Astral slowly came to only to be again greeted by darkness. The sun just might not have come up yet. Wait didn't she fall asleep in her chair? When did she start laying down. Whatever, wasn't as strange as her dreams. She'd definitely had crazy dreams before, but that one certainly won first place. It was so vivid too. Then suddenly, what sounded like hurricane wind being blown through a window or something startled her. She screamed in fright but it came out like an animal cry of some sort. That'd be a new one for people to tease her about if it ever came up again. Suddenly light poured in as a stiff leathery blanket was lifted into the air. Only it wasn't a stiff leathery blanket it was a wing to that giant dragon from her dreams it was right above her. Again she squealed trying to back up, but the creature had it's huge body encircled around her. It's head stared down at her from above and cooed. As if trying to comfort her. And it sorta worked. The dragon wasn't being very threatening even if it did have her trapped. So everything she dreamt was all real. She died and was reincarnate as a dragon that emerged from an egg. Wait egg, so she was a baby dragon. Did that mean this was her mother. No something; she didn't know what, told her he was male. So it was her father? She had never considered being reincarnated meant gaining a new family. She had expected to show up full grown or something and just have to figure it out on her own. She realized what that hurricane wind was. It was her father's breathing. He really was huge or rather she was small. Then again even in her old body she could tell he would have still been big, likely weighing more than even the worlds fastest human.
Where was she? Again familiarizing herself with how to walk she approached her fathers tail and attempted to climb up it to look at the other side. She wasn't doing very good though and her father had to use his head to push her up it. "Thanks...uh...dad." It appeared she was in the same room she hatched from. All the debris was cleaned up and some of the furniture replaced. There was still a big hole in the ceiling though. Her location was on top of her fathers tail who was on top of that roughly carved bed. Looking behind her she confirmed that she woke up on the fabric of that bed.
"Hey bud, mind if I see him." Spoke the brown haired adolescent from earlier. He was also sitting on the bed to the large dragons left. The voice startled Astral and she fell backwards off her fathers tail and gave out a scared high pitched yelp. And now she was stuck on her back with her wings splayed out. The human scooted closer and began to reach a hand into her fathers cocoon, but he gave out a short and quiet growl while shaking his head in the universal no and the human backed off complaining. Though Astral couldn't tell she wasn't understanding anything it said. The human was not speaking English. It was silly of her to expect that humans from a different universe would speak English. It bothered her that she couldn't understand anything about the species she once was for 23 years of her life. Was as if all that time meant nothing. The bigger issue now though was she was stuck on her back and it felt very wrong. She tried rolling but the way she rolled over as a human was too different than as a dragon. She managed to get on her side but her own wing was getting in the way of her touching the bed.
"Uh dad...could use some help here." Astral said. Her father only continued to look at her as if expecting something more. Even the human was staring at her. Despite the lack of immediate danger she was beginning to panic. Astral began flailing about trying to get traction of any sort. Her foot pushed against her wing a couple times eliciting a pained yelp as it stretched further than it was meant to. The human tried to reach in again but her dad growled at the human once more. Though the growl wasn't meant for her Astral still stopped her flailing as well. 'Alright, calm down. I just need to think.' Astral thought to herself. 'I'm never going to get anywhere with my wing in the way." She tried experimenting with her new limbs and eventually figured out how to move her wings. She pulled them in close to her body. Now her wing was out of the way, yet still couldn't flip herself upright. Wait now she got it. She was lying on her left side so she pulled in her 2 left proportionately bulky legs and pushed against the bed with her left wing. Then she was upright again. Astral let out a triumphant "Yes!" at her success. She wasn't used to how it sounded in dragon language though.
Speaking of speaking Astral looked up at her father. "Can you understand me?" Astral asked. The response she got with grunts and other dragony stuff she didn't understand. Astral cried out growing very upset. "Great for all I know I agreed to be reincarnated into a species that wasn't sentient. And goddess? I'm a freaking baby, I still feel pain and can probably still die just as easily. All it would take is just a single bite from this dragon!" Again she was working off of her understanding of a god. For all she knew in Cruinne's universe gods were just basic leaders. Would make more sense then giving someone the great powers and immortality that she imagined.
