Somewhere in Norwegian seas, in the wild ocean northwest of the mainland, there was an island called Isle of Berk. It was twelve days north of Hopeless, and few degrees south of Freezing to Death; located in the Meridian of Misery, Barbaric Archipelago. In the island, as the name suggests, there was a village called Berk.
Berk homes a Viking tribe – the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. Most people at Berk work by fishing and hunting, and sometimes trade with other fellow tribes elsewhere. It had been their home for seven generations. Interesting enough, despite living there for generations, every single building there was new. This was mostly because of their pests.
While most other places have mice and mosquitos, they have dragons.
Flying, fire breathing lizards would sometimes come and raid their supplies and livestock. They were common pests that lives around the entire archipelago. Most people would not stay for too long, as dragons were dangerous to begin with, and having them stealing livestock meant that they couldn't live in peace. But not Vikings. They have stubbornness issue.
But going back to the island, the story started with a 7-year-old child named Hiccup in the village of Berk.
Hiccup was the son of Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. While most child of his age was tall and strong, Hiccup was thin and short. He was a boy that most in the village would call scrawny.
The young boy had bell-shaped auburn hair, parting to his right. He had freckles on his face, with dull, green eyes. He was wearing his light-green, woollen tunic and equally green pants. He wore brown boots, with the ankle wrapped in furs.
He was staring at his father, Stoick the Vast. He was a big man with green eyes, red hair, and beard. The man was wearing a large fur cloak over his shoulder, and dark green cloth that goes from his shoulder to the knee.
Next to him was his father's best friend and the blacksmith, Gobber the Belch. The man was a very talented blacksmith. He was big and muscular. Bald, with long braided blond moustache. He wore a tunic made of fur and cloth, and a helmet with yak horns.
They were standing in front of a building made of wood and stone. The surrounding houses were commonly made of wood. This building was the forge, a place where Vikings made tools and weapons. The sky was clear blue, yet dim with some orange on the horizon, meaning that it was early in the morning.
"Hiccup." The chief spoke to his son. "You will be working with Gobber in the forge."
The young boy slowly nodded. Stoick continued to speak to him. "You need bulking up. Hopefully, you can be more than…" He gestured to his son. "… this."
"You just gestured to all of me." Hiccup pointed out.
Gobber took a step forward to him. "Don't ye worry Hiccup." He spoke as he crouched to his eye level. "You'll be fine. Carrying and smashing those axes would put muscles in ye in no time!"
"I'll be going." Stoick spoke, looking at his best friend. "Best of luck with him."
"Aye."
The chief looked at his son. They stared at each other for a moment. They both pondered on what to say. Hiccup was confused by his father's decision to make him work in the forge with the blacksmith. After some time, Stoick looked away. He walked down into the village, leaving them.
"Right." Gobber muttered. He stood up from the ground. "Let's head to the forge. I'll tell you the tools."
The forge was full of tools and weaponry. There were contraptions of various kinds, ranging from flaming furnaces to grindstones. Gobber and Hiccup were there. The man had been explaining the tools of blacksmithing.
"-hit with the hammer, and make sure it was back straight again." Gobber lectured to the young boy. "If the sword was too bent, just dump it to the furnace and we'll forge a new sword."
Hiccup nodded. He was eager to learn!
"Now, I believe in working on the job." Gobber proudly spoke. "Ye best learn how to do it when you're doing it. You'll start with the furnace. I've sorted out all the ones ye need to melt down."
The young boy looked at the corner of the forge. There was an array of broken weapons. From axes, swords, hatchets, most of them were chipped beyond repair, or bent to unrecognizable shape.
Hiccup picked up a hatchet from the pile. The blacksmith lectured. "Remember to take off the handles first. Ye don't want to burn them."
Reminded on how to do it, Hiccup did as he was told. He detached the handle from the head and placed it away to a batch of handles next to the pile. The young boy place it down into the hole in the middle of the large furnace.
As he did, he accidentally touched the hot stone.
"Ow!" Hiccup hissed. He dropped the metal and immediately pulled back.
"Ye just drop it in." Gobber explained. "No need to be gentle about it."
Hiccup picked up the next tool – an axe. He detached the handle and dropped the head into the furnace. The heat from the forge made him sweat. He still burned himself sometimes, as he kept accidentally touching the hot stone.
Gobber had moved on to work on other things in the forge. He had gone to the anvil and began hammering a sword to straighten it out. The loud, ringing noise made Hiccup anxious about his place in the forge. It was something he needed to get himself used to.
After some time, the young boy had finished his work. He looked out to the window and noticed that the sky was pale and cloudy, with some orange at the other side of the horizon. It was evening.
He turned to look at Gobber, who were busy hammering an axe. "Gobber?"
"Aye lad?"
"I'm done."
Gobber looked back to see him. He noticed that there was no more tools or weapons on the pile. Instead, he saw a large pile of handles. "Ye did a good job!"
Hiccup beamed at the praise. His father never praised him before!
"Now, the furnace fire needs more heat." Gobber instructed. "Throw some firewood in there." He pointed at the flaming hole under the furnace. "I'll get the air moving."
Gobber moved towards a wedge-shaped pump attached right next to the furnace. He pressed his foot down to it. It hissed and deflated, and when he lifted his foot, it inflated by itself. The fire in the furnace began to glow brighter.
Hiccup went to the stack of firewood close to the furnace. He picked up one of them, somewhat struggling to lift them up. He came close to the fire and saw some charcoal and wood inside. There were a lot more charcoal than wood.
Hiccup was not sure on how to place the firewood. He was told to avoid touching the giant hot stone bowl by throwing the metal in. Surely, it would work with firewood as well. With those thoughts, Hiccup threw the firewood in.
That proved to be a mistake. Right after it went in, the firewood crashed and sent charcoal right to his face. Some hot pieces of firewood that were there bumped with the new ones and suddenly thrown out of the furnace, right towards Hiccup.
