Chapter 24

Unknown

The fields of snow and ice were calm and tranquil under the blazing light of billions of stars. Each individual flake of snow reflected its own set of the stars light and the glimmer was astonishing. Two figures floated above this sparkling sea of white heading in a North Easterly direction. As they passed over the rolling crests and troughs of the drifts below, they did not notice a tiny movement in one of the snow drifts beneath them. For just a second, the top layer of flakes of a particularly lumpy hill, shifted slightly. As the two shapes flew on, a single eye of piercing green opened, brushing the snow from its line of vision as the lid lifted. The eye followed the shapes until they were beyond the horizon. Then the eye closed. Thoughts rang into empty space, shielded from unwanted listeners.

"Yes that was definitely her. And I definitely don't recognize the male that's with her. His mind was just as closed as hers, maybe even more so. But it felt very strange as they passed over. Like there was something, else there too. Something I couldn't see from down here."

A different voice this time, older and authoritative. "Are they continuing on their course? If they're still headed for the Rakar then the next watch post will be Skuru. Are you well hidden Skuru?"

Yet another voice. "Ready and waiting. They will not perceive me. Did Alda say why he's interested in this male?"

"No, all he told me was that Ryshkaa was traveling back in the company of two strangers, and that it was vital for both of those companions to come back with us to Home Cave."

"I only saw the one stranger. Has anyone had a sighting of the other unknown?"

"No one has. For now, we assume that it's just the one extra male. Everyone close your circle around Rakar. That's the only place they could possibly be going. If we work very carefully, we'll close a noose around them without any of them the wiser. If they resist, you will repress them Skuru."

"Are we expecting Ryshkaa to resist? She will respect a request from Alda, though she'll probably be just as confused as us."

"No, she will comply. What else is she going to do? She has deeper ties to Home Cave than any of us."

The voice of Skuru buzzed with its youthful excitement. "They just came within range! Yes Ryshkaa is as much a clam as ever, but wow. That male she's with, he's on a whole different level!"

"What do you mean by that Skuru? Can you get specific?"

"Well, we're all familiar with the mental defenses of your typical Shade. A cold, hard, black, indifferent shell of apathy. But this guy's is nothing like that."

The first voice spoke out again. "How? What's different about it?"

"His defense is fluid and light. When I press against it, it gives slightly, but the thoughts and emotions that I receive are gibberish. It's almost like he's thinking in a language that's different than ours."

The authoritative voice broke into Skuru's musings. "You idiot! We are trying not to be noticed! You're poking at his mind?!"

"Calm down Sycle. My touch is feather light and completely unnoticeable."

"You'd better hope that it is for your sake, as well as ours. This male is unknown, and the unknown can be dangerous. Everyone on your toes from here on."

The snow drift, which had not so much as twitched since the eye had closed, began to shudder and tremble.

"They're far enough away now, I'm taking to the sky. I'll circle down toward Rakar from the east. Skuru, when they're clear of you, circle around and come from the south."

Sycle spoke. "And I'll come from the south west. Night protect you both."

Silence.

XXX

Hiccup

The wind here was wonderful. Chilly, but wonderful. It was so pristine. So completely untouched by the influences of anything beyond the frozen water that stretched for vast leagues in every direction. Hiccup found himself shivering slightly. Chilly. It occurred to him of course that this temperature would probably inflict frost burn and flash freezing to a normal human. Hells, he didn't even know if he was a human or not. Well, at the very least, arctic temperatures were still beyond his ability to withstand, and to remedy that, he required what Toothless would call his 'second skin'.

"It's as good a term as any." As Hiccup chuckled as Toothless broadcasted a public thought.

"Ryshkaa! How much farther?!"

The response was short and snappy. "Males! You're all the same!" And without another word the female spilled air from her wings and entered a lazy dive. The pair of males followed suit. Now that he was actually paying attention, Hiccup could see a very faint glow of orange on the horizon. He slid his legs out from around Toothless' neck, reversed his facing and lay back against the large head.

"Well wake me when we get there."

"I don't think so. You've got a huge amount of spare time on your hands. Get practicing."

"Practicing? Practicing what?"

"Mental control."

"I have plenty of mental control!"

"That so?"

"Yes!"

