I'm finally back! Horizons is back in business, and its return is long overdue. But I'm hoping to get a bigger response now that summer is coming and I'll be posting regularly. I hope I haven't lost too many readers and reviewers!

We're half way through Horizons, and this is a big info chapter before we get into the serious action. Enjoy, and please review to let me know what you think!

HORIZONS

Arc 2: Verðandi and the End of All Things

Chapter VII

Whether by some miracle by the gods or not, the lowermost tip of Groenland began to bob mercifully in the distance on the horizon. Toothless was barely managing to beat his tired wings; he was practically flying dead as the trade winds pushed them graciously up north. Hiccup couldn't feel a bone in his body, let alone think straight.

Piloting half-dead was becoming a dangerous habit of his, apparently.

Within thirty minutes they were in landing distance of the coast, although the jagged shards of rock that protruded from the cliffs were going to prove to be dangerous to land on. Through half lidded eyes, Toothless somehow was able to find his footing, and the two of them landed on one of the windiest points Hiccup had ever found himself stomaching. He was practically holding onto the saddle for dear life, half afraid of being blown off like a sheet of linen in the wind. He fought to keep his eyes open, but the wind was making everything one hundred times more difficult than it needed to be.

"Toothless!" he screeched, his voice cracking as he forced his tired body to function, "Go inland!"

The Night Fury turned his head and barely cracked his eyes open, his mouth practically frothing with exertion. His features were virtually drooping off his bones.

"Come on bud!" Hiccup leant over to rub the dragon with assurance, but only managed to collapse onto his neck, "We have to keep going! We can't stay here!"

Toothless moaned and took a shaky step forward, threatening to crumple under his own weight. Hiccup grunted and leant down towards his prosthetic, unlatching all of the components that kept the tack performing. Once free, he swung his other leg over the dragon's side and flopped onto the ground, barely succeeding in bracing his impact with his forearms. The igneous rocks were sharp and unforgiving as they dug into his side, tearing through his clothes and into his pallid skin. He absently acknowledged the chill of freshly spilled blood as it began to soak his tunic, but the numbness in his body was enough to make him forget the pain just as quickly. He pulled himself upright painstakingly slow, groaning all the while, and just barely made it to his feet.

"Come on bud!" Hiccup urged again, his voice pleading against the shrieking wind, "We'll die if we don't find shelter soon!"

He grabbed onto Toothless' harness and began dragging him down the precarious precipice, his footing unsure as he manoeuvred through the boulders. He lost count of how many times he slipped on the clammy stones, bruising his body in places he didn't know existed. It felt like hours before he spotted something that looked remotely like flat land in the distance, mercifully close as a winter storm began closing in.

Hiccup could barely see a more than a foot in front of him as he finally reached the plateau behind the coast. The wind was just as callous as they continued their trek forward, held back by the colossal drifts of snow that continued to hinder their passage across the plains. He could make out a forest somewhere ahead of him as the flurries waxed and waned in the squall, blurring his vision and skewing his sense of direction. He grit his teeth against the bitter gusts of snow clogged gales and brought his forearm up to block the winds, soggy and exhausted.

The first of the windswept pines passed as he and his dragon trudged into the forest, panting and practically dying on their feet. The snow dunes were virtually impassable but they had to push through, they had to find somewhere to go in order to find shelter. Hiccup didn't want to die; he'd gone too far for the gods to kill him off just yet.

With a restored commitment, Hiccup continued to plough through the forest banks, dragging his partially frozen companion along behind him. Toothless was more than ready to collapse and be done with it; his mind was too fogged with the hypothermic sensations that continued to flog his wearied body to care.

Hiccup squinted his eyes tightly against the gusts of wind and swore he could make out some sort of large object in the distance. He wasn't sure if it was a rock mass, but he begged to Odin that it was. Cliffs and mountains usually always meant a promise of shelter, and Hiccup was ready to give up just about anything just to get out of the wind.

Sure enough, the serrated silhouette of a mountain began to come into focus, and Hiccup pushed his aching limbs to keep going in its direction. He was practically gagging with exertion; his vision was swimming and the world seemed to be shifting under his feet like a lethargic earthquake. The gape of a cave loomed tauntingly in the distance and his survival instinct kicked in harder than ever before, urging him to keep moving forwards.

If he had still been able to contort the muscles in his face, Hiccup would have shouted in relief as they ploughed through the drifts just inside the blessed mouth of the cave. The stony ground was strewn with a light powdering of snow but Hiccup couldn't bring himself to care any longer. His knees crumpled and his body deflated, falling into unconsciousness before he even hit the ground.

