Chapter 11: Knowledge (6)

Furious had been organising a raid party when the ground shook under them.

When nothing came out of it, dragons returned to their duties. They needed to prepare for their attack on Lava-Lout Island within few weeks. The greater alpha dragon was conversing amongst his generals when Charcoal's dragon army returned from their mission.

The first thing that confused him was the lack of certain black dragons. It was meant to raise a red flag, but their success distracted him from that topic.

There were twenty thousand humans at the island, and there were roughly a hundred dragons. While over half of the dragon army were lost in combat, they were utterly shocked by the success.

They described the fight as a slaughter. Once they destroyed their heavy equipment, the Lava-Louts were mostly defenceless. They described some of their dragons defecting during combat, almost failing the mission. It was due to Charcoal improvising the plan that they managed to succeed in their mission.

When Furious asked Charcoal's whereabouts, they became nervous. After some threats and intimidation, they admitted that both Toothless and Charcoal fell during battle. Suffice to say, the greater alpha dragon lived up to his name.

"A- Alpha."

Henry the Woolly Howl and some of his dragons had carried the unconscious bodies in front of Furious' lair. When the giant eye appeared and saw the bodies, the dragons felt intimidating pressure. There was no doubt that the rumours were true. Charcoal was Furious' son.

"Leave us."

The dragons quickly left the place. After they were gone, the giant eye pulled back into the lair. Moments later, Furious rushed out in his smaller form. He had to check their condition.

Toothless and Charcoal were stable. That was a relief. They had tiny glass fragments around their wings and bodies, which were embedded in their scales. It was obvious that their army tried to take those off with their claws. They did not have the spells to clean them up.

Regardless, something must be done. Furious casted a spell. The unconscious bodies shimmered purple, and they were lifted off the ground. The greater alpha dragon carried them into his lair. He kept going down the massive cavern, before entering a large cave path.

The cave path led him to a massive chamber. The place was full of blue glowing crystals. They seemed to be radiating something. At the centre of the chamber was a green crystal platform. There was nothing on the platform.

Furious carefully floated them onto the platform. Once they were in place, he ended the spell. The greater alpha dragon walked to the side where a small green crystal block was. He stood his forelegs on top of it, before pulsing mana into the crystal.

The green crystal platform shimmered brighter. It rapidly grew upward, enveloping the two unconscious Night Furies into giant block of crystal. When the process was over, blue crystals around them began to dim, and the green crystals were pulsing with energy.

The greater alpha dragon was not done yet, however. He focused on the crystal, connecting one of his mana circuits to it. His mind was flooded with information about the two Night Furies. The crystals mentally informed him that they went through extreme Mana Exhaustion. It was a wonder how they survived.

'Charcoal, you idiot.' The greater alpha Night Fury was internally seething. 'You risked everything just to prove yourself. You have no idea what I would do if I lost you.'

The whole operation almost costed their lives. Furious had never seen a dragon pushing themselves many times beyond their limit. They completely exhausted themselves. They should have never tried doing that in the first place.

Regardless, he must ensure their recovery. Furious pulsed his mana; he ordered the crystals to inject filtered mana into them, effectively recharging them. The crystals began to shimmer brighter as it started recharging the two unconscious dragons.

Feeling relief, Furious moved away from the crystal. He did not like seeing his son inside that thing. The father dragon never thought he would use them again after so long.

However, he was glad to have such equipment. Not many dragons had them due to the expense of getting one. It was a good substitute for their lack of qualified medical professionals.

It would take a whole day for most dragons to fully recharge inside the chamber. The circuits would naturally reject any injection once they were full. Such thing was normal and harmless, since they were comparable to mana transfer. This meant they could be left alone.

'One day too long.' Furious grumbled, before walking out from the place. 'If everything goes well, they could get back home tomorrow.'

Charcoal could not stay there for so long. It was why he demanded their bodies; he did not need anyone seeing him turning back to human. The Vikings at Berk might be looking for him as well. He needed to make some arrangement to prevent that.

'More work to be done.' The greater alpha dragon thought as he braced himself for a long day. 'Damn you, Charcoal.'

It took Furious about a week to prevent Hiccup's disappearance from being noticed. Most of the Vikings were away, meaning the chance of discovery was rather low. With Vikings not really liking Hiccup, nobody would notice Hiccup's absence.

According to his dragons, most Vikings at Berk were gone to spy on Lava-Louts when the dragon raid happened. His dragons reported that they headed to the mainland. He did not know why they were heading there, but given approximation, it would take a whole month for them to return.

However, Furious was faced with another problem.

It had been a week since Toothless and Charcoal entered the chamber. They were still accepting injection.

That caused anxiety for the greater alpha dragon. He thought that their body might be leaking mana. That was a scary thought, since it meant something more serious was happening.

Furious could not summon any medical professionals from Hidden World, ever since Wodensfang barred them from travelling out without permission.

Requesting them from foreign greater alpha dragon would be impossible; dragons with such professions were kept like a prized trophy mate.

That left Furious to perform something wildly out of his qualification. He considered trading something with Wodensfang - anything for the survival of his son.

'No. That should be the last resort.' The greater alpha dragon stubbornly thought. 'There was no telling what Wodensfang would do if he knew who he is. He could take him away.'

The thought of Charcoal taken away from him was a terrifying one. He had lost his true son and mate by humans in the past. He did not need a known human sympathiser to take his adopted son. Furious had enough of humans taking things away from him.

'I will not have another family taken by humans.' Furious darkly thought. 'I'd rather die before that happens.'

Another week passed. Toothless and Charcoal were still inside the chamber.

Furious was afraid to take them off the crystal chamber. According to the crystals, they were still recovering from their wounds. The tiny glass shards were being expelled from their body. He was not sure if that was supposed to happen.

Regardless, the greater alpha dragon continued his work. Charcoal's dragon army - or whatever was left of it - had been given honourable discharge for their service. Toothless and Charcoal included. Most had migrated back to Hidden World, with others heading elsewhere.

When it came to the Snow Wraiths, Furious did something drastic. He declared them rogue and ordered their execution. Most of the captured ones had already been killed. Those managed to flee would be hunted by Hidden World dragons for the rest of their lives.

'In their defence, nobody thought they would succeed the assignment.' The greater alpha dragon pondered that thought. 'Even if it did, they expected pyrrhic victory. It went mostly as they expected.'

Furious was annoyed by their victory. It was supposed to be a lesson for Charcoal. It was made to be impossible to succeed. They had to defy against all odds and succeed that assignment. This made him realise that Charcoal was far more ambitious than he thought.

There was that tiny voice in him. Perhaps Charcoal was right. It might be their way of waging war that was the problem. They had been using the same strategy for a very long time. Considering their impossible victory, perhaps it was time to bring new innovations of war.

The greater alpha dragon rejected that idea. 'Just because they win once doesn't mean it would work in other battles.'

In the third week, Furious struggled to hold his anxiety.

Toothless and Charcoal were still inside the chamber.

The greater alpha dragon did not know what to think. The chamber stated that they were still recovering, but they were still accepting mana injection. Something serious was going on, but Furious did not know what went wrong.

"Hrk..."

Furious was in his smaller form. The father dragon was lying down in front of the crystal chamber, staring at the suspended dragons inside the crystal. He had been staring at them for quite some time. He was pondering what to do in that situation.

The father dragon felt trapped. Metaphorically speaking. There was no change in their situation. Something must be done, but he did not know what. He was not a qualified medical professional. He could not summon one without risking his son being taken away. He did not know what to do!

"Hrk..."

Furious shuddered his breath. He felt tears dropping from his eyes. It had been a while since the last time he cried. The father dragon had not cried since he buried his first son. He was saddened to see them like that. He feared for the wellbeing of his son.

The pressure was mounting. The father dragon had to choose between two lesser evil. He could beg to Wodensfang for a medical professional, or he could trust the chamber to do its work. Either option had potential of losing his son.

But one option would lose him forever.

'I will not lose him forever.' Furious thought as he stood from the ground. 'Charcoal would understand what I did. He won't leave me.'

