Chapter 3: Unwavering Loyalty (1)

Hiccup was not quite sure what to make of his dreams.

It had been a year since he started getting them; not that the 11-year-old boy complained. The dream had relieved him of mental woes and frustrations of his life. Unlike how most Vikings dream, it was something that he could always remember.

He never brought it up to anyone, since he felt it was something personal. He did wonder why the dream seemed to continue from before, every time he got them. However, it was not something that he really cared about.

"Out of the way, you!"

Hiccup was shoved aside. He glared at the offender, who were walking away in front of him at hastened pace. The boy slumped his shoulder, before moving to walk near the corner.

A hand gripped his shoulder. Looking up to the side, he saw Stoick looking down to him. He had a grim smile on his face.

It was a rare event at Berk. Traders from Northern Market had decided to tour around Barbaric Archipelago. There were a lot of Vikings roaming around, some of which were visitors from outside the archipelago.

Berk was the first island that the traders went to visit, mostly because they had political significance at the region.

For Hiccup, it was a good place for him to buy books. While things that Trader Johann offered were good, he rarely had anything outside the archipelago. Unfortunately, there was not that many sellers that sell books. Not many people were literate enough to read books in the region.

"Fishes! Get your fishes here!" A man on a stand shouted.

"Bronze axe! Bronze axe for sale!"

"Need alcohol? We got them here!"

Hiccup continued walking down the stone path and Stoick followed. The whole place was bustling with people: Vikings and foreigners alike. There were makeshift wooden stands that everyone had built themselves for the occasion.

Majority of the wares were behind them, with some being showcased at the stands. The back area was only accessible to the sellers and their crews.

"Books? Scrolls?"

Hiccup snapped to look at the direction where it came from. It was a rather small stand, with some books and scrolls at the front. There was no one there, and the seller looked incredibly bored.

The seller was a lanky man on his thirty. He looked like an Englishman, with grey formal suit that were typically seen in mainland. Hiccup and Stoick did not recognise the specifics of the outfit.

However, it did not matter for Hiccup. He heard books, and he was going to get them. "Books!"

"Eh?" The seller turned his head to look at their new customer. It was an 11-year-old boy. "Oh! Welcome! How can I help you?"

"You said books." Hiccup started, looking up to the seller with enthusiastic expression. "I want to see!"

The man chuckled. "Not often I see someone want to read books so enthusiastically." He commented. "Well, here I have too many books! I have old scrolls and books from kings, researchers and conquerors of the past, what remains of the Alexandria Library - which is a lot, mind you! Language books and other assortments of literature!"

"Wow..." Hiccup breathed out. "Are you a collector?"

"Yes, lad! The finest books in Europe! From the oldest Chinese literature to the latest studies of Napoleonic wars!" The man leaned forward. "Everything is on sale. Which one do you want?"

Hiccup looked up to the side. Stoick was standing there, looking down at him. "Can I have everything?"

Stoick grimaced. He had placed a bet with Hiccup that, if he won Maces and Talons ten times in a row against him, he would have unlimited budget on his spending at the tour.

He did not expect to lose against Hiccup ten times in a row. Since he was the one that offered the bet, he had to honour it.

"Yes, son." Stoick nodded at Hiccup. The man looked at the seller. "How much for everything?"

The man stared at him. "E- Everything?"

"You heard me."

"O- Oh my!" The seller looked to be in tears. "Finally, someone actually bought my books!"

"Come on." Stoick crossed his arms. "We don't have all day."

"Right, right." The man enthusiastically nodded. "It's 3 British florin!"

The chief raised his brows. "Do you accept Norwegian rigsdaler?"

"Of course, of course." The seller was understanding. "I forgot we're close to Norwegian seas. It's 22 rigslader."

It was the same price as a small longship. That sounded like a fair price for everything. The chief nodded. He pulled out his pouch, counted the amount and placed them on the desk. "Here. Bring them out."

The man counted the coins as well. After he found them correct, the seller turned around and shouted at someone. "BALDRICK! BRING EVERYTHING HERE!"

Another man shouted back. "EVERYTHING?!"

"YES! EVERYTHING!"

Hiccup and Stoick waited. After some time, they saw a rather huge wooden box brought forward to them. They balked at the sheer size of it. The size was so big, there was even stairs attached to it to reach the top. It even had its own wheels. That was even bigger than Stoick!

The wooden box was being rolled out to the street. Four Vikings were moving them out. After it was outside, the seller grabbed the scrolls and books from the stand, climbed up the box, opened it and dumped them inside. When he was done, he closed the box shut.

"There!" The man exclaimed, looking proud of himself. "That's everything."

"Wow..." Hiccup breathed out. Stoick stayed silent. He was expecting a small chest of books, not this! It was an outrageously great deal for something less than 50 rigslader.