He was no less confortable when he started to rouse from his slumber, if the aching in his body was anything to go by. His face was mashed against something horribly rough and the way his ribs were digging into the gravel ridden floor was excruciating. He couldn't feel his feet or his hands; it felt as if the bottom half of his body was being crushed. He was too delusional to think straight, let alone open his eyes.

He moaned and tried to move the arm he sensed was somewhere sprawled out in front of him, pulling it close enough for it to brush against jaw bone. He followed his face as a guide until he discovered the rough surface his cheek was being pressed against, and trailed his fingers down as far as he could reach. His palm fell into a ridge he had been privy to before, and groaned in relief when he realized what it was.

He brought his hand away from Toothless' paw and attempted to wedge his fingers between the dragon's jagged scales and the skin of his cheek. It cost him all of his energy but he eventually managed to dislodge his face from Toothless' arm and drop it onto the floor. The gravel wasn't necessarily any better, but at least only his chin was involved in the abuse.

His mind was swimming; he could only vaguely remember how he had gotten himself plastered in between his hulking, heavy dragon and the freezing cold ground he was currently laying on. He was still too profoundly exhausted to remember anything except the jarring chill that encompassed a good three quarters of his body.

It was the snuffling that seemed to originate from somewhere in front of him that effectively awoke him from his drowsy reverie. His mind fought to try and pinpoint how such a noise could come from that direction when Hiccup could more or less decipher his dragon's tell-tale snores coming from somewhere to his left. He furrowed his eyebrows as the sniffing continued to get loudly, feeling more and more confused. How could such a thing happen? How could Toothless be in two places at once?

His hair ruffled upwards against a warm current of air, signalling that another sniffing source had joined in on the noise making party. Hiccup was even more perplexed; had Toothless somehow managed to move his head to the other side of his body? Had he fallen asleep and then woken up again without realizing the change until just now? Hiccup breathed out and let his body relax in understanding. That must be the reason – after all, what other explanation could there be?

Hiccup cracked open his eyelids, trying very hard to focus on whatever it was in front of him. It was something big, he quickly realized, and it was most certainly the source of at least some of the sniffing. Hiccup shut his eyes again in relief and tried to calm the dizziness all of his efforts had cost him, pleased none the less that he had discovered the source of the noisy, tepid breath.

Hiccup's eyes flew open and he practically lifted the free half of his body off of the ground with sheer alarm. He shrieked, effectively scaring both himself and whatever had just unceremoniously stuck its nose in his face. He caught himself on his elbows before he could come crashing back onto the gravel and tried desperately to free his legs, but he quickly and painfully realized the lower half of his body was stuck underneath his slumbering dragon for good.

"Toothless!" he hissed, elbowing the Night Fury as hard as he possibly could in the face. The dragon stirred and moaned in protest before swatting blindly at the source of his annoyance, squashing his rider like a fly beneath his paw.

"Stop that!" Hiccup threw the offending appendage off of his head and started pounding at the dragon's scales with his fists, "You stupid, useless reptile! Get off of me! We're not alone in here!"

Toothless opened one green eye, staring daggers at his squirming little human. How dare the hatchling disrupt him when he was so clearly sleeping? It was absolutely uncalled for – if he wanted something, he should have used that big brain of his to figure something out –

Dragon.

Both pupils contracted into slivers as an unfamiliar waft of dragon essence flooded his senses, kicking his instincts into defence mode. He shifted onto his hind legs and wrapped his hatchling up in his arms, effectively shielding the young human from any possible harm.

The Night Fury growled softly as two silhouettes stirred in the shadows, one significantly larger than the other. Toothless could barely hear them over the muffled screams of his hatchling that he was all but smothering in his arms. To his surprise however, the two figures weren't emitting any sort of threatening noise at all.

He perked his earplates in their direction and rose out of his protective stance, still keeping his hatchling shielded with one of his forelegs. Hiccup gasped, desperately heaving in the oxygen that he had just been deprived of. He glared angrily at Toothless but his curiosity eventually won out, and his attentions were drawn to the two shapes deeper inside the cave.

"Hello?" Hiccup called out quietly, hating the way his voice cracked as it echoed against the stone walls. He was just about to repeat himself when the smaller of the two outlines shifted and warbled a quiet reply.

It took a step forward and Hiccup nearly choked on his tongue as it passed into the light. It was a dragon, no more than a few feet tall and wide. Its bare paws were three times the size of its body, and its horns were just barely protruding through his scales on the top of its head. Its eyes weren't unlike those on a Terrible Terror in that they were huge in proportion to its body, but something about this dragon was remarkable different unlike anything he had ever seen before.

It was a baby.

The form that Hiccup rightfully assumed to be its parent followed suit and he was once again astounded. This dragon looked like some sort of dignified royalty, aloof in every manner of the word. Its face was elongated and narrow and its neck was slender and lean. Its body was covered in gleaming scales of ivory white with only a few details of ice blue lining the chest.