The father dragon had to swallow his pride. The life of his son depended on it. It was time to ask the dragon he did not like. He must get a medical professional to check on them, one way or another.

"... Charcoal? Charcoal, wake up."

"Ka..." The male dragon stirred from his sleep. Looking up, he saw the concerned expression of his partner. "Hey, Toothless... wait, we made it!"

"I'm not sure if we really made it." The dragoness was hesitant.

Charcoal stood from the ground. At least, that was his intention, because he was floating in the air. There was not really a place since everything seemed endless around them. There was only white light with low humming noise. The male dragon did not know what to make of it. "... did we die?"

"I don't think so." Toothless looked around as well. The dragoness was floating close to her partner. "I don't see the stars and the night sky... unless the Church of Stars are wrong."

The two dragons fell silent. It was then they felt something pulsing from within. The feeling was faint, as if being injected by foreign mana. Such thing was not a new feeling, since it was how most dragons heal themselves. However, it felt different than what they were used to.

"... are we stuck in our mind?" Toothless was suspicious. "If this is what I think it is, we're not supposed to be conscious."

That confused Charcoal. "What are you talking about?"

"We might be in a Recovery Crystal Chamber. It's a Life-Force construct for medical professional." The dragoness explained to him. "Usually, dragons are put in one when they're in critical condition."

Charcoal faltered. "I guess we did push ourselves too far." He exhaled his breath, looking away from her. "... I wish I paid more attention. I trust the group leaders to do their work, but they never said anything."

"They probably suspected something." Toothless suggested. "But without proof, they can't do anything."

"But they could've at least told me about it!" The male dragon argued. He was incredibly disappointed. "I would pay attention instead of busying myself. I don't think dragons need me to tell them how to dodge a catapult."

The two dragons fell silent. The dragoness floated closer to him. "They don't know you would listen." She elaborated. "They don't know you enough to do something like that. They assume you're just like the others."

"If I were like the others, they would have already died before crossing the sea line."

"They didn't know that." Toothless pointed out. "They just know you're different."

"... I hate that you're making sense."

"Hrr, krr..." The dragoness giggled. "Sometimes, you need someone to make sense of someone else."

"... hello..."

The two dragons perked up. They heard a voice echoed throughout the place. They looked around to see where it came from. They were confused by that sudden noise. Toothless narrowed her eyes. "Did you hear that?"

"I did." Charcoal responded, trying to make sense what they just heard. "Someone speaking to us?"

"... do not... trust... him..."

The male dragon was confused. "Do not trust who?"

Suddenly, their body began to glow. The two dragons could only stare as they felt indescribable relief. It felt like an unknown restraint had been released from within. That feeling left them in a sudden bliss, which almost knocked them unconscious.

And then, everything went dark.

Charcoal slowly opened his eyes. The male dragon was in some sort of cavern full of blue glowing crystals. At the end of the cavern was a cave path. Looking down, he noted that he had been laying on a pile of green crystals. It seemed Toothless was correct; they almost died from their exhaustion.

Turning to his side, Toothless was laying there. The dragoness was stirring up from her sleep. "Hrr..."

Charcoal quickly moved to check on her. "Toothless, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." The dragoness stood from the ground. Looking around the place, she was surprised. "... I didn't know we have Recovery Crystal Chamber in the surface."

"I didn't know, either." The male dragon stepped off from the pile of crystals. He smelled the air around him. "I think we're in Dragon Island. This must be my dad's lair."

As if the devil himself was spoken, Furious walked into the room through the entrance. The greater alpha dragon was in his smaller form. He looked rather tired and anxious. The old dragon was distracted when he arrived, until he saw the dragons in front of him.

Yellow eyes met forest green ones. Charcoal stared at his father, who was utterly relieved to see him awake. Furious slowly moved closer, inspecting his appearance. When the greater alpha dragon looked satisfied, the young male dragon relaxed. "Dad-"

SMACK!

Toothless held back a gasp as Furious slapped Charcoal with his claws. The father dragon's expression was contorted with grief and anger. The young male dragon was frozen in shock. He did not expect his father to strike him. It was the first time that happened for a long time.

"... three weeks." Furious whispered. "You made me worried... for three weeks."

Charcoal did not respond. The father dragon shuddered his breath. "You should've never risked yourself." Furious continued speaking. "Your life is far more important than this assignment."

The young male dragon took a step forward. "Dad-"

Furious immediately recoiled away. Charcoal felt hurt seeing that reaction. The greater alpha dragon shuddered his breath, before looking away. "Get out."

Charcoal faltered upon hearing that. He slowly walked to the exit, with his partner following behind. Not knowing the relationship between the two, Toothless gave some distance while walking out from the place.

"You two have been discharged with honour." Furious suddenly called out, making them pause. The greater alpha dragon did not bother looking back. "I hope you had fun putting yourself in danger. I don't want to see you in the war anymore."

After leaving Furious' lair, Toothless and Charcoal slowly cruised around the open volcano. It was daytime, and there were not that many dragons around. The two dragons were processing what just happened back at the lair. There were a lot of thoughts happening in their mind.

It was then Toothless noticed something. "Charcoal." She started, getting his attention. "You're bleeding."

The male dragon touched where Furious slapped him. Smelling his paw, there was a bit of blood there. "... It's been so long since the last time my father hit me." Charcoal admitted as he adjusted his flight. "He never looked so terrified since..."

They stayed silent for some time. The dragoness noticed that Charcoal had trailed off. "Since what?"

"Since I joined Dragon Rebellion." The male dragon answered her question. He focused on their flight direction. "He never approved of me participating in this war. I served and proved myself to Merciless before he allowed me in. Even then, he still treated me like a hatchling."

"... there's always that danger of death." Toothless glanced at her partner. "He's just being a parent."

"Then he's not very good at it." Charcoal grumbled, unhappy with where that topic went. "We're dragons - it's an occupational hazard. There are humans killing dragons, and dragons killing other dragons. I'm just..."

There was another pause. The male dragon searched for the right words. "... I don't want to be sheltered." Charcoal finally admitted. "I served as a fledgling and learned a lot. I don't like dragons lying to themselves. Seeing my father thinking that I need to be coddled doesn't feel right."

Toothless mulled over that statement. She thought it was best to continue later in their nest - mainly for privacy reasons. "Should we check on the army?"

"We are heading there." The male dragon answered.

True to his words, the two dragons went into the planning area. Everything was mostly intact; there was a wall of text at the end of the room. There was not that many dragons there. Most of them were crowding around the Lava-Lout Island diorama.

Landing close to them, Charcoal moved to approach. "Good morning."

Dragons turned to face the newcomer. Ronald the Dramillion was the first one to exclaim. "General!"

"Not anymore. Honourable discharge." The male Night Fury looked around. There were about ten dragons there. He noted that some of the group leaders were missing. " I can't be in the war anymore."

"Everyone gets honourably discharged." Agatha the Deadly Nadder responded. Dragons nodded, agreeing with her. "Most already crossed the border to get home. They even get benefits in their home greater alpha."

Charcoal felt relief. "I'm glad they made it."

"Not everyone."

Glancing to the side, Harald the Dramillion was walking towards them. He had deep scar wounds on his scales, mostly at his face and forelegs. There was a huge scar across his left eye, which was half open. "The Snow Wraiths were declared rogue. They executed the ones they captured."

"They got what's coming for them." The male Night Fury remarked, before greeting the purple dragon. "I'm glad you're okay, Harald."

"All thanks to you." Harald expressed his gratitude. "Had you not been there, I would actually lose my eye."

Toothless leaned closer to check. "Can you see still?"

"Just about." The Dramillion shrugged his wings, before focusing on the male Night Fury. "What about you?"

"My partner and I spent three weeks in Recovery Crystal Chamber." Charcoal explained what happened to them. "We probably went too far and almost died."

"You probably did." Henry the Woolly Howl commented. "We thought you died from Mana Exhaustion. It was only from heartbeat that we know you two survived."

"Well, I can't waste everyone's effort for the assignment." The male black dragon responded, before walking to check the wall of text. "I'm just glad we made it through."