"Lots and lots of books!" The seller exclaimed as he pranced down from the stairs. "Everything's there. Journals of emperors and generals, wealth of information! Alexander the Great, Sun Tzu, Chanakya, that horrid Napoleon, you name it! They're all inside. I also have some puzzle games in there for you to try."

Hiccup eagerly nodded. "Thank you!"

"They are all written in different languages." The seller hummed, looking down at Hiccup. "There are language books at the very top for you to learn. You should learn those first before going through the rest. Take it from a professional librarian."

"Okay."

"There's also books about science." The man spoke as he inspected Hiccup. "You look smart. What's your name, kid?"

"My name is Hiccup!"

"What a strange name." The man hummed. "Then again, that's not the strangest name that I've ever heard. How old are you?"

"I'm 11!" Hiccup chirped.

"Ah!" The man brightened. "You're the same age as Princess Victoria!"

"Princess Victoria?"

"Yes. The princess of the British empire. The homeland of yours truly!" The man pulled out some sort of cube and offered it to the boy. "Here. Can you solve this?"

Hiccup grabbed the cube from him. He inspected it. The cube was actually a 12-sided dice. The dice made of metal, with a lot of intricate carvings and moving parts.

Every side had buttons, which had animal shapes carved on them, along with some symbols. There was pattern on those symbols. The boy noticed these patterns.

"Yes? No? Maybe?" The man tilted his head. Then, he began lecturing. "That's fine if you can't. Nobody had solved that puzzle before, and I don't expect you to solve them. It was a metaphor made by scholars of Grand Library of Baghdad to always learn! There was no solution to that-"

CLICK!

"-puzzle..." The man looked confused and amazed. "... how did you do that?"

"Uhh..." Hiccup looked down to the dice he was holding. He tried to solve them by matching the patterns. It seemed to solve the puzzle. The whole dice was opened in two, revealing a strange, shimmering light blue coin inside. "I tried to match the pattern on the symbols."

"Incredible." The man muttered, looking down at the cube. "Of course, why didn't I think of that?!"

"Ahem." Stoick coughed, getting their attention. "Was that everything?"

"Of course, of course." The man numbly nodded at him. Then, he looked at the boy. "Hiccup."

"Yeah?"

"You're far smarter than you look." The man complemented. "You can keep it. And before you ask, yes. That is a Coin of Mithril. That coin is priceless."

Hiccup took a deep breath. He tilted the puzzle dice and sure enough, the coin popped out. The coin was large. It had a carving of a large, majestic building.

Stoick stared at the contraption with confusion and fascination. He had no idea how it worked. Initially, he thought it might be a toy puzzle, since the seller had said nobody had ever solved it. It seemed his son had defied the expectation.

The man leaned close to Hiccup, looking down at the gold coin. "Did you know that carving there was the Library of Alexandria?"

Hiccup looked up. "No?"

"According to the records, the puzzle was made months after the fall of Alexandria Library." The man explained to him, looking deep in thought. "It seemed to symbolize how greed caused everything to fall. With how priceless mithrils are, it seems to be one of a kind. But... hmm..."

"Ahem."

"Ah yes!" The man apologised, looking up to the stern chief. "I'm sorry; I'm a scholar myself, you see? I often become off track when talking about knowledges like these-"

Stoick interrupted. "I assume everything is in the chest?"

"Yes."

"Good." Stoick nodded. He grabbed the handle of the chest. "Come, Hiccup. I think we can fit this in your room."

Hiccup placed the coin back into the puzzle. He closed the dice and moved closer to his father. After everything was set, they both went off to their house in the village.

Stoick earned a lot of stares when he effortlessly carted the huge wooden chest along with him. Hiccup was simply walking next to him, eager to read those books.

Later that night, Stoick rested at the fireplace in his house. It was the living room. The place was large; table and chairs around the corner; entrance door at the front; stairs to access Hiccup's room; another door to Stoick's room; and an open doorway to the kitchen. The place was made of wood, except for the fireplace, which was made of stone.

The man had spent few hours getting that crate up into Hiccup's room. It was exhausting, but it was nothing that he could not handle. It was something that he had to do himself, since other Vikings were busy dealing with security for the event. At least Hiccup was happy to see it.

Ever since the incident where he was almost eaten by a dragon, Hiccup had become more reserved. He spoke less of his imagination but spent more time dozing out and daydreaming; at least, according to Gobber. He also seemed to be more organised.

While he hated the fact that the incident happened, he was glad that Hiccup had at least somewhat changed.

Hopefully, the books and scrolls would distract him. Stoick did not really care about the origin of the books, or why they were so cheap to begin with. Hiccup needed to stop brooding and daydreaming.

Every time Trader Johann came to Berk, Hiccup would buy books, and that stopped his antics. However, that only lasted for few days, before he started brooding and daydreaming again.

This time, there was a plethora of them. He hoped that would last for the rest of his life. However, given his track record, Hiccup would probably go through them in a year or two.

