

And so instead of riding a horse like every normal person in this world, I chose to summon a beast that I could control and whom I could mount without any slip-ups. Yes, yes, I know. I'd get used to riding horses but who needed a living horse when I could just materialise a beast that was hard to kill and nearly impossible to tire?

The people nearby gasped as an unfriendly-looking, dark grey, bicorn-like creature emerged from the steam. Its flesh was exposed in some places, scale-armoured in others, two forward-pointing horns jutted out its head and red demonic eyes observed its surroundings, huffing steam all the while. Its saddle was attached to its back and made of a soft, springy, white flesh-like substance.

Mounting the bicorn was easier, being an extension of myself.

If Ymir had heard my inner thoughts and sensed why I had done so, she did not show it, only asking me if I wanted her to ride a horse or summon a beast for herself.

I was honestly confused. Why did this girl need my permission at all to do something so simple? Why not just do it? She kept her eyes lowered and awaited my approval. Then it clicked and I nearly facepalmed. She had been a slave for most of her adolescence, of course she'd ask before she did something. It was a worrisome conditioning to have and I made a note to work on breaking this habit of her's. I wanted a partner, not a slave.

I did not delay giving her permission to summon a bicorn of her own, however. Drawing attention to our silence was not what we needed right now. If these people figured out that Ymir needed my approval for everything, they might challenge her authority in my absence. That was unacceptable.

With a nudge from my heels, and a snap of the reins, I rode out ahead of the caravan, Ymir riding beside me, and everyone else following close behind. The children and pregnant women were thrown into wooden cages that the slaves had once occupied, and those that could walk were pulled along by the chains that bound their hands. According to Marius- at our speed, we'd reach Vaes Dothrak by the hour of the owl (at almost midnight).

Up Next: Our Titans arrive at Vaes Dothrak, a city never attacked or conquered in 400 years. The Dothraki in the city are not happy about the unexpected guests, but really, who gives a shit?