The Elements of the Archipelago

Chapter 1: A Strange Sight

Wolf

It's a cool, breezy night with the full moon shining its white light over the entire island, and the stars glitter across the midnight sky. In despite of the hell that broke loose, the island somehow remains safe and peaceful. My eyes fixate on the small, metal flask in my right hand, I note the ancient indentation from the countless times that I crushed the vessel with my tightening grip. The whiskey fails to numb my problems away, it seems the more alcohol I intake the less disoriented I feel in my body.

Chief Hiccup, Astrid, Kodi and the rest of the gang are inside of the Henderson household, I can hear the chatter between Hana and the Haddocks from a nearby window. I stare out into the silent and motionless world, at this late hour most people are asleep with sweet and simple dreams, they are completely oblivious of the issues that are at stake. Perhaps it's best that they aren't aware of the mayhem of Wenslock just yet, however; we will have to tell our people eventually. Especially if we execute this plan successfully, for winning against Niles Monroe isn't going to be a simple task. A villain will brutal strength is nothing compared to a man with vast intelligence.

I can imagine that must've been the struggle that Hiccup had to deal with, the constant frustration that he endured when he faced Viggo Grimborn years ago. For Viggo was no fool, he was a devious man with a thirst for profits and Viggo wasn't afraid to resort to extreme measures to protect his profits. This great intelligence that Viggo and Niles share is dangerous, the only difference is that Viggo eventually knew when he was defeated. Niles on the other hand, he is relentless and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Niles is as heartless as they come, he will hurt, torture and kill to strive his desires. The ironic thing is that my long-lost friend wasn't always like this, some people just assume that villains are born evil, but that isn't the truth. People aren't destined to follow this dark path, they are influenced into this custom of life, and somewhere inside is a broken soul that has lost its way.

I've tried with my best efforts to help him out, but my attempts were failures. It seemed with each time I reached out to Niles, he just pushed me away from him. For even though my loyalty is my strongest element, I slowly came to the realization that I couldn't help him if he refused to take it. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but I eventually had to move on with my life as Niles did many years ago.

I know from personal experience, the fall to the dark path is difficult to break through, but it isn't impossible. Niles is no longer my brother or my friend, he went against my wishes and he did something that forgiveness isn't even an option at this point. I never could figure it out, the moment Niles knew that I had a stronger connection with my brother Ronin, something inside Niles snapped. He grew jealous of me and my brother, that was when he immediately shut me out.

I admit that Ronin and I had a fallout years ago, an upshot that drove us apart to the point I held a hatred towards my brother. At the time, I wanted to get vengeance on Ronin and I even brewed up a plan with Niles to mess with Ronin. I just wanted to teach my brother a lesson, but Niles.

I'm looking down at the flask in my hand, I feel my grasp tightening, crushing the metal container with my anger rising. I take another swig of whiskey, I only hope that the alcohol will take its effect soon. I don't want to feel anything, the numbness is what I look forward to, it's my only way to cope with the world.

"Guru…" Luka roars softly, he sits on the other side of the doorway as he anxiously waits for Ryka to return. I notice that Luka wants to search for her, even though Ryka told him to stay here, I can tell he worries about his friend. I gently reach out my hand to him, Luka looks at me curiously, he sniffs my hand and then he allows for me to pet him.

I take a glance out to the scenery of the small array of houses, thoughts flow inside my mind; then I look back to Luka. I gently pet his head once more, "Luka, go find Ryka," I state firmly, "Bring her back home."

"Rawr," Luka lightly grumbles with understanding. I have never seen a dragon look so happy or seen a dragon run so quickly. I watch as he vanishes out of sight range while I continue to drink my sorrows away.

Ryka

The sound of waves crashing along the island's shores, the roaring of the ocean in my ears. After my father appearance, I decided to stay at my tiny sanctuary. With my father's spirit who reached out to me, that's when it became clear and I realized that those dreams that I had weren't dreams. They're not dreams but visions that have been channeling through my mind. I asked my father about them, he told me that only great chiefs receive these mysterious visions.

