Chapter Text
The Old gods and the gods of the Old Valyria sat and watched as the last of their magic disappeared from the world with the slow and depressing death of Jon Snow or Aemon Targaryen. The man was born to be their champion, He was the promised prince, The Azor Ahai, He was supposed to defeat the Night King sending the Ice demon back to sleep for another 8000 years but he failed, The Night King was not defeated, he only lost his body to the dagger of a girl who was once known as Arya Stark. He would raise again within the next hundred years and with no one there to stop him the world was doomed.
The Gods who were once powerful and strong, were now mere shadow of themselves, slowly dying because their once powerful magic was nearly all gone from the world. But all was not lost they still had enough power to do something which could save them. Both Gods not giving up hope finally came to a decision that they would send Jon Snow back in time. But due to their reduced powers they could only send his soul, They were not powerful enough to send his memories.
They decided to guide him through visions, Dragon dreams which would be more direct and meaningful. Lastly with last of their powers they gave him some boons which would help him fulfill his destiny. Old God gave him the ability to warg or share skin with any animal. While in previous life all the Stark children could warg subconsciously but now Jon will be able to do it at will. While the Old Dragon Gods decided to bless him with a Dragon which would grow faster and be more stronger then any Dragon ever born.
Seeing this both The Seven and The Lord of light R'hllor not wanting to lose they new gained power ( after burning of Kings landing many people start following lord of light in Westeros and many Northmen start to follow seven due to Sansa Stark becoming the Queen in the North.) Started to deploy their own plot to remain powerful. The Seven Gods make lady Catelyn Stark more devoted and fanatical follower then she already was thus ensuring the Stark children follow Seven instead of the Old Gods. Lord of light decided to give more clear vision to his followers so that they can find the Prince that was promised early and persuade him to follow R'hllor.
All this scheming was not without price, all the Gods knew that the Night King would become two times as powerful in this new altered timeline then he was in the original one but it was the price they were willing to pay to give a last chance to life.
Despite their differences all Gods agreed that the powers of three eyed crow will not be transferred to Brandon Stark till he reached the age of fifty and had lost all his childish and delusional dreams of becoming a Knight or a King, afterall because of Brandon Stark's plot to get the outcome of him becoming the King had lost them everything.
WINTERFELL, THE NORTH.
JON SNOW. (TEN NAMEDAYS OLD)
Jon suddenly sat upright on his bed covered in sweat with a lingering feel of chill in his body. He took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. Seeing that it was nearly dawn he decided to start the day early and shuffled towards the chamber pot.
Arriving at the great hall he looked for the presence of Lord stark, Knowing very well that he couldn't sit with his family if his father was not present to prevent Lady Stark from sending him away to avoid him sullying her good morning with the presence of a bastard.
From a very young age, he had learned about his status in his Lord father's household. Growing up shunned by almost everyone had made him a little bitter but he was still grateful for having a roof over his head and food to fill his belly, he knew the fate of most bastards and compared to them he was living a life of comfort. But he still couldn't help but envy his trueborn siblings who had the name Stark unlike him. Robb his half-brother who was his age mostly ignored him, Sansa was a mini version of her mother and thought him to be a deceitful creature who would take away anything and everything. The only person who considered him as a family was his six name-days old little sister Arya who loved him despite her mother's content disapproval. Not finding his father at the head table he signed and turned to walk towards the kitchens to break his fast.
After eating in the kitchen he went on with his day. Ser Rodrick master of arms of Winterfell drilled them in swordplay and archery, Maester Luwin thought them more numbers and history of house Lannister and their vessels. For the rest of the day, most people ignored him, but some like Theon teased and taunted him calling him names which he was used to hearing from them and had learned to ignore not giving them the satisfaction to see him angry or sad.
He finally came by to his chambers located in an isolated part of the Castle near the servant quarters after supper to sleep on his hard bed. He previously was used to sleeping in Robb's chambers in the family wing but Lady Stark had put a stop to it when she saw Robb becoming familiar with him.
Jon found himself standing in front of a huge castle made out of smooth black stone with grey clouds looming over it. He stared in awe at the great Castle so unlike Winterfell. The castle had many large and long towers in the shape of Dragons. Dragons and various other animals were carved at the edges of the Walls, All of which had rubies and gems stuck into them, shining in the darkness. He walked forward towards the huge gate which has dragons of different colors engraved on it, some big some small but all terrifyingly beautiful. He was suddenly brought out of his observations by a tremendous roar from behind him.
