Chapter VI – Book

The bola is still there, untouched, and I can easily tell nobody came here.

I managed to sneak into the forest. At this time of the day there are no monsters to fend off and most Vikings are repairing things, hanging out at the village or sleeping. Stoick and Gobber are normally at the Great Hall discussing their stuff or just talking now, so I have enough time to wander off without anyone noticing.

"So why didn't you?"

I pick up the heavy rock of the bola. After what Gobber said, I felt a wave of questions hit me. Monsters hate us; we have this norm of kill on sight – they have it too. That Gyftrot, which was just an ordinary monster that had been aggravated and probably never had human contact before, really didn't question its actions when it was about to kill me. Sans did confront humans and had many reasons to kill me. I wounded him, I tried to kill him. I had no one to defend me and nothing to protect myself with, so why did he let me go? There had to be some sort of trick here.

I gaze toward the direction the monster took, a slender path with a few trees here and there. If I could only see him again… just to try and clear up my doubts. But that's impossible. Why would a monster that tries hard not to ever be seen stay in an open place where anyone could find him? I didn't see any worrying wounds on him, so he should've been fine enough to leave, even though he did teeter a bit as he left, probably dazed and tired. But I didn't come all the way here for nothing. It won't hurt me to take a look around.

Unless some wild monster stands in my way and I'm forced to run away like the coward I am.

I jump over a thick tree stump lying on the muddy ground and make my way towards a rocky, tiny cave. I step through small stones and duck under protruding roots until I reach the end; it's the entrance to a cove, and a beautiful one at that. I let my eyes enjoy the sight. A flock of at least four singing birds flies past the clear lake in the middle, and the grass and plants sticking to the tall rock walls that surround the place get a greener hue as the sunbeams enter through.

If only I could get this sight every day. The village is not pretty at all. We lack trees and lakes full of clear water. There's only grass there, a few rocks here, our sheep over there. Not much to see, just the boring old Berkian environment. But this is something I'd never get tired of observing.

But of course, no monster to be seen here. Sans must've returned to wherever the monsters come from, and it's pretty probable that I'll never see him again. Mostly because I don't think Stoick is ever going to let me out during a raid.

"I'm so stupid…" I turn to leave, but the distant sound of bushes rattling their leaves makes me give the cove a last small glance. Must be some sort of animal, or a lost, I hope harmless monster. I sigh. There's no point in being here. During the raids, this forest is the place where the monsters wait for their entrance, so I really don't want to run into one. I'd stay here until night if it wasn't so risky.

A loud noise familiar to my ears makes me flinch as I take a couple of steps to go back, and I look towards the cove in just a second, enough to see a blue beam emerging from below and hitting the side of the entrance with devastating force. I cover my face with my arm and crouch as the explosion sends bits of fire and rock flying in every direction.

That beam... No Viking would ever question where it came from. From whom it came from. No one thinks twice before screaming in terror and getting out of the way when that one blue laser strikes.

I can barely believe my eyes. Why is Sans still here?

I still feel that involuntary smile carve itself in my face. The monster that could've killed me not long ago is literally right next to me, and a rock cliff is the only thing that separates us. As I make my way down to get a better view, I calm myself a little knowing that Sans hadn't seen me and thus didn't attack me; that beam was purposely directed at the wall. A few small trees and bushes, small parts of the ground, and many parts of the rock walls are completely scorched, probably by the deadly lasers, and a few boulders scattered across the area have deep scratch marks, as if something resembling a projectile had hit them at a high speed; some of them are even cut in half. Even the stupidest Viking in the world could tell that this monster was furious, a good reason not to get too close.

I jump onto a big boulder right below the entrance. I let a few pebbles slip off as I crouch and try to hide myself from anything's sight. They say that when a monster is angry, no matter how weak or small it is, the best thing is to let it calm itself down as one angered creature can really cause huge destruction, and considering how powerful Sans is… well, the sight below me (and all around me) proves that this is true.

I find the skeletal monster at the other side of the lake, seeing how he summons at least three of those dragon skulls and makes them shoot a strong, triple beam at the cliff; the upper part shatters and sends a few small boulders down.

I frown.

Sans must know someone could come here. What's the point in making this much noise when everything else is quiet? He can take any Viking's attention. I don't see why he must let his anger out on this cove and not in the place he came from, wherever it is.

The monster clearly looks frustrated about something, and almost tiredly summons a single, much smaller dragon skull that shoots a slender beam. It barely damages the rock wall at the other side. He must've been here since yesterday, no wonder he can barely create strong attacks anymore.

