Back with the latest installment.
Heads up this story is rated 'M' for a reason, there will be strong language and graphic description of gory situations. So just keep that in mind while reading. (There won't be much sexual content in this story, I'm not really into writing lemons.)
Wanted to say thanks again to those who have favourited the story and the few who left reviews, it was nice to read some positive feedback.
Hope you enjoy the chapter.
They had just finished circling Berk when Toothless started to veer off in a seemingly random direction, it certainly wasn't southwards like previously planned.
"Where are you going bud?" Hiccup cautiously asked his dragon.
He didn't receive any reply from the black dragon, it was like Toothless hadn't even heard him.
Hiccup had trust in his friend and changed the position of his tail fin accordingly, allowing them to stay in the air and not plummet to their deaths.
After a few minutes, the silhouette of Berk started to fall behind the horizon and left the pair gliding high above the dark salty water alone. He stuffed the map into his tunic so it wouldn't get blown away while they were flying.
'What's gotten into him!' Hiccup wondered.
He trusted the dragon, but they had only been acquaintances for a short while.
He was worried about this.
Hiccup was a little frightened when he looked over to his right, not ten feet away from them was a gronckle clutching a dead sheep in its claws. More dragons became apparent as he looked around, soon enough they were surrounded.
He saw a few dragons take notice of his presence but none reacted to him, they merely shifted their gaze forwards.
Hiccup was amazed at the variety of dragons around him, almost every known species was present.
"What the hell is going on?" Hiccup voiced aloud, speaking more to himself than his draconic friend.
Toothless suddenly tilted his body into a sharp descent, Hiccup changed the position of the tail fin to aid the effort.
The cool night air stung his face as they accelerated towards the water, the wind was drowning out all other noises.
When Toothless finally levelled out, they were now only fifty feet above the sea.
Hiccup's gaze wasn't focused on the water, not eighty yards in front of them laid a thick wall of fog; it held an ominous feeling around it. He felt a shiver run the length of his spine, the fog did not look welcoming.
To his dismay, however, Toothless was approaching the fog at a speed only a dragon could hope to match. Before long Hiccup found himself encased in fog, the world around him becoming white.
He couldn't see where they were flying and lost all visual cues for when to adjust the prosthetic tail fin. He gave up trying to penetrate the fog with his eyes and instead tried to rely solely on the body movements of his companion.
He found It to be an awkward process, they managed, but just barely.
Hiccup's jaw fell open slightly when a large rock formation revealed itself from the depths of the fog. Nestled between two of the large rocks was a warship bearing Berks symbol upon its torn and tattered flag.
'He's taking us to the nest!' realized Hiccup with a shock, thoughts turning to his father's obsessive behaviour for finding the place.
The location of the nest has eluded his people for centuries despite their countless attempts to find it. The total amount of lives lost to the objective was easily into the hundreds, possibly even the thousands.
Hiccup saw a few more berkian ships that were subjected to the same fate, some were much older than others based on appearances. But after a relatively short period of flying, he no longer spotted any.
'I must be the first person to make it this far.' Hiccup thought, amused by the irony of the situation.
'For ages, we've been trying to reach this place with the full intention of carrying out acts of slaughter and genocide, but then the one Viking who befriends a dragon is the person who makes it to the nest.' The thought was bitter-sweet to Hiccup.
He enjoyed having the opportunity to glimpse at something that has always evaded the Vikings of berk. However, he disliked knowing a secret that would alter his previous home's history forever.
Hiccups pondering was halted when a volcanic-looking mountain that was dotted with wide tunnel openings appeared from the fog. The mountain captivated him, he knew that it must be packed with dragons.
His heart started to race and his palms became clammy when Toothless approached one of the tunnel openings. He was about to lay eyes on something that no other Viking has had the chance to, the dragon's nest.
Hiccup bent forward and tucked his body up close to the back of Toothless's body, preparing himself for their entry into the mountain. He could feel the dragon's cool scales pressed against his cheek. The black scales felt hard enough to deflect a sword's edge, yet they also held a certain softness to them which could faintly be compared to cashmere.
The world around Hiccup became dark when they entered the tunnel, he had to rely solely on Toothless to navigate them to wherever they were going.
Hiccup felt uneasy being blinded by the darkened tunnel.
Despite knowing Berk's ideology of dragons is wrong, he had seen more than a few people he knew meet their end at the hands of a dragon.
It's a gruesomely terrible way to die, having your torso and appendages ripped apart was an awfully painful way to meet the end. But the worst way in Hiccup's opinion was being set on fire. Thinking of the people he'd seen meet their end in that manner was traumatizing, their skin had melted from their body and they looked almost crispy. The thought sickened Hiccup.
