The sun was not yet up when we landed silently on one of the hunter's ships. Toothless and I hid ourselves in the shadows. I thought back to how I missed breakfast this morning. I barely had time to eat some bread before my mother burst into my hut.

"Hurry up Hiccup!" she told me. "We're going on a raid this morning. It will be an opportunity to see if my teaching skills have paid off!"

And did I listen to her? Of course. Why would I be here otherwise? I watched Toothless; he was on the lookout for the slightest sound, unlike myself. I sighed. I really need to start concentrating a bit more.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard. A hunter was crossing a bridge. He zigzagged his way between dozens of cages on the ship. He stopped in front of one of the cages and demanded one of the dragons to be quiet. This was too much for me, it was time to take action. I lit my fire sword to catch him by surprise. With Toothless' help we ignited some nearby wooden crates and we advanced through the flames. The tightness of the new armour that I had made for the gang from the scales of our dragons allowed us this kind of fantasy. Impressed or rather trembling in fear, he asked:

"What are you?"

The only response I gave was by putting a finger in front of my lips while saying "Shhh". The hunter then started the fight by attacking me first. A small fencing duel therefore took place between us. My sword against his, I could anticipate his blows without taking blows myself. Toothless positioned himself behind the hunter to surprise him. He was about to attack when Snotlout and Hookfang arrived all in flames before landing very brutally on the deck of the ship.

"I am the god of FIRE!" exclaimed Snotlout.

Then, noticing his burning rear end, he began running in all directions screaming that there were still some adjustments to be made for his armour. He ran near the twins who had just appeared in the fog, followed by Barf and Belch.

"Behold your worst nightmare..." declared Tuffnut..

Beside him, his sister had begun to pronounce this same phrase:

"Behold…"

Tuff looked at her, visibly irritated.

"My annoying sister who insisted on coming."

"That's my intro?" she asked, confused.

Having watched the whole scene, I went towards them.

"Guys! Too soon! You always come in too soon!" I said, embarrassed.

That's when Fishlegs came out of nowhere screaming before he crashed to the ground.

"Sorry, still getting the hold of my wings."

In his front pocket, a baby Gronckle waddled, emitting what sounded like shouts of joy. It was Meatlug's baby.

"Fishlegs, again with the baby? This is a raid!" I exclaimed, annoyed by his behaviour.

"I couldn't find a sitter!" shouted Fishlegs, when I pointed to him and his baby with my flaming blade.

With all this, I had completely forgotten to take care of the hunter who ran off before he started shouting: "We're under attack!". I went after him to try to stop him, but Astrid beat me to it, preventing him from going further.

"Astrid I had him right where I wanted him!" I assured her.

She smiled at me before answering:

"And now he's right where I wanted him, let's get to work."

So we started to liberate the dragons locked in the cages onboard the boat. Fishlegs approached the cage of a large dragon who seemed to immediately befriend Meatlug's baby. While the Twins, on their side, fell in front of the cage of a tiny purple and yellow dragon.

"I bet he's super dumb!" exclaimed Ruffnut before approaching the cage to try to open it. "Ugh, why can't I get this cage open?"

Astrid came to her to show her how to open it.

"It slides..." she informed her before sliding the lock to open the cage.

"Obviously…" Ruffnut whispered, feeling a little silly not to have thought about it earlier.

However, new hunters came from all sides to surround us.

"Get the rescues out of here!" I shouted to the others.

With the gang, I engaged myself in single combat against the dragon hunters. Although Inferno was proving to be effective, I was far from being out of the woods either. Their number had doubled in the span of a few moments and I tried somehow to follow the movement of their blades. Fortunately Toothless was there; I do not know what I would do without him. Thanks to Toothless, I could better anticipate the movements of my opponent while thinking of a way to disarm. The other dragon riders seemed to be in the same position as me; the fight for dominance remained fragile but we fought all together. Seeing that I finally managed to fend for myself, I sent Toothless to find the rest of the dragons to save. Leaving me alone, I found myself fighting back to back beside my girlfriend. Our complicity allowed us to synchronise our gestures.

"I thought this was supposed to be a stealth mission?" she asked me.

"Yeah, they always start that way!"

