Chapter 4
Edel woke up several hours later, feeling warmer and more comfortable then she'd ever had her life. The cabin was very dark, the sun hadn't yet risen. Edel closed her eyes and used her other senses to get her bearings. She could feel that she was in her large bed, with nothing covering her but a warm, dark dragon wing. She could smell Thunder's familiar scent. She wormed closer to his chest, listening to his steady breathing and powerful heartbeat. It lulled her back to sleep.
The next morning; Tom entered the main lounge, to find a very beautiful woman siting at the Round Table. She had golden brown hair that seemed to glow in the golden sunrise. She had bright green eyes, and smooth light tan skin. She wore a simple green summer dress and blue leather jacket, that had the Rod of Asclepius stitched on the shoulder. She looked up when she sensed Tom was there.
"Good morning," she said warmly.
"Hi," said Tom. "You're Serenity aren't you? Edel told us all about you." Serenity smiled calmly.
"Yes I am," Serenity said. "And you must be Tom Kullersen, I've heard about you as well."
"Yeah," Tom said modestly. "When did you get here?"
"Last night," Serenity said. She looked out at the pool deck.
Tom looked to see a man with the dragons outside. He had black hair, and tanned skin. He wore a green and black plaid shirt, blue jeans, hiking boots, and a black leather jacket with the black dragon symbol with a yellow eye on the back. He was talking to Queen Avalon and King Eider as well as two dragons, one green and one blue, that Tom had never seen before. At that moment the other riders came into the lounge one by one. Serenity started to look nervous. The riders each introduced themselves. Both Jun and Alex made sure Eugene didn't say or do anything inappropriate
"Nice to finally meet all of you," Serenity said, letting out a nervous breath. She was fidgeting with the table cloth.
"Nice to finally meet you too," D'Angelo said. "I've been wanting to meet you ever since Edel told us you were a dragon doctor, and had helped so many injured dragons."
"Yes," Serenity said. "Plowhorn told me you have an interest in healing."
"Do you still do it?" D'Angelo asked.
"Of course," Serenity said. "It's my purpose in life." She was still fidgeting with the table cloth. At that moment Edelweiss entered the room, with Thunder and Apollo.
"Mama," Edel said happily. "You came." Serenity relaxed and got to her feet. They hugged each other. "I'm sorry I didn't hear you guys land."
"That's all right," Serenity said, as they separated. "You seemed very preoccupied." Edelweiss looked outside to see who else had come.
"Tenor and Windwalker here too?" She asked.
"No, Windwalker has a bad back," Serenity said, as she led the way outside. "She can't fly, and therefore can't hunt. Tenor stayed behind to help her."
"How'd she get a bad back?" D'Angelo asked. "From a crash or a fight?"
"Avalanche," Serenity said. "Thankfully it was a small one. Rocks knocked over a big tree, Windwalker didn't get out of the way in time. Dislocated both her wings, and sprained her spine."
"How'd you fix her?" D'Angelo asked, curiously.
"Gave her Speed Stinger venom for the pain," Serenity said. "Relocated both wing joints, then put them in slings so they can rest."
"How are you getting Speed Stinger venom?" Tom asked. "They're not the friendliest dragons."
"I know," Serenity said. "But I've helped a few of them in the past, and they've become friends of mine."
They walked out onto the pool deck. Chris and looked up from their conversation. They all introduced themselves. D'Angelo noticed all the scars up and down Re, the green dragon's body and wings.
"So you're Tom Kullersen," said Re.
"That's me," Tom confirmed.
"And young Thunder," said Aurora, the blue dragon, smiling at the Night Light. "Descendants of Hiccup and Toothless."
"Yes ma'am," said Thunder respectfully.
"Edel told us about your defeat of the World Serpent," Chris said. "Pretty impressive you managed that without anyone getting hurt or killed."
"Were you there when Hiccup first defeated it?" Jun asked.
"Yes," said Aurora. "When Jörmungadr first terrorized the Realms, Toothless flew back to New Berk to ask Hiccup to help get rid of it, and the pair of them came to us to ask for our help as well."
