The sky was gray and the earth was covered in white.

A squad of cavalry struggled to walk through the wind and snow, and the breath they spit out condensed into hoarfrost.

Ed felt the war horse under his seat suddenly become agitated, and his heart was a little uneasy.

"Lord Eddard!" The cavalry returning from the front did not look quite right, "There are traces of a large army passing by in the south." ”

"The army?" Ed was shocked, "Or the civilians who moved south?" ”

"It's hard to say. The wind and snow covered a lot of things, it could be the army of lords heading south, or civilians...... Or...... An army of ghouls. ”

The team was silent for a moment.

"It could indeed be a ghoul." Eddard said, "If they go south from King's Road, they should get to Winterfell faster than we do." ”

The rangers looked at the commander-in-chief, exchanging glances with each other, but they didn't dare to say what was in their hearts.

When they first evacuated Castle Black, there was a debate about the route to the south.

The fastest route is of course the King's Route, but the King's Lane north of Winterfell is a deserted walk through the Wolf Forest.

Therefore, it was suggested that another route would pass through more villages and towns, namely the last line of Fireplace, Kahoe, and Dreadful, in order to take as many northerners as possible.

Of course, this route also slows down the march.

In the end, Eddard Stark personally decided to choose the latter path.

"I just want to go back and take a look, you don't have to follow......"

"My lord, let's go." One of the Night's Watch rangers said, "Slow down, it'll be dark." ”

Ed slowly swept over the faces of the crowd, and seeing that they did not show the slightest hint of flinching, he took the lead and continued to move forward.

Darkness came sooner than expected.

Fortunately, the wind and snow stopped, and the bright moon and stars shed a hazy glow, so that the travelers would not lose their way.

"My lord, there's Winterfell ahead, right?"

"Yes." Ed looked at the silhouette of the shadow in front of him that was not quite the same as in his memory, and a sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

But he didn't say anything, just silently sped up.

In the cold moonlight, they saw a half-collapsed city wall, and a spiraling staircase rose in the snow, but suddenly broke in mid-air.

Behind the breach, shattered spires, collapsed statues, and broken walls of rubble were faintly visible.

Winterfell is ruined!

Looking at all this, Ed only felt that the blood all over his body was frozen.

There were countless terrible thoughts swirling in his head, and he only wanted to rush into the city desperately.

"My lord, maybe the people in the city have already evacuated." A Ranger reassured.

"yes, I didn't see the corpses and blood, so I shouldn't have experienced a battle." Someone else persuaded.

"Probably covered in heavy snow...... someone said in a fuzzy voice, causing the angry eyes of his companions.

"Let's go in and have a look." Ed Road.

As he walked forward, he tried to find traces of battle among the ruins.

What gave him some peace of mind was that the body had not been found.

Of course, corpses can also be resurrected into ghouls by strangers, but they can't erase the traces of battle, such as bloody limbs, which are rare in the city.

"I should have evacuated early." Eddard regained his composure, "But how did the Wraiths destroy Winterfell?" Do they have such terrifying powers? ”

"Maybe they have something like Winter's Trumpet." Some people speculated, "A blow can bring down a fortified castle." ”

"Can you still make the earth crack?" Someone pointed to the hideous and terrible crack in the ground.

Ed also noticed these cracks in the ground, quickly turned over and dismounted, and cautiously walked to the edge to check.

The cracks crumbled and scattered like cobwebs between the ruins of the castle.

Some are wide and some are narrow, some are long and some are short, but the only thing in common is that they are bottomless.

"Lord Eddard, come and see! There's a huge footprint here! ”

Hearing the shout, Ed threw down the bottomless abyss and ran over the sound.

Then he saw footprints larger than his entire body, appearing in the snow.

And more than one, a series of footprints, stretching north, to the outside of the city.

"Are these giant footprints?" Someone asked.

"You mean the giants outside the plug? They're not that big. ”

"A true giant, perhaps."

Ed thought of all sorts of quirky tales he had heard from his old nurse as a child.

Among them is about the Giants.

Legend has it that they were driven by a Stark to build several man-made wonders on the continent of Westeros.

That includes Winterfell.

