Toothless looked up at the roaring waterfalls, and at the newly risen sun shining above them. There were no more tunnels above this one. He was in the uppermost cavern of the hidden world, the rock walls between himself and the ocean smooth and offering no shelter. The night fury opened his throat, the air cracking as it became charged with electricity. He jumped and took flight as the air turned into lightnight that exploded against him with a shriek, his scales tingling in the familiar feeling of entering camouflage.

While hidden, he pushed his wings, climbing as hard as his muscles allowed. His breath burned in his throat and his wings sliced through the air. He pushed hard, trying to reach the surface before it was too late…

His scales cooled, and his camouflage disappeared, leaving him fully visible in the open air of the cavern. From that point to reaching the surface, it would take several more seconds. And while he could have camouflaged again, that would have taken more fire, and still leave him exposed for at least a short moment. Not optimal.

The night fury huffed and turned back. He was the fastest dragon of his realm, and if he couldn't reach the surface while hidden, no one else could. That knowledge learned, he proceeded to the next task.


"You are making a stupid decision to compensate for your previous stupid decision," stated Hookfang. "They are a pain enough already and you are going to give them another reason to be bastards!"

Toothless didn't look at the red dragon, instead swerving to the side to enter the light furies' tunnel. "We have no choice," he said simply. The red dragon barked angrily, and with a snap of his wing flew off. Toothless shook his head. One of his advisors leaving his side. The only thing he could do was hope that reality would prove Hookfang wrong.

"Who should do the talking?" asked Toothless at the remaining dragons, Light and Stormfly, as they neared the confrontation.

The blue dragon hummed thoughtfully. "Let's see. They despise me since I'm the alpha's advisor. They despise Light since she's the alpha's mate. And don't get me started on what they think of you."

The three dragons landed a moment later and were warmly greeted by Lemon with the warm words 'what do you want?' For once, the night fury appreciated the straightforwardness.

"Maybe an army of humans will attack us. I want you to learn how to fight and attack it, if it comes. You will camouflage in the attack, and as such not die. Be ready on the rocks. If humans reach the edge while we're down here, reaching their vessels takes longer than the camouflage lasts," he said, not seeing a reason to sugarcoat his request.

The light fury looked at them, displeased, as did a number of other inhabitants of the cave, standing by her side as if to protect the territory. Lemon gave a challenging huff. "And if we don't want to fight?"

The night fury gritted his teeth. "Everyone here might die, including you," he said bluntly.

The light fury looked at them for some time, also letting her gaze wander to the rest of the cavern and its inhabitants, dragons that were as usual silent, though now seeming tense. Finally, she shook her head. "Gather your precious nadders and gronckles. Attack en masse. Someone will make it through." The white dragon gave a grin. "And kill the humans that you cared so much about."

A growl came from Stormfly. "We can't camouflage. Attacking will cause losses."

Lemon cast the blue dragon a pitying look. "Terribly unfortunate," she hummed softly. "Are you afraid of what your scales would look like in red?"

Light gave a hiss, while Stormfly gave an angry bark. As for the night fury, his desire to cut throats was strong. Or maybe just grabbing Lemon's neck in his teeth like he sometimes did with his mate. Though unlike with Light, he wouldn't have made Lemon feel any joy in the process.

Toothless took to his paws, walking past the acid dragon and further into the cavern, the light furies that had previously been blocking his path jumping out of his way, clearly not as ready to stand up against their alpha as they wanted to appear. Past this barrier, he faced the many light furies of 'that pack,' hoping that the white dragons' reputation was nothing more than that. "What about the rest of you? This cavern may need to be saved, and you're the best fit for this task. Will you help me?"

There was a moment of silence as he faced the crowd, his paws gently resting on the sloped side of the tunnel, allowing him to oversee the lively cavern. He met the gaze of one of them, and she didn't turn away. After a huff, the female stepped forwards before bowing down her head. Others did the same, rumbling unhappily but still accepting, obeying the alpha.

A flurry of wings made itself heard ever louder and Toothless barked in surprise as he saw Hookfang hastily flying towards him. The red dragon landed, gave a displeased huff at the light furies and faced the alpha. "We have found the captor. He says that he wants to talk to you," barked the monstrous nightmare urgently.

