In ancient times… the land lay covered in forests, where, from ages long past, dwelt the spirits of the gods. Back then, man and beast lived in harmony, but as time went by, most of the great forests were destroyed. Those that remained were guarded by gigantic beasts, who owed their allegiance to the Great Forest Spirit…

For those were the days of gods and demons…

Princess Mononoke

Chapter one – The Nameless God *

In lands far to the east of the forest, there was a small but peaceful village. This place was called Berk, and its inhabitants lived off the land and coexisted peacefully with the forest. On one fateful day that would change a young man's life forever, something evil crawled through the forest, slowly making its way toward the village.

Not far away, a boy, seventeen years of age, rode on a beautiful red elk through a series of trenches with a sense of urgency. His name was Hiccup, and his elk's name was Toothless.

A silly name, perhaps, but no worse than his own name. And Toothless seemed to like it just fine.

Hiccup, for his part, didn't exactly look like the princely type. He wasn't as large and robust as his late father had been, instead he took after his lanky mother. Over his fair complexion, freckles powdered his face. He dawned blue robes, and his auburn hair was tied back in a bun atop his head. His bun announced the fact that he was a prince.

That day had started the same as any other in the small village of Berk. And Prince Hiccup was spending his morning patrolling the boarder with his red elk, Toothless.

"Come on, bud," the boy spurred the elk into a race toward the far western boarder of the village.

Down the path, he saw a few familiar faces. Three young girls from the village. One of whom had the proud face of his little sister.

She waved to him and Hiccup pulled back on Toothless's reins to slow down.

"Girls!" he called, quickly approaching them and looking down on them from his saddle, "Something strange is going on. You have to hurry. Elder Gothi wants everybody back to the village at once."

"We just came from Ji-san," answered one girl.

"Did he see something?" Hiccup asked, urgently.

Kaya nodded. "Yes, in the forest. Something's wrong."

"The birds have all gone!" piped up one of her friends.

"The animals too!" the other added.

That is very odd, Hiccup thought.

He then nodded. "I'll go to the watchtower and check with Ji-san. You three hurry back home and be quick about it."

Kaya nodded just before he took off. "Alright. Be careful!" she called after him.

…

Hiccup rode on Toothless all the way until he reached the far edge of the village's boarder, next to the western forest. Hopping off Toothless with the same grace as the light-footed elk, Hiccup landed with a soft thud in the grass and quickly climbed up the wooden ladder of the watchtower.

On his way up, he stopped and narrowed his eyes in the distance.

There was something moving out there, something heading toward them, beneath the shadows of the trees. And he could hear a faint rumble. He almost thought it was his imagination, but Toothless perked his head up from the grass and swiveled his ears. And Hiccup trusted the elk's instincts even more than his own.

Pursing his lips, Hiccup continued to climb to the top of the tower, where Ji-san was staying on guard.

"Ji-san, did you see it too?" Hiccup asked, narrowing his eyes on the forest again.

The old man nodded grimly. "I did. It isn't human."

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder, back toward the village in the distance. "Elder Gothi is calling everyone back to the village."

"There. Look," the man said, pointing down at the trees.

Eyes steely, Hiccup took out an arrow from the quiver over his shoulder and notched it to the bowstring. He was silent as he pulled the string back, feeling the familiar strain of the twine.

Hiccup was the best marksman in the village.

Even as a cloud rolled by, Hiccup held his bow steady, aiming at the edge of the treeline for the thing to come out of hiding.

Then…

Bam! The low stone wall of the village broke apart on impact.

Just what is that thing? Hiccup thought in awe.

He'd never seen anything like it before. This creature was huge, bigger than an elephant, and crawled over the ground like a spider. But its dark purple hide seemed to be rippling like water. Hiccup wasn't sure it even had a face, just two glowing red eyes.

"It's some kind of demon!" Ji-san exclaimed in alarm.

"A demon?" Hiccup asked, shocked.

Just then, a cloud above had dissipated, bathing the ground with sunlight, and the creature momentarily stopped. Its purple hide suddenly receded from the blast of light, revealing a giant brown boar underneath.

Now it was clear to Hiccup that its hide wasn't rippling, it was wriggling, with thousands upon thousands of dark purple worms. All of them eating away at the suffering boar.

But the worms engulfed the boar again, and the demon turned its glowing red eyes toward the elk standing below the watchtower.

"Run, Toothless! Run!" Hiccup yelled down at the elk.

But the poor elk was frozen stiff at the sight of the creature charging toward him.

Changing targets, Hiccup shot his arrow at the wooden post beside Toothless's head. Startled, Toothless jumped and ran back down the path toward the village.

The demon tried to slow down, but he rammed into the base of the watchtower with a mighty thud. Hiccup grabbed onto Ji-san as the wooden posts began to crack and give way.