We continued fighting before finally defeating the hunters in front of us. When we looked up to see what was happening to the others, it was a beaten-up Snotlout that we found. It was at this moment that my mother, who had stayed behind to observe how we managed without her, finally intervened. She was a nightmare to the hunter that had wronged Snotlout. We had the situation under control so far, so I was a little disappointed that she decided to intervene anyway.

"Uh Valka, I've got it under control, you can go back up with the man," said Tuffnut most seriously after having sat down on one of the hunters that he had vanquished.

I sighed, Tuff was really incorrigible.

"Rescue Team, move out, we got them all!" I shouted after several seconds to the attention of the dragons riders.

Everyone then ran to join their dragon and fly away, leaving Toothless and me behind.

"Toothless, let's go!" I told him while I was finishing up the fight with these last few remaining hunters.

Shortly, other reinforcements arrived and I soon found myself helpless against all these hunters.

"Oh, hey guys…" I tried as an approach.

I was finished. It was at this moment when Toothless decided to attack. He fired on the hunters before taking me on his back. As we flew away, I laughed.

"Haha, you always have my back bud!"

…

The sun had finally risen when we arrived at Berk. I watched my native island in detail: Berk had changed drastically in the past year. Multiple installations had been built as a result of increasingly frequent rescue raids. We brought back all the dragons we saved here. The stables were no longer sufficient, which quickly led to the construction of small housing specially designed for the dragons. There would soon be more of those dragon huts than human houses at this rate. Their increasingly important presence on the island had even pushed me to create dragon disguises for the sheep.

I ended up landing at the same time as the other dragon riders. We were cheered on by the crowd of berkians who were in the village square, chanting our name and congratulating us on the mission. I greeted them with a quick wave of the hand before descending from my dragon to remove my helmet.

My people.

I smiled at them before entering my hut to put on a more practical outfit to walk around the village in. We had an appointment in the Great Hall for breakfast. When I finally arrived in the hall with Toothless, Gobber grabbed me by the arm before lecturing me:

"Ah there you are! I have some things to tell you!" he shouted.

We entered the packed Great Hall. Numerous vikings inside had to play elbows to clear a path between the even more numerous dragons. We ourselves had to avoid a lot of dragons in passing before Gobber continued:

"Point is, you can't keep bringing Dragons back here! You're just asking for trouble. Those trappers are getting closer by the day."

Not far from us, my mother was occupied in an arm wrestle with Spitelout. She beat him easily under the eyes of his son, Snotlout. We continued to walk before I answered my interlocutor :

"We can handle it! We have the Alpha, isn't that right, bud?" I said, turning towards Toothless.

We finally arrived near a pot to serve us some soup.

"Gobber, relax, we did it! The first Dragon-Viking Utopia! We made the dream a reality!" I exclaimed.

The old man turned toward me with a doubtful look.

"Your utopia maybe, mine is less crowded and more… AH!" he suddenly exclaimed at the sight of the little dragon whom we had just brought back from the raid, and who was visibly comfortable in the pot full of soup.

"…sanitary" he finished saying.

He pulled away from the pot and continued walking; I followed him.

"Gobber, you're not fooling anybody, I know you love them…"

We walked to the table where the gang was sitting; Astrid was finishing her soup.

"You're supposed to be the generation that brings us into the future! We need a royal couple to rule this village!" exclaimed Gobber.

I stopped listening to him when Snotlout cried out :

"Haha, foodfight!"

The gang started a food fight, all except for Astrid and myself.

"Gods help us!" sighed Gobber, visibly annoyed.

He turned to me and Astrid.

"Maybe you should stop worrying about problems out there, and start sorting the one right here!" he uttered before taking Astrid and myself into his arms, on either side of him.

He pushed my head up before I could say anything audible as he continued:

"Hang up your saddles and get married!"

All of a sudden, the whole table fell silent. Snotlout, Fishlegs and the Twins stopped momentarily their game to look at Gobber.

"He said the M word!" Tuffnut exclaimed.

"Gross… I'm the only one who can say this forbidden word…" sighed the other twin.

Then the food fight started up again, as if nothing had happened.

"Astrid marry him please, you're the only one with sense around here! With you wearing the pants, there is still hope!"

Astrid looked up at Gobber before rising from her seat.

