Charcoal and Toothless

by seafury

History does not repeat, but they whisper its lessons. Through triumphs and tragedies, they sang their symphony. In treacherous world of war and hate, two dragons braved the world. Through songs of history, they sang their own song. Perhaps it would end well this time. (Book/Franchise AU; Lycanwing Hiccup x Female Toothless)

26. Lycanwing - Summa Mensura (2)

Chapter Number: 26 / 32
Book Number: 1 (Lycanwing)

Summary:
History does not repeat, but they whisper its lessons. Through triumphs and tragedies, they sang their symphony. In treacherous world of war and hate, two dragons braved the world. Through songs of history, they sang their own song. Perhaps it would end well this time.

Major Pairing:
- Hiccup (Lycanwing Night Fury) x Toothless (Female Night Fury)

Notices:
- AU and OOC book and franchise characters.
- Contains some movie/show canon aspects.
- Book HTTYD aspects and characters.
- Female Toothless.

Warnings (each book may have different warnings):
- The warnings below may occur non-consensually (mind control).
- Mentions of depression, addiction and suicide.
- Possible character death and incapacitation.
- Mentions of sexual degeneracy.

"What is this?" - Normal Speech
'What is this?' - Thought
"What is this?" - Telepathy / Reading / Flashback (Depends on context)
"What is this?" - Dragonese (Dragon speaking)
"What is this?" - Voiceover

---

Lycanwing - Summa Mensura (2)

---

After the bunker was opened, Vikings realised something historic was about to happen.

It did not mean that they were afraid. The village had come through countless dragon raids and some deviant incursion. Standing their ground was part of their identity; it was an occupational hazard.

Most Vikings were not concerned, either. Gobber and Hiccup made sure they were equipped to fight what was to come. They were able to forge semi-draconic weapons using wyrmsteel metal.

While nowhere as strong as actual draconic weapons, it was vast improvement compared to regular ones. They did not need dragon moults to make them either, and the crystals required were cheap. This made their production significantly cheaper.

As such, what they feel was tension.

It was the calm before the storm.

That was not to say everyone stayed put. Most doubled their training effort to increase their chance of survival. They had been briefed about the situation; they were preparing for the inevitable confrontation at Helheim's Gate.

However, Astrid was an exception.

After everything that happened yesterday, the petite girl had been following Hiccup since morning. She wanted to get answers directly from the boy himself.

There was also the fact that she wanted to know if he knew anything about taming dragons.

However, it was hard to track down the boy. Hiccup seemed to have tendency to know when someone was following him. Astrid had to chase him several times to avoid missing him. At some point, she lost track of him and had to sweep the area.

While she did not know where he went, she knew he was not that far.

Which was why she was sneaking into a cove.

Hiccup was at the open cave within the cove. Amongst the alchemy things, which were largely empty and clean, there were books around the place. The boy had been busy sorting out some of his ancestor's books.

Specifically, the ones with empty pages. Apparently, there were plenty of similar books in different places of the bunker. There were over five million books in there, half of which looked draconic. Since the Vikings had no use for mostly empty books, Hiccup was allowed to keep them.

Of course, the sheer amount meant Hiccup kept them in a Storage Crystal in his mana. It took a one-eighth of his mana pool, which was hefty for just empty books.

Hiccup knew the books were originally not empty. Some of them had signs of ink 'decay', meaning the ink they used might have dissolved somehow. It was unknown what kind of ink they used, but was definitely not a normal one.

Regardless, the boy wanted to try and restore the books.

That was why Hiccup had been writing all day. The boy had been copying what remained to different papers. He used one with just few pages intact, which was why he was doing this manually.

However, he wondered why the 'Mana: Principles, Techniques and Tools' book and some others were fine. Some of the books were draconic, albeit cheaper looking compared to that. It was unknown why they were like this.

Funny enough, the seventh volume of 'Mana: Principles, Techniques and Tools' book was filled with all sorts of symbols, circles and lines. Hiccup thought someone had conned him, until he realised the content was actually coded.

Until he figured out how to decode the seventh volume book, the content remained unknown. It was nothing but an indestructible, glorified paperweight until it was readable.

But that was not his concern at the moment.

"Hiccup!"

"Gah!" Hiccup yelped as he turned around. He was holding scrolls on his hands. Astrid Hofferson was standing at the open cave entrance, holding an axe. "Astrid?! What are you doing here?!"

"I want to know what's going on." Astrid spoke accusingly. "No one just tried to kill the chief and get away with it. Especially you! Start talking!"

"Er- uh- wuh?" The boy was utterly confused. He did not know what to say. Astrid was not meant to be here!

"Are you conspiring with someone?" The petite girl accused.

"Wa- conspiring?"

"It better not involve this!" Astrid grabbed the scroll from his hand. She threw them away, before gesturing at the giant crate full of books, papers and scrolls. "And this!"

"This is my private study area!" Hiccup was angry. He did not like anyone going through his things, especially her. "You're not even supposed to be here!"

Suddenly, Astrid punched his groin, causing all sorts of pain. Hiccup stumbled down, not expecting that from her. He crashed onto the ground. "Ow!" The boy clutched his below. "Why would you DO that?!"

"That's for keeping secrets." Astrid snarled, before hitting his stomach with her axe handle. "And that's for everything else!"

"Ow..." Hiccup groaned. He did not expect her to punch him under his belt. "You're the one that kept stealing things from me!"

"You're the one that doesn't want to share with anyone!" The petite girl shouted. "You're the heir of Berk. You should be more of this instead of being useless!"

Suddenly, someone grabbed her shoulder. Astrid turned around just enough to see an acidic-green-eyed girl punched her in the face.

Wham!

The petite girl was flung out from the open cave, before landing at the centre of the cove. Her axe clattered not far from her. Toothless was in her human form; she had been reading books when Astrid entered the place. The large girl walked out from the open cave.

"You must be Astrid." Toothless remarked, smirking at the downed petite girl. She cracked her knuckles as she approached. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Astrid rushed to get up and reached for her axe. The large girl moved her hand in pulling motion, and the petite girl was flung backward onto her. Toothless grabbed her collar, smashed her down, and punched her back.

"AAH!" The petite girl screamed. She felt something snapped on her bone. Astrid turned around to kick the offender, only for Toothless to grab her leg, swung her upward, and smashed her at the opposite side of the grass. Astrid could feel her insides crack as blood build up in her throat.

"So, this is the mighty Astrid that everyone talked about." Toothless boasted, before grabbing her neck. She lifted her up without much effort, choking her. "The winner of the dragon ring... you don't stand a chance against a Monstrous Nightmare."

Astrid reached for her dagger, trying to stab the arms. The large girl grabbed her wrist, before squeezing them, forcing her to drop the knife. The petite girl could not scream as Toothless pulled her close. "Want to see the power difference?"

Toothless' clothes burned away in purple flame, leaving her wearing pants and undergarments covering her chest. The large girl threw Astrid down, letting her see the massive, sculpted body in all her glory. Toothless enjoyed seeing fear in her eyes. It felt great to punish a bully herself.

Hiccup had just come out from the open cave. "Toothless, don't hurt her too much."

The large girl glanced at him. "Don't hurt her too much?" She was incredulous. "I would've chopped her arms for a decade of bullying!"

Astrid took this as an opportunity. She got up, stumbled, and tried to run. The injured girl went for her axe. She did not get far when something went through her right arm. The petite girl collapsed, before realising that her right arm was gone from her shoulder. "AAAAAAHH!"

Toothless crossed her arms, smirking. She had just used ironwire spell to cut her arm. "Now I'm satisfied."

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Astrid screamed at her now stump right arm. Blood splattered everywhere as she trashed from the pain. "AAAAAHH!"

"Shite." Hiccup cursed as he rushed to the wounded girl. Astrid had lost her consciousness when the boy arrived there. He rushed to close the wound with his mana. His hands shimmered blue, and the open wound began to burn. It cauterised the wound and stopped the bleeding.

When that was done, Hiccup glared at his mate. "Toothless, we need her intact. Do you have to cut her arm?"

"I was going to stop when you told me to stop." Toothless argued, approaching the boy. She grabbed the arm she severed from the ground. "But she went for the axe."

"Okay, fair." The boy admitted. "But you could've knock her out instead."

"Consider them my take on bullying." The mother dragon turned human dropped the arm next to the unconscious girl. "She'll be fine with one arm. Unless you want to do something to her."

"No, no, she can't lose her arm." Hiccup was frustrated. "Not here. Anywhere but here. The Vikings would blame me for this."

The boy did not expect Astrid to follow him there. Toothless had no-mercy policy when it came to harassment and bullying. While that was fair in Hidden World, such thing was not widely accepted by the Vikings. At least those at Hairy Hooligan tribe.

There was also the fact that Astrid was the winner of the dragon ring. If she had gone missing, Vikings would come looking for her. As much as Hiccup despised her, he needed Astrid alive. He did not want to have any possibility of Stoick actually exiling them, or worse.

Checking the condition, Hiccup noted that Toothless had cut Astrid's arm from the shoulder. The ironwire had cauterised the severed arm, which explained why there was not as much blood.

Of course, he had to figure out how to explain that to the Vikings.

'I wish I know how to alter memories.' Hiccup mentally moaned. 'I could've set something up to cover this up, but that's not an option.'

That gave him a different idea, however. There was something at the second volume dragon book he could try. Hiccup sighed once more. The boy looked back at his mate. "Get me a Nature Shard."

---

"Oh..."

Astrid slowly woke up from her sleep. Her mind was hazy from what happened before. She clutched her head with her right hand. "Where..."

"Careful now."

The petite girl squinted her eyes. She was laying on the grass near the rocks. Hiccup was sitting next to her, holding a dragon scaled book. He seemed rather concerned about something. "Don't move your arm too much yet. Your body is still adjusting."

"What..." Astrid then remembered what happened. She checked her right arm and see them intact. Checking her shoulder, there was a bit of blue scales where the part was ripped off. When she sat up, she did not feel any pain on her body. "How... how did you..."

Hiccup closed the book. "Yes, I reattached them. The scales will come off on its own." He stood from the ground. "You got your arm back. You're welcome."

Astrid then heard another voice. "We should've dumped her at the village."

The petite girl leaned to see. The large girl was standing there, leaning against the wall. She had worn her clothes back. Toothless continued speaking. "Maybe drop her at height." She smirked as she held Astrid's axe. "That'd make for a good show."

