Everyone's eyes were now gaze upon Toothless, that burst of magical power he sent was like nothing they had ever sensed before. It was powerful and it seem to nerve the other Exceeds as they stared into his green eyes.
"Can't be… black fur and green eyes," said Grump. He then looked at Solatrand. "Sir Solatrand, do you think he could be—?"
Toothless never for the rest of that sentence, because he grabbed Stormfly's paw and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
"Come on, Stormfly!" he yelled. "We're leaving!"
Grump and Solatrand just stared at them dumbfounded.
"Let them come after us, I'm never going to abandon my friends!" Toothless yelled defiantly. "I promised were going to save you!"
Stormfly just stared at him.
"He is—the Black Winged Exceed!" Grump cried.
"The Exceed that spells doom for our people and the young lady has become a Fallen," said Solatrand.
"We cannot allow him to live and as for the girl been in Midgard for too long and has been tainted by the imponderable essence of that land and has lost her divinity," said Grump grimly.
"Then we must pursue them!" cried Solatrant.
"A fallen and the Black Winged Exceed are running loose in the city!" Grump yelled.
"Royal Guard, hunt them down!" Solatrand ordered.
Meanwhile, in the Royal City, both Hiccup and Merrill were sitting in the dungeon.
"I don't believe it," said Hiccup. "Toothless would never turn his back on us. That's just impossible."
"I know, I find it hard to believe that Stormfly would betray me like this," said Merrill pulling her knees closer to her.
Hiccup looked up at her and smile. "Hey, don't listen to anything they say. Friendships are everlasting and cannot be faked not even by the most powerful of magics."
"Are you sure?" Merrill asked looking at him.
"I'm positive."
Merrill smiled and felt a little better.
Meanwhile, Ruby had just regained consciousness and the first thing she noticed she was in a cell and she was trapped in a wooden stock that were hanging from the ceiling.
"Hey, when did this happen?" she said looking at the stocks. "Is this a joke or something? Someone's head is going to roll if I'm not out of this out of this thing soon!"
She then remember that they had then captured in the mine and taken prisoner.
"I remember now, we were captured in the mine," she said to herself. "We had got so close and then—it was over. They took us all away."
She then looked towards the cell door and knowing that there were only a couple of guards standing there she yelled at the top of her voice, "If you jerked at my friends and go to rip you a new one! Do you hear me?"
"Unfortunately," said the guard outside herself.
Meanwhile in Extalia, the Exceeds in the town had a rumbling sound heading towards them.
"What's that ruckus about?" said a ginger Exceed.
They all turned and saw something heading towards them in the distance. A few seconds later they saw Toothless, who was still holding Stormfly's hand and running as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Everybody get out of the way!" Toothless yelled.
It was then they saw several large Exceeds running behind them with their swords drawn. Everyone they ran past were extremely confused but the two newcomers were being chased by the Royal Army that were being led by Sir Solatrand.
"Don't let them get away!" Solatrand ordered.
They ducked just as an Exceed swung his sword at them. They kept running through the streets and that's when Toothless saw a hand gesturing them from down an alley.
"This way," it said.
Not sure what to do, Toothless followed their hand and found it belong to a large ginger Exceed wearing armour.
Toothless stared at him. "Who are—?"
"A friend and right now I'm your only chance to get out of there," said the Exceed.
Before they could say anything he lifted them up and tossed them in a cart full hay.
"Stay quiet and you'll be all right," said the Exceed.
They could then hear footsteps running towards them and knew it was the Royal Guard and the Exceed had vanished. Toothless and Stormfly remained quiet and still as the Royal Guard ran past, but one of them knocked off one of the chocks prevented the court from rolling down the hill.
Then Solatrand fell to the ground exhausted, it became very clear that he wasn't the best soldier in the Royal Guard. Unfortunately, when he felled over he knocked off the other chock and class right in front of the cart.