"Wow Gobber, not awkward at all!" she replied, looking anxious and embarrassed at the same time, before leaving the Great Hall.

"Astrid, wait!" I insisted before I got up to follow her.

Followed closely by Toothless, I tried in vain to make my way between the villagers and the dragons to try to catch her but when I finally could breathe in the open air, there was no trace of her. So I went looking for her, across the village with Toothless to try to find her, to no avail. She was gone.

This marriage story was really starting to take on huge proportions. Between the conversation I had surprisingly overheard this morning between Gobber and my mother, and now this… I did not even have the chance to tell Astrid about their plans and I had no idea what she thought of all of that… I blew it. I love Astrid and I had the hope that she would marry me one day but I was not sure she was ready for that, although I thought I was on my side.

I stopped a little while to admire the view that was given to me: my village. Berk had change a lot since the time when we still fought against dragons. I saw this little pile of rocks evolved through the years. I saw the dragons attack and steal from my island. I saw my dad fighting against them to protect his people and his family. But I also known him more optimistic. Especially when he told me these old tales about this hidden world that I told about to Astrid last night. I remember him carrying my frail little body on one arm when I was probably around six or seven years old. His words were still echoing in my head…

"This is Berk, son. It's our home. This was the home of your grandparents and their grandparents before that. It is my job as chief to protect us and one day, when you are all grown up, that job will be passed on to you. But out there, beyond the sunset, lies the home of the Dragons. And I believe, it's your destiny to one day find this hidden world, so that people and dragons will fight no more…"

He had pronounced those words at the same place, the same spot I was actually standing. Berk had definitely changed since I ended the war between Vikings and Dragons. New installations were created to facilitate our cohabitation. We were far from the village that was in constant reconstruction of the same old huts that were still risking to be destroyed at every new raid. I smiled. Dad, I was almost there. My destiny was about to be accomplished…

Toothless came to rub against me at this rightful moment.

"What?"

He whined pointing my metal leg.

"Oh all right, you know this isn't a chew toy, don't you? This is what you're looking for, this is what you want? You want my leg?", I said in a hurry before throwing my leg to the cliff.

I unfolded my map that I had on me to study it a little. I searched for clues on this hidden world. I wanted to know if we didn't neglect an island or something that could indicate us it position, I really started to think that what my dad told me when I was younger wasn't just an old myth...

Toothless came back quickly with my leg and he dropped on the ground. Opening his wings widely on the wind, he was floating in the air.

"Getting pretty good at flying on your own bud?"

He pursued his solo flight when I heard the really distinctive sound of a deadly Nadder. Why searching for Astrid when she could just come to me? She landed and, still on the back of her dragon said:

"Oh! So this is where you come to get away from Gobber…"

"Haha, no idea what you're talking about", I answered ironically.

She climbed off Stormfly before getting surprised by Toothless who dropped my prosthetic covered in drool into her hands.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed in a disgusted tone.

She throw my leg above the cliff so the night fury can go get it again. Then, she took place by my side by sitting at the edge of the cliff.

"Well, he's right you know."

"R-Really?!", I asked, beautifully surprised. "You think you and I should–"

"Oh gods no! We're nowhere near ready for that!" , she said , embarrassed.

She was still feeling awkward by the way Gobber brought the thing.

"N-No No, that's crazy…", I answered trying to hide my deception by lowering my voice.

"I mean about all this…" , she said by pointing the view we had on Berk.

"It does seem like the whole world knows about us now…" I sighed.

"Yup, and the more dragons we bring back here, the bigger of a target we become…"

Toothless came back by dropping again my leg at her feet.

"Ugh!" , Astrid expressed with disgust.

She turned toward Toothless to throw it again so he can still play with it.

"I just wish there was some way to make them leave us alone!" , she sighed.

"Maybe there is…"

I made a break before Astrid stared at me with doubting eyes.

"Dad used to talk about an old mariner's myth of a secret land at the edge of the world, where dragons live totally out of reach."

"Well, sailors are known for tall tales…" , the blond mocked.

"True… but what if it's real!? It could be the answer to all of our problems!" , I said, full of confidence.

"How? By moving the dragons there?"

"Uh uh. All of us."