Astrid simply glared at her. Hiccup exhaled his breath. "Astrid, this is Toothless." He began introducing them. "Toothless, this is Astrid."

The petite girl was scared and unsure. "Who is she?"

"She's my-" Hiccup barely said much when Toothless pulled him into a kiss. The large girl pushed him to the wall, before continuing to snog the life out of her mate. The boy simply closed his eyes and enjoyed the affection. Toothless was showing who owned the boy.

Astrid was too shocked to say anything. She slowly stood from the ground, carefully putting some distance between them. When the large girl finally let him go, she looked at the petite girl. There was possessiveness in her eyes. "He is my husband."

Astrid was disgusted. That seemed to be Hiccup's secret. "Okay, I won't say anything." She finally decided, before noticing something. "Can I have my axe back?"

Toothless simply walked to the clearing. She dropped the axe, before her body began to shimmer.

Within a second, the large girl had turned into a rather large Night Fury. After she finished, the mother dragon placed one of her paws on top of the axe. She dared the petite girl to come and pick them up.

Astrid was both shocked and disgusted this time. She turned around and took off running, heading out from the cove. The petite girl was heading back to the village.

Hiccup simply stared as she left the place. Nobody knew Toothless was a dragoness yet. Stoick insisted in keeping her true form a secret. It was going so well until she decided to do that.

Feeling frustrated, the boy threw his hands up. "Da-da-da! We're dead!"

"We'll be fine." Toothless grunted, before heading to the open cave.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" He stopped her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going back to read."

Hiccup pocketed the book. He mounted onto her back. "The last thing we need is everyone knowing what you really are." He explained as he adjusted himself. "You should've not transformed. She was going to leave. Now she knows you're a dragon. We have to fix this!"

"Krr..." Toothless growled, before taking off into the sky.

---

Astrid was running down through the forest. The village was far from the cove. She was unarmed and there was a dragon. She could not believe that Hiccup had a dragon. Was that why he tried to kill his own father?

Suddenly, something swooped in and lifted her off the ground. "AAAAH!" The petite girl screamed as she went off into the sky. "Oh, great Odin's ghost! Oh, this is it!"

She was dropped right on top of a tall pine tree. The girl looked up to see Toothless the Night Fury. Hiccup was sitting on her back. "Hiccup, get me down from here!"

"You have to give me a chance to explain." Hiccup pleaded as he reached his hand towards her.

"I am not listening to ANYTHING you have to say!" Astrid screamed.

"Then I won't speak." Hiccup calmly responded. "Just let me show you. Please, Astrid."

The girl stared at him for some time. She wondered if there was more into this situation. Astrid slowly grabbed his hand. Hiccup pulled her onto Toothless' back. "Now, get me down."

"Toothless, down. Gently." Hiccup spoke to her. Toothless rolled her eyes as she slowly spread her wings. The boy looked back. "See? Nothing to be afraid of."

"Oh, I'm not going down." Toothless nonchalantly spoke. "The only way is UP!"

The dragoness took off high into the sky. Astrid nearly slipped off her back. The petite girl instantly held onto the boy in front of her. "AAAAAAAH!"

"WHOA!" Hiccup shouted as Toothless went higher. "TOOTHLESS! What is wrong with you?!"

The dragoness began flying erratically. "Getting her off me!" She snarled as she flew onto a loop.

"No! Bad dragon!" Hiccup scolded her, which made her snort. "She's not usually like this."

"I'm trying to help and I'm the bad dragon?" Toothless questioned him, before flying higher into the sky. "Maybe this will change your mind!"

"AAAAAAAH!" Astrid screamed, holding onto the boy in front of her.

"Toothless, what are you doing?!" Hiccup hissed as he leaned down to the black dragon. "You already punished her. We need her to like us."

"We don't need her to like us!" The dragoness retorted, before tilting her tailfins, spinning them in place.

"And now we're spinning." Hiccup spoke with sarcastic voice. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."

"OKAY! I'M SORRY!" Astrid begged behind him. "I'M SORRY! Just get me off this thing!"

Toothless suddenly went calm. She slowed down and slowly glide above the clouds. Hiccup noticed what Astrid had said that made her stop. He reached for their circuit connection, before thinking. "Really? That's all you wanted to hear?"

"That won't make up a decade of tormenting you." Toothless thought back, slowly flying around the place. "But it's a start."

They flew around for some time. Toothless went around the clouds and enjoyed the moment. Astrid slowly reached for them. "Wow..." She breathed out, amazed by the experience. The girl pulled her arms back. "Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool."

Hiccup and Toothless stayed silent. Astrid continued speaking. "It's... amazing." She whispered, staring up into the sky. "She's amazing."

Suddenly, she came to realization. "Oh, gods. Hiccup." She moaned in frustration. "What have you done to me?"

Hiccup was confused. "I didn't do anything."

"Hiccup, my final exam is tomorrow." Astrid pleaded. "You know I'm going to have to kill a dragon."

"You're the one that followed me into the cove." The boy muttered.

"Is this why you became a dragon?" The girl questioned. "Why you went missing all this time?"

"Kind of. We have our own reasons." Hiccup admitted. "We thought about leaving Berk at some point."

"What? No!" Astrid exclaimed, outraged by that implication. "Hiccup, you can't."

"Why not?" The boy questioned. He was surprised to hear her rejection. "Nobody wants me there. All I get is just endless torment with you stealing my things, taking credits whenever I did something right, and just... insist on hurting me!"

Astrid fell silent. Hiccup continued speaking. "Don't think I forget what you did two years ago." He accused the girl. "You and the others stole my gifts that was meant for the chief and heir."

"I didn't do that."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't!" The girl exclaimed.

"Astrid, I was there. You were there." Hiccup spoke with deadpan expression. Did she think he was stupid?

"Well, you never shared anything with us." Astrid reasoned. She crossed her arms. "You should've, I don't know, make more so we can have some of them."

"Gaslighting." Toothless suddenly thought into his mind. "Be careful. It's a manipulation tactic."

Hiccup did not respond but heeded her warning. He focused on the girl sitting behind her. "All I want is just for you, Snotlout and others to leave me alone." He spoke to her. "Now, for several other reasons, I have to leave."

"What are the other reasons?" Astrid challenged. "You could've stayed and tell us about all you know. Like how you tamed your dragon."

Toothless snorted. "Does she think you tamed me?" She sounded incredulous.

"Don't start. I can already hear the sex joke."

"Touché." The dragoness grumbled.

Hiccup took a deep breath. He began explaining things to her. "What I am about to tell you should never be told to anyone else."

Astrid leaned closer. She wanted to hear more of this. The boy continued speaking. "The other reason why we want to leave is because of a large threat." He explained. "There's something behind Helheim's Gate. A massive dragon."

"A massive dragon?"

"It was as big as the Isle of Berk itself." Hiccup nodded. "It's an ancient Night Fury. They said they lived for over 700 years."

"700 years..." The petite girl breathed out, amazed. "It must be incredibly strong."

"Yes. That's why I have to leave Berk." The boy explained further. "I need to hunt them. There's a chance I won't make it out alive."

"At least tell me how you tamed the dragon." Astrid shrugged her shoulder. "You know, before you leave."

Hiccup glanced back at her. He could sense greed through her eyes. She wanted to take the credit of taming a dragon. 'Let's see if she would actually follow the instruction.'

"Everything we know about dragons are wrong." The boy explained to him. "You can be friends with them. One way to do this is showing them that you can be trusted."

"... how would someone do that?"

"Hold your palm forward and wait for the dragon to touch you." Hiccup gave her the instruction. "Don't force them. Don't carry any weapon, not even hidden. Show them that you really trust them, and they will trust you. The most important part is not to force them. Be patient."

"... that sounds easy enough." Astrid shrugged.

"Wait, Charcoal, that's not how you tame a dragon." Toothless pointed out. "That's how you make friend with one."

"I know. I wanted to see if she would actually do it." Hiccup admitted. "If she got herself hurt, that's on her."

The dragoness did not respond. She suddenly swerved to another direction. The boy was surprised. "Toothless, what is it?"

Suddenly, they appeared right in the middle of a dragon flock. Hiccup noticed that they were carrying food. The boy recognised them. Those were Furious' dragons. "Uh... Toothless?" Hiccup nervously thought into her mind. "What are you doing?"

There was no response. Hiccup realised that they were heading through the Helheim's Gate. Toothless began dodging rock obstacles as she manoeuvred around the fog. The boy hissed to the passenger behind him. "Get down."

Astrid was nervous. "What's going on?"

They went through Helheim's Gate and into the Dragon Island. Toothless entered through the volcano and landed at the rock balcony.

There was no dragon around them. Hiccup and Astrid watched as the dragons from before swooped in and dumped the food into the lava volcano below. The boy was confused. "What are they doing?"

"Maybe they're hauling their kill?" Astrid nervously asked.

The boy remained silent. He was deep in thought. The petite girl continued watching. "... they're not eating any of it." She realised.

"Toothless?" Hiccup called out as he entered her mind through their circuit connection. "Toothless, we need to get out of here."

The boy looked down. Her pupils were fully slitted. It meant that she was under mind control. Through circuit bond, Hiccup moved into her mind. Toothless' consciousness was off. He found Furious' presence there. "Furious!"

Furious did not respond. Hiccup focused his mind to kick him out, but the greater alpha dragon was too strong. While that was happening, Toothless jumped down into the volcano. She glid down at the balcony and landed in front of Furious' lair.

It was a massive, pitch-black cave entrance. Hiccup felt dread as he knew that Furious would be there to meet them. He felt Furious leaving her mind. Toothless regained her senses and consciousness. She shook her head, trying to make sense what just happened. "Wha..."

They heard something wet and fleshy moving in the darkness. Black tendrils slowly crawled out from the hole, before stopping just at the end of it. The mother dragon took a step back as she realised what just happened.

Her mind had been controlled.

Then, a dragon walked out from the darkness. Furious the Night Fury looked at the newcomers in front of his lair. They could see disappointment in his expression. The greater alpha dragon stared at Hiccup, who was terrified to see him.

Then, Furious began to speak in Norse. "I should've known." He sounded disappointed. "... I'm sorry. I hope you understand."

In a quarter of a second, Hiccup suddenly felt pain in his head. It disappeared as it come. Furious had pushed a false memory into his mind. "What-"

Suddenly, the tendrils suddenly shot forward to them. However, Toothless was faster. She leaped and flew out from the nest as fast as possible. The mother dragon kept flying up, until she reached the main chamber.

