Chapter 232
Hiccups POV:
It's been a day since I learnt about the genies who intended to takeover Arabia by control of the people, one city at a time while enslaving, torturing or killing any humans they could find. After my meeting with Alzalam I knew I couldn't take these guys lightly nor could I leave them alone to do what they wished with Arabia since I had friends here that I care about and along with this, when they're done with Arabia they'll come for the rest of the world. Blanca and Astrid weren't too happy with me going up against such powerful enemies who might actually be able to kill me or worse, enslave my mind and turn me against those I love. The only ones who were unhappier about it were the kids with Chara hugging my leg as she cried and begged me not to go while Brant tried to put on a brave face.
After this I spent my day helping prepare the city for evacuation to one of the nearby cities that the royals are allies with incase the genies came before I could find them and also preparing for the trip. I did this by stocking up on supplies, practicing with my weapons, getting as much information as I could on my foes from Kaamisha and of course, saying goodbye to my family. Once I'd sent my family back to the island for their own safety, I went off with Toothless who refused to let me do this alone, in search of the evil that sought to take this land for its own. From what Kaamisha told me, she was warned that the Alzalam and his comrades had risen their new palace from the ground and into the sky. They were using it as a way to claim kingdoms one by one by flying over the cities and then pulling them up while forcing them to split up and then merge into their own kingdom and then take control of the city's riches, resources and inhabitants.
This would make things more difficult for us since they'd no doubt try to use the citizens as an attack force against me and I did not want to harm them since they're innocent people under the magical control of the real villains. Fortunately, I still had a lot of items that would incapacitate them, without hurting them but that didn't mean things were going to be any easier for us since there were going to be a lot of people. Along with this, Toothless and I had flown over a lot of areas that now had giant pits that were once where cities once stood showing us that the genies had already begun their conquest of Arabia. The sight of these holes made me all the more determined to end the madness of these power-hungry mystics who wanted to enslave the world.
Presently I was flying over the desert on the back of Toothless in search of the city that the genies had created to deal with so I could stop them from reforming Arabia in their own image. It was then the sight of a bright light in the distance that I could easily tell were large flames and knowing a large fire in the middle of the desert meant either some traders were having a bonfire or trouble and knowing my luck, it was the latter. I used my eagle eye to see what was happening and as expected, I was proven right in believing that it was trouble since the fires were burning tents with jackals made of fire forming from the flames. These beasts were chasing the people around with what looked like dried up corpses who were armed with scimitars and I did not like it this one bit. I rubbed Toothless' head and said.
"Come on bud, let's go give those people a hand." He growled as I released my spirit bow and loaded it with three water arrows. "This should help deal with the fires." I launched the arrows toward the flaming tents and watched as the flames slowly died, making me smile since it meant that more of those jackals couldn't form. "Now let's go and deal with the walking husks." He growled and nodded before we dived down towards the corpses. "BARREL ROLE, MULTIPLE BLAST!" As soon as the words left my mouth, Toothless pulled his wings in and did a barrel roll while firing four of his plasma blasts, destroying four of the corpses before we landed. "Let's show them what we can do bud." He growled and nodded as I dismounted and released my Anubis khopesh as I looked at a group of corpses and flaming jackals who were now glaring at us. "Why can't the foes on our adventures be normal more often than weird magic users." One of the corpses charged at me but I quickly extended the blade of my khopesh while swinging it at the corpse, cutting its torso in two and turning the body to dust. "Then again, normal enemies aren't as much fun." Toothless growled and nodded. "Let's get em." We charged at the foes.
Nobodies POV:
Hiccup charged at the corpses with his khopesh raised and Toothless at his side before Hiccup thrust his blade forward into the chest of a corpse. He quickly slashed to the side cutting into the corpse next to it, killing both corpses as Toothless slammed into another corpse that was charging at Hiccup from the side. It was then two of the flame jackals charged at him, but Hiccup pulled out his bag of cobra sand and swung it while throwing the contents across the ground. When the jackals were five feet away from Hiccup, a giant cobra head made of sand burst from the sand and slammed down on both jackals with its mouth wide open, devouring them both. The cobras head turned back to simple sand as steam from the jackals rose from the sand as they were extinguished by the sand covering them.
Hiccup then pulled out three scimitar throwing knives and turned towards a group of five corpses while throwing the blades that activated their lunar mirage ability and quickly filled the corpses up, throwing them back as they turned to dust. Hiccup then charged at another group of flaming jackals, ready to finish them off alongside the corpses and while he did this, Toothless was busy dealing with his own opponents. These opponents were the living corpses who were doing their best to overwhelm him but were having a difficult time doing so since he was superior to them in strength and was easily able to knock them back with either his head or tail. Along with this Hiccup was helping his dragon using the blades that made up his tail by having them slam into the heads of the corpses, shattering them before the corpses turned to dust.