"Seriously? And abandon our home of seven generations!? The home your father left you to protect!" , she said scandalized.

"Uh…" , I uttered, not knowing what to say.

Astrid just cut short all of my fantasies. She seemed more persuasive last night when I mentioned the subject.

"Yeah I think we need a real solution, Hiccup."

"Well we could just take Gobber's advice and tie the knot. That should fix everything! But hey! If you're having doubts about yours truly, I'm pretty sure Snotlout's available!"

"He only has eyes for your mom!" , she chuckled.

I exaggerate a shocked.

"Woah! Getting dirty now, huh?"

She started to laugh.

"You asked for it!", she taunted me. "Looks like there might be a wedding after all!" , she exclaimed contemplating an imaginary ring at her finger.

I caught Astrid bringing her to me.

"Oh how dare you! That is a low point- no, no! You are not getting away!"

She started to laugh when she tried to get out of my hold. I fought to keep her against me when she finally twisted my arm, just enough to free herself.

"Okay, okay! You win, you win! You always win!"

Still chuckling, she leaned against my shoulder, smile on her lips.

"You knew what we were getting into…"

"Uh huh. Right," I acquiesced.

I heard Toothless rush out of the precipice, jumping over it. Then, he rushed to the forest behind us before sinking into it. He had obviously smelled something.

"Uh. Bud?"

He continued his course without worrying about whether or not we were following him.

"Oh yeah, sure! Don't bother to wait for us!" I exclaimed.

Astrid burst out laughing before going after him.

As for me, I stayed in place, readjusting my metal leg that was dripping with Toothless' saliva.

"You coming?" the blonde asked me, turning to me when she realized I was not following her.

Astrid's face contracted, revealing a rift between her two eyebrows. She questioned me with her eyes.

"I-I'm coming!" I stammered hurrying to join her.

When I finally arrived at her side, she smiled and took my hand, pulling me with her into the grove. In the distance, we could distinguish Toothless sniffing the ground, in search of something. I was curious to know what excited him like that.

Astrid and I tried making ourselves as discreet as possible. Night was already falling when we reached the bottom of this thick forest. Toothless would not stop moving forward again and again, going further and further into the woods, now lit by the stars in the night sky.

"Where's he taking us like this?" Astrid whispered in my ear.

"I don't know… He must have smelled something, a presence..."

"Even Stormfly is gone!" she exclaimed at once.

The night fury raised his head, and he looked offended at being disturbed from his search, in which he seemed very much involved. I shrugged, looking helpless.

"Not that I'm interested," she said quietly, "quite the contrary, but still, why would Stormfly leave if there was something interesting at the end?"

"Patience…

"Patience… We're not at the end of our surprises with him!"

"Maybe…"

"Oh stop, you're doing it on purpose!"

"Maybe…" she continued, almost humming.

"I'm sure he'll find a..."

"Maybe…" she said, cutting me off with her chorus.

I turned to her, stopping to see her face surprised, grabbed both of her hands and I looked into her eyes. She smiled wryly. I returned her smile before leaning towards her.

"Would you marry me?" I asked, with all seriousness.

"Maybe…" she repeated instinctively before realizing my ruse.

She took a step back and exclaimed an "Oh!" of surprise. The blonde looked both suspicious and amused, as if she did not know what to think anymore. She bent her head down, scanning her feet, looking embarrassed before looking up at me to see my mischievous face. Her expression softened then, gratified me with a shy smile. Soon, I received as a reward a magnificent punch to the ribs from the beautiful young lady. It reminded me of the good old days.

"Well done Haddock," she said, shaking her head, smiling.

I rubbed my sore while looking at her, more in love than ever.

"Does that mean you're thinking about it?"

She turned towards me.

"I'll wait for your true proposal for that," she resorted before kissing me on the cheek.

I took her hand as I approached her to kiss her on the temple. We went on our way, hand in hand, before raising our heads towards Toothless, who was getting further away from us. It was then that he accelerated the pace for no reason, forcing us to press on.

"Hey bud, wait up!" I exclaimed, trying to slow him down.

We arrived at the edge of a cliff from which the night fury did not hesitate a single second to throw itself off of. I carefully approached to watch him from the top of the peak; he looked so tiny.

"Uh… How I am supposed to get down?"

