A/N-Okay peoples, this is the longest chapter! And I think many of you will find the answers you've been looking for below...

Onward!

Chapter 17

Battles of Legend

"We need to get to the sea stacks," Hiccup urged, glancing back and watching the sea serpent race through the trees below after them. For a creature of the ocean, and one with no legs at that, he sure was fast on land. In any case Hiccup knew he and Toothless weren't going to lose him, for sure, but they also weren't going to get any time to plan an attack or defense.

Hiccup sighed at that thought, chuckling darkly. No matter what he did, every plan they came up with eventually went haywire, and boiled down to the same thing: what will the next move be?

The duo arced out over the edge of the island, away from the cliffs and out over the ocean, turning to bear down on the sea stacks to the west. They loomed ahead, mazes of towering rock teetering precariously in every direction. Behind them, a serpent cutting through the waves and hell-bent on revenge, and ahead, the first place Hiccup almost died while flying Toothless.

Toothless barked up at his rider, nodding his head to indicate a very sharp turn coming up. Hiccup acknowledged, spurring the dragon onward. The rocks ahead looped in an odd manner, those experienced aware of a small hole that faced backward and would bring the pair behind the unaware serpent, who reached the rock maze just as the duo banked and sped into the turn, curving around the rocks and disappearing from sight for a moment's time. The serpent stopped, the area going silent as he glanced around, waiting for the pair to make their next move.

The snake spun around suddenly, catching the faint noise of flapping wings and turning just in time to spot Hiccup and Toothless coming in from behind, preparing to fire. He hissed angrily and whipped his tail up, the fin at the end spreading wide and exposing the spines at the edges.

"Whoa!" Hiccup yelled, holding tightly as Toothless banked out of the way just barely in time, the wind of the moving appendage nearly knocking them off balance anyway. The serpent's tail continued moving, crashing into a nearby pillar and sending a cascade of boulders crashing down around the demon. Toothless wasted no time, catching an air current and sailing into a nearby stand of rocks, disappearing once more from sight.

The sea serpent's eyes narrowed, a growl of anger rising in his throat. "Why keep hiding?" he hissed. "You can be cowards and run from the fight, but you'll have to come out and face me sooner or later!"

The snake's words made Hiccup stumble in his thoughts for a moment, forgetting the thing could talk, before shaking off the shock and grabbing Framherja. "Lots of big talk," he muttered, "let's see if your lightning tongue can stand a real bolt, you overgrown worm!"

Toothless swerved back around again, shooting upward, flying above the pillars as Hiccup aimed down through a gap at the sea serpent. The now familiar crackling beam of light formed on the weapon, and as Toothless flipped again to line himself up for a shot at the serpent's head, Hiccup fired.

The bolt lanced down toward the serpent, and he looked up just as it came down, impacting with an explosion that slammed the reptile into the sea stacks. Dazed by the hit, he barely jerked out of the way as another bolt drove itself into the rocks, sending shrapnel flying in every direction.

Toothless swept by and looped back upward, coming around and readying a fireball to match up with Hiccup's bow. However, in the time it took for them to line up for another shot, the serpent had shaken off the hit and was ready. As the duo dove again, the serpent's skin shimmered, energy racing downward. He swung his tail upward, drawing a wall of water with it and aiming the deluge right for the pair. Toothless screeched and swerved out of the way, avoiding the main attack, but did not miss entirely. Water came raining down across his tail, and the dragon screeched again in sudden pain.

That's when they realized what their opponent had done: as the liquid splashed across Toothless it instantly crystallized, freezing solid and locking Toothless' tail up, making it impossible for him to maneuver. He and Hiccup began to fall through the air, Hiccup barely hanging onto the saddle as Toothless desperately turned himself to try and aim for a nearby sea stack. They hit hard, Hiccup flying free and a shock of searing pain running through his shoulder as he scraped across the dirt. Toothless felt a similar agony race up from his tail, and when he stopped moving finally, he glanced back to see what had happened.

The sight nearly made the dragon faint. The ice had done its job far more than well enough; Toothless' right tailfin had frozen completely and cracked in half, a jagged cut through the center. Given a week or two there was the chance it would repair on its own once thawed, but for now Toothless was effectively grounded.

Toothless then turned to Hiccup, and roared in anxiety again. Hiccup's left arm was not moving, and as the boy slowly sat up it hung limply to the side. Hiccup winced in pain as he gingerly touched the limb.

"Toothless, I think…I think my arm is broken," Hiccup said quietly, fear building in his eyes as he took in the damage to the Night Fury's tailfin. Toothless carefully stood up and limped over to him, showing the extent of the damage when his tail came off the ground. Hiccup's eyes widened as he saw the back half of Toothless' fin hang limply, unmoving.

