Chapter 163
Hiccups POV:
It's been five days since I got back from Greece and in that time not a lot has happened other than me and Blanca settling back into our daily lives on the island. The way it goes is after we got back we let everyone on the island know we were home and began sorting things out by dropping off our belongings in their proper place. The reward money I was given for saving Greece and bringing in the bandits was put in the vault where it belonged while my golden arrow went into the god made vault along with my new leather chest plate that was put on the statue. The golden amphora that held the limitless amount of nectar joined my barrel of Asgardian mead in my food storage where it would be kept safe. Once that was taken care of I enjoyed some time with my dragons and animals allowing Blanca to spend some time with Verta for some sisterly bonding time. While she enjoyed catching up with her sister I ran with the wolves, flew with the dragons, swung from the jungle branches and other such things enjoying my days.
Now the day we return to Berk to let everyone know what happened in Greece has come since I knew the longer we put it off the angrier my parents were no doubt going to be. This brings us to now with me wearing my leather chest plate that I'd made a regular piece of my daily attire, walking up the steps of the great hall with Blanca on my left and Toothless on my right. I'm guessing Blanca could tell I was nervous since she gave my hand a squeeze making me turn my attention to her as she gave me a reassuring smile that always calmed me down when I was worried about something. I then turned my attention back to the door of the great hall and took one last breath before I pushed the doors open and saw everyone sitting around eating their lunch. We made our way inside passing a few people who waved at us as others gave us a smile, which we returned while making our way up to my parents table where they were sitting with Gobber and Spitelout. When Gobber saw us he smiled and stood up with his arms held out as he chuckled and said.
"Well would ya look who's decided to come home?" My parents turned to us before my dad yelled.
"HICCUP!" He stood up and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug making Blanca giggle before I wheezed.
"Dad, I can't breathe." He put me down.
"Well excuse me for being happy to see my son and daughter-in-law back safely." My mom then stood up.
"In your fathers defense, you were gone a lot longer than expected." She crossed her arms. "Let me guess, those Greeks couldn't agree on how they should handle whatever they called you about?" I shook my head.
"No, it was the typical problem of some power hungry lunatic trying to seize control over the land and as usual I had to defeat him." They groaned and sat down before my dad asked.
"Do these things ever go peacefully for you?" I shook my head.
"No but it makes my life more interesting and besides, I'm paid well enough by both the people and the gods." Gobber raised an eyebrow at this.
"You met the gods again?" I nodded. "They give you anything good." I nodded.
"Yeah, a few new things to add to my collection of gifts that'll be helpful in the future."
"Well don't keep us waiting lad, show us what happened to get you this new stuff." I nodded and released my golden spider and soon enough everyone was watching what happened to me.
Three hours later
I'd just finished showing them all what happened and listening to my dad yell his head off at me for putting myself in so much danger. Then he put his hand on my shoulder and told me he was proud of me for showing such strength against the impossible odds I was up against. Now I smiled at my dad who looked at me proudly but sadly none other than Tuffnut ruined the moment by asking.
"Alright then so what did the gods give you this time?" He then put on a smile that I immediately recognized. "Any explosives this time?" I sighed and shook my head.
"No Tuffnut they did not give me any explosives." I then opened my coat exposing my chest plate. "They did give me this leather chest plate," I released my gold arrow and held it up. "this arrow," I put my arrow on the table and showed my hand with the shield on it. "a Spartan shield to go with my arms Egyptian ankh" I then spread my wings making everyone gasp. "an upgrade to my wings and" I pulled out the golden amphora. "A golden amphora." I folded my wings up before Spitelout said.
"So for all that you did for them you got a weak chest plate, a dumb arrow, some lame accessory to your arm, a new look for your wings and some gold pot." He chuckled. "I guess the gods don't like you as much as you let on." There were a few chuckles as I kept a straight face as my dad opened up his mouth to silence him but I held up my hand and walked up to Spitelout gaining his attention.
"Could you do me a favor?" He looked at me confused but answered.
"Aye!" I smiled and took a few feet back while removing my grootslang coat and handing to Blanca before I turned back to Spitelout and held out my hands.