"Took us all working together to get the Serpent behind the gate," Re said. Suddenly he bolted forwards, with a startled snort. He spun around and found D'Angelo standing right where Re had been standing. Re glared. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry, I was interested in your scars," D'Angelo explained. "I wanted to see if I could guess what caused them."
"Okay, next time just ask," Re said, irritated. "Don't lurk in my blind spot." Aurora looked over at Thunder.
"Something's on your mind young Night Light," she said to him in Dragontongue.
"Yes," Thunder said, fidgeting. "I want to ask you guys about something a bit delicate." Aurora nodded in understanding.
Later; Edelweiss and the riders left the pool deck to go find breakfast. Avalon, Eider, and the older Draconians stayed out. Thunder felt his heart pounding with nerves.
"All right Thunder what's on your mind?" Serenity asked. Thunder too several deep breaths to calm himself.
"It's Edelweiss, I'm in love with her like crazy," he said. "I want to mate her, and wanted to ask you all before I ask her."
"Does she know how you feel about her?" Chris asked.
"I think so," Thunder said. "She seems has happy to see me as I do to see her." The Draconians exchanged a glance.
"Well, you're a very good dragon," Serenity said. "Kind, selfless, strong, and you come from a good family. Our daughter would be very luck to have you as her mate."
"You certainly can mate her if she'll have you," Chris said. Thunder relaxed with a sigh.
"Thank you," he said. "I promise to be good to her."
"We know," Serenity said.
Thunder spent the rest of the morning asking them questions about how humans mates. He decided to use some of the human methods to win Edel over. He grew more relaxed the more they talked. Eventually Serenity and Chris headed inside to find a room to sleep in for the night. Thunder turned to Aurora and Avalon.
"One other thing I wanted to ask," he said. "If it was safe to be fully intimate with Edel."
"Yes it's safe," said Avalon. "She's certainly durable for that. In fact, with her being half dragon, you'll probably satisfy her more than any human would."
"Great," Thunder said. "I guess there's nothing holding me back now."
"Nope," said Aurora. "When you can make her yours as soon as you feel ready."
After lunch; Jun entered the main lounge after exploring the ship. She found Edel, Tom, and Thunder sitting at the Round Table. Tom was showing Edel his comic books, introducing her to the world of superheroes. They didn't look up when Jun entered the room.
"So I guess this is why you weren't repulsed by my appearance," Edel said, looking at the pictures of a X Men comic. "If you've seen strange people in these comics."
"Yeah, you kind of reminded me of these Mutants," Tom said. "Some of them are more animal than human, like you are." Edel ran her finger over a picture of Wolverine, with his steely claws extended.
"I can defiantly see that," she said. "And it seems these people aren't accepted by everyone."
"Yeah, sadly," Tom said. "And it's made many Mutants bitter and angry, to the point that they lash out against the regular humans."
"I suppose that would happen," said Edel. She then spotted another comic in the pile. She pulled it out to get a better look, it was The Incredible Hulk. It showed a man transforming into the big green monster. "He looks fun."
"The Hulk?" Tom said. "Yeah, he turns into a monster whenever he gets mad."
"Do you turn into a dragon when you get mad?" Jun asked.
"No," said Edel. "Only when I'm under extreme threat." She looked through the comic, learning the story through the pictures. "Radiation did this to him?"
"Yeah, these comics aren't the most realistic," Tom shrugged. "But they are fun." When Edel finished with the Hulk comic, she then picked up a Superman comic. She looked at Superman on the front, hovering over a big city with his red cape flowing out behind him.
"I like him," Edel said. "Not sure why though. Was he mutated too?"
"No, he fell to Earth and was taken in by Earthly parents," Tom explained. "He soon discovered his powers and decided to use them for good."
"Like Hercules," Edel said.
"Yeah, a lot of todays superheroes are based on ancient mythology," Jun said. "I guess you can consider them modern mythology." She then looked Edel up and down. "Say I wonder what would happen if you met any of these superheroes."
