Heart of a Dragon
Chapter 1 - A New Start
"Story starts right after Hiccup tried to kill Toothless."
(Hiccup's POV)
. . . " I did this. . ."
I turned and was about to trudge home, but the guilt and ache I had felt were tremendous, and I could not explain the feeling that resided in my already aching heart. But the explicit message that it sent me was, "Free him." My mind tossed around this thought for a few moments, trying to decipher why it wanted me to free this dragon, my sworn enemy. And to add to this dilemma, it was a Night Fury, the most powerful and mysterious dragon that we know of, and the one that took out all of our towers during every dragon raid. But even with this knowledge of dragons, I could not shake that feeling about this dragon. When I stared into it's eyes, when I stared into it's soul, I did not see any anger, hate, or malice. I only saw fear, which is the same way that I felt, just pure fear. And with that glance that lasted not even a second, one thought came to my mind, that would change my life forever.
"What if everything we know about dragons, is wrong?"
That thought made me question my whole view of dragons. That one thought made me think that maybe there was another side to the story, one that reflected dragons in a completely different manner. And so as I was thinking this, I looked down at the dagger in my hand, that moments ago I almost used to kill this magnificent dragon, and then looked at the dragon lying helpless and vulnerable on the ground. I had many options that I could of taken right then, I could have ran back to tell my dad, and bring him back to be known as the first viking who has ever killed or seen a Night Fury. I could kill him right now, and put blood on my hands to prove my dad wrong if he questioned my story. Or I could free him. . . so that he could live to see another day, but I didn't trust him at all. I thought about him getting up and killing me right when I cut the ropes off, then flying away like nothing ever happened. And yet, the more I had these conflicting thoughts, and the more I remembered my age-old knowledge of dragons and the way they are supposed to be, and the more I wanted to kill this dragon for fame and glory. . . the more I wanted to set him free. But along with me wanting to free him, I did not want to take the risk of being killed by this dragon, so I did not want to free him just yet.
I sat down next to his head, well away from his 'crisp me with fire' zone, and I actually started to talk with him, and. . it felt. . . good. He looked at me, and I started to speak.
"Hey. I know that you don't know me, *scoffs* or probably don't want to know me, but. . . I regret shooting you down." He looked at me with an interested, yet slightly relaxed position, and I continued, "And just a few moments ago, I wanted to kill you, but I only wanted to do that since I was taught that dragons are evil creatures that just attack us, and want our food. And I actually believed it. . . Well, you really can't blame me, since I was little, and anything that I learned, I believed. But, when I stared into your eyes, they told me a story, a story where us vikings are wrong, and that there is something much bigger out there that is making all this take place. Anyway, I'm sorry for shooting you down, and I'm sorry for almost killing you, since I wasn't aware of how wrong us vikings were. So, I'm going to go ahead and cut these ropes off of you, and also, my name's Hiccup."
I stood up, and began to cut the ropes off of this Night Fury, as it just watched me with interested eyes. And once I had the last rope cut, which was the one around his neck, he jumped up, and tackled me to the ground. I was not at all expecting that, but yet, it still took place, and I noticed that he was angry, but. . not as angry as he originally would have been. It was like he was upset for what I did to him, but yet, he had understanding, because of the reason that I had given him. He stared into my eyes deeply, as if he was searching my soul for the truth behind my story, and the more he stared at me, the more he showed less anger, and the more he relaxed. And once he was done, his anger was all but gone, but this doesn't mean that he trusts me, because, he doesn't even know anything about me. . . Well, except for the past 10 minutes.
He snorted, then he leaned in closer to me, sniffed my face, and I could of sworn I saw him crack a smile at the ends of his scaly lips. Then at that, he was off into the sky, where I thought that I would never see him again, let alone meet another Night Fury.
So after he left, I stood up and started to walk home, wondering about the events that had just taken place here, and I couldn't get that Night Fury out of my mind. But the main thing about him that I couldn't get out of my mind were those neon green eyes. Those eyes just, packed my thoughts, and made me wonder more about the Night Fury that I had met today. Those eyes just showed so many things,. . .they actually told a story. They told the story of his life up to a raid a few days ago, and in that fraction of time that I stared into them, which felt like an eternity to me, I realized that everything we know about these guys, every legend, fact, or story, is wrong. And, that facial expression. I could sense that he was hiding hate and anger, but once I explained to him why I did these things, and after he searched my soul, finding my story to be true, he relaxed and showed me a side that I would never expect to see in a dragon. . . at all.
