Chapter 1: Howl of a dragon

This is Berk, an island high in the northern region where the hardest season lives named winter. On that island live vikings, live stock and your average wild live. The houses there are mood of wood and carved in the viking traditions. In brought daylight you can see the vikings doing there daily activity such as farming, smithing, training and building, but it is night and that means that all the vikings go to bed except the few that are standing in the watch towers, overlooking the sky for a certain pest, dragons.

The vikings have been living on Berk for seven generations and every single building is new. You see the dragons go on raids and destroy as many buildings or in this case damage them to a certain degree. Dragons take the live stock such as sheep, yak, fish and sometimes vikings. But on this night it was calm and peaceful, no dragon raids tonight but they keep themselves on guard just in case.

On higher ground there is a house that is bigger and overlooks the other houses. In that house lives the chief, Stoick the Vast and his wife Valka. It's the chief's duty to protect and care for his people as well as protecting his wife and unborn child. Valka is pregnant for 8 months and she is concerned that her child might not make it through the winter. She sit in front of the hearth and watches the flame dancing around each other, to perform as the best. She looks at her belly and holds it with her arms in hopes that the baby would come out healthy and strong.

"Stoick?" Valka says with sadness on her expression.

"What is it, my dear? Is your stomach acting up again?" said Stoick as he walks to her with concern on his expression. Valka has been having stomach aches during the entire pregnancy and it worries him every time.

"It's not my stomach, dear." she said with a sad smile looking at her big belly. "I'm worried, about the baby." as she grabs her husbands hand and places it on her belly he feels a small heartbeat inside her.

"Don't worry, Val." as he places a small kiss on her forehead. "Our child will survive this har's winter and everyone will know it." his wife was about to say something when a huge pain shot in her back. Valka know what this pain stands for, her water was broken, the baby is coming.

Stoick didn't hesitate long and brought her, holding her in his arms, to there bedroom. After that he went to get some midwifes to help with the birth as well as Gothi, the healer to examine the child and future heir. As Stoick went out, Valka started to prepare herself for the delivery. She could feel every pain that got shot in her back and she couldn't help thinking about how early the child was. With every shot of pain she let a yelp, she prayed to the gods to help her deliver the baby. When she did that, the midwives and Gothi entered the room, Stoick waiting out of his own house; hoping that everything goes well.

After many hours of pushing and screaming, the baby arrive and gave her first cry. The midwife cleaned the little one and gave it to Gothi who examines her thoroughly. As she did that one of the midwives let Stoick enter and seated next to his wife. Valka was exhausted after delivering the child but was happy to see that her husband walked in to see his new heir.

"How're you feeling, Valka?" Stoick said with a small smile on his face. He could tell that Valka was tired but she was happy. "Have named her yet?" It was tradition that the wife names the child and the chief would announce it in the great hall.

"No, not yet. Gothi is examining our little child." Valka said with a groggy voice. Stoick grabs a cup and fills it with water. He brings the water to her lips and she took small sips from it.

"Have you though about a name?" When Stoick puts the cup near the nightstand. Valka was about to respond when Gothi came and gave the baby to Valka. Her expression was very clear even to Stoick, the baby wasn't going to make it this winter nor any winter, the baby had no future in Berk.

When the midwife gave the baby to Gothi, she examined the baby thoroughly, making sure that there were no complications during the development of the baby nor the delivery. She could not see anything out of the ordinary on the outside, that was a good sign. She listens to her heartbeat and it was beating low, this worried her and she listens to her lungs and belly. She was barely breathing and it wasn't good. The baby was ill, she hoped that the child would survive but even she knew that the baby wouldn't survive two months of winter. The baby wasn't ready to enter this world and she had to tell the parents about it. She grabs the baby in her hands and looks into her eyes to see the future, to see if she could survive this terrifying end. What she saw was darkness, endless darkness but there was also a small fragment of light. She looked closer and could see that it was not strong and was slowly getting smaller. She raps the baby in a bundle and gives her to her mother with a sad expression on her face.

Valka and Stoick looked at Gothi in the hopes that she would survive but Gothi nodded no. She grabs her sandbag and stick and wrote what she heard and saw. Valka kept her child close when the tears came down, Gothi told them the news and Stoick couldn't wouldn't believe it, his only daughter and heir would not survive. Gothi and the midwives left the house and went there separate ways, the crowd that had formed in the front of the door were hoping to hear the chief say 'may son/daughter has been born' but that never came. Everyone left the chief's house and went to there own ways.

Valka never left her child, her only child and she could not enjoy the life she had planned for her. Stoick holds his wife close and didn't want to let go. He wanted to cry but he refused to let the tears fall down his face. He had to stay strong but even the strongest of men need to cry sometimes but not him. Without saying a word he kissed his wife's and child's forehead, he stood up and grabbed a cloak from his wife's closet and a woven basket at the staircase, one of the midwives must of left it. When Stoick placed the cloak on the chair and presented the basket to his wife she refused to let her child go. He sighed, it even pained him to do this but they couldn't deny the truth, it was tradition that if a child was born and the Healer couldn't see a future the child was to be placed in a basket and send a drift in the open seas. Valka hated that tradition, she watches as many parents sended there children out on woven baskets with a blanket that had the family crest on it.

"Sigh. Valka, it even pains me to do this but it must be done"

"No, Stoick." Valka said with a trembling voice. "I refuse to let our only child send a drift at the open sea. Can't we just keep her?" she hoped to change his husband decision but what Stoick was about to say shattered her heart.

"Valka, we cannot keep her. It would only cause more pain and grief on us." His voice was shaking, even he wanted to spare there child from that fate but it was impossible.

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, Stoick didn't press Valka further and placed the basket on the chair where the cloak was. He left the house and went for the great hall to drink his sorrow away in the hopes that it was all a dream. Valka kept her child close and sang a lullaby that her mother thought her when she was little. She wants her child to survive, she wants her to be save and be raised by someone who could bring her happiness. Without hesitation she pulled the sheets of her and went out of bed. Holding her infant close in her arms she placed her in the basket and grabbed her cloak. She went down the stairs and straight to the backdoor, holding the basket close to her arms, she went to the forest.

Valka went deep in the forest and the child was sleeping. She could hear the wind making music of the bushes, grass, trees and stone. Wherever the wind went, it made music and it was always different, not one music was the same as the last. She always loved the forest and spent a lot of time looking for food and study nature.

She arrives at an open clearing, where the moon shine her light to reveal her a small river that was flowing between two huge boulders and a tree, in the middle, kept it open, creating a gateway for the water and the fish.

Valka stopped her walk and looked with surprise, she knew this place well during the day but she had never seen it at night. She walks slowly to the river, as if she was guided by the moon. She kneels and places the basket gently down on the ground, without waking the baby. She gives a sad smile and a thought came in her mind. If she knew what I'm about to do, she would never forgive me. But it must be done. She grabs a few branches around the trees and binds each of them with a piece of her cloak, creating a small raft. She places the raft on the water and then the basket on top of the raft. She gave one last look and gives her a name.

"It is tradition that all babies who are..." Her voice begins to crack and tears were beginning to appear in her eyes but she didn't let them flow.

"Not strong to survive." she swallows a lump out of her throat.

"But you are strong and you will survive this world." By now she holds her little hand.

"Maybe one day you will change the world, to make it a better place for all of us." She was losing her voice. Slowly she rose from her spot and watched as the river drifted her child, her only child, away from this world. As the basket was closing in on the boulders, Valka let the tears flow out of her eyes.

"My you find happiness, my child" the basket went through the boulders and disappeared.

"My Hiccup" She said with a tearing whisper.