I look around. I know almost every single part of Raven Point, despite the fact that I never came around here, and no wonder I never encountered this cove before. The only entrance to this place is the small cave above me. If someone fell down here, they'd need some sort of climbing equipment to get out.

…wait a second.

It suddenly makes sense, and guilt strikes me. Sans is still here because he can't get out. One would need tools to get to the entrance once down, but he has nothing of that sort. The walls are way too steep and there's no way he can jump from rock to rock, they are too far away from each other. It's my fault that he's here. If I hadn't been so selfish, this would never have happened.

I just notice I still have the notenook and the pencil with me. Out of the small peaks I managed to get, the ancient book of monsters provides a brief description of the creatures, and I think some of them have descriptions of their attacks too; that helps when you try to find them and engage in a fight. I have a monster that keeps attacking everything in sight right here. Better have a bit of information for later – maybe I'll even write it on the book, but I'll save that idea for later. I'm pretty sure there has to be something about Sans on the book already, I might be able to take a look at it when I get back.

I write down a quick bio and try my best to describe the attacks I've seen so far in a few words, just to sum up what I may write in the manual. However, if someone sees the actual information in the book, then they might get suspicious. But knowing how stubborn we are, they might dismiss it as a joke, no need to worry.

Guilt suddenly hits me again as I look down. The explosions stopped and Sans doesn't seem to know what to do anymore; he just stares at the water of the lake. Stuck in a cove in a place where anyone could find him; worst thing that could happen to a monster. Yes, I was so stupid indeed.

Something touches my fingers and I realize too late that the pencil was closer to the edge of the boulder than I thought. I desperately try to grab it before it falls, but it quickly slips off, leaving me no time to catch it.

Now I messed up.

I pray for the pencil to fall on grass so its fall would be silent, but it crashes against some rocks below, much to my dismay getting the skeleton's attention. I prepare myself to run for my life as he looks up at me, but I stop. He just stares at me, but shows no intentions of attacking. He doesn't even look too mad at me, even though that glare is a mixture between bewildered and angered.

I realize my hand is still uselessly extended to catch the fallen pencil, and I slowly pull it back as I tilt my head. We tried to kill each other, and I'm the reason why he's stuck down there. I'm an easy target from here, he could just use those dragon skulls and I'd be dead in a second.

Why doesn't he?

Much to my surprise, he seems to mirror my action, but he still looks wary. There's something about this monster that makes him different from the rest.

Wet as a fish springing out of the water, I open the giant door of the Great Hall with my hair soaking my face. It started raining all of a sudden as I made my way back, and the storm caught me off-guard. The surprise I find inside is not pleasant: Gobber and my class are commenting about today's training, their voices echoing all over the enormous room. I just want to take my food and forget about them as I wait for Gobber to take out the book. I need information, and the sooner the better.

As soon as I get close to get my dinner, mocking faces automatically turn towards me. Snotlout grins widely as I pick up my plate, and Gobber opportunely asks, "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

"He showed up?"

"He didn't get killed?"

I ignore the twins as much as I can. I pick up a drink from the table and keep walking as Snotlout uselessly moves to the side, trying to prevent me from sitting on the bench. Did he really think I was going to spend valuable time with them? Sure. I don't want to become stupid, thank you very much.

"He's never where he should be."

A stinging pain wrenches my heart as Astrid's words dig into me like a vicious sword. The arena is pretty much the only chance I have to impress Astrid, now I notice, but maybe I'm just making it all worse. She never joins the mocks, but this time she seems to have gotten enough of my failures.

"Thank you, Astrid." Gobber says rather happily, and I try not to smash my food into the table as I sit down. Nobody ever cares about how I feel, and when they do, they don't help at all. That's my everyday life, and now that I have to train with these stinky guys? Oh well, my social life just got forever ruined. I'll have to accept it, no one will ever care for me. Now I know that if I get killed in the arena no one will ever miss me. Probably not even my father.

Sometimes I wish Sans killed me, but I'm not going to stretch this out too far.

Gobber circles the table, and I'm delighted to see him pulling out the book as he says, "You need to live and breathe this stuff." He pushes something off the table, and continues, "The 'Monster Manual'. Everything we know about every monster we know of."

A deep thunder rumbles across the Great Hall, and Gobber looks around him. "No attacks tonight. Study up."

He hobbles away, and disgusted faces immediately appear on the teens. "Wait. You mean read?"

