Alright, next chapter!

Part 3

The first thing Hiccup became certain of was that at some point someone had scooped out his brain and replaced it with a heavy lead brick. Okay maybe he wasn't completely certain but it sure did feel like it was true.

The second thing he became certain of was that he had no idea where he was. Worse yet his mind seemed to be resisting the instinct to wake up, almost like that blow to the back of his head made him forget how.

Even though his mind still refused to cooperate, he eventually managed to get a couple of his fingers to twitch Not long after he got to clenching and unclenching his hands into fists and even got to blink his eyes. After a few more tries, he finally managed to get his eyes open wide enough to observe his surroundings, and what he saw was probably the last thing he ever expected.

He was in some sort of room that seemed to be made out of wood, entirely out of wood. The walls, ceiling, and floor all molded together like they were made out of clay rather that the sparkling pale golden wood; there wasn't a nail in sight. Seeing no one around, he started to work himself into a more upright position.

"Morning!" Hiccup nearly jumped clear off the makeshift bed he realized he was on when he heard a sudden voice from the doorway, or entryway at least. There stood a boy about his age with wide blue eyes and sandy hair that was just a few shades short of white. He had the same basic physic as him, but looked a lot more athletic and was also slightly taller, but not enough to pass as a Viking. He held a woven basket hoisted over his shoulder, what it contained though, he couldn't tell.

"Good to see that you decided to join the land of the living" he said, lowering the basket and dropping in on the floor. Hiccup could only guess that it contained something very heavy. His observation was cut short when this mystery boy continued talking.

"From what we can tell you had one heck of a time in that current. My name's Caden by the way." He said, extending his hand.

"Hiccup" he said as he shook Caden's hand and hoisted himself out of the bed. "How long have I been out?" he asked once he was upright.

"Since you've been here, a couple of hours, before that, who knows" Caden answered, reaching to pick up another bag from a nearby table, or well, a box-shaped lump coming out of the wall. "Anyway, how 'bout you come with me for a tour, the last thing you wanna do on a day like this is stay inside." Caden said, tossing the leather sack over his shoulder. Hiccup shrugged, but agreed none the less, and as both boys left, neither of them paid any mind to the basket Caden had left behind. Nor did they notice it twitch slightly.

Only about 20 minutes later were Caden & Hiccup walking through the clearing not too far away from the Tree. Even then Hiccup was still in shock of the Tree's massive size. Caden may not have noticed this, but he did notice was that in his shock he was looking pretty much everywhere else except the ground.

"Watch out for those holes" Caden stated simply. Hiccup looked to him like he was going to question it, but was cut off when his face unexpectedly met the ground.

Caden only looked at him and said "told ya" before bending over to help him up. Sure enough, Hiccup's metal foot had gotten caught in a small hole that looked to be a gopher's work.

"Anyway, I was saying that the whole island is free to explore. But take my advice and stay away from the southwestern side." He said as he pointing to the direction he referred to. As Hiccup looked in the direction he pointed to, he noticed that the land looked darker, like it was singed.

"Why? Is it dangerous?" He asked.

"Well no, but the people who live there aren't whatcha call... 'Friendly'" Caden replied, somewhat hesitantly. Hiccup was about to press further when something nudged him from behind, hard.

"Whoa!" Hiccup yelled as he stumbled forward. When he turned around he came face-to-face with a rather large blue & green Monstrous Nightmare; and Caden found the look on his face quite humorous.

"Oh I almost forgot. This is Reneth, probably the world's tamest dragon. He's a bit of an old boy" Caden explained, stroking the side of the large dragon's head. Though the Nightmare appeared dangerous at first glance, closer examination proved otherwise. Whereas most dragons' scales looked smooth and glossy, Reneth's looked old, tarnished and almost looked to be falling off. But what caught Hiccup's attention most about the dragon were his eyes. They were the same color as Snotlout's Nightmare, Hookfang, but something looked... different. He couldn't quite place it but there was something off about Reneth's eyes that made them look different from a normal dragon's.