'He needs to do better than this.' Stoick thought to himself.

That somehow reminded him of that Night Fury; Toothless. She was never seen again at Berk. He assumed that she had left the archipelago; most likely afraid that she might hurt Hiccup if she ever went to raid Berk. That was smart of her.

For Stoick, however, it meant that they had one less dangerous dragon to deal with during dragon raid.

However, there was a rumour of another Night Fury. This one was more powerful and smarter; it knew their weapons and logistics. Vikings recognised it by its blue fire and terrifying dive.

It was yet spotted at Berk during dragon raid, but this was most likely regional thing. Most places attacked by the Night Fury had much dangerous dragons to begin with.

'As long there's no change in weather pattern, we should be safe.'

"Toothless!"

"Amber."

"Toothless!"

"Amber."

"Toooooothleeeeeesss!" Amber whined.

"Ambeeeer!" Toothless whined back.

The Night Fury and Light Fury were resting inside a cave clearing with one cave way. There were glowing mushrooms around, meaning that they were still at the Hidden World.

The place was dark, but that did not mean they could not see. The two dragons had picked the place for their roost, primarily because the light was perfect for their sleep.

"Toooothlessss!" Amber whined as she nudged her best friend. "Get out and find a mate."

The black dragon snorted. "Really?'

"Yes, really!" The Light Fury nodded, staring at her with bright smile on her face. "Someone is courting me again. You need one as well."

Toothless groaned. "There's no other Night Fury besides me and my dad."

"Then go outside!"

The Night Fury covered her face with her paws. "I don't wanna!"

"Go outside!"

"No!"

"Your dragon boy is waiting for you." Amber teased.

Toothless looked conflicted. "... maybe."

"So, he's your Precious Thing, now?"

It was a term for something precious to dragons. The Night Fury was not sure what to make of it. "Maybe."

"If he's your Precious Thing, why are you here?"

"Because I don't know if I should make him my Precious Thing." The black dragon snapped back. "He's a human!"

"You don't have a problem adopting your name from him." The Light Fury pointed out to her.

"Well, he's my friend." The black dragon retorted. "A friend just so happens to be a human."

"Don't you want to go out and see what he's up to?" Amber questioned her.

Toothless seem to fidget on her paws. "... maybe."

"And don't you want to find out?"

"I'm trying to temper my curiosity!" Toothless whined. She looked at her best friend with pleading expression. "I don't want to find out. It could be dangerous to know!"

"Fine." Amber harrumphed. "But you have to find a mate, at least."

Toothless snorted. "Like the past ten mongrels that tried to breed me this week? Sorry, Amber. I don't fancy being a trophy mate."

"Now you're just playing hard to get."

The Night Fury let out an exasperated sigh. "Amber, that's not what I mean."

"Yeah, sorry." The Light Fury muttered, looking away. "I just... worried, you know? You're, what, 11? You're beautiful, powerful, charming..."

"Okay, okay!" Toothless cried out. "It's hard to look for one that look at me for being... me, you know?"

"It's not hard for people to look at me for being me." Amber pointed out.

"You've been breeding with Light Furies ever since you've come to age and got your adult name." Toothless monotonously listed. "And you got yourself several clutches of eggs. You're not looking for a mate; you're there for the breeding."

"What? It's a perfectly natural thing!"

"I know, but you're a Light Fury. I'm a Night Fury. Different tradition."

"Technically, we have the same tradition."

"Then I'm traditionalist."

Amber let out a sigh. "Yeah, well, how are you going to find a mate, then?" She asked.

Toothless sat up on her hindlegs. She tapped her chin with her claws. "Hrr..." She hummed. "I want one that... interest me."

"Oh?"

"Maybe a dragon that know a lot of things." The Night Fury hummed. "Someone that wouldn't jump me the moment I showed up."

"That's..." The Light Fury was not sure on what to make of it. "That's hard to find. I don't think there's any smart dragons around."

"I don't think there's any Night Fury around." Toothless dryly corrected. "With how much we're being hunted by humans. I swear; I felt like the only remaining Night Fury out there was just me and my dad."

"Well, that Night Fury part is not a problem. I know there's one outside-"

"WHAT?!"

Amber backed off, surprised by that reaction. "Err, what?"

"There's a Night Fury outside?"

"Uhh, yes?" The Light Fury nodded. Then, her eyes widened in realisation. "Wait, don't tell me you're interested."

Toothless pondered for a moment. After some time, she looked at her best friend with serious expression. "Tell me more about this dragon."

"Well..." Amber sat on her hindlegs. "It's just a rumour spread around the alpha dragons. There's news about a male Night Fury looking for a mate. He's the same age as you. He's smart, big and handsome, with big-"

"Too much detail!" Toothless hastily interrupted her. "I don't want to know that part!"

Amber gave her a canary expression. "Hrr, krr..." She giggled. "... anyway, he's strong - like, really powerful."

