Act 2 of Reunitied Family has arrived, and with it, the first insight into a past forgotten and known. This Act - Shadows Of The Past, will be the Act where we finally learn more about not only Toothless' friends, but his life as a whole, as well as preparing for Act 3. As always, I hope you enjoy, any thoughts and opinions, I'd love to hear :) This chapter itself doesn't follow anybody known to us yet, and is two chapters into one; one part at Nïghtheart, where Toothless is, and the other at Berk.
~Act 2: Shadows Of The Past~
~? POV~
The island of Nightfuries, Nïghtheart. It had been so long since I set foot upon this Draco forsaken island, years, perhaps decades - not that time made much of a difference to dragons unless it was centuries. I had no doubt they'd recognize me, especially that... thrall.. Harpy. She's no doubt not a 'thrall' anymore, probably grown up into a strong young girl that would no doubt try to kill me.
The stupid girl was a thrall, no matter how strong she thought she was, she was a thrall, a slave, no matter how powerful - she was still my thrall. I wouldn't let her forget that.. This, new guy, on the scene though, this, 'Toothless' wasn't. He had the aura of an Alpha, and, if the stories are to be believed of the Berk Fury, he had fought some of the strongest dragons and won every encounter. From Aclipsis, the Red Death, to the Skrill Athork, the Legendary Screaming Death, and not to ignore the greatest story, the battle of Drago Bludvist..
There was no way anyone could underestimate him. We all knew what we were getting ourselves into if we moved against him. The sound of a dragon landing behind me caught my attention, and I turned to face the newcomer. Submerged in the shadow of the night, I could make out the faint outline of one of the higher end dragons. I snapped at him, quickly diverting my attention solely on him and lowering into a battle-ready stance.
"What the hell are you doing here? You trying to get me found out?" I snarled at him.
"Calm down Teneur." Was all his monotone voice said.
"Calm down? Shut up. Incase you forgot, I'm already taking a risk spying on this place for old Willstealer, I don't need you guys coming to check on me."
"Well, we wouldn't have to if we didn't trust you, and if you actually gave us the reports when you're meant to. Ten." I snarled, taking a step closer to him. Nobody calls me Ten. "Cut it Ten, you don't want this fight." He challenged.
"Don't... you, dare call me Ten..."
"Why? Bring back too many memories? Remind you of your little thrall does it?"
"Shut it." I growled. Nobody calls her a thrall... Nobody but me. "She's my thrall, not yours. Not Willstealer's, not Athork's.. MY thrall... And I intend to keep it that way." The sooner Willstealer decided to move against these Nightfuries the better. Once these were out the way, nothing was going to stop us reaching the Hidden World, and all the dragons and Lightfuries hiding away there; the sooner I could take the girl. Now, just to clarify something, I'm not taking her to hurt her, I'm taking her to look after her, to keep her safe, doesn't mean she's not my thrall though.
"You know as well as I do Ten, that the girl isn't just going to be yours. She's going to Willstealer, just like all the thralls are. So don't go getting to close to her. Soon enough she'll just be another mindless warrior for Willstealer, unless he finds something better for her.." I knew what he was suggesting, and I hated the idea. I wasn't fighting this war with them to have the prisoner's be used like that. I'd rather have them all killed, even the hatchlings, then let them grow up like that.
"I am not fucking letting that happen. I'm fighting this war with him because he promised the Hidden World, not slaves. Harpy is MY thrall, and mine alone. No matter what Willstealer says."
"Why the fuck do you even care about what the girl gets used for? What makes her so different? You've already broke her once, why you against breaking her again. If anything, you caused more damage the first time than you could ever cause again."
Does he have to remind me? Does he have to fucking remind me of what I caused? Look, I'm not a truly heartless bitch, but serving Willstealer for as long as I have, you tend to grow evil, doesn't mean not all his 'follower's' have regrets. I've killed hatchlings in his name, doesn't mean I enjoy it. The only reason I'm ready to kill these Nightfuries is to reach the Hidden World. These guys are the last line of defence, the Lightfuries won't be able to put up much of a fight otherwise, and it would keep them from sending the Great Serpent against us.