Taking a risky dive, they jumped out of the tower as it fell and tumbled through the trees.

The creature was momentarily stunned, but then turned his red eyes onto the village and continued charging down the mountain.

"It's heading for the village! I've got to stop it!" Hiccup exclaimed, jumping out of the tree, ahead of Ji-san.

"Prince Hiccup, wait! Be careful!" the old man yelled after him. "That thing is cursed! Don't let it touch you!"

Hiccup heard his warning but didn't reply. He whistled for Toothless as he strung another, tighter, bowstring to his bow.

"Toothless, come!" he called.

Sure enough, the loyal elk came running back toward him, lowering his head to let the boy grab onto one of his horns as he ran by. With practiced ease, Hiccup hoisted himself on the elk's back, expertly pinning his knees against the saddle to steady himself.

Toothless leapt down the mountainside with grace and they soon swiftly caught up to the beast. Bursting from the foliage that tore at Hiccup's clothes, they soon pulled ahead and galloped ahead of the creature.

Hiccup turned around to face the demon and held out his hand.

"Calm your fury, o mighty lord!" he called, "Whatever you may be, god or demon, please leave us in peace!"

But the demon didn't slow down.

They at last emerged from the trees, with the creature hot on their tail. When the demon slowed, Hiccup hoped the blast of sunlight would scare the demon away.

But the demon turned its red eyes toward the village.

Hiccup could see Kaya and her friends in the distance, screaming in fright and running even faster down the path.

Hiccup raced to head the beast off again.

"Go back! Leave our village in peace!" he shouted at the demon, but it wouldn't listen. "Stop, please! Stop!"

One of the girls tripped badly and struggled in the grass to get up. Immediately noticing her missing friend, Kaya turned around and ran back, with nothing but her little dagger in hand. She stood firm, grounding herself between the demon and her friend.

"Kaya!" Hiccup gasped.

Without hesitation, he pulled back on his bow and let his arrow fly. The arrow stabbed the beast in the eye.

The demon squealed in pain, rearing in rage.

"Run!" Hiccup yelled at the girls.

Kaya and her second friend lifted their third friend to her feet and ran with her as fast as they could.

The tendrils from the demon suddenly shot out at Hiccup, even as Toothless did his best to run as fast as he could. The worms engulfed Hiccup's right forearm.

Hiccup struggled to pull free. He tried not to think about how sharp their teeth felt, sinking into his flesh.

With a yell, Hiccup pulled his arm free from the demon's grip. Turning Toothless in a U-turn, he readied another arrow as they charged straight at the beast.

Ignoring the worms still biting on his arm, Hiccup urged Toothless faster. He focused his aim, waiting until he was as close as he could be and fired again straight into its wounded eye. This arrow went much further inside.

As Hiccup and Toothless rode away, the tendrils coiled and writhed until, at last, they fell to the ground and died.

With a great thud, the boar fell to the ground and stopped his rampage at last. But where there should've been relief, there was a sinister energy, a dark chill in the air, Hiccup could feel it.

Hiccup winched as the wound on his arm burned, the worms seeming to melt into his skin.

Kaya ran up to help Hiccup down from Toothless's saddle.

"Kaya, don't touch it," he warned her. "This wound is evil."

Others from the village had gathered around them, wanting to help.

"The prince has been hurt!"

"Where's the wise woman?"

"Here she comes!"

Riding atop a village man, piggyback style, Elder Gothi came in a hurry, her braids swaying in the wind.

"You must keep away from him, all of you," she said. "Everyone, stay back."

Kaya stood up, worried about her brother's pain. "What shall we do?"

Gothi handed her a big gourd of purified water. "Take this and pour it over his wound, child, slowly."

Hiccup held out his arm as Kaya uncapped the stopper. Hiccup winced as the water seemed to hiss and make his wound burn even more.

Gothi then turned to the felled demon and bowed ceremoniously, her two grey braids nearly touching the ground.

"O nameless god of rage and hate, I bow before you. A mound will be raised, and funeral rites performed on this ground where you have fallen. Pass on in peace and bear us no hatred."

The boar's deep voice spoke with heavy labored breaths, glaring as blood pooled from its mouth, "Disgusting little creatures, soon all of you will feel my hate and suffer as I have suffered…"

Then its flesh began to rot and seemed to melt away, leaving nothing but its bloody bones. The grass around it browned in the wake of the pooling blood and the worms all disappeared.

No one spoke after that ominous warning.

…

It wasn't until much later, within Gothi's hut that the matter would be addressed again.

Gothi murmured a prayer and shook a handful of colored stones in her gnarled hands. Hiccup sat opposite her, waiting patiently. A few other members of the village council waited on the sidelines for Gothi's premonition.