"So, we're stranded here," Hiccup groaned, "and I can't use Framherja." He winced again as he carefully reached down and slid out the sword that still hung from his side, the one with his name and the Fury emblem engraved on the blade. "I still have this, but we're in serious trouble bud," he said quietly, glancing at his companion before looking up to see the sea serpent looming above them once more, grinning in triumph.

I raced toward Jezebel, sword up and at the ready and my scales practically glowing with the power I was building up. Next to me I saw Ember beginning to glow similarly, licks of flame appearing as her feet melted the snow and incinerated the fallen leaves beneath and the occasional pine needle hit her fiery hair and vaporized. Focusing forward again I leapt upward as I neared the sorceress, bringing the sword down in a smooth arc, right on top of the circuit console in front of her.

CRRRASSSHHHHH! ZZZEEEWWWW!

I should have been expecting at least some sort of defense, but forgot to prepare for one, and so as the blade hit the barrier around Jezebel and her equipment, a shower of sparks and bolts of light exploded outward, catapulting me backward into the slush and leaving the sword in my hand blackened and smoking.

I stood up slowly again, and Jezebel calmly turned to face me, frowning as if disappointed and placing a hand on her side condescendingly. "Honestly, did you even stop to think if that would be so ridiculously easy?" she asked. I ignored the question and focused on the energy barrier rippling back to normal around her, the Skrill's abilities coming to play as I analyzed the power in the shield, and built up a charge to match and counter it as best I could. Then I drew back my hand, and slammed it into the field again while releasing my energy.

A new explosion ripped outward as the opposites came together, a brilliant greenish light racing in a great arc around Jezebel and completely shutting down the field. Without hesitating I swung the sword in my other hand upward, only to be parried by the sword of equal length that now appeared in Jezebel's grip.

"Well, at least it was easy enough to get to you," I snarked, pulling out a second sword and swinging both in from different angles. Jezebel stayed a step ahead as she too pulled out a sword, equaling me in number of weapons used but still managing to pull off the appearance of being bored stiff.

I spotted Ember coming in from behind with a sword she had taken claim to earlier, and attempted to divert all of Jezebel's attention to me. "I have to say I was not expecting you to have computers and electronic gear in use already," I drawled, swinging in and trying to get the sorceress to falter. She blocked me casually and replied. "Oh, just another special surprise for you. After all, I know where you come from, and I know things about this place you could not possibly imagine. And don't think I won't use every bit of that knowledge against you and your pathetic friends!"

I growled and whipped out the split Zippleback tail, grabbing the last two of my swords strapped to my back and bringing all four blades into action. Jezebel was not a bluff however, and brought in skill I had never seen before to push me further and further away from her equipment. Her costly oversight however was still Ember, and as I kept her busy Ember slipped in, heating up her blade and driving it straight through the center of the biggest circuit board available.

The crackling and sparks finally caught Jezebel's attention once more, and she glanced back to see Ember pulling the glowing blade up through the nearby computer screen and into the next bundle of wires. In a loud POP! the entire system suddenly shut down and began smoking impressively. Jezebel's eyes narrowed as she turned them back to me, swinging one sword toward Ember and reaching just far enough to make the girl leap back in shock, while with the other blade expertly spinning my weapons to the side, leaving my front open. Her blades came back together and with incredible speed she drove them toward my chest, a sickening black suddenly coloring their tips.

Automatically I raised a barrier field, unable to bring my swords up to block the attack, but that was a mistake. As the swords struck red sparks exploded outward, and a searing pain lanced through my chest, causing me to lose concentration and stumble backward. I doubled over, agony drilling straight through my center, and I looked down to see a poisonous black spreading across the front of my shirt and seeping in vein-like patterns into my skin. Then I glanced back up.

Jezebel sneered as she lazily turned around to face Ember, who was radiating heat intense enough to blacken the ground below her. "Looks like your friend will be busy for some time," the witch drawled, gesturing to me with one sword while casually spinning the other one as I strained to pour healing into the poison wound, "so why don't we make this easy and you just surrender now? I've only just begun here."

"I already managed to ruin your…whatever they are," Ember snapped back, gesturing her own blade to the computer consoles she'd melted. "Somehow I don't think those things work when they're split in two." "The word most people would be familiar with is computer," Jezebel returned, her tone indicating great boredom. "Honestly they weren't important; I only needed them to set up the first step."

I'd barely managed to stem the spread of the black when I happened to look up again and see Jezebel holding in her hand a small signal button. "This is now all I need to end this entire island," she said. "One wrong move and everyone here ends up as even less than ash. Don't think about trying to destroy it either, it has a failsafe that will activate the bombs if that happens."

"And what if you're still on the island when that happens?" Ember asked. "Any weapon can destroy its creator just as easily as its target." Jezebel laughed in response. "I can't be hurt by such a thing. Even a nuclear explosion can be held back by an energy field of sufficient strength. My men may die, but I will survive it all."

