After Viggo, Thunderstorm, and Scarlet had finished helping Valka and Cloudjumper bring all the hatchlings to Berk, they immediately turned around, hopefully before anyone else had a chance to notice them. They were all happy to help, but they had somewhere much more important for them to be, back home.

So, they flew straight home, only stopping for a few rest and fishing breaks, they didn't fly with the same urgency as when they had left the compound, but all three were anxious to return and report all that they had seen.

It took them about two whole days to reach the compound, both because of the distance and because as much as Thunderstorm and Scarlet would both probably protest, Viggo could tell the rapid and stressful flight to the sanctuary combined with carrying the ship full of hatchlings had worn them out. It wasn't until afternoon that Viggo once again set foot on his island.

A night terror on sentry duty perked up right away when he saw them land, and after greeting them, called out a roar that was carried from perch to perch. Viggo knew they were sending either an all-clear or welcome home signal, but Viggo couldn't be certain which.

He and the two dragons walked the short distance to the compound instead of relying further on their wings to carry them, and when they arrived at the compound's entrance, Hailstar was already waiting for them expectantly along with dozens of other dragons surrounding him.

Upon their approach, Viggo, Thunderstorm, and Scarlet all bowed low in the traditional greeting towards the Alpha. "Hailstar, Alpha, I am so sorry for your loss. We have much to tell you…" Viggo said, and then he launched into a recap of everything Valka had told him yesterday, along with the terrible sight of the Alpha's body remaining on his island. Scarlet and Thunderstorm joined in periodically with roars to make their additions to Viggo's report.

Hailstar listened intently to all three of them, hardly making any movement or sound, other than to shift his gaze between his three subjects as they shared their story.

"And so, Toothless defeated both Drago and his Bewilderbeast, and by doing so he has become the Alpha of your father's flock. I don't know what this will mean for you since there is another King of Dragons out there, but I can assure you, Hiccup and Toothless will be good leaders who will protect all their subjects, both human and dragon alike with equal fierceness." Viggo promised. "But as for you, just to be on the safe side, I believe it is vital that you never meet Toothless, just considering he has beaten two Alphas before now, and while you are strong, Great Alpha, I would honestly still put my money on Toothless."

Hailstar nodded his head solemnly, and then once again raised his head to roar up into the world, it was the same mournful roar Viggo recognized from the funeral service he had performed before Viggo left the island to find its cause.

"Will you be alright Hailstar?"

Hailstar nodded his head and then seemed to raise himself so he was standing taller and more stoic once more the leader Viggo knew him to be, inside and out.

"I am glad, and I promise, you should have nothing to fear from that other bewilderbeast either. He was soundly defeated, and he bears the mark of his defeat with his missing tusk, I can't imagine any dragon would choose to follow him again, but no matter, just like with Toothless, the same is true here. The Alpha protects them all, and we will continue to serve you until we are unable to." Viggo promised.

Hailstar nodded his head once more and then turned around to head back inside his cave, while many of the other dragons dispersed up into the sky or back to their caves. But Firestorm of course stayed around to enthusiastically greet Viggo and the two traveling dragons upon their return, and while normally neither Thunderstorm nor Scarlet were ones to enjoy Firestorm's heartwarming, but non-flaming hugs and gestures of affection, this time they allowed it for a few moments of comfort.

"Alright, I missed you too," Viggo promised after he had practically been doused in nightmare gel due to Firestorm's excitement. "Let's head back inside, I know both of them need some rest and I wouldn't mind some myself," Viggo admitted as he led the way back inside the compound.

Scarlet flew up to her favorite cave along the compound's walls, but not before giving Viggo one more lick across his armor, which did help somewhat in clearing the nightmare gel from the areas she touched, while Firestorm returned to his cave with Blazefire, and Thunderstorm followed Viggo back to their shared cave.

Once inside, Thunderstorm quickly curled up on his rocky bed and seemed to doze off within moments. Viggo meanwhile removed his armor piece by piece and cleaned it of any gel he could see and then put a different set of more casual fur and leather clothes on. He then grabbed some roasted fish and bread from his storage for a late lunch which he desperately needed. Viggo just couldn't stomach eating much right before a flight much less hastily dragon-cooked fish to be eaten on the go. So he had only lightly eaten the last few days if he had anything at all with everything going on around him.

