Gar

It hurt, it throbbed, it burned. The flames had taken hold of his arm and left him blistered and chard.

They held their heads low. Let the smoke take the ceiling, the high- ground. It had choked the air from him when he tried to breathe out an order to retreat.

Luckily Roose bellowed out among the roaring flames "Away!" he cried. "We must find a way out!"

There was just the three of them now, the Ranger and the two Lordlings. Roose and Dom paced beside him as they tried to outrun the blight fire that moved like liquid along the dry and brittle wood of the old tunnel.

A host of coughing bandits broke from a junction between three tunnels and flailed their bastard swords meekly at the well-trained wolves. They were cut down in an instant, but Gar now knew that the fire had spread beyond control.

There was a was crackling sound that filled his ears as support beams became kindling under the hungry flames. An orange and red hue bathed the world in dancing light as sudden crashes and booms roared out in the distance. Gar could hear screams and shouts careening down the tunnels from all sides.

"With me!" Roose said and darted down a random tunnel. They were lost. Fire at their heels and desperation in their guts.

"What would Naruto do?" Gar thought. He always had a plan. A way out. Some trick to save the day. Hells, even Will's knack for foresight would be welcome in the moment.

"There" Dom coughed out. He pointed to a crooked hallway that sloped down gently. It was poorly lit, but the smoke seemed to flow away from it. "A draft". There was fresh air flowing from that hallway. Gods be good there was a light at the end of that tunnel.

As they drew closer Gar realised this passage was newly made. A wall had caved in revealing a pitch-black room behind it.

Quick as they cold they barrelled through and into the darkness.

"Your torch" Gar asked and squinted his eyes when Roose's hand rose and lit up the space. All around them where rotten broken ornaments. Vases and pots littered the space around them. Hung about were old, rusted swords and daggers. Rotten pelts littered the floor, lustre long lost to time. The air hung heavy and stagnant but for the telltale draft that wormed through the thick atmosphere.

Gars eyes transfixed at the centre of the room. There was a stone block, weathered and moss covered with something once carved into the top of it, but he could make out in his mind what it used to be.

A coffin of sorts, an ancient tomb with the carved print of an old warrior resting atop it. The great sword that once lay on his chest long faded to red rusted memory.

Dom and Roose began to frantically search for a way out of the room as smoke began to below in in a steady wave of chocking rancour.

Gar, however, was beset by curiosity. His mind blank with want, a want to know. With a quick step and a heave, the stale stench of ancient decomposition wafted into his senses and the lid hit the floor with a stony thud that rang out in the room catching the attention of Roose and Dom, both turned frantically.

"Spirits, man!" Roose said "What are doing?"

Gar ignored him and peered into the dark veil of the old casket. Not enough light. again, Roose's torch brought clarity and the three men gasped in surprise. Within was the old bones of a man. A tall man with long arms and gamely legs. Draped about him was the remains of an old fur. In his left hand rested a long blade made of red glass that glowed fiery red in the light. The fire of the torch danced within it.

The Right hand contained a horn. Decorated simply with a strident dire wolf at its centre and pig iron about its rim. Adorned on the skeletons head was a crown. An old, odd thing of corroded iron etched with markings in the old script, the writings of the first men. Spend enough time in an old northern castle and one would have some familiarity with the old scribbles and swirls. Though very few could read it.

"This man was a King" Dom breathed.

"No help to us now" Roose said.

"Still though, what queer vestments?" Dom asked with a quizzical look to his uncle.

"Let them to their queerness Dom. We must away before the fire catches us" Roose ordered. Dom simply nodded.

Gar pilfered all three items and tied them to his belt. His hands a blur while the young lords went back to scanning along the walls for a way out.

It was Roose who found it, his torch proving its worth once again. A series of vines had covered what was once a doorway of sorts. A few tired hacks of his sword revealed another almost identical room to the one they were in. A tomb at its centre. This time they ignored it and made way for the uncovered doorway across the other end of the room. In the distance Gar could see that there were many more tombs under these barrows. How many more kings, how many more Starks?

Naruto

In their dozens they came and in their dozens they fell. He had lost count of how many he fell. Their pain, their anguish, their dying churls and curses, nothing but empty noise to the symphony of death he had orchestrated across the battlefield.

