One year had passed.
The eggs that were holding the call had hatched. As Obeah had predicted, they were loyal to Hiccup. However, what they did not predict was how far it changed the dragon inside the egg.
The new dragons never questioned or hesitate to follow Hiccup's orders. They become aggressive when they hear anyone badmouthing or questioning their alpha. They were so loyal, in fact, they were willing to do unspeakable things without hesitation when he ordered it.
There were certain aspects that were changed. They grew up faster to adulthood than most dragons of their species. They learn things faster than other dragons. They were also smarter than other brethren. Physically, they were bigger and stronger than normal dragons.
It was common for the hatched dragons to be able to fight twenty different dragons at once without stopping. Later, some of the dragons achieved their titan wing form. When they achieved that form, they essentially become unstoppable – capable of taking down hundreds of dragons at once.
During mating season, any eggs those dragons laid appeared to be holding Hiccup's call at birth. It was then they learned that the call could be inherited.
There was an experiment by Obeah to test what would happen if Hiccup released the call. An orphaned dragon will instantly die the moment they lost his call.
They both kept that information secret to themselves.
The newly hatched titan dragons were also under Hiccup's controls. The dragons grew strong and enormous. The Red Deaths and Green Deaths had grown as big as their existing alpha dragon equivalent. The Bewilderbeasts had grown massive and slightly bigger than the King of All Dragons. The Foreverwings also grew, becoming giants amongst the dragons.
Hiccup had to expand the nest more underground. Thankfully, the titan dragons could dig down tunnels and caverns to create living space for themselves. They created a place for the new dragons to live in.
Overpopulation became less of a problem, since they have titan dragons under Hiccup to dig space for everyone. The area was hidden and restricted to visitors. This was mainly to keep their existence hidden, as nobody know about them yet.
There was an experiment by Obeah to learn more about the titan dragons. They learned that they had abilities of an actual alpha dragon, despite not being an actual alpha dragon. They became an alpha serving under an alpha. Interesting enough, any call they made were redirected to Hiccup. Dragons that they capture with their call become Hiccup's dragons. It was an interesting discovery for them.
By the end of the year, Hiccup had over hundreds of thousands of supercharged dragons and multiple titan dragons under his command. The dragon population inside the nest increased by thousandfold. There were over 2 billion dragons living inside the Secret nest.
Hiccup's existing dragons were happy. They were extremely proud that their hatchlings grown strong to serve their alpha. They hoped for the Secret nest to grow bigger than ever, far stronger than any other alpha dragon nests combined.
The visiting dragons were awed at how strong those dragons were. The Secret nest became feared for their prowess upon seeing them. Most never saw titan wing dragons, so they were surprised to see that Secret nest had them.
Hiccup was personally disturbed by the development, but he followed his sector leaders' advice on dealing with the nest. It had gotten far too big for him to handle. He ended up being the diplomat for the nest, while the others were handling and following the chain of command.
Hiccup was glad he made the nest that way. While the work was somewhat overwhelming, it was not as bad as he thought.
"Leader, are you listening?"
Hiccup snapped out of his trance. The 19-year-old man was in his throne room, in his dragon form. In front of him were four titan wing dragons. They were all his sector leaders.
Indigo had become bigger and stronger. She was a Titan Wing Deadly Nadder. She had more spikes on their body, and their snouts were broader than the adult, broad wing counterpart. She obtained the form at some point while defending her food party from a horde of dragons.
Ghost had become a Titan Wing Changewing. He stood next to Indigo. He was bigger than before, but the edges on his wings were sharper. He was also much greener than before. He obtained the form out of nowhere when nesting together with Indigo.
Both Indigo and Ghost were mates. They had been mates for years.
Obeah gained her titan wing form much later. She was bigger, stronger and faster than before. Her green coloured scales had turned reddish orange with blue frill on her back. She also sported a white coloured underbelly. She gained the form after saving countless dragons' lives during a dragon raid gone wrong.
Scorpion the Deathgripper gained his titan wing form roughly the same time after Obeah. He was significantly larger than before. He had two additional tusks on his mouths. His spikes and claws were much larger and sharper. The stingers were longer, and tails were thicker. He gained the form when fighting Dragon Hunters during the same dragon raid that went wrong.
There were six other titan wing Deathgrippers sitting around the throne room. They sat just under the elevated platform in half-circle formation. They were formerly late Grimmel's Deathgrippers. They gained their titan wing form when fighting alongside Scorpion against the Dragon Hunters.
After gaining their form, Scorpion sent them off to become Hiccup's personal bodyguard. Hiccup allowed it, since Luna had insisted him on getting some for his own. The six Deathgrippers had become his personal servant, doing whatever he ordered him to without question or hesitation.
"Sorry, Ghost." Hiccup let out a sigh. He rubbed his eyes with his paw. "I'm a bit distracted. Could you start again from beginning?"
The nest leaders looked at each other. They could know when their alpha needed some rest. Hiccup had no sense of self-preservation when it comes to dealing with the nest. Usually, whenever they see him like that, they would tell Luna about it, and she would pull him away.
However, they were there because it was something important.
"We have finally obtained information about Drago Bludvist." Ghost explained to him.
Hiccup raised his eyebrows. He had ordered it last year. He almost forgot that he requested that information. "Tell me what we know."
"Drago Bludvist is a human whose objective is to conquer the world." The Changewing explained. "He is an old man with an army of humans and dragons."
