AN: Ok guys, yes, I know that I'm much later than I should be, but school is getting insane what with the year winding down. Anyway, LEPShot worked his magic in tandem with my own to create this chapter as with those previous so you can be assured it's full of awesome. I'd also like to extend a note of personal thanks to anhedral for his extremely in depth review. Keep those reviews coming because it really puts a fire into my writing. Also, as an action of pure whimsical fancy, I have posted a poll about COTN on my profile. I thought it would be fun to see what you readers are thinking. Specifically, "What feature of Call of the Night's development are you most interested in?" If you don't like reviewing or commenting, please consider dropping a vote. Anyway, On to the "fun stuff" I promised previously!

Chapter 30

Runes are integral in the use of the Heart's Fire. The humans believe that they are the only species in the world to devise a written language, but the truth is, we were the first. Thousands of years ago, after Shades developed their heightened consciousness, they began to manipulate the energy of their bodies independently of their muscles. They found that when enough energy is concentrated at the outermost edge of the body in any particular location, it arcs and transfers to the nearest solid surface. The energy remains at the exact point of contact on the surface, until it dissipates.

It did not take long for the Shades of old to utilize this newfound ability in the creation of pictures and diagrams to tell their stories and represent their feelings. It was shortly afterward that the true power of this transferred energy was discovered.

I wish that Alda could have seen these events that I have discovered. This trove of history that lies buried so deep. Without his wisdom, I feel as though I've been cast into a stormy sea, wings locked, and no assistance to help bear the crushing weight of each of the waves that are thrown at me. At least I have Hiccup.

But I'm letting my personal experience get away from me. I must be more careful when I sketch in the future.

Heartbeat of the Arctic

Ryshkaa

XXX

Hiccup

The second wave of loneliness and pain had rolled over him just as he was starting to get excited. With a gasp, his spine buckled and his knees became weak. He sank to the floor and curled in on himself, choking on the sobs that tore at his throat, his body racked with shudders as icy cold washed over him.

It took a long while, and Hiccup's eyes were dry by the time he managed to uncurl himself from the fetal position he'd assumed against the cold. He found that with Toothless gone from his mind, temperature seemed to make a hell of a lot more difference. Alda's wing helped, but Hiccup found that the elderly Shade's heat seemed to be less potent than Toothless'. The older Shade's scales were not glossy and warm like Toothless', and in the soft light if the Runes on the walls, he could see that Alda's color was far lighter than that of his mate.

He realized all of a sudden that he must seem a right pathetic creature, sobbing on the floor and shivering as he was. Alda was an Elder representative of his new race, and one that was accepting of him as well. He should be making a better impression! With an angry jerk he brought all of his far reaching thoughts and emotions back to his conscious mind, even some that had been questing for Toothless' mind without his consent. With the strength of his determination, he bound his thoughts there and shielded them from the prying thoughts of others. Then, with a single spring he was on his feet. Turning towards where Alda sat, he dropped to one knee, and waited for the Shade to speak.

It took nearly fifteen minutes, through which the Shade simply stared at him, eyes roving and nose twitching.

"You have remarkable mental control. Many of the young Shades I've taught in my day could not center themselves so quickly. And you are even doing a passable job at defence. Such prowess is rare, and often the product of good training. Did Toothless teach you?"

For a moment, Hiccup considered what he knew. He then thought about what Toothless had taught him.

"Toothless showed me the basics. And I suppose I just started picking up on the intricacies when I had opportunities to practice."

The old dragon lifted himself from his place on the floor and began to circle Hiccup with slow, measured steps. All the while, he inhaled deeply and his eyes flicked over every inch of Hiccup's body. After five revolutions, Hiccup started to become slightly impatient. He was just about to ask Alda what he was looking for, when the Shade stopped in front of him sat once again.

"How old are you, Hiccup?"

Hiccup was about to respond, when he realized that he wasn't exactly sure about his age. The last time he'd taken note of it had been when he was sixteen. Had his day of birth come yet? He could not be more than seventeen.

"If you don't mind... um.. Elder?"

"You may call me Alda or Elder, or perhaps Moldy Old Lizard if you prefer." There was a smile in the old dragon's powerful voice.

"Right, um... Elder, if you don't mind, could I simply grant you access to my memories? It would be significantly easier."

The old dragon's head tilted slightly to the side.

