Chapter 62 - A Previous Life.

 

[Chapter Size: 3100 Words.]

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Third Person POV

Harrenhal, 101 AC.

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Outside, no one had any idea what was happening between Jon and the tree. To them, it was a little surprising that Jon remained standing still for the next ten minutes, doing nothing but keeping his eyes closed in front of the tree.

It was then that Jon finally stepped away from the tree under everyone's watchful gaze. The moment he took his first step, he began gasping for breath.

"Jon, is something wrong?" Lord Stark immediately rushed toward him.

Jon looked back in alarm. His first instinct was to clutch his head with both hands, as if he were suffering unbearable pain.

"It hurts... it hurts so much..." he said as he hunched over, keeping his head lowered. He heard people speaking in muffled voices, even Ghost's pawsteps approaching him, followed by the sound of a whine.

"Jon, what's wrong? What happened?" Lord Stark asked, gripping him by the shoulder, while Lyarra also hurried over.

"It hurts..." Jon merely muttered. "It hurts so much..." His body began to tremble.

"Jon, what's wrong?" Lyarra asked, touching his pale face.

He raised his face toward her, and his eyes were filled with pain. "All of them... They all came at once. My head... it feels like it's going to explode..." he growled.

No ten-year-old child should ever wear an expression like that. He began to feel a sudden rage, one that didn't even seem to belong to him...

"I need..." Jon murmured as he tried to pull away. "I need some time," he said between ragged breaths. He wanted to get away from there, he needed to be alone...

All those emotions and images... he was growing angrier by the second... His body shifted as he tried to pull away from Lord Stark and his mother.

"Jon..." Lord Stark tried to grab him again.

This time, however, Jon became so irritated that he couldn't control himself. "I said I need some time... alone!" he roared with an animalistic sound.

At that very instant, an intense light burst around his body, catching everyone by surprise. Even the Green Men, who until then had been watching everything with worried expressions, widened their eyes in the next moment.

Wrapped in that light, Jon's body began to grow. The process lasted only an instant.

When the light vanished... a massive bear stood in his place, causing Lord Stark to immediately pull his hand back. The beast let out a deafening roar and slammed the ground with its front paws. The impact sent Lord Stark stumbling backward, while Lyarra and the others recoiled in fear before the colossal creature.

The bear, however, did not attack. It merely roared once more, and its body transformed back into light.

The next instant, the light took on another form, and a gigantic white wolf appeared where the bear had stood. Larger than any ordinary wolf, yet unmistakably a copy of Ghost.

Without hesitation, the beast bolted toward the forest, disappearing among the trees.

"By the gods... was that Jon?" Rickon ran to his father, who was still lying on the ground, completely stunned.

Lord Stark swallowed hard, the image of that bear etched into his mind. He recognized it immediately. It was identical to the bear that had attacked them and had later been killed by Jon. It had the exact same appearance as the stuffed bear head displayed in his halls.

Lyarra also got to her feet with the help of her son. Still shaken, she immediately turned toward the Green Men.

They remained motionless, utterly dumbfounded. None of them seemed to have expected what had just happened.

"You have a lot to explain." His voice was filled with anger, mixed with disbelief.

Around them, the guards stared toward the forest with expressions of horror and concern.

Jon had disappeared. Whatever had happened, he had just transformed first into that bear and then into a gigantic copy of Ghost.

But by that point... Lyarra no longer believed there was such a thing as the impossible after meeting this child. Deep in her heart, she simply chose to trust that Jon would be alright, wherever he was going and whatever he had transformed into, despite being the calmest one while everyone else was already losing their minds.

She looked at Ghost, who kept his gaze fixed in the direction Jon had gone.

"Go, Ghost... Go after him." She didn't even know why she was talking to a wolf at that moment, but she also didn't think this was a situation where anything normal still existed.

Ghost seemed to understand. As if he had only been waiting for that encouragement, he dashed into the forest, following the enormous copy of himself.

Jon was consumed by pain and rage. He didn't know exactly why yet; his mind was in chaos from so much information, but as he ran through the forest in the form of a wolf, tears streamed from his eyes.

At first, it was only discomfort. Then came the pain. After that, the rage intensified, but not more than the sorrow.

It was worse than pain and rage... Now... all that remained was an overwhelming sadness.

A sadness that should not have been his and yet made his heart roar with suffering, completely out of control.

He wanted the pain to stop, but it seemed impossible. Because although it wasn't entirely his...

It also was. It was the pain of never seeing a family again that he didn't even know if it was truly his. The pain of losing his wives, his children... As though that life had truly been his, yet he was incapable of ever having them again... The pain of having lived an entire lifetime that would never exist again.

It felt as though he had been torn from his own time and cast into another world, another timeline. All because the demon of this world had discovered what had happened in another universe and was acting in advance to prevent its own imminent destruction?

