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Chapter Text

Chapter 1

The time had finally come. When the stone sized purplish-black egg began to wiggle, Mama Fury’s ears twitched. Her head rose as she knew what was about to happen. She and her mate had been anxiously waiting for this moment. They had flown against their natural instincts to flock towards the moon-shaped island, where all dragons would go to lay their eggs. At least, that island USED to be where the dragons flocked to until the Dragon Queen had come along.

The Dragon Queen was the biggest, and baddest dragon of them all. She was the size of a mountain, and could swallow a large dragon whole. She ruled over all dragons in the region; not one dared oppose her. As part of her rule, no dragon was allowed to mate. If the dragons were ever to multiply, they would eventually overwhelm her. She had to make sure that never happened.

That was why the two Night Furies had flown against their natural instincts and found a different island to mate. It had taken careful planning, but they had managed to escapes the Dragon Queen. Finally free from her slavery, they had managed to find this remote location where they could mate and bring forth a new Night Fury.

Of course, just because they had escaped, that didn’t mean that they were safe. They were always on a look out for any out of place smell, or any other sign that she or her heard of dragons were near. It wasn’t the easiest way of life, but it was the only way the two Night Furies knew how to assure that their species didn’t go extinct. They were a rare breed of dragons. In all their travels, they had never seen another one of their kind. That was why they felt the urgency to escape the Dragon Queen to repopulate. They didn’t want to see their species extinct, which would have been a sure thing if they hadn’t dared defy the mighty dragon.

Now, with the egg ready to hatch, the danger had now escalated. When a dragon hatched, it was anything but subtle. The commotion that the egg made while hatching could easily attract unwanted attention. At the first movement of the egg, both Night Furies jumped to action. Mama Fury stayed close to the egg while Papa Fury stealthily stood guard. The mother tried the best she could to surround the egg from a safe distance to try to hide as much of the explosion as possible. She spread her wings, slight arching around the egg.

Lightning streaked across the sky as a steady rainfall began to fall. This was a mixed turn-of-events. It was good in that it could soften the explosion of the egg, and the thunder could drown out the sound. The negative was that the thunder also drowned out sound that an intruder could make. On top of that, the fresh smell that the rain brought could mask the scent of an approaching predator. Under the current circumstances, it was a trade-off that Papa Fury wished he didn’t have to make.

With the two Night Furies in position, they waited for the joyous occasion... the arrival of the new Night Fury into this world. The egg went from a soft shimmy to a more active shake. The outer shell started to crack, and through the seams of the crack, an eerie fire –glow emanated, followed with a small puff of black smoke. The cracks went deeper and wrapped around the upper half of the egg until it finally exploded. Small, fragile pieces of egg shell mixed with molten fire were thrown for several feet in all directions. Standing there in the tiny, burn crater was a tiny Night Fury, no longer or taller than a Terrible Terror.

They tiny dragon grunted in confusing, batting its tiny yellow eyes to try to adjust its eyesight to a whole new scenery. It peered around, not sure what to make at what he was seeing. There was so much to see, all at once, it was almost overwhelming for the poor little dragon.

A large rain drop found its mark, and hit the baby Night Fury in the face. It was a rude, cold, and wet welcomed to the world. Baby Fury snorted as it shook his head. It was a strange and awkward experience that left him confounded.

After the shock of the experience wore of, the tiny dragon again regained his curiosity and sense of adventure. He took his first few steps clumsily to explore his surroundings. The first thing he saw after looking around was another dragon standing over him. The large dragon looked just like him down to her color. The tiny Night Fury’s natural instincts started to kick in and he knew she was his mother. Just by her presence, he felt safe and secure. Around her, he felt like everything was as it should be. With these feelings, this adult dragon had to be his mother.

Mama Fury moaned in delight at the accomplishment that she and her mate had accomplished. They had successfully brought another Night Fury into the world. Despite the excitement of what had transpired, they could not stay to enjoy it. If they stayed in one place for too long, the better the chances of being discovered either by the Dragon Queen, or humans.

Humans and dragons did not mix. The Dragon queen has only made the war with the humans even more deadly for the dragons. Instead of mixing it up with the humans, herself, she had sent her heard of dragons to do it. Many good dragons had been slain by the humans for only doing what they were being forced to do. The main reason the Dragon Queen was relentless in finding the two Night Furies; with their uncanny ability to hide and come out of nowhere, they proved to be invaluable guardians. If the Humans ever started to get the upper hand, the Night Furies would have to come in and bail out the dragons. They were important tools to the queen; pawns that she was not willing to lose.

So the Night Furies had to always be on the move; the great dragon would never cease chasing them down, and if they discovered that they hatched another Fury, then she might decide to kill them and keep the baby dragon for herself. Until this baby could take care of himself, they would have to always be on the move.

Unaware of the life he was born into, Baby Fury moaned as he studies his new surroundings. With the sky unleashing its full fury, the tiny dragon didn’t venture far from the shelter that his mother provided with her body. Feeling a small surge of energy, he jumped up and down and let out a playful growl at the falling rain drops. He had fun, snapping at the rain drops.

Another blinding flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by an earth-vibrating crackle of thunder. Attaching itself to the thunder was the Night Furies’ worst nightmare. It was the nerve-shattering roar of their worst fears being realized. Before the parents knew it, a heard of different species of dragons came out of nowhere. Papa Fury wasted no time defending his mate and newborn. He knew it was going to be the last thing he did, but he had to make sure they were safe.

The leader of the heard, who’d became the queen’s top dragon, was a Monstrous Nightmare. Like the rest of his species, this dragon was ill-tempered and aggressive. This particular dragon had never liked the Night Furies. He had always felt threatened by them. The Dragon Queen had always favored them over him for their abilities. They never had to risk their lives to confront the humans, while he was forced to fight them head on. When the Night Furies had escaped, he was more than excited to hunt them down.

