The raven returned at dawn.
This time, it bore no message. Only a feather—long, silver-edged, not from its own wing.
Cregan stared at it, fingers cold around the shaft. The feather shimmered faintly with residual warmth, as if plucked from something still smoldering. Dragon?
He tucked it into his cloak and stepped into the courtyard. Snow drifted lazily from above, but the air smelled wrong—ash mixed with pine, smoke without fire.
A guardsman passed him, muttering, "Ravens flying strange today. One pecked out a rook's eye mid-flight."
Cregan said nothing.
[Simulation Ready]
Choose a Simulation:
Investigate the rookery for magical interference.
Revisit the crypt and search for signs of recent disturbance.
Enter a trance and follow the vision trail linked to the feather.
He chose the third.
[Simulation Running...]
You lay in the godswood, feather gripped between both palms. The cold seeps into your bones, but you do not shiver.
The vision takes you:
A sky split by wings—dark and pale, wolf and flame. A dragon flies low over a pine forest, its scales dull with age. Upon its back, the woman. She is not fleeing. She is searching. For you.
The vision dives. Beneath the forest lies a frozen lake. Beneath the lake, a cave. And in that cave, a stone wolf with a sword in its jaws.
Your breath stills. The sword is real. It's waiting.
[Simulation Complete]
Knowledge Gained:
The woman is linked to both fire and prophecy, but her loyalty lies with neither Targaryen nor Stark.
The sword hidden beneath the lake predates the Conquest. It is not Valyrian.
The forest is east of Winterfell, near the ancient barrow-hills.
Trait Gained: Dream-Tethered – You can now retain partial clarity and memory of visions while unconscious or asleep.
Accept outcome? "Accept."
He woke with snow crusted in his hair.
The feather was gone. But his hand was closed around something else—a pine needle. Fresh.
He rose and walked to his chamber, heart hammering.
Winterfell's past had stirred. But now, the North's future was calling.
And it howled like a wolf beneath frozen water.