Ascension - in body, mind or status - can and will change a person. And exactly because of that, it may very well be unwelcome.
Scaled, clawed, finned, four-digit feet struck snow-covered ice, propelled by powerful leg muscles, cracking ever-thinning ice, the deep freeze of winter no longer powerful enough to keep it from melting.
An instant later, it repeated.
Then again.
And again.
And again.
Feet stopped on a slightly upturned piece of ice, an uneven floe, frozen like that. Other feet stopped behind. The ice here was a little stronger, if more uneven.
Before them, on the horizon, an island stood in the frozen sea. They were bloodied, hungry and tired, still bitter after their defeat in the last hunt, at a smaller island to the east, fleeing this danger. Their foe was prepared, not the easy, unaware prey they had hoped for.
Many winged Fireborn circled above.
Powerful, fast, deadly.
Ready to snatch them up and kill.
Yet, they had no other choice. They could tread the solid ground and thick ice. They could tread the open water. But the thin, cracking ice only caught their legs in deadly traps. Many of them had perished like that.
Feet trudged on, leaving a trail in the snow and countless little scraps, and a few cracks in the ice.
Winged Fireborn came for them.
Sweeping above, roaring to keep away.
To chase them away from shelter. From warmth. From prey.
From food.
Feet tensed, muscles coiled, then leapt.
Stingers struck.
Food fell.
The flock ate.
They ate in order.
The Queen first.
Her clutch second.
The mate she had taken this time, third.
Everyone else, according to their tiers, some of which were fought over there and then. Three more fell in fighting, another one from wounds.
Not all were sated. But it was how it always was, and how it always would be.
A black streak hurtled through the air until it screamed, startling them all, even the Queen giving in to fear. They did not try to run though, that would be useless against flying Fireborns. Instead they spread out, so none could be caught in one strike with the others. This kind was very dangerous, even in the rare instances of them being solitary.
But any Fireborn could be killed.
This one wasn't coming low, only screeched at them to get away, but did not fire either. A few glistening things on it were scantily visible from the distance, and the flock's eyes glazed over it with indifference. At their lack of reaction, it flew back to its nest. They sped after it. If a whole nest came out to fight them, here in the open, they would all die. They needed to get into cover. Doubts passed through their minds; even if so, then what? They would just be hunted down slower. However, those were few and far between, and remained silent besides.
The Queen led, and they followed.
The nest came out to defend its territory. But instead of attacking them, they flamed at the ice in a wide crescent. Others moved at the edges. The flock was to be cornered.
The Queen screeched when they started to slow, for them to continue, and went forward still, right towards the centre of the fog-covered crescent.
The flock did not know why, but followed. She was their alpha.
Feet impacted freezing-cold, but clear, iceless water.
Reflexes kicked in, a delicate balance, just the right speed, just the right weight put on each foot.
Some broke the water and fell into the icy depths, thrashing but helpless to save themselves, their bodies not made to swim, the young and the starved.
Strong feet did not.
The flock ran, the water for them like solid ground, then leapt out of the mist and onto the shore, one by one.
The nest screeched in surprise. Wings hit the mist, throwing it back, revealing the last of the flock running over the water.
The Queen's youngest was thrown off balance by a gust of wind, and with a screech plunged headfirst into the water.
The Queen glanced back, her muzzle expressing pain for the briefest of moments, before looking back forward again, now with a snarl crossing it.
It was a Quirk that beat his wings.
He would be killed and his husk left to rot if the Queen got a chance!
Winged Fireborns could not sweep from above now, the trees too dense for all but the smallest ones, but those were of no concern.
So they stuck to the trees, avoiding open spaces, only coming near clearings in the foliage.
Sadly, none of the Fireborn landed in those clearings; they would be easy prey this way.
As it was, they needed to sate themselves with prey, but it was scarce.
From time to time, the nest swept above, but made no more effort to deter them.
Feet came to a stop by a lone, strange wooden cave, its mouth facing a clearing, alike to those made by humans, but with a nesting dragoness and her fledglings visible through it inside.
The prey snapped to attention and leapt outside, blocking the entrance with her body.
Feet charged, swerving this way and that, avoiding incoming gouts of flame and cornering their prey even further.
Stings struck.
The ones still hungry opened their teethed maws, eager to feast.
A screech came from the skies, and right after it, a purple bolt and a deafening explosion.
The flock swayed on their feet, shook their heads, and when the smoke cleared, spotted the attacker. Black, sleek, snarling, and spreading his wings to cover the nest behind him. The things on him were more visible now, but they paid no heed. The human on his back was of little importance too.