The Monstrous Nightmare had led the dragons to this remote location. When he found Papa Fury, he set his scales on fire and attacked. The two dragons went at it with slashing claws and bared teeth. Other dragons began to file in help with the male Night Fury. As the Dragon began to file in, the queen, herself, made her intimidating entrance.

The Dragon Queen was nearly as tall as the tallest trees, with six tiny eyes, a gigantic jaw full of razor sharp teeth, and large nostrils. Her skull was heavily armored, and had a spiked tail shaped like a spiked ball of a morning star. One whip of her tail was enough to shatter rocks

While the Monstrous Nightmare and other dragons started to draw away the father, the queen focused in on the mother. The Night Fury uncurled her wings and posed to fight. She carefully used her hind leg nudge the tiny dragon, hoping to hide him from the queen. It proved to be a futile act; all six of her eyes widen when she saw the tiny Night Fury hiding behind the new mothers.

After another ripple of lightning and thunder, the queen roared in anger. This treachery of the Night Furies had gone to another level. Not only had they deserted her, they had given birth to a hatchling. This development could not be allowed to stand. With a giant roar, she delivered her verdict. ‘Kill the Night Furies and bring me the hatchling!’

Mama Fury arched her neck to look back at her hatchling. With an urgent growl followed by a stressed roar that said, ‘RUN!’

The queen’s dragons charged obediently towards them. Mama Fury stepped forward to meet with them, but the dragons were hopping and charging at angle around her; they were after the baby. Confused, the baby ran for his life. His instincts were warning him of danger; it was a feeling that he knew he had to escape from. When Mama Fury realized what the dragons were going after, she went to stop them, only to have the spiked tip of the queen’s tail crashing into her ribs. The impact had thrown her violently up against the tree.

Her vision blurred, the mother found herself in shock after such an impact. Her ribs were in agony, with the pain nearly paralyzing her. She shook her head, to clear her blurry vision and could only look up as the giant monster towered over her. From her view, the Dragon Queen’s head looked like it was all the way up in the heavens. With lightning flashing in the background, the queen roared in fury, baring all her drool-soaked, jagged teeth.

* * * *

Baby Fury continued to run for his life as the heard of dragons chased after him. He was barely able to keep ahead of the snapping jaws and occasional clenching claws. He could not understand why the dragons were chasing him or wanted him dead. Where was his mother? Where was that sense of safety and security?

A Deadly Nadder leapt out from the pack to fly slightly above the rest. He gained a little ground on the tiny Night Fury before whipping his tails, throwing out a handful of spikes. The baby narrowly dodged the spikes by leaping behind tree trunks. A two-headed Zippleback decided to take his turn. He leaped out in front and positioned a head on each side of the fleeing infant.

The infant groaned a cry as he saw the heads of the Zippleback to his left and right. The Zippleback had become so engrained in trying to be the one to capture the infant Night Fury that they failed to see the tree that the small dragon leaped behind. One head went on one side of the tree, and the other went the other way. The Zippleback collided with tree, causing quite a few dragons to stumble and fall.

The baby Night Fury dared to take a glance back to see his handiwork. The glance proved to be ill-timed; before he could look forward again, he had tripped and ran off a muddy cliff. He yelped and howled in terror as he slid through the mud, narrowly able to swerve around hurdles in the form of tree trunks and rocks. He quickly spun out of control, loosing what little control he had to avoid approaching hurdles. Fortunately, he had already reached the bottom of the cliff as the sudden end caused in to flip and fall face first in a pile of watery mud.

Quickly running out of breath, the mud-drenched baby Night Fury looked up the cliff to hear the furious growls and roars of the perusing dragons. The collision had cause utter chaos, and had briefly given him the opportunity to hide. Franticly, he looked around for any place that he could conceal himself. He found a very large tree with a very thick trunk up ahead. Some of its roots were above the ground, and the dirt underneath it was dug out. It looked like it once served as a home for other small animals; luckily, the baby Night Fury was just that small.

He ran for roots as fast as his tiny legs would take him. He leaped between the ground and the bottom of the trunk, but it was very tight. He had to dig a little of the dirt away and wiggle his body until he managed to slide in. The hole under the roots was deep; the black shadow was more than enough to hide him. Taking advantage of the darkness, he lay down in the dirt and curled himself until he was fully in the darkness.

There, Baby Fury hid as the perusing dragons had now made it down the muddy cliff. He watched fearfully as the dragons had started to spread out and started sniffing around. Shivering out of fear and coldness, he fought against the urge to whine and cry. A red, orange, and black Monstrous Nightmare came closest to the tree. He first sniffed around the roots and even peered an eye into the hole.

Luckily, the Monstrous Nightmare’s vision was not as keen in the dark as a Night Fury’s. The baby didn’t know this; all he could was to follow his instincts. He had only just come into the world; there had been no time to learn anything from his mother.

The Monstrous Nightmare gave up looking around the tree and was about to find another tree to search when the terrifying howl of the Dragon Queen, echoed in their direction. The roar caused all the dragons to raise their heads. Without hesitation, the herd took to the sky, despite the torrential downpour, the heavy winds, and the flashes of lightning. The baby watched up in the sky, intently as they met up with the Dragon Queen, up in the sky. They flew off and disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.

Now, surrounded by cold, lonely silence, and in company with terror, the baby managed only enough courage to sit up. Cold and alone, he had remained in his hiding place, praying for his mother to come find him. Something inside of the tiny dragon knew that he would never see his mother again; fighting against the loud crashing of thunder, he wailed in heart-breaking sorrow until fatigue overcame him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

The sun came out the next morning, revealing the soggy mess that last night’s storm had left in its wake. Water droplets dripped from the leaves, looking like tiny stars dropping to the ground with the sunlight shining into them. The morning brought a refreshing chill to the crisp air. It was as if the rain had washed away the filth and darkness, leaving the sense of a whole new beginning. What was once eerie and frightening now seemed like paradise.