What's even worse is that they are always desperately trying to put themselves out, usually prolonging the ordeal.
'If every dragon's fire is as hot as Toothless's, there truly is no chance.' Hiccup thought while wearing a solemn expression.
The darkness of the tunnel only persisted for another couple of minutes before they flew into a large cavern. The floor of the cavern was concealed under smoke or fog, Hiccup couldn't tell.
A dark orange light radiated from the mysterious mist, casting its colour onto the walls of the cavern.
He watched as all the dragons dropped their food into the mysterious orange mist, where it would fall to the bottom of the cavern. The dragons dropped the food in an almost orderly fashion, all dropping their prey in one general spot. He and Toothless flew past that spot and then the black dragon made a sudden move to ascend, Hiccup shifted the tail fin to make it possible.
When they finished their speedy ascent, Toothless had landed on a ledge near the roof of the cavern; remaining hidden. Hiccup looked around and noticed that many of the other dragons present seemed to be cowering in their own spots around the cavern.
'So they steal our food and dump it down a hole, then they hide from the very same hole?!' Hiccup thought incredulously.
As Hiccup was questioning the dragon's motives, a single gronckle lazily flew his way over to the dumping spot. The brown dragon gagged a little and then coughed up a fish and let it fall into the void. The dragon had a look of satisfaction on its face, seemingly proud of what he had just done.
There was a rumble emitted from the void.
Then suddenly a massive head popped out of the orange mist and swallowed the entire gronckle.
Hiccup was terrified.
'Only creatures like that could exist in Helheim!' Hiccup thought, the scene played over again in his head and it disturbed him.
He was even more disturbed when the colossal dragon locked its gaze with his.
The dragon was ancient, that much he could gauge from its eyes. Its stare seemed to penetrate Hiccup to the core, exposing everything about himself to the dragon. His mind also felt numb, as though the dragon's presence was physically affecting him.
"Come on bud we have to leave, now!" said Hiccup, in a panicked tone.
Toothless complied and leapt towards the nearest tunnel exit. Unfortunately, the monstrosity had anticipated this and lashed out from the void, revealing its full figure. The Large light grey dragon was a sight to behold, it had large round spikes around its head and down its back; it also had smaller orange spikes on its sides. The sheer size of the dragon was baffling, it was easily bigger than the great hall.
What surprised Hiccup, even more, was the speed that the dragon was capable of, its jaws snapped shut on the edge they had stood upon not seven seconds prior.
Toothless's muscles bulged as his wings worked overtime to escape the cavern via the roof. Luckily Toothless was too quick for the large dragon and they made it out unscathed, a dragon about twenty feet below them did not have the same luck.
Cool air hit Hiccup's face as they shot out the top of the volcanic mountain. Toothless continued his frenzied pace for a couple hundred more feet before slowing down, giving his muscles an appreciated break.
They levelled out and flew in silence for a little, the only sound the pair heard was the wind tugging on their ears.
"So that's why you steal our food? Because if you don't you die," Hiccup ended that as more of a statement than a question. He reached down and scratched the side of Toothless's neck, which earned him a contented purr from the dragon.
"She can control you guys, can't she?" Hiccup asked, remembering the feeling of his own mind when he stared at the beast.
Toothless responded with a weird growl which Hiccup had learned meant that his dragon was answering in the affirmative.
The thought saddened Hiccup to a degree, his best friend being nothing more than a food-gathering slave unnerved him.
"Well, we're getting out of here bud. Maybe if we put some distance between yourself and that monster; the power it holds over you will fade," said Hiccup in a comforting manner.
Toothless didn't give any type of reply, he seemed to be finished with this topic.
Silence overtook the pair for a few minutes, it was not awkward or tense, but rather just absent of noise. both of them were still trying to rationalize what they had just witnessed. Though admittedly, Hiccup's mind was reeling much more rapidly than Toothless's, he had never seen such a monstrosity before.
'My father doesn't know what he is up against.'
'That thing is not from this world!'
'How exactly does this thing control the other dragons?'
'Should I tell my father about the nest and warn him of the danger that lies within?'
All these thoughts, and more, were running through Hiccup's mind.
The idea of warning his father bothered him.
He knew it would be the right thing to do, but he also knew his father would disregard his warning and still attempt to kill the unholy creature residing in the nest. Should Stoick attempt that, he would effectively kill himself and every Viking that ventured forth at his side.
