~ A/N: Sorry for the month long absence, writing this has always been fun and enjoyable, yet real life always gets in the way. Whether you want to or not, life more often than not demands that you face the world and the situation around you before you get to enjoy what you want from it.
But to put to ease the minds of any of my loyal readers, I won't be dropping the story anytime soon or ever if it was solely my choice. Yet again, life rarely gives damn about the wants of people, but I'll endeavor to keep writing as long as I can and as frequently as possible.
So, don't give up on me or Maegor The Devourers adventures yet. This chapter kind of turned into an info dump/rant about humanity chapter, but I hope you still enjoy. Remember to drop some powerstones for the story. Shout-out to Godless_Devil for their first Powerstones in weeks. Appreciate it.
~ Void Emperor.
~
~ Maegor Stark - POV ~
~ Winterfell - 24 year's BD ~
For the last decade of my life I've traveled most of the known world of Planetos; from the chilling white expanse beyond the Wall to the sun-soaked dry deserts of Dorne, from the western half of Essos ruled by the Valyrian Freehold to the northern tip of the barely explored continent of Sothoryos.
I've traveled throughout the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, which has been around since the time of the Empire of the Dawn's fall. Yi Ti is very much a parallel to ancient China of my past life with its architecture and it's people.
I've explored the Five Forts, five massive forts' along the northeastern borders. The forts' walls are slabs of fused black stone almost a thousand feet high and was raised by the Pearl Emperor of the Dawn Empire in defense against the Lion of Night and his hoard of demons.According to tales told by the priestly scribes of Yin, the Lion of Night fathered a son on the Maiden-Made-of-Light. This son was the God-on-Earth, who ruled the Great Empire of the Dawn for ten thousand years, before ascending to the heavens. The descendants of the God-on-Earth ruled the empire after him, each ruling a shorter time than the previous one, until the brother of the Amethyst Empress usurped her in the Blood Betrayal and crowned himself as the Bloodstone Emperor, ushering in the Long Night. The Maiden-Made-of-Light turned her back upon the world, and the Lion of Night came forth in all his wroth to punish the wickedness of man.
So far, of the place I've traveled, Yi Ti has been my favorite. That may be because I was a fan of Asian culture in my previous life, whether it was Japanese or Chinese. Chinese because of their long and storied history; from their many dynasties, wise scholars like Sun Tzu and his teachings in The Art Of War, to their dedication to mastery of hand-to-hand combat in the form's of the many Kung-fu masters.
Japanese as well for the same reasons if not more so because of the many hours of reading Mangas and watching Anime. Not to mention their awesome historical figures like; Oda Nobunaga, a ruthless and brilliant daimyo (feudal lord) who initiated the unification of Japan during the Warring States period by integrating firearms into his military tactics, or Miyamoto Musashi, arguably the most renowned master swordsman and ronin in Japanese history. He remained undefeated in over 60 duels and authored The Book of Five Rings, a classic text on martial arts and strategy. Even Yasuke, an African retainer and samurai who arrived in Japan in 1579 in the service of the Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano. He quickly became a trusted and prominent bodyguard for Oda Nobunaga.
The list goes on an on. But while my travels throughout Yi Ti was enjoyable, there was a place where I was disgusted to travel to. Gogossos, a ruined city on the Isle of Tears (the largest of the Basilisk Isles) infamous for being the site of some of the most horrific blood magic and biological experiments in history.
Gogossos was originally founded by the Old Empire of Ghis as a colony named Gorgai. The Valyrian Freehold captured it during the Third Ghiscari War and renamed it Gogossos using the city as a dumping ground for its worst criminals, who were forced into hard labor and subjected to experimental torture. The city is notorious for "flesh-weaving" and dark sorcery, sorcerers supposedly mated slave women with beasts to produce twisted, half-human offspring.
As a mercenary in my last life I was privy to some of the richest and worst of humanity, yet I was not prepared for the atrocities that I witnessed on that island city. Not to say the people of my past life were any better. There's probably even worse that was being done by shadow organizations and even major governments around the world. Yet I was not that so high up in the mercenary world that I was privy to that sort of information.
As a former African American man I was not surprised by all the darkness surrounding the governments of the world. There are loads of examples of cruelty just from America alone i.e.; the erasure and removal of Indigenous peoples like the The Trail of Tears, the Indian Removal Act led to the forced relocation of over 15,000 Native Americans, resulting in the deaths of thousands from exposure, disease, and starvation during the journey. Jim Crow and lynchings; following the Civil War, the abolition of slavery was met with new forms of state-sanctioned terror. Jim Crow laws strictly segregated society, while lynchings were used as terror tactics to enforce white supremacy and suppress Black political and economic power. Or worse yet; the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, the U.S. Public Health Service tracked the progression of syphilis in hundreds of Black men in Alabama without their informed consent. Life-saving treatments were deliberately withheld, even after penicillin became standard.
And the list goes on and on. Not even including the Transatlantic Slave Trade; where millions of African people were violently captured and forced into chattel slavery, a system built on forced labor, routine brutality, and the destruction of family units.
Humanity is truly the most dangerous species to exist, no matter the universe or time.
After Gogossos and reliving the worst of what humanity has to offer to its own, I decided to take a break from all the thoughts of why people do what they do to each other. I knew if I didn't I would truly become a monster with no sympathy for my former race, humanity.
So I traveled back home, to Winterfell, only stopping by Lys and the Summer Isles for relaxation and some much needed pleasures. I even stayed amongst the Peaceful People, the pacifistic people of Naath ; the island nation where Missandei, who would become a advisor and freed slave companion to Daenerys Targaryen in the books and Game of Thrones series, was born. Naath, known to the ancients as the Isle of Butterflies, is an island in the Summer Sea off the northwestern coast of Sothoryos. The natives of the island are known as Naathi. The island is known for the so-called butterfly fever which does not affect the Peaceful People themselves.
After getting my mind off the atrocities that I witnessed on Gogossos; de-stressing with the Peaceful People of Naath, and drinking and fucking my way through Lys and the Summer Isles, I finally returned home to the Kingdom of the North and Winterfell. Which turned out to be perfect timing as the first of my Shadow Copies happened to be returning from their assignments in the omniverse.
Now I'm sitting here in the godswoods of Winterfell beneath the heart tree waiting for the first of the three Shadow Copies I sent out. I could feel that he was close to this universe, probably because he was an extension of myself I can feel him/myself even from outside the universe.
As I waited for his reentry into this universe I thought about something I was missing out on at the moment; Daenys the Dreamer, my twelve years old cousin, and her bonding with Balerion the future Black Dread. Which should be happening soon back in Valyria.
As soon as I have assimilated the memories and experiences of the Shadow Copy I'll probably head back to Valyria to check up on her and see about her prophetic dreams of the Doom.
Speaking of my Shadow Copy, here he comes now.
"Wotcher, bossman!"....