Author's Note – Apocrypha more or less means hidden or secret knowledge. This is probably the most important chapter of all to this point. There were a few foreshadowings of the first big reveal up to this point for the most attentive of readers in the chapters titled Sepulchre, Schism, and Divergence. Let us just say that I wanted a pseudo-plausible explanation for how this world could exist at all.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur Clarke – Hazards of Prophecy

Apocrypha

Spring broke over the ice nest as the snow melted and life came alive. Pairs of parents fawned over their hatchlings, and other dragons began flying freely without any cares in the world. The trees and grasses started regaining their color.

He felt quite content.

There were almost no quiet moments ever since learning who Dragonheart actually was, specifically his own long lost and presumed dead mother Valka. She had waited in patient amazement for many days on end as he painstakingly recounted everything that had happened on Berk in the years of her absence. Everything from the raids to the marriages and families to his old ill-fated attempts to prove his place among his tribe. She especially liked the creation of the new, better Book of Dragons. She was also very intrigued by learning about how he had applied what he had learned in secret to dragon training.

And of course everything that had happened after he shot down a certain Night Fury from the skies was especially dear to her heart. She had seemed to get a very dreamy look when he told her exactly how and where he had gotten to know said Night Fury.

Other than merely talking though one of his projects over the winter had been to aid her in building a forge. It was not a true forge the like of which would be available in a village, but it was something sufficient for her own minimal needs out here. Cloudjumper provided the fire as he himself could not.

He also found that he could write freely and openly about the issue of his father and what Stoick had done without it hurting or himself getting angry. Valka had a naturally soothing and understanding presence, likely because she herself knew how her husband could be at times.

He came back after his morning routine and sought her out to find out what was on the schedule for the current day, be it more talking about some aspect of Berk or his adventures out in the world or something more practical like keeping a lookout for trappers or disabling traps. Maybe she would have some more stories to tell of her own adventures.

She was standing right outside her hut and was staring at her large map carved into the wood. The map was quite large and displayed most of the surrounding area. In fact, she was so engrossed with the map that she did not notice him as he approached.

"Boo..."

She started in surprise.

"Hiccup... you scared me."

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"I... didn't notice you there. I was... distracted."

Clearly, by what though, I wonder?

He glanced at the carved map again. It looked no different from the map that he always remembered. It still had the same ice nest, surrounding islands, and two distant marks, one far north and off the coast and one much closer but south of the nest.

"I was wondering if it would be right to... but I promised not to tell..." she mumbled.

A lifted eye-ridge and soft grumble conveyed his confusion.

"This is a strange case though. He would only want other humans to not know," she continued muttering to herself.

What in the blazes are you talking about, mom?

He grumbled his annoyance at being left out of the monologue and hopped over to the writing station. She shortly took a breath, having reached some conclusion, and approached him.

"What do you think about a long flight? Just you, me, and Cloudjumper."

Why?

She paused and became visibly nervous. That was something that almost never happened to her.

"There is some...thing I want you to see. I will not say more until we get there."

Regardless of the reason for her secrecy, any opportunity to be on an adventure with his mother was a welcome one which he was not going to turn down.

When do we leave?

"Right now."

She certainly is eager. It must be important.

What about the nest here?

"It will be fine without me for a few weeks even if we are gone that long. We have some time before the trappers return in numbers. You better get something to eat though because we might be gone a while."

She said nothing the entire flight despite his attempts to coax a hint from her whenever they stopped to rest. The grating silence as they all rested together in the wild and on desolate islands reminded him too much of the time he had been lost in the wild, even though he was not flying alone now.

It took several full days of flying with the wind more or less at their backs before they arrived at the destination. The lone island well off the coast was seemingly deserted with not a single creature stirring on or above it. It was far enough north that it still had not lost all its winter covering of snow upon the central peak looming in the distance.

Something about the island almost seemed familiar even though he couldn't remember distinctly from where.

He followed Cloudjumper down to the sandy beach near the crashing sea and landed next to him. Valka deftly hopped off Cloudjumper's back and strode over to him. Her usual natural confidence seemed shaken from how she kept glancing all around her. She eventually settled down with a hand on his neck though. He waved a forearm at the island while grumbling his confusion.

"I never thought that I would be back at this place. I have only been here once. All right, you want to know why I brought you here?"

He eagerly nodded.

"There is... someone here I want you to meet."

Wait? Someone?

She slowly nodded.