"Hiccup!" Gobber shouted. He moved to check on the boy.
The young boy was coughing. His body was charred and full of burn marks. The blacksmith immediately moved him far from the furnace. He made sure the hot charcoal did not stick on his skin.
"Hiccup, ye don't throw firewood like that." Gobber scolded. "You just put it in. Didn't Stoick told ye how to use the fireplace?"
Hiccup's father never taught him how to use the fireplace. The young boy felt sad that he did it wrong. Looking up to the blacksmith, he apologised. "I'm sorry."
The blacksmith let out a sigh. "Well, it's a lesson for ye." He shrugged. "Get yourself to Gothi. You're done for the day."
Hiccup slowly walked out from the forge. He looked around, remembering the path heading to the elder that could help him. After some time, he started walking alongside the edge of the forest.
"Hey!"
Hiccup stopped. He turned to look at the source of the shout. It was coming from the village side. There, he saw several young kids walking towards him. Most of them were relatively around his age.
He recognised them.
The first one at the front was Snotlout Jorgenson. He was a tough looking boy, wearing a brown tunic tucked in his pants. He was wearing similar shoes as him. He looked arrogant, and his blue eyes showed his arrogance.
He was also Hiccup's cousin.
The second and third ones walking next to him was Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorson. They were both twins, boy and girl. They were wearing dark blue tunics. The boy – Tuffnut – wore grey-blue pants, while the girl – Ruffnut – wore a mini skirt. Both were also wearing similar shoes as him. Their blue eyes were mischievous, and their expression reflected this intention.
The fourth child was a boy. He was Fishlegs Ingerman. He was a somewhat large kid, having the largest body out of all of them. He was wearing a simple brown tunic and pants. He looked gentle, and not much of a fighter.
The last one was a petite, blonde young girl named Astrid Hofferson. She wore a sleeveless shirt with varying colours on it, along with a dark brown skirt. She also wore similar shoes as him.
All of them came to him. Snotlout was the first one to speak. "Look, it's Hiccup!"
"What's with all the blackness on your face?" Tuffnut asked, disgusted.
"I…" Hiccup hesitantly spoke. They had been tormenting him before. "… helped Gobber in the forge."
"Whoa." Tuffnut was awed. "Did you get any scars?"
"I always want some scars." Ruffnut spoke, awed as well.
"You burned yourself?" Astrid asked, disgusted by his appearance.
Hiccup slowly nodded. "I- well, it was my first day and-"
Snotlout scoffed, interrupting him. "You burned yourself?" He rudely spoke. "I bet you don't even help him! You're useless!"
"What?" Hiccup gasped. "No! I-"
"Hiccup the Useless!" Snotlout declared, shutting him up. "That should be your name. You got yourself burned in the forge. Nobody burned himself in the forge!"
"No!" Hiccup angrily stomped his feet. Tears escaped his eyes. "That's not my name! The others won't hear it."
"They'll hear me!" The arrogant boy smirked. "You're Hiccup the Useless now!"
The son of chief clenched his fists. "No, I'm not!"
Snotlout suddenly went and punched Hiccup in the face. The young boy yelped and fell to his rear. It was not the first time Snotlout had punched him before.
"Useless!" Snotlout shouted. He laughed at his face.
"Don't hit him, Snotlout." Astrid warned.
Hiccup looked at her with hopeful stare.
"You don't want the chief to be angry." The petite girl warned Snotlout.
That killed any hope he had on her. He could not take it anymore. The young boy got up to his feet and dashed into the forest. He kept running, despite the other kids calling out for him.
Hiccup did not know how long he had been running into the forest.
The young boy often went to the forest. It was his place of solitude from his father and the village. There were times where he could not take the insults and jeers anymore, and he would wander around the forest to calm himself down.
This time, however, he had gone too deep into the forest. He did not notice this, as this part of the forest was never really explored by other Vikings at Berk.
He only realised this when he slowed down to see where he was.
'Where am I?' Hiccup wondered. He had never been to that part of the forest before. The whole place was cold and foggy. He internally cursed himself. Why did he run away like that? Now he was lost inside the forest, still injured from the forge. He could feel the wind breezing over the burn wounds on his body.
Hiccup thought that Snotlout was right. He was Hiccup the Useless.
The young boy looked around to see where he was. He saw a cave not far from there. However, one thing to note was that he could see some lights coming out of the cave. He was curious.
He walked towards the cave. Seeing there was nothing at the entrance, he moved to enter the cave.
Hiccup wondered if he had gotten lost in the cave.
It was a strange cave. When he got far enough into the cave and tried to go back, he found himself staring at a wall. He remembered that there were no branching path, so how did it come to a dead end there?
Hiccup was not stupid. While he was weak and small, he had his brilliant mind to make up for it. The young boy knew that it was unusual for the wall to be there. It was not supposed to be there, especially since there was no other way around but to go forward.
Seeing no alternative, the young boy moved to the opposite direction, heading deeper into the cave. He would probably find a way out if he went deep enough.
Hiccup stopped when he saw different cave appearance in front of him. It was angled to the side, with green lights shining from the corner. The young boy had not gotten that deeper yet, and he remembered looking down that path before. It was meant to be a straight, somewhat curved path. It was now a path that went to the left.
Hiccup moved to see what the light was all about. Entering the place, he gasped.
It was a beautiful, massive cave clearing. There were a lot of green crystals around the cave, and it was illuminating the place. There was a large cave hole as well, leading down to a much, much larger and darker cave chamber.
Hiccup saw the hole, but he was more fascinated by the crystals. He slowly walked towards the centre of the cave, awed by the surroundings. It was something that he had never seen before.
Was he in Valhalla? Did he died without him knowing?
Suddenly, he heard a growl. The young boy stopped. He looked at the centre of the cave. There, at the centre of the cave, he saw a dragon.
