"GET BACK!"
Hiccup immediately yelled out to the others as soon as they saw the incoming ball of rock and fire falling towards them, and the group and their dragons swiftly ran back as fast as they could before it could hit them.
To their luck, the vikings all managed to get out of range from the exploding impact, and surprisingly, all that the meteorite managed to make was a dent in the ground as it shattered to pieces.
Along with that, the explosion was not as large as Hiccup anticipated.
He looked up with a mocking smirk at Drago, who still stood atop the cliff. "Is that all you've got!? I expected more!"
Drago merely laughed at the lad, not buying his taunt. "You fool! The fight is only beginning," he replied as his head then turned to where the flaming boulder fell. "Rise up, minion! Rise up, and deal with these pathetic mortals!"
And that was when the realization really hit them.
The rocks from the shattered meteorite quickly levitated into the air and began to form together into a large, rocky, hulking figure, with its head resembling that of a skull. The amalgamation's eyes, mouth, and hands glowed green with chaos fire as its rocky body began to crack with the same foul magic.
If anything, it was larger than a troll, and appeared more dangerous.
"What the Hel is that…" said Ruffnut.
Drago once again laughed in amusement. "Impressive, isn't it? It is a golem summoned from beyond Midgard's skies, infused with chaos magic! This is but a small example of the Dark Master's might, and when he rises once more, I will bask in his power!"
"...But alas, I have more work to do. Now, destroy them, minion!"
With a slam of his bullhook, Drago teleported away in a burst of chaos fire, leaving the large golem to deal with Hiccup and his allies.
The amalgamation rose it's arms up, and with a crash it slammed it's green fiery hands into the ground, roaring fiercely at the group.
"Everyone back up!" ordered Hiccup. "We can't take that thing on! Let our dragons handle it!"
"Are you sure?" asked Arn, holding his sword out defensively. "We could just mount up and blast this thing to bits from the air!"
Astrid shook her head. "No! We might risk ourselves by getting smacked down by it, and if we fly too high, the orcs might notice us and turn their attention away from Stoick!"
"If you say so…" nodded Arn. "What are we waiting for? Let's destroy it!"
The riders all hastily ran to their dragons' sides, and in unison, they yelled out in command for their dragons to attack as the golem swiftly began to advance on them.
"Plasma blast, bud!"
"Stormfly, spine shot!"
"Spew!"
"Gas- Spark!"
In a combined effort, the four dragons fired their flaming attacks at the golem, directly towards it's chest, and just like so, the golem bursted into a dozen bits as the attacks caused an explosion of mixed flames, both purple and orange.
They cheered as the golem fell to bits… but their celebration was short lived.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, chaos magic swirled around the fallen rocks as they rose back into the air and put themselves back together, reforming the large golem.
Fishlegs gasped. "What the- why didn't it work!?"
"I- I don't know," stuttered Hiccup, eyeing the amalgamation as it slowly advanced on them. "The magic holding it together must be protected. Our dragons can't break it!"
"Uhh, if we can't break it, WHAT DO WE DO THEN?!" yelled Ruffnut impatiently.
"Stay calm! We'll take it on like we did last time with the troll and figure out its weakness! As long as we-"
"LOOK OUT, HICCUP!"
Astrid's voice called out to him, and as Hiccup turned his head he saw that the golem was directly on top of him and about to bring its rocky and green fiery hands down. It would have been too late for him were it not for Toothless.
The Night Fury rammed his head into Hiccup, pushing him back as they both rushed swiftly out of the way of the golem's attack, causing it to miss, and at the same time, the rest of the group separated.
Hiccup looked back at Toothless with a nod. "Thanks, bud!"
"You can thank me later," Toothless growled in Dragonese, glaring down the golem. "We have a fight to- gragh!"
The last word to Hiccup came out unclear, mayhaps because of his focus on the battle. Regardless however, the lad had to keep up with the fight.
Knowing well that only their dragons could deal some form of damage - at the very least slow it down, Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, the Twins, and Arn focused on distracting it, knowing that the golem viewed them more of a vulnerable target than their dragons. As such, Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug, and Barf and Belch gave it all they had.