"Yes, another... dragon. He can... talk."

He looked up and stared at her in disbelief and then wonder.

What! That is amazing!

"Yes, but it is not talking like I can talk. It is more like..." she struggled to find the words... "a whisper or echo that is in your own head. A thought that does not feel like your own and that you cannot explain."

That sounds strange. Almost like the King in a way.

"I thought the dragon here was a god the last time I was here. That was silly of me, I guess. If anyone can do anything about your being a Night Fury or knows if it is permanent, it will be him."

Those words made him freeze and his eyes go wide in shock.

Do you want me to change back if I can?

She paused as she stared at the words.

"I... do not want you to do or be anything only because I might want it. That is a choice that you must make for yourself. For what it is worth though, I do not mind you as you are. I actually wondered if this was the gods playing a trick on me by making my own son into one of the creatures I care the most about. I have always been closer to dragons than to humans after all," she added with a solemn chuckle.

He nodded, grateful that she was not set on telling him what to do or trying to shape his life as she might want it without consideration for his own wishes. That was quite possibly the most important difference between her and his father.

It was also somewhat of a contradiction since she had spent years trying to get her tribe to change and follow her way.

Maybe she had learned a life lesson.

Maybe she had given up trying to change people.

Maybe she was just complex and not entirely consistent.

Maybe she was simply imperfect like everyone else.

Where is he?

She looked inland and shrugged.

"I don't know where you will find him. Just go wander and see what happens."

Will you come?

"No, I can't go with you for this. You must go alone. We will be here. Oh, wait..."

She paused as a distant, dreamy expression came over her.

"Ask him to show you the other thing that is hidden here. Be sure to do that."

Huh? Alright, if you say so...

I will

She grinned and returned to Cloudjumper to start giving him some much desired attention after the many days of flight. Then he turned about and slowly headed off on foot into the island.

That strange feeling about the place only grew stronger the further he went. It was as though this place was both familiar and foreign to him at the same time.

This is very odd.

Then he reached a grassy hilltop and looked down the ridge in amazement at strange ruins. The ruins were made of a mix he had never seen used before: rock, glass, and metal. Some of the structures were partly intact but most had crumbled. There was even a large object like a bowl which was larger than most dragons but broken into many pieces.

The gods only know what that was for.

"What is this place?"

He sat down at the top of the ridge and continued observing what was left of a clearly very distant past.

"People lived here once," he muttered.

'Yes, they did.'

He spun around in alarm and then froze in wonder.

A perfectly white dragon had appeared from nothing. The dragon had soft spines running down its neck and back and had a very long body and tail that dragged on the ground behind it. Leaving aside the tail though it was only slightly larger than he himself was.

Any alarm that he had initially felt at the sudden encounter melted away as he watched the dragon's slow and regal stride up the ridge. This was surely a noble creature that acted with purpose and awareness. It even seemed to glow and to shed light as it walked. It settled down just upwind from him and fixed him with its piercing eyes, the color of which was indeterminable.

He briefly wondered at why he could not smell anything of the dragon when it spoke without moving its lips. The slow voice seemed to linger and echo in the air itself.

'I have not seen one of you dark wings in many years.'

He grimaced in pain as a splitting headache erupted and then gradually faded.

'My apologies, I forget my strength. I will restrain myself better. Follow.'

The strange dragon fanned its wings and silently flew from the ledge without seeming to disturb any wind. He sighed in relief as the pain receded, but still felt himself obliged to follow the amazing creature. He glided after it and found it resting on the ground down in the shadow of one of the strange ruins. He settled down across from the faintly glowing dragon.

Something about its appearance felt masculine, as had its thought-voice, strange as that seemed.

"Who are you?" he gasped in awe.

'I am Mimir. I am the one who remembers. What does that matter though? There is a better question. Who are you, dark wing?'

He was paralyzed as those words poured forth from his memory of certain vivid dreams he once had.

"I am... Shadowwing."

Mimir closed his eyes and hummed for a moment before he opened them. Something changed when he did. His gaze was far more intense, purposeful, and even astonished than it had been moments before.

'My purpose was to see the past and to remember.'

"See the past? I do not understand."

Mimir nodded.

'I see your time in the ice nest, wandering the mainland, among the humans in peace, the despair of the wild, pain and betrayal, back on an island filled with humans and dragons in peace, a human war, playing and learning with another dark wing who is close to your heart, adventures, hatchling life, and...'

