"We need to stop their advance. NOW!"
Hiccup's heart thumped wildly as he tugged on Toothless's saddle, and began moving to confront the dark vikings. And yet in that very moment, the lad came to an immediate stop. He realized that although he and his friends had so far delivered great befelling blows to the enemy, taking on an entire army of vikings alone was an impossibility. At the very most, they would only be able to delay them.
With that in mind, Hiccup turned his gaze towards the battlefield below. His eyes fell upon Beldrak, fighting in the center of the fray with his dwarven brothers.
"Beldrak!" shouted Hiccup, calling out for the dwarf. "BELDRAK!"
Despite the effort however, his voice fell silent over the sounds of battle. Too much was happening down below, and thus, Hiccup suddenly began reaching for his hand-cannon, intending to catch the dwarven thane's attention with its loud boom.
But before he could do anything, Toothless let out a bellowing roar.
"RAAAUUURGH!"
For a moment, Beldrak ceased his axe-swinging. The sound of the roar caused him to turn his attention to the skies, where he saw the vikings flying atop their dragons.
"Hiccup?" questioned the dwarf.
It was then that the lad pointed a finger into the distance, and as the dwarf's head turned eastwards, his expression changed in an instant. The sight of the thousands of darkened warriors marching for the gates made him shiver, and without thinking, the thane spun around to face Olof and Valara, of whom were fighting nearby.
"OLOF! VALARA!" he called out, shouting with a mighty voice.
The viking and the ranger quickly turned their eyes to the dwarf, who pointed his runic axe to the east, where the dark vikings marched. Upon catching a mere glimpse of the blackened warriors, their hearts sunk into their stomachs.
Once more, the thane spoke up. "TAKE YER WARRIORS AND INTERCEPT THOSE DARK VIKINGS! LEAVE THIS FRONT TAE US DWARVES!"
The two of them gave no questions. Both Olof and Valara grabbed a hold of their rallying horns, hanging by their waists, and immediately sounded them.
"VIKINGS! FALL BACK!" roared Olof.
"RALLY UP, RANGERS!" called out Valara. "WE HAVE A NEW FOE TO FIGHT!"
As the Alsworn vikings and the elves began withdrawing from the main front, simultaneously, Hiccup and the others had already flown ahead to mete battle with the dark vikings.
The riders landed their dragons a safe distance away from the thousands of damned warriors, yet the sudden sight of the seven lone vikings and their winged reptiles was enough to halt their march. The dark vikings were baffled, for they anticipated an army to face them off, not a mere few combatants.
"Looks like they didn't expect us," said Astrid. "Should we make the first move?"
All eyes fell onto Hiccup, and as the lad began reloading his hand-cannon, he fixated himself upon the dark vikings.
"Don't give them a chance," said Hiccup, his weapon now loaded. "Let them have it!"
To that, he pointed his hand-cannon forward, and with a pull of the trigger, the weapon gave off a resounding boom, hurling a slabbed ball of steel towards the enemy lines. Though the dark vikings were armored heavily from head to toe, the sight of the projectile flying straight through one of them caught the entire front rank by surprise.
"What the-!?" one of them shouted.
"What sorcery is this!?" yelled another.
Hiccup tossed his dragon a glance. "Toothless!"
The black dragon roared in acknowledgment, and like so, he charged up his flames, and launched a plasma blast towards the dark vikings.
Upon impact, more than a dozen were sent hurling back, with the Night Fury's searing flames burning through their black armor. In a matter of seconds, the other dragons joined in, unleashing their fire, and with that, the damned warriors let out their battle cries, swinging their weapons forward with great rage as they suddenly charged forward, disregarding the dragon fire that was now bombarding them.
The young vikings stared with widened eyes. The sight of their advance made it seem as if some strange force had taken a hold of them, compelling them to charge into the fray, regardless if they lived or perished.
However, after closing enough distance, the situation changed.
All of a sudden, the front ranks of dark vikings started hurling chaos magic at the group, raining them down like rocks being tossed from dozens of slings, and as such, the Wings of Midgard replied in 'kind.' Hiccup and the others, save for Heather, began casting forth spells of fire, ice, and lightning at the damned warriors, thinning them down as much as they could. With every spell that struck, several dark vikings fell dead to the ground.
