I awoke very steadily, recalling what had happened the day prior.

I looked at my no longer disfigured paw, and saw that it was almost fully healed.

…I hear some other species take weeks to heal from things like this. This is why being in the smug position of superiority is fantastic.

Well, it has been an entire day, so the little human didn't tell the rest of its pack where I am. Smart, since even while wounded, a Nightkin can fight off two Firekin and win.

…Well I suppose that might just be me. I've never seen another Nightkin, besides my mother.

To my knowledge, Nightkin never have more than one offspring, and they leave the offspring months after birth. I suppose that's why my species is so strong, natural selection is very obvious. But it's also why my species is so rare and mysterious, even I don't know much about my own species.

I suppose that is also why we live for… well… a very long time. My mother was 3500 years old. It takes us so long in order to find a mate due to our own paranoia, and our rarity.

I think my species may live forever… as long as we don't die from any other cause. Of course this just a guess.

I don't even know much about my own anatomy. I learn my health via opening other creatures similar to my size and shape. This includes fellow kin.

We refer to each other as kin, even though we are of completely different species. We refer to each other as kin simply because we are of similar intelligence, and know a very basic, yet explanatory language. This is why this particular area fascinated me… All of the kin here are feral, young, and devoid of any language.

But yet again, the turn of events shows me that some things are best left unknown.

Look at me now, crippled and trapped in a canyon.

The only reason I'm not panicking, is because I'm not completely sure my tailfin will not regenerate. The rest of my body heals up within hours, or days depending on the seriousness of the injury. Although I can't say I have ever had a part of me amputated, so this will be an experiment.

I looked around the canyon.

It's best to leave this place before the human decides to bring its friends. Why it hasn't so far is beyond me…

I ran up to a wall, jumped, and started clawing up, until a pain in my chest made me drop.

The pain only increased the more I tried to get out… or do anything that demands a lot of energy. Whenever I start to pant or breath heavily, I feel incredible pain in my chest.

I used my wings to get lift, as I jumped across the small lake inside of the area I'm in, and started clawing up furiously… only to start paining in my chest one again. Once I fell too far, I glided across to the other side of the lake, landing ungracefully due to both chest pains… and my cripple.

I then jumped on a log, and launched off of it. I glided to another edge of the canyon, but quickly loss balance and fell yet again due to my cripple.

Refusing to give up, I jumped from where I was and began flapping my wings furiously, only to hover in the air for a brief second and fall again.

I launched from the floor again, getting much more air, but my claws couldn't get a grip to where I launched.

I flew to the other side of the lake yet again, losing air much faster, and my balance slowly decreasing…

I fell yet again, this time staying on the ground. The pain in my chest continued to grow; my stamina is severely reduced… so much for the miraculous recovery.

Short steady breaths and can-do spirit isn't going to get me out of here. I obviously have a broken rib, and it is constricting my breathing… or something like that. Once again, I learned my vague anatomy from OTHER creatures, not my own. So it is impossible to pinpoint the exact cause.

I shot a fireball in angry defeat, knowing I have to stay put for possibly a few more days. At least the broken rib isn't so bad that I cannot use my fire. So if any creatures give me trouble, I can cook them to a golden brown… that's a lie, actually. I would reduce them to nothing more than a red mist.

I am getting rather hungry… so I'd better-

I just noticed a fish swimming around inside of the lake. I approached quickly, and drove my head into the water. All of the fish escaped my mouth… perhaps I was too eager…

I lied my head down in defeat… Just another day of healing… Just one more and-

I heard a small clutter nearby, and a small wooden object fell from the edge of the canyon.

Upon seeing this, I looked to the source to see a small human hatchling…

Is this the one that had spared my life..? Perhaps… they all look the same.

Wait, not quite, this one is smaller. Runt, underfed… yes that would be the one. What compels the creature to come back? The only reason I didn't kill it is because it poses no threat to me any longer.

Perhaps it is sick, and that is affecting its ability to think…Yes, that would explain its small stature indeed.

This creature stares at me with a look of curiosity, as if it had never seen one of my kind before. Yes, this is expected, but none the less, it has seen me before, while I was entangled and defenseless… a moment I would rather forget.

Perhaps I hit its head a little too hard on the stone I pinned it to.

But what does it want? It is just… looking at me. I cocked my head to the side, wondering what it was thinking about.

It then seemed to realize what was going on, and slowly backed away to the way in which it came. It then scurried out of sight.

…Yes, this creature does indeed have a head injury. Due to how many times it tripped while walking in a straight line, I would say it has no perception on what is going on around it.

