Hiccup turned back to Onyxwing and frowned. "You didn't say what the test of love was."
In answer, Onyx looked behind Hiccup. Hiccup spun but only saw his friends and flock members. He turned back to Onyx. The dragon looked as if he was remembering something that caused both joy and sorrow in equal measure.
[To have past all the rest, you must have held love within you from the start.]
"What do you mean?"
[Wisdom without love becomes the wrong kind of pride. Compassion without love turns to pity. Courage without love backing it becomes a reckless death wish. Honor without love turns into a rigid wing that does not give with the wind and snaps under pressure.]
"What about loyalty and forgiveness?" Astrid asked.
[You cannot have either unless you have love.]
"So why did you look to those behind us?" Astrid asked.
[A nest is a reflection of its leader,] Sunburn answered walking past the Berkians and sitting down beside Onyx. [Your nest shows the love your alpha holds.]
"Haizea said the same thing when she and Shadewing visited the nest and reconnected with Toothless," Hiccup stated.
Onyxwing smiled. He then pointedly looked towards the door. Hiccup took a deep breath. He went to release Astrid's hand but found she would not let go. He looked back.
"Not alone, Hiccup."
"Never alone," he responded with a smile.
With Astrid as his side, he approached the door. The pulsing light seemed to get brighter and pulse faster. A low hum tickled his ears. Where the lights met in the middle of the door, Hiccup noticed an indentation. He tilted his head and his eyes widen.
"That's a hand," he exclaimed.
He heard two snorts and several snickers behind him and tossed a half-heated glare towards his companions. He got whistles and innocent looks in return. He snorted but turned back to the door.
Hiccup released Astrid's hand as the indentation showed the thumb on the right side. Slowly, as if asking an unknown dragon for permission to touch, Hiccup lifted his hand and placed it into the indentation. His ears picked up the sounds of gears turning and clanking a heartbeat before the entire door shook. Despite wanting to, Hiccup kept his hand in the pool of light illuminating the indentation.
Soon the door split and swung inward. Hiccup frowned. The other side looked the same as the corridor behind him with stone and more stone except for a lone lever to the far left of the small room. A door did exist on the wall next to the lever but nothing else was in the room. Before Hiccup could ask Onyx what was going on, Skulder scooted into the room and went straight for the lever.
"Such an ornate lever," Skulder said, leaning close and examining it.
Hiccup blinked. Shadowfire lowered his head on Hiccup's right side.
[Alpha, will you and Lady Alpha scoot to your left, please?]
Confused, but trusting the dragon, Hiccup and Astrid shifted aside. Shadowfire moved until his front paws set right at the room's threshold. Given the size of the room, Shadowfire could touch the door opposite with his nose with room to spare. Shadowfire instead kept his muzzle right behind Skulder. Hiccup's eyes widen as he realized why.
"No, don't!"
Hiccup's cry came too late. Skulder pulled the level. For a heartbeat nothing happened. Then the floor split. Skulder tried to grab the lever. Shadowfire's jaws clamped Skulder's bag. Shadowfire backed up. Placed Skulder on stone next to Hiccup.
[First rule of spelunking and adventuring,] Shadowfire said. [Never, ever pull the obvious lever in an empty room.]
Shadowfire then bowed to Hiccup and Astrid before rejoining his mother to the right of the group. Hiccup watched him and caught Gyda's eyes. She made the hand signal for 'later' and Hiccup nodded. He turned back to Skulder, who looked none the worse for wear.
"It looked like the only way to open that door," Skulder said, his tone sharp but not insulting.
Hiccup got the impression the man was embarrassed. Hiccup placed a hand upon Skulder's shoulder.
"I probably would have to done the same thing," Hiccup said, "since we had no idea what was behind the door to begin with."
Hiccup sent Onyxwing a slight frown at that. Onyxwing snorted but did not respond otherwise. Sunburn looked gleeful. Hiccup left the two dragons be and turned back to Skulder.
"We may need to see if you and a dragon can become friends. It must be terribly boring searching all of the things you have by yourself. And as Shadowfire showed, a dragon can save your life."
Skulder glanced at the dragons all around the corridor then stared at Hiccup.
"I would be honored to have what I see you and the other humans have."
Hiccup smiled before moving to the doorway and finding the floor had lifted and closed once more. He did not step into the room, knowing Astrid would likely follow and Hiccup did not want her in danger at all. The other possibility was that Astrid would grab his tunic and haul him backwards.
Instead, he glanced around, finding that his initial inspection of the room did not seem to notice the array of small objects attached to what looked like thin metal poles. Those poles attached to stone with something that looked as if they would swing with enough force. Each object was set at a precise interval from the one before and the one after it. Hiccup followed the line and his jaw dropped. It led up and out of the way of any who stared into the room but did not looked towards its ceiling. Hiccup's mind whirled.
"Toothless, come here and stand up."
Hiccup turned. His brother stopped just behind him and then lifted to his hindlegs.
"Is that a shield with a Night Fury as its symbol?" Skulder questioned. "When did Berk change coats of arms?"
Hiccup caught Astrid's confused look and was once again reminded that his birth allowed him chances to learn more than village elders taught. Once they were home and Devastating Winter kept them indoors more often than not, Hiccup vowed to teach Astrid all he knew. He would later teach the rest of his friends, he knew that, but Astrid would get her lessons before the others. She was his queen after all. She deserved to know everything.
"We didn't," Hiccup said, unattaching his shield.
Toothless fell to his front paws but did not return to the group. Hiccup smiled at him and then turned to Skulder.
"It's my personal symbol in honor of my brother," he said moving to the doorway once more.
He flicked the switch and the wings of the shield separated and widen. The center piece moved out to form a rounded point. Hiccup slipped one of the arrows he designed and made just for this hybrid shield and slotted it into place. He went to aim, only to find Skulder too close and reaching out as if to touch the shield.
"Don't," Hiccup said.
Skulder froze.
"I'll let you look at it later," Hiccup promised. "Right now I want to try something. Please go stand with Astrid and Toothless."
Skulder did as he was asked. Hiccup lifted the shield and took aim at one of the objects that set right across from him. He took a deep breath in and, on the exhale, pulled the trigger. The arrow sailed straight, biting deep into the object. Hiccup had a second to relish in the dead center shot before the object struck the only other one near it. That set off a reaction as other objects were hit only to swing and hit another in line behind them. Hiccup followed the effect up the wall until the last on stuck another lever that did not have all the ornate decorations the one Skulder used had. Hiccup heard more gears. The other door swung inward..
Hiccup closed down the shield and turned to Onyxwing. The dragon tipped his head, though he looked as if he was half in the past and half in the present. Hiccup, with the shield still attached to his right arm, held out his left. Astrid immediately grabbed it. Both moved into the small room and then into the door opposite.
Hiccup froze and heard Astrid gasp. The massive cavern held what could only be described as an underground village. Hiccup heard dragon footsteps. He thought Toothless had joined them but the voice that spoke was not Toothless'.
[It looks as if we had never left.]
Hiccup turned to Onyx. "What is this place?"
Onyx took a deep breath. [It was home.]
Kirika: Hehe, oops. Hope you like what is behind that door.
Literally Nobody: Hehe, you can't believe? I'm still in shock. I'm glad you liked the test. Hehe, well the past is but a series of events that shape the present. Yes, we are finally at a point Onyx, Sunburn, and Silent can start answering some things. Not all things, but some things. Hope you like was behind it. I hate when that happens. Have a good day/night as well.