Yet despite the effort that the group gave, it was, as expected, not enough to turn the charge around. The dark vikings hastily closed in on them, like a horde of wolves cornering their prey, and as the lone group prepared for the impact, something happened...
"LOOSE!"
Valara's voice, along with the sounds of arrows being let loose from their bows, caught the vikings' ears, and in that moment, a volley of two hundred elven arrows came down upon the cladded brutes. But as deadly as they were, only a third of the arrows managed to find their marks, taking down a few scores of the dark vikings.
From the group's flanks came the Alsworn and the elves, running past them with Olof and Valara leading them. Their shields were kept close, and their weapons were raised high, and as they screamed out their roars and battle cries, they charged into the fray, clashing with the enemy vikings.
The Alsworn and the light elves stood back-to-back and shoulder-to-shoulder, striking hard and fast against their foe as they made use of their speed and maneuverability. The dark vikings on the other hand relied more on their strength and discipline, for their greater statures and bulky figures provided an advantage against the defenders, of whom they considered 'weak.' However, with Olof and Valara at the front of it all, the dark vikings were unable to gain the upper hand. Both the viking and the ranger acted as a spearhead for their warriors, cutting down the enemt left and right... though not with ease.
Slowly but surely, the dark vikings' numbers began thinning out, though some of them refused to fall without delivering their own killing blows to the Alsworn and the elves.
"We should attack while we still can," said Astrid, turning towards Stormfly as she swiftly mounted up. "If we take them on from the air, we can turn the tide in our favor."
"Agreed," nodded Hiccup, before glancinf back at the others. "Everyone, mount up! We'll send the dark vikings running for the-"
Hiccup's words came to an abrupt halt. Within that moment, the enemy's loud battle-horn once again sounded from the ruins, catching the attention of the riders and the dragons. At the same time however, dread and unease took hold of the air around them. Nothing seemed to immediately happen.
However, Toothless started growling as soon his senses began ringing.
"Grr... What now!?" he said angrily.
A moment later, the ground beneath their feet started to rumble. Though it was not as violent as Drago's spell, the group nonetheless felt uneased by this, and as the shaking intensifed, something in the east caught the corner of their eyes.
...That was when they saw it.
From the top of the eastern hill, a giant war machine of black iron came rolling forward. It was a weapon so large, it looked like a cross between a giant cannon and a moving fort. It had wheels that were as big as a troll, a massive cannon barrel with a closed hatch at its front, and a large, surrounding platform which was enough to carry a group of thirty orcs.
...But as the vikings squinted their eyes, they saw that the crew manning the large machine were not orcs, but dwarves.
It was a dreadening sight to them. Unlike the bright and stouted warriors of Khaz'ardul and Khaz'dalgard, the dwarves that armed the great weapon looked much like ruffians, but with professional gear. Their skin was as pale as ash. Their hair was as black as charcoal. Their eyes glowed green with the corruption of chaos energy. And their weapons and armor were of blackened steel and scalemail, forged by their very own wicked hands.
"What... is that?" questioned Heather, as she and the other riders looked upon the foul weapon with widened eyes.
But before they could say another word, the machine's great barrel suddenly began to turn, with its gears and chains turning and grinding. When the barrel came to a stop, Hiccup immediately realized that the massive weapon was aimed at Beldrak and his dwarves, and with that, the hatch opened.
"MOUNT UP!" yelled Hiccup as he and the riders leaped atop their saddles, and hastily took flight.
Yet the moment they did, they heard the voice of a dwarf bellow out in the distance, shouting out one word;
"FIRE!"
The great war machine rumbled as chaos fire filled the barrel's gaping maw, and in the blink of an eye, it open fired, launching a giant fiery projectile of chaotic energy towards the main front. As soon as it struck, everything came crashing down...
A violent explosion of chaos fire erupted outwards, killing hundreds of dwarves in an instant, including a few dozen of the enemy. From what Hiccup saw, nearly half of the entire dwarven force was wiped out. Only Beldrak, along with six hundred dwarves, were left standing, now surrounded on three sides by thousands of orcs, goblins, and now, dark vikings.
With this sudden loss, the dwarves sounded their horns, and began calling out for a retreat.
"FALL BACK! FALL BACK! RETREAT NEAR THE MOUNTAIN!"