Not even turning to see the source of the terrifying sound he dashed towards the gate and entered it without any second thoughts. It was dark with only a single light visible on the far end. Jon wiped his forehead with the back of his trembling hand, steeling his nerves he started walking towards the light.
He walked quietly and swiftly for what felt like a few hours all the while trying not to look back. He finally reached some woods with morning fog lingering between the trees, he walked a few more meters to find himself standing in front of a huge, tall wirewood tree, He gawked at the tree in astonishment comparing it with the Heart tree of Winterfell Godswood which was big but he was sure that this tree dwarfed it with a few hundred feet and its trunk was nearly five times wider then Winterfell heart tree.
His musing was interrupted by a muffled laugh from the other side of the trunk. To satisfy his curiosity he slowly walked towards the sounds making sure to stay hidden.
There were two people sitting against the trunk, a man with shiny silver hair and a woman with dark hair. They were laughing and talking with each other. Jon becoming more curious slowly moved towards them still making sure to remain hidden. Now able to see their faces clearly he observed them, They both were young and beautiful. He was quite sure the man was from Valyria or Lys with his long silver hair, dark purple eyes and pretty face, he remembered from his lessen that only people from there had such features. The woman too was beautiful, not as much as the man but still, she looked pretty and she had silver-grey eyes which looked a lot like his own.
After a few minutes, Jon decided not to disturb the obviously blissful strangers and slowly started moving backward but a crack from a twig beneath his foot brought all the attention to him. He immediately tried turning around and make a run for it but in his haste, he fell face-first on the ground.
The Lady was immediately by his side helping him get to his feet. After dusting himself Jon looked at the Lady. " I..I'm sorry my lady. I..I was just leaving" He stammered already expecting to be yelled at for disturbing their peace.
The beautiful young lady just smiled at him with her hand rubbing his cheek. She kissed his forehead and took him in her arm. Jon was a little startled, having never received any embrace from anyone other then little Arya left him both surprised and confused. A few moments later the man came behind the women and led them both towards where they were sitting a moment ago against the white trunk of the wirewood tree.
In his confusion, Jon followed the man's direction and sat beside the lady who still had her hand wrapped across his shoulder. The now smiling man sat on his other side, Jon became more uncertain as both the man and the Lady continued to smile and kiss his head.
The lady took his face his her hands and spoke for the first time. "You are so handsome, my son." Her voice was soft and filled with affection. Jon looked up at her, his mouth half-open. The woman called him her son, he had never known who his mother was, his father had never talked about his mother but seeing this woman dark hair and silver-grey eyes he could discern that she might really be his mother. He licked his dry lips and steeled his nerves and asked the question which he was afraid to ask. "Are you my mother."
The Lady's smile got wider as she nodded and kissed his forehead. "Aye, I am your mother and I love you with all my heart, sweetling." Hearing those words for the first time in his life made Jon lose control over his tight emotions and he flung himself in his mother's arm and cried his eyes out. After nearly a minute he looked at his mother's beautiful tear steaked smiling face and buried his face back in her neck as she rubbed his back.
After a few minutes when he was nearly asleep in his mother's arms he felt another hand on his shoulder, by the size of it he knew it didn't belong to his mother. Looking back he saw that it belonged to the silver-haired man. "Won't you embrace your father, son." The man spoke smiling at him.
Jon confused looked up at his mother. As far as he knew Lord Eddard Stark was his father and he didn't know who this silver-haired man was. His mother looked at him with a sad smile. "We have so much to tell you in so little time, son."
They told him everything, The truth about Robert's Rebellion, The aftermath deaths of Princess Elia and his half-siblings Aegon and Rhaenys at the hands of Lannister men, his birth, death of his mother due to blood loss and birthing fever and most importantly they told him who he was, who his true father was. Jon was enthralled by their tale, he couldn't believe it, all the stories about the rebellion from his childhood were untrue. His father was not Lord Stark but Rhaegar Targaryen, a man who he till now believed to be a mad prince who kidnapped his aunt, His aunt Lyanna Stark was actually his mother, His name was not even Jon but Aemon Targaryen. It was too much for his small brain to comprehend but he held on to one point, he was not a bastard He was a true-born Targaryen.
