Apologies, this chapter just wouldn't come on paper.

Chapter 18:The reunion

Days after days of flying was tiresome even for the most seasoned flyer. And the Vikings started to feel their patience dropping as their body became more and more numbed from the repeated slashing of the wind.

"How far are we, Brother?" Daggur yelled, annoyed from the top of Sleughter. Know for his legendary anger, the Berserker chief tried his best to remain calm, but all kinds of meditation exercises he used to do were starting to lose their effect.

"I don't know, alright?" Hiccup almost shouted back. It was clear that the trip was also getting to him. "The directions were to fly towards to rising sun as far as possible. And if you want to know more, ask him personally. "The Berkian chief added snappily.

"So, Astrid.." Daggur turned towards the blonde Viking on top of Stormfly. "You mind telling me what's exactly going on, and where do I find him exactly?"

"For Odin's sake Dagur," Astrid replied, "that's a figure of speech, just hold your patience and wait until we arrive, all we know is that Toothless absolutely has to be there, and you said that the Headless fleet is heading that way as well."

"Fine, fine" The carrot-headed Viking grumpily lumped back on his triple strike.

The eerie silence reigns once over the groups, as the wind howl drew away the subtle sound of each rider lost in their own thought.

Finally, an island peak out of the horizon. Showing its rocky side to the riders.

"Land!" Shouted Daggur, awakening the rest of the group from their slumbers.

"Finally!" Snotlout yelled as well.

Despite being people of the sea, the group of Vikings could not but feel relieved when a hard surface on which they can walk on appeared in their vision. Like sailors long lost at sea, the Berkians and Berserkers' siblings hurried on, urging their dragons to fly a bit faster. Only Hiccup remained unfazed by the joyous atmosphere, he knew full well that landing on that island could well mean death for everyone alongside, and leave Berk to its doom.

Toothless landed on a small, rocky plateau devoid of all vegetation. Evenly spread around were ten pillars, some of which were already being occupied by a flock of dragons. Looking around, the Night Fury choose one, or rather, was more guided to one by his instinct. With a growl, he instructed the rest of the flock to follow him. Obeying their alpha, Stormfly and the rest of the dragons followed, and laid down, for some well-deserved rest.

Looking around, Astrid counted that two others pillars weren't occupied.

"Look's like we are waiting for two more groups." Astrid

"Yeah, and they aren't here yet." Heather followed up, clenching her jaw.

"But he is" Hiccup butted in, pointing up the mountain that reigned above the plateau: Halfway up, was a small platform that looked like the exit of a cave, and standing atop of it, was the Messenger and the two grey scaled Night Fury like dragons. All three remained immobile as if they are protecting the secrets of the island, like guards protecting the legacy of their emperor.

"What do we do know?" Daggur asked again. After spending so long sitting on the back of a dragon, the Berseker was dying for some action to move around a bit. But Hiccup firmly responded

"Just like everyone else, we wait." The younger Viking turn around and sat near Toothless, turning a deaf ear towards the whine of Daggur.

•—0—•

When the sun was starting to set, some activities finally stirred up the quiet island. First, it was the dragons coming back with the prize of their hunt: after seeing other groups, fully composed of dragons sending one-off, Hiccup decided to let Daggur and Snotlout go and hunt for the whole party.

Soon after, another dragon landed. His heavyweight made the soil tremble when it landed. The loud entrance made everyone on the island notice the new arrival, and the rest of the dragons snarled at it, mad that it disturbed their slumber. The new dragons roared back, and soon, a clash was brewing up between said dragon and the group of Skrill on the pillar right next to it. As the Skills got riled up, they started charging up their blast, and sparks of electricity started to dance on their skins.

However, an even louder roar resonated above them, the sovereign sound quickly calmed both dragons and got them to bow their heads in apology.

Looking up, it was one of the grey dragons that silenced both belligerent dragons. However, surprise quickly took over the Berkians and Berserker siblings when they saw a dozen people jumping the newly arrived dragons. Previously hidden by the dragon's large dorsal scale.

"Wait, are those Vikings like us?" Astrid quickly asked. She knew from her past adventures that Berks wasn't by far the only tribe where dragons and Vikings co-existed. "Maybe we should ask them if they want to forge an alliance against the Headless."

"Not too quick" Hiccup responded," We still don't know who they are." Turning to his friend, Hiccup asked: "Fishleg, Do you know what dragon is that?"

"Let's see." Fishleg took up an updated dragon catalog from his saddlebag. Whereas everyone has been busy rebuilding Berk, Fishleg traveled all over Berk's allied island and fused their respective dragon knowledge into a single volume. "A large dragon, probably scale eight or nine, thick scales for protection, with moss growing on it, meaning that it usually doesn't move much. Hmm, maybe a Forest Dweller?"