"I think he's upset you didn't help him Toothless." said Hiccup. To them it just sounded like a normal very upset hatchling. Toothless bent down and started licking Astral. "Eww! That's disgusting, don't do that!" Astral complained only to have her father continue. She squeaked each time he licked her and told him to stop. Eventually she only squeaked seeing as he didn't seem to listen or understand her. "He's going to need a name. Wait, is it a he?" Hiccup asked his dragon. Toothless shook his head no before resuming his affection. "What do you name the first of your kind we've seen. And a female that hatched from an egg that should be long since dead no less. Hmm what about Astral?" He said not knowing why he said it. What train of logic led to that? Astral went silent and stared at the human prompting her father to stop in curiosity. She still didn't understand what he said but somehow knew he spoke her name. Her father repeated it as well and despite it coming from a dragon this time in a different language, she knew it was her name and stared up at him.
Apparently now it was time to get up as her father stepped onto the floor. His cocoon having vanished with him she was surprised to find herself missing it. It blocked out this strange new world helping her not think about it too much. She started to follow after him but before even reaching the edge of the bed her father turned around and gave a soft growl to her. He then took off dragging an unwilling human with him. That growl terrified her. Why was he taking off. Was he abandoning her? Was that upside down thing some sort of test and she failed. She'd probably be crying if she could instead she was emitting whining sounds not too dissimilar from a dog. Astral decided to go after him and walked over to the edge of the bed. The floor was far down though. Probably two of her body lengths. Well then again she had a pretty long tail. Looking back at her tail she decided it was one of her body lengths. But she was far longer than she was tall. After all she was a quadruped now. 'No pain no gain especially in this world I guess." With that she jumped down and...nothing happened. She did feel like fell a ways but barely felt anything upon landing. Oh right, there were some advantages to being small.
Astral then made her way to the door not really knowing how she planned on opening it. Hopefully it didn't close all the way and she could push it open. Before she had a chance to get close though the door opened and her father came in closely followed by the human. Her father made deliberate steps right towards her and Astral crouched in fear. He coughed or choked on something clearing his throat for some reason and then opened his mouth and went to scoop her up and swallow her. "No Toothless not in my room noo!." Hiccup complained. Astral knew it, she'd messed something up and now she was becoming food to her own father. With his mouth right over her he vomited right on top of her and then lifted his head back up to look at her expectantly. "Eww, what is this my punishment. You just love being gross don't you. Why don't you lick me now and clean this up." It was mostly dropped on her head and spilled around her. Now she was going to need a bath. Where would she even go for that. Suddenly she became aware of something rather good smelling assaulting her nose. It only took a few sniffs to realize it was the vomit the smelt so good. Why the heck did it smell good. Vomit was suppose to be more disgusting smelling than it was looking. Her father just seemed to look at her concerned. Was this another test? Was he giving her another chance. She'd no doubt die on her own without someone to help her. She had no idea what she was doing. As gross as it was and as many cringing shivers it gave her she just had to find if it tasted as good as it smelled. She now realized just how ravenously starving she was. Hesitantly Astral dipped her head towards it and took a lick. It wasn't bad tasting. It tasted every so slight good. Her hunger got the better of her though and she began lapping it up cleaning the floor of every drop. When she was finished her father bent down to lick her head and clean it off. Even though he was cleaning her she still squeaked. Hiccup couldn't help but let out an "aww" at the scene unraveling before him. Astral understood that. "This is not adorable this is disgusting and undignified." Her father choked up some more food and brought his head over her again. She knew what was going on and as gross as it was she was still starving. This was going to be the new norm and she was not going to die again. Beside it wasn't bad tasting. She opened her mouth and let her father pour it in. Did her father not have any teeth?
