Banished, Chapter 2, Get lost

[Autumn, year one]

Hiccup pressed himself against the saddle, he was glad it was cloudy, since it wouldn't cool down as quickly during the night. The wind struck his face hard, causing his hair to fly around aimlessly. He was glad he at least had his fur vest, since it would otherwise be really cold in so high in the sky.

His heart was racing, beating quick and fast. He could feel it in his throat, and Toothless could too, he looked behind him, checking on his rider. The animal could feel his rider's distress. He could feel the stress and tension in him.

But the dragon could also feel a calmness in his rider, a peace he hadn't felt with him before. A weight that had been lifted of his shoulders, and so also didn't weight the dragon himself down anymore. It was a peace he gratefully accepted.

They flew through the air, the wind blowing against the two. Toothless calmly switched between flying and gliding, keeping a level flight. They calmly flew through the sky. Hiccup looked behind them, seeing Berk in the distance, they were raising the torches, illuminating the village against the night sky. They probably believed that the attack on the bridge was part of a larger dragon attack, they'd be relieved to find out it wasn't.

Hiccup sighed as he looked at the town, it felt strange to see it shrink on the horizon. To see the great hall become just a small mountain in the distance, and to see Berk's tall and powerful cliffs become tiny and distant. He was leaving behind almost everything, but in doing so, hopefully saving himself.

It had been a hectic day, and the young boy's body was getting tired. When he looked above he could see the stars in the sky. The moon illuminating them as they flew. His hands grabbed tighter on the saddle, keeping himself upright on the back of the large black dragon. He yawned softly, Toothless making an inaudible noise.

"Easy bud." Hiccup said as he lay down, reached to the side of the dragon to scratch it a bit. "We're not going back there, never." He said, not sure if he was trying to convince the dragon or himself.

The dragon warbled calmly, before shutting up quickly. A soft buzzing caught his ears, slowly growing louder. A heavy fog grew into his mind, something oppressing his thoughts, his free will. His eyes turned to slits, his breathing getting irrattic. He felt trapped, trapped in his own mind, his own body. The feeling was still so familiar, it felt so safe. But he knew that it was dangerous.

He shook his head, trying to stop it. The buzz faded out for a second, before returning louder than ever. "What's wrong bud?" The dragon could hear his rider ask, softly overpowering the buzzing. It was like he was falling asleep. His sight was getting worse, his senses sharpened but dazed at the same time.

Hiccup looked at the dragon underneath him, something strange was happening. His feet were starting to kick randomly into the air. His head shaking, like it was trying to shake off water after a dive. Hiccup looked at the dragon worried, noticing how his ears rose, did it hear or sense danger?

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked softly, but quickly silenced himself and lay down on the back of his dragon as he heard the beating of more wings besides him. He looked between his waving hairs, trying to identify the creature that had joined them on their flight.

A Monstrous Nightmare, one of the deadliest and dangerous dragons that you'd find on Berk. He'd seen his father battle a fair share of them. But it wasn't uncommon for Vikings to team up to take them down, or to run away all together. He lay low on Toothless, looking at the large dragon that flew besides them.

The creature had an impressive wingspan, not as large as Toothless, but the wings were still large, and probably very powerful. He observed the dragon with wide eyes, noticing that it held a helpless sheep in its talons below him. The sheep seemed to be still alive, kicking its legs into the air, trying to run away from the grasp of the dragon, a futile attempt

Hiccup could hear and feel his heart beating faster as he saw more dragons appear behind them. To their left was a Zippleback, his breath caught in his throat as one of the heads looked at him. The Zippleback, although not as tough as some other dragons they knew, was still very dangerous, especially because of its illusive and cunning nature. The head that looked at him was apparently the gas-spitting head, since it left a trail of green gas in the air, seeping form the corner of its mouth.

More dragons joined them, all sizes and shapes. There were Nadders, Zipplebacks, Gronckles, and Hiccup even though he saw more Monstrous Nightmares. The air starting getting a different scent too, that of dragons and smoke. A mix of a musky dragon scent and the heavy air of smoke and burnt wood.

He quickly realised that the smoke wasn't a scent the dragons brought with them, his eyes slowly started to get watery, so it wasn't just a scent, it was actual smoke around them. He slowly looked around, not wanting to startle the other dragons, since they seemed fairly wild. They all carried something with them. Still struggling sheep, nets of fish or racks of drying meat. Food of all shapes and sizes.

