Chapter 196

Hiccups POV:

It's been a week since time was altered thanks to Nizam using the dagger to stab the sand glass holding the sands of time and in the time that has passed a lot has happened. For starters, the royals have actually begun believing me and Dastan's story about how Dastan found out about how Nizam framed the city of Alamut, how he planned to assassinate his brother and of course about our whole adventure before Dastan turned back time and set things right. I do think using my golden spider to show them all that happened after I joined them on their adventure played a small part in convincing them although I think it was really the bond Dastan had with his family that sealed their belief. Poor Tamina was heartbroken once more to discover one of the temple priests had betrayed them and become a Hassansin which in her eyes was the worst betrayal there was for someone to commit.

After that the royals and I spent five days helping the city of Alamut get back to normal by helping replace the guards and bringing in supplies to replace the food that was looted and eaten by the soldiers when they invaded. Now I was once again in the meeting room with the royals discussing how things were going and from what we've been told everything should be back to normal in a week at most. It was then our meeting was interrupted when Bis ran in panting heavily before he looked up at us and said.

"Please forgive the intrusion sires but I have news on the Hassansins." King Sharaman raised an eyebrow.

"What news do you bring concerning those traitors?"

"I am afraid they have escaped into the desert and all the guards who were sent to arrest them have been found dead by the weapons of the Hassansins." King Sharaman nodded.

"And did you find anything within their base on where they might have fled?" Bis reached into the bag he had resting on his hip and pulled out a large pile of documents.

"We were able to find these documents my lord, detailing all of their missions but nothing on where they might've fled to." King Sharaman went through the documents while we all waited in silence and watched as his face slowly turned red while his fists began crumbling the paper before he slammed the papers down andstood up from his seat and angrily yelled.

"GATHER UP AS MANY SOLDIERS WE CAN SPARE AND SEND THEM AFTER THEM TO BE BROUGHT BACK ALIVE TO FACE PUNISHMENT FOR ALL THEIR CRIMES!" I then coughed gaining his attention before I stood up.

"Your majesty, please allow me to go after them instead of sending your men out as I believe enough lives have been taken by those men." Dastan turned to me and asked.

"Hiccup, I know you are powerful and a skilled warrior, but do you really think you'd be able to handle the most skilled assassins in all of Persia alone?" I smirked at him.

"Who said I'd be taking them on alone?" They all looked at me confused.

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"Sorry Dastan but until the Hassansin's are safely behind bars, it's better if I'm the only one who knows." He raised an eyebrow before sighing.

"Alright Hiccup, I trust you but be careful since they aren't known as Persia's deadliest assassins' group for nothing." I smiled at him

"Comparing them to the things I've gone up against, these guys are simply bandits who've been trained better than the ones I normally face."

King Sharaman then said.

"If my son trusts you than I will allow you to go after them and you will be given whatever it is you need."

"Just tell me where their base was since I'll begin tracking them down from there." He nodded.

"There is one thing I request of you concerning this mission Hiccup Haddock." I raised an eyebrow. "Do your best to bring them to me alive as I don't want those pieces of filth to get off easily through death." I nodded.

"I will try your highness, but I make no promises as they may try to take their own lives to avoid being brought in." He nodded.

"When can you leave."

"I shall leave as soon as I have the location of their base and I would like to ask for notes on the different men so I can get a better idea of where they might have fled." He nodded.

"It shall be granted to you." With that said he turned to Bis. "Get him the map to their base and any information we have on those traitors." Bis nodded.

"At once my lord." Bis rushed off before the king turned back to the all of us.

"Meeting adjourned!" With that said he stood up and walked out leaving us all stunned before Dastan said.

"In all my years, I've never seen my father that angry about anything." He turned to Tus. "What do you think could push him to such anger?"

"I'm not sure Dastan but past all the anger I could see pain in his eyes." Garsiv then said.

