"And then after I, lamely attacked Ryan, the whole world went black, and the next thing I knew I was flying over the village back toward my body." Hiccup concluded his story, taking a sip of his warm yank milk.
After convincing his father and family that Hadrian was trying to help, everyone calmed down enough that they were willing to listen, but not so much that they wouldn't hesitate to bop Hadrian over his head if he tried anything funny.
Now sitting at the kitchen table, Hadrian hovered a foot from Hiccup, who had been the one explaining everything while Hadrian sat by waiting until the end, rarely intervening knowing any slight action he takes toward Hiccup will result in an axe to the head.
So far, Hiccup had told them about the first night Jolene appeared in his dreams along with his mother, then he shared the information Grandmamma had told him with the other Vikings, all seemingly to grow pale as the pieces started to match up. Hiccup told them about Hadrian's visit along with Scrimshaw and his fatal lullaby. And since everyone was there when Hiccup found the box, he saved the flashback for last. Everyone seemed to take his story seriously, but Hiccup was unsure whether they got it or not since most of their eyes kept flickering to Hadrian as he floated weightless just an arm's length away from Hiccup.
"So wait, how could Haymitch the Second have a doppelganger?" Fishlegs asks. "Don't they usually have a mind of their own?"
Hiccup opens his mouth to say something, but given he doesn't have the answer, he clamps it shut and turns to Hadrian. Cueing him it was his time to speak.
"Well it's no doubt that everyone has a dark side. Even those who appear to be the purest of the soul." Hadrian explained.
"But how did he get one?" Hiccup emphasized. "I mean, I got you because of magic."
Hadrian nervously clears his throat. "Our stories are rather similar, Hiccup. Back when Haymitch was about your age, being a hiccup, his father was, less than accepting. He was an outcast. Sometimes when the living experience intense negative emotions, their energy can manifest into a pekay manifestation."
"What's a, Pee-kay manifestation?" Hiccup asks.
"A pekay manifestation usually happens when a living person's energy creates an entity. These manifestations are very powerful and can physically influence their environment. And these things can have the ability to affect the living in harmful ways. "
"So, did Lilith create, Ryan?" Astrid asks.
"No." Hadrian answers. "Given that Haymitch was, basically unaccepted, those negative emotions brought on by the way he was treated, in turn created, Ryan."
"And was Lilith attracted to him as she was you?" Stoick asks.
"Yes. At first, she was only interested in Ryan simply because he appeared to her as a snack. But when she found Haymitch and that state of, vulnerability he was in, he was basically the perfect prey for her."
"So then, what is it that she wants exactly?" Hiccup questions Hadrian. "From either a hiccup or a regular man in the village?"
"Well, as I'm sure Grandmamma has already told you, Lilith is often referred to as a succubus. And a succubus is basically an entity that drains a person's, preferably male, energy. Her male counterpart is known as an incubus, and they target, females."
Everyone leans in as Hadrian lays out this knew scroll of information. His facts adding up to everything that's happened.
"So she basically wants energy." Hiccup states.
Hadrian nods. "A succubus may take a form of a beautiful young girl but closer inspection may reveal deformities upon their bodies, such as bird-like claws or serpentine tails. There were four original queens of the demons: Lilith, Mahalath, Agrat Bat Mahlat, and Naamah."
Hiccup began to quake like a leaf as he listened to Hadrian. It truly frightened him at how powerful Lilith really was starting to sound.
"Does she use it to stay young?" Fishlegs asks.
"Sometimes. But usually it's just so she has power over every other demon or entity. Like I said, or as said in Grandmamma's book, she's the reigning queen of nightmares."
Grandmamma's head jerks to him. "You were there?"
Hadrian nods.
"You closed the book?" Gobber asked.
Hadrian nodded again.
"Okay, so we know what made Haymitch so special. His negative emotions created an entity that drew Lilith in, then she later targeted Haymitch." Fishlegs breaks down. "But what makes Hiccup special now? Did the other hiccups through past generations have the same thing?"
"Yes. Though, actually, Haymitch and Hiccup were the first two to have tangible doppelgangers." Hadrian comments. "All the others she just had as a whole. Now, what makes Hiccup so special is his practice of magic."
Hiccup swallows thickly as he peers at Grandmamma. She has a nervous looks on her face, as well as guilt.
"Along with your ability to manipulate things in reality, you also have the capability to enter a dreamworld as well. This you already knew." Hadrian explains. "But all that aside, your actually a lot more special than any of you think."