"Slam into me as hard as you possibly can using all your strength." He stared at me as if I was crazy, as did everyone else but before they could complain I held up my hand silencing them all. "I'll be fine." I turned to Spitelout. "Come on Spitelout, I don't have all day."
He turned to my parents and shrugged before charging right at me ready to slam into me with his left shoulder out but when he was close I activated the vest and the runes appeared before the projections. The chains shot out imbedding themselves into the ground before Spitelouts shoulder made contact with the projection and the sound of metal echoed through the hall followed by Spitelouts screams of pain. Everyone stared at me as the chains pulled back while I watched Spitelout rubbing his shoulder that I had no doubt was broken from the blow as he glared at me with a clenched jaw. I smirked at him and said.
"As the god Hephaestus said to me, there's more to this gift than meets the eye."
"You could've just told me about the chest plates powers."
"Now where's the fun in that." Blanca passed me my coat.
"Well it's not like that dumb arrow of yours is worth anything." I willed my arrow activating it and it flew right up to his neck with the head an inch away from it under a second making his eyes widen in shock as everyone gasped.
"My arrow was made from one of the shed golden horns of the stag belonging to Artemis and obeys my will allowing me to control it." My arrow then pulled away and began flying around the people at a high speed leaving the green streak of light. "It can either knock a person out or kill them outright and with my kappa shell they're a lethal combination." I then had it fly at me and caught it as it flew passed my head. "So now that we have established that both my new chest plate and golden arrow are not junk are you going to shut up and listen to what my other gifts can do?" He nodded making me smile. "Good." Gobber then walked up.
"Do you think you could start with that new accessory to your arm than since if there's one thing I've learnt it's that there's always more to those things than meets the eye." I smiled at him.
"You know me too well Gobber." I held up my prosthetic showing the shield. "This shield was made from the ring Hades gave me to ensure weapons would be lethal against Blood Skulls forces and was altered by him into the shield that will allow me to summon fifty Spartan warriors from Hades to aid me in battle." There were murmurs among the crowd until my mom asked.
"What about your wings Hiccup?" I turned to her. "Will you still be able to fly?"
"Actually after their change they're stronger than before and have a new ability to help me in battle." I released my wings and flapped them forward at a wall launching the feathers at them making everyone gasp as they impaled the wall. "Should be effective in a battle don't you think." She just nodded before Spitelout said.
"Excuse me but I don't suppose the gods gave you something to help with THE PAIN IN THE SHOULDER YOU GOT ME TO BREAK!" I turned to him.
"Oh, sorry Spitelout I forgot you were here." He glared at me as his arm just dangled there while I took my amphora and poured some nectar into a mug and offered it to him.
"Here try this." He took it with a glare and looked up at me but I just shrugged. "It may not help with the pain but it'll take your mind off it for a while." He grumbled before he sipped his drink and his eyes widened before he took a larger drink before he pulled it away from his lips and looked at me.
"What is this stuff?"
"It's nectar the amphora has a limitless supply of and was given to me by the Greek god of wine, Dionysus." He nodded and took another drink as my father said.
"Well there'll be time for more questions later since I'm sure my son could use some time to relax and enjoy some time to wonder Berk a bit." I nodded and thanked him before Blanca took my arm and we left with Toothless following.
Three weeks later
It's been three weeks since I met with those on Berk and in that time not a lot has happened since I am happy to say things have been quiet. This meant my days were mostly spent enjoying time on my island enjoying walks in the different environments, spending time with my animals and dragons, designing new automatons, working on designs for new buildings and of course, spending time with my sweet Blanca. As for the automatons I'd been working on, to begin with the first type of automaton took the form of a snake and was to help the snake guardians when it comes to capturing enemies and the second automaton was a larger version of my looting sharks but these ones were for collecting the jewels from Dragon Island.
