Alexios was not having a good morning. He had fallen asleep late last night and was late to class. He had to make it in time or else this would be his third lateness this week. The college student was rushing to get to class. His clothes were put on in a messy manner, his hair was greasy, his shoes weren't tied on properly and he was hungry. He ran as he zipped up his bag and started checking himself. As he was running he straightened out his clothes, combed his hair with his hand, and ate the granola bars he had on him. He was stopped at a corner, the sign switching to a red hand stopping him.

Alexios tapped his shoes on the sidewalk, using the time to tie his shoes. He checked his watch and saw that he would be late in 3 minutes. Alexios looked left and right of the street noticing that only one car drove by. Making his choice he jay-walked and ran to the other side. He was 3 quarters of the way through when a truck was speeding its way towards him. He made it to the other side of the road thinking he was safe when the car started swerving crazily. Alexios had enough time to turn around before the truck collided with his body and he knew no more.

(Scene Change)

Alexios woke up on a bed with a throbbing headache and to a white room. "Did anyone get the plate number on the car that hit me," he said out loud.

"No seeing as you're dead." A voice spoke, seeming to come from everywhere around the room

"Who are you? Where am I?" Alexios spoke shooting up from the bed and looking around, forgetting the comment about his apparent death out of fear.

"I'm what your people refer to as ROBs and you are currently in the space between dimensions." The voice responded amused at Alexios' actions.

"ROBs exist?" Alexios said, confused at the turn of events. "ROBs normally want something so why have you taken me," he asked.

"You died and you fit my ideal for an experiment I want," the voice responded, clearly wanting to get to the meat of the matter.

"I died. Huh funny how life works like that." Alexios said, airing out his thoughts. Now most people would've had an existential crisis but not Alexios. Ever since he was old enough to comprehend death he always feared it, the thought of some end he couldn't avoid, the lack of control. After a while and some life experiences he learned to accept it, that if you're going to meet the inevitable you might as well enjoy the time you have as much as possible.

After processing what the voice said after a few seconds he replied,"You said you wanted me for an experiment you wanted to test and I fit the ideal. What experiment are you running?"

"As you know, the voice started,"in your world there are things called SIs which are people who have knowledge of a world they get reborn in and use it to achieve the goal they want. What I want to test is if you'll follow the same SI routine as the rest of your fellow humans."

Alexios thought about it for a minute. He wasn't the most avid fanfiction reader but he knew enough to know what the voice was referring to. SIs were either the genius masterminds who knew what to do to achieve their goals, or the people who were found out within a couple of years living in their new fictional world. All though with what this ROB said he would have to throw out all his preconceived notions of what was fiction. If every "fictional" world was real he would need a new mindset rather than the ones most SIs adopt of disbelieving it until the narrative catches up and smack them in the face with cold hard reality.

"It depends on the world you're sending me," Alexios answered,"if you're sending me someplace like DC or Marvel the amount of telepaths, mind control, magic and the like would have me found out in a heartbeat. Same with most animes with some sort of magic or other energy. That also eliminates most worlds with magic considering mind spells would get me talking, unless you're going to be nice and give me the ability to use magic."

"A well-constructed answer. Indeed you have done better than some of the previous test subjects. They wanted to jump right in never once considering the fact that they might be reborn severely weak in comparison to the world that they wanted to reside in. One guy asked to be in the Harry Potter universe but died 25 years later tortured to death by Death Eaters because he was born a muggle and had no defence against mind magic." The voice told him, sounding slightly impressed at his analysis.

"Considering you have done better than most I'll tell you where you're going to be reborn and give you 3 boons which I can give you. It will come with an unexpected downside that you won't realize until later, can't make it too easy on you." The voice informed him.

"Where am I going?" Alexios asked, waiting for the voice to inform him. There were many fictional worlds out there and most seemed cool until you really stopped to think about it. Percy Jackson universe as a demigod seems like a dream come true until you realize the monsters are attracted to your smell, which gets stronger the more you know, and being reborn knowing exactly how the world actually is ensures immediate death. Harry Potter with it's magic and wand-waving seemed neat. Then you take into account the fact you're close to dying every single year because of the Potter luck. Naruto… less said the better. Dragonball… enough said.

He just hoped he was put in a world where he can put his historical knowledge to use. Alexios was a bit of a history nerd and loved learning about history. He felt that history was important and was slightly appalled that it had a reputation for being "boring". It wouldn't be considered that if people bothered looking at the battles and warriors throughout history. The spartans with their warrior based culture, the vikings with their weird mix of conquering and exploring. History wasn't just about memorizing key dates of treaties and events. His thought process was interrupted by the voice's announcement.