It is also rumored that blowing the horn of winter will awaken the sleeping giants underground......

Thinking of this, and looking back at the bottomless cracks in the ground, Eddard seemed to understand how Winterfell had become such a ruined wall.

The giant who is sleeping underground, I'm afraid it has really woken up.

This may sound like a fantasy, but now that the legendary ghosts have appeared, it doesn't seem so difficult to accept that the giant has awakened.

It's just not clear whether they're friend or foe?

Ed watched the huge footprints disappear into the darkness of the north, silently praying that the giant was going to deal with the strangers.

He wanted to go to the tomb, but found that it was the most cracked place in the ground, and if it was really the awakening of the underground giant, then it probably crawled out of the vicinity of the tomb.

So, Ed put away his chaotic thoughts for the time being, and ordered:

"Alright, let's rest here tonight for the night, and continue our journey south tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir."

They found a tower that was still in good condition, blocked the leaky doors and windows with something, lit a bonfire and ate something, and then fell asleep one after another.

In his sleep, Eddard found himself walking through the crypts beneath Winterfell, just as he had done thousands of times before.

The statues of the long-dead Winter Kings watched him pass by with cold eyes.

The statue of the wolf at their feet twisted the stone wolf's head and roared at Eddard.

Finally, he went to the resting place of his father, Duke Ricard.

Buried on either side were his brother Brandon and sister Lyanna.

"Ed, promise me." Lyanna's statue whispered.

She wore a wreath of blue roses made of winter snow on her head, and her eyes wept blood.

The next moment, the tombs of the kings of the north suddenly exploded, and the kings who once ruled the land struggled to crawl out of the tombs.

They pulled out the rusty iron sword on the statue and wiped it with their hands, turning it into a sword of ice that shimmered with a crystal luster.

Ice blue flames danced in their eyes, and they let out a soul-shattering roar at Eddard Stark.

Ed woke up and sat up.

Seeing this, the soldiers of the night vigil whispered:

"Are you alright, sir?"

"I'm fine." Ed casually made an excuse, "It's just a little thirsty." ”

"I still have wine here."

Ed did not refuse the other party's kindness, took the wine bag, and was about to drink it, but suddenly stopped:

"Did you hear anything?"

The night watchman was stunned for a moment, but then his face changed greatly:

"There's someone out there!"

"Not necessarily human." Ed said, then quickly woke up the rest of the Night's Watch soldiers.

At this time, the movement outside the tower became louder and louder, and the chaotic footsteps accompanied by the creepy roar, and the smell of the fishy smell in the cold wind, made them immediately understand that it was the ghouls who appeared!

Ed looked out through the crack in the door and said:

"There aren't many ghouls, about thirty or forty. Remember, don't dwell on it and rush out as soon as possible! ”

"Yes, sir."

Seeing that everyone was ready, Ed rushed out first.

The ghouls surrounding the tower immediately let out a piercing howl and pounced on the group of human soldiers.

The breath of the living is like the most attractive thing in the world for these monsters crawling out of the grave, their bodies have long since died, their consciousness has been lost, but they will only blindly charge towards the living.

It was the darkest hour before dawn, and in the darkness of the environment, the living and the dead were fighting together.

A Night's Watch soldier dodged the ghouls' pounce and slashed off the opponent's head with a backhand sword.

However, the headless ghouls still writhed wildly, clawing and kicking, and lunged at the living.

Until Eddard personally stabbed the Stark family's inheritance greatsword [Ice] into the ghoul's chest.

The ghoul froze in place, and then collapsed into the snow as if all its strength had been drained.

"With a dragon crystal weapon!" Ed reminded.

The Night's Watch soldier remembered the strange dark dagger that the Commander-in-Chief had given him before the action, and hurriedly pulled it out of his belt.

Just as another ghoul pounced, he backhanded the dagger into the other's eye socket.

Sure enough, the effect of this dragon crystal weapon was quite obvious, and the ghoul let out a terrible scream, his body stiffened, emitting bursts of icy mist, and finally completely disappeared between heaven and earth.

"Don't fight! Get out of town! Ed commanded his men as he wielded his greatsword.

