"Who comes before the Old Gods this night?" asked the men standing in front of the Weirwood tree in the Godswood of the cursed fortress.

"Ashara, of the House Dayne, comes here to be wed. A woman grown, trueborn and noble. She comes to beg the blessing of the Gods," replied the woman, stepping forward and stopping to glance at the side before continuing. "Who comes to claim her?"

It was the turn of the quiet wolf to step forward and claim his bride. With a high voice, he said, "Eddard of House Stark. Who gives her?"

They were lying on the grass, under the Weirwood tree. The sky was bright with the stars, and their bodies were tangled together and joined as one.

A night before the eyes of the Old Gods of neds ancestors, Ned wed and took as a wife the love of his life.

The brightest of the Stars.

"I hope that your seed will soon take root and that a starwolf will grow inside me soon," his wife said, smiling and running her finger on his sweet chest.

"He will be the luckiest of the star wolves to have a mother like you."

"I love you, my wolf."

"My father and brother are dead. My little sister kidnapped, and I have to leave for war," replied the quiet wolf, as he sat on the grass of the same Godswood in which he had married his beloved no long time before. "You know there is no other choice now, but I promise you that once the war is over, we will be together. I promise."

The Star didn't reply, sitting naked a few inches away and looking down. They were so happy and in love before the chaos erupted. And now, only pain and death were remaining. Sighing, she said, "Promise, promise, promise.

"They are just words in the wind spoken by someone after taking a woman's virtue. War changes everyone and makes one forget the old promises."

"Cursed be I, and my heirs shall die if I break this sacred union sealed under the eyes of the Old Gods. Nothing and no one will break this sacred pledge. I swear it before the Old Gods of my ancestors," the quiet wolf replied, placing his hand on the star's cheek kissing her.

"You broke your promise to the Old Gods of your ancestors, Eddard son of Rickard of House Stark," came the voice of a man. "Pain, suffering, and destruction will fall on your house and your heirs for this deed."

"I ask your forgiveness," cried the quiet wolf, as darkness was engulfing him, and slowly everything started to disappear until there were only two faces that remained. One of whom he could never forget and never stop loving.

But what came after was something that he never expected to hear.

"I'm disappointed in you, Ned. I entrusted you with my most precious jewel, and you mistreated him. I thought you were a better man. A man of honour." A man who put women and children above all else," said the love of his life with bitterness in her voice, "and yet, the blood of your blood, the fruit of our love, our starwolf, you put him in the shadows. You cast him away from everyone and raised him a bastard. He should be your rightful heir. You broke your promise to your Old Gods and me. I CURSE YOU EDDARD STARK FOR HOW YOU TREATED HIM, AND I WILL HUNT YOU TILL THE LAST OF YOUR DAYS!" She cried out the last words in anger and despair.

"Ashara!" Ned screamed her name, waking up breathless, and all sweeten before a sudden chill caught him, and he started to tremble. In the room, no one was present, only him, lying in bed.

Ashara came again as she did for many years. She was disappointed in him for how he treated Jon, and he couldn't blame her for that. But there was no other choice. Not with Catelyn. If she knew the truth, she would kill him.

Ned curled in a ball, starting to cry, and whispering his lover's name many times, and asking her forgiveness for something that he can't do.

Jon was lying in the Godswood, under one of his favourite Weirwood trees, with arms under his head, and his eyes closed. It was one of these warm and peaceful days, without the chilling winds coming from the den of the Others, the legend of the north, and it was one of those days that he loved so much.

Since he could remember, Jon had always spent his moments in this place, under the eyes of the Old Gods, where he felt at peace and hidden from Lady Stark's mistreatments and the hatred of his other half-brothers and half-sisters.

When he was a child, barely understanding who he was and what he meant, Jon had wondered so many times why Lady Stark gave more love to Sansa and Robb, but not to him. Even Greyjoy was treated better than him by her and by the others. He wept when Old Nan told him why this was happening. Because he was a Bastard, a stain on his father's honour, Lady Stark would say. Only because the honourable Eddard Stark fucked a whore in a brothel during the war.

Jon didn't know what whore means until he heard some soldiers speak about them and how much they enjoy them and wonder if the southern are talking that way about his mother too.