Stopping in front of the wall, Charcoal realised that they were names written in Norse. There were over sixty of them, some of which he was familiar with. "I guess this is..." Looking up, there was the title of the text.

Wall of Remembrance.

"... oh." Charcoal softly whispered. It was the names of fallen dragons during combat. "These are dragons that fell."

Dragons began to crowd around it. Harald exhaled his breath. "Mengu was the one to suggest doing this." He explained the context. "He said humans write names of their dead to remember them. We thought this would honour him... and everyone that fell."

There were some names that Charcoal was familiar with; Edvard the Shovelhelm, Mengu the Changewing, Andries the Deadly Nadder, Hartman the Monstrous Nightmare, Marie, Paula, and some others. It saddened him that not many dragons survived. "... how many made it out alive?"

"Less than thirty." Agatha answered. "If you don't count the traitors."

The male Night Fury looked around to count. There was only twelve dragons present. The rest most likely went back home. "... you think more could have survived?"

"We put a lot of effort to make sure that we made it out alive." Harald answered. He was firm in his voice. "Bomberry bombs, underground escape holes, forest smoke cover... considering there's twenty thousand humans in there, nobody expected us to survive, let alone succeed the assignment."

A male Deadly Nadder landed close to them. "General Harald?" He spoke up, getting their attention. "There's a summon."

"I just arrived." The Dramillion grunted his voice. "Give me ten minutes."

That intrigued Charcoal. "General Harald?"

Harald looked rather prideful. "Apparently our tales about the dragon raid went far beyond the border." He explained the context. "When we arrived home, Merciless wanted me to become his general. I agreed."

Charcoal widened his eyes. That was unexpected; Merciless always had high standard for his generals. It seemed that the older Dramillion had exceeded their expectations. "Congratulations!" Charcoal was happy to hear that. "What about Ronald?"

Harald simply stared at his brother. The younger Dramillion shyly stared at them. "I want to become a medical professional." He answered the question. "This is my last day on the surface. I came here to see the Wall of Remembrance before migration."

"I guess you're lucky to see me then." The male Night Fury remarked. It brought him joy that someone he knew was chasing their dream. "It's a demanding profession. Study hard, and you sure will make it."

Toothless decided to interject. "If you have any problem, I have a Light Fury friend in Hidden World." She added. "Her name is Elisabeth Amber. She's a professional mind healer. Just tell her I sent you and she'll help you."

"Thank you. I'll see her when I get there."

"If you ever come back, remember us. We'll be here, living our lives in Barbaric Archipelago. Furious probably still need me for his personal errands." The male Night Fury seemed to chuckle. He looked at the others. "What about everyone? Is it peaceful after discharge?"

Some dragons glanced at each other. Agatha the Deadly Nadder was the first one to speak. "It's been pretty quiet." She admitted. "I'm still adjusting. I didn't expect to make it through."

"I've decided stay." Henry was rather sombre. "I was an immigrant. When I was drafted, I thought it would help me with my problems. But now, I realised that I was not the problem."

Charcoal tilted his head. "What was the problem?"

"That I'm terrible at everything I do." The Woolly Howl stared at the male black dragon. There was understanding in his eyes. "My parents always blamed me for everything. I never knew why - I thought I was the problem since general Grosvenor did it too. I used my benefits to see a mind healer, and I learned that I was never the problem."

The male dragon was saddened to hear that. "What was the real problem?"

"He told me that my parents expected me to be responsible for everything." Henry answered the question. "He said they did it because I was the eldest. General Grosvenor is just... him."

Harald let out a snort, getting their attention. "That fat oaf likes to blame everyone but him." He remarked. "Always jealous of everyone else. You should have seen him when we were publicly discharged with honour."

"Calling him fat oaf is an insult to oafs and fat dragons." Agatha gave her opinion. There was disgust in her voice. "He objected against our discharge for frivolous reasons. Greater Alpha Furious had to override him. I'm just glad I don't have to see him again."

Charcoal darkened his expression. He exhaled his breath, before sitting on his hindlegs. "What matters is that you finally got the help you need." The male Night Fury stared at the Woolly Howl. "You did well, Henry. Had you not done your job, more of us might end up as stars in the sky. Worse - we might even fail the assignment if you didn't do your job."

"Thanks to you, we know what we were facing against." Agatha the Deadly Nadder expressed her gratitude. "Knowing is half the battle, as they say. You led your group well. Had they not scouted ahead, it might be the end of us."

Other dragons muttered in agreement. Henry looked around as dragons expressed their gratitude. He was touched by their respect and validation to him. The Woolly Howl felt his eyes water a bit. Looking back to the male black dragon, he spoke with outmost sincerity. "Thank you."

Charcoal simply smiled. He was happy that Henry was doing well. The male black dragon hoped for better future. He hoped they lived long enough to enjoy their fruits of labour.

After gathering with the veterans, as well as expressing their farewells to the Dramillion brothers, everyone returned to their homes. It was night-time when Toothless and Charcoal arrived back at their nest. The two dragons landed at the front, before entering the cave path.

Going through the path, they could not help but notice something. It felt smaller. Entering the cave clearing, the two dragons inspected the place for possible squatter. It only amplified their feeling of being relatively cramped. After clearing the place, the two dragons simply stood there, confused.

"I don't remember our place being this small." Toothless looked around the place. "Has it always been like this? Or are we getting bigger?"

"We're definitely getting bigger." Charcoal remarked. He was comparing his claws with scratches on the wall. "Probably not enough for dragons to notice. Is this a side effect from Recovery Crystal?"

"No. Recovery Crystal doesn't make you bigger." The dragoness answered the question, before turning to face the male dragon. "It could be an unrelated mutation. Remember what I told you about mutation?"

"Yeah?"

"Recovery Crystal has a history of accelerating them."

"Oh." Charcoal stated with wide-eyed expression. "Did we get a major mutation?"

"I can't say for sure. We're not dead yet." Toothless was deep in thought. "This might be related to that white place we saw. I need to summon a mind healer to check. It might take some time because of regulation..."

"Regulation?"

"Medical professionals are trained dragons dedicated to heal others." Toothless explained the context. "Ever since the 1351 Poaching incident, my father prevented any medical professionals from leaving Hidden World for any reason. They need to get permission if they want to reach the surface."

"1351 Poaching Incident." Charcoal pondered that event. "What is it?"

Toothless let out a groan. "Ho boy." She rested herself on the ground. "Get ready for a long history lesson. There's a lot going on in 14th century."

The male black dragon laid down in front of her. He was curious to hear the story. "What happened in that century?"

"The poaching incident happens when humans started poaching medical professional dragons." The dragoness began the tale. "It's the tale of immortality. I think it started in 1320s during the Swedish-Novgorodian War-"

"Wait, hang on." Charcoal interrupted. "I barely have knowledge on history of Europe. I don't know anything specific before 1600s. You need to go way back."

"Harr..." Toothless let out a groan. "How far back do you know?"

There was no response. Charcoal simply stared with guilt. The dragoness felt like strangling the male dragon in front of her. "Elementary education it is!" Toothless sarcastically exclaimed. "Right! Do you know Julius calendar? The one that came from Roman Empire before they fell?"

"I do. That's what everyone uses, including most humans."

"Good. The context of that happens at year 1310 here in Barbaric Archipelago." The dragoness patiently explained. "That's when a group of humans and dragons, led by Hiccup the Second, invented a crystal called Kinship Stone."

"Kinship Stone." Charcoal repeated. "What does it do?"

"It's an artificial Mana Circuit, specifically designed to connect with your voice and ears." Toothless answered the question. "They allow wearer to understand dragons and speak human language."

The male dragon was surprised. He never knew such thing existed. It did line up with what he knew; there had been long peace before, at least for wars involving humans against dragons. He should have known that there were efforts to maintain said peace.

The dragoness continued speaking. "That's the purpose of the stone. Communication allows equal friendship with human and dragon." Toothless further explained. "But it can do more than that. It can affect humans and dragons depending on how close they are to each other."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Have you ever seen humans living together with dragons?" Toothless questioned.