Toothless' eyes widened. "Where?"

"The abandoned cavern where we searched for him the last time."

The night fury found himself with his jaws slightly open, sharp teeth exposed to the humid air, yet wanting more. He looked at the light furies who had stepped forwards, only a fraction of 'that pack' yet still precious forces. He barked to gather their attention. "Thank you. I'll be back."

The dragon who had come so close to hurting his son wanted to talk with him. He took flight.


On a jutting stone slab among the waterfalls Dart looked at Pouncer, Ruffrunner and Laura, bitter resignation in her eyes. "An army of humans may come our way. We will try all possible ways to avoid bloodshed. But that might not be possible," said the nightlight. "Maybe dragonkind will have to attack them. And in that case, I have no doubts that our father will choose the four of us to lead the charge."

"Why would he choose us?" mumbled Ruffruner, unconvinced. He had listened attentively, but that didn't mean he believed in what Dart said. She was one of his siblings, after all.

Dart didn't seem pleased at the question, possibly because of his unceremonious lying on his back with splayed out wings. But it was afternoon, the ground was comfortable and Ruffrunner knew he was just as capable of listening even in the relaxing position. Dart looked at him flatly. "For our competence."

Toothless' sharp bark caught their attention. "Hookfang has found the captor," said the night fury. Ruffrunner leapt to his feet, the need to rest forgotten at the thought of the orange dragon. Moments later their father had finished explaining, and the four of them, Toothless, Light and Hookfang were diving towards the abandoned cavern, the nightlight's heart beating in his chest.

The dragons were quiet, leaving Ruffrunner alone with his thoughts as they descended towards the stuffy air. It felt unexpected, hasty. And unnerving. This orange dragon had tried to negotiate with him the first time they met and subsequently tried to remove his fin. And now he had asked to talk with the alpha, in a place where he was very unlikely to escape. Did he want to surrender? He flicked his wing automatically to avoid a collision, barely aware of having done so, lost in his thoughts.

And what about 'the new alpha?' A dragon they had not met, only heard about. Would this dragon be there too? The seven of them pulled up from the dive and stepped down on foot through the cavern's very narrow opening, the air inside the cavern colder and drier due to its lack of a stream that brought heat and humidity. In front of them, a long and tall underground ravine with hundreds of openings sprouting from its sides. They then took flight again, heading deeper in. It just didn't make sense. This cavern didn't leave escape possible. Well, the dragon had managed to escape their grasp here once, but it had taken a colossal luck, going from hidden tunnel to hidden tunnel without ever being seen in the many moments he would have been exposed.

Apart from these tunnels, the cavern was open, so he would not escape again. Thinking about it, it was unfathomable that they had managed to not see the captor the first time. But as a matter of fact, none of the four dragons who had searched had seen him, despite searching through all of the cavern's tunnels.

Ruffrunner blinked. Unless they had seen him.

They had nearly reached the end of the cavern and the captor was very much there, unmoving, calm, and seemingly ready to do exactly that, talk. Exposed. The dragons landed, facing the orange dragon, who was in a place that left him unable to escape. What was the reason they had come here in the first place? The nightlight found himself giving a fearful yelp as he arrived at the conclusion.

"I think Hookfang wants to become the new alpha and he led you here to trap you!" barked Ruffrunner.

The nightlight was faced by incredulous looks from his father and from Hookfang. "What makes you think that?" asked the red dragon.

"You, dad and Stormfly searched through all the tunnels. One of you must have seen him, and just not reported it," he barked breathlessly, looking at the monstrous nightmare in fear, recalling their numbers. They were six, his parents, his siblings, himself and Laura. And then Hookfang and the captor. "And now the captor wants to meet us in this cavern to 'talk.' I think he has a hidden card to allow him to escape, or to trap us. You're the one who led us here."

His father looked at him suspiciously, before giving the same look to the red dragon. Hookfang shook his head and whistled.

Behind them, the cavern was long before its narrow entrance, its sides dotted with over a hundred tunnels and only illuminated by the faint green light of a small number of crystals. Ruffrunner was frozen with terror as a hundred angry dragons left these tunnels and faced them, teeth, claws and spikes tense and ready to strike, blocking their escape from the 'abandoned' cavern.

