The Dragon King
Chapter One: A New Beginning
In the depths of a vast and open sea, exotic waters protect the best kept secret for dragon kind, a portal to the hidden world is only reached by those with flight. No Viking or other humans are allowed into the water gates, a passage that is protected by the king's best stand by to guard their safe haven, and the king himself will spend his hours to fight off stray ships that venture too close to the portal. A year after the battle against Grimmel, with the Vikings and the dragons mighty victory, the matters of peace was top priority for both dragon and mankind—bittersweet goodbyes were never apart of the original plan—but it was a crucial decision made for the best outcome. Time and distance played its role, King Toothless took his new role as king, protector of the hidden world; the dragon nation placed their loyalties to the Alpha who protected them and who still protects them. It wasn't long until he and his Light Fury, mate Tara had a family of their own; two princesses who were born into the new world.
Seren, who is the oldest daughter of the mighty Toothless, she resembles much of her father; with the black scales from head to tail, a royal blue colors her eyes like that of her mother's. Seren also possesses her mother's cloaking abilities and she's a fast learner when it comes to flying. Haru is the youngest sister, she resembles the elegant white scales of her mother, green eyes like her father's and she also inherited the retractable teeth from Toothless as well. Like father like daughter, Haru is playful and loves to make her friends and family smile, she loves being around her older sister and tries to follow in her footsteps. Ever since Seren was a hatchling, she dreamed of becoming a member of her father's security team; The Dragon Guard. She is also the next in line to be Queen, Seren knows that one day it'll be her responsibility to protect the entire realm of dragons; Toothless spends time with Seren to teach her everything she needs to know. Tara and Haru as a queen and a princess, Tara and Haru teach the young hatchlings and young dragons about survival skills; tracking and other tactics that are useful for the outside world.
As king Toothless only trains the best and the elite for his guards and warriors, only those dragons authorized may come and go from the the portal. They aide the king when they scout for unnecessary ships, perhaps in the old days man and dragon lived in coexistence, but Toothless knows that those times are no more. It was important to keep his kind safe from other humans, in this case it was to protect them from all humans; different times and different mindsets—Toothless has more than just himself to look after. A loving mate and two daughters are his entire life now, there is nothing and there is no one that would change that factor; as far as maintaining a kingdom—the dragon king has proven his worth and allegiance of a growing dragon nation.
It is a beautiful morning in their algae glowing home, Haru finally convinced her older sister to play hide and seek; the young dragon princess glides through the colorful sea stacks. She spots a patch of bushes and trees as she gracefully lands on the platform, Haru has tracked her sister's scent and she carefully follows the trail leading to Seren; "I have you this time, Seren!" Haru exclaims with absolute determination. Seren just looks down at her sister, she watches as Haru traces her old trail and Seren slips out a small giggle, for hide and seek was her best game.
"Come on out Seren, I can hear your laughter." Haru demands playfully, she jumps around to see her sister standing behind her, but there was no one there. Another delightful chuckle bursts from the older sister, she was probably cheating but she didn't care for she was having a little fun. Soon the younger princess looks above her head, a gaze of disapproval shows on her face and she pounces up in the air as she tackles Seren in midair. Seren uncloaks herself and she playfully pins Haru to the ground, "Ha! I win!"
"No fair, cloaking is against the rules," Haru scoffs with slight annoyance, Seren helps her sister to her feet and Haru lightheartedly smacks her sister with her tail.
"Hey, once you get your cloaking abilities ; then it will be a even playing field." Seren remarks with encouragement.
"You mean if I get my cloaking abilities, I'm almost fifteen and I still can't do it."
"Oh Haru, Mom said that your scales haven't molted enough yet, some take longer than others."
"Easy for you to say, you've been able to do it since you were a hatchling."
Seren determines the disappointment from her sister, Haru lowers her head but Seren lifts it up with comfort; it's usually Haru's specialty to make others smile and laugh, but sometimes Seren has the job of cheering her sister up; Seren doesn't have the same retractable teeth that her sister and father have. However, she attempts her best at a smile and Haru laughs at Seren with her toothless grin to follow. "Thank you, Seren" Haru remarks kindly. She nuzzles her head underneath her older sister's chin, "I love you, big sister!"
"I love you too, Haru." Seren replies with a series of purrs.
