This was about the epitome of stupidity, Jon thought as he wrapped his cloak tighter around himself. Even his horse seemed to agree as he had to dig his heels into its flanks to make it move forward. Then again, that could be the rough path as well, or the cold.

"I should have stayed in that cave," Jon murmured under his breath.

It looked like a storm would come later.

Even if this went wrong, he could always try to kill the Night King with Longclaw, Jon convinced himself.

An annoying voice reminded him that a hundred thousand zombies stood between him and the Night King, but he ignored it.

Sneaking away in the night to go talk with their enemy. How could he be so stupid? He based himself upon conjecture alone to decide the White Walkers perhaps weren't as pure evil as they thought. And this 'perhaps' might kill him later on.

But then again, he had done the same with the wildlings. He had gone against all the rules to let the wildlings pass.

But that had been different. Common sense dictated that was the right move. Here, common sense told him to turn around right now before he got himself killed. And either way, last time he had taken a risk they had killed him for it.

His thoughts got more and more clouded as the horse moved on.

Eventually, when he felt like he would freeze to his horse, he reached the camp. Well, 'camp', the bunch of wights were just standing around. When night fell, they stopped and sat down on the ground until the sun rose again.

No going back now.

Jon kicked his reluctant horse into motion.

The wights spotted him.

If they attacked, he could still try to run. On horseback, he should be able to outrun some dead guys.

But they didn't attack. A few stood up and bowed down their heads.

Jon was wary as he went on. If they wanted to kill him, the smart thing would be to lure him inside. But if he wanted to kill the Night King, he would have to get inside as well.

A wight gestured to him.

Follow me. The meaning was obvious.

Jon dismounted and led his horse with him. The wight led him through the camp of wights until they reached the middle. Several White Walkers sat around in a circle. He spotted the Night King, who stood up.

"Finally," the Night King said. His voice was very rough and dry, but Jon could understand the words. "Have a seat, fellow Lord Commander."

"I think I'll stand," Jon said.

The Night King frowned. "How much have you figured out?"

"You're allies with House Stark," Jon said. "You're both the Night King and the Last Hero."

"Hm. Not bad. But only half true I'm afraid."

"How so?"

"I am indeed the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch," the Night King confirmed. "Also a Stark. But not the Last Hero. He lived much earlier."

"Oh." Of course. A stupid mistake. The Night's Watch had been established before the Night King was born.

Jon reached for his sword under his cloak. Had he just made a fatal mistake?

"I see you are confused," the Night King said. "Allow me to explain. We were indeed allies with the First Men. Your mistake was not to consider why."

That took him back. "Well, the most obvious reason would be a common enemy, but…" That doesn't make any sense. Who would that be? The giants? The Children of the Forest?

"The Valyrians."

"What?"

"Surprised? The Dance of Dragons, the Blackfyre Rebellion, the Field of Fire. Targaryens alone have caused more deaths than all other races combined and that's just one family. Can you imagine how many deaths that race caused? The Targaryens were only a minor family with only a sliver of the true power of the Dragonlords. In ancient times, the Field of Fire happened so many times they didn't even have a name for it. It was normal. Until we dealt with them that is."

"The Doom?" No one knew what had caused it. Could it be that…

"That was us," the White Walker confirmed. "Well, we, allied with the First Men."

"But, if you were allies, then-"

"Were allies. That is the correct word, Jon Snow. The First Men stabbed us in the back. So we sought help with the Children of the Forest. At first, they helped us, even found a way to create more Walkers, but later, they stabbed us in the back as well, made the Pact with the First Men and drove us north. The Last Hero defeated us and then they raised that stupid Wall of ice to keep us here. Well, it's not made of ice of course, but you get the point."

If this was true, this was even bigger than he had expected. The White Walkers responsible for the Doom of Valyria? Was that really possible?

"You attacked us," Jon said. "Multiple times."

"I'm the only one who can speak," the Night King explained. "And most humans attack first before asking questions. You never really gave us a chance to explain ourselves."

"And your alliance with House Stark?"

"An alliance sealed by marriage. The Starks promised us our heart's desire."

"And what is that?"

"Vengeance, justice, Ice and Blood."

"Against whom? The Targaryens?"

"Everyone. The Children of the Forest, the Valyrians and all the southerners. Only the North will be spared, as per our agreement with House Stark. I no longer represent that House, unfortunately."

"That's insane."

"Funny," the Night King said. "Your uncle said the same. Just before trying to kill me. Those filthy Children saved him. But they won't be here now. Don't try anything foolish, Jon Snow."

"Are you going to kill me?"

"We've been waiting for thousands of years for the proper signs. We finally saw it. Five and one children, two female, four male. One of those was the Prince we are waiting for."

"The Prince that was Promised?" Or Princess.

"Yes. So we send them protectors, direwolves."

"You send the direwolves?"

"I did. I sensed one of you was the one we were waiting for."

"Isn't the Prince supposed to fight against you guys?"

"At that point the prophecies disagree. There are two possibilities. Either the Prince becomes a new Last Hero and destroys the White Walkers once and for all. For that he has to refuse the throne. If he ascends it instead, he becomes the King of Bones, leader of the wights and White Walkers and the one who shall lead us to victory and vengeance."

"The Iron Throne?"

"No. The Iron Throne was made with dragonfire from the swords of Aegon's enemies. If you wish to become the King of Bones, you must destroy the Iron Throne and create a new one. A Bone Throne, created from the skulls of your enemies."

"You tried to kill my brother Bran."

"The Three Eyed Raven tricked him. Bloodraven is a Targaryen, our mortal enemies. We did not intend to kill Bran, only Bloodraven and those who stand in our way. Honestly, you think he escaped because Hodor held the door for a few minutes? A slight head start for a crippled boy and an exhausted girl dragging a sled through the snow? We let him escape on purpose. At that point, we couldn't tell him the truth yet. He would have never believed us. The Three Eyed Raven had pushed him too far. He first had to learn the truth by himself, like you did."

His words made sense. Bran could have never outrun the army of the dead like that. The only explanation that made sense was that they did not pursue.

And his remarks about the Targaryens made some sense as well.
Every time a Targaryen is born, the Gods flip a coin, and the world holds his breath to see on which side it will land.

Many Targaryens had been insane and millions had died because of that. Maybe the world was indeed better off without crazy fire spitting lizards and arrogant Dragonlords riding them.

But then again. The Night King had no desire to stop there. Only the North would be spared. Everyone else would die.

"Isn't it the Three Eyed Crow?" Jon asked.

The Night King raised an eyebrow "It's Bloodraven. Do you even know the difference between a raven and a crow?"

"Of course. Ravens are taller and have a different tail-shape, wedge-shaped. They also travel in smaller groups." But the Night's Watch are called 'crows' and Bloodraven was a Lord Commander previously. So Bloodraven was a crow, technically. How strange.

"Uhum," the Night King cleared his throat with a rumbling sound. "Going back to our initial subject. It's time to decide. In light of our old alliance I'll let you go this time regardless of what you choose. But next time, we might be enemies. So, Jon Snow, what will it be? King of Bones or Last Hero?"