The tiny Night Fury awakened after a long, terrifying night. Spending most of the night crying for his mother, he allowed himself to succumb to exhaustion when it became apparent that she was never going to come for him. Now, having the sunlight shinning in his eyes, rudely awakening him from his sleep, he was forced to again realize how alone he really was.

A part of him was content to just lay there until he drifted asleep and never awaken again. The world was too scary and dangerous for a baby dragon to make it on his own. Perhaps a peaceful death was better than the death he would find out there. The world has already shown him how dangerous it could be; without someone to show him the way, there was no way he would make it. Staying underneath this tree, at least he knew he was safe from the world out there.

A strange growl sounded underneath the tree, with him. Frightened, the tiny Night Fury was up on his feet in a flash. Looking around, he could not find another dragon. Sniffing the air, his nose confirmed that there was no strange dragon nearby. When the faint sounding growl sounded again, he realized that the noise was coming from his stomach; he was famished.

Who was going to feed him? Who was going to make the pain in his stomach go away? He had no idea where to find food. The only place he knew where it wasn’t was underneath the tree where he was. Perhaps laying there until he passed away would have to wait until he could quench the pain in his stomach. Maybe he could find a peaceful dragon and watch him to see how he finds food.

The tiny dragon slowly ventured towards the opening into the seemingly endless world. The closer he got, the brighter the sunlight became. The light was becoming so bright, he had to squint. Slowly, as his eyes adjusted to the light, he ventured out of his little hole. The world was bigger than he had ever imagined. Everything towered over him, nearly intimidating the little dragon.

He stood there for a second, to take in the new sights and smells. He had no idea where to go. There was no discerning smell one way or another. He had no choice but to chose a direction and hope for the best. He decided to walk towards the sunrise. Going the other way would have meant trying to climb up the steep, muddy slope. That was something he had no interest in trying. Mostly because he doubted he could do it... partly because he had no interest in reliving last night.

The world around him was full of strange sights and sounds. Every little noise had the dragon on edge. A strange high-pitched noise nearly had him running to find a hideout. After a quick inspection of the area, he found the culprit. A tiny, feathery, flying creature was perched on a tree branch up above him. With a curious tilt of its head, it flapped its wings flew off, singing as he disappeared into the forest.

The Night Fury had no idea what kind of creature that was, but he was able to establish the connection between he and his furry little friend. While his was not furry, they both had wings; did that mean he, too, could fly? He looked as his scaly, black wings and tried to imitate what he had just seen. While his movements were quite similar, it was not exact. There was enough difference to make him question whether he could fly or not.

Deciding to think about that later, he continued his search for food. The longer he walked, the more he notice that the sunlight was slowing moving. Instead being directly ahead of him, it was slowly rising upward, and was now peering through the leaves of the tree tops. It was impossible for him to follow the light from this angle.

As he mulled over this development, he noticed a strange, faint sound. It sounded almost like the rain did when the drop of water hit a puddle; only, this sounded much more... mightier. There was something peaceful about this noise; enticing the curiosity of the Night Fury. His instincts told him that was where he needed to go to find food. He decided to take the advice of his instincts, and pressed on just a little further.

He came across a large body of water; at least, it seemed large to a small dragon like himself. At the far end, there was a small waterfall that emptied fresh water into the flowing river. It was an inviting site, and it looked refreshing, as if a possible solution to his dry, parched throat. The Night fury smacked his mouth, as a strong desire pulled him towards the water.

He couldn’t explain how, but he knew what to do. Upon coming to the river’s bank, he lowered his neck and took a large gulp of water. It was the most satisfying experience of his short life. The water trickled down his throat, healing his sore, raw throat. It felt like life was being restored to the tiny dragon. It was cool and refreshing in his mouth, and brought great joy to the little dragon. After swallowing, he indulged in several more gulps of this life giving water.

As he drank, he noticed a shadow in the water swimming in awkward movements. Something was in the water. Following his curiosity, he submerged his head completely in the water and looked around. He was fascinated to see a strange creature moving swiftly through the water. It was scaly, just like him, but had no hands, legs, claws, or wings. It moved merely by the movement swings of his tail. It paid the tiny Night Fury no mind, as it swam aimlessly and purposelessly through the water. It was a curious sight to behold.

The dragon pulled his head out of the water and shook his head to clear the water from his face. As he followed the shadow’s movement with his eyes, a roar from overhead startled him. His body became tense as he saw another Dragon coming down for a landing. He was about to run for the forest until it became quickly apparent that the dragon wasn’t coming for him.

Keeping a wary eye on the dragon, he watched as it landed in front of the lake. This dragon was nothing like him. This dragon had only two legs, a spiky tail, and something like a rounded-beak for a nose. He had a dozen or so horns on his scalp and one on the tip of his nose. His wings were average size and had a hook on each wing. The dragon looked at the Tiny Night Fury for a brief second, before looking away. The dragon had no interest in him at all. That lack of interest gave the Night Fury enough courage to stick around and watch him carefully. Maybe he could learn something from him.

The Deadly Nadder snorted as he approached the water bank. He seemed to study the water for a brief second before snapping at the water with such speed, it startled the tiny Night Fury. When the Nadder’s head came up, he had several fishes clamped between his jaws. Looking upward, he opened his mouth to allow the fish to slide into his mouth and down his throat. So that’s what those strange looking things in the water were... food!

Eager to imitate the large dragon, he rushed back into the water and looked around for a fish of his own. The limitation of being a small, young dragon did not occur to him; the fish were nearly as big as he was. That didn’t stop him from trying, though. He lunged for the first fish that crossed his path, only for it to easily avoid the tackle. He kept up his pursuit of his target, but it wasn’t even remotely concerned for its life. After another failed grab, the fish slapped him in the head, stunning the little dragon.

