Chapter Two: The Wolf and the Stranger
The forest was quiet — too quiet.
Renji Kurozawa moved like a shadow between the trees, barefoot, his coat torn and stained with dew. The air was colder than anything he'd known in Shiranui, and the stars above were unfamiliar constellations. His crimson eyes glowed faintly in the dark, a side effect of his new vampiric nature. Every heartbeat in the forest echoed in his ears. Every scent — pine, blood, fear — was vivid.
He was no longer human. And this was no longer his world.
Ahead, the broken carriage lay like a corpse. Its wheels splintered, its horses gone. The sigil on the side — a grey direwolf on a white field — pulsed in his memory. House Stark, his instant comprehension whispered. Warden of the North. Honorable. Dangerous.
Renji approached cautiously. The scent of blood was fresh.
Inside the carriage, a boy groaned. Pale, dark-haired, barely conscious. His leg was twisted unnaturally, and his breath came in shallow gasps. Renji knelt beside him.
"Easy," he said softly. "You're safe now."
The boy's eyes fluttered open. "Who…?"
"Renji," he replied. "A traveler."
The boy tried to sit up but winced. "Bandits… ambushed us. My guards… dead."
Renji's eyes narrowed. He could hear movement in the trees — faint, deliberate. The bandits hadn't left. They were watching.
He had no sword. No armor. But he had blood.
First Battle: Crimson Awakening
Renji stood and extended his hand. His own blood flowed from his palm, shaping into a curved blade — elegant, deadly. The forest seemed to hold its breath.
The bandits emerged — five men, rough and hungry. They laughed when they saw him.
"Just one?" one sneered.
Renji didn't answer. He moved.
In seconds, the first man was down, throat slit. The second tried to parry, but Renji's blade dissolved into mist and reformed behind him, piercing his heart. The others panicked, but Renji was already among them — a blur of crimson and shadow.
When it was over, the forest was silent again. Renji stood over the bodies, his blade evaporating into the air.
The boy stared, wide-eyed. "You're… not normal."
Renji smiled faintly. "Neither is this world."
The Noble's Name
The boy's name was Benjen Stark, youngest brother of Lord Eddard Stark. He had been traveling south to deliver a message to King Robert Baratheon when the ambush occurred.
"You saved my life," Benjen said as Renji carried him toward a nearby village. "I owe you."
Renji shook his head. "Just doing what I couldn't before."
Benjen looked at him curiously. "You speak like a man with ghosts."
Renji didn't answer. But in his mind, he saw Aiko's smile. Her voice. Her blood on the shrine steps.
The Invitation
By the time they reached the village, word had spread. A Stark had been saved by a stranger with glowing eyes and a blade of blood. Renji was summoned to Winterfell.
Benjen, still recovering, whispered to him before they parted. "My brother is a good man. But the North is wary of magic. Be careful."
Renji nodded. "I always am."
As he walked toward the gates of Winterfell, the wind carried whispers — of dragons stirring in the East, of shadows moving in the South, and of a stranger who walked with ghosts and wielded blood like fire.
Renji Kurozawa had arrived.