"Look, why in the Abyss did you even come here? What do you want?"
"I told you, we don't trust you."
"Wow, after everything I've done for you, you don't trust me?"
"We don't trust you not to take Harpy and runoff with her, you've still got feelings for the sla..girl." He corrected himself upon seeing the anger flare throughout my form. When will they realise, Harpy belongs to ME, not Willstealer, not Athork, ME. Only I can call her what she is, not them.
"Well, I don't plan to. I'm sticking around until the Hidden World is ours, then I'm fucking off with her."
"Willstealer won't take kindly to that." I just smirked smugly.
"Well I don't care. Unlike the rest of you poor fuckers, I've still got Alpha in me, so no matter what, I'm leaving and Harpy's coming with me.."
"You know, the Master's got bigger plans than just the Hidden World. His looking at the whole of Midgard after the World, including Berk." This was news to me, Willstealer and Master had their eyes set on Berk? That was ambitious. Even without Toothless there to protect the island, the Instincts of an Alpha were unmatched. If Berk was attacked, there'd be no way in all the Abyss that Toothless wouldn't go straight back there to save it.
My sensors perked up in interest, and my aggressive stance relaxed. "Really? Berk huh? Gotta admit, they've got guts. The Legend Of Berk won't really take nicely to that."
"Why'd you think we're planning to hit these guys first? The Legend's here with them. We take him down, nothing stands in our way; it's not like the God's are going to get involved. Speaking of which, I forgot to mention. Willstealer's made it clear than no-one but he and Master confront the Legend, but he doesn't mind if... Something was to happen to Toothless that gets him out of the way ahead of time. So here's you new task Ten. Cause as much damage as you can, cause we're getting ready to move anytime soon. Get Toothless out the way, and preferably, get your new toy and the rest of the thralls on a leash ready."
As he turned around to take flight, he looked back at me with a dark expression. "There's no room for failure Teneur. You fuck this up, and Willstealer won't let you keep your will, nevermind your pet." He knew the look I had in my eyes, the look of defiance, but he didn't react to it.
"You tell Willstealer that it'll be dealt with. I already have some plans for those guys." I gestured with my head back at the cave where Toothless and his friends were huddled. The Legend surrounded himself with weak thralls, not knights, or warriors, thralls. It was quite amusing actually. I bet his just as weak as the rest of them, just another thrall.
The other dragon followed my gaze before taking to the sky in silence, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Casting my gaze around the island, I almost felt bad about the fact we were going to completely crush and kill this place. Nïghtheart was actually a beautiful place. Oh well, when your end goal is to rule the Hidden World, any sacrifice is acceptable... ANY sacrifice... Now, where's my little thrall hiding?
It had taken a few more hours of searching, but I'd finally found the girl I was looking for, in the most surprising spot. She lay in the EXACT same space that she lay all those years ago, the last time I saw her... When I broke her. I was right, she had grown up. Stronger, definitely, probably faster judging by how much more streamlined and slim she was. Hopefully she'll put up a better fight this time than last time.
I wonder if she was any stronger mentally and emotionally? Surely fighting a war - that I caused - would've made her more mentally resistant. I'd have to test that at some point. Can't have a pet with a will of her own now can I? Defeats the whole purpose. Other than being better built, she was still the same girl I saw last time. The same, weak, lonely girl who couldn't fight to save her life. She stirred, forcing me to dart into the darkest shadows around and hide.
I couldn't risk getting spotted so soon, least of all by the one girl who was single-handedly the only one who posed any real threat to my life. Never underestimate a dragon whose fueled by years of rage, revenge, and hatred. She scanned the area, looking for me, but thankfully the shadows submerged my figure. I could feel a smirk tugging at my lips as she turned and shifted, facing away from me. If I wanted to, I could so easily remove her from the picture. Perfect oppurtunity to strike, and have alot of fun with it, but I didn't want her head, where's the fun having someone to boss around, control and manipulate when their gonna end up dead sooner rather than later.