The Queen growled eagerly.
Revenge was so close!
They tried charging again, but this time, not only did they not have time to speed up, but the flames were also far more accurate, striking three of their own before anyone even reached the Quirk, and even then, he was fast, faster than any dragon but themselves. Knocking several of them away, striking with broad and powerful wings and a muscled tail, biting down on the base of the sting of one of the flock.
It wouldn't last long, of course.
The Queen made double sure of that by leaping onto the wooden cave and then down on Quirk, and, in a spurt of a moment, grabbed the human from his back, claws on her feet slicing through the bindings connecting them both, and then leaping away.
Quirk's head immediately snapped towards her, or rather, the human pinned beneath her foot and groaning, with worry.
Purposefully, maliciously, she bit down on the human in her maw.
Green eyes narrowed to complete slits in terror.
Then a fierce snarl crossed his face and a roar came out of his mouth, loud, prolonged, deafening.
Directed at her.
That was a challenge.
The flock stopped in their doings, the ones speeding up through the forest to attack better stopping at the edge of the clearing, the ones preparing another assault from closer on staying where they stood, only heads snaking towards the action.
The Queen and the challenger glared at each other, the challenger began circling, she too, letting the human fall from her jaws as she did so.
There was a tinge of relief in the challenger's eyes, but his guard was up, and they continued circling.
Perfect.
The challenger came near the human, never breaking eye contact, making an inquisitive and worried croon to him while still holding her gaze and slowly circling.
The human whined in pain.
The challenger looked down.
The Queen leapt with her sting forward and maw open.
However, as smart as she was, she hadn't accounted for her opponent being just as smart.
The challenger took a step forward, extended his wing, which she careened right into, using it to change trajectory, flipped head over tail, onto the ground.
With a snap, teeth came out of the challenger's maw, simultaneously said maw was thrust towards her neck, gums bare for her to see for a split-second before her neck was crushed, and the spark of life left her eyes.
The flock was frozen.
The Queen was dead.
Killed by the challenger.
The flock bowed to their new Alpha, high tiers putting one foot forward and lowering both their heads and tails, how low depending on their status, the lower tiers, and the dead Queen's offspring, laying themselves in the lowest of bows, on their stomachs, with feet in the air, a tail wrapped around them, a sting between them, a head perpendicular to the ground, with the nose shoved into it.
Toothless cared little, and looked little, at the Stings' or Speed Stingers' doings; they weren't attacking, and that was what mattered.
His focus was on Hiccup. Hurt and groaning Hiccup, who cried out in pain. Toothless very gently, and carefully, licked and then picked the sobbing, bloodied Hiccup up, helping him onto his back where he lay down fully, and then he trod towards the village.
The Speed Stingers moved on after him. He looked at them warily, and they averted their gazes and lowered their heads. Toothless stopped and squinted suspiciously at the nearest one. It fell into a bow. *Alpha.*
Alpha. Toothless blinked, shook his head and moved towards the nearest field, the flock following after him tentatively. It was a pond of eels; he had no time for that now. Hiccup needed help.
Upon arriving at the edge of the forest, opening onto the field with green lumps. Likely cabbage. Irrelevant. Toothless formed and sent a blast into the air, drawing the attention of the dragons patrolling over the forest. Several of them snapped towards the sound and touched down. Two dozen Speed Stingers fidgeted anxiously upon seeing the dragons advance but didn't move, only tensing as if to fight.
Easy.* Toothless growled out, and they crouched submissively instead. He jerked at that, but the coming dragons were far more important. He handed Hiccup to Kingstail with a pointed glare. "Take him straight to the healer."
Affirmation was swift, and the dragon took flight even more switftly. Toothless followed him with worry in his gaze for a while, before the issue with the Speed-Stingers became impossible to ignore.
A-alpha, your orders?* The Night Fury blinked, then looked at the Speed Stinger weirdly. She bowed at his gaze, and he noticed the others were still crouching and averting their gazes. Damn. He felt a little guilty about that.
Easy, you did nothing wrong.* It was the Queen's daughter, easy to recognize from scent, and the lack of disdain for being his rival's offspring alone bewildered her. Toothless felt an urge to explain it, to tell her it didn't matter and that it was a senseless preconception besides, but he got no time now.
What to do now? Toothless was a bit lost, looking over the flock that he had just become… Alpha of. Eww.
Then he realised that many of them were thin, really thin, and it couldn't be more obvious what he should do.
