Often times I just write without editing much. So don't expect perfect grammar or flawless sentences. Thank you in advance for your understanding.
During my current phase of being addicted to Fanfictions of a Series I never watched, I gained a lot of information. Especially the whole plot.
Chapter 2 Warging
Transporting your own consciousness was something out of this world. Literally and figuratively.
I was able to become the animal into which I warged into. In this case it was the Dire Wolf Summer whom senses I shared.
Even if the range was limited to my recovery room, it still felt incredible.
So while my immobile legs acted as prisons to my free spirit, the ability to warg consoled me a little bit. As it still allowed me to reminiscent the past where I could walk without problems.
A young boy with the dream of becoming a knight would have been devastated. At least that was what I would have felt if I was in the situation. So I guess I spared him from experiencing the destruction of his dream.
As I continued to pet Summer who comfortable moved closer to me, I thought about what I remembered from the show in detail.
First and foremost, there was the mother of dragons, a young girl capable of controlling three fire spitting magical lizards.
Secondly, tons of people were assholes and wouldn't hesitate to stab you in the back for a little bit of profit or grudges that started generations ago. There were little to no really loyal people and if they existed, I had no idea how to gain it.
Thankfully, I was able to discern that I had a magical ability that I would be able to develop in the future.
While it may not sound impressive to control an animal, there were varying degrees of possibilities on how one could use it. Espionage was certainly easily done with warging.
The sad thing was that few animals could withstand the might of dozen armored men equipped with decent gear.
At least animals that I had the confidence to hopefully one day warg into.
Which means that there needed to be other options to gain power.
I looked at the stone walls, seemingly hoping that the answer would be written on it.
But all that I saw were ordinary stones embedded in the castle wall.
Nevertheless my thoughts began to drift as I stared at the wall:
'Why did the magic cripple had to run away? Couldn't he simply stay in the castle and train his magic? Or was there something that lead to his escape. All I remember watching was the heroic sacrifice of Hodor…'
The name Hodor certainly was something I remembered. He died trying to hold the door for the magic cripple and his companions. Giving them enough time to escape safely from the zombies.
I even remembered that apparently the magic cripple also made Hodor into the idiotic gentle giant he was due to some magic command.
However what interested me was if I could warg into other humans. Is it possible? If it was possible, I certainly should try it out as soon as possible.
Especially since I remember that Hodor was called the gentle giant, meaning that Hodor would have enough killing potential to fight against half dozen of men with ease if equipped with the right armor and weapon.
The mental aspect didn't had to be considered, since I deemed myself ready enough to bash some skulls that tried to kill me.
I looked at Summer who lied peacefully besides me. I gave her a playful smack on the side before saying:
"Summer, could you call for somebody? I need to do something."
I had no idea whether or not the Dire Wolf was able to understand me, but it seemed it did as it stood up, licked my face before jumping off the bed and left the room by opening the door.
Not long after, Summer returned with the old woman that comforted my mother due to my supposed amnesia.
"Bran, did something happen?" Spoke the old woman with a concerned voice.
Since I did not want to displease her, I asked in a polite tone.
"No, nothing happened to me. Sorry to make you worry. I am not sure so I wanted to ask whether or not there was somebody called Hodor amongst our servants."
Seeing a cute and polite child asking a question would make most adults smile, especially if they knew that the child had suffered an injury not long ago.
The old woman turned from a face full of worry to a pleasant smile, it was as if she knew something that I did not. Nevertheless she only did so before saying:
"Yes, we have somebody called Hodor as a stable boy. Would you like to meet him?"
Since I was certain that Hodor existed, I needed to ask for his companionship. I doubt anyone else would have been a better choice for my future protection than the one I brainwashed into holding the door.
Or at least the magical me that brainwashed Hodor.
So I asked with the sweetest smile I could muster:
"Could I have Hodor as a companion? He should be big enough to carry me around, right?"
At the request of Hodor becoming my companion, the old woman hesitated. There was clear conflict written on her face.
Nevertheless I knew that while an adult nagging was nothing but annoying, the same thing couldn't be said for the child I now am.
"Please, I mean he could act as a bodyguard. If he learns to fight, he will be unstoppable."
Shocked, the old woman said nothing before storming out of the room.
