In the time that they've entered the Ancient Castle, the sun had dipped below the afternoon clouds and was starting to go down in the horizon; at least there's enough time to explore some parts of this Ancient Castle and read up about it's history in the library, located elsewhere. But yeah, the Ancient Castle was uniquely decorated in both architectural and in a rather haunting design; like nobody's lived here in ages and it looked like they all came from Mierveia Vde Rallie's Old Timely District as it all looked Victorian, but still medieval looking and nowhere near the style of Norse Mythology. Except for the statue in front of the stairs, it's basically a hornless Viking riding his Horse into the fields of war; thank god for not wearing horns, because his enemies can easily grab 'em and bash their faces inwards. They should at least have some purpose to them rather than just being a decoration
Drayko and Toothless walked through the Main Hall of the Ancient Castle and went up on the flight of stairs before taking the right side, getting up to the higher level easily by climbing hole above them and walking around to the other side above; trying to get a better view of their surroundings inside of Loki fucking knows where, even finding a golden statue that does not seem to be responding by them. It's a strange little Castle yes, but it's so mysterious like they've just unlocked an dungeon before them. "Nothing going on here in this room, let's enter those Red Doors down there" Toothless agreed and glided downwards before landing on the ground. All throughout the while they can hear an rather haunting but atmospheric melody play throughout this mysterious looking place, but they chose to ignore it and enter inside the doors
Which led them to the Main Entrance, unfortunately the metal gate is down so they can't really exit this out of place looking Castle; not of course Drayko's complaining about it being out of place, nothing like that at all. There were a row of four armored knights to their right and the door to their left led them into another room, this time around it was lit by torches with a really nice window where the sun was setting. They could see an garden outside with the bushes swaying out in the wind back and forth
"This place looks pretty amazing so far, but there's bound to be trouble up ahead so let's get a move on bud; it's already eerie enough with that god damn melody playing" He told him
"Hiccup II made a wise choice to hide his sword on a vanishing island, and whoever's the architect sure made this place look like ahead of it's time. I bet the guy was from Mierviea Vde Rallie judging by the look of this place"
"Yeah, that makes too much sense. Now then, let's move on"
The two headed for another staircase to their left and climbed up it's curved steps before coming to an dead end, crumbled blocks of wreckage that's blocking the path. "Looks like we can't go any further, the architect sure needs to fix this place"
"If he ever does come back to life that is..."
What they now happened to come across was a disturbing sight. It was an life-sized Dragon Marionette lying on the floor, all designed like the common Dragons out there in the Archipelago. Judging by their looks, they happened to be made of African Blackwood and Great Dark Oak Trees so that they would not be destroyed so easily by either a Night Fury's Plasma Bolt nor a Nadder's Magnesium Stream; but they were all so well designed and looked amazing to the real thing, however there was something very wrong about them that Drayko just couldn't place his finger on. Toothless knew what it was and it was fucking disgusting, he didn't want to go anywhere near those creepy ass beings; there was nothing right about them at all and they were soon gonna know why
Seeing a hole above them, they jump up into the room above and see another Marionette before them. It seemed like the Castellan really loved entertainment and created these life sized Dragon Puppets as tools for joy and laughter, now they remain in ruin along with the blocked staircase entrance next to the Puppet; speaking of which it seemed to be holding something, which Drayko got a closer look at and concluded. "A Rusty Key, there's always gotta be those locked doors" He spoke to himself as he takes the key silently, but cautiously as he's fought these bastards before but not these kinds of puppets as they could be even more deadlier than Blight's. With no response and no kind that's making them move, Drayko turned to Toothless and nodded; knowing what to do next. They made a run for it but suddenly, an sharp diamond shaped dagger was thrown and stabbed into the wall, stopping them in their tracks as they turned around slowly to see just why Toothless hated these things so much