On the other hand, the dragon raids will continue to plague Berk if the nest is left alone. Hiccup was feeling anxious under the weight of the situation he found himself in.
He knew his answer though.
'They're on their own, they never wanted my help and never accepted me for my talent, they would likely brand me as a traitor for befriending a dragon. I'm going to go live my own life and they can wallow in their ignorance.' Hiccup rather darkly resolved to himself, though he had to mentally push away an image of Gobber.
"Alright bud, we should start going south now." Hiccup said, breaking the quietness which had fallen on the pair.
Reaching into his spring green tunic; he grabbed the map which had been stuffed in there when Toothless had started taking them to the nest. They had travelled north from Berk to reach the nest, meaning they would just have to fly back in the opposite direction.
Hiccup leaned to the right in his saddle and directed Toothless southward, the dragon changed its course accordingly.
After a solid fifteen minutes of flying, Berk became visible on the horizon as a small blur of light. Toothless started to climb high in the sky, intending to fly directly over the village undetected. They would appear as nothing more than a large bird if anyone spotted them, though it was unlikely that anyone would due to the colour of Toothless's scales.
Hiccup kept his gaze firmly locked on the constellations in the sky, he didn't spare a glance at the village.
He wasn't sure if it was out of spite or that he might feel a pang of homesickness.
It might be because he couldn't handle the shame of keeping the biggest secret to his entire heritage away from the village.
Truthfully he didn't care what it was, he was content on continuing their path south and focusing on himself and Toothless for the time being.
Also, the constellations were vividly clear and particularly beautiful on this night.
Dragon and rider had been flying all of the previous night and most of the present day, they were exhausted.
Hiccup knew that whatever he felt must've been amplified tenfold for Toothless, the dragon's wings have been in constant motion for some time now.
'Just a little further bud, it'll all be worth it soon.' thought Hiccup while staring down at the back of his dragon's head, eyes half-lidded.
Even though Hiccup was doing nothing physically, he was still tired. The night before had taken a lot out of him, he had also been intensively scanning the sea for most of the flight.
He saw nothing besides the occasional small stranded island and a few fishing sloops, none of which were from Berk.
Hiccups gaze drifted from the back of Toothless's head to the view in front of him, noting that the sun was starting to descend behind the horizon.
'Suppose we've put in more than enough distance for a good night's sleep.' Hiccup thought, his body yearning for sleep.
He reached into his tunic and pulled the map out, he scanned the paper for any islands documented near their general vicinity. Hiccup didn't get to observe the map for very long, however.
The pair hit some turbulence and wind had forcibly ripped the map from Hiccup's hand.
His hands reached out in a fruitless attempt to snatch the map from the air, he watched in despair as the map slipped away from his clutches and started its descent to the water below.
"For the love of fucking Thor!" Hiccup yelled out angrily.
Toothless turned his head around, the best he could, and stared at the boy quizzically.
Hiccup gazed at his dragon for a few seconds, letting his anger drain. Toothless's presence was a surprisingly powerful antidote.
"It's nothing bud, we'll manage," said Hiccup, not entirely believing his own words.
Hiccup saw that Toothless still looked curious and decided to change the subject.
"Let's land on the next island we see and grab some rest," Hiccup said wearily.
Toothless's urge for sleep had apparently outweighed his curiosity because the dragon turned his head and started to survey the sea for an island to land on.
It wasn't two minutes later when Hiccup felt a dropping sensation in his stomach, indicating that they were descending. He looked up and saw that Toothless was headed directly for a tiny island, barely bigger than the entire village of berk.
The island had a sandy beach around its entire circumference, but most of its interior appeared to be a thick bush; almost like a mini forest.
Toothless landed heavily on the shore closest to them.
Hiccup quickly hopped out of the saddle and felt grainy sand make contact with his boots. He dropped the half-filled basket of fish from his back, he couldn't handle the extra weight right now.
He quickly relieved Toothless of the leather sack hanging from the hook, he happily noted that the hook still looked sturdy.
He rushed through the process of disconnecting all the rods which allowed the prosthetic tail fin to be maneuvered. With the rods disconnected and removed, he slid the saddle off of Toothless's neck.
The dragon dropped to the sand below seconds after the saddle was no longer made contact with his scales.
'Guess he doesn't care about sleeping with his fake tail fin on.' Hiccup thought while smirking, he could relate to his draconic friend.
His only friend.
Hiccup dropped the saddle from his hands and went to the leather sack. That's when he started to realize how unprepared he was.
He didn't have any flint to start a fire with and forgot about bringing a sleeping pack in his haste-filled departure.
