In the beginning, there was Asaelo.

Asaelo was a powerful queen with a kind heart & integrity; and also, great beauty. Not only was she such a wonderful queen but a powerful sorceress. Throughout her years with her mighty magic, she dedicated her life to helping those on a quest to finding their purposes in our corrupted world.

One night, while she was still so young, she had a dream of a maze so large that it would last for millennia and bring the strongest of mankind together to become lifelong friends and learn the truths of their enemies. From this dream, she enchanted this magic deep underground to test one's virtue upon entering the maze. She called it her labyrinth. It was claimed to be herself combined with nature and granted, at the centre of this magic, a gift of great power as a reward to those who surpassed her tests. No one to this day in recorded history had successfully completed this quest.

To open the labyrinth, she crafted a sapphire necklace with her own symbol engraved on the back and spelled it so it would never scratch or age. Opening this locket would reveal the labyrinth to those in need and be the key to opening the gate in order to start one's enlightening journey. This necklace, upon her death bed, was decreed by Asaelo's command to be passed down to the youngest child of each generation so that the legacy of finding one's truth would live on forever. Only the royal family can rightfully possess this key and must the ones to open the gate; for everyone else, this magic would stay hidden.

Sadly, ever since the war decreed by Xansor the Serpent, the magic of the labyrinth has been lost along with Asaelo's bloodline and the enchanted necklace. Anyone who unknowingly remained inside the labyrinth would be lost forever until Asaelo's true heir or heiress returned to her throne and opened the labyrinth once again.

To this day, Xansor the Serpent lives and breathes for the purpose of taking Asaelo's magic and ending all for those in the light.

"And what is the purpose of this elusive story?" Byril asked with Kael sat across from him, attempting to avoid sounding charmed. "I thought it was for children." He sipped his ale thoughtfully, cautious yet curious of the handsome ebony-haired stranger.

"Oh, it is." Kael replied as he sipped from his own mug. "But it's also very important to my master. You see, your daughter is quite heavily involved in his work."

Byril glared and stood from his seat. "Are you threatening her?"

"Oh, no. Not at all. If anything, I'm wanting to alert you… She poses a rather large threat to my employer. Dangerous, if you will. I am simply warning you-"

Byril scoffed. "Warning me of what?! That my daughter is blindly chasing after some fairy-tale? That she is deluded from this nonsense? I don't believe you sir, and I would appreciate it if you didn't slander her!"

"I'm not slandering her at all, just merely stating a fact."

Unamused, Byril folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, looking Kael up and down. "Whatever you're laying down, I won't sell it nor buy it. She is a young woman with no experience of the real world, so how could she be dangerous to your 'master', hm?"

"It's more her position of power."

"As the next leader of my village?"

"As the next leader of something much bigger. Much, much bigger. But if you want to know more, then I suggest you help me with a very important task."

"… And what is that?"

"Only one way you will find out." And everything in Byril's line of sight turned to black.

Nothing could dampen Hiccup's mood the following day. A few vikings murmured to one another about why their chief was skipping on his morning patrol throughout the village, even hugging the Terrible Terrors and Gronckles, and humming a song when everyone knew he couldn't sing; Toothless repeatedly had to cringe and cover his ears. He hugged Valka six times before he left the house and ate breakfast without complaint; he'd be feeling sick later though because the yak milk wasn't cooked properly and had some hairs with a gods awful amount of seasoning. He helped Gobber down the forge, didn't protest Spitelout's insane battle strategy demands for the A team and even asked Sven to sing one of his sheep's lullabies to him so he could learn it. On the whole, the village was rather disturbed at how chirpy he was.

"What's going on?" asked Eret. "Am I missing something or has Hiccup eaten some kind of weird plant and is now dancing with imaginary rainbows?"

"I don't know..." said Tuffnut, fingers on his chin while looking up in thought. "Maybe he is thinking about a honey covered yak on an ant hill? It's plausible."

"No way, brother. Also, I'm surprised you even know that word. He obviously got stung by some kind of mind control dart or something."