Ember glanced fearfully down at me, not seeing a way out so long as I was immobile, and I was; any movement at all and my chest exploded in fire. Through gritted teeth I managed to mutter, "Just don't…give…in to her!" Then I was forced to turn away and close my eyes, pouring every form of energy I could think of into the pulsing black on my front. Finally, it began to shrink away, but not quickly; I was going to be useless for several minutes more.

Meanwhile, the air continued to heat up as Ember burned even hotter, and I heard more crackling and popping as more of the nearby machinery melted. "End everything and there is no gain, Jezebel," Ember warned. "I will stand, here and now. You have had me and everyone I've ever cared about on the run for years; you took away my closest friend and turned him into a monster, and you threaten the very balance of two worlds. We will end this, now, and I'm a lot more than you ever knew." She swept up her sword, the metal glowing red, and sparks flew as it met the first of Jezebel's weapons.

The sea serpent lunged, mouth wide open, at Hiccup, who barely managed to leap out of the way, crying out at the pain the jolt sent through his arm before turning and weakly swinging the sword he held in his right hand. Naturally the serpent was well out of reach by the time the blade came down.

Hiccup's luck was running to the bottom of the barrel now, his being left-hand dominant and at the same time unable to use in any manner the weapon on his back, Framherja. He'd also been cut off from Toothless by the serpent's strike, both of them on opposite ends of the sea stack and the dragon forced further away by the unpredictably swinging tail of the ocean-goer. The serpent knew this, and was targeting the boy as well, as he was the easier target and if Hiccup was gone, everything else would start to fall apart.

As the demon struck down again, however, a powerful fireball to the side of the head knocked him away. Toothless couldn't get to Hiccup quickly, but even from well over a hundred feet away he had all the accuracy he needed. The serpent shook off the pain and whipped his head to face the Night Fury, snarled, and flicked his tail, the armored tip coming down hard.

"TOOTHLESS! NOO!" Hiccup screamed, but he couldn't do anything. Neither could Toothless, as the serpent's tailfin spread wide and blocked his escape, and the full force of the blow came straight down on top of him.

A resonating, sickening crack resounded, and a similar feeling ran through Hiccup. The teen dropped to his knees as the sea serpent's tail moved away, revealing Toothless completely unconscious and sporting not only a broken tail, but also a shattered wing, cracked ribs, and a forepaw bent at an unnatural angle.

The serpent glared disdainfully at the fallen dragon, before turning almost lazily back toward Hiccup, who was now torn between agony for his companion and rage at their foe. The boy pulled his sword up in a shaky hand but a strong grip, ready for one final strike. Without Toothless or Framherja to back him up, and the serpent learning their tricks far too quickly, he had no doubt it would soon be over. He stood up straight as he could, a single tear dropping from his left eye, as the serpent opened his mouth and lunged again.

A stream of fire so bright it was almost white lanced out of the air and raced across the serpent's neck, followed by a second stream of black liquid that hit the sea serpent's forehead and flowed down his back, hissing and bubbling as it contacted skin and scale. The serpent screamed in pain and fell backward, diving into the water in an attempt to wash off the acid. Hiccup watched on, dumbfounded, before finally thinking to look up to see what had saved him from such an untimely end.

The air rippled as something large flew through the air, cloaked but starting to fade into view. As it neared the sea stack, the figure finally blurred into focus: well over 50 feet in length, reminiscent of a Night Fury in shape, but with horns on the head and a pair of blades on the tail.

"Shadow Lord!" Hiccup gasped, stumbling back in shock and a new form of fear rising up. The dragon glared at him before closing its eyes and seeming to sigh. Then it glanced toward where the water continued to churn below them.

"Please, call me Orha," the dragon spoke, "and I sincerely apologize about our last encounter but I wasn't exactly in control of my own head. But we'll have to talk about that later, the serpent won't stay down there for long. Can you still hold on while flying, or will we have to figure something else out?"

Hiccup imitated a fish for a few moments, mouth opening and closing in shock, before his mind finally caught up to the situation and things began piecing together. "So you're… uh…that's…well, okay, never mind," he stuttered. "It's really not important right now is it?" Orha shook his head. "Important for later, but not now. And I will ask again: can you hold on or not?" Hiccup shrugged slightly. "Uh, maybe? My arm is not exactly in good shape, but I can try."

Orha nodded, and then knelt down. "Then let's find out. Get on; you and your friend need to get back to the main island if you're going to get through this." Hiccup nodded, still about five steps behind in his mind, but slowly walked up anyway and carefully hoisted himself up onto the Shadow Lord's-scratch that, Hiccup realized, Ember said they had a different name-the Shadowracer's back, just as the serpent started to resurface.

Orha turned and grabbed Toothless as carefully as he could, then carefully lifted off, taking all three of them out of the serpent's reach and back toward Berk's shores.