That confused the black dragon. "What?"

"Dragons migrating back to Caldera praised his speed." Amber was enthusiastic. "They said he chased off a Skrill in a storm."

Toothless seem to lose interest. "Oh."

"They also saw him fighting a Deathgripper and won." The white dragon continued speaking. "You know, the dragon that likes to eat other dragons!"

"I've fought one before. Deathgrippers aren't exactly challenging." Toothless pointed out. "They only become a problem when there's more than one of them."

"They're dragons that can control your mind with their venom." Amber exclaimed, surprised by her nonchalant behaviour. "How are they not challenging?"

Toothless did not know the answer to that. "I guess it's just experience." She admitted. "I used to watch my dad fight them. That's how I know how to fight."

"Oh." The white dragon realised. "The Night Fury is not your dad. Trust me on this one."

"... okay?" The black dragon was confused. Was she implying incest?

Amber was ignorant of this misunderstanding. "Anyway." She continued telling the tale. "One more unique thing about him is that his name. He shared the same name as your dragon boy."

"... what?"

"Oh, yes." Amber sagely nodded. "His name is Hiccup."

"That's his-"

"Hatchling name, yes."

"Wait, I meant to ask if that's his-"

"It's not his adult name. He doesn't have one."

Toothless spluttered but interested. Amber gave her a canary look. The black dragon tilted her head, intrigued. "... but what is he doing outside? Is he a soldier?"

"I don't know." The Light Fury shrugged. "That's just as far as I can tell. I heard this when my flock alpha was talking about it. Apparently, he's considering on sending Light Fury to be his mate."

Toothless looked outraged. Amber saw the expression. The white dragon had gained her attention. "Aren't you mad that a Night Fury gets to mate with a Light Fury before you?"

"N- No!" Toothless vehemently denied, but her will was faltering. "He's probably an arrogant, pretentious dragon anyway. He probably just wants a trophy mate. Not what I'm looking for."

"Oh, come on." Amber whined. "I got punished overhearing it. At least appreciate my effort by checking him out!"

"Were you checking out males during alpha meeting again?" Toothless dryly asked.

"You know me." Amber smirked at her.

Toothless shook her head. "... maybe if he's here, I might consider it." She finally admitted. "But he's outside and we barely know him. I don't feel like going out again."

Amber was crestfallen. She thought about how to convince her best friend to at least find the dragon. Toothless lay back down onto the ground. The conversation exhausted her. Then, the white dragon got an idea.

"... you know." Amber slowly started, getting her attention. "I heard this Night Fury have a lot of human knowledge."

"Oh?" Toothless tilted her head, interested.

"Oh yes." The Light Fury sagely nodded. "I heard he can draw; you know, capturing the image of something into physical surface."

The Night Fury was interested. Toothless knew how to draw, thanks to Hiccup teaching her that the first time around. She had not told anyone that she could draw, not even Amber. That raised her interest, but she was also sceptical. "Okay?"

"I heard that he was being held back from coming here because of the war." The Light Fury continued speaking.

"Not surprising." Toothless blandly replied.

'Hook is in place.' The white dragon mentally cackled.

Amber paused, before continued speaking. "The reason why we got the news was because Furious is looking for a mate for him."

"So, he's a soldier then." Toothless rolled her eyes. "Figures. He's part of the Dragon Rebellion."

"Not yet." Amber corrected him. "Furious wanted to recruit him because of his vast knowledge about humans. He gave Furious a condition. If he can find a mate for him, he will join the Dragon Rebellion."

"WHAT?!" Toothless roared. She stood right up, utterly shocked by that information.

'Reeling the line.' Amber mentally giggled.

"Oh yes." The Light Fury sagely nodded. "They've sent a Light Fury to him as we speak."

"There's no way I'm going to let that happen." The black dragon snarled. "Where is he?!"

'And sinker.'

"He's at Barbaric Archipelago, spotted somewhere close to Dragon Island." Amber told her the location.

"I'm going out to see this." Toothless fumed as she started walking out from their roost. 'I will not have the only male Night Fury dragged into Dragon Rebellion. I'll drag his arse here if I have to!'

Amber simply smiled as she watched Toothless walking out from their roost. She felt bad for the deception, but she thought it was necessary. Her best friend needed a mate. It did not feel right for her that she had been breeding and laying eggs, but Toothless did not.

"Oh, and Amber?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell anyone. Especially my dad."

It had been weeks since Hiccup had received the books. The boy had been reading every language book that was available there.

They were interesting to learn, mostly because he had never heard of anyone speaking other languages before. While that knowledge may not be useful unless he went off to travel, he needed them to read those books and scrolls.

Hiccup yawned. The boy was resting on his bed with book on his hand. It was night-time outside. The lantern on the table illuminated the room, giving him the light to read the book.