"I think, Hiccup, it would be best if you were to tell me your entire story, and better yet - do it out loud. With words."

Hiccup sank slowly to the floor, crossing his legs on the way. The smooth and glassy surface was cool against his legs.

"And why..." For a moment he coughed and cleared his throat. He'd not spoken at length for a very long time. "..should I do that?"

"The most common mistake of youthful Shade's is the notion that by simply slinging thoughts and memories at someone, they can be made to understand. We Shades have a language, though I'm sure you don't hear me speaking it. If one avoids actually speaking, and forming their thoughts into words when they communicate, then it is proven that they will slowly lose control of their mental faculties and they will devolve into a lesser being."

"You're saying that if I don't exercise my speech, I could lose it entirely?"

"It has happened before, and it's something I'd like to avoid in my first human apprentice."

Hiccup found his eyes widening.

"I'm to be your apprentice?"

"If you take up such a post, there is absolutely nothing that The Three or any other Shade that lives here can do to cause you harm."

"And why is that?"

"Because I would destroy them."

Well. He certainly had not been expecting that response.

Many questions buzzed through Hiccups head, and he had extreme difficulty organising them by importance. He wanted to know both more about Alda, as well as more about this place. More about the Shade's language and why he could not hear it when they spoke, and more about whatever apprenticeship Alda was offering. And all the while, the old Shade sat there and stared with calm and intelligent eyes, as though he were just sitting and waiting for Hiccup's next question.

"Before you figure out where you want to go with this discussion, first I'll tell you that you will spend your time here in intensive training of both your mind and body. If you are going to live among Shades, then you must possess physical capabilities beyond that of a human. Your mind must have the same degree of power and potency as a Shade. And finally, pending my viewing of your mind, I believe that you are the perfect person to impart my knowledge of Runes to."

For a moment, Hiccup's questions accelerated and his thoughts began to collide and contradict one another. To stop the madness he simply started talking. And he started at the beginning.

XXX

Unknown

The night was split and the thrumming silence rent by the splintering and smashing sounds that emanated from the pit. All around the tiered shelves, silent dragons lay and watched with dead eyes as tiny explosions sent off tiny shards of some black material. The noise had been going on for more than two hours, but now came a change.

A high pitched cry sounded with such volume that the very stone of the mountain seemed to vibrate with it, resounded from the pit and pried at the dragons' deaf ears.

Then, for a moment that lasted for nearly five seconds, every dragon in the cave rose to their feet as one. Light shined in their eyes, and they looked back and forth at each other, some crooning, others growling. They tried in those five seconds to figure out where they were and what was happening.

But they failed.

After five seconds of silence and confusion, a roar the likes of which had never been heard sounded from the pit. Every dragon in the cave gave choked coughs and fell to their stomachs, the light fading from their eyes and their tails wrapping tightly around their bodies. The second roar was followed by a pillar of flame that shot from the pit and leapt from the mountain's peak far above, creating a bloody glow on the ocean around it. The mountain signalled death.

XXX

Hiccup

By the time Hiccup had finished his description of the events leading up to his departure of Berk, his throat was dry and his legs ached. He had not altered his position for most of the time he'd spoken, and now his body was rebelling. For the entire time, Alda had sat motionless and staring, as though there was nothing in the world he had regard for but Hiccup and his story. This intensity had put Hiccup off slightly, making some of his early speech awkward and filled with unnecessary pauses. However, he found that as the story proceeded, he became more and more comfortable with the sound of his voice.

Finally, when Hiccup had spoken of his somewhat overly dramatic final departure from Berk, Alda made his first interruption, in the form of a short, and bluntly pointed sentence.

"So you ran away."

The interruption was so sudden, and Hiccup had been so caught up in his tale, that it brought him up short.

"Um.. Yes, I suppose I did."

"You threw your first sixteen years of life to the wind and flew off with a smile on your face."

Hiccup's mouth dropped ever so slightly. There was a soft note of condescension in the old dragon's thoughts, and he found that it stung him like an angry hornet.

"There was nothing for me there!"

Alda rose to his feet with a rustling of scale and he proceeded towards the room's central column with slow and deliberate steps. When he reached it, he sat again and stared at the strange glowing Runes intently, as he had stared at Hiccup before.

"The story you have told me contradicts that statement."

Hiccup was dumbfounded. That story had contained all of his reasons for leaving, and this he expressed to Alda with a slightly annoyed tone.

