Sorry for taking too long, I've been having a mental block with this chapter.

Chapter 5: Thane

"HICCUP, GET OVER HERE!" shouted Thane.

"Well, I better go." I said, leaving Astrid alone on the table.

Well he may not want to know, but I do. Thought Astrid, determined to know Thane's history.

No POV.

Hiccup was running over to where Thane's voice came from and he found him standing in the middle of the training arena.

"Yeah Thane, what's up?" asked Hiccup

"What is this place? I can smell the blood, they killed Dragons here didn't they." Asked Thane

"Yes this is where the young Vikings train to kill Dragons, we call it the training arena." Replied Hiccup

"Can you hear them, the Dragons in their cages?" Said Thane

And sure enough, the Dragons broke the silence of the arena with their pleads of freedom.

"Help us! Free us! Save us!" shouted the Dragons in the cages

"We-we have to help them!" said Hiccup rushing towards the gate mechanism to let the Dragons go free.

But Thane held him back.

"Thane, what are you doing, let me go!" shouted Hiccup

"No, leave them, I've got other plans." Said Thane

"Why? We can't just leave them here." Said Hiccup

"Trust me." Replied Thane

"But…fine." Said Hiccup, slightly relaxing, "So is asking about the arena functions the only thing you called me for?"

"No, I sense that you want to teach your village to stop the hostilities towards Dragon kind and teach them to be like us." Said Thane, "I've noticed it for a while now."

Hiccup was shocked that Thane knew what he was thinking.

"Yes." Hiccup replied.

"Well, get the approval of your father, and we can start training them." Said Thane

Hiccup then transformed into Night Fury form and flew to his dad's house.

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Dragon Training Arena

Thane POV.

Well, he was easy to dispatch, I needed some time to think. I thought, as I sat and in the arena, thinking about what happened and what will happen.

Death is only a few days away; I wonder how can we stop him. I thought.

Just then, a presence came up behind me, and I immediately drew my swords, and a feeling of terror and relief washed over me at the same time. Behind me was the person, which every time I looked at him I felt that I was looking at a mirror, Malthazar.

"Malthazar!" I said, calm fury in my eyes, "Wha-how did you get here?"

"Hahaha" he chuckled, "Death may be immobilized after that little stunt you pulled back on Dragon Island, but you didn't get me."

"Darn, I was hoping to kill you in the blast." I replied, trying to hide my shock with sarcasm, "So, how did a low-life lizard like you live."

"Ha, wouldn't you like to know." He replied, grinning, "Every fiber of my being is screaming at me to kill you, but unfortunately, I ain't here for you."

"Well, can't say the same for me, I could kill you now." I replied, going into battle stance, left hand sword in front facing up, right hand sword neck-level pointing straight ahead, low stance, and eyes locked on the enemy.

"Try me." He replied.

Then, out of nowhere, a black mist surrounded Malthazar's hands, and dissipated, revealing two black scythes with white edges, attached to two black wooden sticks.

"I see you've mastered death powers." I said, "If I'm not mistaken, those are the Spirit Slashers."

"Huh, you recognized it, thankfully you're not fully brain dead." Said Malthazar, holding it up for me to see, "But you don't know the half of what these babies can do." He then went into a battle stance, similar to mine.

"COME AND GET ME!" I shouted, charging at Malthazar,

"Glad to." He replied, and as soon as our weapons clashed, Lightning and Death started their fight.

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Stoic's House

Stoic was sitting in his living room, tending to the fire, when a "smiling" Night Fury burst through the door. Stoic instinctively turned around and grabbed his hammer, only to see Hiccup standing at his doorstep.

"Fer thor's sakes Hiccup, don't scare me like that." Said Stoic

"Sorry dad, but I had to ask you something important." Said Hiccup

"Anything son." Replied Stoic

"Dad, I need you to stop killing Dragons." Said Hiccup

That sentence struck Stoic in some places no one dared, but he kept his cool.

"What?" said Stoic with obvious confusion and slight rage in his eyes.

"I know dad they have been hostile to us for years, but we don't have to fight them." Hiccup said, "It wasn't their fault that they attacked us for so many years, they had no choice, and they can be befriended, and tamed, like what I did with my Dragon."

"I-I'm sorry Hiccup, but I can't trust them yet." Replied Stoic

"But dad, they CAN be tamed, and you don't need to trust them, all I need is a group of volunteers, and then you can make your decision whether to trust them or not." Hiccup said, making his father think.

