Disclaimer I do not own a Song of Ice and Fire nor any of its characters all I own are my OCS.
Dran's POV
After waking up and packing supplies, I decided I would search for a new companion preferably a large bird. But anything that could easily Trek through the mountains would do.
After setting out I started traveling Southeast, and after more than half a day of traveling I found tracks, they seem to be the tracks of large mountain goats.
Judging from the size of the prints they seem to be much larger than, species from my original world. Meaning these mountain goats could perhaps be used as mounts or at least a beast of burden.
After tracking them for a few hours I caught site of them in the distance climbing on the side of a mountain. Not wanting to alert them of my presence, I waited until they were out of sight before following them further I didn't want to attempt to skinchange into one of them while they were on the Cliffside.
So I followed them staying just out of sight until they were in a flatter less steep area.
I had never attempted to skin change into an animal from such a long distance, but you never know until you try so I attempted it going for one of the smaller mountain goats in the herd.
After feeling a slight twinge of pain I reached the mind of the goat, the mind of a goat was a lot different from the mind of a fox.
It was more and less alert then a fox it was more a stupid alert, jumping and running from every thing that moved. rather then alert checking of its surroundings.
It seemed to worry about nothing but it's next meal, and it was slightly more aggressive in it's thoughts then you would expect from a goat. Not in the way of attacking other things for food but more of a dumb kind of aggressive, attacking anything that startles them.
After a few seconds of panicked struggling I suppressed it's instincts to run and had it stand still so as to not alert the other mountain goats.
after a few seconds of resting to regain Focus, I decided I would try to split my consciousness to where I would be skinchanging into multiple skin at one time having never done this before I tried to follow my instincts.
With a stabbing pain in my head I felt a portion of my conscience separate from my mind, causing my mind to unfocus for a moment. In the moment that I split my consciousness, I felt both pieces of my mind fighting against the goats instincts to run and cause a panic. But with strength that I didn't know I had I quickly surprised both of the mountain goats will with my own mind and regain control.
After resting for about 30 minutes making sure that neither of the goats would try to break free of my hold.
I decided that I would likely not be able to hold a third animal without a lot of practice with two, that being said now that I have done it it seems simple now.
It must have taken years for the Blood Raven to train his mind to go into so many birds at once.
That being said with his mixed heritage of Valyrian Dragon Lords and a line of once Kings of first men, the Magic in his blood was probably far stronger than my own.
It seems in the books that anyone with some first men heritage has the potential to be a skinchanger but it seems that the Magic in their blood has been diluted by time. And with them marrying into Andles.
And the slow creeping influence of the faith of the seven and the Citadel have done their best to wipe out all magic within there reach.
The only places with magic left in Westeros are places they couldn't reach. Examples being the God's eye, Skogos, the Hill Tribes are almost the only all bastions of magic left in Westeros. The only thing that they could not completely wipe out were the bloodlines of the once magically rich families.
Mainly those in the North and the Veil with a few more scattered throughout the seven Kingdoms.
I did not know what bloodlines I descend from but it was obvious that I had a few bloodline traits. An example being my feet, and while the crone did not divulge any secrets to me about my feet. She did say that one was not born with them, meaning that there was a process or a ritual in which they are given to someone who is descended from a Hornfoot.
Given that all members of the hornfoots had the blackened feet, then the price to gain them would not be too high. But without experimentation I would not know the process of how to gain them.
That being said it did mean that I had more than the average amount of magic In my blood. All of this theorizing helps me relax my mind allowing me to regain some strength. a
After bringing the goats towards my body I tried to slip out of one and then go into my body sadly with such little practice. The goat slipped away and bolted in the opposite direction leaving me with just one goat.
So as to not lose myself I brought together all of my mind into the goats, and then try to enter my body at the same time. This time being more prepared for the strain I was able to enter my body yet stay in the goats at the same time.
It was very disorienting and made my human body slightly nauseous, but as I rested for a few seconds the nausea left me and the strain became more bearable. After I got myself and the goat under control I started my trek back to my cave, knowing that I would not be able to get to my cave before dark I decided to find shelter.
Through the night I was scared of losing the goat so I left a part of myself in it for the night making my mind exhausted in the morning.
But after eating some dried meat and drinking some of my water, I regained enough energy to head back to my cave. On my way back to the cave, I used my goat to carry anything that I did not need to carry on me. Making my trip back to the cave much faster.
