The daily life of a demon teen
Disclaimer: I do not own How to train your dragon
KEY
'Thoughts/memories'
"foreign language/projected thoughts"
Emphasis/yelling
"Magic incantation"
(A/N: In all three movies and series, we never get to see the far side of the Isle of Berk. So, in this AU, I made the opposite side of the Island "Unique". I've fixed Hiccup's age in Ch.1 to match the canon film. Magic circles appear on the back of Hiccup's hand or in his palm when casts most spells.)
Review responses
CajunBear73: I swear I'm not against Hiccstrid, it's just she was the only major character that would work. Her temper and drive to be better than everyone else is just too perfect to use against her. Snotlout doesn't have the balls, the twins are to stupid and I'm not even considering Fishlegs.
I've read an FF a long time ago where she and Hiccup were arranged, but she got pass her initial dislike of him. She just beat him up in that FF, I took it a step further in mine. Like in the summary, Hiccup will choose to start anew. He'll have no hard feelings for Astrid, even though she did kill him.
The13thReaper: Thanks, your review gets me pumped to write more of this story!
OechsnerC: I look forward to writing it.
WinterKing15: first, AWSOME name. second, the Hooligans were 'forgiven', they have a clean slate with Hiccup. What they do with their absolution is their choice, be it friendship or the grave. "Climax?", I'm not sure how, in essence, a "slice of life" genre story will have a climax.
Back to the action!
Chapter 2: Hole in the ground
Nar POV
Fomp, Hiccup appeared out of the distortion, 'I can't use Blink or Teleport anymore'. The forest had thinned, but he knew he was still too close to the village, 'I guess I'll walk for a bit'. After a couple of minutes, Hiccup came to the stone bridge separating the village and its forest from the 'Other side'. His father and the other adults talked about the Other side, how going to the desolated landscape was pointless and served no other purpose but to waste time, 'I'll be the judge of that'. Hiccup stepped onto the bridge, the side he left was heavily forested while the side before him was nothing but stony ground and long dead trees.
Hours later
Hiccup finally decided to take a breather, he drank from his uncorked calabash-looking water holder. Around him was more stone filled landscape, he oddly felt in tune with the desolation, 'Kinda peaceful, in a weird unexplainable way'. Hiccup recorked his water container and resumed his walk.
After a few more hours of walking, he started to think back to his past 'life' in the village. 'I feel more at peace here than I ever did back there', Hiccup stopped mid stride, almost falling into a massive fifteen-meter-deep chasm. Bits of rock fell, occasionally hitting the wall and causing echoes. 'That would have hurt', he looked around, trying to find a way down. A lone stream fell into the cove, more like a trickle than a small waterfall. The hard stone prevented any sort of flora from taking root in or around the cove, 'At least I found a water source, it's a start'.
Hiccup sat on the cove lip, 'How do I get down?'. He facepalmed, "Duh, Magic!". He stood up and shook himself loose, 'Concentrate… light as a feather', "Feather fall". Faint red miasma flowed around his body, he stepped off from the ledge. Hiccup fell at a fifth of the normal rate, he smiled, 'I wish I knew more advanced magic'. His lapse in focus caused the miasma flicker, he fell the last three meters at full speed. Hiccup landed with a Thud, "Oof!", he didn't feel the pain of impact.
When he fell, his satchel opened, and the grimoire tumbled out. It slid to a stop, "Hey, watch it!", the cover's gem pulsed with every syllable of the feminine voice.
Hiccup shuffled back, "W-who said that?!".
"Over here!", the grimoire grew bored of watching him scan his surroundings like an idiot.
Hiccup dusted himself off and crouched walked towards it, "What are you?".
"A hammer, what does it look like, I'm a book!", it snarked.
"Whoa, no need for the sass", he couldn't believe he was talking to a book, 'Well, I would say I'm hallucinating. But, judging from the last three years, this sorta thing now seems normal… at least to me'.
"You try being tossed around and then being asked a stupid question!", Hiccup could feel an eyeroll from the book in his hands.
"Okay, my bad", he cleared his throat, "Let's start over, my name's Hiccup and you are?".
"Grimoires don't have names", Hiccup propped the book up on a rock.
"What am I supposed to call you, Book?", he sat on his knees in front of the cheeky grimoire.
"Does it really matter?", it huffed, Hiccup nods affirmably. "Fine, let's see", the tome opened and fluttered its pages. They blurred as it searched through to find an appropriate term, they came to a stop, "Found it, Cyrai".