While flying out from the place, dragons around the balcony shot fires towards them. Toothless gracefully dodged the flames. She kept flying upward through the chamber, before finally reaching the open sky above.

Toothless kept flying; their lives depended on it. She even boosted her speed with jet pulse.

Thankfully, Furious' dragons did not fly to follow them. It meant that they were safe for now. They reached Helheim's Gate, before finally flying out from the fog, heading back to the Isle of Berk.

---

"No, it totally makes sense!"

Toothless landed at the cove. She was exhausted for flying consistently at her peak. The dragoness looked utterly terrified. Astrid jumped off from the dragoness. She continued speaking. "It's like a giant beehive. They're workers, and that's their queen. It controls them."

"That's..." Hiccup did not bother correcting her. He was mentally exhausted. He was rubbing his temple as he processed what Furious just did.

It was obvious in his mind that Furious had put a fake memory. However, given the content, that seemed to be intentional. The memory was just some sort of mental text. Furious was trying to communicate with him.

Astrid motioned to leave the cove. "We need to tell everyone. Let's find your dad."

That alarmed him. "Wait, Astrid!" Hiccup called out, stopping her. "No, no! Don't tell everyone! Not yet."

That made Astrid angry. "Why?!" She demanded. "Hiccup, we just discovered the dragons' nest. The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here!"

"Technically, our tribe is far older than that." Hiccup commented as he moved down from Toothless' back. "Astrid, we're not ready! This is much more complicated than you think!"

"And you want to keep it a secret?! Are you serious?!" Astrid exclaimed, angry at the boy. Suddenly, she paused, as if realising something. "You just want all the glory for yourself, didn't you?"

That confused Hiccup. "What?"

"Oh, I see how it is." Astrid crossed her arm. "You just want to deal with it yourself! You want to kill the dragon yourself, so you get all the- the glory and prestige when you killed that dragon. You just want everyone to praise you."

"Astrid, that's not what I'm saying!"

"Then tell the others about this!" The petite girl shouted. She scratched her head. "Gods. Hiccup, this is your chance! This is our chance! You'll get famous if you kill it! We'll stand behind you and help you! You don't have to run away if you kill it!"

"Astrid, you don't understand." Hiccup was frustrated. He gestured to everything around him. "All this- this is not about pride, or glory, or prestige. This is about survival! There's a lot of other important things involving the village and the dragon nest!"

"What's more important than the glory of killing that queen dragon?" Astrid crossed her arms.

Hiccup simply stared at her. The middle part of that phrase caught him off guard. "Glory?" He asked. "You think all this is for glory?"

"Of course! That's what Vikings are all about." Astrid patiently explained. "You wouldn't be Hiccup the Useless. It would change your life! You'll have everyone on your back. Isn't that what you want?"

It was then Hiccup realised how the girl thinks. Astrid was not a bully for the sake of seeing others suffer. She was a bully that took pleasure on others praising and validating her action.

She was a narcissist from the start.

The petite girl continued speaking, looking around the place. "You teach us how to tame dragons, and then we use them to kill that monster in the nest." She suggested. "What do you think?"

"... is that why you steal from me?" Hiccup asked, finally realising the significance of that statement. "Pride? Glory? Prestige?"

"Aren't you?" Astrid challenged.

Hiccup wanted to snap at her. "I spent all my life being thrown around like a yak and you're telling me it's all about glory?!" He snarled at her. "Astrid, you're crazy!"

"You're the one making those crazy contraptions." The petite girl accused him. "You're the crazy one!"

"I did it because I want to be noticed." Hiccup angrily admitted. "You never have my problem because you have friends and a complete family. I don't have anyone but my own father!"

"So? You don't have anything to lose."

"And why do you think that is?!" The boy finally snapped. "You spent the last 12 years to make sure I never have any friend. You turned the only people in my age group against me. You never even apologised!"

"Why should I apologise?" Astrid was outraged to hear that. "We've been fighting our lives since we were 8. It was your fault for being so different than everyone!"

Hiccup reminded himself that he still need the village. Astrid must live if he was to stay. "You are a coward to fight someone you know you can't fight back." He approached and glared down at her. "You and your lackeys are the biggest cowards I've ever seen so far."

"You're the coward that keeps running away from us." The petite girl seemed to smirk. "You could've fight back, but you didn't. You're always a weak, cowardly pushover."

The brawny boy finally snapped. He grabbed her throat with his right hand, and lifted her up to his eye level. Astrid was much shorter, meaning she was lifted about two feet off the ground.

Astrid was gasping for air. She grasped his hand to let go, but his grip was too strong. Hiccup slowly squeezed her throat. This made her desperate for release. She tried kicking, clawing and pushing, to no avail.

"Hiccup!"

Stoick and Gobber had entered the place. They were shocked to see Hiccup choking Astrid like that. The chief quickly moved to pull her away. "Let her go!"

Hiccup grabbed her lower neck with his other hand. "No." He hissed, before pulling her head from the throat. "I'm going to kill her."

Seeing no other choice, the chief tackled the large boy to the ground. Astrid slipped away from them. She coughed as she crawled away from the boy. After regaining some strength, the girl ran off to the cove exit.

Gobber saw this and cursed under his breath. "Thor's left balls." He ran to find the girl before she reached the village.

While that was happening, Hiccup had turned to fight his human father. The brawny boy threw powerful punches against the chief. Stoick put his arms together to block the strikes. Each blow shook the air around them. Hiccup was not holding back.

Stoick grunted as he endured the impact. He slid his leg to trip the boy, but Hiccup was faster. He used his leg momentum to trip the man. The chief fell to the ground. The boy took advantage and tried to pin him down.

At some point, Amber the Light Fury landed at the cove. There were six Night Fury hatchlings on her back. "I'm back." She called, before noticing everything about them. "What's going on?"

The father and son were wrestling on the ground. Toothless was having a headache; she was trying to clear her mind. The Light Fury focused on her best friend. "Toothless, are you okay?"

"Headache." The mother dragon grunted. "Furious. Mind control."

The Light Fury almost cursed. She quickly reached for the mother dragon, before pushing her to rest. "Lay down." She ordered. "I will check your mind."

Stoick and Hiccup were rolling on the ground. They pushed their strength to overpower the other. Eventually, the boy came out victorious. He stopped the roll and pushed his father's arms open.

Blue ironwire sprung from the ground, wrapped itself around the man, and pulled. Stoick grunted as his arms were forced wide open. He was eventually pinned in supine position. Hiccup was sitting above him.

The father and son finally stared at each other. Stoick struggled against the wires, while Hiccup looked disappointed. The boy had finally calmed down. "Ever since I was little, whenever I come crying to you, you told me to man up and deal with it."

Stoick finally stopped struggling. He stared at the boy above him. Hiccup continued speaking. "But when I try to deal with it, you come to stop me from doing it."

"You can't kill anyone in this island." The father finally spoke up. "It's the law of the village."

"It may be the law, but it's not the justice I deserve." Hiccup moved away from him. He stood from the ground, before ending the spell. "Her group tried to sabotage my draconic cannon. You saw how powerful it is against deviants. Had they succeed, you wouldn't be here."

"It was a deviant incursion." Stoick got up from the ground as well. "They said they were there for weapons."

Hiccup shook his head. "It doesn't matter now." He decided, before telling what happened. "Furious took control of Toothless and brought us to his lair. He put something in my mind before letting us go."

The chief was catching his breath. "What did he do?"

The boy thought of the fake memory. "He apologised that things had come to this." He explained. "He took responsibility of what I did; two weeks ago, he accidentally showed me a memory that led me to make that decision to try and kill you."

Stoick took a deep breath, before finally calmed down. "Was did he say?"

"He gave me a choice. You or him." The boy answered. "If I return to him, he promised not to erase my memory. He promised to let me and my family fly out from the region."

Stoick raised his brows. "You believed him?"

"What do you think?" Hiccup sounded sarcastic, before turning to move to the two dragoness.

The chief moved to stop him, but he faltered when he remembered what Hiccup said. Deciding it was not worth the trouble, the man turned around and left the cove.

He had a war to plan.

The boy went to check on Toothless. The mother dragon was laying on the ground, with the hatchlings curled up under her wings. Amber was also there, tending to her needs. Toothless looked in pain.

The boy moved to pat her head. "Hey..." He whispered. "How do you feel?"

"Headache." Toothless mumbled, staring up at him. "I don't know how it happened. It was so sudden, I thought... I thought I passed out."

Amber was the one to answer. "You watched Charcoal's memories. You saw Furious' true form." The white dragon explained. "That's how he entered your mind."

"He breached my mind and put a fake memory into me." Hiccup described his situation. "I don't feel as affected as her."

"It's probably not as severe for you." The Light Fury responded. "We need to cleanse every mind that saw them. Who else was there?"

"There was Astrid Hofferson." Hiccup answered. "But she's a human."

The Light Fury was incredulous. "I don't know where to start diagnosing humans!" She exclaimed. "What was she doing there?"

"I don't know." The boy was frustrated. "She just followed me."

"No. Leave her alone." Toothless glared at her mate. "That's her problem to deal with."

"Toothless-"

"Charcoal. No." The mother dragon interrupted. She carefully moved and sat on her hindlegs. "Amber got paid because we're veterans. She won't get paid for treating Astrid, because that human is a nobody. I'm not spending any crystals, especially for her."

Hiccup did not want to pay for anything either, but there was a risk of Furious spying through her mind. He looked at Amber. "What's the risk of leaving her untreated?"

"I don't know. I've never treated humans before." Amber shrugged her wings. She looked apologetic. "They are known to be highly resilient against mind affecting techniques. Seeing parts of his true form is probably okay for her."

"... she's probably fine then."

"Probably. But like Toothless said, I'm not getting paid treating a human." The Light Fury gave her explanation. "Why don't you turn back into dragon so I can treat you?"

Hiccup exhaled his breath. He hoped their decision to ignore them did not backfire. "Alright. Give me a minute."

---

Stoick was heading back to the village when he found Gobber and Astrid walking the other way. It was in the middle of a forest path. "What is it?"

"She wanted to tell ye about the dragon behind the Helheim's Gate." Gobber explained. "She also saw Toothless as a dragon."

"We're still getting ready to fight the dragon behind Helheim's Gate. The village knew what they need to know." The chief responded. He looked at the girl, before speaking. "Don't tell anyone about this. Hiccup's business is his and his alone."

