Chapter 255
Hiccups POV:
I'd just fallen asleep when all of a sudden there was a bright flash and then I found myself standing at the beginning of a familiar path with stone tablets that told of various legends. I smiled when I spotted Arthurs legend about how he gallantly fought against Mordred to his dying breath before I stepped in and finished Mordred off but my favorite part of the legend was how it told how I reunited with Arthur when I came here to meet the gods. I bowed to that legend while whispering.
"Rest in peace Arthur, you were a great leader and an even greater man." I then continued down the path, eventually reaching the familiar stone table and the moment I reached it, there was a bright flash and I was once again greeted by the sight of the Celtic gods before I bowed. "I am honored to be in your presence, protectors of the land." Making them chuckle before the god Dagda said.
"It's nice to see you to Hiccup and we are truly grateful for what you did concerning the demon Tenebraug and his minions which brings us to one of the main reasons we brought you here."
"It's about that weird red gem that was left from the orb I shattered, isn't it?" He nodded.
"That gem is Tenebraugs main anchor which allowed him to form in your world to steal the eyes of his victims and now with it captured, it cannot reform."
"So that's why you had Rooney give me the sentinel metal container." He nodded. "What am I meant to do with it now though?" Dagda held out his hand.
"Give it to us and we shall ensure its destruction so Tenebraug may never enter the mortal realm again." I nodded and pulled out the orb that held the gem which floated over to Dagda who took it and opened the orb before taking the gem in hand and the shattering it into dust as a high-pitched screech of pain echoed through the area. "That takes care of that." She lowered her hand as the sentinel metal fused together to form an orb that was then sealed in a familiar ball, like the ones that held the sentinel metal I was originally given. "Now then onto another subject we must discuss." He pulled out what I immediately recognized as my mystic Ganji water. "You used this water given to you by the Hindu gods to help heal the wolf walker, Moll when you feared the magic her daughter possessed would not be enough." I nodded.
"I did."
"What you did not know however was it also absorbed the magic of the wolf walkers, enhancing its power to the point where the wounds it can heal far exceed what it could originally." I nodded. "We did need to take it and help the magics settle but now while it was only able to heal cuts and bruises, it may now enter the bodies and heal broken bones and punctured organs." I smiled as I put the water away.
"Thanks, this should really help out in the future."
"Now onto your rewards for this remarkable service you have done for us." He placed the ball into a small leather bag which floated over to me. "You made excellent use of the sentinel metal you were given last time and I hope you will do the same with the sentinel metal in this bag." I nodded and put the bag into my coat, allowing my spiderpack to take it in.
"Thankyou." He nodded and it was then the god Dian Cecht spoke up.
"Hiccup, despite the improvements to your water it cannot heal illness's or poisons but the herbs you grew on your island from the seeds which we gave you can so here's a little something to help you prepare them into cures and antidotes." He pulled out a black stone mortar and a book with his symbol on both of the items which he then slid across the table to me. "That mortar will enhance their healing properties and easily mix them while the book contains the recipes for the various items you can make." I nodded knowing Gothi and the other healers would love to get their hands on this as I said.
"Thank you, lord Dian Cecht." As I put the items away Sucellus spoke up saying.
"And to go with it, here's a gift from me to you laddie." He tossed me a metal hip flask with his symbol carved into the side. "That flask can hold an endless supply of whatever you pour in it and when you pour something else in the liquids will remain separate and you'll be able to switch between them by twisting the symbol on the side." I nodded. "Friendly peace of advice lad, you can use that thing to store more than just medicines." I knew he was talking about alcohol as I put it away and smiled in thanks before Dagda spoke once more.
"Now I understand you have a pan flute and a regular flute, both possessing some form of power." I nodded.
"My pan flute allows me to grow plants faster and stronger while my regular flute allows me to calm even the angriest of beasts." Dagda smiled at me.
"As you know we all enjoy a bit of music and when we heard about the instruments you are able to use, we all worked together to create these." He pulled out two scrolls with one being bound with emerald green ribbon and the other in navy blue ribbon. "These scrolls have music for each of those flutes with one wrapped with emerald green is for your pan flute, the one in navy blue is for your regular flute and the songs contained within them when mixed with your flutes shall produce new results to the regular ones." I nodded while putting the scrolls away and hoping one of the results would being able to calm my wives when they're angry.
Thank you, I look forward to seeing what these songs and my flutes can do together." He nodded.
"Now then onto the next gift." He turned to one of the gods down the table. "Brigid, if you'd be so kind." The goddess Brigid nodded and pulled out a small plank with three beehive shaped lumps and tossed it to me.