Hiccup tilted his head, "Cyrai?", the Tome snapped shut.
"What, the name's meaning has been lost to the ages, so it works", he placed both his satchels beside her.
"Anyway, now that I found a decent place to settle, time to build a place to rest", Hiccup went off to look around with his small hatchet in hand.
An hour later
He stepped back and admired his handiwork, a small basic lean-to was snug against the wall of the cove. The wooden supports were fashioned by splitting and shaving them from the long dead trees he found nearby. The roof and walls were created from a thick canvas sheet Hiccup bought the first time he put together his runaway kit. The lean-to was just big enough for his roll out bedroll and his satchels to fit, "Not bad".
"Huh, I don't understand why you did it the hard way", Cyrai was propped beside the lean-to.
"What do you mean 'hard way'?", as he rolled out his bed.
"I mean, most magic users have constructs like golems or automata's to handle the physical labor", Cyrai opened and begun to flip through pages, "Under the school of creation magic, a caster can create artificial life to aid them". An orange colored hologram-like projection of a humanoid automata appeared, moving crates from one pile to another.
"Whoa, so these 'Constructs', are they common for magic users in Pop's world?", Hiccup observed the projections flicker between different types of automata's doing tasks, he was entranced by the useful constructs. The projection changed to a tall wide torso automaton lumbering through a burning street, its two heads watching the panicking people. Besides the extra head, the construct resembled a four-meter-tall humanoid. Its entire body was made of an unfamiliar metal, each head had a single large gem-like eye.
"Not all constructs are used for peaceful purposes", It reeled back its disproportional large left arm then swiped at armored warriors with blade-like claws, cleaving them in two. Its two right arms fired magic bullets from its hands at the fleeing civilians, Hiccup felt twinge of sympathy at the slaughtering of people.
"I see", he shook off the thought, "Are they hard to build?".
"Constructs range in complexity, from simple cleaning units to complicated walking behemoths", Cyrai projected both, "I can check your skill level to show you what you can do".
"How?", Hiccup pick up Cyrai.
"First, set me down, don't toss me like last time!", He rolled his eyes and huffed, 'Really, you're bring that up again?!'. He set her down gently, she opened, "Good, now place your dominate hand on the inside cover".
Hiccup did as she said, an intense burning made him retract his hand impulsively, "Ow, what was that for?!".
"Quit whining!", His glowing handprint pulsed several times, then became a watermark. "Lefthanded?", Hiccup cradled his hurt hand, "You're an interesting one, aren't you?". Bright red foreign runes rained down the projected screen in columns, "Besides a ridiculous high affinity with creation magic, you have an all-round base skill of a novice", Hiccup realized he could read the strange runes.
"So, what should I start training in?", he looked over his hand.
"My advice would be creating a simple construct to aid you in building a decent shelter, not like that shabby hovel", Hiccup huffed at her unnecessary remark. She fluttered several pages until she stopped at a page displaying a grapefruit-size icosahedron-shaped construct, "The constructor, a simple automaton designed for field expeditions. Able to deconstruct raw natural material for use in constructing basic shelters. Due to its rudimentary design, it's mana core doesn't require a soul, natural or artificial". Hiccup examined the projection further, it's twenty plane faced main body was a metal cage with triangular facets.
The top and bottom of the cage were metal triangles to which the lattice of the cage secured itself, "So this construct, I can create one at my skill level?".
"Yes, you just have to collect the necessary resources", Cyrai extended the hard light to display a list of materials.
Hiccup read down the short list, "Ok, iron won't be that difficult to get and I can find sand on that beach I found a couple months ago, but I don't know what a 'Mana core' is or where to find one".
"Just get the rest first, I'll help you deal with the mana core later", he picked up Cyrai and placed her on his bedroll, "W-what are you d-doing?!".
"I'm just making sure that you're safe in case it rains", Hiccup fumbled in his pack for his hammer and chisel on a handle. Putting his tools inside a canvas messenger bag he pulled out, he looped it over his shoulder, "See you later".
"Y-yeah, see y-you soon", Cyrai stuttered.
Hours later, noon
Cyrai perked up when she heard footsteps echo in the cove, Hiccup opened the tarp sheet. "Hiccup, you're back- ", She coughed, "I mean, took you long enough".