Charcoal tilted his head. It was difficult to imagine such thing, let alone witnessing one. The closest he knew was humans enslaving dragons. "Willingly? No."

"There are places around the world where humans and dragons lived willingly in harmony." The dragoness elaborated. "For example, there is one in Greater Archipelago. The humans in Caldera Cay worships dragons. They lived together in harmony with them."

"Really?" The male dragon was intrigued. He had never heard of such thing before.

"Yes. But that's not all - every year, fledgling dragons would choose a child from the island to bond with." Toothless continued speaking. "My father would send a representative carrying Kinship Stones for them. If both are willing, they detach themselves from the tribe and become dragon riders."

Charcoal was incredulous. "I have never seen such thing." He remarked. "And I lived in Greater Archipelago for most of my life."

"I'm not surprised. Dragons tend to be cruel to those that befriend humans." The dragoness explained the situation. "So, they keep them in secret. You'll never see them unless you put some effort looking for one."

The male dragon had no intention to look for one. "Okay, but how is this related to artificial Mana Circuit inside Kinship Stone?"

"For all intent and purpose, an artificial circuit is still a circuit. Through Kinship Stone, humans can replenish mana of their dragon friend when needed." Toothless began her lecture. "In return, they become bonded to the dragon. This gave them the ability to cast spells."

"Hraa..." Charcoal was in awe. It sounded like tales of old, where human and dragon stood side by side, performing incredible feats together. "I assume that's permanent."

"Yes. They need to trust each other before getting their Kinship Stone." The dragoness elaborated. "If not, the connection won't even start. They could die if they lost trust to each other."

"And how does this relate to 1351 Poaching incident?"

"Dragon riders were common back when Hiccup the Second was still alive. Most of them became medical professionals. They often work at the continent." Toothless told the history. "It was... his way of diplomacy. Dragon riders played a major role when the Mongols tried to conquer Europe. They were the ones that fought against Mongolian serpent dragons."

"Hrr..." Charcoal slowly nodded. "It started in a war."

"Yes. It starts in 1320s during the Swedish-Novgorodian War in Europe. It was a war between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Novgorod Republic." The dragoness told the tale. "Some dragon riders participated in the war. The incident starts with rumours that a rider came back to life because of his dragon friend."

Charcoal blinked at that. "What?"

"A dragon rider came back to life because of his dragon friend." The dragoness repeated herself.

"No, I heard you the first time." The male dragon replied. There was incredulity in his voice. "Coming back to life through circuit connection? Is that even possible?"

"That was the rumour. The rider and his dragon partner were doctors - medical professionals to treat the wounded." Toothless explained the context. "The story goes that the rider took an arrow to the chest to protect his dragon. They said he died on his way to hospital. But then his dragon used their bond to bring him back to life."

"But it's just rumours, right?" Charcoal tilted his head. "Humans can't just come back to life. That's not how power of friendship works."

"We don't know for sure. The dragon that brought him back said that he knew his partner wasn't dead yet." The dragoness elaborated. "He said the field medic misdiagnosed him, which is fair on their part. The arrow went through his heart."

The male dragon winced at that. "So, it was just a lucky human that survived the impossible."

"Maybe. But rumours or not, the damage was already done. It became a tale of immortality." Toothless continued the tale. "Kings and lords started courting medical professional dragons, thinking that they can bring them back to life after they died."

"They need to be willing, right?" Charcoal assumed. "The connection won't even start."

"Yes. Most humans, especially lords and nobles, don't see dragons as sentient being." The dragoness confirmed. "They started kidnapping medical professional dragons by force. The 1351 Poaching incident was a massive dragon trafficking bust that exposed... everything."

The male dragon darkened his expression. "I guess that's when your father start making regulations."

"Exactly." Toothless confirmed. "My father put up a lot of regulations to prevent this from happening again. No medical dragon is allowed to leave Hidden World without good reason. Kinship Stone was also heavily regulated."

Charcoal pondered for some time. It made sense why Wodensfang took such drastic decisions. "The 1350s are the height of Black Death, no?" He questioned. "It might've fuelled the need for medical professionals."

"It did. The regulation caused a war. There was a human crusade to get the dragons back." Toothless explained. "It lasted only a month when my dad raided the Eastern Roman Empire - that's where the crusade starts."

The male dragon slowly nodded, understanding the situation. It was said that the Black Death wiped a third of population in Europe. Such thing was bound to make anyone desperate for survival. There must have been some sort of pseudo-science revolving around dragons.

"... I think I understand." Charcoal stood from the ground. "Toothless, I trust you to get a mind healer here. We also need to start expanding this nest before sleep."

"Harr..." The dragoness let out a yawn. "We can do it tomorrow morning."

"Well, I need to fix my sleeping schedule. Knowing my dad, he'll want me back in few days." The male dragon pointed out. "Not as a soldier, but as a personal dragon messenger."

"Fine." Toothless grumbled as she got up. "But you're flaming our bed tonight."

"Don't worry. I don't plan on shivering in my sleep."

After Toothless and Charcoal made recovery, Furious contemplated his situation.

It was fortunate that they recovered moments before he travelled to Hidden World. He had been arranging some stuff when they decided to wake up. Furious was relieved that they managed to recover. At the same time, he was contemplating how it happened.

It was unthinkable for a hundred dragon facing heavily armed two hundred thousand humans, and somehow won.

It also eerily mirrored the achievements of his son of old. His late son often advocated for change when things did not work out. He was not afraid to try something new - always full of drive and initiative. He dared to take a lost cause and turn them into success.

It made sense why Merciless was highly impressed with him all those years ago.

Charcoal was a great general. It was undeniable. He challenged him when he thought he was wrong. Furious tried to twist that into opportunity to teach Charcoal a life lesson. He wanted him to understand that things were different in Barbaric Archipelago.

He did not expect him to succeed at all. It became an embarrassment for his generals when he succeeded that assignment, especially when they were in process of mobilising tens of thousands of dragons to take out the Lava-Louts. Furious did not care, because he was too focused on other things.

Such as the fact that their recovery might not be a full recovery.

When Toothless and Charcoal left the chamber, Furious retrieved the report from the crystals. He did not really focus on them, since something more alarming was going on at the time. He also had to reward Charcoal's army for their effort, which further took more of his attention. Not to mention his now-cancelled plans to travel to Hidden World.

Now that he had the time to process the rest of the reports, it made him anxious of his son.

It detected a major mutation happening within Toothless and Charcoal.

There was no reason why the mutation even occurred. Furious had no idea why the mutation even happened. It was possible that their Mana Exhaustion triggered them; they did push themselves until they almost died.

There were cases of dragons surviving severe mana exhaustion throughout history, but none had ever caused any mutation.

'That might be why it took them three weeks to recover.' Furious thought, mentally blaming himself for skimming through reports. 'I should have brought medical professionals much sooner. Curse Wodensfang and his policies. Curse Charcoal for daring that assignment.'

It had been the talk ever since that dragon raid happened. Furious had done his best to silence them, but the news had already spread to Hidden World.

They called them the Daring Hundred and became legend amongst aspiring dragon soldiers. The story was so outstanding, Merciless took one of Charcoal's appointed leaders and made them his general.

Dragons knew who Charcoal was; the general that dared the impossible. Even Merciless wanted to meet him. Furious made sure nobody ever reached them without his permission. This meant that it was going to be Merciless' condition if he ever request anything from him.

The last thing he needed was Merciless finding out what happened.

'In all fairness, I should have never given Charcoal that assignment.' Furious mentally grumbled. 'There's only one dragon to blame, and that was me. I should've known better.'

"Dad? I'm here."

Furious quickly shifted into his smaller form, before running to the front section of his lair. Charcoal was standing there, as if expecting a summon from him. The greater alpha dragon stopped in front of him. "Charcoal, lay down for a moment. I need to check something."

The young dragon was confused. "Okay." He laid down on the ground.

The greater alpha dragon pressed his paws on Charcoal's sides. It shimmered green as Furious checked his mana and its circuits. Everything looked fine; there was no complications. Beyond any reasonable doubt, Charcoal was healthy.

