Chapter 22: Judgement and End
The sun came out of hiding as it rose up from the horizon. The sunlight slowly traveled across the ocean to the island of Berk, to the village and finally to the dragon arena. It was a very clear and very sunny day. The sun was about to reach midday by the time the dragon arena was completely crowded with vikings
Standing in the arena was Hiccup and Astrid.
Are you ready Astrid!" Hiccup yelled out with a small smirk and a predatory glint in his eyes. A night's rest was exactly what he needed. Hiccup had moved past his state of gloom and depression. Returned to his usual self, Hiccup was now full of energy and moved with confidence befitting of a chief.
In the stands was the entire residence of Berk and their dragons cheering for the fight to begin.
"You won't be smiling once I kick that idiocy out of you!" Astrid retorted out.
With both fighters ready Hiccup raised his left hand to give the signal to start. There was no need for any fanfare or extended rituals. Whoever won this fight would be the Chief or Chieftess of Berk and that was all that mattered.
From above the arena, Toothless stood on top the metal cage that formed the dome roof of the arena. The belly of Toothless lit blue and fired a plasma shot beneath him to the center of the arena. The smoke for the plasma shot slowly cleared, signalling the start of fight.
With a small twitch the spring within Hiccup's metal leg sprung and launched Hiccup into the air and straight towards Astrid faster than humanly possible. Using his momentum, Hiccup raised his blade above his head and swung downward.
Caught by surprise, Astrid could do nothing but raise her axe with both hands and raised the handle above her head. The two weapons connected and Astrid was saved from being split in two by Hiccup's fiery weapon.
Astrid was not able to completely stop Hiccup's inertia as her boots lost traction and caused her to slide backwards.
Without hesitation and without letting Astrid any time to recover, Hiccup returned to the ground with his knees bent low and let loose a flurry of swings.
Complently on the defensive, sparks flew into the air in every direction as Astrid blocked Hiccup's attack.
"What's wrong Astrid? You were so confident just a few seconds ago," Hiccup said as he continued to force Astrid further and further back.
"Shut up," Astrid yelled back. With a quick flick, Astrid deflected Hiccup's attack which also gave Astrid an opening to counterattack. But with practiced ease Hiccup dodged her axe and swivelled behind her.
Her back completely exposed, Hiccup kicked her with his real leg that sent Astrid flying to the center of the area.
"Is this the best a self proclaimed valkyrie can do?" Hiccup yelled out.
Astrid was completely taken in by surprise. Hiccup was never so reckless in his fighting style. It was always balance and calculating. At times Astrid would have even called it timid. His fighting style became even more entrenched when Hiccup awakened his berserker blood.
Hiccup described the experience as the seemingly slowing down of time, feeling no pain, and heightened senses. All three of these contributed to the controlled style of fighting that Hiccup had perfected.
Astrid carefully watched as Hiccup approached closer and closer to her, without a single hint of fear. His eyes red eyes glowed, showing that Hiccup was already in berserker mode. Despite all of his taunting and aggressiveness Hiccup was serious.
Astrid could hardly wait to wipe that smugness off his face. All she needed to do was wait a little more and for the right moment to unleash her secret weapon.
From the back of her neck, Astrid could feel her hairs prickle as the sun burned behind her. The sun was reaching its peak. Her heart rate shot up as her excitement peaked as well. Bending down low, Astrid braced herself against the next move from Hiccup. All she needed now was an an opening.
Astrid did have wait long as Hiccup mimicked her stance and bent down low. The spring within Hiccup's metal leg had been reset and once more Hiccup launched himself into the air and straight towards Astrid.
The sounds around Astrid dimmed. The cheers of the crowds and dragons that were once deafening became nothing more than hollow sounds that echoed within her mind. Astrid could hear her own ragged breathing that slowly became more calmer and calmer. Her entire focus on Hiccup. The first time Hiccup had sprung at her, Astrid could barely react in time but this time Astrid could clearly see Hiccup as he flew through the air. It was as if Hiccup was under water. Astrid knew that this was the moment.