"I think I know the reason for his feelings." We all turned to him to see the documents were in his hands and he was looking down at them. "They were responsible for the deaths of multiple nobles who were close to our father and all at the orders of Nizam who felt they were a threat to his plans." He lowered the papers onto the table. "To be honest with you all, I'd be surprised if he wasn't angry as this has exposed that Nizam's betrayal went a lot deeper than we originally believed." He let out an annoyed sigh while throwing the papers down. "To think that I used to idolize that monster." Dastan replied to this.

"We were all fooled brother, but we have all played a part in making things right." I smiled before I stood up.

"Well I better get to work and begin preparing for my long trip." With that said I made my way out of the room.

6 hours later

It's been six hours since the meeting where I was told about the Hassansins escaping and volunteered to go after them and bring them in to face punishment for their crimes. I'd left for their base ten minutes after I got the documents I asked for and started out at their former base and found out they'd left about two days ago but thanks to my jaguar mask, finding the scents of the Hassansins still trackable but barely. It was because of this I took off immediately knowing every second counted and the last thing I wanted was for these men to escape since it would mean big problems for a lot of people.

Now I was making my way through a desert valley on my kappa shell helmet since the valley was too narrow for my scorpion to travel through but I didn't let my guard down for a moment since this was the perfect place for an ambush. It was then the sound of an explosion above me caught my attention and I looked up just in time to see large boulders falling towards me. I quickly brought out my eagle shield and covered my head while activating my rhino helmet to be safe to keep myself from being crushed as the boulders covered me.

Nobodies POV:

Hiccup stood still as he was completely buried in the fallen rubble from the landslide that was caused by the man who was jumping down from the top of the cliffside. The one making his way down was none other than the Hassansins explosive expert who chose flame bombs as his weapon of choice to kill his victims. He had stayed behind in this valley as he and the other Hassansins saw visions of him hunting them down to capture them one by one to be brought back to the king to face punishment for their crimes. It was because of this that he volunteered to stay behind and set up the trap that would bring an end to his life and ensure all of their continued freedom.

The Hassansin landed in front of the rubble pile that Hiccup was buried under and smile at his handy work believing Hiccup to be no more as no man could survive being buried under the rubble. It was then a glow beneath the rocks caught his attention confusing him right before there was a large shockwave from beneath the rubble throwing the rocks everywhere and making the Hassansin back up in shock. There where the rubble once was stood Hiccup Haddock still standing on his hovering kappa shell helmet and was lowering his eagle shield while looking at Hassansin with a smirk. He got off the kappa shell and began walking towards the Hassansin and said.

"Nice try but if I was that easy to kill, I would've been killed years ago." The Hassansin just backed away in shock before taking off two of his grenades and lighting them and then throwing them at Hiccup who took them to the chest, allowing them to light him up with flames but Hiccup just kept walking. "Nice try but I'm fireproof." The Hassansin stared at Hiccup who was covered in flames that were slowly dying out.

"What are you?" Hiccup shrugged.

"Just a guy who's lived a very interesting life." Hiccup then smirked and reached into his coat feeling something be placed in his hand. "And like you, knows how to use bombs." He pulled out a knockout gas bomb as the Hassansin turned around and began to run as fast as he could while Hiccup just rolled his eyes. "Why do they always try to run?" Hiccup tossed the bomb landing it right in front of the Hassansin before it went off making the man run straight into a cloud of knockout gas and come out coughing while Hiccup walked up to his opponent. "Nice try but you aren't going to escape your punishment that easily."

The man just kept coughing as he looked at Hiccup and then fell to the ground unconscious while Hiccup stood over him with a smile on his face and mentally crossing his opponent off the list of Hassansins. He then stripped him off his weapons and put them in his spiderpack before picking up the restrained man and carrying him out of the valley where he could release his scorpion and put him in one of the cells.