It was a quadruped, medium-sized dragon. The dragon had pitch-black scales, with a pair of wings. It had a long tail, with two tail fins at the end. There was also another tail fin at the back of his body, right at the rear. It had sharp claws on its paws. It did not have any horns or spikes on its body.
The head was strikingly surprising. It had a pair of large, yellowish green, cat-like eyes. There were appendages on its head, with two large ones that look like ears. The snout of the dragon reminded Hiccup of a cat.
The dragon was growling at him. Hiccup froze. He had never seen that kind of dragon before. It took him a while to realise that he was alone in a room with a dragon!
Suddenly, the ground on the cave clearing lit up with strange symbols. Hiccup and the dragon looked around, surprised by this occurrence. They tried to run away to opposite direction, but found themselves unable to, as they suddenly floated up into the air.
Both dragon and human struggled. Hiccup made eye contact with the dragon. He looked just as scared as he was. They both did not know what was going on.
Suddenly, Hiccup felt his body disintegrating. Looking down at his feet, he saw it dissolve into blue mist of lights. He struggled and moved, but he could not feel them anymore. It was painless, but it still made him panic!
He looked at the dragon and saw it disintegrating as well, starting from the tail and feet, dissolving into red mist of lights. The dragon was trashing around, trying to release itself from whatever was bounding them. The dragon shot a blast into the air. The flame was bright purple, and the blast did nothing to the ceiling.
Hiccup recognised the blast. He recognised it during dragon raids years ago. The dragon was a Night Fury!
The crystals around them were also disintegrating. They turned into green mist of lights. Hiccup closed his eyes. His torso and head were all that was left. He did not know what was going on, but he hoped that he went to Valhalla.
The boy, the dragon and the crystals completely disintegrated into mists of lights. Then, it began circling around the cave clearing, mixing and dancing together in a beautiful light show. It slowly turned from colourful mists into pure, white mist.
The white mist of light gathered at the centre of the cave. It turned into a large, solid ball of white light. After some time, it began to mould and form into the shape of a certain dragon. It took some time. When that was done, the light abruptly stopped, revealing an unconscious Night Fury.
This Night Fury looked different. It looked significantly stronger than before, with tougher scales on its body. It was vaguely bigger than the previous Night Fury. It was surrounded by dark green mist and electricity, before it dispersed into nothingness.
Hiccup stirred and groaned. He felt pounding headache as he got up from the sleep. He stretched his body and yawned. He stretched his ruffled wings, trying to get a feeling of his body back. His body really ached.
Hiccup froze. He felt bigger, powerful and quadruped. He realised that was not his body, but somehow it felt right to him. He noticed that he could clearly see the pitch-black darkness in the cave clearing. He could hear drops of water and echo from the cave that he sworn he never heard before when exploring the cave. He smelled things that he previously never smelled before.
He looked around and checked his body. His eyes went wide in shock when he saw paws where it was supposed to be hands. He looked back and saw wings, tails and pitch-black scales of his body. He moved his tail closer and touched it, feeling that it was real.
Then, realisation hit him.
He just turned into a Night Fury!
"AAAAAHHH!" Hiccup screamed in shock. His scream came out as a high-pitched screech. He immediately closed his ears as his scream echoed throughout the cave. His hearings were far more sensitive than before.
Hiccup was hyperventilating. The boy turned dragon looked around for the other Night Fury he saw. There were no signs of it anywhere. Did the dragon run away? Did it transform him into a Night Fury?
Hiccup felt ringing in his ears. His head throbbed as headache began to form. He collapsed and clutched his head. Suddenly, rush of memories flow into him. Images flashed in his eyes, as he saw things that was not of his own.
He remembered himself hatching from an egg, alone. He saw himself flying, soaring in the sky. He remembered fighting against dragons, attacking and defending himself from them. He remembered discovering new things about himself, gaining experience to fight and flight in the sky. He remembered being threatened by a giant dragon in the nest.
He remembered flying on top of a village, being raided by dragons. He saw himself diving and blowing up catapults. He remembered entering a cave right before starting dragon raid and unable to escape for years. Then, he remembered seeing himself, surprised to see anyone else in the cave other than him.
Then, there was the lights, and the memories ended there.
Hiccup whined and groaned. He shook his head, trying to clear out the headache. It did, somewhat. The headache was getting fainter and fainter.
Was he Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, son of the Chief of Hairy Hooligan Tribe?
Was he Night Fury, the legendary, undefeated and unrivalled dragon that ruled the sky?
The boy turned dragon shook his head once more. Those memories had changed his thoughts. His head was much clearer than before, clearer than he remembered. He thoughts were far more mature than before. He was having an identity crisis over himself.
All those memories were his, but some of them were not?
What was going on?
Hiccup calmed himself down. He needed to figure out what happened. He remembered the light show from both sets of memories. Looking around, there was no sign or sight of any of it. He remembered the place, but all the crystals and markings on the floor was gone.
It was as if it never happened.
Hiccup paused. The two sets of memories were blending in his mind. He was Hiccup Haddock, but at the same time, he was also the Night Fury – the Dark Chaser, as dragons described him. Hiccup decided that Hiccup Haddock was his real name, as his dragon side did not have any name at all.
It was at that thought Hiccup realised what happened to him.
He had become one with the Night Fury.
Hiccup moaned in pain. How was that possible?! His thoughts were still all his own! Was it because dragons were mindless creature that his mind was the only one there? He remembered some conversations with other dragons, and while they were not really that smart, they were not completely mindless. They were not mindless creatures!
How was he supposed to go back to the village now?
Hiccup remembered something far more important. The dragon was looking for a way out too! The cave way where he came from was not supposed to be there. It was supposed to be a blank wall, at least, according to his dragon memories. The other, larger cave way was where he came from when he was a dragon.
The boy turned dragon shook his head. It was confusing to refer to the dragon when he was the dragon.