Mimir stared into his eyes with a new intensity as he himself was unable to look away.

'Something escapes me. You are not flying on one wind only. You think that Dragonheart Valka is your mother and that you should be a human? What happened to your egg?'

Flames roared to life and whipped around him, consuming the whole island. A clublike tail with sharp spines flew toward him. He was falling into the void with his chest torn open. A flash of light erupted from the darkness that had grabbed him. Then he was back on the warm, grassy ground under a bright spring sun.

"What did you just do?" he gasped for breath as the terrible vision passed.

'That was the past... Hiccup...'

"How do you know that about me?" he whispered in dismay.

'I am not like other dragons you have met.'

"I can see that."

'My life-power lets me see what has happened throughout a life and far more.'

"Your life-power. You have... magic?"

'What do you mean by 'magic'?'

He fumbled for a moment as he tried to figure out how to explain the idea.

"You can... make things happen by wanting them to be, things that should not be able to happen any other way and that cannot be explained yet."

Mimir tilted his head in thought.

'I suppose so. There are things I can make be by only wanting them to be.'

The question burst forth before he was even aware of asking it.

"Can you make me a human again?"

Mimir stared directly at him without blinking. Several tense moments passed, and then he spoke the fateful declaration.

'No.'

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had not seriously considered the idea in a long time, but the merest possibility of being restored to what he had been once still brought out some confused feelings he had managed to bury deep inside.

'And your thoughts about yourself are flying on the wrong winds.'

"What?"

'You think that you have a life-wind-breath that is now stuck in a wrong or different body.'

He thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that is what happened. Toothless saved our lives by making us new. My old body was broken. His was also."

Mimir looked away from him and stared up at the clouds.

'There is more to the truth than that.'

"More? Tell me."

Mimir stared at him in obvious consideration. Then the radiant dragon slowly shook his head.

'No. That is not my place to say. Human or dragon? You must learn that for yourself to be able to fly out of the past. I should not tell you who and what you are.'

"That is not helpful," he grumbled.

'Sometimes in life the best help is to be told that there are winds you can only fly alone.'

"I guess so."

Then he glanced again at Mimir in renewed consideration and noticed that there was something very wrong about him. But he was not sure exactly what that wrongness was. His tail swayed in confusion.

"Something feels very strange about you."

'Indeed? I am glad that you noticed. Dragonheart Valka did not. Think about it. I am sure you can grasp in your claws the answer of what feels wrong about me.'

Mimir got up from where he lay and started walking back up the ridge toward the highest nearby point overlooking the ruins. He followed, glanced down at Mimir's stride along the way, and gasped with understanding.

"You do not touch the grass or wind and you do not have a smell. You are not real."

Mimir laughed aloud, the sound crashing on his thoughts like a waterfall on rocks.

'I am real enough, but you are correct that my body is not with you now.'

He slowly reached out and tried to touch Mimir, but he felt nothing but empty air where his paw should have touched Mimir's neck. The white dragon was only a phantom, only a ghost.

He shivered at the impossible realization.

"Where is it then?"

'Not here.'

"Why not?"

Mimir sighed deeply and again refused to answer. The spectral eyes were firm and would not reveal anything.

"You do not have many answers for me. Are you sure that I can never be changed back?" he pleaded.

Mimir seemed to groan at the repeated question.

'Think about it like this. Even if that change to you could be made not, all that would happen is that you would be made as you were before the change. You would have a broken and dying body again.'

He winced at being told that.

"I guess that helps make my decision certain then. I would rather be alive as this than dead as a human," he reluctantly admitted.

Mimir seemed to huff at him.

'How... wise of you...'

"How are you doing this, talking to me without being here?"

'Mind is a powerful thing. The most powerful of all, almost like 'magic' you would say. Even one who is grounded can soar free on the winds of thought.'

"I do not understand. Who are you really? Are you a... thing from beyond the skies, a god, as Dragonheart Valka said?"

Mimir shook his phantom head.

'No, I am not. I am only a dragon, a very special one, yes, but only a creature of flesh, blood, and mind. And to ask who I am is to ask what my purpose is. That is a long story if you would hear it all.'

"I have time."

Mimir seemed to chuckle.

'It is ironic that you should say that. If you want to know who I am, then you must listen to what happened many lifetimes ago.'

"Lifetimes?"

'Many hundreds of years. For that is how old I am.'

He blinked in amazement and disbelief.

"I did not know that anything could live that long."