The younger princess tackles Seren once more as she successfully pins her, "Ha! You're it!" Haru immediately takes to the air, laughter roars from her and Seren soon chases after her sister. The two princesses fly together, swirling around sea stacks, climbing against the wind as they fly higher into the air. Three dragons join Seren and Haru, a young orange Gronkile named Ki flies next to Haru; those two have been the best of friends since they were hatchlings. Akari, a red Monstrous Nightmare who is a daughter of Hookfang and she's another good friend of Haru's. A male Razor Whip named Runar flies up to Seren's side, soon the two sisters part ways to be with their friends.
"So Seren, are you excited about today?" Runar asks with excitement in his voice. "We finally get to venture into the outside world!"
"Yes, we will finally be full-on members of The Dragon Guard, I just hope my dad is willing to let me go." Seren remarks as her head flows of thought, she knows that her father has the tendency to be overprotective; especially matters of her and The Dragon Guard. He also understands that in order for Seren to be a successful heir, it is imperative that she learns to scout on patrol and chase away unwanted visitors. It is all part of being a good leader and a good queen, after many years of hard work and dedication; Seren finally got what she's wanted. With her friend Runar by her side, she knows that she'll do her part for her beloved home.
"I know your dad can be a bit strict, but you've earned your spot on the guard," Runar remarks with encouragement. "I'm sure King Toothless will let to you go tomorrow."
Seren and Runar finally reach to their destination, the sound of water flows rapidly and the smell of salt is strong when entering the opening of the portal. The two adolescent dragons have seen the portal many times, however; tomorrow is the day—tomorrow is the day that they finally get to venture into the outside world. A place so profound and so bizarre that Seren and Runar will experience all they have been told. "We are so close Runar, I want to see the open ocean and the open sky!"
"Wait a minute? Do you see that?" Runar questions with confusion, Seren places her attention to the direction he motions to—in a shadowed area of the waterfalls. In a instant the princess knows it is her sister Haru and her friends; they have somehow snuck by the guards—those troublesome dragons just exited the portal. "Oh no, Haru!" Seren exclaims with terror. Seren cloaks herself as she zooms quickly past the guards and all of a sudden—she is out of the portal.
Seren pushes her wings against the immense fog, she is greeted with a bright light in the sky; she quickly determines the light as the sun. This is her first look at daylight, it was so much brighter than the glowing algae and crystals of her home. She glances at the massive color of blue below her, she glides lower as she reaches her paw into it; it is cold to the touch and it was wet. Seren has encountered many waterholes, she has never seen an wide open sea until now; the cooling sensation is heaven sent. The open sky was of a brighter blue, it isn't dark and gloomy like inside of the hidden realm; fluffy colors of white are patched along the daytime sky.
As beautiful as it all is, Seren quickly brushes off the beauty that was distracting her and she releases out a loud roar. The sound came back to her, Seren caught the sound of young dragons close by as she flies in their direction; she is greeted by Runar who somehow snuck out of the portal. "Runar, How did you get out?"
"Trust me, it wasn't easy but I managed to sneak past the guard," Runar replies nervously.
"I've tracked down Haru, Ki and Akari, we need to find them before they get into trouble!" Seren remarks firmly. Runar just nods his head with understanding, as the two friends venture out to find the three dragons; it isn't long until Seren and Runar find all of them. Seren carefully scouts the terrain and so far the ocean seems empty of ships, "Haru! You are so busted!" The older sister bellows which catches the younger sister's attention, the other two hunker their heads as they fly over to Seren and Runar.
"We're sorry Princess Seren," Akari apologizes nervously.
"Yeah, sorry Princess." Ki replies with the same nervousness.
"What do you think you were doing?" Runar scolds sternly, "You two know that it's dangerous to leave the portal."
Ki and Akari don't respond to the warrior Razor Whip, Seren demands that Haru comes closer but for some reason she doesn't budge. Seren grows impatient as she calls out to her sister again, when Haru remains still, the older sister flies in her sibling's direction. "Haru, didn't you hear me? I said to come—" and just before the princess could muster another word; the sight of a human ship immediately catches Seren's attention. The very sight of it had her sister frozen in fear, when Seren takes a closer look she notes of a human with his weapon; an arrow released from the weapon—Seren rushes over to her sister's aide. "Haru! Snap out of it, fly away!"
The young Light Fury remains afloat with absolute terror in her eyes, it was like the human ship appeared out of nowhere, Seren pushes will all of her strength and speed; soon she gets ahold of her frightened sister. Eventually, Haru awakens from her scared state as she realizes her sister is carrying her up higher in the air; she slightly overhears a human shout, "No, do not fire at them!" She then pushes herself out of Seren's grasp, "Seren, wait , I don't think they want to hurt us?"