After I had gotten back to the cave I made sure to for lack of a better word meditate with the goat to gain better control of it. It's mind was larger than my fox but it had less of a mental presence then my fox. The goat's mental presence was more a blanket of instincts with a few Droll thoughts scattered throughout.The foxes mental presence was more intense and not as Droll as the goats , while it relied heavily on its instincts it could overcome them with curiosity. Making it's thoughts sharper and more tightly bound less malleable.
While not quite like cattle and bison the goats instincts leads it to follow a group leader it is not independent like the fox making it a lot easier to manipulate.
After getting a strong enough mental grip on the mountain goat I let it leave and gather its own food. While still knowing where it is at all times so I could reel it back in if it ever strayed too far.
After experiencing the process of splitting my consciousness, I decided to practice splitting it into three parts. One in my body, one in the fox, and one in the goat.
It was the most difficulty I had ever had with skinchanging but I could feel myself improving making me push myself to improve more.
After a couple weeks of hunting, Gathering supplies, and practicing my skills, and settling into the area.
I have gained a much greater knowledge of the region. and while the region may look dead and uninhabited it was actually teeming with life.
With this area being untouched by man it had been able to flourish to the point of having a steady and healthy ecosystem.
With the only predators in the area being Shadow cats and large birds of prey,allowing there to be a large population of herbivores. Many different species of mountain goat, a few members of the weasel family which prayed on small birds and rodents and warmer areas of the regions.
After I had gained a few more mountain goats, one being large enough to ride being similar in size to the goats from (the Hobbit trilogy). It was lean but strong with large horns that could gore a full grown man.
after I had more than enough mountain goats, l decided that it was time to gain a flying companion. While ravens would be a good choice, I would not go for one just in case the three-eyed Raven was aware of the presences of all ravens.
Even though it was highly unlikely,there wasn't a Warewood tree in all the locations that the three-eyed raven gained it's knowledge.
An exampleof this being the Tower of joy there was no Warewood tree there,but there could have easily been a raven there instead.And there are many other examples of this throughout the books.
Making me decided that I would go for a large bird of prey they are not often hunted for their meat, and with their endurance they can fly a great distance without getting tired.
making it one of the better scouting animals and while it wasn't as inconspicuous as a raven most if not all about the prey had better eyesight than a raven.
After a few days of hunting and practicing skinchanging, had finally spotted an eagle. It did not seem to be full grown eagle morethen likely it was a juvenile one.
Knowing I would not be able to follow it, I decided to attempt to skinchange into it on the spot. Knowing it was not a good idea but not really having a choice.
With the fox's mind I could tell that it was a predator, most often when I had it hunt for food.
then there is the goats mind which I could easily tell that it was a herbivore always roaming around looking for food, never really any specific location.
The Eagles mind was like comparing the goats and the fox's minds.
The eagle mind was extremely alert and aggressive to everything around it, it was like having tug of war with a fishing line it's mind was hard to grip and if I wasn't careful I would hurt myself pulling against it.
Seeing as how it would slip away if I didn't do something I decided to dig my heels in, and decided to lack of a better word reel it in instead of yanking on it.
So as are minds fought its mind started to become exhausted, with its wills being weaker then mine it had to use more energy then me just to fight back making it's mind become exhausted.
With it's mind having become exhausted from are battle of will, it when became much easier to reel it in and after about a 30 second struggle I gained control of his mind.
It's mind was unlike fox obedient but always trying to slip free, nor like the goat accepting of its fate dosley following where I led it,.
It was more like holding onto something that was a bit too hot, painful but with time one could get used to it. after gaining control that's mind, I made it land next to me onto the horns of my mount then headed back to my cave.
After all years I have of studied and theorizing about the effects and about ways to use first men runes and the Old tongue. I decided that I was ready to begin experimenting with them.
That being said I wasn't going to attempt anything massive like warding my cave or giving myself an ability of some kind. I was going to try to enchant an object with simple enchantments first.
So I decided to first create two knives that were the exact same from the same stone, and try to enchant one and see if there were any differences between the two knives.
I then made an almost needle-like pin with the strongest Stone I could find since I did not have any bronze or iron materials to work with. It would have to be strong enough to carve into the stone knife.
After that I drained about a pint of blood from myself into a large stone basin, then I soaked the stone needle and the knife I was going to carve for a day and a half in my blood.
After that I spent the next day and a half slowly carving first men runes into the hthehof the knife then the blade Of the knife.
After I did thhat i let it soak for another day in some fresh blood. I then finished carving the runes onto the knife they were Runes of durability, strength and absorption.
When I was done carving the runes onto the knife, I then let it soak for another 2 days in the stone basin with some more fresh blood in it. So that the rune would absorb my blood into the knife.
