Hiccup POV...
"Get down!" I whispered harshly, pressing myself against Toothless, Astrid doing the same. The Nightmare gives out a roar, and we both look around fearfully, Toothless' flapping getting more intense. I try to steer Toothless out of the fog, but a Deadly Nadder, much larger than the one back in the ring appeared, boxing us in between them. Moments later, more and more dragons begin to appear out of the fog, squawking and growling to each other. There could be dozens of them, completely surrounding us.
"What's going on?" Astrid asked nervously.
"I don't know," I replied, placing my hand on Toothless' head. "Toothless. You've got to get us out of here, bud," I pleaded.
However Toothless shakes my hand off with a growl, continuing onwards with the dragons. Glancing at the dragons surrounding us, I take notice of how they're all carrying fish and dead animals in their talons.
"It looks like they're hauling in their kill," I whispered.
"What does that make us?" she replied nervously. A Zippleback hovering alongside us eyes us ravenously, and I gulp nervously. Thankfully, the dragon doesn't do anything.
After a few more moments, we come to an area where the dragons all dive in formation, plummeting through the thickening fog and weaving between towering, craggy sea stacks. We emerge at the base of a massive mountain on a rocky island, which glows orange from small streams of lava. A volcano... Astrid and I both look up at it in terror, hearing the loud buzzing echoing in our ears, like crickets but much, much louder. The flock of dragons fall into rank, forcing Toothless along with them, funneling through a crack, and zipping through a winding tunnel. It gives way to a vast, steamy inner chamber, tiered with pocky shelves. Immediately I can feel the difference in temperature, being much hotter inside than outside. The glowing smoke must be from some sort of lava pool at the very bottom of the volcano. The arriving dragons fly in, dropping their catch into a central pit, glowing red and shrouded in mist before flying onto the rocks to perch with other dragons. I widen my eyes in realization and disbelief of what we had just discovered.
"What my dad wouldn't give to find this," I muttered in awe.
Thankfully, Toothless peels away from the crowd and flies towards an empty rock shelf, landing behind a pillar to stay hidden. All three of us peek around the pillar to observe the nest,and I take note of how similar it seems to an insect hive. While the dragons continue to drop all of the food down into the pit, I frown in distaste.
"Well, it's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole," I remark dryly.
"They're not eating any of it." Astrid observes.
A pathetic buzzing or growling sound gets our attention, and we watch as a Gronckle flies forwards on its own. It looks kind of drunk, if a dragon can get drunk, occasionally falling several feet before correcting its flight again as if hovers towards the center. I raise an eyebrow but continue to watch as it opens its mouth, dropping a tiny fish down the hole. It scratched itself with its back paw, seemingly pleased before a massive roar rings out, causing it to widen its eyes in fright. It quickly tries to buzz away, but before it can move a few feet, the most massive dragon head I had ever seen comes charging out of the mist, snapping its jaws around the poor Gronckle. Me and Astrid gasp in horror, instinctively flinching before that beast.
"What is that?" Astrid asks slowly in shock. All of the other dragons in the nest back away from the hole as far as they could, squawking in fear. It lowers its head down, disappearing once more into the mist while its massive gullet, shudders, a sign of the Gronckle being swallowed by the beast. As it does so however, the air around us suddenly seems to become chilly and cold, uncomfortably so, despite the fact that it should be swelteringly hot in here.
"You feel that?" I ask Astrid nervously, and she nods her head, just as confused. Toothless however glances behind us and begins to growl dangerously, eyes narrowed into slits. I look behind us and widen my eyes in terror, seeing a single dragon stalking forwards dangerously. I recognized them from the Book of Dragons, and they were dangerous! It had a charcoal colored hide and red underbelly and was a little smaller than Toothless, but that didn't matter because they were Hssiss dragons!
"Oh Thor!" I whispered in a panic. Astrid looked back and widened her eyes in fright, although she didn't know what it was yet.
"What dragon is that?" she demanded.
"It's a Hssiss dragon!" I whispered back, and she gasped in terror.