"What are you talking about Hadrian?" Stoick questions.
Hadrian takes a deliberate long sip from his mug to irritate Stoick before answering. "Well, I just thought it was something else, but I never would've guessed that there was a Valkyrie amongst you."
Everyone's face contorts to shock and some of them even back up, giving Hiccup more distance. Confused, Hiccup looks to Grandmamma and Hadrian, waiting for an answer.
"What's a Valkyrie?" Heather asks.
Hadrian only has a smug on his face as he gestures to Grandmamma. Hiccup turns to her, and while her face still has genuine shock, there was something in her face that read 'I knew it'
"Grandmamma?"
"Uh . . . w-well, in traditional writing, Valkyries were mythical creatures deciding who will die in battle and who will be chosen to the afterlife in Valhalla" She explains.
"Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as the offsprings of royalty," Hadrian looks to Hiccup with a smile. "Sometimes accompanied by ravens, and sometimes connected to swans."
Hiccup's skin crawls with gooseskin as he remembers how Hadrian morphed into a black raven back in the memory, and when he was outside the arena.
"As far as I know, you're the first Valkyrie in a number of centuries, so I wasn't sure if it were true or not." Grandmamma stutters.
"So how does that make me special?" Hiccup asks.
"Given you're a Valkyrie, you have powers no one will ever know. Your energy is beyond normal mortal levels, and that's what attracts her. You're basically an energy being, and you alone have the capability to give her power for years." Hadrian says. "Or until she drains you dry."
Hiccup feels his skin grow clammy so he starts to physically shake. He grips the side of the chair and steady himself.
It all made sense.
With his newfound magical powers, it must've earned him an unknown title, and with it, his spike in power attracted Jolene.
"So, where is she now?" Hiccup asks Hadrian.
But when he got a mere shrug of the shoulders, his ice-ball of worry began to gnaw at his stomach like slow-growing frostbite.
"We went to her house and found nothing but a scorch mark on her bedroom floor, it connected to the ceiling and also there was the box." Hiccup had to stop himself to take a breath, and prevent more meaningless words from pouring from his mouth.
"I'm guessing she went back to her realm now that you know what's going on." Hadrian speculates.
"Well just instills me with ease." Hiccup sarcastically remarks. "Look Hadrian, I need to stop this woman, any ideas"
"I doubt you can fight something that's been around for centuries, Hiccup." He retorts. "You don't know what's going to happen. What she can do."
Hiccup looks to Hadrian for a moment, his gaze wandering to the strap of his jacket crossing just over his heart. Hiccup remembers how Hadrian as piecing himself together back at the fountain, and then . . .
"Scrimshaw." Hiccup muttered. And Hadrian nods his head.
She did that.
"If I had known about your, ability, I would've kept my mouth shut."
"When something like you comes along," Hadrian says. "A Valkyrie with the power to keep her going for years, you can bet she won't let you go without a fight."
"So she plans to do whatever it takes to get to Hiccup?" Heather asks.
Hadrian answers with a nod of his head.
Hiccup swallows his heart in his throat. He doesn't say anything, positive his voice had practically shriveled up. He manages to looks to Hadrian and say, "Will she target Astrid? My friends, family?"
Hadrian looks to him and for once has the decency to drop his gaze.
"Hadrian." Hiccup pressures.
Hadrian lifts his head and stares directly at Hiccup. "Yes." Hiccup's body goes numb, but Hadrian goes on. "As long as they're alive, they're your flaw. Your Achilles heel. Which makes them her weapon. They're the stings that if need be she will pull to make you dance puppet boy."
"So how do we stop her?" Stoick asks.
"Honestly, I wouldn't even try." Hadrian admits, placing his finished mug down.
Hiccup jerks his head in his direction. "How can you say that?"
"Hiccup, this woman, this spirit, is already dead. She's been haunting for generations. What makes you think that you can suddenly beat, let alone destroy her?"
"You said yourself that she's never seen anyone like me before, ever. Maybe this means that I can finally stop her."
"Hiccup you shouldn't make promises you can't keep." Hadrian suddenly says.
"She won't win. No matter what any of you believe, you won't stop me. Demon or not, she doesn't scare me." Hiccup says, his voice full of conviction. He rise to his feet and steps toward Hadrian with resisted steps. "I will beat her. I will find a way to stop her for good. To keep her from doing this to anyone ever again."
"Hiccup, maybe you shouldn't." Stoick says. And Hiccup's head suddenly jerk to him. "I mean, you're dealing with something that's had years of experience of this. Maybe it's' too risky."