Hiccup and the others were stunned by this sudden turn. In a matter of seconds, their main front had fallen, and the dwarves were now in a seemingly hopeless position. Yet as devastating as it was, they knew that sitting around would do nothing about it. Decisive action had to be taken.
The young chieftain turned his eyes to the other vikings. "We can't let that thing fire again! Everyone, on me! We must take it out-"
"But what about the elves and the Alsworn?" asked Heather. "We can't just abandon them! At least let Windshear and I stay behind! We'll fight the dark vikings from above!"
"...Fine!" sighed Hiccup. "But keep your distance! A single hit from their spells, and they'll shoot both of you down!"
Heather gave a nod, and with a light kick, Windshear turned her attention towards the dark vikings and began her way towards them, lighting up her mouth with blue flames.
"HRAAAAGH!" roared Heather, raising her axe.
As soon as the two of them charged into the battle, the rest of the group turned their eyes back onto the mechanical monstrosity. And with that, Hiccup raised his voice.
"On me, Wings of Midgard!"
The lad then gave Toothless a light kick, to which the Night Fury nodded and began forward, and with that, the riders and their dragons flew off after the large war machine. But as they closed the distance, the dwarves that were manning the weapon quickly noticed them from the corners of their eyes, and thus, they fixed their gazes onto them.
"TAE ARMS YE FOOLS! THEY HAVE DRAGONS!"
The enemy dwarves ceased what they were doing and took up their ranged weapons. From what Hiccup saw, they were seemingly armed with crossbows and strange-looking hand-cannons, longer than what he had.
Yet little did he know, they were not what they seemed.
"TAKE 'EM DOWN! TAKE 'EM DOWN! FIRE!"
All of a sudden, the dwarves let loose repeating volleys of crossbow bolts, followed by streams of chaos fire. The dragons, whose eyes widened at the sight of this, immediately maneuvered their way out of the line of fire, and began circling around the war machine, forcing the dwarves to change positions.
"Well isn't that just great!" shouted Snotlout as green fire flew over his head, forcing him to duck. "They have flamethrowers!"
"And rapid-fire crossbows!" responded Fishlegs. "At least one bolt every second!"
"Good to know!" said Hiccup sarcastically, lighting up his hand with fiery magic. "Now if you guys aren't too busy, FIRE BACK AT THEM!"
The group obeyed without question. As the dragons started shooting their flames at the great weapon, the Wings of Midgard conjured up spells and sent them hurling at the dwarves, who responded with either bolts or chaos fire.
And thus began a battle of steel, fire, and magic.
Explosions of flame, ice, and lightning battered the war machine, followed by blasts of dragonfire, and within moments, the Wings of Midgard began picking off some of the enemy dwarves. However, the damage dealt to the massive weapon was surprisingly very little, and many of the dwarves managed to simply hide behind fitting cover, from which they were able to more effectively fire back at the riders and dragons. To that, the group was forced to improvise their maneuverabilities.
"Their cover is too good!" yelled Ruffnut, launching bolts of fire at the dwarves, followed by spikes of ice. "JUST DROP DEAD ALREADY!"
"This is no good!" called out Astrid, unsheathing her bow from her back as she began conjuring up arrows ice, shooting them down at the dwarves. "If we can't stop these dwarves soon, they'll fire that damned weapon again! The only way we can take them out is if we take out the weapon, but our dragons are barely putting a dent in it!"
"She's right!" growled Toothless as he fired a barrage of plasma blasts. "I can hardly damage this thing! If we're to take it down, we need something STRONG enough to force it down, and FAST!"
...Toothless's words struck Hiccup. For a moment, the lad ceased his spellcasting, and began briefly studying the structure of the foul machine, seemingly ignoring the chaos fire and crossbow bolts that flew past and over. Whilst examining the weapon from top to bottom, he began to realize exactly how much metal was put into making it. It appeared as if every part of it was covered in plating.
"This thing is clearly armored to the core," he said to himself. "But that also means the metal is weighing it down. Question is, how big of a blow can it take before it...?"
The lad's eyes widened. His gaze immediately turned to the skies, and like a lightning bolt, an idea came to mind.
Hiccup looked back at Toothless, and then the other riders.