But the golem merely continued reforming any chunks that were blasted off back together. The situation as a whole seemed dire.
Hiccup and Astrid at one point even tried to strike at the legs of the golem, but their weapons did not even make a dent in it. As a matter of fact, their strikes dented their own weapons and caused small shards of metal to fly off them.
"Guys," said Arn. "I wouldn't do that if I were you-"
But the worse came to Hiccup as he attempted to strike again, but not before hearing the sound of a metallic CRACK as Inferno was broken into two. Hiccup in response gave a sighed growl in anger and frustration.
"Why did I even do that…?" he asked himself irritatedly.
It seemed they truly were useless against the golem.
The Twins also both tried striking their weapons repeatedly against the golem, but they only ended up with the same result as Hiccup and Astrid… with their weapons becoming way more banged up however.
Fishlegs, who was quite strong as he already was, bashed his shield into the golem's leg to try and attract it's attention. The distraction worked, but his shield shattered into pieces of wood and splinters.
"Uh oh."
He looked up at the golem who looked right back down at him, and he immediately ran off in the other direction screaming loudly, "HELP!"
Meatlug reacted in time as the golem was ready to chase after Fishlegs. From her large mouth she spewed out a lava blast, blasting it directly at the golem's chest and knocking it off balance.
The amalgamation for a moment fell down on its back, but then stood back up and quickly continued the fight. With every attack it made with it's fists upon impact, chaos fire bursted out of them like a geyser.
As a whole, the fight appeared hopeless.
Amidst the chaos however, an idea started forming at the top of Arn's mind as he ran around trying to figure out the weakness of the golem. He remembered back to something that he read from the spellbook which he told Hiccup about...
"Hiccup!" he suddenly called out, catching the attention of the young viking who was busy being chased by the large amalgamation, all while dodging it's attacks.
"Not now, Arn! I'm a... bit busy right now!" he replied.
"As busy as you are, I think I figured out a weakness for the golem!"
Hiccup's gaze caught onto Arn. His attention diverted onto him as soon as Toothless was able to catch the golem's attention, and soon, it began attempting to chase down the extremely swift dragon around in circles.
"Alright… what is your plan?" he breathily asked Arn as he approached him exhaustedly.
Arn spoke hastily, all while still eyeing the golem. "From what I've seen so far, our regular attacks cannot destroy the magics holding the golem together, no matter what we do; not even our dragons. So unless we fight fire with fire, we can't hope to beat it."
"...So what are you suggesting? That we use magic to destroy it and-?"
His words came to a stop as he splurted out the answer into the wind. With that, Hiccup knew now what was required to defeat the rocky monster; magic. But even then, a part of him hesitated, for after all...
"...You can't be serious," he suddenly spoke. "None of us here know magic! We can't use it!"
"Not unless we try," replied Arn. "Remember the runic word I told you about which meant to light aflame?"
"Fúre," he replied, to which Arn nodded.
"If you think none of us can use magic, then why don't you give it a try?" asked the blonde viking. "From what I've seen of you so far, you have more potential than anyone I've met here. You told me you were able to communicate with a runestone! You learned how to speak Dragonese faster than anyone I've seen before! What further proof do you need? I say you should at least try! Lift your hands out and-"
"ARN, IT'S HEADED YOUR WAY!" called out Fishlegs.
The young viking had no time to finish as he swiftly ran off with the golem chasing after him in tow. Something had to be done now.
"HURRY UP HICCUP! DO IT!" called out Arn.
"What!?" he answered back. "But what am I supposed to do first!? How am I-"
"JUST DO IT!"
There was little choice by this point. Hiccup sighed as he stood still in place, tightening his hands into fists and pinning his feet to the ground. One way or another, he had to find out.
Hiccup closed his eyes, imagining himself being surrounded by the same flames he saw in his vision back on Berk. The only thing he could describe the fire he saw... was anger. Pure anger that burned like a raging inferno, like that of a meteor hitting Midgard from Muspelheim, or even the same flames that the Allfather, Odin, summoned up from his spear Gungir as it burned evil to ashes. Either way, one thing led to another as Hiccup began moving his hands in quick circles…
...And then it happened.