Nightfall

Hiccups POV:

I was sitting outside my tent in front of a fire while my scorpion was buried beneath the sands with the Hassansin I captured in a cell within the scorpions' body where he couldn't escape. Along with the Hassansin his horse that I found shortly after capturing its rider, was also in the scorpion but it was kept in the storage hold with its gear and armor taken off with it. Among the items I found in his satchel was the routes the Hassansins were taking while also showing me all the various obstacles and landmarks. This was definitely going to help me out finding the remaining Hassansins so they could be brought to justice and face punishment for their crimes. I took a breath as I poked the fire that was burning in front of me with a branch as I began thinking about how this whole trip which was meant to be a simple exploration turned into another big adventure.

I took a breath while turning my attention to the stars knowing when I get back things were not going to be easy as Astrid and Blanca were most likely going to kill me when they find out what happened to me. My mind flashed back to what happened after I fell into the darkness of the cavern pits when the cave began coming down around us when Nizam stabbed the dagger into the sand glass. When I got control of my senses I spread out my wings and glided to the nearest wall before I used my spiderpacks legs to begin climbing back up but before I could reach the top there was a large boom followed by a golden flash blinding me. When the light cleared, I found myself sitting in the middle of the desert in a place I recognized as where I did some business with some traders before I met Dastan and Tamina. It wasn't that hard to figure out that I'd traveled back in time and needed to get back to the city where the sand glass is hidden to make sure everything was safe.

It was then I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of sand shifting behind me and I knew something was coming as there wasn't any wind to move the sand. I silently released my star sword getting ready for a possible fight and kept my senses open listening for any form of movement knowing that it might be my paranoia, but it doesn't hurt to be careful. I took a breath before a shadow was shown from the light of my fire and I immediately tuck and rolled out of the way of a large blade coming to land where I was once sitting. I immediately stood up to see it was the Hassansin whose weapon of choice was the giant scimitar who pointed his weapon at me with a glare and asked.

"What have you done to my brother?"

"If you're referring to your teammate whose preferred weapon is bombs then don't worry, he's still alive and you'll be seeing him again soon enough." I then readied my sword. "So, do you want to give up now or would you prefer to go a few rounds first." He just growled and swung at me, but I just stepped back avoiding the blade and asked. "Why do they never just want to surrender and always want to do things the hard way?" With that said I went on the attack against him.

Nobodies POV:

Hiccup ducked under a swing of his opponents' scimitar before delivering a punch into the man's stomach making him stumble back and gasp as the air was knocked out of him. He growled and stabbed at Hiccup with his weapon who turned his body to the side to avoid the blow but had to drop down to the ground on his back in order to avoid his opponents swing. Before Hiccup could get up though the Hassansin pinned him to the ground by slamming his foot down on Hiccups chest preventing him from getting up. The man slammed his sword intending to run it right through Hiccups skull, but Hiccup leaned his head to the side barely dodging the blade right before he slammed his fist up hitting his foe right between the legs.

The Hassansin grit his teeth in pain before stepping back and stabbing his blade into the ground using it to support himself while Hiccup kicked his legs up throwing his body back up and he looked to the Hassansin who glared at him. The Hassansin quickly recovered from the blow to his manhood and was ready to return the pain Hiccup caused him with a few strikes of his own, intending to make Hiccups death as slow and painful as possible. Hiccup just smirked as he gestured for the Hassansin to come at him before the man growled and charged at him but Hiccup showed the side of his sword reflecting the moonlight off it and with the power of the sword there was a bright flash. The Hassansin was left stunned for a few second which was all the time Hiccup needed as when the man came out of his paralyzed straight the last thing he saw was Hiccup rushing at him right before Hiccup slammed his fist into his face and everything went black.

Hiccups POV:

I smiled down at the unconscious form of the Hassansin while a black eye began to form on the right eye before I kneeled down and picked up his scimitar. I placed the scimitar in my coat and allowed my spiderpack to take it in and store it away for the time being before I picked up the unconscious man and made my way over to the tent so I could put him in a cell next to his friend. As I carried him away, I smirked and said.

"Two down five to go." With that said I made my way into the tent to lock my latest prisoner up before going to bed.