At this moment, said dragon stretched its wings, and under the orange light of the setting sun, everyone could make out the runic patterns etched onto each of its four wings.

"Are those runes?" Heather asked, curious. She, like every other Vikings, had never seen such a familiar symbol on a dragon.

"Wait, those runes!" Fishleg gasped. "Heather, you are a genius." Scrambling hastily between the pages of his book, he finally found what he was looking for.

"That's a dragon only found on the land in the very south of the Archipelago, some travelers even call it the continent. Rumors have it that a mythical beast that could wield the very power of being immune to aging laid rest in a secluded forest, taken care of by a mysterious village.

"Immune to aging? Doesn't it mean that it is immortal?"

"Yes." Fishleg answered, "I think that's a Forever Wing."

" A Forever Wing?" What's he doing here?" Heather asked. "Isn't it a bit too far up north for them?"

"From what I heard; they are born alpha" Fishleg replied. "In case you haven't noticed yet, every group here is led by an alpha?"

"Either way, let's go and meet them, to try if can forge a temporary alliance with them."

Hiccup got up and started walking towards the Forever wing group, Fishleg and Toothless following behind him.

Arriving at the pillar, Hiccup could see the people that were carried here by the ancient dragon. They all wore similar deep purple gowns that followed up with a hood, hiding their faces by casting shadows on them. The only way to distinguish them was from the gold pattern broad onto their cloth.

"Hello," said Hiccup when he was within earshot. However, the hooded person quickly draw out his weapon, a curved blade with a long handle, on which were carved patterns depicting trees and rivers. Raising it towards Hiccup and adopting a guard stance, he looked at the Vikings wearily.

"Wait, wait, wait." Hiccup raised his hand, the other clenched around the hilt of Inferno, ready to extend the fiery blade and kill that man if necessary. "We are not here to harm you guys; we just want to talk."

Nevertheless, the tribesman uttered a few sounds unknown to the Berkians, it sounded more like the drunken blabber that Gobber use the sing when he finished the meal barrel on his own, only more elegant, and it probably meant something.

"Hiccup, I don't think he understands us." Fishleg pointed out the obvious.

"Thank you Fishleg." Hiccup replied, irritated. He spoke using the common tongue of the Archipelago, and if they did not understand it, maybe communication was impossible.

The tribesman waved his blade around, making sure that Hiccup and Fishleg would not take a step forward. Pointing a sharp blade at someone is a universal way of saying they are not welcome. However, the shouts attracted others from the Forever Wing tribes.

Two others, dressed in the same cape, quickly came forward. The three briefly talked with each other before one of them ran off back to the pillar while the others two stared at Hiccup and Fishleg menacingly. A short time after, the tribesman that ran off earlier can back with someone dressed in the same cape, but it was a darker shade of purple and the runes sewn onto the fabric was bordered in gold string. Stepping in front of his peers, he waved his hand and got them to lower their weapons.

"Island people?" he asked, his voice ruffed out by the years. Saying that his common tongue was approximative would be too big of a compliment, nevertheless, Hiccup managed to figure out what he meant.

"Yes, we are." He answered, nodding as well, just in case.

"Yesha, belong you?" the hooded person pointed in the direction of Toothless,

Yesha, I've seen that word before Hiccup though, but he chose to not voice out his thought.

"Yes." Hiccup agreed again, and rubbed the Night Fury's head to prove his point.

At the sight of the black dragon being this friendly, all tribesmen whispered in shock. The purple-hooded one turned around and gather his fellow, leaving Hiccup and Fishleg wondering what could be happening.

To their grand surprise, all of them bowed respectfully to Toothless, their hands crossed in front of their chest.

"What is happening?" Fishleg asked,

The tribesmen hold the bow for a good amount of time until Toothless realized that they were waiting for his signal. The dragon grunted slightly, and the tribesmen finally rosed back up.

"What's going on?" Hiccup gestured his dragon.

"The yesha, true emperor. We will help him." Responded the tribesman while gesturing to Toothless.

"How, what's going on here?" Fishleg asked back.

"Wait, and he will explain." He said while pointing towards the mountain, where the Messenger and the two Guards stood still.

"Wait, how do you about this place." Hiccup cut in, and pressed on. He had the nagging feeling that he was the only one left in the dark about the origin of this place.

"XinShe found us and told us to go here." The tribesmen once again pointed at the figures at the top of the mountain. "And old books told us about this place. Here is where the true dragon emperor will be chosen."

"Dragon Emperor, do you mean the alpha?" Fishleg spoke up again.

"No, not alepha. The emperor, the dragon above all dragon." The purple-hooded tribesman insisted. Peering over his shoulder, he spotted that the Messenger was staring at the trio. Fearing the legend of his tribes, he quickly ushered Hiccup and Fishleg away.