He emerged from the water, thwarted and defeated. His stomach still protesting, he moaned in desperation. He needed food and quickly. The other dragon had already gotten his fill of food and took off to who knows where. He was alone, once again, sitting on the bank of the river. He looked over where the Deadly Nadder had been; perhaps that location was a better location to catch some food. As fate would have it, there was an abandoned fish on the shore, flapping wildly on the grass.

The excited little dragon cautiously approached the flailing fish. He now had his food, but how was he supposed to eat it, especially when it was flip flopping so wildly? Not completely sure on how to handle this situation, he cautiously leaned forward to try to grab the belly of the fish. His food, did not agree with him; the fish slapped him so hard, that the dragon stumbled to the side, nearly knocking him over.

Dazed by the slap, the night Fury grunted in embarrassment and frustration. His food was there right in front of him, and he had no way of eating it. As he studied his prey, the flailing was quickly dying down. The fish was tiring out; perhaps if he waited a minute or two, it would be too weak to put up a fight. The dragon sat down and waited it out, hoping that dinner was about to be served. Before long, the fish convulsed one final time until it finally lay still in the grass. The time had finally come to eat.

Leaping out the forest, another small dragon raced to the fish, shoving the Night Fury out of the way. Nearly the same size, this dragon had menace written all over its face. A series of spike ran up its back from the tip of its tail to the nap of his neck. Otherwise, it looked like a tiny version of a basic dragon. It’s attitude, however, did not recognize the disadvantage of its size. He grunted and growled at the baby Night Fury, claiming the fish to be his.

The Night Fury growled. He was not ready to give up the fish without a fight. He found the fish first; as he saw it that was his meal. The Terrible Terror, however, didn’t see it that way. As The Night Fury thought about going for the fish, a handful of similar dragons came out of the forest. They were all the same breed, but not one of them was the same color. They began to crowd the around the fish, and fight among themselves.

The Night Fury growled; that was his fish they were eating. He could stand by and let them steal it from him. Letting out a pathetic growl, he challenged them for the meal. Most of the Terrible Terrors gave him an annoyed look and returned back to their inward bickering and chowing down. One of them, the leader of the family, did not take too kindly to the challenge. Bobbing up and down in his four tiny legs, in his own challenge, he unleashed a stream of fire that was nearly as big as the dragon, itself.

The Night fury leaped out of the way of the fire, stunned by the attack. He’d never seen a dragon breath fire before. If this bully of a dragon could do that, then maybe he could too. He followed the example of the Terrible Terror; taking a deep breath, he tried to shoot fire of his own. The Terrible Terror waited for the flames, but none came forward. The young dragon couldn’t even produce smoke.
The other Terrible Terrors looked up at the baby Night Fury and chuckled. This was the most pathetic sight they had ever seen. The baby dragon actually though he could chase them away from their meal. It was funny, yet at the same time, it was starting to get annoying. Besides, the head of the family was not finding this intrusion all that amusing.

To put end to this non sense, the Terrible Terror roared like a manic dragon, flapping his wings and hopping up and down to make himself appear more intimidating. No dragon would have taken this seriously, but to a newly born baby dragon, like the Night Fury was, it was plenty scary enough. The Night Fury scurried off in retreat, running straight for the forest without looking back.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

The Night Fury watched from the edge of the forest as the Terrible Terrors made quick work of the fish. That’s all he could do; there were too many of them for him to challenge for the meal. Not only that, but they were capable of breathing fire... the Night Fury couldn’t. Actually, there wasn’t much he was capable of doing; he had no way of learning these things that the other dragons took for granted.

After consuming most of the fish, most of the Terrors scattered off in different directions. What remained of the fish was dragged away by a blue Terrible Terror off into the woods. After the tiny dragon disappeared into the forest, peace returned over the water front.

The little Night Fury had a lingering desire to return to the water and make another attempt at finding some food. He waited a few minutes, to make sure things would remain peaceful. He was soon glad that he did, because just as he had gained enough courage to make his way towards the water, the Deadly Nadder returned to the river bank. It was the same dragon as before. Again, the dragon paid the little dragon no mind. This time the Night Fury was curious; why was the dragon eating so much? Why did he need to come back for a second helping?

He was determined to find out. When the Deadly Nadder was finished scooping up another mouthful of fish, he took off in the same direction he came. Unable to fly, the tiny Night Fury followed the dragon with his eyes and ran in pursuit. It wasn’t hard to keep up; the Deadly Nadder was flying under the tree line. He swiftly skirted around the trees with relative ease. He wasn’t going too far, which the small dragon was grateful for.

The dragon appeared to look downward for a brief second, as if something had gained his attention. Appearing to ignore whatever he saw, he continued his flight through the forest. Luck favored the Night Fury as he followed the dragon to the best of his ability. The Lower half of a fish fell from the dragon’s mouth, and almost landed on top of the baby dragon, who barely managed to stop in time to avoid it. Just like that, food had been laid there before him, with no one to interrupt him this time.

Looking straight ahead, he saw the Deadly Nadder come for a landing. Quickly surrounding him were five smaller dragons of the same breed. They swarmed around their mother, waiting impatiently for their meals. That was why the dragon had gone back for seconds... to feed her children. With his curiosity satisfied, he looked down at the fish that he had been very fortunate to receive.

He lowered his neck and took his first bite. At first, he had trouble with chewing on the meat; after all... he had no teeth. Satisfying his stomach proved to be very challenging, and time consuming. He had no mother to chew the food to a point where he could handle it. The easiest part of fish to eat from proved to be where the head had been severed from the body. The Nadder’s teeth cut through the fish unevenly, and left it the edges partly chewed. Everywhere else was impossible; without teeth, he could not penetrate the scales.