2 days later

It's been two days since my last capture and in that time, I'd been hot on the tail of the remaining five Hassansins, hunting them down as fast as I could. I'd tried interrogating the two I had captured to try and find out where their teammates were heading but they claimed they had no knowledge of where they were. A few minutes ago, I'd come to a large desert cave following the scent of the Hassansins hoping they had set up a camp within so I could take them all down now and if they weren't then I hoped that they'd at least left a clue as to where they were going. Sadly, I only found two of them which were the one who uses the whip and his teammate who uses the wrist knives, both of which had been waiting for me. This leads to now with me in a cavern hitting a wall hard after I was slammed into by the whip user who had swung down into me using one of his whips that had wrapped around a stalactite.

I quickly recovered and ducked beneath the slash of the knife wielder who scratched the wall while I tuck and rolled away from them and saw the two of them glaring at me with their weapons ready. I smiled and released my snake whip as I looked at them and said.

"Thanks for sticking together boys, it means I'll be able to mark you both off the list of bandits I need to track down." They just growled before the knife wielder ran at me while the whip wielder readied his whips as I smirked and readied my whip and turned my prosthetics into its dragon claw form.

Nobodies POV:

Hiccup dived out of the way of the first whips chain bladed end before the next one with the clawed end, but Hiccup flipped backwards avoiding the strike. Sadly, he dived closer to his other opponent who slashed at him from the side, but Hiccup used his prosthetic to block the blow before punching him in the gut pushing him back. Hiccup then backed up, dodging his other opponents' whips that were cracked down onto the spot where he was just standing leaving a large scratch in the ground. He then swung his own whip at his whip wielding enemy and smiled when it wrapped around his foes right leg before he yanked it back to himself making the Hassansin fall back temporarily taking him out of the fight for a few seconds.

Hiccup turned to his knife wielding enemy who had just leaped down from a high ledge with both knives facing his head and ready to stab him. Hiccup quickly leapt back avoiding his foes attempt to kill him making his enemy land in a crouch which allowed him to turn it into a leg sweep hitting Hiccup who fell back. The Hassansin immediately jumped onto Hiccup before raising his blades up high and slamming them down towards Hiccups head but Hiccup held his arms up grabbing the man's wrists, stopping the blades inches from his face with his whip still in hand. He grinned at his opponent while willing his whip to attack with his mind and the snake head at the end of the handle immediately slithered up to the end before coming to life and wrapping around the Hassansin's neck, catching him by surprise.

The Hassansin dropped his knives and grabbed onto the whip that was wrapped around his neck trying to make it loosen its tight grip around his neck. This allowed Hiccup to push the Hassansin off his body before getting back up while having the whip loosen from around his neck while slithering down to wrap around his body. Hiccup quickly stood back up and yanked his whip back to himself making his enemy fly up into the air while spinning rapidly until he fell to the ground unconscious. Then using his ninja and kung fu skills he quickly turned and grabbed the leather whip part below the metal claw at the end of the whip that was swung at him before Hiccup yanked it forward pulling out of the Hassansin's hand. Hiccup manipulated the way the leather moved rolling it into a ring that formed in his hand while the Hassansin stared in shock, but Hiccup just shrugged and said.

"Wale a mile in my shoes, you pick a few things." He then smirked. "Like how to do this." He then swung his whip from the side wrapping it around his foes body before channeling a blue crystal electrifying it and electrocuting the Hassansin who screamed in pain until he fell to the ground unconscious while Hiccup smiled. "That takes care of those two." With that said he collected their weapons and placed them in his spider pack and then collected the men before taking them out where his scorpion was waiting.

3 days later

Hiccups POV:

It's been three days since I took down two more of the Hassansins leaving three left at large who were sadly the three deadliest of the Hassansins, the knife thrower who was nicknamed the demon porcupine, the double-bladed halberd wielder who was once a priest of the temple and of course the leader who doubled as a mystic who controlled snakes. This made me keep my guard up to the point that I kept my jaguar mask on fully, my leather vest active and my prosthetic in its dragon claw form ready for a fight. I know I was probably being extremely paranoid but couldn't be too careful when it comes to these guys as I'd seen what they could do, and it made me nervous.