The wooden chest was at the corner, taking quarter of his room for its place. Notably, there were stacks of books on the table. The metal cube puzzle was there as well.

Hiccup had been reading books all day and night. When he was not busy doing anything, such as doing his work at the forge or eating, he would stay in his room to read his books. There would be times where he fell asleep while reading. That was a common occurrence for him.

It was exactly that was about to happen. The boy was dropping his eyes. He was struggling to stay awake. Eventually, he closed his eyes. The book fell off from his hand to the ground. He had fallen asleep while reading the book.

Moments later, the door slowly opened. Stoick peeked to see what his son was up to. The boy was asleep.

The man felt relief. The books had done its job. Hiccup had stopped brooding or daydreaming, and more focused on reading. The man silently congratulated himself, before moving back to close the door.

If Stoick had stayed for longer, he would've seen his son snap open his eyes, revealing his forest green, Night Fury eyes.

"NIGHT FURY!"

"GET DOWN!"

"KRAAAA!" BOOM!

A giant torch blew up, expelling coals and oil all over the place. Hiccup smirked as he looked down upon the chaos under him.

The village he was attacking was foolish enough to have one giant torch at the centre. While it worked on revealing the dragons above, they did not expect him to blow them up.

The Night Fury circled around and began analysing the situation. The dragons were pulling back, meaning that the raid was beginning to end. Satisfied, the black dragon began to pull back. It was time for him to get back to Dragon Island.

'What a great time to be alive.' Hiccup thought, feeling happy. Raiding villages in his dream had become his way of venting emotion. It felt nice to stop holding them back.

Since Hiccup was the first one to leave early, it was just him that fly in the sky. The dragon enjoyed the feeling. There were times where he flew back along with raiding dragons. While they thanked him for his support, most did not care about him at all. Furious did not want him to check on the raiding party.

It made him feel lonely. However, he was used to that feeling.

Suddenly, Hiccup saw something unusual in the sky. The stars were flickering in a pattern. That meant one thing; there was another one of his kind somewhere there.

'Enemy dragon?' Hiccup thought, before dashing off to the black silhouette.

The unknown dragon obviously saw him. It began speeding away from him. Despite its speed, Hiccup was slightly faster. The dragon sped up to reach an island. Hiccup went off to follow whoever that was.

Reaching the island, they began manoeuvring around obstacles, dodging rock pillars, walls and trees alike. Hiccup was able to keep up with it, as it was something he could do. At some point, they entered a large cavern. Hiccup hastened his breath, relying on faint scent to follow.

'This cavern is a maze.' Hiccup thought, feeling somewhat claustrophobic. 'They knew this place well to go here.'

The Night Fury let out a low-pitched roar. The sound reverberated throughout the cavern. Hiccup's appendages twitched, mentally visualising the cavern through his senses. Once he mentally visualised the intruder, Hiccup realised what dragon it was.

Another Night Fury.

BOOM!

Hiccup felt the air shake around him. Sensing danger, he quickly flew into the next intersection, narrowly colliding with collapsing cave path. After things calmed down, Hiccup realised something. 'They sensed me through my own sound.'

Still determined, Hiccup continued to follow the scent. The unknown Night Fury had certainly passed through the cave path he was at. Hiccup was rather cautious this time, as he realised that the dragon was just as capable as he was.

'Wait.' Hiccup thought as he flew through the cave path. It was partially flooded with water. 'What is this?'

He could see faint light blue colour lingering in the air. It smelt like ocean water, but different. The smell reminded him of his plasma blast attack - specifically, the gas his body produce to create fire. Hiccup realised the attempt. 'This is a Night Fury, not Hideous Zippleback.'

Far ahead of the cave path, Hiccup saw a flash. Suddenly, everything around him exploded. The black dragon felt pain all over his body, before feeling water rushing through his scales.

Hiccup instinctively stopped inhaling the air, focusing on breathing his own gas instead. It allowed him to remain underwater.

However, while Hiccup was tumbling around the rushing water, he did not know where he was taken to. He folded his wings and curled into a ball as tight as possible - lessening the impact from getting thrown around the cave walls by rushing water. After some time, he felt himself thrown out into the air.

Hiccup quickly spread into flying position. He just got out from a huge waterfall. The open ocean was a sight to see. He cruised in the air as he catch his breath. 'That was- what was that?!'

It was just as Hiccup suspected, but his second thought almost costed his life. The unknown Night Fury could spread their gas like Hideous Zippleback. Hiccup needed to stop the enemy dragon before they get away.

Turning around, Hiccup flew upward. The island from where they came from was on sight. Coincidentally, he saw a familiar silhouette at the beaches. 'They knew where the water might end. They didn't expect me to be alive.'

He was familiar with the island. There used to be a human settlement there, but they moved elsewhere after they killed all the critters, like deer or boar.

There were plenty of abandoned traps there. Hiccup counted some at the forest behind the enemy dragon. Seeing some opportunity, he quickly dove to the unknown Night Fury, before rolling himself into a ball.

