Hello my readers. This chapter will include some culture! People have different customs and traditions depending where you go. Some perceive them to be weird, outrageous,etc. So please don't judge when you finish reading this chapter! I thought it was a great idea. And anyways, it builds up to the climax of the story! Enjoy and please review!...and forgive my mistakes.
The Scorch was an area where the mountain-nest dragons held all of their ceremonies. It was located on the east side of their nest. It was a massive crater in the ground. No life grew there. In the center of the Scorch was a wide, flat circle that was about 22.5 yards in diameter. Dotting various areas of the Scorch were countless, small fire pits. They did not provided much light individually, but when they were surrounded by other fire pits, the Scorch was as bright as day.
All of the dragons were on edge, excited for the celebration to start.
The Berkians and Draconians were "Where is Chris?", Re asked his party, "I just saw him not too long ago"
"I don't know. Maybe he slipped away amongst the crowd of dragons", Eret suggested.
Just then, the infamous whistle of a Night Fury power dive could be heard. All became silent. Then, a plasma blast was released and struck the ground, covering the Scorch with a flash of Purple and an audible 'boom'. When the smoke cleared, everybody was able to see Windwalker standing valiantly in the center of the circle, with Chris in the saddle. He dismounted and together they roared a cry of victory, with the audience following suit.
"My friends, we are family, are we not?", Chris stated.
The dragons roared in agreement.
"Do we stand together? Or divided?"
"Together! Together!"
"So tell me, when we face adversity, do we cower away?"
"Nooo!"
"What do we do?"
"We fight!"
"What have we accomplished today?"
"We won the war!", the dragons jeered in success
"Alright, alright. Settle down", Chris spoke.
The Scorch soon was quiet again. The dragons patiently waited to hear more of their human friend.
"Now. Many of you have noticed that there are new faces in the nest", Windwalker took over.
The dragons started murmuring, sending glances to the Berkians and Draconians.
"Most of you only know that they are our allies. They most certainly deserve to be so. They have fought bravely with us, and helped us win this war!"
The Scorch was filled with roars yet again, commemorating their allies.
"What did she say?", Hiccup asked Re.
"She is honoring us. Saying how we helped win this war", Re responded.
"But to me, some of them are more than friends", Chris announced.
That confused the mountain-nest dragons.
"Draconians, step forward", Chris ordered.
They looked at each other, confused as to what Chris was about to do. As they stepped to the middle of the Scorch, all eyes were on them.
"This here is the King of Draconia. His name is Re. Next to him is his mate and queen, Aurora. The black dragon is known as Tenor. He is the prime minister of Draconia. For those of you who do not know what that is, he is their 3rd in command. His rider, is this lovely lady. Her name is Serenity. She is one of the best dragon healers the world has ever seen!"
The Draconians blushed from the attention they were getting.
"Now, the reason why I called them up here, and not the rest of them is simple. They each have a special place in my heart, besides Windwalker. For you see, many of you have asked where I came from; who my parents were; where was my family. Well, let me finally answer all of your questions…. They are my family".
The mountain-nest dragons gasped at hearing such astonishing news, and more murmurs could be heard all around the Scorch.
"They were the ones that raised me from birth. They are the ones who taught me everything I ever knew. They shaped me into who I am today. And I am proud of that!"
The crowd unexpectedly began to cheer again.
"Now for our allies and my family's sake, let us show them how we do things around here!"
The mountain-nest dragons yelled in delight, joyful that they can finally start the celebration.
A pulse started to fill the crater. More rhythm was added as the mountain-nest dragons-using their various body parts and the ground-started to create a beat. Then the dragons who weren't playing took to the skies, flying in every direction doing loops, corkscrews, and other aerial maneuvers. While doing so, they started humming a tune. The cacophony of noise all synchronized into a song.
Then Chris did something unexpected; he started to sing.
"As a child you would wait
"And watch from far away.
"But you always knew that you'd be the one
"that work while they all play."
He approached his family, singing without a care in the world. He gesticulated as many words as he could. Then as the verse finished, he immediately sidestepped and approached the Berkians.
"In youth you'd lay
"awake at night and scheme
"of all the things that you would change,
"but it was just a dream!"
The Berkians gave him weird looks. In fact, the only ones who didn't give him weird looks were Hiccup, Valka, and the dragons of Berk. They seemed to be enjoying it!He raised his hand as he concluded his 2nd verse. Then out of nowhere, Windwalker scooped him up in her claws. She flew around, dancing in the air.
"Here we are, don't turn away now,
"we are the warriors that built this town.
