Arc 3 - Ashes

Ikarus happily walks down the road.

In one arm he carried two sacks of flour, in the other hand a sack full of supplies and on his back a bag with sweets and gifts for his siblings.

"I hope this earns me their forgiveness for taking so long."

On his way back he passed by the tomb of Mina, Lucan and Alys.

***Flashback, a few hours ago***

"Hi, I'm back." Ikarus looks at the graves with a half smile.

"I have kept my promise. Your murderers are dead. Now you can rest in peace."

***End Flashback***

"There is only one promise left to fulfill."

The shinobi approaches the tree line, the plain where the farm is located a few meters away.

Upon reaching the plain he sees something that makes his blood freeze in his veins.

The farm.

Or rather the remains of it.

Ikarus drops everything and runs towards the farm.

The house is burned, the roof collapsed and the remains of the walls are charred. Same with the barn.

"No no no!"

"Aemon! Jenny!"

He screams and looks frantically everywhere, searching for any trace of the siblings.

"Aemon!"

"Jenny!"

"Aemon!"

"Aemon!"

"Jenny!"

"Aemon!"

"Jenny!"

He finds no trace of them.

The remains of the farm are at least a week old, maybe more.

***

Ikarus Senju jumps from tree to tree, moving through the forest like a blur to the untrained eye.

When the last rays of the daylight disappear between the peaks of the trees, he goes down to the ground, but he does not set up camp for the night, he continues moving.

Drenched in sweat and with slight tremors running through his entire body, he continues to run at full speed.

Every time he blinks he sees red.

Red.

Red.

Red.

He clenches his fists and whinnies his teeth.

He speeds up even more, pushing his limits to the extreme—and then even beyond.

"Plus ultra" his voice is low, a sarcastic and mocking growl.

He pushes his body even more.

He ignores the burning in his legs and keeps running.

Night turns into day and Ikarus Senju keeps running.

The sun is high in the sky when he reaches the limit of his body, his legs collapse under his weight.

He falls to the ground and breathes heavily. A thick layer of sweat bathes his body from head to toe.

He tries to lean on a nearby tree to get up but then he sees his hand.

Red.

Red.

Red.

Ikarus collapses to the ground.

He raises his head and screams.

The sound that comes out of his throat is inhuman.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Birds and animals shy away.

Throat raw, Ikarus sits with his back against a tree.

He looks at the sky with empty eyes.

"Why did I choose this world?!"

The memories of the last few weeks drain the last of his strength.

As the darkness claims him he hears a voice.

"You promised."

***

The sun is setting as the young shinobi regains some of his strength and gets up from the ground.

His eyes are red but bright with determination.

"I'm going to find who did this! AND I'M GOING TO KILL THEM! EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THEM! I WILL FIND THEM NO MATTER WHAT!"

There were no human corpses on the farm, just a few animal remains.

Aemon and Jenny are alive, captured but alive.

Ikarus Senju has set out to save them at all costs.

The cost doesn't matter.

Anyone in his path will be destroyed.

There will be no mercy.

*** Interlude: Evil is made ***

-Benjen Snow-

Benjen Snow was born in 247 BC in White Harbor. His father's identity was a mystery to him all his life, his mother used to tell him a thousand stories: about a brave wandering knight who died fighting a bandit king, about the second son of a lord who was killed by a greedy relative , about a bold adventurer who died saving a child,...

In truth each story was more unlikely than the previous one, Benjen never knew the identity of his father. He asked and asked. But his mother never gave him an honest answer.

His mother, Mera, was a waitress at Lady Siren, a famous inn in the port city.

Young Benjen spent his childhood running around the tables, listening to thousands of stories from hundreds of travelers. From traders from the distant Essos to brothers from the Nightwatch.

As a child Benjen wanted to be a sailor, to travel to a thousand lands and live a life full of adventures. But his mother soon put those ideas out of his head. With violence.

Mera was not an exemplary mother, negligent often and violent sometimes.

The ones that Mera hated more than anything were the sailors, it was said that because a sailor broke the girl's heart when she was young. Every time young Benjen expressed his love for the sea and his desire to sail, his mother's behavior changed radically: first came the violence, then he was ignored for days, then the yelling, and finally Mera apologized. .

The cycle was repeated countless times.

Apart from the changing behavior of his mother, Benjen suffered harassment and ostracism all his life.

Heterochromia is something rare, a phenomenon that peasants do not understand. What they don't understand they fear. Something like eye color shouldn't be that important, but the fact that one of his eyes was the color of ice while the other was brown raised red flags in the minds of the superstitious. And so the rumors began to appear.

Rumors that the boy is half man half demon. That his father is the last White Walker. That the child is a herald of the end of time.

Not many believed these ridiculous rumors but those who did were vocal in their beliefs. Thus Benjen grew up quite isolated from his peers, with only one true friend. His best friend, the only one who defended him against his bullies and was always by his side.

The high point of his life came when Benjen reached puberty. At that age most kids started chasing skirts, Benjen didn't. The young teen began to spend more and more time with his best friend. One day Mera found her son kissing his friend.

Her reaction was not pretty.

She nearly killed her own child.

But for young Benjen that was not the worst of it. Mera spread the rumor that Benjen's friend, Fabian, corrupted honest youths with his sinful ways.

In most of the North the predominant religion is the worship of the Old Gods. White Harbor is one of the few places in the frozen lands where the Religion of the Seven holds some power.

The Seven condemn homosexuality as a sin, such sinners must be 'purified'.

Eleven-year-old Benjen watched as the boy he loved was brutally murdered in the name of religion.

Something snapped inside him that day.

"Half demon they call me. Half demon I will be."

The next day his mother was found dead in her bed, Benjen was nowhere to be found.

When some fool dared to ask him about his first murder, Benjen's eyes grew colder than ice. And the fool would be found dead days later. His corpse showed that his death was neither quick nor painless.

The message was received, do not ask.