She dropped the stones and grabbed her staff, shaking her head.

Finally, she spoke, "I'm afraid this is very bad. The stones tell me the boar god came from far to the west. He had some kind of poison inside him, driving him mad, a poisonous hatred that consumed his heart and flesh, and turned him into a demon monster."

She looked up from her stones at the boy across from her. "Prince Hiccup?"

"Yes?" he asked.

"Show everyone your right arm," she instructed.

Hiccup unwrapped the bandages on his arm and held it out. Everyone in the council gasped at the deep purple marks coiling within his skin.

"What does it mean?" asked a man in the council.

Gothi ignored him, focusing on the boy. "My prince, are you prepared to learn what fate the stones have foretold you?"

Hiccup grimly nodded. "Yes, I was prepared the very moment that I let my arrow fly."

This was true. It was the first lesson he learned in archery; the moment you let loose an arrow, it was a decision you can't take back. As Prince, Hiccup took his lessons to heart.

Gothi nodded, but she smiled sadly.

"The infection will spread throughout your whole body, bone and flesh alike. It will cause you great pain and then kill you."

Hiccup had no words. Although he had a feeling this was the news he'd receive.

The other council members were greatly disturbed by this.

"Is there no way we can stop it?" one man asked.

"The prince got that wound by defending our village and saving our lives!"

"Do we just sit here and watch him die?"

Gothi shook her head. "You cannot alter your fate, my prince. However, you can rise to meet it, if you choose."

She turned and reached into her sleeve, pulling out a strange, dented object.

"Look at this," she said. "This iron ball was found in the boar's body. This is what hurt him so. It shattered his bones and burned its way deep inside him. This is what turned him into a demon."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes on the ball as he continued to listen to her.

"There is evil at work in the land to the west, Prince Hiccup. It's your fate to go there and see what you can see with eyes unclouded by hate. You may find a way to lift the curse. You understand?"

Hiccup nodded. "Yes."

There was silence until Old Wrinkly sighed heavily.

"We are the last of the Emishi. It's been five hundred years since the Emperor destroyed our tribe and drove the remnants of our people to the east. Some managed to survive here for all these years, but the blood of our tribe has grown thinner and weaker with each generation. Now our last prince must cut his hair and leave us, never to return? Sometimes I think the gods are laughing at us."

The other council members looked just as defeated as he.

Without a word, Hiccup took a small dagger and reached up to cut his hair. He remained stoic and methodical in his actions. Finally, the topknot came free and his hair fell into his face. He bowed to the alter, and to Gothi, and the council members.

Gothi grimly spoke once more, "Our laws forbid us from watching you go, Hiccup. Whatever comes to pass now, you are dead to us forever."

The council members bowed their heads, mostly in shame, but out of respect for their ancient laws.

Hiccup didn't mind. He honestly didn't care. This was his fault. He knew that. He brought this on himself. Maybe if he'd seen a different course of action to take, he would have done so. But he didn't. And he wouldn't have changed the consequences knowing he'd saved his sister and perhaps the rest of the villagers.

Hiccup had no idea why he was so calm about this. He should've been furious about how unfair the rules were. Or sad that he'd never see his family again. And he was, but somehow, he also wasn't.

Hiccup silently stood and walked out the door of the hut.

He could hear Gothi murmur softly, "Farewell."

…

Hiccup was silent as he packed his things. Just as Gothi said, he was ignored by everyone in the village now. He was nothing more than a ghost to them.

Hiccup draped a grass cape over his shoulders and a red hood and mask over his face. All his worldly possessions were to be taken with him: his sword, his bow and quiver of arrows, the clothes on his back and Toothless.

In the dead of night, Hiccup tugged on Toothless's reins, pulling him out of the stable with the other red elk.

The banished prince was slowly riding Toothless out of the village when he heard quick footsteps approaching. A small figure came out of the shadows and emerged in the light of the moon.

"Kaya, what are you doing here?" Hiccup asked, keeping his voice down. "You know it's forbidden."

She rolled her eyes. "Do you think I care about that?" she said, riffling in her pocket. She took out something and held it up to him. "I came to give you this, so you won't forget your little sister."

It was a necklace that Hiccup had originally made for her birthday. The normally blue gem that shined in the day, now shimmered purple like the night sky.

"Your crystal dagger? Kaya, I can't take this," he insisted, holding it back out to her.

But she shook her head. Her eyes were big and misty. "Please, keep it with you, brother, to protect you. You must take it with you. Please, I want you to have it, so you won't forget."

Hiccup pulled down the mask under his chin, smiling at her once more. "Kaya, you know I could never forget you." With a nod, he pocketed the gem.

Looking forward, Hiccup spurred Toothless into a canter, and the red elk rode out of the village gate, leaving his familiar home behind and riding into the great unknown.