The dream came again…
But this time… as I stared at my reflection in the lake, the day Toothless and I first met… I saw myself clearly.
A small, slender boy with tousled brown hair, emerald green eyes, and a smattering of freckles across my nose.
That day, after Toothless flew away, I had turned back. I couldn't explain it, but something compelled me to follow him.
He didn't seem to notice me. He flew towards the heart of the Sanctuary, his expression troubled.
I followed him to the Dragon King's private territory, and that was when I overheard his conversation with the Light Fury. I couldn't make out all the words, but certain phrases drifted through the trees…
"It's him…"
"Curse…"
"He's… dead…"
I crouched behind a bush, my heart pounding in my chest. I didn't understand their conversation, but…
Why was I so anxious?
My heart raced, and I knew if I didn't leave soon, Toothless would hear it.
I fled before the Light Fury left, as if some terrible secret lay hidden in those whispered words.
That night, the fragments of their conversation intertwined with my own fragmented memories, weaving a tapestry of nightmares that trapped me in its web. Images flashed through my mind, disjointed and confusing.
A girl with blond hair and blue eyes. A man with a thick beard. Burning houses and warships. Dragons soaring through the sky.
The last image that surfaced was a pair of golden-green eyes, their black, reptilian pupils staring back at me, as deep and fathomless as the abyss.
Those eyes were so familiar, and yet… there was something different about them, something that chilled me to the bone.
The scene shifted. I was standing on a bridge.
It was a bridge made entirely of crystal, suspended in mid-air over a dark, swirling river. Something shimmered in the dim light, reflecting the eerie glow of ghostly flames. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were threads, gossamer strands of hair stretching endlessly into the darkness.
A skeletal figure, clad in tattered robes, stood at the other end of the bridge, its empty sockets fixed on me. Two flames flickered where its eyes should have been.
I stared back, and instead of fear, a wave of longing washed over me.
"I will… take you… to him…"
Its jaw clacked, the words a raspy, barely audible whisper.
"To… see him…"
It raised a bony hand, and I heard the grating of bone against bone.
"Little… Hiccup…"
Its skeletal finger pointed at me, and then… darkness swallowed me whole.
I gasped, my chest heaving. If dragons could sweat, I would have been drenched.
I had forgotten most of the dream, but one word echoed in my mind, a name whispered by a creature of darkness.
"Hiccup?"
Was that… me?
A sudden chill swept over me, raising goosebumps on my scales. The air shimmered, and a white figure materialized before me.
The Light Fury.
Something about her demeanor was… off. Was it the conversation with Toothless?
I eyed her warily. My instincts screamed danger, but she didn't seem intent on harming me.
"Relax," she said, her voice strangely calm.
"The Dragon King has given me strict orders not to lay a claw on you. I'm risking his wrath by even being here. I had to sneak past the patrol dragons just to speak with you. After all…" She glanced at my forehead.
"What do you want?" I asked, keeping my guard up. I forced my voice to remain polite, but my body was tense, ready to flee.
"Aren't you… curious about your past? About where you came from?"
A cruel smile twisted her lips. She looked less like a creature of moonlight and more like a vengeful spirit.
"I… I asked my mother. She said…"
"That you were a Night Fury who escaped from humans in the outside world?" she interrupted.
"Yes…"
"You naive little fool. You believe everything you're told, don't you? The dragons migrated to the Sanctuary centuries ago. Not a single dragon has entered the Sanctuary since the last one arrived. Do you really think another dragon, especially a Night Fury, could simply wander in after all this time? And yet, here you are." She paused, letting her words sink in. "Haven't you ever wondered… why?"
Her words pierced through the comforting illusions I had clung to, exposing the truth I had been so afraid to face.
"I… I've thought about it, of course," I admitted, my voice faltering. "But… no one would tell me. Not my mother, not the other dragons… The others didn't even know. They said I was a bad omen, a human spy sent to destroy the Sanctuary… My mother… she seemed to know something, but she always… evaded my questions."
"If you truly want to know," the Light Fury said, her smile widening, "follow me. This isn't the place to share secrets."
She glanced back at me, then turned and flew away. I hesitated, torn between curiosity and apprehension. The desire to uncover my past, a desire I had suppressed for so long, finally overwhelmed my fear. I took a deep breath and followed her.
