Chapter 39 - Tragedy:

"Oh my gods…" Hiccup awed in amazement.

"This is incredible news!" Valka said with happiness. Smiling at Sven and Queen Erica. "How in Thor's name did you train a dragon all by yourself?" She asked.

"It's quite an amazing story actually." He said, smiling. "It started-"

Before Sven could reply, Hiccup's hand suddenly moved to his head. His eyes began to lose focus, and he fell onto the ground. As if he had passed out.

"HICCUP!" Toothless bellowed, standing beside him and repeatedly nudging his friend with his nose. Trying to get him to wake up.

Hiccup had not passed out. Something else was happening to him. He began to writhe on the ground, squirming.

Just as his friends surrounded him, Hiccup was drawn into a dream.

He was standing at the top of the hill.

Waiting for something.

Fear and vengeance were fighting for dominance inside his head as he stood there.

How dare this creature do the things it had done! He thought.

Standing beside him, were his friends in the Six. Kormak, Vali, Valka and all their dragons. In Hiccup's dream, he realised he was still missing two members of the Six, including Sven.

They were waiting for him. The one who had caused everything. The one who had killed his friends. The one with the evilest of names.

The shapeshifter.

"Surprise!" Came a voice behind him.

Hiccup and the others wheeled around and suddenly the scene changed.

Hiccup's mind was suddenly thrusted with a flying vision. He was flying over the ocean. It was very rough, and the weather was horrible, but he could see. He would not let a little storm stop him.

An island came into view with two boats docked. An island he had visited only once before. But this time, he would make sure he finished what he started.

He noticed the Vikings had begun to rebuild their homes.

Aww. That's too bad. I almost feel guilty I have to do this again.

Then, his own haunting voice drifted through the air around him. Just as he arrived at the island, seeing it's inhabitants taking shelter in the middle. "No survivors this time."

"NOOO!"

Hiccup screamed as he bolted upright, and he was breathing extremely heavily. Like he had just sprinted as fast as he could for an hour. His eyes were as wide as Toothless's. His face had gone a pale white. He either looked like he was about to throw up or pass out.

Toothless had never seen Hiccup look like this.

Fear. Total, utter fear and panic. It shocked the Night to his core. This was an image he was never going to forget. He crooned with a terrified look. Rubbed up against his rider, but Hiccup didn't even seem to notice he was there. What on Earth was happening to him?

"No…" Hiccup muttered, his eyes began rapidly blinking and his breathing quickening.

"No.…" He repeated. He begun to shake. Kormak and Vali suddenly feared he was about to have a heart attack.

"Hiccup?"

"Hiccup!"

"HICCUP!"

Valka knelt down and grabbed his face. She put hers right onto his, their foreheads touching, and yelled, "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Hiccup reeled back, collapsing backwards onto the ground again. His back slamming against the rock. Not noticing the pain.

His eyes stared up at what was above him. He finally recognised he was still in the cave, the tunnel in Remola. He did not know how much time had passed.

He noticed Toothless, Valka and his friends staring down at him with the utmost panic and concern.

Especially Toothless. The Night looked visibly terrified and worried sick as he looked down at him.

"What happened to him?" Came a foreign female voice.

Kormak turned around and looked at the Queen of Remola, who looked genuinely worried. Sven stood next to her, speechless and confused.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!" Kormak yelled at them both.

The Queen jumped in fright at the accusation. Before turning stern.

"What are you talking-!"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, because Hiccup suddenly spoke. Bringing total silence to the group.

The only sound other than Hiccup was the raging storm outside.

"It's coming for them." He said calmly. He began to stand up.

"What?!" Vali barked, not understanding. "What's coming-"

"The Shapeshifter."

That brought fear and quiet to everyone at once. There was an eerie silence among the cave.

"We have to leave. Now. We have to stop him. It's going to kill them all." He said, now standing, he climbed aboard Toothless and secured himself in. Getting his feet in the right positions to take off.

"How can you possibly know-" Cloudjumper started to speak but was interrupted by Vali.

"Who?" She whispered.

Hiccup turned to Kormak and closed his eyes.

He spoke with dread dripping in his tone. "It's going to Dyflin."

Even if the gods had intervened, they would not have been able to stop them. No one could.

They were flying. Snow pelted their faces, water soaked their bodies. Wind lashed at their limbs and the cold stung every bit of skin subject to the forces of nature.

It was as if they were already fighting the shapeshifter within the weather. It was pelting everything it could at them.

Still, they went on. Flying together.

This storm could do nothing to them as a group. No matter what weather was thrown at them, they kept going. They were not going to leave without a fight this time.

They had left Remola about an hour ago.

The villagers of Remola had no idea what had happened. But they did know one thing. The group would be back. So they stayed alert and ready for their return. They also had left most of their supplies with the villagers. And the villagers left them there.