After he finished eating, he only had one more goal in mind, taking a nap and letting himself take a break from all the information swirling within his head, while he believed Valka's every word, and the sights of the nest empty, the island littered by weapons and the Alpha's remains, and Berk covered in ice were all too much to ignore, he just felt like he still couldn't comprehend just how much had changed in such a short period and just what it would mean for everyone. It was times like these that truly shaped history one way or another, the only question was in what direction would the future now unravel?

Time continued to pass for Viggo on his island alone with the dragons, and they never faced any large threats, at least none that Hailstar or the rest of the flock couldn't handle. They were never bothered by any hunters or the remnants of Drago's army, which despite Drago's death didn't disband completely. But none of them came close to their island. No one did. Viggo's belief that the island was both in the middle of nowhere and also the center of everything was indeed correct.

Every so often a small group of dragons would visit their island and many times they would decide to stay and live beneath Hailstar's rule, and along with more eggs being laid the flock continued to gradually grow bigger and bigger.

Hailstar himself, of course, was growing much quicker than the flock was, while not quite as fast as his growth immediately after his hatching, he was still growing noticeably bigger and stronger. It only took him a few more months to outgrow his nursery completely, Viggo estimated that he'd be about a quarter of his father's size by his first hatching day, but he was still just as much of a gentle giant to his subjects while also being a fierce protector of them all.

Occasionally a particularly aggressive dragon or group of dragons would arrive on their island, but all swore their loyalty quite quickly when Hailstar faced them down. Among these dragons included a pack of Speedstingers led by a red-crested leader who also bowed down to Hailstar, two deathsongs, and a pod of seashockers. But with Hailstar earning their loyalty and respect, it was relatively easy for Viggo and Thunderstorm to train them all to work with the flock for the greater good.

More changes had also been brought to the island, recently Hailstar was spending nearly half of each day working on expanding the nest further. He had moved well beyond the original stone walls Viggo and Valka had built before he hatched, and now about half the island was protected by a circle of icy teal spikes that reached up to the sky, and in some areas even formed a roof well above Hailstar's head. If Viggo hadn't witnessed him working, he'd have no idea how he managed such architectural feats on his own.

So things remained peaceful, but Viggo never let himself let down his guard too much, that was one mistake he would never make again. While he never saw any evidence himself, the reason he knew that Drago's warlords were still out there was from reports from Valka.

He kept in contact with her throughout all this time, they usually exchanged terror emails about once a week but hadn't met each other in person since they'd met at the abandoned nest right after the battle. Valka always reported that things were going splendidly on Berk, Hiccup, and Toothless were both a great Chief and Alpha respectively, but in Viggo, she confided some of her concerns.

With Toothless being an Alpha, wild dragons are drawn to him and Berk by instinct just like Hailtar, and while the Berkians as a whole accepted all dragons, Valka wasn't sure just how many more Berk could take in. Immediately after the battle, the dragon population on Berk had been multiplied by at least a factor of ten according to Fishlegs' census. Berk had been able to adjust to that, but even then it had taken a lot of time, and a lot of patience on the part of both humans and dragons as both Valka's wild dragons and Drago's former slaves had to learn the new rules that came with living in a community with humans.

The first few months had led to plenty of smashed houses, stolen food and property, and several fires, but eventually, the dragons and Vikings had learned to adapt to each other and live in this new kind of peace.

Hiccup of course believed that surely Berk would have room for every dragon they brought home and he did his best to make that dream a reality through a variety of means. He capitalized on the need to rebuild the village, and by working with Gobber, Spitelout, and many of Berk's other construction experts, completely redesigned the village with tall buildings and perches that stretched up into the sky that could house both Vikings and dragons alike, also spread the boundaries of the village much further along Berk's cliffs and into the forest.

Valka privately worried that it wouldn't be enough. Berk still had plenty of untamed forest to use which many dragons also resided in, but more and more dragons joined Toothless's flock every day, both from rescue missions Hiccup and the Riders launched against the Warlords, and the wild dragons that were similar to at Viggo's island, met Toothless and swore their loyalty to their new Alpha.