The rangers naturally understood this truth, and for fear of attracting more ghouls and even strange ghosts, they rode their horses one after another.

"Follow me!" Ed shouted, riding south, speeding through the ruins with ease.

"Rush!"

The Rangers followed with their horses.

The ghouls were knocked over by their horses and trampled by their hooves, but even when they fell, they still clung to the legs and bellies.

Trees suddenly appeared around him, and Ed flowed across a frozen stream, the sound of fighting growing in behind him until it was gone.

Adler stopped his horse and looked back, and saw that none of his companions had followed.

Moreover, the group of ghouls also disappeared strangely.

"Gülen!" He shouted, "Erica! Mousse! ”

Still no response.

It seemed that he was the only one left in the whole world.

The broken gargoyles scattered in front of him, and he recognized the half-collapsed building in front of him as the Stark family's clan castle, where he had spent more than forty years.

The cold wind sighed among the ruins, blowing tiny particles of snow onto his face.

Ed felt the cold, unbearable cold.

The horse began to tremble, and pale gasps erupted from its mouth, freezing into frost.

"Quack—quack—"

On the twisted fishbeam, a crow hissed and spread its black wings.

The crescent moon was gone, and the stars were hiding.

A horse's head emerges from the darkness. It was covered in a layer of white frost, like frozen sweat, and its black, dead intestines dragged down its cracked belly, and on its back sat a rider as pale as ice.

Ed's heart froze, and he immediately understood that it was not a ghoul in front of him, but an even more terrifying stranger!

The strange ghost on the opposite side dismounted gracefully and stood tall in the snow. It is as slender as a sword, as white as milk, and its armor changes color as it moves.

It walked through the snow without leaving a trace.

Ghouls move clumsy and slow, but the xenomorphs are as light as snowflakes in the wind.

However, the strange ghost did not seem to have any intention of attacking, and it slowly approached with graceful steps.

Ed clenched his greatsword, ready to swing it out.

When the two sides were about ten paces apart, the strange ghost stopped and raised his hand to uncover his Ice Armor.

Eddard was confused, but he saw the face under the Strange Ghost Armor, the face he was once so familiar with.

"Brandon?" Ed's voice contains a variety of complex emotions such as disbelief, fear, surprise, anger, and more.

"Nope! That's impossible! His body began to tremble, unable to accept that the stranger in front of him had a face identical to that of his brother Brandon Stark.

"You're already dead." Ed said, "Died at the hands of the Mad King, I buried you in the tomb with my own hands, and ...... with my father and sister."

At this moment, two more strange spirits came out of the darkness.

The mist swirled around them, shadows following closely behind them.

They also took off their Ice Armor, revealing their pale faces.

Those were also two faces that terrified Eddard.

"Nope! That's impossible! Ed could barely hold the sword in his hand," Father, Lyanna...... How could you ...... How so? ”

More and more figures emerged from the darkness, surrounding Eddard Stark and removing his armor.

At this moment, the nightmare becomes a reality.

The long-dead Winter Kings actually crawled out of their graves, wearing the Ice Armor, bringing the breath of death.

"O gods...... Help me...... Save the Stark Family......" Eddard slipped off his horse and fell to his knees in the snow, tears streaming down his face.

This man from the north, who was as tenacious as ice, finally collapsed.

He couldn't imagine what that meant exactly.

Could the Starks be the source of this catastrophe?

The evil he has been fighting against turned out to be his own family?

In a trance, Ed saw his sister Lyanna come over and hold out her right hand to him.

Just like in the bed of blood in the Tower of Bliss.

Her face was the same as it was back then, and even her eyes were as full of hope and sadness as when she died in his arms.

"Promise me, Eddard. Promise me ......"

He seemed to hear his sister's voice echoing in his ears.

But in reality, when the strange ghost spoke, it only made the sound of ice breaking.

Ed gripped the hands, hard as rock, cold as ice.

She pulled him up and pulled out a crown of frozen ice.

Ed's eyes gradually drifted, and his gray pupils turned ice blue.

He no longer resisted, and let his sister put the Ice Crown on his head.

Countless crows screamed and took off, and the wind and snow roared over the ruins of Winterfell.

(End of chapter)