When it comes to the snake automatons, I built they were about as long as I am tall when fully uncurled and had an inner lair made of separate strips of leather between gronkle iron rings that made up the outer lair. The inside of their heads held the life stone that allows them to function along with two peer stones in the eye sockets allowing me to see what they see, multiple small gronle iron joints on the inside of the body and two hollow gronkle iron fangs full of speed stinger venom to immobilize the victim if they struggle. The way they work is they're to be tossed at the victim, fully activating them and when they strike the victim they wrap around their bodies like a boa constrictor. Once they've wrapped around the victim they lock up the joints inside them tightening their grip on the victim making them unable to move allowing the snakes to inject the venom. When not in use the leather bits are pulled in bringing the gronkle iron rings together forming allowing the snakes to be worn like sashes around shoulders. I'd offered them to my snake guardians after the first one was proven a success but they chose to use them as a sign of rank among them. Blanca and Verta along with a six others had taken them while the remaining ones I set up around the island on branches as security system. So far with the ones on my snake guardians and the ones around my island I had a total of fifteen so far and had given the name snake wrappers.
Then there are the new shark automatons, which were a bigger project since I had to also make some modifications to both my mines and my vault so that the sharks could access them. To begin with when it comes to the modifications to the mines I built a small underground river leading into my mines that surfaced in them so the sharks could be loaded up before swimming out and back to the island. When they get back to the island they'd swim into an underground pool and lay down on the bottom floor pressing down on a large panel. This panel would activate claws that would come out of the ground and hold them in place while the middle of there belies would open up forming an airtight hole above a vent that would open up beneath it. From there the storage compartment in the sharks would open up dropping the jewels down the vent which leads to a storage hold in the vault until they could be sorted later. As for the sharks in general the only differences I'd made in their designs was the underbelly opening up and besides that they were exactly the same in design to the looting sharks but they were named the 'Load sharks' since they carried loads. I'd built three of them and already used them to collect ten loads of diamonds each which were now all in my vault.
Presently I was on my island, in my garden under one of the trees with Blanca who was allowing me to rest my head in her lap to help me relax a bit, Zhang Yong in his regular place at her side lying down comfortably, Toothless was on the other side of us sleeping peacefully in the grass. The reason I was in this position now is I'd been pretty busy lately with my new automatons and helping out on Berk while also performing duties on my island so Blanca thought I needed some time to just relax. As I lay there on the ground enjoying the softness of my wives lap along with the gentle breeze blew past us caressing my hair I smiled enjoying the moment of peace. I knew that with my life I needed to enjoy every moment of peace I could get since I was no doubt going to be pulled into another adventure whether it be here in the archipelago or out in the great unknown. For now though I was looking forward to a nice bit of down time before the craziness that is my life started up again so now I just needed to enjoy the peace with my wife.
Berk
Nobodies POV:
Jamie and Ylva were making their way towards Gobbers forge so Jamie could sharpen some of the swords Gobber asked him to finish off while Ylva was just going to keep him company. Recently they'd been talking about going down into the tunnels under Berk using the trap door in what's now Jamie's room in the forge but had yet to have the opportunity. They'd also been a little nervous since they knew it's been years since anyone's been down there including Hiccup so for all they knew the tunnels could be unstable and could collapse at anytime. They were also concerned about what might be lurking down there since they'd recently been hearing strange noises from below whenever they opened up the trapdoor and leaned their heads into the tunnels. It was then they arrived in the shop only to be greeted by the sound of voices coming from the back of the shop in Jamie's room. Fearing there might be someone trying to wreck Jamie's room they snuck up to the side of the doorway and looked inside only to find Lars and his three friends looking down into the trapdoor. Lars chuckled and looked at his friends as he said.
"I heard Hiccup had these tunnels made by his whispering deaths so he could get around Berk with no trouble." He then looked down into the tunnel. "And now they're going to be our key to getting Hiccup to see us as apprentice material." One of his friends looked up at him.
"How will we do that with the tunnels Lars?" Lars looked up at him.
"Obviously we make a map of them and offer it to Hiccup and if we can find his old hideout then we can repurpose it into our own private lair for when we're dragon riders with our own dragons." He then smirked. "Who knows, he might've even left some useful stuff behind in the old lair that we can use to prove ourselves or at least give us a clue on how to train our own dragons." They all nodded. "Now come on, we've got to get down there and back to our houses before dinner." Before they could jump in though Jamie and Ylva walked into the room as Ylva said.
"Don't do it Lars!" Lars and his gang looked up at them in surprise before Lars glared at them.