His sword arm thrummed and ached. The gash in his forearm where his shield used to be was numb now. Blood congealed into a red black mess as it oozed onto his leathers.

All around Naruto battle raged into its dying embers, his Wolves had pressed the bandits against the mounds of the great barrow, gaps had opened in their lines that his men pushed through and were now systematically cutting down the enemy.

Not long now. He thought. The entrance of the barrow lay ahead, unguarded. The men posted there either butchered or fled. He peered into it and felt the weight of Thunder in his hand. The fire that he brought forth from it had since dimmed into a steamy haze. He could feel its draw upon him. A niggling nothing at first but over an hour of battle had turn that minor inkling into a sinking pit that sapped him more by the second.

He had to press on. The lady was waiting. He hoped that Roose's party would have been successful in retrieving her. Mayhap she was awaiting him now in some field far away from the madness of battle. Yes, Roose had never failed. For all his faults he was a capable warrior and competent leader, the best he had.

With a sprint he crossed the barrier into the unknown of the barrow. Dimly lit corridors branched off into the distance. The smell of smoke hung heavy in the air. The Goat had disappeared from view, spirits only knew where he had gone. Which of these then, which way to the end?

He took a breath, smelled the air and made his choice. His feet glided as he sprinted towards his target. The smoke grew heavy overhead. Hazy mist turned to chocking black and then the heat set in. There was fire ahead of him. A burned man lay slumped against the ground. Crumpled walls and fallen beams cast hasty shadows under the flickering orange flames.

He ducked quickly when a sword came for his head. Thunder ran a man through before he was pushed off the edge of the blade. His blood sizzling all the while. Two more ran towards Naruto but gave him pause when they ran past him and made for a way out.

This was getting dire. When a fourth man appeared from the smoke Naruto pounced on him. He slammed him against the wall and levelled Thunder against his cheek. The man yelled out and struggled meekly against Naruto's strength.

"Where is your master?!" The blond demanded and pressed his sword harder against the man's face. His skin was melting now.

A strange gurgling sound escaped the man before he began hastily "Follow the path, the path. He is deeper within" He was in anguish.

The Blond released him with a swing of his sword and didn't pause to watch his body hit the floor. Better kill him now, before he kills one of his men outside. A few moments further and he was upon a chamber. Large and circular with a bastard of a throne in its centre. Wooded with shadow cat pelts adorning its lopsided frame. Seated on it, even as his kingdom fell apart around him, was the Black Goat. The Bandit King.

The half of his face visible under his helm looked unconcerned, almost bored with the events unfolding.

"Where is she?!" Naruto barked as he walked closer. No answer. "Where. is. she?" This time with steel.

The man moved for the first time as he spoke. "How rude" he said. Again, the distinct sound of two voices layered over the other. "You come to my home, on the day of my wedding." He clapped twice and even above the noise all around them two men came promptly from a dark corridor behind the Goat. Between them was the Lady Dustin. But that did beg the question if Barbrey was here, what happened to Roose's party? A question for another time.

Naruto paused his advance. No rash moves. He needed to await his opening.

"You come to my kingdom" The Goat continued "Empty handed, no tribute, no fancy baubles or jewellery to honour my beloved on this most blessed of days.

Not even a prayer of good will to make godly my nuptials."

"On the contrary" Naruto replied, "I do bring gifts, I bring an army, I bring fire forged steel."

He levelled his sword between him and his enemies.

"I Bring Death"

The man eyed him for a moment as he rose to his feet. He outstretched a hand and Barbrey was thrown into it. Now that she was in the light Naruto could see the bruises that mired her features. They were recent. He gritted his teeth and restrained the fire in his mind as Thunder demanded more blood!

With a tilt of his helm the goat sent his two remaining guards at the blond. The first was quick and wiry, slashing at Naruto with a series of shallow swings of his longsword as he guarded a dagger in his off hand. The other guard was a big lumbering thing with a hammer that sent sparks up whenever it struck the muddy tiles beneath Naruto's feet.