As soon as Hiccup had that dream and mentioned what was about to happen, they left.

During the flight, no one talked.

They all were thinking the same thing.

They would fight to the death to save them.

But lurking in their minds, was the possibility of being too late.

Hiccup however refused to accept that possibility.

The freezing blizzard pounded away at them. And it was very exhausting for the dragons to break the wind barrier. But they had no choice.

They were flying low to the ocean, which was extremely rough. The waves were enormous.

Even though it was only around midday, or just after midday, it was quite dark. The ferocity of the storm had blackened the sky.

For the first time, truly, they all felt as one.

They were one person. One dragon. Flying through the archipelago. What one experienced, they all experienced. When one was in pain, they all were in pain.

Hiccup manoeuvred the saddle's pedals and stirrup like clockwork. It was second nature to him now. As if he had been doing it all his life.

He and Toothless were leading the flight to Dyflin. With Toothless relying on the scents in the air to retrace where Dyflin was.

It was at this point, that an irregular thought crossed Hiccup's mind.

What would happen if we died? What if we lost to the Shapeshifter?

He could only shudder at the prospect of that. He imagined a world ruled by the Shapeshifter, where Vikings underwent constant torture, and dragons were put into markets to eat and…

It was in this moment; he came to terms with reality.

All of that had already happened. And is still happening. The Shapeshifter already does rule over the archipelago. He rules over the queen, he rules over Myrka, and he rules over the Skrills.

So what if we did beat the Shapeshifter? What would change?

Hiccup put his icy face into his frozen hands. Knowing the answer to that question.

Nothing.

Myrka would still rule, the slavery would continue. The dragons would not stop raiding, and thus the war would simply not end. Nor would the Skrill's suddenly change and want peace.

And the more he thought about it, the more he seemed to agree with the idea.

We have to begin to stop this. One step at a time. Finding the last member of the Six could take forever. Perhaps we ought to start with killing the queen in Helheim's Gate. Take everything slowly. We've been rushed into everything so far, and the Shapeshifter is beating us.

"I see something!" Toothless screeched. Already preparing a fire blast in his mouth.

Immediately, all the other dragons followed suit. Preparing to fire at anything that threatened them.

They came to an island, and with the limited light, they just recognised it was Dyflin.

"Keep your weapons and fire at the ready!" Hiccup yelled.

Just as they arrived, the snow and wind began to die down slowly. The clouds stayed the same, but it appeared that the weather was taking a short break from the storm. However, as the gang glanced up to the sky, it didn't look like the weather was going to stay that way for long.

They flew over the already black and dead forest, until a new sight was upon them.

There was only one building in the middle of town, and it was on fire. The gang noticed several bodies lying dead on the ground next to it, and a black draconic figure standing on two legs next to them.

It was smiling and looking right at them with its dark brown eyes. It was the Shapeshifter.

"YOU!" Hiccup bellowed.

Toothless and all the dragons fired at once. Their powerful shots heading towards the black creature.

The black dragon figure pounced into the air easily, spreading its huge wings avoiding every shot as if it was nothing.

It hovered in the air for a moment. It's wings beating powerfully by its side. Its eyes focused on Hiccup and Toothless.

"Accepting defeat is a difficult, but necessary part of competition Hiccup." The dragon said deeply, before climbing into the sky and vanishing from view.

"YOU MONSTER!" Valka screamed into the sky, before the gang looked back down at Dyflin.

They landed, and walked over to the bodies. They saw a metal pole was stuck into the ground, with two bits of parchment attached to it. With a familiar red colour coming from them.

Hiccup refused to look at the notes for now, and walked amongst the dead.

The gang recognised them as the whole Dyflin crew. Chief Asan, and all his people laid murdered in front of them.

Suddenly Kormak screamed, and collapsed in front of someone. Bursting into tears. Hiccup recognised the body as his younger brother, Polk.

Valka, Vali and their dragons went over to him.

Hiccup was about to follow, but then he heard a pained voice near him.

"Master Hiccup?"

He spun around at the voice, and recognised the man.

"Trader Johann?"

He ran over to him, and knelt by his side. Noticing the deep burn marks in his body.

"Oh no… No…" Hiccup whimpered, his face went into his hands. And once he withdrew them, he felt a hand on his knee.

"Master Hiccup, listen to me." He croaked, coughing up some blood. Staining his long beard.

Hiccup began to cry, as he tried to force himself to look at Johann's face.

"Your-" He coughed again, before he turned his head and looked at Hiccup right into his eyes. "Your father knows. I told him who you are really are. You need to forgive him."

Hiccup was speechless.

"Forgiveness is a quality you mustn't lose Hiccup. Forgiving can be one of the most powerful things in this world."

"I-I, I-"

Johann smiled at him.