I saw love, understanding, friendship, compassion, and one that I never even guessed - Trust. Even though these emotions were low, and almost unrecognizable, they were still residing in his eyes. This Night Fury really changed me, inside and out. I never again wanted to harm or fight dragons, since, thanks to the Fury's story-telling stare, everything we knew about dragons, were wrong, so I intended to treat dragons the right way. But, there was a problem. . . I didn't know what the right way was. And the Night Fury couldn't tell me, because he's probably halfway to Tahiti by now, and I do not want to even think about approaching a dragon in the ring. But, the more I ignored it, the more it interested me. Until I decided to do the unthinkable - to go to the dragon ring, and release a dragon so that I can train with it, the right way. So, as I finally exited the forest near my house, I made my way to the ring, where I would hope that I wouldn't get eaten, and that I would learn from these dragons.
I entered the ring, and approached the Monstrous Nightmare's cage, which was the biggest there, and I stared at it, wondering if I should do this or not. But, that was my fear talking, not my determination and bravery, so I pushed my fears aside, and did something that people would call 'illogical'. I opened the Nightmare's cage, and watched as he burst out of the cage, roaring, and splashing fire everywhere. He jumped around the ring for a bit, which put out the flames that surrounded his body, and he stopped on the 'ceiling' of the ring, and looked down at me. His eyes turned to slits, and he did not look happy. I didn't know what to do except to stay calm, and don't do anything stupid. So, as this Nightmare dropped from the ceiling and approached me, I stood there, doing absolutely nothing, waiting to see what this dragon would do.
The Nightmare stopped 3 feet in front of me, and stared at me with slight anger, curiosity, and confusion. I knew that he was confused since I had no weapon or shield on me, and that I was not showing any forms of offense, resistance, or even anger. With that information, he leaned up to me, and sniffed me a good bit, walking around my body before he ended up in front of me again. He looked at me very sharply, then grunted, and walked back into his cage, where he actually gestured for me to close the cage doors. I was baffled that he wanted me to do that, but I did it anyway, not wanting to anger this dragon in any way where it could abruptly end my life.
And so, after I had closed the cage, I walked out of the ring, and headed back towards Berk, where I decided to walk into the Meat Hall. And once inside, I noticed that many vikings were in there, including the Dragon Training class, eating chicken, sheep, or wild boar, since vikings are notorious for eating large sums of meat. I myself like meat, but I prefer fish since it's lighter, and more filling to me than meat. So, I searched for an available seat, but the only available seats left was an empty table. I sighed, since I was sitting by myself. . .again. . . but I quickly got over it, since I was accustomed to eat by myself. Because no one liked to sit by 'Hiccup The Useless', and I have to tell you, I hated that name. I wasn't useless, in fact, I was the smartest person on the island! But, that doesn't matter when people don't see what you see, since they are looking at it from a different standpoint.
So, I took a fish with a cup of water, and sat at the empty table, ignoring the glares that were cast my way from Snotlout and some of the other vikings. I began to eat my baked, or roasted fish, and it tasted a bit different than what I'm used to. It was plain, and didn't have a 'special seasoning' that I put on it, that boosts the flavor of the fish dramatically. The water was clean and fresh, which made me happy, since no one would want to drink dirty disgusting water. Then, when I was halfway done with my fish, I heard Snotlout making fun of me. . .again. He would always compare me to the most ridiculous things, and he would ridicule me for no apparent reason. He always knew how to ignite my fire (anger), but I never wanted to actually fight him, since he was a lot stronger than me. So, I always pushed my anger down, and stayed cool and calm, wanting to finish my fish quickly to leave the presence of Snotlout and the others.
And once I left their presence, closing the colossal door behind me, I walked back to my house, still having that Night Fury dominate my thoughts, since he was the only thing I could think about since then. But, as I reached my house, I did not want to go inside, no, I wanted to walk back to the spot where I saw him, the spot just South of Ravenpoint that has changed my way of thinking forever. So, I veered away from my house, and aimed for the forest, intent on reaching my destination. There was no one else around, so I felt safe walking into the forest, knowing that there is still a possibility that I could run into that Night Fury. And before I knew it, I was at my destination, and I looked down a the bola that I had snapped with my knife, and immediately felt resentment towards it, since it was used to harm dragons.
I sighed exasperatedly, since the Fury was no where to be seen or heard. But as I was about to turn around and walk back home, I heard a loud splash, and then some playful growling. I had no idea what that was, but my curiosity was welling up in me, so I gave in to it, and walked to a nearby cove where the sound emanated. I walked through a large crack in one of its walls, and ducked under a large tree root that connected itself with the two rocks that were separated by this gap, and walked onto a very small rock-face, where I saw the source of the noise. My excitement and happiness blew out of the box when I looked down at the edge of the water, and saw that same exact Night Fury that I saw not even 5 hours ago. . .