She slowed her pace, waiting for me to catch up, then accelerated, leading me deeper into the Sanctuary.
As Night Furies and Light Furies, we were masters of stealth. We moved through the Sanctuary like shadows, our presence undetected.
Or so I thought. Later, I would learn that someone else had seen us. But it wasn't Toothless.
Part 2Why? Why? Why him? Why not me?
I had asked him this question a thousand times, silently, in the depths of my heart. But I never dared to ask him to his face, to look into his eyes and demand an answer.
He was just a human, a fragile creature whose life burned as brightly and briefly as a dragon's flame. To a dragon, a creature blessed with a long lifespan, a human life was insignificant, a fleeting moment in time. He had been with him for less than a decade, while I… I had been by his side for over three hundred years. I was his queen.
So why?
Ever since that night, over two hundred years ago, when he returned from the outside world… he had been a different dragon. I didn't know where he had gone, but I suspected… I suspected he had returned to that place. That island.
He no longer looked at me with that soft, moonlit gaze. That look had been reserved for the human.
Three hundred years ago, before the dragons migrated to the Sanctuary, during our last battle with the humans… I had no intention of becoming a pawn in their game. But then I saw the way Toothless looked at him, and something inside me… shifted.
The human sorcerers had tried to brand my soul with a curse, to compel me to manipulate Toothless. Fools. The Light Fury's soul was protected by the Goddess of Light. They couldn't touch me. I took advantage of their failed spell, the backlash that crippled them, and fled.
I flew aimlessly, my thoughts a tangled mess, and somehow, I ended up on that island. Looking back, it seemed inevitable, a cruel twist of fate.
I found them there, Toothless and the human. I was shocked. I had never seen a dragon and a human interact with such… familiarity, such trust. Curiosity piqued, I melded with the air, watching them from a distance.
I watched them soar through the night sky, their laughter echoing across the water, their forms silhouetted against the moon. They landed on a white sand beach, bathed in moonlight. The human's hair was plastered to his forehead, dripping with seawater. He shook his head, sending droplets flying, some landing on Toothless, who simply rolled his eyes. I would never see that look on his face again, not after that night.
The human chattered away, his voice a low rumble in the night. I didn't remember what he said, not after all these years. All I remembered was Toothless, his golden-green eyes fixed on the human, his powerful claws, capable of snapping the human's spine with a single swipe, gently teasing him as they rolled around on the sand. The sky and the ocean stretched endlessly before them, and yet, it was as if Toothless saw only the human, that small, fragile being.
What was it about him that had captivated a dragon as proud and powerful as Toothless? What had compelled him to surrender his freedom, the one thing dragons valued above all else, to stand beside a human?
I didn't follow them when they left. I returned to the human sorcerers and offered my soul to the darkness.
Why? Was it worth it?
I didn't know.
All I knew was that when I saw Toothless with the human, a strange, unfamiliar emotion took root inside me.
Jealousy.
Dragons were creatures of solitude, our power isolating us from others. Few of us found lifelong mates. Night Furies were an exception.
I wanted love. Eternal love. I wanted that look in his eyes, the one reserved for the human. If even a weak, fragile human could earn his devotion, why couldn't I?
I couldn't.
That was the realization that hit me that night. They had something I could never possess. Their bond was unbreakable, impenetrable. My only option was to use the magic I once found repulsive, to taint myself with the darkness that festered in the hearts of those human sorcerers. How ironic.
But it didn't matter. I had won, hadn't I? I had stolen Toothless away.
But now… it was clear that I had never stood a chance. Or rather, I had never even been in the game.
Toothless hadn't changed. He had simply woken up, freed from the illusion I had woven around him.
You believed him. But what about him?
Once he learned of your betrayal, would he still trust you? He was human, after all…
If I meant nothing to him now, then I might as well embrace the role of the villain.
But in the end, I would lose. I would always lose to a human with a soul as pure and bright as my own.
Part 3A golden flame flickered to life before me.
It was Om's preferred method of communication. The old dragon had a penchant for theatrics.
Usually, his messages were mundane. Requests for tea, reminders to restock his supply of herbs, complaints about the hatchlings disturbing his sleep…
But this time, it wasn't a social call.