"When you return to your island place those hives upon the ground in your garden and it shall not only ensure all plant life on your island to grow wonderfully but also allow you to harvest the sweetest honey to ever grace your taste buds." I nodded and put it away.
"Thank you, lady Brigid." It was then Dagda spoke once more.
"Now before we give you the next gift, let's discuss your recent adventure, I understand you helped the wolf walkers and offered them sanctuary on your island." I nodded.
"Is there a problem with that?" He shook his head.
"No, it's actually nice to see you're willing to open your home to those you barely know." I shrugged.
"They have it rough for reasons beyond their control and I figured it wouldn't hurt to have them join me on my island."
"Well then, I believe this may help with that." He tossed me what looked like a new island piece that was black as coal, looked to be made of stone and was nearly completely flat. "When you return to the lair of the wolf walkers, pull that out and see what happens." I nodded as I slipped it away into my coat before my spiderpack took it. "And now a little something to help you in future adventures." He snapped his fingers before a pitch-black wolf came out of the woods and then sunk into the ground making it take the form of a shadow that then flowed into my own. "That wolf is the spirit of the wolf who merged with a human to create the first wolf walker and although you have this spirit, it does not make you a wolf walker but this spirit does have abilities that may prove useful to you and you will have to find out for yourself." I smiled.
"That's always part of the fun."
"And now it is with these gifts, we send you back to the mortal realm where you came from and hope you will continue to protect your realm from all threats."
There was a bright flash that blinded me and when I opened my eyes, I found myself back in the lair of the wolf walkers and began looking around and found everyone was just waking up.I smiled at the sight of little Chara waking up on my chest, letting out a loud yawn before rolling off my chest allowing me to sit up properly and look down at my little girl who smiled up at me. I smiled back before I felt a chill on my feet and looked down to see my boots were gone making me sigh and look around at everyone before I asked.
"Alright, who took my boots?" Before anyone could reply a voice from my side said.
"That would be me laddie." I looked down and saw none other than Rooney, standing next to my boots. "I heard about what you did to protect the wolf walkers and the magic of this land so me and my clan decided to give ya a wee gift in the form of an upgrade to your boots but what it be capable of doing now is something you'll have to figure out yourself." Before I could reply, I blinked and he was gone making me sigh and rub my head.
"One day, I really need to ask that leprechaun how he does that." I looked around to see everyone looking at me expectantly but I just shrugged. "Old friend from my first trip, I'll tell you everything later but for now there's something I need to do." I pulled out the new island piece. "Let's see what this thing does." Before anyone could ask anything there was a shining golden glow that blinded us all and when it died down I saw that all the inscriptions on the walls were gone while the piece in my hand now had taken on a shining gold color that seemed to move and now had parts sticking out but before I could fully examine it a growl caught my attention and I saw Mabh and all the wolves glaring at me.
"What did you do to our sacred inscriptions?" I sighed.
"Don't blame me, I'm just doing what the gods told me to do but since this is a new island piece, I think they might've been moved into it so when the new piece is added, the inscriptions come with it." She growled in anger until Robyne walked up and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Mebh, Hiccup risked his life to help us, he wouldn't betray us like this." She nodded and walked back to her mother as Bill asked.
"So, how did you meet the god's lad?"
"They came to me in the form of a dream, but I've gone through these trips enough times to know when it's real and when it's just a dream." He nodded before Chara asked.
"What else did you get daddy?" I smiled at her.
"I'll tell you everything when we get home princess but for now, we need to start getting ready to move out." She nodded as we all began getting to work.
3 hours later
It's been three hours since we all got up and, in that time, we'd gathered all the wolves up along with all the belongings of everyone with me and Bill returning to the city to gather up his and Robyne's belongings while the girls stayed behind to help gather what little items the wolf walkers had. When I got back, I also took the armor off the horse that belonged to Lord Cromwell and hooked it up to the wagon and also picked up Lord Cromwell's dagger as a souvenir of this adventure before clearing up an old wagon Mebh and Moll had to help with things. Now we'd gotten far enough from the city and had made it to a large cliffside which I knew would be perfect for my portal door which'll allow us to go home. I took a breath and turned to the wolf walkers and said.
"Now that we're here, I'm going to pull the wolves, horse and carriage into my shadow so do you guys think you can tell the wolves to try remain calm?" Mebh ran up.
"Just send me an Robyne in with em and we'll keep the wolves calm." I nodded.