"You guys are two bodies with half a brain." said Snotlout while laughing. "He is obviously thinking about making me chief of Berk."

"I don't think so, Snotlout." said Fishlegs, "Hiccup isn't that ridiculous for one. Maybe he found a new species of dragon after all and is just happy about it? Or some new tail fin ideas? I do see him updating the Book of Dragons once in a while without me. That is more realistic." He gasped in delight. "Oh! What about-?!" Astrid laughed, "Hey! What's so funny, Astrid?"

"You're all complete dummies, guys. He's smiling because his date went well last night and that's why he is doing all this skipping around."

"Woah, what? What date?" exclaimed Tuffnut. "Uh... Did he start dating a dragon?!" He cringed along with Ruffnut. "Maybe we should do the Thorston insanity testing programme?"

"I agree, brother. Our chief needs to answer a few questions. It would only be logical to test this theory for scientific measures."

"With Skai, you muttonheads."

Snotlout snorted. "The new girl? Since when did he like her? She isn't that cute."

Astrid smirked coyly. "He's liked her only since he brought her in after the raid."

"That was weeks ago! Surely that's a bit soon?"

Eret shook his head and licked up his brush to clean off the excess scales from Skullcrusher who slept awkwardly. "If that's the case, he must really like her. Can't see much happening with it sadly, considering she isn't staying here permanently. The girl has got to go home sometime, y'know."

"Oh, I think it's a lot more than that." Astrid smirked even more as she cleaned Stormfly who squawked happily at the fussing. At their confused faces, she rolled her eyes and slapped her hand across her forehead. "He's in love. Think about it! He's smiling all day, skipping, singing and doesn't bother to argue with anyone or scold the twins. He is clearly in love with this girl."

"No way. Not possible." Snotlout waved his hands side to side annoyedly. "Hiccup doesn't love her. It's just a crush that he'll get over once she's gone."

"I don't know..." said Ruffnut. "There are a few tests we could try. What do you think, brother?"

"Way ahead of you, sis! Let's go find him and try it out!" And they jumped on Barf and Belch to find said chief to conduct the practicality of their theories. Probably absolute nonsense, mind you, but the twins can be somewhat brilliant when they need to be. Eret followed while the others stayed behind just to keep an eye on them, knowing how ridiculous they can be.

Hiccup was sat at his desk in his little room at the back of the forge, humming while doodling pictures of Toothless, the gang, Valka and everyone else he could think of before pinning them up over his invention diagrams. As he moved, he did little dances out of rhythm, fiddled with the two mini braids in his hair and so on. At this point he had already used up two graphite sticks from the many pictures he pinned up. Nothing could spoil his mood today.

Tuffnut was first to enter the study. "Hey, chief. Can I ask you something?"

"Oh, of course!" Hiccup spun in his chair with a grin. "Ask me anything you want."

Tuffnut was taken aback. "Uh... okay? So, Ruff and I may have accidentally lost one of your prototype flight suits after we borrowed it to clean up Barf and Belch's vomit where they were sick last week. Would you mind if we didn't replace it?"

Expectantly, Hiccup would have reacted with some shouting and scolding for them using his personal items without permission. Instead, he chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, Tuffnut. It's fine, accidents happen. Next time, just make sure you tell me if you need anything before you take it, alright?"

"Oh..." Tuffnut was now stumped. "Uh... What about when we used Toothless' tail fins and saddles to practise blowing up with?"

"Absolutely fine! Go ahead with it."

"Sheep shooting into your house with pointy helmets?"

"Yup!"

"Stealing your food because we're too lazy to get food from the market stalls? Hanging Snotlout from the sheep launcher? Messing with your prosthetic leg?"

"Completely okay with me."

"Huh... Anyway, talk to you later!" And he ran as fast as he could out of the door before whispering to Ruffnut and Eret. "Okay, definitely too chirpy for me. It's like he is being possessed by some kind of disturbed alien."

Ruffnut scoffed, "You muttonhead. Let me try." She strolled in with a coy smile. "Hey Hiccy, how's it going?"