"Not tired, not at all," he panted. "I must apprehend the Black Winged Exceed and the Fallen at once and live up to the Queen's expectations. It shouldn't be a problem, am healthy and young—"
It was at that point that the cart began to roll away and it ran over Solatrand and kept on rolling down the hill with Toothless and Stormfly inside. The two of them screamed as they rolled down the street smashing through market stores and creates until they exited the city.
They kept on rolling down the hill unable to stop and it kept bouncing around every time ran over a stone. Stormfly was thrown off when they ran over a particularly large one and would have fallen off if Toothless had and grabbed her.
"Hold on, Stormfly!" Toothless yelled.
"Toothless!" Stormfly yelled.
"Don't worry I won't let you go again!" Toothless promised.
Stormfly only nodded miserably.
Toothless turned around just in time as they ran off the edge of a cliff. He pulled Stormfly close towards him and they bounced around on the ground. The cart was now in pieces and Toothless, who took the full impact, was groaning loudly.
"Are you okay?" Toothless groaned.
"Well, nothing seems to be broken," said Stormfly as she pulled herself up.
She then looked over the cliff and her eyes widened for right in front of them was the giant lacrima. It was ten times the size of the lacrima they saw in the Plaza in Royal City.
"Toothless! Look at that!" Stormfly cried.
"A giant lacrima in the sky," Toothless gasped.
"It even bigger than the one in the Royal City."
"Our friends must be inside that one. I thought the one in the city look too small."
Stormfly then looked down. "Speaking of which."
Toothless looked down and saw the Royal City directly below them. "Whoa, what the capital doing so far below us, it's tiny."
"Extalia must be built on one of the floating islands," Stormfly guessed. "In other words this is how everything is positioned."
"But… how are we supposed to get back down to the city?" Toothless frowned.
"Until we can use our magic I'm afraid we may be stuck up here," said Stormfly.
The two of them sighed knowing how helpless they were now.
"Hiccup," said Toothless.
"Merrill," said Stormfly.
"How you little varmints!" a voice yelled behind them. "What in the Queen's bridges you all doing in my field?"
They turned and found a white Exceed standing directly behind them. From his attire he looked like a farmer and he was carrying a prohoe in his hand.
"Oh no, they found us," Toothless panicked.
"I was expecting the couple of deadbeats, but I got troublemakers instead," he grumbled. "You're the Black Winged Exceed and the Fallen."
Toothless blinked he wondered why people keep on calling him the Black Winged Exceed, because by the sounds of it was something bad. However, that was a question for another time right now they were in big trouble.
Toothless held his paws up ready for a fight, but he doubt he could do much.
"You better get out of here," the farmer warned.
"Fine, but how?" Toothless snapped.
"Keep your peepers peeled for that runaway cart!" yelled Solatrand voice. "It is somewhere to find it at once!"
They looked up and saw the vague outlines of Solatrand and his soldiers upon the cliff. If this Exceed drew their attention they were done for.
"There already on our tails," Toothless groaned.
"You two better scram," said the Exceed.
"All right, we will," said Toothless.
"Then you better come to my place."
This surprised the two of them, but they had very little choice in the matter and so they followed him.
They walked for about ten minutes before they reached a small farm on the edge of the island. It actually looks quite quaint and peaceful.
"What about those soldiers?" Toothless asked.
"Don't worry kid, they won't find you here," said the Exceed.
"Hello, dear," said a new voice and they turned to find a never Exceed. She had black fur motherly face and was holding a basket of vegetables. "Did you finish working out on the field is already?"
It was then that she noticed Toothless and Stormfly. "Ah, I see we have some guests," she said smiling. "We've been expecting you."
"You have?" Toothless blinked.
"A friend of ours informed us, in fact he's in the house right now waiting for you," she said smiling.
"Thanks, I'm Toothless," said Toothless.
"And I'm Stormfly," said Stormfly.