Hiccup looked back to the cave way where he came as a human. It was blank. There was nothing there. He approached to feel them to confirm it. It was just a solid wall, with no trickery whatsoever. It was why he was surprised when he saw himself in the cave.
He picked the area as his resting place because there was only one way in and out.
The boy turned dragon shook his head. He had to differentiate himself between the human and the dragon. Both were him.
He turned and went to the larger cave way. Exiting the clearing, the cave way was short. It led him straight into another, massive, enclosed cave chasm.
The chasm was pitch black. That was expected. From what Hiccup observed, there was a sea inside the cave. It looked isolated, but strange enough, it was full of fishes. There were even trees, grass and animals on the surface of the chasm. The ceiling was so high, he could fly up and manoeuvre around. It was as if the whole chasm was its own little world.
It struck Hiccup odd that there were animals there. There were no dragons around, just common animals like sheep, cattle or yak. Where did they come from?
Hiccup suddenly felt hungry. He had been ignoring his body condition because he was busy figuring out what happened to him. Deciding to eat, he flew up into the sky to search for food.
The newly transformed dragon looked down at the sea. It looked like a small ocean from up there, inside the chasm. He saw a school of fishes. Licking his lips, he dove down and tightened his wings. He fired a plasma blast, killing the fishes.
He pulled up and circled around. There were a lot of dead fishes on the surface. He dove down once more and scooped a large portion of fishes with his mouth. The dragon immediately gulped down the fishes.
He dove down to eat some more, before feeling somewhat satisfied. He needed something bigger, because he still felt hungry. He looked around for a target, looking for some food on the surface. There was a group of sleeping cattle not far from him.
Hiccup silently dove down and grabbed one of the cattle. He used his momentum to crush its head. Then, he immediately took off into the air. The other cattle were still asleep, completely unaware that one of their own had been killed and taken from the herd.
He flew to the shore and landed there. He dropped the cattle and began tearing into the dead animal, eating it. As he ate, he tried to remember his places to live.
The Night Fury before the light show was serving a giant, red dragon that the dragons called the Queen. She was the main reason why dragons raid villages. There were also other nests that raid villages, but none were so extreme as the Queen.
He was somewhat of an outcast among other dragons. The dragons feared him for his skills and abilities. They avoided him to not earn his ire, as he could easily dispatch them without any effort at all. The reason why the Night Fury served the Queen was because he was promised of finding another one of his kind.
Hiccup lived at Berk. He grew up there with his father. He was often neglected by his own father simply because he was often busy with his chiefly duty. When he did have time, he refused to listen to him. The village did not really like him, as he was small and weak as a Viking and son of the chief.
That part should not be a problem. He was a dragon now.
He chuckled at that mental image. The boy turned dragon looked down at his prey. He had stripped the carcass of its meat. He was really that hungry, but now he was full. Deciding to wash himself, he pranced to the water and entered the sea.
It was warm and comforting. The still water soothed his aching body. He did not know how much his body ached until he slowly went into the water. It cleaned the cattle blood from his body, and he relaxed himself in the water.
He stayed there for a while, enjoying the comfort. He did not know how long he stayed there, but it was very much comforting. It cleared his mind and soul, freeing him from brain fog. He felt blessed to have such lake inside the cave.
His mind wandered to a knowledge that he was sure was never there before. He suddenly felt like he knew- no, he suddenly knew how to heal with dragon magic. Delving deeper to remember what dragon magic was, he knew it was a power that only he had. How did he know? He did not know. He knew it was a fact.
He was not injured in any way, but he wondered where that knowledge came from. It would probably have been more useful when he was injured.
Thinking about injuries suddenly made him felt homesick. He missed his village. He missed staring up to the sky. The dragon had been trapped in the cave for years, and the feeling of loneliness were indescribable. It had transferred to him, and it made him felt incredibly alone.
He was trapped for years.
It was his first time entering the Isle of Berk, scouting for supplies to see any benefits of raiding them.
Hiccup went out of the water and looked around the place. The Night Fury had searched the place for an exit before. There were several tight cave meanders that could possibly lead to another part of the cave. Animals sometime came through there, as well as fishes and water.
However, he could not fit through any of them as a dragon.
The Night Fury did not dare to blow it up, because the last time he tried to do that, it almost got him killed. There were sensitive spikes on top of it that would collapse the whole cave meanders if he blew it up.
He flew up into the air and headed towards the corner of the chasm. Spotting where the Night Fury had previously found one of the cave meanders, he flew and landed there.
The cave meanders were still there. It had some lights coming from the other side. Hiccup tried to enter, but it was too small. He did not want to risk trapping himself by squeezing into it. He whined as he collapsed down on the grass.
It was too small for him to go through. He could see himself as a human squeezing in there. He was small enough to do that if he were a human.
Not only he was a dragon, but he was also a dragon that was trapped inside a massive cave, and he could have had escaped if he were a human.
He wished- no, he wanted to be human.
Suddenly, as if fate answered him, he suddenly felt his body shifted. He looked at his paw and found himself becoming semi-translucent. In just a second, he suddenly saw human hands, and his body turned solid once more.
Amazed, he looked around his body. He was standing in two legs, wearing the same clothes that he came in with! He was human again!
Ecstatic at the possibility of escaping, he immediately moved and entered the cave meanders. He squeezed himself there. Thankfully, there was enough room for his smaller self.
For once in his lifetime, he was glad that he was small and thin.
Hiccup gasped when he exited the cave meanders.
It was a massive cave clearing, with a long, equally massive vertical exit on the rooftop that goes up into the sky. It was already night-time there, meaning that Hiccup had been there for hours!
The boy looked around to see if there was anything he could use to get up there. While looking around, he noticed that he still had the keen eyesight that he had as a dragon. He could still hear a lot of things around him.
He did smell fresh air from there, which was a significant improvement after being trapped for so long.