Mimir closed his eyes and clearly lost himself in ancient memories. Then he looked up toward the skies.

'Humans are amazing creatures. Would you believe me if I told you that they learned how to build things that could fly?'

"Yes, I could. I even designed some myself though they did not work well. I hoped to make fake-wings that would let me fly with Toothless in a way."

'What about things that could fly with the stars?'

"I... wait. What?" he blinked.

'What if I told you that they learned how to breathe life-wind-breath into the dirt and make living creatures that were not before?'

"How is that even possible?" he gasped.

'Living creatures from their oldest stories. Creatures like dragons.'

His mouth fell agape at the impossible thought.

"What?" he eventually gasped.

Mimir slowly nodded with his eyes again shut.

'They could once. Their potential was limited only by their mind and what they could think of doing. Limited only by what they could imagine."

He glanced around at the ruins down on the island. They did indeed look very different from anything he had ever seen from the Nordic tribes. But it was still almost too crazy of a story to even consider.

"Let us say that story is true. What happened then?" he warily asked.

'There was a rot in their hearts. The more power they gained, the more cold they became, the more distant they became from each other, and the more dangerous they became. They gave away more of their mind-power and life-fire to the things they made and they stopped knowing each other. Like a dragon that fills its own den with fire-gas, all it took was one spark.'

Mimir looked up and stared into his eyes again.

Flashes of light erupted on the horizon in all directions. Columns of fire reached up, spilled out among the highest heavens, and left a lingering glow in the sky beyond the clouds. A wave of wind rushed onto the island and tore the trees from the ground as the ocean reared up higher than mountains.

And then it was all gone and the sun shone brightly again. His tail was frozen, and he remembered to breathe after witnessing such horror.

"What was that?"

Mimir bent down toward him in evident sympathy.

'That was the end of their world. They broke all their things and hurled the fire of the stars at each other. They made entire nests and islands and lands be not. Their surviving creatures and weapons became free and wild.'

"The... dragons?"

'Yes, the greatest beasts of all. The humans had different reasons for making the dragons. Some were made to be companion creatures, mere pets. But a few of them were made differently from the others and were special.'

"Special? What do you mean?"

'The greatest flight of the humans was in mind. Into the final unflown winds and skies. They had learned how to break the wall that divides mind and thought from the world around them. Just before the end, they learned how to give the gift of mind-spark and life-fire. They did that for the last dragons they brought into being.'

"They did what? Gave some dragons... self?" he struggled with the words and the thought itself.

'Yes. The others were still good creatures but did not have the same potential. The others were being, stuck as they were without any desire to better themselves and be more. They never looked up at the stars and wondered. The new ones were filled with becoming, just like humans are.'

He thought he already knew the answer but asked anyway.

"Which ones?"

'Your kind. My kind. The great-tusks. There were a few others also, but those others are not now.'

"They are not? What do you mean by that?"

Mimir growled very faintly for the first time in their talk.

'You should know that. Humans are afraid of what is strange to them. They fear and destroy what they do not see and know from an early age.'

"The other dragons are dead?" he gasped.

Mimir solemnly nodded.

'Almost all dragons in this world are now in only a few nests, two of which are the largest. The one you know and another that is... fallen. That good nest is the safest place for them... if they are to be out in the world. Your kind knew to stay away from humans and has barely survived until now.'

"Until now? Why is now different?"

Mimir bared his phantom teeth and a wave of heat rushed over the ground where they both stood. The heat was definitely real as the grass visibly withered where he stood.

'There is one kind of dragon that I tried to kill off entirely. That kind of dragon lived to hunt dark wings.'

"What?" he gasped in alarm.

'Yes, they were made to be weapons to hunt dark wings. I think that I killed them all, but they killed many of your kind. And you are also few because the humans are growing again. They are building more nests, having many young, and spreading out into new lands and ranges, even though all their great and terrible knowledge was lost. I knew that humans would rise again, and I had to do something for all dragons.'

Mimir's white glow grew almost painfully bright as he seemed to burn with intensity. There again felt to be something physically present and throwing off light and heat even though there was nothing there in body.

'The 'magic' as you call it is something that human bodies could not grasp. Their armies and great-clever-thinkers made me to be a weapon that could wield almost all 'magic' that is. They wanted to control me and all dragons through me. They could not control me."

"They gave you that power? The magic?"

'Yes. I was their last creation with all the potential they could give.'

"But what about all the other dragons? What about their magic?"