"It's nice to meet you I'm Brightstar and you've met my husband Starfang," she said smiling. "Now why don't you come inside our guest is waiting for you."
Once they ended inside base found the same ginger Exceed they met in the alley, the one who help them escape.
"I see you finally shown up," said the Exceed.
"Okay, what's going on?" Toothless asked now more confused than ever.
"Understandable and for reference my name is Cloudjumper and I'm a friend of Valka's," he said smiling.
Both Toothless and Stormfly stared at him.
A few minutes later they found themselves at a table opposite Cloudjumper and Starfang.
"I suppose you have many questions," said Cloudjumper and Toothless and Stormfly nodded.
"How about we discuss this over a nice meal," said Brightstar as he placed a fish on the table. "It sounds as though you've had a rough day."
"Do you mind explaining why you're helping us?" Toothless asked.
"Well, for starters like your female friend here me and my wife are Fallens," said Starfang.
"Yes, my husband was so vocal against the kingdom they chucked us out and we've lived on this little farm ever since," said Brightstar.
"Okay, but what about you?" Stormfly frowned.
"I met Valka about seven to eight years ago, the humans had just started to create Anima and Valka fell in. At first I was going to report, but she convinced me otherwise and ever since then I've been secretly sending information to her. It's helped quite a number of times especially with the Guild she is sworn to protect."
"Okay, but what about me?" Toothless asked frowning. He then looked at Starfang. "You called me the Black Winged Exceed?"
Cloudjumper then leaned in closer. "Tell me are your wings black?"
Toothless frowned of the question. "Yes."
Cloudjumper looked at Starfang and Brightstar and they nodded. He then looked back at Toothless and took a deep breath.
"There's an old legend among our people that's roundabout a thousand years old," Cloudjumper began. "The details are sketchy, but it depicts of the calamity that fell on Edolas that nearly resulted in its destruction. No one truly knows what this calamity was, but many believe that it has something to do with an Exceed with black wings. So, naturally people say that the Black Winged Exceed's presence is a sign that Edolas' destruction is imminent."
"You can't really think that Toothless would destroy Edolas do you?" Stormfly asked.
"You senses power when he stood up against Grump and Solatrand, did you not?" Cloudjumper asked and Stormfly nodded silently. He then looked at them grimly. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what I believe, it's what others believe. I however find it hard to believe that a single Exceed would ever destroy their home or even have that sort of power, but the fact of the matter is people are scared of things they do not know and so naturally they feared the Black Wing Exceed."
"Any who, if you're saying here you have to work here," said Starfang.
"I suppose that sounds reasonable," said Toothless scratching his cheek.
"I had better head back to the city before they realise I'm missing," said Cloudjumper.
"Stay safe," said Brightstar.
About an hour later, both Toothless and Stormfly had been given fresh clothes and a hefty meal they began to help the farmers around the farm. Toothless was assisting Starfang with prowling the field. He kept on digging his prohoe.
"Better put you're back into it," said Starfang.
"Give me a break, I've never done anything like this before," said Toothless.
"I'll give you a break the moment you finish doing your work!" Starfang yelled.
"Okay, okay, no need to shout," Toothless muttered under his breath.
Starfang glared at him. "What was that?"
"Nothing!" Toothless said quickly.
An hour passed and Toothless completely exhausted.
He panted and looked at Starfang. "Do you truly work with these heavy tool every day, sir?" he asked. "I feel like I'm going to break my back."
"That means you're one with the tool," said Starfang. "It's work that comes from the heaviness of your heart and soul. Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it," said Toothless looking and sure.
Meanwhile the house, Stormfly was assisting Brightstar with cutting the fruit with a carving tool.
"My, my, you're quite skilled," Brightstar noted.
"It's pretty simple," said Stormfly smiling. "All done."
"Thank you, dear" Brightstar smiled.
Stormfly then drops the carved fruit she cut into the bowl of soup Brightstar was holding. Then the two of them watched as Toothless and Starfang prow the field.
