Myth or Reality

They always spoke of dragons.

When I was younger, dragons were my fairy tales. Most people tell their children stories of princesses being saved by their knight in shining armor, but the Berkians told of dragons. And like all fairy tales, I grew out of them. The only difference is how determined they are to convince us.

Most parents know their children don't believe in the fairy tales they tell, but Berkians are different. Even as we grow closer to adulthood, our parents still tell stories of dragons. They always have so many, enough that even though there's a story told each night it's always new. And though it's interesting, it's not believable. No one has ever seen a dragon. None of the children even believed they existed.

I had it worse than most. I was the daughter of the man who claimed to be the first dragon trainer, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third. My little brother and I lived in a house decorated with drawings of dragons, statues of dragons, everything dragons. It was almost an obsession.

There was one dragon especially that my father loved to talk about. That was his dragon. He claimed that he had tamed the mysterious night fury, shot it down and befriended it when he was younger than I am now. This dragon's name was Toothless. An odd name for a dragon of such great status, but every one spoke of Toothless as if he was a god.

They all knew that the children didn't believe in their tales. It was because of me that they knew, because of the loud confidence I inherited from my mother. I outright told them that I wasn't taking any of the shit they spewed. It was how I obtained such a high rank in the first place.

I was the leader of the youngest Vikings, the chieftain of the new generation. Fitting, I supposed, considering I was the chieftain's daughter, but I had earned my rank. The older Vikings didn't fall under my command, of course, and technically the younger ones didn't either, but they acted as if they did. While the adults didn't listen to me, they at least respected me. I had good luck in the gene pool, with my mother's strength and ability in battle and my father's wits and leadership skills. But that doesn't matter now. What matters now is that I was bored out of my mind.

I heard a loud sigh as someone dropped onto the log beside me. "He's talking about his dragon again, isn't he?"

"When isn't he?" I heard a laugh and turned to the person beside me. Signe was the daughter of Snotlout and another woman from the village by the name of Solveig. She had a fierce and passionate soul and we got along well. "You want to duel in the arena? We'd have it all to ourselves."

"No thanks, Signe," I said. "It's dark. One of us would end up impaled."

"Oh, come on, you're no fun, Siri." I chuckled, punching her lightly on the shoulder. "That's the best part!"

"I'd like to live to see tomorrow," I grinned. "Ask me again in the morning. For now, I'm out of here. This has gotten so old."

"Sure, sure, go off without me." I rolled my eyes, stalking off into the shadows. No one noticed me leave.

It was quiet at night. Not literally, with the chirping of the crickets and the sound of scavenging creatures, but the business wasn't there like it was in the daylight. It was a refreshing feeling from being stacked around a campfire.

The stars were bright in the sky, the moon shining pale light down onto the landscape and illuminating it in a beautiful aura. I sat down against a large trunk, staring up at the patterns and counting up the skylights. I was so absorbed in the beauty that I almost didn't notice the forest go suddenly silent.

I was instantly on edge, legs tensed beneath me to spring into action. The shadows swayed lightly in tune with the breeze, disguising any movement that might be within them. The shadows began to stretch out toward me, reaching out as if to steal me back into the darkness. I grasped the hilt of my knife and prepared to strike. Before I could, two giant, innocent-looking blue eyes opened and peered up at me.

I faltered, looking down at the creature. It stared right back up at me, looking no more menacing than a child. I still kept my guard up. When it tried to step closer I leaped back, yelling "back, beast!"

I felt guilt wash through me as it whimpered, looking down with droopy ears. The creature sat back onto its hind legs, letting two giant wings settle onto the ground beside it. My jaw dropped. This couldn't be real.

The dragon whined again, looking up at me with giant puppy eyes. I felt my heart melt. I put my knife away and sat back down in front of it. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you." It perked up immediately, tail wagging behind it. It bounced, literally bounced, over to me, flopping down onto the ground beside me. I felt myself grinning as it nudged my hand.

"You're so trusting," I said, scratching its head. "Why do you trust me so much? I could've killed you then and there." It just crooned back at me. The dragon was so much prettier than I'd been led to believe they were, black with a white underbelly and a small white dot right on its nose. He rolled over onto his back and whined.

"By Thor you are adorable," I said, shifting over to rub his belly. "You're like a dog." He grinned at me with a mouth void of teeth before he sneezed, a puff of blue flame bursting out. He looked at me sheepishly and I burst out laughing.

In the distance, the light of the fire flickered out. I sighed and patted his side. "I need to go back now." He whimpered, getting up to follow after me. "No, you can't come. Stay here. It was nice meeting you." I scratched his chin. "Be careful out there. It's dangerous, even for dragons." I bid him farewell and began my walk back home.

I told no one of the dragon. My parents would be ecstatic and immediately want to go out and find it while the other kids my age would likely think I'd gone insane. Neither were in my favor. I still rolled my eyes at the stories they told but I now knew that they weren't just bat-shit crazy. Their stories actually had truth behind them.

A few days later I decided I was going to go out and try and find him again.

I searched the woodlands as thoroughly as I could with no luck. By the time I finished, evening was coming on. I had to go back, but I went out to the cliffs after darkness had set in.

I sat down on the edge of one of the cliffs, my feet hanging over the side. The moon was bright tonight, illuminating everything below me in silver light. I looked up at the stars, tracing the patterns my father liked to tell me about. I could pick out the bear, the dragon, the eagle, many others that I remembered from my childhood.

The area around me suddenly went dark. I turned to the moon to see that there was no moon, not anymore. It was gone. The sky around it had gone dark as well, as if a large cloud had just covered it up. There were no clouds in the sky tonight. I looked around the sky. There was nothing else out of place. When I looked back, something was diving straight toward me.

It crashed into me, sending us both rolling back. I was reaching for my knife when I noticed that the eyes were familiar, along with the distinct white dot on its nose. I began to laugh.

"Oh, come on, don't scare me like that!" I said, trying to push him off of me. He batted back at me before I slid myself out from under him. He sat back and looked at me with wide eyes.

"You're a little troublemaker, you know that?" I reached out to scratch his neck but he flounced away, dipping down into a familiar pose. I grinned. "You sure you want to play?" He growled and pounced at me.

I rolled out of the way, ducking under his wing and sprinting down the cliff. I could hear him take off, his wings beating before he crashed into me and sent both of us tumbling down the slope.

I laughed as we landed with him on top of me, nose pressed just under my chin. He was back up immediately, bouncing in a circle around me. I sprang to my feet and lunged at him. He swerved out of the way and smacked his tail into my chest. I huffed and turned to playfully glare at him. He grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes. "I can't beat you. You're too fast." He groaned and came to nudge me. "This wouldn't happen if you weren't so tricky." He then pulled back and looked up at me with the most pitiful face I'd ever seen.

"Oh, Thor almighty," I mumbled. "Fine. Come at me, then." I ducked under his paw, driving my shoulder into his side and sending him sprawling out in the grass. I smiled.

What my dad would give to see this.