Hiccup felt his hands heat up as fire began to manifest. As he opened up his eyes to look, flames burned brightly and deeply within his irises as they began glowing more violently by the second. The spark became a candle, and then the candle became a raging fire, and the raging fire an inferno.
The tide was about to be turn. He knew this. Both his hands and eyes were now glowing brightly with fire magic.
All eyes, especially Astrid's, were locked onto the lad as she exclaimed in shock, "What in the name of Odin!?"
Even the golem, for only a mere moment, became distracted by the glowing flames that formed in Hiccup's hands, but that did not stop it from charging at the lad with a bellowing roar, which caused the ground to shake beneath everyone's feet.
Seeing it finally charge, Hiccup immediately raised out both of his hands towards the raging monster, and shouted angrily in runic, "FÚRE!"
Suddenly, the flames in his hands quickly combined into a magical ball of fire as it swiftly hurled itself at the golem, and in a devastating strike, the spell blew the amalgamation into bits, overpowering the chaos magic that held it together as it finally sundered apart.
And with that, the remains of the golem fell to the ground, crumbled and broken. But at the same time everyone was left jaw-dropped. How was this possible?
The flames died out in Hiccup's hands as he swiftly tightened them into fists, though the spell as a whole had left him feeling weakened. Looking back at the others however, he was uncertain what to say. After all, it should have been impossible.
"Hiccup," said Fishlegs. "Are you…?"
"I don't know how that was possible," he immediately replied. "We'll talk about it later, but I want you guys to tell nobody about this. For now we need to find a way for our forces to cross. From what I can see, they're rallying towards us."
Looking back at the burning city, the army of vikings, though down to seven hundred, was able to smash aside the orcs' bulwark, and as such, they were now advancing towards the group's location.
"Hmm… why don't we just use the dragons to blast that cliff-wall down?" asked Ruffnut, pointing at the cliff off to their left.
"Nonono!" interrupted Tuffnut. "How about, we use the dragons to blast that cliff-wall down."
Hiccup smirked, nearly chuckling. "Well, I knew sooner or later you guys would come in handy. Ruff, Tuff, I'll leave the honors to you and your dragon."
"Now let's get this over with…"
…
With just a few blasts of fire from the dragons, the side of the cliff which Drago previously stood upon came crashing down, creating a bridge of boulders and rocks for them to cross which proved to be effective enough for the Berkian troops passing over it.
And soon enough, after all of the vikings had marched over the chasm, they finally stood before the front of the fortress. Its size was indeed intimidating, yet its defenses were oddly unmanned.
Hiccup looked around, minding where they stood, for the area was enough for a large army.
On both flanks, black rocky cliffs overlooked where they stood, while above them the cloudy skies were at their darkest as green lightning struck and crackled, giving off an uneasy feeling to the men. The only thing that kept them together was their chief who stood at the front of the army with the others.
And yet Stoick felt no dread. Rather he smelt what he assumed was their victory.
Looking to his right and left, he gave the group a nod as they all stepped forward with their dragons away from the ranks of their warriors. It was finally time to confront Drago Bludvist.
"We're ready, dad," said Hiccup.
Stoick, without making another move, called out for the wicked warlord.
"BLUDVIST!" he bellowed. "YOUR REIGN, IS OVER! COME OUT OF YOUR FORTRESS, AND SURRENDER THE ISLAND OF TOMORROW! THERE IS NOWHERE TO HIDE FROM THE MIGHT OF BERK!"
A moment of silence followed as the ranks of vikings behind them looked towards the black metal gates of the fortress in anticipation, wondering if Drago would truly come out.
But then the gates began to creak, slowly grinding and opening until the figure of a large corrupted viking warlord with glowing green eyes came into view.
Drago walked forward towards the vikings that stood before him in what they assumed was their valiant victory, yet they did not know what the warlord was up to.
It took him a bit, but soon Drago stopped more than a dozen yards away from Stoick and the others, and gave a grin.