"Alright but, first I'm going to open my portal door so I can get us all back to the island." They nodded as I walked up to the wall and pressed my prosthetic against the wall of the cliff creating the portal door before I turned back to the girls who were looking at me in shock. "Don't ask, let's just get you guys into my shadow so we can get home." They nodded before Robyne asked.
"Will this hurt?" I smiled and shook my head.
"Don't worry, it's like sinking into water without a chance of drowning." They nodded before I began having my shadow extend and spread out under them, their carriage and the wolves and then begun pulling them in making the wolves whine in fear as Mebh told them to calm down until they were all pulled in and turned to Bill and Moll. "They'll be fine, and I'll let them out as soon as we get back to the island." They nodded before Bill said.
"We trust ya Hiccup but know that if anything happens to either of them then I'll-" I held up a hand cutting him off.
"Save it Bill, I've heard enough death threats in my life as it is and I promise you that both girls, the wolves and the horse with the carriage will be fine in my shadow." I opened the portal door. "For now, though, let's go home." With that said, we all made our way through the portal door.
5 minutes later
I was standing in the middle of the woods on my island with Bill, Moll and of course my wolfpack since I figured it best they be here so they know not to mess with the new wolves. I took a breath and extended my shadow, allowing both Robyne and Mebh out followed by the carriage with the horse and then the wolfpack. The wolves, as expected immediately began looking around their new home as did Mebh but Robyne's focus was on Adal and his pack with her staring at them and the second Mebh noticed them she did the same. When Mebh fell silent the wolves finally took notice of Adal and immediately bowed to him since he was clearly the alpha wolf of these woods. It was then Robyne asked.
"Hiccup, what is that?" I turned to Adal before back to her and gestured to him.
"This is Adal, he's the alpha wolf of these woods and the son of Fenrir but as to how he came to be in my care, that's a story for another time." They nodded before I gestured to the pack. "And these are my wolves." I then began naming each of them off while explaining what Adal's pups and Maelstrom were "Alright then I'll give you all a full tour of the island but first it best I put in this new piece." I pulled out the new island piece before Mebh asked.
"How does that weird crystal thing even make a new part of the island?" I smiled.
"Come with me and I'll show you how."
3 minutes later
I was standing at the top of my volcano with Toothless at my side, the wolf walkers behind me looking around after I released them from my shadow since Toothless could only carry two people at a time and I wanted to get to the volcano fast. It was then Mebh asked.
"So, how's this place meant to add a new place to the island." She then pointed at Aelius who was on top the statue. "Is that big bird meant to add it?" I shook my head.
"No, Aelius just helps guard the tree in the volcano." I then gestured to the statue. "It's the statue that's going to help bring out the new island piece." They all looked at me as if I were crazy. "Just watch!"
I pulled out the crystal piece and as expected, the statue brought out the crystal model of my island before the piece in my hand flew out and lodged itself at the far end of the piece that was my forest. As soon as the piece was in place, we felt the island shake and I walked to the edge and watched as a small mountain came out from withing the far end of the woods. When it was completely formed, I watched as the crystal model sunk back into the ground and turned to the Mebh and said.
"That is how a new island piece is added." I then began extending my shadow beneath them. "Now then, let's go see what this new place is like." They nodded before I pulled them into my shadow and then mounted Toothless and took off to see what this new island part was like.
1 week later
It's been a week since we got back from our vacation in Ireland and in that time, things have been busy to say the least with everything that's needed to be done. Now though, night had fallen over my island and while my kids and wives were in bed, I was sitting in my bath that was filled with hot water and a few bath oils from Rome that I had in storage. As I soaked in the waters to relax my mind and body, I went over the events that had happened in the last week, starting with after I set up the new island piece for the wolf walkers.
First thing we did was go to check out the new part of my island and was surprised to find it greatly resembled the path that lead to the wolf walkers' original home with rune covered pillars on either side of a path. This path led into a large tunnel with the walls covered in the runes while at the end was a large cavern that had runes covering the walls and two stone thrones in the center. It was obvious the thrones were for Moll and Bill while Mebh and Robyne would sleep in their laps like how Mebh did back in their original home. After that I began giving the islands new inhabitants a tour of the entire island while also introducing them to the islands inhabitants and giving them the rules of the island to avoid any issues in the future. It was easy to tell the girls were looking forward to spending their evening taking the wolves out to explore the island and seeing what they could find.
After that I left the wolf walkers to get settled into their new home while I went to let everyone on Berk know me and my family were back and all that had happened. As expected, I received a warm welcome from my parents and the people of Berk but the second I mentioned an evil group with an eye stealing demon, the people swarmed and told me to show them what happened. I ended up spending over an hour in the great hall showing how I defeated the red caps and their masters with many asking how I was sure the red caps who fell into the darkness were dead. I just explained that nothing could survive that fall and then showed the destruction of the entire tunnel system using my bombs and how if the fall didn't kill them, the falling rubble did.
