The interior of the cave was far more spacious than expected.
A smell of dust mixed with thousand-year-old ice rushed forward, stinging the nose.
Torchlight danced in the narrow passage, stretching and twisting the mottled shadows on the walls as if they were alive.
The walls were covered in murals.
The style was rough, the lines simple.
Yet they exuded a primal, heart-palpitating aura.
With just a few glances, every Northern soldier felt a chill shoot from the soles of their feet straight to the back of their skulls.
The first mural depicted a group of humans clad in furs.
They were kneeling in the snow, grovel to a burning red eye in the sky.
In the second mural, another eye—this one blue—descended upon the earth.
Wherever it passed, forests turned into ice sculptures, rivers froze solid, and the land was covered in snow and ice.
In the third mural, humans in furs were cutting down weirwood trees. The Children of the Forest appeared, warring with these humans, leaving fields of corpses.
The fourth mural looked as if it had been partially erased, leaving only an image of a Child of the Forest plunging a dagger into a human's chest.
The dagger emitted a faint blue light, while in the sky, the giant blue eye watched it all.
In the fifth mural, countless fallen corpses rose again from the snow.
Their empty eye sockets flickered with the same blue light as the dagger, gathering into an endless army of the dead.
In the final mural, the surviving First Men fled south in panic, pursued by the army of the dead.
Behind them lay overwhelming white bones and despair.
"The Long Night... this is the legendary Long Night."
An older ranger's voice trembled, his grip on his sword faltering.
Legends, in the end, were not just stories.
These murals were the most direct and bloody record of that catastrophe which nearly destroyed all living things.
Lynn's gaze didn't linger on the murals for long.
He looked past the narrow corridor, straight toward the deepest part of the cave.
There stood a platform carved from ice crystals.
On the platform, something seemed to reflect a faint glimmer in the firelight.
What is that?
Lynn's heart skipped a beat without warning, then began to pound violently.
He quickened his pace and walked over.
As the distance closed, the object's outline became clearer.
An egg.
An egg about the size of a melon.
It was ice-blue throughout, a stone egg covered in a pattern of fine scales.
It lay quietly on the ice platform, as if it had slept for eons, merging with the surrounding ancient ice.
But Lynn knew this was no ordinary stone.
The perfect oval shape, the scale patterns covering its surface—everything pointed to one insane possibility.
A dragon egg.
A... completely fossilized dragon egg.
"A dragon... dragon egg?"
Torren, following behind Lynn, saw it too. His throat felt blocked, squeezing out two dry words.
His voice sounded abruptly loud in the dead silence of the cave.
Everyone crowded around, staring intensely at the stone egg.
Their expressions were a mix of awe, curiosity, and a primal fear rooted in their blood.
Dragons.
Those magical creatures that existed only on the sigil of House Targaryen.
They had been extinct on this continent for over a hundred years.
Why would a dragon egg be here?
Beyond the Wall, inside a wildling altar dedicated to an unknown god?
Lynn had expected treasure, or perhaps some blessed herbs.
At worst, maybe some ancient artifacts left by the Children of the Forest, or clues about the White Walkers.
Who could have guessed that a dragon egg was hidden here!
Though it looked fossilized, it was still a dragon egg!
As long as it was a dragon egg, there was a chance to hatch it!
Didn't that little dragon girl, Daenerys of House Targaryen, hatch three real dragons from three fossilized eggs?
If he could hatch just one dragon...
Robert's throne? The Lannisters' gold mines? The so-called honor of the North?
In the face of dragonfire, it was all bullshit!
An indescribable heat rushed from his feet to his head. Lynn felt his blood burning.
He had to use every ounce of his strength to suppress the urge to laugh out loud right there.
Forcing himself to calm down, he took a deep breath of the freezing air.
Then he reached out, intending to touch the stone egg.
"My Lord, careful!"
Torren jolted, immediately speaking up to stop him.
"This place is too evil. What if that egg is cursed..."
"Aye, my Lord."
Jason nervously agreed.
The guards and rangers looked at Lynn with worry.
They would rather fight a whole army of wildlings to the death than let their commander touch this weird object of unknown origin.
Lynn glanced back at them, forcing a reassuring smile.
"Relax."
He knew what they were worried about.
He also knew that Benjen might have fallen victim to this place. This thing shouldn't be touched lightly!
But he knew even better what this dragon egg meant.
It was the biggest, hardest trump card he could possibly draw in this game of thrones.
If he didn't take a gamble, how could he call himself a transmigrator?
Fortune favors the bold!
Besides, he still had the System's novice protection privilege.
Do it!
He hesitated no longer.
Lynn's fingers landed firmly on the cold stone egg.
The sensation at his fingertips was cold, hard, and heavy.
No different from touching a regular, polished stone.
A trace of disappointment flashed through Lynn's heart.
Is it really just a fossil with no life left in it?
Just as he prepared to pick up the egg.
A sudden change occurred!
The ice-blue stone egg seemed startled by the warmth of his palm.
The dragon scale patterns on the shell suddenly lit up without warning!
Fine cracks, like a spiderweb, spread rapidly from where Lynn's fingers touched across the entire shell!
Crack... Snap...
An extremely faint, yet undeniably real pulse of life transmitted clearly from the interior of the stone egg to Lynn's palm.
It... was still alive!
Lynn's pupils shrank to pinpoints. The wild joy in his heart ignited again, fiercer than before!
However, before he could rejoice for more than three seconds.
An indescribable, terrifying will, seemingly descending from the heavens themselves, rushed down his arm and blasted into his mind without resistance!