Gripping the handling of her axe, Astrid flicked her wrist and spun her axe. The metal axe was now parallel to the ground and perpendicular to her chest. With her other free arm, Astrid wiped the flat side of her axe with her gloved hand. The grim that rested on top of her axe was wiped away to reveal the radiance of gronkle metal.
The sun at its high point rained down sunlight down on Berk, to the dragon arena, and onto Astrid's gronkle metal axe. The sunlight bounced back from the near perfect reflective property of gronkle metal. The sun shined down onto Berk, to the dragon arena, into the Astrid's axe and back out to all the viking that looked in the direction of Astrid.
All the vikings were completely blinded by the light. And by the time it was over, the fight between Hiccup and Astrid was already over with Astrid standing and Hiccup on the ground.
A sharp clang was heard by Hiccup. He remained unmoved as Astrid's axe was lodged on the ground, mere inches away from his head. Wide eyed, Hiccup could only be taken by complete surprise as he looked up to Astrid. And most important of all staring back at her eyes. What was once a beautiful blue now shined blood red.
"The red eyes of a Berserker. You have been awakened as well," Hiccup could only say in surprise.
"Yield Hiccup," Astrid said smugly with all the satisfaction of endless hours of training had finally rewarded her. Her blind attack only gave her a window of a single second. Under normal circumstances that would have never been enough time. But with the Berserker blood that gave her a boost in speed, Astrid was able sidestep the flying Hiccup and flip him onto the ground while simultaneously disarming him.
In the beginning, when they were but mere teens, Astrid stood over Hiccup in every sparring match. At some point entering their adulthood, the situation was flipped with Hiccup standing over Astrid. And now, on this very day with Astrid once again standing over Hiccup, the proper order of nature was restored.
"Yea, I yield" Hiccup said to Astrid. Lifting himself by his hands, he stood to face Astrid, "But nothing has really changed chieftess. I've made up my mind. Even if it means taking them by force, not even you will be able to stop it."
"So you are still going to take our dragons Hiccup?" Astrid asked with a edge of anger in her voice.
"Nothing will change my mind Astrid and there is only way you can stop me and Toothless. Will you do it Astrid?" Hiccup asked as he reset his metal leg, ready to respond to however Astrid answered.
Second went by as Astrid stared down at Hiccup. Neither one willing to break eye contact with the other. The staring contest finally broke down first by Astrid as she took a swing towards Hiccup's gut to which he dodged by stepping back.
Astrid's cheeks blew in frustration as her once favorite activity was all but gone ver since Hiccup grew up. However, there was still one thing that Astrid knew that she could always do.
"For once in your life can you stop being such an idiot," Astrid yelled out, to which Hiccup could only look back in confusion. "Instead of just abandoning us have you even thought about taking us with you?"
"You would leave Berk and go with the dragons?" Hiccup asked Astrid. Tilting his head up Hiccup looked to the other Berkians that watched them from above the arena silently asking them the same question.
"Are you kidding? A chance to go find the home place of dragons and to go find Asgard? That's way cooler than staying on this boring old rock." Ruffnut chirped in. The gate to the dragon arena was opened and in came Fishlegs, Heather, Snotlout, Ruffnut Tuffnut and Valka.
Valka came running up and embracing her son in a hug. "We may have settled here for over a century but we were originally a Nomadic tribe. And according to legend we vikings we first born on Asgard so technically we would returning home."
"But what about Berk? This place that our ancestors settled and fought to protect." Hiccup mumbled in between her mother's embrace.
"Oh Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup," Tuffnut said in a sagely voice as he walked up to the former chief and put his hand on his shoulder, " The great Odin once said, Berk is not a place, it's a people."
"When did he say that?" Fishlegs asked as everyone else gave Tuffnut a confused look.
"I don't know, some time in the future I think." Tuffnut replied with a shrug.
"The future? How could you possibly know what Odin will say it if it's in the future?" Fishlegs asked, even more confused than ever.
"Try not to think about it too hard Fishlegs," Heather said as she gave a comforting pat on his shoulders.
"Pack your things everyone!" Astrid the new village chieftess yelled. "We are going on an adventure, next stop is Asgard!" Agreeing with their chieftess the rest of the Berkians all cheered as the dragons blew fire into the air with excitement.
