Burning ships filled the waters between Berk and Neptune's Wrath. Screams came from the land and air as Nords and Romans alike fell to each other's swords. The dead began to form a wall between the two sides as they continued to collect. It was an even fight, the same amount of vikings fell as Legionnaires, but Hiccup knew that was a bad thing. There were way fewer Nords than Romans. We need to turn the tables, Hiccup thought as he looked around the battle field. Broken siege weapons were spread across the battle field. Red had begun to stain the grass on the hill Hiccup and Astrid had once laid upon. Holes covered the homes and shops o the island, as well as the dragon hangar. The Dragon Race bleachers had split down the middle and now sat in the water. The only things that seemed untouched were the Great Hall and the statue of Stoick. Strangely, the Hall was the only thing that was being guarded. Hiccup looked around frantically until he realized what had to be done. He turned Toothless towards the wooden monstrosity in the water and began a full charge.
First unsheathed his sword as he watched the black dragon approach. He swung at it, but Toothless easily dodged his attempt. Hiccup jumped off of his dragon as it knocked First to the ground, making him drop his sword. Hiccup picked it up from the ground and pointed it at First's neck. "Where is Romulus?" He demanded. First laughed and then responded. "Get this dragon off of me and I'll tell you." He responded. Hiccup nodded to Toothless, who let the Roman go. Chuckling, First pulled out one of his maps. He handed it to Hiccup, who opened it to discover a path had been marked in red ink. "Just follow that and it'll lead you straight to Romulus." First pointed out, and then removed his gloves. "You may need these." He said, handing them to Hiccup. Confused, Hiccup watched as the Roman bowed and then walked away.
Following the red path, Hiccup trekked through the empty hallways of the ship. No Legionnaires stood guard. Besides First and Romulus, the place seemed to have been abandoned. Toothless grumbled his disapproval. "Yah, buddy, I don't like this either." But they continued on. When the path seemed to darken ahead, Hiccup grabbed a torch. He half expected some sort of trap, but nothing happened. The hallways twisted and turned as Hiccup and Toothless continued down the path in the map. "Something is incredibly wrong here." Hiccup mumbled to Toothless. "You'd think there would be guards, considering we're in the middle of a battle." Without any resistance, the pair arrived at the large iron door. "Well, here we go." He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
It was dark. The sunlight that used to come from the roof had been covered by something, but Hiccup couldn't tell what. Slowly, he began to walk towards where the pedestal stood, or at least where he thought it stood. Toothless growled at the darkness, he could smell something, but neither of them knew where that something was. A slithering sound came from above and Hiccup unsheathed Inferno. Hiccup began to get a small feeling in the back of his mind. One of those feelings you get when something is...behind you! A black claw grasped Toothless' neck as Hiccup spun around. He saw six green eyes stare at the dragon before he was chucked outside the door.
"Toothless!" The door was slammed shut as Hiccup sprinted towards it, blocking him off from Toothless. He stood in disbelief as the Black Death slithered down into Inferno's light. It passed him, stopping only momentarily to look at Hiccup with its cold eyes. A cold laugh came from where the dragon had moved. "Romulus." Hiccup whispered to himself. He heard the sound of fingers snapping. The room filled with the light of over 50 dragons' fire, illuminating every crevice, but keeping it at a dark level. Hiccup took in his surroundings. Four huge chains were attached to four opposite points of the circular floor. Through the floor, Hiccup could tell that the Bewilderbeast was still there. All of the display cases had been removed, revealing a lever. The pedestal stood in the center, Dragonstone in place. A lone figure stood next to it, slowly running his hand across the polished stone, while a black dragon stood behind it, analyzing Hiccup.
Hiccup stared at the figure. He could tell it was Romulus by the dragon and the way that he caressed the stone, but his armor had changed beyond recognition. it was a mix of dark oranges and reds, with a black under-armor appearing in a few places. A long, black cape came down from his shoulders. Almost every armor plate ended in two spikes that mimicked dragon fangs. The helmet seemed to have been designed to simulate a dragon's mouth with a black cloth covering the opening where his face would be.
