Chapter 151
Hiccups POV:
I was walking alongside Iron Bear and Spirit Roamer towards Spirit Roamers wingwam after I had just taken on a large group of strange monster wolves and eagles that were attacking the village. I was hoping both the chief and shaman would be able to enlighten me as to who or what created those things and why they were attacking this village. We made our way into the wingwam as I signaled Toothless to stand guard outside the entrance so we could discuss things in private. We all sat down around the fire pit as I asked.
"Alright, I believe the first thing we should talk about is those things that attacked the village and what they are." They both nodded as Iron Bear replied.
"I agree Soaring Eagle as I would also like to know what those strange creatures were as our weapons had no effect on them." He then turned to Spirit Roamer. "Spirit Roamer, do you know anything about those creatures or the entity that Hiccup encountered in the world of the spirit guardians." He nodded.
"The beasts that attacked our village were spirits who have been corrupted with a darkness I've never seen before but the creature Hiccup encountered in the spirit world might be what's responsible for it." He then turned to me. "Hiccup, what can you tell me about this creature you faced."
"Well it seemed to be completely made out of shadows with a hunger for the spirits, had a laugh that seemed to send an unpleasant chill up my spine and then there's the effect it had on the light around it."
"What did it do to the light?" I rubbed my chin in thought on how to explain what it did.
"It's hard to describe but the best way to say is it seemed to suck the light and life out of everything around it." Spirit Roamer sighed as he frowned and looked down sadly.
"If this is the case then a great evil had entered the spirit world and seems to be corrupting the spirits for its own dark purposes." He shook his head. "This creature is a great danger to not only our tribe but both our world and the spirit world." He looked to me. "Hiccup Haddock, as you know our weapons were ineffective against those creatures but yours were able to strike them down and as such I regret to inform you but the burden of defeating this evil solely rests upon your shoulders." I nodded.
"I'm used to the fate of entire races of people resting on my shoulders." I then looked down in thought. "I just wish I knew more about what I was going up against." Spirit Roamer looked at me.
"Did you not say you had an arrow launched at you from the spirit world."
"I did bring one back and was hoping to talk to you about it." He held out his hand.
"Please let me see it." I nodded as the arrow was pushed into my hand from my spider pack and handed it to him before he began examining it closely before his eyes widened and he quickly threw it away from him.
"I can't tell much about it but that arrow is the product of truly dark magic that should not be tampered with."
"Meaning who or what shot this arrow at me is big trouble." He nodded as I picked the arrow back up and had my spider packs top right leg take it and put it back in the pack.
"Can you tell me anything else about it?" He shook his head.
"I'm afraid this is not a magic I or any shaman of the forest tribes would be familiar with but a shaman of the other tribe types might hold the answer."
"How do you know one of the other shaman of the forest won't know?"
"We all study the same type of magic mainly that of light spirit magic and the ways of the forest." He then dawned a look of disgust. "That arrow is of magic so dark that I'd appreciate it if you never brought it into the village again Hiccup." I nodded.
"Rest assured I won't bring such darkness into the village again if I can avoid it but there will be times I need to bring it in so I can have you identify it if it's possible for you." He nodded before Iron Bear said.
"Soaring Eagle, I hate to ask this of you but I'd appreciate it if you would stay in the village for a few days should those beasts return and to be honest with those strange things coming out of your back and the new weapons you wield." I nodded.
"That does sound good and rest assured I'll do everything I can to help protect against those dark spirits." I then realized what I just said and turned to Spirit Roamer. "Spirit Roamer when I defeat these spirits, what happens to them?"
"From what I can tell their forms are destroyed but they shall reform later on so feel no guilt in destroying them."
"Is there any way to save them?"
"The only way I can think of is to destroy the creature that corrupted them."
"In other words take out the master and the minions shall fall." He raised an eyebrow. "I've been to a lot of places and hear many stories about warriors in similar situations." He nodded. "Now let's go let the village what's going on since I know more than a few of them will be wondering what's happening." Iron Bear then smiled in amusement.
"And more than a few of the girls have been waiting for your return."
"Well I'm afraid they'll be disappointed to here once piece of news." They both smiled.
"Did you finally find a woman who was able to capture your heart?" I smiled at them before Spirit Roamer said.
"It has finally happened, we were all hoping you'd find a woman to share your life with and I prayed to the spirits to help you find a wife who you could share your life with." Iron Bear then said.
"Hiccup you should drop by in the future sometimes with that wife of yours so we may meet the woman who was able to accomplish what so many women have failed to do." I nodded.