"Toothless," Om's voice crackled through the flame, a hint of urgency in his tone. "The Light Fury… she's taken Hill to the western forest. I couldn't follow them any further. She doesn't seem intent on harming him, but… I thought you should know."
I frowned, my stomach churning. I had a feeling I knew what the Light Fury was planning. She couldn't harm Hill, not without alerting me. The bond I had forged with him would ensure that. But there was another way she could hurt me…
He would find out eventually. The thought sent a wave of panic through me. What could I do? It was my fault, my betrayal, that had shattered our bond. It didn't matter that I had been under the influence of dark magic. I had hurt Hiccup. And there was no excuse for that. All I could do was wait for his judgment.
I tracked them to a secluded lake in the western forest.
But as I approached, a wave of fear washed over me, a fear I hadn't felt in centuries, not since I had faced the Alpha, not since I had seen Hiccup's life hanging in the balance.
I stopped short, my heart pounding.
What would he think? I couldn't bear to face him, not yet.
A familiar nightmare haunted me, a recurring dream where a fifteen-year-old Hiccup stood before me, his eyes filled with tears.
Why did you leave me? he would ask, his voice choked with sobs. Why did you abandon me? Why didn't you come back? Why… Why didn't you even say goodbye?
Why? Why? Why?
If he asked me those questions now, with those accusing eyes… I would shatter.
I ducked behind a tree. Hiccup's back was to me, his expression hidden.
The Light Fury was recounting the events of three hundred years ago… but she didn't mention the curse.
"You know," she said, her voice laced with malice, "he simply flew away with me. Never looked back. Didn't even spare you a glance. Don't you… resent him?"
Her laughter was like a knife twisting in my gut. My internal fire raged, but it couldn't chase away the cold that had settled in my bones.
Hiccup listened silently, as if he had known all along… He didn't speak.
Her cruel words echoed in my ears, time stretching endlessly. My mind went blank.
After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke.
Part 4The Light Fury told me what had happened three hundred years ago.
To my surprise, I felt… calm.
No anger, no sadness, no resentment. Nothing.
It was as I had suspected.
My dreams, those fragmented glimpses of another life, had been trying to tell me all along. As she spoke, the pieces clicked into place, forming a complete picture.
Something inside me shifted, a heavy weight falling into place.
"I will… take you… to him…"
I remembered.
The crystal bridge in the land of eternal night. The river of souls. The bridgekeeper, waiting for a soul he no longer recognized…
"…Don't you… resent him?"
How could I…?
"Of course I resent him," I said quietly. "Not just him. Myself, too."
We were both cowards. I had spent a lifetime hiding from the truth, and now, even after all these years, he couldn't bring himself to tell me.
"But… my happiness was real. The joy I felt… it was real. And seeing him again… I can't… I can't bring myself to hate him, no matter how hard I try. If I truly hated him… I would have forgotten. I wouldn't have come back."
I remembered the day I met Toothless, the day he crashed into my life. His strength, his wildness, the untamed spirit that burned within him… I had been drawn to him, captivated by his ferocity. Had I dared to believe I could tame him, to claim a piece of that wild heart for myself?
"If I saw him now," I said, my voice barely a whisper, "there's only one thing I would say… It's been a long time. I missed you. So I came back."
The Light Fury stared at me, speechless. A tear rolled down her cheek.
"You… You win," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
Her rigid posture softened, and the anger drained from her eyes, replaced by a weary acceptance.
So she truly was favored by the Goddess of Light. I watched her, bathed in moonlight, a creature of both darkness and light.
And then, she told me about the curse.
"So…" I gasped, my heart clenching. The calmness I had felt shattered, replaced by a wave of sorrow. My eyes stung.
"He was… He was fooled by that magic," she said, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "Dragons. You're all fools when it comes to love."
…
"I don't want him," she said, her voice suddenly sharp. "He's yours. Don't lose him again, you idiot."
She turned away, her gaze fixed on something behind me. Before I could turn around, she launched herself into the sky, disappearing into the night.
"Someone's coming to take you home," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "I'll… I'll be going now."
I turned, my heart pounding, and saw Toothless standing in the shadows, his eyes filled with unshed tears. How long had he been there?