Chapter 19: Which way out?

In which a spirit of Light makes an appearance

CLANG! The metal door was flung off of it's hinges, slammed into the wall opposite and then fell to the stone floor, again with a loud CLANG. Jack, Merida, Hiccup and Rapunzel leapt triumphantly through the door frame. They had escaped... well, they had escaped from the prison cell, now they just had to escape the prison.

'Now what do we do?' Rapunzel asked. 'Well first of all,' Jack said, 'I'm getting my staff back. There's no way I'm leaving without that.' 'If yer gettin yer stick, then ahm gettin mah bow,' Merida demanded. 'Then can I go and get my frying pan back?' Rapunzel said tentativly. 'Sure, it's your funeral.' 'Thanks. Wait- WHAT!'

'What about you Hiccup?' 'Huh?' 'Do you need anything back?' Hiccup was just about to answer "No" when something at the back of his mind waved a little red flag. And the memories came back to him of the Goblet Feltas and the golden book he'd found in the caves under Berk.

'Yes,' he said, 'Just before we left Berk,' he swallowed, as a painful stab of memories hit him hard in the gut, 'Before we left Berk, I found this Golden book and it mentioned something about how to defeat the Darkness.' Jack beamed. 'Hiccup you're brilliant,' he said and he gave him a bear hug.

Pitch stood up as the clang reverberated through his dark underworld. He frowned. 'What in the name of sanity?' Gothel gasped, leaping to her feet and setting down her glass of wine. Pitch's frown deepened. The black vein in his neck pulsed and the inkiness began to spread. 'It appears our inmates have escaped,' he said and his frown deepened. 'That cell is impenetrable to all forms of light energy. It cannot be entered...,' At this point a thought occurred to him, 'Except by something that is already inside.'

'MOR'DU! RED DEATH!' He roared. Immediately, the two giant creatures were standing in front of him. 'Find those four. Get down there and FIND THEM!' The two beasts snorted in confirmation and disappeared into the tunnels.

Mother Gothel spoke at this point. 'What about that spell you put on the t-' 'That spell is impossible to break, I made sure of it. So what I'd like to know is how can they be free of it's influence.' Pitch paused for a moment, thinking hard. 'There is only one thing it can be; Soul resonance.' Pitch snarled. 'Steps will have to be taken,' and with that he swept out of the chamber leaving a very confused Mother Gothel.

'Riiiight,' Hiccup said. After about five minutes of zigzagging through the underworld, they had suddenly come to a fork in the tunnel. They could go either right down a very dark tunnel or left down a very damp one. Neither seemed particularly appealing.

'I can really see only one option here,' Jack said, 'We're gonna have to split up.' Understandably, the other three weren't so happy with this idea. 'Are yeh insane yeh tumshie?' 'We're in enough danger sticking together, but splitting up and Pitch can just pick us of one by one.' 'Hiccup's right, there must be some other way we can work this out.' 'There isn't,' Jack snapped, with such a finality that the subject was closed.

He then pulled a scrap piece of paper out of his pocket and tore it into four pieces. Then taking a pencil out of his other pocket, he drew two crosses on two of the pieces of paper. Finally, he stuffed all the pieces of paper into his hood. 'Take one each,' he said simply, 'Those who have the cross will go left, those who have the blank will go right.'

Reluctantly, Rapunzel, Merida and Hiccup reached into the hood and took a fragment of paper each. Taking the last one for himself, Jack said, 'Now check your paper.' They did so. Merida and Rapunzel had the blank paper while Jack and Hiccup had the crosses. 'Well, that's that,' Rapunzel said, 'See you later then... hopefully.' 'Yeah, really loving the confidence boost(!)' Hiccup said.

A few minutes had passed in silence. Merida felt rather anxious without her bow and arrows. She wondered how Rapunzel was standing up to it.

'So,' Rapunzel said tentatively, as if a conversation was something that should probably be avoided right now, 'How are things with you and Jack?' Merida actually laughed. 'We're trying to find a way to escape from a madman with the power to control fear and nightmares and your askin' me about my relationship with a boy?' 'Well, just thought it was a way to pass the time.'

Merida sighed. 'Well, if ahm honest,' 'Yes?' 'Ahm feeling kinda... confused.' Whatever answer Rapunzel had expected, it wasn't that. 'Umm... confused?' 'Well, ah mean this is so unlike me,' Merida continued, 'If mah mother found oot, she'd be delighted that I was finally tekin' an interest in boys, but... ah dunno, this just seems... so... well, unlike me.' 'Well, I don't blame you,' Rapunzel said, nudging Merida and giving her a cheeky smile, 'Jack is a really great guy.'

Merida came to a very sharp halt. If looks could kill, Rapunzel would have been a bloody stain dripping gently down the wall. Rapunzel obviously noticed the danger signals because she quickly said, 'But what do I know? I've lived in a tower all my life by myself and a woman who I thought was my mother, but it turns out she really wasn't my mother and anyway I'm a married woman and I'm happily married to Eugene Rider, I mean Flynn Fitzherbert and we're fine and royal and have a chameleon as a friend.' She said all this very fast.