"And why shouldn't I?"
"Because you won't find anything down there that'll convince Hiccup to take you on as an apprentice." Jamie then said.
"Also when we talked to Hiccup about it he told us to keep out of them since there are all these twists and turns making it easy to get lost down there and after being ignored for so long they're probably unstable." Lars raised an eyebrow.
"What does that mean?" Ylva answered.
"It means the roofs could collapse on you when you least expect it." Lars let out a laugh.
"Oh please, you're just trying to say that to try and make sure we don't go down there and earn our place at Hiccups side."
"Why are you so desperate to be Hiccups apprentice?" He glared at her.
"That's none of your business so back off and let us do this." With that said he hopped down the trapdoor with his friends following as Jamie sighed and turned to Ylva as he asked.
"We're going to have to go after them aren't we?" Ylva shrugged.
"I am sad to say we have to."
"Just give me a moment to write a letter to leave behind for Gobber since he always hates it when I leave before doing my job without an explanation." Ylva nodded and as soon as the note was written and left by the sharpening stone they were down the tunnels to find Lars and his friends before they got hurt.
Half-an hour later
Gobber walked up to his shop smiling and rubbing his stomach with his real hand and using his hook to scrape his teeth after a delightful lunch in the great hall. Now he was on his way to the great hall to check up on how his little apprentice, Jamie Hofferson, was doing in the forge with his assignment to sharpen the weapons. Gobber smiled at the thought of his young apprentice since he reminded him so much of Hiccup from when he was young, always picking up what he was taught easily and always eager to learn more. Of course it didn't hurt that with Jamie doing the odd jobs it freed up a bit of Gobbers time so he could relax a bit more and it helped take a bit of pressure of his shoulders since everyone often came to him with problems. The problems they came to him with though had narrowed down a bit since these days people were mostly using weapons made of the gronkle iron Hiccup supplied them with. It's a good thing even that tough stuff needed repairs or he'd be out of business because of it. It was then he entered his forge smiling until his eyes landed on the sharpening stone and spotting the letter sitting on top of it. He walked up and took the letter before reading.
Dear Gobber
Lars and his friends jumped down into the old tunnels Hiccup used to use hoping to prove themselves to him in some way by either mapping them out or finding his old place to find ways to train dragons. Ylva and I went after them to try and make sure they didn't cause any trouble so I had to delay sharpening the weapons for now. If we're not back before dinner, please call Hiccup and ask him to come and get all of us.
Signed
Jamie Hofferson
Gobber sighed in annoyance while also feeling a strange sense of deja vu since when he was young Hiccup would often wonder off away from the forge and get caught up in some mess. Now things had changed, as he'd have to call Hiccup in to find those kids as he'd been warned about what a twisting labyrinth those tunnels could be. Gobber made his way out of the forge so he could go find Stoick to get a message to Hiccup before those kids could get into any trouble.
Hiccups Island
Ten minutes later
Hiccups POV:
I was peacefully napping with my head still in Blanca's lap and it was truly a rare moment for me since it was one of the moments where I felt nothing could bother me. Sadly like all the times before I was proven wrong and this time it was by the familiar voice of my father yelling out that he needed to see me. I groaned in annoyance and opened my eyes as I sat up and looked to see my parents being lead towards us by Verta making me sigh as they walked up but before they could say anything I said.
"A peaceful breeze, my wife allowing me to use her lap as a pillow under the shade of a tree, the birds singing their lovely melody and the sun shining a gentle warmth on me." I let out a breath. "I rarely get to enjoy moments like these so I hope you have a good reason for spoiling one of these rare moments of peace in the crazy adventure that is my life." My father sighed and said.
"I know the feeling of having a peaceful moment with the one you love being interrupted Hiccup." I raised an eyebrow. "Back when me and your mother got married the days on our honeymoon were days when I didn't have to worry about being chief and just enjoy myself and I tried to enjoy those days when we got back but something always came up ruining the moment."
"I hope when you're referring to these moments you aren't also referring to when you and mom were being intimate in the backroom of the forge." Both my parents stared at me in shock before my mom asked.
"How did you find out about that?"
"Gobber!" She growled and looked down.