"No Haru, they just tried to shoot you with an arrow, you call that friendly?" Seren questions with skepticism. Haru attempts to fly towards the hunter ship again, she is determined to claim these humans are harmless; and while her heart may be in a right place. Her mind is where logic is absent, Seren notes of a second arrow as it released from a hunter's weapon, and it was aimed at the young Light Fury. "Haru No!" Without a second thought the older sister dives after the young dragon, her talons immediately lock with Haru's which stops the Light Fury in midair; Seren takes all of her strength as she flings her sister in Runar's direction. "Runar! Catch her!" Seren demands resolutely, and in an instant the arrow strikes the princess in her hind leg; immediately Seren felt drowsy as her vision became fuzzy. The function to fly became difficult all of a sudden, she loses control over her wings and she begins to fall out of the sky.
"Seren!" Runar roars with terror in his voice. When Haru soon collects herself after being tossed in the air, she turns to see her sister as she was struck by the arrow; then butterflies flew into her stomach the moment Seren began to fall out of the sky. She knew that she had messed up, if it wasn't for her sister Haru would have been shot down, and the eldest princess saved her life. Haru attempts to fly after her sister, "Seren!" Before Haru had her chance to save her sister, Runar quickly stops her by pulling her back, "Haru don't, it's too dangerous!"
"Seren was hit! I have to get her!" Haru rejects to Runar's sudden action because she knows that it is her fault Seren was in this mess to begin with.
"We can't take on those hunters, we're outnumbered!" Runar exclaims. "We need to get the King, he'll be able to help us!"
Seren tries her best to stay afloat but she feels her body fall, she catches a glimpse of some forest close by; then she pushes her wings to the trees. The next thing she feels her body crash into an evergreen tree and everything grows dark around her.
"Seren, she fell into that forest!" Haru cries with worry building up inside of her, "I can't leave her!"
Runar encourages the young princess to trust him, "We'll come back for her, we just need to get help."
Haru grumbles with a saddened whimper, "Just trust me Haru." Reluctantly, Haru listens to the Razorwhip's advice and they raced back to the portal. Haru quietly whispers to herself, "Please Seren, please be okay."
The fallen dragon just fell from the sky, landed roughly into a forest of trees were branches and trunks alike where destroyed from the impact; then when the scaly creature skid across the grassy, dewy ground. A seventeen-year-old Viking was overwhelmed by the dramatics in front of her, she hid behind a small boulder for protection against flying debris; when the dragon came to a stop the young Viking carefully approached it. She observed and immediately noted that the dragon was a Night Fury, with that knowledge she quickly tended to the injured dragon as she checked for a pulse. The Viking sees that the Night Fury is still breathing, only faintly and that she needed to do something.; Seren tries to get away from the human. She fears that a hunter had found her, "Please get away!" She grumbles weakly.
The Viking carefully soothes the frightened dragon, "Hey, it's okay Girl, it's okay." She whispers gently. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Somehow this was enough to bring ease to the injured Night Fury, which caught both Seren and the girl by surprise, and the Viking takes note of the arrow in Seren's leg. Without hesitation or second thought the girl knew just what to do, "Okay Girl, this may hurt a little." A firm grip and a good yank, the arrow came out as the dragon lets out a painful roar. "I'm sorry, but it's out now." Seren felt immediate relief and as an natural reaction; she pounces onto the Viking girl. A series of looks were exchanged for the young princess didn't know how to react, all over her life she was told that humans were dangerous; however, this one human decided to help her. "Why would you help me? I could murder you right now." Those were the thoughts running through her mind, the Viking girl holds many emotions, fear and confusion; and she should feel those very things, for— for Seren realized that she couldn't— She couldn't kill a human. She makes sure that this human's fear would stick as she acts to prepare for a plasma blast, the girl begs with slight terror in her voice. "Please, don't kill me." With that Seren releases a loud, shrieking roar and a heated plasma blast and she vanished from the scene. She pushes against the fuzziness of her vision and the disoriented mind that made flying nearly impossible; Seren couldn't lift herself from the ground as she keeps stumbling over logs and tree roots. The next time she trips over another big rock and she tumbles down into a pit of some sort; then she plummets onto hard ground—she soon finds herself falling to the blackness and she was unconscious again.