It was then I was brought out of my thoughts when I saw an oasis in the distance and could tell that the Hassansins had made a stop there since their scent was growing stronger the closer, I got to it. When I reached the oasis, I could tell the Hassansins had only left recently since the scent was very stronger than I'd ever smelt, and this made me on edge. I decided it would be best if I looked around here on foot since there might be a clue as to which way they went and how long it's been since they were here. After I dismounted my scorpion I began walking around and found it to be a typical oasis with a large pool of water surrounded by a few trees and a couple of reeds that were sprouting out of the water with some boulders sticking out of the ground in some places.

I noticed some foot prints in the mud near the edge of the water, in front of a large boulder and walked up to examine them since they might be able to tell me how long it's been since they were made and since their makers were here. I kneeled in front of them and began examining them the best I could with how moist the ground was, and I could easily tell the tracks were fresh meaning they most likely left at least an hour ago, two at the most. It was then the reflection in the water caught my attention and it wasn't my reflection that caught my attention, it was the reflection of the Hassansin who had jumped off the boulder behind me with his double-bladed halberd raised high. Seeing this I quickly tuck and rolled to the right out of the way of his strike before the edge of his halberds blade imbedded itself in the ground while I smirked at him and said.

"Nice try but you have to get up pretty early in the morning to sneak up on me." He just growled and pulled his halberd out of the ground and swung it at me, but I stepped back dodging the blow before stepping back again to avoid another swing. "Why do you guys never just give up and save us all some time." He just growled and glared at me while Hiccup smiled. "I know but it doesn't hurt to ask." I released my axe. "Alright, let's get this over with so I can hunt the rest of your teammates down." He just growled and charged at me.

Nobodies POV:

Hiccup ran at him just as the Hassansin swung his halberd at Hiccups head, but Hiccup ducked beneath the swing and slid beneath it before slamming his foot into the back of the Hassansins right knee making him kneel down as Hiccup stood back up. Hiccup brought the flat side of his axe down towards the Hassansins head intending to knock him out but the Hassansin tuck and rolled forward dodging the blow before swinging his halberd at Hiccups torso from his place of his knees. Hiccup held his axe down with the blades facing up and down allowing him to block the strike but the Hassansin held strong and began pushing the blow back with both men struggling for dominance.

Hiccup was fortunately stronger thanks to his arm guards giving him the strength of a lion allowing him to push back harder and then push to the side redirecting the Hassansins strike to the ground. This lowered the Hassansin head bringing it closer to Hiccup who then swung his real fist up to meet the man's face making him stumble back. Hiccup then quickly slammed his axe down into the ground creating a shockwave throwing the Hassansin back into the water making Hiccup smile. The man stood up out of the water and was now up to his knees in water making him smile and place to tip of his axe on the water electrifying it and shocking the Hassansin and making him scream in pain. Hiccup pulled his axe out of the water and walked up to the nearly unconscious man and looked down at him in disgust as he said.

"Out of all the Hassansins you disgust me the most." Hiccup grabbed him by the neck of his clothes. "You were a priest and a servant of the gods, but you chose to betray them in favor of killing people and a chance of power." He then had his eyepatch open revealing the eye of the dragon making the Hassansin lean back in fear. "The other Hassansins are filth but you, you're just pure scum." He then pulled his arm back. "Sweet dreams!" He then slammed his fist into the Hassansin in the face, knocking him out cold before Hiccup picked him and his weapon up out of the water and made his way over to the scorpion while the trail of the others was still hot.

6 hours later

Hiccups POV:

It's been six hours since I captured the former priest and that time has been spent tracking down the last two Hassansins which consisted of the leader and the knife thrower. A few minutes ago, I'd come across a desert cave and made my way inside since the scent of the two Hassansins lead me inside but sadly the smell of sopher and brimstone was also filling the cave meaning there was most likely a volcano nearby releasing lava. So far, I'd found no Hassansins or lava in the caves, but the heat was growing stronger showing me that I was getting closer to the lava and I had a feeling the Hassansins would be where the lava was.