"Nice to see you too, Cyrai", he dumped the contents of his bag, several handful size of shiny gray rocks and a leather pouch of sand. "Do I have enough?", Hiccup asked, his clothes were ripped in several places.
"You have sufficient sand for the glass and more than enough iron for the metal housing, but- ", Cyrai looked at his ratty apparel, "Are you ok with your clothes in that condition?".
"Not really, but I'm not much of a tailor", he shrugged, "Besides, I have spares".
"May I remind you that you have magic?", she huffed.
"What, there's a spell that mends clothes?", Hiccup stowed away his tools.
"Yes, and one to create superior clothes".
He thought back hours before, "Can it make clothes like what Pops wore?". Cyrai opened and fluttered to the creation magic chapter and turned page after page until she got to a section depicting common wardrobes, "There!".
"You want to make this one?!", she projected a mannequin wearing an open grey zip up hoodie, dark grey tight jeans, maroon red t-shirt, and dark navy-blue converse sneakers. Hiccup nodded, "Whatever, place your hand on the page and concentrate". With his hand on the page, his eyes moved under his closed eyelids as he pictured the outfit, "When you feel sure, cast the spell".
"Create lesser Object: Outfit", Hiccup was engulfed in light as his clothes were consumed and reconstructed. The light faded as his new attire formed around his body, he felt his new clothes, "Wow, these are way more comfortable".
"I'm glad you like them", he shot a glance at Cyrai.
"What?".
"I mean, we should get working on the constructor", she diverted, "To start, we need to make a mana core".
"Um, how?".
"Since you lack an external source of magical energy, you'll have to crystalize it from your own mana".
"Sounds easy enough, how do I start?".
"First you'll need to picture mana being drawn out of your hand", Hiccup sat on his knees and cupped his left hand. A spark of red light flashed in his palm, "Concentrate", he furrowed his brow. A brighter spark flashed, but stabilized as a droplet of glowing red liquid, "Good, now harden it". The droplet solidified into a jagged piece of crystal, "Force more mana onto the seed", red miasma flowed from his palm and washed over the seed.
Hiccup began to sweat as he drew out more and more of his mana, 'Phew, I'm feeling a little lightheaded'.
The crystal grew to a diameter of two centimeters, "Almost there, keep it up". As it gains another centimeter, his breaths became uneven, "You ok?".
"Y-yeah, I'm g-good", the crystal neared four centimeters, Hiccup began to sway.
"Just a couple more layers and- ", he fell over, "Hiccup!". Cyrai watched him pant and struggle to move, "Don't let the core touch the ground!".
"I d-don't feel so-so good", he kept the core hovering in his hand.
"You're suffering from mana deprivation", his black satchel fell over, revealing the mana potions. "Hiccup, listen carefully", he looked over to her, his ruby eyes were dim. "You need to reach those vials, ok?", Hiccup groggily nods, he shuffles over to his bag and grabs one. He bit the cork and pulled it out, then spat it out the lean-to's opening. Putting the top to his lips, Hiccup greedily drank down the cold liquid.
The painful winded feeling was washed away, replaced by a charged energy flowing through his veins, "Man, I feel a million times better!".
"Great, I was worried for yo- ", he watched the empty vial crumble away, "I mean, let's finish this".
"Right", Hiccup sat back onto his knees and resumed.
The core reached five centimeters, "There, now get some sand, we need to encase it briefly". he reached over and opened his sand pouch, "Cast create object, mana core".
"Create object: Mana core", the red crystal glowed and drew sand around itself. The glow intensified as the mini sandstorm became molten, then it formed a globe and cooled.
"We should go outside, the next step is a bit of a fire hazard", Hiccup carried Cyrai, the iron ore and the pouch of sand out near the stream. "Set the mana core near the ore and sand", he propped her up nearby, then set down the materials. Cyrai spots a burned tree, "We could use that to strengthen the housing". He walks over and easily snaps off a limb, "Now crush it and set it beside the ore".
Hiccup did and piled the black bits by the rest of the them, "Now what?".
"Step back and channel your mana", He stepped away, "When you feel it surge, cast create lesser construct, constructor".
Hiccup breathed deeply, his channeled mana appearing like faint wisps of red smoke flowing around him. he stretched both his hands towards the collection, the core levitated and drew the rest of the materials towards it. the iron ore fragments orbited the core, the sand and charcoal dust swirled around it. 'Almost there', the ore and sand became molten, the liquid metal mixed with the black dust. Impurities fell off in globs, converting the soft iron to harden steel. Hiccup felt his mana surge, "Create lesser Construct: Constructor".