The Night Fury frowned. Ghost continued speaking. "Our scouts described him as mad and deranged, due to the fact that he self-proclaimed himself as 'dragon god'."
That made Hiccup scoff. "Dragon god, really?"
"Yes."
"Right." Hiccup nodded. He took it seriously. "How much of a threat is he?"
"He have an enormous army of both humans and dragons." Ghost explained to him. "His army was called 'Northern Alliance'. He have a Great King dragon of his own that controls the dragons."
Hiccup frowned. An alpha dragon serving a human did not sound good.
He snorted when he thought about himself.
"How big is this army?" Hiccup asked.
"Over 200,000 humans and 100,000 dragons." The Changewing answered the question.
"Enemies?"
"King of All Dragons, Green Death, Tree Hugger." Ghost told him. He frowned as he thought more about it. "Recently, his Great King dragon had killed Tree Hugger. He managed to take over his dragons. He was going after Green Death as he speak."
Hiccup hitched his breath. "Tree Hugger is dead?"
"Yes." Ghost nodded.
"Then we need to inform Green Death of this." Hiccup declared. He stood up from the ground.
"Leader." Scorpion decided to spoke. "I'm afraid it was not possible."
"Why?"
"Your involvement with the death of Red Death had been discovered."
Hiccup let out a sigh. He sat down. "How did they discover it?"
"The King of All Dragons learned of this when they sent spies to Berk." Scorpion explained to him. "Fortunately, your status as an alpha remained hidden."
"Did the King of All Dragons sent any demand?"
"The King of All Dragons-" Scorpion slowly spoke. "-wanted you to be judged. They recently summoned you to the King's nest. The messenger had arrived, and they wanted to see you."
"Who did they send?"
"Cloudjumper and his human friend."
"Of course, they did." Hiccup let out a sigh.
"I propose we take control of them, Leader." Ghost suggested. "Cloudjumper was one of Great King's most trusted ambassador. He might be able to prolong the meeting."
"No." Hiccup stood up from the ground. "I think we've been hiding ourselves for too long."
"Our nest had grown powerful enough to fight against them." The Night Fury spoke to them. "We have multiple titan dragons under my command. While they have more dragons than us, dragons in our nest were far more powerful than them. We could easily crush them and came out victorious in a full-scale war."
"The reason why we kept my status hidden was because of the state of our nest." Hiccup explained to them. "Years ago, we were weak. We could not keep up with the sheer number of their dragons. We focused on quality over quantity because we lacked on dragons to fight. But even then, that was not enough."
"However, up until recently, our nest had grown significantly large." The Night Fury continued speaking. "If we were to reveal ourselves, we would be considered one of the nest superpowers in the world."
"They still did not know that you are an alpha dragon." Indigo pointed out.
"Then let them know. Let them come." Hiccup firmly spoke. "I am tired of hiding myself. I am tired of hiding ourselves. I understand that revealing our true nature could possibly start a Third Dragon War. If that was the outcome, then so be it."
The sector leaders looked at each other. They looked happy at the decision. They had been hiding their true might for so long, it was getting exhausting. It was too much effort to do it.
"Are we going to reveal our titan dragons to them?" Ghost asked.
"No." Hiccup shook his head. "It will be our secret in case Third Dragon War started."
The sector leaders agreed. It would be their trump card against them when that happened.
"You are dismissed." Hiccup spoke. "Call the ambassador on the way out."
The sector leaders walked out from the throne room. After some time, Cloudjumper and Valka entered the place.
The two of them were awed to see the place. It looked beautiful. They approached to the front and stopped just under the elevated platform. The Stormcutter and Valka looked at Hiccup, who were looking down smiling at them.
"Welcome to the Secret nest." Hiccup declared. He spread his wings. The Deathgrippers stomped their claws to the ground, straightened themselves and spread their wings.
After some time, Hiccup pulled his wings back. The Deathgripper followed and relaxed themselves. Cloudjumper and Valka were amazed to see how disciplined the dragons were. The Stormcutter were awed at how powerful they were. They had seen the titan wings around the nest but seeing them so disciplined like that amazed them.
"Wow…" Valka breathed out, looking around the place. "A lot of things had changed."
"That's three years for you." Hiccup nodded. "So, what do you need?"
"Toothless." Cloudjumper started. He took a step forward. "Did you kill Red Death?"
"… Yes." Hiccup firmly nodded. "I killed Red Death."
Valka raised her eyebrows. The Stormcutter asked. "Why?"
"Cloudjumper." Hiccup started. "Red Death had been harassing my dragons for years. She attacked my nest and tried to overwhelm them."
"Why did you not ask us for help?" Cloudjumper asked.
"Because we are neutral." Hiccup firmly spoke. "It was much safer for my dragons to stay neutral rather than having them attacked by other nest."
"Toothless, the Great King were doing his best to help you." The Stormcutter patiently explained to him. "How do you think your nest managed to survive this long? We've been keeping Red Death off your back."
"And I am grateful for it." Hiccup nodded. "I am willing to break our neutrality and ally ourselves to The King of All Dragons. Let this be my declaration."
"Toothless, it's too late." Cloudjumper slumped a bit. "If you confessed after you killed her, we would've passed it off and maybe give you her title as an alpha dragon. We would've told them that you challenged her for her title. Now, it's… there's too many dragons involved in this."
"I am aware." Hiccup coolly spoke. "Are you here to give me my summon to King of All Dragons?"
"Officially, yes." The Stormcutter nodded. He looked hesitant. "Unofficially, he's trying to protect you. I'm here to tell you to go to Hidden World and stay there."