The Marionette resembling a Nadder to whom Drayko took the Rusty Key from was now in a throwing stance with illuminating red eyes that brightened and dimmed itself, before it stood up fully and began moving on it's own. Behind Drayko, Toothless growled as another Marionette resembling a Zippleback was brought down by strings and dropped to the floor standing as it unsheathes it's crescent blades! Drayko drew out and ignited Inferno as he began to slash away at the possessed Bloody Marionettes, drawing out blood with each sword slash and stab as they scream out with each hit while Toothless fired off his Plasma Bolts towards the horrifying looking puppets. The Zippleback Marionette began spinning it's claws around and throwing it's crescent blades towards Drayko, who deflected them back and allowed Toothless to destroy it with a charged Plasma Bolt to the face; scattering it into pieces of limbs and most terrifying, cold human organs that spilled out onto the floor. Drayko finished off the Nadder Marionette and slashed through it, also spilling out some organs as the Bloody Marionettes rotted away like termites chewing them off viciously. Another Marionette resembling a Gronckle stood up and began to slash at Drayko, who blasted it away with his Megapult attachment; destroying them for good, but this ain't the last time they'll see them, they're bound to be more of them as the common sort of enemies they encounter
Now it was really clear on why Toothless hated these Marionettes, they were all made from rotting Dragon Flesh and their decaying bones. But there was also another thing about them, they were all implanted with cold and dead bloody organs from deceased patients; well fuck. These Bloody Marionettes did resemble the common Dragons such as the Nadder, Gronckle, Zippleback and Nightmare which they have yet to see downstairs because the Night Fury can hear another due to the wood clanking whenever they moved. These Marionettes also happened to be wearing white theater masks along with feathered long trimmed hats and even jester caps because they were for entertainment after all, until they started to try and kill them! Not to mention they also stink like rotting dogshit as well, god damn...
"Alright these Puppets are really starting to stink, let's go so we can get the hell out of this chamber of a castle" Knowing that they're bound to meet more of these Demons commonly along with many others belonging to Blight, but there's clearly a new Demon in charge here and they're gonna find out who's responsible soon enough; for now they've exited their way out of the main entrance and returned to the main hall within the Castle. "There's the Blue Doors, with the gold valkrie looking angels right there" Drayko pointed to the doors on the left side of the wall, heading over to them and using the Rusty Key to enter inside to what looked like a large storage housing an giant man made structure of an European Dragon standing tall and proud; with some weapon stands, armor pieces and mechanical stuff lying around. On their left was another red door with Marionettes decorated onto them, which had them walk over to it and try to open it; until Drayko noticed something
"What the hell is this...?" He stepped back and read the description on the doors, which read out to them and to all who tried to enter inside these locked doors before them: "As long as my 25 Masters remain, there will be no admission to all who may enter behind these doors"
"25 Marionettes of all numbers, well I can see a bunch of them hanging from up here in this room; chances are there's an hoarde of them below thanks to that little lift we saw right there" He pointed to the far end of the front wall, where there were statues of armored Knights blocking the lever
"Well what do you know, now we know what to do so we can get on with our little journey here..." Toothless replied
The two of them ran over to the lift on the far end of the north wall, slashing the suits of armor in their way and flipping the lever down; which flipped back up and brought them down to the lower floor. At this point, Toothless had to ask
"What are you going to do if we ever separate from each other? If I wanted to go with somebody I loved for my own mate, to an... Hidden Dragon World?"
"How the hell can you say something like that, we'll never be apart from each other. If we do end up doing so, then my only solace to drown my pain would be the sea, sailing endlessly throughout the Archipelago from one harbor to the next one; I'd be visiting Owl Gut Island mostly because that's the kind of Island I'd run away to if I hadn't dreamed about becoming who I am today with you by my side. I'd become a Beast Hunter for special seek and execute missions and exhange their value for rewards. Now of course since you'd be off with your mate, I'll have a wolf companion with me all the way"
"Really now, would he have an barrel of that D&R Root Beer you and Raedwit made on the front of it's collar?" He teased and chuckled
"Always..."
"I bet it always carries an Dark Fudge Chocolate Sundae for you"
"You bet your ass Rashaka does and yes, it's his name. He'll get to meet Vixen soon since she's always with Raedwit nowadays, taking care of her while the three of us take on the Archipelago's greatest tasks they throw at us"
"I couldn't agree more..."
