Chapter 110
Hiccups POV:
It's been six weeks since I met my mother and took down Drago Bludvist and, in that time, a whole lot has happened with me, my parents, the village and of course the dragons. These past few weeks have truly been some of the most tiring weeks of my life with all I've been doing to help out around Berk and the new Bewilderbeasts. I started by bringing in all of my none alpha class dragons to help clear up the ice with me supervising it all while my parents made up for lost time in my dad's hut. The reconstruction of Berk was a long and painful process even with my dragons and Anubis warriors helping out with things with us running into more than a few problems. One such problem was how some of the men treated Eret and his men believing them to be partly responsible for the attack which lead to more than a few fights which either me or my dad had to break up. It was this reason I felt it best that they not go anywhere alone so I had my changewings stick with the group to make sure the villagers didn't try anything.
Along with that there was an issue with a thunderclaw who went berserk when Snotlout tried to take off his armor. He rampaged through the village nearly hurting some kids who were playing on the ice but I was able to get to them in time before he slid into them. After that Gobber ran up and explained to me what happened and I recognized the thunderclaw as the one who shot Drago's arm off. I told him if he wanted to keep his armor then he was free to do so since even without his armor added to the lot we still had plenty of metal and leather from the armor we got off the other dragons. Gobber had given the thunderclaw the name Bonesnarl and I have to say he's been pretty darn helpful around the village when it comes to the scuttleclaws since all he has to do is roar and they fall into line. This was something not even the alphas could accomplish and it didn't hurt that he seemed to be getting close to Thundra.
Speaking of the alpha's my mom's Bewilderbeast joined my own bewilderbeasts in the nest after I gave him the name Arthur, after my friend the king of Camelot. As for Drago's bewilderbeast it tried to leave after the first day but I had Toothless cut him off and sent him back to the nest. It wasn't that hard to feel like he didn't belong with the other alphas because of what he'd done and how he was raised. Me and the alphas made it clear it wasn't his fault and that we accepted him no matter what and it was on that day he truly entered the family and was given the name Tusk. Both he and Arthur spent their days resting in the bewilderbeast ice nest alongside my own bewilderbeasts watching over all the dragons from both my nest, Drago's army and Arthurs nest with the shackles he had on his tusks both removed and put in my trophy room as a memory of Drago's defeat.
Meanwhile the armor from the dragons who were happy to get rid of it, Gobber was all too happy to melt it all down and turn it into weapons, tools and nails to help rebuild and resupply Berk. There was so much of it that his forge had trouble melting it all down so I brought in my hotburples to help melt down the metals. The moment Gobber laid eyes on them he immediately fell in love with them, especially Grump and to be honest I couldn't blame him since he had so much in common with their species. Their all lovable lumps of fat with a love of scrap metal and need of a bath. Gobber spent days in the forge with Grump at his side eating and melting down the metal while Gobber the hobblegrunt just helped out where he could. By the time they were done with the armor they had formed a bond I just couldn't break so I gave Grump to Gobber who was so happy he hugged me to the point where I was afraid he'd never let me go.
As for Drago the day he was captured I made sure he did not leave the solitary confinement cell by ensuring it was on complete lockdown with the outside of the door guarded by five Anubis warriors, Amr, Maelstrom Adal to be ensure he wasn't going anywhere. A day later he was let out for his trial for all of his crimes, my dad even had me use my portal door to get some of the other chiefs to be the jury. Before the day was over Drago Bludvist had stood trial for his crimes and was sentenced to the blood eagle for all of them. I didn't stick around to watch the process but they had me use Amr to deliver the body that was thankfully wrapped up in materials along with a message to the lead ship where Drago's generals could be found sailing. We used my golden falcons to see the reaction of the generals and we weren't disappointed by their reactions. They turned their ship and their fleet away from Berk so they'd been dealt with for now but I had the feeling that they'd be back soon enough.
Repairs took two weeks before all the ice was gone, the huts were rebuilt, people were getting back into their normal routines with a few minor changes. Then we were able to enjoy a week of peace with my mother fully settling into the village and catching up with my dad and some of her old friends as she supervised the dragons helping with the repairs. For that week I figured we'd be able to enjoy some peace and allow things to settle down but then my mother remembered what I told her about how I was treated on Berk and peace was thrown straight out the window and replaced by my mother screaming her head off like a banshee. She literally beat half the villagers with her staff for how they treated me including some women she called friends who once told me that it was a good thing she was gone so she wouldn't have to face the shame of having me for a son.