Hiccup defiantly spoke. "No."
"Toothless-"
"No." The Night Fury repeated himself. "I am sick of being protected all the time. My dragons were sick of this. If we were to fight against our enemies, then so be it."
"Toothless, please." Cloudjumper pleaded. "You're just one dragon."
"I have my nest."
"They're not even your dragon!" The Stormcutter argued. "They have their own alpha!"
Hiccup narrowed his eyes. Cloudjumper realised that he might had said the wrong thing. "Toothless-"
"Not my dragon, huh." Hiccup slowly spoke. The Stormcutter gulped. The Night Fury looked relaxed, but his eyes were slits. It was a common behaviour when Hiccup was angry at something.
"Cloudjumper." Hiccup started. "I have been doing this for 6 years. I know the alpha dragons are much older and wiser than me. I appreciate their help. I appreciate their effort on sheltering me. I want to return the favour."
"The Secret nest was founded as a caretaker nest." Hiccup continued speaking. "We take care of dragons to get them back up and running. We made sure that everyone were well fed and taken care of."
"However!" The Night Fury declared. "We are not weak! We had fought against Red Death dragons and won. I had killed Red Death for the safety of our nest."
"You're arrogant to think you can stand up against those dragons!" Cloudjumper roared at him. "It's not just The King of All Dragons and Green Death. Thousands of nests would be there as well!"
"Then let them come." Hiccup firmly spoke.
"It will be the end of you and your nest. You're condemning your nest to die!" Cloudjumper hissed. "I should've known. You're just as arrogant and prideful as the other Dark Chasers I've met. You're just better at hiding it."
Hiccup calmed himself down. He tilted his head. "Did you even wonder why I want to let them come?"
"You have titan wing dragons." The Stormcutter simply spoke. "Your nest is strong, but they're no match against the combined power of thousands of nests. Your dragon would just run away! You're not even an alpha dragon!"
Hiccup slowly let out a smirk. He unconcealed his true nature. His appendages began to glow blue, revealing that he was an alpha dragon. He watched as Cloudjumper and Valka's eyes went wide.
For the Stormcutter, he instantly recognised him as alpha dragon. Valka realised that Hiccup was an alpha dragon based on his shimmering appendages.
"Am I?" Hiccup positively purred those words.
"Hiccup." Valka whispered. "You're an alpha dragon?"
"Yes." Hiccup nodded. "I challenged Red Death for her title. I won and ascended."
"But how?" Cloudjumper whispered. "You don't have King of All Dragons' blessing!"
Hiccup snorted. "Well, I'm a living proof that you don't need a blessing to become an alpha dragon." He spoke. "You just need to challenge the alpha dragon and won. No questions asked."
"This… this changes everything." The Stormcutter muttered. He began pacing around. "Oh gods, you're independent. You're neutral. You have a nest. You own a neutral alpha nest!"
Hiccup raised one eyebrow. He did not say anything. Cloudjumper seemed to be freaking out. "Why? How? Why now? We're not ready for another one. We don't even know you!"
"My dragons do." Hiccup drawled.
Cloudjumper froze. He slowly looked at him, eyes wide. "Those dragons… they weren't wild, were they?" He whispered with a small voice.
"They never were."
"All this time…" The Stormcutter whispered. "They were all under your call?"
"My dragons smelled like wild dragons for some reason." Hiccup shrugged. "I don't know why, but I can't really change that."
"DID YOU REALISE HOW MUCH TROUBLE THAT WOULD CAUSE?!" Cloudjumper roared.
Hiccup smirked. "I know." He declared. "That is why I'm telling you this. That was why I am willing to be judged. That was why I am telling you to let me and my nest deal with this alone."
"You're going to start the Third Dragon War!" The Stormcutter roared once more.
"That was why I am willing to ally myself with the King of All Dragons." Hiccup firmly spoke. "If he were to accept, then the bloodbath could be avoided."
Cloudjumper calmed himself down. Valka looked concerned. Hiccup continued speaking. "Great King, I know you can hear me."
"I accept the summon." Hiccup declared. "I will come to your nest to be judged."
"No." The Stormcutter weakly chuckled. He looked up to Hiccup. "It won't be a judgement. It's going to be you making a statement."
"Then I will explain myself in front of everyone." Hiccup firmly spoke.
"… When are you going to come?"
"In 7 days." The alpha Night Fury responded.
"Very well." Cloudjumper grunted. "The Great King will be notified. We'll see you there in 7 days."
Cloudjumper and Valka began walking away. However, Hiccup stopped them. "Before you go…"
They both stopped. Hiccup continued speaking. "I want to talk with both of you." He spoke. "In private. It's about Dragon Hunters."
Cloudjumper and Valka looked at each other. Then, they looked at Hiccup, before nodding to him.
Hiccup, Cloudjumper and Valka moved to the meeting room. The three of them were alone inside the cave.
Once inside, Hiccup transformed to his human form. He stretched his body. "Finally! Some private time!"
Valka crossed her hands. "You said something about Dragon Hunter." She spoke to him.
"Yes." Hiccup nodded. He turned to face her. "Are you aware of a Dragon Hunter named Grimmel the Grisly?"
Valka froze. She hesitantly nodded. "Yes."
"Well." Hiccup spoke as he pulled out a journal from his pocket. "He's dead."
The woman's eyes went wide. She looked at the journal on his hand. It looked exactly like the journal that Grimmel Grisly always carried. "How?"