All in all, the white dragon outshined nearly every aspect of the baby, who looked more like a mangey copper blob in comparison. The scrawny dragon was covered in burnished scales that seemed to be almost worn in places as Hiccup continued to look closer. A flare of indignation suddenly flared in his gut; did this beautiful, majestic dragon have anything to do with suffering of this small one? It looked so unhealthy…

Hiccup loosened himself from Toothless' hold on his torso and approached the baby, hands out in a sign of trust and assurance. The small one spooked as Hiccup neared its bony flank, but he didn't skitter back any further. The white dragon watched the encounter with curious eyes, and exchanged a look with the ebony dragon sitting across from it.

Toothless motioned his head slightly, inquiring as to how the meagre hatchling had fallen into her possession. She garbled sharply, her expression ironic, and asked him the very same question in response.

Keeping one eye on his hatchling and the other on the female dragon before him, Toothless explained more or less what had happened between them. Her eyes grazed his body, hugely inquisitive at the sight of his prosthetic tail. She expressed that she had never seen such a thing, having never existed where she might be forced to confront a human society for an extended amount of time.

Toothless continued his tale, eventually leading to the story of their departure and the events that had led them inevitably here. She stilled when he described the creature that had chased them, explaining what it had said and what it had done. She seemed especially concerned when he told her that his hatchling, his human hatchling, could hear its voice as well.

Her attention towards Hiccup expanded tenfold as she narrowed her eyes towards boyish form. She knew very little of humans, but they had been described to her as being these hulking masses of unshielded flesh. This human was slender, gawky – nothing remarkable. And how on earth had he managed to hear the beast?

The dragoness, sensing the Night Fury's fatigue, invited him deeper into the cave. She explained that this had become her nest on temporary grounds, having been forced to stop her voyage across the oceans. She didn't elaborate much further than that, but the endearing look she gave the emaciated dragon over her shoulder was enough of an answer to placate him.

The four of them walked through a dizzying labyrinth of caves that eventually led to a large cavern, awash with a deep auburn light. Like many mountains in the region, this one was built on a moltenous core that warmed the rock consistently from within. Toothless delighted in the warmth that began to overtake his weary muscles, and the look on his hatchlings face indicated that he wasn't alone in his relief.

The white dragon wasn't able to offer them much in terms of food – she hadn't been able to hunt because of the storms that had been ruthlessly condemning the region. Most of what she did find went to the russet dragon, who he guessed to be no more than a few years old. It hadn't learnt how to speak, which concerned her deeply as she sought to serve Toothless the last of the elk she had caught.

The Night Fury watched as his own hatchling coddled the scrawny babe, scratching it gently beneath its chin and behind its ears. The small one absolutely adored all of the attention being given to him, and would barely let Hiccup move more than a few inches away before loyally siding up to him again. Hiccup was endeared by its desire to remain attached at the hip, but he was immensely tired and eventually nodded off against the dragon's withers.

In wake of their slumber, Toothless asked again for her story, which she cautiously described. She was a snow dragon, a nomadic creature without ties to her clan. Toothless didn't pretend to understand, having come from a drove that prided itself on their unity. But he could relate with her somewhat in that they were both independent creatures, even if hers was voluntary and his was by force.

She explained that she had found him alone somewhere in the plains of the midland, starving and crying and entirely alone. She admitted that her motherly instincts had been too much to ignore, and that she had been trying to nurse him back to health ever since.

Silence overtook them in the large cavern, their croons and warbles having waned into peace. But an unanswered question still remained, and it itched at him from the inside. Dragons were naturally open creatures around those of their kin, but he had been separate from them for so long and he still couldn't help the hesitation.

So why had she turned to rock when he had mentioned the beast?

When Toothless awoke some hours after, he felt far more rested than he had in days. He hadn't slept surrounded by warmth since he and his hatchling had left the recesses of Berk's highest nest and the respite from the winter chill was welcome. He opened his eyes and found Hiccup still sleeping soundly on the baby dragon, snoring softly with every catching breath.

He scanned the panorama for the enigmatic white dragon and found her pruning herself near one of the walls, washing the grime off her scales in the waters of a spring. He pulled himself to his feet and made to join her, plunking himself down across from her and the spring.

He started to ask a question but she effectively cut him off with a question of her own, watching as the effects of her words took over his expression. She marvelled at the way he and his hatchling appeared so similarly, despite the obvious differences in their species.

He tried to explain himself, but he was having trouble finding the words to say. He was wary to speak the truth, but her accusations were hurtful to his pride. Of course he wasn't acting more like a human than a dragon.