With the world's natural chosen one still unprepared, the gods had sent him to that world so that he could face the threat in his place.

Like a cursed hero. Condemned to bear the weight of an entire world in order to save it.

But the question remained. Was he Jon Arctic?

Or was he simply Jon? A boy born on a small farm, a member of a large family, with no great name, no status, just another peasant living on the Tallharts' lands in the North.

Did he really need to care about that?

Did he have to find out whether he was Jon Arctic, who had lived that entire life... or whether he was simply Jon, carrying someone else's memories.

He hated that feeling. He hated carrying the weight of a life he had never lived beyond its memories and the longing he felt. He was furious that he would never see those he loved again.

At the same time... he cursed that life because he also loved it.

A life he could never rebuild the way it once was...

He kept running through the forest. It didn't matter where. Nor did he understand how he had managed to transform into an animal.

He only realized that his senses were completely different. His vision was far more detailed.

His sense of smell picked up dozens of scents at once. It was similar to when he saw through Ghost.

But it wasn't the same. This time, he wasn't merely sharing an animal's senses. He was the animal, not just an invading mind...

The connection was far deeper than anything he had ever experienced before.

Then... he caught the scent of water. Without slowing down, he ran toward the point farthest away from the others.

He quickly reached the opposite side of the island. He stopped at the shore, watching the lake's waters lap against the sand.

On that side of the island, the mist still remained thick, concealing everything that lay beyond it over the water... He stopped running and began walking slowly along the shoreline, watching the water. The wolf's muzzle stayed lowered for a few moments, almost touching the sand, until he lifted his head toward the sky.

His body began to glow. The light enveloped every part of him, and the next instant, Jon returned to his human form.

Some time later, Ghost emerged from among the trees. He found Jon sitting on the sand, hugging his knees as he cried in silence.

The wolf slowly approached. He pressed his muzzle against Jon's face and gently rubbed his head against him, making Jon flinch for a moment.

He wiped his eyes and looked at Ghost. "Hey, buddy..." His voice came out completely choked.

Ghost merely looked back at him with a hint of intelligence... There was nothing he could say. So he circled around Jon once before lying down beside him.

Jon let out a faint laugh, devoid of any joy. "That's your way of supporting me, isn't it?" His voice was still heavy with sadness.

Then he turned his gaze toward the mist-covered lake. "You know, buddy... I finally found an answer to all those dreams. At least, to most of them."

He remained silent for a few seconds. "I'm being pushed into this world because it seems another version of me accepted this fate to fight in this world... and there's nothing good to take from it."

Ghost let out a quiet sound, and Jon took a deep breath.

"You know... I had a giant wolf in that world, with the same name and size. Most likely, you were him... Except he was much bigger than you. He was about six meters long and nearly three meters tall."

A faint nostalgic smile appeared on his face. "But I had other things too..." His smile faded. "Things I'll never have here. Children, wives. Moments that feel like nothing more than memories..."

"It hurts... I felt his joy at every one of his weddings, the warmth of those women, the warmth of holding his babies, but I also feel the bitterness of never being able to see them in this life..."

Jon raised his hand, and a small sphere of fire appeared above his palm. It slowly began to spin, shaping itself until it took the form of a tiny dragon.

With a single movement of his index finger, he sent the creature flying around him and Ghost. Jon simply watched the little fire dragon glide peacefully through the air.

"Would you believe me if I told you I built a kingdom from nothing, beyond the Wall? Would you believe it? You were there with me, right? Do you remember that life, Ghost?" He continued watching the dragon.

Then he raised his left hand. A white mist condensed above it. Little by little, it transformed into the figure of a wolf made of ice and mist.

The creature ran through the air, chasing the fire dragon as the two circled around each other as though they were playing.

Fire and ice danced together in perfect harmony, while Jon and Ghost simply watched in silence.

"It seems I can control magic much better now..." he said quietly.

Before, all he had been able to do was create an intense cold front capable of covering Winterfell or throw simple fireballs. He had never been able to shape magic the way he could now... Those elements, fire and ice, obeyed his will as though they were living creatures.

Much less transform into an animal.

"Tell me, Ghost, did you know about all this?" Jon asked, and Ghost merely let out a mournful sound and lowered his head like a dog.

"You must know something..." Jon murmured, but he didn't grow angry at his wolf. He never would, and it wasn't as though his wolf could simply speak.

Jon remained silent, reflecting on those memories with his head resting against Ghost's belly. After some time, he raised his hand and created a small sphere of fire above his palm. Without hesitation, he hurled it into the mist.

The fireball streaked through the air at high speed before vanishing into the fog.

A moment later... a flash lit up the distance.

The explosion sent the lake's water surging upward as flames spread across its surface.

Jon merely watched. At first, he showed no reaction at all. He remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he created another sphere of fire.

He fired again, another explosion.

