The sun was at its highest when the Trollhunters and Rider arrived at Berk. It was hard to stay at the right spot for the last couple minutes and once in a while, Stormfly would either drift too much right or too much left and Jim's hands would start glimmering electric blue. He'd yelp at the pain and retrieve them close to his chest, alerting Astrid that she had to readjust her shadow over the Night Fury soaring below.

It had been a rather fast flight, considering Berk wasn't all the way down south. Since they were fast approaching the island, Astrid leaned to the side to address the Trollhunters, indicating what to do next.

''You're gonna want to tilt the pedal backward in order to slightly close the tail,'' called Astrid, cupping her mouth with her free hand.

Jim and Claire looked up at her as she spoke and the hybrid lowered his eyes on the metal pedal underneath his left foot, still confused about the mechanism of this whole thing.

Carefully, he pressed the metal boot of his armor against the sleek surface of the pedal but instead of slightly closing it as Astrid had indicated, he sent the pedal completely backward, resulting in them diving full speed with their terrified shouts ringing in the air.

Astrid hovered, rolling her eyes in discouragement before heading after them, her Nadder's nasal horn cutting through the air.

She reached the Night Fury's side and offered a hand to grab on to in an attempt to avoid the riders to crash with the Night Fury. Getting a firm hold of Claire's arm, she shoved her behind her on the saddle and then reached for Jim, but Astrid hadn't noticed how close they were getting to the plaza before ordering a last-second command to her dragon, giving them a chance to circle back and avoid a painful crash-landing.

As for Jim, he held on tight with his cape flapping in the wind, allowing some sunlight to kiss his skin and burn it mercilessly. Grunting in pain, Jim shut his eyes tight and stared down to see the ground approaching fast. Toothless beat his wings in an attempt to slow down, but the effort was useless for it only sent the duo spinning until they met the hard stone ground in the middle of the village.

Luckily for the Hunter, he'd managed to jump off the saddle just before Toothless crash-landed and ran for the shadow of one of the many wooden houses, trying to brush off the sunburns off his stony blue skin marked dark with scorches. Jim hadn't come to care on the spot, but a huge crowd had gathered around him curiously, their caution making them keep their distances with whatever this creature was that had dropped from the sky riding the Night Fury.

''What in Thor's name is going on here?'' boomed a deep voice and Jim lifted up his eyes to see the crowd of Viking part, allowing the Chief of the tribe to pass.

The large man looked down at the hybrid, frowning in confusion and in anger for some reason. Jim parted his jaws to explain, but before he could say a word, Astrid dropped down on Stormfly and jumped off her dragon before the Nadder had even landed with Claire following close by.

''Stop!'' called Astrid, placing herself in between Jim and the Berkians.

''Don't hurt him,'' said Claire to the people who had pulled out their weapons. ''He's just scared.''

She turned to face Jim who straightened up and looked down at her, a weak smile appearing on his lips.

''Are you hurt?''

''I'm fine,'' he said, taking her hand in his sweetly.

''Alright, everyone get back to your duties!'' ordered Stoick, gesturing to the Vikings to go. ''I'll handle this.''

When everyone had gone, the Chief turned around to face his future daughter-in-law and placed his hands on his hips.

''Astrid, what is going on?''

Astrid turned halfway around to meet the Trollhunters' gazes and returned to her leader.

''Stoick, we need to talk,'' she said and the man's eyes immediately searched his surroundings, noticing someone missing.

''Where's Hiccup?'' he asked, a tone of worry in his voice.

''Savage has him,'' she replied, her features turning dead serious, remembering how the ex-Outcast had held his dagger at her betrothed's throat.

The other Dragon Riders joined the group, curious of what was going on with their dragons following closely behind.

''Savage?'' echoed Fishlegs from behind Stoick, whimpering while playing with his hands nervously.

''We were at the Northern Markets when he got captured,'' explained Astrid, though she had been sleeping during those events.

She sort of hated herself to not have been wide awake and ready to battle for Hiccup.

''They were headed south. We need to act now. Savage's more unpredictable and ruthless than ever. He's armed with all types of weaponry, as much as Outcast's as Dragon Hunter's.''

''Well, this surely doesn't sound good,'' commented Stoick, sighing at their situation. ''What were you doing at the Northern Markets? You know it's a dangerous island to be.''

''We knew that, Stoick,'' said Astrid, feeling treated like a child who had made a mistake. ''In fact, we were about to leave when it happened. Some Thunderhead Bay Viking started warning everybody about this… what was her name? Skuld, I think it was. Skuld the Sorceress.''

''Oh no…'' said Fishlegs, his face taking a pale shade.

Stoick turned around to face the boy, cocking an eyebrow for more explanation.

''That mean anything to you, Fishlegs?'' asked Astrid, longing for answers.

''Skuld, aka the sorceress,'' said Fishlegs, all attention on him. ''According to legend, she led a coven of warriors witches and cursed whole villages. They say where she goes, the Endless Night follows.''

''Stuff and nonsense,'' Stoick rolled his eyes. ''For Thor's sake! Look, the sun is bright in the sky like it's always been. It's the same every day. No one has the power to change that. No one.''

''Um, Chief..?'' called Snotlout's distractedly, looking up at a high peak on the island next to the tall mountain of the Great Hall.

