We traveled for days. Because of the slow pace of the wights, I was able to catch up to them, even after sleeping through the night. They left a trail even the fools on the Wall could follow. On the morning of the second day, I was surprised we hadn't reached their destination yet. Being this deep in the forest, I'd expected them to have a staging area somewhere within its domain, but they just kept marching. I started to think they'd leave the forest all together and cross the Frostfang Mountains and back into their domain in the Lands of Always Winter. When we left the forest, I saw where they were going, and it stopped me as surely as if I had been at the edge of a sheer cliff.

Gathered along the base of the Frostfang Mountains were the ranks of the White Walkers. They were massed tightly together in both directions along the mountains, further than my spyglass would let me see. There seemed to be no end to them. The withered skeletons raised from the frozen lake walked straight toward the deathly assembly and merged seamlessly with their ranks. It was like watching a drop of water join with another, and I quickly lost sight of them.

I realized in that moment what had happened before was about to take place again. Winter was coming, and the White Walkers would strike hard while the living were at their weakest. Looking over the army silently waiting along the mountains, I doubted if any resistance would be enough to stop them.

There have been many times when I'd come close to dying, but I had never felt fear as I did then. As a single unit, the Walkers turned and looked in my direction. Somehow, they knew I was there. They'd always ignored me before, so to draw the attention of every walking corpse terrified me to my very soul. I turned to run and almost fell over in the snow when I discovered a White Walker standing behind me, blocking my retreat.

He was slender, his dark armor complete and well maintained. His skin was the blue color of frost and his eyes were glacial. What I noticed most were the horn-like protrusions of ice jutting up from around his head as it gave the impression of a crown. If the Walkers had a king, I thought this might be the one.

Faster than I could see, the Walker seized me by the throat with one hand, lifting me partially off the ground with strength impossible for his size. I gasped for breath. His grip was frigid, and I could feel the warmth leaving my body only to be replaced by an ever expanding field of numbing cold. I had taken a chance in observing the Walkers and would pay with my life. I knew I was doomed.

The world melted away to leave me standing in a different place with no Walkers in sight. It was a strange place with trees and hills of vibrant green, similar to the valleys in the Frostfang Mountains heated by volcanic vents, except this green was spread all over. No trace of snow or frost could be seen and the air was warm.

Just as I was getting used to the bizarre world, everything changed again. I was deposited in a forest, and when I looked around, I discovered I was standing in front of the forward lines of a battle formation. Warriors clad in metal armor, similar to those worn by those south of the Wall, stood in silent array waiting for the fight to commence. Even though I'd never seen them before, I seemed to know them all by name. It was instinctive and foreign at the same moment.

I looked in the direction the troops were facing and saw the enemy we were to fight. With rounded faces and slender bodies no taller than a child, the dark skinned creatures looked small and weak, but I noticed the claws they had instead of fingernails. Clothed in leaves and intertwined branches and twigs, they blended well with the forest around them, nearly being invisible.

One of the creatures moved, throwing something like a rock. When the object landed, an entire group of warriors and their horses vanished in a tremendous fireball. It seemed to be the signal to fight, and the two sides rushed toward each other in a chaotic din of battle cries and explosions. I fought with a skill I had never known before, felling every opponent in range of my blade. By the end of the day, the fight was won but with terrible losses on both sides, the forest littered with bodies and burnt husks of former trees. What was left of the creatures retreated deeper into the forests.

Many battles followed, the world shifting and realigning around me as each conflict blurred into the next. Suddenly, the fighting ended, and I found myself bound by the wrists with one of the childlike creatures moving toward me at a deliberate pace with a gleaming shard in her hand. A gag in my mouth muffled my screams as she pushed the sharpened point into my chest with agonizing slowness. The numbing cold returned.

When the world shifted again, I found myself in the frozen lands of the far north once more. As I passed by a solidified waterfall, I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflective surface of the ice and saw not my own face but the face of the Walker who held me by the throat. I realized I hadn't been transported anywhere. I was still in his grip, and the scenes replaying were his memories, his life. He was the first of the White Walkers.

The memories continued to flood my mind, and I experienced them all as if they were happening to me. I also began to feel his thoughts. I heard his reasoning and motivations for everything he did in my mind as if they were my own and I began to understand him and his purpose.

Centuries passed and the White Walker, now called the Night King, launched his attack during the Long Night, only being driven back by a massive army led by a champion with a flaming sword. Beaten but not defeated, the Night King worked ceaselessly during the ages that followed, gathering a larger army, working magically to ensure his victory when the final battle came to pass. That time was now at hand.

The Night King released me, my boots sinking back into the snow. It was an odd thing to have more memories of someone else in my head than memories of my own life and experiences, but it didn't matter as I had found new direction in his service. I had seen his intentions for the world, and I knew I had to make them come to pass, even at the cost of my life. He was my King. I would be his servant, his champion, his warrior, the vanguard of winter for this was now my purpose.