As if to make matters worse, the Hssiss dragon suddenly reared on its hind legs and let out some sort of call, snarling viciously at us. Its beady red eyes glared savagely at us, wanting nothing more than to tear us to bits. The chill surrounding it was just, unnatural. A sudden shaking of the rocks and loud sniffing got my attention, and a quick glance showed that massive beast poking its head up again, searching for something.
For us, I realized in horror.
"Alright bud we gotta get out of here. Now!" I told Toothless, who immediately agreed. Right as the massive dragon's eyes locked onto us, the Hssiss let out a challenging shriek, making all of the other dragons nearby flinch and back away in terror. Even the Nightmare's were afraid of it! The shriek seemed to press down on our minds however, as if some strange unnatural force was trying to dominate our very being, and me and Astrid both held our heads with pained cries. However Toothless let out a retaliating roar, a dim purple glow coming from his mouth, which somehow immediately released the pressure on our minds, and took off, shooting a plasma blast at the Hssiss on the way, knocking it back.
At the same time, the massive beast lunged forwards, barely missing us with its jaws. Each tooth was about twice the size as my dad himself! Every dragon in the nest took flight, desperate to escape, and Toothless shot us towards the chaos, allowing us to get lost in the swarm. Behind us, the monster attempted to snatch us from the air again, but caught a Zippleback that had gotten in the way instead. Satisfied, it lowered itself back down into the mist with its prize, but we weren't done. Just as I thought we were through, a sickening shriek off to the side got out attention, and we looked over to see another Hssiss leaping off the side of a ledge at us, claws outstretched with the intent to kill.
Astrid and I screamed in terror, but Toothless thankfully reacted in time, shooting a plasma blast at the Hssiss to send it tumbling back down the cavern, disappearing with a wail into the fiery depths below.
"Good thing those punks can't fly!" I managed to cry out in relief, Astrid nervously laughing, sharing the same thought. I had never been so glad to leave someplace behind before. And I was so grateful to have Toothless with me. He just saved our lives twice already!
Jarik POV...
We watched as Hiccup took off into the sky after Astrid, contemplating on how this would go. Mara looked at us with a grin on her face.
"I can't wait to see what happens," she says eagerly.
"Well, what do you think he'll do?" I ask her.
"Probably have Toothless grab her or something, then fly around, or maybe attempt to explain it," she says thoughtfully with a shrug. "The second option would probably fail though."
Ahsoka puts a hand on her hip with an amused smile. "Well, he could certainly be the new Obi-Wan with his 'talking it out' approach," she mused.
I let out a snort and shook my head. "Probably."
"What's the most ridiculous thing Master Kenobi did again?" Mara asks curiously.
We both frown thoughtfully, and I recall one of my first missions ever with him. "I would say when he tried negotiating with a fat, bug queen," I recalled.
Ahsoka shivered at the reminder of the Geonosians, and Mara groaned in disgust. "I'm so glad I don't know what they looked like," she said.
"If only I could say that," I deadpanned.
Astrid's screaming echoing through the air halted our conversation, and we looked up to see Toothless and Hiccup deposit her on top of a tall tree hanging above the cove. The dragon then landed on the top, causing the tree to heavily lean over the lake. I rolled my eyes while Ahsoka put a hand to her head in exasperation.
"Oh boy," she muttered.
Mara let out a laugh of amusement, looking up at the scene. "HA! I never thought he'd even go that far!" she exclaimed.
"He's even crazier than Obi-Wan," I muttered to myself. The two Viking teens were obviously conversing with each other, and Astrid's furious yelling was distinguishable even from this height, however I couldn't make out what she was saying. I let out a sigh.
"Well, knowing Hiccup's luck, just be ready to catch her incase she falls," I warned them, and they nodded in agreement, although Mara was still stifling her giggles. Luckily for us though, whatever Hiccup was saying seemed to get through to Astrid, as she pulled herself onto the branch and mounted Toothless behind Hiccup. The dragon spread his wings, staying still for a moment, and Ahsoka groaned in exasperation.
"What?" I asked her in confusion.
She gestured up to the scene before us. "Toothless is mad," she said simply.