"He is right," said Hookfang.


No words were spoken as the two parties moved across each other, Toothless and his mate pacing silently so as to keep the horde of dragons in front of them and the fledglings behind them. The captor walked away from the end of the cavern, and two moved aside, in desperate need of having potential attackers in only one direction.

"You can thank me," hummed the orange dragon proudly as he reached Hookfangs side.

"Thank you for standing still at the end of the cavern. I know it was difficult for you," answered Hookfang flatly, enticing a quiet growl from the orange dragon. The two were familiar with each other, that much was clear. How long had Hookfang planned to take over? Toothless was fairly certain that that monstrous nightmare had been his first helper. He could see his mate in the corner of his sight, looking at him nervously.

"You betrayed me," said the night fury quietly, looking at the red dragon, eyes wide. His eyes then turned to slits. "You betrayed me!" he roared loudly enough for the sound to resonate against the cavern's wall.

Hookfang shook his head, one that the dragon was considering removing. "I was your advisor. I told you about every single horrible decision you made since those bastards set foot here. You didn't listen."

"So now you're taking over as the alpha," summarised Light before hissing at the monstrous nightmare. Toothless was sharing her sentiments.

"And will not spare the lives of humans that will do their best to kill us," answered the red dragon, before addressing the night fury with a formal, cold tone. "Give up your role as alpha and give me your prosthetic. And do this without a fight."

Toothless blinked in shock, a spike of fear spreading from his chest. Light seemed furious, tensely facing off the horde by his side. Grounded. Disabled. In a cavern system. He roared in challenge. The red dragon would not have his way without a fight.

"If you fight and lose, I will take your mate's tailfin as well."

He gave a fearful bark and looked at Light, who seemed shocked, her tail having shot towards her underside, the limb almost consciously moving to protect itself. His eyes widened, before he spread his wings and muscles, trying to appear as large and dangerous as possible. "Don't you dare!" he roared sharply, but his former advisor didn't seem fazed.

Hookfang whistled, and the horde behind him responded with a roar of their own, freezing him and his mate. He looked at the sea of beasts. From the very common nadders and monstrous nightmares to rarer species, among which two giant stormcutters. Most of them were young males, but he could see several exceptions among the numerous horde. There seemed to be only one thing all of them had in common.

All of them seemed ready to kill.

He could faintly notice being under the look of his mate. Light had been by his side in all duels that he had faced, and was familiar with them. She had told him how, before those fights, he had a still body, slow, heavy breaths and firmly planted claws, and a 'cold, calculated stare that made her shiver.' Often, it did the same with challengers, stopping them from attacking altogether.

But right now, behind the night fury's fierce front, his hind paws were tense. And shaking. His chest was moving, up and down, rapidly. Toothless was barely aware of it, just staring at Hookfang, who he had considered his friends moments ago, and feeling little more than fear. In a moment, his eyes met Light's and the light fury seemed taken back, seeing that he was not…

"Attack and these dragons will fight with me. This isn't a duel," stated Hookfang coldly. "Stopping you from being alpha is too important for such formalities. Give up without a fight."

The night fury almost found himself shaking, his paw stomping on the ground behind him. "So what?! I can fight even a million of you!" he roared, as fiercely as his tense body allowed. He looked at Light, she looked at him and the night fury wanted to claw at himself, wanting to appear as a lethal hunter for his mate, but almost certain that she was seeing a terrified prey.

She huffed.

His heart then stopped for a moment as Light walked over to the red dragon. "Stop. There is nothing to fight about," she said loudly, standing in front of the surprised horde, almost as shocked as himself.

The night fury nearly sprang forwards to halt her, but a hiss from the horde forced him to stay back. "I won't let him take my mate's fin!" he barked hastily, dissuading her from that idea. No, he wouldn't let her give herself up, sacrificing her fin just for his sake-

Light turned back at the night fury and shook her head. "You can't protect me. Bold of you to think that you even have a mate."

