Chapter 32 Epilogue

The Long Night was a disappointment. Perhaps I spent too much time preparing or I just deluded myself. I expected an epic battle, terrifying foes beyond anything I've ever faced before and a heroic last stand. Something like when I faced my siblings.

Instead I had a cakewalk. Seems the night king, without any wildlings to hunt down, had already consolidated his forces near the Wall. My burning of the Haunted Woods had destroyed a large portion of his wights.

What he had left never breached my defenses. They threw themselves in seemingly endless hordes and shattered. A single battle marked the end of the Night King. I sent out zeppelins and land cruisers to hunt down the scattered remains of his forces. In the end I didn't have to send out a single human soldier.

The Night King was a lot less intelligent than I had thought. I'm not sure what he thought he could accomplish with his insane cavalry charge. What good are giant spiders against land cruisers?

Further confirming his lack of intelligence was how he refused to retreat. Even as all of his minions burned and he found himself trapped he kept mindlessly attacking. I attempted to talk, but got nowhere.

It's just as well. I always did hate smart enemies.

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Without the Long Night hovering over my head all my problems seemed so much less pressing. I felt I had all the time in the world. I put the war against Yi Ti in hold. I have a strong border and after militarizing so much of my empire it wouldn't do to suddenly lack enemies. That's how bandits and warlords start. No, much better to slowly wind down tensions.

It was for that reason I also opted not to invade Sothoryos. Besides the use of snatchers I largely left it to small scale incursions. I also spent quite a bit of time spreading out my troops securing my territory and consolidating my rule.

Integrating the Summer Isles, Westeros and Ghis will take a lot of work.

The war against the Deep Ones was also making slow but steady progress. Against them at least I had no problem winning decisively. The problem was actually hunting all of them down. The sea floor was not the easiest place to scout.

I already had dreadnoughts and marines clearing the seas. Modified floating fortresses allowed marines to be deployed without constructing bases everywhere. But my greatest breakthrough was depth charges.

My recreation of the weapon from my past was fairly brutal. I didn't have the advanced chemistry to fine tune explosives. I stuck with what I had. TNT. Lots of TNT.

Since TNT isn't affected by water I used it by the pallet. Eight cubic meters of TNT was enough to demolish any fortifications my marines encountered. Still, it wasn't enough to win.

To win I needed to project my power. My answer was the Leviathan. Powered by redstone and turbines it easily matched the largest examples of the animal that shared it's name. Significantly out-massing even my floating fortresses it was designed to actually serve as a mobile construction site.

It housed everything needed to generate it's own blocks of TNT. It used metal founts for saltpeter and sulfur. It even had an internal grove for wood to make charcoal. Sand was made by grinding up glass. Funny how I can endlessly generate glass, but not sand. At least not directly.

It was even large enough to house offensive beacons on the same wings that housed propellers to aid in ascending and descending. Meters of armor meant it was the most heavily protected of any vehicle I've made so far.

It was by no means a perfect solution. It was a good start though. Like ancient Carthage I fully intend my walls to be my soldiers.

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Years pass.

Winter ends. The Long Night never really occurs. Even at it's coldest and darkest my people are well off. My powers allowed food to be grown and stored no matter the conditions. The only real concession is I have an increased demand for pickaxes so people can build underground levels to their homes.

I'm not really sure why I'm so surprised when spring arrives. I guess I still expected something to happen right at the last minute. I feel like I can finally relax now. Besides, it's not like there are any real problems left.

My borders are expanding in every direction. Despite my decision not to actively invade Sorthoryos it's still slowly being colonized for it's climate. Organizing and ruling all of that is tedious. Which is why I've largely leave my empire alone in favor of my projects.

I largely turned the burden of ruling over to my children. Aside from a little advice everything seems to be well in hand. Widespread literacy, printing presses and redundant libraries in every major city means the world is rapidly changing.

Ten years have gone by and I have yet to encounter any sign of higher powers. R'hllor, the Great Other or any of a whole host of supposed dieties there is no sign. I kept gathering new branches of magic. And in the end that's all I've gotten from each religion I've crushed. Another branch of magic. It's enough to make one doubt in the afterlife.

I guess I really am alone here.

Could be worse.

Slowly I'm molding Planetos into a futuristic society. I even have an underwater city. It's a fantastic construction of enchanted glass, weirwood and valyrian steel. If I didn't have to build so much of it personally I'd have a dozen more.

Halfway through the winter I finally made a breakthrough with shulkers and discovered how to permanently enchant items to levitate. New classes of massive airships started to become more common. Flying fortresses and even a single flying city were made.

That wasn't enough for me though. Given how strong valyrian steel is I'm attempting to build a space elevator. With dragon skulls to provide reactionless propulsion I've already built space ships. Although it won't be any time soon I've already started designing my first space station.

From space the view is fantastic and revealed just how little of Planetos I actually rule over. Only around a third of the world. Which is a good thing. I'd really hate to ever run out of new things to discover.

I doubt I'll live to see a colony on another planet. Even my fastest ships move at a fraction of the speed required to make the distance feasible. They'll be decades of not centuries in reaching even the closest. Still, leaving behind the beginnings of an interstellar magitech empire seems like a decent legacy.

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I was wrong. My kids are really too good to me.

It took countless attempts, but they've finally reached the closest planet which I had named Terra out of sentimental value. A chain of travel gates and nether portals based on space stations were slowly being built. When it finishes I was to be the first to use to walk in the new world.

Which is how I can to this.

I'm old. My powers have kept me fit but it's been over thirty years since I established my empire. My frequent use of the Nether hasn't helped my age at all.

However there is hope.

Research and experimentation has given me to means to convert people. It drives them crazy or mindless, but I'm gambling my powers will preserve me.

Two of my children are overseeing the process. If I come out rabid they are instructed to put me down. I doubt I'd enjoy such an existence.

If I succeed though...

Well, that can't be completely a bad thing. After all I am still the only source of valyrian steel and minecraft items. Surely preserving the empire is worth a few risks?