Hiccup, and most of the other riders while they were all skilled in their own ways, Valka thought were a bit too confident once Berk had recovered. They tended to rely a bit too much on their dragons in combat situations and not enough on each other. And most of them, other than Astrid were always too busy or distracted by other matters to heed Valka's warnings, even if she couldn't argue with their results, she still thought they tended to be sloppy.

Drago had kept most of his secrets to himself, most of all how he controlled his dragons. From what Eret had told her, his Bewilderbeast had to have been a relatively recent addition to his army, since he could report Drago putting a man to death, whom Viggo sincerely hoped was Krogan for failing to bring him a King of Dragons, and Drago vowing to find one himself only a few months before he attacked the nest.

The consequences were that while the Warlords still had a formidable military force, and a wide network of trappers still collecting dragons for them, the dragons they captured were simply prisoners, not soldiers like under Drago's brutal leadership. The Riders' skill combined with Toothless's Alpha abilities meant that any confrontation between the Riders and the Warlords usually led to a Rider victory in the end, with relatively easy rescue operations freeing dragons as there was no one on par with Hiccup's strategic mind, none able to play games with him as Viggo had during their war.

All of these concerns, Valka reported to Viggo and tended to share with Gobber and Hiccup, but in Hiccup's case, he was ever the optimist, plus the fact that he was constantly working himself from dawn to dusk as chief meant that he tended to take Valka's concerns with a grain of salt, simply promising to work on things later while he got more important things done now.

Viggo could understand her concerns, but in all honesty, he knew it was never wise to bet against Hiccup Haddock, much less when he was with Toothless and fighting for either Berk or the dragons. He simply advised Valka that Hiccup and the other Riders' confidence was well placed, and once Hiccup faced a real challenge, he would surely listen to all of his advisors.

But when a Terror Mail arrived on this particular morning, Viggo couldn't help himself, but for the first time in nearly a year since Drago's defeat, Viggo's confidence in Hiccup, Valka, Berk, and all its allies began to waver.

Viggo was taking a break for the afternoon with Thunderstorm on one of the many cliffsides of the island. They had already patrolled and gone fishing this morning, and by now Hailstar and his other lieutenants were more than capable of taking care of the nest themselves for a few hours and so Viggo and Thunderstorm had decided to take a few hours to relax. Thunderstorm was lying out on the warm stone, sunning himself in the afternoon sunlight, while Viggo was reading one of the books he had salvaged from his command tent all those months ago.

He was deeply engrossed in his reading but glanced up when he heard a familiar squawk. A familiar green terrible terror was sitting just beyond his feet with a message tied to his leg.

Viggo set down his book with a smile and held out his arm. "Hello there Tiny," Viggo said, and Tiny flew up to perch on Viggo's outstretched forearm. Viggo gave him a friendly scratch under his chin and untied the message. "What news did you bring me today?"

He set the message in his lap and motioned Thunderstorm over so that he could pull some salted fish out of Thunderstorm's saddlebags to give to Tiny.

"There you go." Viggo smiled as Tiny quickly gulped down the fish and then hovered over to greet Thunderstorm properly while Viggo grabbed the message.

Dear Viggo,

I hope this message finds you, Thunderstorm, Hailstar, and the rest of your flock well. Unfortunately, here on Berk, I cannot say the same. Berk was attacked tonight, by a hunter known as Grimmel the Grisly. He didn't only attack Berk, but he snuck his way into Hiccup's house to speak with him. He claims to be the Night Fury Killer, and he wants Toothless. Hiccup of course will never give Toothless up, and we tried to capture him, but he was prepared for that. He attacked us with a species of large acid-spitting dragons with scorpion-like tails. I've never seen anything like it before, and even more surprising they appeared to be trained and resistant to Toothless' Alpha powers since they escaped without a trace after burning Hiccup's house to the ground and setting several of Berk's towers on fire as well. Everyone is in a panic, and Hiccup seems genuinely frightened, but he insists he's already been working on a plan that he's going to reveal at a tribe meeting tomorrow. Viggo, I know you have told me you want to avoid Berk to protect Hailstar and Toothless from each other, but I implore you, we need your assistance. Hiccup is still confident, Eret has told us what he knows about Grimmel, and I can agree with Hiccup that he sees the hunt as a game, much like you once did, but it is the fact that Grimmel claims to have killed every night fury except Toothless that worries me. So please, to protect Toothless, to protect Hiccup, to protect Berk and all the dragons, I beg you, Viggo, please come to Berk, I know we could use your help more than ever. But also, and we don't know for certain this is related to Grimmel, but a white night fury has appeared on Berk as well. Hiccup and Astrid call her a Light Fury, and I unfortunately don't think she and Grimmel are a mere coincidence.