"They're hauling in their kill." Hiccup whispered to himself, which got him thinking about his own position. Did Toothless see him as a dragon too? And was he bringing him to the feeding place of all dragons so they could eat? Or was he the food instead.

His thoughts got cut off when Toothless made a sharp dive. Hiccup instinctively responded, flicking his foot to adjust the tailfin. They dove towards the sea, shrouded in a large cloud of fog and smoke. Hiccup waited for Toothless to start pulling up, so he could switch the tailfin accordingly. He didn't know where the Night Fury was bringing him, but he would probably rather be there then in the freezing waters below them.

They levelled out, and now had the task of dodging a maze of sea stacks. Hiccup was lucky they had done that once before during a test flight, but it was still tricky, especially with the mist that surrounded them. He could hear the beating of wings around him as more dragons followed, a large stream of dragons flying between the sea stacks.

Hiccup was too busy with navigating to notice the change of scenery, but the large steam entered a cave. The smoke smell got more intense, but his eyes didn't sting, the fog also cleared more as they delved deeper into it. Toothless calmly guided them through, allowing Hiccup to focus on the surroundings again, the cave was dimly lit, and very warm. It had already been getting cold quickly outside, but now he felt like he was standing in a house, right next to the fire pit.

The heat was surprising, but Hiccup stopped thinking about it as he saw a light at the end of their tunnel, something that surprised him greatly. He pressed himself harder against Toothless, making sure that his posture was as small as possible. They exited the tunnel, and entered a large open area, the heat was almost unbearable in there, and Hiccup felt like he was being roasted alive. He looked down, his eyes almost blinded by the sharp glow from the bottom of the pit. They were in a volcano, they were inside the dragons' nest. Hiccup looked around in awe as he saw hundreds and hundreds of dragons. All flying over the foggy pit, dropping their catch into it.

"Well, that's where our food goes." Hiccup silently muttered from the back of Toothless. The Night Fury wasn't paying attention to him, he was looking for a good spot to land for a bit, since he didn't want to fly over the pit for too long. They landed on a small outcropping, and Hiccup welcomed the slightly less unbearable heat that hung there.

He watched as more and more dragons came out the different openings, all dropping nets of fish and whole sheep into the pit. There was enough food to feed Berk for the entire winter, and perhaps even a few more winters to come. Hiccup looked in awe, food hadn't been incredibly scarce. He had only experienced a few winters where food had been a problem. But as the sun of the chief he usually had little worries about his appetite.

Toothless looked over the edge of the pit with worry. He knew what lived down in the depths of the volcano, and he knew the evil of its ways. He pressed his ears flat against his back, making sure he would be able to scoot back if he saw the evil dragon coming up.

Hiccup looked as even more dragons dropped their food into the volcano, he wondered if there was perhaps a platform down there to store the food, or some kind of other thing they were dropping it on. It wouldn't make sense for them to all be dropping it into the volcano for the fun of it.

He watched as the stream slowly died down, most dragons having dropped their catch and searching for a place to settle in the warm caverns. Hiccup noticed that his hair was getting damp from the sweat, he didn't want to stay in the volcano much longer, but curiosity was forcing him too. At the end of the stream came a lonesome Gronckle, who calmly hovered towards the centre of the open cavern. Hiccup looked as the Gronckle regurgitated a fish, the slippery creature calmly sliding off the dragon's tongue and falling down into the pit. The Gronckle then proceeded to scratch himself, content with its contribution to the raid.

Hiccup looked at it, if every dragon took one fish they wouldn't have so much problems, they could just give it to them and it be fine. They would be no fighting, no battling, and no killing. Perhaps they couldn't live in harmony together, but at least in peace alone.

But those hopes were shattered when a deep and long roar came from the bottom of the pit. The sound strong enough to cause the walls of the cave to vibrate. Hiccup pressed his back further against Toothless, waiting for something to happen anxiously. He looked at the Gronckle, which had frozen in mid-air. The large boulder-class dragon seemed to be waiting for something too, but nothing happened. The dragon seemed relieved, and was about to fly off again.

But then a large, no, gigantic dragon emerges from the glowing pool down below. The large green dragon lunged upwards. Hiccup recoiled in fear, this dragon had the size of Berk's great hall. It was almost a mountain itself. The large dragon open its large mouth, and Hiccup could clearly see how the large mouth snapped shut around the Gronckle. The teeth snapped together, and Hiccup was certain that no one would ever see that Gronckle again.