Was he?

The white dragon laughed at his bewilderment and told him to take no offense. She was simply perplexed at his guarded behaviour; it had been a long time since she had encountered a dragon of his species. Toothless wanted desperately to ask more but held his tongue, unwilling to have to speak of his unconventionality.

He explained that his hatchling had become his source of life, and that he was worried for him. Something was hunting them, something that could cause great destruction, and the Night Fury was afraid for his human's wellbeing.

The dragoness sighed and turned her head away from him, her expression unreadable. He could sense her contemplation but he was unsure of how to urge her to continue. He hoped his cause would be enough.

She finally conceded, pulling her wings up around her body. She requested that he make himself comfortable; it was a long tale, but she would try and condense it as best she could.

The Leviathan, as she called it, was a mythical beast that none of her nomadic family knew much about. As she moved with them to the upper mountains of Siberia, she heard and learnt more and more stories about its reign of destruction, specifically in the mid regions of the Great Continent. Its ceaseless reign of horror had been incorporated into many cultures, dragonese, mammalian, and even human. The dragons of Mongol and China shared a belief that the snake would swallow the ocean, causing a famine so widespread that they would be forced to leave their homelands forever or face extinction. The Slavic and Ural dragons believed that the snake craved for death and sought to kill every creature that it could in order to overtake to God of the Dead. She spoke of Jormungadr and of Nidhogg, and how the latter was said to choke the life out of anything it touched.

She explained that the snake had been around long before the creation of dragons, and lived in the sea where his majestic size could easily be hidden. The water dragons that she had spoken to had said that the creature brought destruction wherever it went, and that their families would gladly leave their homes for shelter at the opposite end of the ocean if they learnt that He was on his way.

All creatures, she had learnt, regarded this monster as a god, even though he was not worshipped even in the darkest of cults. They denoted to him as something to fear, something to hide from and something to be utterly terrified of. He was incorporated into the warnings of parents, threatening their children to 'clean your nest or the Leviathan will eat you'. But this creature was no joking matter – it had brought much destruction and when it fixated, you were as good as dead.

Toothless asked what she meant by a fixation, and the dragoness was more than willing to elaborate. She spoke of a time some 600 winters ago in the province of the Galilee dragons where the Leviathan had become obsessed and enraged. He wreaked havoc on their kingdoms, killing humans, animals and dragons alike. No one was safe until the creature became bored with his efforts and moved on to another most unfortunate fascination.

She warned him that the Leviathan's interest could mean an assortment of things, all of which were not particularly inspiring. She said that his attack could have been random, but this option seemed unlikely. She theorized that the Norse countries could be the next victim of his homicidal rampage.

Toothless didn't reply for some time, gazing off towards his human companion. He was still sleeping soundly, contentedly curled up near the source of mountain's heat, and Toothless felt his heart lurch in knowing that flying over the open water now could very well lead to his injury, or worse. He didn't want to think of the latter as he shifted on his paws, eyes finally returning to the white snow dragon.

There was something she wasn't telling him.

He implored her to reveal what she was hiding but she blew him off, intentionally turning her back to him. He was furious and begged that he help her, for his hatchling's sake. He put his pride aside and sought her as she walked away, pleading with her to share all that she knew.

She sighed, hating the way his cries echoed in the expanse of the cavern. They were mournful, and she was reminded that his adoptive hatchling was his family. She had gathered already that he was of independent means; all of the Night Furies she knew lived and travelled in close packs. Rarely was a Night Fury ever alone for more than a lunar cycle and from what she had gathered, this one had been on its own for centuries.

She told him that she still had another theory, but that he wouldn't like it. She said that it would be extremely unlikely, but total fixation on a singular entity had happened in recorded history once before, to a drove of Ancient Kushan dragons and the human warriors that worshipped them. The Leviathan had become infatuated with the minute village on the coast of India and sought to suck the life out of them for sport, even if it meant waiting years to find them all.

The unspoken option hung in the air like a heavy cloud of smoke, and the fear that was starting to claw at his insides sought to suck all the warmth from his veins. He scampered over to his hatchling and brought him up in his arms, ignoring the sounds of his surprised cries as he cuddled him close to his body.

He would never let this creature harm his Hiccup hatchling.

Even if it meant spending his dying breaths trying to save him.

How did you like the chapiter from Toothless' perspective? It was really hard to create dialogue between two dragons without actually writing any dialogue. Did this format work for you? Did you like it? Hate it?

A lot of the Leviathan's evil deeds that I outlined in the dragoness' tale are from actual stories from the Ancient Chinese, Nordic, Eastern Scandinavian and Israeli cultures. I just twisted them around a little bit :)

Please review and let me know what you think!

Brontë