"C'mon over here and pet him. He wouldn't bite" Caden said, beckoning Hiccup in his direction. Though a bit hesitant, he made his way over, stopping just in front of the dragon's snout. Cautiously, he lowered his hand just in front of Reneth's nostrils, just like he first did with Hookfang in the arena back on Berk. But what he never would've expected was when the dragon lifted his head the last few inches and began to make something that sounded like purring at the touch of his hand.

"Sounds like he likes you" Caden noticed.

"Are there other dragons around here?" Hiccup asked, Reneth's snout still under his hand.

"A few. They're around here somewhere" Caden answered as he began to stroke the large dragon's forehead. Hiccup, beginning to get more comfortable, placed his other hand on top of the dragon's nostrils, causing them to flare up slightly.

"Why is he looking at me like he knows me?" he asked. The Nightmare had never moved his gaze from the boy since the moment he'd approached him.

"Ah well, he can't technically... 'Look' at you... or anything for that matter." Caden said, searching for the right words. "Reneth's been blind for as long as I can remember." Hiccup's eyes widened at that statement. Looking back to the dragon, he finally figured out what looked different about his eyes: they always looked straight forward, never to either side, and they never seemed to look at one particular thing, like they were staring off into space.

"As in his whole life or just from some point on?" Hiccup asked as the thought occurred to him.

"No one really knows, some say that he just woke up blind one day, others say that he got that way when he knocked his head against a rock as a baby. But most, the Elder included, believe that he's been blind since the day he hatched." Caden explained, looking to the large dragon.

"But if he's never been able to see, how'd he ever learn how to fly?" Hiccup asked. Caden looked over to him.

"As far as anyone around here knows, Reneth's never flown a day in his life, and at this point in time, it doesn't look like he ever will." That was one of the last things he ever expected to hear; it just didn't sound right for a dragon, never knowing what it felt like to fly.

He only had a brief moment to look at the large Nightmare before his train of thought instantly came to a dead halt.

"Hey guys!" both of the boys whipped around towards the new voice that joined them. There, Hiccup saw a girl running towards them with a bow in her hands and a quiver strapped to her back. She had her long auburn hair pulled up in a high ponytail, wore dark-toned clothes and... Basically looked like the kind of person that was expecting a fight. But more than that Hiccup thought she looked... familiar.

"Oh, Hiccup, this is my best friend, Aderyn" Caden said, gesturing to her. They said their hellos and Aderyn shook his hand heartily.

"Glad to see you fully conscious. By the size of that bump it looked like you hit your head pretty hard." She said teasingly as she released her grasp on his hand. All he felt he could do at the spur of the moment was rub the back of his head and laugh shyly, feeling the bump in the process.

"So Hiccup, why don't you come down to the Cliffs just north of here with us? We have another friend that would really like to meet you plus the other dragons aren't too far away." Aderyn offered.

In that moment, Hiccup realized why he felt like looked familiar: she was just like Astrid in nearly every way, and he instantly knew what he needed to do.

"Thanks, but I should really get back to my friends." He said as politely as he could.

"Alright, where do you live?" She asked.

"Berk" Although Hiccup said it very simply and casually, both Caden and Aderyn's eyes widened and they seemed to straighten up slightly in shock.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he noticed their looks.

"Well, Berk's nearly 300 miles away from here and there currently aren't any ships docked" Caden stated.

"Not to mention there hardly ever are." Aderyn continued.

"What about the other dragons you mentioned, couldn't they give me a lift back?" Hiccup asked, becoming somewhat frantic.

"Hiccup, those dragons can't fly anymore than Reneth here can." Caden said, gesturing to the large dragon in the background.

"Believe me, if they could, they wouldn't be here in the first place." Aderyn stated. Hiccup began to open and close his mouth repeatedly, desperate to grab onto some sort of idea on how to get home, but nothing came to him.

Little did he know that it seem home was going to be coming to him.

Well I gotta say that I got this uploaded a LOT faster than I thought I would. Special thanks to my good friend Elvishdork for faithfully reviewing very chapter I've posted so far.

I don't think I'll post the next part of the story until I get a couple of reviews. I can't help it! I feel like my work is being neglected!

See you soon ;)