"You are going to go to *drumroll*... the Game of Thrones universe." Game of Thrones, Alexios mused in his head, could be worse. He could've put me in the Doom universe. Plus I can use my historical knowledge now.

"Important clarification question," Alexios asked,"is the three-eyed raven going to see me mess up the timeline because I've read that happen before."

"No he won't. I'll make sure of it," the voice informed him,"it wouldn't be fun if he knew you weren't supposed to be there."

"Another important question. Will I be born in Essos or Westeros." Alexios asked. The voice's answer would determine his approach. Game of Thrones was not a guaranteed happy ending. In the game of thrones you win or you die. If he was born in Westeros as a noble he'd have to deal with politics. It would be rather difficult doin do when in his current life he stayed away from the world of politics and didn't know how it worked. If he was reborn as a peasant his likelihood of living wasn't very long. In Essos all bets were off. He could make a sellsword company and make himself well known.

"Essos," the voice responded,"And I'll inform you right now since I know you're going to ask. Yes the gods exist in that world though not as you think they function. They can only affect the material world in tiny ways. For example the Faith of the Seven collect money from common folk yet they don't question it. That is because the Seven affects their thinking, making them believe it's normal."

Alexios mused what the Voice told him. If that's how gods worked then one had to ask. Were the gods there first or did the people make them up and give them power. The voice spoke again, interrupting his thought process.

"The gods were made by the people and their belief in what they are affects what they do. The Faith believe that their religion is the true religion and that everything else is blasphemy. That makes the Seven make it easier to convert people to the Faith and ensure the pious remain so."

"So it's possible to make a god." Alexios said, thinking of ways to use the information to his advantage.

"Not quite. There are rules to be followed. There has to be an equivalent exchange for power to be given. For example the Red God grants magic to it's priests at the cost of life. To make a god you have to set terms of what you want and what you're going to give."

Alexios nodded at the information and thought about what he wanted. Realistically he didn't want to die during the Long Night. He knew that Westeros won against the Night King, but his presence could interrupt the events which led to it. Narrative always seems to win during SI fics and he couldn't count on Westeros winning by themselves. He also thought about the three boons he was given. They were specifically for him, so he couldn't use them to make it so the Long Night was won. Plus they came with a negative so even if he could he might accidentally summon Cthulhu ot something.

"I have thought about it and selected my first boon, that I get the best military training when I'm reborn in Essos." Alexios cried out.

"Done. Next boon." The voice told him.

"That the Poison Sea isn't poisonous." Alexios requested.

"Okay… it's been granted." The voice said confused at where Alexios was going with this.

"Finally I want a nation of warriors to reside in the area of the Poison Sea." Alexios requested.

"Done. And to inform you that area is no longer called the Poison Sea. It is now No Man's Land." The voice told him amused.

"What- why." Alexios asked, confused.

"It has something to do with the negatives your boons have." The voice informed him. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Alexios said and vanished in a flash of bright light.

(Scene Change)

A woman of a tan complexion was crying out in pain with tears in her eyes. Women gathered around her as they helped her through the labor of childbirth. They were scurrying about with equipment as they helped deliver the baby.

"You're almost there, push one more time." An old woman told her at the spread of the woman's legs.

The woman cried out in pain one more time as she gave one last final push and the women around her moved. They pulled the baby out and cut the umbilical cord as the red faced babe was crying it's lungs out. The woman wrapped her child, a boy, in a red blanket and held him close. The women left all of a sudden leaving the woman alone with her child. When he opened his eyes she was shocked at his eye color of a distinct amber yellow.

"Is this payment enough." The woman said to seemingly no one.

"Hand him over and all your debts are cleared." A man appeared from the shadow at the corner of the room. He was a large man wearing black leather armor with a black cloak on with a sword at his hip.

"All of them?" The woman asked again to make sure. The man nodded and the woman with tears in her eyes handed her son over.

"You won't give him a name?" The man asked in a tone suggesting he didn't really care for her answer.

"I can't give a name to something that was never mine." The woman told him, still crying. The man shrugged his shoulders and left the room, his heavy boots producing loud steps as he walked away. He got on his horse and rode with his cargo secured to his chest. The man noted that the child stopped crying as he neared his destination, the gates of Astapor shrouded in the darkness of the night.