Dak and Leyla were facing the possessed Purple Orca and his venomous plants.

"So you blocked my attack," he said. "Nicely done. You must be Magic Knights, just like the previous owner of this body was. Let's see what you'll do next? Poison Plant Magic: Zhovniir's Breath and Zhovniir Fingers!"

He then unleashed a poison cloud in front of them, and sharp vines erupted behind them.

"I wonder, will you succumb to the poison the way they did?" he said, looking down at the villages that on the ground succumbed to the poison. He then turned to the villages that had been impaled by the vines. "All will you be impaled? Your choice."

"Not happening!" they said.

Dak then swung his Demon-Slayer sword, slicing through the vines. Leyla unleashed a powerful blast of wind, knocking back the poisonous cloud, surprisingly Purple Orca.

"Look at them now," said Fingard. "They're strong."

Duggard winced. 'It's a miracle…'

Dak and Leyla had joined the Magic Knights but constantly sent letters and money to the village. One day, Dak's letters stopped coming, and everyone started worrying.

"We haven't heard anything from Dak for a long time," said Fingard.

Fingard had come to the chief's house every day, hoping to hear something about Dak.

"His last letter said that they were going to an undersea temple," said Duggard.

"Yeah, but that was weeks ago," said Fingard.

"If something had happened to him, I'm sure we would have heard it by now," said Hannahr.

"Then why has he stopped writing?" Fingard asked. "Do you think something has happened to him?"

"Dak is pretty tough, and what I read about the Black Dragons in his letters, they'll look after him," said Duggard.

"I'm still concerned about their reputation," said Hannahr. "It's not a common secret that they're the worst of the worst."

"But they have a strong reputation in the Forsaken Realm, especially their captain," said Duggard. "He's one of few Magic Knights that bothers to help the people in the Forsaken Realm, and his squad does have the largest number of peasants in their ranks."

"Only a handful," said Hannahr.

"I do admit that their captain is a bit odd, but he wouldn't have asked Dak to join his squad if he didn't see anything in."

"I suppose," Hannahr sighed. "But doesn't Leyla know anything?"

"She doesn't write as frequently as Dak; she only writes home once a week," Duggard reminded her. "Dak, on the other hand, seems to write home every single day."

"Up until now, you mean," said Fingard, looking disappointed.

They then suddenly heard a roar and quickly looked up. Their eyes widened as they saw a dragon flying towards them, and someone was on its back.

"Is that dragon?" Hannahr gasped.

"Yeah," said Duggard, nodded. "And someone is riding on its back."

"But who?" said Fingard, and then his eyes widened. "You don't think it's…"

The villages exited their houses and watched as Hiccup landed in the middle of the village, riding on the back of Toothless. He began to dismount and made his way towards Duggard and the others.

"Is that Captain Hiccup?"

"Dak's Magic Knight Captain?"

"What's he doing here?"

"It's true he rides a Night Fury."

"You think this has something to do with Dak?"

"I hope it's not bad news."

Hiccup soon approached Duggard. "Are you Chief Duggard?"

"I am," Duggard nodded.

"I'm Hiccup Haddock, Captain of the Black Dragons," said Hiccup.

"Oh, we know who you are," said Duggard. "Dak told us about you in great detail in his letters."

"Which we haven't been receiving recently," said Fingard.

"Has something happened to Dak?" Hannahr asked.

"I'll tell you everything," said Hiccup. He noticed that the villages were starting to gather. "But is there anywhere we can talk somewhere more private?"

Within moments, Duggard took Hiccup into his house, and Hannahr accompanied him. The rest of the villages remained outside, including Fingard. They all hung around the house, trying to peep through the window and listen to their conversation.

Hannahr then handed Hiccup a cup of tea. "Sorry if it's not good quality; it's the best we've got."

"It's fine," Hiccup assured her.

"So you can tell us what happened to Dak?" Duggard asked. "His last letter told us that you were making your way to an Underwater Temple or something."

"We did under the orders of the Wizard King," said Hiccup. "I can't go through specific details, but we needed to retrieve something in the Underwater Temple before it fell into the hands of the Eye of the Midnight Sun."

"The terrorists that attacked the capital?" Hannahr gasped.

Hiccup nodded. "Unfortunately, they sent one of their strongest fighters, who practically tore through our squad. I was contained and could not offer any assistance to my squad. I was forced to watch, but they managed to pull themselves together and finally took him down, and Dak played a large part in that."

"Dak went up against someone that strong?" Duggard stared.

Hiccup nodded. "But not completely unscathed, his arms were infected by a powerful collapse, and even the best docked in the capital was unable to heal his arms. That's why you haven't received any letters from him; he is unable to grab hold of a pen, let alone a sword."

"You mean he can't longer use his arms?" Hannahr gasped, horrified.

"Maybe for the rest of his life," Hiccup nodded.

"So he's alive, but he is unable to wield his sword?" said Duggard.

"That's the long and short of it."