Mimir looked up at the sun.

'It all comes from me even now from where I am hidden. To the great-tusks I give command and control over their nests so that they can keep order and protect, to you dark wings I give the gift to one time wrest life from the teeth of death however is necessary, and to all I give their fire or ice breath. A spark of my 'magic' is in all of them from the largest great-tusks to the smallest nibblers. I can no more take their power from them now than I can claw out my own heart.'

He looked away and stood still in a stupor at how casually Mimir said such things. They indeed did sound like the work of a god.

"That is much to hear and understand. All magic comes from you?" he mumbled.

'There is only one power that I do not give. Among the living dragons now, only certain females have it. It is also the only power that humans have.'

"Wait, what? Humans have a magic power? What is it?" he eagerly asked.

'What makes you both different from the other creatures in the world?'

"We are smarter."

'No, being smarter does not matter. It is that you wonder. You ask questions. You are not content with the world as it is. You can put yourself outside time and think about what will or what might be. Where did that difference come from? Why do human younglings not revert to being beasts? What is the spark that burns in their hearts and minds? Where does it come from?'

"I do not know. Where?"

'Both females put a spark of their own life-fire in the minds of their young within the egg. Without that spark, you would be beasts, good ones like other dragons but simple creatures only. You would not dream and hope to be more. You would not look up at the stars and wonder. Is that not a great 'magic' of its own? I do not know where the first different flame came from. That fire is passed down to the young and is the greatest making of something that the world would not have on its own.'

He could only nod at such ideas.

He was still absorbed in the words about how Mimir apparently sustained all dragon magic when an idea, a possible solution to his own situation, that he once had crept again from his memory. Toothless had explained that his own life-will-power was spent on that fateful flight over Dragon Island.

But what about himself?

"What about me? Do I have that... magic power? Could I change myself?"

Mimir's thought voice hummed with wary consideration.

'You are not like the other dark wings I once knew of and you have a very different life-story. You did not have a sire and dam to sit your egg and sing to you. You also think that you are two different things instead of a whole. And even if you did have that power you would not be able to give it unless life was in true danger and your want for it eclipsed your own will to live. Truly being not is not needed to give the gift though. Not liking the skin and scales you have is not enough of a reason.'

"So, I do not have that magic. That also makes sense because I cannot make any fire," he sighed.

Mimir chuckled his strange and unearthly laughter.

'You should be able to flame even without a dark wing's life-will-power. They are not the same 'magic'. Maybe it is only strange to you and you have not had a need to flame yet.'

"Maybe. I still do not understand something else. Dragonheart Valka knew of this place. How did you meet her?"

'I knew she was in the nest with the old great-tusk. She was also lost on the winds of her life. I wanted to meet her and I summoned her and Cloudjumper.'

"And you talked to her?"

'I let her know enough of the truth and helped her find purpose in her life again. Her purpose living in peace with dragons and helping them where they cannot help themselves.'

"Why do you stay here and not come with us? If you could talk to more humans..."

'I cannot leave this place except weakly in thought unless I would burn my power. And I must stay here.'

"But you are alone here."

'Yes.'

"Are you truly alone? Are you the only of your kind of dragon or are there others?"

Mimir for the first time looked crestfallen, and his white aura dimmed noticeably.

'I did have a mate long ago, but that was not to be. We have not met each other or spoken in many years.'

He hung his head in sympathy, having at least some idea of a love lost or not meant to be.

"Why not?"

'We, much like you dark wings, are different from the other dragons. We were the last that were made, but unlike your kind we were made wrong.'

"What do you mean made wrong?"

'We could not make eggs together, new life like us. That was not... meant to be. It was not part of our winds to fly. Learning that truth hurt us both, but something hurt us even worse.'

"What?"

'If I am memory, she was foresight. She saw what had not happened but might happen under future suns. We balanced each other. I conserve what is. She made change be. But her winds were harder to fly than mine were.'

"Why?"

'Imagine knowing what will happen. Knowing that no matter what flight you choose to take, you will always land at the same place. That your choices do not change what will be. That is a tearing, rending knowledge to have. I knew what I thought had to be done for dragons. She disagreed with my giving all dragons 'magic'. She feared that it would ground them all.'

"That makes no sense."

'All I know is that she saw something that broke her life-fire. She left me when she learned that my choice was made. And then I was alone... and I did what I had to do for all dragons.'

"Where is she now?"