As for what she did to my father, the entire village was given a show of her dragging him by the ear back to their hut as she swore when they got there she was going to knock some sense into that head of his. For the remainder of the day her screaming at my father echoed through the village and when he finally came out he had lumps on his head and a black eye. When I asked him, what happened he just put a hand on my shoulder and said.
"Never interrupt your mother when she's in a rage son." He then sighed with a smile I'd never seen on his face before. "I've truly missed that fire in her eyes, it's the thing that made me fall in love with her." He then looked at me. "Your mother truly is an amazing woman."
After that I just walked away feeling very disturbed seeing my father acting like a love-sick puppy while talking about my mother. Speaking of my mother, once she'd calmed down I was able to take her on a tour of my island with my father who wished to join us. along with introducing her to all my dragons and animals since she hadn't had the chance to visit it in the first few weeks with all the construction, clean ups, disarming Drago's army and everything that was going on. I swear I thought she was going to have a heart attack when I introduced Adal as the son of Fenrir. I later learnt from my dad that when she was a little girl her parents used to tell her that if she didn't behave and eat all her vegetables then Fenrir would come and gobble her up so she developed a fear of Fenrir. Once she got out of her shock we continued our tour before taking a break in my temple in the Mayan jungle with my dad gasping for air and asking I if I could put some sort of crane in to carry us to the top. I laughed at that before we all sat down or in my father's case collapsed onto the couches and enjoyed some water and fruit while my mom asked me about my island, what kind of creatures lived on it, what types of places it had, what species of dragon lived in each place and other questions.
When I finished telling her of all the dangers I'd faced for each of the island sections along with what roamed in each part she told me that I was forbidden from ever going on such journeys again. Fortunately, my dad was able to help her understand that it was impossible to stop me after spending three hours explaining to her that it would be easier to wrestle a fully grown bewilderbeast, blindfolded with both hands tied behind her back than to stop me from travelling she accepted that she couldn't stop me. After that I took them to the bewilderbeast nest to see the dragon's new home that had to go through a major expansion with all the new dragons and alphas. After that she made me take her to Volcana's nest before having me round up one of every kind of dragon I had on my island in the open planes so she could see if I had any she hadn't seen before. She took one look at the different species and immediately began asking multiple questions about every kind of dragon I had, what I used them for, where I found them along with multiple other questions. Long story short we spent six hours in the field with me answering all my mother's questions, her studying my dragons, me waking her up from fainting when she found out about the sand phantoms, her teaching me some of their secrets and more. After that me and my mom began spending time together and I was really beginning to enjoy having a mother around and not just because of the dragon knowledge she shared with me. One of the other reasons was because with her around the other teens stopped bothering me and started bothering her for lessons on how to train their own dragons but she told them with how they treated me she wasn't going to risk giving them dragons.
I was just happy to get them off my back since for now I was able to almost fully relax if only it wasn't for that feeling in my gut keeping me concerned about the future. Add to this was this feeling that I was being watched by someone but whenever I looked around nobody was there and at time it felt as if someone was with me even when I was completely alone. This includes when I'm in my private room enjoying a book, taking a bath, walking around the desert, lying down in the grassy planes or reading my journals in my libraries secret room. In all these cases I was completely alone but I still couldn't shake the feeling but everyone I talked to just said I was being paranoid but that didn't help me shake off the feeling.
Nobodies POV:
Thousands of miles away
In a land known as the land of the rising sun or Japan to most sat a large hidden bamboo forest covered in fog preventing anyone from seeing what lurks inside other than a few shadows with dark clouds eclipsing the sun. In the center of this forest stood a large palace made with grey nearly black bricks, shining black pillars and black tiled roofs. Inside this palace laid a throne room with eight black marble pillars holding up the ceiling with red dragons wrapped around them, against the on display cases imbedded into the walls stood suits of armor each once belonging to proud warriors who came to face the owner of this palace with their weapons mounted on the walls beneath them, the roof had a painting of a burning red sun with the flames forming monstrous images, surrounding the entire room was a small gap separating the floor from the walls leaving a good three feet between them and in this gap was a blazing flame lighting the room, black tiles formed the floors with fire red tiles forming a path from the door to a small staircase that lead to a large throne. This throne was made of pure gold shaped like flames with rubies embedded in the tips with the top of it holding a giant eye that held a slim ruby as the pupil, on either side of the throne was a large dragon skull with the mouths open revealing large burning flames with large glowing rubies in the eyes.