Swords clashed as Naruto danced around his attackers. They were good. The unbridled assault of the sword wielder and the heavy defence of the hammer kept him guessing. But with a flick of his wrist, he sent a dagger through the tall man's nose and into the back of his throat. He made a gargling noise and dropped to his knees in a choke.

In the split second his other attacker looked away the blond cut his belly open with a roar. The man tried to put his entrails back from where they spilled before the futility fell upon him and he was face first on the floor, blood and shit pooling beneath him.

Naruto pointed the tip of his blade at The Goat. "Release her to me. Now!"

The Goat made a huff and shook his head. Reaching behind his 'throne' he withdrew his bastard sword. "Come and get her".

As soon as Naruto was close enough the lady Barbrey was shunted to one side as the Black Goat charged at the young blond with fire and fury. Flashes of purple lit up the space whenever their blades touched. The strange energy shook through Naruto and rattled his teeth in his head.

A head splitting strike was deflected away with a loud clang that caused Thunder to sing out in a high-pitched ring. Naruto whirred with poise and struck out with a stab that was deftly avoided and returned with interest. The giant sword sliced against his armour and into his abdomen as he twisted to force a very near miss.

Rolling away he launched a knife at the goat's head only for it to be plucked from the air and rocketed back at him, burring itself in his left shoulder. He cried out in pain but was forced to back peddle when a sword occupied the space where his head was.

The Goat pressed his advantage with a flurry. Naruto was forced on to the defensive, parrying and rolling away as his enemy grew seemingly stronger with every swing of his blade. He was growing confident, overconfident. When next the blade went up Naruto rolled forward, pulled the dagger from his shoulder and jammed in through the man's boot and into the ground.

He cried out and Naruto smiled in satisfaction as he rose up and readied himself.

Now Barbrey was just beside him. "My lady, the fire spreads and this beast won't be so easily put down. I will need you to make for the exit with all haste. I will pull him away, understood?" He asked.

"Yes" She said simply "I understand."

Good, Naruto thought. The quicker she was to safety the better. He took a breath to centre himself and reached deep into that place in his mind where his focus lay. Even with all the smoke in the room a thin mist escaped his lips when he exhaled and made for the man in front of him.

They charged and met in the middle of the room. Naruto pressed at the Goat with renewed vigour and began to tear through his defences with strike after strike. He then kicked out when the opportunity came and sent the man flying across the room.

He was quick to his feet but was down again when Naruto's gloved knuckles rapped across his face. There was a satisfying crack and a yelp then his jaw hung lose as blood dripped to the floor.

Naruto relished the next boot that sent the man sprawling.

"Look at you now!" Naruto yelled. He breathed heavy, exhaustion beginning to show. The man on the floor began to slowly scuttle away pawing at the far wall when he reached it. He righted himself and sat slumped under the heated gaze of the blond.

"Look at you!" Naruto screamed at the man who had almost brought his dreams to ruin. The man who had slaughtered and burned across half the western lordships. "You are no king, you are barely a man. A craven mad thing with designs above your station."

"We have that in common then" The Goat slurred out between broken teeth.

Naruto recoiled as if struck and replied with a blow that sent the mans helm flying.

"Wait please, no more, I yield, please" He begged. Then he looked up, pleading.

Naruto's breath hitched.

"Olan" he breathed. It was almost a whisper.

The man looked up at him. His face dirty and grim, but it was Olan of Old Stones, lost on patrol on their way to Winterfell those years ago. The night Naruto had fought the Wraith. A series of queer studded piercings rang along his brow and the ridges of his nose. His eyes were sunken with a purple hue about them, but it was him. They had trained together, hunted together and Naruto still hadn't forgiven himself for what had happened that night.

He had to tell his wife and daughter that he had died. That was the last he had seen of them. He could not bear to face them, the pain in their eyes broke him whenever he thought of them. He had set them up in Flint's Finger on the castles serving staff. They would be looked after. Karl had promised.

"Olan" he said again. "What have you done?"

"What have I done?" Olan asked. He flung his head up and stared venom at Naruto. "You brought this upon me, boy" He could barely speak but Naruto understood clearly.

Naruto looked around puzzled.

"Me, how have I done this? You disappeared; we thought you dead. Spirits, your wife and daughter".

