Guys, I'm finally back! You may in fact be less happy to see me that I am to write again, because due to the fact that I was logged in by facebook to webnovel, after the new meta subscription update (on Facebook), this log in option no longer worked for me, so I nearly lost this account, because I couldn't log in.
Fortunately, I was logged in on an old Phone of mine that didn't have this update yet, so after realizing this, I was able to enter my account through this Phone and bind my e-mail to my account. And so, I'm now back!
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I dashed through the forest with the grace of a shadow. There was no need or reason for me to fly since neither did Astrid and I was following her scent.
'Why would she even go out like this...? Never mind that, I had to be faster. She is done for, if they find her first.' With this in mind I accelerated again, pushing all my thought to the back of my head.
Not my smartest choise, in hindsight. Every moment of the chase stirring my emotions and increasingly chaotic thoughts. 'Find Astrid. Her scent... She didn't go that far.'
I was quite familiar with this feeling, as I experienced it many times in my life as a dragon. It was the thrill of the hunt. The excitement and satisfaction it normally brings, made me happily accept it without much thought. 'She smells nice. She is close.'
This was my oversight.
As I sped through the forest, jumping between trees and dodging rock formations, the familiar feeling of obsession slowly overtook me.
What I failed to notice, was that my rage from before never faded. Making my actions more aggressive and feral.
Something I didn't notice under the shroud of disorderly thoughts buried in the back of my mind.
The clearer the scent grew, the bigger was my excitement. At some point, I realized that there were no more animals in sight - they likely run away sensing the danger I possed. Not that they left, they were all just hiding in any nooks and crannies they could find, I could still hear them breathing.
A quick thought passed through my head upon noticing that, but it was nothing more than a momentary curiosity. Afterall, I was already way to deep in my bubbling emotions.
It felt so satisfying. The absolute flood of dopamine waterlogged my brain, underlined by this voice in the back of my head that I absolutely must taste this quarry.
This was my first time actually hunting something. The fish from the lake or sea are tasty, but... the THRILL I felt while actually tracking my prey and not just jumping at a clueless piece of meat.
The feeling of accomplishment accompanying every increase in the intensity of her smell in the air. It meant I was getting closer. And every time I did, the chance of me losing the smell and having to stop went down, making the experience all the more complete.
With every jump, step or glide, my thoughts shifted to the foggy back of my head and over time only the goal of the hunt remained, outlined by my still brewing rage... I was getting very close. I haven't lost her scent for a while now. Actually, it's getting very clear now and at some point...
I heard steps... Not just any, human steps... 'Found you!'
POV: Astrid
The forest was nice and quiet with some sporadic chirping of birds, along with the rustle of the trees in the everpresent wind on this island. 'It's such a nice place to relax.'
In this quiet environment, I found myself thinking back to our last mission with Hiccup and the rest. We found out about this mysterious island while tracking down remnants of Drago's forces.
Unfortunately, the only thing we know about this place is that Drago was really desperate to find it, but he had little to no clues. There is this rough map of the island itself along with this weird text or we hope it's text of some sort.
After all, we spent this whole winter looking for someone that can read it. 'Oh, right. I was supposed to ask Zoya to rea-.'
I didn't finish my thought, as I felt every muscle in my body tremble from the cold call of Hellheim. By some absolute miracle from Heimdal himself, I ducked behind a nearby tree, just fast enough to see a black claw fly past my eye.
In the weird mix of dread, at having just dodged death, and hope, seeing who was the one to jump me, the only thing I could think was: 'Zoya?'. I didn't even notice a small trickle of some warm liquid dripping from my brow and down my cheek.
POV: Zoya
I was still slightly dazed, standing in front of frozen stiff Astrid. My mind just waking up from its trance, shaken by the familiar smell, that I took a second to figure out what signified. 'Blood?'
'Why do I smell-...' That's when I noticed a red trickle on the right side of Astrids face. My memories and senses were coming back to me fast, but I still couldn't help, but lick the claw, that scratched her, clean of delicious blood. 'Wait, NO! No delicious blood!'
While I was having another internal crisis over my newfound tendencies, I still caught the backstep Astrid took after I licked her blood. 'I will think about it later, I need to take care of her, now. This is going to breed too many misunderstandings, if I don't clear this up quickly.'
"Sorry. Are you alright?" I wrote on the ground. It was a bit insensitive on my part to pretend like I didn't just try to eat her, but writing is a pain and I had no better idea for a short message that can fix this mood.
I was already getting nervous after she didn't answer for a good minute, but when she finally did, her face was a little strange. 'Understandable, at least it's not a panic attack.' "Nice to see you, Zoya, but... what was that about?" She said while touching her bloodstained cheek with two of her fingers.
"Sorry." That's all I could think to write at the moment and lowered my head.
"What was that even about?" She pressed, finally taking a step towards me.
"Sorry." I was still just stuck. Ashamed of my lack of control? Yes, but also just awkward and confused how to feel about all this, since I was technically saving her from knowing too much.
"You are not going to say anything at all?" Astrid was now getting a little irritated. She looked at me sternly for a few seconds, until she just gave up with a sigh. "What am I to even think about you, now? I felt somewhat safe to trust you before, because of how similar to Toothless you act in some ways, but..."
'She sounded... pained... maybe betrayed, but why... Oh. Ooh... I messed up more than I thought.' I started to fidget a bit, but in the end still decided to write. "I went overboard, because I have to watch you."
Astrid furrowed her brows at me and asked, slowly as if unsure about her own words. "Why?" The one question that I didn't want to hear.
'Ah, let it burn. She already knows too much to just cover it with ashes.' I looked her in the eyes and fortunately she was still calm or at least tried to be. "You are not supposed to be here or know why you are not supposed to."
"..." There was a deep silence, even the forest still was, as Astrid thought about what I wrote. Time passed, but I didn't hurry her.
"Fine." She started slowly, but well... There was a but. "However, I want you to do one thing for me or answer some of my questions, if you can't do it."
I didn't exactly like her answer, but... 'I think it's still salvageable.' "Ok, I can try." 'Let's hope it goes well. I really don't want to silence her, but regardless of why exactly, her life is less important than this whole place, regardless of how much I might like her.'