Glimpses
It was freezing, Jon realized as he pulled his fur cloak closer to him, as he walked the battlements of a castle that he did not know, a familiar yet not sword at his hip. It was a slender sword, fit for a lady's hand, but Jon knew that it thirsted for blood. A bow was on his back as well, just as important, just not as obvious.
The enemy was coming and soon, Jon could feel it in his bones. He shouted commands to men that he did not know, and saw through the eyes of animals that he was only vaguely familiar with. Direwolves, shadowcats and other slightly more mundane but just as ferocious animals.
They were all waiting for the approach of something so powerful that all of the Seven Kingdoms could barely withstand it, and yet it was only this castle and its fellows were here today.
The cold came, and then Jon saw them. The ethereally beautiful shapes that he struggled to describe or name, and then the darkest blue eyes possible -
And a sea of corpses, all screaming for release from their torment yet they had blood around their lipless torn mouths -
He awoke with a scream of terror, despite the fact that he had been plagued by nightmares since his earliest memories. The dreams had always felt far more like real life than dreams, but this one had felt surreal.
W-what did I just see there? Jon thought, his breath sharp like he had run from King's Landing without stopping for anything or anyone.
Jon knew that he should try and get up to break his fast, but he just... Couldn't.
Arya would be mad, Theon would sneak in a jape somehow... But, it didn't matter to the bastard. None of them had the nightmares ever since they had come into this world...
Burn them all, he had tearfully screamed out as he felt himself cook in his own armour, the Mad King laughing echoing in his ears for days.
He felt himself scream himself hoarse as he woke from waters rushing into the lantern-filled cavern -
I need to get out of here.
Now.
NOW.
The crypts slowly became darker and darker, the looming shapes of his ancestors seemingly staring him down.
Father had always warned against going into the deepest ends of the crypts but had never explained why.
Jon had to find out. He needed some, some closure to his nightmares. Maybe he'd find the source in the crypts, he desperately told himself. There had to be a reason for his nightmares.
He eventually neared the ends of the tunnels, carefully placing his torch in a way to not dip the fires. A door hung ahead, massive and surreal, Jon barely believing that he had descended this far.
But he had, and this door was the proof. It was wide, and tall, nearly twice as tall as Jon was. It had no opening mechanism, but a metal-forged direwolf head on the side of the wall.
The Snow slowly moved his hand towards the head, his instincts flaring at the sight, Jon momentarily hesitated before putting his hand. The teeth immediately clenched down on his hand, ripping apart his skin, and ripping his skin to shreds.
Jon grit his teeth in pain, as the direwolf stopped biting his hand and the door slowly started to open, the loud bellow of the doors opening sounding like a symphony of screams of terror.
Inside was pure blackness, and he stepped in hesitantly, his hand reaching towards the sword that he had stolen from the armoury in preparation for his trip. He grabbed the torch and slowly entered the room
pretender, pretender
get away, get away
GET AWAY
Jon screamed in pain as his head filled. "I'm a Stark!"
NO YOU'RE NOT, NOT NOT NOT
BASTARD BASTARD
KILL KILL KILL
"I'm a Stark," Jon continued to scream, his mantra flowing through his head and mouth as he grabbed his sword and swung hack hack hack
The blackness enveloped him and Jon only saw pure terror as they swallow
wolves and dragons
no no no no
you do not belong
BELONG BELONG
The room rushed to white, and Jon continued screaming as his body boiled burned tore, and his tears merely became memory -
stop
pretender is key
song
is
the
key
key key key
KEY KEY KEY
Jon fell to the ground, lost to the world.