…or maybe that is just a human thing… although from many years of observation, the other humans seem much more coordinated… so it's more than likely he has a head injury/sickness.

Wait, why am I thinking of the human?

I suppose my curiosity can never be silenced, no matter the situation. Speaking of which, what had the human dropped? A little wooden stick, perhaps? Why was it carrying it?

I glided over to the other side of the canyon, where the stick fell.

I pawed it to the open, and observed it.

It is a little wooden stick, with a small black rock attached to the tip of it. What purpose can this possess? Is it a killing tool?

I curiously touched the black rock with my paw, for it to rub off onto me. This rock is far too soft for killing, although it could create a very large infection should it break the scales and skin… But it won't, because it is too soft.

Why does the rock have to be on the end of a stick? Humans have been very smart and creative in the past, but this is just outright pointless. All this thing can do is leave little black marks, which blends with my scales anyway… What was it planning to do with this?

I left the little… 'rock-stick' where it was, and trotted to the tree I had a heated bed underneath.

I looked at my tail curiously… I see that the sever wound has closed, but the fin certainly hasn't grown back yet, nor am I sure it can grow back.

I suppose what this means is that I can sleep in the trees again. The ground is far too infested and… dusty. I would prefer just hanging in the air. I don't feel as safe sleeping on the ground.

Sickness is best to be avoided, especially in my condition…

I jumped into the tree, onto the thickest branch, and hung myself by the tail.

Although sleeping in trees is a luxury, most trees cannot support my weight on one branch.

(A/N: After this exact line, I met MASSIVE writer's block. I'll say again, sorry for the extremely long update time.)

The pressure in my head is relaxing. I think it is all of the blood in my body falling to my head; it helps me think and sleep.

…I wonder if while I stand up, all my blood flows to my feet. Perhaps if I keep my head lower than my feet, then I can think more clearly.

Why have I never thought of that before? I should try that… wait, if I would have to keep my head below my feet, wouldn't I have to bury my head into the ground?

Hm… Ideas always sound great just before you really think about them.

Maybe if I fly upside down, more blood will rush to my wings, and I can fly faster! Wait, but if I'm upside down, I would have no lift, and would just fall out of the sky.

Why does my anatomy always contradict with my fantastic ideas? Why can't my wings be upside down so I could do that?

I have no idea why I am here; some kin believe there is an omnipotent figure that created all. I wonder why my creator didn't give me upside down wings, because that is genius… and also make me bigger… and make the sun go away. It is too bright.

Now all of the blood in my head is starting to make me tired.

It's a shame that hanging from a tree can make you think so great, and yet make you so tired. One could have a thousand epiphanies from hanging in a tree for one night, if only you could stay awake while it happens.

Perhaps I should explore more. It has been eight years since have moved any great distance. I need to find the edge of the world a lot of kin had spoken of many years ago, a place of infinite ice, and no life, yet, in the skies, the light dances with colors of purple, red, and deep green most of all. They say look into the direction in which the sun sets, and travel to your right. You will eventually find it.

I hope my cripple heals, I have so much to see, and all of it requires flight. I can't be stuck on this small island for eternity! That is a fate worse than death!

I have healed from worse injuries, and I am sure it will be fine… Although I've never grown a limb back before, so this might take longer than usual.

…It's best not to sleep with a worried mind. I need to clear my thoughts.

Just…Sleep…

I awoke the next morning- no, not morning. The sun was high, so I had been sleeping for a very long time.

The broken rib(s) did reduce my stamina. I usually do not need this much sleep… I usually don't need to sleep for more than four hours.

In an unrelated note, I am very hungry. I need to get a fish, and now-

I heard something… Something is nearby.

I listened closer…

It sounds like one creature, walking on two legs, according to how many steps are taken… a very clumsy creature, that trips very often.

It is obviously a human… there are not many other creatures I know of that walk on two legs, besides birds… I do not think birds get that big, though. If it were a Quillkin approaching, why would it not be flying?

Yes, I think I have established that it is a human, and it is getting closer.

I trotted to a nearby stack of rocks, and leaped onto it.

I have the higher ground and the advantage… unless the human comes from one of the edges of this canyon. That is unlikely, because the footsteps would be much fainter up there.

I heard slight cluttering coming from the small crack in the canyon… Soon after which, something was thrown from it.

I ducked my head behind the rock, and then raised it again, to examine what was thrown.

A… fish. Well, I am rather hungr- no. I will not fall into your trap, human. I know your tactics, and your clever little ways of bringing your enemies to you.