"Don't you fucking dare!" Olan's voice quivered with rage "Don't you dare invoke them. You left me, you led us to our ruin and left me in the fucking snow. Left me to them, to him."

"Olan, I …"

"You are a curse, boy. Heed me in this, I have heard his thoughts, his plans for you. You will bring pain; you will bring death. It is your destiny."

Naruto's eyes grew sharp in that instant. he bore no love for the man, but he was in his charge. He was soldier like him, a fellow servant and by all measure a good man. What could drive him to this, to all that he had done over the past year. He ignored the ramblings on destiny. Who were 'them' who was 'him'.

"What did they do to you, Olan, who are they?"

"They are the Dawn, the flame in the darkness, bringers of the light that drives away the night and illuminates the truth".

"The woman" Naruto realised. "With the purple hair and the cloak with the clouds. Is she among their number?"

Olan nodded weakly "Aye" a look of anguish took him "Konan" he strained and clutched at his head. "She is his divine instrument, an angel in the flame".

"Konan" Naruto whispered. That was her name. Before he could ask another question Olan began to fit and shake, his long dirty fingernails dug into the sides of his head.

Naruto grew worried, there would be time for questions later. "Let me help you, Olan. Whatever they've done, I'm sure it can be fixed" he lied.

"Have you ever seen a god?" Olan replied as the man's voice gained an ethereal quality to it "Gazed upon divinity? I am but a path for his divine will. You don't understand, he is within me, hears every thought, sees all I see. He commands and I must obey. There is no Olan anymore. He died that night. You killed him".

"He comes, I hear him, feel him beneath my skin. No." Pain etched across his face. "He is returned" Olan said, defeat in his voice "Kill me, boy." He pleaded "Kill me now and spare me my hell. For he will destroy us all"

Naruto knelt next to him and looked closer into his eyes as they grew bright with purple light and when next Olan spoke it was with two voices.

"Direct intervention is required".

Naruto reeled back and put his sword between them. Olan raised a hand and reset his jaw with a click. His purple eyes locked onto Naruto as he stood. A loud crash roared out around them as support beams crashed from the ceiling further into the barrow. The smoke was thick now. It stung at his eyes. He heard the lady Barbrey scream in the distance and cursed under his breath. He had hoped she would have found her way out by now.

"Olan" he said to the man. "Olan, listen to me. I need to know what's happening, I need to know so I can help. "

"There is no help, there is no Olan, there is only Pein"

There was a stir in the air, the strange energies around Olan began to overtake his senses. It was potent, heavy, oppressive.

"You will yield" He mustered in a tone filled with certainty. "Or I will put you down".

"You speak as they do. Ignorant before a path of divinity."

"I…I can sense you" Naruto said as he latched onto the strange energy and in his minds eye he followed it, it stretched on beyond the barrows and hills and the White Knife to the east. Further than the shivering Sea and into lands beyond before he could follow no longer. "You are not Olan; you are not here."

Olan let out a sound that was almost prideful "To sense so far at your age, your mother's blood is strong within you. The Fox has chosen well."

"Release him, monster, or you will taste steel" Thunder awoke with a vengeance and shun with white light that sundered the smoke around them.

"Steel?" It asked in Olan's voice. "You do not know the power you wield so clumsily." It sounded disappointed "Kushina, would that you had stayed" It whispered to itself.

Naruto took a testing step forward and levelled his blade. "I will not ask again".

"No, the time for words has ended. Ready your blade Uzumaki Naruto, show me who you are".

With that he reached for the bastard blade Olan wielded and with a step he was at the blond. Their swords clashed in sparks of energy as they whirred around each other faster and faster. Each strike more powerful than the last.

Naruto's feet almost left the ground after a particularly vicious swing of his enemy's blade. An ache ran up his arms, but he ignored it and returned in kind. A well-honed flurry of blows rattled the mans guard. He blocked and parried but left himself open to a well-placed jab of Naruto's blade that seared through his shoulder.

He didn't even flinch. He reached up and grabbed the shining metal and even as it cut through his flesh and blackened the leather of his glove as it burned away, the man did not even blink.

"This body does not matter". He said.