I pray I see you soon,

Valka Haddock

Viggo had to read the message twice to make certain his eyes weren't deceiving him as he contemplated Valka's words. If what she wrote was true…Viggo knew Hiccup, especially Toothless, could be in their darkest hour since they defeated Drago, and Viggo feared that Valka may be right.

"Thunderstorm!" Viggo stood up and stuck Valka's message in his pocket. "We need to go back to the compound, now." He mounted Thunderstorm's saddle and gave Tiny one more snack as thanks for delivering the message before they took off.

When they arrived at the compound, Viggo ran into his cave and hurriedly dug through his bookshelf, until he found the two books he was looking for.

One was a list of all the dragon hunters and trappers Viggo had known about during his dragon hunting days. He made it his mission to know who his potential competition or future employees could be, as well as their methods. He hurriedly flipped through the pages as quickly as he could. He had once listed Stoick in his notes, as he was known for endlessly searching for the Dragon's Nest that the Red Death had tyrannically ruled the archipelago from. Others mentioned included Eret's father Eret, and Oswald the Antagonistic, who was known for hunting skrills using the Berserkers' ancient methods. He even kept notes of his Grandfather Ivar Grimborn within its pages.

But Grimmel the Grisly. Viggo stopped on his page and looked on. Age: Unknown. Territory: Unknown. Home Island: Unknown. But what he did know, even years ago had impressed Viggo to no end as he read the entry once again.

Grimmel the Grisly is known as the Night Fury Killer and is said to be the reason the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself is now extinct. When he was still a boy, one day he was walking in the forest near his village and he happened upon a sleeping night fury lying before him. Despite only having a simple wood-cutting axe. Grimmel heroically took his chances and sliced the sleeping dragon across the throat. Once the dragon had succumbed to death, Grimmel severed its head and returned to his village where he was hailed as a hero. From that day forward, it became his mission to hunt and kill every single night fury, and it appears he has succeeded. He is known for playing with and manipulating his quarry for days before going in for the kill with his crossbow armed with a secret toxin, and also somehow training six deathgripper dragons to follow his every command to hunt and kill any dragon, but he always deals the killing blow. Grimmel is one of the greatest dragon hunters of all time, who has never failed once he has chosen his targets, as evidenced by the disappearance of the night furies in the last forty years.

Viggo sighed to himself, and that paragraph was just the tip of the iceberg of the stories he had heard about the legendary Grimmel. Sure he hadn't been aware of Drago any more than what Johann had told him, but Viggo had heard of Grimmel. When he first started out, Grimmel had been a bit of a role model to Viggo, as well as his grandfather for he used his mind to claim victory not simply brutality and muscle. Viggo would have loved to play Maces and Talons with him at some point.

But now, Viggo knew where his loyalty must lie, and it was with Hiccup and Valka. It looked like he'd be facing off against a master of a game much larger than simple Maces and Talons, but Viggo was confident, Hiccup alone was already a worthy opponent for anyone, but when he was with Toothless, he was even more formidable, but perhaps with Viggo and all of his other friends and allies, there was no way Grimmel would win. The only question though, was what sacrifices would Hiccup be willing to make? In a game like this, victory always has a cost.

But before he left, Viggo had to check one more thing. He opened up the second book, this was one of the many volumes of Dragon Eye notes he had made when it was still in his possession. He had to flip through a few pages to find it until there it was.

It was just a tracing, and Viggo had found it interesting at the time but had moved on to more important matters back then, but now he looked at the image he had copied down in a whole new light. It was an image of a night fury, resting within a large circle and waves. And intersecting behind the image were lines radiating out to 10 different dragon eye lenses. In the past Viggo had briefly wondered why on Earth someone would make an image of a night fury in a light color, but perhaps it was because it wasn't a night fury, but rather a light fury instead. Viggo had deemed it useless information as even he had heard more rumors of the buffalord being potentially alive than any night fury before he met Hiccup and Toothless, and therefore not worth exploring.