The large dragon fell back down calmly, but stopped with its head above the lit-up clouds that hung in the bottom of the nest. With its keen eyes, it spotted the rider and his dragon. Mistaking Hiccup for food that hadn't been given to him. Hiccup found himself looking straight into the large eye of the dragon. He felt a lump in his throat, and a certain desire to be anywhere else.

"Toothless," He began softly, hoping that the large monster in the middle of the nest wouldn't be alarmed by soft chatter. "We got to get out of here." The Night Fury agreed with him, and he quickly lunged from its location on the rock as the large dragon attacked.

The beast leaped forward again, using its large claws to dig into the rock besides him. It alerted the entire nest, and all the dragon that had been roosting or resting quickly took to the skies, flying off towards the quickest possible way out. Causing them all to spiral as they left through the top of the volcano.

Hiccup suddenly found himself engulfed by dragons, but he was too busy to notice. His mind was set on getting out of there. Beneath them the large beast attacked again, and he could hear the large jaws of the monster snapping shut. Luckily, it wasn't around them. Instead, the large monster had grabbed a poor Zippleback, and had accepted this snack as an acceptable trade for the disobedient dragon.

Toothless quickly flew over the lip of the volcano, heading down the mountain to look for a safe place to land, as did many dragons. Most of the flock was still exhausted after their raid, and they probably wouldn't reach any other islands without resting. Toothless slowed down as they neared the fog that surrounded the island again.

Hiccup looked around him as they slowed them descend. His heart was racing from the encounter with the large dragon. Behind him he could recognise the rocky sides of the volcano. It was sharp, jagged rock, which looked very uninviting. The entire island was probably like that, he assumed. Hard, ragged and jagged, and overall uninviting.

Toothless landed, and Hiccup was surprised to not hear the sound of shifting rocks underneath Toothless' paws. He slid off the back of the dragon, his feet landing in soft grass. He was confused. He hadn't expected fresh, lush green grass on this island. Let alone directly next to the foot of the volcano.

The grassy field was however still covered in fog and smoke from the volcano. And Hiccup wasn't planning on staying so close to the volcano. He started to think. The only nearby island that he knew of was Berk, and he didn't fancy his chances returning. He couldn't know what Astrid had done after he left. Perhaps she sounded alarm or spotted him leaving. He simply couldn't risk it.

He could fly off towards the sea, perhaps finding a calmer, peaceful island without any giant hall-sized dragons living on it. But there was also the chance that wherever he went he'd find nothing, and Toothless was probably already a bit exhausted from the little escape from the nest.

Hiccup sighed. He really didn't feel like staying on the island, but he feared he had no safer options. He turned to Toothless, petting the Night Fury on its snout. "Good job there bud." Hiccup said as he patted the dragon. "You got us out safely."

The Night Fury warbled some inaudible noises, it's large gummy mouth forming a soft smile afterwards. Hiccup smiled back. Wherever he went, he wouldn't be alone. "What do you say we stay here for the night?" He asked the dragon. The dragon looked at the boy for a second, before looking off around him. The fog was thick, thick enough that Hiccup could only see a few steps in front of him. It would be dangerous to run around on the island, since a tree, rock wall or, even more dangerous, a cliff, could hide behind the fog.

He felt a warm breath in his back. Toothless was looking at the young boy, wondering if they were going to fly more or if they were going to rest here, on the perhaps forgiving island. Hiccup didn't like the idea of staying so close to the giant dragon. But it staying here was probably smarter than trying their luck on another island.

The village was in a state of panic by the time Stoick stepped outside. He had heard the faint yelling of watchmen and other townsfolk. He looked off into the dark night, seeing the clouds of smoke rise from the arena, something was wrong.

He hurried down the path towards the square, yelling to anyone he found outside to follow. If the dragons were loose they'd need a couple of good men to wrestle them down again. A handful of strong warriors followed him, but when they reached the bridge they all stopped dead in their track.

That sound.

That ear-piercing, all too familiar sound, coming right towards them. People were scanning the skies in vain, and it didn't take long for the sound to grow louder and the first Viking to break under the pressure.

"Night Fury!" Hoark yelled. "Get down!"

The group did just that, shielding themselves with their hands or their shields. But the beasts weren't aiming for them. In fact, it was aiming for the large wooden bridge ahead of them. Separating the island from the arena. Before they realised what was happening they saw a bright white flash, before the wooden bridge was engulfed with flames. Pieces of wood and splinters flying over the heads of the ducking Vikings.