"I think, Hiccup, that you have told me enough. I have the story of your journey to this place from Ryshkaa, now I would have your thoughts. In return, my mind will be entirely accessible to you. Do you find this agreeable?"

The boy only took a single moment to consider. The proposal seemed fair enough.

"It would be an honor."

"Well then, I'll let you make the first move."

Hiccup knew that to remain standing would definitely be a bad idea. He walked over to Alda and sat about four feet to the Shade's right, crossing his legs and in general doing his best to make himself comfortable on the stone floor. Then he closed his eyes.

In comparison to his past attempts, this time seemed almost easy. No sooner had his eyes closed and his breathing slowed, then the flat blackness with its twin spheres and pinpricks of light in the distance appeared around him. His eyes immediately snapped to the orb that represented Toothless, but he found that his view of the sphere was hazy and distorted, as if he viewed it through an agitated sheet of water. He also found the round hardness of a third mind close at hand, which he knew had to be Alda's.

"I'm ready to receive you, but there's something you should know. I know that you jumped between mindspaces during practice with Ryshkaa, but you suffered the ill feelings that most younglings do. All around you are 'exits'. If you try, you can force one of them to become not just an exit, but a doorway."

Hiccup did not respond, instead turning the words over as many times as he could, trying to imagine the feelings and sensations of such an outcome. He had made the connection subconsciously, but now he seeked to exploit it. He knew that this world was shaped by his thoughts. Indeed, it was his thoughts. Thus, controlling it was merely a matter of imagination and concentration.

He focussed on one particular white spec in front of him. He imagined it as nothing more than what it was. A hole. A portal to the outside. Then he pictured another mind, and the space surrounding it. Alda's, to be precise. He imagined that space shifting. He moved it in his mind and positioned it directly outside of his mindspace. With a final thought, he bound the two spaces, conjoining them at a single point.

Before him, the exit that was the object of his focus flashed, and he saw instead a glowing blue spec amidst the white speckled blackness.

"Hiccup, that is something that no Shade your age could've accomplished. Especially not without specific instruction. I believe you have a natural born talent."

The boy's position in space jerked a little as the complement washed over him.

"Thank you, Elder."

"Now, please, do come in."

The thought of moving had barely crossed Hiccup's mind, when he felt himself accelerate, leaving his insubstantial stomach far behind as he hurtled toward the glow. Excitement coursed through him as he thought about what he might find on the other side. The glow expanded and grew. There was a tremor and a pang of pain at the base of his skull, and the world reformed around him.

It was a mindspace, just like his own that he shared with Toothless, and Ryshkaa's. But those had been the only mindspaces he'd visited. This was something completely different. Whereas his mind and Ryshkaa's were surrounded in white speckled darkness, the space around Alda's mind, was filled with brilliantly glowing light. Alda's mind sat before him, but it was so different, he almost did not recognise it as a mind.

The black sphere was lit with small flashes of light that ranged in color from blue to violet and back again. These flashes of light usually formed in lines that traveled rapidly across the surface before winking out, while others began. But beyond this, the space around Alda's mind was stranger still. Rather than flat and empty space, Alda's mind was surrounded by a veritable forest of symbols. Hiccup recognised many of them from his views of the hall in which their bodies sat, but most were completely alien and unknown to him. All of the Runes, for he assumed that they were what Alda called Runes, were drawn in fiery blue lines that flickered and pulsed as if they possessed life of their own. As Hiccup continued to focus on them, he noticed the lines.

Blue lines thinner than spider silk, so thin that they were in fact nearly invisible, were glowing as they ran amongst the Runes tying one to another, and that other to yet still more. Hiccup found after about a minute of examination that any given line he chose to follow eventually hit a Rune that was larger than the rest. This one large rune had another larger line that led away from it, and straight down to Alda's mind. The overall effect of the pulsing and flickering that surrounded him made Hiccup think of a thunderstorm. When he tried to speak, his voice came out as a tiny whisper.

"Alda, what is all of this?"

A few of the Runes and the lines between them flared brightly and the patterns on the surface of Alda's mind sped slightly.

"All of this, Hiccup is my total knowledge. Everything I know. There's too much to keep it within my mind, so I bound it to the outside."

"And you did this with these... Runes?"

"That is what I intend to teach you. With some help."

"Help? From whom? Ryshkaa?"

"No, I recommend you go and touch one of the Runes. Any one will do."