"Listen up!" he called out. "I have an idea on how to take this thing down, but I need you guys to keep those dwarves distracted! Don't let them fire again!"
"And what exactly are you going to do!?" asked Astrid, continuously shooting icy arrows from her bow.
"Something I haven't done in a long time..." replied Hiccup smirkingly. "Toothless, get us to a safer distance!
The Night Fury nodded, making a quick and sudden turn as the two of them immediately took off. Simultaneously, a snowfall began...
Whilst flying through the air, the dragon's eyes looked back up at Hiccup, expressing a curious look. He wondered quite heavily as to what exactly the lad had planned up his sleeve, and as soon as they reached a safe enough distance, the Night Fury slowed to a quick stop.
"...Alright, Hiccup. Tell me. What exactly are you planning to do?" he asked.
Hiccup looked down at Toothless. "Remember the fight against the Red Death?" he asked. "There was a point in that battle where you knocked it down to the ground with a single plasma blast. You struck it with the force of Thor's hammer..."
"...And now, I want you to do it again."
Toothless's eyes widened. "But that was years ago. How do you know we can pull it off again? Especially against THAT thing. What if it-"
"You took out the Lord of the Four using the mark of the alpha," said Hiccup. "If you can take down the Legions' strongest dark viking, you can certainly take that down."
A huff of a smoke escaped Toothless's nostrils, and the dragon lowered his head, closing his eyes in hesitation. Hiccup could see the uncertainty on his face, and could feel his body shaking very slightly, as if shivers travelled down his spine. To the lad, this came as a surprise, as hesitation was not a part of Toothless. This was much unlike his dragon, yet at the same time, he felt concerned.
'...Did I go too far?' he thought to himself.
But before he could even say his dragon's name, the shaking came to an abrupt stop. Hiccup rose a brow, and as he looked down, he noticed the mark of the alpha glowing to life. The Night Fury's huffs started to intesify, and as soon as the mark was at its brightest, Toothless raised his head and opened his eyes, his pupils dilated.
"Let's get this over with. RAAUGH!"
The Night Fury raised his wings, and all of a sudden, Hiccup found himself soaring upwards at great speed, prompting him to hold on tightly to his saddle. Yet as they continued ascending, their speed kept picking up, and as soon as Toothless reached a high enough peak, he narrowed his wings...
"HOLD ON TIGHT!"
In that moment, a piercing screech filled the air, followed by the sight of Toothless diving down from the skies. As soon as Astrid and the other vikings heard it, they knew what it meant.
"GET BACK!" screamed Astrid.
In an instant, the riders and the dragons turned their backs on the enemy dwarves and flew off, leaving them to the fiery fate that now awaited them...
One of them rose a brow. "What the bloody 'el is-!?"
And then, there were flames. As Toothless unleashed his plasma blast upon the war machine, a great explosion erupted outwards, shaking the earth and tearing the massive contraption asunder as it toppled onto its side, taking all of the dwarves aboard with it. From its remains, all that was left was a great hunk of black metal, burning dimly in chaos fire.
This alone was enough to catch Drago's attention, who stared at the wreckage with a glare...
As soon as Toothless's speed receded, the mark of the alpha began to fade. With a huff, the dragon came to a total stop and proceeded to land, settling down in a spot where no fighting occured.
Hiccup sighed, rubbing his hand across the back of the dragon's hand. "Catch your breath, bud. You deserve it..."
"Are you guys alright!?"
The sound Astrid's voice calling out met his ears, and as he turned his head towards the source, he caught sight of her and the other riders flying towards him. He sighed in relief, and as they landed their dragons, they immediately gathered around him.
"We're fine," said Hiccup. "Toothless is just a little drained. He hasn't done that in a while."
"Well, thank Freya you're alright," sighed Astrid. "And at least that damn machine is done for."
"Uh... Guys?" asked Fishlegs. "What about the rest of the battle?"
The group's faces dilated with sudden shock. Upon looking back at their allies, they began to realize that things had changed...
To the east, Olof, Valara, Heather, and Windshear, along with the Alsworn and the light elves, failed to subdue the dark vikings. Though they managed to take down nearly half of their forces, in the end, a hundred elves and a hundred Alsworn laid dead, and now, they were on the retreat, falling back to the warriors of Khaz'dalgard.