When the smoke cleared and Stoick inspected the bridge he was far from pleased. The damage was worse than he expected. Both ends were no longer connected, a hole between the two smouldering ends. It would take a while to repair this, and with winter coming they couldn't spare the wood.

The crackle of embers was all that he heard beside the villagers softly muttering behind him. No beating wings, no rushing winds, nothing. The beasts had left.

"Gods, I've never seen them act so coordinated before." A Viking muttered behind him.

"At least it didn't go after the catapults." Another said.

"Alright!" Stoick said loudly as he turned around. "The beasts have left." He added as he saw a small blond figure running towards them from the edge of the woods. "Someone clean this mess up." He added finally as the crowd started to disperse.

"Ay lass, you're late to the party." Stoick said calmly. He liked Astrid, the fierce little girl. If only she could rub off on Hiccup a bit more. Perhaps he'd take some habits over from her. But as Astrid got closer he noticed how battered she looked.

Her eyes were red, and she was covered with scratched. She was out of breath, and had trouble speaking calmly. "Chief!" She called. "Chief, it's h-hiccup."

The chief sighed inwardly. Not willing to show his irritation just yet. "What did the lad do this time?" He asked calmly.

"No, it's not" Astrid began, unsure of how to say what she saw to the chief of their tribe. She was choking on her words. "A-a dragon, in- in the forest." It was all crashing down, the dragon that took Hiccup, the nerves of having to tell the chief the fate of his son.

"Calm down Astrid." Stoick said calmly. "What happened?"

"A d-dragon." Astrid said, still out of breath. "It, it took him."

"It took what?" Stoick tried to correct her. A feeling of dread growing in the back of his mind.

"No, no it took him." Astrid repeated. "It took Hiccup!"

Gobber was also late to the fight, having first visited the smithy to make sure everything was in order. Afterwards he headed down towards the bridge to see what all the fuss was about, and he arrived just in time to see Astrid talking to the chief.

Gobber was surprised. The girl looked to be in distraught. Why, he couldn't begin to fathom. Astrid was always such a confident, aspiring young lass. But now she looked like she'd seen a ghost riding a dragon.

But that wasn't what surprised the old smith the most. As he approached he could see Stoick slowly standing up. The axe he held in his hand falling to the ground, the sharp blade of it only missing his foot by a little bit.

"Stoick?" Gobber asked confused. Not sure what the Astrid had told the chief to make him react in such a way. The chief turned to him, his eyes wide and his mouth half ajar.

"Hiccup." He softly said.

Before Gobber could respond Stoick ran off. He grabbed the torch out of the hands of a watchmen and ran towards the woods. Gobber looked at Astrid, and both quickly followed the chief.

Stoick passed Spitelout on the way. "Get a search party ready!" He barked to his brother, before running off into the forest. The woods were dark during the night, even dangerous. So naturally, all Vikings who did travel in them at night were careful, moving slowly and silently, except for Stoick, Astrid and Gobber

"Chief, wait!" Astrid yelled as she followed the large and bulky chief through the woods. Any other day she would have been surprised at the speed the chief was putting up with, but her own mind was racing too much. Alongside her Gobber was trying to keep up with them, a mace-like prosthetic attacked to his missing limb. Astrid watched as the chief ran through the dark forest. No regards for his own safety, they followed the light of his torch.

After a while he stopped. Catching his breath and looking around him, pacing aimlessly. "Hiccup!" He yelled, waiting for a response. "Hiccup?" He yelled again, almost like a question.

"Stoick?" Gobber asked as he walked up to him, also out of breath. "What's happening, what are we doing here?"

"Which way?" Stoick asked, the question aimed at Astrid. The woods were treacherous, and he had tripped a couple of times. Astrid walked up, nervously. She was still shocked from the moment she had told the chief what happened.

Gobber joined them too. "Okay, hold up, explain." He said sternly. Astrid turned towards the smith, trying to finish what she was trying to explain, but Stoick was having none of it.

"What way?!" He demanded. His patience was running thin. He'd explain everything to Gobber in time, right now only one thing was on his mind. His son.

Astrid was shocked by the sudden change in the chief's voice, it had been rather stern already. But this was a whole new level. She looked around, trying her best to remember the way that that strange cove was. "That way!" She said, but before she was finished the chief was already running again.