Merida seemed to calm down a little at this, but the atmosphere did remain a little tense for some time afterwards... until something caught Merida's ears. She grabbed Rapunzel's shoulder and tugged her into the shadows.

Something dark slithered across the ground. At first Merida thought with horror that it might be the Darkness, but then she realised that the thing wasn't black; it was in shades of grey and brown and deepest indigo... it seemed to be hunting. It paused for a moment, then turned to face the two girls. 'Jings, crivvens, help ma boab! Merida whispered.

Meanwhile, Jack was trying to pick a lock while Hiccup was standing idly by clicking his tongue. Jack's temper was starting to get a little frail and the constant clicking was starting to get a little annoying. Finally he cracked. 'Hiccup,' he said through clenched teeth, 'Could you please not do that.' 'Well I'm sorry Jack,' Hiccup said, also through clenched teeth, 'But you said you knew how to pick locks.' 'Yeah, made by humans and most Yetis, but this one's been enchanted; it's half real, half magical, half non-existent.' Hiccup frowned and did some quick mathematics in his head.

'But that makes one and a half.'

Suddenly, there was a click and the door swung open. Jack leaned away from the door. 'That wasn't me,' he whispered. Slowly he and Hiccup entered the room beyond.

The second thing the eye noticed was the sheer size of the first thing you noticed. This first thing you noticed was a massive mound... of teeth. Children's teeth. In front of them was a mound of baby teeth. Jack had to run this information through his head several times to make sure it was the real thing.

He looked upwards. The mound was so tall he couldn't see the top. And it was at this point he noticed the third thing; the strange purple aura surrounding each and every tooth.

Jack swore... violently.

'Okay, calm down,' Hiccup said. 'CALM DOWN! Do you know the power a tooth contains Hiccup?' Jack asked. 'No, but I get the feeling you're about to tell me.' 'A tooth, a baby tooth contains the most important memories of your childhood.' 'Wow.' 'But I don't think that's what this is about.' He leant close to the mound of teeth. He could feel it now. A guardian could tell when Alteration magic of this power was in use. But this was evil, even for Pitch.

'Jack what is going on?' Hiccup asked. Jack bit his lip. 'There is an old magic, a dark magic. If you can get a small piece of someone like a lock of their hair or a nail clipping or a blood sample or perhaps even a tooth then you can have total control over their body and mind.'

Hiccup's expression of curiosity had turned to one of horror as he looked up at the massive mound of teeth. 'But... th-... that...' he stammered. 'Do you know how many people there are in the world Hiccup?' Hiccup shook his head fearing the answer. '7 billion.' Hiccup just stared at Jack. 'That mound is controlling 7 billion people?' 'I'm certain.'

'C-can't you do something?' Hiccup said, starting to panic. 'Even if I could, I wouldn't dare. Touch the wrong bit, blow up half the planet.' 'Really?' 'I don't know, I've never tried to hack a pile of mind-controlling teeth before!'

Thump! The boys froze. There was a thump, thump, thump of footfalls getting nearer and nearer. Then a gentle growl filled the air. 'Mor'du,' Jack whispered. There was no time to think, Jack simply grabbed Hiccup and pulled him behind the massive pile of teeth.

The two boys were both crouched behind the tooth pile, listening to the padding of paws getting ever nearer.

Something grabbed Rapunzel's ankle and pulled her down. There wasn't time for her to scream.

When she opened her eyes, she wasn't sure if she had made a wise choice. She was lying in the middle of a dark forest. She sat up and looked around. There was nothing and no one.

'Well, well, well,' said a voice, 'It seems the little ray of sunshine has been dimmed.' It was like a disease had found the ability to speak. Then something else spoke in a voice like a starving nation, 'Abandoned by your so-called friends, so tragic.' 'You can't scare me,' Rapunzel lied, 'My friends will come for me.'

The laughter that echoed through the forest was chilling. A third voice like a dripping drain said, 'Believe us Rapunzel, there is no such thing as a friend.' 'And how would you know? What are you?' 'We are the Shadows,' said a fourth voice. This one spoke like a dusty old book.

Slowly, Rapunzel turned around. Behind her stretching on into the infinite depths of the forest were thousands upon thousands of tall shadowy figures, each one staring straight at her, or at least it looked like they were staring at her; none of them seemed to have eyes. Some were shades of grey, some were brown, some were darkest indigo or purple.

'Like we said, There is no such thing as a friend.' 'Everyone is on the lookout for themselves.' 'Take us for example.' 'First you see us, then you don't.'

And with a SNAP! the world turned black. Rapunzel shrieked as she felt slimy, silky something's flow all around her. 'Now you hear us, now you won't,' came the first voice. 'STOP IT!' Rapunzel cried. The Shadows only laughed. 'In the light we are constrained,' said one with a voice like a rusty pair of scissors, 'But in the black of the Darkness we are infinite.'

Something grabbed Rapunzel's hair and tugged on it. 'Let me GO,' Rapunzel screamed, pulling back. Every moment, her fear was mounting. Something else punched her hard in the stomach and she doubled over coughing. Still something else grabbed her arm and twisted it. At the same time, a ghostly hand started strangling her. The Shadows were sniggering.

