The Wolf Of The North

When Torrhen woke up, he was blinded by a ray of light in his eyes.

"Oof, whoa," he said, turning his face away from the light. "Why's it so bright?"

He tried to move about, but his body decided that that wasn't happening, making his vision completely darken when he tried to move about, albeit a little too quickly.

He recognized a line of fur coming up to his face and a stone roof above him, so he figured he was in a room in Winterfell. Most probably his own. To his side, he saw someone's head with their red hair all in a mess as they slept on a chair by the side of his bed. Their hand was in his own and their head lay beside it.

"Mother"

Thinking back, what he went through was akin to a nightmare for him. Before this, the most dangerous encounter he had was getting hit in the head with a basketball back in New York. Everything he had just gone through right now was so surreal and unordinary that it all felt like a dream. A deeply harrowing and horrifying dream. He couldn't relate the image of pure love and kindness that was his mother to the frenzied look of madness and bloodl.u.s.t that he encountered wherever he had just left from. The contrast was like the difference between the ground and the sky.

'What favours did I ever do for the Gods to deserve a mother like this?'

The image of her slit throat as she cried out in grief watching Robb and the pregnant Talisa die appeared in his mind. The horror and tragedy that she had to face, dying believing that her whole family had been murdered tore him apart.

He then thought back to the past few years he's spent here at Winterfell, to all of his interactions with his new family. Everything seemed so surreal and blissful, but there was always something missing in his interactions. Something was off about him, but he only noticed it now.

He seemed drawn towards Jon, always helping him and making sure he wasn't depressed. He always felt a trace of guilt around his three youngest siblings and tried doing whatever he could to make up for it. He saw nothing wrong with these until he thought about his treatment of Theon. He pretty much ignored the guy, and unconsciously had a seething hatred for him.

'Am I treating them...according to the story? Have I been assuming...that I was in the story itself?'

His mind shook at the realisation. Deep down, he took this all to be a fantasy. He couldn't possibly be in Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire. But the recent events have been a wake-up call of sorts. Things were different now.

'Not everything will follow the original plot. There is something much deeper going on and I need to do what I can for my family.'

He looked to his mother beside him, her dishevelled auburn hair covering his fingertips. A sense of anger began burning inside him. The whole time he had been in this world, his mother was the one who loved him the most. Without hesitation, she would always be there for him and all his siblings. And yet, why did the world have to be so cruel to her? Even in death, she found no peace, seeking only revenge from House Frey as Lady Stoneheart. Unacceptable!

'I promise you, I will bring an end to this world and let it all burn to ashes before I let you go through that. I swear in the name of every damn god there is to swear by!'

He slightly tightened his grip around his mother's fingers as a newborn conviction was born in his eyes. The gesture stirred Catelyn from her slumber, and as she raised her head, he could see her puffy red eyes and the faint remains of dry tears as she looked into Torrhen's eyes, her pupils dilating in her surprise.

"Torrhen!"

With her shout filled with relief and elation, she jumped towards him and held his body in her embrace as she cried out onto his shoulder. "My boy, my dear boy," she would repeat between sobs as she let out all her pent up guilt and frustration within her heart.

'I don't deserve you, mother. You're too good to me.'

Hearing her voice, a guard rushed in with a look of panic. Upon seeing his face, he rushed out of the room. Torrhen could very clearly hear him calling for his father and maester Luwin. The sound of hurried footsteps could be heard through the open doorway, and a few minutes later, maester Luwin appeared.

As soon as he arrived, he leaned in and placed the back of his hand on Torrhen's forehead to check his temperature. He then lightly placed two fingers on his wrist to count his heart rate and then began to take off his tunic to assess the injuries below.

By now, Catelyn had already moved to the side so that Luwin could do his job efficiently, but he could still hear her snivelling.

"Maester Luwin, how bad is it?" He couldn't help but ask. There had to be a reason for his mother to be so distraught.

He was met with no response, just Luwin's look of pure astonishment and hushed whispers.

"Not possible...hmm...what's going on?"

Luwin then proceeded to prod Torrhen all over and steadily increasing his strength as he did so.

"Torrhen, are you feeling any pain?"

"No, why?"

A sharp glint appeared in his eyes as he began to search Torrhen's body for something. He then flipped Torrhen over and rubbed his hand across his back.

"It's a miracle!"

"Maester Luwin?"

"Ah! Yes, what is it Torrhen?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. In fact, it's the complete opposite. You're completely healed! It's a miracle!" A look of frenzied excitement was apparent on his face. "But we must find out how you recovered so quickly. Imagine the benefits that would bring! The knowledge we could gain! The-"

"But maester Luwin, what were my injuries, to begin with?"

His question had broken Luwin's reverie and the smile that was growing on his face disappeared.

"You had 5 broken ribs, your arms and legs were broken in several places and your body was almost completely black and blue from all the bruises, with several cuts both deep and shallow scattered across your body. Your wounds had already healed for the most part and the bandages were removed a few days ago, but your body shouldn't have healed so quickly! It would have taken you almost a year to recover and even then, you'd only be a cripple. Now you seem completely healed after only 3 weeks!"

'3 weeks!? I was out cold for 3 WEEKS!?'

"But, there is some bad news and it is something that you may not like. You'll have to prepare yourself for what you're about to see, and know that there was absolutely nothing I could do about it."

A sense of foreboding built up in Torrhen's c.h.e.s.t as Luwin quickly shuffled to beside the bed and rummaged for something in a nearby drawer. When he brought out a mirror, his heart sank.

'Did something happen to my face?'

When Luwin brought the mirror before him, he saw his face, but on the side, there was a scar extending from the top of his ear going almost the whole way across his cheek towards his mouth. He traced his scar with a trembling finger.

(Just the top scar but a little thinner: i.pinimg.com/originals/b5/8b/23/b58b23808e6592bab112966498ea3b11.jpg)

'Wasn't this where I was cut in the face after I enter that weird place in the library? Did my real body go inside? Everything in there was REAL!?'

"We don't know what caused the scar as you had it when you came out, along with some scarring on your back. I have tried to reduce the scarring on your face, but there's nothing I could do."

"It's fine, Torrhen," his mother said, gently placing her hand on the back of his trembling one and c.a.r.e.s.sing his face. "You're fine, and that's all that matters."

She then gave him the most radiant, reassuring smile that he had ever seen, and a feeling of ease washed over him, and he felt refreshed and rejuvenated. He could see the sadness in her eyes, yet here she was doing all she could to cheer him up.

'I do not deserve you, and neither does this world. I shall bring you the best there is! You shall have whatever you wish at your feet! I will give you this whole world! Just please stay by my side!'

A tear began to form in the corner of his eye. He turned his face away to the window, making sure no one could see it. He gazed out to the clouds outside and made a proclamation within himself.

'I shall change everything, starting from today! None shall belittle my family! Lord Tywin? King Joffrey? Littlefinger? Night King? Daenerys Targaryen? All of you shall kneel to House Stark! You may have your fun now, but winter will come for all of you!'