"Well, they're getting along," Brightstar chuckled as Starfang yelled at Toothless.
In the field Toothless was completely exhausted.
"Can we take a break?" he asked.
"If you can talk, you can work kid," said Starfang.
"Why don't you strongmen take a breather for a bit?" Brightstar yelled across the field. "We've made some cold drinks!"
"Sweet mercy," said Toothless in relief.
"Right, we can take a little break, but then it straight back to work," said Starfang.
Toothless groaned.
Meanwhile, Ruby was still sitting in the dungeon and she had been removed from the stocks, but now her hands were tied by some sort of gooey substance.
"I'm glad they let me out of that wooden piece of junk, but if they had substituted with this flaky blob?" she muttered as she tried to free herself.
She then turned to the cell door. "Hey out there!" she yelled. "I don't suppose we can do anything about the group, huh? Just seems a bit excessive that's all!"
"We should have put someone her mouth," said the guard as Ruby continued to yell.
"Jeez, are all Midgard deaf or something? How do they put up with this?" the other guard asked.
Ruby realised that they had neglects to take her keys and reached out for Taurus' key, but when she tried activated nothing happened. He became clear that her magic was not working and she suspected that had something to do with the gunk on her hands.
"Man, this sucks, I hope the others doing better?" she moaned.
Meanwhile elsewhere in Edolas, Edolas Ruby was standing in the wasteland and then she heard a noise. She turned and saw that Astrid was approaching her on a motorbike and he stuck her from out.
Astrid came to a stop right in front of her.
"We need to get back to the Guild, we've got work to do," said Ruby.
Minutes later she was riding behind Astrid as they drove across the landscape.
"That Hiccup sure knows his stuff, he used that Magic Chalk to create a Magic Circle and teleported us just outside the Royal City," Astrid explained as they drove along. "Anyway, I left them must get my hands on this thing. They were pretty serious about taking on the Royal Army."
"At least it's better than running," said Edolas Ruby. "So, how much fuel do we have and how you heard anything from Valka?"
"I've heard nothing from her, it's like she's disappeared," said Astrid. "As for the bike, I'm afraid we don't have enough to make it to the Guildhall. We may be walking for the last mile or two. Anyway what's the plan?"
"I'll tell you once we reach the Guildhall," said Ruby.
Meanwhile up in Extalia, Toothless back at work sweeping the roof.
"Great for the old-timers is let us hide here, but does he have to work me like a dog the whole time?" he muttered.
"You wanna take a chance with the soldiers or sweep the roof spotless?" Starfang yelled across the field.
"I'll sweep!" Toothless yelled. "How did he hear me from over there?"
He then looked up at the sky and looked slightly depressed.
"This isn't really the time for me to be doing this," he said to himself. "Come on, your friends are in trouble and they need you to help to help them out."
He then slipped and would have fallen off the roof he hadn't grabbed hold of the edge.
"Keep getting distracted and you'll hand scrub the toilet," Starfang warned.
"Okay, okay!" Toothless yelled.
"Once you finish with the roof your chopping firewood for an hour, got it?"
"I go it," said Toothless pulled himself back onto the roof.
Inside the house, Stormfly was drinking a nice cup of tea and could hear Starfang yelling at Toothless. Brightstar was on the opposite side doing some sewing.
"You haven't smiled this whole time," Brightstar noted. "I'm sure you can brighten the entire room." She then sighed. "Are things really so bad that you can't crack a smile?"
Stormfly looked at her cup of tea and saw her reflection within the brown liquid. "I'm just not in the smiling mood, that's all."
"It sounds as if something painful must've happened." Stormfly looked at her. "It may seem bad now, but you'll smile again."
"I doubt it."
"You say that, but trust me it'll happen."
Stormfly wasn't so sure she looked at her cup of tea. She then began to remember the time she had with Merrill.
Stormfly was flying away and Merrill was running after her.