Sitting in the throne was none other than the demon king Akuhei who owned the palace, ruled the surrounding bamboo forest, had multiple dark minions and was the cause of Hiccups paranoia. Akuhei sought to forge a weapon that would not only allow him to harness the power of the Orochi but claim victory over the gods along with their lands, treasures and power. The means to claim this power however did not make an appearance until Hiccup Haddock unlocked the full power of his prosthetic arm and with it the armor. When Hiccup unlocked this power he unknowingly let out a magical shockwave that could only be felt by few magical beings which included the demon king Akuhei who now sought this power for his own, no matter what the price. This brings us to where he is now which is sitting on his thrown in his human form which was a tall man a head taller than Stoick with shoulder-length red hair that had been combed back, a thin, long pointy moustache and eyebrows. He wore pure black armor with spiked shoulder pads and wristbands and a flame pattern engraved into the armor with the only bit of other color was the dark blue scale like armor on his stomach, thighs and upper arms. (AN: Picture Girim from Toriko the movie.)
He sat on his throne with his fingers intertwined together in front of his mouth as he gazed at the rectangular mirror with golden frame that had been formed to look like some sort of monster with claws holding each corner and two glowing red eyes at the top of the mirror with a set fangs coming down on the glass. Akuhei stared at the mirror intently for it was not his reflection that was in the mirror but Hiccup Haddock who was currently sitting in the great hall with his parents. It was then an elderly man wearing black Taoist robes with dark blue bird embroideries. (AN: Picture and elderly version of little general from the film 'White Snake'.) The elder walked down the red marble as Akuhei levitated the mirror slightly to the side to see who was approaching him and when he saw who it was he said.
"I expect the reason you are disturbing me is to bring me good news my servant." The elder bowed when he was five feet away from the steps.
"I apologies for the disturbance my lord but I have come to inform you that the gate is near completion and shall be ready in a matter of hours." Akuhei smiled.
"Excellent, soon the power that mortal wields shall be mine and then I shall use it to claim victory over the gods of this land and then this land shall be mine and this world shall soon follow."
"Shall I arrange your forces so you can choose who to send to retrieve what you desire my lord?" Akuhei shook his head.
"No, I shall retrieve them myself." He then smiled. "After all I should go to thank the mortal who's responsible for the means of my victory being created." The elder smiled at his master. "Now only return to inform me of its completion and nothing else." The elder bowed once more.
"As you command my lord." With that the elder left the room as Akuhei turned his attention back to the mirror as Hiccup was told by his father that he was just being paranoid making Akuhei smile.
"You have no idea how wrong you are Stoick the vastly overweight mortal." He then looked to Hiccup. "Don't worry Hiccup, you'll be able to prove your father wrong in a matter of hours." He then let out a chuckle that echoed through the room in a haunting way.
5 hours later
Hiccups Island
Hiccups POV:
I was in bed sleeping soundly with my hands behind my head as I dreamt of me flying over the ocean with Toothless along with all my other dragons with my animals riding on them and my gryphons flying just behind us. It was dreams like these that I truly enjoyed since it was when I felt at peace but sadly like all good things it came when I was awoken by the sound of crashing metal. I immediately got up and ran downstairs to see what was going on and hoping to find out what was happening. When I reached downstairs I was met by what sounded like metal being bent from my armory and ran to see what was happening since I doubt it was any of my animals. When I arrived at my armory I found all the racks completely turned over and the door to my god made weapons vault had literally been ripped in two forming a large hole to the room. I quickly picked up a sword from the ground and ran inside to see what was happening only to see the three domes holding my eagle shield, my star sword and stormcutter axe destroyed. Along with this there was a tall man in black armor with long red hair tearing into the dome that held my lion guantlets as if it were made of paper. He stopped as soon as I entered the hole and turned to face me with a smirk that sent a shiver of fear down my spine as he said.