'Dead. She finally passed in the last cycle. I do not know why, but I felt her life-fire end even from here.'

"I am sorry about that," he hummed.

'Do not be. You did nothing wrong. She was nearing the end of her time. Even I am feeling weaker now.'

"It must still hurt to lose someone you care for."

'It did, but I still have purpose. That is enough to live for.'

"Purpose... I still have not met mine. Do you know if... will I ever see my brother again?"

'I do not see what might be. Keep looking for him.'

He nodded and remembered something he was supposed to ask about.

"Dragonheart Valka told me to ask you about something else that is hidden here. What is it?"

Mimir stared most intensely at him. The spectral dragon's eyes pierced though him in evident consideration.

'I wondered if you were going to ask about that. She is the only human who knows about it. It is only fair for you to know about it because you are a dragon also. It is a hidden world.'

.

"A hidden world? I do not understand."

'I will show you. Follow.'

Mimir then swept out his ghostly wings and took flight with him following closely behind. They flew up and deeper into the island and toward the far side of the mountain. He could see more small ruins among the trees far below.

"Where are we going?" he whispered.

Mimir's flight was quite strange, seeing as he knew that there was nothing actually there pushing on the wind despite all appearances. They passed over a massive ridge and flew down toward a plain by the side of a mountain. Mimir landed on a slight hill and turned toward the mountainside. He landed as well and walked up next to the spectral dragon as the chill wind ruffled his wings.

Then he stared in amazement at a massive cave at the base of the mountain. It was easily the largest cave he had ever seen. The cave's mouth, which he now noticed had a very faint green glow from within, was almost as large as the great white Bewilderbeast himself.

"What is that?" he gasped.

'That leads down into the hidden world. Follow me.'

He followed Mimir into the cave. It only became more mysterious as they flew inside it though. The walls of the cave seemed to glow with strange light. Grass and mosses grew on the ground and the walls. It was not dead and dry like most caves were. The air also did not have the same musty smell and still feeling that was common for caves. There almost seemed to even be a faint wind blowing from within.

This is strange for a cave. And to say nothing of how big it is.

Deeper underground they flew with the cave never narrowing. All the while the faint glow on the cave's walls never faded. He did not know how long they had been flying down in the strange cave when they burst into a large chamber. He followed Mimir to the nearest ledge and stared at an impossible sight.

The chamber, clearly very deep under the ground, was filled with life and green and light.

Massive crystals larger than most dragons extended from the ground, walls, and the distant ceiling. The crystals radiated light, leaving the chamber blanketed in a pale light. The ground was covered in strange plants, mosses, and even odd trees. Streams seemed to flow on the distant ground. It was comfortably warm and moist. The ceiling of the chamber was so high up that Mount Thor could probably have been encompassed within the chamber. Massive columns of rock rose up to the ceiling like support beams in the Great Hall.

The entire visible chamber could easily be as large as the island of Berk itself.

And there were dragons all throughout. Dozens of dragons of all kinds and colors were freely flying without a care in the world or were lounging on rocks.

He was completely struck dumb in disbelief and slowly crept to the edge of the ledge to look down on the impossible world before him.

"What is... this place?" he gasped.

'It is a hidden world where dragons can live in safety away from danger.'

"How do they live here? What do they eat?"

'Fish and small prey. The waters down here are filled with fish, and there are small prey on the ground just like up on the surface. There are no humans to compete with for food.'

He could see waters covering a distant corner of the chamber.

"Are we under the ocean?"

'Yes. We are that deep. These waters are not part of the ocean though. This is its own world entirely.'

"How can this be? This place should not be possible."

Mimir turned toward him with a clearly amused look.

'There are many things which you seem to think are impossible Shadowwing. And yet, here this world is. Would you deny your own eyes?'

"No, but this is amazing!"

Mimir chuckled at him.

'There are many more chambers like this one and different from this one. I believe that all land and sky dragons that are alive today in all the ranges of the world could live here. That is another reason why I cannot leave. I keep these ones here where they are safe.'

"What? You keep them trapped here?" he exclaimed in alarm.

'That is a twisting of what I do. Whenever one of these dragons flies up the cave I strongly remind it how good it is here instead of beyond. Here they have food, shelter, water, kinship among their own kind, and no threats other than what they make themselves. What more could they need? These ones have been here all their lives. They do not know humans. They do not know to fear humans.'

"But they should not fear humans."

