Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 447 Winter has arrived
Dragon Nest City, Silver Blood Tower.

The dusk was like blood, stained the tallest tower of Dragon's Nest City. Star Song coiled on the circular terrace, its dark scales absorbing the last rays of light, and its crown-like dragon horns were entwined with strands of starlight. It lowered its head, and a low whimper rolled in its throat, as if it had already sensed something. As the companion dragon of Ringol, and a large dragon, the Silver Blood Tower could hardly accommodate its size. Even if the life fire of its companion had burned to the end, it would be difficult for this dragon to be as intimate with its companion as it was many years ago.

In the bedroom on the top of the tower, Ringol lay on the bed. This dragon knight who once dominated the Seven Kingdoms was now as thin as an old sword out of its sheath. His silver hair spread on the pillow, and his purple eyes were still bright, but they were out of focus. What was reflected there was no longer the scene of the mortal world, but a distant shore that only the dying dragon king could see.

Hoffa knelt in front of the bed and stared at his grandfather's face. He wanted to say something, but found that his throat was dry as if it had been burned by dragon fire.

"Star Song." Ringol's voice was as gentle as the wind blowing over the waves. "It hates rainy days and its scales will hurt if it flies too low. It likes sunny days."

The old man's fingers moved, groping for Hoffa's wrist. The touch was as cold as dragon scales, yet with the last bit of warmth.

"Listen, kid." Ringol suddenly grabbed him tightly with amazing force. "The White Walkers are not here to conquer. They are here to bring death. Don't take any chances."

Hoffa nodded heavily.

In the darkest hour before dawn, Ringol Varese stopped breathing.

Star Song's wailing made half of the glass windows in Dragon's Nest shake. The black dragon rammed the tower frantically, the rocks cracked, and the rubble fell like rain, but it couldn't shake the black castle at all. Hoffa stood on the edge of the terrace, his silver hair intertwined with the dragon flame in the strong wind.

"Stop! Be quiet!" he roared, with an authority in his voice that was unfamiliar even to himself.

Miraculously, Star Song stopped moving. Its huge head turned towards Hoffa, and the figure of the young man was reflected in its golden vertical pupils, so small, yet so stubborn.

Hoffa slowly raised his hand.

Xingge sniffed his palm and suddenly exhaled a hot breath with sparks. But Hoffa did not move. He tamed Xingge with almost no effort. When the servants arrived at the terrace, Hoffa had already jumped off Xingge's back.

The attendants trembled as they brought the dragon saddle, which was once used by Longzel. The edge of the saddle was inlaid with moonstones, and it glowed with a faint blue halo under the starlight. It didn't have any meritorious deeds, it was just beautiful.

"I'll do it." Hoffa pushed the attendant aside and personally fastened the dragon saddle to Xingge's back. His movements were clumsy but firm, and each buckle clicked tightly, like a knight about to go to war.

As Hoffa tightened the final strap, a hoarse voice came from behind him:
"It's too loose, rookie."

Rey Varese stood on the stone steps with a cane. The centenarian was as hunched as an ancient pine tree, but his purple eyes were frighteningly bright. Behind him, the skinny Shadow Nightmare was hovering beside the tower, seemingly waiting for a companion.

“You can’t—” Hoffa began, but was interrupted.

"Shut up." Rey threw the cane to the servant, "Tie it up for me."

Shadow Nightmare obediently pressed his body against the edge of the tower, making it easier for the servants to help the old dragon king onto the saddle.

The attendants hurriedly helped the old dragon king onto the saddle. Surprisingly, when Rey's skinny fingers grasped the reins, Shadow Nightmare's bony body suddenly tensed up, and his muscles bulged like steel cables. At that moment, it seemed as if Rey had become fifty years younger.

"Listen, little bastard." Rey looked down at Hoffa, a hideous smile on his face. Rey, who was already so old, always looked hideous no matter what he did. "My brother saw the end of the world... and I, I'm going to smash it to pieces."

When the first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds, two black dragons soared into the sky.

Star Song's wingspan covered half of Dragon Nest City, and every scale on it reflected the blood-red morning glow; Shadow Nightmare was like a black lightning, tearing through the clouds with agility that was not in line with his age.