What neither the man nor his dragon knew though was that while they fought off their foes the ones behind the madness were sitting in their thrones in the same room that the bandits who released them were killed. The way they were watching the fight was is through the power of a giant bonfire in the center of the room that surrounded the sword that drained the life of the bandits. The image was created above the sword and being fed by the flames that slowly flowed into the image, creating a perfect model like image of the battle. It was then Alqatil ran a hand over the blade of his scimitar while smiling as he said.
"Can't deny, the mortal is skilled with the blade." He smiled and raised the blade to his lips. "I'm looking forward to going up against him and staining my blade with his blood." He licked the blade as Nar Kabira held up a hand with a flame above his palm.
"I look forward to extinguishing his life." Alamiwat alsaayirun then said.
"And his corpse shall make a fine addition to my forces." Djamila then said.
"As entertaining as this all sounds, I believe I have a more suitable role for him to play." All eyes turned to her as she gave and evil grin. "He would be far more useful to us, serving as a hunter and soldier to hunt down any enemies or those mortals who try to escape us." The males nodded in agreement before Alzalam said.
"I like the idea but how would we be able to have him serve us as I doubt the low powered control spells, we use on the people will have any effect on him?"
"I believe he would be more than happy to serve us if I were to give him a kiss to show him how enjoyable working for us can be." They all chuckled before they each nodded as Nar Kabira said.
"It is decided then, we shall make that mortal our hunter but for now, let's enjoy the show and allow him to come to us." With that said, they turned their attention back to the image and watched as Hiccup finished off their forces.
Dawn
Hiccups POV:
It's been seven hours since my fight against the flaming jackals and dried up, walking corpses and that time had been spent travelling after sending the traders I saved to Madain Saleh so they could meet up with those who were evacuating. Now after an entire night of flying, me and Toothless finally have the city in our sight and I did not like what I was seeing since the city was huge which was to be expected since they had been taking in multiple cities to create it. This city was made of black rock with giant torches lit on giant towers like the ones on Berk that were used to light up the sky during dragon raids. What was most eye catching though was the giant palace in the center of the city that looked like something out of an Arabian nightmare I had once after my first adventure here in Arabia. Seriously, dark orange almost red walls with reddish black roofs with the walls of every building having dark shadows of some sort of beasts dancing across them with dried up corpses in black turbans and masks with red cloaks marching across the walls. All in all, this entire looked like something out of a nightmare and as expected, it was up to me and Toothless to wake everyone up from this nightmare. I took a breath and gave Toothless a scratch behind the head in a spot I knew he loved as I asked.
"Ready to do this bud?" He growled and nodded making me smile. "Alright Toothless, here's the plan." I looked back at the city. "We'll do a quick fly over the city to see what we're dealing with and find a place to land close to the palace where we're most likely going to find the leaders of this nightmare." He growled. "From there we'll make our way in and stick to the shadows since we'll want to get the drop on them and from there." I paused before I uneasily said. "And from there I'll hopefully come up with a way to stop them." Toothless growled. "Hey, don't give me that, I normally figure out a way to take them down when I'm facing my foes in person since it gives me a better chance to figure out what their weakness is." He just rolled his eyes as we began flying towards the city.
1 hour later
Hiccups POV:
It's been an hour since we began our flight towards the city and although it only took us fifteen minutes to reach the city, it took us the remaining forty-five minutes doing a fly over the city to see what was going on within the city. What I saw made my blood boil to new heights since what I saw in the city was something that could only be described as inhuman with how the people were being treated but it was easy to tell from the glowing bands around their heads that they were being controlled. Still that didn't stop my blood from boiling at how they were all forced to do back breaking labor under the watch of some undead corpses who were cracking metal tipped whips. What really made my blood boil was how they weren't just cracking the whips but using it to strike the people, man, women, elders and children on the back, leaving cuts on their bodies. To make matters worse the people couldn't even react because of the mind control and when they were brought out of it, they'd be in a lot of pain and not just because of the whips but also because they were being forced to pull boulders, ten times their size with nothing to help them move the boulders other than ropes being used to pull them.
Now me and Toothless had landed on the roof of the palace that was looking down on a balcony that had a single corpse guard standing on it and looking out at the city. I signaled Toothless to stay back as I released my star sword and got ready to deal with it, but I need to make sure there weren't any around who could sound the alarm. I let loose a bronze spider and allowed it to crawl down onto the roof and into the hallway to check for any more guards and smiled when I saw the hall was empty meaning nobody would notice me take this guy out. I quickly leapt from the roof with my sword raised and slammed it down on the corpse, splitting it in two with the corpse quickly turning to dust. I turned to Toothless and signaled him to come down which he quickly did before I rubbed his head and said.
