Symeon found himself being dragged through a kaleidoscope of colours at a speed that would have left him dizzy if it was happening in the mortal world. As it stood though, he just found himself becoming pissed off.
He had long left the trail that he was on behind. Entering deeper into the Green than he would have dared to go without considerably more training and practice in the art of Greenseeing. If it weren't for being reincarnated, and the constant link it left him to the mortal world, he is sure that he would be hopelessly lost. Left to wonder until either his body broke from the strain of being left in a pseudo coma or his mind did.
Just as he started getting his bearings and he was ready to react to his new situation, the three eyed raven latched onto his shoulder, let go of him.
In the split second he had to react, Sam realised the birds plan was to release him so that he would go drifting even further into the Green, without any direction or control whatsoever. He snarled and reached up, grabbing the legs of the damned bird just as it was about to leave the range of his arms. Luckily, he had a lot of experience catching fast moving objects, and he was just barely able to grab one of its talons with his right hand.
It hurt slightly, not with real pain, but a type of phantom of pain that felt real in the moment nonetheless.
Sam found his momentum instantly shift as he was pulled along with the bird in a new direction. The raven let out a screech of surprise and stuttered in its movements for a moment. He was quick to use that moment to his advantage and grabbed onto its leg with his left hand and pulled himself up giving his right hand a greater grip.
The raven started flapping wildly, zooming in random patterns as it tried to fling him off but his grip held strong. The bird cawed in agitation and started pecking at his fingers while screeching at him. "Get off! Get off! Let go of me!"
Symeon grit his teeth at the pain on his fingers. He knew the pain wasn't real, but it didn't stop him from hurting all the same. While the bird was doing its absolute best to shake him off, Sam was thinking of ways he could beat the damn thing. He couldn't climb up higher and wring its neck as he was barely holding on as it was. Besides he wasn't sure if that would actually kill it. He isn't sure if it was even possible to die while in the Green. He winced at a particular painful bite before closing his eyes to think.
That's when he noticed it.
It was faint but he could feel a connection latching on to the bird. The same type of connection he was told by the old woman Morna was essential to make sure one never got lost in The Green. The connection that connected to the mortal plane. He didn't know where the connection led, but at that point he didn't really have much choice but to use it.
He could have let go of the bird and used his own connection to his mortal body to escape if he really wanted to. He just didn't want to.
The damned thing tried to kill him! He isn't sure if it would try again the next time he entered the Green, but Sam wasn't going to take the risk to find out. He is very ruthless with his enemies from the start. If he could help it, he wouldn't give people who proved to be enemies a second chance to kill him when it could be avoided. Others he cared about would always be caught in the crossfire.
Sam gathered all the will he could, before reaching out mentally to the connection the bird had with the mortal plane and pulled.
The effect was immediate. The bird suddenly stopped moving so erratically and was launched backwards as if it were a fish caught on a line.
He was honestly a mixture of happy and surprised that his idea seemed to be working so well. Symeon knew that he probably didn't have to walk in the Green. The rules of this plane were different from the mortal world. His body in this plane was only his mind interpreting his experience into something he could actually fathom. One could probably travel anywhere they wanted with nothing more than an effort of will, as long as they knew where they were going. He just didn't expect to achieve success in this manner so easily. Not against what was probably a powerful and experienced Greenseer.
Sam made sure to continue gripping the birds leg as it was pulled back to its mortal form. He could feel it reaching out to the connection tethering it and trying to fight his influence on it.
The pull on the bird started slowing down slighty and almost managed to stop completely before Sam doubled his focus and pushed more magic into pulling the damned thing back into the mortal world. It was powerful, there was no doubt about that but Sam himself wasn't any less.
After a while his vision started to darken until all he could see was black. Just as quickly as it came his vision cleared though and he found himself in a new environment with the bird missing from his grasp.
Symeon looked around to examine his new surroundings with the eye of a veteran of war. He found himself in a cave or tunnel of some sort. With roots crossing in and out of the ceiling, walls and even some parts of the floor. The space wasn't that large, it was maybe a little bit smaller than the Great Hall in Winterfell. It was a little difficult for Sam to see due to the poor lighting in the cave, but it was possible to see somewhat clearly due to some light that penetrated the gaps of the roots in the ceiling. It cast the entire place in an eerie light that was more than a little bit creepy in Sam's opinion.