"We were betrayed, Aemon. we didn't want my father and brother dead. I left a letter for Brandon in Riverrun, I personally handed it to the second daughter of Lord Tully. I trusted Lysa Tully to deliver that letter to Brandon but she betrayed my trust and spread the lies about Rhaegar Kidnapping me." His mother explained.
"Why did you elope in the first place," Jon asked. "Why not tell grandfather Richard and get married."
His mother looked at his father who was also looking at her, both looked at each other for a few moments till his father nodded.
"Aye, We could have done things differently, son." His mother began. "But at the time we thought running was the best option. Your mad grandfather King Aerys found out that I was the knight of the laughing tree and had his people despatched to Riverrun to execute me and They was also your grandfather Richard who was so deep in his scheming that he couldn't even care about his daughter's happiness, he would have never agreed for me to marry Rhaegar who was already married with children. He was busy in his plot of disposing of Targaryen and crowning Robert Baratheon." She finished bitterly and then sighed looking at him "Most importantly I loved your father and never wanted to marry Robert." She stroked his cheek. "I'm time You will understand what love can do to you Aemon. We chose love over duty and thousands paid the price."
"We never speculated that the thing could go so wrong." His father continued getting his attention. "I underestimated my father's madness and your uncle Brandon and Grandfather paid the price for that. By the time the news reached us we were wedded and were planning to travel back to Riverrun where I would have tried to gain the support of the Lords to dethrone my father but at this news, plans changed. We couldn't go to Riverrun knowing very well that someone in Riverrun had betrayed us. Your mother wanted to go but I couldn't take that risk with her being heavy with you. So, we traveled to Drone where I left your mother with the Kingsguards and Travelled to the Trident commanding the loyalist army. The night before the battle I attempted a parley with Ned Stark but unfortunately, he ignored my missives."
There was silence for a few minutes, nothing could be heard other than the wind ruffling red leaves of the Wirewood.
"You can't comprehend all this entirely now but in time you will, my son. This dream will be in your memory and will help you process all that we have said to you as you grow." His mother smiled
"This is a dream." He asked trying not to cry. He didn't want this to be a dream.
"Aye" His mother answered embracing him. "but we will always be with you. You might not see us but we will always be there love."
A few more minutes passed as he sniffed in his mother's soft chest before his father spoke with his big hand on his back. "You have many more things to know, my son."
Jon turned to his father who was looking at him sadly. "You are too young for this but this is your destiny chosen by the Gods son." Getting a distant look on his face he continued. "There is a great threat coming, Aemon and you have to be ready to face it."
Jon frowned and opened his mouth in confusion but was stopped from speaking by his father. "You will Know about the threat in time when you are ready son, but I will tell you how you can be ready to face it."
"You must become the King you were meant to be." Jon's eyes nearly popped out of his skull at that as he gaped at the man's words thinking how in seven hells would he do that.
But his father smiled at him and continued. "Gods have blessed you, son. The Old Gods have given you the gift of Skinchanging and warging, you can share a body with any animal you want."
Jon had heard all the stories about warging from Old Nan, who had told all the children about how the Warg Kings use to share minds with beastly animals becoming half-animals themselves. He didn't know if he wanted that so he opened his mouth to object but stopped as his mother spoke. "It a blessing from the Gods Aemon and very useful, Old Nan just make the stories scarier you will not turn into an animal." She grinned. "It will also come very easy to you afterall it's in our first man's blood. The Gods just increased its power in you. You will find many ancient tomes about these skills in the Winterfell Library son, read them."
His father nodded. "The Gods of Valyria have also blessed you, Aemon. A mighty Dragon who will always be with you. It is currently sitting hidden behind your mother's statue in the Winterfell crypts." Jon listened excitedly as his father instructed him about the ritual which would hatch his Dragon Egg but by the end, he was afraid and troubled by requirements of the actual ritual.
Jon enjoyed another hour with his parents as they told him stories from their childhoods but it did not last as his father began. "There is not much time left son. Remember there are three other Targaryens alive. Maester Aemon your namesake is serving at the Wall as a black brother, you should meet him and My brother and Sister are roaming the free cities in Essos hiding and escaping from Robert's Assassins. Find them Viserys is mad and will never help you become King always beware of him but Daenerys" he paused and hesitated before continuing "There was a reason Targaryens married brother and sister Aemon and Daenerys is nearly your age." Jon frowned not really understanding what his father was trying to say but still, he nodded his head.