Astrid and I left Berserker Island a little after noon, as the trip there wasn't that long from Berk at a straight ride and the morning tasks didn't take too long. Dagur, Mala and Heather sent us off with a hearty feast and memorable conversations that were largely at either my own, or Heather's, discomfort. Dagur never directly joked about Astrid, and a part of me thinks that has something to do with when he first came to the Edge and met Shattermaster. Astrid made it no secret she was ready to hurt or, Thor forbid, kill Dagur had he crossed a line; and Dagur had learned that when angered, she could certainly back up her threats. That said, neither of them would ever claim any sort of dislike towards the other and we were all great allies now.

We started our flight to the west, heading towards Mystery which was a little under half an hour away from Berserker. The frosty mist closer to sea level and cloudy overhead made seeing the island a challenge until we were nearly over top of it. The flight was certainly cold, and we could tell winter was upon us and it would be one of the colder ones we've experienced. Remembering the time of the Great Freeze when a literal ice plate formed on the sea and allowed the Speed Stingers access to Berk, I could only hope we wouldn't need to deal with that.

There was something else, something enticing about looking over Mystery with just Astrid and I. We had scouted the island before, but never saw signs of dragons there, let alone people. We never landed there or thoroughly scouted the island, as it seemed a pristine wilderness that was mostly untouched. That said, going there with Astrid, as we are now just made me happier. I didn't care if we found anything, or if we did. It was going there together, for no other reason than to explore its mysteries together before the storm shuts us in for weeks. A brief respite from the duties as a Chief and General, as Riders. Where we could just be two people, in love, and doing something together. My eyes must've lingered on Astrid a tad longer than they needed too as I notice her smile as we close in on Mystery.

"Whacha thinking about?" Astrid asks, pulling back Stormfly so she is gliding alongside Toothless.

"No, Nothing. Just that I'm glad to be out here with you." I admit and she smiles.

"Me too, and it looks like we're here. I can't believe we've never set foot on this island before." Astrid adds and I nod along.

"It's just cliffs that go up hundreds of feet, the interior is dense foliage and several lakes, but it seems like it's uninhabited by anything we know. We never found anything when we scouted it before going to the Edge." I recount.

"I remember, those were different days. I am sad to say that I think all of the riders, including myself, gave up on it way too soon. I never did apologize for that, did I?" Astrid asks as I glance to her with a confused look.

"Apologized for what?" I ask as she sighs, our low flight circling the island giving us a moment before we descend.

"Joining the Berk Guard without telling you. At the time, I just.. I didn't know how too. I wanted you to come with me but didn't know how to say it. I'm glad we went to the Edge, and that you never gave up even when we had." Astrid admits and I smile, shaking my head.

"No, it's fine. I understand. I was grasping at the stars, trying so hard to avoid any responsibility my dad wanted to try to give me, any excuse to be out flying on Toothless. I'm surprised you have put up with me as long as you have." I retort as she just laughs.

"I don't put up with you, Hiccup. I enjoy your company, more so than anyone really. I could be happy on a small island with just you and I with our dragons, to be honest." Astrid suggests as I shrug with a smile.

"Me too, though that might get a bit boring after a while, don't ya think?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"I'm sure you and I can find ways to occupy each other on secluded islands." Astrid teases and I grin, nodding along with a smile.

"You mean, like the one below us?" I suggest and she just shrugs, nodding before a teasing smile creases her lips as she starts diving down towards the Island. I laugh to myself as Toothless coos to me and I nod. "I know, bud. She is something else entirely, and I love it." I say to him and he grunts in acknowledgement as we follow her dive.

We swoop down low together and glide just above the treeline slowly, taking in the sights. What was hard to notice until we were this close was the light mist that filled the crevasse that was the island itself. The cliffs formed a sort of ridge and there were equally treacherous cliffs that lead inside to the inland of the island. Scaling them without major tools would be impossible, and there seemed to be no way for a boat to even get close enough to jump to the cliff side. The mist sort of encompassed the entirety of the area and as we got closer to the treeline and the ground the mist made seeing up above it hazy.

There was an opening in the foliage with a large, crystal clear lake that had several streams running off in varying directions, in the center of the island. The water was so clear that on our initial pass, I could almost see the bottom clearly against the light of day, and I could only imagine what a real ray of sunlight would show me.