I did not knew the reason of her reaction, neither did Summer who nonchalantly resumed her position by my side.
Did I fail at my chance to recruit Hodor? Did I sound too rushed or too desperate? Is my desperation showing?
I definitely did not want to end up somewhere on the ditch, spiked on some spears or dying of poison. To avoid the first two, having loyal and powerful bodyguards by my side would certainly reduce the chance of it happening.
But before I wrote my chances off, the old woman returned, with a giant man. He towered over the old woman, nevertheless he listened to her as if she had complete control over him.
"Bran, I don't know if you remember, but this is Hodor." Said the old women with an expectant smile.
"Hodor." Said Hodor.
"Does that mean he can be my companion and carry me around?" Asked I with excitement. This would be my first step in acquiring power.
"Naturally, I hope that you will regain your memories as soon as possible." Smiled the old woman with a kind face.
She turned towards Hodor and said:
"Hodor, please care about young master Bran from now on. Listen to his commands and protect him."
It seemed that Hodor understood the request of the old woman and nodded before turning towards Bran and said: "Hodor!"
Before the old woman could leave, I posed a question that would make communicating with her easier:
"Would you mind sharing your name with me? I can't really remember much."
Turning around, the old woman smiled before saying: "You can call me Old Nan, I nothing but an old servant of the Starks."
Smiling I said with genuine tone:
"Thank you Old Nan."
Not long after Old Nan left the room, I looked at Hodor before saying:
"Hodor, do you mind resting a little bit before going out? I still feel a little bit tired."
With a kind and dumb smile, Hodor replied with: "Hodor."
Hodor sat down on the ground. Seemingly waiting for me to finish my rest.
Since I felt bad for lying to him about resting, I asked him to grab a chair or something for him to sit on.
Hodor left the room for a short moment before returning with something that seemed to be a chair.
He took the chair and sat on it. Then with a happy smile, he seemed to relax.
The combination of dumbness and goodness Hodor emitted made me feel like a bad person as I planned to make him into a knight that would follow my every order, including killing people if necessary.
I remembered with great sadness how I watched his last moments on holding the door. If I had to comment on it from a purely storytelling perspective, a truly marvelous build up and reward.
Sadly, what I was now dealing with was a real person and not a fictional character that possessed the title of Gentle Giant.
Regardless of my moral standpoint, it was necessary to experiment with my magical powers. They were my only safe shield against the treacherous reality that the world inhibited.
Especially since my birthright already created me many enemies that wanted nothing more than to see my die a painful death.
Thus, I closed my eyes and tried to connect with Hodor who peacefully sat next to me.
I knew little to nothing about Hodor, I saw little of him in the story and only knew him due to his sacrifice and duty.
But what I knew consisted of the fact that the magical me had an influence on him, causing him to become mentally deranged.
Which opened the possibility of more than just warging into animals.
It was hard to notice Hodor besides Summer who lied peacefully next to me. It was always easier to do what you already knew. So to a certain extent, Summer distracted me from warging into Hodor.
Nevertheless as I had enough time, I was able to notice that Hodor existed in my mindscape.
But before I was able to do anything and experiment with the notion of warging into humans, I got sucked into a vision.
The world around me vanished and when I once again opened my eyes, I saw a spacious castle courtyard.
With a huge and fat child facing against two ordinary children. It seemed that one of the ordinary children had convinced the huge and fat child to spar with him.
But before anything could happen, somebody arrived and dragged the huge and fat child by its ear away.
"Old Nan, he would be unstoppable if he fought!" Said the ordinary child.
"But he will never have to fight. Hodor is nothing more than a stable boy." Replied Old Nan before grabbing Hodor on his ears and dragging him away.
During this vision, I was able to do nothing but watch and feel.
The vision changed. The same courtyard, but a different time.
I could hear the world resonating a single sentence:
"Hold the Door!"
"Hold the Door!"
"Hold the Door!"
The sentence caused the huge child to fall down and mumble the sentence over and over. Until the sentence shortened to a single world: Hodor.
Still not having any control about the vision, I suddenly distanced myself from the original viewpoint.
Looking back, a young teenager stood at my original viewpoint. I could see a small glimps of horror on his face as Hodor experienced the seizure, but as he turned around to look into my direction, there was nothing but cold nothingness on his face.