"Let's do this bud." He growled and nodded before I mounted him and we took off down the hall to find the masters of this nightmare.
5 minutes later
It's been five minutes since we began our break in of the palace and I am sad to say that a minute after entering we were discovered by a large group of dried up corpses who came out of a secret passage and caught us by surprise. They were easily dealt with though but after that, we had to begin moving fast with me mounting Toothless before we took off down the hall and fast, with me releasing my sentinel metal discs and tail joints to deal with any problems we ran into. This was proven to be the right choice when we turned the corner and were greeted by seven corpse archers who let their arrows fly at us, but my discs blocked them all before my tail joints dealt with the archers. When the archers were dust on the ground, I summoned the discs back to my sides to block any more attacks while having the tail joint rapidly spin around us, making them look like one vibrating golden ring to deal with any corpses coming at us. This was something that proved to be the right thing to do since we'd run in with more than a few more corpses who were easily dealt with, but I kept my star sword out and ready to be safe.
Now we were running towards a large door with two rows of twenty corpse guard as I took out my chakram before throwing the two of them forward at the walls. They slammed into the wall and began bouncing off them, going from wall to the other and cutting up the corpses as they did so while we ran forward on the dust and clothes that used to be the corpses. As the last of the corpses turned to dust, exposing a large door making me smile before I said.
"How's about you knock on the door bud?" He growled and let out a plasma blast, shooting the door open. "Thanks bud."
We then burst through it and found ourselves in a large room dark room, at the top of a staircase that was leading to a large platform that was set in the middle of the room that had a pit going around the edges of it. Toothless and I slowly made out way down the steps towards the platform while keeping our guard up but the second we stepped onto the platform the torches on the wall lit up, bathing the room in light as a bonfire burst to life with a giant sword stabbed in the middle, surrounded by flames. Around the platform were five more staircases, each leading up to a throne with one of the genies sitting on each throne with them smiling at us before Alzalam smiled and held out his arms as he said.
"Welcome to our palace Hiccup Haddock." He stood up. "Allow me to introduce you to my comrades." He then gestured to each of the genies and gave an introduction to each of them but the second he was done I raised my prosthetic and launched a rotating blades at each of them but they each just chuckled as the blades went through them. "Nice try but we're not that easy to deal with." It was then Djamila said.
"Now that we've gotten that out of our system, let's talk." She stood up from her throne as I got into my battle stance as I signalled Toothless who immediately fired a plasma blast at her, but she just swatted it away as if it were a fly and smirked at Toothless. "Now don't you get upset as we took the liberty of finding a playmate for you as well." As soon as she said this a section of the floor lifted up to reveal a trapdoor right and before we could react, something charged out and tackled Toothless to the side. "Now play nice you two." I stared at the dragon that Toothless was wrestling with and saw a collar around its neck that had a faint golden glow that matched the colour of its eyes. "Admiring the little accessory, I gave it." I turned back to Djamila. "You see Hiccup, the akudiablo dragons prefer to remain underneath the sands, avoid any contact with those above the sand and keep to themselves but the collar I enchanted and gave him made really helped him come out of his den."
"You're using mind control on him." She giggled.
"That I am but don't you worry since in a few moments you won't have to worry about anything ever again."
"If you think killing me will be that easy then you've got another thing coming." She smirked.
"Then let us begin." And with that said our fight began.
Nobodies POV:
It was then, multiple scimitar knives floated around her and then launched right at Hiccup but fortunately his discs and tail joints were faster and blocked every one of them. Her blades didn't stop coming at him though with a few making it past the discs and joints but thanks to the enhanced senses he'd been able to gain from both his ninja and Kungfu training, he was able to use my star sword to block them. It was then Hiccups reflexes kicked in and he swung his sword to the side to strike at what he had sensed and turned to see none other than Alzalam, blocking the blade with his claws. Hiccup glared at him and asked.
"Did you really think that would work the second time when the first time failed?" He smirked.
"It worked as a distraction." Hiccup raised an eyebrow before a shadow landed on him from above and he quickly pushed Alzalam back as he jumped back, just intime to avoid being split in two by the giant scimitar being wielded by Alqatil who smirked at Hiccup as he said.
"Impressive, most mortals have met their end but you're one of the few who's been able to dodge it." Hiccup glared at him.