The ground around the lake was covered with a light layer of what looked like dew or snow, though there was no snowfall yet and the air was cold. When we landed, I could see the steam rising from the water in the lake, counteracting the cold around us. The trees and brush was wet and well nourished, as each and every tree was easily twenty to thirty feet tall with large connecting branches that made a inward canopy.

"This play… is beautiful." Astrid says softly as she dismounts Stormfly and walks over to me as I dismount Toothless.

"It really is, and this lake and water, it seems warm as if its heated from beneath the surface." I add and she nods.

"Do you think there are grimora's here, I don't want to risk having that happen again with no easy access to the sea water." Astrid says and I nod.

"I don't, but we should test first before we risk taking a dip." I suggest, moving to my satchel and pulling out the dragon tracking kit I had used to track down the Buffalord and since refined. I hadn't had much use for it since the war with the hunters.

"Before we try anything, let's check out the rest of the area. This place, while beautiful, is eerily quiet. It's almost unsettling." Astrid remarks and I nod. I hadn't even noticed it at first, but the entire area is pristine yet quiet. It could simply be nothing lives here, and this small system developed by itself or it could well house hidden inhabitants.

"Good idea, let's keep our guard up, just in case." I add, moving closer to Astrid after grabbing and slinging my shield on my back. I grip her hand and she looks at me just in time to smile as I pull her in for a long drawn, lingering kiss. Our bodies stay close and our lips linger together as our eyes close amid the silent, beautiful paradise. Parting ways, I smile, and we begin our walk around the island, together, hand in hand, with our dragons close in tow.


As we begin exploring the island, something about the level of quietness was unnerving me. There wasn't anything from a bird to a dragon to a bug. I wasn't as good a tracker as Gobber was, but I was still versed in tracking and I couldn't find any sort of prints or markings of any kind that suggested inhabitants. The foliage was beautiful and layered with a dew that was untended, the tree canopy was strong and there were no marks that any sort of tool had ever been used. The island was massive, and we were moving relatively slowly.

There was also where the stream and lake got their heat from. Following one of the streams that headed north, there was an ever-slight decline we were on from the main lake. The water was crystal clear even here which seemed to imply that nothing lived within it at all. Hiccup and I pause, kneeling down to the stream together, I take my hand and reach towards the stream as Hiccup reaches out and stops me.

"Just in case, call me paranoid." Hiccup says softly and undoes his leg attachment and dips the metal attachment inside the stream. He lets it linger for a moment before pulling it out as I nod along, smiling. He didn't want me to be hurt, and while I was more than capable of caring for myself, his efforts were far from unnoticed or unappreciated. As he lifts his attachment back out, he feels it with his hand and nods. "It's warm, not hot though." He says and I nod.

"Good." I say softly, reaching my hand into the stream. It indeed was comfortably warm and there was a current I could feel. It wasn't strong by any means, and while the water was crystal clear, the few leaves from the trees that floated on its surface followed the current. "Comfortably warm." I reaffirm softly and blink twice. Something about this place made me feel like whispering or speaking softly, like I inherently didn't want to disturb the serene, beautiful area.

Hiccup had reattached his leg and we continued on, following the stream for several hundred feet before seeing the base of the cliff-line. There and from this angle, we could actually see openings at the base of the cliffside that appeared to be caves of some sort. I'm reminded of the cave entrance inside the crater of the volcano at the Defenders of the Wing Island.

"Hiccup, should we explore the caves?" I ask softly, pointing them out as he shakes his head, turning away from them.

"Not yet. Let's check out the rest of the surface first. The quiet is starting to unsettle me too, but I may just be accustomed to the sounds of a village." Hiccup admits softly as I nod, smiling.

"Still glad to be here?" I ask teasingly and he nods.

"Undoubtedly. Whatever secrets this island holds, there is no one I'd rather discover them with." Hiccup answers, his hand finding mind and pulling me closer.

"What if it's… dangerous." I add, leaning into him as we walk, looking up and over to him as he smiles.

"We're two of the most capable fighters on Berk, with experience and a reason to fight. Plus, Stormfly and Toothless, I trust our odds." Hiccup states, his arm slinking around my waist as we walk slowly back down the stream towards the lake. We were going to check out another one of the streams when we got up there. Though the eerie silence unnerved me, I didn't feel like I was in danger.

When we got back to the lake, I glanced into the water again and tried to see how deep I could see. In that moment, I felt a chill down my spine as I swear, I felt like there was a pair of eyes beneath the surface of the water staring back at me. The eyes followed mine and seemed to make direct eye contact with me. I could see a similar gaze as I would from a dragon, and it didn't seem aggressive. It almost made me freeze in my walk, and I did stop Hiccup as I blinked. Though when I did, the sight was gone.

