Winterfell (Part 1)

[POV AQUILES VIRIDIUM – YEAR 271]

After the silver flash of light created by God enveloped Aquiles's soul, he reappeared hundreds of meters above the ground, so high that Aquiles had a panoramic view of the vast white and desolate plain that was the North. Due to the height he was at, Aquiles couldn't see many details of the trees below, but he could still see their outlines, with their crowns covered in snow and ice, witnesses to the relentless cold that struck the region.

"It's so beautiful it seems unreal!" exclaimed Aquiles, amazed by the icy and beautiful landscape before him, stretching as far as his eyes could see. However, he couldn't continue admiring the place for long, as after a few moments, he felt his soul being enveloped by energy and then began to be dragged towards some place.

As Aquiles's soul was dragged through the sky, on the horizon, he saw something standing out from the vast icy plain of the North, and that was Winterfell. A colossal and majestic castle built with gray-alabaster stone, its thick tall towers pointed towards the gray sky, each one imposing and bearing its marks of past eras and battles fought. The walls, made of granite, surrounded the entire castle to protect the place, making Winterfell impregnable.

The only enormous gate in the wall was thick, entirely made of iron, and bore the symbol of House Stark, the giant wolf carved on each of its sides for all to see. Despite all this grandeur and security, there was more than stone, iron, and coldness in Winterfell. Next to the castle, there was a vast green garden that stretched like an island of life amidst the sea of snow. And in the center of this garden, a white tree, with an imposing size and ancient appearance, stood out, rising above all others, its branches reaching towards the sky like wrinkled arms, and a face carved on the trunk of the tree silently observing the world around it. That tree was called the Heart Tree or Weirwood, a symbol of the old gods that House Stark has served for millennia.

As Aquiles was dragged up over the castle and saw the place with a bird's-eye view, he couldn't contain his wonder and exclaimed with appreciation: "I am certainly in the North, and this giant castle must be Winterfell. It is much larger and much more imposing than how George described it in his books."

While Aquiles was marveling at the beauty and grandeur of Winterfell, and at the hundreds of people moving about below in the castle courtyards, he once again felt his soul being pulled, but now more slowly and towards a large window of oak and glass.

When his soul crossed the window and entered the room, Aquiles realized that the room was poorly lit, with light coming only from the window and from a torch that seemed about to extinguish due to the weak flame. The room was spacious, but not overly so, and in it, there was only one bed with sheets and blankets soaked in blood; lying on this bed was a man sleeping deeply. Aquiles might have thought the man was dead, were it not for some spasms that the man's body occasionally experienced.

The man lying on the bed had a remarkable appearance. His hair was shoulder-length, black, and straight; his skin was slightly pale like any average Caucasian, with no beard on his face, which was square and symmetrical, of a beauty even surpassing that of Brad Pitt, and he appeared to be around 16 or 18 years old, just a young man. Judging by the state of the covers and the sheets that covered him, it seemed that the man had been lying in that bed for a long time, or at least long enough for the blood to dry and harden.

"In the books, Bran is the only character who falls into a coma, and this happens after he is pushed from the tower by Jaime. Does this mean that Robert must have already come north to make Ned Stark the Hand of the King? The physical description and age don't seem to match those of Bran from the books, but perhaps George R. R. Martin may have altered his appearance in the books!" Aquiles thought, but before he could continue his inquiries, his soul was abruptly dragged into the body.

When Aquiles' soul entered the man's body, an influx of memories merged with him, allowing Aquiles to understand that the man lying in the bed was not Bran. "I am not Bran Stark. In fact, God created this body just three days ago, so he used his influence to create a situation where a Stark girl would be in danger, and then used this body only to save her and get me closer to the Starks. I feel like I've seen this girl before, but why can't I recognize her? Could she be Sansa? No, it can't be, Sansa is described as having red hair, and this girl has black hair. Could it be Arya?" Aquiles mentally questioned himself as the memories God left in his new body were fully merged with his own.

While Aquiles tried to remember who the girl he had saved was, he involuntarily tried to get out of bed, but felt so much pain in his stomach and arm that he immediately gave up and let out a groan of agony and pain as he lay back down. "Oh, Gods, it hurts so much. That cursed bear ate several pieces of my body... but shouldn't the passive effect of {Gift of Healing} have already started to heal me..." Just as Aquiles was about to curse, he felt the passive effect of his {Gift of Healing} skill activating on its own and beginning to heal him.

After the skill activated and began to heal him, Aquiles felt the pain decrease drastically as the wounds started to heal rapidly. The flesh, organs, skin, and muscles began to grow again and cover the parts that had been eaten by the damn bear; the speed of his wounds' healing was so fast that in less than 5 seconds his body had been completely healed.

"The healing speed of this ability is simply insane!" Aquiles thought with growing excitement inside his chest. However, soon this excitement dispersed as he noticed the smell he hadn't previously noticed due to the distraction caused by the pain.

Now that the pain had disappeared, Aquiles could exactly sense how bad the smell of blood, urine, and excrement covering him was. "Damn, I really need a bath!" Aquiles stated to himself in a low voice, wrinkling his nose as he pushed aside the blood-soaked and dirty blanket and rose from the bed.

"Wow, my new body is tall!" Aquiles thought, realizing that his new body was notably taller compared to his old one. While his old body was 1.84 meters tall, this new body stood at an incredible 2 meters tall, a true giant despite being so young. This new body had remained inert in bed for 3 days, and so Aquiles distinctly heard the cracking of his bones as he stretched in a long and satisfying stretch.

As Aquiles stretched, extending his arms, his peripheral vision caught his reflection in the window glass. He then turned around and approached the window to get a better look at his new face. "Wow! I have golden eyes!" Aquiles exclaimed with satisfaction and a slight disbelief, fixing his gaze on the window's reflection. Aquiles widened his eyes to get a more detailed view of his golden eyes.

While Aquiles was standing by the window, admiring the beauty of his own eyes reflected in the glass, a sound at the door caught his attention, prompting him to spin on his heels towards the metallic noise. As he turned, he was faced with the door of the room swinging open to reveal the arrival of two men. Both immediately fixed their gazes on Aquiles, while expressions of surprise carved themselves onto their faces.

The older of the two men, whose name Aquiles would soon learn to be Maester Donovan, was the first to break the silence with a question laden with bewilderment and disbelief: "How are you standing?" Maester Donovan was an elderly man of wise and stern appearance, standing at a height of 1.70 meters, with tired yet wise blue eyes. His face was bony and wrinkled, bearing the marks of time. He also sported a slight white beard and thinning blond hair, almost completely bald. Maester Donovan was dressed in garments made of wool and thick furs of some brown-colored animal.

Aquiles noticed the way both men looked at him, even spotting a large two-handed sword measuring two meters in length sheathed at the waist of the younger man between the two, and quickly a supposition formed in his mind, suggesting that the man in question was Ned Stark, the Lord of Winterfell. However, Aquiles maintained a mask of confusion, deciding to explore the situation with an apparently innocent question: "Who are you?"