"You have your mother's eyes; you know that don't you?" His hand moved over to Hiccups, and he weakly grasped his hand.

"Johann-" Hiccup tried to speak, but he couldn't form the right words.

"Lad, there is something you must know." He said weakly, before coughing up some more blood.

It was at this point that Valka came over and joined him. She sat by his other side.

"Oh Johann…" She cried, kneeling down beside him and taking his other hand. "What has it done to you…"

"My lady… Trader Johann at your service." Johann turned to look at her, before turning back to Hiccup.

"I met several people back in Myrka not long ago, for I have just returned from there. And Hiccup, there is something I've heard." He lost his smile and began to talk more seriously.

"There's a rumour going around all the people. I don't know who started it, but it's going around all the slaves and even some Myrkians are talking about it." He coughed again, and grunted in pain.

Hiccup and Valka listened to him intently. Toothless did too, who was looking at him from where he stood at Johann's feet.

"It's a name. A vicious name. That creature that just killed everybody here, I believe that name must belong to him. The rumour speaks of an evil creature with this name. The creature is a master of deception, and this is its true name. But apparently, it goes around under a different name." Trader Johann explained weakly.

"You think the name belongs to the Shapeshifter? The creature that's done all this?" Valka asked quietly, before glancing around again. In case the Shapeshifter had come back.

"It must." Johann spoke, nodding.

"What is it?" She asked, leaning closer down to his face. Hiccup now did the same.

"The name, is Viggo. I believe that's the name of the enemy. The name is circulating around Myrka, and soon it will go around the archipelago." Johann explained. Before he started to cough again, and he begun to shake.

"Thank you Johann." Hiccup couldn't control his tears and leant down and hugged him.

He smiled again, and pet Hiccup's hair.

"Promise me something lad." He whispered.

Hiccup got up and looked at Johann right in his eyes. "Anything."

Johann took his last breath.

"Don't give up."

Hiccup nodded, promising. "I promise."

And with that, Johann passed away in front of them peacefully.

The whole group stayed with their fallen friends for over an hour, grieving for their loss.

After all that time, Hiccup finally stood up. His mother and Toothless did the same, and walked over to Kormak. Who was lying next to his fallen brother and had one of his arms around him. Vali and the other dragons had joined him, sitting down beside them.

The fire on the one house that was in the centre of Dyflin, had burnt out by now. And just a small smoke trail was coming off there.

Hiccup sat down next to Kormak. Sniffing and wiping his tears away. He looked at Kormak's eyes, and noticed they were red. He had been crying a lot.

"I'm so sorry." Hiccup said sorrowfully. He had never felt so guilty in all his life.

"This is all my fault." Hiccup looked down at the ground with sadness.

Vali looked up, her eyes on Hiccup. "Not it wasn't Hiccup."

"If I hadn't of-"

"Hiccup!" She barked, interrupting him. "I don't care what you have to say. It's not your fault."

"She's right." Spark said, turning to look at him.

"Yes she is." Toothless now agreed.

In a rocky cave just south east of Remola…

Fishlegs was beginning to feel better. And he was extremely thankful to his friend Savas for that.

He had just eaten some food and was lying down in the cave, looking up at the roof where he could see some bat like dragons hanging down from the ceiling. He noticed them earlier on, and decided to call them Night Terrors.

Then he heard footsteps coming towards him. He knew it was Savas coming inside.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Fishlegs asked him, looking up for a moment and saw Savas was standing next to the small campfire they had going.

"Oh I just had a look outside." He replied, smiling at him. "Can you believe the horrible weather has stopped? It's not raining or snowing anymore."

Savas poked the fire in the middle of the cave with a stick, keeping it alight and well. Afterwards he strode over to Fishlegs and stood by his side.

"Really?" Fishlegs was amazed. It seemed like it wouldn't end for an eternity for how hard it was coming down before.

"Yeah. But I have a feeling it's going to come back. The clouds are still very dark." He said, sitting down beside him.

"Who knows…" Fishlegs muttered.

Just then a thought crossed Fishlegs's mind.

"Hey Savas, do you have any idea what you want to spend the rest of your life doing?"

The man turned to him, puzzled. The former Myrkian leader asked, "what do you mean?"

Fishlegs cleared his throat. "Oh I mean like, once we leave here and all. I don't want to stay here for the rest of my life. But I don't want to return to Berk either, unless if the war ends. I just feel like I have no idea what to do. I don't want to stay here, but I don't want to leave. From everything you've told me, the world sounds so dangerous."

Savas nodded. "Yeah. It is. That's a tough question. I'm not sure either."

He got more comfortable on a blanket and lay down, looking at the ceiling just as Fishlegs was doing. "I've never really had time to think about it you know? I've been living one day at a time. When I was the Myrkian Army Leader, I just did as I was told, I never gave it any thought as to what I wanted to do. I just didn't have a choice."