"What is it?" Hiccup asks as he turns his gaze to me, with us standing a few feet from the lip of the lake.

"There was, I think I saw something beneath the water. It seemed like a pair of eyes staring back at me as we walked. When I blinked, they were gone." I explain as his expression becomes readily more serious.

"Did it look predatory?" Hiccup asks and I shake my head.

"I-I don't know. I only saw it for a moment. I want to say no. More like, curious. Dragon-like." I add and he nods, tugging me closer as we back away from the lake.

"I think we are being observed and that this island is not truly empty. Let's make our presence as friendly as possible and let whatever it was show itself when it's ready. Toothless, keep an eye out." Hiccup says, glancing back towards our dragons. Toothless perks his ears and coos to Hiccup as we continue walking. Since resuming our walk, I hadn't even noticed it immediately, but Hiccup had switched spots with me, placing him closer to the lake than I was. The gesture was sweet, even if unnecessary.

"Do you think it's a dragon, or was I seeing something." I ask unsure, I never saw a body and the water was still clear. Hiccup shrugs and takes a deep breath.

"I mean, I'd like to believe we still have new dragons to discover. Not hard to believe a dragon could become invisible under the water, like a changewing. I've felt like we were being watched since we saw the cave. I don't really feel like we're in danger, but I am a bit unnerved." Hiccup explains as we walk. He glances to me with a smile before adding, "So, no, I don't think you were just seeing something." Hiccup adds as we reach the southern stream and start following it on a slight incline.

As we walk, I started noticing that the streams themselves were almost perfectly carved with almost no rough ridges under the water. It was very reminiscent of a tube or cut, as if it were formed by something else. As I gaze at the stream, a flash of those eyes crosses my mind as I blink, and it forces me to shiver. I didn't feel in danger, perse, but I did feel unnerved. Hiccup noticed it and pulled me closer as we continued our walk. The island remained incredibly silent as we moved, with the only sounds I heard being from us or our dragons as they walked with us.

"That feeling of being watched is getting more intense, just look at Toothless and Stormfly." Hiccup says softly as we glance back towards our dragons. They were walking cautiously, perked and attentive. Stormfly had fanned a little out towards the treeline and was constantly rotating her head, looking at everything. Toothless, on the other hand, was walking with increased trepidation towards the stream itself.

"Have you noticed the way the stream seems to be cut?" I ask, pointing towards it. "Almost like a giant snake." I suggest and he winces lightly.

"Yeah, I had thought of that. Slitherwings don't live in the water and would've attacked by now, and even the Titan-Wing Slitherwings don't get as big as this stream seams to be cut. Honestly, Astrid, I think we're dealing with something brand new." Hiccup admits as I nudge him gently and smile.

"Hey, we'll be fine. We're together. Whatever this is, everything will work out. The Dragon Eye would've been helpful, maybe, though." I add as he nods.

"I had considered rebuilding the Dragon Eye Two a couple times but didn't want too while Krogan was still out there. With him gone, and anyone who may know what the Dragon Eye is scattered, I might. Maybe when the trappers are dealt with." Hiccup says as I nod, placing a hand on his chest and laughing lightly.

"Destroying them was the right thing, we couldn't risk anyone else getting that knowledge to hurt dragons. We only barely averted a dragon holocaust." I reaffirm for him. "When they are gone, rebuilding it may well be in order. For now, though, let's just take whatever this Island gives us." I add softly, not fighting the urge to speak softly. He smiles and stops us, pulling me in for another long, lingering kiss before parting with the smile still creasing his face.

"There's no one I'd rather face such a mystery with. And whatever is observing us, hopefully it can tell our intentions are kind and it will show itself." Hiccup whispers, brushing his lips to mine before fully parting and continuing.

Whatever we stumbled on, we weren't going to run away from it, we wouldn't balk at the mystery. Together, Hiccup and I could accomplish anything, face any adversity and conquer any adversary. We've trained dragons together, beaten back countless hunters and saved countless more dragons together. We've protected Berk, the Edge, The Defenders and Wingmaidens, Berserker Island and Outcast Island. We've bested the very best evils that the Archipelago had to offer from Ryker to Krogan to Drago; from the Red Death, to the Screaming Death. There was nothing we couldn't do together, nothing we couldn't face. The mysteries of this island would just be another in the long line of things that we had solved, together.