When he ran crying to his father and telling him what he heard and what Lady Stark said, everything he found was a cold wall, and an emotionless man, dismissing it as nonsense and telling him to forget about it. That night Jon had cried in a corner, not only for what he heard about his mother but also because of his father's coldness.

Growing up, he tried to be a diligent son, treating everyone with kindness, despite receiving none in return. Lady Stark, that hateful bitch started to mess with his food and scold the servants when they tried to give him good food, and sometimes she sent him to his room without fasting.

It was during these moments that Jon hated this place and the people who lived here. But the Godswood made him calm down and remember that this was his place, his home.

Every time he passed the sept of the trout bitch, he dreamed of burning it down to the ground. He still couldn't believe that the Honourable Ned Stark, the man that tried to teach his children in the old ways, would disrespect the Old Gods by making one inside the heart of their home and the center of the only place that worshipped the Old.

At the same time, he felt anger towards him for that, and he was sure the Old Gods felt the same.

Sometimes Jon wonders what purpose he has here at Winterfell. When his father dies, the lordship will pass to that cunt of his brother, and Jon knew there was no room for him here.

It was useless to go around it. Jon, his brothers, and sisters did not get along well. They never did. From the very beginning, they looked down on him, judged him unfit and not part of House Stark, just because his mother had no name and because she wasn't high born.

"Your place is here, white wolf," Jon heard a voice in the wind say, and immediately rose to look around.

"Who's there?" he shouted, but no one was there.

Only the Weirwood tree of the Godswood, the rustling of the branches full of leaves could be heard.

Looking upwards, Jon saw that the sun was already drawn, which meant that soon night would come, and picking up his sword and cape from the ground, he ran back to the keep.

"You don't belong here, bastard. Winterfell is mine. The north is mine. I will be the lord, and you will spend your life in coldness as a sentinel on the frozen Wall," Jon hears the voice of that cunt of his brother.

Jon wanted to argue about it, but suddenly, the same windy voice that he heard in the Godswood, intervened saying, "Do not be afraid of the future, young warrior, for your journey has not yet begun. Fate will soon smile upon you, white wolf, for your destiny is great. Your father betrayed the old gods. He humiliated the old faith by building a sept inside its heart and raised his children under the false faith."

" What do you mean?"

"You are the champion chosen by the Old Gods, White Wolf. It is up to you to restore the North to its former glory and the Old Gods' faith. You will be the savior of the North. The protector of the North.

The King of all North, if you pledge your heart and loyalty to the Old gods and to the Old Way."

"I will," Jon answered in the void and without hesitation before he could stop the words coming out of his mouth.

And suddenly, everything around him started to move fast, and he could see a vision.

A dragon with three heads flying over a desolation; a sun brightening in the blue sky and suddenly being pierced by a golden spear; a snake coming from inside the sand; sun on a winter land; a maiden fighting a bear; two mermaids swimming towards a heart tree in water while singing of someone he couldn't understand; a white ironwood tree. But above all, appeared one of the brightest of the stars.

"Follow the way of the Old Kings, young warrior," the voice said, and suddenly Jon woke up panting and sweating. 'By the Old, what just happened," he asked himself, bringing his knees up and placing the hands on his head.

Looking towards the window, he saw it was still dark, but he also knew he wouldn't sleep that night. He needs some fresh air and to clear his head.

Jon was standing at the entrance of the crypts. His clock held tight around his body, as the chilling air of the night was caressing his skin and his reddened cheeks.

Glancing around, he saw that no one was there, and so taking the torch from the wall outside, he opened the great door and started to descend the stairs.

The place was quite dark, with candles at the grave the only things to light it. Despite touch warming, the more Jon descended and went in the deepest of the crypts, the more the coldness was growing, becoming almost unbearable.

As he was passing every grave of the Winter Kings, Jon could feel the statue's gaze upon him, and the Old Kings of winter say, "This is your home. This is where you belong. Our way is the Old Way." but Jon knew it was only his imagination.

He reached the last King's statue in the North and first Lord of Winterfell and protector of the North, Torrhen of House Stark, The King. It was in the darkest of the parts, the candles already dying, and the sword quite broken. They did not give enough respect to Torrhen Stark, it seems. By Torrhen Stark, bending the knee was viewed as a weakness, and a betrayal, by everyone but Jon. Because he knew there was nothing the Old King could have done to fight the dragons.

Placing the torch on the wall, Jon took the candle from the altar and lightened it again.