"We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard." Hiccup retorts.
"Hiccup-"
"No. You know what, don't Hiccup me." Hiccup suddenly snaps, his voice growing louder. "You know this isn't even about it being risky, you think I'm going to fail!"
"I'm just looking out for you, son. So is Grandmamma and even Hadrian. We just don't want to lose you." Stoick reasons.
Suddenly Hiccup's face hardens. It molds into something stone cold and unreadable. He walks toward Stoick with intimidating steps. When he's directly in front of his father, when he speaks, his tone is cold as ice. "You don't believe in me."
"Hiccup-"
"You don't think I can win! If you really believed in me, you'd encourage me! You don't believe I can fight her!"
"You think that with just a few weeks of training and your suddenly ready to fight a demon?! Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself?" Stoick counters.
"No, I don't I don't think I was ahead of myself when I single-handedly took out the red Death, Alvin's army, and Hadrian by myself!" Hiccup challenges. "If you really believed I could fight her, you'd have my back, but I guess in your eyes I'll always be a weak and pitiful hiccup! So thanks dad. That says a lot."
Before the feeling of hurt could register enough to stab Stoick in the heart, Hiccup turns on his heels and bolts out the door while snatching his satchel off of the coat rack at the door.
Even with the thick wind whistling through his ears, Hiccup could still hear his father shouting his name, calling out to him just as he burst through the door, leaving it to sway back and forth on its' hinges.
But it was already too late.
He wasn't listening anymore.
Inside the narrow passageway, a tripod torch burned yellow-orange. It flame threw jagged shapes across the masonry. With his back pressed against the damp wall, Hiccup tucks his knees to his chest. Arms folded over one another, he rests his forehead. Shortly after entering the tunnels that ran through the village, Hiccup dropped to the dirt and unleashed a chocked sob.
Sunlight leaks through the small opening to a yak farm above his head. Small dust particles sway in and out with the grace. Whenever the light got temporarily blocked out for a moment, then back again, they'd be in a frenzy of swirls and circles until settling back into their known pattern. The smell of manure permeates his nose, but it was the last thing that Hiccup cared about.
Dry tears plastered to his cheeks, and his nose was congested, leaving his head throbbing. The cold breeze only made his shaking body more spastic. He rocks back and forth to comfort himself and to give him something to help with his scrambling thoughts. With his body aching from the run he did from his house to the entrance beyond the Academy, it was the only thing he could do without working his already sore muscles anymore.
How could he have said such a thing to his father? Even if it was true?
But then again, how could his father not believe in him?
He had defeated the red Death, Alvin's army more than once, and even Hadrian. What was so different about Jolene? Was it because she was more than a tangible thing? Because she's been doing this for centuries?
It shouldn't matter. As expected, Hiccup was different from the others. This had to mean he was supposed to do something! A little danger's never stopped him before.
A cold breeze shivers his body and finally Hiccup's forced to push himself to his feet. He kept his steps steady into the darkness and the dampness. Ahead, through the webwork of shadows, he saw that the passageway turned sharply. Around that corner, he knew he would find himself utterly alone. He took the turn without as much as a second thought. Another damp stone corridor stretched before him.
Darkness there, and nothing more.
His footsteps were the only company.
Hiccup came to the place where the next torch stood. Here the dank passageway smelled of kerosene and must. Orange flames cast their glow over the stone wall. Stepping around the torch, Hiccup sidled up to the narrow wall and pressed his hand flat against the stone wall. Sliding his hand along the wall, he ignored the moisten dirt and grit plastering to his palm.
At the next corner, he detected the smell of hay. Poking his head through the hole above, he found himself at the sheep farm. Boosting himself through the hole, he felt the cold of the snow seep through his tunic. As he heads his way around to the Animal Farm, the caw of a bird split the silence of his mind. Hiccup's head jerked in the direction of the sound, and in that same instant, a quick black thing raced across the room, casting its ghostlike shadow over the sparkling snow.
The creature sailed from its high perch into view. Large wings beat against the swirling air as it landed on a branch just to Hiccup's right. Stepping from foot to foot, the bird tucked in its wings. Hunched, it glared through the gloom with beady coal black eyes.
"I don't want to hear it Hadrian. I feel bad enough as it is, and the last thing I need is anther put down from you." Hiccup immediately hisses.
"Well then it's no fun." croaked a hoarse voice.