The glass formed into triangles and the molten steel created a lattice for them to fit into. The excess metal formed the top and base of the housing, from the base grew three small short segmented legs that tapered to a tip. The spherical construct floated down, landing amidst the slag, "Congratulations, you've created your first construct!".
"Cool… um, how do I turn it on?", Hiccup knelt to see the lantern-like construct. It just rested on its three legs; he tapped the contractor's body to get some reaction from it.
"Due to lacking any sort of consciousness, it can only execute one command at a time", he looked to Cyrai, then back to his creation.
"Ok, can you build a small house?", it pulsed once and flew to waist height, then hovered over to the lean-to and groaned.
"It's asking if you want it to build on top of your tent".
"Oh, just build next to it", it pulsed and flew over to a pile of stones, then began to spin while emitting a beam of light. The beam carved away at the rock, drawing the dust to a growing ball of stone collecting on its top. After gathering enough mineral, it flew back to the area beside the lean-to. Its tiny legs sculpted the molten stone while it was malleable, slowly constructing the first layer of the wall of Hiccup's home.
"It's going to take a day or two for it to complete the basic shack, want to rest before training?".
"Sure, I wouldn't mind lunch", he picked up Cyrai and went over to his bedroll. Reaching into his pack, he pulled out a loaf of bread from his food bag. Hiccup sat and watched the constructor repeat the process of harvesting from stones and boulders, then flying over to the half-built wall to add another layer.
Finishing off his loaf, he dusted off his jeans and walked to a different area in the cove. Hiccup set Cyrai on an old stump, she opened and fluttered to the combat magic chapter, "We'll begin with the lowest magic attack spell, magic bullet". The projection displayed a cloaked person outstretching their hand, tiny balls of energy materialized, "A basic projectile type, magic bullet is easily defeated by the most basic of magic shields or barriers".
"So why should I learn it?", Hiccup watched the caster launch a burst of bullets at another person, who summoned a barrier of overlapping hard light hexagons.
"It's mana-inexpensive, good for practicing shot accuracy", she projected the incantation.
Hiccup breathed in, "Pierce through man and beast alike, come forth: Magic bullet!". Three golden yellow marbles appeared from his outstretched hand; the bullets whizzed towards a leaning dead tree. They dug into the trunk some centimeters deep, sending chips flying and causing it to shake. "Does it always make more than one bullet every time?", he examines the splintered holes.
"No, the caster can alter the number of summoned projectiles", Cyrai was impressed by his grouping, "The lesser the quantity, the larger each individual bullet becomes".
"Do I have to say the entire incantation every time I want to cast it?", Hiccup walked back next to her.
"No, only the first time, the incantation becomes hardwired if you successfully cast the spell. Eventually, after you've practiced enough, it'll become instinctually, and you won't even need to say its name to cast it!".
"Cool", he got back into his stance and closed his eyes. "Magic bullet", again, three beads appeared in front of his palm. This time he held them and concentrated, causing the circle on his hand to spin faster as the trio drifted to each other. They melded into a much larger orb; Hiccup released it at the target. The bullet tore through the trunk and struck a boulder behind it, then ricocheted from it to the wall of the cove.
The golden slug barreled towards him, "Hiccup!", Hiccup raised his arms in front of himself. A dome of red hard light appeared; the bullet glanced off with a Ping. As soon as the bullet entered the stream it dissipated, "Wow".
Hiccup cracked open his tightly shut eyes, "What… what happen?".
"You created a mana shield without realizing!", the dome pulsed as he relaxed, then it faded away. "Maybe we should move on to softer projectiles?", Cyrai asked with concern for his safety.
"What do you have in mind?", he sees the clean hole torn through the tree.
"Fire bolt, the classic fire elemental attack spell", she flips to a different section, "Its explosive nature makes it unlikely to bounce back".
Hiccup closed his eyes and cupped his left hand, sparks burst in his grasp, "The all-consuming flame, incinerate my foes and burn them to ash: Fire bolt!". The sparks intensified until they became a small flame hovering in his grip. He turned his left hand and flared his fingers while aiming at the tree, the fire ball flew towards it. the bolt's flight speed was slow compared to the magic bullet, it struck the tree and exploded in a small eruption.
"Want to move on to the rest of the elements?", Cyrai noted his dissatisfaction with the spell.