He mentioned that these visions will guide me to make good decisions as a leader, now that I learned about this unique gift of mine; I decided to mediate to help my visions become clearer. I'm on my knees, my hands rest along my thighs as I attempt to empty my mind, to ignore any distractions that might enter my brain.

With my eyes closed, I inhale deeply to truly concentrate, I gradually slip away into a cavernous trance. Countless imageries are flashing quickly and at first, I can't seem to make out what I am seeing. I can sense the hindrance channel throughout my mind and body. I clutch my fists tightly; the reverie seems to break through the rifts of reality and visionary.

I slowly regain control of my brain, I rid of any outrageous thoughts and the alternating images seem to steady themselves to a slower pace. I see dark figures that appear to be outside in the night. My brain increases its concentration, I try to add details to the two figures. One of them looks like a human, small body figure, she appears to be a female with long, black or brown hair placed into a side braid and her small breasts. I can't get a better look of her face, she's wears a hood and a mask that covers her mouth.

I envision the other figure, which the details came to me easily and it appeared to be a dragon of some sort. The dragon shines with red scales and black stripes, the dragon has a spikey tail and horns on its body. This dragon looks like a Deadly Nadder, the girl was riding the dragon in the night sky.

Just as the dragon rider was coming into sight range, I lose sight of the both entirely. All I see is complete and utter darkness surrounding me; then gradually I see light coming into view.

The images start off blurry, I see more figures that look like splotches, slowly the figures come into focus. I find that I'm in a room with some men, I recognize three of them Krogen, Viggo and Monroe. They are talking to each other but I can't hear what they are saying. They look at my direction smirking with amusement, their stares are sinking right through me. Chills travel down my spine, suddenly the lone dragon rider comes back into view and I'm back to staring at the night sky. Suddenly, I keep bouncing back in forth to the dragon rider and then to Monroe, Viggo and Krogen. I feel a rush of uneasiness shifting throughout my brain and body.

Out of the blue, I return to the dragon rider and her dragon flying in the air, but the sound of Monroe's voice reverberates inside my head. At first, I only hear Monroe mumble, but then I begin to hear his voice more clearly. I see where the dragon rider is going, I see an island shining in the moonlight. "Wenslock?"

She's heading towards Wenslock, "Admission the poison!" Monroe's voice echoes in my brain, I felt a stabbing pain in my arm as a flash of lightning flashes in my face.

I abruptly awaken with my heart thrusting uncontrollably, my lungs breathing heavily and sweat dripping off my face. I lean forward placing my hands to the ground, I stare blankly at the blades of glass glistening from the midnight mist. My lungs continue to inhale and exhale deeply, I try to recollect what the hell that I just saw. I turn to my right arm where the sharp pain shot up, it seems to be okay. I remind myself that the events in my vision didn't happen, or at least they haven't happened yet.

I softly close my eyes, I wipe the sweat off my forehead with my shirt sleeve, and attempt to calm myself down. I feel someone gently nudge me from behind, I quickly turn around afraid it was someone else, but lucky for me it is only Luka.

"Oh, Luka it's just you," I remark with relief, "You scared me, bud."

"Guru?" Luka roars curiously.

"I'm okay Luka."

"Roo" he purrs with a look of concern on his face.

I reach my hand out to lightly stroke Luka's head, he delicately licks my face.

"Ha-ha, I'm fine Luka," I reassure him, "I promise."

As an added measure, I wrap my arms around Luka's neck and I kindly embrace him. I can hear Luka purring indicating that he is content and after the vision that I just had. It is great to hear a comforting sound in my presence. "Thank you, Luka."

I breakaway from our hug, I thoughts flowing through my mind, I look to Luka who patiently waits for me. "Luka, I've been having these visions and I don't know what they mean." I sigh

"If the visions that I see are real, I don't know how dangerous this can be. I best not tell anyone about my special ability. At least not right now, I'm still trying to make sense of it myself, if these visions are real. We need to go see who is this mysterious dragon rider."

"Rawr," Luka roars with understanding. I stand up and get onto Luka's back.

"This dragon rider doesn't seem like the ones that I've met or seen before. I'm guessing she's from outside the archipelagos. I saw her and her dragon flying towards Wenslock."

"Luka?"

"Rawr!"

"Let's go see meet up with this dragon rider."