After another few cluttered movement sounds, the small human showed itself.

Ah, yes, the underfed sick human is back. VERY sick human at that, it is clearly not reasoning.

It collected its fish, and walked forward from the crack, in front of me.

…The human is completely oblivious to my presence.

Now YOU are falling into MY trap, human.

Wait, something as insignificant as this sick being isn't worth setting up a trap for, when I could just as easily bite its head off in a single motion. I've never tasted human before, but I'll bet they taste somewhat like a deer that had been buried in gravel.

I advanced, and the human took notice of me shortly afterwards.

I leapt from the rocks, and strafed in front of the human.

The human looked startled, but not nearly as afraid as it was when we had first encountered.

I positioned myself into a combat stance, and gestured my head as if to say, 'I dare you'

In response, the human motioned the fish towards me, as if... offering it?

Somewhat odd, most creatures swallow the food before offering it, but then again, he is small. In order to spit that out again, it would be in small chunks, which is ultimately unsatisfying.

I slowly approached, looking for any signs of incoming attack, or trap. I opened my mouth, sniffing the fish for any kind of rot or reason the human doesn't want it, but what I found instead, was the smell of stone. A very distinct smell of the shine-stone that the human used to cut the-

It's a killing stone!

I jumped back into a defensive stance, growling lowly. The human must have noticed that its trap failed, and it revealed his kill-stone, that was bonded to its hip.

It touched the kill stone, and I growled, ready for it to strike.

It seemed to be startled by my aggressive growl, and took a single step backwards.

It drew its weapon, and dropped it to his side. I watched it carefully, and I let out a confused grunt. In response, it picked it up with its back paw, and threw it into the nearby lake.

I saw as the killing tool sunk down to the bottom of the water, and I was… confused. After years of observing the humans, I had learned they never part from their kill-stones, even while no danger is present.

Clearly this is no ordinary human. Perhaps as the omega of the pack, it does not follow the same basic behavioral traits.

I gave a last smell, and I smelled no more kill-stone on the human. After which, I relaxed my stance, observing the human as it stared at me. There is no harm it can do to me without it's kill-stone, besides beat uselessly at my scales…

It reacted to my relaxed stance, and offered the fish yet again. I pondered as to what the human could gain from offering me this food. Does it understand that I am hungry? Why would it care?

I advanced yet again, being paranoid of the human's movements.

As I drew close, I opened my maw, and the human began blithering in Its primitive language idly.

How can any living being understand such a language, just a bunch of clicks of the teeth and tongue, and quiet roars while doing so?

"Tönnminna…" It seemed to muse.

"Ég hefði getað svarið þú hefðir-"

I retracted my teeth, and snatched the fish from the human's paws.

The human jumped back, startled as I chomped the fish up and swallowed it.

"…tennur."

I eyed the human, examining it further.

If this human is an omega, then it must be difficult for it to receive food. It must have worked very hard for such a small creature to get that fish.

I suppose every kind act must be repaid, even though it does not make much sense why the human gave me this fish in the first place, nor do I understand why the human let me live.

Plus, seeing as to how underfed this human is, it would be cruel not to portion at least half of the fish to it.

I approached the human again, and the human was startled, constantly backing away as I came closer until it hit a rock, blithering in it's language mindlessly.

It stared back at me for a brief second, as if wondering what I am doing.

Feeling about in my stomach, I had used my stomach-muscles to force half of the chewed fish up to my throat, from which I regurgitated onto the human's legs.

After this, it made a sound. I took it as a sound of approval. I then mimicked the strange way in which the human lied. I put my body weight onto the base of my tail, and let my two back legs remain idle as I lifted the upper half of my body similar to that of a human.

The human stared at me, with the half-fish in its paws. I was unsure if it was giving me a confused look or asking permission.

I looked at the fish, and back to the human, as if saying 'it is yours.'

The human mimicked me, looked down at the fish, and then back at me. It seemed to understand the message, as it soon after raised it to its mouth, and bit a portion of the fish off.

The human was making strange noises, however, and kept the portion in its mouth. Does it not know how to swallow? How does a creature like this survive? It seemed to look to me as if asking what next.

I swallowed loudly, sending the hint that he must do that in order to eat it.

The human's face got a look of what appeared to be realization, and dropped the fish to its back legs.

It had trouble swallowing, as I imagined it was its first time. Is this human a newborn, perhaps? I figured they would be smaller… No, I smell hormones on the human, so it is now new, perhaps, thick, but not new.

After downing the portion, it made a noise of approval, and twitched in excitement.