Savas continued on. Fishlegs soaked up every word. "But when Hiccup came to Myrka, and I trained him, I began to believe that there was something worth living for. I wanted to help him achieve his goals."

"And what about now?" Fishlegs asked curiously.

"Now?" Questioned Savas.

"Yeah."

Savas took several breaths. "I don't really know. All we can do is wait really. It's not our destiny to interfere. Unless Hiccup asks us to."

"Hiccup is the leader of the Six right?" Fishlegs asked, remembering what Savas had told him when they were talking on their boats adrift on the sea.

"That's right."

"If only Stoick knew what his son really was he would be so proud of him." He uttered, a little sadly.

"Speak of the devil." Savas suddenly said, jumping to his feet.

Fishlegs scrambled to his feet too, and noticed Hiccup and his friends were landing with their dragons at the entrance to the cave.

Fishlegs was about to ask how the group were, but as they approached, Fishlegs noticed all of them were not happy in the least. They looked dreadful.

"What happened?" Savas asked, looking at everyone.

"Don't ask." Vali grunted.

The gang followed Hiccup until he stopped next to the fire. He pulled out four notes from his pockets.

"What are those?" Fishlegs asked.

He received no reply.

Hiccup took the notes and placed them on the ground in front of him. These notes were left for Hiccup, each one was left at a place where the Shapeshifter had been and killed people.

He now had four notes. Four notes with blood red writing on them. Every one of them started off with, 'To Hiccup Haddock,' The first one, he had gotten when Dyflin was first destroyed, as Trader Johann had given it to him. The first letter was K.

The second one, he received when Valka's friends Kari and Edda were murdered back at Lowtov's glacier, just over two and a half weeks ago. The letter on the note there, was R.

That was the first time any of the gang had seen the Shapeshifter. It said to them at the time, "Two down, two to go!"

The third and fourth notes, he had just received only two hours ago. One note was E, and the last one was B.

Hiccup laid down the notes on the ground in order.

"These are all the notes you've gotten from the Shapeshifter right?" Valka questioned, looking down at all the notes.

"Yes." Hiccup replied, not moving his gaze from looking at them.

"Well what's that supposed to mean? K R E B? KREB? That's not a word." Kormak analysed, confused.

"Maybe it goes KRBE?" Hiccup wondered, kneeling down and rearranging the letters.

The gang and all the dragons looked totally confused even more this time.

"Now it looks even more confusing. I think it made more sense as KREB." Kormak said, rearranging them.

"Shapeshifter?" Savas suddenly asked, making all heads turn to him. "What-"

"That creature you were telling us about. It's been leaving me notes at places it's killed people. This is all of them." Hiccup replied, anger seeping in his tone. "We just saw him again. He killed some of our friends."

Fishlegs went livid. Shocked. He didn't know the whole story, what the Shapeshifter was or what he was talking about. But it sounded serious.

"I'm sorry." Savas apologised, looking sincere.

Nobody said anything.

"It simply doesn't make sense." Valka noted, looking down at the notes. "Why would he give us these letters that form gibberish?"

"Are you sure these are all the notes?" Cloudjumper put forth. "It's only four. Maybe there's more."

"I doubt it." Toothless spoke up, turning to look at Cloudjumper. "The Shapeshifter said there were two down and two to go once we got the second note."

Fishlegs moved around to the front and looked at the letters, and so did Savas.

There a silence for a while. At least ten minutes. Everyone pondered what it could mean.

Fishlegs suddenly shrieked and fell backwards against the dirt, panting. His eyes going as round as dinner plates.

"Fish! What-" Began Hiccup.

A look of horror was on his face, he looked horrified. Everyone looked around them but couldn't see any reason as to why Fishlegs started freaking out.

"No, no no no no no!" He began stammering, while tears suddenly came out of his eyes.

"Fishlegs WHAT IS IT?!" Vali very nearly screamed at him.

"It says Bb-b-b-bb-b," He tried to say it but he couldn't.

He wiped his eyes, and stood up.

He walked over to the parchment letters on the ground. Hiccup had placed them on the ground in the order o as he had found them.

Fishlegs bent down and started re-arranging the letters, till they spelt a word that made Hiccup's stomach sink and he felt like Fishlegs. Even Toothless and the dragons now looked shocked.

"Oh my gods…" Valka mumbled. Heart broken.

The letters formed a word everyone recognised. A word that especially Hiccup and Valka couldn't understand how they didn't see it before.

Outside the cave, the storm started back up again. The rain poured, the snow pelted and the wind howled. Thunder and lightning began to crash outside as well.

Hiccup didn't think this day could get any worse.

The new arrangement of letters now read in the stained blood format as:

B E R K.