"Well," Edel answered, considering. She pulled the X Men comic back out. "This Wolverine seems very animal like, so he'd probably want to fight me."
"You think you could beat him?" Tom asked.
"Don't know, I've no idea how he fights," Edel said. "I've been wrestling with dragons for many years. It would probably be an even fight."
"What about Hulk?" Jun asked. "He's a lot bigger and more powerful."
"He is big and powerful," Edelweiss agreed. "He could defeat me, if he can catch me. I'd probably be a lot faster then him. Superman doesn't seem like the aggressive type; so he probably wouldn't fight me and just let me go on my way, which I would prefer."
"What if you teamed up with them?" Jun asked.
"If they made me the offer, I would be happy to negotiate," said Edel. "I do have access to nine realms full of dragons that I'm sure any of these superheroes would be very interested in." She patted Thunder's neck, and subtly inhaling his warm scent. Suddenly the ship blasted its horn.
"What's that?" Tom asked.
"That means we're approaching something," Edel said. They closed the comic books and headed through the ship to the second helideck on the bow.
Everyone gathered to see the ship approaching a massive wall of mist. The ship turned slightly to the right. As they got closer a loud roaring could be heard.
"What is that?" Alex asked, looking through a pair of binoculars she'd brought with her.
"That's the official entrance to the Realms," said Edel. "We'll get a better look at it from the air." She mounted Black Widow who'd come out of the bridge. The other riders got on their dragons and flew off the ship towards the mist. They flew over a vast, circular waterfall. Water rushed into it creating the huge clouds of steam. The riders were so amazed by it, they couldn't think of anything to say. Edel landed Black Widow on a large rock on the very edge of the Falls. Soon the others landed next to her.
"How has no one found this thing?" Tom wondered.
"Many humans have found it," said Edel. "Just, so few of them make it back to tell about it. No man made craft can go down there and back in once piece."
"That makes sense," said Alex, looking down into the abyss. "Like the Bermuda Triangle, sucks ships and planes into another dimension."
"Yeah, basically," Edel said.
"Can we see what's in there?" Jun asked. Edel considered, looking around at all the dragons. They spoke to each other in Dragontongue for a few minuets.
"Very well," Edel said. "We'll do a quick fly through. Just please don't get lost." She steered Black Widow into the waterfall and the others followed.
They flew in formation as they entered the Hidden World. Edel and Black Widow led them through the towering pillars of bioluminescent plants and crystals. The different colored glow brought out new colors and patterns in the dragons' scales. Black Widow's scales glowed an eerie red, Thunder's black and white scales now glowed the same purple as his lightening, Wu and Wei now had glowing golden spots, Plowhorn glowed turquoise, Webs glowed aqua green, and Feathers now glowed all the colors of the rainbow. They flew passed wild dragons, how paid them no mind.
"Wow, what an amazing place," Tom said. "It looks even more incredible than the other Realms we've seen."
"I find them all equally amazing," Edel said.
"You've been here many times before," Jun said.
"Many times," Edel confirmed. "It's become a second home to me."
"Do I still have extended family in here?" Thunder asked in Dragontongue.
"Yes," said Black Widow. "I believe Magpie, Black Hawk, and Stormcatcher live with their families in here somewhere. We don't really have the time to look for them today, but we can come back in here on a later date."
"Right," Thunder said, happily.
They took a scenic route back towards the Falls. When they were back outside; the sun was starting to set. The dragons headed back to The Roost, which was well passed the Great Falls. The dragons landed on the forward helideck. They headed into the main lounge, where Serenity and Chris had stayed behind to cook dinner. They all ate at the Round Table, while the dragons went fishing. They talked all about the Hidden World, and the times Hiccup had been in there.
Soon the sky went dark, and the Great Falls was well out of sight. The dragons came back from fishing, and everyone headed for their respective cabins. Edel headed into her cabin, with Thunder right behind her. The Night Light crawled onto the large bed and made himself comfortable. Edel undressed in the pitch darkness. She crawled into bed beside Thunder, and they fell asleep embracing each other.