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***
259 A.D.
This year was one of the most tragic in Westeros in the fifty years since Dagon Greyjoy's rebellion.
War was in full swing in the lands of the Free Cities, popularly called the War of the Nine Thorn Kings. "The Nine-Grosh Kings," or the Gang of Nine, a group of ambitious magnates, mercenaries, and pirates, had already conquered the Disputed Lands, sacked the wealthy Free City of Tyrosh and the Steps, and were preparing to invade Westeros. One of the members of this alliance, Maelys Blackfire, belonged to House Blackfire and therefore claimed the Iron Throne. Fear gripped all the people of the East Coast. They feared Meilis the Terrible, or Meilis the Two-Headed, who was said to have a second head the size of a fist growing out of his neck, as if it belonged to his conjoined twin.
In the south of the continent, in the lands of the Dornish Marks, the tragedy of Summer Castle took place. A fire started at Summer Castle, the summer residence of House Targaryen. It was unrelated to the War of the Nine-Grove Kings, but it hurt the royal dynasty. King Aegon V, his son Duncan and his wife, and Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Duncan the Tall died at Summer Castle, a legendary figure who would be held up as an example to future descendants alongside such great heroes as Eamon the Dragon Knight, Ser Erthur Dane, Ser Barristan Selmy, Ser Servin the Mirrorshield, and many others. The Summer Castle tragedy itself was rumored to be related to an attempt to breed dragons from eggs using wildfire, but many in the know hinted at arson at the hands of Prince Aerys II, who would later go down in history under the title of the Madman.
And finally the ascension to the throne of Jehaerys II Targaryen, a king wise and peaceful, but ailing and revived the old Targaryen custom of marriage to kin when he married for love to his sister, Princess Shayra.
There were many other events that affected Westeros in one way or another, but unfortunately we just don't know about them. And one of them is what started this story.
***
Everything begins, or should I say ends, with death.
No, that's too abrupt a start to this reflection. Perhaps, as the best philosophers on Earth have said, it is best to begin with the question....
What is life and what is its meaning?
There is a great number of terms explaining this concept to a greater or lesser extent, but, unfortunately or fortunately, none of them can fully reveal and convey the whole deep meaning of this seemingly simple word.
Every sensible person can readily state that he lives, with a capital letter, that he is a living being like any other on our planet. He creates, makes, destroys, destroys, destroys, or simply dreams, as befits any intelligent being.
But there is a big difference between "existence" and "life".
Not every human being will be able to answer this question, as well as "is there a meaning to life?"
For many millennia throughout our human history, every self-respecting philosopher, be it Nietzsche, Demosthenes, Marcus Aurelius or Confucius, has pondered this question, and has not been able to accurately give an answer that would satisfy everyone and answer all questions.
For if you think about it, it does not exist.
There is not and never will be a correct answer to this question. No human being can say what the true meaning of life really is. Every thinking and self-aware individual decides for himself what is the meaning of life for him: in his goals and aspirations, family, work, satisfaction of what people call the seven deadly sins, or maybe the meaning of his life is in helping others, in altruism and in selfless virtue. As long as man has a purpose in this life, his beginning or soul is alive.....
What is our, human, end?
If to speak in scientific language, the end of biological and spiritual life or simplified death is the cessation and complete stoppage of biological and physiological processes associated with the maintenance of vital activity of the organism.
Any person who knows a little about medicine can say that the most frequent cause of death is disease, and he will be right. After all, man was created to die only after 150 years of life. But so many people have lived to this point that they can be counted on their fingers, and they are more of an exception, proving the opposite. Almost all people leave this world not because of natural old age, but because of disease, which all their lives undermined their health like water to a stone, and finally reduced to the grave.
In philosophy, there are usually two kinds of views on this question. Some people believe that death is not the absence of life, but its completion, the finale of a grand game. Therefore, death should be contrasted not with life, but with birth. It is quite a natural process of transition from a living state to a dead one. Living and non-living, dawn and dusk, light and shadow, are two sides of the same coin, one of the fundamental laws of nature.
Others, however, see death not as the opposite of birth, but as an integral part of it. Rebirth, rebirth, incarnation, reincarnation. This occurs in almost all religions of the old and new world. Reincarnation, life in other worlds after death. Heaven and Hell...
And now, yawning and trying to stay awake in the little cradle, I realized that the latter were right.
I am me without losing my memories, personality and skills. Why fate or the gods gave me this gift, I don't know, but if I get the chance, I will thank them.
I will again be able to see and feel the warmth of the Sun, to meet and communicate with new people, to learn a lot of new and interesting things, not limited to the old and sick body.
I will Live.
***
In one of the many farmsteads located in the Western Lands, a boy was born on this sunny day. He was no different from most children - soft and smooth skin, small and weak arms and legs that he could barely move, a little fluff of black hair, and chubby cheeks that his older brother touched fondly.
But there was something special about him: his eyes. Very bright and lively emerald eyes. They seemed to burn from within with a green flame. They reflected an incredible swirl of feelings - the desire to live, to explore, to create and destroy everything around them, inherent in all infants, mixed with intelligence, calmness and wisdom that should not be in this body.
On this day, one of the many individuals who would make the history of this continent in the future was born in Westeros.
***
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