Journey: Part VII

It all seems so…sad, in a way.

The Riders have been through so much, solved so many riddles, saved so many people, and now, with one rider is in a suffocating death trap, one thrown and knocked out, one in a fear-induced coma, one still in a drowsy haze, and one no where near recovered from a horrible fall, it seems all for nothing.

The Screaming Death is truly monstrous now; it seems as if it has never stopped growing. Even now, with its head over 100 meters above the ground, there is still an almost endless coil of tail on the ground, slowly constricting an unconscious rider.

It seems the archipelago has become too small for it, so it had flown away, to this island, where the Riders had disturbed it. Even though they've saved its life and reunited it with its mother many years ago, it still hates them. Either it just doesn't like humans…or it has a disturbingly short memory. Both are bad.

It seems like the end is coming. The dragons are doing their best of course; Toothless blasting the white giant with plasma bolts from the ground, Barf and Belch painting gas lines then lighting them, Meatlug shooting lava at the weakest joints in the dragon's armor-like scales. Hookfang is fighting like the Nightmare of his name, flying the closest, using claws and teeth as well as fire. Every blast the other dragons give, he gives two. Almost like he was fighting for another dragon as well…which he kind of is.

But, it is obvious it won't be enough. Even though the Slitherwings have fled, the Screaming Death seems to be completely unstoppable, and the dragons are used to having a rider to control there plans and be a lookout for danger. One by one, they fall, Meatlug shot by a spine, Barf and Belch choked by winding coils, and finally Hookfang grabbed by the tail and thrown hundreds of meters by a single lunge. Only Toothless still fights, dodging teeth and fire while staying on the ground. But, two things are against him. The Screaming Death was not present when Toothless became the King of Dragons, so he does not have the level of awe and respect the other dragons have towards him. Worst of all, he won't let Hiccup ride him, to help him fly. He tried to protect his friend, and in doing so doomed himself. A sudden fire burst left him unconscious where he stood, out of plasma and exhausted.

And finally, the Scream, oh the Scream…it ripped your very soul apart to hear that dragon roar, tore the flesh of your bones, and threatened to puncture your eardrums with every shrieking second.

Even Snotlout got down from his roof and joined the haunted-eyed group standing on the grass, crying and shouting their dragon's names, Astrid just hugging a frantic Hiccup, who was trying to wake Toothless up. The Riders have run out of dragons to protect them…

But wait…I missed one, didn't I? Oh yes—the new one, the one called Death Ride, and the only one with any possible chance of victory, and a size actually slightly comparable to his enemy, only 3 times his size, and not 10. Yay! Positivity!

But he doesn't have a rider either…we're out of those also.

Or are we?

Thor Bonecrusher. He is a bit of a prick, but, you gotta admit, he's got style.

But do you really need 3 somersaults to jump on a dragon?

THOR BONECRUSHER

I know it is disgraceful not to mind your appearance, but I don't care about how I will be portrayed anymore. All I care about is getting that girl out from the vicious embrace of that deathly white demon. And hopefully killing it, and dragging its carcass back to a victorious Berk. And getting a couple of feasts in my honor. And maybe a holiday. But that's for later. Right now, I need to be focused…

Hahaaa! This dragon is truly amazing!

I can see the awe-induced stares of the humans on the ground, and the slight smile of one. He is the leader I know, and I must follow what he says to not make trouble. It is for the good of the dragons and the Riders. He brought me to this place, to save the day, and get fame and glory.

I bring my mount down using my knees. He is very responsive, almost as if he has been trained before. Maybe the one they call Tuffnut?

"Use Death Ride to distract it and get me close! I'll rescue Ruffnut!" I hear.

"Hiccup!" Another voice chimes in. "I'm going with you!"

"No chance, Astrid. It's too dangerous."

"You think I can't fight and win?"

I can see the leader holding another by the shoulders. They are arguing, but it seems the leader is winning. "No Astrid," he says, "It's that you're too important to lose." The girl seems frozen, speechless. He pecks her on the cheek, then jumps behind me. "Take me close."

I spare a glance at the girl, who is now crying silently, still staring at the spot where the leader was a few seconds ago. Then I turn away. I have a job to do.

My dragon is already spiraling towards the white mountain, taller than anything around. It is presently glaring down at its helpless prisoner. It gathers itself, preparing for a quick lunge and snap…

When, quite literally, it gets laid by a single punch.

The dragon screams its agony as Death Ride's lash hits its mouth. A giant fang crashes down on the ground, narrowly missing the prone girl. The coils loosen slightly; though from pain or anger it is hard to tell. The Screaming Death focuses back on us, eyes glaring red, only to have its body cut with a dozen flaming spines, burning through the impenetrable armor like a knife through butter. They were barely like pinpricks to this monster, but Thor, that must of stung. I guide Death Ride to the other side, and shoot again. I look behind me, to report to my leader, but he is suddenly gone.