It was then I walked into a large well-lit cavern and the reason this cavern was well lit is because at the back was a large river of lava running around the back of the cavern while smaller streams ran around the walls. I walked over to the edge of the cliff that overlooked the river of lava and shook my head while mentally saying how I pitied anyone who was thrown in and guessed the Hassansins used it to dispose of bodies or evidence. It was then the sound of the knife throwers knife launcher echoed through the cave from behind me and I turned with my grootslang coat ready to block the blades but was surprised when the blades landed at my feet. I looked up at where the knives came from and saw the knife thrower kneeled on an upper ledge with the leader next to him with both of them smiling. I raised an eyebrow but before I could react the ledge, I was standing on crumbled from the knives being imbedded in them and I fell back into the lava.

Hitting the lava like always felt a little like falling into very soft mud before I sunk in while being grateful that not only is all my gear is fireproof but also happy that I was fireproof since if I wasn't than I'd be dead. I swam beneath the lava and resurfaced a couple of feet away from the spot where I landed before I looked up to where I fell and found the Hassansins looking down smiling. I'm guessing they believed me to be dead making me smile as it gave me the element of surprise as I climbed out of the lava and used my ninja skills to climb out of the lava and up the wall silently. I quickly dived behind a nearby rock as the leader turned around to his knife throwing companion and nodded to him in praise before making his way back with the knife thrower joined him while I released three of my scimitars throwing knives. When they were passing by, I dived out from behind the cover and threw all of them right at the knife throwing Hassansin with my knives hooking his clothes and carrying him back into the wall pinning him to it. The leader turned to me in shock as I smirked and said.

"Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily?" He glared and growled.

"You should be dead." I shrugged.

"I'm not that easy to kill."

"The lava should have destroyed your body." He then looked at me in the eyes. "How could you have survived?"

"Easy, I'm fireproof and can take baths in lava." He stared at me shock as I shrugged. "Go through what I've gone through and you gain a few abilities." He growled and pulled out his scimitar and curved knife.

"It shall not stop me from taking your life." I just smirked and reached back as the handles of Pirus and Ventus were pushed out of my grootslang coat that was in its vest form.

"I know but my sword skills will." I pulled both of my swords out and readied them. "So, you want to give up now or would you rather go a few rounds." He just growled and charged at me as I readied my swords. "Alright a few rounds it is." With that said I charged at him ready to fight to my dying breath.

Nobodies POV:

The Hassansin leader rushed at Hiccup and swiped at him with his scimitar but Hiccup blocked the strike with Pirus and slashed at the Hassansin with Ventus. The leader used the curved side of the dagger to block the blow and slid it down Ventus' blade before slashing at Hiccups torso but Hiccup stepped back avoiding the blow. Hiccup then thrust Ventus forward towards the leader launching a powerful blow of air catching the leader by surprise and throwing him back a few feet, but he still stood on his own two feet and glared at Hiccup who simply smirked. The Hassansin ran at him again at speed Hiccup didn't think the man was capable of and swung his scimitar at Hiccups neck intending to decapitate him only for Hiccup to lean back avoiding the slash.

Hiccup then quickly stood back up straight, thrusting his head forward allowing him to deliver a hard head but into his opponents' face, breaking the Hassansin's nose in the process. The Hassansin growled in pain as he backed up while using the hand holding his knife to rub his bleeding nose while glaring at Hiccup who smirked at him. Hiccup then swung Ventus at him launching a wind blast but this time the Hassansin stood firm against the blast by stabbing his scimitar into the ground, holding him in place. When the blast finally stopped, he threw his dagger right at Hiccups head but immediately swatted it to the side before the Hassansin charged at him and thrust his scimitar forward.

Hiccup stepped the side avoiding the strike before quickly stabbing Ventus into the ground freeing his prosthetic hand and then grabbed the leader's wrist and twisted it. The Hassansin growled in pain as he dropped his scimitar before Hiccup swung him to the side making the Hassansin stumble slightly from the force. Hiccup then kicked forward delivering a powerful strike that caused a giant flaming ox to burst out his back and drag him back into the wall behind him and slamming his body into it. He was left dazed by this as Hiccup walked forward while glaring and saying.

