Two Worlds Collide
Chapter Four: Waking up to Berk
"Urgh." I moved my head a bit, twisting it so that I was looking upward. I opened my eyes slightly, expecting to be staring up at a cloudy sky through the trees. What greeted me instead was a thick wooden ceiling, and I noticed I was lying in a rather not-so-soft bed. I tried to sit up, but felt a rush of lightheadedness wash over me, and I dropped my head back onto the pillow. At least that was relatively soft. I turned my head toward one side, and saw that I was in a rather large room with a few other beds along the walls, and a doorway (minus the door) leading into another room. Carefully lifting my head up, I saw that a large front door was almost directly across the room from where I was laying. I turned my head to look at the other side of the room.
"AAAAHHHHH!" I jerked bolt upright, my pounding heart taking care of the lightheaded rush afterwards. "Well, I see you're feeling better, and surprisingly soon after whatever gave you that mark yesterday." I could not believe my eyes, knowing just who this first Viking I had met was. "A-Astrid? Where am I, and what are you doing here?" She narrowed her eyes and stood up, spiky blue attire and all. What, does she never change outfit styles? "First of all, my mother is one of the village healers, which is why you are in my house, and second of all," she continued, sauntering over to the end of the bed (I'm glad I at least had my clothes still on), "how in the world do you know who I am? I've never seen you around the village before, heck, you don't even look like a Viking!" "Well, neither does Hiccup, but he is a Viking. Now, about how I know you, it would take a long time to explain, but on the other hand, I am planning on heading back here in the near future, so if you could possibly help me find Hiccup's house, I promise I'll tell you as much of the story as I can when I return. Deal?" She narrowed her eyes, but then turned toward the door. " I'll hold you to that. Come on, if you feel you can walk. Oh, and your sword and rope are over there." She pointed to a sort of table by the door, on top of which were my weapons, and above which was an axe, which Astrid grabbed. I stood up and grabbed my weapons, and followed Astrid out her front door.
Even knowing where I was, it was like a blow to the side of the head to step outside. Surprisingly, it was sunny, a supposedly rare thing in Berk, but what caught my eye were the different dragons flying everywhere! Nadders and Nightmares were perched on top of houses and gliding from one rooftop to another, while I spotted Zipplebacks sliding in and out between alleyways and Gronckles sitting in front of doorways like guard dogs. One thing that surprised me was the number of Terrible Terrors everywhere. They moved in little groups along the sides of houses, and practically every other Viking had one perched on his or her shoulder. "Since when did all the Terrors move in?" I asked Astrid. "They're kind of like cats in other places," she said, not bothering to look back, "you know, the common pet and pest controller. Though they do sometimes get to be pests themselves." As we walked along, unsurprisingly, practically every Viking turned to stare at me, being the stranger in town whom nobody knew. Oh, if only they knew how quickly that would change. Of course, those who gave me less-than-friendly stares were greeted with a venomous look of my own, which, surprisingly, seemed to deter them from continuing eye contact.
Astrid led me a short way through the village, because as it turns out, she was only a couple of "blocks" away from where the Chief's house was. We crossed the village square, where the dragon's fishbowl was, and up a hill on the other side. When we reached the door, Astrid knocked, then stepped back slightly. The door swung open, and I was treated to the sight of Stoick the Vast himself, all 7x4 feet of him. "Hello Astrid! I see our newcomer is feeling a bit better now!" he said rather cheerfully. Then he turned to me. "Rather nasty injury ye had on ye yesterday." I shrugged. "Well, if I could gain some assistance, I'd be glad to share some of the story when I return," I said. Stoick looked at me, confused. "Whaddaya mean, return?" Astrid stepped up. "Apparently he needs to see Hiccup about gaining assistance from him in returning home," she said, and gave me a bit of a fisheye, "though I don't see why we can't take him to his island by boat or something." I sighed. "Unfortunately, the way home for me can't be reached by boat, and the person who knows best where I can find my way back is Hiccup." Stoick gave me another look, but turned and yelled into the massive house. "Hiccup! Get down here, will ya? Someone needs yer assistance! Oh, and bring yer beast with ye when you come down!" From somewhere in the house we all heard "Be right there!" A few thumping noises, and Hiccup appeared at the door, Toothless right behind him. "What's going on, Dad?" he asked. Stoick gestured to me. "That boy you found in the woods yesterday apparently needs yer help in getting home. Though I still don't get why he needs you," he said, turning toward me. I rubbed my eyes, getting a bit irritated by the circular conversation here. "Actually, my way home begins near the cove where you found Toothless, and all of the information I know about this place doesn't include how to get there from here. Therefore, I need your help getting back there."
At this point all of us failed to see Toothless slip by Hiccup and out onto the "porch," eyeing me and my sword. "As I already said to Astrid and your father, when I come back I'll try to explain what is going on, that is, when I figure out all that's happened to me. I'm quite sure I'll be…AAAAAHHHHHH!" Toothless had leapt toward me, probably in an attempt to remove the sword from the suspicious person in front of him. Instinctively, I yanked my whip off of my shoulder and lashed out, catching Toothless on his left front leg and creating a small cut. I would be very glad later that I had grabbed my whip instead of my sword. Toothless landed with a short shriek of pain, the noise for some reason causing my vision to blur. I shook it off and looked at the dragon. "Please, Toothless, don't do that again!" I said urgently, breathing hard and not wanting to create any more of a scene. "I will defend myself, I don't care what your reason is!" Toothless apparently didn't care either about what I had just said, as he growled and leapt toward me and my sword again. Again, I lashed out, unfortunately this time a little harder and more accurate, striking Toothless on the side and cutting him from the back of his wing to his front leg. This time, my whip was moving fast enough to crack like a gun, causing everyone, including me, to jump. Toothless hit the ground hard, giving another, louder, shriek and not getting back up to pounce on me again. On the other hand, he didn't need to. His louder shriek seemed to vibrate through every cell of my body, causing my vision to swim and my body to rock off balance. Colors began to fade and I felt myself slipping toward the ground. The last thing I saw before everything blacked out were more figures running up the steps and Stoick growling, "Put him in a cell!"
Hiccup looked down at the strange boy whom he had rescued just the day before and had now injured his best friend, even if it was seemingly out of self preservation. Now Toothless may not be able to fly for a week, and any moving of his leg was going to be painful due to the cuts the strange teen had somehow made with the exploding rope. Why the teen had passed out when Toothless shrieked was yet another question added to the growing list and the mystery surrounding the stranger. Hiccup made a mental note to find out as quickly as possible who this boy was, but at that point he was more concerned with bandaging Toothless. Stoick, on the other hand, followed the men he had instructed to place the boy in one of the empty dragon cages they now used as prison cells. When they got there, they not-so-gently threw him onto a pile of hay in one of the cells and locked the door. As they left, they failed to notice the dragon "guards" that slept in the ring gathering around the door of the boy's cell as if watching a whole different kind of creature that few had ever seen before rather than a small human.