Preface


Some say the world will end in fire. Some say in ice. I say it doesn't really matter which. The end result is the same, but the first time my world almost ended was by fire.

It may sound ridiculous, but time really did slow in those moments when I saw the massive tail of the Red Death looming above us and coming in too fast, too fast to have any chance of manoeuvring out of its path, at least not without a working tail fin for Toothless.

Then time sped right up again and everything after that happened so quickly. There was my shouting, Toothless' roar, and the sudden, unimaginably heavy impact and the crunch of my bones when the Red Death's giant bludgeon of a reptilian tail collided with us. And for a few moments, the dizziness and disorientation of being in free fall, separated from my dragon, and on the verge of passing out. I saw the flames blooming upwards towards me and heard Toothless' roar behind me just before the unbelievably intense, scorching and searing heat became more than I could take. It forced my eyes to close and my mind to go blank.

For seventeen days, it stayed blank, filled with nothing but darkness. No thoughts, no emotions, no images, just a complete and total blackout.

On the outside, it was a very different story.