HTTYD
Meanwhile at the Dragon's Edge, the Knights have been busy constructing a defensive wall against any incoming Tidal Waves, any of Drago's men such as the Hunters, Flyers, Trappers, Divers and Marauders or any of the other threats. This was to ensure the protection of both the Wild Natives, Liberated and any of the Rider's Dragons from being in the hands of their foes. Maria was keeping watch on the walls of the towers, with Stormfly itching to fire her spines but being mindful of exposing her belly in case she is encountered and ambushed by the Dragon Hunters as Ryker had always known of this weakness being that he's a horrible, unknowledgable moron and because he cheats a lot
Raedwit was not only helping out Vixen by letting her train against her foes with the dummies at the training camp for those who graduated from the School of Dragons, but was also covering himself and his Zippleback in the cover of the clouds to take on the invisibility that it offers to them both. The other Knights were just making sure that none of the Hooligan Longships were coming their way, especially since they had a feeling that they were after the Book of Dragons that was being kept under the highest and deepest of the most watchful eye by them; if it were to be stolen, then the contents would have to be deleted from their minds with the aid of Elder Valriuel as his help was not required ever since Toothless experienced his Behwearft a long time ago; since then he had broken his silence and started speaking, this of course could be because of temporary muteness
"General, an Hooligan Longship was seen heading for Drayko's recent flight path towards the upper Northwest from Slitherwing Island" Tubison informed him
"He knows that they're coming for him, but you must mount Arrowglider right now and tell him what they're doing" General Scorpio ordered
"Right, cmon bud let's get movin to warn Drayko about the incoming Hooligan Longship heading his way" Arrowglider was more than willing to aid him and took off to the skies from the Dragon's Edge, feeding off the chicken given to him by Tubison to increase his speed which has been discovered by Maria long ago
In other parts of the Archipelago, the Hooligan Longship had taken the shortcut past Slitherwing Island although they ran into some trouble when an pack of them attacked the crew; they were dead by the next hour as soon as they were taken, they had to delay their voyage to fight and ultimately retreat because the defense was too strong for them. But nonetheless they survived and they were going to going to go through this voyage weather they like it or not. Speaking of which, Tuffnut had previously made a new friend of his own that was named Chicken; no reason to judge him and his appearance had changed like the rest of the Teens
Tuffnut now wore an dark greenish-blue tunic, mostly greenish, with an dark grey furry vest over it; sporting black cloth arm bracers that started at the wrists and ended at the elbow with studs at the top, studded armbands above the bracers on the left and right arms with both of them being spiky, leather shoulder guards, brown sash like studded belt around the waist with red pants and green boots with black harden caps at the knees, three thin and studded belts with prints resembling that like a Zippleback. The Helmet's bottom horns were turned inward and have metallic like tips near the end. It should also be mentioned that he had also worn armor made from Zippleback Scales with the shoulder guards, chestplate, a scaled pelvis/cod piece with an tasset to match his sister's skirt, boxing like gloves, scaled leggings, knee guards and boots with his own short cape. It was predominately green with some red orange and some yellow involved, embellished with a large number of metal tipped spikes; he had also adopted an dreadlock hairstyle and finally, he has now adopted himself an black and yellow skull face paint. His pet Chicken was different from the others, she had white and brown feathers while most others are in one color
Ruffnut's Armor was just like her brothers: arm guards, chestplate, an skirt like tasset over the hips, gloves, scaled leggings and metal toed boots which both her and Tuffnut's were made from Gronckle Iron. It has the same colors from the Zippleback Scales and is further embellished with two horns and various rounded protuberances just like the Dragon that it's scales were used to make this Armor