"It's time for you and your knife throwing pal to join the other Hassansins in a cell until we reach the city where you'll stand trial for your crimes." He just glared at Hiccup.

"I shall never be imprisoned by a weak-willed ruler or a man too afraid to use the power he possesses like you." He then made a break towards the lava river and Hiccup quickly realized what he was planning.

"NO, STOP!"

Sadly, his cries fell on deaf ears as the leader of Hassansins threw himself into the river of lava below as Hiccup rushed to the edge but could only look down in time to see the man's body hit the magma and slowly sink in as his clothes burned. Hiccup fell to his knees feeling as if he'd failed his mission to bring them all in before he sighed remembering his talk with Seso about how he felt when he first killed a Hassansin. He slowly stood back up and looked down at the lava and said.

"Although I would have preferred to bring him in alive to face justice, the world will be better off with him dead." Hiccup then turned his attention to the Hassansin who was still pinned to the wall by Hiccups scimitar throwing knives. "Don't bother struggling, my knives are magic and once they've pinned someone, that someone isn't going anywhere." Hiccup then walked right up to him and held his prosthetic hand in front of the man's face. "Nighty,night!" With that said Hiccup let out a puff of his knockout gas right into the Hassansins face knocking him out cold. "Well that takes care of him." I then looked around and saw a few tunnels. "Well I'm guessing they'd been here before so might as well explore the place after getting, sleeping beauty here to the scorpion so he can join his friends and stay out of my way." With that said Hiccup pulled my knives back out of the wall and stored them back in his prosthetic while catching the Hassansins unconscious form and making his way out of the cavern.

4 days later

Hiccups POV:

It's been seven hours since I got back to the city after four days of travelling with the Hassansins in the cells of my travelling scorpion and their weapons in my spiderpack. Not much has happened in those four days besides what happened after I took down the last Hassansin and went to explore the maze of tunnels that was where he and the leader were hiding in. I ended up discovering a large cavern full of ancient treasures such as gold, jewels, pottery and some things that I recognized as artefacts before I began collecting them so they could be returned to their proper homes as the owners will be happy to have them back.

When I got back to the city ruled by King Sharaman earlier today I was welcomed back with open arms by the citizens of and the royals welcomed me. They immediately called me into the palace courtyard where the guards were waiting with Dastan who was there to make sure everything went alright. They had the guards escort the Hassansins down to the dungeons where they would remain until their punishment could be decided upon. After that I shrunk down my scorpion and put it back in my arm before I was taken to the meeting room by Dastan and found all the royals waiting for us, all wanting to know what happened. After I was sat down I used my illusion spider to show them each of my battles with the Hassansins and I could tell they were all impressed with the battles. Then came the treasures I collected and when they saw the artifacts I thought their eyes were going to pop out of their skulls from how wide they got.

We ended up spending an hour going through the various items, separating them into groups according to which city or family they belonged to and deciding what to do with the remaining treasures. Most would go to the city of Alamut to help repair the damage done to the relationship between it and the city ruled by King Sharaman after Nizam made such a big mess of the relationship between them. As for the rest, half was given to the kings' family and the other half was given to me despite my claims that I didn't need it but they all claimed it was a reward for capturing the Hassansins. After that they began making plans for a large banquet to be held in my honor despite me telling them that their thanks was more than enough for me. The main reason I was against the banquet though was there would be a lot of nobles at the banquet and I did not like the looks they were giving me or my scorpion when I was riding through the city.

I was currently making my way into the bedroom I was given and sighed as I collapsed onto the bed ready to just go to sleep since my day was exhausting. I turned onto my back and took a breath thanking the gods that this day was finally over before I closed my eyes and allowed myself to drift into the realm of slumber. When I opened my eyes though I found myself standing on a stone platform with the symbol of the guardians of the dagger while surrounding me was a wall of a sandstorm making it seem like I'm in the middle of a giant sand dervish. I looked around while feeling that there was more to this than meets the eye as it did not feel like a normal dream, meaning there might be trouble. It was then black silhouettes appeared within the sand with each possessing a symbol representing one of the Persian gods on their chests before the largest one said.