"My dragons killed him."
"But how did you find him?" Valka wondered. "We've been hunting him for years!"
"Last year, Alvin the Treacherous and Dagur the Deranged came to Berk after me." Hiccup explained to her. "We managed to defeat them, but I had to reveal my dragons to drive them off. I never returned since then."
"We kind of already know that." Cloudjumper mumbled. "It's kind of hard to ignore when you have two large human tribes suddenly vanished and destroyed."
"What you don't know was that Alvin and Dagur were still alive at the time." Hiccup continued explaining. "I had my dragons follow them. They went looking for Grimmel. They found him because they know about Night Fury."
"They know you're a Night Fury?" Valka gasped.
"No. They think I have a Night Fury." Hiccup corrected her. He pocketed the journal. "That's what they learned from interrogating people on Berk when they invaded it."
"Of course." The woman whispered. "He was the one who drive Night Fury to extinction. You were the last of your kind."
"Yes." Hiccup nodded. "That's how Alvin and Dagur managed to convince him to come. From there, we ambushed them, took their stuff and kill them."
"Wait." Valka blinked. "He had six Deathgrippers." Her eyes went wide. "So, those back there were-"
"Were his. Yes." Hiccup confirmed. "We managed to recover them. They became my dragons and had been loyal to me ever since."
"Wow." The woman whispered in awe. Then, she chuckled. "Well! You did a lot more in three years than me in 18 years!"
Hiccup smiled. "Thank you."
"Is that all?" Cloudjumper asked. He looked a bit impatient. "I have to do something else. My alpha told me to."
"Sorry, but there's more." Hiccup shook his head. "Are you aware that Tree Hugger- sorry, Foreverwing was killed?"
"We heard the news." The Stormcutter grimaced.
"We were the one who found the body." Valka sadly spoke. "His dragons were nowhere to be found."
"Did you know who killed him?" Hiccup asked. Valka and Cloudjumper shook their head.
"Did you know who Drago Bludvist is?"
Valka turned serious and Cloudjumper hissed. "He killed Tree Hugger?!"
"The problem is not who killed him. But rather, what killed him and what happened to his dragons." Hiccup explained to them. "I assume you already know who Drago Bludvist is."
"He was a madman hellbent on conquering the world." Valka darkly spoke. "He wanted to take control of all dragons."
Hiccup was not sure how to break the news to them. Then, Cloudjumper asked. "How did you know all of this?"
The man smiled at him. "When you train your dragons to be smart, it's just asking for them to learn more about things around them." Hiccup told them. "In this case, we have Intelligence sector in the nest that keep track of everything that happened all around the world."
"How did you do that?" Valka questioned. Then, she remembered. "Oh. Right. Alpha dragon. I forgot."
"I trained them to understand Norse." Hiccup told them. "I trained them for espionage. Back then, when we don't have the power in numbers, we rely on information to keep ourselves alive in the wild."
"We still have that mindset." The man continued speaking. "It became one of the most important ideas in the nest. Information flow through us, and from them, we know what to do that would benefit us the best."
"And you're telling us this because…"
"Because I want to help." Hiccup firmly spoke. "This relates to the open alliance between the Secret nest and the King of All Dragons. Rather, this involves the survival of your nest."
"We know everything and anything that happened all over the world." The man declared. "And I'm willing to share it with you. All you have to do, is ask."
"What do you mean the survival of our nest?" Cloudjumper questioned him. "It sounded like you know something bad is going to happen to us."
Hiccup took a deep breath. "Are you aware that Drago Bludvist has a Bewilderbeast of his own?"
That got a significant reaction from them. The Stormcutter reared back, shocked. Valka gasped. They were both horrified to hear that news.
"No." Valka frantically shook her head.
"Now you know." Hiccup responded. "His Bewilderbeast is young. He was the one who killed Foreverwing."
"Then we need to tell her!" Cloudjumper exclaimed. "We have to help her!"
"Then tell her." Hiccup simply spoke. "I will send my fighters there to help her."
"What about you?"
"I have my nest to deal with." Hiccup answered. "I have one thousand titan wing dragons ready to help, and one thousand more ready to support. If that's not enough, I'll get more to help and extract as many dragons as possible."
That stunned Cloudjumper and Valka. They could not believe that Hiccup had so many titan wing dragons in his nest.
"Alpha."
They looked at the entrance. It was Scorpion the Deathgripper. "Yes?" Hiccup asked.
"Your status had become public. There are dragons outside wanting to see the alpha of the nest."
"Do they need anything in particular?"
"No, Alpha. They just wanted to know the alpha of the nest."
"If they're visiting just to gawk at me, throw them out." The man replied. "Tell them that I will be visiting The King of All Dragons in 7 days. That goes for every visitor."
"Yes, Alpha." Scorpion nodded. Then, he left the cave.
Hiccup transformed to his dragon form. "If you excuse me." He started, getting their attention. "I have to get back to my duties. Dragon Hunters to raid, speech to prepare and all that. Good luck and have a nice day."
With that, Hiccup left the cave, leaving Cloudjumper and Valka alone inside.
The information that Hiccup looted from Grimmel the Grisly were very valuable to the nest. It taught them a lot of things about how Dragon Hunter worked. Specifically, how Grimmel worked.
They incorporated a lot of the methods to their raids and fights. For example, some of the journals contains information about cryptography. It talked about securing communication in letter or speech through codes and patterns.