"I thought you were on my side. But now, I can see you've only betrayed me once again." Hiccup coldly snickered. "I should've known I couldn't trust you." He hissed.
"I tried my best, Hiccup. I tried to warn you about her so you would know what to do to avoid it." The voice morphed as it spoke growing deeper, shedding its gravelly tone for a more caustic sound. "Saving yourself and your sanity. But now, with your stupid pride and need to help others, you've made your plight. Some people just won't be helped."
Easing his way up to the tree where the branch is just above Hiccup's shoulder, he rests one shoulder against the trunk, while Hadrian's tall from sits on the branch, cross-legged.
"My conscience wants me to do what's right for everyone else." Hiccup says.
"What about you?" Hadrian asks. "Don't you ever do anything for yourself?"
"I'm going to be chief soon, Hadrian." Hiccup pauses after his own words, then when he speaks again, it's like he's making a confession. "I guess putting others before myself is a force of habit. It's how I was raised." Hiccup lower his head. "The needs of the people outweigh my own."
"So what, you're going to just give up to Jolene?" Hadrian asks.
"No, it's just-"
"Giving yourself up to her would be easier than fighting all throughout the village. Crashing into homes and breaking roofs." Hadrian interrupts him, taunting him. "Spare everyone the damage."
"But then she'll win."
"But it would be better for everyone." Hadrian's thin shadow, cast from the sun, fell long over Hiccup.
"Yeah, but it'll only be worse because Jolene will be more powerful." Hiccup argues.
"But she won't haunt the village, or harm your family and friends. Because she'll have you."
"But then she'll have won." Hiccup said.
Before Hiccup could argue any further, the sudden understanding of Hadrian's sudden argument clicked in his head. Hadrian jumps down from the branch and Hiccup takes one step back. Hadrian doesn't grow closer, instead, he stays where he is, giving Hiccup his space.
"Hiccup, you're going to be the next chief of Berk. A leader of a whole new generation of Vikings." He preaches. "It's time you start creating your own rules and ways instead of following the others. You beat tradition once, you can do it again."
Hiccup looks to Hadrian, but as Hiccup opened his mouth, a screech echoed through the woods. Both boys turn their heads in the direction to find Toothless hurdling towards them. He stops short of the two and rears his head, roaring in urgency.
"What's up bud?" Hiccup asks, anxiety growing.
Toothless only roars and shifts for Hiccup to get on.
"It's the village. We need to get back." Hiccup turns to Hadrian.
Hiccup watched as Hadrian transformed again. He shrank, contorting, his wiry frame turning murky through wisps of violet until he emerged once more as a large black bird. The he flapped his wings, and circling Hiccup and Toothless, shot through the branches of the trees.
The village came into sight, a thick cloud of smoke bellowing up from a house at the far peak. Villagers stood in a mass of confusion and fear, eyes darting back and forth. As they approached the source, located at the Square, once they got into sight, Hadrian cawed frantically and suddenly blocked Hiccup and Toothless way. Hiccup healed Toothless and they hovered for a moment.
Confused, Hiccup turned to look ahead of him. Between the feeders at the epicenter of the Square, a pulsating ivy blue light hovered in midair. He followed its path with his eyes, his gaze stopping on the hem of gossamer veils.
Jolene. Lilith. She glided amid the villagers, who, Hiccup noticed, were just starting to run in fear one her destructiveness overpowered her beauty.
Hadrian's human form appeared suddenly at his side. "Look out!" he growled, shoving them aside.
A hissing sound pierced Hiccup's ears as a demon came sailing between them. Hadrian, his arm as quick as a striking cobra, grasped the demon by the neck and slammed the creature to the ground, where it shattered on impact, a look of shock registering on its face the instant before it smashed apart.
Several villagers squealed and shrank back from the commotion. They could see them, the demons. The could see Jolene.
"Hadrian!" Hiccup gasped, pointing. Behind him, another demon formed through a cloud of violet murk. Hadrian whirled, taking a swipe with one arm, his movements precise, practiced. His attack sailed through the violet mist, and, laughing, the demon slid away. Another swooped in to take its place, scraping its claws at Hadrian's chest, while yet a third formed through the air, its crimson claws raised.
Hiccup and Toothless shot the demon with a plasma blast at the demon that was poised to strike. It fumbled back in loops before it regained its focus. It growled, but at the sight of Hiccup, it screeched in terror and dissipated. Hiccup heard an echoing shriek from somewhere to his right, followed by another smash. Then the head of the demon that clawed at Hadrian, now free of its body, rolled to a stop at Fishlegs' feet, its sockets hollow and void.