I licked my lips, gesturing to the rest of the fish. In response, the human did… something with its lips. It curved the ends of its mouth upwards, making one of the strangest faces I had ever seen. I examined the face closely, and saw no muscle strain in the human. Clearly, it is built that way. What does it mean?

I mimicked the human yet again, bending my facial muscles to match its. I kept my teeth retracted, less I frighten the human.

Its curved lips went back to normal, and it put the fish beside it. After this, it stood up, reaching towards…

"Too close." I growled, as I retracted my teeth and jumped into the air. I then flew clumsily to the other side of the lake, away from the human.

You may be in my presence, human, but do not push your luck.

I shook my head in frustration, as I began heating a bed to lie on. I lay down on the newly heated bed, and lowered my head.

However, my head was quickly heightened when I saw a bird up in a tree. The creature seemed to look at me, and then fly away.

I lowered my gaze, and saw the human sitting in front of me, with its back legs crossed in front of him.

I lifted my tail, and swished it around to my head. The remaining tailfin covered my head from the human.

I heard quiet shuffling, slowly becoming louder, and closer.

I lifted my tail to see the human inching closer to me. Startled, the human jumped up, and began walking away.

The human may be no threat to me, but it is getting annoying…

I stood up, and walked lazily back to the tree I had been hanging from earlier. I jumped onto the thickest branch, twisted my tail around the branch, and hung myself upside down.

The human interrupted my sleep, so I will continue to sleep until nightfall.

As I hung upside down, I realized something. The behavior of other animals and even kin seem to revolve around the position of the sun. When the sun is highest, the humans seem to be the most active, and yet as soon as it sets, they all retreat to their little structures. Perhaps they fear the moon or something… I understand that all creatures must sleep at one point, but why always at sundown? Why, I sleep whenever I'm tired. Of course, with my scale color, it is always best to travel at night, but I haven't been doing any travelling for a long time.

…If I can ever get my flight back, the first thing I'm doing is flying as far away from this rock as possible. I do not care how interesting this particular pack of humans is, or how strange the kin are.

The upside down position seemed to take effect, and I slowly closed my eyes.

I opened my wings and my eyes, blinking in surprise when I found the sun was still up, although barely.

However, the human runt caught my eye. It was still here, doing… something.

My surprise was drowned by my curiosity, as to why the human is still here, and what it is doing.

I dropped myself from the tree, and trotted over to the human.

I rose above the human to see what it was doing; it did not seem to notice me.

It was dragging a small twig through the dirt, making small marks. It continued to do so until there was a specific order of lines, some connecting, some curved, some unconnected, some straight.

My eyes widened in surprise when I saw the similarity of these little lines.

I trotted over to the lake, and looked at the reflection before me, after which, I trotted back to the human, and looked at the lines yet again. It was me! The human had somehow rendered my image into the ground!

I cooed at the ingenuity of the human. He had used a twig, and dragged it in the dirt to make lines. He arranged the lines to create an image of my head!

This I must try. I trotted away from the human, who looked back at me in confusion.

I had to find a stick of some sort, one I could use. I walked to a nearby small tree, and ripped it from the ground using my mouth. After which, I began to drag the tree into a single line. I remembered the human had curved the lines, and made separate ones.

I began to curve, twist, and separate the lines, and even adding small dots.

I stopped, and looked back at the human who had a somewhat confused look on its face. Why is it confused? I'm only mimicking it.

I turned back to my work, and added another dot and a few lines. After this, I had stepped away and dropped the tree, and looked at what I had created.

It looked like… many lines and dots dug into the ground. I cooed, this time with confusion. How did the human make it resemble my head? The human thinks of an image, and then makes the lines to resemble it.

While I was thinking as to how the human made the lines resemble my head, I noticed the human put its foot on one of the lines.

I growled lowly, to send the message not to distort my creation.

The human lifted his foot off of the line, and I cooed. The human put its foot on the line again, and I growled again, and then he raised his foot.

Then the human stepped on the line AGAIN.

"Do not test my patience, human." I said lowly, knowing the human cannot understand me. However, it seemed to get the message when it did not step on a line again.

The human stepped over the line, and over another, maneuvering through the maze of dirt trails careful not to step on another line.

The human seemed to be distracted by its movements, since it did not notice it was walking towards me.

Soon, it's back almost hit my chest, and it was startled when he felt my breath.

The human slowly turned around, and met my gaze.

Something I quickly noted was that human eyes were the best way of telling their mood. His eyes were wide, dilated, but then squinted, showing fear, curiosity, and confusion.