As soon as his hand touched the blade though Naruto was assaulted mentally with a strange feeling. It reached his very soul and threated to overwhelm him.

He saw a myriad visions, colours, faces, he felt cold hatred, blazing retribution. A sea of fire and then, hair, long red hair framing a beautiful round face, her smile radiant. His heart clenched. He pulled himself away with a yank and watched as three of Olan's fingers went spiralling through the air.

He didn't get a moment to right himself before he was sent tumbling under the force of a leather boot to the side of his head. He rolled with the momentum and parried away a strike that came down with a degree a force. He recovered but pressed away and barely kept his standing after a bloody fist knocked the wind from him.

A heavy right followed, breaking down on his jaw and splashing red across his vision. Instinct alone made him block the sword that followed. But not the second strike that came after, not fully anyway, even with his block the mans sword lanced across his leg in a bloody spray. Naruto screamed out and fell to his knee.

A hand came down to stem the bleeding.

The Goat looked down on him with blank eyes.

"Pitiful" It simply said. Before raising his sword ready to end Naruto. Before he could however, a blur came flying at him with a blade carving through air. The Goat took a long step back to avoid losing his head. It was Dom.

"No!" Naruto yelled. Why was he here? He shouldn't be here. This was not a fight he could win. "Dom, listen to me. You must flee." Naruto pleaded. He tried to stand but his knee buckled beneath him.

"You think I'd leave you here to die?" Dom said as he circled around the Goat. He tested at the man with the edge of his blade and ignored the blonds cries for him to flee. His opponent looked on almost uninterested as he batted away Dom's sword with force enough to unbalance the young man.

"Your attacks are primitive" It said, "Your death is assured."

Naruto again tried to stand but his world spun, and his body simply would not comply. Blood pooled around him from the wound in his leg. He made a decision. With a hiss he slapped the flat of his burning blade against the wound on his leg. Normally the flames did not burn him but this time he willed them to, and they yielded to his command. He screamed loudly and then bit down into a grunt.

Just as he rose up the barrow shook and rumbled, tipping him over. The smoke grew thicker still and then the ceiling came down with a crash. The earth above them exploded with blinding force that took the air from his lungs and blackened the world around him.

He coughed and spluttered as he fought off the weight that landed on him. It took him a long moment to orient himself but when he did, he could scarcely make out what was once the large chamber. Wooden beams crisscrossed around him, barely visible between the heavy smoke and dust that hung suspended all around him.

"Dom!" he coughed out "Dom! Please, answer me!"

"Here" he heard meekly. "I am here" Dom said as he rose up out of the muck. He coughed heavily into his fist and stumbled out to the blond. But there were thick beams between them. They were cut off. Cruelly the exit was behind Naruto. He could feel the draft of fresh air coming in behind him. But Dom, he was trapped. Naruto rapped his fist against a beam after being unable to dislodge it with his shoulder.

"You need to run, Dom! Further into the barrow if you have to" He begged "There are other ways out. I can feel him, Dom, he is still alive, still here."

Almost as if summoned, the earth shifted and broke and from it appeared the form of what once was Olan. The dirt and grime that covered him gave him a monstrous appearance, he appeared as a demon, a menacing spirit of wicked evil. The purple glow of his eyes, pronounced, lit up the darkness with ominous intent.

Naruto would have given anything for the beast to have been on his side of the room. Trapped with him, let them to their violence. Not Dom, not him. He was not for the battlefield. He was an artist, he was a tamer of horses, meant for lordship behind the walls of a castle. Not here, not in the muck with the likes of this thing. This thing that was here for him.

"Leave him be!" Naruto yelled. "You can have me. We can have our battle. I'll lay down my sword if that's what you want. You may strike me down, just let him go. I beg you."

"I sense your weakness" The beast said, and Naruto knew that was directed at him.

Dom reached for his blade and brought it up in defiance. "If I am to die, then so be it. But you will earn your kill, monster." He then charged with all he had and lashed out at his foe.

Naruto pounded against the barrier between he and his friend.

Dom's sword rang out in tired clashes, and he was driven back clash by clash with the Goats blade.