Astrid wanted to argue. "But-"

"That is an order." Stoick hardened his expression.

The petite girl gaped for a bit. Finally, she slumped her shoulders in defeat, before turning around to leave the place. The two Vikings watched as she walked down the forest path.

After she was far enough, Stoick turned to face his best friend. "Furious brought him there to send a message." He began. "He wants Hiccup to choose."

Gobber could guess that the options were. "He's not going to pick him, Stoick."

"We don't know what he'll do." The chief admitted, before slowly walked down the forest path. The blacksmith moved to follow. "Hiccup lived half his life as a dragon. We barely knew the whole story."

"Eh..." The blacksmith shrugged. "Given what they're planning, I reckon they don't like him very much. Ye don't just leave yer father when things went bad."

Stoick mulled that sentence. He was still concerned about what Hiccup would do. The choice was the true test to see if he was a good father.

Stoick knew he was not a very good one.

However, something Hiccup said before made him pause. He said that, initially, he wanted to stay and protect him until Northern Alliance had been eradicated. Given that they seemed to be desperate, it was possible that their days were numbered.

He realised Hiccup never had intention to stay for long.

Gobber noticed his best friend stopping. He stopped and turned around. "Stoick, ye okay?"

"He's not planning to choose." Stoick realised, staring at the blacksmith. "He doesn't like either of us, but he still care."

The blacksmith raised his brows. "Eh?"

The chief hardened his expression. There was that feeling of guilt in his heart; his best was not enough for his son. Despite doing everything he could, he had no idea how to mend the relationship.

"I'm off to bring Alex back." Stoick decided, before continuing his walk. "He'll know how to deal with all this."

Gobber stared as his best friend walked away. Something at the cove had emotionally shook him. Feeling sympathy, the blacksmith followed in silence.

---

One of the great things about living in Barbaric Archipelago was how fast Vikings could build a house. Within two weeks after deviant incursion, the village had been cleaned up, and most structures were already rebuilt.

The skills were there because dragon attack tend to burn down buildings. Since it often winters for nine months and hails the other three, Vikings had to build their houses to avoid freezing to death. Everyone had to work together if they were to survive.

That was not to say Vikings avoid innovation in constructions. In fact, building new houses allowed them to make new arrangements for their interior. The latest housing trend at Berk was wooden tile patterns. The square bracket pattern was the most popular one this season.

The largest reconstruction was the smeltery. Since there was a high demand for iron goods, such as cannon, they tried something different. Instead of the usual wooden forge workshop, they opted to make a large smeltery facing the plaza.

The new smeltery was made of concrete reinforced with iron frame. It was three-floor high and about quarter-acre in size. The flat dome rooftop had many exhausts on the side, implying large furnaces burning inside.

There was a large stone double doors at the front, which could fit a longship without its sail. The left and right side had doors, in case the large one was fully occupied. Additionally, there were some stone doors at the back as well.

It was one of the largest structure in the village.

Of course, the construction was not easy. They had to import plenty of things from the mainland. The cement recipe was imported from England; machinery ideas from France and German states; and many others from different parts of Europe.

The only thing Berkians innovate was the iron frame to reinforce the concrete. It was intended to prevent dragons from collapsing the roofs and walls when crashing onto them. That was the main threat of the building, since concretes were already fire resistant.

Given the complexity, it was a miracle that the smeltery was finished within a week.

Since Gobber was just one man, considering the size of the smeltery, he had to bring some Vikings to help. They had to learn how to use the smeltery. The new machines definitely helped in easing all sorts of process. The blacksmith just had to be the foreman to coordinate them.

However, constructing the smeltery was definitely worth the effort. It allowed them to use more effective methods of steelmaking. They could pump out steel products, such as nails and cannons, at higher quantity and quality than before.

That was the sight Toothless and Hiccup saw when they arrive at the smeltery.

The two dragons in human form were standing in front of the large stone doors. There were Vikings busy moving cannons and steel frames out from the smeltery. They were heading to the docks, where they would be assembled with wood to create new warships.

After the doorway was clear enough, Hiccup and Toothless moved to enter the building.

The main room of the smeltery was spacious. At the far corner was a large concrete foundry smelter, which was connected to a large casting basin next to it. The smelter had stairs and balconies, allowing access to the molten iron inside.

Other than that, there were all sorts of things around the place. From anvils and grinders to small smelters and casts; there was no shortage of equipment. There were some new equipment, such as pedal lathe and drill.

The smeltery had other sections divided by stone were two large double doors at the left and right side from the main room. They were both open; Vikings were moving things in an out through them. Hiccup led the dragoness in human form to the left doors.

It was the dragonsmith section.

Since they were not making actual draconic weapons there, most of the equipment was similar to the other room. There were smelters, casts, anvils and some others, such as pedal drill. There was a large stack of wyrmsteel ingot around the corner.

What set the room apart was the large molten metal reservoir at the centre of the room. It was where they melt broken equipment from the bunker. It took a long time for them to melt, because its melting point was much higher than iron.

They had to use draconic buckets to scoop them out.

There were wooden doors leading somewhere, as well as a stone double door leading outside. The stone doors were open, but barely any Vikings were around. Almost everyone was busy building warships at the dock.

Another notable thing in the room was a small pile of green crystals in a wooden cart at the corner. Those were Nature Shards; they were used to make semi-draconic equipment. Without them, the equipment would be nothing more than its lighter counterpart.

"Morning, Hiccup."

The boy looked at the entrance double door. Gobber the Belch was standing there, observing Vikings moving crate out from the place. "Good morning, Gobber."

"I moved yer cannon to your room." The blacksmith informed, gesturing at a wooden double door. "I saw some folks want'd to play with 'em. I reckon it's safer there than here."

Hiccup thought that must be Snotlout and his lackeys. "Thanks, Gobber."

Gobber waved him off, before focusing back on the crates needed to be moved. The two dragons in human form moved to enter the next room. They closed the door behind them.

Hiccup's room was a large place. It was where his dragonsmithing equipment was stored. There were all sorts of things, including a strange-looking furnace and other draconic contraptions.

Notably, there was a small library corner at the far end. There were shelves filled with all sorts of books; chairs and large table where Hiccup could do his work. It was currently messy with drawing papers.

The certain draconic cannon was there. Hiccup noted that it was mounted on a wooden cart, which was typical for catapults. It must be how Gobber moved them with the Vikings. "At least they didn't tamper with it."

Toothless was looking around the place. "From your memory, I thought your place would be smaller." She commented. "This place doesn't even have a window."

"I'm not the one who made this place." Hiccup remarked. Checking the cannon, he grabbed the lever and pulled them back, opening the breech. It was empty. "Gobber told me it's where they decided to keep my stuff, in case I actually died."

"They made a whole room just for you?" The mother dragon in human form was surprised.

"They made a whole room for a dragonsmith." The boy emphasised. "That's me, for now. If I ever pass my knowledge to anyone else, this is the room they'll inherit."

"Oh." Toothless was disappointed. She moved to check the draconic cannon. "Is this the cannon you used to kill that deviant?"

"Yup. This is the one." Hiccup nodded as he pat the barrel. "It destroyed everything 50 meters around it too."

The girl was curious. She could sense something within. "This cannon feels alive." Toothless muttered. She pressed her palm on the breech and cast Identify. Her eyes widened when it pinged back. "It is alive. It has its own mana circuit."

"All draconic weapons have mana circuit." The boy pointed out.

"But not like these." Toothless looked deep in thought. "I think it's sentient in some way."

"Well... my sword is sentient." Hiccup shrugged. "I assume that's normal for draconic equipment."

The girl was doubtful. "I guess." She decided, before turning to face her mate. "What are you going to do next?"

"I'm thinking about redesigning the cannon to fire something else." The boy explained the plan. "I couldn't make a projectile that won't shatter inside the barrel. After the deviant incursion, I realised the cannon is powerful enough to simulate dragon fire."

"What kind of dragon fire?"

"I'm thinking about our plasma blast." Hiccup elaborated. "The point of Alatreon horn inside was to create gas inside the breech. I can alter that to fire plasma blast instead; the barrel can double as accelerator."

Toothless was concerned to hear that. "You know this is already enough to destroy an island, right?"

"Considering what we're fighting, I'm not taking any chances." The boy answered the question. He moved to sit at a chair on the library corner. "It's better to overestimate than underestimate."

Knock! Knock!

Someone was knocking on the door. A moment later, it was opened. Gobber entered the place. "Hiccup." He started. "Someone's ordering more wyrmsteel swords and axes. We need ye working on the crystals."

Hiccup was incredulous. "Didn't we just finished a batch yesterday?"

"Aye. That's not enough."

"I'll check back in an hour." The boy eventually decided. He was rubbing his temple, trying to relax. "I'm still working on the draconic cannon."

Gobber closed the door behind him. He approached the draconic cannon. "What's wrong with it?"

"I'm trying to find the right balance between effective and dangerous. It needs to be effective against Furious." Hiccup pondered. "I know what he can do, but I feel like he's much stronger than that."

"It worked against Ascal, innit?"

"Yes, along with everything 50 metres around the cannon." The boy explained the problem. "It needs to be effective, but it also needs to be safe to shoot."

The blacksmith stroked his beard. "That is a big problem." He commented, staring at the breech. "Ye can't put that on a ship if it'll break the whole thing."

Hiccup did not answer. They fell silent. Gobber was inspecting the breech; Toothless had moved on to check the books; and the boy was pinching his bridge nose. Hiccup was trying to find the right balance between safety and lethality.

However, regardless of preparation, he knew they would never be ready.

They were not prepared to fight against an ancient Night Fury, especially one that ruled over hundreds of thousands of dragons. Not to mention the eldritch abilities. Hiccup knew what Furious was capable of.

Even with their equipment, they had no chance to defeat him.

"I have an idea." Hiccup spoke up, getting their attention. "I'll put something to control the lethality. The less lethal the projectile, the faster it goes."

Gobber was confused. "Why would ye want them less lethal?" He questioned. "We're used with catapults. Slower isn't a problem."

"Furious knows Psychic-Force. He can move physical things with his mind." The boy explained, before making demonstration. He used telekinesis to lift the draconic cannon one metre off the ground. After getting the reaction, Hiccup lowered it back. "He taught me how to do it."

"Well, that's gonna be a problem for the ships." The blacksmith stroked his beard. He was deep in thought. "But I can't see why the projectile should be slower."

"Let's do another demonstration." Hiccup stood from the chair. He moved couple metres away from him. "Throw me that book, will you?"