"Hmm…fine, you can have your volunteers, but good luck finding someone crazy enough to train a Dragon." Stoic said, also curious about the result.

"Thanks dad, don't worry you won't regret thi-." Hiccup didn't have time to finish his sentence, as a earth-shaking shock of lightning and an evil presence, filled the air.

"What in the name of Thor was that!" exclaimed Stoic, but Hiccup was already rushing towards the Dragon Training arena.

Darn, that was definitely not natural; it came from the arena…THANE! Hold on I'm coming. Thought Hiccup as he took Dragon form and flew to the arena.

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Dragon Training Arena

Thane POV.

BOOM. Another strike of lightning hit the arena after Malthazar and my weapons hit.

"LIGHNING, STRIKE!" I shouted, charging my swords with the power of an electric storm, and then I brought it down on Malthazar.

He quickly moved out of the way, and my swords hit the ground, causing a large pillar of lightning to crash onto the spot my swords were on.

"DEATH, SLASH!" Malthazar called, attempting to strike me, missing by centimeters, his scythes hitting the wall, turning it to a deathly black.

"Grr…you are really annoying you know that!" I shouted, attempting to strike him down.

But he dodged it, sustaining only a minor cut.

"Ha! You'll have to do better than that!" Shouted Malthazar, transforming into Night Fury form and flying straight for me.

I tried to dodge but he slammed into me, launching me towards the arena wall. I smashed into the wall, leaving a large crater, Malthazar came to investigate if I had died, but his mistake. I went into Dragon form and shot a fireball at Malthazar, but he was able to save himself, but not from my tackle. The tackle caught him off guard and we both tumbled towards the arena floor, I slammed him on the arena, and knocked the wind out of him. But it only took a few seconds to catch his breath and fling me away, again towards the arena wall. We both reverted back to human form, and he immediately charged straight for me, scythes ready to kill.

"Now you di-." He said, but didn't have time to finish, as a fireball hit him dead-on and nearly incinerated him.

"Get away from him." Shouted Hiccup, dropping from the sky, and unsheathing his blood-red blade Liferend.

"*Cough, who the heck are you." He asked

Darn, the explosions must've attracted attention, I didn't want to get him involved, but I guess it's too late. I thought

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III, Dragonborn Night Fury." Said Hiccup

"So *cough you've got yourself some lackeys, eh Thane." He said.

"Lackeys, no." I replied, "Friends and allies, yes."

Then, all the Dragonborn and the entire village surrounded the arena, Bomber, the twins Spitshot and Spitfire, Terry, Natalie, Draco, Catherine, and all the villagers looking at Malthazar.

"Oh, well, this just got interesting." He said, "But like I said, I ain't here for you Thane, I came with a warning from Death."

"If you came here with a warning, why did you fight." I asked

"Meh, tried to see if I could beat you this time." He replied, grinning his creepy smile.

"I came to tell you that your little stunt on Dragon island may have set back Death by a few days, but only a few." He said, "He said he'll be here in less than a week, and you'll be dead in less than a week. And he want's the stone."

As soon as the Stone was mentioned, shock came over me.

"The stone! It's here!" I shouted, "Where is it!?"

"Beats me, he's been looking for it." He replied, "Well that's all I gotta say, see ya soon Thane, oh and I look forward to killing you myself."

"Wait, you think we can just let you leave, and who are you!" Hiccup called.

"Who am I, WHO AM I! I'm Malthazar Nightson, or as Thane knows me, his other half." He replied, transforming into Dragon form, leaving everyone staring at me.

Darn, my life just go a whole lot harder. I thought, as I attempted to stand and walk away

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Cove of Toothless, Dragonborn Camp

Astrid POV.