The most surprising thing though, was the small green creatures that were standing next to and hiding among some of the larger roots. They stood were slightly taller than him at his current height and were brown in colour with green hair that have flowers growing in them, with cat like eyes that glowed slightly in the darkness. They only had four fingers and were dressed in rags that looked as if they were grown from roots. There were maybe half a dozen in the room and they were all looking at him with surprise etched onto their features. Their surprise only lasted a moment however, as most of them were quick to brandish short pieces of wood with the end carved into a point of wood like a spear at him.
One of them started singing. The roots closest to him rose like snakes and lunged for his limbs. They completely passed through him. As one they paused. They then proceeded to start talking to each other frantically in a strange language that Sam isn't sure he would ever be able to understand. He doesn't even think humans are able to make some of the sounds coming out of their mouths. To him, it sounded almost musical.
'The Children of the Forest.' He realised.
He didn't know how he should react in this situation. Were the Children the ones who attacked him? If so, why? He needed to know these answers. If he guessed correctly The Children were almost extinct. He didn't know how many of them there were. Almost all the books he read stated they were either extinct or never existed in the first place. Then again, he was finding the library of Winterfell incredibly lacking in old Northern texts. For one of the oldest libraries in the world it didn't have many of the rare books that by all rights should have had a copy there.
Back to the point, he didn't want to kill the last of them if he could avoid it. There was already so little magic in Westeros, if he killed off an entire magical species he didn't know what the repercussions could be. His ultimate goal was to nurture magic, to bring it back into the world. The Children of the Forest could greatly help with that goal.
He just hoped they spoke common.
Symeon was slightly curious about how he was here, or at least how his spirit was projected here, as he didn't know that was possible with Greenseeing. He decided he would think about it later as his attention was taken up by a groaning noise coming from the largest cluster of roots in the centre of the room that stretched from the floor into the ceiling.
Sam almost did a double take when he noticed the upper body and face of an old man that was coming out of the roots as if he were grown from it. Or more disturbingly, as if the roots were growing through him. Upon closer inspection he even saw a root growing out of one of his eyes.
It was possibly one of the most disturbing things that Sam had ever seen and he had seen many weird things in his life.
As he watched the old man lifted his head sluggishly before opening his eyes fully. He noticed the eye that didn't have a root growing through it was red. The old man blinked his good eye eye clear a few times as he was regaining focus. Once it seemed like he had shaken the cobwebs out of his head, his head immediately snapped to Symeon.
"You." He said in a voice that was absolutely dripping in malice and hate.
Symeon decided he would treat him like he treated all his enemies. With copies amounts of sarcasm and condescension. "Me." He drawled lazily. He wasn't overly worried about any danger. He wasn't really there after all, and he could use his link back to his body to escape any time he wanted. He might as well use the opportunity to get some information. He would decide what to do about the old man who probably attacked him once he knew more.
The old man's face twisted into a sneer "You've ruined everything!"
He just raised an eyebrow. "Sorry for ruining your attempt to murder me tree-person. I didn't know you would take it so personally."
"Not that!" He snarled. "The Song of Ice and Fire! You've changed things. How can the Prince that was Promised be born a girl. I can no longer see the correct path for the future! "
Apparently this 'Song of Ice and Fire' was a big deal based on how the Children of the Forest reacted to the words. It was also proof they spoke common. As Symeon watched they broke out into absolute pandemonium. They started shouting at each other frantically. One of them sprinted out of the room and two of them even dropped their weapons and looked as if they were only seconds away from breaking down into tears. That wasn't Sam's focus however. No he was much more focused on what the old man said.
Another prophecy by the sounds of it.
'Fuck' Sam thought. He have heard enough stories about prophecy that they are incredibly tricky, have double meaning and what not. 'Okay, think about that later.'
He narrowed his eyes. "And who are you to decide the correct path of the future?"
The old man's eyes glared at Sam so hard, he was half convinced he was trying to set him on fire. Not that it really bothered him much, after looking into the pool of hatred that was his many target's eyes, he doesn't really believe anything is really capable of scaring him anymore.