He approached slowly. The light of the symbols pulsed and flickered in seemingly random fashions. Occasionally, a tiny flash of light would pass along the lines connecting them. As he came close to one particular Rune, Hiccup also noticed something that he had not encountered in his previous mental journeys; the Rune was giving off thermal energy. The lack of wind and the total lack of either warm or cold feelings had gone unnoticed, but now, he felt warmth wash against his projected self.

With the wariness of a much smaller creature, he reached forward to pass his hand through the flickering symbol.

-Air whistled past his head and the clouds were far below him. To his right, he saw a Shade flying through the air, and a voice he'd never heard before reverberated in his head. It was female.

"This type of glide path is easy to maintain on long journeys due to the usual assistance of jetstreams, though it is probably not the best idea to use it if your travels must be timely. Mostly, it is designed to take strain off of your lower back and allow your skeleton to take the weight of your lift. If you wish to change your path, you'll need to unlock the bones like so."

There was an extremely loud clicking sound as the bases of the Shade's wings shifted up and backward.

"You should not try to change direction whilst flying locked, or you could damage the joints. This condition is called Lockwing and often results in a life of dependency which, in many of our kind, ultimately results in suicide. In short, don't lock your wings unless you intend to keep them locked."-

There was an upward wrench and Hiccup found himself tumbling toward the edge of Alda's mind. The old dragon was kind enough to stop him from falling completely out of his mindspace. After righting himself, Hiccup asked, "Was that a memory? It was very vivid."

A chuckle resounded around him. "Yes, it was a memory, though not one of my own. That particular experience came from an old teacher that lived long ago, by name of Faltha. She was very wise in the ways of youth, and was very successful as a tutor of young Shades. Many of my memories come from her."

"How... How is that even possible?"

"It is that which you will learn, but first I must ask if you wish to look around further, or if we might proceed?"

After briefly attempting to count the number of Runes floating in the space, and giving up after passing three hundred on a single line, he said, "It would take me years to look through all of this. If it gets me to the learning part any quicker, then please, come in."

The change happened almost faster than Hiccup could comprehend. In less than an instant, Alda had created another gate using an exit and Hiccup found himself rushing toward it, though this time, a fantasmic image of Alda materialized and flew beside him.

After they'd passed through, Hiccup looked down on his own mind. It looked dark and dull compared to Alda's sparkling brilliance. Not wishing to dally in the empty space, Hiccup swooped down and made for the tiny opening in the massive sphere. In mere moments he had passed the hard exterior and found himself floating amongst the golden clouds of his thoughts. He also realized what he had forgotten in Alda's mindspace. His own consciousness produced a warmth from it's glowing epicenter. There was a rushing sound as Alda entered behind him. The old dragon took a moment to stare at the ragged edges of the opening. It seemed he was thoroughly interested in the nature of the hole.

"No, I don't know how it got there."

"Of course you don't. Before it was here, you were completely ignorant of this place. As well as the thoughts of dragons and others and the power that rests in them." When the old dragon finally moved away from the opening, he first turned left, then right. Hiccup felt something shift.

All at once the golden clouds started to move and shift from their previously ordered and circular path. All of them started to swirl and rotate, and all moved directly toward Alda.

Hiccup felt his thoughts starting to blur and fragment as they were pulled away from their usual wanderings. Above him, the golden light at the chamber's roof flared, and he found that he could not keep his inner eyes open. He closed them against the blinding glare, only to find that he could still see. His actual eyes felt itchy and dry as they stared out at the pillar in front of him. In the future, he'd try to remember to close them. Unfortunately, he was now far too distracted by whatever it was Alda was doing. There was a brief flashing glance, wherein he saw the clouds rotating around Alda accelerate, before contracting on themselves and focussing into a single brilliant point in front of Alda's face.

And the light disappeared. Hiccup found that he could once again see within himself. The golden clouds rotated lazily around their invisible axis, while tendrils of shadow flowed rapidly in between.

When everything appeared to be absolutely normal once again, Hiccup turned and gasped. Alda was reclining slightly on a cloud, looking directly at Hiccup. In the space before him, a Rune drawn in lines of blue fire floated. It's lines were very simple, with few sharp edges and no points. Hiccup had never seen it before, and yet it felt strangely, intensely familiar.

"Alda? What... What is that?"