I turned to Astrid; she shrugged.

"I think we'll have to find another solution."

"Yeah… Jumping is not an option; I didn't take my flight suit with me…"

I took Astrid's hand and raked the edge of the precipice in search of a safer place to go. We finally found what we were looking for, twenty feet away. The ground was lower, although rather steep. So I helped Astrid down to avoid any accident and, my hand still holding hers, we went in pursuit of Toothless who would end up losing us. When we finally reached his level, I was going to come forward to meet him, but then he stopped suddenly and turned his head to one side, before moving once more, slowly. I glanced at Astrid, lost. She motioned me forward and I followed Toothless discreetly. We left a distance between him and us so that we could observe him from a distance without disturbing him. Toothless then seemed to be moving towards something we could not see behind the trees where we had been hiding. We then bent our head aside to see more clearly and it was at that moment that she appeared before our eyes amazed, this white form towards which seemed to approach my dragon. He then showed a great deal of enthusiasm for her. I looked more closely, it was a dragon with piercing blue eyes looking like two drops of water compared to mine, with the exception of her scaly white skin. I realized then that everything I could have imagined in my wildest dreams was coming true, now, before my very eyes. We left our hiding place to observe the scene in more detail.

"Oh my gods… he's not the only one?" I whispered while in marvel.

Astrid approached to stand beside me, unable to detach her eyes from the spectacle that presented itself to us.

"Another Night Fury…" pronounced Astrid, stupefied.

"It's more like a Bright… Fury," I retorted.

"A Light Fury", Astrid objected.

"Yeah, yours is better, probably," I agreed.

So we continued to watch the two dragons who were turning around and observing each other. I had never seen Toothless so happy. It had been so long since we were trying to find one of his species that I had come to believe that he was the last of his kind, but the arrival of this light fury put everything into question. However, we obviously had to spend too much time observing them because the new dragon was now aware of our presence; she looked frightened before disappearing into the foliage. Toothless took a few steps to follow her before turning to us, glaring at us, reproaching us.

"Oh, sorry…"

We started running to try to catch her, but she took off before we knew where she was going. Toothless then climbed a tree to better contemplate her when she spat a fiery projectile she flew through and vanished.

"Did she just disappear!?" exclaimed Astrid.

"By the looks of it, yes…" I sighed.

Toothless came down from his tree, sheepishly. I approached my dragon to caress his head.

"Huh bud, talk about a find!"

He let out his tongue as I scratched the top of his head.

"And to say that Astrid thought we would not find anything…" I mocked.

She narrowed her eyes, nodding negatively before crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's great, bud, you may not be the last of your kind finally! It is imperative that we go in search of this light fury!"

I grabbed Astrid's hand.

"But before that, we need to inform the others of her existence!"

…

When we returned back to the village, it appeared deserted at first sight. The light from the barns told us that we were moving inside. We then entered the building and it was then when I saw my mother that I understood the reason for which this crowd had gathered. She had trouble moving and seemed lost. She was hurt.

"Mom!" I exclaimed before rushing to her aid before she fell.

She took off her mask to look at me.

"Hiccup…" she said breathlessly.

She began to cough and put her hand to her mouth to muffle the noise.

"What happened!?"

She caught her breath before looking up at me with a dark look.

"I went on a reconnaissance patrol earlier in the day… You know it's been a few weeks since we suspected someone preparing something, that's why I took you on a raid this morning. The person who organizes this dragon traffic plans to use them for whatever reason but the facts are there."

She grabbed my arm.

"Hiccup," she continued. "There are many tribes who are still not at peace with the dragons. And with all our raids as of late, we are starting to make a name for ourselves… and that does not please everyone."

My mother looked away.

"I spotted a boat bearing Drago's symbol…"

The people who were gathered inside the building were terrified at the utterance of that name. My mom motioned them to be quiet and then continued:

"With Cloudjumper, we followed it to an island were I overheard a conversation it had for a few moments with a smuggler; he said he had cargo for people calling themselves 'War Lords'."

She turned her attention back to her dragon, which she held so she would not fall. She frowned.

"There is an armada with enough cages for all of our dragons."

People stifled a cry, me being the first:

"Wait, what!?"

My mother nodded sadly.

"And what happened next?"