After a long battle with his food, he had finally had his fill. The whole process of eating proved very taxing, but at least his stomach was finally at peace. In the time it took him to eat the food, the mother Deadly Nadder had gone off to get more fish. This time, the food was for her and her alone. All the tummies of her children were satisfied, and now they were busy at play with one another.

The Night Fury was curious about this crazy activity the five child Nadders were commencing in. They all appeared to be older than he was, but they were still small enough not to be too intimidating. He found it so interesting that he slowly and cautiously sneaked his way towards them. What they were doing looked like fun, and he wanted to have some fun, too. As he got closer, the five dragon children saw him coming, and were even more excited to have another playmate. The mother, on the other hand, was not so keen on it.

The mother came charging, using herself as a divider between her children and the Night Fury. The dragon was not showing anger or hostility towards the Night Fury; it was more out of fear than anything else. The Night Fury ceased his approached, when it became clear that the mother did not want him to play with her children. Something had the mother scared, and it made her too nervous to allow him to play with her children. The emotions were clear on her face: PLEASE DO NOT COME NEAR US!

It was an odd response; one that befuddled the tiny Night Fury. All he wanted was some companionship. He was not a threat to anyone; in fact, he was more scared of the mother than she was of him. What was so different about him? What was it about him that unnerved the mother dragon?

Sensing that the small dragon was not going to give up so early, she nudged her children and then took to the sky. The squawking children bounced a few times before they leaped and took to the sky to follow their mother. The Night Fury cried, almost feeling abandoned. He didn’t want them to go; he didn’t want to be left alone in this forest.

Desperation moved him to chase after them. As he did, he tried to jump and flap his wings. He tried to fly, imitating everything the tiny Nadders did that allowed them to fly with their mother. His attempts ended up being futile; his wings were not strong enough to keep him in the air. It took a lot more strength to fly than he had hoped and realized. When that fact finally broke through, the Night Fury could only stand there and watched as the family of Deadly Nadders pierced through the tree line, and out of sight.

* * * *

The next day, it was the same story; the Night Fury’s stomach felt empty once again, and was crying out for more fish. He returned back to water front, for another shot at catching his own food. Unfortunately, his fishing skills had not improved. Those strange but graceful creatures seemed more interested in making fun of him than anything else. Frustration finally emerged and he began to stomp around in the water.

When his little tantrum came to end, he slowly walked out of the water and sat on the ground in a pout. He had gotten lucky yesterday with some food, but he couldn’t afford to keep on depending on luck. He would not be able to survive that way. He needed to find a consistent supply of food that he was able to access.

Fate was not done handing the little dragon a little luck; the family of Deadly Nadders had returned to the water front. The whole family was there, this time. As the mother approached the water, she warily eyed the tiny Night Fury. It was a look of warning, pleading with the little dragon to please keep his distance from her family.

Obliging, he instead watched the mother in action, this time from a much closer location than last time. The Deadly Nadder commenced snapping into the water, gathering up as many fish as she could fit in her mouth. It was amazing to watch her at work. With each snap of her jaws, she never missed her target. She was able to track the path of the fish, and managed to get her jaws in the right place, before the fish had the chance to change course.

The mother had her mouthful, and now she was on her way back to her children with their first course. As she exited out of the river, a whole fish fell out of mouth and landed on the grass before the tiny dragon. The mother did not seem to notice as she continued to her children to deliver the load of fish. The Night Fury raced to the fish, hoping to get enough of the fish to satisfy him before the mother came back for it. Unfortunately, this fish was whole; there was no way for him to break through the scales without any teeth.

The Night Fury stared down at his fish, growling. This was his best opportunity to quench his hunger, but he couldn’t figure out how to do it. He pawed at the fish with his claws, not knowing what to do with it.

Swarming out of the forest, the family of Terrible Terror saw another opportunity for a free meal. The Night Fury quickly stood guard over his food, but there were too many of them. They surrounded him and the fish in a taunting manner; they were going to have that fish, and there was nothing the Night Fury was going to be able to do about it.

At first, the Terrors were having their fun with the helpless little Night Fury. He was an easy tease, which made this all the more fun for them. They found it mildly amusing that the baby dragon thought he could stop them from taking that fish. The picked on him by snapping their jaws; they even played around with him by intimidating him by the flapping of their wings and making themselves look taller than him.

The Night Fury was overwhelmed. He tried his best to stand his ground, but they were too intimidating for the baby dragon. One of the dragons grabbed the tail of started to drag it away. The Night Fury cried, desperate to keep his meal, but the other Terrible Terrors got in his way.

A furious roar startled all the dragons in the melee for the fish. The mother Deadly Nadder expanded her wings as she came charging towards them. The sight of an angry Deadly Nadder was a terrifying spectacle. They knew enough not to mess with one of them; especially if the dragon was a mother. The flock of tiny dragons scattered franticly, running in separate directions to escape with their lives. The sight of the charging dragon also startled the Night Fury. He backed away, and watched as the mother stopped in front of the fish.

Retracting her wings, she bowed forward to gobble up the fish. The Night Fury let out a cry of protest as the mother angled her head to straighten out her throat. That allowed the fish to slide smoothly down her throat. The baby collapsed to the ground in frustration, unable to comprehend why she would eat the fish that was supposed to be his. If she was still hungry, could she not have just gone into the water and catch another one? The baby dragon rested his chin onto the ground, and let out a whimper.