Sign languages and subtle gestures were referenced there as well. They were extremely useful, as they needed to reduce speech in combat as much as possible to prevent enemies hearing their plans.
Those were examples of things that directly benefited the dragons in the nest. There were a lot more that they learned. Hiccup had personally taught them to his dragons, and the rest were passed down and taught by the dragons that learned them.
Information about various dragons were listed there as well. Hiccup incorporated them with his own knowledge and used his call to transfer them into his dragons. It was one of the times where he used them to provide knowledge to them.
It significantly helped their survival during their jobs and missions, as their knowledge about other dragons helped them learn their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as enemy's. It drastically increased their chance of survival in the wild.
Unfortunately, contraptions were not something that his dragons were keen on trying. The ideas of using contraptions were dropped. That did not mean Hiccup did not learn anything from it. He did create some weapons for his dragon form.
"Toooothleeeees."
Hiccup let out a sigh. He was in his quarter, trying to attach something to his tail. Luna was also there. She was nuzzling and pushing Hiccup's body.
The Night Fury was preparing to go to the King of All Dragons' nest. It had been a week since that day. Almost all nest leaders from around the world would be attending. He had to prepare himself in case of worst-case-scenario.
"Luna." The Night Fury spoke, exasperated. "Could you wait for a second?"
"You said you'll be ready in five minutes." Luna pouted. "It's been longer than that."
"Yes, well." Hiccup paused. "I'm nearly there on attaching this."
"Toothleeeeess." The Light Fury whined once more. She moved and began furiously licking his neck.
"Hey, hey. Luna." Hiccup spoke, trying to get her attention. Seeing that she did not stop, he pushed her and pinned her down onto the ground.
Luna gasped. The Night Fury immediately went to kiss her. Her eyes widened as she felt his tongue inside him. She mewled and whimpered as Hiccup moved to advance on her.
"Ahem."
Hiccup instantly jumped away. Luna moaned in frustration. They both looked at the source. It was Scorpion and Ghost. They were both staring at them with amusement.
"What did I say about roaring before entering?" Hiccup demanded.
"We apologise, Alpha." Scorpion bowed to him. "We were simply here to inform you that-"
"Everything's ready, yeah." Hiccup interrupted. He moved his tail to finish attaching the contraption. "Give me two minutes."
The Light Fury flipped over. She lay down there and feeling frustrated. Ghost tilted his head. "She's not in heat, is she?"
"No." Luna groaned. "I don't have heat cycle."
That surprised Ghost and Scorpion. "You don't?"
"Dark Chaser and Light Chaser don't have heat cycle." Hiccup spoke absentmindedly. "Our mating habit is like a human." Then, there was a click. "Here we go! All done."
Hiccup showed them his tail. There was a long, flexible metal bar that was attached to the top side of the tail. It was firmly attached in the middle between the tail fins, strapped with leathers around the base. The contraption was not reflective. The metal and leather were pitch black.
"I managed to reinforce the leathers using my scales." Hiccup explained to them. "Due to the strange properties of mixing things with my scales, I can control them with my mind."
"What does it do?" Scorpion asked.
"This." Hiccup spoke.
Suddenly, a sharp, long blade sprung out from the contraption with a mechanical click. Scorpion and Ghost stared at it with wide eyes. The blade was perfectly placed between the tail fins, looking somewhat like Deathgripper's stinger.
However, instead of a stinger, it was a double-sided blade. It looked like Hiccup's sword – pitch black, non-reflective with red-coloured edges. It was relatively longer than the contraption itself.
Scorpion curiously approached and placed the tail to its side. He extended his stinger to compare. It was angled asymmetrically to his tail fin. They noted that the length was longer than the stinger.
"That's interesting." Scorpion commented.
The blade suddenly retracted with the same sound. "I noticed how some dragons used their tail to wound." Hiccup explained to him. "I don't really have anything back there to attack. So, I thought, why not make something to make it more lethal?"
The Deathgripper chuckled. "At least we have something to relate now."
"That we do." Hiccup smiled at him.
"Alpha, we need to go." Ghost spoke, getting impatient.
"Alright. Let's go then." Hiccup spoke.
Both Hiccup and Scorpion walked to the cave way. Ghost and Scorpion were the first one to leave. Hiccup looked at Luna, who were staring at him with pleading look.
Hiccup could smell her need from there. "Luna, do you want me to claim you now?"
Luna scrunched her expression. "No." However, her eyes and body movement seemed to say otherwise.
Hiccup knew why. The Light Fury did not want to become pregnant and lay egg outside the Hidden World. His brief advances had instantly made her needy. It was something that he sometimes did whenever Luna was harassing him for something.
Hiccup shook his head. "Alright. Wait here. I'll see you later tonight." He paused. "Or tomorrow. Maybe. I don't know how long the meeting will go."
With that, Hiccup left the quarter, leaving a very unsatisfied and frustrated Light Fury inside.
Hiccup flew alongside his sector leaders and Deathgrippers. The eleven of them were flying in formation towards the Great King's nest. They moved at fast pace, since they know that they might be late to the event.
Arriving outside the nest, they slowed themselves down. There were a lot of dragon activities around. A Monstrous Nightmare came close to them. They sensed that he was Great King's dragon. "Are you the Secret nest representatives?"
"We are." Scorpion responded.
"Okay. You arrived just in time." The Monstrous Nightmare. "It's about to start. Follow me."
With that, the dragons moved to follow the Monstrous Nightmare.
Hiccup and the others arrived at a massive cavern area.