Hiccup thought more about it. There was no way for him to go up there by himself. It was unreasonable to think that it was possible for him to do so, at least without help from above. If only he was a dragon again.
That made him pause. He had somehow turned back to human after being a dragon. Was it possible for him to turn back to dragon? He still felt like a dragon, despite being a human again.
He remembered the feeling when he transformed from human to dragon. It was a quick process. He would feel tingly all over his body, and then instantly transformed into his human form. In his thoughts, he felt himself wanting to become human.
Deciding that it was worth a try, Hiccup focused himself to want to be a dragon. He felt the familiar tingly feeling, and in a second, he was back being a dragon again.
Hiccup inspected his body, amazed at the discovery. He turned back and forth between his human and dragon form. He can fly in the sky, and he can go back to his village!
The boy settled onto his dragon form. He prepared to take off into the sky. However, before he did, he suddenly felt pain in his head. Hiccup growled, feeling the throbbing headache coming back. It was less painful than the first time.
Knowledge and experience suddenly flooded in his mind. However, that knowledge was completely foreign to him. They were not memories. Hiccup wondered what sort of god he offended to have it happen to him.
Just like how it came, it instantly went away after some time. Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. He thought about what happened and noticed that now he knew how to turn himself completely invisible.
Trying it out, he looked at his paws, only to see nothing there. He turned it on and off and was surprised that it was something that he could do. The Night Fury before could only turn invisible for short time in the sky, but even then, the place must be cloudy, as he relied on lightning to do so.
Hiccup settled with being visible and flew up into the night sky. For once in his lifetime, as both human and dragon, he felt incredibly free.
Hiccup did not know how long he had been flying up in the sky.
It felt amazing to finally be able to fly up high into the sky once more. The feeling of freedom was indescribable. While he had memories as a dragon, which in turn somewhat desensitized him of flying, he had been starved for flying in the open sky.
Couple that with his human memories, it made him very happy with flying.
In fact, it made him love flying altogether!
The boy turned dragon cheered as he sweeps around the clouds. Everything looked so small from up there. It made him feel inadequate, but at the same time, it revealed him the world beyond his island.
He could easily travel anywhere, rather than simply following his father and the village. He did not need a boat. Being a dragon made everything so simple to him!
Suddenly, Hiccup felt familiar, low ringing tone in his ears. He growled. He recognised it from his dragon memories. It was the call from the Queen. It was telling him to come back. Strange enough, he did not feel compelled to follow it. Those ringing tone dimmed, and it became mere annoyance than anything.
That confused Hiccup. That did not match any of his dragon memories. Could it be that becoming one with the dragon made him immune to such thing? He remembered how he could break from an alpha call. He still recognised himself as Queen's dragon.
Snarling, Hiccup gathered all his willpower to break through the call. He felt anger from the tone, before it completely faded away from him. He did feel her trying to reach him once more, only for it to bounce away from him.
Hiccup felt relief. The Night Fury had been trying to break the call for years but kept postponing it. Not only he had broken the call right after becoming one with the dragon; he also became immune to it. He was now a free, wild, independent dragon.
It was worth a celebration, at least. However, it was night-time. He needed to return to the village.
Hiccup, invisible in his dragon form, flew right into Berk in the middle of the night. He silently landed on top of his own house. It was chief's house. There was nobody around but few guards.
The boy turned dragon remembered that he had opened the window prior. He moved down to the ground next to the house and looked up. The window to his room was still open. Hiccup jumped up and instantly entered the room.
He created some ruckus in his room. Seeing nobody there, Hiccup transformed to his human form and turned himself visible. He yawned. That was an exciting day.
Suddenly, the door flew open, revealing Stoick standing there. "Hiccup!"
"Dad!"
The chief immediately went to hug him. "Oh Hiccup, I miss you." He whispered.
Hiccup was surprised. How long had he been gone?
Stoick let go of him and bent to his eye level. "Hiccup, where have you been? How did you get here?"
"I- I was from the forest." Hiccup stuttered. "And I climbed through the window because it was so late at night and-"
"Hiccup." Stoick interrupted him. "I think I need to repeat myself. Where have you been for the past three days?"
Hiccup was shocked. He had been gone for three days?! That was absurd!
"I- I don't know." Hiccup admitted. "I found a cave and entered it. A- And I got lost because the cave somehow kept changing by itself, but then I got out and it was night-time-"
"Stop." Stoick raised his hand.
Hiccup immediately stopped. The chief let out a sigh. He asked his son. "Did you fell asleep in the cave?"
"N- No." Hiccup shook his head. That was not entirely a lie. He fell unconscious. Sleep implied he did it willingly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I felt like walking for a few hours and not three whole days!" Hiccup was exasperated.
Stoick stared at him. He searched for something on his face. After some time, he asked. "Gobber told me you were supposed to go to Gothi." He looked down to him, and back up to his face. "You don't look injured. What happened in the cave?"
Hiccup quickly thinks of an excuse. "T- There was some water in the cave. A pool of water! I- I rested there after some walk and cleaned myself there. It- it healed my wounds."
The chief's eyes widened. He searched for something on his face once more. After staring at him for a while, he whispered. "You speak the truth."
Hiccup did not know how he managed to be so good at lying. His father usually picks up on his lie so fast. Could it be that becoming one with the Night Fury affected his skills in lying?
It sounded somewhat wrong and right to him at the same time.
"Hiccup." Stoick gravely spoke. "You found Freyr Lake."
Hiccup remembered who it was. Freyr, the god of sacred kings, fertility, peace, prosperity, virility and good harvest. It was not the most popular god out there, mainly because there were not that many kings in Viking history, nor there were ever kings of a Viking settlement.
He had a lake named after himself. It was the lake that could heal any wound, blessed by the man himself. It was once a place where Vikings live in peace amongst each other, until it caused a huge war among the Vikings. The lake was then cursed to change location every time it was used, so people did not abuse them.