"I'll talk to her about it but for now we better get going since I'm sure everyone has more than a few questions." I held up my prosthetic while revealing my golden spider. "And if it's about the beasts I've faced or the places I've been then this little spider should help out." They both looked at me in confusion before Iron Bear asked.
"How?" I just smiled.
"You'll see." With this in mind we left the Wingwam to speak with the village.
6 days later
It's been six days since that fateful day when I took on those dark spirits and, in that time, I've rarely had a moment of peace and it's not just because of the spirits attacking. After my talk with Spirit Roamer and Iron Bear I ended up spending my entire day showing my battles with the beasts I had to face to save people and lands. This as expected lead to multiple questions from people wanting to know about the creatures, the beasts I faced and the gifts I received from the gods. Some of them were interested in trading for my grootslang coat and spider pack knowing they'd be helpful to them when hunting, bringing in food or in battle but I told them they weren't for sale. Other than that, the main reason for me rarely having a moment of peace was because I'd constantly been patrolling the forest with Toothless looking for spirits. I am not happy to say that we've had multiple run-ins with the wolves on the ground and the eagles in the air on a daily basis with no help from the tribe since their weapons had no effect on them. Taking them on alone with Toothless was a great burden on us both, something that Spirit Roamer had noticed which brings us to now.
Me and Toothless were standing guard outside the spirit cave while Spirit Roamer was inside hoping to try and contact the spirits of the tribe's ancestors for help. I was hesitant to allow him to go into the spirit world alone with whatever it was lurking in the spirit world but he told me that the plane in which the spirit guides lived and the spirits of the ancestors were different so he should be safe. I looked around for any spirits with a single arrow loaded and Toothless in battle stance and ready to fire off a plasma blast at any attacking spirit. I stood there staring out at the forest below readying my arrow while using my eagle eye and the eye of the dragon to watch out for any form of a threat. Not seeing anything I turned to Toothless and asked.
"Do you think he'll be able to come up with something to stop these spirits?" He growled. "I know but it doesn't hurt to hope he'll be able to help us out with fighting these things." It was then the sound of a shriek in the air caught my attention and I looked up to see spirit eagles but in each of their talons was a spirit wolf. "Time to knock some birds out of the sky bud." He growled and nodded. "You knock the eagles to the ground with your plasma blast and I'll take care of them with the wolves." I then turned to the spirit cave. "We can't let them reach Spirit Roamer bud." He growled and nodded as I turned back to the eagles and took aim. "Now let's take these overgrown turkeys and mutts down."
He growled and nodded as I let the arrow fly and smiled as it flew while I took out another arrow and readied it as the first one imbedded itself into the head of the eagle. The eagle let out a shriek as it turned to the black dust making the wolves falling to the ground in the forest out of sight. Toothless then let out a plasma blast that struck one of the eagles' body making it shriek in pain and drop the wolves it was carrying into the forest before I let lose my arrow and struck it in the chest killing it. Toothless let out another blast hitting the wing of one more eagle knocking it out of the sky before it fell into the wall of the mountain below us after it let the wolves go but before it could recover I threw one of my shuriken throwing knives at it. The knifes lunar mirage ability activated with all the knives imbedding themselves into its body killing it while I loaded another arrow and quickly fired it at another eagle killing it when it impacted the wing of the eagle. I turned my attention to the other eagles who I saw were now retreating but I knew something was up when I saw their talons were now empty meaning they'd dropped off the wolves which means this fight isn't over yet.
I took out three more arrows and took aim at the forest where the wolves were either released or had fallen into ready to take down any wolves that were no doubt about to come. Toothless readied a plasma blast and aimed at the forest ready to let it loose at any on coming enemies and fortunately we didn't have to wait long since a few seconds later the wolves broke through the tree line and charged at us. I let the arrows fly and took out three of the charging wolves before I quickly reached back and took out three more knowing I needed to take down as many of them as I could at once. I kept firing at them three arrows at a time while Toothless kept blasting them and although his plasma blasts didn't harm them they did stun them allowing me to plant an arrow in them. They seemed to be endless since they just kept coming no matter how many of them fell but I knew I had to hold them back or they'd get to Spirit Roamer and I couldn't allow that.
I saw their ranks were beginning to thin and they knew this so they began splitting up instead of grouping together meaning I had more targets who were harder to hit more than one at once. I knew this meant I'd more than likely need to get up close and personal with these guys so I let loose two more arrows killing two more of the wolves before I collapsed my bow and brought out my eagle shield and crystal spear. My eyes didn't turn my head as I ordered Toothless.
"Toothless fall back to the cave and stop any wolves from reaching it."