''Stoick the Vast!'' called a feminine voice from above and all heads turned to see a slim shape standing on top of the hill, the woman's figure dark since she stood in the light of the sun. ''For every one of my sisters, hounded and persecuted by you sons of Odin… one of yours shall be taken. So swears… Skuld the Sorceress!''

Gasps rang around the village and everyone froze to watch the lady wearing the skull of a dragon upon her head, terrified by her words and sudden appearance. But Stoick the Vast didn't let himself be frightened that easily. He took a step forward, his chin held high and eyes blazing as he stared up at the witch.

''And yet, I see no accursed darkness, woman,'' shouted Stoick, displeasing Skuld. ''No unending night. As my son might say… Bring it on!''

But the man's challenge only made Skuld chuckle amusingly.

''As you wish,'' she said before widening her arms and closing her eyes. ''I call upon the chill hand of Morpheus to draw the veil of eternal eventide… And bring on the Endless Night!''

Behind Skuld, the sky slowly started changing colors, those resembling the evening. The Dragon Riders watched as the horizon bathed in warmer colors as if the sun was setting and looked up above their heads to see a black circle starting to position itself in front of the sun.

''Look!'' said Astrid, gesturing to their source of light slowly fading away. ''The sun!''

''Um, was baiting the witch-lady such a smart move?'' whimpered Fishlegs, hugging Meatlug fearfully.

''Whoa!'' said Tuffnut in awe. ''That is freaky, scary and utterly awesome all at the same time.''

''How's she doing that?'' wondered Ruffnut, almost sounding jealous.

''I have absolutely no idea,'' said Tuffnut, letting his shoulders drop.

''What do we do?''

''We can't fight something like this!''

''No one can save us now!''

Astrid narrowed her eyes to the sky and rushed to her dragon, hopping on the saddle.

Hearing the people's terrified screams, she refused to let some witch bathe Berk into darkness. She glared up at where Skuld once stood, but the woman had gone, leaving behind her doing of cursing her homeland.

And she thought no one would say a word about this?

''Dragon Riders!'' called the shieldmaiden, earning all of the teens' attention. ''Saddle up. We're gonna take that witch down.''

''Uh, how?'' asked Tuffnut, but still mounting up on his share of the dragon.

''Yeah? The woman just literally blocked the sun,'' pointed out Ruffnut, gesturing to the black disc settling itself above their heads. ''Sure, it's weird, deal with it.''

''No, that's not weird,'' came Claire, gazing up at the colorful background.

The Riders turned to her, still unaware who these newcomers were. But the hybrid standing behind her had them guess they knew about weird stuff.

''This is not magic.''

''How is this not magic?'' asked Snotlout, panic making him unbearable. ''Did you see what she just did there?''

''Yes,'' said Claire, meeting Snotlout's eyes, making him suddenly dreamy. ''But we've seen what a curse looks like. This is a rare but natural occurrence. It's a solar eclipse.''

''A what now?''

''They occur when an observer passes through the shadow cast by the Moon which fully or partially blocks the Sun,'' explained Claire, recalling her classes in school. ''This can only happen when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are nearly aligned on a straight line in three dimensions during a new moon when the Moon is close to the ecliptic plane.''

''Uh?'' The twins stared at her wide-eyed, jaws dropped.

''English, please?'' Snotlout rested his chin on his Monstrous Nightmare's head, looking as bored as if it had been Fishlegs talking.

Claire rolled her eyes.

''The moon is blocking the sun,'' she said flatly, placing her hands on her hips.

''So the witch-lady is not magic?'' asked Fishlegs sheepishly.

''Well, she still has the sorceress title for a reason,'' said Claire. ''There could still be more to it than meets the eye.''

''So what? Skuld just shows up here, makes us believe the eclipse is her magic and leaves us with that?'' asked Astrid, trying to figure this whole thing out. ''What's her purpose? She can't possibly just do this for show, right?''

Astrid searched the Trollhunters' eyes.

And then Jim's blue eyes flashed wide, thinking of her words.

''But what if she was?'' he asked himself quietly, but loud enough for the others to hear.

''What do you mean, Jim?'' asked Claire, turning around to face him.

''What if all of this was in fact just a distraction?'' said Jim, trying to place the events on a timeline.

He replayed the night he had been tempted by Skuld, letting her talk and waste time before giving him the stone – his only reason to be here. Hiccup had clearly followed him that night with Toothless, allowing the Rider to catch up to him quickly. That would mean they'd been both out in the open in the Markets at the same time. And while he let himself be dazzled by the crystal, he'd been blinded by what had been happening outside. This would mean…

''What if Skuld worked with Savage?''

''Then I'd say you're crazy,'' replied Snotlout, earning a scowl from Jim. ''What? There's no way that lunatic could've found himself a hot date like this sorceress—''

As if to disagree, the blow of a horn alerted the island of incoming ships and the Dragon Riders rushed in the middle of the plaza to land eyes on an entire fleet of Berserker, Outcast and Dragon Hunter ships entering Berk's waters with Savage at the lead.


Boom, boom, shake the room, say whhhhaaaaaaattt? Snotlout's turned off by smart girls, hehe.

See you later!

Rain out!