"Poor Dak, he must be devastated," said Hannahr. "He has no magic, and now he can't even use his weapon."

"On the contrary, he hasn't lost his optimism," said Hiccup. "Even in his sorry state, he refuses to give up, and that determination has motivated the rest of the squad. Before Dak joined up, the squad mostly did what they pleased, and I don't need to tell you what that led to, but thanks to Dak, they started reaching their true potential, the potential I saw when I recruited them."

"That's good and all, but what about Dak?" Duggard asked. "I mean, can he still be a Magic Knight?"

"I may be forced to ask him to stand down, but we're not quite there yet," said Hiccup. "The entire squad are out trying to find a cure for his arms."

"I thought you said that the best healer in the Clover Kingdom was unable to find a cure?" Duggard frowned. "How does your squad expect to find a way to cure Dak?"

"If you had asked me that a few days ago, I would have said they wouldn't have a chance," said Hiccup. "However, recently, I just saw a guy manage to grow back the whole missing arm."

Duggard and Hannahr stared at him.

"I know, I was quite shocked, but it's true. I can't say they'll be successful, but they are willing to try anything."

"Dak certainly seems to have made some amazing friends," said Duggard.

"I like to think that we're one big family in the Black Dragons, even though we get on our nerves sometimes. At least that's how I see us."

"Well, thank you for informing us about Dak's situation. We were growing quite concerned," said Duggard.

"I had a feeling, which is why I decided to become here in person," said Hiccup as he stood up.

Hiccup went outside the villages and quickly went about their business just as he opened the door, but Fingard remained.

"Captain Hiccup?" he said, looking up at him nervously.

Hiccup looked down at him. "What is it… Fingard is it?"

Fingard blinked. "How do you know my name?"

"Dak taught about everyone in his village," Hiccup chuckled. "Sometimes it can be annoying."

"Well, I just want to know is Dak…"

"Dak is perfectly fine is just incapable of writing letters at the moment, but I'll let your chief explain the details," said Hiccup.

"That's great," said Fingard. "Sir, is it possible for someone like me to join the Magic Knights?"

"Why would you ask me something like that?" Hiccup asked.

"It's just that I'm a peasant, and I don't have that much magic power," Fingard admitted.

"Look, Fingard, I'm not going to lie and tell you that it will be easy, but the things that matter most rarely are. Besides, if someone like Dak, who has no magic power, is able to join the Magic Knights, I don't see how you can't."

Fingard smiled. "Thank you, sir."

Toothless then approached Hiccup and nuzzled him.

"Okay, okay, I know it's time for us to go, Bud," Hiccup chuckled.

Fingard watched as Hiccup mounted Toothless and took off.

A few days later, Dak sent a mountain of letters and a lot of money. He explained what had happened to his arms and that his squad mates had managed to find a cure.

Now, in the present, everyone watched as Dak and Leyla protected everyone from the possessed Magic Knight.

"Every time I cut it down, it grows back," said Dak after he sliced through some more vines. "If we keep going like this, we'll never get anywhere."

"Chief!" a voice cried.

"Just hang in there!"

Dak turned and saw many people surrounding Duggard, Hannahr and Fingard among them. He then saw that Duggard had been infected by a large amount of poison.

'Poison?' Dak gasped. 'The Demon-Slayer sword can fix that just like you did before, right?'

He then quickly turned to Leyla. "Hey, Ley, can I leave it to you for now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Leyla as he blew away more poison and sliced through a vine. "Do what you have to do."

"He's all yours then, I've got to do something real quick!" he said.

Dak quickly dashed over towards Duggard. "Hold on!"

"Dak, please help," said a little girl. "He protected us and ended up getting hurt."

Dak bent down and tapped the sword guard of the Demon-Slayer sword against Duggard's head.

"Here goes," said Dak.

Everyone looked at Duggard intently, but nothing happened, and he was only getting worse.

"Why didn't it work?" Dak yelled, but he knew the reason. 'He's not under any spell. This is bad news. The magic has run its course, and the poison has spread through his body.'

Duggard was clearly in pain from the poison, and he looked at Dak. "Dak, I think this is the end."

"You can't give up so soon. Just stay with me!" Dak yelled.

"It's all right," Duggard smiled. "In the end, I got to see you and Leyla again, all grown up and strong. That is enough for me."

"Don't talk like that," Dak pleaded.

Duggard then placed a hand against the side of his face. "Our little Dak… I am so proud. Take care of them for me."

His hand then went limp.

"Chief!"

"No," Dak cried, remembering his happy times with Duggard.

Then, emerging from his grimoire was the curved sword that Licht had used against him.

'That sword… it's his,' said Dak, recognising it. 'I saw it back at the Eye of the Midnight Sun hideout. It must've slipped into my grimoire somehow. Maybe if I use it, I can…'

He then reached out and grasped the sword, and painful images flowed into his head the moment he did. He couldn't make any sense of them, and it took everything he had not to scream in anguish.