He growled and nodded before running back to the entrance of the cave while my eyes were focused on the wolves who were all glaring at me. Five seconds later one of the wolves charged at me and I quickly stabbed the spear head of my spear towards it while making the pole extend and stab into its chest. The wolf let out a howl of pain as it turned to dust before I swung my spear to the side slashing another wolf leaving a large scratch into the side of its torso killing it. I saw one made it past me and I quickly flipped my spear over pointing the crystal end at it and launched shards at it striking the back of its head killing it. I turned to face a wolf who was charging right at me before I slammed the crystal end of my spear into the ground making a row of crystals burst from the ground towards the wolf impaling it. I pulled my spear back up and turned to another charging wolf that just leapt towards me but I quickly flipped my spear around pointing the spear end at it impaling it in the gut.
Before I could ready to strike down another wolf I was jumped from the side by one of the wolves who caught me by surprise and immediately began to try and sink its fangs into my neck. I quickly brought my eagle shield in front of me stopping the wolf from reaching my neck and pushed it back trying to stop it as I released my spider packs legs before stabbing them into the skull of the wolf. Its body turned to dust before I quickly stood back up and turned my attention back to those wolves that were still alive. I saw there were still three remaining wolves and smiled before I let out my battle cry and charged at them legs of my spider pack extended and ready to kill them. Two charged right at me and when they pounced I had the legs thrust forward impaling them in the chests killing them instantly.
Before I could turn my attention to the final wolf it leapt at me and pushed me down while trying to sink its fangs into my neck. I used my eagle shield to push it back and avoid having my throat ripped out but before I could do anything to kill it a tomahawk suddenly flew into its neck. I didn't think it would do anything to kill it since it seemed to be a normal weapon but was surprised when the wolf turned to dust above me. I quickly stood back up and turned to where the tomahawk came from and saw Spirit Roamer with his hand held out and a smile on his face. He smiled and walked over to me as he chuckled and said.
"After all these years I've still got it." I raised an eyebrow as Toothless ran up to me and nuzzled my chest before I rubbed his head and smiled at Spirit Roamer.
"I have to say you throw a mean tomahawk my friend."
"I admit throwing that tomahawk made me feel young again."
"How did that tomahawk affect the wolf though?" He smiled as he walked up to me and picked up the tomahawk.
"The ancestors gifted me with a way to enchant the weapons we use so they can affect the spirits we face." His expression then turned grim. "They also told me to pass on a message to you."
"What is it?"
"In order to find the answers to what threatens the people and the spirits is in the great planes where the tribe lead by chief Stone Face is being targeted by the spirits." Hearing this my eyes widened.
"I've got to get to the tribe." Before I could make a move however he placed a hand on my shoulder stopping me.
"Soaring Eagle, you can leave tomorrow when you've rested and I have prepared the tribe to take on any demons that come in the night and given you the means to allow the other tribes to fight back against these corrupted spirits." I nodded. "Now let's get back to the village." I nodded before helping Spirit Roamer onto Toothless and we took off.
Morning
A day has passed since me and Spirit Roamer went to the spirit cave so Spirit Roamer could try to speak with the ancestors to ask for help and in that time there has been much preparation by both me and Spirit Roamer. Spirit Roamer spent the entire evening blessing the weapons of the tribe allowing them to fight back against the corrupted spirits. Three hours after he began blessing the weapons they were put to the test and I am happy to say they were effective against the spirits but the only problem was they didn't have the same effect as my weapons. They needed to be hit in certain points or multiple times to bring them down like you would an actual animal but still it was a major improvement over their weapons just passing through them. Before I left Spirit Roamer gave me the ability to use my eagle pendant to bless the weapons of other tribes to help protect them against the dark spirits by simply pressing it down onto them.
Now I was up in the air on Toothless looking down at the great planes after flying none stop for four hours over the forest we finally broke through and made it over the great planes. We'd now been flying over the great planes for three hours searching for any of the spirits on our way to find Stone Face and his tribe. Fortunately the tribe moved around in a pattern that I knew thanks to my time with them and we were on the same route they always took when travelling. It was then I saw something in the distance and after using my eagle eye with the eye of the dragon I knew it to be a small village of teepees. I focused harder allowing me to see members of the tribe including Chief Stone Face who was directing his people around as if he were preparing his people to defend against something. It was then everyone began panicking and running around like crazy and when I looked to the distance behind the village I saw a large dust cloud coming at the village. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was a stampede heading towards the village and knew I needed to help protect the people and knew exactly how. I opened Toothless' prosthetic tail fin and we sped towards the village at new speeds and reached the village within seconds and landed just outside the village facing the stampede. Hiccup dismounted Toothless as he said.