The mother dragon shook her head before she started to gag. After a few dry heaves, the mother finally lowered her neck and regurgitates the fish. However, the fish had come back up in softer chunks. The Night Fury was on his feet in pure jubilation. The mother Deadly Nadder had merely chewed up the fish into bite sized pieces that he could more easily manage to eat. With her job done, the mother returned to her children as the whole family of Deadly Nadders took off for the forest, leaving the baby Night Fury alone to feast.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

Over time, the mother Deadly Nadder had continued to provide the baby Night Fury with enough food to sustain his needs. She was compassionate enough to make sure that infant dragon had enough to survive on, but she remained leery on being seen with the dragon for long periods of time. The Night Fury never understood why, but it was becoming clear that there was something out there that she was afraid of. Could it have something to do with what happened to his parents?

The events of those days have become nothing more than a blur. He had no idea what happened or how his parents died, but the one image that did stick to him was that of a giant shadow. The shadow had a frighteningly loud roar, and boar dozens of large, jagged teeth. Having never seen this shadowy beast again, he was beginning to chalk the memory up to merely a bad dream. Perhaps it was a bad meal he had some time ago.

Another morning had arrived, and it was time to begin another day’s worth of routines. As the weeks gone by, things had changed and surviving had started to get easier and more natural. Having grown a little, he was no longer the scared and confused infant that he once was. The only thing he still could not grasp was fishing. Somehow, he was never able to master that technique. As he made his way to the river front, he found the family of Terrible Terrors already at work for their breakfast.

As he crouched behind a shrub, a grin developed on his face. Those were the same dragons that had bullied him as an infant. Perhaps he could have some fun and have and not have to wait for the mother Deadly Nadder to come and help him acquire his meal. He had been hoping for such an opportunity to arise where he could pay those tiny dragons back for everything they had put him through.

Without hesitation, he leaped out of the shrub, flapping his wings and hovering slightly above the ground to appear more intimidating. Roaring like an angry predator, he charged towards the family of Terrible Terrors. The tiny dragons were startled into a frenzy. The entire family of dragons franticly scattered in all directions, eventually coming to their senses enough to retreat back into the forest. All of them retreated except for one. That one tiny dragon was not willing to be bullied away from his meal.

The two dragons stood before each other, as the Night Fury was now the bigger of the two of them. The same tricks that the Terrible Terror used on him, while he was a smaller dragon, would no longer work. Of course, Terrible Terrors were not known for their intelligence. The smaller dragon bobbed up and down in an attempt to intimidate him, anyway.

The Night Fury stiffened his back, lowering his chin nearly to the ground, and growled in response to the threat. There was no more taking advantage of this young dragon. He would not be bullied any longer. Seeing that this was the case, the Terrible Terror took it to the next level. The tiny dragon took a deep breath and released a puff of flames. Easily dodging the fire, the Night Fury tried to retaliate in kind, but only succeeding in letting out some smoke. He had yet to master the technique of fire breathing.

Taking advantage of his inexperience, the Terrible Terror further provoked him by firing a puff flames directly into his face. The suddenness of the attack took the young dragon by surprise and the flames splashed across his face. As with most breeds of dragons, their skins and scales made him impervious to the burning sting of flames, but the brief remnants of gas, which was responsible for a dragon’s ability to breathe fire, ended up being breathed in. The awkwardness of the sensation caused the dragon to shake his head. It tickled his nose until he could hold it no longer. He let out a violent sneeze and with it... a powerful blue puff of flames came slamming into the Terrible Terror, sending him running for his life. He didn’t just dodge the flames; he decided that the fish was no longer worth the fuss, and he retreated back into the forest.
Feeling the rush of triumph, the Night Fury chuckled at the turn of events. Now, it was his turn to steal breakfast. Not taking the chance that the Terrors might decide to come back, he went to work on his hard-fought meal. It turned out, he had nothing to fear; the family of dragons did not return, giving him plenty of time to finish it.

The single fish proved to be satisfying... not filling. As a growing dragon, a single fish was starting to not be as filling as it once was. One more fish would do the trick; all he had to do was wait for the mother Deadly Nadder to come with her three children. She would help him get another fish to fill his stomach.

The Night Fury waited patiently by the bank of the river. When the leaves started bustling, the dragon quickly became tensed. At first, he thought that the family of Terrible Terrors was coming back for another round, but then he realized that they were too small to cause this much disturbance. Movement in the sky stole his attention and when he looked up, he saw the mother Deadly Nadder and her three children fleeing the area.

Moaning, the young dragon found himself confused and bewildered. He could not comprehend why they were leaving without him. As he watched them fly off into the distance, the rustling of the trees and became more violent. Everything inside of him started to warn him to run.

Before those warnings could be registered by his brain, a large red Monstrous Nightmare plowed through the brushes with an angry roar. A whole group of various types of dragons were behind him, and all of them had their sights geared toward the Night Fury. The young dragon could feel their ill intentions radiating from the group; the one dragon, which he knew he needed to worry most about, was the Monstrous Nightmare. The other dragons seemed more than content to follow the terrifying red dragon.

With every pair of eyes upon him, the Night Fury’s instincts took over and he ran for his life. The Monstrous Nightmare and the other dragons pursued with alacrity and intent. The Night Fury followed alongside the bank of the river, unsure of what else to do. The herd of dragons were quickly gaining ground and blocking any path back into the forest. They were slowing closing in around the young dragon. Options were quickly diminishing. The dragons knew full well his inexperience in self-preservation would work against him. He was knowledgeable enough to enough to know that going into the water would only make things worse for him; he was nowhere near strong enough to out swim the larger and much stronger group of dragons. It was also becoming evident that he was not going to be able to outrun them; they were too cohesive of a group.

The only thing that the dragons assumed was not an option for him was flying... and they would be right. He had yet to master flight; he had only been able to manage to float foot or two off the ground for no more than twenty seconds. Teaching himself how to fly had not been that high of a priority for him. He never had the real motivation to learn how to fly until this very moment.