Hiccup swooped Toothless down, and dismounting he brought his foot down, crushing the face in.
The remaining demons wailed in terror, and as one, they receded, flitting apart as they took their bird forms. Their dark wings whisked them up and higher, until they reached the branches of the barren trees, where they perched. There they squawked and hopped, their caws ringing in their throats like curses.
Hiccup glanced up in time to see Hadrian make a wobbly landing, holding his cheek. Then his hand lowered and Hiccup saw a smear of red.
Blood.
"Hiccup!" called a familiar voice.
Hiccup turned and saw Astrid running up to him. His shield in one hand, and the others on their dragons behind them.
Astrid hands Hiccup his shield. "Thanks."
Somewhere in the crowd, a girl screamed. Everyone began to take notice, to shrink back from the visage of Jolene. At her feet lay one of the Viking women, her pale blue tunic spotted with crimson. Beneath her, the snow slowly grew red as a pool of blood spread itself out. Her face oozed, glistening red from the pores.
A man, possibly her husband screamed her name. Hiccup didn't catch it as he gazed at the horror. Without thinking, he turned and ran for Hadrian who was making his way toward the group of Vikings.
"Hadrian!" he calls. Once they meet up, Hiccup urgently asks him. "How do I fight her?"
Astrid follow behind while Fishlegs and Snotlout round up the villagers. Stoick and Gobber practically herding them into the Great Hall.
"You're the Valkyrie, you tell me." He says.
Hiccup growls in annoyance and tries to think. His hands suddenly disappear inside the folds of his vest. There was a scrape of metal, and in the next moment, his hands emerged. In each, he now brandished a short curved blade. A pair of silver cutlasses. They glinted in a pass of reflective ice. Without a further word, Hiccup slung his shield over his back and turned from the group of Vikings.
Astrid looked to Hadrian, and with a nod, she mounted Stormfly and went to aid the others in rounding the villagers and fighting off Jolene's demons. Behind Hadrian could hear her shout, "Guys, we need to finish these freaks!"
Hiccup, his gait measured and assured, he walked a straight line for Jolene.
"Hey Jolene!"
Alerted, the glow in the phantom's eyes brightened like hell-fire, and she turned to greet Hiccup.
A demon was closing in on a mother and a child when Fishlegs blsted it with a lava blast. Another, crawling on the roof of a home, was shish-kabobbed as Stormfly shot her spines at it. Hookfang hovered over the Plaza and fired at a trio scrambling like cockroaches across the cobblestone. Once the last villager was safely in the Great Hall, Stoick rushed with Gobber to the Square, there the young Vikings stood off to the side, watching as for a single moment, the two figures, one from the dreamworld and one from reality stood opposite each other.
Jolene eased herself down so her veils lightly brushed the dirt beneath her. She was dark beauty perfected, her cheekbones high and regal. Her skin held the sheen of stardust and her hair, dark, massy waves of silk, seemed to float about her like a black halo. It was her eyes though, that held Hiccup so completely transfixed. Fringed with dark lashes, twin wells of bottomless ink, they trapped him, and he found himself no longer able to blink.
Like a gorgeous nightmare.
"Hiccup," she suddenly spoke, her melodic tone hypnotizing. "I've been watching you ever since the night you trapped your demon."
Hiccup didn't say a word. He merely cautioned his steps as he rounded the specter. Jolene pivoted where she stood, and the white gauze swirled tighter around her form, like the grab of a mummy.
"At first, you were just another coal added to the fire. Furl for me, and I'd have had reason to thank you. Then your dreams changed." Underneath the gauze, her head tilted to one side and her delicate brow knitted, as though she did not quite understand this observation. "Uninvited, they invaded the corners of your subconsciousness and intruded on our time. Their mere images became a nuisance, a distraction." Her open palm snapped shut into a hard fist. "Before, it was not I who was the ghost, but them. And so I set them for you while they still could obey. They were, after all, yet an uncertainty in your thoughts. They would have had you too that night too, if not for the aid and protection of your guardian."
Hadrian.
It only took Hiccup a second to realize that she was talking about the night that Hadrian had visited him. Warned him about the danger ahead.
"In the end, however, you shall have little to thank your secretive friend for," Jolene said. "In time, I shall discover him, and he will soon find out that I have a special fate for those Lost Souls who betray me."
"Why are you doing this? Why me?" Hiccup demanded.