OoOoO
A couple of days have past and the Berkian vikings and dragons packed up whatever they could and travelled north. Deep within the mountain the Berkians prepared for their journey.
"Keep moving Berkians the great journey isn't going to wait for us forever!" Astrid yelled out as she waved her arms in the forward direction.
From the opposite side, standing on the cliff, Hiccup couldn't help but be proud as he watched Astrid lead.
Heavy stomps of foot steps and haggard breathes broke Hiccup's focus away from Astrid. Off to the side, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Heather came running up the cliff towards Hiccup.
The twins dived towards the ground, sliding on their knees until they stopped in front of Hiccup. Hands held tightly into a tight ball above their chests the twins looked up to Hiccup with their puppy dog eyes.
"Please Hiccup you gotta do something about Astrid," Tuffnut cried.
"Astrid is totally out of control. Go back and make it a best out of three, please do something!" Ruffnut cried.
"Yea! Go and fight her Hiccup. I want my friend back, not this loud mouth bossy woman." Heather said.
"No can do guys," Hiccup said with a chuckle. From behind the twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout came running after the twins and made it close enough to hear Hiccup's word. Their faces went wide eyed in horror and their shoulders fell in disappointment as they realized Hiccup would not save them from Astrid's reign of terror.
"Hey! who said you could stop working? Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs, Snotlout get back to work! We don't have all day" Astrid yelled from the opposite side.
"Yes Ma'am!" the foursome yelled as they scurried off to carry the rest of the supplies and gear into the ritual room. Hiccup watched with great amusement before Astrid turned her sights onto Hiccup.
Steadily the dragons and Berkians climbed the stairs of the altar and walked through the portal created by the Gem of fire to unknown lands. A new adventure for Berkians and dragons alike.
Eventually there were only only four left within the ruin. The ominous red portal flickered as Astrid Hiccup, Toothless and Stormfly stood at the top of the altar under the stone statue of Ragnarok the God Dragon.
Taking in a deep breath, Hiccup moved towards the portal himself. But to his surprised, Hiccup was knocked back onto the ground by his own momentum.
"What?" Hiccup said in a pained voice.
"Hiccup?" Astrid said in confusion, "What happened?"
Climbing back onto his two feet, Hiccup reached out to the portal with his hand. Hiccup expected to see his hand disappear but instead his hand did not get swallowed by the portal. No matter how much pressure and strength he put into pushing his arm through, the portal would not yield.
"I can't get through." Hiccup frowned with confusion.
Standing next to Hiccup, Astrid tried to put her hand through and it disappeared with little resistance.
"What is going on?" Astrid asked, confused as to why Hiccup was the only one who couldn't walk through the portal.
All of the sudden the mountain started to rumble. Loose rock fell from the top of the ceiling and dust clouds started to fall.
"You need to go Astrid," Hiccup said seriously.
"I am staying," Astrid retorted back immediately, "Whatever is happening, we can face it together."
"And who will lead are people?" Hiccup asked as he looked her in the eye looking for an honest answer. "You are the Chieftess now."
Despite his reasoning, Hiccup knew that Astrid was still not budging in this manner. "You need to go Astrid," Hiccup said once more as he grabbed both her hands into his own, "please trust me on this,"
Gritting her teeth Astrid relented as she pulled Hiccup in for a searing hot kiss.
"I will be waiting for you Hiccup," Astrid whispered into his ear before pushing him back and hopping into the portal along with Stormfly.
Staring back at the red portal. Hiccup was relieved that his ruse was successful. Astrid would never agree to what he was about to do. But it was simply too late to turn back now.
"Well it's just us now bud," Hiccup said as he watched the portal fluctuate. Grabbing onto the Gem of Fire that was around his neck, Hiccup closed the portal. Watching the portal close, Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. His primary goal was done. Except for Toothless, every single dragon has left the world. However Hiccup had no time to celebrate as heavy rumbling occurred once more as the whole mountain shook.