The major mutation was most likely harmless or beneficial. It was rare for such thing to happen. Furious was relieved that luck was on their side. That eased his concerns about their health.

Once he confirmed his wellbeing, Furious pulsed his mana to continue Charcoal's flow of Lycanwing. It would be a few days until the Vikings returned. He needed Charcoal to return as Hiccup if he wanted them to remain ignorant of this.

The last thing he needed was the Vikings finding out.

"Dad, is there something wrong?"

Furious let go of him, before focusing on the young dragon. "Just checking over your health." He answered the question. Seeing his confused expression, he elaborated. "You passed out after the volcano erupted. I want to make sure nothing is damaged in your head."

"I'm fine. Nothing is wrong." Charcoal assured him. "I can think and remember just fine."

"Alright. Then tell me how the volcano erupted."

"The volcano erupted because the dam was holding back an extremely high pressure of lava." The young dragon recited his event. "When we were planning the raid, we thought the lava might just cover the village. We severely underestimated the pressure it was holding."

Furious tilted his head. "How come it made such massive eruption?"

Charcoal pondered for some time. "We miscalculated the flow of lava at the volcano." He summarised. "The Lava-Louts were able to build a city there because there was never any eruption. The magma flow was blocked from underground just enough to keep the volcano alive, but not enough to erupt."

It was something that they wondered about during the planning phase. They assumed that the volcano was about to become dormant, which could explain why the Lava-Louts invested so much on that land. They never looked further because they thought it was irrelevant.

"When we blew up the gate, it created a sudden release of pressure underground." Charcoal continued his explanation. "It caused some sort of shock that blew the top wide open. Because of the pressure, the lava just kept going, and the rest is history."

The greater alpha dragon nodded his head, having heard such explanation from dragons he questioned. It meant that Charcoal had no issue remembering things. "Okay. At least you remember." Furious felt somewhat relieved that he was mentally unaffected. "Hopefully, you don't have to spend another three weeks in my lair."

"I'll try not to." Charcoal commented.

"You better be." The greater alpha dragon retorted, before remembering something. "... are you ready for your last lesson?"

That confused the young dragon. "I thought I finished them."

"Consider this the very last one." Furious grunted, before grabbing something from the side. There was a hidden cave hole at the corner. The greater alpha dragon dumped them to the front. "Here."

There were two crystals on the ground. The first one had bright green platinum colour, which was slowly pulsing with dim light. It looked more like a sharp crystal shard than typical rocky ones. Charcoal could feel that it had raw mana inside; it was nothing like anything he had ever seen before.

The second one had appearance of a block. Charcoal had seen cubic-shaped crystals before - some naturally grew like that. It was blue in colour, looking like beryl crystal, but not quite. There was greenish tint on them. Unlike the first crystal, there was no light show. It looked surprisingly ordinary.

"This is... for your awareness." Furious remarked as he looked at the two crystals. He was a bit distracted. "Do you know what they are?"

"No?"

"This green one is a crystallised raw mana. We call them Nature Shard." The greater alpha dragon explained. "You make them from burning plants. Naturally, you can find them in caverns where dragons usually die."

Charcoal remembered the time when he crashed into pile of charcoal years ago. While that did give him his adult name, he often wondered what they were doing with them. It seemed that they were in process of making those crystals. "What are they for?"

"We use them to recharge our mana. Very useful for medic." Furious answered the question. He pushed the greenish crystal to the young dragon. "Should you want to try another stunt like before, bring this along."

The young dragon carefully grabbed it with his paws. He could feel the mana within, which had the same feeling of trees and plants. Focusing on the crystal, he connected the circuits on his paw to it. He felt his mana replenish, but something stung his paws. "Kar!"

Charcoal dropped the crystal shard. It simply clattered on the rocky ground. Checking his paws, there was some sort of phantom pain on his paw; almost like being burned. Regardless, the young dragon did feel slightly better, as if he just taken a gulp of fresh water.

Furious pulled the crystal shard back. "Don't use them too much at once. It can burn your circuits and cause mana poisoning." He explained as he stared at him. "If your partner's been teaching you Life-Force, you should know what that is."

The young dragon was aware. Typically, when a dragon injects mana into other dragon, they need to get through their mana circuits. The circuits would cleanse them first, before pushing them into the body, thus entering their mana reserve.

Mana poisoning occurred when mana circuits could not cleanse foreign mana injected to the body. The most common cause was taking in too much foreign mana.

It was like a pool of saltwater dumped into bucket of freshwater; the mana circuits could not cleanse them, because there were simply too many of them. Depending on how it happened, it could result in either quick or slow and painful death.

"This could have been useful before." Charcoal commented.

"And now you know." Furious remarked, before putting the greenish crystal aside. "Worry me to death again; I'll do more than just claw your face."

The young dragon thought it was worth it. Toothless' life mattered more than blood and scar on his face. "What about the other one?"

"This is made by highly skilled dragons in Hidden World." The greater alpha dragon answered. He pushed the beryl-like crystal forward. "We call them Logic Crystal. Channel your mana to it."

Charcoal moved to grab the cube-shaped crystal, but Furious stopped him. "Only pulse your mana once." His father warned. "... this was once your mother's - the only thing she left for us both."

The young dragon straightened himself. That made him incredibly cautious. Carefully moving his right paw, Charcoal touched the beryl-coloured, cube-shaped crystal. He felt some sort of primitive mana circuit inside.

Charcoal slowly inhaled his breath. He carefully pulsed his mana into it, causing them to shimmer. Suddenly, some sort of illusion appeared over the crystal. There was number written on them.

02:35:52

That was when Charcoal realised what it was. He had seen something similar made by humans before. They were typically circular in shape. However, in this case, they were written as numbers in Norse. The numbers were glowing yellow, and they were floating over the crystal.

The young dragon looked up to his father. "... I didn't know we have a clock." He whispered. "I didn't know this is possible."

"Do you know how they made these crystals?"

Charcoal paused at that question. "I don't know." He admitted. "The Nature Shard is probably made with raw mana."

"All crystals are made of mana. Nature Shard is the basic form of crystallised mana." Furious elaborated, gesturing at the crystals. "In essence, they are mana in different form. Some can form naturally, while others, like Logic Crystal, can only be made. But they don't last for long."

Charcoal fell silent. The numbers disappeared on its own. Learning from his lessons before, the young dragon pulsed his mana to identify the crystal. When that mana returned to him, he realised the crystals were just mana in different form.

The Nature Shard was just crystallised raw mana. It was why he felt pain when pulling them. He never used one before, and it stressed the mana circuits on his paws. It was how they could burn his circuits. Should he control and slowed the flow, it was possible to not feel pain at all.

In case of Logic Crystal, there was a single mana circuit inside, storing 'mental' instructions to run. He realised that, for every instruction it ran, the mana was drained from the crystal. Charcoal was unsure what would happen if it ran out.

Given what Furious said, it would probably shatter into pieces.

Charcoal glanced at his father. "What happens if it ran out of mana?"

"They turn into dust." Furious answered. "All mana crystal does."

"Hrr..." That was anticlimactic. The young dragon turned to face his father. "Why did you show me this one?"

"It is to remember your mother... and as an example." The greater alpha dragon answered, before tilting his head. "I've also inspected the things you found."

That surprised the young dragon. "You checked the human contraption?"

"I did. Not that anyone else knew about it." Furious shrugged his wings. He sounded rather stern. "Given how much things you stumbled to, should you ever find a draconic contraption like this crystal... you now know what to do with it."

Charcoal did not know what to say. "... thank you."

"Hrr..." The greater alpha dragon simply nodded. "You can leave now."

The young dragon moved to grab the greenish crystal, only for Furious to stop him. "No. You're not taking them. These are mine." The older dragon placed his paw over them. "I told you where to get them so you can get them yourself."

"Fine. I'll go hunt myself a Nature Shard." Charcoal was sarcastic, before pulling himself back. "Preferably before doing something that can give me a horrible and painful death."

"You better be." The greater alpha dragon retorted. He moved to stash the crystals away. "Now, I believe I promised to tell you about the Dark Magic Hysteria."