"Hello, Hiccup Haddock."

"Who are you?"

"We are the gods of Persia and creators of the sands of time and both the dagger and glass that holds them." I bowed to the silohetes.

"I am honored to be in your presence, mighty gods of Persia."

"Arise Hiccup Haddock as you have earned the right to stand in our presence after you prevented the destruction of the land we gifted to our worshippers and we cannot allow such a thing to go unrewarded." The silhouette with the symbol representing Verethragna the warrior god who fights against evil.

"Hiccup Haddock, I have heard many tales from other gods about your battles against many of the evils that have threatened the mortal world and I am impressed with what I've heard and what I have seen and I hope this gift shall aid you in future battles." A light glowed from the mark on his chest before it floated out towards me and when it reached me the light died to reveal a punch dagger. "This dagger is a powerful weapon that I hope shall aid you in defeating any evil you use it against." I nodded as the dagger floated up next to me.

"Thank you, lord Verethragna." It was then the symbol of the silhouette of the god Vayu god of the wind who chases away evil spirits glowed brightly as his voice said.

"Hiccup Haddock, I understand in some of the lands you visit you find yourself fighting on a beach or in a desert." I nodded. "I hope in these situations this gift shall help you." A bright glow floated out of the symbol and up to me to reveal a small gold coin with the multiple pointed star. "This talisman has been infused with a small sliver of both my power and the power of Atar but you shall have to discover it's powers on your own." I nodded.

"Thank you, Lord Vayu, I look forward to seeing its capabilities." Before LordAtar, God of the divine element of fire; personification of fire made his presence known.

"Hiccup Haddock when you faced the last of the Hassansins and fell into the magma you unintentionally disturbed the inhabitants of that river." I raised an eyebrow.

"What could live in that magma?"

"A mystical breed of reptile known as fire salamanders."

"Will they be trouble for Persia in the future."

"No but two of them took an interest in you and as such I believe they will make a fine addition to your little animal collection." An orange light shone from his symbol and floated towards me to reveal an orb with two orange salamanders that looked to be made of magma floating in it. "Throw the orb into the magma of one of your islands volcanoes and they shall be released." I nodded.

"Thank you lord Atar." It was then the symbol of Haoma, God of the harvest, health, strength, vitality, personification of the plant of the same name whose juices are said to bring enlightenment, glowed bright as he said.

"Hiccup Haddock, your island is vast and has many resources and I wish to give you an addition to these resources or to be more precise, two new minerals to your mine." A ball of light floated out and landed in my hand to reveal a sandy yellow colored piece that I knew was an addition to my island. "I will not reveal to you what minerals this new mine piece possesses as this is something you will have to discover for yourself." I nodded as I smiled.

"That just makes things more entertaining and for that I thank you." It was then the symbol on the silhouette who I knew to be Ahura Mazda, king of the gods.

"And now Hiccup Haddock, before we send you back to the mortal realm we give you our blessing." As soon as I finished saying all that the symbols all glowed as my prosthetic arm burned and everything went black for a few seconds before I opened my eyes to find myself back in bed with the morning light shining in through the window and the gifts from the gods around me making me smile.

"These next few days are going to busy." With that said I began gathering my gifts.

AN: Yeah, I know it's late again but this week's been busy for me and to top it all off I got vaccinated on Friday morning resulting in me needing to deal with the side effects that come with the vaccine I took. These side effects have not been pleasant as they have been affecting my work and my sleep since I have to deal with headaches and major chills while in bed alongside coughing fits. Also thanks to 'Rogue Deity Master' and 'Red dragon 112293' for all their help on both research and gift ideas as it really helped out on this chapters completion. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and will review kindly to it and until the next chapter have a nice day and stay safe during these troubled times.