Alaia Skyhawk: Told you the update would be quick :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

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Chapter 105: A Viking Introduction

The trio continued to plummet through the air, seconds ticking by as the island and ocean below came ever closer as the moments passed. While Toothless seemed only mildly confused by this odd boy who had appeared from nowhere, Hiccup at least took a little longer before his brain started working again.

His eyes went wide and he looked around frantically.

"Where's your dragon?" He looked around again, seeing no other flying reptile in sight. "Um, ok... D-don't panic. Me and Toothless will get you down safely."

With a practised twist of his body, Hiccup veered towards his dragon and secured himself back in the saddle. The pair of them then turning so that Toothless could reach out and take hold of the white-haired man.

Jack watched the whole manoeuvre with a smile on his face. Waiting until the exact moment the Night Fury would have took hold of him, before proverbially 'slamming on the brakes' and coming to an instant stop upside-down in mid-air. The dragon and Viking, under the influence of both gravity and momentum, naturally kept going. Thereby one moment he was in front of them, and the next he was not.

Down below, Hiccup let out a yell of surprise. Bringing Toothless out of the dive and once more looking around frantically. Had they both imagined the young man? If not, then where had he gone?

He then yelped again when said young man came gliding up alongside, facing upwards with his hands looped casually behind his head. The white-haired fellow then chuckled.

"No worries, I can fly on my own."

Hiccup gaped.

"You can fly?"

Jack kept grinning.

"Didn't I just say that?"

Hiccup now began to wave his arms in what could be interpreted either as excitement or his thinking processes suffering a meltdown.

"You... can FLY!"

Jack glanced down at the empty air below him, then raised his eyebrows at the young Viking.

"Uhh, I think we've established that already."

The dragon shook his head, slapping Hiccup with an 'ear'. Though it only reduced the babbling by a small margin.

"H-how are you doing that?!"

Jack flipped over so he was upright, bringing fingers to his lips to whistle loudly before answering.

"Riding the wind. It's not hard, least not for me. It's a perk of being the Spirit of Winter."

Hiccup returned to gaping.

"Spirit of Winter? ...As in THE Spirit of Winter?"

Jack nodded, even as a draconic shadow passed over them. A grey and white dragon easily four times the size of Toothless then flew into position alongside. The Spirit of Winter flying to him and setting upon its back with casual grace.

"You have somewhere we can talk for a bit? Rather than up here? Because I get the feeling that if I say much more, you're going to fall off your dragon in shock."

Hiccup gulped several times, awed by both spirit and dragon, and then nodded dumbly. He sent Toothless banking downwards and towards the forest beyond the village that was his home. Leading his esteemed visitor to the sunken pond where the friendship between a young boy and a downed dragon had been formed.

Toothless landed on the shore of the pond, and Hiccup immediately dismounted and staggered away to sit on the nearest rock. He then sat there in a slumped stupor to watch the other dragon land, only then something moderately intelligible passing his lips.

"That's an Ice Crested Blade Bane, isn't it?"

Jack descended from his Lieutenants shoulders, looking somewhat puzzled.

"A what?"

Svelldreki chuckled.

"The Viking name for my kind. You call me a Winged Ice Drake, but they create names based on the attributes by which they best knew us when Dragons and Vikings were enemies. I am crested with scales that resemble ice and frost, and I also breathe a frigid blast that can render metal extremely fragile. Hence 'Blade Bane'. The few times they encountered us, and attacked us, my kind left their weapons in many tiny pieces."

Toothless had blinked and tilted his head in curiosity when Svelldreki spoke aloud, yet Hiccup actually spluttered.

"Wait, your dragon can talk?"

Jack strolled over to him and stopped a few yards away, idly leaning on his staff which until now had remained in place across his back.

"Fringe benefit of him becoming a Nature Immortal, the same sort of immortal I am. Although I'm in the top rank, and Svelldreki is in the second rank and works for me."

Hiccup seemed to be coming back to his senses a bit now, with obvious curiosity starting to replace his surprise.

"Wow, so you're really Jokul Frosti?"

Jack blinked for a few moments, then glanced at his dragon.

"Who? I'll admit it sounds a bit like my name, but still."

Svelldreki shrugged.

"A somewhat obscure member of the old Norse Pantheon, although he's still spoken of in Viking Culture. He pre-dates you by about seventeen-hundred years, although since you've never heard of him I would assume he faded away long before you arose." The drake now looked to Hiccup. "No, he is not the long deceased Jokul Frosti. He is Jack Frost."

Hiccup was once again staring.

"Jokul Frosti is dead?"

Jack directed a bemused look at his Lieutenant.

"Way to go, stepping on his beliefs. Did it ever occur to you to think before telling him which of the Norse Pantheon are still around?"

"More of them are dead?"

Svelldreki returned the bland expression.

"I could say the same to you."

Jack turned back to Hiccup, letting out a deep and awkward breath before heading closer.

"Ok, since I've messed up this much already, I might as well get to the point. The only ones left are Odin, Thor, and Loki. They asked me to come here and talk to you... regarding a certain plan of yours to sail to the mainland."