"My attacks will tear you apart." It said after a wicked blow sent the Bolton heir sprawling. To his credit Dom was quick to his feet. "You prolong the inevitable. You cannot resist".

Dom looked at him with steel in his pale eyes and roared as he swung with all his might. His blade was parried out of his hand and then the bastard blade of his enemy ran him though.

"Dom!" Naruto yelled. Pain and rage echoed from him with force enough to shake the space around them.

"This hurts you" The monster said as he locked eyes with the blond. Dom fell from the edge his blade with a wet thud.

Something in Naruto exploded with white hot fury and Thunder shone like a beacon and cast away all of the darkness around him. With a great heave the beam in front of him was shunted just enough for him to clamber over it and into the attack.

He roared out with each swing. Faster and Faster, stronger and stronger. The force behind his blows toppled his enemies' defences and sent it into retreat. There was no, form no technique, just wild swing and after wild swing. He charged and jumped at his enemy as he brought Thunder down with a boom that shattered the Goats sword and sent a wave of cascading orange and purple light racing through the cavernous barrow.

The Goat fell into the mock throne behind him in a heavy thud that almost rocked it off its feet. Not was wasting a moment Naruto drove his blade though the heart of the man and then the chair behind him, then watched as his eyes went milky white when the life and what ever monstrous force possessed him began to fleet away.

"Thank you" Olan said finally before he went limp. He was dead. It was over. But what if, Naruto thought. Responding, his sword let out a wave of orange fire that engulfed Olan's body in an instant.

Naruto raced over to Dom and knelt by his side. His chest rose and dipped slightly with every sucking breath he took. He was dying. He sought out Naruto's hand and squeezed it meekly between trembling fingers.

"Not here" Naruto whispered to his friend. He sheathed his sword and gently picked up his friend and slowly walked out until he was in the light.

When he breached the barrier of the barrow into the realm of the living, he had expected carnage. The raging battle that he had left. Instead, there was calm. The battle was over. He had won. The North had won.

He laid his friend down on unspoiled grass and knelt to his side. "We did it, Dom." He said through tears. "We beat them. You are a hero."

He had not gone unnoticed. There was commotion as people began to run over. Some stopped while a handful of others kept pace until they were next to him.

They were Gar, Will, Roose and Lady Barbrey. The lady looked white as a sheet as she threw herself to her knees next to her nephew. She had always favoured Dom. He was as a son to her. All she had left of her beloved sister.

"Someone" She begged "Someone do something, help him, please, help Dommeric."

She turned to her younger brother, Roose. "Help him!" She bawled.

Roose to his credit wrapped an arm around her shoulder and drew her close. He said nothing as tears began to roll down his face.

Dom's breathing grew even more shallow. Gar looked panicked and then realisation settled across his features, and he sighed heavily. Will's green eyes settled on Naruto showing that his concern extended to him also.

Naruto however watched Dom intently. As if trying to etch every moment of his last seconds to memory.

"Naruto" Dom whispered out.

"Here" Naruto said quickly "I am here".

"Is she safe?" Bolton asked.

"Yes" Naruto answered. The lady was inconsolable. She cried out at his words, almost unable to form her own. Gone was the stoicism and poise he had known her for. Her grief had broken her.

"Good." Dom said after a beat. "We really did something."

"We did, brother".

"Serving alongside you all was the greatest honour of my life" He whispered out.

And then he was gone.

Konan

He had been silent for a while now. The distant look in his purple eyes told her he was elsewhere. Sometimes Elsewhen. In their youth she had feared him. Truth to the gods, she still did. But he had been so present back then. Shy, but so focussed, so in the moment. When they had been given to him, her and Yahiko, it was an honour beyond measure.

'Osen'. Tainted. That's what they were. Unlike the rest of their Ningen brethren her and Yahiko had had their blood muddied and polluted by the masses of this world. Not as strong, not as fast, not as pure.

So, it was a surprise then when they were called upon to serve as the Will of God. Nagato had been born annointed, a God in the mortal flesh and they were his instrument. As was tradition, each Uzumaki, Senju and Uchiha were gifted lesser Ningen to serve as their will.