"My reign? Over?" he chuckled. "Me? Surrender to you? Foolish old man, you have no idea what forces you are challenging. I have no doubt that your son enjoyed facing off against my golem?"
Stoick rose a brow. "A what?"
"A golem," replied Hiccup. "It was a monster made of rocks and boulders. Drago summoned it himself... He knows how to use magic, which makes things worse."
Drago once again chuckled. "Heh, and they say your boy is the smart one," he said sarcastically. "My powers go far beyond what anyone could ever hope to wield. My very body and soul courses with chaos. Still, now you know that I am alive, and that I am stronger than ever... all because of the master's power."
"But how?" asked Hiccup, taking a few steps forward. "You shouldn't even be alive! I saw you die. WE saw you die. You drowned!"
"Hmph, but I didn't," the warlord smirked. "When my pet Bewilderbeast betrayed me and swam off, I felt my final seconds approaching... but then a dark voice whispered to me. In that moment, chaotic energies surrounded me, and before I knew it, I found myself before the throne and prison of a god. He showed me the end of your world. He showed me that he was a god unlike even your foolish Allfather and his pantheon… he showed me my future, where I would rule this world by his side once we have destroyed it of your filth. And thus, without much consideration, I took his offer of power and rose to become his right hand. The right hand of the Dark Master of this world..."
"I mean, why command thousands of mindless dragons and inferior vikings, when you can command legions that fight without question? My dream of ruling Midgard will soon become a reality."
Hiccup could not believe what he was hearing. Drago had given up his freedom in exchange for power, yet he gladly accepted it and took his place as the right hand of a so called dark god? He truly was insane; no longer did he want to merely conquer Midgard, for now, he wanted to destroy it as well.
"You'll never be able to destroy Midgard, Drago," responded Hiccup. "What you and this Dark Master are trying to do goes against the prophecy of Ragnarök! You can't-"
Drago slammed his foot into the ground. "Bah! Ragnarök is but a mere make-believe! A false prophecy foreseen by a false god; your so-called Allfather. He does nothing but sit atop his throne of gold, drinking wine as he wastes his time thinking."
"Likewise to you, brute," spoke Arn, joining in. "I have fought the orcs and the Dark Legions for years, and although I don't know who your Dark Master is, I can tell you that he won't be happy once we meet him and-"
"Meet him?" laughed Drago. "You and your Alsworn are nothing; and nor are its allies! Even with this pathetic tribe at your side, you're useless without the Wings of Midgard. They may have defeated my master in the past, but they cannot help you now. Know this, and know this well; your Wings of Midgard are dead... and they have been dead for a thousand years!"
The dread quickly began to kick in, especially for Arn; he who had sailed south, and made a great effort in an attempt to look for the Wings of Midgard. Yet hearing the warlord's words, he wondered... were his efforts all for not? In that moment, the blonde viking's began beating rapidly.
'This cannot be true,' he thought to himself.
Drago let out a sigh as a wicked chuckle escaped his lips. "...I think I have wasted enough time. I will see to it that you and this pathetic excuse of an army are destroyed."
Stoick grunted. "Hah! And you and what army? You stand alone, Drago."
"Dad, wait-"
Drago, first chuckled, and then laughed as he rose his bullhook up and glared down at Stoick. Soon Hiccup realized too late that what they walked into was not their way to victory, but into a trap.
"This army," the warlord said wickedly.
As the base of his bullhook hit the ground, two explosions of chaos fire and lightning erupted from afar behind Drago. Then, out of nowhere, two large portals tore opened, and from them, dozens of orcs came forth, marching out by the second...
...And yet, there were more. Up on the cliffs on both sides, more orcs came marching into view, carrying bows and crossbows as they rolled large catapults into position, loaded and ready to fire.
...But it was then that Hiccup saw them.
From the portals, they came through; trolls, golems, goblins, corrupted dwarves and vikings, chaos infused giants, large black wolves, and finally, a dragon, with scales and horns as black as night, a stature as large as a Titan Wing, and eyes that glowed green with evil. Hiccup could only assume that the beast was Drago's personal pet... or perhaps one of.