BOOM!

"KRAA!" That did hit the unknown dragon. Hiccup bounced up and found himself in the air, with the enemy dragon on the ground. They had its stomach facing upward, having been literally bounced and flipped upside down.

"Got you!" Hiccup roared, before leaping down to grab the dragon. Exploiting the opportunity, he reached for their neck and chest. He was about to claw them until he realised what that dragon really was.

It was a female Night Fury!

"What the-" Hiccup started.

"GET OFF!" The female Night Fury roared, kicking the male dragon.

Hiccup coughed his breath as he was flung away from her. He hit a tree with a loud crack. "Hrrk!" Looking up, he widened his eyes as he saw her claws on his face. The claws scraped against the tree as Hiccup barely dodged them away.

CREACK! BOOM!

The male Night Fury tumbled on the ground, before moving on defensive position. The female Night Fury was standing next to the tree - her claws briefly shimmered in blue. However, what shocked Hiccup the most was the tree where he had been.

The tree was cut in half. Literally.

'Oh.' Charcoal stared with wide eyed expression. 'That would have killed me.'

The female Night Fury turned around and sped off into the forest. Feeling out of breath, Hiccup remained in place. 'There's no place in the forest where she could safely take off. Too many traps in the trees.' He thought. 'No clearing either. The safest place to take off is here.'

SNAP! "KRAA!"

'And there she goes.' Hiccup thought, before walking to follow her scent.

In the middle of a forest, the female Night Fury was struggling. She had been caught in a large net - a human trap. Her claws could not slash them, as she was restrained on her movement. "Skies above, not again."

"Again?"

The female Night Fury suddenly felt weight. It was the same Night Fury from before. Hiccup simply laid down on top of her, rested there as he caught his breath. "Second time's the charm, then."

"Krrr..." the female dragon growled as she struggled to release herself. "Let go of me!"

Hiccup did not even bother moving. "Yield first, and I'll let go."

"I will not submit myself to some mongrel!" She roared.

"Then you'll be here for today, the next day after, and the next day after that, forever." Hiccup responded. "You'll either starve and die here in this net or yield and submit as free dragon."

The female dragon struggled once more, before realisation struck. She was completely at his mercy. Usually, whenever she was defeated in combat, there was always an escape she could take to avoid being captured. This time, however, that was not an option.

Despite coming out at better condition, she was defeated in the end.

"Harr..." The female dragon clenched her claws. Night Fury mating tradition was for her to be defeated and caught by a male. The latter had been fulfilled and submitting meant he had fulfilled the criteria.

To his credit, Hiccup remained silent. He simply rested on top of the trapped dragon, inhaling her scent to remember who she was in case he needed to track her. There was no move for dominance or threatening her with his claws. He simply laid there, pinning her with his weight.

It took the female dragon half an hour to admit her situation. There was no way out of that one. "Fine." She spat out. "... I yield."

Few seconds later, Hiccup moved away from her. The male dragon checked the trap that snared the female dragon. It was an old, simple capture net he was familiar with - a simple net with four bolas tangled at the end. With that in mind, he carefully went to let go of the dragon.

The female dragon simply stared as he worked. The male dragon grabbed one of the ropes near the bola with his claws and pulled. The moment he did, the bolas popped off. Once that was done, the female Night Fury felt the restraint coming off.

Hiccup watched as the female dragon tore the net trap to shred. It felt familiar, somehow. "Now that's done, would you mind telling me why you-"

The female dragon suddenly sprung up and growled at him. "How dare you, you..."

Both dragons trailed off. They felt some sense of familiarity. Acidic green eyes stared at the forest green ones. Their pupils grew wide, as they suddenly felt attracted to each other.

They were so busy fighting each other; they did not realise what they look like. They both felt drawn onto each other, as they lost themselves in their eyes.

The female dragon inspected the male in front of her. He was slightly bigger than her. He was a strong male; having survived her tricks and defeated her in the end.

She could see the chiselled figure underneath his scales, showcasing physical prowess. There were scars as well, implying that he fought stronger dragons before and survived.

Regardless, the female dragon found herself lost in his appearance. He was attractive, very much so. She did not smell any foreign scent from him when he was on top of her, which meant that he did not have any mate. She did wonder why he had not claim her right there and then.

Did he trusted her that much not to run away?

Hiccup had similar opinion of her. The female dragon in front of her was the most beautiful dragoness he had ever seen. Everything about her was beautiful: her scales, her eyes and her strength. She was powerful too; being the victim of her tricks back then.

He did wonder how she was able to cut a tree with a single swipe of her claws.

"Uh..." Hiccup started. "Sorry, but I-"

"I- It's fine!" The dragoness hastily replied. "I was-"

"No, no, no! It's fine, I mean-"

"Sorry, but I-"

"Okay, okay, stop." Hiccup interrupted.