"Here we are, don't turn away now,
"we are the warriors that built this town
"From dust."
Chris flipped onto Windwalker's back as he continued. He beckoned them to join him.
"This is stupid! We are Vikings! We don't sing and da-". Snotlout was interrupted as Cloudjumper and Valka flew past him, accompanying the dragons in the sky. Serenity and Tenor looked at each other and smiled, thinking the same thought. Serenity quickly mounted Tenor and the joined the aerial dance as well.
"The time will come
"when you'll have to rise
"above the best and prove yourself,
"your spirit never dies!"
The King and Queen happily partook in the festivity and were soon looping and spinning around each other, dancing together. The dragons of Berk all took off into the skies and joined all the others, empowered by the music. Although they were worried their riders would miss out on the fun-since they had no wings-so they snatched up their respective riders in their talons. All except Toothless and Hiccup, for obvious reasons.
"Farewell, I've gone to take my throne above,
"but don't weep for me
"'Cause this will be
"the labor of my love"
Toothless turned to Hiccup and gave him puppy-dog eyes, silently asking if he could go up there too. Hiccup smiled a sincere smile. "Come on bud, let's show them how alphas do it", Hiccup smirked. They were the last ones to join the skies. The night was filled with dragons as they dodged and moved around each other with ease, feeling the music reverberating within their souls. The mountain-nest dragons joined Chris, chanting the chorus in the dark of night.
"Here we are, don't turn away now,
"we are the warriors that built this town.
"Here we are, don't turn away now,
"we are the warriors that built this town
"From dust."
Then the dragons started doing group maneuvers, following each other in lines, and copying each other's moves correspondingly. Then the dragons formed many rings, stacked on top of each other, forming a vertical tube. They started singing a different section of the song, contrasting from the original melody. During that time, Windwalker and Chris zoomed and flipped and zipped in all directions. Sometimes Chris would jump out of the saddle and 'fly' by himself for a few seconds before Windwalker would catch him. They knew each other's moves and trusted each other with their lives. They flew expertly, but more importantly, they flew as one. At the pinnacle of their flight, they ended up at the top of the tube, but were hovering upside down! Windwalker was flying 'backwards' by doing upstrokes instead of down strokes to keep her afloat. Chris was standing on the saddle, hooking his feet into certain parts of it to keep him from falling off.
"Here we are, don't turn away now,
"we are the warriors that built this town.
"Here we are, don't turn away now,
"we are the warriors that built this town
"From dust."
As the song reached its climax, the dragons started to go crazy. The all tried to pull off their most insane aerial trick they could before it all ended. Chris unhooked himself from the saddle and fell, with Windwalker following close behind.
She caught up to him and matched his speed. They looked at each other and smiled-much like Hiccup and Toothless-before Chris remounted Windwalker, preparing to land.
All the dragons went into a dive, heading for the Scorch. A thunderous boom filled the night sky as the thudding of all the dragons could be heard. Then they all simultaneously spread their wings triumphantly and roared gallantly.
Chris advanced towards his allies. "So, what do you think?"
"I haven't had that much fun since I first went flying with Cloudjumper", Valka laughed as she patted her dragon's neck.
"I'm glad some of you enjoyed it", Chris stated as he noticed some of the sour looks he saw plastered on certain Viking individuals, i.e. Snotlout.
"This is certainly a night to remember", Serenity said fondly.
"Oh it will be, once we are done with the celebration", Chris said with a smirk.
"Uhh, when does this thing end?", Tuffnut huffed.
"I don't know. Ask your dragons", Chris snickered as he mounted Windwalker and continued with the celebration.
"Don't tell me that's all you got", Windwalker complained as she watched the queen. Aurora on the other hand, was grunting and struggling. She was breathing heavily, trying to fulfill her task.
The group traveled to the sparring cliff the next day-where they first met Chris-to watch Aurora unlock her Titan Wing. The cliff was overlooking the forest below. It was a sheer 10-story drop, down the steep mountainside.
Aurora was armorless, revealing her sapphire blue scales and tropical blue underbelly. Attached to her was a harness. The harness had long metal chains attached to it. Those long metal chains had huge boulders wrapped around the opposite end of each of them. The chains that were currently in use were dangling off the edge of the cliff, dragging anything attached to it to the ground.
"Come on Aurora, it's simple. All you have to do is hold up rocks. That shouldn't be that hard", Windwalker said innocently.
"I'd like to...to see you do this", Aurora gritted, struggling against the weight of the boulders.
"Well, I'm not asking what you want to happen, I'm telling you what is going to happen", Windwalker shot back. She nodded to Chris. He sighed as he held up another chain and attached it to the harness.