"The result of years of training." It was then a flaming ball flew at him from behind but Hiccup quickly backflipped, barely dodging knowing that although he has a fire immunity, it might not stop the magic flames before he turned to face a smirking Nar Kabira.
"And that comes from me using just a small sliver of my power."
Hiccup glared as he raised his sword to block another one of Djamila's blades right before Alqatil charged at him with his scimitar raised and swung it right at Hiccups head. Hiccup swung his sword up to meet the blade and they met with a loud clang of metal meeting metal as sparks flew before Hiccup pushed against the blade and jumped back. Alqatil slashed his blade forward at Hiccup who quickly jumped back to avoid the blade before lunging forward at Alqatil's left side while his body faced the right and quickly slashed at the mystical beings' leg. Alqatil let out a yell of pain before turning to glare at Hiccup who smirked at him but Alqatil smirked back as his leg healed making Hiccup frown but he forgot about his annoyance when he tuck and rolled forward to avoid a blow from behind by Alzalam.
He didn't focus on that for too long since he saw Nar Kabira throw two fireballs to the ground before they formed into two jackals made of fire. He pointed at me and they immediately charged at Hiccup who had to jump back to avoid another blow from Alzalam who once again came out of Hiccups shadow to try and deal some damage in a surprise attack. As soon as Hiccup stopped though one of the jackals pounced on him, burning Hiccups grootslang coat in the process showing how powerful the flames were as Hiccup growled in anger and slight pain. Acting quickly, Hiccup stabbed his sword into the beasts chest and swung it down, splitting the body of the beast in two as it let out a roar of pain as the flames that made up the beast were extinguished. With the beast no longer pinning him to the ground he quickly kicked his legs up, pulling his body up and landing on his feet before he dashed towards the other flaming jackal cutting it in two, right down the middle.
Hiccup smirked at Nar kabira who gave a smile that meant he knew something Hiccup didn't before Hiccup saw some bright glows and saw the flames that were once the jackals began growing. Hiccup immediately began backing up until the flames exploded in fiery blasts that made Hiccup, quickly shield his face as he was thrown back by the force. He slid across the floor and over the edge but he quickly grabbed onto the edge and pulled himself back up to be greeted by the smirking face of Alqatil who had his scimitar in hand and raised above his head, ready to bring it down on Hiccup. Thinking fast, Hiccup rolled out of the way just as the blade came down on him, barely avoiding the scimitar before quickly standing back up as three throwing knives flew into the ground where his head was.
He looked and saw Djamila smirk at him, showing his discs and tail joints couldn't stop all of her blades from reaching me but I ignored that in favour of blocking another swing from Alqatil. For a few seconds, Hiccup held his blade tight and kept pushing against Alqatil's strength as he pushed back turning it into a battle for dominance. Sadly, this battle for dominance was won by Alqatil when Alzalam used the battle to catch Hiccup by surprise and emerge from Hiccups shadow before slamming his left hands claws into his left waist, piercing the grootslang coat and leather armour beneath it along with Hiccups Celtic bag that he had on his belt. Hiccup, screamed in pain before he quickly swung his blade at Alzalam who wasn't fast enough, allowing Hiccup to succeed in cutting his fingers off. Alzalam screamed and retreated into Hiccups shadow as the fingers imbedded in his side turned into black smog while Alqatil used the opportunity to push Hiccup back by delivering a hard kick into his stomach making blood ooze out of the wound.
Hiccup quickly recovered and got back into his battle stance before an immense pain erupted in his left leg, but this pain was somehow familiar making him flashback to the day he lost his right arm. (Chapter 68) He immediately looked down t see a dried-up red hand connected to black smoke with orange glowing cracks in it and when he looked at where it was coming from, he saw the hand belonged to Alamiwat Alsaayirun, who was still sitting on his throne and smiling at Hiccup. He tightened his grip as Hiccup fell to the ground, gritting his teeth in immense pain as Alamiwat Alsaayirun chuckled as he watched Hiccups leg rot until the rot reached halfway up his shin and covered his entire foot while the armour that covered his leg turned to rust with the exception of his ox flame boot and golden leg guards. It was then Djamila walked forward as she said.
"I have to say Hiccup, that was quite the impressive display and proves that what it would be a waste to enslave you like the others who are working in the city or those we turned into our undead forces." Hiccup raised an eyebrow while trying to ignore the searing pain in his left leg. "We have an offer for you Hiccup but first." She gestured to the discs and tail joints. "Lower your toys and while you're at it, hand over your sword as well." Hiccup glared until Alamiwat Alsaayirun tightened his grip making Hiccup hiss and five another glare as he made the discs and joints lower to the floor and threw his sword to join them, making the five genies smile as Alzalam spread a shadow underneath them before they sunk into it.
