Part 1 – The Disappearing Girl
Ah, the prologue. The beginning of my life story. Well, I'll start from the very beginning. I'm Ingrid Hofferson; I was born on Berk, and lived a happy life there. I was named by the new Chief Stoick the Vast, in fact naming me was his first major task as Chief. A year later I had a sister called Astrid, and we were so close. Having a sister was the best time I'd ever had. We literally spent every waking moment together. We watched the older members of the tribe fighting dragons from our bedroom window and wished we were old enough to do that. We had a circle of friends; of course, we were friends with all the other Viking kids. These were the dumb and senselessly violent twins; Ruffnut and Tuffnut, the quite overweight, intelligent Fishlegs, and the very annoying and obnoxious Snotlout. All six of us were learning to handle miniature weapons from an early age; well, we're Vikings, what do you expect? We were all quite violent kids anyway. Then there was the son of the Chief. The small, scrawny and insignificant Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. A pretty long and impressive name, but the owner really didn't live up to it. He couldn't fight; he couldn't handle any kind of miniaturized weapon, and was always asking questions. The rest of us, we just did what we were told, without questioning any of it. I feel pretty bad to say we made fun of him, we (not Astrid and me, but the twins and Snotlout) beat him up, we put him down. I feel really guilty about it now, obviously, but you can't change the past, as they say.
Which brings me to the next bit. When I was six, I had the most terrifying experience of my life. I remember it like it was yesterday. Astrid and I were walking back to our house one evening, talking about upgrading weapons and the latest jibes towards Hiccup. Then this horrible shriek came from behind us, and we froze in our tracks. We'd been heading home anyway before Aurvandill's fire began, but we were too late. Aurvandill's fire had already started. We slowly turned to see a huge dragon, and it was coming towards the village. I remember Astrid readying her axe and staring determinedly at the dragon and being stopped by some of the older Vikings. I remember uncle Fearless Finn Hofferson telling us to leave it be and let him go after it (he was 'frozen by fear' after that). It was the Flightmare. It was glowing a ghostly blue, and was covered in small spots almost resembling the night sky. Its eyes were white and its mouth was lined with two rows of sharp teeth capable of killing a man just with a nip. Out of its mouth flew a ghostly blue flame, burning everything in its path with white-hot accuracy. That was enough for small me. I ran screaming for the mountains, my parents and Astrid calling after me but weirdly enough I sort of zoned out with fear, hearing them but their calls were faded and seemed far away. Not knowing what to do, I ran on, my parents following me but I ran too fast for them and eventually I lost them. I remember hiding in a cave close to a bay on the other side of the island until the morning, having no idea where I was, utterly terrified and sobbing. No wonder I wanted to be alone.
The next morning I left the cave and wandered out onto the bay to look for any signs of food. (I had been trained in survival skills since the age of three). As I did so I saw a ship come around the corner. I recognised it as the North Star, the ship belonging to Bjorn and Mildriad Hermansen, the travellers who had come to Berk in search of help repairing their ship. I just stood staring, not caring whether they saw me or not. But the ship turned towards six year old me, and eventually it stopped in the bay, right in front of me. Mildriad came off the ship towards me and asked me kindly, "Are you lost, child?" I nodded. I was only six; I had no idea where I was. Then she asked me if I was scared, and I nodded again. I saw her turn round to look at Bjorn and back to me. They clearly didn't know who I was or who my parents were, but they could see I was a child in need of some care. She then turned to me and asked me if I wanted to go with them. I was still sobbing out of fear, but nodded and she guided me to their ship and we sailed away. Away from Berk, away from everything I'd ever known. I don't know why I didn't wait for my family to find me; I just wanted to be away from the Flightmare. I couldn't possibly make myself go back to Berk. I didn't even know if anyone on Berk was still alive, but I couldn't go back. Not in the state I was in. And so began the second chapter of my life.
