This is Amity. A very charming island. It's found twelve days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death.It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery
Somewhere in the archipelago, a village can be seen surrounded by water. All seems peaceful for now...
Our village, home sweet home. In a word: sturdy. And it's been here for seven generations, but, every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests.
All of a sudden, on a farm, one of the sheep is taken from above! This alerted the nearby Amityians.
You see, most normal places have mice or mosquitoes. Oh no, not us. Instead, we have...
In one of the houses, a fifteen year old boy opens his door only to shut it immediately, narrowly avoiding getting blasted by fire.
"Dragons" he whispered then turned to a girl who was the same age as him.
"It's that time already?" The girl asked him.
"Yep. Let's go!" With that, they both rushed outside, knowing exactly where to go.
Most sane people who value living would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We have stubbornness issues.
The once peaceful atmosphere of Amity has suddenly changed into a complete warzone. Every Viking out there was armed with axes, swords, maces and hammers fighting off dragons to protect their village.
The two teens ran into the battlefield, one more excited than the other, being careful to dodge the oncoming villagers.
My name's Danny and this is my twin sister Dayla. Amazing names, we know. But, they're not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our oh-so-charming Viking manners wouldn't do that for us already.
Suddenly in the chaos, Danny stumbles, falling over backwards and a male Viking lands on top of him.
"ARGGGHHHHH!" The adult Viking roared before cheerfully greeting "Mornin' kids!" He then left on his path and as Danny got up with the help of his sister, they continued on their path.
As they ran they passed by many villagers who kept shouting at them to get inside. These villagers were not saying this out of concern for the twins but rather out of concerns for themselves. Danny and Dayla were well-known in their village but in a bad way. These two were outcast because their small size and their ability to inadvertently cause destruction most of the time. But for now the twins ignored the villagers and continued running until a large man grabbed them, stopping them from running into a line of fire from one of the dragons.
"Danny?! Dayla?! What are they doing out aga-?! Why are you two out here?! What have I been telling both of you?! Get inside!" He shouted shoving them off.
That's Jack the Vast. Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do Dayla and I believe it? Yes, we do.
Jack then turned to a nearby soldier and asked "Report."
"The usual: Gronckles, Nadders and Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark said he saw a Monstrous Nightmare." The soldier replied.
"Any Night Furies yet?" Jack asked.
"None so far." The soldier replied.
This news brought only a bit of relief to the chief. "Good." was all he said.
Back to the twins, who just arrived at the forge where they were greeted by the one-legged, one armed blacksmith.
"Ah, you two finally arrived! Nice of both of you to join the party! I thought you have both been carried off by a Nadder!" he greeted them teasingly.
"Come on! You can't get rid of us that easily." Dayla replied as she and her brother threw of their vests and grabbed their aprons.
"Dayla's right. We're waaaay too muscular for them to handle. They would have no idea what to do with all...this." Danny added, flexing his arms.
"Well, even dragons gotta have toothpicks to clean their teeth, don't they?" the blacksmith joked.
The overweight meat-head with attitude and interchangeable hands is Lancer. Dayla and I have been his apprentice ever since we were little. Well... littler.
Immediately after Danny opened the window to the forge weapons were thrown into his arms as he struggled to get them to the workbench, while his sister got a fire going and they started working on the weapons.
Meanwhile outside the battlefield, the dragons were persistent in catching their prey and the Vikings fearlessly fought back while some carried the sheeps out of the dragons reaches.
"Hurry up and move to the moor defences! There, we will counter-attack them with the catapults!" Jack commanded just as more dragons flew by burning the every house in sight
See? Old village, lots and lots of new houses.
Through the window of the forge Danny and Dayla could see the villages' fire brigade appearing on the scene. The fire brigade consisted of six teens, all the same age as the twins.
Oh, and that's Tucker, Dash, Ember, the Specter twins, Kayden and Jayden, and... Sam.
Both Dayla and Danny looked at Sam Manson with different emotions. Dayla looked upset at seeing her. Sam is one of Amitys best young warriors and she used to be friends with Danny and Dayla, she and Dayla were even like sisters. However that changed when they were ten years old and Sam gave Dayla and her brother the cold shoulder and completely ditched them to hang out with the other teens.