Suddenly, a light broke through the jet black darkness. The Shadows hissed in pain and anger and fled immediately. The light grew brighter. The Shadows screamed. The forest flickered and vanished to reveal a small stone dungeon. Rapunzel straightened up. The Shadows were all lying on the floor in their two-dimensional form. She turned.

Standing behind her, leaning on a staff with a diamond tip, was a boy, barely into his teens except... he seemed to be made out of pure light. His eyes were green and his white hair flowed around his head like it was underwater... or maybe that was just a trick of the light.

He smiled at her, a shy smile and suddenly he transformed into a ball of light and vanished out of the door. As fast as she could, Rapunzel sped after him.

Behind her, the Shadows began pulling themselves together.

Mor'du sniffed. He could definitely detect living flesh. There was sweat. That's what he liked about Humans; they sweated so much when panicked. This sweat had drops of testosterone in it. So there were males in here.

He sniffed again. One of the scents had a metallic edge and a sooty touch. There was also a reptilian essence on it. The second had a cold, minty freshness, but it also had a dusty age to it. So it was the dragon-rider and the strange, white one.

Mor'du approached the edge of the tooth pile and... thrust his head around the edge. There was nothing there. Mor'du snarled in anger and retreated.

Jack and Hiccup had almost screamed in terror when the massive, slathering jaws of the demon bear had poked around the side of the tooth pile, but thank every star in the wide universe the eye that was facing them was the one that was blind.

As the pounding of Mor'du's paws slowly receded, Jack gently peeked around the side of the tooth mound. Mor'du had gone. Jack slumped down next to Hiccup and breathed a sigh of relief.

'RRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!' This time the boys really did scream as Mor'du lunged out from the other side of the pile of teeth. The two scrambled backwards, away from the bear, but neither could get to their feet. There was a "thunk" as the two hit the wall. They were trapped.

Mor'du raised himself onto his hind-legs and raised a massive paw. The claws glinted like knives.

There was a BANG and a flash as the door burst in and a great ball of light burst into the room. It rammed into Mor'du, launched him across the room and out the door which promptly slammed behind him.

The two boys stared at the ball of light. Slowly, it resolved into a boy. Jack's jaw dropped. 'No way!'

It was Nightlight, the legendary childhood Guardian of the Man in the Moon himself. North had told Jack the many tales and stories of what had happened before he had joined the Guardians. The stories had mostly centred on himself, a wizard called Ombric, Nightlight and a young girl named Katherine and how they had discovered the Guardians.

Nightlight turned from Jack, faced the pile of teeth and plunged the diamond-tip of his staff down into the depths of the mound. There was an explosion of light as the aura of dark magic broke. The mountain of teeth collapsed to the ground. Jack and Hiccup ducked behind two massive pillars as the tidal wave of teeth washed passed them.

Nightlight slammed his staff into the ground. There was a flash of light.

And when it faded, the Big four were reunited by a large steel door. 'Well, that was an interesting experience,' Hiccup said.

'What happened to you guys?' Merida asked. 'Found a pile of teeth that was controlling everyone in the world, was ambushed by Mor'du, rescued by a boy made of light and destroyed the pile of teeth. Rapunzel?' 'Was kidnapped by shadows in servitude to the darkness and was then also rescued by a boy made of light. Merida?' 'Rapunzel suddenly went missing, ran off to find her, then suddenly ran into a wall of light and found meself here.'

There was a laugh and suddenly Nightlight appeared in front of them. He pointed to the door, raised his staff and sliced clean through it. The Big four hurried in. Inside were all their possessions. Chained to the wall were Jack's staff, Merida's bow and the sword Cytiania. Hiccup threw open a chest. Inside it were Rapunzel's frying pan, all of Merida's arrows and the goblet Feltas which he took.

And chained in lead to a pedestal was the golden book "In sane de in Lumen". Hiccup tugged the book from the pedestal and opened it. It had opened it to the Feltas page. He turned the page. He stared. On this page was the image of a sword, exactly the same as Cytiania though he couldn't read what was written on this page.

'Finally,' Jack said, twirling his staff through his fingers. Merida hung her quiver over her shoulder, slid Cytiania into the scabbard and lovingly picked up her bow again. 'Frying pan. I never thought I'd see you again,' Rapunzel said delightedly picking up her frying pan and twirling through her fingers like Jack had done. CLANG! 'OW! Every time.'

'Well, well,' came a voice none of them had trouble recognising. Turning slowly, they saw the tall figure of Pitch standing in the doorway. 'Nightlight. We meet once more.' Before any of the Big Four could react, Pitch had brandished his scythe, but Nightlight had already acted. He lunged and parried Pitch's blow.

Nightlight kicked Pitch hard, knocking him back into the wall. Pitch snarled. There was something different about him. He had become enraged. The black vein in his neck was pulsing and spreading. Pitch roared and soared forwards. Nightlight pointed his staff at the Four. There was a flash of light and they vanished.