...But even Beldrak and his dwarves were barely holding. To the west, thousands upon thousands of orcs, goblins, and dark vikings marched towards them in a great tide, and to make matters worse, the enemy had brought forth a dozen catapults. With them, they launched fiery boulders at the mountain, causing chunks of rock to fly off and rain down like an avalanche.
Some of them even managed to strike the gates' ramparts, destroying the cannons that sat atop them.
Hiccup unsheathed his sword, lighting it aflame. "Everyone, mount up! We must take out those catapults!"
...
From within the throne room, King Kharinz could feel the mountain itself shake.
The dwarven king sat atop his throne with the light elven healers by his side, of whom were channeling streams light magic around him. Yet as time drew on, the five elves grew worried, for they knew not what was taking place outside.
However, the longer they spent with their efforts in healing the dwarf, the more the quaking intensified. It felt as if two giants the size of a mountain were brawling with one another, or as if fiery meteors came raining down from Muspelheim. Deep down though, they knew what was happening.
"By Freyr. This is the enemy's doing," said one of the elves. "Never in my life have I felt the earth tremble with such force."
"It is as if they are trying to bring down the mountain onto us," said another. "Or, onto our allies..."
"In that case, we must work faster, brothers and sisters!" spoke the head-healer, who stood directly in front of the mountain king, his hands and eyes glowing with light magic. "If our friends falter, then the battle will be lost! Nothing will stop the Dark Legions from flooding into Dal-"
"They won't succeed," said Kharinz, lifting his head up slightly. "...I won't let them."
The elf rose his brows. "Your majesty, you musn't move. We are still not finished with-"
Kharinz rose a hand, shaking his head at the head-healer. "No. I am done hiding in this hold."
The elven healers were taken aback from the dwarven king's words. Despite the fact that he could barely stand to his feet, let alone carry a weapon, it seemed as if he had had enough of sitting idle, and wanted to join in the fight himself. However, the elves saw the great risk in taking such an action, and were thus tempted to protest. But before they could, something began to happen...
...In that moment, a bright glow of light magic took hold of Kharinz, and before their very eyes, the dwarf's hair and skin slowly began to change. The white of his head and beard began to transform into that of a gray shade, with small amounts of blonde hair scattered across. Simultaneously, his complexion started to bloom with color, with his tone becoming a warmer hue, and his cheeks obtaining their natural blush. From the elves' perspective, the mountain king had turned into a completely different dwarf. It was as if he were hundreds of years younger, and to that, the healers ceased their channeling.
Kharinz let out a deep breath, and raised his head. He blinked for a moment, before slowly placing his hands against the arms of his throne. He then gave a push, and just like so, the mountain king was on his feet.
The elven healers backed away, making room for the gray-bearded dwarf, who then took a few steps forward. As he looked back at them however, his brows suddenly lowered.
"There isn't much time," he said, speaking in a booming voice. "Master elves, get me my axe and hammer, and summon the thanes. It is time to blow the horn of Khaz'dalgard! It is time to go to war!"
...
Though Hiccup and his friends managed to destroy the catapults that were bombarding the mountain, they were unable to remain in the skies.
From the enemy's ranks, hundreds of blackened arrows and sharpened spears hurled towards them, forcing them down to the ground where their allies fought. But by then, the dwarves, elves, and vikings were beginning to falter.
Several more portals of chaos energy had torn open to the northeast, and the entirety of the valley was now flooded with tens of thousands orcs, goblins, and dark vikings. Worse than that however, more trolls and giants had begun to emerge from the portals in their tens, and dozens of black dragons started descending from the skies like a swarm of ravens. Albeit, instead of charging into the fray, the monsters took their time, slowly advancing upon the crumbling defenders as a means to intimidate them.
Yet none saw what Beldrak saw...
The thane fought atop a small slope with his dwarven brothers by his side, and as he jabbed his great axe into the side of an orc, he looked onto the field and saw a nightmare unleashed, and it felt unending; no matter how many they slew, they simply kept coming.
Even Hiccup figured as such.
As the lad took down a nearby dark viking with a bolt of lightning, he knelt in exhaustion. He felt the strength in his arms beginning to give in as his head simultaneously started to spin. Glancing back at his friends and the dragons who fought right beside him, he saw that they too were as fatigued as he was. Their attacks had become flimsy and feeble, and some of them even found it difficult to stand up straight.