They reached the treeline, the Shadowracer diving into a dense thicket to escape detection for some time, and then Orha carefully laid Toothless on the ground. Hiccup slid off as soon as they settled, wincing again as his arm jolted from the landing. Toothless began to stir, his eyes flickering open, and after the pain registered his vision cleared, and the first thing he saw was the other dragon.

::Shadow Lord!:: he hissed, attempting to stand before the broken paw made itself known and causing Toothless to wince and fall back to the ground again. He settled on glaring at Orha. ::What on earth are you doing here again?!::

Orha sighed again, no doubt expecting this reaction. ::Calm yourself, Night Fury. As I told your rider I was not truly my own self the last time we met. Today I am here to help.::

::Yeah right,:: Toothless growled. ::Help get rid of us like the witch is.:: ::Look, we can argue all you want about me later,:: Orha barked, interrupting the next line Toothless had ready. ::The serpent is already back on his way over here,:: he gestured to the snapping of trees near the coast. ::You need to take Hiccup and hide until someone can help get you two back into fighting shape. I'll hold off the serpent as long as I can.::he larger dragon turned and took off once more, shimmering out of sight and leaving the pair speechless. A few moments later fierce roars and the sound of roiling fire and energy resonated across the forest.

Hiccup limped over to Toothless, finding among other things there was a bruise in his right leg making itself known. The dragon gave a short bark and nodded his head toward the thicker grove of trees just behind them, his thoughts clear. Hiccup shook his head fervently at the idea however. "Absolutely not. There is no way I am just going to leave you, bud," he replied, leaning to place his one good hand on the Night Fury's head. "Like everything else, we are getting through this together, one way or another. I do not care"-

The island shuddered underfoot as dozens of massive explosions went off in the waters and the hills all around them, cutting Hiccup off as he stumbled from the vibrations. A massive glow emanated suddenly from just to the west of the village, a beam of intensely white light arcing up and over the forest. Both Hiccup and Toothless only stared on, speechless, until a pair of beams split off from the main branch and pierced through the trees, driving straight into the duo.

Hiccup would never be able to describe the sensation that ran through him. His arm snapped into place suddenly and the pain of the bruise in his leg evaporated. He felt like he was glowing, pure energy coursing through every single cell in his body and making him feel like he would explode from the power. Then, the surge stopped, followed by a great shockwave of light high above the island, rippling across nearly the entire visible skyline and clearing the air of any low lying clouds. As it died, traces of auroras danced in its place.

Hiccup stood motionless for a moment before shaking his head and blinking a couple times, trying to return to earth as his lips remained wordless. Then he looked to Toothless, who now stood on all fours and was looking over himself as well, everything flawlessly repaired: no cracked tailfin, no broken legs or wings, not even traces of the scratches and cuts they had both gained in their uncontrolled landing earlier.

"What…was…that?!" Hiccup stuttered. Toothless only shrugged, no clue either, before he turned his head to look toward the coast. He and Hiccup could both hear the sounds of the fight with the serpent resuming, and Toothless snarled in anticipation. Hiccup got the hint, and after looking again at his fully healed arm, nodded in agreement. "Well, Toothless, shall we end this?"

As it was, Orha barely made a match for the serpent himself, his ability to cloak even from infrared allowing him to stay one step ahead. Then when the explosions went off, it was no longer a benefit. A light source that intense could illuminate anything, and his faint silhouette showed just long enough for the serpent to manage a lucky hit, knocking the Shadowracer senseless. Orha plowed through the trees near the shoreline, shaking his head clear afterward and turning just in time to fire off at the approaching demon, deflecting an attack and giving the dragon time to recuperate.

The serpent didn't waste much time however, circling the dragon and making any attempt at taking off dangerous at best. :: would have been better had you stayed by our side,::e hissed. Orha snarled back, ::was never with your side, you sickened worm!::he words struck home, and the serpent bared his fangs, rearing back and striking forward in a speed the cornered dragon could never avoid.

TSSSSEEEWWWW! BBOOOMMMM!

Twin explosions, one electrostatic and the other plasma fire, slammed into the demon, sending him skidding through the trees, dazed and scales smoking. Orha, knocked to the dirt as well by the shockwave, looked up in shock and spotted Hiccup atop Toothless and flying in fast. Having been around Jezebel's minions so long Orha immediately recognized the weapon in the teen's hand, but didn't have a chance to ask about it.

"Can you fly?" Hiccup asked hurriedly. Orha stood up shakily and spread his wings to check, before nodding. "Then go find my friends," Hiccup continued, "and help them with Jezebel. There's someone who really needs to see you again, and we can handle the worm from here." As if to prove his point, Hiccup drew Framherja and fired again, taking the still-dazed serpent by surprise and removing a patch of scales from his tailfin. Orha nodded in compliance and carefully took to the air, gliding toward where the beam of light had erupted from in hopes to find the sorceress there.

