Chapter 19

Even after the flying machine landed on the immense complex, Jon was still shocked by the things he had seen during the latter part of the trip. After passing the large city of Nordhorn, it took only five minutes before another city of that size appeared beneath them, which was apparently called Gronau, and he thought he saw a glimpse of an even larger city to the west. This pattern, with a city the size of White Harbor appearing every few minutes, continued until the moment he thought he finally saw their destination.

Surrounding a large river was a city of unfathomable size. No matter which way he looked, all he could see were buildings, some of them more than twice as large as the largest towers of Winterfell. Similar to Nordhorn and the other cities, there were paved roads with huge amounts of metal wheelhouses crisscrossing the city, and no shacks or any sign of poverty to be found. However, this time, Jon was also fascinated by the enormous bridges over the river, the unbelievably large ships ferrying cargo over said river, the large towers emitting some kind of white smoke, and the enormous harbor with loads of big colorful iron boxes on its docks.

Thinking this must have been the city of Düsseldorf, Jon was again surprised by Hauswald when he called this city Duisburg. He really should have paid more attention to those maps of Germany, instead of going through all the map the foreigners had on their entire world. However, how could he have been prepared for the fact that more than half a dozen cities, each the size of Kings Landing, all lay within a few dozen miles of each other?! Even with all the fertile farmland he saw from the flying machine, how were the foreigners ever able to feed all those people?

Nevertheless, the most wonderful thing during the trip had only appeared when they could finally see their destination. A giant flying machine, which was at least half a dozen times as large as the helicopter and flew at least three times as fast, appeared to land somewhere in the northern part of the city. And this wasn't the only one, as just a few moments later, he saw another such machine fly away from that same area. Asking Hauswald revealed that those flying machines were planes, and were made to carry smallfolk over unfathomable distances. Apparently, those machines could reach the other side of the world in just a day! Not only that, but if these machines were cheap enough that normal smallfolk could afford use them at least once a year!

Distracted by these planes, Jon had almost missed the largest building he had ever seen. An enormous tower, which must have been as large as the wall, stood proudly in the city center next to yet another enormous bridge over the local river. Like the cranes Jon saw near the portal, the so-called Rheinturm seemed like it should fall from just the slightest gust of wind.

Thoughts on these things and more went through Jon's head as he followed Bran inside the hospital. During the walk through the halls, he saw people gaping at him, their guards, and the foreign soldiers who were still accompanying them. As he took a closer look at the local smallfolk, he almost blushed from the amount of bare leg some of those women were showing. Moreover, some of the women who did cover their legs wore very form fitting trousers that didn't leave much to his imagination.

Because of those distractions, it took him a while to realize that some foreign smallfolk held small rectangular contraptions in his general direction. When a flash of light suddenly appeared from one of those contraptions, Jon stopped walking as he wondered what in the name of the gods that was. Bran's guards, also confused and afraid it might be a threat for Bran, put their hands on their weapons before they were interrupted by Hauswald.

"Please continue walking, there's no danger. That was just someone taking a photo of us who forgot to turn off the flashlight."

Before Jon could ask what a photo was, Hauswald seemed to realize his mistake and added:

"A photo is basically a small painting, which can be created within a second by the camera of a mobile phone. Those devices carried by the people around us, they are those phones."

As one of the soldiers started to berate the man who just created the so-called 'photo', Jon realized he wasn't even that surprised by the foreigners doing something as magical as making a painting in a small metal box.

Jon was happy to leave the stares, weird photo-making contraptions and scantily clad women behind them as they finally entered a private room within what was called the 'Emergency Ward'.

An older woman in a white coat was already there, seemingly waiting for them. After the last foreign soldier entered the room, she addressed them all.

"Welcome, gentleman, to both our world and this hospital. I am doctor Klinger, specializing in Trauma, and I will be overseeing the treatment of Brandon Stark and Colrin here. In a few minutes, we can move them to the CT-scanner to check on the extent of their injuries.

A CT scanner is a machine that uses a special kind of light to see the bones inside of the body. With that, we can immediately see the extent of their injuries and arrange the appropriate treatment.

However, I first have a question for you, and especially for Brandon's brother here. During surgery, which is likely needed in Brandon and Colrin's case, they might experience blood loss. Normally, we use our donated blood to compensate for that. However, as you are from another world, we cannot be sure that would be save for them. Instead, I want to ask if you are willing to donate blood to them."