Romulus turned away from the stone and spoke. "I've been expecting you Hiccup." He removed the helmet and tucked it under his left arm. Hiccup looked at him, confused. He knew it was a trap, but it should've been sprung already. "Why did you lead me down here?" Hiccup asked. Romulus gestured to the stone. "I thought you might want to see what this could do." He answered. Hiccup kept his sword pointed at the Roman as he walked towards the lever and pulled it down. The floor lurched below them and then began its decent.
They passed several levels of dragon cages as they descended in silence. Romulus stood next to the stone, and Hiccup pointed his sword at him from halfway across the floor. They stopped at the middle level of the complex. Romulus removed his right glove and then slid his hand underneath the stone. "Behold, the power of the Dragonstone." A white haze formed around the stone. Romulus pointed it at Hiccup and then made a stabbing motion. A white ray of energy shot straight at Hiccup and he braced for impact.
Hiccup opened his eyes to find that the beam was going right through him, or to be more precise, it didn't seem to care that he was there. As he turned, Hiccup realized what Romulus' true target had been. A Deadly Nadder was surrounded by the same white haze as the stone. The beam had shifted its appearance so that it seemed like a tube of running water that flowed into the stone. The Nadder shrieked in agony for a while and then fell to the floor. Hiccup ran over to the cage and grabbed the bars, but there was nothing he could do. He watched as the dragon's eyes and scales dimmed, like the life was being sucked right out of it. Tears began to fall as its scales went completely matte. Hiccup reached his hand through the bars as the dragon's wings began to disintegrate, the dust being pulled into the stone. He was just able to place his hand on the dragon's snout before the rest of it disappeared into the vortex.
A laughing brought Hiccup back to the situation at hand. He turned towards Romulus with tears in his eyes. "Why...why would you do that to an innocent creature!" Hiccup yelled at the madman, who continued to laugh. "That was just step one, Hiccup. You'll understand when you see step two." Romulus answered as he turned towards his own dragon. He made the same motion with the stone, causing another white beam to emerge. This time, however, the energy seemed to flow towards the dragon. The white haze began to form around the Black Death, and it roared, but not in pain. Hiccup watched in horror as spikes began to form on the dragon's head and tail. Nadder spikes. When the process was finished, the dragon had the same spiky arsenal as the Nadder and had almost doubled in size.
Romulus laughed as Hiccup fell back from disbelief. The Black Death tested its new arsenal by launching a volley of spikes at the wall. Then it turned towards where the Nadder had once been imprisoned and let loose a stream of magnesium fire. Displeased, the dragon let loose its breathe again, this time the familiar white ice breath. The dragon seemed satisfied with the fact it could still breath ice and continued to switch its blasts until the cage bars shattered. Romulus looked to Hiccup. "Fascinating, isn't it? The stone steals the energy of one dragon and then puts into another dragon. The best part is, there is absolutely no limit to the amount of energy the stone can consume, or the amount it can dish out." Romulus raised both of his hands as he said this last line, gesturing to his entire dragon collection.
Hiccup's face turned a sickly pale. He stared at Romulus in absolute terror as he scurried up from his seated position. "You're...you're insane!" He exclaimed, fear and shock directing his actions. "That is yet to be decided." Romulus answered as he placed his helmet back on. He pressed a button on the lower jaw and a black face max slid up. "You should go, I want this next part to be a even bigger surprise then my last one." He said and waved his now open hand towards the door. The Black Death obliged; grabbing Hiccup with its tail, opening the door, and chucking him into Toothless. Hiccup rubbed his head as his dragon pushed them both up. "Come on, Toothless." He said. "Let's get the heck out of here." Toothless could tell that the experience had shaken up Hiccup, so he helped him up and the two bounded out the ship towards Berk.
Romulus smiled as the door closed behind the boy. "Now," he said, looking at the stone in his hand. "The real fun begins."