Yet even then, it was a sight that sent chills of horror down the spines of every viking who stood there, and with that, Hiccup and the group began to back towards their warriors. They now realized why Drago had invited them to battle on the Island of Tomorrow. It was nothing more than a grand trap.
As thousands of warriors and monsters of the Dark Legions rallied behind Drago, Hiccup looked back up towards the cliffs one more time, only to see thousands more marching into view as they rallied alongside the orcs and their catapults, ready to slaughter the Berkians like sheep. This was a fight they could not win.
Drago began chuckling. "Do you see now, chief of Berk? We cannot be stopped. You are but few who think of us as pawns and fools. Now you see, it is you who are the fools, standing in the way of something bigger that you cannot hope to beat..."
"...And with that, you will fall. In the name of the Dark Master, in the name Maldragor, SLAUGHTER THEM!"
Thousands of roars bellowed from the many races of the large dark army surrounding them, and from the cliffs above, arrows and bolts came crashing down upon the Berkians, followed by volleys of fiery boulders from the enemy catapults.
Behind Stoick, his men began falling by the dozens, even as they tried raising their shields. But the orcs' projectiles were merely too much to handle, and the catapults that the orcs had stationed above them were wrecking their lines.
In a desperate attempt, the dragons tried to fight back, but their efforts were for naught, for the heavy firing was just too much to dodge or counter.
One by one, Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug, and Barf and Belch were shot down, to the point where they could no longer fight. Their strength began to fail, and as both they and their riders eyed Drago's forces marching towards them, fear started to take over entirely.
This was no battle. This was a massacre.
Hiccup immediately ran to Toothless's side, covering the dragon as he helped him back towards the protection of their ranks, and yet their numbers continued kept dropping. In that moment, Hiccup noticed purple blood seeping from Toothless's wounds; the blood of a Night Fury.
"TOOTHLESS!" screamed Hiccup.
"We can't stay here!" called out Astrid shakingly, as she and her injured Dragon made their way closer to Hiccup. "We- we need to retreat! We're getting slaughtered!"
"Dad! What do we do!?" the lad asked desperately, looking up at his father who stood there, intimidated and bewildered. Yet only one loud word escaped from Stoick's mouth.
"RUN!"
…
The retreat back to the beach was a mess. Not only were the orcs and their allies right behind them, but much of the Berkian force was also scattered, and thus left exposed as Drago's pet dragon flew above them in a fiery rage and burned them in chaos fire.
Yet all that Hiccup and his friends could do was run; to reach the ships and get off the island. It was clear to them that the cursed isle was beyond saving, and there was nothing they could do.
Upon reaching the shore where they landed, the remaining Berkians, of whom were all weakened, settled down to catch some air, but only briefly, for the enemy was still pursuing them.
"Their army…" Gobber breathed heavily. "How did Drago summon a large army in seconds!? That power should be impossible! Not even Gothi-"
Valka shook her head. "It doesn't matter now. They are closing in on us! We have to get off this island, or else we'll all die here!"
"Dad," spoke Hiccup, holding his arms around Toothless's neck as the dragon was on the verge of passing out. "Mom's right. We can't stay here. We've lost! There's no way we can defeat Drago like this!"
Stoick silently grunted. He desperately wanted to finish off Drago, and yet at the same time, his son was right. Thousands upon thousands of orcs and many other brutes and monsters now advanced towards them, and the only way forward was back.
The chief looked back at both his son and wife, and then his dragon who he grew worried for by the minute. "...Get everyone to the ships, and prepare to sail. Our dragons won't be able to fly in this state."
"EVERYONE! FALL BACK!" bellowed Gobber to their troops.
Hiccup in response gave a nod of approval to his friends. "You heard him, guys."
Everyone did as they were told. They all made way to the longships which were still docked and ported. Being in a rush however, it took quite a bit for the group to get both themselves and their dragons onto their longship, and even then they could hear the distant marching of the orcs and their allies getting closer.
After the effort of getting the dragons on board their longship, the riders along with Stoick, Valka, and Gobber climbed on and prepared to sail off.