Knowing that I would do nothing but discourage myself if I stayed and watched and nothing happened. So I left the cave for the first time in a week.
I decided that I would go on a hunting trip for a few day, so I prepared the supplies I would need for a week out side my cave I then headed out.
Knowing that I needed to gain a large predator for there strength and for the protection one would give me if I was ever in a situation I could not handle on my own.
Trying to find a large predator to skinchange into such as a shadow cat was very difficult because of there rarity. While they weren't going extinct shadow cat in general are rare because one the live alone and do not often give birth, and two they are often hunted for the pelts and because of how dangerous they are.
l need something large enough and strong enough to hunt for me, if I don't have the time to do so my self or if I was in a situation were I couldn't do so
Because while my eagle could kill something it could not drag it back to the cave and while the eagle could catch some things they would be too small for it to be worth the trouble.
There wasn't any direwolfs this deep into the frost fangs and i didn't think it would be a good idea to try to skinchange into a snow bear. Since i had so much trouble with my eagle i didn't think myself ready, to have a battle of wills against such a willful beast.
Making the shadow cat my best option this deep into the frosting things, so with that being said I set out.
After i headed out i first had my eagle start scouting the surrounding area in search of a shadow cat.
I spent a few day exploring areas of this region that I had never been to before, I decided it was time to start heading back since I had found no presence of a shadow cat the hole time I was gone.
I didn't want to keep delaying my trip back so I decided that I should just head straight for my cave, and to not procrastinate any longer on the subject of the knife.
On my way back to the cave I stopped at a cave to rest for the night, after settling into the cave for the night i decided i would explore this cave before i headed out. After all you never new when a cave like this could have something interesting in it.
as I searched the cave making sure that i was looking out for the presence of anything dangerous as i searched the cave. as i explored the edges of the cave, i fond something beyond valuable on the back wall of the cave there was a dark glass like material.
I got a closer look I realized that it was dragon glass, with that realization I discarded the idea of leaving in the morning. Knowing that i needed to stay for a day or two so I could collect some good chunks of dragon glass, not just tiny shards that I had before with all this dragon glass I could create actual weapons from the material.
Like arrowheads, spearheads and daggers, sadly I did not no any techniques to create larger weapons like axes and swords.
When I got up in the morning, I decided the i needed to connected to all my mountain goats and my eagle and have them carefully head in my direction.
Having the eagle scout ahead and the goats fallow slowly from behind. I left a small presence in the back of all my animals minds so I didn't have to put my pull my full concentration into controlling them.
enabling me to do other things as they headed this way, while I was waiting for them to arrive I decided to scavenge for long, small, sturdy rocks and a medium size rock that could fit in my hand.
and would not breaking on contact when hitting a stone rod into the dragon glass, and while I knew that you were suppose to chip away at it.
I did not have time to do it that way so I would try to break off larger pieces then bring them to my cave and then prosses them into chips of dragon glass that i could then use to make into different things that i needed.
To get them to my cave I made some make shift saddle bags, I used a leather rope attach two bags to it then attach it to the goats then I would lead them back to the cave.
I would have to take a longer route because of the extra weight on the goats to make sure they didn't lose there balance on a cliff from the unfamiliar weight but after an extra few hours of travel i got back to the cave without any of my goats dieing.
When I got back to the cave I unloaded the goats and took off there saddle bags storing them in the cave. Then I let the goat go off in search of shelter and food for themselves.
After doing all that I decided that it was time to check on the knife.
The reason that I put runes of durability strength and absorption on the knife was so that the knife would not break in the process of absorbing my blood.
The reason I carved absorption as well into the knife is so that it might absorb my blood as well as the magic in it since I didn't know how to manipulate magic.
You might say that since you can skinchange into an animal then you can manipulate magic. You are wrong skinchanging is more instinctual then me actually manipulating magic, and while I can somewhat sense magic I was still trying to figure out how to channel it though my body or into things.
Not that I was complaining most of the people in the world of a song of ice and fire, don't have any or have very little magic in there blood. And while being born into a family such as the Starks would have definitely been easier. It would have also cut off a lot of avenues to growing stronger, so while I am a little frustrated with the small progress I have been making I was not very disappointed in my progress.
After all prity much every magic user In the world of a song of ice and fire, has studied magic most of there life and can still barely do more then parlor tricks.
So being able to skinchange with the proficiency I have is already a great achievement. So taking a little bit more time then i hoped in learning first men runes is not realy a big problem. Because as long as i keep experimenting and try different ways of doing so i will eventually find a way.
author note
Tell me if you like the length of this chapter, should I make the next chapter longer or shorter then this one.