Hoffa clung to the dragon's neck, the wind filling his lungs. Below, the people of Dragon's Nest looked up, they couldn't see the expression on the young dragon rider's face, but everyone knew that it had only one meaning.

resolutely.

At one point, Hoffa seemed to hear his great-grandfather's voice mixed in with the wind:

"The night ends with us." "Death will follow us."

A land of eternal winter.

The earth is shaking.

The roar of the glacier breaking was like the roar of an ancient giant, resounding across the desolate tundra of the far north. Under the ice, the ice spell that had been dormant for a thousand years was awakened, and the pale runes on the frozen rock walls lit up with a faint blue light, like countless pairs of opened eyes, staring at this world that was about to be swallowed by the cold winter.

Countless White Walkers opened their eyes in the ice.

The ice surface of the Trembling Sea suddenly exploded, and huge cracks spread like spider webs. The seawater instantly condensed into sharp ice spikes in the extreme cold. Seventeen adult ice dragons broke out of the abyss. Their wingless snake-like bodies were winding like mountains, and every piece of ice crystal scales reflected a dazzling cold light.

They have no flames, only eternal frost breath. When they open their huge mouths, what they spew out is not dragon flames, but extremely cold winds that can freeze even flames. The forest turns into ice sculptures under their breath, and the fleeing beasts freeze in an instant, maintaining the terrified posture of the last moment.

The newly revived ice mages stood on the top of the glacier, their pale fingers sliding across the void and their spells piercing into the frozen soil like ice blades.

The rotten mammoths stood up from the ice, their tusks reshaped by the ice and turned into sharp frost blades. With every step, the ground cracked into spider-web-like ice marks.

The saber-toothed tigers, whose half faces had become boned, had icy spikes condensed on their fangs, and their dark blue pupils were dancing with eternal cold flames. Their roars froze the air.

The horns of the completely extinct giant deer stretched out like icy spears, and every leap brought up a biting icy mist, as if the messenger of death was walking on the snow.

Pale figures emerged one by one from the snow and fog, and the army of the White Walkers spread like a tide, silent but deadly.

The newly awakened Knights of the Night ride on ice horses with their ice crystal swords held high. They are the most powerful warriors in the White Walker Army, and each of them commands a huge army.

The Icecaller rides a giant ice spider, whose eight long legs pierce the frozen ground like icicles, and wherever they go, ice thorns grow. These short White Walkers are good assistants to ice mages. They attach ice armor to revived corpses, summon spiders and horses frozen in ice, and can even heal wounds that are difficult to heal for injured White Walkers.

The Pale Daughters hum in the snow and fog, their songs can coagulate the blood of the living and make the souls of the dead wail forever. Eight thousand years ago, the Pale Daughters, with the cooperation of the commander-in-chief of the Great Wall, broke through the protection of the Great Wall and transformed the ambitious guy into a monster called the "Night King".

The army of corpse ghosts followed closely behind, tens of thousands of them, with blue ghost fire burning in the eyes of each corpse. They had no fear, no fatigue, only eternal hunger and thirst, and hatred for life and warmth.

The territory of winter began to expand wildly, as if the whole world was surrendering to the land of eternal winter.

Heavy snow fell in the desert of Dorne, and the Red Mountains were wrapped in silver for the first time, but the climate was still mild. Even though snowflakes were falling in the north and south, the fountains in Sunspear City condensed into icicles, and desert scorpions dug the ground frantically before freezing, but they still could not escape the invasion of the frost.

The rivers in the Riverlands began to freeze, and schools of fish were trapped under the transparent ice, maintaining their last swimming posture.

The golden fields of Highgarden were covered with frost and snow, and the roses withered in the ice crystals, as if even the memory of spring had been erased.

This is no ordinary winter.

This is the return of the long night.

Almost overnight, winter fell across Westeros.

Now, the princes who still had doubts had to believe that the long night was coming.

The Ice Mage Lords stood on the highest peak of the Heart of Winter, their dark blue eyes looking towards the south. Their voices were as deep and cold as the friction of glaciers:
"Let the flame try"

"See whether the dragon's flame is hotter or the long night is colder."

(End of this chapter)