Hey guys, ancientdragonduelist again. I know youre all waiting for my other two stories, but thier "spark" is gone for right now. This one hit me after seeing How To Train Your Dragon, which I love. The story is focused around Astrid and another main character, but everyone will have thier point of view done serveral times. And im almost done with school, so by May i'll be pumping out stories again, if you still want them. Anyways, heres the new one. Heart of Darkness
A/N: Thoughts are in Italics.
Captured
Astrid's breath left her all at once when she hit the unforgiving concrete floor. Even as she tried to pull a little air back into her burning lungs, she slowly rolled onto her back and stared at the tiny ray of light shining high above. A few tears were leaking out of her eyes, no matter how hard she fought them. The shock and pain she was experiencing was really starting to make its way through her system. She was hurt, alone, and terrified. Astrid had no idea what was happening to Hiccup, or Stormfly, or anyone else in their little family, and she was really scared for them. But she was even more scared for herself.
Then, suddenly, the light blacked out. The young Viking girl's heart pace doubled, and her eyes went wide. Are they going to just abandon me here and leave me to rot? Astrid was gasping for breath and about to panic when the light returned, bringing with it a snarling, roaring beast that had been dropped into the long, dark cell with her. The creature landed on its side hard, and a CRACK and a quick yelp of pain echoed around the chamber. But it got right back up on its feet and started climbing back up the rough, jagged walls, growling deep in its throat the entire time.
Astrid was absolutely petrified with fear. She knew she should do something, but she couldn't, her mind was to busy. What is that thing? Why is it down here? Why can I only see its eyes and teeth? Are those teeth in its mouth, or broken spearheads? Do they want it to kill me? Am I supposed to fight it? Is it hungry?... Suddenly, a huge rock broke loose from the wall the creature was climbing, and landed right next to Astrid, startling her, and a high, piercing scream shattered the silence. The beast noticed.
Two bright gold eyes split by chasms of pure darkness snapped to the young girl and glared at her, overflowing with hatred and malevolence. A deeper, more penetrating growl rose from its throat, and it gnashed its mouthful of dagger-like fangs together. Filthy, torn, and curved claws released their hold on the rock face 20 ft up from the ground, about a third of the way up the cell, and the beast jumped down, landed exactly one foot away form Astrid. It stared deep into her eyes like Garm, the hound of Helheim itself. Astrid couldn't do anything but slowly back away, her mind frozen, operating on only instinct. But she wasn't watching were she was going, and tripped backwards over the rock that the beast had torn out, landing in a far corner of the cell. Trapped.
The lone ray of light now illuminated the beast for Astrid. It wasn't Garm, or even a hound, but a huge wolf, covered in deep violet fur. The dark wolf terrified the poor girl more than the dragons ever did. At least with dragons, Astrid knew she could defend herself, and how to fight them. But this creature looked like fear itself, sent by Hel to torture her to insanity, then death. The horror of her situation then fully penetrated Astrid's mind, and she just curled up into a ball, hid her face, and cried. Deep inside, she begged Odin to save her, to keep her safe from the demon in front of her.
It seems Odin heard his daughter, for the dark wolf quit growling, and loosened slightly. Its teeth were still bared and it was still in a fighting stance, but the beast was now more curious than angry. Taking a risk, the beast put its nose up close to its prey and sniffed her. Astrid cringed and squirmed, feeling the wolfish demon so close, but it didn't touch her. It didn't hurt her. The beast had decided the tiny human girl wasn't a treat, or worth eating, but did smell nice; and with this creature, smelling something nice comes about twice in a lifetime. Its nose is so powerful that it can smell a mouse in a rainstorm. Much calmer, the dark purple wolf gazed at the light ray once more. It was now apparent there was no way out, the hole was lined with barbed wire so sharp it could cut off a limb with almost no pressure. Now rather bored, the beast scented the area (not on Astrid), curled up in the center of the cell, and went to sleep. It knew the girl couldn't hurt it.
Gradually, hearing and feeling nothing from the demon wolf, Astrid stopped shaking and peaked over her arm. The wolf was snoring in the middle of the cell, fast asleep. Astrid couldn't tell whether or not it was faking, but was feeling a little better since it wasn't looking at her like Toothless looks at an Atlantic Cod anymore. A little curious herself, the girl uncurled herself and tried to stand up, but her legs were absolute jelly. This made sense considering everything that had happened in the last hour. Giving up on walking, she just crawled over to the middle of a wall where she could watch the beast in the light beam and stay down. Astrid had no intentions of being trapped in a corner again, but she was exhausted. Everyone had been attacked at the end of a long, tiring flight, which was probably a reason why a single person succeeded on bringing down every dragon on his own. But Astrid didn't want to think about that right now. She was out of adrenalin, and could barely stay on her hands and feet. And, finally, she lay down on her stomach, and started to fall asleep. Even if you are captured, alone, and stuck in a deep, dark hole with a sleeping demon, there are some things that just must happen. Odin still had one more gift for Astrid though. Before her eyes shut and her mind left her, she gave a little hiccup. Just enough to turn her nightmares into beautiful dreams of times spent with her boyfriend.
The dark man at the top of the cell chuckled, rather amused at this turn of events. Instead of tearing each other apart, his prisoners had fallen asleep! No matter though, I have many more surprises for them in the morning, and this may actually turn out in my advantage. If those two bond like the Vikings did with the dragons…
The next chapter is already written, but I want to wait until chapter three is ready before I post it. That way the spark of creativity will stay longer. Next one will revist Astrid and then visit the twins! Keep your faith in me! Bye.