The following day was no less of a headache since I had to unload my spiderpack of the various treasures I looted such as the gold, jewels and other things for the vault, the various books for the library and of course the items for the trophy room which needed stands. Along with that I had also spent my day dealing with my gifts from the gods such as setting up the beehives I was given, seeing what the sheet music could do, practice control over the wolf, make some items using the mortar for storage and of course coming up with designs for what I could turn the sentinel metal into. I decided to do this last though since the designs could wait as I had other gifts that needed to be set up and I figured that they wouldn't need to be forged but simply studied and practiced with to see what they could do.
The gifts came in last though since I figured it best to unload the items though and I had to admit, the books did make good additions to my library which still had many empty shelves that needed to be filled while the treasures did make a good contribution to my vault. As for the items for the trophy rooms, I hung each of the robes up on wooden dummies with their arms held out a little while each of the weapons were placed on a pedestal in front of the robes of the ones who wielded them. Then came the caps of the redcaps I defeated, I put each cap on its own wooden head model I made with all of these models resting on a single large pedestal that reached my waist in height and once that was done, I took care of Lord Cromwells dagger. I had the dagger placed on its own pedestal with it sitting on its own stand with the blade facing down and the handle facing up and once this was done, I got to work on the gifts from the gods.
To begin with I set up the beehives at the back of my garden and no sooner did I set up the hives did the bees fly right out and get to work on the flowers. By the next morning when I came to check up on them, I walked away with three glass jars of honey and when I tried it, it was the sweetest and tastiest honey I'd ever tasted. I immediately tried putting it into the dough of bread I was making and unsurprisingly, the buns were delicious and my family also enjoyed it with my mom asking for the recipe which my dad quickly had her forget about it, knowing her cooking.
Then there's the new sheet music scrolls for my flutes which came with a surprise when I unfurled them burst with the music on the sheet and then turned to dust. Somehow though, I still knew the tunes and how to play them but what they did is not something I knew so I began testing them out, starting with my calming flute. I went to the desert to practice since there was little chance of anything being damaged and when I began playing, I just got lost in the music and the peace it brought and ended up being pulled out of it by the sound of someone hitting the sand. It turned out to be Astrid and Stormfly who were coming to check up on me but when I went to check on them, I found they were in a deep sleep that they wouldn't wake up from no matter how hard I tried.
When she finally woke up, she asked what happened claiming she was coming to see how I was doing, she heard music and then everything went black and then woke up to find me looking at her. It wasn't that hard to figure out this new music would knock out anyone who heard it except for me and I knew it if I played it through my thunder-ear, I could knock out entire villages so it would come in handy when dealing with bandit camps.
Then came the music for my pan flute which I practiced in the forest and since my pan flute was used to help plants grow, I figured the new song would do the same. I tried it out using a tomato plant and after placing it on the ground in the forest before playing the new song to see what the results would be with the plant. Turns out the plant didn't just grow bigger, the tomatoes that had just began to grow, actually grew fully and by the end of the song had fully ripened. After that I took it up a notch and tested it out in my crop garden with the results being the same for all my plants with the fruits and vegetables ripening almost immediately leaving me to perform an early harvest. I wasn't complaining though since the more food for the store house and anything that I couldn't fit in storage was sent straight to Berk with the people happy to have more food for their stores. This of course led to my father asking about where it came from and when I explained it to him, he had me go straight to the farmlands of Berk and help ripen the food there. I wasn't complaining though since I received many thanks from the farmers, and it helped Berk meaning I was most likely going to be doing this a lot when winter begins approaching.
There's also my Mortar and the book it came with which made me spend a few hours in my private study going through every recipe in the book and even longer in my herb garden, creating multiple bottles of them since a lot of them could be useful on Berk. Once there were ten containers of every kind of thing that could take care of wounds and various forms of illness which around this time of year was normal with cool winds blowing in. Gothi and the other healers were grateful for this since it'd make their lives a little easier with them not needing to use so many items to create cures and remedies for those in need of healing. As for the flask itself, to absorb the liquids I made, all I had to do was dip the head into the liquid and it would suck all the liquids up and it would then let out a green glow from the symbol. After that, I'd just have to press down on the symbol and a green projection of the symbol would appear with the names of the various potions within the flask circling it and then I'd just have to press on the projection of what I wanted and the flask would provide it.