Hiccup jolted upright, at once starting to look a bit guilty.

"Uh... You know about that?"

Jack sat down on the rock beside him.

"Yeah. They came to me, because they knew they couldn't convince or force you not to go. But going would be a really bad idea right now. The rest of the world isn't ready for lost Viking tribes and dragons to show up unannounced."

Hiccup glanced at him. He now wore an oddly thoughtful expression.

"So they can't force me, huh? Guess I was right... Odin isn't actually a god, is he?"

Jack raised his eyebrows in honest surprise. He wouldn't deny that it was true, but at the same time he was startled that this young man had figured it out on his own.

He let out a sigh, his staff laid across his lap.

"What gave it away?"

It was Hiccup's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"Oh, I don't know... The fact a 'god' would go out of his way to tell me he disapproved of what I was doing, yet he avoided the question when I asked if he was forbidding me to go. Gods are supposed to be all-powerful, the ultimate authority, and yet he didn't even try to say 'no'."

Jack started to smile wryly, and laughed.

"Man is he going to be annoyed when he finds out you guessed on your own. You still believe in him?"

Hiccup actually looked a bit offended at that question.

"What? Of course I do! There isn't a true Viking alive that would turn away from Odin or the others, whether they're gods or not. They've always been there for us, to inspire us even if they also let us live such harsh lives here on these islands. We're strong because we face the challenges put to us when our ancestors were offered these islands as their home. If we stopped believing, we'd no longer be Vikings. And that's something none of us would ever give up."

Toothless now snuggled in beside Hiccup in support, nodding his scaled head in agreement. Jack smiled at the gesture of friendship between the pair, and then stood up.

"I guess that answers that. Think I could leave the announcement of that to you? From what Svelldreki has told me, you're respected a lot of places among these islands."

Hiccup smiled wryly at that.

"I get around." He now stood up as well. "So, care to tell me why the rest of the world isn't ready for us?"

Jack glanced up at the sky, checking the time with the position of the sun.

"Can you spare an hour or two? Because it's going to take some explaining."

Hiccup also looked up to check the time, and groaned.

"Might as well... I've already missed breakfast."

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When Hiccup returned to the village, every single person in sight came to a halt. All of them staring at the Ice Crested Blade Bane that came to land beside Toothless, and the white-haired man in strange clothing that was riding it. They were used to Hiccup doing strange things, it was one of the ways in which he was special to the village. His ideas had changed so much of their lives, and still continued to change them. But even so this was unexpected even for him.

They began to gather around the open space at the centre of the village, just below where Hiccup's house stood. Murmuring among themselves in speculation as to who the visitor was, although they waited for the youth's father to arrive before anything was said.

Namely by Stoick the Vast himself, who as chieftain of the village was the one who usual asked all the first questions.

"Hiccup, who is your guest?"

His son walked forward, gesturing for the pale man to follow until they were stood close to the gathered Vikings.

"Jack, this is my father, Stoick the Vast. Everyone, this is Jack Frost, the Spirit of Winter. Not to be mistaken for Jokul Frosti. He's here on a social visit, having heard about us from Odin. Stories of us and our dragons have impressed him, so he's come to see us for himself."

More murmurs started up, in both awe and surprise, while Stoick regarded their immortal visitor with some confusion.

"But it's the middle of summer."

Hiccup's response to that was bland.

"We live in a place where it snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three. I think 'summer' is a bit subjective here."

Jack smiled, intervening.

"Although now that I know about this place, perhaps I can arrange for it to rain rather than hail... And for there to be less snow. I think Loki has been overdoing things a bit."

Another Viking came forward now. One who had a wooden leg, a mallet in the place of a missing hand, and a missing tooth that had been replaced with what looked like a stone.

"You know Loki?"

Hiccup gestured to the newcomer.

"This is Gobber. Formerly our village weapon-smith, and now the local dragon dentist."

Jack reached out to shake the man's remaining hand in greeting.

"I've met him, and he has a bad habit of making winter weather in places it's not scheduled. I've had to scold him about it at least once a decade for the past three-hundred and twenty years."

Off to one side, a group of younger Vikings pushed to the front of the gathering. Astrid among them remarking with some scepticism.

"You scolded a god? Shouldn't it be you who answers to him?"

Hiccup winced in the background at that question, but Jack just kept smiling.

"Loki is an immortal who deals with winter, a 'winter spirit' you could say. However, I am the Spirit of Winter. Every immortal connected to that season, answers to me if they break the rules." He turned casually back to Stoick. "But enough of that. I'm a guest here, and I've heard that Vikings host feasts and celebrations better than anyone else anywhere in the world. You feel like proving that to me, before I tell you some stories about Odin and the others?"

A resounding cheer erupted from the gathered Vikings, who began to herd Jack and Hiccup towards the great hall carved into the peak at the top end of the village. Hiccup muttering to him when he got the chance.

"What gave it away about the feasts and celebrating?"

Jack murmured back.

"When we came in to land, on the seven porches I could see... I counted no less than eighteen ale tankards sat in full view, and most had something in them."

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Alaia Skyhawk: Hehehehehe! :D