166- battles for survival.

I'm going to take a break. Well, I've already been doing so for a few days. My mother had been experiencing pain in her left leg for less than a month, but we ignored it until Monday the 16th, when she fell and fractured the diaphysis of her tibia, her fibula, and the medial condyle of her femur. The fall occurred because she lost strength in her legs. As for the fractures, they were caused by a bone tumor in her femur, above the knee.

So far, she has had three surgeries, two reconstructive surgeries and one to try to remove the entire cystic tumor she has. Whether or not she starts chemotherapy depends on the outcome of the last surgery. But until then, the result is uncertain.

Now, after two stressful weeks, with lack of sleep and sleeping in a chair, you know that these are not comfortable scenarios for getting enough rest to have a clear and calm mind. So this will be the last chapter in the coming weeks.

------------------------------------------------------------

~~~~Azrael Jaesyrian, Moat Cailin, The Neck~~~

~~~~First Moon, 278 AC~~~~

Again, I was building, I was inside the city's septic tank, placing Bedrock blocks, the indestructible block of all Minecraft, around the walls of the tank. I didn't decide to cover all four walls, since I wanted to leave space for the earth to filter the falling water itself.

So I placed the blocks in the style of an iron fence, creating a net that covered all four walls, but left space for the earth to do its job, I did this to prevent the earth walls from being eaten by the water that would reach the well of the whole city, and causing everything that was built on top of it to collapse.

Once this was done, it was the turn of the streets, for this part I already had a map of how I would create them, I made two wide streets, one from north to south, and another from east to west, the vertical street would connect the two bridges of the city, while the horizontal one would connect both ports. Connecting the two streets in the center of the city.

Likewise, I also built other main streets, this time in a transversal way, if seen from the sky, you would see the shape of two rhombuses, one smaller than the other, with smaller roads or streets strategically connecting the five major main streets on each side of the city, to the great vertical street that led to the two bridges and that crossed the city.

Then, I started with the ditches, sewers and drains, implementing everything in such a way as to ensure that gravity did its job, and that was to bring all the water to the septic tank, which worked, after summoning buckets of water in certain parts of the city and all the water reached the center of the city, where the large septic tank was still uncovered.