"Stormfly! Wait up, I'm coming with you!" Merrill yelled.
Stormfly ignored her until she heard Merrill tripping over her own feet.
"Elves are clumsy," she said turning to look at her. "Look here, if you're going to keep getting hurt trying to follow me why do it?"
"Because—"
"You don't even have an answer, you should go back to the Guild."
"I don't want to, because you and me friends now aren't we?"
Stormfly was slightly taken aback by this. "You and I are friends?"
Merrill smiled. "Yeah, of course."
Toothless had now finish with the roof and was now busy cutting firewood.
"And that's more like it," he said.
"You take a nap back there? Quit slacking or your never catch up," Starfang barked.
Toothless looked in his eyes widened, because there was a whole pile of firewood right behind Starfang.
"How did you cut the wood that fast?" Toothless blinked.
Starfang didn't answer.
"Okay, I'll show you I can do it," said Toothless as he began to cut the firewood of a much faster pace. "You're not going to win this one!"
Starfang too then began to cut the wood and now they were having a small race to see who could cut the fastest.
"You're not beating me kid," said Starfang.
"We'll see old-timer," said Toothless.
"I'm ain't old yet," Starfang barked.
Soon they were down to the last pieces of wood.
"Okay I'm down to one more," said Toothless.
"Hey, that makes two of us," said Starfang.
The two of them then cut the last piece of wood and once it was over and done with the two of them looked at one another. Seconds later they laughed their heads off.
"That's enough I would one day," said Starfang looking at their piles of firewood. "You did good kid."
"I've never been so sweaty in all my life and that's saying something," said Toothless panting.
"Then you better take a bath," said Starfang.
After taking a bath, Toothless joined Stormfly on the porch and took in the rays of the sun.
"That was the most relaxing bath of my life," said Toothless as he tried to savour the memory.
Stormfly was still contemplating everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours.
"I betrayed her," she said miserably.
Brightstar soon joined them and smiled down at Toothless. "Good work out the young man. Feels great to relax after hard work and a nice bath doesn't it?"
"Sure does, I needed that," Toothless nodded.
"So tell me, Toothless and Stormfly you're not from here, were you hatched in Midgard by any chance? Were you given names by someone there?"
"Yeah, by my pal, Hiccup," said Toothless getting to his feet.
"I two was named, by a friend," said Stormfly miserably.
"And now they're being held captive in the Royal City below, we've gotta save them, because it's our fault that there," said Toothless.
Brightstar nodded understandably. "So you intend to rescue your friends?"
"That's why I'm a Fallen," said Stormfly. "Caring about other races seems to be bizarre concept to here."
"I don't think it's bizarre at all, in fact it's wonderful," said Brightstar. "If someone is your friend it shouldn't matter what race they are. After all even if we may look different on the outside, internally our hearts share the same shape."
Stormfly frowned. "I'm afraid I don't follow your logic."
"Well, what I'm trying to say is that love is the same no matter who you are."
Toothless nodded in agreement, but Stormfly looked away miserably.
"I wish that applied to me," she said. "Regardless of the shape of my heart, or the love it has to give, it's not under my control. Even now I cannot be sure but the word I'm saying are mine or part of someone else's plan."
"I know they're your words, Stormfly," said Toothless firmly. "You're too strong for someone to control you."
Stormfly looked up surprised and Brightstar just smiled.
"And I know our hearts want the same thing. To defeat the Royal Army and save our friends."
"Think we can?" Stormfly asked.
"I know you can," said Brightstar. "Things may seem a little confusing for you for the moment, but you should never give up hope." She then looked at Toothless. "You've got a powerful warrior that will be by your side for the journey."
Toothless felt his face getting hot.
"I understand you may feel that you've lost your heart, but I think you found it long ago." Stormfly just looked at her not sure whether to believe that not. "Now all you have to do is learn to embrace it. Believing it and trust your feelings of love."