Danny, on the other hand looked at Sam with a reluctant admiration. He had crush on Sam for a long time. Dayla, who was the only one who knew about this, never missed the opportunity to tease him and was excited at the thought of having Sam as a sister-in-law. However, when Sam abandoned them, both Dayla and Danny were hurt by this. Although Danny claims to have gotten over his crush on Sam, he cannot help feeling nervous around her or stare at her from afar and he hated himself for this. And right now he cannot help but feel envious of the six teens that were out there.
Oh, their job is way much cooler than ours.
As he tried to get out and join them, Lancer suddenly came up behind him using his hook to grab the boy by his tunic and lifted him away from the door.
"Oh, seriously? Let me out for a few minutes, please? I got to out there to make my mark or it will be too late!" Danny begged. Dayla, however, stayed silent. It is true that she wants to prove herself to the village and always designs, creates and uses different inventions to capture dragons; she does not share the same amount of enthusiasm in dragon slaying that her brother does. Truth is she did not like violence at all. She is more interested in becoming a healer and when she's not with her brother she's with Gothi, the village elder, learning about medicine.
"Oh, you and your sister have made enough marks to last a century. All in the wrong places, unfortunately." Lancer replied, knowing from experience exactly what will happen if those two were outside during a dragon raid.
"Please, just give me two minutes. I'll be able a dragon or two. My life overall will improve. I might even get a girlfriend." Danny begged.
"Danny, for dating, the best choice for a date would be Ember and as far as I know neither of you see each other in a romantic way." Dayla told him.
Ember McClain is the only teen that Danny and Dayla could call their friend. After Sam ditched them, Ember became Dayla's new best friend. Unlike, other Vikings who prefer to fight with axes, hammers and swords, Ember preferred to use a simple bow and arrow. People would have mocked her for her weapon of choice, if she hadn't given them a demonstration of her spot on aim and her clever use of the arrows. Her friendship with the Fenton twins began when she to the forge one day when they were working. While waiting for her arrows to be made, she casually struck up a conversation with the twins which ended in the three of them talking for hours! It turns out that they have so many things in common. While Dayla and Danny were struggling to prove themselves to the village, Ember was struggling to prove herself to her parents, Helga and Thaddeus McClain. For generations her family has been known to be one of the best warriors of Amity and her parents want her to continue their legacy and they have very high standards. This troubles Ember because unlike most of the Vikings on Amity, she doesn't like to fight at all. She may seem like a tough girl but that is just a wall she put up for herself. In fact, she more of a nature loving girl and if she had a choice, she would spend most of her time in the forest than train to fight. Like Dayla, she knows exactly who she is and who she wants to be. Ember wanted to be an artist. Her artwork is as impressive as her archery and she wants to be a blacksmith to learn crafting. She confided in the twins that she secretly envied them for being able to work in the forge. However, her parents felt that art is just a hobby and were unnecessary in Amity along with Danny and Lancer; Ember also knows about Dayla's passion to become a healer and fully supports her. With Danny and Dayla, she always felt at ease discussing her problems to them because they always understand what she's going through. With them, she could just be herself and not a strong and fearless warrior. Since then, she has been a close friend of theirs' ready to back them up when they need it.
"Lass has a point. Besides how can you take down a dragon? You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe; you can't even throw one of these properly!" For emphasis, Lancer lifted one of the bolas which was immediately snatched by one of the soldiers outside who then threw it to an oncoming dragon.
"Okay, you're right about that, but Dayla and I have a solution for that. This will throw the bolas for me." Danny replied gesturing to the newest invention he and his sister made.
"We call it 'The Mangler. It's designed to throw bolas at a faster speed and a higher altitude than an average Viking can,'" Dayla explained. However, as soon as Danny touched the device, it suddenly shot a bola which hit one of the warriors standing outside!
"See, this is a perfect example of your 'marks'!" Lancer told the two.
"We haven't really tested it out properly." Dayla said meekly.
"Yeah. There a few miscalculations-" Danny started to explain but was then cut off by Lancer.
"Daniel. If you and your sister ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you both need to stop all... this." Lancer said gesturing to them.
"But, you just gestured to all of us!" Danny retorted.
"Yes! That is exactly what I'm saying! Stop being, all of you!" Lancer exclaimed.
Now understanding what Lancer meant, Danny tried another approach "Keep in mind, that you sir are playing a dangerous, risky game. Keeping this much, raw... Viking-ness... sealed?! THERE WILL BE DIRE CONSEQUENCES!" he warned.