"While we're still alive?"

Snotlout smashes the table with his fist, sending something next to him flying, but I don't even care to look at what it is. "Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?"

"Oh, I've read that book like, seven times!" Fishlegs yells excitedly, innocently thinking any of the teens surrounding him will care on the slightest about his great knowledge. "There's this water monster that throws giant water-drops at you," Snotlout turns to him with this expression, as if he thought the chubby know-it-all next to him was crazy. The others stop playing around and whispering to stare at him with droopy faces. "And- and there's this other one, that-"

"Yeah, sounds great." Tuffnut cuts him off, making a shut-your-mouth gesture with his hand. "There was a chance I was gonna read that."

"But… now…?" his sister finishes, with the most bored tone I've heard so far.

"You guys read," Snotlout says, standing up. "I'll go kill stuff." Everyone except for Astrid follows him, muttering things to each other as they leave. Fishlegs makes the bench fall as he stands up way too abruptly, but manages to put it back on place without stopping.

I don't even feel like touching my food, I have more important things to do. I stand up, and not expecting much, walk next to Astrid. Her eyes glance at me. "So I guess we'll... share?"

She hurriedly pushes the book towards me, quickly saying, "Read it." before deciding that a bunch of stupid teens is better company than me. I honestly prefer being alone, but… I don't think I'll be able to stand this kind of treating for much longer.

"Yeah, all mine then, wow. So well, uh okay, I'll- I'll see you, ah-"

The door closes heavily, and I'm left alone again.

"Tomorrow…"

Now that I have the book in front of me, I look around. Several Vikings are around me, so I think it's better to wait until everyone leaves. I brought the notebook with me, and I don't want anyone to see me with this information.

I come back later. The Great Hall is empty and there's nothing but darkness to be seen. Guided by the light of a candle, I make my way towards the forgotten manual as thunder growls outside, leave the candle next to it, and sit down. I open it on the first page, and read out loud.

"Monster classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class." Little to no information is known about Sans, so there must be something about him around that section. I read through different pages. Most of them are stained. Each monster has its two own pages; as I remember, they have a bio, descriptions of their attacks and colorless drawings depicting them fighting against Vikings.

"Glyde."

The picture is a lonely, flying Glyde.

"This reclusive monster inhabits secluded areas."

The next page shows an apparently angered Glyde with a much more fierce appearance attacking a Viking, shooting star-shaped bullets out of its tail that land on the man's chest and draw blood.

"When startled the Glyde shoots concussive bullets that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous; kill on sight."

There's another drawing below, depicting a Viking stabbing a Glyde with a sword.

I pass a few pages. "Tsunderplane." The drawing depicts a strange bird-like monster with sharp wings and what appears to be a hat. "This creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees." A picture shows this. "Extremely dangerous; kill on sight."

The next page appears to be about the monster Fishlegs talked about before. The drawing is an eerie creature that looks like a strange bathtub. "Woshua. Sprays scalding water at its victims." The other drawing shows it launching water-drops at several Vikings. Some of them look dead. "Extremely dangerous-"

I gasp when a way too loud lightning bolt flashes through the door, and I felt my body rattling for a second, thinking it was a monster raid.

Making sure there is nothing to be worried about, I keep on, fear growing. The monster descriptions are freaky enough, no need for the creepy ambiance outside to scare everything out of me. The drawing that shows up next as I flip the page depicts an innocent-looking monster. "Vulkin. Even newborn monsters can shoot lightning bolts. Kill on sight."

The next pages show a few of the monsters in the arena along with some others I've never heard of. I start flipping them hurriedly. "Gyftrot, the Dogi, Madjick, Papyrus, Memory Head…" I don't even bother to read the names as I go on; all I see is drawings of monsters killing humans and viceversa, and not-encouraging texts.

"Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims… Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight…"

I finally find the page I was looking for, but it does not precisely have what I was looking for. It's a blank, stained page, with only a title and a few lines. The writing is shaky, as if the one who wrote this down was terribly afraid.

"Sans. Speed: unknown. Size: unknown. 'The unholy offspring of lightning and Death itself'. Never engage this monster. Your only hope: hide and pray it does not find you."

I search through my coat until I find the notebook, and leave it on top of the manual, open by the page where I wrote what I could about Sans.

I don't think publishing this is a good idea. I need more information. Way more. I just don't believe a so-called 'unholy offspring of lightning and Death itself' would ever let a human go, let alone not attack them when he had the chance. That title must be incorrect.

And I will prove it.