"I told you. You're not like the others." She answers almost wistfully, and floated closer to Hiccup. "You're special, even in regard to those who have come before you." Jolene continued. "Like them, you hold the ability to draw powers from the millions of living things around you. The only thing that you lack, if control. That in itself it what makes you so perfect. Your lack is what gives me strength, whatever you can't control, I take and make my own. Don't you see, we balance on another out. We help each other."
"You just want to use me." Hiccup snarled. The grip on his sword tightening.
"It doesn't have to end this way. It appears to me that we've been pitted against each other by outsiders. Why? When we both have something the other wants?"
"I'm not giving in to you." He said. His footsteps took him backwards.
Jolene laughed, a soft and almost melodic sound, haunting and even beautiful. "Do you not see that you yourself now something of far greater value?"
"What?" Hiccup blurted, his mind unable to wrap around her meaning.
"You have become a link between realms. Together we would have free rein over all, for I know all routes and you, dreamer, hold the ability to traverse them. I would no longer need an ending. Why, when we would live forever? Bound as one with you, I would no longer have any hold over your men."
Hiccup began to notice his arms slowly lowering, his body relaxing at Jolene's smooth voice.
"Take my hand, Hiccup." She whispered, and raised her whit palm. "Come with me."
Hiccup felt his hand lift. It was free of the sword.
The pull of those eyes was magnetic, a force that couldn't be fought or resisted. She was so beautiful Hiccup paused, his fingers hovering just over the cold set of white ones.
This was how she lured the others.
Then thought came to him suddenly, buoying to the surface through a deep and cloudy sea of confusion doubt, and longing. How easy it must have been for her, he thought. She'd made promises to them just like this. Only she had promised Hiccup more. So much more.
Like a serpent, this demon had coiled and nested into those empty and cavernous spaces of Hiccup's heart. Like a harpy, she had preyed on his absolute alones – on his need for love.
Hiccup blinked at last. His fingers twitched and retracted.
This witch had nothing to offer him. She had no spell to cast, not while Hiccup knew it was all a façade.
Hiccup's gaze faced directly onto her. "I will never give to you."
Those black eyes widened in shock.
When the tension between them broke into movements, it was like watching a battle for light between moths. Cloaks whispered and curled. A blade flashed. Like jagged leaves stirred by a storm, they swept round each other, neither landing a blow, yet each of them whirling in a perpetual fury of motion.
One of Hiccup's blades caught the veil of Jolene. The stardust fabric fell partially back, revealing a head and torso that might as well have belonged to a skeleton. Ribs strained to break the tight yellow skin that clung to the creature's body like wet cloth.
Above, along the trees, an audience of demons crowed and rasped frenziedly in their bird forms. They hopped the length of the braches and followed the fight with the beady, bloodthirsty eyes, as though anxious to join in yet too afraid to swoop down and add their own blows.
A whoosh sound, a great rushing of air, came from the center of the open space. Like a house of cards, Jolene collapsed in on herself, swallowed whole by the ground. She left in her way a soft luminescent stain. In the next instant she emerged from behind Hiccup, rearing him like an all-consuming shadow.
As though by a magnetic force, Hiccup's blades were swept out from his grip. In midair they turned on him. Hiccup whirled around.
"Hiccup!" Astrid screamed.
Suddenly a shadow zoomed to Hiccup, and Hadrian jolted up just in time to accept the thrust of both into his chest.
A collective scream arose from the mass of onlookers, Hiccup's shrill cry among theirs.
"No!" He howled.
He was forced to leap aside as Jolene drove Hadrian forcefully back. He plowed hard into the dirt ground and slid, unconscious, to a halt. Hiccup broke forward into a run.
"Hadrian!" he screeched, landing on his knees at his side.
What should he do? Her hands fluttered uselessly over him, like a stupefied butterflies. He reached for the blades but then snatched his hands back. His gaze fell to the smoothness of his lips, a fissure from the hole in his cheek disappearing into one corner. Was reviving him even an option at this point?
Hadrian's eyes popped open, and Hiccup yelped. Hadrian glared up at him past the tips of his hair and, with each hand, grabbed both blades by the hilt. He yanked them from his chest in one clean motion. Gray ash poured out from the would-be wounds like sand. Then the openings closed over, and all traces of damage vanished into the blackness of his clothes.
Hiccup gaped.
Without a word, he launched himself up from the floor. Blades crossed, he charged, then drove them into Jolene's back, stopping her approach toward a group of retreating girls. The demon arched and howled – a sound like a hundred baying hounds. In a wrenching motion, Hadrian uncrossed the blades in a clean swipe. They sliced through, and Jolene dispersed with a shriek, transformed into a thin pale blue murk that slapped the floor.