Toothless' breath became stuck in his throat, as she met his gaze, blue eyes not sparing him any sadness. Behind him were her fledglings and Laura, who seems more shocked by her words than when the immense threat of violence had appeared in the cavern. The night fury gave a desperate bark in denial, trying to sound confident, but he could hear the sadness in his own voice. "I can fight him! I can fight all of them!"

His mate didn't react, instead joining the horde, the dragons in the front row respectfully moving away from the front row to allow her to stand beside Hookfang. He shivered at the two dragons who had been his mate and friend respectively just minutes ago, both deciding that he wasn't worth their efforts. Hookfang looked at Light suspiciously, to which the light fury responded by a huff, apparently convinced she would earn his trust. She looked at Toothless, and for a moment, the night fury regained hope.

"Not even you think that you can win. I can read it in your eyes."

Toothless blinked, his chest aching. They had been together for so long, she knew him better than anyone else in this cavern. And she was using that against him, his most intimate thoughts and fears exposed blatantly for a hundred dragons that wanted to kill him. The night fury was still standing tense, doing his best to keep the fledglings behind him protected. Had he not been doing that, he would have curled up in a ball and whined.

She looked at him and sighed, maybe feeling some compassion, while Toothless could do nothing but stare. "You thought you were special and that I would be by your side forever," stated Light before looking at him coldly. "Yes, you were special. You were the alpha. Were." Under his helpless gaze, she looked at Hookfang and bowed down her head. The monstrous nightmare grunted in approval.

A sharp cry involuntarily left the night fury. "Honey! You-"

Light hissed at him. "Stop. You're not my mate. Even Hookfang would be a better choice than you." As if to prove her point, she then let her scales rub along Hookfang, before moving backwards. Toothless saw how, either voluntarily or not, the monstrous nightmare moved his tail around Light, its tip ending up in front of her as the red dragon gave her an inquiring look. Light then looked at the limb and chuckled. "At least he has a complete tail."

Toothless' eyes widened as Light bit Hookfang's tail hard, teeth slicing right through the narrow limb. The tip, a section of the tail with the length of his claw, fell on the ground. A considerably bigger part of it was in her mouth. She spat it out.

"Nevermind."


For a moment, there was only one thing that existed for Toothless. He looked at his mate, her white scales shining bright even in the dim light of the cavern. She was ready to go into a horde of dangerous dragons for him, the blood of the dragon who had betrayed him dripping from the side of his jaws. "I love you," he whispered to Light.

For a moment, there was only one thing that existed for Light. She looked at her mate, his black scales smooth and clean, even reflecting streaks of lights from the crystals around them. He was facing off scores of dragons despite being left alone, wings spread wide to protect their offspring, ready to fight at any and all odds if necessary. "I love you too," she whispered to Toothless.

For a moment, there were only two things that existed for Hookfang. He looked at the two parts of his tail, the red scales beautiful despite the darker red blood running over them. They had been with him since he had hatched, providing valuable balance and stability during each and every of his many flights and fights. "I am in great physical pain," he whispered to nobody in particular.

"Uhh, mom, dad," said Pouncer.

"If we stay here, we're going to die," added Ruffrunner.

"So we should probably not stay here," finished Laura. Dart nodded, the shriek of a charging plasma blast coming from her open jaws.

Hookfang had his tail in his mouth, doing his best to quench the horrific bleeding, but he took it out. "Kill them!" he roared in pain before being forced to put the limb back.

Cracks, roars and shrieks filled the cavern as six plasma blasts were shot, other dragons adding their own flames moments later, and the end of the cavern was filled into chaos, a dynamic picture of light and darkness called by fires and black smoke. The dragon horde charged forwards, firing and clawing at anything in front of them. But despite their large numbers and the narrowness of the cavern, the wall of dragons left a few narrow holes, particularly towards the top, where dragons needed space to use their wings.

The small, flying, camouflaged furies flew right past them, a few of the attacking dragons surprised by the touch of the invisible dragons, yet much too focused on charging forwards to care.


One of the 'abandoned' cavern's distinguishable features was its narrow entrance. Kuro was a smart dragon. He doubted that the Toothless would manage to escape the large horde at the cavern's end in the first place, but if that happened, even a small group of dragons could fully prevent him from leaving the cavern by guarding its narrow opening. As such, while everyone in the horde had tried reaching as deep into the cavern as possible to trap the night fury at its end, Kuro had stayed back at the most defensible point. Kuro was a smart dragon.