The young dragon tilted his head. "Dark Magic Hysteria?"

"The event that led to change in our perception of mana." Furious pushed the crystal away, before focusing on his son. "The reason why we call them mana instead of magic."

Charcoal had completely forgotten about it. He did not really understand why they changed their name, and he was not going to push it. That did not mean he was not curious. Sitting on the ground, he paid attention to his father.

The greater alpha dragon took a deep breath. "Have you heard of Christianity?"

"It's a human religion." The young dragon answered.

"Yes and no." Furious responded. "Unlike the star, the moon and the sky - the religion is based on belief in God, and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, written on the Bible."

"Okay." Charcoal blinked at that. "But it's still a human religion."

"It's not human religion. A religion is a religion." The greater alpha dragon corrected. "They come from humans. It's predominantly human."

Charcoal raised his brows. "We have dragons worshipping them?"

"Yes. They are minorities in Hidden World." Furious smiled at that. "Those dragons sometimes have divine abilities that defined them."

The young dragon had heard of them. Dragons that could use divine spells. "Deviant dragon hunters."

"Yes." The greater alpha dragon smiled. "We used to call them paladins. They appeared during deviant dragon crisis in Year 44 as measures against deviant dragons."

That surprised Charcoal. He never thought deviant dragon hunters were rooted from Christianity. "But how does it work? Christianity condemns magic."

"That was the human interpretation. We dragons have different interpretation of this." Furious explained the context. "We knew magic more than anyone else. Instead of interpreting them as all magic, we interpret them like deviant dragons."

The greater alpha dragon paused. "Necromancy is a study of undead. There were tales of dragons raising the dead to serve them." Furious softly told the tale. "This practice used to be legal, but after the Undead Dragon Cataclysm back in year 450, it was declared as deviant activity."

"Undead Dragon Cataclysm." Charcoal tried to remember. "I've never heard of it."

"I didn't expect you to. The incident happened deep inside Hidden World." Furious nodded. "In 852, someone tried to perform a ritual to empower themselves through the undead. It failed, but the consequence was enormous. A section of Hidden World became inhabitable. Kingdoms and empires sealed the place."

The greater alpha dragon grimaced. "But it was not enough. Years after that, something broken through the seal." Furious told the tale. "It was Arch Alpha Sildek, the Lich Dragon. The Conqueror of the Dead. The first deviant arch alpha dragon."

The young dragon paid attention. Furious continued speaking. "Everyone fought against them. But with his control over the dead, it was almost impossible." He continued the tale. "Until someone came forward. A platinum-scaled dragon named Bahamut."

Furious exhaled his breath. "He came forth and united all dragons with divine abilities. Under his command, they brought down the deviant arch alpha." The greater alpha dragon revealed. "It took them four years to end the threat. When it was over, he was declared an arch alpha. The Arch Alpha of Dragon Order."

"Hraa..." Charcoal breathed out. It was always interesting to hear how dragons dealt with deviant dragons in the past. "What happened next?"

"He pioneered methods to learn and use divine spells. His methods were still being taught to deviant dragon hunters to this day." The greater alpha dragon gave his answer. "But with that teaching came the crisis. Dragons did not want to associate themselves with necromancy or demonic things. It was the start for Dark Magic Hysteria."

Furious paused as he thought his words. "Dark Magic Hysteria is less of a hysteria, but more of a moral and philosophical crisis." The greater alpha dragon explained. "What is magic? We define them as practice of supernatural force. But there was no external force when we cast our spell. We understand how it worked."

The greater alpha dragon briefly paused again. "It was not beyond the laws of nature. Everything is based on how we understand the world. It could be used for good, meaning it was not evil." Furious continued speaking. "By questioning ourselves, we understand that our definition of magic is different than what we defined long time ago. In 860, we changed its name."

Charcoal tilted his head. "So, we changed the name because of Christianity."

"We did not change the name to conform with the Christians." Furious sharply retorted. "That is a prejudiced misconception. We changed them because we understood. We can no longer define them as magic, because we made known of the unknown. Magic is unknown."

The young dragon slowly nodded. He could understand why they changed the name. Magic was typically associated with paranormal and superstition. Those were typically unknown. However, that did make him wonder. "But other places still call them magic. I was told that Eastern World serpent dragons still call them that."

"I cannot speak for them, because I did not understand their reasoning myself." The greater alpha dragon responded. "It could be tradition, culture, or their own understanding of mana. You have to find out about it yourself."

"Okay." Charcoal pondered for some time. "Why have I never seen these Christian dragons?"

"They never identify themselves as Christians. They are discriminated in most parts of dragon world, including here." Furious gave his answer. Seeing his expression, he continued speaking. "If you want to learn divine spells from them, look for Lutheran dragons. They live close to mainland."

"Okay, dad."

"Harr..." Furious exhaled his breath. He was relieved that the talk was over. "You can leave now."

The young dragon obeyed. He walked to leave the chamber. However, something made him stop in his tracks. He remembered something important. Charcoal was unsure if it was wise to ask his father about the raid, considering that it was the result of challenging him.

The greater alpha dragon frowned when he stopped. "Something wrong?"

The young dragon slowly turned around to face his father. He was about to speak, before deciding against it. "Good night, dad."

"Good night, son."

Later that night, Charcoal arrived back to his nest. "Toothless, I'm home." He declared, before entering the nest. The entrance had been enlarged few days ago, in their effort to expand the place. "Toothless?"

Entering the main chamber, the place had been vastly enlarged. It was large enough to fit several dragons. The ground and walls were rather smooth, which was expected since they used their fire to mould the rocks. They wanted a nice nest for themselves.

Charcoal noticed that Toothless was staring at a wall. "Toothless?"

"Hold on." The dragoness shushed him. She seemed to be concentrating on something at the centre of the room. "... I think I got it."

The male dragon approached. "Got what?"

Toothless took a deep breath. Charcoal stopped short when he noticed something. He felt some sort of compression in the air. "What the..."

BOOM! CLACK!

Charcoal jumped when the dragoness fired some sort of ice bolt from her maw. A chunk of ice suddenly sprung up at where it landed, which was at the centre of the room. "So that's how it works!"

The male dragon was incredulous. "Did you just make that ice from nowhere?"

"Yup!" Toothless simply nodded. "This is something we can do now."

"This is- wait." Charcoal paused. "Does that mean we had a mutation?"

"We did. Yes. It looks to be a safe major mutation. That's extremely rare." The dragoness answered as she sat on her hindlegs. "I've been experimenting to see if there's any negative side effects. There is none so far, which is a good thing."

"And the positive side effect is..." The male dragon pondered the word for that. "Making ice out of nowhere."

"And more." Toothless suddenly reared back, before spitting something to the chunk of ice.

SPLASH!

It was some sort of water ball, which plashed the ice. Charcoal was about to inspect when Toothless fired a small flame to it, igniting the whole ice. It created an open flame that illuminated the whole chamber. The dragoness was enjoying his befuddled look. "How's that?"

Charcoal was confused by that phenomenon. It was a white-bluish flame that illuminated the chamber. He moved closer to inspect the thing. The ice was not even melting, which was befuddling because the fire was incredibly hot. "How did you..."

"The mutation expanded our circuit's utility. They allowed us to manipulate our fire into ice and water." Toothless explained what she had discovered. "I could make lightning sparks with my claws, but nothing more than that."

That was when the male dragon realised something important. "The mutation allowed us to control element."

"Yup! That's what the mutation did." The dragoness nodded. "The ice and water aren't exactly something like Scauldron. They come from our fire, so they're flammable. They can even be explosive."

"The mutation allowed us to control element." Charcoal repeated himself, processing the significance of that statement. "We have the ability to control elements."

"I wouldn't be surprised by that." Toothless dismissed his concern. "Some dragons under my father can use all elements. Their job was keeping greater alpha dragons in check."

It sounded like Dramillion's mimicry ability. They could use most dragon breath that existed. "You think your father can lend us one to learn from?" The male dragon questioned, before remembering something. "No offense, Toothless. We'll figure something out if you don't want to."