Then there's my ox flame boots that Rooney and his clan had altered, and I was not the least bit disappointed with the capabilities since the new abilities would be good for both travel and combat. First ability I learnt was how the blades on the ankles could now move to the edges of the soles and either point outwards for a more painful kick or down to help me get a grip on the ground and walls when climbing. Along with that, they could merge into one long blade that can stick out of either the back or front of the sole meaning my kicks could be a lot more lethal when needed. Finally, if I kick my foot out hard the blades could be launched out as rotating saw blades with the metal being hot enough to melt through metal and then return to my boots. All in all, I believed these enhancements to my shoes would be very useful in my future fights and explorations across various environments.
Finally, there's the shadow wolf that seemed to merge with my shadow and shortly after seeing what it could do, I learnt it also merged with the power of my coat. First thing I learnt was that like with Inazuma, I could see through its eyes using the eye of the dragon but unlike Inazuma who preferred to roam free on my island, this shadow wolf patrolled the rooms in my shadow coat which would be helpful since it meant I wouldn't have to go into it to check on those it held. Then there's its abilities that were meant for combat like how I could literally send the wolf out to attack enemies with a single bite being able to paralyze the victim. Along with this, he could jump into the shadows of other people whose shadows mine simply touched which would make spying a bit easier since when it came time to deal with enemies, he could jump out and deal with them himself or just stick his head out and bite them. Then there's the ability that would come in handy for capturing foes, he could literally jump out of the shadows while looking like a shadow and spread out his body before covering enemies like a blanket and then return to normal with the enemy being put in a cell in my shadow coat. The best part about this ability is it was quick and could be done at a distance that's out of range of my shadow coats usual range so it's the same as enhancing my ability to capture foes. Finally, there were his tracking abilities which were impressive to say the least since his ability to track through scent and sound were on the same level as my kitsune mask, so he'd be helpful in hunts.
All my gifts aside, the wolfwalkers have settled in well to their new homes with me often seeing the girls running around the various environments in either their human or wolf forms. Bill and Moll on the other hand preferred to mostly stick to their human forms and worked on making their new home a little more like a home for all of them by getting a flow for the magic but they all still joined me and my family for meals. I did have to release a couple of more boars though so their pack could also hunt them down and not need to fight for food with Adal's pack since that's the last thing I wanted to see. As for the horse of Lord Cromwell, turns out it was a male and since I didn't want it to begin starting fights with my territorial pteripus, Phlegon, I sold the horse to a trader I knew who had a friend who owned a stable and was always looking for new horses. I made a couple of gold coins for the horse and knew he'd be well taken care of since the guy had a reputation of selling horses to only those who he knew would take good care of them so that was a weight off my shoulders.
Still despite all this work keeping my mind busy I still had thoughts on what I could turn my new sentinel metal into but sadly I couldn't come up with anything good as the only items I could think of were already built. I sighed and sunk deeper into the water to try and have the hot water help clear my head, but it was then a voice from behind me asked.
"Haven't you soaked for long enough my dear husband?" I sighed and raised my body out of the water.
"It won't be enough until all the aches have left every part of my body Hadasa and I still have a few in my back." I listened to her walk up behind me and gently begin to massage my shoulders making me moan in pleasure.
"Do you truly believe that boiling yourself like a vegetable shall release the tension in your body?" I shook my head.
"No, but it does help me forget about my worries while organizing my thoughts on what issues I have to face tomorrow."
"Well I don't know about the challenges that you'll face tomorrow but I do know that you'll be no match for them if you don't get any sleep tonight." I nodded.
"You're right so I might as well get out of the water and get to bed." I could feel her smile.
"Go right ahead but take your time drying off and getting dressed since I do enjoy seeing your body when it's nice and wet." I chuckled.
"The feelings mutual my dear flower but with what I've got to do tomorrow, it best we both get some rest." She nodded before she tossed me a towel to dry off with and began making her way towards the exit and turned to me.
"I'll see you in bed Hiccup." I smiled and nodded before I continued to prepare for a good night's rest and who knows, maybe I'll dream up something to turn the sentinel metal into.
AN: And here's another chapter which I hope you all enjoyed since the reviews aren't telling me much since I'm only getting two from my two regular readers who I am grateful to since it shows people are still reading the new chapters. Anyway, for the sentinel metal, I wouldn't mind some ideas and a few for the next few chapters which I hope to keep calm and peaceful with just some normal life stuff happening. Still though, those chapters aren't easy for me to write since I write them as the ideas come for them since just going with the original ideas for them never make it to the word minimum. Anyway, have a nice day and please review.