"Let's go Toothless," Hiccup said. Climbing onto the back of Toothless, the Night Fury started his ascent. With an high pitched echo the belly of Toothless glowed blue as he let loose a powerful plasma blast that blew a hole out of the mountain to the outside. From the debris of rock and smoke, Toothless and Hiccup emerged to the skies.
"What the?" Hiccup started but was stopped short because even he was amazed of what he saw. Hundreds of viking longboats sailed its way towards the mountain.
Without delay the mechanical contraptions rotated and another wave of rocks flew into the air. The rocks crashed against the mountain and exploded upon impact causing parts of the mountain to become undone.
"So they did come after all," Hiccup muttered to himself as he watched the destruction. From the shorelines hundreds of vikings jumped off their longboats and ran towards the entrance of the mountain.
"Common Toothless we don't have much time left!" Hiccup said.
Swirling in the air upside down, Toothless flew straight back into the hole and back into the ritual cavern. As they flew back in Hiccup and Toothless were taken by surprise as hundreds of arrows flew straight towards them.
Toothless tried his best to avoid the arrows and was successful but the vikings on the ground had other tricks up their sleeve. Strapped onto some of the arrows, a device let out a flash of white light that popped in front of them shocking the dragon and rider causing them to fall from the sky.
Falling onto the ground, Hiccup quickly recovered and ran towards Toothless but was quickly cut off by vikings as they charged at them. Toothless separated from his partner, tried to do the same but was cut off by other vikings. Spinning himself, the Night fury's tail whipped around and knocked three charging vikings back. Toothless took a hop forward but was immediately surrounded once more.
Despite the duos efforts, the pair could not reunite. Every time they knocked down some vikings, more took their place.
"Go Toothless!" Hiccup yelled upon realizing that it was impossible to get through all the vikings.
Understanding Hiccup's command, Toothless opened his wings that created a gust of wind and pushed the vikings away from Toothless. With the vikings pushed away, it gave Toothless enough space to take off.
"Aim for that blasted dragon!" A viking yelled as he pointed his axe at the Nightfury. The other vikings lined themselves up and primed their crossbows and bows ready to fire.
The viking momentarily distracted, Hiccup knocked a viking back and stole his axe. Spinning around Hiccup threw the axe straight towards the archers and crossbowman.
"Watch out!" a viking yelled giving the archers and crossbowman enough time to dive away from the axe that was flying towards them
"Get up and shoot that damn dragon!" the lieutenant yelled. But it was already too late. The momentary distraction Toothless created gave Hiccup enough time create his own distraction and allowed an opportunity for Toothless to escape. The arrows flew but Toothless was already gone as he left through a hole from high above.
From the corner of his eye, Hiccup watched Toothless leave. Confident that his best friend would accomplish their final plan, Hiccup returned his focus back to surviving.
Doing his best to dodge every attack, Hiccup did everything he could to push the vikings back but he was vastly outnumbered. The berserker blood that flowed inside his veins could allow him to fight forever but it could never allow him to stop multiple attacks from every possible angle.
Getting knocked back and forth like a human ball, the other vikings laugh as they toyed with Hiccup taking their turns to get a hit in. It wasn't long before Hiccup was on the ground with his body broken making it physically impossible for him to move.
"That's enough boys, we don't want to end up killing poor little Hiccup now do we? A voice said.
The Vikings responded as they dragged Hiccup up towards the altar and before the statue of Ragnarok, Hiccup was forced to his knees. Two large vikings holding Hiccup down by his shoulder and arms to stop him from moving. Hiccup couldn't move even if he wanted to. But none of that concerned Hiccup as he looked up to the leader of the attacking vikings.
"You!" Hiccup let out in surprise. Struggling to move his neck up, Hiccup saw the absolute last person he expected to see.
"That's right little Hiccup me," From behind the other vikings emerged Johann from the shadows.
"After my last plan was foiled by you, I've decided to do something different," Johann explained as he walked up and stood in front of Hiccup, "I decided that you would be your own undoing."
'You're greatest weakness is your own naivety and that was undoing. Did you honestly think that vikings could change? It is in our blood to fight and seek glory in order to gain entrance to the halls of Valhalla but you would have us vikings be honourless and do nothing. I knew if i disappeared for a while you would let your guard down. And in the end I was completely right. I didn't even have to move a single muscle before the vikings started to fight again and your precious treaty broke. Your greatest weapon of being able to train dragons was given away for completely free.