Gobber and Astrid quickly followed him, now that the distance was shorter they had an easier time keeping up with Stoick. Stoick's torch now provided enough light for all of them.

"Okay, lass" Gobber began with ragged breath as they followed the chief. "Explain, what's happening please."

"It took him." Astrid said between ragged breaths. "A dragon did."

"Took what?" Gobber asked, not quite grasping what she meant.

"Hiccup." She said. "It took Hiccup." She looked at the Smith for a split second, long enough to see his expression change from dire to much more grave. She was surprised when she noticed that he was slowly overtaking her, closing the gap between him and the chief.

Stoick was still calling out the name of his son, hoping to get any response out of the dark forest. But to no avail. Gobber caught up with him and the chief shot the smith an approving smile.

"Where could he be Gobber?" Stoick asked the chief, almost pleading. "Why would he be in the woods?"

Gobber thought about both the questions, hoping that one could lead to answering the other. He slowly stopped, looking around him. "Raven point." He muttered.

"Raven point?" Astrid asked exhausted. She hadn't really taken the local landmarks into account when she ran back, had she been near Raven Point?

"He's searching for that Night Fury!" Stoick filled in the second part. "Oh Hiccup." He muttered as he ran, slower this time, since now he had to find his way through the woods to get there.

They walked for what seemed like hours to Stoick, seeing tree after tree, bush after bush. Stoick wasn't even sure they were heading in the right direction. His worries were growing with the minute now, and he was slowly losing hope that they'd find any trace of him tonight.

That was until they stumbled upon a large crater in the dirt. Along with broken trees and destroyed foliage. Stoick shone some light on the strange surroundings with his torch.

"What do you think happened here?" He asked, surprised by the strange surroundings.

"Looks like a dragon went down here." Gobber said. "You don't think he actually hit that Night Fury, do you?"

The light of Stoick's torch reflected on wet spots in the dirt. The crater wasn't huge, not the size for something like a Monstrous Nightmare, but it was still larger than a Gronkle. Stoick scanned the crater, looking for any clue, any indicator of what had happened here. But Gobber was the one to discover it.

"Look." He said as he picked up a stone ball that was tied to a rope. "Looks like part of a bola."

Stoick took the destroyed weapon from Gobber, inspecting it himself. It looked like a finely crafted part of a bola, the rope attacked to the rock was far longer than any regular bola though. The stone was heavier too, far too heavy for Hiccup to efficiently throw.

"Look!" Astrid yelled, breaking his thoughts. He turned around to find the young girl kneeling next to what was probably the rest of the weapon. Torn and cut up. They could now picture the full image of the weapon.

"'T was a large bola." Gobber commented. "The ropes leading from the centre ring to the rocks must are at least my length." He picked up one of the rope end, which was frayed and slightly weathered. He passed it to Stoick. "Looks like the dragon was able to cut itself loose."

"He did it." Stoick muttered. "It really wasn't like the other times."

Gobber looked at Stoick with a worried expression. "Where do we go from here?" He asked. The chief scanning the woods again, but not seeing much because of the darkness.

"Curse the gods." Stoick yelled, and he stuck the torch in the loose dirt. "We'll fan out." He said. "There have to be more clues, that dragon must have left a trail." He said. "He must have." He added, barely audible.

So they did, fanning out around the crash site of the yet to be identified dragon. They searched the woods around it, hoping to find any clue as the where the beast ran off to.

"Well, would you look at this." Stoick muttered as he picked a black, leather like fabric from a tree. It was torn and mauled, and it looked like a rodent had eaten from it. He stretched it out, and his thoughts were confirmed. "I got a part of the beast's tail!" He yelled back.

"Right, so the beast couldn't have flown off." Gobber commented from the other side of the crash site. "I think I found a track."

Stoick called Astrid, and the girl came walking from the forest, some of the rope of the bolas swung around her shoulder. Perhaps they'd need it. Stoick grabbed his torch again, and they walked towards the one-legged blacksmith.

"Look at this." The smith said while he pointed at some scratch marks on a tree. "It went this way."

They followed the track through the dark woods, until Astrid recognized the path Hiccup had ran towards the cove. "It's this way!" She yelled, urging Stoick to follow. "I remember, he went this way."

Stoick followed Astrid closely, allowing his torch to illuminate the path ahead of her. After a short walk through shrubbery, following a clear man-made path, they arrived at a cove.