"I am going to shove that hook of his into his head."
"How do you think I feel?" She turned to me. "I'm the one who practically grew up in that room and after Gobber told me when I was thirteen I never felt easy going back into that room knowing what you two did in there." Before my mom could reply Verta stepped in and said.
"As interesting as this all is, do you think we could get to the point of why you two are here to begin with." We all turned to her before my dad sighed and said.
"Alright!" He turned to me. "Some of the kids entered those old whispering death tunnels you used to use to get around Berk." My eyes widened at this.
"Some kids did what?" Before he could reply I continued. "Those tunnels are an endless labyrinth to those who don't know how to get around them and after being neglected for so long are highly unstable meaning they could come down if the walls are disturbed."
"We know which is why we were hoping you'd go after the kids and bring them back to the surface before their parents go mad or drive me mad with their complaining and whining about how their kids could die down there alone and scared." I sighed.
"Give me a moment to gather my whispering deaths since nobody knows those tunnels like them and they could help if there have been any cave-ins." They nodded as I turned to Blanca but before I could say anything she put a finger to my lips silencing me.
"You go take care of this Hiccup and when you get back I'll be waiting to continue where we left off." I smiled and used my real hand to caress her face.
"Then I'll do my best to find those kids quick and come back to you my sweet serpent." With that said she gave me a quick kiss before I turned to Toothless. "Come on bud, we better get going so we can grab the whispering deaths and get to work before the kids get hurt." He crooned and stood up before we made our way into the house so we could get going to Berk bu my whispering deaths would still need some time to be prepared for this mission.
Down in the tunnels
Nobodies POV:
Things had not been going well for the children down in the tunnels since due to all the twists and turns along with their lack of torches they were quickly separated and found themselves lost in the tunnels. To make matters worse however there'd been a cave-in separating Ylva and Jamie from each other meaning Ylva was now alone in these tunnels with nobody to help her. Presently she was looking around the tunnel she was in fearing for her life since she couldn't find her way out and was worried she never would. It was then she took a breath and remembered that Hiccup told her that in these situation panicking is one of the worst things you could do and it best to calm down and observe your situation. Remembering his words she took a breath and began to think of what she could do now to help get herself out of this situation.
As she thought about it more she realized the first thing she needed to do was find the other children who were lost down here in the tunnels while figuring out a way to mark the places she's been. She knew this would help them find the way out of these tunnels since it would make things less confusing and make it easier to avoid getting lost. With this new goal in mind she stood up and made her way up to the wall wondering what she could do to mark where she'd been so she didn't double back. She also knew it needed to be a way to help lead the other kids to her if they stumble upon where she's been making things easier for her. It was then she remembered her gronkle iron dagger that she kept on her in case of trouble and realized she could use it to mark the walls. She walked up to the wall and carved an arrow into it pointing in the direction she was going to be heading and then without hesitation headed down the tunnels while marking the walls on the way.
20 minutes later
Yval had so far been able to gather up everyone however they were still having trouble trying to find their way out as every time they had found and opening and come up it was mostly dense forest that they'd never seen before. Along with the fact that they could easily get lost in the forest because of this there was also the wild boars roaming the forest they knew it would be safer in the tunnels. Sadly things weren't easy down in those tunnels for another reason as Lars was constantly butting heads with Ylva for leadership over the group. Everyone was happy to have Ylva as the leader of their team since she was the one best suited for the roll as she was the one who figured out how to gather them and figure out a way to avoid travelling in circles. This of course lead to a fight between the two of them in which Lars pushed Ylva into one of the support beams that broke and brought the roof down on them. Fortunately no one was hurt but Ylva and Lars were not only separated from everyone but also boxed in against the wall while their friends tried to dig them out from the other side. This brings us to now with Ylva and Lars curled up next to each other under the dirt in silence that was broken by Lars saying.
"This never would've happened if you'd just left me and my pals alone." Ylva turned to him with a glare.
"You were the ones who were stupid enough to come down into these tunnels without a plan or telling anyone about your plans."
"Its called showing initiative."
"Its called being careless and stupid." Lars glared at her before looking away with a huff.