Gobber grabbed a book from the table. He tossed the book to the boy. Hiccup used telekinesis to move the book around him, before tossing it back to the blacksmith. Gobber fumbled as he grabbed the book from the air.

The blacksmith paused as he processed what happened. He did not see him touch the book at all. "... wait." Gobber realised the problem. "Furious can do that?"

"He can do that many times stronger and faster than me." Hiccup explained. He moved and sat back at the table. "It really depends on how fast he can react, and how fast the projectile is going. The faster it move, the harder for him to redirect them."

Toothless sat at the opposite side. "We need to find the right spot between speed and lethality."

"I can add a dial to make that adjustable, but it can throw off your aim if you're not careful." The boy pondered the solution. "... it should depend on the range. The most ideal spot is the range from shore and mountains in Dragon Island. That's approximately 3 kilometres."

Gobber leaned on the draconic cannon. "Is that enough to kill him?"

"It's probably enough to knock him off, but not outright kill him." Hiccup answered as he mentally calculated the damage. "It's more reliable as a support. We need someone that can actually fight him."

They fell silent once more. Gobber moved and sat near the cannon. The two dragons in human form and the blacksmith pondered for ways to deal with the dragon.

It would not be easy to fight a dragon so incredibly powerful.

Hiccup exhaled his breath. "Gobber." He started, getting his attention. "What do you think about Furious?"

"He's a threat we've never seen before." Gobber gave his answer. He glanced at the boy. "After what happened, I ove' heard Spitelout considering him a god."

'Skies above...' Hiccup thought, exasperated. He could see why Spitelout thought of that. "At that point, what is a god, but the most powerful being in the world?"

"My dad is the arch alpha." Toothless pointed out. "He sank a small continent in northern Greater Archipelago and turned Buffalord species docile in one day, 13 years ago."

Gobber stared with wide-eyed expression. "He what?"

Hiccup ignored him. "But he's not here." The boy pointed out. "Unless you want to involve him, we're the ones who have to fight Furious."

The dragoness in human form looked uncomfortable. The boy shook his head. "I don't even want to fight him." Hiccup confessed. "I don't want to risk my life over a lie made with..."

The boy made some gestures, trying to find the word. "... it doesn't matter." He decided. Hiccup leaned back and stared up the ceiling. "We just need to distract Furious long enough for us to flee."

Knock! Knock!

"Gobber, you in there?" Someone called out from the wooden double door. "The Meatheads are looking for you!"

"That's my cue." The blacksmith stood from the chair. He rushed to leave the room. Gobber opened the door, pushed the Vikings back, before closing them behind him.

After some time, Toothless continued the conversation. "Furious will chase us to Europe."

"No. We're going through Greater Archipelago." Hiccup made the decision. "I'll negotiate something with Merciless through Gryphon. Best case scenario, he'll let you and the hatchlings through to Hidden World."

Toothless softened her expression. "What about you?"

"... I'll probably work for him until Northern Alliance is gone." The boy answered, resigned to his fate. "Hopefully, he'll let me see you. I'm fast enough to fly in and out of Hidden World, so commute shouldn't be a problem."

The dragoness in human form thought that was unacceptable. She hardened her expression. "No."

"Toothless-"

"No." Toothless repeated herself. "You will not martyr yourself. You will not leave me."

"Toothless, we don't have anything to fight him." Hiccup tried to reason. "And besides, Merciless' your brother. The faster he won against Northern Alliance, the faster we can be safe."

"No. I'll talk to my brother." The mother dragon in human form decided. "I'll give him some words, and he'll let us through."

There was a pause. The boy felt fear and anxiety through their bond. "I thought you don't like him." Hiccup questioned. "When was the last time you talked with him?"

"We haven't talked since our mother died." Toothless quietly admitted. She looked uncomfortable. "Just thinking about him brings bad memories."

"We'll think of something else." Hiccup decided to change the subject.

"No. I have to do this." The dragoness in human form shuddered her breath. She stared at the eyes of her mate. "Three years ago, both of us faced the impossible. We can, because we dared to do it."

The boy fell silent. Toothless continued speaking. "Over 70 dragons died fighting legions of humans. We did it to fight for our survival." She slowly raised her voice. "Our victory taught the most important lesson of all. Those who dare, wins!"

Hiccup widened his eyes. He did not expect that from Toothless. The mother dragon in human form saw his reaction. "... that's the lesson I get from that fight." She admitted, embarrassed at her outburst. "If I can face down thousands of humans, I can face my brother and talk to him."

However, the boy was deep in thought. That phrase reminded him of something. "Those who dare, wins..." He muttered. "... an expression of daring things thought to be impossible..."

That confused Toothless. "Charcoal?" She asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"

Hiccup tapped the table. Two certain dragon-scaled books appeared. He observed the symbols on its cover. "... thought to be a metaphor made by scholars of Grand Library of Baghdad. They said there was no solution." The boy widened his eyes. "But I solved the puzzle!"

Before she could ask, the boy stood from the chair and rushed to a large wooden chest nearby. It was right next to a bookshelf; it was full of books and other trinkets. Hiccup rummaged through the trinkets, before pulling out what he was looking for.

After finding that, Hiccup returned to his seat. He placed the object onto the table. "Here."

It was a certain metal dice. The dice had 12 sides. It had a lot of intricate carvings and moving parts. Every side had buttons, which had animal shapes carved on them, along with some symbols. There was pattern on those symbols.

The boy began comparing the animal shapes on the dice and the books. "They have the same exact carvings." He realised. "Volume 2 has a dog, and Volume 7 has a snake."

Toothless widened her eyes. "A puzzle." She realised. "Charcoal, where did you get that?"

"It was a gift from someone four years ago." Hiccup responded as he inspected the dice. He compared the symbols with the two draconic books. "Twelve-sided dice. Twelve books. Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and boar."

The mother dragon turned human widened her eyes. "The Chinese zodiac."

Toothless was familiar with the story. The Chinese tale of the Jade Emperor, who was said to be the emperor of heaven. It was rumoured that the Jade Emperor was a serpent dragon god; the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzun, one of the Three Pure Ones - the highest gods of all.

At least, according to Taoist theology.

Meanwhile, Hiccup was pressing buttons and rotating the dice. Soon enough, there was a click, and the certain Mithril coin was revealed inside. He popped out the coin and closed the dice. There was another click as it fell shut. Suddenly, the previously fixed buttons could be pressed.

"It was said to be made by scholars from Grand Library of Baghdad. They call them House of Wisdom." The boy muttered as he inspected the puzzle dice. "It was in possession of Abbasid Empire in Arab world, until the Mongols sacked them."

"That doesn't make any sense." Toothless was confused. "The zodiac is exclusively Chinese. It's more related to Taoist theology. Why would Islamic scholars made this dice?"

"I don't know. We'll probably never find out." Hiccup admitted as he worked on the puzzle. He pulled the seventh volume book and opened them. "The zodiac sequence on the books is in reverse. The first page should have the answer..."

The boy pondered as he carefully compared the page with the puzzle dice. "It's an instruction!" Hiccup realised. Following the pattern on the book, he pressed the buttons at the dice. There was a slight click each time he pressed them. "... three uppers left... two down... three upper right- wait, no. That's down."

Suddenly, there was a loud, audible click. The twelve-sided dice had popped open a thin slot at one of its corners. It looked like the Mithril coin could fit inside.

Hiccup inserted the coin, and the slot snapped close. Something moved rapidly inside as the pattern changed on its own. Then, Hiccup felt one of the buttons become loose.

Clink!

Something fell onto the table. It had fallen from the snake-shaped button, which popped itself open like a window. Hiccup carefully picked up the object. It was an intricate piece of golden scale. "Oh, I think I know where this goes."

The boy closed the button and pocketed the dice. He closed the seventh volume book and inspected the snake carving. There was a missing piece at its head. It looked like a mistake during carving.

Hiccup carefully placed the missing piece into its place. When he did, he felt a prick on his finger. "Ow!"

A drop of blood fell onto the book. It seemed to absorb the blood as the whole thing began to shimmer blue. Hiccup and Toothless watched as the book began to change. The red scales turned black, identical to Night Fury. It was also getting bigger and thicker in pages.

When the light show ended, the book had become massive. It was about 60 centimetres height and 45 centimetres wide. The most intimidating thing was its thickness; it was about 25 centimetres thick. The book was far bigger than anything they ever had.

"Okay..." Hiccup was hesitant. He carefully opened the book, revealing the first page. It was so big, the book occupied half the table. Toothless leaned to check the content.

It was written in Norse.

"Of course. It's a draconic book." Hiccup realised as he flipped to the next page. It was the table of content. They were all written in Norse. "It can adapt depending on who unlocked them. Nobody has ever unlocked the puzzle until now."

Toothless sharply inhaled. "I think the book can update itself." She pointed at one of the subtitles at the table of content. "This topic was discovered just few months ago. If the book is ancient, it's not supposed to have this."

"It took my blood when I unlocked them." The boy grabbed the second volume. He dragged his bleeding finger over the golden scales. "That means..."

As expected, the book absorbed his blood. It began to shimmer blue and began to change. The red scales turned black, and the book grew bigger and thicker in pages. When it ended, the book was roughly the same size as the seventh volume, but roughly two times the thickness.

Opening the second volume, they realised that the text was written in Norse. It even had a table of content, which was not there before. It explained the topic of Life-Force as a whole, including how it connects to mana and its circuits.

There was even topics most dragons considered deviant.

"Of course!" Hiccup realised, excited. "It adapts when given dragon blood. I can update them with my blood!"

Toothless moved to grab the second volume. She flipped some pages, before nodding. "It has all the latest Life-Force techniques." She remarked, before pulsing her mana. There was a reply, but no returned information. "... this is not a regular dragon book. This is an artefact."

Hiccup put the dice away. He opened the seventh volume book and read the first few pages.

The seventh volume of 'Mana: Principles, Techniques and Tools' book was all about artifice. It discussed all sorts of mechanical mana things. While there was a topic on dragonsmithing, it was dwarfed by many other topics, such as mana constructs, prosthetics, metals and crystals.

The boy pulled other books from his mana storage. They appeared on the table with blue flame. Hiccup opened the Gemstone and Alchemy book; he cross-referenced the crystals and found them accurate. The seventh volume dragon book was far more complete.

It even had information on how to make rare crystals.

However, the dragon book lacked examples. It had methods, classifications, descriptions and technical specifications, but no examples of what they could be used for. The Gemstone and Alchemy book was superior in that aspect.

