Chapter 23: Fría Island
Magnus walked in town as he checked on the village. The villagers were doing their usual doings, while he walked amongst them. The raids seemed to mostly have stopped for some reason. No dragons had been seen for the couple of weeks.
Perhaps they finally ceased their attacks? he wondered. It's a possibility. All those dragons have done was causing a ruckus in my town, claiming what they could find. At that thought, his mind went to the one person he'd never see again.
His son.
Why did they do it? Magnus thought, his mind fuming in anger. Why did they take my son? All of what happened on that day changed Magnus' view on the dragons.
He saw them as demons, sent from Hell.
Magnus walked over to Haggard, who stood guard at his post. "Hello, Haggard. Any news from the Berkians?"
"Nothing, chief," Haggard replied. "We haven't heard from them in days now."
Magnus sighed. "And why's that? We've always had a good relationship, Stoick and I. So why?"
"I have no clue, chief. Maybe there's a reason?" Haggard wondered.
"Whatever the reason may be," Magnus continued, "we should stay on our toes in case new dragons arrive to steal our stock. We wouldn't want them to take any more of our things."
"No, we wouldn't," Haggard agreed with a nod.
A moment's silence came between them.
"So…how's Helia doing?" Haggard asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"Better than the last couple of weeks," Magnus answered. "She's still mourning about the loss of our son. And so am I."
"I'm sorry, chief," Haggard sighed. "I wish there was something we could had done to prevent it from happening. Your son was our future chief, after all."
"He was," Magnus agreed. "Yet I still have a tiny bit of hope that he's still alive out there somewhere. I'm praying to Odin that he is."
Haggard smiled. "Prayers are all you can do for now, Chief Magnus."
"Look!" someone shouted. "Up in the sky!"
Magnus looked up at where the Viking was pointing. He squinted his eyes to see…dragons. And young people, on top of them. Magnus thought he was dreaming, knowing that dragons wouldn't allow children to ride them. However, it wasn't a dream. "What is this…" he muttered.
"What should we do, chief?" Haggard asked. "Are they here to fight?"
"No, that's…" Magnus widened his eyes. "Hiccup, Chief Stoick's son. Don't fire!" he warned his Viking men, who was readying the bows, "if you do, we will break our relationship with the Berkians!"
"Is that really Hiccup?" Haggard wondered. "He's grown, that lad."
Soon, the dragons with the humans landed on the ground softly. Hiccup, the apparent leader, got off the black dragon in the middle of a white female and a Deadly Nadder.
Hiccup smiled after he spotted Magnus. "Magnus, it's been a long time." He walked over to the man.
"It has indeed, Hiccup," Magnus nodded, hugging the boy. "Tell me," he started, letting go, "why are you with dragons? I thought they were our enemies."
"They were, for a time," Hiccup said. "But we Berkians made peace with them, thanks to a certain someone."
"Oh?" Magnus raised a brow.
"Who is this 'certain someone', Hiccup?" Haggard added in curious wonder.
Hiccup inhaled a breath. "First, allow me to introduce Bright Lightwalker," he began, stepping over to the boy who was beside the white dragon. "He's the reason we Berkians stopped fighting the dragons. This is his sister, Luna."
Magnus looked confused, while some of his men laughed.
"A human cannot be siblings with a dragon!" one of them said. "That is an absurd idea, Hiccup."
"It's true," Astrid, the Rider of the Deadly Nadder, stepped forth. "Our friend Bright here really is Luna's brother. They were raised together for quite some time."
"How long?" Magnus asked, his expression collected and calm.
"Fourteen years," Hiccup explained. "That's how long they've been together. Bright, would you like to have a few words?"
Bright inhaled an uneasy breath, while Luna nudged him forward. "As my friend Hiccup said, my name is Bright. I have been living with dragons for my whole life, and only recently begun to make contact with my fellow humans."
"Only recently?" Magnus asked.
"Yes," Bright nodded. "I had a human friend, take no doubt, and his name was Arne. He was my teacher; he helped me learn Norse and other things we humans does."
"Arne…?" Haggard started.
"Wait just for a moment there," Magnus said, turning around with Haggard.
Bright shifted on his feet, while Hiccup looked at him with a smile and told him, "Everything's all right."
Magnus turned back to the Riders. "So, Bright…have you been riding your…sister…all the way out here, to the North of the Archipelago, with your friends?"
"Yes," Bright nodded. "We were looking for my family. I've been separated from them for a long time."
"Your family?" Magnus echoed. "Who?"
"Well…"
Just then, a Viking woman came forth, calling to Magnus, "Magnus, let me see this boy you're speaking with."
Magnus looked back in surprise. "Are you sure, Helia?"
"Yes," the woman, Helia, nodded.
Bright blinked, uneasiness beginning to stir in him, but Luna nuzzled him gently, comforting him.
Helia walked over to him. She studied his face first. His blue eyes resembled the ocean.
"Um…" Bright started, uncomfortably. "Why are you staring at me, miss?"
Helia's eyes began watering. "Is that really you…my son?" she whispered.
Magnus widened his eyes.
"So…" Snotlout started, but was silenced by Astrid and his Monstrous Nightmare.
"Helia?" Magnus started to ask. "Is this really…?"
To everyone's surprise, Helia tearfully hugged Bright, who was stunned.
"Yes, Magnus," Helia replied, "Bright is our long-lost son."
Author's Notes: We've got one last chapter before this arc is over, everyone. And after the next chapter, we'll be going into HTTYD 2. I won't be doing the TV series, as that would be too much stuff to cover (and I am already doing one which retells a whole TV show (read: Dawn Before Twilight)). I hope you guys enjoyed the "Origin of Bright" arc so long as it lasted. We only need to have the family stuff remaining between Bright, Helia and Magnus. Whew, that took some time to get to. But, eh, a story shouldn't be rushed, right?