They formed an unbreakable bond, the will of thier master was absolute, he need but command it and she would die for him. But to have two tainted serving Nagato spoke to how dire their situation had become. Ningen, or shinobi as they were often called once numbered in the thousands. A pantheon of gods that reigned from the dawn of civilisation.

The Great Empire of The Dawn. A place where names like Uzumaki, Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga were as common as the stars in the sky. Their capital, Yi Ti had the entire world under its thumb. The Nine Spirits of Heaven re-birthed the world in their image into a place of magic and splendour. The waking wonder, where dreams were material. Men flew in the air, conjured fire on a breath, carved the earth on a thought and turned the oceans with a whim.

Great giant toads who spoke the secrets of nature, a forest of slugs who cured all ails, snakes who guarded the paths to immortality. The stories were endless. It was they who carved the first dragons from the stone. It was they who placed the krakens in the sea and breathed life into all the things, great and small that once lurked just outside the focus of your vision.

They had carved the heavens open to arrive here, her ancestors, and created a perfect home. Or so they thought. There can be no perfection at the hands of men, be they gods or otherwise. For that great empire fell to disaster and ruin. A great civil war tore down in a hundred years what had taken a thousand generations to build.

When the God Emperor of the sun and all the earth, Senju, was betrayed by his brother Uchiha, god of the moon... gods fell and the gates to heaven, the pure world, came crashing down with them. Cursing the world with decay as their resulting war blanketed the earth in darkness and ice. The magic they had brought with them grew wicked and cruel under the influence of the Uchiha and all the wonderous things of nature withered away. Most of those that didn't, turned to twisted abominations.

Even when the final blow had been struck and the war ended. The sun did not return. Some said it had perished with no god to guide it. The world then was an empy place. Only the strong and hardy had survived. All but a few perished in the grasp of wicked winter. But winter as they found out, was not done yet. They came from the other place. They came riding ice spiders and in command of all the dead things claimed by winters touch. What was left of the world retreated into the earth. Into caves and barrows.

Then he came, with red hair and purple eyes wielding a sword that carried the dawn within it. He burned away the darkness, cast down the wicked twisted things. And when his work was done, he sacrifised himslef on a great pyr, his burning heart reigniting the sun and blanketing the world with life once more.

Now though, now he is reborn in Nagato. An omen. A telling one at that. The great evil was once again sturring in those places just out of our focuss, just beyond our vision. Winter was coming.

Nagato shifted his gaze after a long moment. Telling her that his business was done. He turned to her slowly.

"You were right, Konan, he is indeed chosen. The Kurama, that infernal spirit lives within him." He spoke.

"There was a time when you would not have needed proof to my words." Konan replied, her face was like stone as she tore her vision from her master and scanned the world around them.

"I did not doubt you, Konan, there are wheels of intrigue that yet needed turning."

"It is beyond me to question your will." She replied.

The man beneath her blade jolted into consiousness with a sucking breath. Yamato. One of the last of Konoha. A goup of Ningen that believed this world was there's to save.

He coughed as his eyes settled on them. "I was hoping you would have killed me by now" he said. His brown hair was matted with blood and mud from the riverbank that he lay upon. The smoke from his burning village hung heavy about them blanketing the midday in a hazy shadow.

"That is the coward's way" Nagato replied.

"Funny that, coming from you. Hiding whereever you are, puppeting corpses when your so safely hidden from the world." Yamato said and grimaced loudly when the tip of Konan's blade dug into his leg.

"You will watch your treacherous tongue" Konan hissed.

"What a pair you are" Yamato chuckled, it sounded painful. "You name me traitor when you are the ones that have destroyed everything we built. Everything we dreamed of in our youth. Everything Yahiko wanted." He spat.

"Yahiko wanted peace".

"Don't you fucking tell me what Yahiko wanted. You think you can speak for him because you wear his flesh. You think thats what he wanted. Fine, then give him his peace, leave him to his burial rights. To be burned at the pyr so he can join our ancestors."

"Yahiko pledged himself to me, Yamato, his life, his, body, his soul. even in death those words stand and even in death his body serves."

Yamato spat. "You were meant to save us, to be our light in the darkenss to come but you have been twisted cruel and now the world is doomed for it. Praise to the old spirits that Kushina isnt here to see what you have become."