He continued to glare even as he spoke in a rasping wheezing voice that made it sound as if half his voice box had already turned to dust. "Who am I you ask? I am the Three-Eyed Raven! I am the Watcher! The keeper of the worlds history! I was watching your ancestors since before the Andals came! I have been guiding the world onto the correct path for countless ages! And you come along and ruin it! Centuries of work. Meaningless! Everything was going the way it should, until you changed it!" He finished in a coughing fit, wheezing as if one of his lungs was trying to escape through his throat.
After about ten seconds of the coughing he stopped and continued speaking. "You've doomed us all."
Symeon raised an eyebrow. "How exactly have I done that?"
The so called Three-Eyed Raven looked at him with contempt. "Things were supposed to go a certain way over the next few years. For one, your grandfather shouldn't have married that Lannister, you shouldn't have ever been born. You're an aberration! A mistake! Thanks to you, the White Walkers will win!"
Sam stilled. "The White Walkers?" Sam wasn't really surprised that they were real. Afterall he had read the books, he knew that they will come, but he thought that Three Eyed Raven would help him, not attack him. Atleast this cleared one of his doubts that Three Eyed Raven is not a noble entity, tasked with ensuring the falls of White Walker.
The old man coughed. "They are moving boy. The best hope we had was 'The Song of Ice and Fire', the prophecy of the Prince who was Promised. Now thanks to you there's a chance it won't come to pass!"
Sam couldn't help but scoff. Prophecies are fickle things. They are almost impossible to interpret correctly and his opinion, are better off ignored if possible. Basing decisions off of prophecy instead of sound judgement is a recipe for disaster. If they were true prophecies they would come to pass regardless of actions taken, and if it doesn't come to pass then it wasn't a true prophecy in the first place.
He looked at the thing in front of him. "Your arrogance is something to behold. Prophecies only have as much power as one gives them. They are better off ignored. " That was something he learned from experience of seeing many people obsessed with these things, who tried to control fate but failed in gruesome method.
The Three-Eyed Raven snarled. "You are the arrogant one boy! I have seen glimpses of the future! The Prince who was Promised would bring the Dawn. Now that may never come to pass!"
He laughed. "If the prophecy was so easily diverted then it was no true prophecy. "
He narrowed his eyes as he thought of something. The Three-Eyed Raven claimed it had been guiding some of humanities decisions since before the coming of the Andals. It claimed it saw glimpses of the future and was guiding humanity on a path to make sure that that future came to pass. What is the likelihood that the prophecy was created by the Raven to make sure the future follows along the path that it wanted? He didn't know if Divination could be that powerful. It is also possible that the prophecy was real and The Raven decided to make sure it came to pass. Either in general, or more sinisterly, in the way it wants it to. He needed more information.
"Who came up with this prophecy anyway and who is this Promised Prince? " He asked
The Raven laughed at him. "It has been around longer than me boy! The Red Priests say it's a prophecy from their god. I've seen visions of a future where it comes to pass. The Targaryens dreamed of it happening centuries ago. Many different religions and magic users have spouted the prophecy over the millennia! The oldest copy was found in Asshai by the Shadow . The prophecy is real! As for whom it is about?" He laughed. "It's your cousin. Jon Snow or as it is now, Diana Snow.!"
He furrowed his eyebrows together. "What makes Diana so special?"
He looked at Sam mockingly. "She has the blood of fire through her Targaryen father and ice through her Stark mother. She has brought two oldest bloodlines together"
Sam laughed "Than what about when House Belaerys merged into Starks or when Targaryen princesses married into House Stark."
The Raven said almost condescendingly "None of the children born from these union were born amidst salt and smoke,the prophecy says 'Born amidst salt and smoke, under a bleeding star the Prince that was Promised will bring the Dawn.' Rhaegar believed the prophecy. He led our house to ruin for the sake of the world!"
Sam acting suspicious, narrowed his eyes. "You said our house…"
The Three Eyed raven smiled an ugly smile filled with only a few rotting teeth. "Yes our house. Before I was the Three Eyed Raven I was a bastard son of House Targaryen. I was the hand to two kings. I stopped the first Blackfire Rebellion. I am –"
"Brynden Rivers." Sam said.
He grinned mockingly. "Yes, Brynden Rivers. Lord Bloodraven. I see you know your history."
