Author's Note – I recommend that you listen to 'Mars, The Bringer of War' from Gustav Holst's 'The Planets'. That piece is about seven minutes long, and it is basically this chapter converted into music since I wrote this chapter with that piece in mind. You should be able to pair up the moments of action and calm within this chapter with the music.

"Black it stood as night... Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell... And shook a dreadful dart; what seem'd his head... The likeness of a kingly crown had on... Satan was now at hand." - John Milton – Paradise Lost

Dance With The Devil

They jumped off the deck in opposite directions with a pair of very quick thrusts of their wings. They heard the dragon crash down on the deck where they had stood. Out over the water and up into the air they flew, leaving behind the burning husk of a ship. Their flights came together up in the sky as the unearthly shriek finally stopped ringing in their ears.

Once the initial shock wore off, dread and fear replaced it as they stared down together at the deck where they had stood only moments before. They could both clearly see Grimmel standing next to the remaining Deathgripper. Neither of those two mattered anymore in comparison to whatever this was.

The strange dragon, its very appearance a visage of malice, was staring up at them and watching their flights, its body clearly coiled for a strike.

"What is that Monster?" Shadowwing shouted.

"I do not know! It wants to hunt us!" Was-Grounded yelled back.

Shadowwing blinked in vague recognition.

'There is one kind of dragon that I tried to kill off entirely.'

'He wants to hunt down every Night Fury and is somehow very good at it.'

'A certain... ally who shares my mission in a way.'

"What do we do to Monsters?" Shadowwing answered.

"Kill them!" Was-Grounded smiled widely with all his teeth bared.

The Hunter jumped from the ship and raced toward them, its dark wings carrying it much faster than most other dragons.

"As one flight!" Shadowwing shouted.

They let their light flare brightly as they banked in opposite directions to force the Hunter to choose. It decided to follow after Was-Grounded which let Shadowwing fly a bit closer to it to get a better look.

Threat assessment. Do not get close to it because of its long claws. It is fast but probably not as fast as us. Very nimble and agile for sure from the tail-sails. Do not know if it has any fire. Great.

The wings were very much like a Night Fury's wings though perhaps larger with a bit more drag and less speed. It more than made up for that by being more muscular overall with a slightly more extended torso and by having the longer claws on its forearms.

I think it wants to force a close fight. Definitely keep this at range.

He saw his brother begin to turn in a wide loop, almost dragging the Hunter's flight with him. And that let Shadowwing beat his flight into the Hunter's blind spot up and over its back. Closer and closer until he was certain that the shot would strike.

Perfect, it has bigger wings and it is flying a predictab...

The Hunter seemed to twist in midair, arrested its momentum with its larger wings, and hurled itself at him. He angled up to keep the higher air and snarled in murderous wrath as the Hunter approached. His own glow burned hotter as he readied a death shot and narrowed his eyes on its wings that seemed to drip shadows.

And something felt different about the world.

The air felt heavier, and he felt weaker.

The Hunter extended its claws and opened its monstrous maw, flashing its sharp and inward curved teeth.

His fire should have burst forth and hurled into the open maw to tear the Hunter apart from within.

But nothing happened.

He beat his wings at the last second, flipped his tail, and hurled up and over its back. Its jaws snapped shut and barely missed clamping down on his tail. And in that moment when he spun over its back, he noticed something else terrifying when he caught a glimpse of himself.

He was not glowing with power.

What!

He beat his flight away from the Hunter as quickly as possible as he rejoined his brother's flight. And everything changed again as he put distance between himself and the terrifying Hunter.

The air felt lighter, and he felt stronger again.

His powerful glow returned in full, and a faint stream of fire erupted from his maw as the remaining unflamed gas was set alight. He breathed heavily in shock.

Ok, what just happened?

He glared at the Hunter as it twisted toward them. A bizarre explanation came to mind. It was crazy and made little sense but nothing else made any sense at the moment when everything he thought he knew about his own abilities seemed uncertain.