"... I don't think I can learn all this in a decade." Hiccup admitted as he read the first couple pages. "This massive book has over 2,000 pages. The table of content itself is about 50 pages long. With the text this small, you can fit about 10,000 words in a page."

Toothless leaned to read the table of content. "Some of those topics were considered lost during the War of Desperation." She whispered, excited to know more. "Charcoal, we're in possession of forgotten knowledge!"

The boy read the table of content. Each page had four different columns dedicated to outline the information within the book. He noted the numbers in bracket next to the headings. "That doesn't look like pages."

The dragoness in human form had closed the second volume dragon book. She was focused on what Hiccup was reading. "That's because it's the year of their discovery." Toothless explained. "It uses Gregorian calendar, because that's what you know."

That explained the date, but something was missing. "They don't look consistent." Hiccup noted when he compared the years. "Most discoveries are made around this date. What's so important here?"

"That's the exact year when the Oppressive War started." Toothless explained the historical reason. "Not all dragons know how to cast spells back then, so everyone turned to artifice for answers. Even humans are looking into it. The knowledge on crystal creations are all that's left."

"All that knowledge were lost during the war." Hiccup whispered, staring at the open book. "... there must be hundreds of thousands of researchers who dedicated their lives in their field, only to die and lost the knowledge... never to be seen again..."

"Until now." The girl finished the sentence. "Artifice grew so much because of how versatile they are. It's also incredibly useful for dragons that barely knew anything about mana."

"They made sure dragons could stand a chance against humans of old." The boy muttered, realising the purpose of such invention. "They want dragons to keep on fighting. Necessity became the mother of all invention."

"Mmhmm." Toothless hummed as she opened the second volume dragon book. The dragoness in human form moved aside for some room. "Let's see what this one has."

The couple fell silent. The dragoness in human form engrossed herself to read the second volume dragon book. Hiccup looked down at the book in front of him.

He realised how powerful those books really were.

It was a shame that humans and dragons lost the knowledge they made because of the war. They were lucky to find and discover their knowledge. Hiccup felt honoured to learn the long, forgotten knowledge. It must be preserved and used with care.

Hiccup decided to do just that. Checking the table of contents, he searched for any military-related artifice creation. The mana construct category had plenty of things related to that. He would have to check which part that might be useful for them.

He mentally noted the page number, before flipping pages on the book. He skimmed through sections and its descriptions. The bio-armour was no different than draconic armour; the Tiberius Device was too destructive; and he already invented the draconic cannon.

After countless topics, Hiccup finally found what he was looking for.

The Sheldon 2A5 was a biological mana construct. It was created during the Oppressive War, and that variant was the last of its kind. They were used as substitute for greater alpha dragon, in case the greater alpha was assassinated before an assault.

The construct was more of a second form for dragons. It was kept as part of their mana circuit, allowing them to turn back into their original form. This made them permanently part of themselves. The only way to remove them was to burn their mana circuit.

At that point, they might as well be dead.

The specification stated that Sheldon construct was well over one kilometres tall. Given rough measurement of Furious' true form, the construct should be big enough to fight against him. It might take two constructs to decisively win the fight.

It was also easy to make. They had to perform a ritual with the dragon inside. The main challenge was the resource. It asked for plenty of crystals, some of which he did not have. The ritual also asked for kilograms of wyrmsteel.

"This one." Hiccup decided, pointing at the header. "It could help us fight Furious."

Toothless turned her attention to read the content. Her eyes widened upon reading the classification. "Biological mana construct." She whispered. "I thought they were myths."

"Well, myths often have some truths in them."

"It was described in stories of the Oppressive War. There were tales about enormous behemoths used by both humans and dragons." The dragoness in human form explained the context. She was awed at the knowledge. "If we have this, we can actually win against him!"

Hiccup pulled out his journal and began copying information. "We're going to need plenty of resource to do this." He muttered as he write. "We have most of the important ones, like Heart Stone. We need something called Astral Grain."

Toothless widened her eyes. "I can see why it's powerful." She commented. "A single grain could power layers with mana for centuries."

"What do you know about it?"

"Astral Grain is as the name says. It's a crystal with the shape and size of a wheat grain." The dragoness explained. "I'd describe them as generally dark pink. The saturation changes when you move them, and you can see moving stars inside."

Hiccup stared with blank expression. "You've seen one before?"

"It's a finite resource. The creation method was lost in time." Toothless answered the question. "The Nocrenia layer in Hidden World has an ancient mana reactor powered with an Astral Grain. They let researchers see them for study."

The boy had finished copying the information. He closed his journal and pocketed them. "It's common, then."

"No. There's only 28 grains left in the world." Toothless admitted.

Hiccup bookmarked the page with a random paper from the table. After that, he checked the table of content, before finding the Astral Grain header. The boy flipped to the page and skimmed through the lines.

It was after several paragraphs that Hiccup realised something. The first section of its creation method was the full summary of how it was made. There were roughly five thousand manufacturing steps to make a single grain, most of which requires highly skilled dragons to perform.

The dragoness in human form was leaning to read them. She winced when she realised the same thing. "It's going to take decades to make a single grain." Toothless commented. "We'll have better luck searching for them in Hidden World."

Hiccup flipped back to the Sheldon construct page. "I think we should continue working on the draconic cannon." He noted as he pushed the bookmark away. "I'll send Gryphon to find the grain tomorrow. I doubt she'll find one, but it's worth a shot."

Suddenly, they heard commotion outside.

Hiccup closed the two dragon books. He pulled the two books and the metal dice into his storage mana. After they vanished in blue flame, the boy headed to the wooden double door exit. Toothless followed him behind.

Exiting the room, they noted the lack of Vikings around the place. Gobber was busy talking with someone near the entrance.

It was a male Meathead Viking; they knew from the crest he wore. The man was holding a parchment, and he did not look happy.

The boy was the first one to approach. "Gobber?" He called, getting their attention. "What's going on?"

"Ah, just some money problem." The blacksmith assured him. "Stoick just left to find Alex. We couldn't pull money out of treasury without him."

The Meathead Viking decided to speak. "We couldn't leave without the money unless ye traded with somethin'." He explained the situation. "We couldn't put them on tabs, either. We have other things to finance. Chief Mogadon's orders."

Hiccup tilted his head. "How much was it?"

"155 rigslader coin." The Meathead Viking answered.

The boy crossed his arms. "Do you accept British pound?"

"Aye."

Hiccup pulled something out from his pouch. Those were four double sovereign British gold coins. The boy handed them over to the Meathead Viking. "Here. Eight pounds."

The two Vikings widened their eyes. "Odin's beard." The Meathead Viking was holding the coins. He recognised what those were. "You have the sovereign. How did ye..."

"I know how to earn money." Hiccup responded. Specifically, he exchanged some of his English noble gold for sovereign coins from a British merchant. The nobles were worth much more due to weight and composition, according to their own gold standard. "That should pay for everything."

The Meathead Viking carefully weighted them with his hand. "... these are far more than enough."

"Then we're getting every iron metal you have." Hiccup crossed his arms. "How long will they arrive?"

"A- About two days." The Meathead Viking was nervous. He did not expect to handle so much money all sudden. "But we don't have that much iron to cover these!"

"Then pile in every charcoal, wood and coal you have to cover the rest; in that order." The boy gave his request. "I want them here as soon as you can."

Gobber finally found his words to speak. "Hiccup." He started, getting their attention. "What are ye going to do with all that?"

"Oh!" The Meathead Viking suddenly remembered. "Ye need to give a reason. These are way more than we have!"

Hiccup thought that made sense. He thought for a response, before remembering what Gobber told him before. Spitelout considered Furious a god because of his eldritch abilities, at least according to Gobber. Had other Vikings heard of him, they might consider him a god.

"Alright. I'll give him the reason." The boy responded. He stared at the Meathead Viking with serious expression. "Tell Chief Mogadon that we are going to kill a god."

---

After everything was sorted out, Hiccup and Toothless worked on the smeltery all day.

Making adjustments on the draconic cannon was surprisingly easy enough. They simply added some Night Fury scales and some crystals to make it fire plasma blast.

The main challenge was adding speed-to-lethal dial. Hiccup had to write the calculation formula, and Toothless used crystals to ensure its implementation in the draconic cannon.

Regardless, it took them couple hours to get done. When that was finished, Toothless went off to take care of the hatchlings with Amber. Hiccup worked at the smeltery to make semi-draconic weapons.

When the night fell, Hiccup decided to sleep at the cove. After burning the surface for their bed, he slept together with his family in his draconic form. The male dragon fell asleep while wishing for better future ahead.

However, he appeared in a strange dream.

Charcoal was standing at a clearing on top of a high, cold mountain. He thought it was the same place when he heard the voice. However, he was not floating, and there was actually something to see. It was bright and sunny with some low clouds. The wind was not that strong, either.

"What do you think?"

Charcoal jumped when he heard that voice. Furious was approaching to stand next to him. He stared ahead as he waited for answer. The young dragon did not know what to say.

Looking ahead, Charcoal realised the mountain was within the alps. He looked down to see green lands, some forests and clear ocean. There were alpine villages; places built at the land around the alps. The young dragon had never seen this place before.

"It's beautiful." Charcoal whispered. "Where is this?"

"This is the Swiss Alps in Switzerland." Furious answered. He was staring down at the villages. "About five hundred years ago, I brought Delia here when seeing the surface world. This is the exact spot when we declared our love together."

The young dragon softened his expression. The visual was not real; they were in his mind. Charcoal knew the fake memory had the possibility to be used as some sort of communication path for Furious.

However, Charcoal knew why he brought him there. "You want my answer."

"No." Furious answered. He turned around to face the young dragon. "There's something important you must know. What makes Haddock Night Fury special."

The young dragon adjusted his position. "Is this about my inherited ability?"

"Yes. It's your right to know." The greater alpha answered. Yellow eyes stared at the forest green ones. "... Mimir wasn't dead when I merged him with you. He was in this... strange vegetative state where he lost his higher brain function."

Charcoal relaxed a bit. "Why didn't you tell Wodensfang? He was working under him."

"I didn't dare because it was caused by dragon poachers. He was captured when flying over Norway." Furious told the tale. There was guilt in his voice. "I saved him when he was being transported to Greater Archipelago. He was already like that when I found him."