"Ruffy! Hey, how are you?" He smiled and grabbed her braid with a gasp. "Did you do something new with your hair? It looks fantastic today!"

"My hair is always like this."

"Wow, really?! That's amazing! Like a whole new you! You should definitely keep it this way! Brings out your eyes."

"... Yeah, I'm out!" And she ran outside the door too much to Hiccup's confusion, but he shrugged it off and went back to his humming. "He is definitely smitten, boys. I don't like it. So... bleh..."

Eret rolled his eyes. "You two go away. I'll talk to him." He knocked twice after they flew away, Skullcrusher waiting patiently outside. "Hello, mate. Am I alright to come in?"

"Eret son of Eret! Yes! Come on in. I'm not really busy, just doing some sketching. So, what's up?"

Eret nodded slowly, not sure how to take the welcome. "Right... Well, there's news going around saying that you enjoyed your date last night with a certain someone."

"Skai? Oh yeah. Isn't she just wonderful?" He spun on his stool as he said so. "She is something else. I can't stop thinking about her! I couldn't even sleep, and I can't breathe because it hurts but I don't care!"

Eret chuckled. "I can see why you've taken a fancy." Hiccup had the decency to blush at the claim. "So... you really like this girl, huh."

"I really really do, Eret. She is just... wow!"

"Just a shame she's going to be going home soon, then."

Hiccup's smile dropped almost immediately. He remembered now. She wasn't staying here permanently; just until she was all better and it was safe for her to travel. "Oh... yeah." And he turned to face his desk again, twiddling with his thumbs and his head drooped. "A real shame..." That's how Eret figured it out. "So-"

"Don't even think about it, Hiccup. You're in love with this girl, and don't go denying it."

"What?" He had the nerve to scoff. "No, I'm not!" He shook his head. "That is outrageous. It's only been-!"

"What's her favourite colour?"

"Blue, why?"

"Favourite time of day?"

"Sunset."

"Favourite place to be?"

"Anywhere it's quiet so she can relax without being disturbed."

"What's her father's name?"

"Byril."

"And her favourite food?"

"Grapes with cheese as a snack after lunch."

"What's my favourite activity?"

He went to answer but stopped, now unsure. "Uhhh..."

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner!" Eret laughed. "You are in love, mate."

He tried to protest, but found that he couldn't. There was no practical argument he'd create that would be of any use to defend himself. Eret smiling at him certainly didn't help the situation either. He groaned and headbutted his desk. "What am I going to do?!"

"Tell her how you feel."

"I can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because she's leaving and I... I can't go with her. She's going to be chieftess of Enthornas while I'm chief of Berk. Long distance doesn't work; she'll be busy and I'll be busy. We won't have any time together and-"

"-And you need to tell her how you feel before she leaves... Trust me on this one, mate. Love sucks, but you've just got to go for it. Who knows? She might feel the same way."

"She couldn't possibly love me back. It's just... it's impossible for it to work. It won't work. As much as I'd give anything..."

"Well, like I said, love sucks. However, it means there is still a chance..." He smiled. "Go get her, chief. Who knows? She might change her mind and decide to stay."

"... Really?" Eret just nodded and smiled with a pat on his shoulder. "Okay... Okay, I'll do it! I'll tell her I love her!"

"Atta boy!"

Confused, Skai stared down at her own necklace and compared it to the book's description. It was exactly the same… But it couldn't be, the necklace was enchanted and hers wasn't; not as far as she knew anyway.

But then Kael knew of this necklace, he knew that she was called Rhavendil, not Birdhill. He knew her real family name, he was after her for his master... This was only a children's story though, a myth in making by human hand. There is no way she could be from Asaelo's bloodline, it was just insane. Wasn't it?

She was at the house by herself, reading the story over and over again at the table, trying anything possible to analyse the book and understand how it could work even though it was just a children's story. There was something she was missing but she couldn't work out what it was. Where Kaelsor disappeared to isn't explained or how Asaelo passed away. No mention of the Rhavendil name anywhere in the story or how the bloodline disappeared. Nothing that could give her a clue. But then looking at her necklace again, the exact same one, it made her think again... She gasped. "Yes! How could I have missed it?!" Turning back a few pages, she read the passage again.