With all the motivation he could possibly handle, the Night Fury had no choice but to learn to fly... and quick. He leaped up and flapped his wings franticly. He managed to hover for a second or two until his body weight pulled him back to the ground. He tried a second time, only achieving the same results. With the herd of dragons closing in, desperation amalgamated with his motivation. He tried again, flapping his wings with every ounce of effort he could muster. He bobbled up and down, fighting against the laws of nature and the weight of his body.

Yet, this time, something was keeping him in the air. Slowly and awkwardly, he bobbed upward until he was out of the pursuing dragon’s reach. From there, his flight began to smooth out as he glided towards the tree tops of the forest. The dragons were surprised to see the little Night Fury flying, but the shock quickly wore off and commenced the chase off the ground.

The Night Fury had just figured out flying, but steering was now going to be an issue. He was heading straight for a tree. He swung his head to the right, in anticipation of a collision and in an attempt to preserve his skull from crashing into the tree. He was surprised to find that he was able to affect his direction in the direction he pulled his neck; but he avoided the tree only to be confronted with another. He swung his slightly elongated neck to the left, causing him to swerve left around the tree.

He quickly got that hang of swerving around the trees, and it did not take him long to do it at a faster speed. He was enjoying the sensation of the thrill of narrowly escaping collision, and at the same time, the other dragons were struggling to keep up. There were so many trees in the forest, the herd dragons were forced to fly in a near straight line. The Monstrous Nightmare, being the leader of the group, forced himself to lead the pack, and his length forced him to slow down the chase; he was too large of a dragon to fly at full speed in area plagued with trees. It was his pride in being the alpha dragon that was slowing the heard down.

The longer the Night Fury weaved through the forest, the more confident he became in flying, and the better he was getting. Having successfully put some distance between him and the other dragons, he raised his neck and pulled himself upward towards the tree tops. He pierced through the leaves and branches only to be greeted by the vastness and emptiness of the blue sky. There was an instantaneous feeling of freedom that hit him; more so than there was being on the ground. It felt like a long missing piece of his life had been put into its rightful place.

Looking behind him, he saw the swaying of the tree tops and the grunting and growling of the other dragons, but it was obvious that they did not see him, nor expected him to be able to, escape the island. They kept to their chase in the forest, but they would not be fooled for long. The Night Fury knew enough that he had to get as far away from there as possible. There was no telling how far he could go, or how massive this land was; all he could do was try.

The young dragon was surprised when the land mass came to an end. It gave way to a massive expanse of water that went as far as the eye could see. There was nothing solid anywhere to be seen. It was as if he had reached the end of the world, and there was nothing left but the wild and untamable ocean. The was something so exhilarating about it all.

The Night Fury allowed the thrill of exploration and his new found freedom to overtake him. He put his new capability to the test and swooped downward until his belly nearly scratched the surface of the water. The cold, crisp of the mist sprayed gently across his face and he found himself closing his eyes and opening his mouth to allow the moister to enter his mouth. Hit tongue, relaxed, flapped in the wind.

When the sting of the water’s coolnes started to become more of an annoyance, he flapped his wings a few times and positioned his tail fins in order for him to rise back up into the air. He flew amongst the clouds which was another thrilling discovery he made. The mist in the clouds tickled his nose each time he swooped through a billowy cloud.

The young dragon was enjoying life, but it quickly ended when a puff of flames shot past him, nearly burning his right wing. Looking behind him, the herd of dragons and the Monstrous Nightmare were quickly gaining on him. It hadn’t taken them long to figure out what had happen to him and to catch up. Unfortunately, they had more flying experience; therefore they were much faster than he was. There was no way he could out fly them.

Moaning in desperation, the little Night Fury pushed himself as hard as he could to go faster. Up ahead, the ever massive body of water was finally coming to an end. A small piece of land with lots of trees and a giant narrow mountain was quickly approaching. Just maybe he could lose them again in this forest.
The Night Fury fervently raced towards the mountain island, focusing solely on his destination and not on those that pursued him. Another puff of flames breezed by him, again stressing the urgency of the situation he was in. All his hope was on that island. With his wings getting tired, he could only hope that he could find a way to lose them there.

He was so close to the island, hope had begun to take hold. As the island came closer, the mass of the land proved to be bigger than it first appeared. There could easily be places where he could hide; but then the question would be: how determined were the dragons? Would they give up after a certain amount of time, or would they tear the island apart until they found him? He couldn’t even figure out why they wanted to harm him in the first place.

Another puff of flame was not far off the mark as it grazed the top his right wing. The young dragon howled and began to spiral out of control. It wasn’t from any pain that had cost him his control; the close call had distracted him and caused him to lose too much focus on flying, which he needed to be focusing more on. Unable to correct himself, he continued to howl as he spiraled towards the island.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

This journey was probably a bad idea, but to the young Viking named Stoick, it was something that he had to do. Of course, up to this point, it had not gone, at all, like he envisioned. Of courser, he should not be surprised by this; this was often the result of having a friend like Gobber. They had only managed to travel a short distance from the village when he announced that he had forgotten his hammer. Stoick, now found himself waiting for him to sneak back into the village to get his weapon and return to continue the journey.

Now, he was alone, waiting for his absent-minded friend to return. He had time to contemplate the reason for this journey. It could be summed in one word... RESPECT. His father showed him no respect as a Viking. Nothing he did ever impressed him. He graduated at the top of dragon training, but he got from him was a typical Viking-chief’s, winner’s announcement, and it was given almost hesitantly. There was no, ‘Good job, son’ or ‘you’re going to make a fine chief’. There was no pleasing the man. That was the reason for this journey. If he can bring back the head of a wild dragon, perhaps he could at least get a complement out of the man.

That all brought him here, standing in the middle of nowhere, waiting for Gobber to come back with his hammer. A few times, he had contemplated going on without him, but thought better of it. As much as he drove him crazy, he was still his friend. He did have a knack of cooling him down when his temper started to get the best of him. Stoick did have a very short temper; it was something he inherited from his father. When he butted heads with him, no Viking dared hang around to watch.