Ember's sword, heated up to a dangerous level, would have normally been enough to cleave through the sword Jezebel held, as the witch's was no more than tempered steel. Ember's blade, however, was not enchanted by dark magic. The possessed sword shifted to shades of black once more, like the poison Jezebel had sunk into me, and as the blades collided the black raced over the glowing metal Ember held, shutting down the heat and returning the sword to normal. It could not quite reach Ember's hands, the heat racing off her too much to overcome, but I could see her beginning to weaken, the drain from trying to stay alight immense.

I still battled with removing the black pain in my chest however. With the last of my remaining energy reserves I forced the spreading shade to a single pinpoint, and in an agonizing move I grew out claws and tore the afflicted skin away, burning the cursed flesh and then slowly healing the hole that was left behind.

Slowly, weakly, I stood up, but I didn't have the energy to enter a fight with someone as skilled as Jezebel. She still seemed almost bored as she pushed Ember further and further back, against the fractured computers that began to sizzle as Ember's skin pressed against them once more. Worse, I was reminded by the circuits of the bombs that had been planted, and I knew there was no way Jezebel hid them all where the other riders would find them. I needed to figure out what I would do if she set them off, or if they were set on a timer. A single bomb would level Berk, but there was more than one, and each would be hard to contain, releasing a cocktail of heat, nuclear and radioactive energy. Given a physical link to that energy source there was the possibility that-

A light blinked on in my head, and I grinned. Skrills could detect even faint levels of electricity; Lightning Blazers could tap into any energy even from a distance. If Jezebel set the explosives off, no longer would it benefit her. As I drew my sword up again and gained the sorceress's attention once more, I expanded that sixth sense of the lightning dragons, tapping into every source of non-living electricity I could feel within a five-mile radius. If anything went off, it would feed directly to me.

I came around the side and faced Jezebel directly, swinging my sword in toward her head. With one hand pushing Ember down, her other swung the second sword up to block my attack. Immediately I reacted, a bladed tail whipping outward and whistling toward the signal button she had placed on the belt at her waist.

The tail blades connected, but with the leather of Jezebel's belt and not the device. In my exhausted state I had missed, and more or less stabbed her shallowly in the side. The sudden move did distract her slightly, allowing Ember to throw a punch to her arm and remove the threat of the sword above her, the girl following through by rolling away and catching Jezebel's blade again, twisting it away. Both the sword in my hand and my armored tail then came together around Jezebel's second sword, locking it in place and keeping her from pulling it away. Then, I grabbed the other sword I had dropped nearby, leveling it at Jezebel's head as Ember did the same with hers.

"You lose Jezebel," I said breathlessly. Jezebel stopped for a moment in mild surprise, before smiling and reaching down with her free hand, pressing the button.

Her smile faltered when my own grin spread across my face. As soon as that button was pushed the connections I had sent out came alive, the dozens of explosions rocking the ground under our feet. Energy coalesced and I first felt, then saw the many rivers of light racing my way, fed by power this earth had never seen before.

They hit like a freight train, pure energy waves slamming into me with a physical force. I felt my self practically burning through, the energy filling every cell in my body to bursting and escaping off me in waves of light so strong I could see through everything around me, even through my own skin and muscle. But this was the power of dozens of billions-of-watts bombs, and there was no way I could contain it all myself. Once more I reached out, trying to link to everyone I could think of, and following those links smaller rivulets of light raced out, carrying with them the converted healing and rejuvenating energy I was turning the explosions into and strengthening every friend and ally I had.

Even then, the power still coursed into and around me, and I felt as if I was running a million miles a second in place. Even after I had brought everyone in Berk back to full power it had barely dented the flow, and if I held it all I would vaporize.

With a loud yell and one last heave of mental force, I diverted everything else into one massive beam, which cut through the air straight upward and gathered high above our heads, a glowing sphere flashing and pulsing for a few seconds before giving way to a silent explosion, a wave of light, sparks and auroras pulsing outward and clearing the thick layer of low clouds, warm rain falling as a result while the dying wisps of energy danced like fireflies above.

I turned my head slowly to look at Jezebel once more, feeling as if the wind had been knocked clean out of me yet at the same time more awake and jazzed than I had ever been. "Well, I'm not sure if I should thank or curse you," I drawled. "After this I'm not going to be able to sleep for a week!"

Jezebel gave her version of a snarl, clearly infuriated at having been cheated out of so easy a victory, and let go of the sword I still held in place, whipping out a pair of long daggers instead. She spun them in hand and speared one my way, the other straight toward Ember's head. Ember was ready at least, having already had her sword in hand, but I had to jump back and release my grip on the sorceress's sword as the second blade swept my way. Once clear, I whipped out all four of my swords again, grabbing the ones I had dropped and spinning the ones already in hand, whirling them fast enough to create a small windstorm and swinging them all toward the witch.