The female dragon stopped speaking. They had been talking over each other, feeling nervous with each other's presence. They stayed silent for some time, lost in their eyes. After some time, Hiccup asked. "What's your name?"

It took some time for the dragoness to speak. "Toothless."

"Toothless." Hiccup paused. That was the same name as his Night Fury friend outside his dream. "O- kay. Err... my name is Hiccup."

"Hiccup." The female dragon - now known as Toothless - carefully replied. "Nice to meet you."

They stayed silent for some time. It was awkward. Hiccup decided to break the silence. "I uh..." He started. "Sorry - I'm nervous. I just never seen or met one of my kind before."

"Me neither..." Toothless quietly whispered.

"A- Anyway." Hiccup straightened himself. "What are you doing here? You're not really supposed to be in this area."

"I was just observing." The female dragon replied, narrowing her eyes. "What do you mean I'm not meant to be here?"

"Well." Hiccup nervously shifted on his paws. "This whole area is restricted because there's a dragon raid operation. Foreign dragons aren't meant to be here, unless you're here to join in or interfere."

Toothless widened her eyes. She knew what it meant. She had been looking for him to see if what Amber said was true. For the most part, yes; there was a male Night Fury outside, and he was slightly faster and bigger than her.

However, what she did not accounted for was him already serving in Dragon Rebellion.

It was then Toothless realised what had happened. 'Amber, you lied to me!' She internally seethed. She could hear her cackling in her head.

"So, you're here to observe?" Hiccup questioned.

"Y- Yes." Toothless nodded, not wanting to bring down the wrath of Furious' dragons onto her. "I'm just here to observe."

"... well, you're still not supposed to be here." Hiccup pointed out. There was some distrust in his eyes. "I know you're defending yourself, but if I died back there, you're going to be hunted for the rest of your life."

That was a risk Toothless did not account for. "Sorry."

"Follow me and keep close." The male Night Fury spread his wings. "I'll escort you out, so others don't jump you. Don't jump anyone flying close."

"Okay."

The two Night Furies took off into the air. They circled around for some time, before heading off together to one direction.

After flying for some time, Hiccup and Toothless landed on an island. The male Night Fury looked around, before speaking. "Right. We're outside the restricted airspace. Just be careful with where you're flying."

"Okay."

"It's best to detour around restricted airspace rather than going through them." Hiccup lectured her. "You'll know the places when you ask surrounding dragons for it. They should have information about places that was restricted from any dragon."

"Okay."

"If you need any questions, you can always..."

But Toothless was not listening anymore. She was lost in his eyes. It was so beautiful. She wondered why such a beautiful Night Fury had to serve Furious in his crusade. She felt like it was unfair; dragon like him should not be wasted raiding Viking villages.

It was then Toothless noticed he had stopped talking as well. He was staring at her into her eyes. They were both frozen there, enchanted by each other's eyes. They were hypnotizing and beautiful. They did not know what to make of it.

After some time, Hiccup felt Furious calling him back. It was that itchy feeling at the back of his head. The male dragon snapped from his trance. "Oh! Uh... I gotta go now." He hastily spoke. "Duty calls. Good luck in your flight!"

Hiccup took off into the sky, leaving Toothless alone. He did not see the disappointed look on her face.

Flying back to Dragon Island, Hiccup could not stop thinking about Toothless.

It was a new feeling for him. Outside his dream, before the incident a year ago, he was somewhat attracted to Astrid. However, ever since that incident, he saw her more as a nuisance more than anything. This time, however, in his dream, he felt attracted to Toothless.

As he dared to say it, he wanted to feel it again.

Suddenly, Hiccup saw a wall of rock right in front of him. "WHOA!"

He swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding it. He remembered that he was flying through Helheim's Gate, heading back to Dragon Island. The dragon shook his head. He was daydreaming about Toothless again. It was hard not to think about her.

What does she like? Does she like him? She was staring at him the whole time when he was escorting her.

Reaching the Dragon Island, Hiccup went to the top and swooped down into the place. He absentmindedly looked up into the sky. He wondered when he would meet Toothless aga-

"LOOK OUT!"

Hiccup did not react quick enough. He crashed into a smooth pile of something sandy. "Hrrk!" He yelped. The black dragon went limp as he tried to process what had just happened. He had crash landed. He was not paying attention where he was going.

The Night Fury poked his head out. He could finally see what it was. He had crashed into a smooth pile of sandy charcoal. Looking around, there were a lot of Timberjacks and Deadly Nadders there. The dragons were shocked to see him there.

There were a lot of hatchlings there too, burning up woods and turning them into smooth, dusty charcoal.

A Deadly Nadder approached him. "Are you okay?"

Hiccup stood from the pile. "I'm fine."

"Halt the practice." He heard another dragon shout to the crowd. "We need to move the pile."

"Do you need help with that?"