"None taken." The dragoness answered. "I'm fine with asking for help."

"I thought you don't like him."

"I don't like him, but I trust him. He always keeps his words." The dragoness clarified her stance. "Trust me; it's a lot more complicated than that. He'll help us with this situation, since we're not in the war anymore."

"Harr..." Charcoal exhaled his breath, before resting himself onto the ground. "Sometimes, I wish we met much earlier... and maybe in Hidden World..."

"We might be together much earlier on." Toothless replied, before realising why he said that. "How was your meeting with Furious?"

"It's..." The male dragon paused, before correcting himself. "We talked about the Dark Magic Hysteria."

"Dark Magic Hysteria." The dragoness pondered. "I've heard of it, but never in detail."

"Well, my dad told me a lot of things." Charcoal answered as he shifted his resting position. "He told me about the Undead Dragon Cataclysm."

"That I never heard of." Toothless admitted. "Do you want to share the memory?"

The male dragon pondered for some time. "... sure."

Toothless and Charcoal stared at each other. Forest green eyes met acidic ones, as they mentally connected their mind together. Feeling their connection, Charcoal pushed the relevant memory forefront in his mind, allowing her to view them. He waited until she was done watching them.

After some time, the dragoness severed the mental connection. "... wow." She was still processing what she saw. "I know we have Christian minority in Hidden World. The ones under my father were Lutheran majority - it's a branch in that religion."

"I didn't even know there are Christian dragons until now." Charcoal expressed his frustration. "I don't even know why we have dragons following human religion."

"It was spread by humans to dragons, but I don't think it's fair to say that it's a human religion." Toothless pointed out. "I've visited Bahamut's territory before. It's a nice place. They don't follow human church. They have their own interpretation."

"But still..." The male dragon exhaled his breath. He was uncomfortable. "It doesn't feel right. It reminds me of Drago Bludvist. Dragons followed him because they wanted to conquer the world. It could be a long-term human plot against dragons to control us."

There was a long pause. Toothless was confused to hear that from him. It took her some time to realise the problem. It was not that Charcoal was against religion; he never showed any interest in them before. The cause was something else.

Charcoal was prejudiced against humans.

"... Charcoal." The dragoness slowly responded. "Could you be a bit more... open minded about this?"

"You want me to open my mind?"

"No, not that. It's a figure of speech." Toothless carefully explained. "Just because an idea comes from human, it doesn't mean that there's conspiracy behind them. It could be just dragons simply following the religion."

"But it originated from humans." Charcoal pointed out.

"And it saved their lives." The dragoness responded. "Majority of divine spells out there were invented by Bahamut's dragons. Christian dragons. You can't say that they followed humans just because their religion originates from humans."

That was a good point. Religion was religion, regardless of where it came from. There could be humans that worship the stars, and nobody would stop them. It did not really matter. The male dragon found himself separating Christianity from humans.

"Okay. That's fair." Charcoal hesitantly accepted that fact. He looked uncomfortable. "... I'm having a hard time believing."

"You heard the tale from your father." Toothless pointed out. "Were you listening to him?"

"I do listen to him." Charcoal argued, before pausing. "... okay, I may have been ignoring some parts. But this is from what I understand."

"Well, I think old dragons tend to know a thing or two." The dragoness expressed her opinion. "Your father isn't infallible, but that doesn't mean you should ignore him."

"Harr..." The male dragon almost groaned. "Toothless..."

"I'm serious." Toothless insisted. She looked concerned. "I don't have good relationship with my dad either, but I know he means well. You told me you left your father at the age of 3."

"... Okay, I was a bit stubborn back when I was young."

The dragoness leaned forward. "Did you regret it?"

"I did. I saw war before I became an adult." The male dragon admitted. He looked away from her. "I had to push myself every day to keep up with everyone. When Merciless took me in as his second-in-command, he made sure I earned that spot."

Toothless stayed silent. Charcoal continued speaking. "He knows I can keep up, and so I did. I felt numb just thinking about it." He confessed. "When I ask to retire, he gave me the option to move here or migrate to Hidden World. I chose here."

"Why?"

"I felt bad for my father." The male dragon confessed. "I had dragons telling me how my father changed for worse when I left. Nobody remembered him as the humble greater alpha that tried his best. But that was all I remember back when I was younger."

The dragoness pitied her partner. It seemed that Charcoal had gotten the short end of the stick in terms of father-son relationship. She moved to rest herself right next to him. "... Did you regret it?"

"Coming here? Yeah. Kind of." Charcoal admitted. He stared at the wall with faraway look. "When I look at my father, I don't see someone that I remember all those years ago. All I see is a dragon that everyone's too afraid to argue or talk back to. I don't know what changed."

"Well..." Toothless paused for a moment. "7 year is a long time. A lot can change."

"I know." The male dragon closed his eyes. "... I wish I didn't return to see my father. I could imagine that this place gets better instead of worse. I could imagine my father being proud of me instead of... this."

That did not sound right to the dragoness. "I think your father is proud of you. It's just that... he probably has his own ways of expressing it." Toothless expressed her opinion. "And besides, you're the only one that he has. He doesn't have anyone else."

"... I guess you're right." Charcoal exhaled his breath. He moved to look at his partner. "Thanks for the advice, Toothless."

"Anytime, Charcoal. Anytime."

At the village of Berk, Hiccup the Third slowly woke up from his sleep. He sat up from his bed and let out a wide yawn. Looking around his room, he noted that it looked somewhat dusty. He made a mental note to clean them up later. He moved to open the window a bit, allowing the morning sunshine into the place.

Heading out from his room, the boy walked downstairs. He was about to get out from the house when he noticed several things. The first one being his arms; they were a bit bulky. The second was the fact that he was not wearing anything. He was naked as the day he was born.

Realising the mistake, Hiccup quickly went to his room and grabbed some clothes. It was after he wore his underwear that he noticed something different. He was overall a bit bulkier than before; not necessarily large or muscular like Vikings, but enough for him to raise his brows.

"What the Hel happened?" Hiccup wondered as he thought of his activities for the past few weeks. There was not that many things he remembered - he knew his father was away to expedition. Perhaps he had been attempting to bulk up?

Shrugging, he wore his usual clothes - except, he wore long sleeves this time. Once that was done, Hiccup went downstairs and headed to leave the house. He moved to grab the door and flung them open.

To his surprise, Stoick the Vast was standing there. He was about to open the door when Hiccup opened them first. The father fumbled a bit. "Hiccup."

"Dad? You're back." Hiccup was surprised to see him. It felt like yesterday when he left for expedition. "How was it?"

The father slowly entered the room, before closing the door behind him. Stoick crouched to meet the eyes of his son. "Hiccup." He started, whispering. "Did you tell Toothless about the Lava-Louts?"

Hiccup became uncomfortable. "She's the only one that understands me."

"Hiccup." The father let out a sigh. "Did you know what we found when we reached Lava-Lout Island?"

"No?"

"Dragon raid." Stoick simply answered. He paused as he watched his reaction. "Dragons destroyed the island. We saw them working together to erupt a volcano."

That stunned Hiccup. "Whoa..."

The father exhaled his breath. "... we- no, I recognised one of them." He explained. "Toothless was one of the dragons. They banded together to destroy the entire island."

The boy was not sure what to feel about it. "But..." He wondered. "Why did she-"

"Hiccup." The father interrupted. "Toothless will do anything, anything, to protect what is precious to her. You have become very valuable to her. Be careful what you tell her, for us and your own safety."

It did not take Hiccup long to figure it out. "Toothless destroyed Lava-Lout tribe to protect me."

Stoick placed his hand on his shoulder. "Hiccup." He continued speaking. "I want you to make a promise; don't tell anyone about this and be careful with what you tell Toothless."

"I promise." Hiccup responded. He did not realise that Toothless would act based on what he told her. He needed to be careful from now on.

Stoick gave him a soft smile. "Now." He stood from the ground, before opening the door. "I want you to meet someone."