"That'll hold them for now." He then walked up to Hiccup. "Now just to make sure you don't try anything else, also give us your prosthetic." Hiccup growled in pain as he was forced to give up his prosthetic which was also pulled into the shadows before Alzalam took his weapons sash, bags, spiderpack, blade scarf and did the same. "You can forget about getting your weapons back or trying anything now so it better you just listen." Djamila nodded to him and said.
"Thank you Alzalam." She then turned to Hiccup. "Now then Hiccup, what we want is for you to join us." Hiccup raised an eyebrow before he chuckled.
"Like I'd ever join any of you in harming the people of this land."
"You'll be well rewarded with-" Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"Let me guess, untold riches, countless servants, my own kingdom, an army that you want me to lead and a ton of other stuff." They all stared at Hiccup in shock who shrugged. "This isn't the first time some power hungry psycho's have tried to convince me to join them." He then glared at them. "And the answer is still and will always be no." It was then Djamila asked.
"Are you sure about that Hiccup?" He glared and spat at her.
"That is my answer." She glared and slapped him so hard, some blood filled a bit of his mouth but Hiccup just glared at her.
"Now that was rude." He just spat out a small bit of his blood and continued to glare at her but she smirked. "Either way, whether you serve us at your own free will or under magical control does not matter as you will be serving us." She then turned to Alqatil and then back to Hiccup. "But first, I believe punishment for your rudeness is an order." She turned to Alamiwat Alsaayirun. "Let his leg go." He nodded and did so before pulling the hand back to himself as she smiled down at Hiccup. "That leg is pretty badly damaged now so it best for it to be amputated." Hiccups eyes widened but he refused to give them the pleasure of seeing his fear knowing how much they'd enjoy it while Djamila turned to Alqatil. "Alqatil, would you be so kind as to remove the limb that's causing our guest so much pain." He smirked as Hiccup looked up in horror as Alqatil smirked.
"With pleasure!" Then before Hiccup could react, Alqatil brought his scimitar down on Hiccups left leg, just above the part that had rotted making him scream in pain as half his lower leg was severed from his body before Djamila turned to Nar Kabira.
"We don't want it to get infected so it best you use your flames to seal up the wound before he bleeds to death." Nar Kabira ignited a flaming ball in his hand before having it float down and engulf Hiccups bleeding stump, making Hiccup grit his teeth in pain, not wanting to scream and give the genies the pleasure until the flames died leaving a charred stump. "Now with that taken care of, let's get down to business." She walked towards Hiccup. "Don't you worry Hiccup, when I'm done you won't have to worry about anything and I'll be sure to give you a new leg." Hiccup just glared and pulled away from her before Alzalam said.
"Still trying to resist Hiccup?"
"I'll never give in." He smirked at Hiccup as did the others before Alqatil said.
"You can't beat us Hiccup." He gestured to the sword surrounded by the flames. "With the power of the king flowing through us, we are invincible and without your little toys, there is nothing you can do to stop us." Hiccup smiled in amusement before Alzalam asked.
"What's so funny?"
"The fact that you lot think I was stupid enough to give up all my weapons." He then smirked. "I still have one last trick up my sleeve and you just pointed out the way to end this madness."
Hiccup quickly released his sentinel metal needles through his sleeves and before any of the genies could react, they flew right through the flames and at the sword. As they flew towards the sword the needles lined up in a perfect line and one by one they stabbed into the sword, sticking right into it causing cracks to form around the area where the needles struck. The genies began to shake and grit their teeth in pain before the cracks in the sword began to release bright blue flames making the genies scream in absolute agony as cracks formed around their bodies with light shining out of them. It was then the sword shattered sending a giant shockwave throwing Hiccup, Toothless and the dragon he was still wrestling back to the edge of the platform. Hiccup looked back up just in time to see the genies turn to stone before they exploded sending shards of stone everywhere but they lived long enough to give Hiccup one last glare. Hiccup smiled and said.
"Well that takes care of that." Then his adrenaline wore off and darkness consumed his vision with the last thing he saw being the ceiling and the last thing he heard was Toothless letting out a roar of worry followed by rushing clawed feet before darkness and silence was all he could see.
AN: And that brings an end to this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it and will review kindly and if you're disappointed in the fight scenes, sorry but I'm not good at writing them and did my best to make them entertaining. Now I hope you all remember to review kindly and forgive me for the late update but life happens and gets in the way of things like writing and did my best to make a few good fight scenes. Anyway, review kindly and if you have any ideas for the story that you wish to share, let me know and I will see if I can add them but until the next chapter, have a nice day.