"I'm okay." Hiccup insisted as he went out from the charcoal pile. The dragon sneezed, before continued speaking. "Thanks for worrying me."

"Hiccup." He heard Furious called him. "I need you in my chamber."

Hiccup slumped his wings. He looked at his body to inspect them for injuries. There were none, as the charcoal dust had greatly softened the impact. However, it resulted in his body covered in charcoal.

'I couldn't be any blacker than this.' He thought as he looked over himself.

Deciding to get it over with, Hiccup leaped down into the volcano. He glided all the way down, close to the lava. Once he reached the spot, he landed at a large balcony, where there was a cave entrance into a pitch-black cavern. the entrance was massive.

Hiccup waited for some time. Suddenly, there was a giant, yellow dragon eyes staring down to him. The eyes took the whole cave entrance. It stared at Hiccup with its slitted pupil.

"Hi dad." Hiccup greeted Furious.

"Hiccup." Furious spoke. His eyes dilated as he stared at him. "Why are you covered in charcoal?"

"... I crashed into one." Hiccup admitted.

Furious let out a sigh. "Come forth."

Hiccup walked forward. The eyes disappeared into the darkness. Once he was close enough, a huge tongue came forward and licked his whole body. The tongue was so massive, it left him covered with dragon saliva. The Night Fury did not complain. He turned over, and the tongue worked its way to the other side of him.

"You need to be careful, Hiccup." Furious softly scolded him. "I thought you were better than that."

"Sorry. I'm just not paying attention."

"Well, now you smell like charcoal." The gigantic dragon replied.

Hiccup blinked. He shook himself to clear out the excessive saliva. He smelled his own paws; while there was a lot of Furious' scent in him, there was also a smell of charcoal on him. The Night Fury let out a sigh. "Fantastic."

"It should be gone by your next shedding season."

"In couple of months, yes."

"Hiccup." Furious' voice was threatening.

Hiccup shrugged his wings. He stretched himself, before looking into the void. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I believe it is time for you to know more about our kind."

The Night Fury tilted his head. "Dragons?"

"Night Furies." Furious declared. There was amusement in his voice. "You remember your mother, yes?"

Hiccup sat on his hindlegs. He did not really remember much about his mother. His dam died three years after he hatched.

The thought of his mother darkened his thoughts. She was tortured and killed by humans; all the while using him to make her obedient. He was forced to watch her die and harvested for her organs.

His father came and killed the humans. However, that changed him. Hiccup despised humans ever since. It was what drove him to join the Dragon Rebellion, despite his father being insistent not to, 8 years ago.

'7 years of service well spent.' Hiccup darkly thought.

"Your mother was special." Furious spoke, getting his attention. "She was the brightest dragon I've ever met. Together, your mother and I invented things that aids us in a fight."

Hiccup tilted his head. That information was new to him. "What was it?"

"For you to know this, you must understand that dragons have different varying abilities." The gigantic dragon continued speaking. "Skrill manipulates lightning; Timberjack and their forest; Woolly Howl and their icy blizzard; Night Fury has plasma blast. However, these are merely things that defined their species. There is one thing that all dragons shared."

Hiccup was reminded of Toothless. She had varying abilities that he never knew Night Furies could do. He did wonder what kind of power that was. It seemed that Furious decided to inform him. "What do we have on top of... what we already have?"

Furious continued speaking. "We have..." There was a dramatic pause. "Mana."

"Mana?" Hiccup was intrigued. That sounded ominous.

"Yes. Mana." The gigantic dragon explained. "Everyone, including humans, has within their body. Plants and animals - they have Mana."

"Hraa..." Hiccup was intrigued. "Everyone can use them?"

"No. Not every species can use them." Furious elaborated. "We dragons can use them, but like all things, they must be learned. There are many ways for us to harness this power."

The Night Fury paid attention. The gigantic dragon continued speaking. "We could recharge our shots and reinforce our body against trauma." He boasted. "Your mother and I invented ways of power. The power of mind."

"The power of mind." Hiccup thought that sounded amazing. "Only my mother has them?"

"No. All dragons could use them. We use them to speak to our kind with our mind." Furious answered. There was a hint of pride in his voice. "But our family invented ways to use our mind differently. Psychic-Force, we call them. We could reinforce our claws and strike through the thickest steel; we could throw rocks; and disappear with a blink of an eye."

"Hraa..." The Night Fury was in awe. "You know how to do that?"

"It was our invention; our family's secret invention." Furious sounded proud. "Such power requires great responsibility. You have proven to me that you are a responsible dragon."

Hiccup wondered where Furious had that idea, considering he just collided with pile of charcoal dust earlier. "Thank you. I will not disappoint." He responded. "When do we start?"

"The basic will start now." Furious answered the question, starting the lesson. "Lay down and empty your mind. You will meditate. I will inform you when to stop."

"Okay, dad."