For the first time in a long while Konan watched as anger flashed across Nagato's face, Yahiko's face, and in a moment, it was gone. His orange hair rustled as he spoke.

"No, she left. She took all that we had, our great heirloom, our hope, our future and left. She gave up, unwilling to do what was neccassry. She fled her destiny."

"Destiny as defined by you".

"These eyes see all, i saw her future what she could have become."

"Couldn't see Minato though, could you?" Yamato laughed "Couldn't see him stealing your bethrothed" Another prod from Konan's sword caused Yamato to yell out "Cold bitch".

Nagato seemingly ignored the slight "The walls are closing in, Yamato, tell where they are hiding, and you need not suffer. I offer this mercy for the love we bore eachother in our youth. I will not offer it again."

"Take your mercy and..."

"So be it" Nagato interupted as his eyes took on purple hue and caught Yamato's gaze before he could look away. Only the purest of blood could resist the Rinnegan and unfortunalty Yamato was Osen. Just like her.

As Nagato began his preperations Konan began to wander away. The process was not a clean one. The ancieant magics were often brutal and unforgiving. She heard the familiar rustle of the black stone rods that Nagato kept benath his cloak. He had lost a path to the boy in Westeros it seemed, and Yamato was to take its place.

She forced herself to think of other things. Stood as they were on the banks of the Upper Rhoyne she could almost picture Braavos, the merchant city on the other side of the mountains to their north. Thats where she was born. It was her first home, behind those black and white doors she trained to be nobody. A blank canvas to be painted on, just a girl.

This place had been a fishing village. A perfect hiding place. Well suited to Konoha, for that was what they did. They hid. They hid as the world tore itself apart time and time again. They hid as the magic waned and died. They hid as all hope of returning home, to the other, disappeared and this world began to reject them.

Now there were only a handful of them left. And before this was all over, there would be fewer still.

The Vagabond

He hated this. He hated them. He hated him. They were brothers, how could he cast him out. In the name of an upjump base born. What the boy was doing was dangerous. He was playing a game he had no chance in winning. One did not go to war with the elements that lurked in the dark.

He had seen it in his youth. The Oaf King's rebellion was not the first major upheaval he had lived through. In the time of the dragon the Iron men raided their coasts regularly, reaving and raping. Wildlings circumvented the wall from the Frozen Shore, tearing through the North. No one was spared, not woman, not child.

He had seen it, lived it, survived it. The quite wolf, Ned Stark, had brought a repreive from the Iron men and Wildlings but these bandits were no diffrent. What had worked before would work now. You drew ranks and protected what was important. Let them exhaust themselves againsts your walls. Thats what castles were for.

If some common blood had to be spilt then so be it. The whole would always be greater than the part. Father's pragmatism was thrown out for rabid valour before he had even been lain under the great tree. Galbert was always a fool, but something changed within him during the rebellion. He made himself Ned Stark's bootlick and adopted his silly notions of honour above all else.

The world was dirt and shit. To think you could leave it clean, with your words and promises intact was beyond foolish, it was dangerous.

That danger had reached their very doorstep. In declaring for the Fox boy against these bandits in their asinine war Galbert had made an enemy that could strike anywhere and at anytime from the shadows. The skullery maid, the mason, your cupbearer, the guard at your chamber door. It would have been better to let them to it. Let them waste their resources while he cultivated favour from the lords of the east.

One only had to look to Barbrey Dustin. Snatched from the saftey of her own lands. She had more men, more castles and towers, more wealth than they did and it all paid for naught. She was probably dead by now.

Galbert was the first born. He spent his life with the luxury of assurity. Assured in his position. He had to earn it. He had to be the better warrior to earn his mens respect, he had to be the better Castilian to earn the respect of the lords of the north. His brother pissed away coin trying to protect those would be expendable under his reign.

That thought brought him back to his reality. Why he was here. In this place. He and a handful of his men had arrived under the cover of darkness. Summoned by the Lady of the castle.

"Good" Lyessa Flint said as she strode through the open door and straight to him. She was flanked by five men who stopped a few feet away from them. "I welcome you Lord Glover. We have much to discuss."