The Master

Opening their eyes slowly, the Master found themselves in the dark. Their hands were bound tightly behind their back and around a column of some sort. Their feet, also bound, rested together on the ground. They struggled briefly, only to find that they were firmly captured. Their eyes struggled to make sense of their surroundings. The floor was hard, cold, and rough: likely concrete. The air was cold and damp: possibly underground. The smell of Sulphur was overwhelming. With no sources of light, the master's heart began to race.

"Who's there?" A faint voice called from somewhere in the distance, the sound of rustling joining it. The master flinched.

"Hello?" they called. The rustling grew louder.

"I'm here!" the man answered. "Who... who are you?" they repeated.

"I was on the beach," the master began, struggling to remember the previous events. "I don't know where I am... I can't remember..."

"I'm a doctor," the man answered, his voice breaking. "I can help you. Do you remember your name?" The master struggled to remember. A doctor?

"I'm... Lisa," she finally admitted. I haven't even said my own name in so long...

"Lisa," the man answered, his voice shaking. "I'm Alton."

"How did you get here?" she asked, trying to look towards the direction of his voice. Alton...

"I was abducted. I believe you were as well," he explained. "Listen, there's no telling when she'll come back. You need to listen to me, okay?" His voice became quiet, barely above a whisper. She strained to listen. "She's responsible for all of this," he explained. "If she took you, that means she needs something from you. For me, she took my blood. She t-took a knife, and she..." he began to trail off, his voice climbing to a high-pitched whine as he began to sob. "She cut me. She's been cutting me, but she keeps me alive!" Lisa's heart raced. "I don't know why! I don't know why!" he sobbed.

"Who is she?" Lisa asked. The sobbing man, Alton, didn't answer. His muffled crying was all she could hear. "Alton," she urged. "I'm here, don't worry. Tell me who she is. What's her name? What does she look like?"

"She's old," Alton whined. "So much older than she appears." It can't be. "Her voice will make you wretch," he went on. "She shouldn't exist!"

"Alton," Lisa called out. "Alton Blackwater? Is that you?" The man's sobbing suddenly stopped. An uncomfortable silence followed for a few moments before a faint whisper reached her ears.

"How do you know my name?" he asked. She lunged forward, the restraints on her hands stopping her suddenly and painfully. She ignored it.

"It's me! Lisa Stone! We worked together!" she blurted. "I worked with Director Thompson! I remember! Don't you remember?" Silence followed again, this time joined by maniacal laughter that grew louder and louder as he wheezed and coughed. Clearly, the man had lost his once-great mind. Lisa began to panic again. "Doctor?" she called to him.

"You!" he laughed. "You were the one to figure it out! Your fairy tales! The fools at the Citadel listened to you but I didn't! Hah!" he began laughing again.

"Why are you laughing?" she asked.

"Because," he began in between fits. "It didn't matter!" She collapsed against the metal column that held her. "It didn't matter! Nobody listened! Nobody cared!" he laughed. "Ah, now we're going to die together. It's fitting!"

"Get ahold of yourself," she chided him, readjusting her sitting position. "You said it yourself: she's hurting you but keeping you alive. Why is she keeping you alive?"

"My blood," he gasped. "She wants my blood. I cannot say why, only that she... or one of her ghouls... come to me with a silver goblet and blade whenever they have need."

"What ghouls? The dead?" Lisa asked, shivering.

"They're dead, yes," he began, his voice steadying. "But they're unlike the others – the ones we saw in the streets. These are special... sentient... They're very likely the original White Walkers." She bristled at the thought.

"If this woman is the Night Queen, and there is an army of wights at war with the living then I suppose..." she trailed off, sighing in despair. "There must be White Walkers."

"For what it's worth," he croaked, his bonds rustling in the darkness. "I am sorry I didn't listen to you. You can't blame me, can you? Could anyone?" She shook her head.

"I was drunk when I thought of it," she lamented. "Everyone tried to talk me out of the idea, but for some reason I was hooked. I even met the King in the North, looking for validation." Silence followed. "I don't blame you at all, doctor."

"Have you had any contact with the others?" Blackwater asked. "How long has it even been?" he seemingly asked to himself.

"You went missing when Higgart collapsed. I was there, too. That was nearly a year ago. Branton fell only a few days later and the rest of the world went into the Panic," she explained.

"The Panic?" he questioned.

"When the government collapsed, the North issued a quarantine and closed off all ties to the outside world. Braavos, and the rest of Essos also closed access to Westeros shortly thereafter. In the end, it didn't matter," she answered quietly. "They all fell."

"So, who's left?" He whimpered.

"Not many people on Westeros," she admitted. "I met a few people while travelling... Last I heard there was a group of survivors on Dragonstone. I tried to go there, but I missed the last ship and then I..." she trailed off, shivering again. "I saw her. Then I woke up here."

"The world has died," he rasped. Another fit of unstable laughter followed. "I hope that at the very least, she'll do us the honor of an explanation."

"I don't," Lisa challenged. "I don't care who she is or why this happened. I just want to know how to stop her. I want to know how to – "

"To what?" he snapped. "Undo everything that has been done? To permanently end the curse of undeath that has plagued this world from the very beginning?" He made a sound as if he were retching. "She's coming!" he gasped suddenly. She began to feel it as well. Her stomach began slowly tying itself in a knot. Even though there was no light to illuminate her surroundings, she could feel an even darker presence approaching. She glanced in the direction of the dread and stared at it as it grew stronger and closer.

"My, my," the voice came through the darkness, echoing off of unseen walls and enveloping them both in the horrifying sound. "My dear doctor," it cooed. "I'm beginning to think you're unhappy here."

"Kill me!" he rasped, his bonds rattling as he shook. "Kill me! Kill me!" he began to chant. Suddenly he went silent, His bonds no longer shook.

"Quiet down," the voice commanded. "I'll not hear this so early in the day." She stepped forward enough that Lisa could just barely make out the faint glow of her red gem in the darkness, as if it were radiating some sort of light that illuminated her face. Her face turned towards Lisa. "And what of you?" she demanded.

"What do you want from me?" Lisa managed to ask, fighting the growing dread within her.

"You'll find out soon enough," the red woman answered.

"Why are you hurting him? Why are you taking his blood?" The red woman glared at her.

"There is power in the blood of kings and lords and ladies," she stated simply.

"What power?"

"You've already seen it," she snickered, sending chills up Lisa's spine. "When I raised my armies," she explained. "When I burned your cities. That was the blood of this weakling," she spat. Lisa heard Alton whimpering softly near her feet. "You, however," she went on, slowly making her way closer and closer to Lisa, sending her scrambling back against the column that held her in place. "I waited so long to find you. Your blood can do so much more."