Hiccup followed his father heading to the forge. There were Vikings crowding around the place, talking with someone that seemed rather loud. The boy wondered who his father brought into the village. It might be the bowyer that the village hunter talked about.

The father and son moved through the crowd, heading to the forge. Vikings parted and allowed them through, allowing Hiccup to see what it was all about. Right outside the forge was a man talking to Gobber. It was the most confusing thing he had ever seen.

The man was tall; standing at 7 feet, he easily towered over Stoick the Vast. Given his appearance, it was obvious that he was a Viking of sort; wild mane-like blonde hair, striking green eyes and darkish white skin.

He was rather bulky, as if he could lift a Gronckle while wrestling Nightmares in a ring. For someone looked like in his forties, he was incredibly fit.

The man wore a sleeveless leather vest with leather gauntlet. His arms were covered with some sort of black leather scales - most likely armour. At his lower, the man was wearing leather pants with leather coil belt that held assortment of things. His shoes were most interesting; it looked to be made of dark red dragon scales.

However, despite the intimidating appearance, his presence was more of a gentle giant. The man was laughing as he talked with Gobber, with everyone smiling and listening to his tales. Hiccup was curious if he would be his bowyer teacher.

"Ahem." Stoick cleared his throat, getting their attention. He pushed Hiccup forefront. "Hiccup, this is Alexander Haddock." The father introduced. "Your... great granduncle."

"Great granduncle?" Hiccup was surprised. He never saw him at the family tapestry, let alone hearing a relative with that name.

"And ye must be Hiccup the Third!" The man - now known as Alexander - exclaimed. He moved to ruffle the boy's hair. "Haha! Last time I saw, ye were just a babe!"

"I've never seen you before!" Hiccup exclaimed as he pushed the hand away. "Why didn't you come to visit?"

"When ye gone to explore the world, sometimes, ye got too carried away that you forgot your home." Alexander shrugged his shoulder. He crossed his arms. "I was hunting a three-headed dragon that shoots lightning when your father showed up."

Some of the Vikings shuddered. Stoick decided to add. "That dragon... was the size of a mountain." He sounded rather annoyed. "We almost died."

"Listen to what I say next time! Haha!" The large man laughed at that, before looking around the crowd. "Eh... where's Valka?"

"She was taken by a dragon." Stoick answered. There was a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Oh." Alexander faltered a bit, before pulling out something from his pocket and threw them at the chief. "Well, this is for ye then."

Stoick caught the thing and inspected it. The object was a necklace with clear amber as its pendant. There was something inside the amber; a tiny red-yellow egg was suspended inside. "What is this?"

"A pendant. It's a fireworm egg inside." The large man answered. He grinned as he crossed his arms. "Your wife lost them when she was young. A thief stole them when she wasn't lookin'. I figured she wanted it back."

Stoick remembered the story. Valka once found an amber amongst the remains of an abandoned fireworm dragon nest. She brought it back and made a pendant from the amber. He held back his tears as he pocketed the pendant. "Thank you."

Meanwhile, while Alexander and Stoick were conversing with each other, Hiccup was busy inspecting the large man. He was interested in the black scales around his arms. It seemed to move and flex with his movement, as if the armour was rather tight. There was also a fact that the scales looked familiar.

The large man then noticed him staring. "Curious, kid?"

Hiccup was caught off guard. "Y- Yeah."

"Ohohoh!" Alexander began unstrapping his glove gauntlets. "Let me show you what happens when you kill a real dragon."

Stoick tried to interrupt. "Wait-"

It was too late. The large man had taken off his gloves. Vikings gasped upon seeing his hands. They were obviously black dragon claws instead of usual human hands. Hiccup, however, recognised what they were. It did not take him long to realise what those were.

Those were Night Fury claws - humanoid in shape, but the resemblance was there. He had paws instead of usual human hands. It meant that the rest of his arms had Night Fury scales instead of human skin. He had mistaken them for armour.

The large man flexed his hand to show them that it was real. Hiccup was the first one to speak. "How..."

"Ever heard of serpent dragons, kid?"

Hiccup had heard of them. "They're mostly in the eastern world."

"Aye. Giant snake dragon that flies without wings. Real intelligent, too. Nobody knows anything about them." Alexander continued his tale. He looked rather serious. "Couple decades ago, some upstart king didn't get the intelligent part and wanted one as a pet. He caught an old one by force but ended up enslaved."

Charcoal was confused. "Enslaved?"

"Aye. Old serpent dragons are powerful, and he got a real malicious one." The large man told the tale. He placed his gauntlets onto the table through the forge window. "Everyone in the kingdom got their mind controlled overnight. I knew I had to hunt it."

Gobber, who was listening from the forge, looked rather faint. "Mind control?"

"Imagine not in control of yer own body." Alexander explained, before continued the story. "I was young and stupid back then. I wanted a challenge. I went in and killed it - freed the whole kingdom! But as ye can see, I didn't come out unscathed."

Vikings began whispering amongst each other. It sounded like a curse. Hiccup pondered that thought; serpent dragons were largely unknown, but based on what he read, most of their power come from magic.

They were generally friendly, according to his books. It made him wonder what a malicious one looked like. That was a terrifying thought.

Stoick, however, looked rather annoyed. "Alex." He called, getting his attention. "Time."

That seemed to remind the large man of something. "So!" He exclaimed, before patting Hiccup on his back. "Yer gonna be my apprentice, eh?"

Hiccup decided to ask. "Are you going to teach me how to make bows?"

"Oh, I'll teach ye more than that." Alexander sagely nodded as he crossed his arms. "You see, yer dad told me about how you'll become the future chief. That's a lot to ask for someone your size. I figured ye need someone that've seen the world to teach ye everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything." The large man nodded. He was smirking down at the boy. "The world's bigger than this island, lad. But not everyone can come out to see. That's why I'm here for! And that's why yer here. You'll be my apprentice for everything I know."

The boy was curious. "What do you know?"

"Glad ye asked! I'm a hunter, falconer, messenger and explorer!" Alexander was quick to boast his accomplishment. "Plenty more as well, including bowyer and blacksmith. See these boots?"

Hiccup looked down to see the dragon scale boots. It was the first one he had ever seen. "Yeah?"

"I made it myself. It's made of dragon scale." The large man explained as he tapped his boots on the ground. "Couple decades in and it hasn't broken yet!"

The Vikings whispered amongst themselves. There was admiration and fear in their voice. Hiccup, however, was uncomfortable. He could not bring himself to kill a dragon ever since he met Toothless. The boy hid his discomfort with curiosity. "What dragon did you kill?"

"Nay. I didn't kill any for 'em." Alexander answered, surprising them. He smirked at their reaction. "Ye don't need to kill a dragon to get their scales. That's how ye get hunted by dragons. These comes from shed scales."

That made Hiccup interested. It was said that those who kept dragon novelties would become target for dragons to kill. They said dragons could know when someone killed their brethren from there. Making outfits from slain dragon was forbidden because it attracts stronger and aggressive dragons to kill them.

It was a controversial thought amongst the Vikings within archipelago. Dragon scale provides better protection than regular armour. However, dragons that normally target food began attacking Vikings when they saw one. There were tales of villages slaughtered overnight, simply because they kept one around.

"Ahem." Stoick cleared this throat, getting their attention. "Alex. Time."

"I'm getting there." The large man grunted, before focusing back onto the young boy. "Right! Now, you've seen what you'll learn. Yer dad wants you learning under me. But! I want to hear this... from you."

Hiccup was confused. "Hear this from me?"

"Aye." Alexander nodded, before offering his paws. "Do you want to become my apprentice?"

The boy was surprised that he was given a choice. Usually, his father made those decisions for him.

His great grand uncle seemed experienced in all sorts of things. Considering he learned almost everything from his books, he needed learn something more practical.

It was the next step of his study. His metal bow was one such attempt. Granted, he could learn things on his own, but having a teacher would greatly help him learn.

Hiccup finally made his decision. He grabbed the scaled paw of the man, accepting the offer. "Yes."

Alexander let out a wide grin. "Good!" He exclaimed, before letting go of his hand. "We'll start tomorrow morning. 'need to clean my old house."