Ever since that other guy…what's his name…Malthazar…yeah…Malthazar. Ever since that guy Malthazar came to the village Hiccup and the other Dragon people have been trying to get that guy Thane to spill about who he is, but he hasn't said anything to anyone. But he hasn't met me. I made my way to the place Hiccup said his camp would be, and when I saw it, I kinda was surprised that he was able to set up all this. The camp consisted of eight tents, each for a specific Dragon breed. They were lined in two rows and in the middle was a small fire-pit. In the left side were the tents for, what I guessed, the Terrible Terror Terry, the Gronkle Bomber, the Nightmare Draco and the Night Fury Catherine. On the left side were the tents for the Zippleback Spitshot and Spitfire, the Nadder Natalie, and the Night Fury Thane. In the middle was Hiccup's tent and as he said, it served as his sleeping quarters and battle room. Each tent had it's own design, on the left, the Terror tent had a design of a Terror curled up in a ball, the Gronkle tent had the design of a Gronkle crushing a tree with its tail, the Nightmare tent had the design of a flaming Nightmare. On the right, the Zippleback tent had the design of the Zippleback heads blowing gas and igniting it, the Nadder tent had the design of the spikes on the Nadder's tail. And on the Night Fury tents, was the design of a Night Fury in a sky-view with its wings and tail outstretched. I headed straight for Thane's tent, but Hiccup stopped me.

"Whoa, hey Astrid, where are you going in such a rush?" he asked.

"I was…uh…looking for you!" I said, attempting to drive Hiccup away from my real goal.

"If you're thinking, Thane won't talk about his past, no matter how hard you try." He said, seeing straight through my lie.

"Well, I still will try." I replied.

"Well good luck to you." He said, giving me his signature smile, which made me blush slightly.

I then walked towards the tent of Thane.

Well, here goes nothing. I thought as I entered his tent.

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Thane's Tent

Astrid POV.

I entered his tent, and surprised what was in it. I seemed to be surrounded by bookshelves, there were books about everything, from books about different species of animals, to lands that I never new. The bed was just a regular bed, but it had strange symbols stitched onto the blanket, there was a desk with a map of Berk with different colored markings on it. Everything was interesting, but there was only one thing missing…Thane.

"Hello, is anybody home?" I asked, but to empty space.

I assumed he had gone out, so I decided to snoop around. I searched the books, the desk, the bed, but nothing.

"Darn, so there is nothing here, maybe I should get goi-" I didn't have time to finish my sentence as I tripped over a book and landed face-flat beside the bed.

I opened my eyes then I saw, under the bed, a notebook that looked fairly used and torn.

What's this? I thought, looking at the cover, which said Journal

Hey, this must be Thane's journal, score! I thought as I attempted to open the journal, but it wouldn't budge.

Darn, why won't it budge? I thought, then grey lettering appeared on the cover saying:

DEATH is only the beginning.

Death is only the beginning? I thought, What does that mean, better ask Hiccup…wait I don't want him to know…but I need help, besides, he probably got smarter over the years, well smarterer.

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Cove of Toothless, Dragonborn Camp

Hiccup POV.

Astrid came running up to me after she "asked" Thane for answers.

"Hiccup!" she called.

"Astrid, did you ask Thane?" I asked.

"No, he wasn't there, but look what I found." She said, proudly holding up Thane's journal.

"Wait, that's Thane's journal!" I exclaimed

"I know, but I can't open it, and I was wondering if you can. You will open it right?" she asked

"Sorry Astrid, but I can't just peek into Thane's journal, it's not right." I said

"Aw come on, please?" she begged, giving me a stare that I couldn't possibly refuse.

"Gah, fine, I'll see what I can do." I said, reading the inscription on the cover.

"Yes, thanks Hiccup." She said, giving me a little kiss on the cheek.

I was a little stunned.

"Uhm…ok, so…uh, DEATH is only the beginning…hmmm…ah…no…ah…, I got it!" I said

"Well that was quick." Said Astrid, making me feel proud of myself, "Spit it out."

"See how the word 'death' is all capital." I said

"Oh yeah, I thought it was just a spelling error." She replied

"Magic wordings don't have spelling errors." I said, "I think the keyword to open the journal is another word for death."

"Oh, ok…hmm…what about death in Dragonese." She said.

"I know, but that would be too easy." I replied, "Let me think…wait…no that can't be…wait…hold on…yes I got it!"

"You have the answer?" she asked.

"Yes I do." I said bringing the journal closer, "Open, key: Thanatos."

After saying Thanatos, the journal popped open, revealing the 1st page.

"How did you know that?" asked Astrid

"Well, Thanatos is a representation of Death, Thane was very interested in that guy." I replied.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's read." She said

I reluctantly turned the page, even though I wanted to know about Thane, I felt bad, stealing his journal, but Astrid was undeniable, even after eight years. So as I turned the 1st page, I got a little peek a Thane's life.

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