Technically, it was just the main section of the nest. However, it had been restructured to become the meeting place. Huge ramps made of ice all over the place. The centre area was cleared from any obstacles, meaning that everyone sitting at the ramp could see. There was two massive stone pedestals far at the front.
There were hundreds of thousands of dragons – of all various sizes and shapes – sitting around the ice ramps. There were so many, they thought that it had been one million dragons inside the nest.
Hiccup and the others landed at the centre area. The Monstrous Nightmare looked at them. "Okay. This is where you stand. Good luck." The dragon flew away.
The six Titan Wing Deathgrippers moved and created hexagon perimeter around them. The sector leaders moved to form a square around Hiccup. The Night Fury stood at the centre. Looking around, they noticed that the actual alpha dragons were not present.
Suddenly, something massive flew into the and stood at one of the pedestals. It was Green Death. There were scars on her body. Upon arriving, she stretched herself before looking down at the centre.
Hiccup looked at her. He could see the gratitude in her expression. That was expected. He had sent his dragons to help her fight against Drago Bludvist when her nest was invaded.
It was not pretty. After the battle, his dragons reported that she had been defeated by Drago's Bewilderbeast. It confirmed the fact that he had an alpha dragon of his own.
Thankfully, Green Death managed to survive and escape. Hiccup's dragons covered her while she escaped and run away. However, because she was defeated, her dragons' ownership was transferred to the Bewilderbeast.
It was how fight between alpha dragon worked. The winner got all the dragons. Drago Bludvist were in possession of battle-hardened, war hero dragons after his Bewilderbeast defeated her.
Hiccup's dragons managed to defeat most of them, before they had to retreat themselves. They had successfully done the mission. There was no casualties on their side.
From the report, it was revealed that Drago wanted to have the Titan Wing dragons for themselves. They assumed that those dragons were owned by the King of All Dragons. They planned on attacking the Great King's nest next year or two, after they obtained more dragons and train them for war.
Green Death was the first one to break eye contact. She looked around the place, before looking towards the entrance, as if expecting something. She did briefly look at the empty pedestal, before looking away.
Suddenly, something massive came out from the ocean at the front. The creature rose and stopped once it revealed itself. It was the King of All Dragons, the Great King.
Most dragons bowed to the Bewilderbeast. Hiccup gave a slight bow. Everyone fell silent. After some time, The King boomed. "Thank you for coming. We will now begin the meeting."
"King!" One of the dragons shouted. "Shouldn't it be a trial?"
The King blinked. "Toothless is an alpha dragon."
"The Dark Chaser did not feel like an alpha dragon."
It was then the King realised it. "Toothless." He softly spoke. "Reveal yourself."
Hiccup blinked. He did not realise that he had concealed his status. It was something that he instinctively did whenever he sensed someone coming. Deciding that was unnecessary, he revealed his true nature.
The dragons gasped as they felt it. They could feel Hiccup's call in the air. The Night Fury's appendages were shimmering blue. After some time, it disappeared. They still feel the alpha status within him.
"Toothless is an Alpha Dark Chaser." The King declared. "As such, it will be a meeting."
They could hear some dragons grumbled in disagreement. The King continued speaking. "Now. We have several things to discuss." He spoke. His voice was full of authority. "I will ask; Toothless, did you kill the Alpha Dragon Red Death?"
Hiccup took a deep breath. "Yes."
Dragons whispered around the place. Hiccup could feel some of them glaring at him. The King nodded. "Why did you kill Red Death?"
"It was a challenge for her status as an alpha dragon." Hiccup explained to them. "We both fought against each other. As you can see, I won the fight."
The King nodded in approval. The dragons around them were staring at him with disbelief. "How did you achieve your status without my blessing?" The King asked.
"It was a… unique ability that I have." Hiccup explained to him. "Using this ability, I 'blessed' myself to ascend after defeating her."
The King frowned. However, he did not press further. "Very well." He boomed. "With that said, we had finished our first matter of this meeting."
"King!" One of the dragons in the crowd shouted. "We do not acknowledge him as an alpha dragon."
Another dragon shouted. "Our nest refuse to accept him as alpha dragon!"
Several other dragons began to shout similar things. Hiccup's expression was neutral. His dragons growled, irritated at the declaration.
"SILENCE!" The King roared.
That silenced everyone. The King spoke. "It matter not if you approve them or not." He declared. "He had ascended and become an alpha dragon."
"It was outside our tradition!" One of the dragons protested.
"Correct." The King nodded. "Your approval or disapproval determines if someone should become an alpha or not. It matters during the blessing ceremony. However, it did not matter now, because Toothless is already an alpha dragon."
The dragons shouted in protest. The King roared once more, silencing everyone.
Hiccup let out a sigh. 'This is going to take forever.' He thought.
Weeks passed and the meeting was still going on.
Hiccup kept his expressionless façade. However, his dragons had to grind their teeth and hold themselves back.
The first day of meeting involved multiple dragons shouting disagreements and protests that Hiccup was an alpha dragon. The King had to make every single one of the dragons there speak out their disagreement. After that was done, the King completely ignored them and told them the same thing as before.
After that, the King moved Hiccup to sit at the pedestal. That made the surrounding dragons annoyed. It was meant for the Foreverwing to sit. Their opinion did not matter, as Hiccup was moved there anyway. They had to elevate the platform further to accommodate Hiccup's rather small size. His dragons had to move elsewhere.