I have a sudden vision of the girl from before, Astrid, in my mind, silent tears streaming down her face…

I shake off my moment of weakness, and continue my mission.

HICCUP

I feel horrible, somehow. I know I'm trying to protect Astrid, but why do I have to push her away every time as well? I know what I must do…why am I too weak to do it? My father would have…my father.

'I won't let you down, Dad' I think, as I silently drop from Death Ride's back, into clear, thin air.

The ground is barely 20 meters away when I open my flight suit and start gliding swiftly towards the end of the tail. I unsheathe Inferno, careful to not let any stray Monstrous Nightmare gel drip on my wings.

I near Ruffnut…50 meters…30 meters…10 meters…closer…closer…now!

I fire up Inferno and drop it on the beast's tail. As I had hoped, the dragon is so big that it has lost most contact with the muscles in its tail tip, so far from its brain. The tail twitches, and Inferno is extinguished, but the mission is accomplished. The tail has moved enough so Ruffnut can breath, but the head hasn't noticed me. Sweet.

The spiny body looms before me, suddenly a lot closer than it looked before.

Now, how do I stop?

Whoops…

THOR BONECRUSHER

This isn't going well.

I frantically dodge another spine shot, and swivel around a flame burst. This dragon just can't be stopped. The Screaming Death is covered in burns and scars, but Death Ride is out of flames, eyes tired and flickering. I have seen my dragon fight like no other—against a different opponent, any opponent, it would be dead twenty times over, and vaporized and covered with spines to boot. But this enemy's strength is infinite, and everything just gets it madder and madder.

I don't know how much longer I can do this.

Almost as soon as I though this, I feel Death Ride flying down towards the ground, then accelerating upward with whiplashing speed. I fall off his back and hit the ground with a considerable thump. Ouch.

After I check that nothing is broken I look up. Why did he throw me off?

What I see amazes me.

Death Ride is flying faster than ever, weaving in and out, escaping everything his bigger counterpart throws at him. He moves with the agility of a dragon half his size, always flying farther and farther upward, dodging spines here, twirling around fire there, and suddenly…he was there.

Circling 20 meters above the Screaming Death, my mount starts to dance.

I have no other word for it. The dragon is circling, leaping, slithering in the air, never staying still.

A flame bolt rockets toward him. Before I can even yell out, it is extinguished. A blue forcefield surrounds the dancing dragon, accelerating outward from the hit, becoming more visible with every second. The energy surrounding Death Ride was literally crackling with intensity, reminding me of something…

That's when I saw the storm clouds gathering above him, and I realized what he was about to do…

I spare a moment to think. I can't believe this. He's even more powerful than I thought.

I snap back to reality when thunder rumbles overhead, and I realize something...

...the leader and the girl are in grave danger.

Yikes. That would hurt.

I start running towards the end of the tail, where I can now barely see with all the smoke…and come across two prone bodies instead of just one.

That complicates things.

RUFFNUT

Ouch. OUCH OUCH OUCH. I feel like I'm being ripped to pieces. Cool.

Suddenly, I feel myself getting picked up, and I'm balanced on someone's shoulder. I open my eyes and see Hiccup about 10 feet away. A spike is sticking out from one of his flight suit wings, and he looks unconscious. He's upside-down also. That's not good.

Oh wait. I got picked up upside-down. Makes sense.

I see him getting farther away, and realize my savior is running. I peer around as best I could, into the face of…

"Fishlegs?"

He smiles. "The leader told me you would probably call me that. I am not Fishlegs. My name is Thor Bonecrusher. At your service."

He sets me down, now a considerable distance from the tail. Man, he's fast. And alive. A hundred thoughts run through my head, including kissing him and killing him. Tears are already prickling my eyes. He's okay. Somehow, I formed a sentence.

"I have no words, Fish—sorry, Thor. How are you all right?"

"Apologies, miss," He winked at me. "That's 10 words, actually."

He ran back towards Hiccup.

The tears are suddenly gone.

That little…

Oh, never mind.

THOR BONECRUSHER

I look up through the smoke and flames, and I can still see that blue energy, slowly growing brighter, storm clouds gathering, getting bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger…

I grab Hiccup and start running as fast as I can to escape what I know will happen in the next 10 seconds.

I don't see it, but I knew it happened.

The storm that Death Ride summoned was electric—that was the forcefield, so powerful that it could stop almost anything. Death Ride used his deadliest weapon-harnessing Thor's rage itself. It fought wildly, trying to disperse, but the dragon held it firm, moving faster and faster. Now he was just a blur, a huge teal lasso decorated with leaping licks of flame, controlling the frantically bucking storm clouds. The skies tore as the power increased, until it was overflowing, rocketing off, screaming, shrieking, searching for a way to escape.

And it found it.

The Screaming Death, hundreds of meters off the ground, the highest point for miles around.