"Fall back and protect the village bud." I then released my crystal spear. "I'll buy you some time." I then stabbed the crystal end of my spear into the ground while facing the village and smiled as a crystal wall burst from the ground surrounding the village and in front of Toothless. "That's the village protected for now." I then turned my attention to the stampede. "Now let's see what I'm up against this time."
I used my eagle eye to get a closer view of what was causing the dust cloud and was not happy to see it was a herd of spirit bison. The thing that made these bison different to normal ones were their coats were as black as night, glowing red eyes and large black horns pointing towards their fronts which were obviously meant to allow them to impale their victims. Then there were their hooves that looked to be made of some sort of black metal and if the boulder they trampled was anything to go by they were tough since that boulder was crushed into dust in seconds. Seeing this large herd coming towards me I sighed and shook my head before muttering.
"Why are things never easy for me." I stared at the charging heard and knew this time I was going to need help before I smiled. "Time for some old friends to stretch their wings." I reached back as the handles of both Pirus and Ventus were pushed through my coat and pulled the swords out. "Let's do this old friends." I threw them into the air. "PIRUS, DRAGON OF THE ETERNAL FLAME AND VENTUS, PHOENIX OF THE SHREDDING WINDS I SUMMON YOU FROM THE CONFINES OF YOUR BLADES TO COME FORTH AND BATTLE AT MY SIDE!" I watched as the spinning blades glowed before Pirus was coated in the flames that then circled it as wind circled Ventus forming familiar balls of fire and a ball of wind before they burst open revealing both Pirus and Ventus in their true forms that then each let out a roar and screech as they came to land at my sides. "It's been a long time boys." They both bowed to me as I reached back as my kappa shell formed through my coat and pulled it over my head before dropping it to the ground and hopping on it when it began to hover. "Let's show these spirits true power." They each roared.
"YES MASTER!"
That said I released my spider packs legs and charged at the coming herd while releasing three of my scimitar throwing knives ready to throw them. When we were twenty feet away from the herd I threw the knives that activated their lunar mirage ability shortly after I threw them and struck multiple bison at the front of the herd. The second my knives struck them they fell to the ground turning to dust but I didn't stop my charge for a minute and took out my other scimitar throwing knives before throwing them and like before they activated their lunar mirage ability and took out more of them. Sadly this barely put a dent in their herd, which is when I began launching the red crystals from my spider packs legs striking a few more down as I released my storm cutter axe.
When we were five feet away from I jumped allowing my kappa shell to fly into the herd cutting into the bison as I willed it to begin zigzagging to cut into more of them while I slammed my axe into the ground. The shockwave threw nine bison back turning them into dust in midair while also giving me a bit more space to breath before I quickly stood back up, ready to fight. While I took on the bison from the ground Pirus and Ventus helped from above with Pirus blasting his flames down on the bison as he flew above them while Ventus let loose winds that sliced through the bison bodies like a hot knife through yak butter.
I didn't focus on them for long though since I only had a few seconds before I had to take on some of the bison who had taken notice of me. I quickly unfolded my eagle shield and used it to block one of the bison that charged at me and slammed into me but I dug my heels into the ground stopping it. The bison kept pushing against me but I stood firm and slammed my axe forward into its head imbedding it deep before it turned to black dust. I turned to face another charging bison but in this case I ran straight at it with my shield ready before I slammed right into it causing a shockwave from my shield that sent both this one and three surrounding bison flying into dust. It was then three more charged right at me horns down and ready to kill me but I wasn't the least bit worried about them and charged at them head on. When I was three feet away from them I dropped to the ground and slid beneath the one in the middle while dragging the blade of my axe across its underside before thrusting the legs of my spiderpack out stabbing into the ones next to the middle and scraping them across their sides.
They all turned to dust as I quickly stood back up when I reached the other end of the bison and turned to see another bison charging at me but smiled when my kappa shell slammed into one side and came out the other as it turned to dust. I quickly spun around using my spider pack to launch the red crystals rapidly killing any of the bison that were running around circling me that Pirus and Ventus hadn't already killed. Together the entire herd of bison was reduced to nothing but black dust within the next five minutes of my rapid area attack. I looked around and saw no more of the spirit bison I took a breath and collapsed my stormcutter axe while summoning my kappa shell back to me while calling both Pirus and Ventus back to me. I held out my prosthetic and caught my kappa shell as Pirus and Ventus came to land in front of me. I smiled up at them as I said.
"Thanks for the help guys, I don't think I would've been able to take down all those bison without you." They just bowed as Pirus said.
"Always at your service master whether it is in our true forms or blade forms." He then turned back into his sword form and fell to the ground as Ventus said.
