Chapter 12:
"What do you mean, 'Black Ash'?" asked Hiccup, but Fradokos and Rachel weren't listening: Fradokos had ran into the village, trying to find Marko amongst the crowd of Vikings that were heading towards the Arena, and Rachel had jumped onto her dragon, which Hiccup remembered was called Cloud, and was currently looking for Marko from the air.
Deciding that he should probably leave it to the professionals, Hiccup shrugged and made his way towards the Arena, with Ice and Toothless following him, grunting and growling at each other, but he could still hear Fradokos and Rachel calling out for Marko. When he reached the Arena, there was already a good crowd there, either chatting to themselves or looking at the entrance of the Arena, waiting for Marko, as Hiccup could see, his father was: he was looking at the entrance, an annoyed look playing across his face, and his great fingers flexing around the handle of the hammer.
Suddenly, the crowd roared, and Hiccup looked at the entrance, and he saw Marko, carrying his swords on his back and his father's mask in his right hand. Fradokos and Rachel were on each side of him, trying to talk him out of the fight. "...Marko, don't to this! We don't want him getting out again!" said Rachel, but she seemed to be fighting a losing battle, because Marko wasn't listening. He just sighed and said, "I know how to control him now, so you don't have to worry," and with that, placed his mask over his face and walked into the Arena, and the door closed, sealing Marko and Stoic in, and Fradokos and Rachel out.
Curious about what they were on about, Hiccup looked to make sure no one was watching, but they were too busy watching the fight that just started, Hiccup slowly made his way between several Vikings and towards the entrance of the Arena. But when he heard the crowd shout out a low 'ooh!' Hiccup stopped and turned around to see what happened: it seemed that Stoic went to hit Marko's face, but Marko dodged out of the way, and the edge of his swords sliced into his father's left arm, judging by the large cut running the length of his upper arm.
Whimpering quietly, Hiccup continued towards the entrance, and after about five minutes, the entrance, along with Fradokos and Rachel, came into view, and he slowly walked up to them, as they looked tense and worried. Hiccup cleared his throat, causing both of them to jump and look at him. "Why are you so worried about Marko? He's going to be fine," said Hiccup, but Fradokos and Rachel weren't convinced. "You don't know what's inside him" said Fradokos, pointing a finger at Hiccup aggressively, "he is the reason why Molak is dead!"
Rachel stood in between the two, facing Fradokos, and said, "You can't blame Marko, it wasn't his fault! You know he can't completely control what's inside of him!" she shouted into his face, but Fradokos stood his ground. A great groan came from the crowd above, and the three of them ran up to the door and looked through, and they were met by a horrific scene: there was blood everywhere, covering the floor in great pools, Marko seemed to have taken a hit to the arm, since he had dropped his right hand sword and it was hanging uselessly, and Stoic had a black eye and a broken nose, but both of them were still putting up a good fight.
"We got to get him out!" said Rachel at last, and reached for the lever, but Hiccup stood between her and the lever, and said, "No! You can get him out when the fight's over!" Fradokos turned around, grabbed Hiccup's vest, and pushed him against the wall, and said viciously, "If what we think is going to happen happens, then the fight will be the least of your worries!" Then, a cheer came from the crowd, and once again, the three of them were looking through the door, and what they saw chilled them: Stoic seemed to have hit Marko with an upwards thrust to the face, causing his father's mask to fly off, over towards them, and when it hit the ground, the mask split diagonally in half, sending half of it within reach of Hiccup and Marko's friends, and the other half flying back to Marko.
"That's it, I'm getting him out!" said Fradokos, reaching for the lever, but this time, Hiccup didn't stop him, because he was watching Marko, who wasn't the same as he always was: instead of his normal icy blue eyes looking at Hiccup, a pair of blood red ones were looking at Hiccup, who was backing away from the door. When the door was high enough, Fradokos and Rachel ran out and stood in front of Marko, who had thrown Stoic off of him and into a wall, knocking him out. "Marko, Marko, calm down," said Fradokos, as Marko stood up, but he was standing with more of a hunch, not his normal stance.
Marko turned to face Fradokos, and spoke in a deep, demented voice, "Do you really expect me to listen to you, who helped imprison me again!" But unlike Hiccup, who was backing away, Fradokos stood his ground. "It was for the good of Molak, Black Ash, even after what you did to it!" Fradokos shouted back, pulling out a long, thick sword from its sheath. Marko, or 'Black Ash', chuckled darkly, and even more deeply than when he had the mask on and slowly pulled out a small dagger from its sheath from his right leg and slowly twisting it around so that the blade faced the ground, and said, "In that case, bring it on then, Pure of Heart!" And with that, he raised the dagger and went to stab Fradokos, who was just able to go into blocking stance, but Marko stopped just before the dagger touched Fradokos. "What's going on?" questioned Marko/Black Ash, and to Hiccup's disbelieve, Marko's right eye turned from blood red, back to the original icy blue. And he started to speak in his normal voice, "NO! I'm not letting this happen again, Black Ash!" shouted Marko's side, but Black Ash's side chuckled darkly, and said, "You can't control me like you used to, Marko!" But as soon as the words left him, he dropped the dagger and looked at his hands, and then started to scream, a scream that would make the blood of even the bravest Vikings go cold.
Hiccup watched in disbelieve as Marko/Black Ash screamed, their hands scrunching up into fists, and, Hiccup thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, there appeared to be two people standing where Marko was: one, wearing a white piece of fabric covering his face in shadows, looking normal, and the other, wearing a black shirt and piece of fabric covering his face, who looked almost see through. Both of them seemed to be trying to get away from each other. And then, an enormous crash and a blinding white light came from the centre of the Arena, which temporarily blinding Hiccup, Fradokos, Rachel and the crowd. When they were able to see again, what they saw confused them: On one side of the Arena, was Marko, sat against the wall, breathing deeply, and there was a small and barely noticeable crater above him, where he must have hit. And on the other, was an almost identical image of Marko, but he was wearing a pure black piece of fabric over his face, a bit like Marko's, except being a different colour, and it had the same symbol Marko's hood had. He also had those blood red eyes that stood out like a sore thumb under that hood.
Hiccup, still wondering if his eyes were working properly, walked slowly into the Arena, watched by the stunned crowd and Toothless and Ice, looking between Marko and the new comer, Fradokos and Rachel, who had taken their weapons out (Fradokos, his sword, and Rachel, two mid length daggers) and were pointing them at the new comer, and his father, who was still knocked out. "Who is he?" he asked Fradokos and Rachel, but it was Marko who answered, "Black Ash..." in a cold tone.