It drains my power or stops me from making fire somehow, but only up close? Well, great.

"Stay away from it! It stops you from making fire or body-light close to it!" he shouted.

Was-Grounded shook his head in surprise and growled his understanding.

"Flame it together?" Was-Grounded snarled.

They turned toward it together and roared in defiance. They beat their flight directly toward it as fast as possible as they readied their fires.

Two glowing shots flew forth toward the Hunter.

It twisted faster than thought and dodged between both shots.

And they angled their flights away from it to try again.

A shadow of doubt began to grow in Shadowwing's thoughts.

Ok, Night Furies never miss what we aim for. It is very fast though. Need to try something else. Maybe it needs to be distracted enough. I really do not like this.

"I will be the prey! You dive at it from above!" he shouted.

Was-Grounded grumbled at that but turned his tail to the ground and flew straight up toward the dark clouds.

Shadowwing turned toward the Hunter.

Time to go dive into the Monster's den. Love it.

He deliberately flew closer to the Hunter, sending a single small shot its direction to get its attention. That at least worked. It turned for him and flew with haste. He let his light stay bright like a beacon, hopefully being enough of a distraction to let his brother take the necessary diving shot.

Closer it flew. Only a few lengths separated them until he started feeling that impending weakness and drain. That was as close as he or his fear would allow.

A glance followed at it over his shoulder. Surprisingly, this time it did not have its jaws wide open. It merely stared at him. Its dark eyes were as windows on a void, an emptiness, a hole in life.

A blazing white sun that hunted its kind with lightning and death. Hiding in the corners of the world until it was found by an Alpha-two-leg that had need of it long ago. A secret champion and a shared need made known and understood. Smelling. Hunting. Diving at shadows. Dens found. Conflict forced in defense of dens. Need satisfied. Purpose met.

And it was hurling itself through the sky with impossible speed and sinking its teeth into his tail which it bit off.

And it was ripping off his brother's wings and snapping his neck.

And it was tearing out Luna's heart and feasting on her entrails.

And it was eating Moon-Dancer and Mist-Wings alive.

Paralyzed by fear and horror and dread.

A void, an emptiness, a hole in life.

Jaws wide and claws flashing.

Stalking closer to him.

Into nothingness.

Useless.

Useless.

Weak.

Weak.

He recovered himself with a gasp as a bright explosion erupted in the night. The paralyzing spell was broken, and the Hunter was knocked from the sky by his brother's diving blast that glowed like a sun.

No... Not true... No... It did not... They are still...

He whimpered weakly and shook his head at the terrible fading images.

Gods! What was that?

The relief was only momentary though as he glanced down and saw the Hunter start to recover its flight. It had survived an Alpha Night Fury's full diving shot without even appearing to be terribly distraught beyond a glowing patch of scales on its back and sides.

How is that possible?

Was-Grounded flew in next to him and gave him a worried growl.

"Do not look in its eyes!" Shadowwing gasped.

"That was my strongest and hottest fire," Was-Grounded bemoaned.

"And it did not die? Now what?"

"I do not know. It has no blind spots or weaknesses that I see. It saw my shot and was not hit in the wings. Does it have any fire?"

They both looked down as the Hunter seemed to recover and turned its flight up toward them.

"I have not seen..." Shadowwing began.

The Hunter shot a ball of dark blue fire that erupted into a cloud into which the Hunter flew. The flaming cloud quickly faded, and the Hunter vanished from their sight into thin air.

Both of their jaws fell open in horrified shock.

"That is very bad!" Shadowwing screamed.

"To the clouds!" Was-Grounded yelled.

They both flipped their tails and flew toward the thick clouds above as fast as their wings could carry them. That was very fast.

It made her liver burn hot to strike at the Monsters. These Monster two-legs that would fly against the Haven-nest and which were led by an Alpha that hunts Night Furies. An Alpha who would wear her mate's hide as false-skins. An Alpha who had several hunter-kin and used them as flight-mates. An Alpha who had attacked her own den and taken her from Moon-Dancer. An Alpha that both Alpha Furies were about to kill if it was not already dead.