The amused gurgling of draconic laughter emanated from the Shade's immaterial throat.

"This? Surely you recognise it? This is you, Hiccup."

"Um... me? I'm not exactly sure what you mean."

Alda pushed his nose forward slightly and its tip brushed against one of the Rune's lines. There was a sharp crackling sound and a burst of golden light. This time, Hiccup shielded his imagined eyes with his arm and thus retained his vision.

As he lowered his arm, Hiccup watched as a small cloud of more Runes expanded upwards from the single point where the first had hovered. All were connected by the incredibly thin lines and each was unique. There were not nearly as many as there had been in Alda's mindspace, but there were still hundreds.

"Every memory and every thought, every feeling, emotion, sensation, and fantasy. Each is represented by one of these Runes, and this entirety of Runes is represented by the single Rune you saw before. I know this Rune, Hiccup, and thus I know you even better than you know yourself. At least, up until the Rune was created. Everything new is beyond the bounds of this particular Rune."

Hiccup's brow furrowed.

"So... wait, all Runes do is represent ideas?"

Alda chuckled again. "That's all these can do. They are confined within our minds, and will not be able to affect anything beyond. Runes drawn on physical surfaces, with your actual hands, can do many, many more things indeed."

Hiccup waited, but the Shade said nothing more, simply staring back at him.

"Are you going to explain that, or just stare at me?"

"How should I know what I need to teach you if you don't ask questions?"

Questions?! It was questions he wanted? Hiccup imagined a pair of sleeves on his arms, and when they appeared, he rolled them up.

"Wait! Bombard me, do so in the real world please, your headache is starting to become noticeable."

That drew Hiccup up. Headache? He didn't feel anything. But before he could speak these thoughts aloud, he found himself being pulled in Alda's iron mental grip, first out of the mind, then straight out through an exit.

Blink. Ouch. His eyes were dry. Very dry. He felt tears flood across his eyelids as his body tried desperately to fix the problem.

"Right. First of all, Runes affect whatever you draw them on, in the exact way that you intend when you draw them. However, a Rune by itself will just fade from a surface when it exhausts the energy you use to draw it, or when it's task is complete. If you want a Rune to stay and perform it's function continually, you will have to expend an extra amount of energy to Inscribe it; that is, you must place it within a circle. And a circle is a bit harder to draw than you might think. Never, I repeat, NEVER try to create a circle with nothing inside it. It will consume all of your energy and leave you a charred and smoldering husk."

"STOP!" After a moment of scrubbing and shaking his head, Hiccup managed to clear his vision. Alda was now on his feet, his wings slightly outstretched as he stood at the base of the pillar, staring upwards.

"You wanted to know about Runes? I'm telling you about Runes. Now, these Runes that are sketched on the pillar and this first level all have to do with the Heart's Fire. Sensing it, manipulating it, and using it to both record and cause change. The next level up," Alda slapped one paw against the smooth floor, and a massive design lit beneath Hiccup's feet, "has to do with Shades in general. And by in general, I mean every detail we know of ourselves is here." Hiccup now realized that a section of floor that formed a ring around the pillar was rising, with both himself and Alda upon it. Out to either side, Hiccup saw that the Hall had levels above the actual floor. Up here, the walls were still lined with Runes, and looking upwards, Hiccup thought that there must be at least one more level.

"This third level, up here, we will not get into unless you conquer the other two. It contains four Runes of very strange properties, as well as details on very advanced actions you can perform. Now, we'll return to the floor, and get started." Slowly, the disk began to sink back towards the floor.

XXX

"When one is able to feel this connection, this bond with the fire in their veins, then it is a simple matter of commanding it to a certain portion of the body. The claw is the easiest tool with which to sketch a Rune." Hiccup had been standing and staring at the Shade for what he was sure was three hours. But, no matter how many times he listened to the dry and overly metaphorical lecture, he still was unable to succeed. Alda had said that he had the Heart's Fire, but he seemed completely unable to control it.

He'd spent so long here, he'd started to think of this place as real. Both he and the Shade, who seemed to be in the prime of health despite his lack of motion, sat on a rock outcropping of the enormous mountain above Home Cave. All around them was whited out by a blizzard, but Hiccup could feel the wind tearing at his face. Hiccup was sure that he was going to spend the next year sitting here and listening to the old lump ramble on using metaphors that no one but he himself could understand.