Near dusk
The cove area where Hiccup was practicing was dotted with battle damage. Large stones and ice shards dug into the ground and on the wall, scorch marks from fire and lightning were spread about. Hiccup groaned as he rose up from his break, his hoodie hung on the lean-to, "You think I gain some skill ranks?".
Cyrai opened to her inside cover, "Let me take a look". He placed his left in the watermark, no burning sensation this time, "You finally reached the third tier of the attack magic school, well done!".
"Thanks, so what can I do now?", he splashed his face with water from the stream.
"You can now use more advance elemental attacks or cast two first tier spells simultaneously".
"So, two fire bolts at the same time?", he liked their bang, but not their speed.
"That and different elements as well", she projected a caster using different elemental attack simultaneously.
Hiccup cupped his left and summoned a fire bolt, he turned and cupped his right. Arcs of electricity jumped between his fingers until a ball lightning materialized, it sparked and pulsed wildly. He brought them close to compare their attributes, the electrical bolts jumped to the fire ball from the ball lightning, "Huh?".
Hiccup brought them close, the reaction was more intense, "What are you doing?!".
"Experimenting, you ever heard of the expression 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'?", he fought to control the convulsing lightning and fire ball. 'Feeling' each elements rhythm, Hiccup sensed a pattern as they pulled and pushed against each other.
"Hiccup, stop!", Cyrai panicked at his recklessness.
The feedback distorted gravity around Hiccup and lifted him in the air, some lightning escaped and arced to the ground, "Not yet, I almost have the cycles right!". A deathly hum reverberated in the cove as Hiccup concentrated on the timing, 'I'm so close!', the light from his hands became blinding.
The hum intensified until it became deafening, "HICCUP!". With a loud Crack, the light and hum ceased, he blew out a breath of relief. Cyrai was not so relieved, "What the hell is wrong with you!". She stopped mid-rant as Hiccup opened his hands, in his left was a ball of vermillion orange plasma, "What the?".
"Cool, I can't believe that worked!".
"Me neither, no one has been able to create original magic in millennia's", Cyrai examines the abnormal projectile.
"Really, no one?", he juggled the plasma ball between his hands.
"Not a soul, anyone who tried imploded from mana feedback", Hiccup tensed up.
"WHAT, why didn't you warn me?!".
"I did try, you idiot!", she opened up to a blank page in the combat magic chapter, "Hurry, place your free hand on this page".
"Um, why?", Hiccup questioned as he laid his hand on the page, a vermilion colored circle appeared under it.
"To record your new magic spell, what are you going to name it?", text began to fill the page with information about his creation.
He thought back to the dragon raids, his mind wandered to the mysterious night fury. 'Fury shot, no that sounds dumb', Hiccup furrowed his brow. 'Death bolt… ugh, way too edgy', he blew out an exasperated breath. 'C'mon, think Hiccup think! Um… pla-plasma blast? Yes, that sounds cool enough!', he breathed in, "Plasma blast".
From top of the page appeared 'Plasma blast' in demon script, "New spell registration successful, congratulations Hiccup!".
"Awesome, I'm gonna try it out!", he aimed his hand at a large boulder and released the plasma blast. Crack, the bolt shot out and collided with the rock, the resulting explosion created dangerous shrapnel. Hiccup snatched Cyrai and dove behind the stump, he peeped out at the devastation, "Yeah, I might want to hold back a bit".
"You think?!", she scolded, while secretly admiring his newly acquired firepower. "Psst, Hiccup", he brought her closer. She flipped open and smacked him, "That's for making me worry!".
"Ow, ow, alright… I'm sorry", The sun dipped below the horizon, "Hm, it's getting late".
"True, you should rest up, I sense a drop in your mana reserves", Hiccup walked towards his lean-to, "We'll resume training tomorrow".
He crouches inside, "Sounds like a plan", the constructor was still building the shell of his future hut. Hiccup shuffled into his bedroll, he reaches over and pulls her close, "Goodnight, Cyrai".
He holds Cyrai to his chest, "Goodnight Hiccup". She waits until his breathing becomes relaxed as he lapses into a deep slumber, "You certainly are an interesting one… master".
(A/N: There, Hiccup finds his home and learns some new tricks. This cove is like the one from the first film, just no grass, bushes, or living trees. I was thinking of giving Hiccup's construct a name. I was thinking "Blinky", unless you guys have a better suggestion.)