Fueled by anger and hundreds of years of practice, somehow Jezebel kept up the dance of death with both Ember and I and held her own. In a deft move she rolled below the fury of blades, sheathing the daggers and scooping up her swords again, before releasing a battery of miniature barrier fields, invisible waves of force, and other tricks that forced our hands away or diverted attacks. A minute later, one force field fired and flung Ember's blade to the side, making her miss a step and allowing Jezebel to swing the flat of her blade in, knocking the fiery teen to the ground. She would have run Ember through as well had I not caught the leather guard on her arm with my own blade, slicing just deep enough to graze skin. We were not going to win this battle simply by attrition, and Jezebel knew it.

"800 years I have behind me to draw experience from," she taunted, "with all the powers I need to end this island anyway once I am through with you two. What do you have left to work with?" I scowled, signaling Ember to back off for a moment as I sheathed my swords.

"When will it be learned that all the powers of evil never triumph in the end?" I volleyed back. "I have the power of God to back me up, and the gifts he gives his people can be a lot to take in." In a flash, I morphed, and immediately after dissolved into a black cloud, melting away into the shadows that surrounded us.

Jezebel cocked an eyebrow. "So you can disappear, hide away from view. Is that all?" She smirked and looked at Ember. "And you leave the girl of fire to finally die as she was supposed to have years ago! What a pity." She turned to sweep her sword into Ember again, and suddenly found she couldn't take another step forward.

Ropes of vantablack, formed of solidified shadows and dark matter, erupted from the ground, wrapping around Jezebel's legs and binding her to the earth, and quickly whipping upward to try and pin her arms as well.

"After 800 years I would think you'd see something else coming, Jezebel," I drawled, my disembodied voice echoing all around the clearing. "It's not just disappearing; I can control elements most people will never know exist." More of the anthracite tendrils erupted, entangling the sorceress's swords and ripping them from her grasp, before wrenching her arms around behind her back. Then I reached up through them and tightened a hold on her neck, slowly squeezing as my head materialized in front of her.

"You have threatened the lives of thousands of innocents, you play the games of the devil's hand, and laugh about it like it's a funny prank," I growled. "What keeps me from breaking your neck here and now?"

Jezebel glanced wildly around at the unearthly bounds that held her, and finally after all this time the slightest spark of fear ignited in her eyes. Something else flashed too, giving her confidence enough to speak. "You kill me, and you get rid of your fellow guardians," she countered, meeting my eyes.

I halted completely for a moment, not letting go but not squeezing any tighter, and looked at Ember for some explanation. For a moment she was lost, before something caught her eye, and she gestured with her sword toward Jezebel's neck. A thin, silvery chain hung down beneath her outer layer of clothing. I extended a tendril and pulled it out, taking in a gasp of surprise when I did.

Dangling on the end of the chain, embedded in a facet clearly made for its purpose, was the amulet Ember had told us about. Something struck me as suspicious however; surely the witch didn't wear it all the time?

"If I just take it off you, then what happens?" I hissed. Jezebel smirked. "Nothing. But if you kill me, the jewel dies as well, along with that pathetic family that so dearly wished to protect this forsaken world. And don't bother trying to destroy it either; the only thing that unlocks that amulet, the only thing that could destroy it disappeared along with them." Jezebel was starting to sound almost gleeful now.

I tightened my grip again. "What weapon?" I hissed. "Why would I tell you?" Jezebel countered, clearly knowing she had an advantage here.

"You don't have to," Ember suddenly spoke up. "Mjollnir created the amulet; it could destroy it." She looked at me, realization sparking in her eyes, and suddenly it started to piece together for me as well. I was stuck for a moment; the memory of Ember's discussion when she first arrived came to mind, of just who the guardians were that had been trapped. If the only weapon that could destroy the amulet was trapped as well, then we were at a complete loss. There was no-

In my moment of indecision, Jezebel took her chance. With inhuman power she wrenched her arms from my grip and grabbed the shadow rope wrapped around her neck. A power not of this world raced through her and she pulled the bind away, and at the same time somehow ripped me out of my domain of shadows and back into the physical world.

The move was unprecedented, and I was too shocked to react. Instead of melting back into ethereal form I plowed into the dirt and dug a trench through the rock and snow behind me. Dazed for a moment, I stood up and shook it off, turning to face the sorceress and expecting to be hit with a bolt of some new black magic or find a sword flying through the air.

Instead, I turned just in time to see a new blast of fire stream from thin air, knocking Jezebel on her back before an unseen force swept her into the tangled remains of her computers, leaving Jezebel dazed as well.

I looked up, trying to find the figure responsible, and watched as a massive black dragon materialized above us, touching down and making eye contact first with me, and then Ember. I realized then that I knew this dragon as well.

