Author's Note:

Hello everyone and welcome to the second chapter. This is largely just an overview of how some characters have changed since the end of the last story but the real plot will kick off soon. Thank you for your support so far and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.


Five Years On

Over the years Dragon Island had gone from a barely built outpost to a fully-fledged base of operations. Drago's army had also swelled again though it still wasn't at the same number as it had been five years ago. He did however have a reasonable amount of enslaved dragons to replace all the ones he'd lost and he could thank Viggo Grimborn for much of this growth in assets.

The chief of the Dragon Hunters had proven to be a valuable ally gathering dragons and forces as well as finding pockets of Drago's escaped slaves and recapturing them. The man was a cunning commander often several steps ahead of his opponents and running several different plans at once. This meant he could easily outmanoeuvre his foes and execute his missions with a ruthless flawlessness that Drago admired.

Admired and treated with a considerable amount of wariness.

As well as being an excellent commander Viggo was also ambitious and Drago was not fooling himself that the man's sudden appearance after his forces and base had been decimated was lucky coincidence. Viggo no doubt waited for the right moment to offer his aid and Drago knew that the Dragon Hunter chief would not settle for remaining a follower, the only question was how the man would act. For the moment it served both their interests to remain allies but as their forces grew stronger the time for betrayal grew closer.

Drago smirked, the completion of Saphia's current project would certainly speed that time along but for the moment Viggo did not know what was being created deep within the mountain of Dragon Island. Once it was revealed the current balance of power in his army would start to shift and Viggo would begin to start on his real plans.

Whatever plans the hunter had Drago had every intention of coming out on top.


Far to the north upon the great white expanse that was the Ice Wastes a teenager wrapped in furs and wearing a hood stalked a polar bear.

At seventeen he was on the cusp of manhood but still very much a boy in some ways however hunting was an old, well used and honed skill of his. The same could be said of the polar bear he was stalking who was an older male who hadn't quite lost its edge yet and was a formidable hunter in its own right.

Bearing this in mind the teenager moved with caution taking great care not to alert the creature to his presence, bears could be fickle if they realised they were being hunted sometimes they moved away and other times they turned and fought. In this case the bear was likely going to fight, it had be a lean period for it and a human would make a very welcome meal.

Taking slow and careful steps the teen continued his hunt as the bear moved in the direction of the sea ice, probably to try and make a meal of a seal by its breathing hole. The bear suddenly stopped and sniffed the air and the teen froze hoping that it was something else that had attracted the creature's attention, he'd made sure to remain downwind to stop it picking up his scent but the bear might have heard him somehow instead. The bear turned and instantly spotted the teenager stalking it, as expected it saw the chance for an easy meal and began to lumber towards him. Hunter now about to become the prey and the teen readied the spear he'd been holding, running wasn't an option as the bear would catch up eventually so he had to kill it before it killed him.

The bear continued its charge and the teen remained amazingly calm at its approach, he waited for the right moment where he would end this hunt. The bear came closer…and closer…and just when he was about to claim victory over it a bolt of lightning lanced down and struck the creature from above killing it instantly.

The teen huffed in annoyance and threw his hood back as he called up to the sky.

"Dammit Icebolt! I was just about to finish it myself!"

A Skrill swooped down and landed in front of the teenager chortling. Alister ignored the dragon and knelt next to the felled bear to check it was actually dead. He pointedly didn't look at his dragon companion (who'd begun to apologise) trying very hard to act like he was still angry, Icebolt then nudged him in the back and nuzzled his face and he caved in, "Okay fine. Apology accepted."

Icebolt gave a little cheer and then started to gather the bear's carcass into his claws as the teen climbed onto his back, his rider and cargo secure the Skrill took off and slowly flew back towards the ice cave they were calling home. When they eventually arrived Icebolt dragged their prize inside and Alister followed.

The cave had clearly been lived in for a while as there was a great deal of paraphernalia around such as furs, spears, bows, the odd jars containing different things and two fur mounds clearly set aside for sleeping. It didn't go all that far back and consisted of a short tunnel that led to a circular area within. The centre of this space was graced with a fire pit used for warmth and cooking while everything else was scattered around nearby in loose organisation.