"We're ready to sail off," said Arn as he held onto the ship's steering oar. "By your command, chief."
Stoick nodded. "Get us out of here."
Immediately the sail dropped, and the longship began to slowly turn as the wind began to pick up. The other ships around them soon followed as well, dropping their sails and turning from the shore of the island that they hoped to take. The only thing the surviving warriors and everyone else could do now was return home to Berk and live to fight another day.
Hiccup looked back at Toothless who laid on the deck of the ship, injured. "It's alright, bud," he said, kneeling down to him. "Everything's going to be fine. We're going to get out of here and get you patched up. We will-"
"We have company!"
Astrid's voice spoke up, catching everyone's attention back towards the shore where they saw rank upon ranks of orcs flood the beach. With them were both Drago, standing at the back of his ranks, and his black beast of a dragon, which swooped down and landed at his side.
Hiccup stood to his feet, walking towards the edge of the ship and eyeing both Drago and his dragon questioningly. "What is he up to?"
His answer was immediately given. Drago laughed, raising his bullhook up into the air - and with a simple point of the weapon towards them the black dragon made it's way to the front, taking a deep breath in as its mouth lit up in green flames before letting it out in a ball of chaos fire.
"Oh no…" gasped Hiccup.
The dragon shot its first blast, aimed at a nearby ship from where Hiccup and the others were. The crew received a direct hit, and like so, both they and their vessel were blown into smithereens.
Hiccup looked back at the others. "Can't we sail any faster!?"
"We're at full sail, Hiccup, there's nothing we can do!" replied Arn.
"But that means we're exposed..." replied Hiccup with widened eyes. "We're going to die!"
"Th- This can't be how it ends," stuttered Fishlegs. "I- I still have a whole life ahead of me!"
"I guess the gods had this fate planned for us…" silently replied Astrid as she sank closer to Stormfly, who laid injured near the other dragons. "Is it really the end?"
"It was good to have known you, sis," sighed Tuffnut, before Ruffnut sniffled with, "You too, brother."
For the first time since they were teenagers, the riders felt frightened. Around them, their allies were being torn apart by chaos fire as their ships bursted into pieces. They had not even made it out of the coast entirely. Was this really the end for them?
Stoick on the other hand stood in silence and hesitation as the dragon continued firing at them. His armor, though heavy, and his arms and legs, though exhausted, did not stop the urge of wanting to silence the chaotic dragon.
Hiccup looked back at his father. "Dad, what do we do!? ...Dad!?"
It took a moment for Hiccup's voice to reach Stoick, and by the time he looked back at his son, his mind was already made up.
He sighed deeply as he approached him, laying his hands on his son's shoulders. "...Look after your mother for me... This is something I must handle."
"What…?"
"Stoick?" both Gobber and Valka said in unison, shocked.
The chieftain did not respond. He then approached his dragon Skullcrusher, kneeling down to his level as he pat him. "Stay strong, Skullcrusher. Protect my family if anything goes wrong."
"Stoick… what are... you doing...?" crooned Skullcrusher, but even then, Stoick could not understand him.
Hiccup's eyes remained widened with bewilderment. "I- I don't understand! Wh- What are you talking about, Dad?! What are you doing!?"
"...What a chief must do; protect his own."
And with that, Stoick lunged towards the edge of the longship and jumped into the shallow waters. He unsheathed his axe and began rushing towards the black dragon. Though the distance was great, the speed he ran at was as fast as a Stinger.
"DAD, NO!"
Seeing his father abandon the ship, Hiccup attempted to chase after him, but before he could make any sort of attempt, he felt a pair of arms grab ahold of him.
Astrid held him back. "There's nothing you can do, Hiccup! Leave him! He's doing it for us!"
As Stoick continued his charge, the black dragon soon set its gaze onto the chieftain, and as such, the beast ceased it's fire onto the escaping longships and began aiming towards the oncoming viking.
However, Stoick refused to let that stop him... With renewed strength, he dashed out of the way of the volleys of chaos fire, running in a motion that somehow defied the force of the water that flowed beneath his feet. Upon reaching the beach, he gave the dragon what was coming to it...