"C-Cain?" I sputtered. The dragon groaned and shook his head. "That was never my name," he muttered. "It's really"-

"Orha!" Ember screamed, running forward as the realization dawned on her and wrapping her arms around the dragon's neck. Then, my words registered and she glanced back at me with an odd expression. "Where did you learn that horrid name?" she queried.

"We met under, uh, some rather unpleasant circumstances before," I explained. "And this whole fiasco really explains that one. I'm assuming that background he spread was while he was still under the witch's influence."

The dragon-Orha, I guess I should really call him-nodded. "Yes, but we can talk later. We need to finish this now, or we won't get the chance to have a 'later'." I nodded in agreement and turned to face Jezebel, who had just gotten back on her feet. Unfortunately…

"Look out!" I yelled. We all dove out of the way as a massive fireball exploded against the ground we once stood on, and I only barely moved in time once more as Jezebel conjured up another one and fired it straight at me. It burned harmlessly against a patch of remaining snow, but Jezebel was only just warming up. In the air surrounding her, sparks and beams of energy began to dance, coalescing in front of her hands. She pointed at me, and two of the beams lanced outward, driving into the ground as I leapt up and scarring the very soil below.

Orha snarled and came in from behind, trying to catch Jezebel by surprise, and fired point blank, but the swirling energy concentrated at the point of contact and lobbed the searing flames back into his face. He screeched and backpedaled, moving further away as electric whips lanced toward him as well.

"One way or another I will win, as I already told you," Jezebel said. "I may not be able to fight all of you at the same time, but you cannot attack me either. A game of attrition, one by one you will fall; it's only a matter of time." She grinned wickedly and raised both her hands. The energy swirled around them, and twin beams shot outward, curling around each other and aiming once more for me, the tips turning that sickly black once more.

I shot upward barely in time, the beams flying past, before the tips turned and followed, far faster than I was moving. I reacted, morphing Lightning Blazer and melting into pure electricity myself and taking off around the clearing at full speed.

Time is a fickle element at high speeds. The world around me appeared to slow, my form moving faster than any eye could track and everything else looking like it was stuck in molasses. The power Jezebel wielded could not move faster than pure electricity, but unfortunately, as energy itself it could match. I turned to see the twin spears still trailing me, tips no longer black as simply maintaining the speed was too much of an energy drain, but I wasn't gaining anything either.

That left me with one choice: still powering in a circle around the clearing, I built up a counter field to the lances behind, and stopped dead, spinning to face the beams.

We collided, and my field exploded on contact, shattering and throwing me backward, my form slamming into a small tree as I melted back physical. The beams also disintegrated as well, blowing apart all the way back to their source at the outstretched hands of the sorceress. The sudden force ripped open a hole in the swirling field around Jezebel, and while it quickly sealed, it was a start.

Jezebel saw me stop, and lashed out her hand again, a new lance cutting through the air. The tip stayed white, as the black poison appeared to use a great deal of energy to conjure, but this time it caught me off guard, striking me across the shoulder as I ducked out of the way. The pain was powerful, like a hot wire searing through my upper wing, and it distracted me just long enough for Jezebel to focus on Orha, who had taken the time to reorient himself and was diving down at her from above.

The energy field extended upward and flattened like a giant flyswatter, slamming into Orha and sending him crashing to the dirt. I healed my wing by that point and was up and running again toward Jezebel, only to be thrown back, sparks flying, by the barrier once more. Jezebel smirked and lifted her arms, the energy extending to mirror her, and then she slammed her arms down. The field crashed down like a sledgehammer, and I rolled out of the way as it hit the ground, making the earth jump and throwing up dirt and dust into the air, sparks flying.

I stumbled to my feet and morphed human again, shaking my head in dismay. The sorceress had something to match or overtake just about every trick I had up my own sleeves, and so long as she covered her back with some sort of barrier Ember was made useless and Orha and I would never beat her at this rate. Jezebel had the upper hand, and the luxury of being able to focus on one threat at a time when necessary, unless something took out the field.

There lay another problem: as charged as I was now, without some new source of energy like lightning or another bomb, I couldn't channel enough power to short out the field without the result being akin to another bomb itself, one I wouldn't be able to react in time to stop. And Jezebel had made sure I couldn't tap into her field itself. There had to be another key-

A crack of thunder, followed by the sound of an explosion echoed over my head, and Jezebel and her barrier field were shoved halfway across the meadow, sparks of electricity flying in response. I looked up to find Hiccup and Toothless flying in, Hiccup drawing Framherja's string back for another shot.

"Need a little help?" he called down almost jokingly. I smiled and replied, "More than a little, I'll admit." I glanced at Jezebel, who was once more staggering to her feet, dazed despite the protective field around her. "What happened to the serpent?"