The human raised its paw to touch my face, and I quickly squinted my eye, and turned away from him, giving a warning growl.

Why must humans touch everything? They must have no sense of personal spa-

My thoughts were quickly silenced when the human turned its head away, and fearfully raised its paw to me, but not touching me. It reached just before my nose.

I let down my guard when I saw that it wasn't touching me, but what was it doing? Does it not realize that I could take its limb off with the single swipe of my paw? Or that I can reduce it to a smoldering pile of burnt flesh? It could clearly understand that, since it feared to even look in my direction.

If it feared me, then why does it take this risk? It does not know what I will do… I do not know what to do.

We cannot communicate, we are of a different species, I can kill it with the flick of my paw, yet… it trusts me…why?

This human is not driven by instinct, sickness, or head injuries, this human has very clear sentient thought, this human feels, this human spared my life, and this human trusts me.

This is not an ordinary human. This one is clearly a runt, shunned from its pack. Does it seek companionship?

It's something deeper than that, I know it. Seconds turned into minutes as I thought, and yet finally, I sent a message of my trust back to the human. I touched my nose its paw, and the startled jump told me the human did not expect me to trust it, or even spare it.

Our gazes met, and time seemed to stop. I gazed into the human's eyes, and saw loneliness, abandonment, and rejection.

At this point, I realized that any creature capable of thought, and feeling, does not deserve to be referred to as an 'it' or called by its species name like it is a beast.

We have no means to communicate what it- no, he is called, or if he is called anything. So I will give him a title.

I will call him… Alkiin.

(Pronounced: all-keen)

With that, my eyes dilated, and I walked away from Alkiin.

Alkiin was clearly confused, but seemed satisfied. He then scurried back to the small crack in wince he came, and disappeared from sight.

"Until we meet again." I said aloud, well knowing he does not understand, nor even hear me.

I am EXTREMELY sorry for the very long wait, but you have no idea what kind of hell my house is at the moment. School is frantic, Christmas shopping is frantic, and my sister's boyfriend drama is frantic… But I've managed to squeeze this chapter out like a difficult shit (please excuse my language and disgusting metaphor, it's really how I talk when I'm not writing.)

Don't expect an update until sometime after Christmas. I gotta spend time with the annoying, yet loving, family.

TreepeltA113
12/13/11 . chapter 4

Wooooooow. Wow. Wow. I love this story so much. The Norse translations were smart on your part. And I like the idea of Hiccup being the omega. What does Akiin stand for? Hiccup?

My reply

Thanks, i'm glad you like the story. Alkiin does not stand for Hiccup, since Toothless does not know Hiccup's name, and probably will never find out his real name. Unless Hiccup wears a name tag written in the language of dragons, but even that would be impossible, because dragons do not write. The concept of drawing alone is alien to dragons, let alone writing.

I'm... getting off topic again. Anyway, thanks for the review.

In caverns dark
12/22/11 . chapter 4

0.o

In the dragon language in Skyrim Alkiin means Destroyer child.

My Reply

The name has no connection to Skyrim, mainly because I wrote this chapter long before I even had the game. However, out of curiosity, I looked it up. You were half right.

It directly translates to Destroyer Born, not Destroyer Child. Destroyer Child would be 'Alkiir.'

...And now I feel like a massive nerd. Thanks.

sc
12/22/11 - 12/31/11 chapter 4

1. I didn't knowthatbut plez update soon! We want more of alkin and toothy!

2. Ooh dodnd disable toothy!

3. ARGH PLEZ UPDATE ANOTHER PIECE WITH HICCUPS OPINION VERY SOON LIKE JANUARY PLEZ! IMMA SOO LOOKING AHEAD FOR TROUBLES FROM HICCUPS VEWPOINT...AND WHERE TOOTHLESS GETS HIS NAMES!

4. New years and you sitll haven't turned out an essay o fhiccups viewpoint?

My Reply

Well, my thought process translates to this;

"One review? Cool."

"Two reviews by the same person on the same chapter? Okay, that's nice."

"Three reviews? Fair enough, I can dig it."

"Four reviews? Alright, I think you're overdoing it a bit."

As glad as I am that you are so enthusiastic about my writing, perhaps we could limit it to two reviews per chapter? One to say what you'd like about the current chapter, and the next to yell at me for the update delay.

Meh, if anything, I deserve to be yelled at. I'm 50% busy, 50% lazy, 100% procrastinating bitch. I blame Obama for this.

RamenKnight
12/13/11 . chapter 4

Nice job.

My Reply

Cool bro.