Her words managed to root themselves in Stormfly's heart and then she smiled.
"There you are, you see, a wonderful smile was just waiting to come out," Brightstar smiled. "I'm just glad that I got to see it."
"You surprise me Miss Brightstar," said Stormfly.
"What makes you say that?"
"Because the Exceeds we've met so far all believe themselves to be celestial beings in the Queen's divine. They even called humans inferior species."
"Ah, yes," Brightstar nodded in understanding. "Truth be told I used to believe the same thing. In one day our beloved Queen took our children from us. One hundred children still in their eggs were taken from their homes, they gave us no warning and we were told just to accept it.
"The Queen had chosen them to eliminate the Dragon Slayers, they were all sent to Midgard against our wishes. When we oppose the cruelty of the project we were exiled. We never even got to see children faces.
"After that everything changed, we realised the lie we've been subjected to. She wasn't a god and the rest of us certainly weren't creatures of light, we were just parents. Once we realise this the lines between human and Exceed all but vanished for us, it didn't matter.
"My husband was once the Queen strategist, but he felt the same way as I did if not more so. He quit his job and began tearing the truth to all those who would listen, naturally were exiled immediately."
"The two of you had better hurry," said Starfang as he appeared. "Cloudjumper just sent a message saying that your friends are in danger."
"But dear, it's much you soon," said Brightstar.
"No, he's right, we don't have time to lounge around anymore," said Toothless. He then looked at Stormfly. "Our friends are down there and we've got to do everything we can to make sure they get home."
Stormfly nodded.
"At least you finally get it," said Starfang crossing his arms. "Scaredy-cat can't do nothing, I swear these kids these days need it spelled-out for them."
Toothless soon realise what they needed to do.
They soon left the farmhouse and gave one final wave to the two farmers that had gave them so much help.
"Thanks a lot, old-timer you to ma'am!" Toothless yelled. "We'll never forget you!"
"Just get going!" Starfang yelled.
"Take care of each other, you hear!" Brightstar yelled.
The two of them then began running down the cliff towards the edge.
"Hey, Stormfly," said Toothless looking at Stormfly. "Don't know about you, but I feel like we were destined to meet those two today?"
"Yes, I feel the same way," Stormfly agreed.
"When we first came to Edolas I wasn't sure about a lot of things, I felt like I was lost."
"So did I, but now—"
"The path is clear," Toothless finished.
The two of them then jumped off the cliff and fell down towards the Royal City, however the two of them were perfectly calm not afraid of falling. As they fell the two of them grabbed each other's pause and looked down towards the earth with a determined look.
"We won't let our past hold us back," said Toothless. "We've got to fly forwards and protect our friends."
As they flew down Stormfly accepted that they were Exceeds, which was the only race in Edolas that was born with magic power. The only reason why they were able to use their magic because they lost their sense of who they were, but now they knew that being Exceeds doesn't define. Their hearts told them where they needed to go and their wings take them there.
Once they realise this their wings appeared and they flew across the sky as if they flew around in Edolas a hundred times.
"Let's go, we can't keep everybody waiting," said Stormfly.
"Right behind you," Toothless nodded.
At the farm both Starfang and Brightstar watched as the two young Exceeds the way.
"Would you look at that, Star, the boy can fly after all," said Starfang.
"The way he flies does remind me of you, Fang," Brightstar smiled.
"And he certainly got your heart," Starfang nodded.
The two of them were both teary-eyed as they watched Toothless flying away into the distance. They remember the fateful day when the Queen took their children and they watched in horror a guard took their egg away, a black egg.
"And he found such a wonderful girlfriend," Brightstar cried as she rubbed that he is out of her eyes.
"He's a hundred years too early to bring girls back to the house," said Starfang as he tried to help back his tears.
"He's grown up into a fine boy who cares deeply for his friends," said Brightstar.
Starfang pulled his wife close to him and she cried into his shoulder. "I know, and I couldn't be more proud of him."