A blinding surge of light exploded from the clouds, passing harmlessly over and around the forcefield and struck the rage-filled giant on its highest spine.

The Riders, watching from hundreds of meters away, shielded their burning eyes as the sky lit up with a brilliance outshining the sun, and a shockwave blew them backward by dozens of meters…

However, Ruffnut and Fishlegs were the only ones actually witnessing the horrific crescendo. The dragon was flashing with dozens of lights, scales peeling off and dissolving, teeth crumbling, body slowly vaporizing in the continuous stream of white-hot energy...the Screaming Death let out one more agonizing scream as its eyes slowly went blank…

And suddenly, the dragon was simply not there.

Seconds pass, but the dragon doesn't reappear. This is real, not some sick dream. They've actually won.

"Wow…" Ruffnut turned at the sudden voice. It was that of Fishlegs, not of Thor Bonecrusher. So he must be back. The shock must have undid however the hypnosis happened. Fishlegs looked at her, and smiled a small smile.

She smiled back, and moved closer, until his arm was around her.

They watched the flames extinguish themselves slowly, hand in hand.

There wasn't much to be said, so they sat in companionable silence, remembering the greatness of a fallen foe.

Several minutes later, a sudden snuffling made them both jump apart. They were met with the sight of Hiccup, slowly standing up, shaking himself like a dog shakes off water, and looking confused at the spine sticking out of his flight suit. He pulls it out, and fingers the jagged hole sadly.

He notices their stunned faces.

"What did I miss?"

5 days later…

Fishlegs was excited.

"I knew it! It wasn't just directions!"

"What are you talking about, Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked, confused.

The gang was sprawled about the stable, atmosphere cheerful. Even the air smelled a little less fishy.

Astrid leaned on Hiccup's chest, seemingly recovered from her fall. She hadn't spoken much to anyone, but she smiled sometimes, and that was an improvement in itself. Ruff and Tuff were having a slap fight in the corner. Snotlout was hanging from the ceiling, doing crunches. The dragons were outside, working off some pent up anxiety with good old-fashioned wrestling. Death Ride was amazingly no worse for the wear after his incredible job against the Screaming Death, and he was wrestling with the best of them, spines held safely against his body. The group had mobbed him and started playing, which was surprising considering how he attacked them. He was apparently forgiven due to his fighting skills.. Stormfly's wing was slowly healing, but she still couldn't play rough-and-tumble, so Hookfang quit the game and sat with her. They were carrying on a little conversation, rather sweetly actually.

"I've made a discovery. You know that Latin word we saw on the note?"

"Yeah. 'Southward,' or 'due south.'"

"That's where you're wrong, my friend. It didn't mean direction…it was talking about islands. The 'Southward' island, to be specific."

"What's that?" Astrid chimed in.

"Have you guys ever heard of the Island of Aeternam Crepusculum?"

"Stupid *huff* name." Snotlout dropped to the floor. "I would have named it something way better…like 'Snot Isle,' or 'Snot Island,' or maybe 'the Isle of Snot!'"

"And that isn't stupid?"

"That sounds like Latin," Hiccup murmured, ignoring Astrid and Snotlout's bickering.

"Yup!" Fishlegs agreed. "It is. After you noticed the secret writing on the note, I've been studying the papers from the Reaper again, and guess what? All of them are in Latin. This gives me a theory."

Hiccup nodded for him to continue.

"I think the ship I got the books from was originally Roman. That's why it seemed so strange, even for a Hunter vessel, and all the books are in Latin. The Hunters must have stolen and remodeled it later, but they crashed it, so they left all the strange writings they had no knowledge of."

"That certainly is consistent with the facts Fishlegs...wow! If this is true, then there's a whole civilization out there that we know nothing about."

"That's not even the best part." Fishlegs paused for effect. "Aeternam Crepusculum translates to 'Eternal Twilight!'"

Hiccup gasped. "That's what it said in the note! 'The Twilight hour.' Remember?" He turned to Fishlegs. "Can you find it? There must have been some sort of map..."

He trailed off. Fishlegs was already pulling a page out of a book next to him. He held it up proudly. It was…completely blank?

"Um…Fishlegs? What's a blank piece of paper going to do?"

"Oh, it's blank now, but it won't be soon! This will be our map! When I originally saw it, I was confused. It was supposed to be a map, you see-but I completely forgot about your discovery until now. Now, it can become a map, and we can find the author of the note! All we need is some..."

"What?" Hiccup and Snotlout said at the same time.

But Astrid had seen what they hadn't. "How did you say you discovered the secret word on the note again, Hiccup?"

Fishlegs and Astrid grinned at their dumbstruck faces.

"...heat!"

"Death Ride? A little help?" Hiccup called. "We may need a little more firepower from you."

I hope you have enjoyed the JOURNEY. Now, a new adventure begins…