"This day just keeps on getting better," chuckled Hiccup, facetiously.
he was too tired to get mad.
He walked over and sat beside Toothless, leaning his back against the dragon and crossing his arms. The dragon's side supplied his back warmth but his front side was still a little chilly.
Hiccup was too tired to grab warmer clothes from the leather sack.
He gazed at the darkening sky as his eyelids slowly shut. He let go of all his thoughts and feelings in regards to the last day and relaxed his body.
He hoped to find some peace in his dreams.
Stoick sat in the dining area of his house, on the table beside him was a bottle of honey mead and two wooden cups. The cups were the very same his father used to share a drink with him when he had placed first in his own dragon training class.
The mead had been for a special occasion, but he figured that he wouldn't live long enough to see anything more special than Hiccup placing top in his class for dragon training.
Pride warmed his insides and a smile was plastered on his face.
'My boy has finally become a man.' that thought exacerbated his current feelings of pride.
He patiently waited for Hiccup to return home, eager to talk to his son and finally have a point of relation with him. His patience started to wear thin after an hour and a half though.
"Where is that blasted boy!" Stoick growled aloud.
'Maybe he broke his promise and went to bed.' thought Stoick, realizing that he hadn't checked upstairs to see if Hiccup was already here.
He stood up and lumbered his way up the stairs, when he reached the top he knocked on the door.
"Are you in there son?" Stoick asked in a raised voice.
He received no reply.
Stoick used his meaty hand to push the door open, the room appeared to be empty.
'Is the party really still going on?' Stoick mentally questioned.
He shrugged, figuring Hiccup deserved to celebrate a little for his accomplishment.
'Guess I can share a drink with you there.' Stoick smiled thinking about it.
He made his way down the stairs and towards the front door, grabbing the bottle of honey mead and cups on the way. He pushed his way through the door and out into the darkness of night, his foot tripped on the bottom seal of the door when he exited.
He dropped one of the cups and when he reached down to grab it he noticed something lying on his front porch, it was a folded piece of paper. He placed the bottle of mead and the other cup on the step and picked up the paper.
He unfolded it and found that it was a letter addressed to him.
- Hiccup's note -
Hi dad,
By the time you read this, I will be gone, my reasons for leaving are my own. I don't know when or if I'll be back, but I'm genuinely sorry for leaving in this manner. I hope that someday my motives can be revealed to you, but I currently can't do that and I'm not sure if I will ever be able to. I would like to say thanks for always trying your best, even if it didn't always seem as though.
Regards,
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third
P.S. I've left a note for Gobber as well.
- end of Hiccup's note -
Stoick's vision had become blurry when reading the letter, moisture making its way onto his eyes. He blinked away the moisture and looked to the sky.
He thought he saw something briefly block out a cluster of stars, but it might have just been a trick of his mind. He didn't care either as his emotions started to take hold.
He felt indescribable anger and confusion as to why Hiccup left on the biggest day of his life so far, the annoying vagueness of the letter helped to further these feelings.
He needed proof and stormed back into the house and barreled up the stairs into Hiccup's room.
He looked around the room and noticed that the leather travelling sack usually hanging on the wall to his right was missing. He took a step and opened the top drawer of a cabinet on the same wall, his heart sank.
The drawer was empty.
Stoick stumbled backwards onto Hiccup's bed, it creaked under his weight.
Tears had started falling freely from his eyes, he couldn't hold them in. The act of crying felt foreign to him, he hadn't cried since Valka's death.
He continued to sob for a few moments before perking his head up
'I last saw Hiccup about three hours ago, he couldn't have gotten far.' Stoick realized.
He lifted himself from his son's bed and made his way down the stairs. He rushed out the front door towards the village center, ignoring the bottle of mead still sitting on the front porch. He was intent on getting a search party out immediately.
His efforts would ultimately be useless.
That's the end of chapter three, hope you enjoyed it.
The next chapter will be out sometime in the next week.
(16/05/21 update [or 05/16/21 for the American folks]: the next chapter might take a little longer than a week, it'll be longer and require more time to write. In the next chapter, I plan to introduce new schemes to the plot, namely what effects arise from Hiccups bond with Toothless. Their bond will be vaguely similar to the bond between a dragon and rider in the Inheritance series [amazing book series by the way]. It doesn't mean you have to have read the books to understand it, most of the ideas regarding their bond will be my own and I'll properly explain how it works throughout the upcoming chapters. It's not gonna be instant power either, there will be stepping stones. Till next time, cheers.)