In a final effort, the large beast attempted to shoot Stoick down at point-blank range, but the large viking was able to react quicker than anticipated. With his axe gripped tightly in both hands, he hurled himself into the air with a great leap, raising his weapon above his head, and with one mighty cleave towards the head of the black dragon, it was instantly brought low. No roar came out as it released its dying breath.
Upon pulling his axe out from the wound, the body of the black dragon plummeted down onto its side as a lifeless husk, and like a river, green blood flowed out from its skull. Yet even then, the fight was not over for Stoick…
His eyes fell upon Drago, who now stood at the front of his forces, grinning wickedly at him.
"What are you waiting for!?" the dark warlord called out. "Come and kill me, if you truly believe you have what it takes!"
Stoick grunted as his brows lowered into a glare, but after making a single step forward, Drago pointed his bullhook out, causing the tip of the weapon to glow as the chieftain felt a strange force of magic attune onto him. In that moment, he realized that he could no longer move.
Drago chuckled as he watched the mighty chieftain of Berk struggle, for he was unable to do anything...
"I told you, Haddock... you, have, already, LOST!"
With a mere swing of his weapon, Stoick was forced up into the air and towards Drago. One thing led to another however, and before he knew it…
The sharp tip of Drago's bullhook stabbed straight through Stoick's chest. A muffled grunt escaped the viking's lips as the grip on his axe weakened, and like so, his weapon dropped down to the blackened ground.
With no other way forward, Stoick knew that it was the end of the line for him...
As Drago pulled back his weapon, he pushed the fallen chieftain down to his knees. In that moment, Stoick expected a quick and sudden end, so that the valkyries could come and carry him up... yet the warlord had other plans for him.
From beneath his blackened cloak, he brought forth the most unexpecting thing; his left arm, seemingly reformed from scratch, with veins glowing green with chaos magic.
With a snap of his fingers, he engulfed his left hand in chaos fire. "I have killed hundreds of viking chieftains for as long as I've lived, and all have been forgotten by the sands of time. However, you will be remembered as the chieftain who threw his life away… for nothing."
Stoick weakly scoffed, looking up Drago as he responded with two words…
"For Berk... and for Odin."
Drago merely shook his head as he let out a laugh. With his left hand, he tightly gripped it around Stoick's neck and began pouring the searing chaos fire into him, burning him from the inside-out. Though the viking made a great effort to hold in his scream, it was merely too much, far too much. His eyes, mouth, and veins began burning with chaos fire, and the pain turned into an agonizing torture...
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Stoick finally screamed, no longer able to hold it in. To this, Drago began loudly cackling, and with a strong swing of his bullhook, the green flames within Stoick suddenly bursted outwards as the chieftain of Berk was incinerated, causing an explosion that flashed brightly across the beach...
Stoick the Vast, father to Hiccup, and husband to Valka, was gone…
From afar, Hiccup witnessed the green explosion of fire as Stoick met his end. The young viking at first did not know what had happened, but then it hit him as the dark realization dawned upon him, knowing now that his father was no more. He could feel it deep down in his heart as it pumped faster than the beating wings of a Trickle, and as such, a tear slowly ran down his right cheek.
"N- No…" he spoke shakingly.
At that moment, he lightly stumbled back, falling to the deck of the longship as he covered his face in his right palm. This could not be happening... and yet it was. More tears fell from his eyes. Never had he felt such pain in his life, for he had now lost one of the only people who meant a single thing to him. His own father.
The poor lad was broken, yet as he sobbed, a pair of familiar arms hugged around him as Astrid knelt down to his level and tightly embraced him in an attempt to comfort him. Even his mother Valka sat by his side, trying to soothe her son as she ran one of her hands across his shoulder, gently stroking it. She too felt the same pain as he did. Their family was torn apart.
No other words were said on the voyage back to Berk. The vikings went home that disastrous day with only three hundred remaining out of the thousand they brought, and it would be that day which would go on forever in the history of Berk, and even Midgard, as a day of infamy.
It was that day that Stoick the Vast fell before a terrible evil...
To be continued...