Jon had to think on this for a while. He had heard horrifying tales of the blood magic done by the Valerians, and was therefore hesitant to agree at first. However, after thinking it through for a moment, he came to the conclusion the foreigners weren't likely to use that. None of their so-called 'technology' was anything like the magic he heard about in old Nan's stories, but was instead something completely different. Besides, if they really wanted use his blood for blood magic, they could easily get it by force.

However, to be sure, Jon asked:

"You otherworlders are only going to use my blood to help Bran and Colrin?"

"Of course. However, there is still a possibility their bodies will reject your blood, even if you're Brandon's half-brother. To be sure, we will first have to compare your blood and see whether you have comparable blood types, assuming your bodies even have those."

It took some time, and an explanation of how blood works that Jon only partly understood, before they were placated by the female Maester, and still only Jon and two guards were willing to part with their blood.

Once they had agreed, Jon and the two guards were led to another room, one by one. In there, another woman in a white jacket waited.

With a small needle, the woman took a few drops of blood from Jon's finger and put them in a small glass vial. A weird soft cloud-like object was then placed on his finger, presumably to stop the bleeding.

Jon came back just in time to see more people in white jackets come in. When doctor Klinger told they were here to bring Bran to the weird contraption that was supposed to look inside his body, Jon moved to follow, but was stopped by the doctor herself.

"Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed inside the surgery rooms, nor the rooms with CT-scanners. This is for Brandon and Colrin's own safety, as the doctors must not be distracted during the scans."

Bran's guards moved to protest. However, the foreigners weren't folding, so in the end, they were forced to let Bran go.

It took almost an hour before Bran was finally returned to the room. In the meantime, Jon had tried to read some of the small books, which were sprawled around one of the tables like they were worthless. While he didn't understand a word, as they were written in the local tongue, the detailed paintings were still interesting. He especially liked the book with paintings of colorful horseless carriages, and regretted the fact that he couldn't read the script.

"How is Bran?"

"I'm sorry to say this. Your brother Brandon has a spinal cord Injury. His back is broken and multiple bone fragments are pressing into his spine, paralyzing him from the waist down. In an hour, we'll try to remove those fragments via surgery. If all goes well, Brandon will wake up after a day or two and will be able to walk again after a few weeks of rehabilitation. However, even with that surgery, there is still a small possibility he'll remain paralyzed for the rest of his life."

It shocked Jon that the otherworlders, the ones who made flying dragons, enormous buildings from glass and steel, and weapons that could decimate any army, were not sure they could heal Bran.

"Isn't there anything else you could do if the surgery fails?"

"There are some other options we could try, but they are newly developed, and not as successful. In any case, I would guess that there is a 4 in 5 chance that your brother will regain his ability to walk in half a year."

Hearing those odds, Jon was glad that the foreigners took his little brother here. After all, Maester Luwin thought Bran was likely to die, and wouldn't be walking even if he somehow made it.

"I do have some genuinely good news. You and Bran have compatible blood types, so there won't be any risk from that front during the surgery. Moreover, your blood cells are indistinguishable from normal blood cells, so we might even be able to do blood transfusions between our and people on your world in the future."

Jon heard the excitement in the voice of the female Measter as she was talking about the invisible stuff that made up blood, which felt unnerving to him.

"It wouldn't surprise me if people from our worlds actually had common ancestors, who might have migrated through an earlier version of the portal thousands of years ago. However, we'll have to wait until tomorrow before we can know that for sure."

Jon had no idea how the otherworlders could ever figure out what happened so long ago. Maybe they had some contraption that could look into the past? It wouldn't even be the most flabbergasting piece of mechanical magic he had seen today.

However, Jon didn't think too much on that, as it wasn't like that research would impact him in any way. Instead, he started to worry about Bran and his upcoming surgery.

AN: First, I want to apologize for the sudden hiatus. I hope to retain my newfound motivation to write and to release chapters on a more consistent schedule from now on, aiming for 1 chapter per 2 weeks.

Secondly, I wanted to mention that I have found a nice full-time job. The transition to a working life has worked out surprisingly well for me.

Finally, I wanted to thank all of you who reviewed, favourited, or followed my story. To thank you guys, I'll now do something I should have done immediately after I stopped writing review responses. Which is answering questions from people in reviews directly via PM's instead of just noting them or sometimes giving a general explanation in the AN.