The hundreds of vikings that were in caves all cheered at Johann's words, all excited to claim their very own dragon. Johann standing tall in his moment of glory took in all the cheers of vikings that energizing him to continue to gloat in front of Hiccup.
"You thought you could take the dragons away from us and run away but now here we are to take the dragons back. Once you are out the way and the dragons retaken, we will rule the skies and conquer the entire world. And I will be riding on a Night Fury!" Johann said with absolute glee.
A distant roar was heard. The vikings yelled and grunted amongst themselves as the vikings pulled Toothless back into the cave. Caught in a metal net and tied with ropes the vikings dragged Toothless to the center in front of Hiccup.
"Toothless!" Hiccup cried out. His best friend let out a moan of pain as he stared back at Hiccup. From his eyes Hiccup could see no fear from his dragon to which Hiccup let out a quiet sigh of relief. Toothless had accomplished his mission before he was captured.
"With me as king of the dragons and vikings we will conquer the world!" Johann shouted out once more. The other vikings all cheered in agreement. Their voice echoed through the many caverns of the mountain.
Their cheering however was abruptly stopped as the mountain and the ground beneath them started to rhumble, knocking some of the vikings off their feet. The chamber fell silent, worried that their loud cheers had caused the mountain to shake.
"What's going on?" Johann said as he looked up at the rocky ceiling to find the source of the rumblings.
"After all I have seen and done, after all I have seen you and the other vikings done. Did you really think I would not see the vengeance of vikings coming? Did you really think I would let any of you loose upon the world once more?" Hiccup let out in prophetic whispers.
"What have you done?" Yohan demanded.
"Toothless had managed to spring the trap. This entire mountain has been filled with explosives. You, me and every single viking in this mountain will be buried, alive or dead!" Hiccup yelled out so that all the vikings could here
"You are bluffing, you would never kill your precious dragons and fellow Berkians. We know the dragons are here somewhere. Once we find them we can dig are way out!" Johann said.
"The dragons and my family are already gone from this world, Toothless is the last one." Hiccup let out with a chuckle.
Johann gritted his teeth and he stared back at Hiccup looking for any sign of his deception. Johann could see the amusement deep within Hiccup's bloody red eyes and he knew Hiccup was telling the truth.
"Out of my way!" Johann yelled as he shoved his way past the vikings and ran towards the exit. The other vikings quickly followed suit. It was the survival of the fittest as the vikings fought and shoved their way towards the exit. And by the end it was only Hiccup and Toothless that lay motionless on top of the altar.
Hiccup fell to the ground, not because of the pain or exhaustion but because it was not physically possible. Muscles turn and broken bones, Hiccup was left bleeding on the ground. No matter how fast the vikings ran it was already too late, Hiccup thought to himself, when the trap sprung the entrances was the first thing to be sealed. Now there was no escape.
Laying on the altar floor, in a growing pool of his own blood alongside Toothless, Hiccup waited for the end to come. Seconds ticked away as Hiccup watched the mountain rumbled louder and larger rocks fell from the ceiling. With each falling rock being larger and larger Hiccup wondered what would kill him first, a falling rock or the blood loss.
Despite his failing consciousness, Hiccup still noticed that something was off. The falling rocks, instead of accelerating, seemed to be decelerating. As time went on the rocks fell slower and slower. The mountain stopped shaking and the sound of explosions had stopped.
Hiccup's vision turned black for a moment as he blinked. Hiccup opened his eyes and there was nothing. The rocks had stopped their descent. Little specks of debris and large rocks was frozen in midair and the chamber was completely silent. For what felt like endless seconds, Hiccup laid there with his consciousness neither leaving the earthly plain nor was it improving. It was as if time had stopped moving forward, keeping Hiccup's consciousness stuck in limbo.
Hiccup's vision turned white and he thought he was finally going. No longer needing his vision, Hiccup closed his eyes ready to die. But that was a mistake. For had Hiccup kept his eyes open longer, Hiccup would have noticed that it was not his vision that was failing but in fact he was seeing white because he was looking at white. To be more exact, the whites of a dragon's eye.