To open the labyrinth, she crafted a sapphire necklace with her own symbol engraved on the back and spelled it so it would never scratch or age. Opening this locket would reveal the labyrinth to those in need and be the key to opening the gate in order to start one's enlightening journey. This necklace, upon her death bed, was decreed by Asaelo's command to be passed down to the youngest child of each generation so that the legacy of finding one's truth would live on forever.

"It's an heirloom! An heirloom that was given to me when I was born! How could I have missed that?"

"Well, that depends…" Skai froze in her seat as that icy glacier of a chill slid down her spine; her heart dropped in her chest and her breathing halted. "… On how well you knew your family history."

She jumped from her seat and faced the stranger in the corner of her room; handsome with a square jaw, windswept ebony hair curling around his chin, a straight-edged nose and black eyes. She recognised him instantly. "Kael."

Said creature chuckled with a subtle smirk. "Ah, it took quite some brains to learn where you disappeared off to. But I won't get into the 'how', I'm here to tell you about the 'who' side of things actually." Skai looked to the corner to see Hiccup's blade in the corner. "I wouldn't move if I were you. Otherwise Byril will have a tough time understanding why his daughter suddenly became a murderer." Skai's eyes widened at the mention of Byril. "Oh, you didn't hear? I've got your father in my custody now." Skai growled. "Now, that isn't how a lady is supposed to beha-" Smack! Kael's face hit the wall across the room faster than he could blink; well, that was after Skai forced a wicked right hook on his jaw. He winced a bit as he held his chin, pushing his jaw back into its socket where it belonged. He grinned at her proudly. "You are clearly more courageous since our last meeting; and feisty, as you have demonstrated."

"You have got some nerve holding my father captive." She spat at him. "Leave him out of this!"

"Why should I?"

"Because it's not his problem!"

"Except you are his problem. I mean, he did adopt you. Did he not?"

She scowled at him; if hatred had a physical body, she would burst aflame. "Not the point I was making, demon."

"Ah yes… My other face frightened you, I see."

"Who wouldn't it frighten? You're a monster!"

"Half-monster, if you want to be pedantic." He grinned smugly, helping himself to a mug of Meade from the jug on the wooden table. "Like you, I had a human mother once. I also had a father; who was obviously a demon, hence my other face. Now, I blame my father for being pathetic enough to consummate with one of you mortals. Always so dramatic, always whining and yelling and complaining!" He mocked loudly. "I can't believe you humans ever want to procreate; I mean you are all such a mess."

"Considering you are half human; you just managed to praise and insult yourself in the same sentence. Now that is a mess of things. Wouldn't you agree?" She smirked with her arms folded, hip cocked to one side.

Kael seethed for a breath moment before finding his composure and smiling again. "Touché, little girl. Touché."

"Now what the Hel do you want? And why involve my father in this?"

"Calm down, child. I'm not planning to kill him. I just had to capture him in order get your attention."

"For what possible reason?"

"For what I'm about to say… I'm not here to take you as a prize to my master."

"Don't lie to me again! I know you are-"

"-No, I am not… I want to kill him. More than anything. And you are what I need to kill him… If you don't believe me, fine. But you have to meet me in the woods tonight. Alone. I will explain everything then. I will even tell you about your birth parents... I honestly knew them, and I don't think a child should have to grow up without learning their own history... At least think about it. If you don't come, I understand, but also don't forget that Byril is in my hands and I could easily kill him."

As much as she was frightened the first time, when he confronted her, she had never felt so angry. How could she have possibly forgotten that Byril was in danger because of her!? The mere thought of her father in the custody of this demon had rocked her to her core, and she couldn't stand that feeling. Like falling into a bottomless pit of guilt. But then, Kael wasn't trying to tie her down or knock her unconscious.

At the moment, he was calm & collected with the way he spoke with her. He didn't every try to hit her back when she punched him! Could she honestly believe what he was saying now? Especially with her father's life on the line?

"... Fine. I will meet you tonight in the woods."