"We were spotted and I was hit in the leg with an arrow."

I saw the pain on her face; I did not like to see her like that.

"While escaping, they threatened us by saying that Grimmel the Grisly would come for us on Berk…"

"I've already heard that name somewhere… and apparently he knows where to find us…" I summed up, somewhat stunned by all this news.

Astrid stepped closer to us, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"He may be one step ahead of us but we will be ready to receive him," she said with a determined look.

"And we'll be there to give you a hand," added Snotlout as he approached, followed closely by Fishlegs and the Twins.

"Yeah, we'll give him one of those traps! He won't know what hit him!" exclaimed Tuffnut.

"Thank you gang" I said under my breath, moved.

"It's nothing," reassured Fishlegs.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!" ordered our general Hofferson.

I directed myself then towards my hut to put in place a ploy to trap our potentially future guest.

…

Everything was now in place. The only left was to find out if dear Grimmel would do us the honor of visiting tonight or later on…

Astrid was sitting at the table where I used to eat with my father; I looked at her with a smile. She was pensive. I approached her gently.

"Hey, you're okay?"

"Huh? Uh… Yeah, I'm fine."

"It does not look that way, though" I retorted.

She looked down as if she needed to think before deciding whether or not she should tell me what was bothering her so much.

"It's just…" she started. "This whole marriage thing… What do you think? Not that I'm into it! But yeah, what do you think?" she finished saying, passing her fingers through her hair.

Her question took me off guard.

What did I think? I repeated to myself.

Her blue eyes were trying to read mine to find an answer. I leaned over and took her hands.

"Astrid, I know Gobber put a little bit of pressure on you with this wedding story, but know that we are not obligated to do anything, okay?"

I gave her a reassuring smile before kissing the back of her hand.

"I love you, Astrid Hofferson and I want to marry you but we are not in a hurry, we will do it when we are ready."

A wide smile then appeared on her round face that I loved so much.

"Hey lovebirds it's not all, but maybe you should put yourselves to your positions!" rebelled Snotlout.

I gave a little laugh.

"Aha, you're right Snotlout."

I turned to Astrid and kissed her forehead before she went back to hide with my mother on the floor. I began to read a book while waiting for our enemy to poke his nose inside. It was then that I heard some noise coming from the next room. I entered and it was thus that I discovered him, at ease, comfortably installed in my father's old throne, beside a vivid red dragon, sipping a glass of I-don't-know-what. He was a tall man with a long face, gray hair, with a look that would have frozen more than one. He had fired an arrow at Toothless who was in close proximity.

"Toothless! What did you do to him?!" I shouted, taking my sword out of its holster.

"Nothing that hurt your dragon."

He looked at me from top to bottom.

"So you're the new chief. I remember the Chief before you. The Great Stoick the Vast. And now the Great Chief is dead. It was only a matter of time. Your father was a great Dragon Hunter. He hadn't lied to you. Making his mission to this world to be, so that you could grow up in a better world."

"He changed his mind." I retorted.

"And look where that got him… " he said coldly, followed by a pause. "So let's get to the point. I am the Night Fury Killer. I've hunted every last one but yours. You're going to give me that dragon or hundreds– "

"I will never give him up," I declared, cutting him off.

He then laughed mischievously. The old man then got up from the seat where he had been sitting until then, and started walking near what he always through was Toothless. He then lifted the fabric and discovered an unconscious Fishlegs.

"Now!" I shouted to the others who came out of their hiding places to surround Grimmel.

With my fire sword ignited, I took a step towards him before declaring:

"You think you can come into my home, sit on my father's throne and threaten my dragon? We've fought much worse than you and won."

An insane smile appeared on his face.

"You think you can stop me? I am nothing you have ever faced before."

It was then that the roof caught fire; a dragon had ignited it and was in pursuit of Astrid who was still up there.

"Astrid!" I shouted.

She ran then rolled on her side before Grimmel's dragon could reach her. I gave him a relieved look before Grimmel spoke to me one last time:

"You better give me the dragon when I return, or I will destroy everything you love."

He disappeared into the black smoke created by his dragons. We left the hut and it was with astonishment that we discovered our village in flames. Innumerable huts burned under our terrified eyes. We were in a living nightmare.