"If you ever need us again you know how to summon us." With that said he to returned to his blade form and fell to the ground next to Pirus as I smiled at them and picked up the blades.
"Thank you my friends."
With that said I put them back into my spider pack since my demon made weapons didn't go into my prosthetic arm and began walking back to the tribe. When I got back to the village I pulled my crystal spear out of the ground and watched as the crystal wall surrounding the village shattered into dust. On the other side I was greeted by the sight of a large crowd with Stone Face, Thunder Dancer and Toothless at the front of the crowd. The second he saw me Toothless ran right up to me and nuzzled my chest as I chuckled and rubbed his head before Stone Face ran up to me. He smiled at me before he placed his hands on my shoulders as he said.
"It has been many moons since we last saw the face of you and your nightfury Soaring Eagle and I am more than happy you came when you did to save us from those dark spirits."
"Taking down those dark spirits is part of the reason why I came here." He raised an eyebrow. "For the past few nights I've been plagued by nightmares and hoped to find answers from my spirit guide only to find it captured by some dark shadow like demon that seemed to be feeding on the spirits." His eyes widened at this before I continued. "Before I could jump into help that demon fired an arrow launched an arrow at me but I caught it and was brought out of the spirit world still holding onto the arrow." I took a breath. "I came to the land hoping to find answers which is when I first had a run in with the spirits to save the tribe in the forests run by Iron Bear." He nodded. "After that I kept helping fight off the spirits before I helped Spirit Roamer to the spirit cave to ask the ancestors for help and they answered by giving him the ability to bless weapons so they'd be affective against the spirits."
"Do you know how he does this as those spirit bison have been attacking the tribe of days now forcing us to constantly move while wounding many of our people?" I nodded.
"Fortunately he gave me the ability to make it so the weapons will affect the spirits but they won't go down with one hit, you'll need to treat them as if they're actual animals so aim for the heads, eyes and heart to take them down." He nodded.
"When can you begin giving our weapons the ability?"
"Immediately!" He smiled. "Take me to the weapons and I'll begin blessing them." He smiled and led me away.
Nightfall
I'd spent my entire day blessing every weapons I could in order to ensure the tribe would be able to defend against the evil spirits should they attack again. Now I was sitting in Thunder Dancer's teepee with both Thunder Dancer and Stone Face while Toothless sat outside the entrance keeping guard and my Anubis warriors surrounded the village ready to defend it against any spirits that attack in the night. Presently Thunder Dancer was examining the arrow I'd brought back with me from the spirit world and by the grim look of recognition on his face it meant he both knew something I didn't know and also bad news. He looked from the arrow to me and said.
"You were right to bring this to us Soaring Eagle, this is a type of magic I have not seen for a long time."
"Do you know what that thing that fired the arrow is?"
"He was once my apprentice, a shaman in training by the name of Silver Bear." He sighed. "He had such a connection with the spirits and would have made a great shaman."
"What happened?"
"He believed he could control the spirits and use them to fight our enemies."
"You mean use them as some sort of weapon." He nodded. "That's so wrong, the spirits are our guides and allies and not some sort of weapons."
"Those were my feelings and I turned him down which lead to an argument between us."
"I take it this was no small argument."
"It ended with him being cast out of the tribe but when he left he swore he'd gain control of the spirits and prove that he was right about using them by having them destroy the tribe that banished him."
"But why did he have the spirits attack me or Iron Bears tribe?"
"My best guess is he sees you as a threat and was hoping by attacking your allies he'd lure you here in order to have a better chance at killing you." I nodded.
"Do you know how I can defeat him and bring an end to all this."
"You must travel to the desert and find the gate to the spirit world, this gate is different to the other ways to the spirit world because it is more powerful than the others and shall allow you to fight Silver Bear."
"But where is this gate way?"
"The only one who knows of its location is the shaman Crazy Eyes." I nodded.
"I know him, he's an old friend from when I first visited these lands."
"Then when you see him he'll know you are a friend and will tell you the location of the gate." I nodded. "Just be careful as I do not wish to find out you've been killed." I nodded as I smiled.
"Don't worry, I've gone up against my fair share of corrupted magic users." He nodded before I took the arrow back. "Well if I'm going to leave tomorrow I better get to bed now so good night." They both nodded and gave their own goodnight as I left to head to my own tent to get some rest for tomorrow since I had the feeling it was going to be a difficult day.
AN: Hey all I got this chapter out a whole lot sooner than I thought I would but I did anyway so I hope you've all enjoyed the chapter because in the next chapter we see Hiccup go up against the reason for this adventure. Because this is coming out early there might not be another chapter posted this week so don't get your hopes up and until next time remember to review and have a nice day.