There were already water-walkers turning around and flying at different directions than others in the flight. Confusion and fear were spreading without clear flight-leaders to guide the flight.

She flew high above, well beyond the range of any two-leg danger, as she flew down the path of fighting and roared aloud to all the kin. While she was not an Alpha herself, she was mated to an Alpha and all the wild kin knew her voice. They knew to answer her call as she cried out in triumph and fight-leaving. She flew down the fighting range where most of the fighting had happened with the water-walkers. The few not-grounded kin still fighting two-legs on the ships answered her summons and rose into the air. All kin able to fly were leaving and flying off toward their nest wingbeats later.

She turned away from the grounded flight of water-walkers and looked around for the two she expected to see leading the flight.

Where are they? They should lead this flight in their victory.

There was nothing over near the burning water-walker that they had both been on. She glanced away from the remaining water-walkers when she noticed something twisting. There were flashes of kin-fire far away out and over the waters where there were no water-walkers.

What?

She stared up toward those clouds until she saw it again. A distant kin glowing with blue life-fire dove and shot a fire-sun that struck another unknown kin. The unknown kin fell, recovered itself, and turned for the other two bright kin before she lost sight of it. The other two kin with glowing life-fires turned for the distant clouds up above and flew very fast, apparently being chased.

Shadowwing! Was-Grounded!

They were Alphas and should be able to ground any bad kin, but that had not happened here. Something had turned two Alpha Night Furies into prey and was driving their flight.

She turned for them, completely forgetting the remaining water-walkers, the lone kin flying away from the burning water-walker, and the flight of kin turning for the horizon, and flew with all possible speed. Another flash of hiding-fire erupted before her. She flew through it and knew that she had vanished from all eyes.

The thick darkness closed around them both as they settled into a smooth glide in the thick clouds.

"No light..." Was-Grounded whispered.

They willed their light to fade to better hide them in the darkness and because the commanding light would not help them now. The fear and encircling dread made it easy as they faded into the dark clouds.

It felt not so different from how they had hidden in the clouds many years ago under very different circumstances. At least until they remembered that this enemy was completely invisible and could be anywhere.

It felt terribly real at the moment. The possibility of what might happen.

"Toothless, I want you to know... if we die... I am glad to be flying with you... at the end," Shadowwing whispered.

Was-Grounded brushed a wing against his.

"I would be also, Hiccup. But we are not dying to that Monster."

"We cannot see it..." Shadowwing whimpered.

There was no sound but the whistle of the wind and their own heavy breaths.

"Remember what I said? We can see life-fire..." Was-Grounded explained.

Was-Grounded closed his eyes and started smoothly gliding. His ears that had been swiveling every direction stilled, and he made no sound as they glided in the clouds.

Almost total silence and emptiness.

"I do not see anything. There are no other lights," he whispered.

Lights? What?

All of Shadowwing's nerves were frayed as he strained his senses to take in everything around him. They both glided out into a gap between the dark clouds.

Every change of the wind was its attack.

Every disturbance, flash of light, or swirl in a cloud was its unseen dive as its invisible body flew through a cloud.

It was too distracting and terrifying, not being able to see the enemy and plan accordingly.

'Life-fire, you can see it without using eyes.'

There was too much around him.

'Life-fire...'

He closed his eyes and let the world fall away as he glided behind his brother and focused on nothing but breathing.

The stroke of the wind on his wings was gone.

The whistle of the wind in his ears was gone.

The rushing beat of his heart was gone.

The sound of his breath was gone.

There was nothing but himself.

His wings, fins, and tucked limbs.

His breaths and pounding heart.

Even all that was gone.

It was a strange sense, a confusing mix of seeing and feeling that did not need eyes and that he did not know he had. A sense that he had never needed before. Something similar to the seeing with sound but always available to him, though he had never explored it.