A snapping sound scared Hiccup out of his wits, and he almost leapt from the outcropping before he remembered that Toothless was not here. Turning, he saw Alda sitting with his tail dangling over the edge and a look of slight exasperation on his face.

"Psyme was never good at explaining to young ones what he meant. Of course, that what made him perfect for the task. By the time a hatchling could understand what he was talking about, they were usually mature enough to handle the responsibility. However, things are becoming difficult, and you need to learn quickly. So tell me, Hiccup, since the very first time you opened your eyes after the ax incident with Astrid, you've felt something. Constantly. Every moment of everyday, what do you feel?"

There it was. In each little pulse of pain, he could feel waves. Ripples of feeling. This pain was special. This pain was specifically caused by one thing.

Fire. It was fire. There was fire inside of him.

Hiccup stared at his forearm. The veins were evident, and he now saw what had escaped his attention for who knew how long. Rather than the usual faint violet coloring of a vessel, each line was black and seemed to bulge slightly, pushing the overlying skin outwards.

"I'm only guessing of course, but I think that pain you've been feeling is the Heart's Fire in your blood."

"Does it burn you?" Hiccup slowly ran a finger over the new ridges that covered his arm.

"Me? No, I don't feel any such pains."

"I'm human. That must be it. It feels like fire, but fire just feels warm to a Shade." Before them, Psyme had frozen in place and was not making an attempt to continue his lecture. Probably Alda.

"You don't notice it anymore. You had to think about it to remember, yes?" The old Shade stepped forward and ran the tip of his snout across the bulging skin of Hiccup's arm. "What do you think that means?"

Hiccup considered for a moment, before responding, "My physical changes are caused by the Fire?"

The old dragon hummed. "As I said, I can't say for sure, but it seems quite likely to me. But we've stayed here long enough. Now, we need to see if you can control it, now that you know it."

Hiccup closed his eyes. Then opened them again. White snow still swirled before him but Alda was gone. He cursed, then closed his eyes again, taking a very deep breath and holding it. And as he exhaled, there was a tug at the back of his skull. With an effort of will, Hiccup forced his physical eyes open.

He still stood with shoulders squared and back straight in front of the pillar. His left hand rested against a single symbol and its scaled surface was wreathed in deep blue flames that danced and flickered. With a grunt, he pulled the hand away from the wall. The flame was extinguished, and with it, the pleasant tickling sensation that had accompanied it. Turning, he saw Alda sitting once again on his small section of floor. He had not moved from that spot since Hiccup had begun.

"This is a simple exercise, and I cannot explain its mechanics. You'll just have to discover the feelings for yourself. Now, come over to me." When Hiccup stood before his new teacher, the old dragon reached a single forepaw out to the empty floor between them and placed his claw on the smooth surface. With a flash, a glaringly bright concentrated flame appeared around the sharp point. With deft movements, Alda sketched an extremely simple Rune. It was nothing more than a half circle whose lines straightened and crossed. "I want you to touch this Rune, and tell me what you feel. Not what you think, but what you Feel. Don't involve thoughts at all. Describe what you feel, in a single word."

Hiccup knelt and placed his palm against the flickering shape. This time, no flame leapt from his blackened hand, but he found that he suddenly felt a profound sense of levity. As though weight had been lifted from his shoulders, or he was suspended in water.

"Flight. It feels like flight."

"Very close, but flight is powered. It sends the flier in a certain direction and provides him with certain limits. This Rune is known as 'Rise'. It can lift spirits as well as objects when applied to a surface. Now that you know what it's meant to do, focus on that; the Rune's function, and nothing else. The feeling of it! You must have the feeling!"

And a moment later, Hiccup heard a faint buzzing in his ears, as if he'd just heard a very loud noise. He felt the lifting sensation again, the feeling of 'Rise' coursing briefly through his entire body. The symbol itself floated in front of him for just a moment, a dark and negative afterimage burned into his eye, but after a couple of seconds, it faded. The noise in his ears faded with it, and now that his vision was clear, he looked down to see that the Rune had disappeared. Looking upwards with a questioning expression, he felt his left palm leave the floor and cold rush back over his hand.

"Now, it's your turn. You know that Rune, now sketch it."

XXX

Astrid

The cliffs were relaxing. Or rather, they'd used to be. Astrid could remember long summer days spent sitting with her friends, feet dangling over the edge, just staring out at the vast unknown. Now, Astrid knew better. Places where dragons could land were bad places to relax. Places where dragons could see you were even worse.

