This is Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery.

My village. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests.

See, most places have mice, or mosquitos, but we have: dragons!

I looked outside but quickly shut the door when a dragon blew fire at my house. I opened the door and ran back out and through the village, avoiding the other Vikings.

Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues.

My name's Hiccup. Great name, I know. But, it's not the worst. Parents believe that hideous names will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that.

I fell onto the ground and another Viking screamed in my face. "AAAAHHHH! Mornin'!" Then he ran off. As I kept running, other Vikings who knew me were calling, "What are you doing here?!" and "Get back inside!"

I ran right onto a larger path and almost got smoldered by a dragon if a hand hadn't grabbed me. I recognized the "Hiccup!" anywhere. "What is he doin' out aga- what are you doing out!? Get inside!" He yelled around him, but then addressed me. Before waiting for an answer, he shoved me into the blacksmith's shop.

That's Stoick the Vast, chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do.

"What do we got?" He called.

"Gronkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks, Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmares."

"Any Night Furies?"

"None so far."

"Good." Catapults were launched as I ran inside.

The blacksmith, long-time friend, saw me. "Nice of you to join the party. I'd thought you'd been carried off."

I put on my apron and picked up one of the recently mended weapons. "What, who, me? Nah. I'm way too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this." I posed and showed off my fake muscles.

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" He joked back. Vikings were loading my arms with broken and damaged weapons and I was handing out new ones.

The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well, littler.

"We move to the lower defenses. We counterattack with the catapults." Stoick and a few other Vikings run out.

See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses.

"Fire!"

That's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and…

I stared out the window at the other kids I knew who got to be in the action, putting out fires.

…Astrid… Ah, their job is so much cooler.

"Eh…" Gobber picked me up by my tunic and pulled me away from the window.

"Oh, come on," I begged. "Let me out. Please? I need to make my mark."

"Oh, you made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places."

"Please, two minutes. I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date."

Gobber started naming all my faults. "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these…" He picked up a bola which a Viking took and threw at a Gronkle.

"Okay fine. But this, will throw it for me." I backed up to my new invention, which accidently threw a bola at an approaching Viking.

"See? Now this right here is what I'm talking about!"

I stuttered. "Mild calibration issue, and what about my wing idea? Make wings for human use so we can level out the battlefield?"

"Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there and fight dragons you need to stop all… this." He moved his arms to point at me.

"But you just pointed to all of me."

"Yes. That's it. Stop being all of you."

"Ohhhh…" I smiled a small smile.

"Ohhhh…" Gobber repeated, smiling too. "Yeah.

"You sir are playing a dangerous game," I joked. "Keeping this much, raw Viking-ness contained. There will be consequences!"

"I'll take my chances," He gave me a sword. "Sword. Sharpen. Now."

One day, I'll get out there, because killing a dragon is everything around here. A Nadder head would surely get me at least noticed. Gronkles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend. A Zippleback, exotic. Two heads, twice the status.

"They found the sheep!"

"Concentrate! Fire over the lower bank!"

Then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.

"Reload!"

But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one's ever seen. We call it the…

"Night Fury!"

"Get down!" Everyone ducked as a purple fire blast shot down a base with a catapult. I looked out the window.

This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm going to be the first.

"Man the fort, Hiccup. They need me out there." Gobber grabbed a weapon and walked to the exit. "Stay. Put. There. Ya know what I mean." With a yell, he ran off into battle.

I followed directly after with my new invention and ran out, as Vikings were yelling at me to get back inside. I got to an open filed away from the main battle and quickly set up my bola-launcher.

I looked into the dark sky, nearly quiet except for the yelling of a dragon.

"Come on," I whispered. "Give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at." I heard the dragon coming closer, and I shot at it after it blew a fireball. The machine threw a bola but also knocked me back.

I stood up and looked around for the falling of a dragon, but saw nothing. I saw the tower was on fire from the Night Fury, but no Night Fury. I yelled out in anguish before plopping back down. I put my head in my knees in defeat.

It was quiet until I felt a harsh tug from under my arms. I looked up to see the bottom of the neck of a black dragon, nearly invisible against the night sky. I yelled and flailed, trying to get out of its arms.

It flew fast, and it flew far across the sky. It hit one more tower before seeming to fly to the other side of the island to get away. I screamed louder, knowing it was trying to get away with me.

"Hiccup!" I couldn't see the ground, but I felt a flaming rock shot at us from a catapult. I ducked as if it would help, but I knew it wouldn't.

I felt my skin singe as the dragon above me growled. I felt its hold around my shoulders lessen, and I fell to the ground.