It was noted that Freyr also blessed his lake to give more than healing to those who were worthy. However, nobody ever obtained anything more than healing when using them, meaning that nobody was worthy yet.
"I- I don't know." Hiccup softly spoke. "All of the wound was just that… gone."
"Hiccup." The chief spoke. His voice was stronger and serious. "Do not tell anyone about this. We will go find the cave together tomorrow. Do you still remember the way?"
Hiccup surprisingly does, despite all the panic from before. "I- I do."
"Good." Stoick nodded. "We'll find the cave."
"O- Okay dad."
The chief stood up. He paused for a moment, before moving to get out from the room, leaving Hiccup alone inside.
Hiccup remembered that feeling when he dumped himself into the lake. He could not remember having water running on his body – even as a dragon – ever did what it did to him. It was his first time experiencing something like that.
Did he accidentally found the lake, despite lying about it?
The next day, Hiccup was in the forest again. This time, however, he was accompanied by Stoick, Gobber, Gothi and Spitelout. They were all deep into the forest. Gobber, Stoick and Spitelout were holding their axes, with Gobber having the whole prosthetic arm as his axe.
Gothi was the elder of Hairy Hooligan Tribe. She had a short and scrawny figure, and an obvious hunch. She had a thick wavy grey hair. She wore a leather vest and a small, flat helmet. She was holding an old staff made of bones.
Spitelout reminded Hiccup as the bigger, meaner version of Snotlout. It was not surprising, considering he was his father. He often got in verbal conflict with the chief. Their relationship were complicated. He was a large man with more muscles than guts, wearing Viking helmet with yak horns, and a grey tunic.
While walking, Gobber spoke up to the young boy. "Are you sure this is the way, lad?"
Hiccup nodded. "I ran this way from the clearing."
"Hmm." Spitelout frowned. "… I don't think I've ever seen this part of the forest before."
"You're right." Stoick nodded, looking around. "Nobody has."
Finally, they arrived at where the cave was.
Except, there was no cave.
It was simply a large, dirt clearing. There was a sign of something that was supposed to be there. It looked as if it suddenly vanished into thin air. The fog was less dense than before, meaning that they could see the whole clearing.
Hiccup stopped. He stared at the empty spot in shock. "It was supposed to be here…" He whispered. Where did the whole cave go?!
"Well." Gobber shrugged. "There's nothing there."
"Was." Spitelout suddenly spoke. He came close to the pile of dirt and analysed it. He crouched, inspecting the plants that was right at the corner of the dirt. "There was something that used to be here. From the dirt, it must've vanished yesterday."
Gothi nodded. She came close to the dirt and tapped her staff down. The staff easily went through the dirt. It was soft enough for her staff to push though with little resistance. She looked back to Stoick, before nodding, confirming that was where it was used to be.
"By the gods." Stoick whispered. "You really found it, Hiccup."
"The cave must had been the whole lake." Gobber guessed. "It was probably gone when Hiccup left."
"… It was probably better that way." Stoick firmly spoke.
"Aye." Spitelout nodded, standing up. "Other tribe would go to war over this. It was good that your son found and used it, chief. Better have it gone yesterday than now. Not worth the risk having a lake that can heal, if you're going to fight the whole Meridian of Misery for it."
"It was used to heal his injuries from the forge." Stoick shook his head. "I just wish it was used to heal something more important."
The father of Snotlout came and stood in front of Stoick. "It was his first injury working for the village." He gruffly spoke. "It was important to him. The gods blessed him to see it."
Suddenly, Hiccup felt a tap on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Gothi. The elder was smiling down to him. Hiccup did not know what to say. "I- I'm sorry that I used the lake."
Gothi shook her head. She ruffled his head. It was a gesture that meant she took no offense to anything he said. Hiccup felt happy that she was not at least offended. "Thanks, Gothi."
Suddenly, Gobber spoke up aloud. "We should be going back now. I have something to do back at the forge."
"Before we go back." Stoick spoke up, getting attention from everyone. "I need to say this. Do not tell anyone about this. This will put our village in danger if anyone knows."
"Aye chief." Gobber and Spitelout spoke. Gothi simply nodded.
"Okay dad." Hiccup responded.
"Good." Stoick nodded to them. "Let's go back to the village."
With that note, everyone went back to where they walked in from.
It had been days since that happened.
Hiccup was still trying to make sense about how that happened.
Ever since that day, he had been flying up in the sky every day, every night. It was exhilarating and exciting for him, flying fast to dodge oncoming rocks and trees. It was thrilling to weave and manoeuvre around obstacles.
He can fly so fast, he could create a massive cone vapour and extremely loud booming sound, simply by flying straight. He could not hear anything when he was that fast, but it was useful when he had to race against time.
Flying up high in the sky was more peaceful and calming. Observing everything on the ground from the sky felt nothing like he had ever felt before. The feeling of joy and freedom. The longing feeling to touch the sky. It made him realise that him, as Night Fury – or Dark Chaser – truly belonged in the sky!
There were times when he crashed or injured. The ability to heal himself with dragon magic helped enormously. He could mend bent wings, and even regrow broken tail fins! It was tiresome to do it at first, but it became easier the more he used and practiced it.
He was glad that he could put himself in one piece after crashing himself multiple times in a forest. He thought he would never be able to fly again when he lost that tail fin to a tree. His fear was justified, but after realising he could easily grow them back, he feared less.
He could even use it on himself when he was a human. He did not need to go to Gothi whenever he was injured!
His scales were completely fireproof, and that apparently transferred to his human skins as well. Apprenticeship with Gobber no longer a problem, because he kept his strength, durability and endurance of a dragon in his human form. No longer he struggled carrying large standard axes. He could easily throw them, and it will hit dead on every time.
While all the thrill, excitement and benefits were there, he could not ignore his curiosity. How did he suddenly become a dragon? Where did that cave had gone off to?