Unable to carry on, it was only a matter of time before Hiccup heard a voice call out...
"FALL BACK!" shouted Beldrak, slicing off the head of a dark viking. "EVERYONE FALL BACK! TAE THE GATES! TAE THE MOUNTAIN!"
Hiccup sighed, standing to his feet as he brought up Inferno, slicing it across the neck of an oncoming orc. "YOU HEARD HIM! FALL BACK TO THE MOUNTAIN! FALL BACK!"
With that, the allied defenders grouped together and began to back away, making for the gates... but not before cutting down several more orcs, goblins, and dark vikings.
From the ruins above the cliffs, Drago grinned wickedly at the sight before him. Though the defenders managed to slay thousands of his warriors, in the end, it did not matter. Out of the fifteen hundred that stood against him, a mere fifty elves, fifty Alsworn, and a few hundred dwarves were all that remained; less than half.
And now, his armies filled the entire valley... yet the defenders had not seen all of it.
The warlord inhaled through his nostrils, taking in the scent of the raging fires burning below. "And so their defeat has come. Such a pity. The Wings of Midgard didn't even bother coming to face me..."
Drago's gaze then fell upon the dark viking captain. "Order them all to a halt! I want the Wings of Midgard to bear witness to what's about to come! PREPARE FOR THE FINAL RITUAL!"
The large warrior gave a nod, taking up the battle horn as he raised it up to his lips...
At the front of the gates, Hiccup and his allies formed up for a final defense. With their numbers diminished, all they could do was organize a long battle-line, and prepare for the last stand.
The lad and his friends stood in the center of the line, with their dragons right behind them. They breathed heavily and intensely, holding their weapons at the ready as the Dark Legions marched towards them in their tens of thousands.
But in that very moment, the sound of the enemy's deep, bellowing horn boomed through the air, and like so, the entire army came to a halt.
The dwarves, elves, and vikings expressed utter bewilderment. They did not anticipate the enemy to make such a move, especially since they knew that their chances of holding out were now little-to-none. To their surprise, even the trolls, giants, and black dragons had slown to a stop.
"...Why have they stopped?" asked Astrid, her eyes turning to Hiccup.
He shook his head. "I... I don't know... Unless Drago has something planned, there should be no reason for them to stop."
"Either way, there's nowhere for us to run," said Heather. "We're completely surrounded."
"So what do we do now, then?" questioned Fishlegs, staring back at the lad for an answer. "...Hiccup?"
There was silence. The young chieftain merely stood there, looking back at his surroundings in desperation, for his mind was seemingly devoided of ideas. To him, everything that he, his friends, and his allies had accomplished in this battle was all for nothing. Even though they had managed to take down thousands of brutal warriors, as well as large monsters and a chaotic weapon, their efforts had barely resulted in anything at all. More than a thousand brave men and women had died this day, and the thought of it alone brought back the traumatic memories of his tribe's disaster from nearly two months ago; the same day that Drago took his father's life.
"...I- Is history about to repeat itself?" he asked himself, his voice trembling with dread. "Is there really no hope?"
Yet as Hiccup questioned himself, something caught his ears.
It was the sound of a distant screech, echoing from a far distance. At first, he could not make sense of it, but as it slowly became louder and louder, he eventually began to realize that the screeching was that of a bird. A particularly large bird...
"Hiccup," spoke Toothless, his narrowed eyes gazing eastwards. "Look over there. In the east..."
Turning his head towards the eastern hill, Hiccup saw the bird flying around up above, its silhouette outlined by rays of sunlight bleeding through the clouds. Although the winged creature seemed like nothing special, Hiccup could not shake the feeling that it was somehow familiar. Squinting his eyes however, he soon noticed that the creature looked less like a regular bird, and more like a gryphon.
...And then, Hiccup saw him.
From atop the gryphon rode a slim figure. A young man. Though the lad could not see his face from where he stood, he was able make out the figure's long blonde hair and sky-blue cloak blowing in the wind. But among other things, the figure also held a weapon in his right hand, raised above his head... It was a sword, glinting with sunlight.
That alone was enough to tell Hiccup who it was.
"...Arn!"