"Come on mom. I looked up to you and Dad as the strongest dragons I have ever met. I know you can do this mom!", Chris said hopefully as he attached the chain. He went over to the edge of the cliff and nodded to another dragon. That dragon then pushed the boulder that was resting on the edge of the cliff, over the edge.
Aurora yelped as she was dragged back a couple of feet. She dug her claws into the ground, preventing her from falling over the edge.
"Don't worry Aurora. If you fail, my dragons will rescue you. By that, I mean they will only sever the chains that bind you. If you can fly back up her afterwards, that'd be great. However, considering all the weight you are carrying, you probably are going to be very tired and will most likely fall to the ground. But you shouldn't feel a thing since your armor-, oh wait", Windwalker giggled complacently.
Aurora stared daggers at Windwalker.
Windwalker got right into the queen's face. "If you are going to be mad at anyone, be mad at yourself, for not being able to complete your task", Windwalker expressed matter-of-factly. She nodded again at Chris and in a few moments, Aurora was yanked back a couple of more feet, almost near the edge.
"I...I-", Aurora wheezed.
"Yes. You. Can.", Windwalker interrupted. She nodded at Chris and again, another boulder was added. Aurora clenched her eyes, as she was dragged to the edge. Her hindpaws just a dangerous inch away from the edge. She growled and snarled, trying her best to heave the weight back on top of the cliff.
But alas, she felt herself, millimeter-by-millimeter, being dragged to her seemingly inevitable fate.
"Well how about this. I never knew that the queen was weak! As the daughter of Lord Draco, I expected much more out of you. Re, I thought as the king of Draconia you would've pick a stronger mate. Oh well, not all dragons can't be strong", Windwalker provoked.
Aurora snapped open her eyes and her pupils turned into slits. She was fuming! She started to steadily pull the rocks back up the cliff. Windwalker activated her Titan Wing and focused all of her power on Aurora.
"One more", Windwalker declared, not removing her gaze from Aurora.
Chris gulped, "Windwalker don't you think-"
"I said one more!", Windwalker seethed.
Chris sighed in defeat and hooked the last chain onto the harness. Using a big stick as leverage, he pushed the boulder over the cliff himself. The metal chain jerked against her harness, setting her back to where she was just an inch from plummeting.
"Do not let some rocks dictate your life! Embrace your Titan Wing! Focus on it. Let the feeling control your body. Do not fight it, accept it! ", Windwalker asserted.
Aurora closed her eyes. She started to feel her body changing. She felt a surge of energy flow through her veins. But as she started to morph, the weight proved too much to bear and she was hauled over the cliff.
"AURORA!", Re yelled. He spread his wings to take off.
"No need to interfere, Re. She is doing fine", Windwalker spoke slyly, gazing over the edge of the cliff, and consequently stopping Re.
For the ones who could not understand Dragonese, what confused them was that they didn't hear the thud of the rocks that were suppose to hit the ground. What they heard instead was loud flapping from the side of the cliff. What they saw next startled them.
Aurora consistently rose into the air, carrying the weight of 7 boulders! She rose high enough until all 7 rocks were above the ledge, then she flew towards the group and landed on her feet, with a thud. Chris and Serenity quickly rushed in and removed the harness from her body. Once they did that, they stood back and admired her new form.
Since Aurora was a Whippertail like Re, her Titan Wing was similar to his. Her tropical blue underbelly turned gainsboro gray. Her horizontally straight-ridged underbelly was now shaped like horizontally-stretched, upside-down V's. Every other ridge extended her new, grey scales up around her body, and just like her mate, stopped along his spine, forming incomplete circles. Her tail grew longer and a third of her tail was now covered in gainsboro gray scales. Her horns were longer and the membrane between her wings matched the color of her underbelly. Her forehead now had a small gray arc on her forehead. Under her eyes, there were 2 obtuse grey triangles, one for each eye. Unlike Re, her arc opened upward instead of downward.
Re rushed forward and nuzzled his mate.
"I know you had it in you, Aurora. Literally and figuratively speaking. I love you", Re spoke softly.
Aurora purred and nuzzled him back lovingly.
That night the dragons and vikings slept peacefully, knowing that tomorrow was going to be an eventful day. Tomorrow the Berkians and Draconians were going to leave the mountain-nest and go back to their old lives. Too bad, Gaozong was approaching the nest with his legion of Song troops marching behind him. Tomorrow was going to be an eventful day indeed!
Whoever can guess the song I used will get a free plate of the Thanksgiving meal my family and I prepared! Lol.