It was due to this glaringly dangerous fact that Astrid was now sitting where she was, cramped beneath a bush and pressed up against a pine tree.

She did not even know where the Terror was at the moment, as he'd scampered off somewhere upon seeing the Nightmare coming in for a landing. Some vague feelings of hope were managing to blossom in her chest now as she watched it turn its back on her bush and start nosing at some ferns across the clearing. Perhaps it hadn't seen her at all. If it found her, she would be hard pressed to defend herself, travelling as light as she was. She had her hunting knife with her, strapped to her thigh with some leather cord, but that was it.

If she craned her neck far enough, she could just make out the bulk of the dragon, snuffling at the roots of a tree on the opposite side of the clearing. Unfortunately, the Nightmare leapt away to the right, and gave an excited shriek. Astrid tensed. If it had picked up a scent, it was probably her' as much caution as she could muster, she shifted her legs and placed her back against the trunk of the tree and tried to bring the dragon back into view. There was a scraping sound. Astrid froze. The sound had come from her left boot. She held her breath.

A warm and moist current of air wafted past her face, smelling strongly of fish, and dampening her left cheek.

Do. Not. Make. A. Sound.

The sound of Hiccup's voice startled her so badly, it almost made her scream, but she held her body in check. Then slowly, very slowly, she turned her head to the left.

She was met with two orbs or aquamarine fire, slashed through with gaps of blackness. The eyes floated in darkness, as though she were staring at a living shadow. The moment she made contact with those eyes, a low buzzing sounded in her ears, as if there were a swarm of insects inside her skull. Ice fell from the base of her neck and rushed down through every inch of her body. She could not help it. Shudders convulsed through her limbs and her eyes widened.

Don't, move.

Astrid found that when confronted with this apparition, her confidence fled and she could not move.

Just as she was surrendering to the knowledge of fast approaching death, the eyes released her, and looked up and past her. It felt as though ice that had frozen her solid melted away instantly. Astrid found herself shivering and quaking, with gooseflesh rippling over every inch of her. Then there came a snort, and the eyes disappeared as a form became airborne. A concussion passed through the ground and a massive dark shape flew over her.

To the right, there was a strangled screech and the sound of flapping wings. Then, the unmistakable sound of tearing dragon flesh, and the shearing shriek of shattered scales. Astrid drew in a single breath. And to her astonishment, a shadow appeared before her dragging with it, the form of a Monstrous Nightmare. The Nightmare trailed a stream of blood from it's ruined throat. The buzzing in her head intensified and now she felt curiosity rise in her.

Stand up.

As slow as she possibly could, Astrid rose to her feet, pushing through the canopy of leaves and branches above her. The shadow took no notice of her. It dragged its kill to the edge of the cliff, and with a strike of its tail, cast the body into the surf. Then the shadow turned and spread enormous wings from its back, like sails of a ship torn from the night sky. The eyes bored directly into her's.

Before her, on the edge of Berk, stood a Night Fury. But this was not Hiccup's Night Fury. This was not 'Toothless'. The eyes were different, the tail full and whole, and the shape of the body was heavier and bulkier. The throat convulsed and the beast emitted a choking gurgle, a sound which sounded completely unlike the usual temperament of a dragon. Then, with a flap of the massive wings, the beast leaped backwards and disappeared over the lip of the cliff. And as it disappeared, the buzzing went with it.

I wonder who on Earth that could have been.

That sound which was not a sound released Astrid's limbs from their positions, and she found herself sprinting through the forest, back towards the tree and the twins. As she went, there was a familiar impact against her right shoulder and she turned to see the Terror's face nuzzling against her neck.

You realize that he just saved your life? He distracted the Nightmare.

"Shut up, Hiccup."

XXX

Hiccup

The power responded. All he needed to do was will it to, as he did with any muscle of his body. The fire surged through the lines of blood beneath his skin at his command.

Hiccup placed his fingertip against the floor and light flared at the tip. He sent the fire flowing into the floor. He willed it to take the shape he wished, and like a specter in the dark, his hand moved of its own accord. It sketched the image perfectly.

"Now remember, when you don't have a memory in mind, the rune will perform the actions it describes when energy is channeled into it."

"Does the Rune only function when I funnel energy into it?"