Toothless heaved a sigh. And then Hiccup's mind was violently pulled apart, thoughts scattering in all directions. The chill of the arctic air seemed to deepen and began to seep into his bones. He felt alone. So alone. He hadn't even noticed what his body was doing. The fetal position that he had assumed on Toothless' back was completely involuntary. Just as whiteness started to fall across his vision, a warm radiant point of shadow darkened the blazing white.

"Hiccup, you can barely even function without me. You need mental discipline. What would happen if another Shade, Ryshkaa even, were to attack us? I am strong, but for all we know there could be any number of Shades stronger than I in either physical, or mental abilities, or even both. You are going to practice. You are going to strengthen your mind. It was always your most prominent strength. Now you're playing with the big kids."

"..I…Get the p- point. Get back o- over here before I have a –s seizure or something."

Warmth and shadow enveloped his mind. Encasing him. Protecting him. Hiccup opened his eyes to the night sky above, aflame with billions of stars.

"Alright fine. I'll practice. But I don't know how."

"Alright listen closely. You have a pretty good feel of your own mind, if only subconsciously. I want you to close your eyes and imagine yourself in completely empty space. You are floating in blackness. There is nothing below, above, or around you. There is nothing."

Toothless' words were slow and rhythmic. Hiccup's eyes were closed before he even knew what was happening. It was almost effortless. He found himself floating, completely weightless and surrounded by nothing but empty space. Toothless' next words were soft and paced precisely with the beat of his own heart.

"You are doing very well. Now, in front of you is an archway."

Hiccup wasn't sure when or how it came to be there, but in front of him, he saw an outline of a massive archway. It was only an outline. The interior was just as black and featureless as the space around it. There was no base, because there was nothing around it to reference. It just hung there in open space.

"Go through the archway."

Hiccup didn't even think about how he could possibly move without something to push off against. It just happened. The only thing he noticed as the archway slowly became larger was a slight ache in his head.

At the exact second that he passed the border of the archway, there was a jerking feeling in his skull, as if something had hit the inside of it. And the same time, light exploded in front of him. Reflexively, he threw his hands up in front of his face to protect his sensitive eyes. But of course, his eyes weren't actually open. When he dropped his hands, a magnificent sight greeted his mind's eye. All around him were clouds. Some whispy, others fluffy, still others that boiled and swirled angrily. They surrounded him on all sides and created a huge enclosed space of soft, textured whiteness. Some clouds rose in columns to support other structures above them and from the ceiling of this great enclosure of space, soft yellow light glowed, bathing everything in a soft golden glow. Almost like a tiny, less powerful sun.

As he took a second closer look at the world around him he noticed moving things that he had to focus on to see. Thin wispy tendrils of black shadow that wove there ways in between the golden tinted clouds like suspended water.

Hiccup turned to look behind him, and saw the archway, huge and gaping, showing nothing but pitch blackness beyond its frame.

"Welcome to your own mind." Being completely relaxed and with the illusion that he was alone, these words spoken quite plainly and relatively loudly came as a bit of a shock to Hiccup. He whirled around and watched as the black tendrils he'd seen floating between the clouds rapidly converged on a single point, and then resolved themselves into an image of a Shade that lounged, stretched out on a particularly fluffy cloud.

"My mind? If this is my mind then where was I before? What's that out there?" He pointed back towards the archway and the empty blackness beyond.

"Ahh, that is where this gets interesting. This is how it was explained to me by my mother. All beings have this space with them," Toothless gestured with a paw to the airy space and the clouds that defined it. "it looks different to everyone. This is your mind. Shades, and a few other creatures, are blessed with a 'Gateway' that allows them to exit their own mind-space and interact with others' should they wish." Here he gestured towards the archway. "Somehow, I'm only guessing here, as a result of our bond, your mind-space has been torn open, giving you a sort of 'pseudo-Gateway' to the outside."

And now that Hiccup looked at it more closely, he saw that the outline of the archway was not as clean and precise as he had first thought. The edge was ragged and shaky. It looked as if it something had indeed torn it open.

"What's even more interesting is that this gateway no longer leads outside."

"It.. It doesn't?" Hiccup noticed for the first time that he was still floating in the middle of empty space. He glanced at a fluffy cloud on the same level as Toothless' and to his surprise and pleasure, he immediately floated towards it and settled into its soft warmth.