And now, came what would take the longest, and that was to build the houses, important buildings, and I couldn't help but sigh. At least flying would allow me to avoid the mosquitoes.

~~~~Hardhome, North of the Wall~~~

Hardhome, the settlement formerly abandoned by the Free People North of the Wall, located on the Storrold Point Peninsula in the Shivering Sea, was once again. After six long centuries, occupied again, after its uncertain descent on that fateful night when the houses burned so brightly that from the Wall, the Night's Watch thought the sun was rising in the north. And it's ash drizzled for nearly half a year.

Now, the settlement that had nearly become the first true city North of the Wall, was once more with settlers, voices in unison, the sound of swords sharpening, the crackling fire with which the Free Folk sought to chase away the cold, no longer was the place dead, lifeless, with only the cries of the caves as a reminder that once people were inhabiting the place.

Now, Hardhome had become possessed of hope, of longing for something better, greater. Thousands of men, women, boys, and girls arrived at the settlement daily. The first group barely numbered a thousand people, led by Mother Mole, an enigmatic and peculiar woman.

Mother Mole, a wild leader and forest witch, one of the last remaining alive, possibly the last, was the one who decided to lead her people to Hardhome, claiming she had had visions given to her by the Three-Eyed Crow, that being feared and revered alike North of the Wall who was owed respect because of the times he helped the Free People in times of need.

He appeared in the form of a raven, by visions or dreams, and helped in dangerous times, It was said that his appearance was due to dark times approaching, therefore, his presence or appearances were subject to fear or suspicion among the people.

This caused that at the moment when Mother Mole claimed to have visions of a fleet of ships arriving to send the savages to safety across the Narrow Sea, many decided not to go to the place, for fear of that being to whom Mother Mole's visions were due.

It was not until days later, as they watched entire clans leave their settlements to move to Hardhome, claiming that their leaders had had the same visions about the fleet of ships, and that was why they were heading to Hardhome, that they decided at last to embark on the journey.

And now, Mother Mole, 'guided' by the Three-Eyed Crow, became their seeker and preacher, would go away for long days, and return with clans, all desperate enough to believe her about a long-awaited salvation from the clutches of the Eternal Winter that always lay North of the Wall.

This meant that where once there were a little more than three thousand people, there were now more than half a million, and many more were arriving every day. All immersed in hope, united under a single purpose, and that was to escape the horrors that Winter brought with it.

And today, after four long weeks of waiting, the sight of giant ships arriving from the horizon caused the furor in the place to increase. Many had been doubtful of the words spoken by their leaders or by Mother Mole. As much of a forest witch as she was, her weightless words had been provoking unwelcome reactions in the large group, but today.

The much-famed fleet of ships made their presence known.

Logrek Paso Fino, Magnar of White Tree, a grizzled man with a great forehead, tall and broad-shouldered and broad-backed, stood facing the icy waters of the Shivering Sea as he watched the giant ships of the Xandarian Royal Fleet approach.

Thank the gods old and new that the bay of the place was deep enough for the huge ships to approach, though due to the narrow space of the natural harbor, only four ships could approach the shore; the other sixty-six ships had to stand by.

"Magnar, your visions are true, it is real, these ships, they are the most gigantic thing I have ever seen, after the Wall, obvious." A boy could not keep the surprise off his face, as he alternated between looking towards the huge ships and his magnar.

The idea that something, no. Someone would send giant ships to take them out of the Eternal Winter and bring them to safety, which seemed distant and impossible, but here they were, seeing the impossible, gathering our own, letting them know not to start any conflict with those who step off those ships.

Conversations like these were taking place at various points in the settlement. As anticipation and longing for something more began to form around the place, seconds turned into hours, and people waited for someone to get off the boats.

And they did not have to wait long, because soon, from the four giant ships that anchored in the bay, several small boats began to descend, which were being taken out of the hull of the big ships, being occupied by several men.

In all, sixty small boats were lowered from the main ships, while their members rowed to the beach. Even if they were 'small' boats, they were still big, so that more than nine hundred burly men covered with netherite steel and armed to the teeth arrived on the beach.

The sight of such men wearing heavy armor glinting in the sporadic rays of the sun unnerved several of the Free Folk, fearing it was an attack, though thanks to the warnings of their magnar or clan mothers, which stopped the clash of steel long before it began.

No one moved, both groups looked at each other with a tempered ferocity, being even colder than the falling snow, the Dothraki, an already hard and iron people, only dedicated themselves to observe the so-called Wildlings, and small but perceptible grimaces could be seen, since many concluded that fighting and defeating people like these would not bring any glory, one could see that they were not equipped for war, their clothes barely protected them from the cold, let alone a cut from one of their Arakh, and as for their weapons, many wore was crudely polished wooden bars, which would easily kill their owners with the amount of splinters that would stick in their hands as they maneuvered such things.

The others wielded worn swords, some had bows, but the vast majority would not stand up to single combat with a Dothraki, at least not with these Dothraki, the Dothraki of Xandar.

But the idea was not to start a fight on the spot, and among the group of Dothrakis, a group broke through, consisting of four men, they had more importance among the group, for the Dothraki surrounding them gave way to them, as they moved closer to them and closed gaps as the four men made their way to the front of the Wildlings.

The four men, captains of each respective ship anchored in the bay, stood at the front, in full view of the Free People, gruff looks and serious faces, they looked at the Free People with millimetric attention, showing no emotion beyond simple, vague curiosity to see something new.

"Hash yeri vazhi anhaan asavvasoon," (I expected more from the so-called savages), one of the captains said to his companion, "Kash shieraki vohhari okrenegwin mori" (no doubt this weather doesn't help much) replied another, sighing, though it sounded more like a grunt.

"Who is in charge here?" the third of the four captains, decided to speak to the locals, with a strong Dothraki accent between the words in common tongue, at this, a total of twelve people stood in front, four women and eight men, battle hardened people, rough and regal looking, they stood up in front of their people.

The four captains frowned. It would be difficult to agree among so many leaders. If it were just one, things would be simpler, but many people would mean different positions, and that would lengthen the time the Royal Fleet would be in this tundra.

As one of the four captains was about to speak, a group of rhythmic noises began to be heard from the distance, while shouts were present among the people nearby where the tremors were occurring.

The Dothraki wasted no time and drew their Arakh, their enchanted weapons glowing various colors the moment they saw the sunlight, with the Dothraki preparing themselves in case of any possible scenario.

"Jhogwins, Kash ghika Jhogwins yovrika," (Jogwins, how are there Jhogwins here?) Ograto, one of the four captains, said what many Dothrakis were thinking, watching the great beings make their way through the sea of men, in Essos, there were beings just like them, only different, called Jhogwins, stone giants who inhabited Northern Essos a thousand years ago.

And who were said to be extinct, until at the battle of Bazhar they were seen again, and who were now under the command of Khal Azrael, as for the giants that stood before the Dothraki, they were not like the ones they knew, these giants were smaller than the Jhogwins, perhaps half their sizes, and their skin did not look like stone.

"Giants, the giants are on our side!"

"They are real!"

"A Child of the Forest!"

A cacophony of shouts filled the camp with awe, as the giants, who to the naked eye appeared to number twenty or thirty in all, with several leading large mammoths with their calves behind them, came to the front of the free people, oblivious to the dwarf people. As the being leading them, who walked to the front, an incredibly small being compared to the giants, spoke something to the giants, then approached the four captains.

"Hello, Dothrakis of Essos. I am Root. I have spoken with your Khal, the Khal Azrael. We both came to an agreement: no steel is necessary. Now, it is imperative that you begin to receive all these people, the giants, and the mammoths, because death already knows that life escapes, and it is on its way."