"Let's just say he's out of the action, and won't be coming back any time soon," Hiccup replied. I nodded, and stood back as the duo landed. Hiccup drew his bow back fully and took aim as he leapt off Toothless, firing at Jezebel who barely managed to duck before the bolt hit the force field again. Another explosion went off, and this time, the energy swirling around Jezebel wavered and took more than a couple seconds to replace itself.

Jezebel noticed the same thing, and she looked up, her eyes widening first in shock, and then in fear. I looked at Hiccup, and then at Framherja, and at that point the realization hit me.

The weapon that formed the amulet was trapped, and so could not be used to destroy Jezebel's necklace, but there was a second option. Framherja was built using Mjollnir, and she wielded the same power, the same key.

"That's it!" I exclaimed loudly, causing Hiccup to jump and look at me in confusion. "What?" "The key, the key to beating Jezebel!" I started to explain. "Your bow is the key! The amulet was made by the weapon that shares power with Framherja, so it can be broken with the same power! You have to shoot the amulet!"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, taking a moment as Ember and Orha took up the job of distracting Jezebel with their firepower. "That's easier said than done Hawken," he deadpanned. I shrugged. "All you need is the right distraction. Toothless, get to the other side of the clearing, wait for my signal." ::On it,:: the Fury said, taking off and gliding around the edge of the clearing, while I sent a signal to Ember as well, who passed the message to Orha.

Jezebel was on her feet and focused on the two of them, so I lobbed a stream of fire in her direction, focusing her on us. She responded by concentrating the energy around her again, firing spheres of explosive light in our direction and forcing Hiccup and I to dive out of the way. I rolled to my feet first and released a cloud of Mist Dragon fire, obscuring the sorceress's view, before sending signals to Toothless and Orha, who leapt up and fired on Jezebel, drawing her attention to them next. Ember jumped in, loading her arrows and setting the tips alight as she fired, dividing Jezebel's attention between three different targets. It wasn't going to be perfect, but with enough power stretched thin, with those three and I firing in unpredictable sequences, we drew on Jezebel's strength, waiting, watching until…

Until her field fell just far enough, and I could see the amulet catch the light when Jezebel turned back toward Hiccup and I, unaware how low her power was at that moment. I gave a slight nod to Hiccup, who in one clean move drew up Framherja, aimed, and fired.

The bolt did not hit dead on, but it was close enough. A brilliant outburst of almost chartreuse green light erupted outward, and what remained of Jezebel's field vaporized, along with a small portion of the collar of her robe. Through the light I saw the amulet shatter, the pieces dissolving into smoke, and …something rippled through the air, racing outward and vanishing from sight amongst the backdrop of trees and snow around us. Then, the meadow cleared, and a dead silence overtook the scene.

Jezebel reached up and felt around her neck, discovering what was now quite apparent: the amulet was gone, along with the inset and a good portion of the chain that once held it. She whipped around and glared at Hiccup, eyes burning. "What have you done?!" she screamed, vibrating with rage. Hiccup gave a look in my direction, and I pulled out my swords as a cue. He mirrored with Framherja, aiming back at Jezebel and on defense. Then, he pulled something that was completely his style.

"What did I do? I got rid of that ugly stone you were wearing," he replied. "Honestly Jezebel, green really isn't your color."

Jezebel gave out a murderous yell and pulled out a sword again, pointing it first at Ember, who flew backward as an unseen force hit her and plowed through the dirt, and then the blade aimed toward Orha, who was readying a fireball but instead found himself mirroring what happened to Ember. Then Jezebel turned toward Hiccup and I again, angry red flashing in the trails of energy and light that began dancing along her fingers. Toothless gave a screech and came at her from behind, only to be flipped over and dropped to the ground, hard.

I charged up a lightning bolt at the same time as Hiccup fired, but Jezebel's sword flashed and the attacks ricocheted, taking out a nearby pine tree. Then the sorceress waved her hand toward both of us.

Hiccup yelped as something hit both of us, hard, and he went skidding back as I dug my feet firmly into the ground. I threw up my own force field over both of us, before whatever force Jezebel was using cracked it like glass. Suddenly she was an arm's length away, rearing back and landing a punch directly to my nose, a blow far stronger than it should have been. The phrase "seeing stars" suddenly made sense as I flew back, pain exploding from my face and back as I hit ground.

The others incapacitated as they were, and me suddenly too out of it to make sense of anything and fight back, I looked up weakly as the hazy image of Jezebel appeared. She grinned, spun her sword, and drove the point down like lightning.

A/N-Alright, I know I'm terrible, leaving you all at such a cliffhanger. Better stick around to see what happens next!

Hopefully, several questions you all have asked, as well as some of your predictions cleared. This was the longest chapter of the book, things will wind down from here, but there are some very important details yet to come. Stay tuned!

And as always, don't forget to leave a review, and leave predictions!