Another fireball, another explosion.

A third.

A fourth.

A fifth.

Soon he began hurling flames one after another into the mist, watching the successive explosions light up the hidden lake.

Even Ghost lifted his head to watch the spectacle. "Well... at least this seems fun."

Jon murmured. For the first time since leaving that cursed tree, a smile appeared on his face.

Ghost let out a soft sound.

"Hey, it is fun." Jon replied to his friend before bursting into laughter.

Some time later, he stood up. "Did you see how I turned into that bear?"

He didn't want to remain depressed forever. Even though the pain still gripped his heart, he needed to find a way to deal with all of it.

Ghost remained lying down, simply watching. Jon closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

His body began to glow again, and the next instant, the light vanished. In its place stood a massive bear.

It was even larger than Ghost, easily surpassing three meters in height, and standing only on all fours, it could become even taller.

The beast slammed one paw into the sand and let out a mighty roar. Ghost immediately got to his feet, cautious.

Jon, of course, merely looked at him and made a sound that only a bear could produce, but without any threat. Ghost, meanwhile, opened his mouth and let out a low growl, keeping his eyes fixed on the enormous bear.

Ghost certainly wouldn't understand his words, but he would understand his intentions, and that... was entertaining enough.

He then took off running along the sandy shore, his enormous paws sinking into the sand with every stride.

As he ran, he couldn't stop thinking. He was exactly the same size as the monstrous bear he remembered.

"Can I transform into any animal I've ever killed?"

He decided to test it. He first returned to his human form for only an instant.

He closed his eyes again, and his body glowed. This time, when the light faded, a massive white tiger stood in his place.

Its intelligent eyes looked down at its paws, studying its own body. The great feline let out a deep growl, testing its body as it took a few steps across the sand.

Jon returned to his human form shortly afterward, unable to hold back his laughter. It was even more fun than he had imagined.

Let's try a few more things. Jon said to himself as he ran. His body glowed once more, and the next instant, he transformed into a bird.

Shadow immediately responded with a caw from the top of a nearby tree, where he had been the entire time.

Jon flapped his wings awkwardly and nearly fell into the water before managing to regain his balance. Soon, however, he remembered how Shadow flew.

As he had realized before, there was an enormous difference between seeing through an animal's eyes and actually being the animal.

Flying like this felt far more natural. He could feel the wind passing through his feathers, control every beat of his wings, and sense the air supporting his body.

Shadow soon took flight as well. The two of them flew side by side over that part of the island.

Ghost remained on the beach, watching. Jon dove toward him and, while still in the air, began glowing once again. The next instant, he transformed back into a massive white wolf.

He landed on top of Ghost, knocking him into the sand. He opened his jaws and bit his neck, but without using any force. Ghost merely let out the playful sound only a dog could make before retaliating, grabbing Jon and shoving him aside.

The two rolled across the sand. When Jon tried to get back up, Ghost lowered his body, wagging his tail as if announcing another attack.

Jon took exactly the same stance. The next instant, they both leaped at each other.

For Jon... it was incredibly fun. After a while, he returned to his human form and dropped onto the sand, laughing.

"Damn... Playing with you is fun, but I'm covered in drool... Even if I turn back into a human..." Jon realized. He wiped his face, cleaning away the drool and sand left behind by Ghost's playful licks and bites.

The sound of rustling bushes made Jon look up, and he noticed a faint little cry coming from them.

He immediately narrowed his eyes. But he didn't pursue it, even though he knew someone had been watching him. They were very small, perhaps one of the Green Men's children, about their size. And since they had already left, Jon didn't insist.

"Well... we have to go back." He said, still looking toward the forest. Whoever had been there was gone.

"We can't stay here forever..."

At that moment, a fox dashed across the beach. Jon watched it for a moment, and his body glowed once more. When the light faded, a fox stood in his place.

He began running, testing the animal's movements. He could transform into any animal he saw... Maybe it would work with dragons? No... Jon felt he couldn't do such a thing, perhaps not yet.

The fox looked at Ghost, as if asking him to follow. The two entered the forest together, running between the trees while Shadow soared above the canopy, following them from overhead.

Jon returned to his human form before leaving the woods. As soon as he emerged from the trees, he immediately drew everyone's attention.

"Jon!" Rickon was the first to run to him.

Despite his concern, there was caution in his movements.

Jon understood perfectly. It wasn't as though someone could transform into a bear, then into a giant wolf, and simply return to normal.

Ghost appeared right behind him, and Jon simply nodded, showing that he was alright.

"I'm fine..." He took a deep breath. "Just... very confused."

Rickon let out a sigh of relief. "Of course you are. The Green Man explained a few things, but no one really knows exactly what happened to you. Could you explain? Grandma is very worried."

Jon remained silent. As he watched everyone approach... he wondered how he could tell a truth that even he himself couldn't understand.

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