Symeon was even less inclined to trust the Raven now than he was before. This man, no, this thing has apparently been guiding humanity from the roots of the trees for years. If that were true then he knew that his house would fall. He didn't even attempt to stop it as that would go against his vision of the future. How could Sam ever trust a man who was seemingly content with the extinction of his family? Or worse, a man who might have set it all in motion, assuming he created the prophecy that led to Rhaegar starting the war that saw the Targaryens cast down, he thought as now he looked at it more objectively than beyond a story. Although he was more inclined to believe the Raven thought it was a real prophecy based on how many cultures have spouted it over the years. That doesn't mean he didn't try and manipulate it for his own ends though.
He tensed and prepared to pull himself back to his body at a moment's notice. "You're being awfully trusting with information for someone who tried to kill me. "
Brynden smiled wickedly. "What will you do with the information? You're still going to die. While you are here, your body is vulnerable. I am not the most powerful skinchanger in the world for nothing boy. Then I will have to work to put the future back onto the correct course."
Symeon decided enough was enough. He had to leave and get back to his body before he was eaten by a lizard lion or something, but first he was going to do something he should have done at the start. Sam used his mage sight to look at the man before him, to try and get a better understanding of what he was dealing with. What he found would have made him vomit if he was currently capable of it.
There were hundreds of souls contained within the body. Too many to properly count. They were writhing and circling into and out of each other. Stitched together like an old ravaged quilt with holes and damaged seams. Each of the souls was extremely damaged in some way, affecting the greater whole, making it into something that was almost unrecognisable as once being human. This thing wasn't even truly Brynden Rivers anymore. His was the dominant soul still, barely, but the rest of them were bleeding through. Warping and twisting his soul into something else.
Sam laughed mockingly. "It's funny."
The creature in front of him leered. "What is?"
Sam smiled viciously. "You called me an abomination when you attacked me. But I see the truth now. You're the abomination. You're not even really Brynden Rivers anymore. No, you're hundreds of different souls, different people blended together to create this creature I see before me. This abomination against the natural order. It's as if you were once a man and skinchanged into another one over and over again every time you were close to death. Now I don't even know what you are."
The Three Eyed Raven lost all expression on its face. It just glared at him hatefully.
Symeon smiled. "But I can fix that."
Without wasting anymore time Sam reached out with his senses and tried to do something incredibly foolish. He extended his magic into the creature in front of him. He targeted the areas where the souls were connected. Using the same magic that was used to skinchange into an animal but on a person, if only targeted to the weak strands between the souls. At the same time he cranked up his mind shield he had developed over time after reading from the hidden books. It probably never would have worked properly on a normal person, who had one strong healthy soul to fight him. A normal person who was constantly filled with complex instincts and emotions. Instincts and emotions that were almost completely missing from Brynden Rivers. The man was empty, he was almost like a hollow void, skinchanging completely into another person clearly having a steep price over the years. It was as if The Raven was made up of hundreds of different souls stitched together clumsily, as if a child was sewing his first piece of clothing that ended up with all the important parts missing. As a result, there was no bleed through at his mind shields at all.
For a second the Raven looked panicked. "What are you –aaarg!"
That's not to say it wasn't an incredibly horrible experience. He could feel what emotions The Raven had left. The only truly prevalent emotion was hunger, hunger for another vessel. A hunger to leave this body. The feeling was easily blocked off by his mental shields though. He squished it down, dominating it. This thing was a caricature of a person, it lacked all instincts that would make fighting against it impossible. He could feel The Raven starting to fight back and it was slowly pushing him away, he would admit it was powerful if nothing else, but Sam never actually intended to take over the Ravens mind. No that was just the first step.
Sam grabbed onto one of the strands connecting the souls with his will and ripped it out of the creature. The Raven screamed and his fighting slowed down for a second. Symeon used that opportunity for all that it was worth and in the next instance he grabbed another one and another one. The creature thrashed and screamed as it was slowly unravelled. The process just got faster and faster as more souls were torn out unbalancing the delicate balancing act that its existence was based on.
After a while, when there were no more souls left Sam retreated from the creature and just looked at his handiwork.
The man in front of him resembled a men who have lost all mental faculties and was reduced to a vegetative state. His eyes were open, but they were glassy and lacking focus. He was breathing shallowly but wasn't moving at all. There was even some drool pouring out of his mouth. When he used his mage sight he couldn't see, what he has theorised long ago was a soul, at all.
He released a breath and focused on one of The Children who looked almost white at this point. "Take me to your leader."