Astrid's boots felt heavy again, and she heard the same scream again, softly in the back of her mind. It was just as impactful and heavy as it had been. The beating of wings. Everything. It all came rushing back.

"I think there's a way down there." Gobber said as he scanned the outlines of the cove, finding a small crevasse on one side of it. "We should be able to go into it from there."

Stoick took charge, followed by Astrid. At the back was Gobber, the two adults were more confident in their skills in battle then those of Astrid. And it was only natural for them to shield the child from any possible danger.

Stoick was the first to enter the cove, he kicked against the wooden shield lodged in between the rocks. It shattered, the parts of wood now lying scattered across the sand. He ran through the sand, torch in one hand, and his sword in the other. His feet sank in the loose grains as he ran, and Gobber and Astrid followed behind him.

Gobber looked around carefully, and Astrid held onto her axe with white knuckled hands. They covered their chief carefully, and each other, making sure that a dragon wouldn't get the drop on them.

"Hiccup!" Stoick called. "It's safe son." He added. Hoping that the boy would be hiding somewhere. Gobber and Astrid spread out as the beach widened. But without them noticing Stoick suddenly froze in his tracks.

Astrid searched near the water, catching a glimmer of metal underneath the mirror-like surface of the pond. She stepped into the water. Reaching for the glistering object that lay on the sandy bed. It was a pretty simple and plain knife, the leather on the hilt was slowly coming loose though.

Her attention was diverted when he heard a soft rustle of sand, and she looked behind her, just in time to see the chief standing near something that lay in the sand. His sword dropped, standing upright in the sand.

She wanted to inform Stoick of her finding, but before she could say something the chief sank to his knees. The torch in his hand slowly lowering. Gobber had noticed it too, and the one-legged man was walking towards the chief as fast as his peg leg would allow him through the sand.

Stoick was frozen, his body tense and his mind and heart racing. In front of the three Vikings – mixed with the sand – lay a few red spots, and one larger one, as well as pieced of burnt flesh, scattered across scorch marks.

Gobber looked at the chief, the he could see the chiefs mouth moving between the large beard and moustache, but no words came out. He placed his right hand on the shoulder of his friend, and took his own helmet off. He held it to its side, but it soon also slipped from his fingers, lading in the sand.

"Hiccup." Was all the old chief muttered. The only thing that he could think of, the only thing he had feared for.

"We don't know Stoick." Gobber said, his voice hoarse. The gravity of their discovery started to dawn on the smith. "It- it's not a lot of, you know, blood." Gobber said with pauses, trying to convince himself that what they found was not the remnants of his apprentice.

Astrid felt frozen, paralyzed even. Stoick's torch sank lower and lower, until the head of the fire rested in the sand, which slowly extinguished it. Darkness surrounded the three, and it took a while before one of them spoke.

"Gobber." Stoick said, his voice hoarse and coarse. "Go back to Berk." He said. "Get Spitelout to assemble a search party."

"Alright Stoick." Gobber said as he patted his back. "We'll make sure we find him."

Astrid turned around to follow Gobber, but the smith kneeled to face her. "Lass, stay with him." He said. "He won't say it, but he needs it right now."

"Oh, okay." Astrid said, she hated herself for sounding so weak and insecure right now. But she was exhausted, mentally and physically. She walked back towards the chief. Sitting down in the sand next to the large and respected Viking, sharing each other's comfort in silence.

Astrid let her hand rest in the sand, feeling the cold grains touch her palm. That was until her fingers touched something else. Still cold, but hard and smooth. She looked, and found that besides her lay a clean black scale, the moonlight reflecting of it. It had been buried partially in the sand. She grabbed the scale, inspecting it closely.

AN:

IM BACK! WABALABA DUB DUB!

Alright, so it's been a while. I can't really deny that. this chapter has been kind of difficult for me. Mainy because I had some difficulties with coming back into writing after quite a break, sorry if the quility seems a bit less then the previous chapter, I'll try to work on it. But thanks to the occasional review trickling in and the odd PM I can't let this sit here unfinished and let it rot. So, here we go again!

My aim is going to be to upload a chapter every two weeks. I wanna make them between 6000 and 8000 words, so I gotta dedicate some time to them. I also want to have them proofread, but for now I'll just throw this online and edit it when I have some feedback on it or if spelling errors have been found.

If someone want to help with proofreading then please, I'm in need of a beta reader and it would be amazing.

For now, take care!

- R4y