Lancer, seeing right through this facade, was indifferent. "That's a risk I'm willing to take. Sword. Sharpen. Now. And you. Go check on that guy your brother just knocked out with this device." He ordered both of them.
As Danny took the sword, Dayla rushed outside to check on the guy, hoping there wasn't any brain damage. However, as soon as she reached him, he was starting to recover and shoved her off when she tried to help him up. With a battle cry, he ran to rejoin his comrades. Sighing, Dayla headed back into the forge to work on the other weapons.
One day, I'll get out there. Although Dayla doesn't like it but killing a dragon is everything around here. A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed. Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend. A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status. And then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire. But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the—
"LOOK OUT, NIGHT FURY!" "GET DOWN NOW!" Some of the villagers yelled just before everyone immediately ducked down. Then out of nowhere one catapults exploded and it was the one that contained Jack the Vast and a few other warriors! Fortunately they managed to jump out of there, narrowly missing a fiery death.
Assessing the situation in front of him, Lancer then turn to his two young apprentices "Man the fort you two, they need me out there!" He instructed them as he switched his prosthetic hand from a hammer to an axe. "Stay. Put. There. Both of you. Do you understand."
"You mean don't run off adding anymore destruction and mayhem than there already is." Dayla stated.
"Exactly." With that he gave battle roar and ran outside leaving the twins in the forge.
Dayla turned to her brother, knowing exactly what he was going to do "You're going to go out there with the Mangler, aren't you?" She asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.
"Yep" Danny nodded. "You don't have to come with me this time. You can stay here if you want. Dad would be happy to know that at least one of his kids was listening to orders." He told her, knowing well that she wants to be a healer rather than a dragon slayer.
Dayla, however, shook her head "I helped you build this thing. It is only fair that I share the responsibility with you if anything goes wrong with this device. Besides it's our motto 'Where one goes, the other follows'" She reminded him.
Remembering their motto, he smiled at her and grabbed the Mangler "Okay. Let's go! But we better hurry before someone catches us!" Both of them shot out of the forge into the intense battle, once again earning shouts from the villagers.
"Danny! Dayla! Where are you two running off to?!"
"Come back here both of you!"
"Yeah, just a minute! Be right back!" Danny shouted
"We just have to do one quick thing!" Dayla added as they continued running.
Meanwhile, unaware that Danny and Dayla left their post at the forge, Jack and his men struggled to capture a group of Deadly Nadders, who refused to go down without a fight.
"Stay on guard! These devils still have some fire power left!" The Chief warned his men.
Elsewhere stopping at the edge of the island, Danny started setting up the Mangler while Dayla looked for a target.
"There! I see a dragon!" She exclaimed pointed to the sky where an almost invisible black blur rapidly passed by.
Danny, looking at the direction his sister was pointing at, immediately fired a bola. A loud cry is heard from above as a shadow is seen plummeting down into a forest.
For a few seconds, both twins just stood there completely shocked until Danny found his voice.
"Oh, I hit it! YES! I HIT IT! FINALLY GOT ONE." Danny exclaimed with triumph.
Dayla, who was still registering what happened, let out a breath she didn't know she was holding "Good job bro. It's about time." She finally said however there was a small part of her that felt uneasy about the whole thing and she didn't know why.
"Did anybody see that? Please say someone did." Danny asked turning around only to be met by a Monstrous Nightmare who crushed the Mangler. "Except for you, of course." This caused Dayla to turn around and realize that a dragon is there and he did not look happy with them shooting his friend down. "Well, that's just our luck." She said looking at the angry dragon.
Back in the village two screams got Jacks attention as he saw Dayla and Danny getting chased by a Monstrous Nightmare. However instead of feeling concern for those two, he was rather annoyed as he got up to help them.
Danny and Dayla runs behind a torch pole and hid behind it, narrowly avoiding the flames as it came around the corners. But before the dragon could come any closer to either of the twins, Jack suddenly appears punching the beast away from the two teens. The dragon then tries to retaliate in anger, but coughs up magma instead.
"You're all out of fire, dragon." The Viking chief firmly stated. With no fire power left the Monstrous Nightmare surrendered the fight and flew off with the other dragons. Jack then turned to the twins who were still behind the torch pole until it fell adding more flames to the already burnt out village.
Oh, by the way, there's one more important thing you should probably know...
Knowing what is going to come next, the twins slowly turned to the face chief with their heads down and spoke in unison "Sorry Dad."