The next several days involved every single nest leader there talking about their problems and needs. While that was the primary premise of the topic, it ended up with nest leaders complaining about other nest leaders. They spoke about unfairness in distribution of food. They spoke about how they could not get enough dragons to gather food for themselves.
Hiccup had to inform his dragons that the meeting would take few weeks.
The dragons spoke their complaint to the alpha dragons. Because Hiccup was an alpha dragon, that made him a target for multiple diplomats to harass. The alpha Night Fury tried his best, but the sheer amount of complaint sent to him was uncalled for. They mostly ignored the King and Green Death and went after Hiccup for complaints.
Hiccup wondered how low their dignities were to have so many basic complaints thrown to him like that. They complained to him about literally everything; from lack of food, unable to find food, their own dragons unwilling to find food, not having many dragons on their nest – to their relations with other nests around them, problems with attacking wild dragons, and complaining about them being mistreated in his nest during their visit.
Hiccup had personally investigated the complaint about his nest with his call. Most of them came back to the fact that they were misbehaving and kicked out from the place. Few of them were genuine complaints.
The King advised him to simply ignore them. There was no way to please them. Apparently, that was what he had been doing for the past 500 years.
Hiccup followed the advice.
The next few days after complaints were spoken, diplomatic talks between nest leaders started. The alpha dragons oversaw them happening. There were some deals and trades done amongst them – dragons for food, food for favour, favour for dragons, and others. There were also alliances made between nests, as well as war declaration.
It was where Hiccup declared his nest's alliance with King of All Dragons. The King accepted the alliance. The dragons around them were nervous, as it meant that the Secret nest was no longer neutral.
Some nests represented there were remnants of Red Death's old reign, and they were living off benefits that Hiccup's nest provided them. They were afraid that Hiccup had broken his nest's neutrality. Hiccup assured them that they were still welcome, as long they did not cause trouble in his nest.
Some immediately challenged him. Half an hour and 50 dead dragons later, they were immediately reminded that Hiccup was an alpha dragon, and he was the one that defeated Red Death all by himself. That stopped them from trying.
"We will now begin the meeting."
Hiccup snapped out from his thought. He was standing on top of a pedestal next to the Great King. There were dragons were standing on the ice ramps. The alpha Night Fury could see his dragons somewhere around the corner there.
"This will be the last day of this meeting." The King droned out. Hiccup felt enormously relieved by that statement. "I will summarise this meeting, in case some of you were late to arrive."
"Today, we welcome Toothless the Dark Chaser within our ranks as an alpha dragon. His nest is named the Secret nest." The King spoke to everyone. "He challenged and defeated Red Death for her title."
"This is his first meeting with us." The King continued speaking. "I hope everyone could spread the words of the new alpha dragon within our ranks."
Hiccup wondered why the King did not tell them that at the beginning of the meeting instead.
"Now." The King spoke. His tone was serious. "I had saved this for the last because this relates to our very existence in this world."
The dragons perked up. The King was rarely ever serious. He usually would drone on and on during his speech. What he just said sounded like something bad was going to happen.
"Toothless." The King spoke. He gestured to him. "If you may."
Hiccup took a step forward. "I have information relating to the threat to our freedom." He declared.
"As you may already know, Tree Hugger had died, and all his dragons were gone." The Night Fury bluntly spoke. The dragons around them whispered. "And then, Green Death was attacked. We managed to help her escape, but it was not without a cost. She was defeated."
The dragons were stunned. Green Death was the fiercest war dragon during the Second Dragon War! How did she got herself defeated?
"The Great King had made an arrangement for her to create another nest with some of his dragons." Hiccup continued speaking. "I will have my dragons help her rebuild and train the new dragons to defend the nest."
"This particular threat comes from a human." The Night Fury continued speaking. "This human's name is Drago Bludvist. He was a madman who were hellbent on controlling dragons to conquer the world."
The dragons looked disgusted. Humans controlling dragons. That was absurd!
"After some investigation, we have come to conclusions and facts as to how these were possible." Hiccup explained to them. "Drago Bludvist was in possession and control of a Great King dragon species."
Everyone there gasped in shock. They were outraged to think that there was a Bewilderbeast under control of a human. There was some outraged shouting, some dragons in denial and panicking. The King had to let out a loud roar to silence everyone.
Hiccup nodded at the King. Then, he continued explaining to everyone. "We have determined the method of how they attack. They overwhelmed the alpha dragon through attacks from both humans and dragons, then his Great King would fight and finish them off."
"We discovered that this method was used to kill Tree Hugger and incapacitate Red Death." The Night Fury finished. "Fortunately, because of the nature of the fight, his Great King were not considered an alpha dragon."
The King nodded at him. Then, he took over the explanation. "We have a greater threat in our world." He boomed. "The humans. They are trying to control us!"
The dragons roared in anger. They were all angry knowing that the humans were trying to control them. The King roared once more. "They killed our kins!" He shouted. "They killed our allies! Are we going to stand back and let it happen?!"
Hiccup was surprised. He did not expect the King to say those things. He had hoped for the King to let him take over and deal with the situation.
"This is what we are going to do!" The King shouted. "This is my will as the King of All Dragons. This is the will of the dragons! We will not be bound or controlled! We will not serve under the humans!"
Hiccup then realised that the King deserved his title as the King of All Dragons. The way he spoke was passionate. It inspired the dragons around them. He looked at Green Death, who only looked around with neutral expression.
"I say, we had enough!" The King declared. "They want war against us?! Let us war against them! We shall not flag or fail! We shall go on to the end! We shall fight on seas and oceans!"