It was trying to catch some fish, and occasionally it would fly over the pond, swooping down and attempting to catch fish that were too close to the surface. But every attempt he made, failed, since these pond fish were smart and fast. I felt sympathy for him, and remembered that just before I walked to the Nightmare's cage, I happened to grab a large Cod off of our hanging rack that was underneath our house (That was probably why the Nightmare sniffed me so much). I smiled and my brain sprung an idea, so jumped down the rocks, one by one, and made it to the solid Earth below, not even producing a single loud sound. And once I was on the bottom, I saw him fail again, and I just had to say something.
"Need any help?"
The Night Fury turned around and stared at me, growling warningly, but started to reduce his anger and shock when he recognized who I was. He didn't trust me all that well, but I didn't care. I just had to prove to him that he could trust me, but how? I didn't even know what to do when that Nightmare stared into my eyes back at the ring! But, I had to give it a go, and just. . .see how it turns out. So, I took the Cod out that I got from my house, and said simultaneously,
"Here. You can have my Cod."
The Fury looked at me, and gave me a suspicious, but yet curious look. And after a few moments of scanning me, and sniffing the air a bit, the Fury approached me, and opened his mouth, revealing that he had absolutely no teeth. All I saw was gums, no teeth.
"Huh, Toothless. . .I could of sworn that you had-" I wasn't even able to finish my sentence when the Fury snapped the fish out of my hand professionally, where he didn't harm any one of my fingers that were holding the fish, and he gulped it down in two bites.
". . .Teeth." I finished, and I cringed a little when the Fury licked its lips, and looked at me. I knew that I needed him to know that he could trust me, and I already knew that I could trust him, so I reached me hand out towards him, but he growled. I did it again, and he growled a little more severely, and showed some of his teeth. I immediately knew why he was doing that, and after a heavy sigh, I turned my head away from the Fury, and extended my arm out to full length.
I felt warm scales touch my hand, and I cringed from the shock, but looked up at the Fury, who was closing his eyes, and purring with his snout on the palm of my hand. That amazed me, how my enemy could trust me, his sworn enemy, so much, that he would actually let him touch him. That just blew my mind, and in these very short, yet life-savoring moments, I smiled at the Fury, already knowing that I have found a friend. And right after I thought that, the Fury released from my hand, and looked at me. He then walked closer to me, sniffing, and I backed up as a natural instinct. I mean, when a dragon, no wait, scratch that, when a Night Fury walks closer to you, I'm pretty sure that you will back up too.
"No, no, no. . .I - I don't have anymore." I said instinctively, knowing that the dragon was sniffing for more fish that I did not have. My eyes went wide with fear when I realized that I could not back away from this Fury anymore, thanks to a large rock directly behind me. I bumped into it, and saw the Fury still approaching me. And once it was at least 1 or 2 feet from my face, it made some kind of happy noise, and pushed it's head into my chest. I had no idea what to do, since this was not something that I was good at, because I was taught how to kill dragons, not befriend them. So, I thought he wanted me to scratch his neck, so I did, and I obviously took a right guess, since he was now purring, and pushing his head more into my chest. I smiled at him, not even knowing that dragons acted like this.
And after I had stopped scratching his neck, he did the unthinkable (in my mind). He picked his head up, looked at me, then gently licked me on the cheek once. That was the rock that broke the ice, because now I knew without a doubt that dragons were completely the opposite of what we say they are. I smiled at this dragon, and figured out a name for him.
"Toothless." I said to myself, but through some bizarre event, he actually understood why I said that, and he obviously liked that name. He jumped off of me, and began flying in the air at high speeds, until he purposely crashed himself into the small pond in the cove, where he scared the fish, and made large waves for the still pond. I laughed at him, since I couldn't help it, and I saw him flying up and out of the water, in front of me. I smiled at him, knowing that he was obviously excited about that name that I gave him, so I said goodbye, and he flew to the other side of the lake, and was getting ready to sleep. I knew that that was also a good idea for me, since I had barely received any sleep thanks to the dragon raid yesterday.
So, I began to walk home, and on the way home, I smiled at one thing, one thought in my mind that made me feel like. . . I actually mattered in this world. Once I got home, I ignored my dad, who was sitting in front of a large, dancing fire, and walked upstairs to my room, where I dressed into my sleeping clothes, and got into my bed, staring at the ceiling, remembering that one thought that made me feel like I mattered in somebody's life.
"I have a friend, who is supposed to be my enemy. I trust him now, and he trusts me, which is against both of our ways, since our ways entitle us to be enemies forever. And yet, here you see us, trusting each other in that one touch that made the ever so bright light, that lit the path for our friendship."
"Chapter 1 is DONE. Please R&R, and as always, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did typing it! :)"
"Chapter 2 coming up NEXT :)"