"No it doesn't. Do you remember what happened in the killring? When you finally woke up?"

"Our mind mended itself. When you yelled we both remembered that time we first met. And we reoriented around that event."

"Indeed. But what you may not have realized is that when we came back together, it was a very powerful clash of thought. It changed our collective mind. Out through that arch is not the outside. Instead, it is the space in between our two individual personalities, which is all contained within a single, larger collective mind-space."

"Well that a little tough to wrap my head around."

"Of course it is. Because it is already wrapped around your head."

"Wha.. Ha!" Hiccup felt laughter bubble up in his chest. Toothless laughed along with him, when another question occurred to Hiccup. "So what would happen if I were to go back outside the archway?"

As Toothless responded, he gazed out at the big gaping hole in the golden misty landscape. "Well, your concentration isn't the best. I expect you would be pulled back into the world outside and wake up on my back."

"Wait, if you're in here, who's flying?"

"I multitask rather well. Decades of practice and all that. Oh, and an amendment to my previous statement, if I wasn't helping you stay, you would probably be pulled out through that opening by your lack of concentration anyway."

"You're keeping me here? And you're also keeping yourself here, and yet you're still externally conscious."

"It's actually one of the most rigorous mental exercises I've undertaken in my lifetime. My head is starting to hurt a little."

"Well then maybe you should let me practice on my own. Stop helping me and let's see how I do."

"If you insist I guess. Concentrate on just staying here, in this place."

With a wild jerk Hiccup felt himself pulled violently away from his comfortable cloud and hurled unceremoniously toward the arch.

"Toothless are you doing that?!"

"I'm just observing. You're distracted. Concentrate!"

Hiccup tried to think about nothing but stopping, and for a brief moment, it worked. He came to a sudden halt in midair just a few feet away from the blackness.

"Very good!" Unfortunately, the praise upset Hiccup's already tenuous concentration. He fell towards the archway once again. And passed through. Once again he floated in infinite blackness and watched as the archway fell farther and farther away. It was now full of the golden light from the other side. As he watched, a dark shadow flew outwards after him. Toothless came alongside and grinned at him. "Well, it was a good first attempt."

"Oh shut up."

"We're getting close to the human village now, but before we finish this practice I want to show you something. Grab hold."

Hiccup gripped Toothless' shoulder with a hand and oriented himself behind his head as if they were really flying. Then he felt himself accelerating. It was a strange feeling. He felt that they were moving fast, but there was nothing to reference. No landmark, not even any wind in his face. They might as well be floating completely still except for the tug in his stomach that told him they were moving very quickly.

"Look behind us." Hiccup did so, and gasped.

Behind them floated an enormous outline of a sphere. It was black but from this far away, Hiccup could see a strange shimmery golden sheen that was its surface. And as he watched, he saw something that was even more amazing. A second massive sphere was coming into view beyond the golden one. This sphere's surface was a shimmering sheen of deep violet, almost black.

"Our two minds suspended together in a shared space." Toothless' words reverberated in Hiccup's ears.

"They're so beautiful."

"And you'll get to see more of them later. For now, let's find you some clothes."

And once again Hiccup felt acceleration. They were moving even faster away from the spheres. In fact, as he glanced back, the enormous orbs seemed small now. About the size of his fist. He saw now from this distance that they were revolving around each other. With a sigh he turned his attention back to the front. Now this looked a little strange. There were little white holes in the blackness. Tiny pricks of light making their way into the blackness.

"Toothless wha.."

"Exits. Exits out of the collective mind-space. If you weren't with me they'd be pulling you out and away. You would probably lose consciousness if you were sucked out through an exit so small though. We're going to use a big one."

The tiny little white points were flying past them now, like stars falling from the sky.

"What do you mean a big.." But he could see. The little white points rushing past were starting to get larger. Soon they were fist sized, then they were larger than his head. Then they were larger than his own body.

"You could fit through one of these, but I need to get out too. We'll use an exit big enough for two!"

The white balls were flying past faster and faster now. Hiccup felt his heart beat quicken and he thrilled at the sight of the rushing field of white and black. Then, all of a sudden, there was a huge exit in front of them and it swelled to fill all of his vision.