Hiccup had gone back to the place where the cave was. It was still empty. The fog was much clearer than before. For some reason, it was more difficult to find it from the sky.
The cave pit was also gone. It was as if it was never there to begin with. He had searched the island from ground and air but found no signs of the cave that he had gotten himself trapped before. It was as if the whole place vanished into thin air.
That disturbed him.
Hiccup blinked as he saw fire at Berk. It was night-time and he was flying up high in the sky – obviously in his dragon form. He had returned from his daily flight to stretch his wings, currently heading back to Berk to return home.
There was a dragon raid happening at Berk. He saw the villagers scrambling around and about, trying to put out fires and fighting the dragons. The dragons were uncoordinated, busy focusing on taking the food instead of fighting them. Based on where he was viewing, the raid was still going on and going strong.
Hiccup tilted his head. He could smell fear and desperation from the dragons down below. He remembered the time before the merging – he dubbed it as such – when he was serving under the Queen. That smell was common among the dragons. Were they the Queen's dragons?
He tried to sense his surroundings. There was nobody up there but him. He was alone up high in the sky. Most of the dragons were more in the middle altitude, diving and picking up food for their nest. He did not even sense the Queen trying to call him. It could possibly be another nest raiding them.
He frowned when he heard a familiar battle cry. He focused to the centre of the village. It was his father. He was fighting two Monstrous Nightmares – red, quadruped lizard that could lit themselves on fire – and a Deadly Nadder – a dinosaur-like dragon with two legs. Hiccup was amazed to see him singlehandedly fight against them. He managed to keep up with them.
From above, he saw his father moved his hammer and axe with precision and agility. He rolled and dodged the fires and claws from the Monstrous Nightmares, and the spikes from the Deadly Nadder. He never saw his father fight dragons before, since he often spent his time hiding in the Great Hall like the rest of the children.
Hiccup saw his father chopped the head of one Monstrous Nightmare. It had lunged at him, but made a mistake on overshooting, resulting in his death. The second one swiped its tail, in which his father immediately blocked by slamming his hammer to it, before slashing its face.
The Deadly Nadder flew up and threw spikes at him. His father blocked some of them with his shield and used the dead Monstrous Nightmare to cover his underside. He threw his axe right as it fires, resulting in the axe embedded right into its chest. The dragon screeched and fell, died when it hit the ground.
"How hard is it to kill one human?!"
Hiccup turned his head. Down below, he heard a Monstrous Nightmare barking commands to other dragons. The dragons were coming back and forth, taking food for their own. It looked like they were trying to finish the job on the raid. The leading dragon was angry at the fact that everyone was taking food, while he was trying to order them to kill the chief of the village.
He saw him talking to the Deadly Nadder next to him. After some time, Hiccup saw them flying down and went to engage his father. Stoick was busy with the Monstrous Nightmare there. The leading Monstrous Nightmare suddenly came crashing down to him, knocking his hammer away.
Hiccup was worried. He pondered to himself if he should interfere. As much as he did not like his father for his neglect, for all intent and purpose, he was still his father. He did not wish for him to die.
Taking out a whole platoon of dragons were no problem for him, three dragons should be no challenge at all. After all, he was the Night Fury – or Dark Chaser, as dragons called him. He remembered fighting other nest dragons in his memories.
Hiccup moved to prepare an attack from the right angle. The Monstrous Nightmares were on opposite of each other, crossfire with Stoick in the middle. The Deadly Nadder was standing on top of a house, looking down at his father.
When he saw his father getting pinned down by a Monstrous Nightmare, Hiccup quickly dove down right towards them.
Everyone on the ground heard loud, piercing screech in the sky. The humans and dragons recognised that screech. For the humans, it was the Night Fury. For the dragons, it was the Dark Chaser. However, the screech was somewhat unfamiliar than the last time they heard of it. This one was much louder and chilling to them.
"NIGHT FURY!"
"GET DOWN!"
"DARK CHASER IS HERE!"
Hiccup fired the first, concentrated plasma blast to the Monstrous Nightmare that was pinning down Stoick. He immediately fired the second plasma blast to the other Monstrous Nightmare. He pulled back up, and as he did, the two plasma blasts immediately hit the dragons at once.
The plasma melted their body. The Monstrous Nightmares screeched as they began rolling around in pain. After some time, however, the dragon went limp, obviously dead from the attack.
The Deadly Nadder noticed this. He looked up and screeched to Hiccup. "FRIENDLY! FRIENDLY! WE'RE FRIENDLY!"
However, Hiccup did not care. He dove down once more, flew down to the deck on tree top level, and in just a second, he tackled the Deadly Nadder and took him up to the sky. The Deadly Nadder struggled, but his claws did not have any effect on his scales.
"Let go of me! I'm friendly!" The Deadly Nadder screeched. Hiccup pulled up. As he did, the opposing dragon took more notice of him. He looked different, and he was not under the Queen.
Hiccup was a wild dragon.
"D- Dark Chaser." The Deadly Nadder shuttered, terrified. "Please, I'm sorry! I thought you were ours!"
Hiccup stalled high in the sky, still holding onto the Deadly Nadder. He looked smug. "I never really was on your side."
With that spoken, he let go of the Deadly Nadder and spun, slamming his tail to him. It threw him off to a straight line. The Deadly Nadder screeched as he tried to right himself. However, the attack had wounded his wings. He was essentially dead in the sky!
Hiccup was not done with him. He charged a full powered plasma blast. As he did, he put too much energy to it, his body began to crackle with red and green colour. In just a second, he fired.
The plasma blast was purple, with blue and red fire trailing behind it. It went flying fast with loud, piercing sound. Because it was somewhat far, it could be dodged. The Deadly Nadder tried to change direction to dodge them.
However, it somehow moved by itself and redirected back to him. The spiked dragon covered his body with his remaining, active wings, trying to use it to save himself.