There were indeed no lights anywhere around them except for his brother's, which seemed to burn like a sun in the shape of a Night Fury, and presumably his own but which he could not see or feel. The clouds did not seem to exist to this sense, maybe because they were not life and did not have life-fire, whatever exactly this was.

Life itself? Heat? Something else?

There was nothing else anywhere around them except the far distant darkness all around at the limits of this sense and ahead of them.

He blinked and recovered himself as all his awareness returned in an instant. The wind was again, and he could see all the dark clouds before them. Everything was normal except that the air felt slightly heavy, and he felt slightly weaker than he thought he should.

Heavy and weak.

"Brother!"

Was-Grounded blinked, recovered himself, and glanced back at him over his shoulder.

"Do you feel..." Shadowwing paused.

Windows on a void, an emptiness, a hole in life. A darkness in the clouds ahead.

Clouds are not life.

"DIVE!"

The cloud before them was torn asunder from within.

Pure terror and horror was all he felt in his dive. There was no point turning to glance over his shoulder because the Hunter could not be seen. But he heard, even above the whistling wind, the pained scream behind him. A shard of ice plunged through his heart in that instant.

In all the fights he had been in it had always been he who was behind his brother's capabilities, Was-Grounded simply being more aggressive, protective, and a better dragon.

All sensation fell away as he acted without thought, twisted onto his back, and loosed a glowing shot slightly off target from the bright light that he could see. The shot even burned his own mouth at its departure. So much more potent than the normal fire that was easy to summon.

The target was clearly visible as if it was noon. A dark, twisted void. A gaping hole in life. It was terrifyingly close behind the light, almost close enough to snap at the light's tail.

The shot passed barely under a tucked wing of light and flew straight into the void. A dark shape like a wing was hurled out from the unseen Hunter's side by the force of the blast. Its diving flight was fouled as it momentarily spun out of control.

He returned to the world and recovered his dive next to his brother.

"Follow!" he shouted, barely audible over the rushing wind.

They flew on as fast as possible for several seconds. He checked again to make sure that they had a moment and slowed when he saw that they had put distance between themselves and the void.

There was a narrow bleeding gash in his brother's lower back, a painful injury but not life-threatening at all.

That was far too close.

"Look for darkness, not a light!"

Was-Grounded was visibly trembling from the pain, but he managed to close his eyes and growled softly in surprise.

"I see it now! And there is... another light!"

What!

Shadowwing checked for the Hunter's advance, easily spotting it again as the emptiness approached, but he also saw something else as well. Another sun was circling up above.

A sun that he could not see when he looked with his eyes.

No! Why are you here?

They both beat their flights toward the unseen sun up at the nearest clouds. And he realized something wonderful and frightening at the same time. It was not one sun. Rather, there were two lights, one large and one very small but both burning brightly.

Oh Luna, why didn't you tell me?

"Luna!"

"Shadowwing!"

He felt an invisible wing brush against his. There was no time for pleasantries.

"Can you see life-fire?" he shouted.

"Yes!"

"Do it and look for darkness! It is a Monster. Our fire is not hot enough to kill it!" he yelled.

A moment of silence passed.

"I see it! Attack with me!" she shouted.

He and Was-Grounded gasped in shock when she growled anew.

"I have hot fire! All flame it as one!" she commanded.

Wordless agreement passed between them as the rest of the world fell away. They all turned as one toward the Hunter and beat their flight toward it.

Three burning suns threw themselves at the void and scattered around it. Their first volley of shots was dodged entirely. The second volley was not.

The Hunter twisted furiously and howled as a singular strike tore away a patch of scales on its back. Another series of shots followed, and the darkness screamed in pain at the united strike that burned hotter and hurt more than any of the others had. Especially when the shots hit the opened weakness on its back where it had lost its thick and protective scales. It was very fast at keeping its wings away from the shots, but even strikes on its armored back were not safe for it anymore.