"Hiccup Haddock I presume!" I held the sword at the ready as I glared at him.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my home?"
"I am the demon king Akuhei and as for why I am here" He smirked. "I am simply here to pick up a few things and then I shall be on my way." I pointed my sword at him.
"You honestly think I'll just let you walk into my home, destroy my property and steal some of my most prized possessions?"
"Feel free to try and stop me but you'll only end up making things more painful for yourself when I take your golden arm." I charged at him and stabbed my sword towards him but he just held his right hand up towards it and as soon as my sword contacted his hand it shattered until the hilt reached his hand and all he did was smile. "Nice try!"
He then tapped my chest with his left-hand finger and it felt like I'd been punched by a giant sending me flying back out of the room and onto the other end of the armory. From that single strike I knew if I'd been wearing armor it would've shattered into pieces like glass showing that whoever this guy was he was not human. I tried to get up but before I could even push up the man was standing over me and stepped onto my chest pushing me down with his foot which felt as if I had ten gronkles were pressing down on me making it hard to breath. Akuhei looked down at me with a smile on his face as I tried to call out for help but he only smirked down at me and said.
"Try to call your pets all you want but I've cut off all forms of contact in the house until I leave and if you're going to try and summon your precious starsword then don't waste your energy as I placed it into a special chest preventing it from heeding your summons." I grabbed his leg and tried to push his leg off but he just pushed down harder before he reached down and grabbed my prosthetic. "Scream if this hurts dear boy!"
He then began pulling my prosthetic off making me scream in pain as the connections to my nerves snapped one by one as they were pulled. It felt worse than when I was forced to sever my real arm since then it was quick and the most pain was from the rotting but this felt like my arm was being ripped off from the base. When it was over I looked up at him as I breathed heavily from the pain with Akuhei smirking down at me as he said.
"Well that takes care of your arm but I can't help but feel I'm forgetting something." He said this last part with sarcasm practically dripping from the words. "Oh, yes I'm afraid I'm going to have to clip those wings of yours." He used his foot to flip me over onto my back before slamming down on it making my wings come out as I screamed. "Such magnificent things given to a lowly mortal but an easy fix." He grabbed onto the base of my wings before ripping them off as I screamed in pain. "There now, problem solved." He then got off me but I was too weak from the attack to do anything besides look up at him and glare but her just smirked. "Now be a good mortal and die while I go and collect the remaining weapons." He then turned around and walked away as everything went black.
Two days later
I woke up to the sight of the all too familiar sight of the ceiling of Gothi's hut which I had come to know so well during my childhood since I'd spend as much time here as I did at the forge due to the constant bullying I suffered. I looked around and saw Toothless sleeping next to me as I slowly pushed my body up letting out a small moan from the stiffness and gaining Toothless' attention. He quickly lifted his head and turned to me before letting out a croon of joy and running up to my bed. I chuckled as he nuzzled my chest but it was then I remembered what made me black out in the first place and my blood ran cold before I tried to get out of bed just as the door opened. My dad walked in, took one look at me, yelled my name before running up and hugging me followed by my mother and Gobber. When they finally let me down I groaned in pain since they had rubbed where my wings were before my dad asked.
"Hiccup, what happened?"
"What do you mean?" Gobber replied.
"Lad we were all woken up by that weird shadow dog of yours before it dragged us into the shadows and spitting us out onto the floor of your armory." My mother then said.
"We found your armory destroyed, the door to the vault where you keep your god made weapons was ripped open with the domes inside destroyed and you laying on the ground in a puddle of your own blood with your prosthetic gone, your back bleeding with your dragons and animals surrounding you." Tears began to run down her face. "If Frostburn hadn't sealed up your wounds then we would've lost you." My dad then said.
"Which leads to the question of what happened to you?" I then went onto tell them how I was attacked by Akuhei and what he took before I once again tried to get out of bed.
"I need to find him." My mother pushed me back into the bed.
"Hiccup, you need rest after losing so much blood."
"I can't I need to find him before he's able to unlock their power or all of Midgard and the other realms will be in serious danger." My dad then said.
"Then let me and a group of men try to deal with it."