There was a moment of reprieve.
The shadow on the floor pooled and writhed. It gathered itself, and like a phantom emerging from its grave, Jolene rose, whole once again. Her onyx eyes flashed rage.
Like everyone else, Hiccup stood rooted to the spot, mesmerized by the otherworldly battle taking place before him. At least until one of Hadrian's blades sailed in his direction. It pierced the floor right next to his foot. Hiccup jumped, staggering back.
"Hiccup run!" Hadrian boomed.
Thinking he shouldn't wait to see if he'd send the other one after him, he turned and sped pell-mell through the throng of people. He shoved and nudged his way past countless empty stares from innumerable others.
But where could he go?
The answer came when something caught his foot, and he tripped. He met the floor palms-first with a smack.
"Whoops. Need a hand?"
That voice. Hiccup twisted around to find him hovering over him, the hollow jagged portion of his lost arm held out to him. "Oh wait," Scrimshaw said, withdrawing the lacking appendage. "Already gave you one of those today, didn't I?"
Hiccup pushed up from the floor, ready to run. He shoved him down again with one foot. Hiccup fell with a sharp gasp of pain, and he flipped Hiccup to sprawl onto his back. A squall of fluttering appeared behind him, and one by one, the other demons took their true forms until, like a flock of ravenous vultures, they encircled him.
With one foot, Scrimshaw trapped his outstretched arm against the floor. With his remaining hand, and to the delight of the others, he lifted something curved, sharp, and gleaming to rest on his shoulder. Hiccup's eyes widened at the sight of his cutlass, the one Hadrian had thrown at him. Only now did he realize that he must have meant for him to take it, only now did he see how stupid he'd been for leaving it there, open for grabs.
"Well." Scrimshaw sighted, twisting the blade, letting it catch the light. "You know what they say – eye for an eye and all that."
The demon barked with raucous laughter.
In a moment of brilliance, Hiccup remembered his magic.
"Reptilicous!" he shouted. And in an instant, Scrimshaw stopped laughing.
Both watched as the sword momentarily writhed and wriggled in his grip, the color of the hilt seeping upward and shaping into scales. A deadly cobra hissed and bared its fangs at Scrimshaw. He drops the snake with a yelp of horror. The snake falls to the ground, hissing, and coiling around Hiccup's ankle.
Hiccup's eyes closed in concentration, when the opened the next instant, they glowed an eerie green. His hands conjured up a green mist-like halo around them, and as he pressed them flat to the ground, he shouted. "Siempre Verde Crecer!"
The glowing mist melted into the ground and as Scrimshaw went to dive for the deathblow, in a blink, thick throne branches burst from the ground, showing bits of dirt and clay in their path. They jerked and twitched as they grew around Hiccup, gripping Scrimshaw by the waist and enveloping him in shackles of prickled vines.
The snake soon morphed back to the cutlass and Hiccup pushed to his feet, snatching it as he dashed for Hadrian and Jolene.
"Hiccup!" He heard Astrid shout, but his focus only remained on slaying the witch that was fighting his Doppelganger.
His speed increased as he saw Jolene extended out a hand in a claw-like form and her nails suddenly launched at Hadrian like javelins. Hadrian leaped out of the way and actually ran along the bridge of fingernails, the tip of the cutlass pointed for Jolene's skull. Hiccup felt his heart sink as he saw her smile for a brief second, then out of nowhere, a shadow springs from behind her and tackles Hadrian to the ground.
After the cloud of dirt billows away, Hiccup tried to see what it was while not losing sight of his intended target. It was some kind of mutated wolf-like creature. Its skin held a strange glow to it. Almost like purple lava, along with captured stars of the night are circling and slowly swirling through its body, like ink in water.
The mutant wolf gripped Hadrian's wrist in its mouth and began to violently whip it back and forth, intending on ripping it from its place. Hiccup suddenly stopped, and pivoted as he saw Hadrian rip it free and grab an abandoned axe from behind and stabbed it into the intersection of the creature's head, at its jaw just in front of the ear.
Continuing on his designated path toward Jolene, who was kept distracted by Astrid and Stoick, as Hadrian fought off two more oncoming mutants. Hiccup readied the blade as he charged Jolene. She suddenly turned and Hiccup had to leap out of the way as he hand whipped around, releasing a fireball the size of a Terrible Terror's egg. It crashed into the roof of Gobber's blacksmith's shop, blooming into a blossom of fire.