"N-n-no...N-n-no...N-n-n-no! NO!" I jolted in surprise at her scream, and instinctively shrunk back further into the shadows. I didn't need to see her face or read her fire-soul to know she was crying, and what she was thinking about. "M-m-mommy..." Was all I heard her whisper. I wanted to scoff in dissappointment, but bit it back. She couldn't realise I was back. If she did, she'd be quick enough to figure out about the fact War was coming to them.
~? POV - Berk~
'So, this is the Legendary island of Berk, Willstealer's and the bosses new target? Didn't seem like a island of Legend, I've seen houses that looked more legendary than this place. But the boss say's this place isn't to be taken lightly, hence why the first goal is Nïghtheart and then the Hidden World, that he say's I get to rule as my own, ontop of all the gold his promised me for my help. He wants to rule from Berk.'
"Why are we here again?" My dragon, Ashtrek, grumbled from hers spot beside me.
"Cause, Ash, we are. He wants to know how the village is holding together without their Nightfury."
"Still think we got the shittiest job Fayea." She huffed.
"Look, I ain't gonna argue with you girl. I hate this assignment just as much as you do. This ain't the kinda job I should be doing, he payed for us as warriors, not spies."
"And yet you are the one whose assigned all the spy work, even though there are much better candidates for this in our little company than us."
I raised an eyebrow at my dragoness. "What's that suppossed to mean?"
"Really need me to answer? You know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. You do have a tendency to blow stuff up when you get bored." I simply shrugged my shoulders.
"It's not like you don't." She feigned offence.
"I've never blown up something in my life because I'm bored."
"Riiiight sure you ain't." I laughed, patting my dragons head. Honestly, I didn't really like working for this guy, he didn't treat his dragons, or his followers, very well. Apart from my group of course, he needed us, and he was paying ALOT of Hacksilver for our services. At the end of the day, this is just another job for a group of Outlaws, and who can complain, we get the mystical Hidden World to ourselves once it's all over.
"Either way, the sooner we take the Hidden World the better. I heard his taking Willstealer with him here, so we get to rule the World without him there, and his leaving all the dragons there with us."
"Don't get any ideas Ashtrek, I know what you're like girl. We're not going to rule them like that. I know that power goes to your head, and I don't wanna hurt anyone following us. Not without reason." She sighed dejected.
"Buzzkill."
"We might be Outlaws, but we're not tyrants. Only reason we're working with him is because he promised us the Hidden World, and his paying us VERY well. Now be quiet while I write this stupid message for him." I pulled out the parchment and began writing out a small report to him, as well as a little message of my own.
'Berk's weak right now.. Without the Nightfury the place is falling apart. Honestly, we'd be better off if you just let me and my Outlaws take them out now while you hit Nïghtheart, taking out two big threats at once before either have chance to prepare always worked with our past missions. We're still waiting to hear about the offer we made for the Hidden World. I hope you're considering accepting, if you still want my services. I ain't giving you the Outlaws for nothing you know.. This is a big campain you've employed us on, we want more than just Hacksilver, so you better give us full control of the Hidden World.'
Even though he was leaving the Hidden World and taking Willstealer here, it wasn't enough for me, he was still leaving a large group of his people there with us, and I wanted them out. That was the offer I made, if he wants us for the full war, he hands over the Hidden World completely, and he never returns to it. Ever.
"You reckon he'll even honor the deal if he accepts?" Ashtrek asked me after glancing over the message - while she couldn't read human runes, the symbol I had etched below was enough to tell her I was still talking about the Hidden World deal.
"He better, otherwise..." I pulled out my dagger, twirling it in my hand to emphaise my point. "He won't live to regret it."