The young dragon fell silent. The greater alpha dragon took a deep breath. "I don't want to see another mass immigration of fanatics to the surface." Furious confessed. "We had that when my brother died. They destroyed everything we built so hard; I... couldn't bear it and left to Hidden World."

Charcoal understood what Furious meant. There were fanatical dragons out there; most talked about dragon supremacy over the surface world. They usually reside within Hidden World. While he never really met one before, Toothless had described it to him.

However, something felt off. "How does this relate to my inherited mutation?"

"Haddock Night Fury is unlike any other Night Furies that exists." Furious explained. He looked pained as he explained it. "For everything that exists, for every mutation, the more extreme they are, the higher chance something to go wrong. Haddock Night Fury evolved to never have any negative effect from their mutation."

The greater alpha dragon took a deep breath. "... you would never survive the merging if you weren't a Haddock. What Wodensfang's Alatreon did would have killed you if you weren't a Haddock." Furious explained. "Every mutation can never go wrong. That's why Northern Alliance is looking for you."

Hiccup thought that explained why his mutations never had any side effect. Everything, including mana perversion, involve mutation in some way. It made sense why they sought for Haddock Night Fury, specifically. They most likely knew about his family.

They knew Haddock Night Fury would never become addicted to mana perversion.

This meant deviant factions like Northern Alliance would hunt them forever. They would search for them until the end of the world. Hidden World would simply be relatively safe for them. They were destined to be searched until the end of the world.

Haddock Night Furies were destined for that kind of life.

Furious did not need to read his mind to know what he was thinking. "Your human father doesn't know. Wodensfang kept them secret for our safety." The greater alpha dragon informed. "I knew because my brother was one."

Charcoal looked away as he thought of the situation. "... I don't want any of this." He confessed. "I don't want to be destined into this life."

They fell silent once more. Charcoal had to make peace with the fact that his hatchlings might live a similar life with him. He did not know what to think. He would have to tell them when they were ready. They must be raised with this fact in mind.

"I know." Furious straightened himself. "That's why I sealed your Ebonclaw ability."

The young dragon looked back at him. He was shocked. "What?"

"You are my son. You have my mutations." The greater alpha dragon answered. His voice was soft. "I sealed them because I know you're not ready."

Charcoal had no idea Furious could do something like that. However, he knew what he meant. "You came here to unseal my mutation."

Furious did not answer, but that silence was the answer. The young dragon took a step back. "I want to think about this."

"No. My time is running out." The greater alpha dragon whispered. He advanced a step forward, staring at the young dragon. "Wodensfang is replacing me. I don't know who will replace me, but I don't trust them to deal with this problem."

"I don't trust you to deal with my problem either." Charcoal retorted. He glanced around to find opportunity to flee. "I choose no one to help me deal with this. You and my human father have lied to my face about my life. You never let me make a decision on my own!"

"Because you don't know the cruel reality of this world." Furious retaliated. "I spent over over 100 years following my ideals with my brother. I want you to learn that things aren't as simple as you think!"

"No! You hid everything from me for your own selfish reason. My human father was no different!" The young dragon took another step back. "He could've awakened my dragon side when I was 5. I could've met you earlier, and all this would've never happened!"

"Then you're blaming him." The greater alpha dragon took a step forward.

"And I blamed you for your..." Charcoal searched for his words. "... insane response! You merged your son with me!"

Furious was angry to hear that. "I merged Mimir with you because you were too weak to live in the wild!" He raised his voice. The old dragon took a deep breath, before continued speaking. "I can't bear seeing my son like that anymore. If not for me, you'll be dead in the Viking village!"

"And then you lied about everything!" The young dragon snarled. "You could've told me the truth!"

"You will get yourself killed if you know the truth!" The old dragon retaliated. "Did you see yourself when you were young? You think everything could be solved by being kind. There's no place for honour in a place where war never ends. You're too soft to accept that!"

"There's nothing wrong with being too soft." Charcoal retorted. "It just means I care. Even you! You merged your son with me instead of putting him out of his misery!"

Furious took a deep breath. There was great anger in his eyes. "... you're right." He decided. "I'm too soft on you."

Suddenly, black tendrils appeared from the ground. They wrapped itself around Charcoal, immobilising him. Furious moved to stand right in front of him. Angry yellow eyes stared at the terrified forest green ones. "That's why I care."

Charcoal saw more black tendrils appearing from the ground. It shot and stabbed itself into him. While there was no blood, the young dragon felt the pain. The tendrils were forcing something within. They were trying to unplug something.

Then, it did.

The young dragon gasped when something within slammed onto his mana circuits. It felt like a giant bursting dam flooding the village underneath. Things he did not know were suddenly opening up to him. It felt incredibly painful.

However, Furious was not done yet. His body was enveloped in black flame, before turning intangible in shape. He enveloped the immobilised Charcoal at that state. The young dragon felt him breaching his mind, as well as doing something impossible.

Somehow, Furious was seeping through his mana circuit!

Charcoal could feel him inside his mana pool. He felt his body ticking rapidly; it was a familiar feeling of mutation. 'Furious, what are you doing?!'

'Showing you how much I care.' Furious responded in his mind.

Through his mana pool, the incorporeal Ebonclaw Night Fury moved into his mind. Charcoal could feel him pushing through every protection there was; nothing stopped him because the intruder came from the inside.

Furious was forcing himself into his mind and mana pool, pushing everything away, including his running thoughts. However, Charcoal's mind was not big enough to contain something like that. The rest of the Ebonclaw dragon pushed itself into his mana pool.

Eventually, the black flame had completely vanished into Charcoal. The tendrils had all but disappeared. The young dragon collapsed, immobile from what happened. It was extremely hard to think; Furious had grasped his mind.

'I could make you and your mate forget about all this.' Furious thought in his mind. He had found the mental connection between Charcoal, Toothless and Gryphon. 'I could make this all go away and pretend this never happened.'

There was no response. Charcoal could not think, but he would remember. Furious thought some more. 'But I won't. Because I care.'

The incorporeal Ebonclaw Night Fury was doing something. Furious was stretching his mind; replacing the gaps with something. Charcoal's mana circuits were multiplying; his mana pool were getting stretched out. Furious was forcing space from within.

Eventually, Charcoal's thoughts were running again. It took him a while to process everything. 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BODY!?' He mentally roared, fearful of what was happening. 'GET OUT!'

There was no response. Charcoal thought of a solution. It felt like some sort of possession, but Furious was not controlling him. His body and mana circuits were unresponsive; he did not know any spells that could get rid of him!

Eventually, Furious finished his handiwork. However, he was not done yet. Charcoal suddenly felt extreme pain from every inch of his body, including his mind. He did not know how long it was. When he did regain control of his body, all he could do was roar.

"KRAAAAAAAA!"

---

"KRAAAAAAAA!"

"Kraaa!" Amber, Toothless and the hatchlings woke up in a freight.

"What the-"

"Charcoal, what-"

"Kraeee!" The adult male Night Fury rushed into the open cave at the cove. They heard something crashed inside, before falling silent.

Concerned, Toothless moved to enter the cave. She moved around the tables and shelves he crashed through, before finally reaching her mate.

Charcoal was curled up at the corner. He was whining and shaking in fear.

"Charcoal." Toothless softly spoke. "Are you okay?"

There was no response. The mother dragon moved to wrap her wings around him, trying to comfort her mate. She carefully piled herself on top to provide some protection. After that, Toothless took a deep breath, before letting out a deep, loud purr. "Hrrrr..."

Toothless kept purring while on top of him. It took some time, but Charcoal eventually started to calm down. He was no longer panicking or shaking in fear. When the adult young dragon was calm enough, he carefully pushed his mate away. Toothless jumped off at the sign of mental recovery.

Charcoal straightened himself. "... thank you." He uttered. "And sorry."

"Don't apologise. We get nightmares, sometimes." The mother dragon assured. She was still concerned. "What were you dreaming?"

"It doesn't feel like a dream." The adult young dragon answered. He shuddered as he remembered. "Furious was inside my mind. He somehow got through my mana circuit."

Toothless darkened her expression. "Come." She urged. "Let's get you checked out."

The two Night Furies eventually left the open cave. Their hatchlings and Amber were waiting outside. There were confusion in their expression. The Light Fury decided to ask. "What happened?"

"Furious happened." The mother dragon answered. "Can you do a thorough check?"

Amber straightened herself. "Of course."

After getting Charcoal comfortable near the pond, the Light Fury worked on analysing his mind. She ejected a Nature Shard onto the ground, cast some spells, before remaining still. Toothless stayed a bit further with her hatchlings. She kept on guard in case something went wrong.

The last thing they need was Charcoal getting out of control.

---

An hour later, the hatchlings fell back asleep. Few hours later, the Light Fury was done. Amber had spent a whole Nature Shard while tending his mind. Charcoal remained still near the pond, while the mentally exhausted Light Fury returned to the black-scaled dragoness.

Toothless saw her approach. "How was it?"

"Bad. Furious was in every inch of his body and mind." Amber expressed her concern. "His mana signature was everywhere, including his mana pool and circuit. I think he left when Charcoal woke up."

That was concerning. "Was it possession?"

"Not in our definition of possession. Furious had literally been inside of him." The Light Fury answered. There was a hint of fear in her voice. "It shouldn't be possible, but that's what I saw."

Toothless did not know what to say. They had never seen anything like it.

"I saw your bond with him while cleaning his mind."

That was incredibly concerning.

Amber continued speaking. "He could've entered your mind through him." She explained. "Last use was about 12 hours ago. His bond with Gryphon hasn't been used since yesterday."

"That's not good." Toothless muttered. She did not like where this was going. Her bond with Charcoal was usually unprotected, meaning he could be the backdoor into her mind, and vice versa. There were secrets in her mind that she wanted to keep as secrets. "What did Furious do?"

"Well, Charcoal's mind is ten times bigger now. There's a lot of new knowledge in his mind." The Light Fury answered. "His mana pool is much bigger too. His mana circuits are a lot numerous, but there's only one set of mana circuits now."

The black-scaled dragoness widened her eyes. "He came to finish what he started."

"I think so." Amber hesitantly nodded. "I'm not an expert in mana-biology. You need mana expert for that. If I didn't know better, I think Furious is empowering him."

Toothless glanced at Charcoal, who had gone to eat fishes from a pile near the pond. She looked back at her best friend. "You really think so?"

"Yeah." The Light Fury nodded. "Furious must be planning something."

The mother dragon were concerned of this development. She had some ideas in mind, but without proof, she could not do anything. Toothless had to know what Furious was planning to put measures in place.