Kuro was also one dragon that had to defend against six furies heading straight towards him. The gronkle started hyperventilating at the piercing stare of the night fury's bright green eyes. He tried to roar, dissuading the dragons from charging towards him. Kuro's roar didn't come out loud enough to be heard, neither by Toothless nor by himself.

He jumped out of the way with a terrified yelp, the black dragon flying straight through the narrow hole followed by three more dragons, four loud swooshs accompanying them as they left.

A light fury with dark blue eyes and a mostly white nightlight were still in the cavern, speeding towards him. He had failed the new alpha for the first four, but these dragons lacked the cunning and the strength of Toothless. He placed himself firmly in front of the opening.

The light fury was forced to land in front of him. Kuro then shivered as the other dragon landed on his back, his neck suddenly under the very real threat of a lethal attack. "Move away for my mate," said the nightlight venomously.

The light fury gave an outraged bark. "I am not your-"

"Move!" hissed the nightlight while pushing his claws into Kuro's neck and the gronkle was forced to comply, the light fury flying off and the nightlight following suit. The last he heard from them were the words 'you mean not yet,' the voice sounding like the nightlight's.

Kuro looked at the entrance, where he had not managed to stop a single dragon. But Kuro was a smart dragon. Kuro could find plenty of excuses to explain his failure to the new alpha.


Toothless gave a small sigh of relief as Pouncer and Laura joined the family's formation. His focus went back to the cavern's entrance. Dragons were pouring from it, gathering in groups and launching themselves at them. The furies climbed, as it would be considerably harder for the horde to follow them up than down.

"Can you make them surrender?" asked Light hastily. The night fury shook his head. Hookfang was not among them, but that wouldn't stop them. They were about twenty seconds behind them, but climbing rapidly.

"Do you have a hidden army to fight them?" asked Light, and the night fury could hear the desperation behind that question. The tunnels of the hidden world were shaped like a tree, its widest point being the entrance, after which the cavern branched out. Going deeper into a tunnel would either lead to more tunnels, or a dead end. He looked beneath them, at the hundred dragons after them, thirsty for their blood. The horde could see them, and a frightening howl of wings came from below.

His instincts were screaming at him. Dive in. Rip wings apart. Pull out. He had done it before. But there were too many of them. He looked at his family. The night fury shook his head.

The horde was less than fifty metres below them and rising, the colourful tops of their wings blending together in a way that would have been beautiful if it weren't for their lethal intentions. The six dragons seemingly took a common decision, and pumped their wings hard.

A motivated nadder shot its spines at them, one of them passing just below them, to Laura's shriek of fear. The efforts of the dragon to rise was redoubled, and Toothless fired a blast below them, though to little effect. Curious dragons stuck their heads in the cavern, only to face screams by the horde.

"Slipstream," said Pouncer while placing himself in front of Laura. The light fury nodded and let her wing fall on the higher pressure air caused by the nightlihgt's flight, easing the task for her muscles. Of course, this was used for them to climb faster, but with the threat from below, she could be nothing but grateful for the increase in speed.

Within minutes, they rose over the ocean with burning wings. Beneath them, the horde had slowed down, but not diminished in numbers. Many set down on the rocks, taking a moment to rest, gathering up strength for any move the six of them might do.

Furies were faster than anything else. The only way to kill one was to take it by surprise or to wear it down to collapse. This horde had missed its chance to use the first method, but seemed ready to wait for as long as was necessary.

Toothless thought through their options one more time. And it seemed just as hopeless as before. A hundred dragons were trying to kill them in a tunnel system where every possible hiding place could also become a death trap. Fighting would give nothing. They had escaped the first time, barely. He and his mate looked at each other, acknowledging the only option left.

The six dragons fired, camouflaged and dove. The horde responded by taking flight over the entrance, fully prepared to attack once more if they were to reappear somewhere in the cavern.

When the camouflage wore off, the six dragons were skimming the ocean, carrying large speed from the dive. They were too fast and too far away to be caught as they left the hidden world, occasionally throwing glances behind them, to what had been their home.