Once Astral was all full she felt like taking a nap. She began making her way back to the bed wondering how'd she jump back on it when her father called her name. Astral turned around to see him grunt and motion with his head to follow. "But I'm full, I just feel like sleeping now." Astral complained. Naturally nobody understood her. She began walking to the doorway where he stood but before she made it he came walking up to her. Astral stopped wondering what he wanted. He went behind her and used his head to gently nudge her along. "But I was already headed that way?" She continued forward and as she did so her father used one of his right paw to lift her right wing up. She now became aware she'd been dragging her wings along the ground this whole time. She pulled them in close to her body and resumed moving forward. The larger dragon continued to follow behind and after a few yards made another adjustment this time lifting her tail up. "Oh right, that probably shouldn't drag too." Controlling her tail was a little more difficult at first. It wanted to fight her and throw her off balance. By the time they got to the doorway she got the hang of it though. "Wow it's a lot easier to walk now." Next were the steps down the stairs to the living room. This part would be easy, she just had to jump down them. Astral was determined not to need any correction on this part. She slowly made her way down jumping down one step at a time. When she'd finally reached the bottom Astral turned around to beam at her father. She'd wish there was someway to express how proud she felt to him. Now he took the lead and led her out the front door.
It took her eyes another second to adjust to the outside. It was much brighter. Took her even longer to take in the sight. Actually she hadn't even begun that. Though she realized something very strange. Why the heck were there so many humans around. At her universe dragons were recorded in every culture around the globe. All except the Asian wingless serpent like dragons were considered mortal enemies to man kind. The two did not get along. Yet here she stood albeit not very high off the ground and before her was a village of humans and dragons living in the same area. What was also strange is these humans looked like vikings. And not the vikings back home that did not wear horned helmets. These ones did. It looked to be an expression of ones self as each viking seemed to have a unique helmet. It was all overwhelming and huge in her eyes. The huts scattered about were skyscrapers to her. She didn't feel like she'd ever get use to that.
Toothless and Hiccup were moving along and Astral quickly snapped to running up to trot by her father. 'Where we going?' Is what Astral wanted to ask if she could actually speak to anyone. She was going to have to pay attention to both the dragons and the humans on this trip to wherever. She needed to learn how to communicate somehow and if dragons weren't sentient or didn't have much of a language. Though her father seemed to be too intelligent for just an animal. That and why would Cruinne need a leader of dragons if they were just animals. They had to be capable of complex organization in order to be led.
Before they'd even reached any street that could be considered busy it became quickly apparent that she was a spectacle for some reason. Nearly ever single person they passed wanted to see her up close. Even though she did understand their language she could tell they thought she was just the cutest thing they had ever seen. Which Astral was glad about that part. Better a cute dragon than an ugly one. The further into the village they went the more crowed the space around her became. It came to the point she was trotting right underneath her father to try and avoid them. Another new thing she learned was her sense of smell was off the charts at least compared to what she was used to. She could smell everything and she didn't even know what 98% of everything was. She just tried to tune it out and keep up for now. There was other stuff as well. Her hearing was far better as well as her sight. While that all sounded great it actually wasn't. It was very overwhelming. The villagers excitement over her hurt her ears. It was actually a little disorienting. Wait she had ears? She really had to find a mirror at some point. Wait no she didn't need one she had her father. Poking out from under him she took a good look at his face. She watched as flaps on his head seemed to respond to the direction of sound which helped her notice the same happening on her own head. Her father looked down at her curiously and she just dipped right back beneath him.
It seemed someone had the power to stop their tour as a blue eyed girl with blond hair tied in a braid behind her approached the group of now four with her included. She was about the same size as the brown haired guy who Astral was now going to call Toothpick. Because for both all the beefy vikings around and the dragons, they could use his bones as one.
"So what was with the explosion yesterday?" Astrid asked Hiccup.
"Well turns out it was a dragon hatching." Hiccup answered plainly.
"A dragon?" Astrid responded surprised. What kind of dragon egg causes an explosion that large? And we aren't anywhere near Snogletog."
"I'm just as perplexed as you are Astrid. Remember that egg we got from trader Johann. Well." Hiccup gestured dramatically at Toothless with both his hands.
Astrid looked over at Toothless confused. It was only then she noticed the dark shape underneath him. She crouched down to get a better look and when she saw Astral she gasped putting a hand over her mouth.
"Am I really that surprising. How have you not already heard the news I'm new in town." Astral criticized the blondy. That was her new name, Blondy.
"A baby Nightfury. But how? That egg should have never hatched." Astrid asked.
"I don't know but here she is." Answered Hiccup.
"So it's a girl. Does she have a name yet?" Astrid asked reaching her hand towards the baby Nightfury.