That statement was proven seconds later as Toothless suddenly took off, causing Hiccup to cry out in surprise and restart Astrid's terrified screaming all over again. The Night Fury shot into the sky so fast that they soon disappeared within seconds, at this point a black blur in the sky before disappearing behind the treeline. And all the while, Mara was laughing her butt off. She eventually managed to calm herself down to the occasional giggle.
"That has got to be one of the funniest things I've ever seen," she snickered.
"Sure. Also brings back some memories as well," I remarked.
"Oh dad, please..." she replied in exasperation, before lighting up mischievously. "What kind of memories?"
I put a hand to my chin, a gesture I no doubt picked up from Obi-Wan and shrugged. "I'd say... Hiccup is Obi-Wan, Astrid is Padme, and Toothless... is Anakin's flying."
That got Ahsoka to crack up laughing, easily finding the comparison to be genuine. She should know, since she actually helped teach Padme to fly a starfighter before. Ironically Ahsoka was the first to get knocked out by a single vulture droid, which I teased her about for weeks. Despite having never met them, Mara's heard enough of our war stories and seen enough holograms to get the gist of it, and chuckled a little bit as well.
"That is so accurate," Ahsoka said, recomposing herself.
I nodded my head, and we stood there in silence before I clasped my hands together. "Ok! Training time!"
"Right now dad?" Mara complained.
"I'm assuming you want to wait here until they return?" I ask her with a raised eyebrow.
She thought about it before shrugging with a sheepish smile. "I guess..." she admitted.
"Then we're gonna pass the time with some training!" I said cheerfully.
"We never planned for a lesson though," Ahsoka pointed out. Mara raised an eyebrow in response, crossing her arms.
Spoil sport.
I frowned, nodding slowly in agreement. "I suppose... but then again, who knows what could happen when you're on a mission?" I asked rhetorically.
Mara and Ahsoka looked at each other, and then back at me, but I had whipped out a blaster pistol and opened fire on them, causing both of them to yelp and take leap to the side. The blaster was set for stun of course, so it wouldn't hurt them, but it was still shocking. They both quickly pulled out a lightsaber each and deflected a few shots.
"Are you crazy Jarik?" Ahsoka exclaimed angrily.
"Come on, this is not the worst thing I've done for a surprise training session," I argued, letting off another shot.
"It still sucks though!" Mara retorted, deflecting another bit of laser fire. I merely grinned and continued my barrage of laser fire, noting Mara's technique and positioning so that me and Ahsoka would be able to help improve her form.
After my surprise blaster deflecting lesson, we switched to lightsaber dueling, and Mara would trade off against either me or Ahsoka to get a better understanding of different lightsaber styles. Ahsoka would help to teach her how to defend against an aggressive and fast combatant, as well as someone wielding two blades, while I was more of the precise and elegant style of dueling, with one blade instead of two. I also gave her Ahsoka's old green lightsaber, and Ahsoka helped her to better learn how to handle using two blades instead of one if the situation called for it.
When lightsaber training was finished, we turned to practice with the Force, which Ahsoka took charge over. She was helping Mara to reach out with her senses and feel for certain things, as well as more instruction on how to better cloak her presence in the Force. Then she'd go through several drills, where we would blindfold her and have her try to seek us out using the Force. The trick was we were cloaked, so she'd have to figure out a way to get around that obstacle to sense us. She eventually found me, since I was less skilled in the ability than Ahsoka was.
Currently we were meditating, something that none of us found any particular joy in, but I'd grown more used to it due to my prowess in foresight. Ahsoka had also gotten more used to it as well, having becoming much wiser in these last few years, a lot different compared to her old Padawan self. She was advising Mara about meditation during the session, while I did more of my own thing. And that was when I of course got pulled into another premonition...
A large planet with rings blocked my view of the star it orbited, and approaching that planet seemed to be some strange fleet of ships I could not identify. That evil presence with three eyes grasped my vision again, and it laughed.
Next, I saw an ordinary world that looked remarkably similar to Naboo or Alderaan hovering in space, looking perfectly normal. A sudden darkness overcame the planet, massive cracks flowing like a gushing river over its surface, flowing with purple light, and the entire world suddenly exploded. Out of the purple explosion I could see two glowing eyes, as well as the shadow of an ancient being. This terrified me, and I had no idea what it was.