The sword, despite it broken, seems to have its dark lightness and sharpness still. It was still beautiful. It had ancient runes on it and some decorated gems on the hilt.

"Take it, son of Winter," Jon heard a ghostly voice echoing through the crypts, and he immediately turned around.

"Who is there?" he shouted, but no one was.

Jon started to worry about it.

First the voice in the Godswood, then the visions of this night, and lastly, this voice inside the crypt that was echoing.

Was he becoming mad?

Nevertheless, Jon picked up the broken sword, but at the same time, he decided to open the grave and see if something that he has always dreamt of wearing was there.

And it was there. The last King of Winter was holding the winter crown in his hands.

"This is what you want me to do, Old Gods?

"This is what you want me to take?"

He asked himself, taking the crown and feeling his skin cill at that, and a sudden excitement took over him.

The crown was an open circlet of hammered bronze, as he could see, incised with what seemed runes of the First Men, surmounted by nine black iron spikes in the shape of longswords. It was magnificent and fit for a Hard tempered King. He dreamed so much of this crown, to wear it one day.

After the crown, Jon noticed some scrolls inside, and he took them too, but this time, sitting down next to the grave and starting to scroll through them.

The sun was already up when Jon came out of the crypts, heading towards Godswood. He needed some time to think about everything he read found in the grave of Kings, and the only place that felt like home was quiet and safe for him was the Godswood.

As he approached the heart tree in the middle of the Godswood, Jon heard his Lord father's voice mumbling something and curiously stopped, a few feet away, well hidden behind another tree.

"Last night, I had the same dream," his father started stopping for a moment, and Jon was wondering what kind of dream he had. "Every time, it is the same. Sweet dreams till you come in the view. Angry and with a broken heart. And I don't blame you, Ashara, because I failed you and I failed our son."

'Our son?' he asked himself. What son was he talking about, and who was this Ashara? Could it be that he was referring to him and his mother?

"I brought so much shame on myself and your house. I broke a promise made to you before the Old Gods, and I killed your brother," at hearing that, Jon couldn't believe his ears. Did his father do that? Did he kill his mother's brother? He suddenly feels rage inside himself at the broken promise before the Old Gods and especially for staying his hand with the kinslaying, a sin before the eyes of the Old Gods. "I failed our son."

His father stopped again, and Jon wondered what he meant by failing our son. But returned his attention to his father when he hears him resume speaking, "I even failed you by promising to return to you after the war, to bring you to Winterfell with me, but I ended up breaking my promise and marrying another woman for reasons of war."

Jon hears him sight bitterly, and says, "Now you are gone, and the only thing left of you is something I ignore. Because he looks just like you when I see his eyes." and his father started to cry, between tears, he added,

"I wish we lived in Starfall, but fate has a way of playing with us-"

"Starfall? Is it in Starfall that my mother lives?" Jon said, revealing himself.

"Jon? How.." Ned stopped with widened eyes, not knowing what to say, especially how much his son heard about the confession.

"Answer me, Father. Is it in Starfall that my mother lives?" his son asked, with gritted teeth.

"I can't," whispered Ned, not bearing to look at the same eyes with which he fell in love many years ago.

"Why?!" shouted Jon, and Ned could see him squeeze his fist and breath fast.

"You want to understand, and at the same time, you will be in danger."

"Danger? Do you think I can't take care of my fucking life, Lord Stark?!" Jon replied angrily, and Ned immediately looked up at that. Lord Stark. He never called him that way when they were alone.

"You are sitting here like an honorable man, asking your gods to forgive you for that, but know what, Lord Stark? The Old Gods are angry with you."

"What?" asked Ned, gasping, not believing what his son was saying. "Jon-"

"You built a sept inside the heart of their heart, Lord Stark. They demand retribution for your unfaithfulness to them," Jon said, before starting to laugh at him.

"Jon-"

"And now I hear that you betrayed my mother too when you promised to bring her here and return to her."

" I asked myself so many times why you didn't love and didn't treat me like a son, but now it is all clear. As you look at me, you see the failed man you have become."

"Jon. Don't say things that you may regret one day?"

"No, Lord Stark. There will be no regrets towards the words that now will come out in this sacred place that you disrespected. You have lost their favour, and I. I become their champion. One day I will bring the North back to its ancient glory."