Had Hiccup kept his eyes open, he would have learned that the gargantuan statue that perimetered the entire massive chamber was in fact not a statue.
Time was completely frozen as Ragnarok, the God of Dragons and Time stared down at Hiccup and Toothless. The God dragon easily towered over a bewilderbeast. His maw that was large enough to consume the entire altar slowly opened. The black abyss that was Ragnarok's mouth moved closer and closer until Hiccup and Toothless were completely consumed.
OoOoO
A soft breeze gently caressed his cheeks. Underneath, Hiccup should have felt the hard marble flooring of the the altar but instead he felt the softness of grass and dirt as it gave way to his weight. Instead of feeling the chilling touch of darkness and felt the warmness of light. The sunlight shined down and passed through his eyelids causing Hiccup's brain to awaken and his eyes opened.
Clear blue skies filled Hiccup's vision and equally, confusion filled Hiccup's mind. He was about to die and wasn't or was this death?
Turning his head Hiccup could see Toothless beside him. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. Wherever they were, at least Hiccup knew that he would have his best friend beside him.
"Guardian of Fire and Ice your actions have violated the life contract," a bodiless voice said that echoed across the plains. This familiar voice and this familiar place, Hiccup slowly realized that he was in the birthplace of the dragons. The nameless land between Asgard and Earth. And the bodiless voice that sounded like it came from the land itself was Ragnarok.
"What did I do?" Hiccup asked aimlessly, talking to sky.
"You had entered a life contract to be the guardian of Fire and Ice, protector of the gateways between Earth and Asgard and steward of the dragons. Your attempt to throw your life away with disregard for your responsibilities is a violation of the life contract,"
Of course his actions would have consequences. His actions should have consequences. This is how it should be.
"Am I being punished then?" Hiccup asked.
"This will be your warning to not violate the life contract. The souls of you and your dragon shall reside on this plane while your body and the body of your dragon resides within in me, forever timeless and slowly healing. When your body is fully healed you may return to your body to fulfill your life contract."
Hiccup's eyes widened in surprise when he realized he wasn't being punished.
"But what about all I have done?" Hiccup shouted out, "I had bent the dragons to my will and used it to kill hundreds of vikings. I took it upon myself to play god Won't I be punished for that?"
"You have been found worthy by Asgard and made guardian. The other vikings whether alive or dead are of no consequence. As guardian you hold stewardship over all dragons. So long as you continue to defend the gates between worlds, what you choose to have the dragons do is your decision and your decision alone. Whether it is good or bad, whether it is correct or incorrect, those judgements can only be made by you,"
"So I will be returning to my body once it is healed?" Hiccup asked.
"A life contract must be carried out until your body fails as a consequence of defending the Gems of Fire and Ice as required by your duties as guardian or expire due to natural causes. The contract does not specify when the contract needs to be completed. If either of the Gems were in immediate danger than you would be forcibly returned to your world to perform you duties. But any other time, you are free to choose when you wish to complete the contract. Your body shall remain frozen and timeless until you decide to return to the world."
Despite all of his justifications and his desire to protect the dragons, Hiccup was still guilt ridden about what he had done. Did he really deserve to be allowed to go back? But then again what would be the point of returning? There was nothing left for him in the archipelago. Astrid and the others were gone too, to a place he could never reach as the Guardian. After killing hundred of vikings and after his attacks of the vikings tribes every single viking would want revenge against him. He would spend the rest of his life with Toothless on the run.
This was his punishment, his own self subscribed purgatory. He was so tired after all the fighting he had. He wanted to sleep, to sleep for just a little bit. Just enough until he could shake all of the emotions and the guilt that he felt. His eyelids were heavy and his vision began to blur. Relaxing and letting himself go, the soul of Hiccup fell into a deep slumber.
Hey, everyone thanks for reading and reviewing so far. Both the good and the bad are much appreciated and gives me much to think about on how to improve for next time. So please don't hesitate to write a review!
Only a few more chapters until the end so stay tuned for next week!