"Quick, go." He said, "Just know that we are not enemies with Yesha."

However, Fishleg was refusing to simply let go of the matter. Trying to ask more information from the Forever Wing tribe, he walked back again until his arm was grabbed by Hiccup.

"Hiccup?" The blond Viking asked, surprised, he thought that Hiccup was as curious as him towards the all-mysterious dragon emperor.

"Let's go Fishleg." Hiccup said firmly while dragging the husky Viking away, a feat not many could achieve. "He noticed us." Making a subtle movement to warn his friend about the Messenger who still had his attention focused on them.

•—0—•

It was only after the trio of Berkians returned to their own pillar that Messenger finally focused back his attention on starting into the empty air in front of him.

"Twilight, where is the last one?" He asked the darker Guard lying at his feet,

Grumbling, the dragon focused himself and a faint golden glow light up within the scale on his head. A few breaths later, the light faded and Twilight answer him.

"Not far?" The Messenger grumbled out the answer like a dragon. "Fine, we will wait until peak moon, as per the rules. If the last one still is not here, we'll consider the last one unworthy of ruling."

Twilight grumbled his approval and laid back down, well intended to finish his late afternoon nap.

"Lazy dragon." The Messenger whispered to himself, this time in his species tongue. However, Twilight still pick up on the complaint and swatted his tail towards his back, but, after spending all his life with these two dragons, the Messenger only knows them too well. He promptly stepped to the side and avoided the strike. Eyeing the half-asleep dragon, he clicked his tongue in disapproval, only for it to be quickly ignored by Twilight. Shaking his head, he turned back his attention to the void in front of him.

•—0—•

After feasting on cooked fish, Berkians and Berserkers snuggled against their respective dragons, trying to get some rest. Despite not knowing what will happen, replenishing one force can never be a bad idea. Luckily, or rather no groups dared the challenge the Messenger and the two guards by causing a brawl, resting peacefully was the consensus of everyone, dragons included. However, the quiet night was soon broken by the flaps of wings approaching quickly. The muffled sound of dragons landing indicated the approach of the last group. Hoping for the best, Hiccup prayed that he bet right and that the Bersekers siblings did not give him false information.

Under the silver moonlight, Hiccup could first make out the massive shadow of a Rumblehorn. Looks like the gods were in his favor because he recognized the dragon that he personally helped Magnus to train. From his back, Hiccup could discern two silhouette that swiftly dismounted the bigger the dragon. One was a fellow Vikings, but Hiccup was too far to know if it was a Headless or one of the conquered tribes, the other was a reptile-like shape. A speedstinger? he thought, No, he's too big for a speedstinger. Negating his initial impression, Hiccup made a mental note to ask Fishleg about that unknown dragon. Following the two, Hiccup spotted a Zippleback ridden by two female Vikings, a Nightmare and Gronckle, with their respective rider and Nadder whose rider was entirely covered in cloth, and looked so frail that the mere wind when flying will blow him off the dragon. But Hiccup knew better than underestimating the Headless, and that figure gave him a sense of unprecedented danger. Finally, he spotted a Singetail which awakened bitter memory that was currently unsaddled by his rider.

Footstep stopped near him and Hiccup turned around to find Astrid standing right by him, eyeing the newcomers. She inspected them carefully, making sure to remember what they look like. Knowing her, She was probably already trying to size each one up, trying to exploitable weakness.

"That's them." She said, more like an affirmation than a question

"Yeah, that's them." Hiccup answer.

"You recognize some of them?"

"Yeah, but only a few. I think they are the Headless clan and not some of the conquered tribe, so expect everyone to be an outstanding fighter. Like that guy on top of the Nadder, we should be wary of him."

After examining the men, Astrid nodded her head in agreement. "I'll keep first watch tonight."She volunteered. "But I think we should be warier of that guy in the back, near the crouched dragon."

Hiccup looked at where she pointed and found she was referring to the person who was with the speedstinger like dragon.

"Why?" Hiccup asked. In fact, despite his rationality telling him that this person is screaming danger, his senses aren't even picking his presence up. It is like his eyes can see him, but his mind is interpreting that person as part of the scenery.

"He gives the same feeling as the Messenger up there," Astrid said as she looked up.

"What do you mean?"

But before Hiccup could get his answer, the two guards up the cliff yelled a roar and quickly followed it by t. And every single dragon roared back as if they acknowledged whatever information was just relayed.

"For those who don't understand the dragons." The messenger at the top yelled after the clamor of dragons calmed down. "They said: Now that everyone's here, we travel at dawn for the first selection of the emperor."

Last arc, which is the plot is already complete. It comes down to how I can put it into words.

Thanks for reading.