'To fear is to know a threat. Humans are a threat, as we both know well. These ones cannot do that. It is better that they live in peace here with humans not knowing about them.'

"I would rather that humans learn to not fear them first. For that they need to see dragons. Both can live in peace."

He turned away from Mimir and looked out over the interior chamber again. An amazing possibility crossed his mind.

"Are there any Night Furies here? Any other dark wings as you call us?"

'None that I know of. There were some in other chambers once, but the hunter dragons I mentioned found a way in here once. I killed the hunters, but they had already done what they came to do. I killed the last one in a distant chamber maybe ten years ago. Your kind is very few in number now.'

"How few?" he whispered.

Even Mimir visibly slumped at that question.

'There may not be any mated pairs now.'

That was certainly a depressing notion. That Night Furies would eventually die out entirely was too horrible to think about. It felt wrong in every way.

"We deserve better than that..."

He stood there staring over the amazing sight, seeing the different colors of the flying dragons, both the familiar and unfamiliar ones, the sparkle of the massive glowing crystals, the green that permeated throughout, and the general impossibility that such a large place could exist without anyone knowing about it.

It was untamed, wild, and free.

Something about it called to him. It felt dangerous, mysterious, and also good at the same time.

'We should leave and return to the surface.'

He reluctantly tore his gaze from the massive chamber and spread his wings as Mimir silently took to the air.

"I wonder if I will ever see this place again."

He followed Mimir back up the massive cave though with many backward glances. The return flight passed much faster than the journey down had been since he was distracted by his memories of what he had seen. The green glow gradually began to fade the farther away from the main chamber they flew.

Then there was light again. Real, natural light from a setting sun as they both burst from the cave's entrance and flew out into the wind. The wind tickled his wings as he flew in the open air. He roared aloud in relief at being out in the open air.

Then he glanced down at the island and at the ocean, trying to imagine an entire world hidden deep down beneath. It was very hard to do and believe.

'You, Dragonheart Valka, and Cloudjumper should leave and return to the ice nest.'

He could barely see Cloudjumper's distant red and orange bulk as the Stormcutter lay napping on the distant sand.

'And Shadowwing...'

He glanced over his shoulder at Mimir.

'Never talk about this place to any others. It must stay hidden from humans. You can imagine what would happen if dragon hunters ever found it.'

He bowed his head after a moment of consideration.

"I promise."

Mimir then glanced past him out to sea.

'Look...'

He looked and saw nothing special except the red glow of the setting sun. They had been gone all afternoon. Then he glanced back and Mimir was gone from the sky, completely vanished without a trace. He shuddered at the haunting sensation left by the sudden departure.

Then he turned and flew down to the shore where Valka had a small campfire set up and several freshly caught fish roasting on the fire. She got to her feet as he landed and bounded up to her. He sat down before her and stared at her.

Neither of them said anything for a while.

"So, did you meet him?" she eventually whispered.

Yes, he nodded.

He told me and showed me much

"Anything about... well... you?"

I am stuck like this

She slowly nodded and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What do you think about that?"

He hummed in thought, trying to figure out how to best put it into words.

There is no reason to cry over it

I have been this for years

It is normal now

"That is very brave, son. I do not know if I could be like that if my life changed that much."

You have lived alone for twenty years

Doing nothing but helping dragons

That deserves to be in the great Eddas

She blushed at that praise.

And giving up my wings would be hard now

I do not know if I would want to go back

She softly laughed at that.

"I can only imagine. And... did you see it? The hidden world?"

Yes, he nodded with very wide eyes and an amazed sigh.

Neither of them said anything for a long time.

"Amazing, isn't it. To think that there could be worlds under our feet and we not even know it."

I know

Did you actually see in it?

"Yes, Mimir took me and Cloudjumper down there and let me see it. It is good to know that there will always be some dragons alive in the world and living freely. Even if it is only in secret."

Yes, it is

"Shall we go home now? It will be a little longer of a flight going back since we will be fighting the wind this time."

Yes, he nodded.

They roused Cloudjumper, extinguished the fire, and went aloft with their flight turned for the south. They would rest in the wild on the mainland once they got there. He hazarded a glance back at the apparently desolate island and imagined seeing a white dot soaring around the distant peak before his view was obstructed by the clouds.

'Who are you, dark wing?'

He shuddered once at the haunting words that echoed in the air around him. Then he turned back to the open waters. The skies, waters, and winds felt the same and terribly different at the same time.

As did he with the new knowledge that he now carried with him.