The dragons grew excited and fervent. Everyone was glowing and jumping around, roaring with great anger and spirit. Emotions burned in their heart as they hate and anger inside them.
"We shall defend our land! Whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on their islands!" The King roared. "We shall fight in their nest! We shall never surrender!"
"We will eradicate our enemies and end where they stand!" The King roared. "We shall fight; THE HUMANS!"
Hiccup remained emotionless. However, his mind was reeling with surprise. What did he mean by that?
"WE WILL WIPE THEM FROM THE FACE OF THE WORLD!" The King roared much louder than before. "JUST LIKE HOW THEY WANT TO WIPE US OUT! LET US END THEM AND BE THE SOLE DOMINANT SPECIES OF THE WORLD!"
The dragons roared in agreement. They flew up sky high and began celebrating amongst themselves. Hiccup's dragons stayed in place, staring at everyone with surprise.
Hiccup realised that he might had made a mistake. He had expected the King to make the dragons attack Drago Bludvist and his Bewilderbeast. It was the expected response that he deducted based off the behaviour that the Intelligence sector had gathered.
The King had Valka. He had her for years already. He had expected him to understand that there were good and bad humans in the world. He did not expect him to say those things.
For the first time in his life, Hiccup felt he had made a huge mistake in his decision.
"That response was uncalled for!"
The next day, Hiccup and his dragons had returned to the Secret nest. They were inside the throne room, discussing about what happened in the meeting.
The alpha Night Fury was pacing around the elevated platform. The four sector leaders were sitting right at the front. The six Deathgrippers were at their usual spot. There was nobody else there but them.
"The response seemed a bit excessive." Obeah commented. "But I could see why it might be justified."
"But all humans?" Hiccup glared at her. "The King was talking about race genocide! This is insane!"
"We disagreed with the premise." Ghost spoke. "Not all humans are bad. Our intelligence sector revealed that there were humans that were friendly with dragons."
"Defenders of the Wing, Wingmaidens…" Scorpion counted as he tried to remember. "… Some of our dragons were saved by them."
Hiccup agreed. While there was some hatred against humans in him, he knew that there were truly good humans out there that would help and care for dragons. He had seen some of them out there.
Huttsgalor tribe, located at the edge of the Viking Empire, was one of the friendliest Viking tribes out there. They treat dragons as their friends and families. It was located close to the mainland. It housed a group of rescuers called Rescue Riders.
It was an example of dragons and humans being friends together.
"But how did we miss?" Hiccup cried out. "We planned out everything! The King was seen as benevolent and patient. He helped dragons in need. He was hard to anger. The historical archives told us that he was the one that spared and imprisoned Red Death."
"We told them about what we discovered." The Night Fury spoke, still pacing around. "We told them about Drago Bludvist. So, why did he suddenly declare war and ordered extermination of all humans on Earth?"
"Alpha, if I may?" Obeah spoke up.
"Go on ahead."
"I assume it was caused by the growing implicit bias that all dragons have."
Hiccup paused. "Implicit bias?"
"Yes." Obeah nodded. "While most dragons did not hate humans, they have attitude and behaviour that they themselves did not realise when faced with them."
"Over the recent years, those behaviours seemed to have grown bolder and explicit." The Prickleboggle continued explaining. "Dragon Hunters, Dragon Trappers and the Northern Alliance were the main culprit of this hatred. It created a selection bias, where they used those tribes as an example of all humans that exist in the world."
"How much was the influence of the Northern Alliance?"
"The Northern Alliance were comprised of multiple tribes from all over the world." Ghost answered. "They had a lot of bases spread everywhere. Drago Bludvist had three most trusted warlords that commanded them."
Hiccup grimaced. "So that's where dragons got their bias from."
"Yes."
The alpha Night Fury began pacing around once more. "Hmm…" He hummed. "… Ghost, I want the Intelligence sector compile everything we know about Dragon Hunters, Dragon Trappers and Northern Alliance. Make sure to include their location."
"Make sure you exaggerate them." Hiccup told him. "Make them sound more dangerous than they actually are. Emphasize that those three factions needed to be taken out at all costs."
"And when you're done with it." Hiccup finished. "Hand them over to Scorpion."
"It will be done, Alpha." Ghost bowed to him.
"Scorpion, when you got the document, I want you to hand them over to the King." Hiccup ordered. "Tell them that those were the targets that we would only participate to attack."
"What are you planning, Alpha?" Scorpion asked.
"I will stall this genocide as long as possible." The alpha Night Fury declared. "Let them wage war against those who were responsible for this mess. I will think more about what would come after that."
"Should we notify the dragon friendly tribes?" Ghost questioned.
"Not yet." Hiccup shook his head. "Telling them now will cause panic. Make sure to lead King's dragons away from them. Do not let any of them near their island."
"What if the King discovered them?" Scorpion drawled, getting their attention.
Hiccup took a deep breath. "Then we will extract them here." He finally spoke. "We must save them at all costs."
The sector leaders' eyes widened. "Alpha, you're not saying…"
"Yes." Hiccup sharply nodded. "I do not wish the death of humans that never have any intention to harm dragons. We have far too many humans and dragons that despised each other. I wish to preserve those who were peaceful as long as possible."
"Prepare for the worst." The alpha Night Fury spoke to the sector leaders. "Take extra caution to every step we make. One wrong step, and we would be the one to kickstart the Third Dragon War."