Astrid has CLEARLY changed more than the others obviously. She was more elegant and feminine looking. Blonde hair more sun bleached and neatly styled in a lengthy side braid draped over left of her shoulder. She wore an red sleeveless shirt with an dark spiked skirt that matches her boots, with an silver belt decorated with skulls and leather strips on the tan colored fur for her skirt. She had replaced her usual arm wrappings with large, thick bracers covered in tan colored fur. Now having an fur hoodie that was always cloaked over her back and shoulders along with her metal shoulder pads; anything that was metal was obviously Gronckle Iron. To further add in on her status as an Leader of the Berk Guard, she had some scaled armor made from an Deadly Nadder with more of the same from Ruffnut: Shoulder Guards, Chestplate, Torso Guards, A skirt like tasset over the hips, gloves, gauntlets, leggings and boots. It was mostly an predominately blue color and further embellished with small metal skulls around her midriff with various spikes matching those of the Dragon that it's based on. She was never without her Mother's Old Axe given to her, which was standard and common looking as it was worn and rusty. Leather twirled around the shaft for good grip as well. Finally, her Krasen was now slightly thicker and had an tan color with brown edges all while it was adorned with metal spikes
Not much of Snotlout could be seen as he was mysteriously wearing an cloak around him, trying to hide his appearance for when he confronts Drayko alone by himself. No one else but him will be the one to finally kill him, he and he alone will stand up against him while the others will either praise him or burn in hell for being unappreciative and being ungrateful bastards. One thing about the Teens is that they all have their Gronckle Iron Shields with the same design that they all used in Dragon Training a long time ago when Hiccup was still with them on Berk. Based off the last will of the late Traitor Johann, they had their Shields be used as Crossbows and Grappling Claws in case they ever come to somewhere unreachable
The hours passed by surprisingly fast for such an long time, quite frankly it's no wonder how the shortcut near Slitherwing Island could spare 6 Days full of boredom with no Dragon Attacks on the ship lately. In fact it was strange as they were bound to have an Dragon attack them but then again, maybe it's because the Gods are granting them safe passage all the way through. Something clearly isn't right at all, it's too calm around here unless it was Drayko who planned for them to come to where he is
Astrid walked out to the front deck and the Captain had told her,"Madam Hofferson, we're nearly at the location; we only have a few more waters left to go before we reach it"
"I hope so because Fishlegs is coming back with us no matter what he says otherwise"
"I miss that Ingerman lad too, his mother is worried badly about him and would sacrifice anything to have him back; or so his father says..."
"I kinda miss him too. While Hiccup the Liar, Trickster, Decietful and Traitorous can kiss the sharpened blades of my backup Axe and be bathed in his own blood for siding with him (Drayko) and his Dragons; Fishlegs always looked so sad when he was near him, as if he was the only friend he wanted to stand up for. Last time we saw him, he lashed out at us for what we've all been doing to him for the past 15 Years; but being Sorry for what you done doesn't mean you're forgiven for betraying your already shamed and dishonored Tribe, he needs to be locked up until he learns to act like a real Viking"
"There is that kind of irony in his family name though I might say"
"For someone who's apart of the Haddock Clan known for being the best fighters and making the greatest of alliances, Hiccup has no fighting spirit and has made an alliance alright; with the WRONG side. Damn you, Toothpick..." She groaned out her frustration, why can't he learn to be honorable for once in his god damn life? Fuck...
"I best return to my duties, Madam Hofferson. We'll get him back in no time, I can feel it"
Afterwards, Silence had fallen as the only thing that remained was her contempt/hatred for Haddock III, no more than an unrestful desire to finally put some sense into that trickster for cheating in Dragon Training. But she must be better than this...