"Dad I've had experience when it comes to fighting supernatural beings where as the only thing you have experience in fighting is humans and dragons."
"I know but for now you need your rest and until then we can at least try to find out where this Akuhei guy is."
"He's not a guy he's a demon and a powerful one at that." He looked down at me.
"Just get some rest son." With that he left the room followed by my mom and Gobber as I lay back on the hard bed with Toothless resting his head on my lap.
Four days later
It's been four days since I woke up and, in that time, I've mostly been left alone with Toothless and my thoughts with the occasional visits from my dragons, animals and well-wishers who wanted to know what. Today though Gothi finally deemed me well enough to be allowed to leave her hut as soon as she's done removing my bandages. This brings us to where I am now which is me sitting on the bed in nothing but my pants while Gothi removes my bandages with my parents, Gobber and Toothless watching me. I let out a sigh as the last of the bandages were removed before Gothi smiled at me and nodded. I gave her a nod of gratitude before she took her staff and began writing in the dirt before Gobber translated.
"Gothi says you're good to go but recommends you take it easy for a few days."
"I'm sorry Gothi but I need to find Akuhei before he can unlock the power of my weapons." She then began writing in the dirt again as I noticed something sitting in the corner of her hut before it stood up and walked into the light revealing a fox. "Gothi, why is there a fox in your hut." She looked up at me confused as I pointed at the fox who at this point was sitting in front of me as Gobber asked.
"What the- "
That was all I heard before I blinked but when I opened my eyes again I was no longer looking at a fox on a wooden floor but a fox on a dirt path. I looked around and much to my shock I was standing on a dirt path in forest with trees that had near leaves that were nearly pink in color. (AN: Japanese maple.) I looked around wondering how I got here before my eyes landed on the fox who had taken a position on a large boulder so it near my eye level. I stared at the fox for a few seconds and sighed before I asked.
"You're not a normal fox, are you?" The fox much to my surprise answered in a feminine voice.
"Far from it actually but then again you are far from a normal mortal."
"At times I wish I was a normal mortal but I wouldn't give up the life I have for the world aside from the danger I often face."
"Such is life dear boy."
"Alright but could you tell me why am I here?"
"An answer that is best given while we walk to the first step to reclaiming what has been stolen from you." She then began walking down the path with me following since I didn't have any better choices.
One hour later
It's been an hour since this fox who'd yet to give me her name had brought me to this forest and we began our long trek down the path to a place where she said I'd be able to reclaim what was stolen from me. On our walk we discussed what she meant by that and she went onto tell me how she was referring to Akuhei and what he stole from me. She then explained he intended to harness and corrupt their power in order to aid him in his conquest of the lands with his armies. I asked her why I was the one who had to do it and she simply replied that fate works in strange ways and it was fate that I was to be brought her to face Akuhei but this journey would be a difficult one. When she said this, I asked her when my journeys were ever easy but she just shook her head and we continued on our way as she explained when she transported me here she imbued the knowledge to speak the native language into my mind so I'd be able to communicate with the locals. It was then we reached the base of a mountain with stairs leading up it before the fox turned to face me and said.
"This is where we must part ways Hiccup but I shall be watching you from the shadows." She then gestured to the steps. "The first step to reclaiming what was stolen from you is to find help from the master blacksmith of the dragon's forge at the top of the mountains peek." With that she walked into the woods and vanished while I looked up at the mountain and sighed.
"Well I've come this far, might as well make it to the top." With that I began walking up the steps.
One hour later
I'd been climbing these stairs for an hour and it has been tiring but the scenery and view were nice to view but it didn't make climbing these stairs any easier. Presently I was looking up at the stairs and smiled at the sight of them nearly ending as I wondered what help I'd get at the top of the stairs. I took a breath knowing I would get my answer soon enough and continued up the stairs to reach the top hoping there'd be some water there for me to drink. When I finally reached the top, I found a small pool with water coming out of a hole in the mountain. Seeing the water, I ran up to the pond and dropped to my knees before dunking my head into the water and began chugging down the water. When I pulled my head out of the water I looked down breathing heavily as a shadow came to land on me. I looked up to find an elderly man with a short grey beard, a strange red robe and a circular straw hat with a strange pipe in his left hand holding it against his lips as he looked down at me. He took a puff of his pipe and said.