It was no use. The plasma blast hit the target. It exploded with a fiery explosion, instantly pulverizing the Deadly Nadder into gore. Bones, flesh and blood scattered all over the place, raining down onto the village below.
Hiccup immediately picked his speed up and felt amazed with himself. Did he do that? It moved on its own to the target and it was powerful. The feeling reminded him when he was using dragon magic to heal himself. It must be something that he could do to attacks as well.
His thought was somewhat disturbed when he realised that he had killed those dragons. While his dragon side was desensitized by killing, his human side was not. While it did not disturb him overall, he preferred not to take a life when he did not need to.
The Night Fury looked down. The dragons immediately fled upon realising that the Dark Chaser was not on their side and had attacked them. They did not want to risk his wrath. Hiccup smirked. It should be a lesson for them.
Hiccup looked at where his father was. Stoick was there, staring up at the night sky. He was searching for him, looking for the dragon that had saved his life. Hiccup shook his head. If he was ever seen by them, he would be immediately killed.
With that note, he turned himself invisible, and headed down into the forest below.
Hiccup was walking down the forest, heading towards the village. After landing somewhat far from there, he stayed in his dragon form to make sure that he was not attacked by other dragons. After all, being able to fly up into the sky really helped.
However, while walking, he saw two dragons. One is a Night Terror – a small, quadruped black dragon with claws on its wings, and horns on its head. The other one is a Deadly Nadder. They were both injured there, with their wings snapped in wrong direction, and their body wounded.
They both saw Hiccup. They let out a terrified gasp. "P- Please! Have mercy of us!" The Night Terror screeched, backing off towards the tree behind him.
"Dark Chaser!" The Deadly Nadder pleaded. He was too wounded and injured to move. "Please, we're just serving our alpha. We mean no harm to you."
Hiccup did not know anything about alpha. He remembered the Night Fury being hatched alone, and then called upon by the Queen to serve her. He decided that it would be more beneficial for him to spare them. After all, he needed some information.
"Who is your alpha?" Hiccup demanded.
"T- The Red Death." The Deadly Nadder shuttered.
Hiccup growled, earning whimper coming from them. Who was Red Death? He was unfamiliar with the concept of alpha. The boy turned dragon frowned. "What is an alpha?"
That confused the two dragons. The Dark Chaser did not know about alpha?
Seeing the angry expression from the Dark Chaser, the Night Terror shuttered. "A- Alpha is umm…" He whimpered. "T- They're our leader."
"They control us." The Deadly Nadder took over the explanation. "They are our leader, and they can control us. We were forced to look for food for her, or we will be summoned and eaten ourselves."
"Please." The Night Terror pleaded. "The Red Death would kill my mate. I don't want her to die."
Hiccup thought that was harsh. It was definitely the Queen. He never learned of her name, simply because the dragons were too scared to approach him, and she wanted him to refer her as the Queen.
He would remember her as the Red Death from now on.
Hiccup pondered on what to do with the two dragons. He could kill them, but he did not feel killing someone that was threatened like that. It would cause grief for everyone involved, without any benefit for him. At the same time, leaving them there would bring no benefit to anyone either.
"… Fine." Hiccup grunted. He moved closer to the Night Terror and pressed his paw on his body. The Night Terror squeezed his eyes, ready to accept his death.
Hiccup pushed his dragon magic. His paw glowed with dimmed green mists of light. Slowly, the injuries and wounds began to heal. The wing snapped back in place and the wounds closed and faded away. It was a painless process for the Night Terror.
After he was done, he let go of him. The Night Terror got up, amazed by what the Dark Chaser had done to him.
Hiccup ignored him. He moved towards the Deadly Nadder, who were staring at him with shock. The boy turned dragon repeated the process to him. This time, it was slightly faster. His wings snapped back into place, and his wounds closed and faded away. It was also painless for the Deadly Nadder.
When he was done, he took couple of steps back and sat there. "All done." He declared.
"Y- You healed us…" The Night Terror whispered.
"How…" The Deadly Nadder was amazed. he slowly stood up from the ground. "Why…"
"Don't ask any questions." Hiccup growled, making them flinch. "I spared you because I know you will die eaten by Red Death. I let you live to spend the last of your time."
The two dragons looked down, saddened by his statement. Hiccup was not sure if they would be eaten by Red Death. The Night Fury had not been in that nest for years.
"Now go before I changed my mind." Hiccup ordered. The dragons obeyed and immediately flew up into the sky, leaving him alone there.
Sensing that he was all alone there, he transformed to his human form. He dusted his clothes, thinking about what to do with the information he had gotten.
Alpha Dragons. They were the leader of a dragon nest, and they can control dragons. He remembered feeling the call from the Red Death. It must be something that other alpha dragons could do. An alpha call. That must be the name for it.
Hiccup walked down into the nearby forest path. Then, he headed towards the direction of his village. As he did, he pondered about the possibility of other dragon nests and their alpha. The dragons from before had told him about it.
If there were terrible nests like that, was there ever a possibility of a good nest?
Hiccup thought that was a possibility. He had planned to go out and explore, see what was out there in the horizon. However, he never went through them, mainly because there was no reason for him to do so.
Now that he had heard about Alpha Dragon, he became curious of other nests that could exist around the open sea.
He decided that would be a good idea. He could get himself something to explore. Nest hunting to see and hear from their alpha.
His father sometimes did nest hunting, but those expeditions were mostly done to end the dragons from attacking them. Hiccup had to snort. If only they could see the monster hiding behind the thick fog that was Helheim's Gate.
Hiccup felt that it was be something he should do. He needed to prepare himself to travel back and forth from Berk, searching for closest dragon nest to them. Most of them were most likely at extremely far distance, so he needed to train himself to fly faster than ever. He would also need to learn more to defend himself.
It would probably take years, but he was anything but determined to do just that.
After reaffirming himself, Hiccup walked back into the village, more than determined to study and train himself for the travel.