HTTYD
As the elevator finally reached the lower floor, Drayko and Toothless stepped out as it went back up to the upper floor. The former had his burning sword Inferno drawn out with his Shield and the Night Fury was slowly but surely charging up his Plasma to fire and blast at the Bloody and Cursed Marionettes; whom had dropped down from the ceiling and unsheathed their weapons, one of which had an Buckshot of an Megapult that whenever fired from this powerful weapon; left them exposed for attack. Which was the two brothers had begun doing as they faced off against the swarm of possessed Nadders, Zipplebacks, Gronckles, Nightmares and even an Whispering Death Marionette that did not appear too often
These Marionettes consisting of an swarm of 5-8 at a time had put up quite a challenge for the brothers, throwing their daggers, crescent blades and firing their Megapults at them. Some of the Bloody Marionettes had pounced on Drayko and launched multiple stabbing attacks on him, which had him locked in placed but quickly threw the demon towards the ground and smashed it into pieces. However an Zippleback Marionette had clanked it's way over to him before both it's eyes flashed and the demon had screamed at him, restraining him from the ceiling by red bloody strings; he couldn't move until he freed himself and decapitated the demon in one fell swoop, Toothless had his fair share of Marionettes to fight and deal with. One came spinning after him and was no match for the power of the Plasma Bolts that he fired out towards them
Some of the Marionettes had blocked the arrows that were fired from Drayko's Crossbow Shield as they parried back his attack by spinning their weapons and throwing them toward him, forcing him to jump out of the way; all of which had been destroyed from the spot, giving them some time to rest just as the doors opened up and revealed 4 more Marionettes to take down. "I'm not even breaking a sweat right here, neither are you bud" He told his Night Fury brother as they faced off against the final four Marionettes down here
Drayko ran forward towards two of them and stabbed right through them both before pinning them to the wall, ripping off one head and burning one alive as he slashes them all down into pieces. Toothless had no issue either as these Marionettes were merely just wooden figurines, albeit made from fire resistant wood and Dragon's flesh 'n bones; nevertheless they were of no challenge thanks to their slow speed and predictable action, yet they were still deadly. Toothless blasted them all into wooden pieces for an junk pile with two blasts from an Plasma Bolt; finally the deed was done and the elevator came back down, letting the heroes enter and return up to the upper floor to face off against the remaining eight Marionettes that were previously inactive
"17 down and 8 left for the two of us to kill, well at least that door didn't go one under nor one higher"
"You'd make a perfect Math Teacher, Drayko"
"I hate Math, I'd be a better History and Art Teacher in the recently built School Building at Berk when I was still 14 Years old. Gobber was the Teacher at that time and I've mostly taken interest in Art, I was taken out thanks to Snotbitch the Lustful's bullshit; I was due to stop attending Berk's School anyways"
"Is he really going down that path? Is he snooping that low to justify wanting to have that bitch as her own Chieftainess? My claws just want to rip his flesh off his bones right now..." If there was one thing that he hated about everyone, it was the sin of Lust for someone who doesn't even love you back
"Yeah I hate Lust too, but I also hate Pride. Greed and Envy are the worst ones of them all, it just shows how much Snotbitch really is an asshole when he tries to force the girl he loves into being betrothed by him. Jackass..."
"Just wait until we kill that bastard, I can barely contain my rage for what he did to you. No one abuses my Hatchling and gets away with it"
"That time will come, I assure you now that Stoick's attacked Draconia; the only home I ever felt safe in"
The elevator returned them back up to the upper floor and right on time too as three more Marionettes dropped down from the ceiling in a straight line before them. Drayko threw the Frostheart Axe towards them and easily destroyed them while the other four remaining Marionettes began elaborately spinning their blades while laughing and suddenly rushing towards Toothless, trying to undercut him into the air; however Drayko summoned the Frostheart Axe back into his hand and the Marionettes had been caught, allowing the Night Fury to blast them all away. Thus, destroying them once again as they all vanished into bloody smoke that went upward into the ceiling. The red door unlocked itself, allowing the two of them to enter through to the Long Hallway
Seeing that there weren't any more Cursed Bloody Marionettes around for them to fight, they proceeded down the Long Hallway lit up by victorian looking lamps; this area had an decorated carpet that looked like it was meant for aristocrats with Greek looking pillars seen from Mount Olympus' golden halls, many paintings of Knights riding off into battles and this was just a huge castle to live in; god damn, it looked like it was more for the Castellan's taste in architecture. The tiles were diagonally arranged and all of this felt more like an mansion still. Even then, some of the landscape looking paintings had eerie and dark haunting power surrounding it; hmmm...