Then he opened his eyes.

His stomach flipped and he turned and heaved caribou over Toothless' side. It wasn't the entire meal, but still a good chunk.

"THAT I would have liked a little warning of."

"The first time should always be like that. If I had told you it would have made the feeling worse. See? It's already past."

Hiccup lay on Toothless' back with his chest heaving. And he contemplated how best to make his stomach settle completely when he was interrupted by a feminine mind voice.

"That was pretty repulsive. If you're done being sick, the village is below us."

Hiccup looked down. Amidst the dark shimmering snowfields lay nestled a small collection of yellow lights.

"Wow. It feels like I haven't seen a human village in weeks."

"You were in one just a few days ago Love."

"I know, it just feels really distant." Ryshkaa snorted.

"Both of you shut up before you make me nauseous too. Human.."

"That's not my name."

"Heavens above FINE THEN! H- Hiccup, we'll wait in the drifts beyond the borders. You get in fast, find some hides and get out with as little attention as possible."

"Sounds easy enough, but you two need to promise to play nice while I'm gone." Toothless' voice was soothing.

"I'll make sure nothing happens. Now let's hurry, your starting to shiver harder." Toothless folded his wings and dropped out of the night sky. Ryshkaa rolled her eyes and followed.

XXX

Unknown

"They have arrived."

"Any more public conversation?"

"Yes. And I'm hearing three distinct voices."

"So there is a third?"

"Yes, but I can't figure out where. I can only see the two. Wait, one of them is called 'Hiccup'."

"Hiccup?"

"Yes Hiccup. They're here at the village to steal hides."

"Hides? What could Shades possibly want with hides?"

"No idea. Hold on a minute they're landing."

Silence.

"Heavens above."

"What is it?"

Silence.

"What is it?!"

"There's a human."

Silence.

"What?"

"Exactly what I said. The male is being ridden by a human."

"How is that even possible?"

"He's wearing some kind of… thing. I don't know what it is. It wraps around his chest and.."

"And what?"

"He's missing a tailfin."

"You just told me that he was flying a second ago!"

"There's something that looks like a tailfin stuck to his tail. There's a line that runs between it and the thing that wraps around his chest."

"…we are hauling all three of them back to Home Cave. Skuru, make sure you remain hidden. Kale, get here as quickly as possible."

A third, softer, yet unheard voice responded. "It won't take me long."

XXX

Toothless

Hiccup was very quick. And when he returned he strode with purpose in his step.

"Personally I think I got pretty lucky. I'm pretty sure the tent I snuck into was the leader's. I didn't see anyone else wearing things like this. Mostly they were all in big fluffy coats and gloves." Hiccup's legs were encased in boots and leg coverings of some smooth black material, presumably the skin of some poor creature. It smelled awful, it had probably been preserved. His chest was still bare, but over it was thrown a long cloak of soft white fur. It hung over both of Hiccup's shoulders and was joined across the front with a length of cord, and it swished back and forth just above the ground at about the level of his shins. The back of the skin rose and folded to form a hood. Probably the same skin that had once covered the beasts head, but the strange thing about the garment was its interior. Inside, against Hiccup's body was a finer, softer looking fur of pitch black.

"They look as though they were crafted by someone with access to more materials than these humans have. Perhaps they are trophies? Or items obtained through trade?"

Overall it gave Hiccup a much larger appearance, though he was still smaller than the average Viking.

"Well whatever they are, they look good. And this cloak is extremely warm and soft."

Ryshkaa showed her interest in the subject by turning and taking a few steps to the north, opening her wings as she did.

"Hold it, where do you think you're going?" The female threw a look and a snort over her shoulder.

"I brought you freaks to the village, now I'm leaving. I've had a somewhat less than ideal few days and I plan to sleep for a week when I get home."

Toothless could not suppress the quiet snarl that lifted his lip slightly. His voice came out quite, slow and slightly threatening.

"If you think carefully, you'll remember that you promised us an explanation of how we came to be here, as well as where here is, and where you're going."