My view suddenly shifted from the evil entity, changing to that of a dark cave, with stone as black as the void of space. In the center of a cave was a large boulder in the middle of the cave, a dim glow of purple light barely noticing emanating from the rock. I've seen this before, only briefly... sure enough, the familiar sound of Vader's mechanical breathing filled the area, and the Sith Lord himself slowly approached the stone with his hand outstretched. I could feel him... actively searching for a way to uncover what was within.
A quiet sound could be heard, slowly increasing as Vader got closer, when he suddenly stopped, and everything went silent. The only sound that could be heard was my own breath, as well as Vader's. I watched anxiously as Vader seemed to still as well, stopping just before the stone. To my surprise, he slowly turned his head to stare directly at me, lowering his arm, and my breath stopped. This wasn't a vision anymore. Somehow through the Force, I was with him.
We stared at each other for a few moments before he spoke. "Jarik Shan..." he growled out lowly with hate, his voice echoing. He then began to approach, pulling out his lightsaber, which sprang to life with a sharp hiss. He raised his lightsaber in preparation to swing it, and I raised my arms to cover my head, backing up...
I came out of the vision with a gasp, looking around quickly to reassure myself that Vader wasn't anywhere, before sighing in relief. It was dark out now, the sun having fully gone down, and we were still in the cove. My gasp caught Ahsoka and Mara's attention, the former looking down at me with sad, knowing gaze.
"You had a premonition, didn't you," she stated. It wasn't a question.
Getting to my feet, I nodded slowly, recollecting myself. "Yeah. This time was different though," I replied.
She raised an eyebrow, while Mara frowned in confusion. "Different how?" she asked.
Before I could answer, the sound of chatting caught our attention, and we looked over to see Toothless glide into the cove, touching down on the moonlit beach. Astrid was rambling quickly to Hiccup, apparently something really big on their minds. "No, no, it totally makes sense! It's like a giant beehive! They're the workers, and that's their queen. It controls them," she said.
The three of us all shared a surprised and confused glance, wondering what they could be talking about. She leaps off of Toothless and runs toward the village. "Let's find your dad!"
Mara widened her eyes in alarm. "Wait, what? What's going on?!"
They both took notice of us still being there as Hiccup hopped off of Toothless. "Oh, you guys are still here!" Astrid said in surprise.
"Uh huh," I said, crossing my arms. "I see your death-defying flight changed your mind," I noted.
"Oh... yeah," she mumbled, a little embarrassed that we saw that.
"So what's got you two so riled up?" Ahsoka questioned. Hiccup opened his mouth to answer, but Astrid beat him to the punch. "We found the dragon's nest!" she exclaimed.
I widened my eyes briefly at this information, sharing a look with Ahsoka. Mara gaped at them. "Seriously? You found their nest? The elusive, impossible to find dragon nest?"
Astrid nodded her head quickly. "Exactly! And there was this huge dragon queen there, as large as a mountain! We have to tell the chief!" she said, about to rush off again. this time Hiccup found his voice to stop her.
"No, no! Not yet. They'll... kill Toothless," he sighed. "Astrid, we have to think this through carefully."
Astrid eyes him incredulously. "Hiccup, we just discovered the dragons' nest... the thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here. And you want to keep it a secret? To protect your pet dragon? Are you serious?!" she demanded.
Mara narrows her eyes slightly, but Hiccup stands firm, resolute in his decision. "Yes."
Astrid's taken aback, as well as Mara, having never heard him give such a simple yet firm answer in the entire time any of us knew him.
"Quite a burst of confidence," I remarked casually to Ahsoka over the bond, who nodded in agreement.
"Okay." Astrid replied after a moment of silence. "Then what do we do?"
He looks down, seriously burdened. "Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out."
"Okay," she says quietly, before punching Hiccup in the arm.
"That's for kidnapping me," she said. Hiccup looks to Toothless for support, only to receive a dismissive snort in return. He then looks to Mara, who only smirks at him in amusement, arms crossed. Astrid glances at the three of us briefly, considering something heavily before she grabs him, and he braces for another hit. Instead, she quickly kisses Hiccup on the cheek, pulling away just as fast. "That's for, everything else," she says softly.