"Good afternoon stranger and what brings you to the top of my mountain?" I took a few breaths.
"It's a bit of a long story."
"Then by all means tell it for I don't have much to do in order to occupy my time." I then began my tale of what happened on my island and how I came to be here.
Half an hour later
I finished with my tale as the old man took another puff from his pipe and sighed while gently shaking his head before he said.
"Sounds like you have had a difficult journey my friend but I am afraid your journey up the mountain has been in vein."
"Why is that?"
"I am the blacksmith that you were sent to meet as I am the blacksmith of the dragon's forge but I am afraid that in this conflict I wish to remain neutral, offering no help to you or to Akuhei." Before I could reply a deep growling voice behind me said.
"That is not possible old fool." I turned around and saw a man in some sort of black armor that I'd never seen before, two feet taller than my father, standing at the base of the stairs with a sheathed sword on either side of his waists but the thing that caught my attention the most was his face that was a ghostly white with fangs and glowing red eyes. (AN: Picture the black samurai from Scooby doo!)
"What is it you want from me?"
"My master has ordered me to retrieve you for recruitment."
"But what would he want with me?"
"You command the dragon's forge and my master wishes for you to use it in order to create weapons for his army."
"The forge does not work in such a way and even if it did I would not aid Akuhei in his destruction of peace and innocent lives." The man took out his swords that seemed different to any other swords I'd ever seen.
"Then you shall die and I shall take command of the forge."
He raised one sword before slashing down letting out a burst of flame towards the elderly man who stood there frozen in shock but before the flames could touch the elder I tackled him out of the way. The flames did manage to singe the hair on the back of my legs showing them to be magical flames if my immunity to fire wasn't able to prevent the flames from burning me. The elder looked at me in shock before I turned back to the warrior who said.
"Stay out of this mortal." I stood up.
"I won't stand by and allow you to take the life of an innocent." The warrior just glared at me as he took out his other sword.
"Then you shall die for standing in my way." He then swiped his new sword to the side and before I knew it I was hit in the side by a strong gust of wind sending me sliding across the ground and when I stopped I tried to get up but before I could the warrior swiped his sword in a sweeping motion and I was hit with another blast sending me to the edge of the summit. "You were a fool to try and take me on and now you shall pay with your life."
He then swung at me again letting loose another blast of wind sending me over the edge of the mountain making me free fall for a few seconds. Luckily, I was able to use my one arm to grab onto a ledge stopping my fall before I dangled there for a few seconds and then pulled myself up onto the ledge with difficulty. I sat down on the ledge and looked down over it and saw a couple of small stones fall down into the fog covered abyss. I let out a few deep breaths before looking back up and saw it would be a difficult climb up but I had to get there before that warrior did anything to harm the elderly blacksmith. With these thoughts going through my mind I began my difficult climb back up to the top with my one arm being the only thing to help pull me up onto the ledges while using all the strength in my legs to push me up. When I finally reached the final ledge, I heard the warrior roar in anger and quickly pulled my upper torso to the top and looked around to see the warrior standing over the blacksmith with his swords at the ready. I quickly climbed up to the top as the warrior said.
"You have one last chance to join my master or die by my blades." I slowly stood up.
"I shall gladly die then join the forces of darkness."
"So be it."
He raised his swords but before he could bring them down I ran up behind him and jumped on his back while wrapping my arm around his neck and locking my legs around his waist. The warrior struggled to get me off his back but I held on tightly dodging his blades as I yanked him back towards the edge of the mountain. When we reached the edge, the warrior said.
"Don't be a fool, you'll kill us both!"
"That may be but I'll at least take an evil being out of this world." With those last words I yanked back again pulling us both over the edge as I listened to the warrior scream before everything went black.
AN: Hey all I hope you enjoyed the chapter and shall review kindly. Also, I'm sorry it took so long but every time I switched off Word and reopened the chapter a large chunk had been taken off the bottom so I had to rewrite it. On the bright side this has helped me keep busy during the lockdown here in Johannesburg. Anyway, please review kindly and keep in mind I may be in lockdown so I can write but I'm also using this time to spend some time with members of my family and sleep in a bit. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and have a nice day.