Astral backed away from Blondy's advance. Her father didn't seem to mind so she wasn't a threat, but Astral did not feel like being touched and especially not picked up if that's what Blondy planned.
"She's shy isn't she." Astrid added pulling away and standing up.
"Her names Astral and yea she's a little strange too. She's a little slow. That might be normal though. This is the first baby Nightfury we've seen and first one besides Toothless. I'm thinking since Nightfuries have shown to be so intelligent maybe their young take longer to mature, kinda like our own. That would also help explain why they are most likely having a population problem. The longer an animal typically takes to raise it's young the less they have in quantity. The longer it takes to mature the longer it's vulnerable. In all the time we've been searching we have heard of no one sighting any Nightfuries and we've never even found any bones. These two may very well be the last of their kind." Hiccup ranted.
"Well at least it looks like Toothless is taking well to being a father." Astrid teased the big dragon patting it on the nose.
Toothless gave a snort in response.
Then another human joined the group. This one she recognized. It was the big bulky one inside the house when she hatched from her egg. Her father had growled at it back then so he was a threat. Yet he spoke to Toothpick and Blondy casually. "So this is the creature that blew up my house." Stoic said his voice loud and well stoic.
"Sorry dad. We didn't know it was going to hatch." Hiccup apologized.
"Clearly. Suppose I should meet the new trouble maker. Gods know the Nightfuries have it out for me." Stoic said crouching down. "Purple eyes...that's not something you see everyday. Come'ere you little bugger, let me get a better look at ya."
Astral hissed while backing up closer to her fathers hind legs. Why wasn't her dad doing anything she thought he was a threat.
"You really aren't very good with dragons are you sir." Astrid said to Stoic.
"Eh I'll leave that to you guys. I've got work to do. Keep it out of trouble Hiccup." Stoic said before taking off to Astral's relief. Hiccup couldn't tell if his fathers comment was far his own sake or the baby dragons.
To Astral's further displeasure more adolescents arrived no doubt friends of Toothpick's in this everyone knows everybody village. It seems they heard the news as the first thing they did was oohhing and awwwing at her. She was getting sick of this, of being some sort of art to be admired or something. Well actually she liked that. What she didn't like was all the attention at once all the sensory input was frying her brain. Some fat guy, a pair of twins, and what looked like a human that could totally pass as a dwarf if he had any facial hair were chatting up an ear splitting storm. And to top it off two of them smelt really awful. As safe as she felt under her father she was getting out of here. Without warning Astral bolted out from underneath Toothless and just sprinted off. She didn't know where she was going but that didn't matter. Anywhere away from humans worked for her. Her second day as a dragon and she already didn't consider herself human. She tripped on herself and tumbled a bit, but got right back up and continued onward.
"Wow look at her go." Commented Tuffnut while the others shared surprised comments Toothless being the most notable of them. The large Nightfury sprinted after his charge. It took him a moment but the much larger and faster dragons easily caught up and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. Astral squeaked as she was hoisted into the air from her neck by her father. The really terrifying part was her whole body went limp against her will as a result. Toothless looked for a secluded enough spot and found one between two buildings. He set Astral down and was glad to see she didn't take off after he did so. He lay down and draped a wing over her.
Apparently father knows best. After catching her he gave her exactly what she wanted. It was hardly far from humans but the wing muffled all the sounds. She could still hear them clearly but it wasn't irritating like before. She was suddenly reminded about how tired she was and now far more so after that little stunt. She nuzzled up next to her fathers body and fell asleep faster than she thought possible.
"What was that all about?" Astrid asked what everyone was thinking after the group had caught up. Toothless warned them off with a low growl if any of them got too close.
"She was probably overwhelmed and panicked. This might be a problem if she remains a celebrity." Hiccup enlightened them.
"She's going to have celebrity status for as long as she's that cute." Ruffnut commented.
"Hey bud, is she alright." Hiccup asked Toothless while he approached closer without resistance from the dragons. Toothless lifted his wing just a little bit to show Astral sleeping against him.
"Yup she's going to be the talk of the town for awhile." Said Astrid.
"Come on, we need to get her home Toothless." Hiccup said. Toothless gave a soft growl as Hiccup reached under the wing. "It's alright bud. I'll try not to wake her."