In the awkward wake of the moment, Astrid hurries off, before turning around to wave at us. "By guys!" she says.
"See ya," Mara replies, struggling to hold in her giggles at what had just occurred. Ahsoka and I are smiling at him as well, reminded of how we felt around each other back as teenagers. Toothless hobbles up beside him, and we all stare at him in various forms of amusement, which he quickly takes notice of.
"W-what are you looking at?" he demands.
"Hiccup's got a giiirrlfrieeend! Hiccup's got a giiirrlfrieeend!" Mara sings, causing Hiccup to groan in embarrassment. Ahsoka and I both give off a brief chuckle before turning serious again.
"So you two found the dragon's nest?" I asked.
He nodded his head. "Yeah, we did. It's inside of a volcano, and there's this massive dragon, probably as big as a small mountain inside. W-we never even saw its whole body, just the head. One tooth is twice as large as my dad!" he exclaims, and I could see the fear in his eyes. He wasn't lying. "It was acting as their queen, forcing them all to steal the food so that it could eat to its content."
I frown in concern at what he was saying. Sounds like another Zillo Beast situation to me, which I know Ahsoka could relate to as well. We never took part of that event, but we were on Coruscant when it charged through downtown.
Ahsoka looked at him knowingly with narrowed eyes. "There's something else, isn't there," she stated.
Hiccup slowly nodded, and I could sense his unease. "Yeah... Hssiss dragons."
I shared a surprised and worried look with Ahsoka, seeing that things just got even more complicated. Ancient Sith Lords used them in battle, killing many due to their savageness and incurable poison.
"Hssiss dragons?" Mara said in surprise, a look of concern on her face. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, they didn't touch us," Hiccup reassured us, much to our relief. "But those things... they had this, coldness to them. We were inside of a swealtering volcano, and when they showed up, I was cold!" he said, clearly shaken by the experience. Mara stood next to him and put a hand on his shoulder for comfort. "If it wasn't for Toothless, we'd probably be dead," he said.
"Did these coldness feel like a chill, running through your spine? Feeling as if it breached your very soul?" I asked knowingly.
He nodded in surprise. "Y-yeah, it did! What was that?" he asked desperately.
"What you felt was the dark side of the Force," I said grimly. "Hssiss dragons have a natural affinity for it, which is why they are so deadly. unlike most dragons, they are truly, completely savage, having no love for anything except death and chaos. The dark side corrupted them to that mindset millennia ago."
Hiccup looked at us in fear, nodding his head in understanding. Toothless came up and gently prodded him, letting out a warble of concern. Hiccup responded by scratching his head. "When one of them let out a shriek, it felt like something was pressing down on my mind, trying to dominate me. But Toothless... his roar somehow stopped that," he told us.
I widened my eyes, not expecting that, but at the same time not surprised either. Toothless and the Night Furies also had a natural affinity to the Force according to Satele's journal, so it only made sense that they should be able to ward of Force based attacks from a Hssiss.
"Well, he is an epic dragon," Mara said with a grin, scratching Toothless' neck, which the dragon accepted with a delighted purr.
Hiccup nodded, a small smile on his face before looking at us again, a question shining in his eyes. "Do you... know how Toothless could've stopped that shriek the Hssiss gave?"
Ahsoka and I shared another look, debating on whether or not to tell him yet, and I could see Mara wanted to as well, although she was letting us decide. "We'll tell you later Hiccup," Ahsoka said. "It's late. I'm sure your dad is worried about you."
Hiccup sighed, but nodded in understanding, and as we prepared to head back to the village, I thought hard about what we had just learned recently. Whatever was going on, something big was going to happen tomorrow during the fight against the Nightmare, I'm sure of it. And learning that Hssiss dragons could actively use the Force in an attempt to dominate someones mind was troubling, something that was never known about before. Whether or not Ahch-To's Force energy strengthened the Hssiss dragons here or not I'm unsure of, but if a non Force sensitive could feel the dark side, then that meant they were beyond the regular Hssiss dragons known in galactic history.
And there were even more questions I had about my visions. What was that evil entity I saw? And just what was it Vader was trying to uncover beneath that stone?