"What do you know?" He glared at the ground. "Doesn't matter anyway since we're never getting out of here."
"Yes we will!" He turned to her. "The others are on the other side trying to dig us out an Jamie left a message to Gobber letting him know what was happening so Gobber most likely let Hiccup know what's happening and he's on his way with his dragons to help us."
"Great and he'll see me as a weak little boy and never take me on as an apprentice."
"Why does an apprentice ship under Hiccup mean so much to you?" She looked him in the eye. "Does riding a dragon really mean that much to you?" He just glared at the floor.
"You wouldn't understand."
"Try me." He glared at her before looking down.
"All my life I've lived on Berk and because of that things have become boring and predictable." He dropped his hands on his knees before a glimmer entered his eyes. "Hiccups life on the other hand is amazing with all the places he goes to, the people he meets, the enemies he faces, the gifts he receives and everything he's done." He looked up as if he were gazing at the sky. "I want to be like him, travel the world saving people and fighting monsters with my own dragon." He then looked down. "And to actually become a somebody."
"A somebody?"
"Somebody who people admire and look up to instead of just some faceless guy nobody knows."
"If you want to become that kind of person then do what Hiccup did and have a little confidence in your own capabilities, think things through, don't be arrogant and start with what you do know and work your way up from there." He turned to her.
"How would you know that that's what Hiccup did?"
"Because he told me on the day I first met him." He raised an eyebrow. "You remember the older sibling event when he took me under his wing?" He nodded. (AN: Chapter 107 guys.) "He saw how I was treated and I felt about it and that's when he gave me the advice." She put a hand on Lars shoulder. "Just think about that next time you decide to pull a bone headed stunt like this." He just nodded before a roar echoed through the tunnels making them freeze up in fear. "I forgot about that." He turned to look her in the eye.
"Forget about what?"
"Sometimes when me and Jamie opened the door we'd hear a roar of something coming from the tunnels."
"And you didn't warn us?"
"You didn't give me or Jamie the chance to warn you."
Before they could say anything else though the sound of their friends screams on the other side of the wall followed by silence. This filled their hearts with dread as they pushed their bodies up against the wall as the wall in front of them began to crumble making them lean back harder. It was then the dirt crumbled to reveal rows of rotating teeth lit up by rings of fire making them lean back as hard as they could until the teeth pulled back and stop rotating. They looked to see a whispering death looking down at them before a tall human form walked in front of the whispering death and as it entered the light it was revealed to be Hiccup smiling down at them. He then frowned and said.
"Remind me how much trouble you both are in when we're out of here." They just ran up and hugged his waist making him roll his eyes as he smiled. "Come on, let's get you all out of here." He led them out of the cavern they were trapped in and helped them onto Diggs before helping the others onto the other whispering deaths. "You guys really shouldn't be playing down here, not only is it easy to get lost down here but my whispering deaths still like to come here from time to time to explore their old stomping grounds." Ylva felt like slapping herself not realizing that the roars her and Jamie were hearing were the whispering deaths just checking out their old tunnels before she was brought out her thoughts as they took off.
Nightfall
Hiccups POV:
Today had been a quiet day for me after finding those kids in the old whispering death tunnels and getting them out which resulted in a few back slaps from the fathers and hugs from the mothers. This was followed by me needing to get out of the great hall where they were reunited or risk going deaf from the screaming being done inside. The end results were Lars and his crew receiving a month long grounding for doing something so stupid while Ylva and Jamie got a weeklong grounding for not contacting an adult about the matter. Now I was laying in bed asleep trying to relax but I couldn't help but feel there was something big happening in the world, which would cause a huge mess, I was going to need to clean up. I sighed and lay my head against my pillow while stroking Blanca's hair as she quietly slept against my chest like she did every night when we were together and joined her in the realm of sleep.
AN: And that brings an end to the final chapter I will be posting on my holiday for on Monday I'll be back at work and back to my regular routine. As always I'll try to update at least once a week but as usual I make no promises and I hope you all remember to review kindly and if you have any problems or questions just PM me and we'll talk. Also to 'NF315' I did get the idea for the golden arrow from Yondu he is not going to become Yondu. Now please review kindly and have a nice day.