"That is a question that I'm glad you poised yourself. Yes, a Rune on an inanimate object depends on energy from whatever activates it. However, you must be cautious. If you place a Rune on yourself, it will draw from you until such time as you cancel it with another Rune, or until there is no energy left. At which point, you're dead."

"Lovely."

Hiccup rose from his kneeling position. He had drawn about twenty Runes on the floor. They were all very basic, and described actions like, Go, Stop, Rise, Turn, and also a special one that Hiccup was greatly interested in. It was Flame. "I prefer not to focus on death. I'll ask something else. Can Runes be combined? You say they represent individual ideas and actions, so can they work together to achieve complex actions?" Alda shook his head and snorted.

"You are a very sharp mind, Hiccup. I will tell you of this, but then we must discuss a matter of great importance. Now, Runes can indeed be combined, and there are two ways to do it. First, if you take all of the ideas and descriptions of a single thing, and the Runes that represent them, you can bind them together and forge from them a single Rune that represents the sum of all those other Runes."

"That's what you did in my mind. You took my entire being, and created a Rune that represented it."

"And in doing so, I gained knowledge of your entirety, in a single instant. I must caution you, however, not to attempt this with anything complex, like a living thing, just yet. It is an undertaking of the mind, and I'm not sure you'll be able to achieve it. You must comprehend every aspect of the subject of your Rune, and if you do not include everything, the Rune you create could have... strange effects on you and your mind."

Hiccup nodded.

"Fair enough. I won't be attempting that then. What about the second method?"

"If you draw multiple Runes on the same surface, you can bind them together and have them act in sequence, or simultaneously. These Runes must be inscribed inside a circle, along with some other symbols that define when they should act. That is a complex task for another day. You must memorize far more Runes before you need concern yourself with that. But first, onto a matter of importance."

Alda lifted himself from the floor and stepped slowly over until he stood over Hiccup. "Toothless is undergoing training as a member of Sycle's Wing, but he cannot be properly trained unless he can fly. We must keep you separate so that you can learn to function on your own. So, we need to modify the prothetic you gave him."

"The bare minimum the tailfin would need to do is mimic the motion of his healthy fin. There would simply have to be a mechanism in the middle that could transfer motion."

"Just describe how you want to change the object, and I'll teach you the Runes."

As Hiccup was about to set to work, something popped unbidden into his head. He voiced it without thought or consideration.

"Alda, I understand that Toothless needs to integrate, so that we can be accepted together, but... why? Why does Home Cave exist at all? Toothless said that Shade's were solitary and it made sense. Then we came here and now theres more than a hundred living in one place?"

"Come now Hiccup, I've been praising your intelligence this entire time. What could possibly motivate hundreds of Shades to live in relative peace and harmony? What possible common goal would intelligent dragons like us share?"

Hiccup's eyes widened.

"To kill the Queen."

"Lest her expanding power wash over us like a wave on the shore."

XXX

Zagra

The fire had streamed forth from the nest for over an hour before it finally died down. The rim of the peak glowed with heat and a ring of dragons winged their way in a circle around the mountain.

The events of the past few hours were extremely disturbing. The screams and shrieks from what Zagra could only assume was the Queen had continued for over two hours before the inferno had burst from the nest. With all the activity, Zagra had not dared go near the mountain for the entire night.

Now, everything was quiet.

I'll have to report this. It can't wait.

With a tilt of her wings. The Shade turned north and started to make her way to the north. Before she had gone even a mile, an immensely heavy impact hit her side, accompanied only by a small breath of air.

With a gasp, Zagra folded her wings and curled in to defend herself from whatever had struck her. A brief flash of intense pain bathed her vision in red, and she felt claws dig into her back. She gave a snarl of rage and twisted to engage her aggressor. The sight that met her gaze caused her to freeze.

Eyes as red and and angry as freshly spilt blood burned themselves into her vision. She caught a flash of razored claws, and she felt the pressure that her left wing normally placed on her back, disappeared.

There was no pain, but as the strange creature pushed her away, she felt herself fall through the air, completely uncontrolled. Then, all around her was fire. But it was not normal fire in shades of orange and blue; this fire was scarlet, and instead of dancing over her scales, Zagra felt it licking and digging, reaching toward her flesh. And all at once, scales began to break away.

"What it the name of the spirits is that thing?"

That thought was the last thing to flicker in Zagra's mind before she hit the spire.

There was a sickening crunch.