Alister glanced around their cave, "Looks like Shadow's not back yet."

Shadow was a Night Fury and the one who'd brought them up to the Ice Wastes five years ago. He'd spent the following years teaching Alister and Icebolt how to survive in the harsh environment around them and helping them hone their hunting skills. At first he went with them on every hunt but as they improved more and more he started to gradually let them handle things on their own. In recent times he hadn't gone with them on any hunts feeling that they could now handle themselves just fine and a couple of times Icebolt and Alister had also split up and done hunts of their own. This was meant to be one of those times but Icebolt had apparently decided it would be fun to nick Alister's kill from him at the last moment.

The Skrill had rumbled in agreement at the teen's words before setting light to the fire they'd fuelled up that morning. Alister set about prepping the bear carcass intending to use its hide to make more clothing, he'd been growing rapidly recently and he needed to replace his clothes so often it was getting ridiculous. He'd been trading any excess with the tribes that made their home this far north which had allowed him to pick up a few comforts that would be time consuming to get on his own which had allowed them to live fairly comfortably provided they hunted regularly.

Gathering what he needed he set about dealing with that day's spoils.


On an island in the Archipelago, far from Dragon Island, was a small settlement that had gradually become a village over the last five years. It was made up from a group of former Fortress slaves and was led by Stoick the Vast.

He'd helped everyone there survive after their initial escape and under his leadership they'd begun to build and thrive. The island they now called home was pretty abundant and they'd managed to farm the land and even domesticate a few animals as they built homes and stores. Everything was pretty simple and the main meeting building was nothing more than a large round one at the centre of the village but they had what they needed to live. They'd even created a makeshift dock and a couple of tiny fishing boats but the old ocean going ships they'd once known were not in existence.

Alvin had become Stoick's second in command and had proven to be a fine choice for the position. Mulch had also proven himself invaluable in starting up their simple farms, in the Fortress he'd been barely a shell of who he was before Bucket had died but now it was like he'd become human once more. Out of the other Berkians it appeared they'd died during their long years of slavery or had escaped elsewhere five years ago as none were among those Stoick had led here nor had any arrived since. Despite this those who were here had survived admirably and their tiny community was really taking shape.

Stoick was in his small hut doing some work on the simple table he was making for it when Eret walked in. Now twenty Eret had grown into a fine young man and often helped out with the work in the village as well as spending time with the few children that were around. While not exceptionally skilled at any one job he'd proven to be competent at most and his real talents lay in decision making and leading others, Stoick had already noted him as a potential future leader of their small community but he hadn't said anything to the young man about it yet. Stoick himself still had a good few years left in him and it wasn't like he'd been officially named chief, they weren't really a tribe and in the focus to survive issues of leadership had been ignored and everyone just seemed to accept Stoick being in charge. They'd only recently formed a village council but one of the things to be discussed was how they were going to govern themselves and they might not even want to have a chief.

Setting these thoughts aside Stoick looked up from his work at the young man who was effectively his second son, "What is it lad?"

"That's the fishing boats back in Uncle." Eret reported, "They seem to have a massive catch so I thought you'd like to come down and help them with it."

"That I do lad." Stoick stood up from where he'd been working, "I can come back to this later."

Eret looked the table over, "The table seems to be coming along well."

Stoick smiled, "Aye, just a little more work and it'll be ready for use." He clapped Eret on shoulder, "Now let's see to that catch."


Beyond the sight and senses of everyone darkness stirred.

Its plans had been delayed five years ago but now it sensed a change, a change it could exploit. However it would take patience and just a small bit of manipulation but it had waited for a long time already, it could afford to be patient. Ambitions were moving, lives were about to cross over once more and in the events to come it would make its move.

The world wouldn't know what hit it.


PS-Ooh, ominous. A run through of some of the changes over the years and a slight indication of what's to come (though I'm not saying how soon). Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.