There was a door on the right where the red doors were, but they decided to use that in case they need an break as this castle may be filled with more than cursed Marionettes around. The room happened to be dark with an golden tint glow inside, tables with books lied on them either stacked or on the shelves; it was was of course lit by some lanterns with two steps upward with railings to climb up easily, an statue of what appeared to be an Omega Primal Night Fury also stood on the far side of the room and also appeared to be the source of the golden light inside. Finally there was some paintings with some fearsome battles involved in such beautiful landscapes, even one that depicted an Spartan wielding a pair of chained blades to decapitate the armies of the Roman Legion belonging to that of Lord Caesar
They reached the end of the Long Hallway and entered the door next to them, not paying even the slightest attention to what was in front of them thanks to Drayko's sparrow like attention span kicking in. What they entered through now was an ruined library that had many books detailing on the records of how strange things have been happening around this place belonging to the Castellan. The two of them approached the steps and Toothless sat down while Drayko saw an room from beind the overgrown rotting tree stumps with roots going down to the floor, there also seemed to be an puddle of water that's formed. Something was clearly not right about this Ancient Castle at all, not even the signs of Demons belonging to the late ruler Blight made it clear what was going on exactly. Whatever the case was, Drayko decided that he could stop here and rest for a moment, drawing to pass the time like he used to do at his own Cove at Berk
It didn't take very long and what he came up with happened to be exactly what he used to look like, what he would look like now as Hiccup: He stood at 5'10 and his hair was slightly less longer than Drayko's, being kept in the same style of when he first spent his time at Dragon's Edge (A/N: The same hairstyle from Race to the Edge, albeit longer) Dark green long sleeved woolen tunic with dark brown leather lacing at the neck and arms, an long dark brown suede vest with very little furriness shown, dark olive green pants and matching boots for the vest that also had Nordic designs embrossed onto the hem and front closure. Dark brown sash around his lower torso and dark brown arm wrapping like bandages going up to his lower elbow, acting like arm brackets
"This sure brings back memories you know, feels like I'm back at the Cove when I still lived like Hiccup before I met you and we took down Red Death for the sake of all Dragons" He looked at his drawing, he was standing next to Hiccup with Toothless by his side; he more or less had an mischievous idea up ahead
"It always feels like that way doesn't it? You'll get back there soon enough, I can tell what you're planning right there and I'll be at the Cove when that happens until the day you reveal your true colors just as Traitor Johann did; except you're doing this because they wronged you while he was simply infiltrating into the Archipelago, just to become the richest man who lived"
"Now he's dead, and yet they still think he was the best trader in the Archipelago while they hate me for killing him. Oh yeah he's a trader alright, an TRAITOR who has been allied with the Hunters even as I developed an friendship with that asshole with him. I really want to say it and I will say it now"
"You rarely say it, why not now?"
"No, I should save it when I need it the most; I think it's about time we wrap up our little break here and continue going forward, we must find a way into that room right there"
Toothless agreed and nodded as he got up and followed his brother out of the Ruined Library, taking an key that was embossed in the paint of Death, the Grim Reaper on their way out. There's many more rooms to see within the walls of the Ancient Castle, but so very little time as the threat of the Berk Teens arriving here are creeping over like the lurking shadows of the Archipelago's darkness
Yeah, I know. I'm straight up adding in elements from Devil May Cry (2001) as if the 2nd Story didn't already add in elements from Devil May Cry 2 (2003) which haters, flamers and trolls criticized me because they say I was "being unoriginal and stealing a lot of things" because they're fucking morons. They shouldn't even be reading this fucking story if they're gonna bash me for something that I can't help doing, especially if they're gonna keep hating the 2nd Game for being too easy and the fact that Dante is an mature and silent introvert; fuck those assholes. It'll be at least three more chapters until the Teens finally arrive, so at least there's that because Tubison is gonna be there to warn Drayko soon by the next chapter. Remember this is an suggestion, not a disclaimer: Don't like it, don't read it. Have any feedback? Just Feel Free to Review and Until we meet again...
TheLegendaryBlackDragonKnight
P.S: You know I would never call any of you fucking morons, just the fucking dickheads who like to make me feel like I'm writing shit for them. It's one way to show that they're unappreciative assholes, unlike Kratos who's an Irredeemable Asshole. Still I would never call any of you readers of mine that, it's just that I hate those who are not being reasonable on why they hate my Knights of the Dragon Riders stories so god damn much... fuck man