There's food in the human nest.* They didn't budge, only blinking. The newly-appointed Alpha sighed. *Follow.* And he sprung to a sprint, the flock following.
He had a feeling about this. And it was not pleasant.
He was so close. And he wept at the lost opportunity. If he had just realised what was happening, he could have…done something, anything! Maybe gotten closer to one of the Blitz Night Furies, maybe signalled them subtly…
But as it was, the human was holding a shining claw to either Skyler's eye or throat whenever he could, and if the Quirk started struggling when his hand went weary, it found its way there swiftly enough to make any attempts suicidal. Skyler couldn't even quickly crash him against rocks, as the human always yanked the dragon away by the bridle from nearby mountains.
As he flew, the sky turned bright then dark again and he felt as if his wings would fall off at any moment, alongside his tail and both sets of fins, but slacking didn't even result in being bitten by the dead snake — only a claw against his eye or throat, a silent threat of death.
How ironic that he wouldn't have had an issue with that a while ago! But now, with freedom being so close, assured even, with Moonlight's claims of seeing Blackhearts from a great distance, he just had to carry on a bit longer.
His h just had to fall from exhaustion before he did.
Which was problematic, because Skyler was the one doing all the effort.
But he couldn't just surrender. Not with freedom so tantalisingly close. He could get a full life again, so much to see, to experience. He couldn't just forgo it all in a spurt of a moment.
In an instant, everything changed.
One moment, he was flying, subdued, his hopes waning.
The next, he was tumbling down, shoved by a sudden and immensely powerful gust of wind.
In yet another one, before he had time to even start to panic, he was gripped and held aloft by a Night Fury dragoness with an elaborate pattern, as if he weighed nothing.
He made a grateful yet inquisitive noise, and she looked at him empathetically and purred.
Greetings, I would have removed all those bonds already, but I suppose you would prefer to do it yourself. Just let me help you with this one.*
With that, she slashed at his cruel hard head-bind. Skyler startled, but the only thing hit was the head-bind itself; he was completely unscathed, despite the contraption falling down in pieces, cut precisely in critical points.
Further down the line than the contraption, he noticed, were the bloodied remnants of a human, even the shining claw broken in pieces.
How could this dragoness be so fast, to so thoroughly mutilate the human and his things, yet for it to happen in pretty much an instant?
He didn't get time to think on it, as she spoke gently: *I will take you to my nest, you have been through a lot, you need help, and I will gladly provide it. Everything will be alright now.*
It was all he cared to hear now. He muttered half-intelligible thanks, closed his eyes and exhaled slowly with immense relief, then laughed, long and happy, only encouraged by the thrumming purring from above.
Before he knew it, they touched down. Skyler reluctantly blinked his eyes open, apparently having fallen asleep on the way, only to see them entering a cavern. It extended to the left, though not forward, and he needed a while to comprehend what was at its end — rather, that there was something out of the ordinary, since he had no idea what it actually was.
It looked like a maw, but without the tongue, and separated from the rest of the body, even the head. Simultaneously, it wasn't looking mangled in any way and was bigger than him. His saviour carried him over there, slowing down to let him see it clearly, before lifting him with one paw, somehow balancing his whole body on it perfectly, and lowered him inside.
What… is this?* he asked, even against exhaustion curious of the thing, rubbing his forepaw against a material unlike any he had ever touched.
It will help you relax.* She nuzzled his shoulder tenderly, which took him a little off guard. Hadn't they just met? *It's amazing at that. You won't find anything more comfortable anywhere at all. It's a gift from Starborn, after all.*
Starborn?* he asked, doing his best to stay awake, but slipping into unconsciousness nonetheless.
She nodded — a human gesture, his mind noted — before the relaxing thing closed around him, embracing him completely from the tip of his tail fins up to his eyes, the lower part extending past his chin. And with all the stress and tension evaporating in an instant of bliss, he could stay awake no longer.
Valka smiled as she looked at the exhausted Quirk; he was sweet, inquisitive, unbound by hierarchy, just like her celestial master intended.
Fleetingly, she considered keeping him as a pet, after all, other Fireborns were so far below Zenith, as an ant was below a human, and they could only be an amusement to higher beings. But no. By her master's design and behalf but not his own action, unbound by the limits of his own Heart of Creation but nothing more than carriers of his will, the temporary Fireborn design would ascend all Quirks to Zenith.
And with their ascension, the world will yet again become a truly blessed domain, fully under their power, design, and command.
It's a little shorter than normal, but that's because of the style I used in the first chunk, as you all no doubt had seen.