Regardless, whatever that plan was, it must be dangerous.

"Hrrk!"

Suddenly, they heard Charcoal choking on something. Toothless and Amber rushed to help. "Charcoal, are you okay?"

The adult male dragon paused, before sneezing something out of his maw. "Hrrk-choo!"

Splat!

What came out was some sort of black parasitic tendril thing. It looked like a leech. The thing opened its round jagged mouth and let out a screech. "Kreee!"

The dragons jumped away from it. "What is that?!"

The leech parasite tried to run, but Toothless was faster. She fired a small plasma blast, which hit the thing and incinerated it. Everyone bated their breath as they waited for it to burn. Thankfully, there was nothing left but smoke and ash.

The dragons felt relief. "That's enough incident for the day." Toothless decided, before turning her focus to Charcoal. "I need to talk to Merciless."

"Can we do this later?" Charcoal pleaded. He was still exhausted. "I need my sleep."

"Charcoal-"

Amber stopped her. "Toothless, his mind is still recovering. Sleeping helps with recovery." She interrupted, before focusing back to Charcoal. "I'll need to cast dreamless rest on you before you sleep."

Toothless eventually relented. She would have to think over how to talk with Merciless. With that in mind, the dragoness moved to where their hatchlings slept, before resting herself around them. She wrapped them under her wings, before falling asleep.

---

The next day, early in the morning, Toothless woke up to feel her mate sleeping on top of her. Charcoal had her wrapped around his wings, protecting her from outside element. The ground was still charred, meaning he most likely renewed the fire bed before going to sleep.

The mother dragon pushed him away. Charcoal stirred and woke up from his sleep. "Good morning."

"Morning." Toothless muttered. She stood from the ground, before blinked at some changes. Her mind was clearer than ever. It took her some time to realise what happened to him also affected her. "I need to talk to Merciless."

"Okay." Charcoal slowly stood from the ground. He was careful not to disturb their still-sleeping hatchlings. The father dragon paused as he focused on his mind. "... Gryphon is on her way to Merciless."

There was a pause. Toothless glanced to the side; Amber was still sleeping not far from them. The mother dragon sat on her hindlegs. "Do you want to talk about last night?"

"Furious came to visit. He used the fake memory to transport himself into my mind." The father dragon confessed. "He told me about Haddock Night Fury. Did you know about their inherited ability?"

Toothless tilted her head. "No." She answered. "Most Night Fury abilities are kept secret."

"He told me that Haddocks inherit ability related to mutations." Charcoal quietly responded. He looked uncomfortable. "No matter what mutation, I would never get negative effect."

The mother dragon widened her eyes.

That explained everything.

It explained why Charcoal could have two sets of mana circuits. It explained why they never had any negative mutation. It explained why every major mutation they had so far never had any negative consequence.

It also explained why Northern Alliance was hunting them. Mana perversion was a form of forced mutation. In this case, no matter how many humans were melted, Haddock Night Fury would never become addicted. They would never deteriorate when not melting humans for a long time.

They were trying to create the perfect deviant dragon.

"I need to talk to Merciless." Toothless finally repeated. "Have Gryphon found him yet?"

"... she did." Charcoal answered, focusing at the cove wall. He was concentrating. "I'll try to proxy your presence through my mind. Gryphon is doing the same with Merciless. This might consume more mana than usual."

"That's fine." The mother dragon nodded, before focusing on her bond with him.

---

Charcoal guided Toothless' presence through his mind. He carefully connected her with Gryphon's mind. They paused as they waited for the telepathic call to stabilise. Toothless began hearing the voice from the other side.

"... hello?" Toothless heard Merciless' mental voice. "Gryphon, did you do the spell right? I don't hear anything."

"Merciless." The mother dragon sent her mental voice. "It's me."

There was a long pause. "... Kiri- I mean, Toothless!" Merciless eventually responded. He was hesitant. "I... didn't expect to hear your voice."

"We need your help getting out of Barbaric Archipelago." Toothless replied.

"I... you're asking a lot when we just start talking again." Merciless was nervous. "How have you been? Of course you're fine. Listen, I need to talk to your mate."

"No." The mother dragon responded. "You won't be dealing with Charcoal. You'll be dealing with me."

There was another silence. Eventually, the Greater Archipelago greater alpha relented. "Fine." He grumbled. "Look, I can't smuggle your family out. I'd be going against our father's law of not interfering with other greater alpha's internal politics. I'd strongly recommend waiting this out."

"Waiting this out?" Toothless was incredulous. "Merciless, we are being targetted. Northern Alliance is looking for us! Furious isn't really doing anything to help. If anything, he's making it worse!"

"I know, but father just pushed for Furious' dismissal and impeachment." Merciless assured. "It'll be... 29 days until he's gone."

"That's way too long!"

"What do you fucking expect me to do?" The greater alpha was frustrated. "Sis, you're asking me to do something extremely risky. There's little to gain from this risk."

"Fine. You want to know why Northern Alliance was looking for us? It's because of Haddock Night Fury." Toothless finally revealed. "Haddocks don't get negative effects from mutations. All mutations. What do you think would happen if Northern Alliance got their hands on Charcoal, or worse, our hatchlings?"

There was another pause. Eventually, Merciless responded. "What do you want me to do?"

"Furious is keeping us in. He specifically wants us to stay." Toothless explained the situation. "A deviant incident exposed us to Hairy Hooligan Vikings. They're willing to help, but they wanted to defeat Furious."

"Good luck with that." Merciless commented.

"Charcoal and I plan to defeat Furious just enough for us to escape through the border." The mother dragon explained the plan. "Charcoal made a draconic cannon, but we don't think that's enough. But we found something that can fight him."

"What is it?"

"Sheldon biological mana construct. Charcoal and I found them just yesterday." Toothless elaborated. "We almost have everything we need. I need you to find Astral Grain and bring them to us."

"I don't know what the hell those things are. I don't think there's anything like that in my region." Merciless pondered her request. "Do you have any lead on where to find them?"

"I don't know. Dad most likely have one." The mother dragon answered. "Explain everything to him, including the biological mana construct. Even if he doesn't have it, at least he'll help."

"Alright. I'll talk to him." The greater alpha dragon agreed. "I'll send over some Relocation Crystals in case the anti-displacement ward went down. This would be separate from whatever-grain you're looking for."

"Anti what?"

"Anti-displacement ward. It's a barrier that goes all around Barbaric Archipelago." Merciless explained. "It stops all sorts of teleportation crystals. You wouldn't know it was there until you tried."

That explained Furious' lack of response on Toothless' Relocation Crystal. He already had something in place. "I'll see if there's a way to bring it down."

"Good luck. I'll see what I can do from my side." The greater alpha dragon responded. "Do you need anything else?"

"That's all." Toothless answered. "I want you to be discreet about this. Trust no one. There might be a deviant amongst your ranks. Send the message to dad yourself. Make sure he's the only one that hears it."

"That's doable." Merciless agreed. "Alright. I'll bounce off to do those stuff. Good luck, Toothless."

"Thanks." The mother dragon answered, before disconnected her mind from the call.

---

Back in reality, Charcoal was accompanying their hatchlings. They were a lot calmer than usual. The father dragon felt the telepathic call disconnect. He stared at the concerned acidic green eyes. "How was it?"

"Merciless agreed to help." Toothless answered. "There's an anti-displacement ward covering the archipelago. Even if we have Relocation Crystals, we can't use them."

The father dragon did not know much about wards. They were mostly area-denial barriers to stop certain crystals from working. "Do you know how to take them down?"

"I don't know. It's most likely a crystal cluster emplacement somewhere in Dragon Island." The mother dragon was deep in thought. "Now that we know there's a ward around Barbaric Archipelago, our first goal is to destroy them."

"We only have one Relocation Crystal."

"Merciless is sending more from Greater Archipelago." Toothless assured. "The moment we destroyed the ward, we can immediately escape."

Charcoal was happy with that. However, something concerned him. "What about the Vikings?"

"What about them?"

"They're going to fight against Furious as well." The father dragon reminded. "How are they going to run? They can't use crystals, let alone mana."

"I'm sure the draconic cannon is enough deterrent against Furious." Toothless shrugged her wings. "At least for the next four weeks. They're probably much safer after Furious was ousted."

Charcoal did not respond. He simply stared with concern. The father dragon was not sure if they could leave the Vikings, especially his father. He could not guarantee their safety.

The mother dragon looked up to the sky. "I think it's time for breakfast." She decided, before looking back at him. "I'll hunt for the day. Can you hold the hatchlings?"

"... sure."

---

Author Note

That dice is one hell of a Chekhov's gun, innit? Unlike the original, it has a lot more use than just a dice with a Mithril coin. It has pieces of the dragon book within.

Now, answering some reviews. One person asked about the picture of the humanoid female Toothless. Her human form body was based on Noi from dorohedoro with some changes. Just imagine her being more muscular, with blonde hair and acidic green eyes. In short, look for the artworks, not the originals.

Her outfit was based on Horizon: Forbidden West armour. Specifically, it was the Carja Behemoth Trapper armour with leather boots instead of metal ones, and without the head gear. The armours were adapted to look draconic.

The description was mostly from Hiccup's perspective. Now that you brought this up, it does read a bit confusing. I might need to change her description when I have the time.

Another review said that I was planning a sequel. Yes, there would be a Book 2 sequel. It would be going from year 1834 (end of Book 1) to somewhere around 1860s to 1870s.

Why is it ending there, you ask? I recommend googling list of wars that happened around that year. It should explain why.

Now, bringing back complexity. It's one of the reasons why I did the rewrite. The mind arts stuff from before made my head spin, especially since I want to expand on what they can and cannot do. I've already written half of the sequel for the original before realising they don't make any sense.

So, in the rewrite, I use actual magic (mana) to give myself flexibility. I added some stuff to make it make sense in some way, and then re-describe them to remind you, the reader.

The name of stuff, like spells and mechanics (mana pool, mana circuit, etc), were made familiar and obvious to make them... well... obvious.

It's sort of why I sometimes repeat some information whenever something relevant came up. I didn't expect you to remember everything.

This is a fanfic, not biology book. So, to help you and my own memory, repeating information whenever relevant helps to remember.

Since you brought that up, I might need to go back and alter some stuff related to this when I have the time. I guess that's just another thing in the queue for me to work on.

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End Note

Thank you for reading my story. Thank you for leaving reviews and comments.