Ned was stunned and speechless by what his son was saying, but swallowing the knot he felt in his throat, he said, "Jon, your brother is going to rule the North. He is going to be Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the north. You are going to join the Night Watch."

He could see for a moment the hurt on his son's face, but then he said, "Your son, just like you have failed the Old Gods. But now I ask you again. Is my mother in Starfall?"

"Yes," replied Ned, sighing and looking down.

"What is her name?"

"Ashara," he replied, and his heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

Jon said nothing, just turned around, but before leaving asked, "Why did you not treat me like a son, Lord Stark?"

"Because I wanted to forget her," Ned replied before he could stop the words from coming out, and after that, Jon ran away.

Ned wanted to stop him, to say something else, but couldn't. A sudden strike fell to his heart, and the wind rose, so he sat down on the tree, taking long breaths.

Jon left Godswood, angry, and with tears in his eyes. Nevertheless, with the answers he was looking for, and knowing what he needed to do. He needed to leave this place and set sail for the South. To Starfall, where his mother is living.

As he was crossing the courtyard, Jon hears that cunt of the Greyjoy say, laughing, "Look, boys. The bastard is in tears."

"Fuck you, Greyjoy," Jon muttered, as he keeps walking fast.

"Snow! I am in the mood for a challenge. Don't you want to taste my sword?"

Hearing that and knowing the meaning of it, Jon stopped, looking down for a moment, before glancing over his shoulder at the heir of Pyke, with furrowed eyebrow, saying in a threatening way, "It is not wise to challenge me right now, Greyjoy. I'm not in the mood."

"What is it, bastard? Are you afraid that I will wipe the ground with your ass?" asked, Greyjoy with a damn smirk on his ugly face, as Jon turned at him completely.

"If you put me to the test right now, you will end with your ugly face kissing this ground," replied Jon, and the cunt's smirk disappeared. Jon hit right where he wanted at his ego.

"I think you are afraid, bastard," came another voice, and looking at the side, he saw that cunt of his half brother approach. "You are afraid that everyone will see that a bastard can never reach the level of a true born son."

Now, at seeing his face and at hearing those words, Jon was ready to accept the challenge and show all Winterfell of what he had made. And that he was a much better warrior than those two cunts.

Taking the training sword, Jon took his position. He was angry with his father right now and wanted to beat the shit out of Greyjoy. He knew that the Old gods wanted this. They were smiling over him and protecting him.

The Greyjoy, as usual, charged at him with impatience, pulling left and right and trying to take him by surprise. But Jon was a patient warrior, despite the anger that he felt inside himself right now towards his father. He could predict, parry, and dodge the Greyjoy's attacks, making a trip, and the Ironborne fell to the ground.

"How does the ground taste, Greyjoy?" asked Jon, and the Greyjoy screamed furiously.

"Get up, Theon. Show this bastard that a true born will never fall under his sword," shouted that cunt of his half-brother and Jon was even more furious than before.

Greyjoy got up and started to attack him again, but this time Jon, after pairing, managed to disarm him, and with his knee, stick the Greyjoy at the side so hard that he was sure a bone was broken. The Ironborn gasped in return, followed by a scream, and Jon finished him with his hilt hitting the face knocking the Greyjoy to the ground.

"You broke my nose, bastard!" shouted the Iron born from the ground, and Jon looking towards him, said with a smirk, "I would say that's an improvement."

Suddenly Jon was knocked to the ground, and saw that it was that red-headed cunt of his brother, who tried to punch.

But Jon knew who was the better fighter at this, and with a move that he saw many times in the fights between some soldiers, managed to change the position, and now his half-brother was with the back on the grown, as Jon was hammering him with punches.

Everything he was seeing was the face of his father. Every blow he was giving to Robb Stark was a punch to the honourable Ned Stark.

His half brother had the face bloodied, but he tried to defend himself, and Jon, tired, grabbed his right arm and broke it.

A scream was heard as Jon was pulled up from his half brother, "Leave me, damn you!"

"Enough, Jon!" said one of them, as Jon tried to free himself, hearing his brother scream,

"Take to the dungeon that mad bastard."

But Jon will have none of this shit, and with his elbows managed to hit the soldiers in the face and free himself, running towards the crypts to grab his things and escape through the secret passages, as the soldiers tried to stop him but in vain.