Hiccup leapt high, nearly flying as he flipped the blade of the sword out, and readied to drive it into her chest. Jolene sneered and suddenly slid out of the way. Hiccup pushed his feet out to ready for the harsh impact of the ground, but it never came. He opened his eyes and found himself hovering in the air, leveled with Jolene. Her eyes burning with rage.
As Hiccup charges, she suddenly descends with a quick drop and vanishes into the ground. Hiccup lands squarely on his feet. He looks around and sees nothing. A cry of pain calls his attention. Looking over he finds Hadrian against four other hounds.
"Hiccup!" Astrid calls. She runs up and hands Hiccup his shield, though he was completely unaware he had dropped it.
He exchanges it for the cutlass and readies an arrow as he readies it into crossbow form. With a clean shot, one dog dies instantly. The one that was next to it turns and snarls, baring its teeth in hatred. As one attacks and sinks its teeth into Hadrian's shoulder, another leaps toward Hiccup, only to be blasted by Toothless.
Shooting the one on Hadrian's shoulder, Hadrian finishes the other ready to pounce with a stab to the throat. Once they're all dead, Hiccup drops his shield and rushes to Hadrian's aid. Just as he was about to collapse, Hiccup swipes under and manages to wrap one arm around his shoulder.
"Hadrian, are you okay?" He asks.
"I will, just give me a minute." He answers.
Astrid and the others including Stoick run over to the two as Hiccup helps to support Hadrian.
"Hiccup, where did Jolene go?" Astrid asks.
"I don't know. She refused to fight me. She just vanished."
"Why wouldn't she fight you? Isn't it you she wants?" Fishlegs asks.
"That's precisely why she won't attack you." Hadrian chimed in. He steadies himself on his own feet and holds his hand to his chest. "She wants your energy. So she can't risk hurting you."
"Where did she go?" Astrid asks.
"Who knows." Hadrian answers. "Probably somewhere dark and secluded so no one can find her."
Suddenly, Hadrian pivots and turns.
"Hadrian?" Hiccup questions.
Hadrian ignores him and readies the cutlass. Hoarse whispers rose up from just below their feet, a sound like dry leaves crackling over a fire. At first they started low. So low that Hiccup couldn't be certain of what the sound was or that he was even hearing it at all. But then the voices became clearer, hissing through the crack in the ground. Something laughed. A fast shadow moved, darting like an animal.
Hiccup gripped his shield. "What is it?"
Hadrian cautiously moved forward, positioning himself in front of Hiccup. "They've found us."
A small light, white and crystalline, like the light Hiccup had seen in the woodlands, appeared in a wink at the cobblestone. It traveled along the crack slowly, back and forth, as though probing for a way out. There was a sound, like the slip of gauze fabric over the dirt floor, and Hiccup found himself fighting the urge to scream. Then the white light blinked out.
"What's going on?" Hiccup asked.
"Hiccup listen to me," Hadrian said turning. His stare broke from ahead and Hiccup looked into his eyes as he spoke. "Look for a way to the Rose Garden. When you're there, find the door. You'll know it when you see it. Go through it and don't wait for me. Don't trust anything you see."
"What? But . . . I-I don't understand."
Hadrian shook him. "Promise me!"
"Hadrian, I-"
Hiccup's voice caught in his throat, seized into silence as he watched Hadrian's eyes dilate, the pinprick of fear at their core expanding, consuming the green of his irises until nothing remained. Nothing except for two black coin-size holes.
Hiccup felt a tremble start all over. He reached for him but stopped short as black-to-purple wisps of cloudlike ink, like a thousand crawling insects, whispered out from behind his shoulders. The darkness surrounded him, growing thicker, clamoring to take hold of him, like the unlimited tentacles of some formless wraith. The wisps wrapped his shoulders, his arms. A pair of blindingly white hands emerged from within the churning void. Like talons, they clung to his chest. Jolene's white face appeared in a flash over Hadrian's shoulder – her eyes two empty sockets.
Panicked, Hiccup reached for Hadrian. He caught his arm, and for a moment they held each other tightly.
"Find the door." Hadrian said. Then he let him go.
"No!"
With a hiss of shadows he fell backward, into the open wound of darkness. His arm slipped from Hiccup's hands despite Hiccup's desperate fight to keep hold, and then the blackness folded over him, swallowing him, knitting together until it was gone and he with it.
"Hadrian!"