by Decdragon
Brynden Rivers died in a frozen cave beyond the Wall, his consciousness fused to a weirwood throne for over a century. He had watched the realm tear itself apart. Watched the Targaryen dynasty fall. Watched the Long Night return and nearly consume everything. He expected oblivion. He got a second chance. He wakes young again, whole, on the morning after the Battle of the Redgrass Field. It's 196 AC. Daemon Blackfyre's corpse is still warm. And Brynden remembers everything that comes next: the rebellions, the plagues, the civil wars, the madness, the ice and fire that will consume Westeros if nothing changes. He was a monster, the first time around. The realm's spymaster, its torturer, its necessary evil. He killed his own kin, hunted his enemies to extinction, and built a legacy of fear that outlasted his human body. This time, he chooses differently. But redemption isn't simple. The Citadel opposes his reforms. The lords resist his changes. His own family doesn't trust him. And somewhere across the Narrow Sea, his brother Bittersteel is building an army of exiles who will never stop fighting until one of them is dead. Brynden has two centuries of knowledge and a realm that isn't ready to hear the truth. He has enemies on every side and allies who don't understand what they're fighting for. He has one chance to build something that can survive the darkness coming from the North. The question is whether a monster can choose to become something better. Or whether the man he used to be will destroy everything he's trying to save.