XXX

Hiccup

Silence fell over the trio. Hiccup stopped swishing his new cloak about and watched the two. Ryshkaa stood in a strange pose, with her left foreleg lifted and bent slightly and the head tilted downwards slightly. Toothless had an aggressive stance, tail swishing back and forth while his wings rose slightly from his back. Ryshkaa seemed to be slightly awkward, as if the explanation for their current circumstances was difficult or embarrassing.

"I…" As she started to speak, she was interrupted by a piercing whistle from directly above. All three heads snapped upwards and as they did so, Ryshkaa and Toothless fell sideways as large bodies slammed into them. A third mass from above knocked Hiccup to the ground and the shrieking whistle was abruptly cut off. When Hiccup's head finally stopped spinning, he took in the situation with a sweep of his eyes. Three new Shades had joined them, one of which was pinning him to the ground. Another, with a strange blue stripe across his face at eye level, was standing next to Toothless with one of his wing joints in its mouth. The third was standing between Ryshkaa and the rest of the group, not hassling her in any way, rather shielding her from the situation.

"Seems to me that the company you keep just keeps getting stranger and stranger Rysh." This voice was one that Hiccup had never heard before. It was masculine, but somewhat high in pitch. It had almost a musical quality, or rather, that was the best description Hiccup could think of. "The human is an especially nice touch. Thinking of some freaky experiments?" Here, a

Ryshkaa let out a snarl.

"Skuru, you silence your wretched mind before I do it for you! I see your wing is nice and healed up. Want to test it?" A third, much gruffer and rasping mind voice joined the new conflict.

"Both of you shut up. We're heading back." At that thought, Hiccup saw Ryshkaa's eyes widen and her previously angry posture relaxed in shock.

"You're not thinking of taking the rogue back to Home Cave are you?"

"And where else would we be taking them? These are orders from the three with the recommendation of Alda."

Toothless shifted and twitched slightly. Hiccup could feel the horrible discomfort of have his wing suspended in the horribly vulnerable space between the jaws of another creature. He knew however that any kind of move would result in a swift crippling bite from the strange male. The Shade that held Hiccup pinned on the other hand, was doing nothing more but staring curiously down with a questioning look on his face. Hiccup decided to speak up.

"What's the matter? Never seen a human before?" The male above him directed his gaze toward Toothless as well as his voice.

"Of course I've seen humans before. But I've never seen one so strange as this." Here the Shade looked back down at Hiccup. "Look at him! He stares up at me without a trace of fear! He isn't even trembling! Most humans are reduced to tears if you pin them. Do you have this one trained stranger?"

Toothless was about to respond when Ryshkaa's voice interrupted him.

"I would suggest you two keep quiet about Hiccup's little talent. My friend in the place we are going will be much less wary of an intelligent human than these males will. How about you suggest that he's a pet?"

When the three strangers did not respond in any way, Hiccup deduced that Ryshkaa's words had been spoken privately between them, and herself.

I should really learn to recognize that. And do it.

Toothless now answered the young Shade's question.

"Yes. He is a.. pet. I found him in his infancy and developed a fondness for him." As the young continued to stare down at Hiccup, the gruff voice of Toothless' assailant spoke out.

"Why did your voice just change?" Toothless lifted an eyeridge.

"What?" Ryshkaa spoke again.

"He sometimes likes to pretend that the human is speaking. It get's thoroughly annoying."

The younger voice came again.

"Been traveling together long then?"

"Since this morning actually."

"Well now you've got my gentle personality to sooth your irritations."

"Keep talking Skuru. If I get any more mad I might just know Kale out of the way and tie your tongue in a knot."

"Well that's not very nice.

The gruff voiced shade interrupted the exchange.

"We are returning to Home Cave and you rogue, as well as your pet human are going with us. When we take off, you will follow me or risk retaliatory harm inflicted upon yourself and/or the human from one of us three. Clear?"

Toothless' voice sounded tired and miffed.

"Completely."

"Excellent! Everyone in the air!"

AN\\

Alright. There is nothing I can say to make up for this. Yes I'm alive and I'm trying to get my writing juices flowing properly again. You probably noticed but I'm trying out third person again. Drop a comment and tell me what you think! Oh and you noticed that I'm trying this out with the AN at the end of the chapter instead. Let's you guys get right down to business. So once again I'm back and I'm gonna try to power on and get this here story done. Constructive criticism always appreciated!