A burning, white-hot shot flew from Luna as a dark shot erupted from the void. The two shots collided with a flash that lit up the night sky. Shadowwing could visibly see the Hunter's terrible shape trembling as it hovered in place. Something, perhaps the force of that flash, had torn it from its hiding.

He and Was-Grounded both loosed two glowing balls of bright death that had broken a great tusk once before. They were perfect shots directly at the opened wound on the Hunter's back.

Both shots struck the Hunter's belly and broke like water on rock as the Hunter wearily twisted in place to block the shots. It let out a confused and pained growl as it wildly shook its head. It could not dodge the next shot hurled from the nothingness above, and it howled in pain.

Shadowwing was coming back around for another clear shot when a flash of motion up in the clouds caught his attention. It almost looked like a...

He shook his head and ignored the distraction. He was in position and prepared to ready his fire for another careful shot. The weary Hunter turned slightly and angled itself toward a patch of empty air away from himself and his brother.

Almost as if to flee.

Toward the only hidden fighter whose fire was hot enough to pierce its protection without any help.

Toward the two lights that should be hidden from all eyes.

The terrifying knowledge passed through his thoughts in an instant and shattered all his calm confidence. A perfect explanation formed for how it could see them up in the thick clouds, seemed to have no blind spot, and why it had just turned to stare at the empty air.

It could see life-fire.

It could see her.

She did not know that it could see her.

The frozen moment passed, and the Hunter hurled itself through the sky with a burst of speed that belied its weary condition.

Panic forced him to ready another shot as he had planned. He realized in another terrifying instant that he could not. Glowing with this powerful blue light did not mean that he had an unlimited supply of gas. He still had a shot limit and was now useless after having reached that limit.

He heard her terrified scream and saw nothing but his failure.

'I fear that flying above will be my death one sun...'

Always useless to protect her as he promised he would.

'Two times now you have not been there...'

His own weakness.

'What am I to you, Shadowwing...'

Useless.

'You will not fail us again...'

Useless.

'I would die for you...'

A wall, a barrier inside that had never before been crossed...

'You are the wind in my sky...'

Shattered at the imminent deaths of one, of two, of three he would die for.

All thought vanished in that moment as his blue light changed into blue fire that flowed around him and streamed behind him.

'A blazing white sun that hunted its kind with lightning and death.'

Lightning and death.

The lightning crashed through all the clouds in the sky, struck him as he hovered in place, and jumped from his glowing maw in a strike that turned night into day.

Awareness returned to him for an instant in which he saw the Hunter's charred corpse falling from the sky. But it was hard to see anything past the flashes and spots of light in his vision. He could not hear anything over the ringing in his ears from the thunder centered on him.

Wings were there passing through the sky before him. But he was tired, so tired and weak after a long chase over Haven, trauma and fear, a long flight over the sea, battle in the sky, battle on the ship, a raging inferno, and this finished dance with the devil.

A sudden lurch of weariness and burning pain from everywhere. Everything hurt where the lightning had struck him. His wings and tail threatened to fail him. A growling whimper escaped him as he struggled to remain in the sky.

What... did... I... just...

Time seemed to slow again as he saw Grimmel the Grisly on the back of his last Deathgripper, the pair having crossed in front of him in the confusion after the lightning strike. Grimmel's empty crossbow was in the terrible man's hand.

Shadowwing glanced down in weary curiosity at the large bolt buried in his own chest.

A creeping, spreading spike of numbing cold fire.

"Oh..."

'I will kill a Night Fury before the end.'

So weary as the clouds above bathed in the dawn's first light.

Sound faded except for the buzzing in his head.

The sun flashed in the sky above and faded.

As the darkness grew all around him.

As the roaring wind was silenced.

As the sky was falling down.

As his wings failed him.

As his tail went limp.

As his breath stilled.

Up through weary eyes that struggled to see anything at all.

The clouds high above.

The whipping wind.

The darting shadow.

The diving moon.

The fading light.

The silence.

The dark.

Alone.

Weightless.

Falling.

Floating.

Oblivion.