"Watch and learn… this is the burden…." Sounded the young teen before everything faded to black.
A sharp pain that reminded me how I woke up in the world as the magical cripple once again overwhelmed me.
When I opened my eyes, I rubbed my head in hope that such headache will never occur again.
Sadly, I didn't wake up in another body. Instead what I saw were familiar castle walls.
Though there was something different to my first awakening.
A large ball seemed to heave up and down in rhythm.
Glancing over the part that was covered by my bed, I saw that it was Hodor who lied peacefully on the ground.
Albeit he lied on the ground, he had a satisfied grin on his lips. Probably dreamt a good dream.
Looking over to my side, I saw that Summer lied peacefully next to me.
Closing my eyes, I once again extended my warging senses to the surrounding.
I was pleasantly surprised that my connection to Summer felt completely different. If before the connection was blurry and fuzzy at times, now it resembled a perfectly fitting glass. Sharp and Precise.
But that was not everything. Another connection was formed. It didn't take me much to guess whom it belonged to.
I looked at Hodor.
His huge body size was certainly impressive. It wouldn't surprise people if he had Giants blood within him.
If equipped with full plate armor and a weapon that benefited from pure brute force, Hodor would be an unstoppable force on the battlefield.
Even in small skirmishes I would bet that Hodor would come out in triumph most of the time.
I remember that there was a famous fellow who even if died in the end counted as the physical most impressive warrior in the living world. I think his title was Mountain.
While I didn't knew how he died, or how impressive his physical stature was, I bet that Hodor would have a chance if equipped with the right equipment.
I had a small lingering doubt whether or not it was morally right to control Hodor and make him kill people according to my will.
But this was immediately thrown out the window as I remembered how my supposed siblings experienced the world according to the show.
One raped, one died due to something, the other brother probably died a painful death as well and the sibling with the good ending had to leave and become a cool assassin with a tragic backstory.
This wasn't even considering the supposed story of the magic cripple who somehow seemed always on the run like a fugitive with enemies that were hunting him relentlessly.
So to avoid the tragedy, the best thing was to have enough power to change something.
What was better than having a fellow which people considered to be of giants descendancy?
I nudged Summer slightly in order to signal that I had woken up.
Looking around, she still seemed to be a little bit sleep but she greeted my awakening with a lick on my face.
I turned towards Hodor and said:
"Hodor? Wake up! Hodor!"
This didn't wake Hodor up, instead he mumbled a short Hodor before turning around and continued his sleep.
Before I activate desperate measures to wake Hodor, Summer already jumped from the bed and hit Hodor with one of her paws. The Impact woke him up and he rubbed his eyes.
He looked around in confusion before settling at my direction.
"Hodor?" Asked Hodor.
I looked at the gentle giant with a resolute glance. Albeit there were multiple moral reasons to not do what I am about to try, it was necessary to not end somewhere in the ditch, not knowing how I died.
Especially since there were multiple ways on making people wish that they were dead.
I closed my eyes and once again felt the familiarity of switching into a different body.
Once I opened my eyes, I was able to see the body of Bran Stark, the magic cripple. It was surreal to look at your unconscious body.
Nevertheless I tested moving around the body of Hodor. Everything felt rather small, compared to the view of the magic cripple.
With surprise, maintaining the connection wasn't as taxing as I had expected.
To be honest, it was even easier than warging with Summer who I felt more close with.
There could have been multiple reasons for the low cost of maintaining the warging. But the first theory that sounded the most reasonable to me was the fact that the mind of Hodor was completely devastated.
To be honest, I had no idea who that guy I saw in my vision was. Probably some remnant of the magic cripple. Perhaps I am soon getting replaced by his older version.
Nevertheless I gained two very important information from the vision. First and foremost, I had to make the decisions as it was my burden to do so, secondly I now knew how to turn somebody into a fool.
Though the latter seemed to be only possible to a certain extent, mostly depending on the environment.
As I moved back into the body that I inhibited in this World, I began to ponder.
Not about the success of warging into a Human, neither the fact that I now had a strong, reliable and loyal knight that was also physically impressive.
It was about how I could maximize the fact that I could technically control the actions of humans.