But now. Suppose that was a light fury instead. The only clues to its location were the large circle surrounding it, along with the image of the lenses. Given his experience hunting for the King of Dragons, Viggo now knew what that meant. The key to discovering the Light Fury's location was likely hidden using ten lenses. Not that that would do any good now since Hiccup had long since destroyed both dragon eyes, and every lens he and Johann could find.

But it was an important clue, and along with Viggo's information about Grimmel, and his strategic mind. Viggo knew he could be an important resource for Hiccup, and so he had no choice.

"Thunderstorm!" Viggo called, and when he turned around, Thunderstorm was already inside, watching him expectantly. "We need to go to Berk. Valka and Cloudjumper, and Hiccup and Toothless need us. Are you with me?"

Thunderstorm nodded his head and growled, letting sparks travel across his scales.

"Thank you. Thunderstorm. I know we will succeed as long as we can work together and make it in time. Berk was attacked last night, by a very dangerous enemy. We may be the best hope Hiccup has."

Viggo then ran around his cave gathering any more information or supplies that could be helpful to their mission until Thunderstorms' saddlebags were filled to the brim.

"Alright," Viggo said, trying to keep himself calm. "We better let Hailstar know what is going on."

They left their cave together and then flew over to Hailstar, he too had been dozing in the afternoon sunlight but opened his eyes when Thunderstorm flew up to him.

Viggo bowed low as he approached, but then launched right into his request, "Alpha, Hailstar. I've received an urgent message from Valka. She and Cloudjumper believe that their Alpha, Toothless, may be in danger, and with him their flock and village. I humbly request your permission to visit Berk and do what we can to assist them, if Toothless were to fall, I fear to even think of the consequences for both humans and dragons will be. I don't know how he is as Alpha, but I know he is a good Alpha, one that can be trusted with his responsibilities just like you are. I promise you, we will return, because you are, and always will be our one true Alpha."

Hailstar studied them both silently for a moment, and then calmly growled something to Thunderstorm, to which Thunderstorm nodded his head and growled back. Seemingly satisfied with whatever Thunderstorm had said, Hailstar turned his focus back to Viggo and nodded his head slightly.

"Thank you Hailstar, I promise we will return as soon as possible. And for this mission, I think it is best that only Thunderstorm and I go, and I recommend you keep everyone on high alert. Valka is worried about a particular dragon hunter named Grimmel the Grisly and I fear he is a threat every bit as dangerous as Drago was."

Hailstar nodded his head, but then Viggo heard the humming sound that meant Hailstar was issuing his mental commands, and Twilight, Bewilderbreath, Firestorm, Scarlet, and Tsunami all approached and after a moment looked at Viggo expectantly.

Viggo got the message loud and clear without any words necessary, and he launched right into everything he knew about the threat Grimmel may potentially bring to the island, stressing the need for increased, and larger patrols until he and Thunderstorm returned. Only when all the dragons listening nodded their heads in understanding did Viggo glance over to Hailstar once more.

"Thank you Hailstar. Everyone stay safe, stay vigilant, and hopefully, we'll see each other again soon."

Viggo then stepped back onto Thunderstorm's saddle and they took off into the sky that was still bright blue in the afternoon light. But the beautiful vista in front of his eyes couldn't match his mood. Viggo knew that Valka trusted Hiccup more than perhaps anyone else, and even Viggo could admit that his list of people he could trust was simply Hiccup and Valka as well. But he also knew how stubborn and naturally independent Valka was after living with dragons for twenty years, so if she was asking for help, she must fear Hiccup and Toothless were in truly dire straits.

Viggo was tempted to order Thunderstorm to fly faster, but since he had no idea what they would face when they arrived on Berk, Viggo chose to let Thunderstorm set the pace so if worst came to worst, he wouldn't be exhausted right before battle with the Night Fury Killer. This could be their most dangerous battle since Viggo had attacked Johann and Krogan, but at least back then Viggo had the element of surprise on his side, since if Grimmel knew of him, he'd most likely assume he was dead, just like everyone else.

The only small spark of light in Viggo's heart was imagining the look on Hiccup's face when he saw him, and just perhaps seeing the Chief he had become.