Stoick was ready to take out his frustration on the closest tree he could find when his attention was brought towards the treetops. The sound of something plowing through the leaves and branches had him at full alert. He held his hammer in front of him, ready to defend himself. Perhaps his journey was not going to be as long as he had thought. Perhaps Odin, himself, was showing him favor by bring a dragon to him to kill. He didn’t care what kind of dragon it was; the more deadly, the more of an opportunity he got to show up his father.

At first, Stoick’s excitement became sour when a small dragon broke through the tree tops to land ungracefully on the ground. The head of a young dragon would do nothing to gain his father’s attention. His father could rip the head of a Monstrous Nightmare with his bare hands; coming back to the village with the head of a pup would only serve to make him the laughing stock of the village.

It was the distinct solid-black color that caused him to give the beast a further look. A solid colored dragon was unusual, but a solid-black dragon was exceptionally rare. It was so atypical, that Stoick could only think of one breed of dragon it could be: A Night Fury. These dragons were so uncommon, some have given them up for myths. The only one who really still believed in Night Furies was Gobber, but he was also the one who made up this cockamamie story of discovering a Boneknapper dragon and being punched in the face by a frozen Viking. Gobber always did have an active imagination. Boy, would Gobber be green with envy.

The Night Fury, standing before him, was just a youngling, but in this circumstance, the dragon’s breed was much more important than its age. Bringing back the head of a dragon, everyone thought was just a myth would demand respect from his father. He was tired of embarrassing himself to impress his father. His father forcing him to break a rock on his head was the last straw; he still suffered from headaches from that little fiasco. Bringing back the head of a Night Fury would end all of that. That little dragon was his key to proving to his father that he had what it takes to be a Viking Chief one day.

“Alright little black devil, you’re head belongs to me.”

The young Viking crept slowly towards the dragon, but the dragon made no defensive move nor tried to escape. The dragon was so young, he had no idea what Stoick was up to. He’s probably never seen a Viking before and therefore didn’t know that they were sworn enemies. This would make killing him, physically easier, but not quite so emotionally. Neither was there much satisfaction in it either. Part of the thrill in killing a dragon was the danger of the hunt. There was very little pleasure in killing a dragon without the threat of incapacitation. That was what being a Viking was all about; yet, he could not pass up this opportunity of a lifetime.

Not wanting to scare the dragon away, Stoick kept his hammer concealed, as he cautiously approached the young dragon, as non-threateningly as possible. The Night Fury looked at him intently, trying to figure out his intentions towards him. He made sure he made no sudden moves or missteps towards the tiny beast.

His approach had been flawless; he was not the one that startled the dragon. A Monstrous Nightmare came powering from the forest, followed by a whole heard of various species of dragons. The tiny Night Fury scrambled to get away from the other dragons. It was clear that they were hunting it just as he was. Paying him no attention, they had the Night Fury cornered, with nowhere to go.

A Viking in his right mind would see that, by himself, he was up against a hundred-plus dragons and would run for his life. Stoick wasn’t in his right mind at that very moment; all he could think about was that he was about to lose his prize. “Oh no you don’t! That beast belongs to me!”

The Young Viking screamed as he charged at the monstrous Nightmare. The dragon twisted his neck to look back at the annoying, screaming little Viking only to end up having the head of a hammer crash into the side of his head. The attack caught the attention of all the dragons, and not one of theme took too kindly to the distraction.

With all the attention now on Stoick, the tiny Night Fury had suddenly vanished. The little dragon had to be hiding in the shadow of the forest. The little dragon was a speedy little devil; no one saw him take off until he was already gone. Everything the book of dragon said about the species appeared to be true. Everything in him wanted to go chase after that dragon, but after his attack on the Monstrous Nightmare, these other dragons were not going to let his actions go unpunished.

The entire herd of dragons was outraged by the nerve of this puny Viking, who attacked their Alpha. They took a step towards him until the Monstrous Nightmare roared them back into submission. If any dragon was going to get their jaws on this crazy little Viking, it was going to be him.

Stoick stepped back as the Monstrous Nightmare turned to face him. The dragon’s eyes narrowed and smoke floated out of his pointed nostrils. The Dragon had death in his eyes, and he was going to enjoy everything he was about to do to this young, pompous Viking.

“Come on, beast; I’m not afraid of you!” Stoick growled back, holding up his hammer. He would rather have the head of the Night Fury, but a Monstrous Nightmare would do just fine.

Stoick could see the flickering of the fire at the back of the dragon’s through, through his slightly opened jaw. A Monstrous Nightmare was known to be the most fire tolerant dragon species of them all. They were the only ones that enjoyed setting themselves on fire. Monstrous Nightmares had very thick, fire-proof scales; only molten lava was hot enough to burn through them. This made the dragons very hard to kill. These dragons usually set themselves on fire to protect itself from physical attacks; they wore the fire like a suit of armor. Luckily, this dragon did not think a single Viking was worth the effort.

The Dragon verged in on Stoick; he was stalking him as his prey. The beast, clearly, was planning on tearing him into pieces instead of engulfing him in flames. Perhaps the dragon was intending his death to be a slow, agonizing one, but the young Viking had different plans. He was going to be the one doing the killing here.

The Monstrous Nightmare positioned himself to pounce, and that’s when the Night Fury made his move. The young dragon leapt from the shadows and rammed the larger dragon in the side of the head. While the larger dragon was stunned, the Night Fury leaped onto the head of the Night Fury and clasped on as tight as he could while snapping at various locations of the scalp.

The Monstrous Nightmare roared as he shook his neck and head as hard as he could. The young Night Fury managed to keep hold of the dragon for a minute, but in the end, he was no match for the strength of the fully grown dragon. With one final swing of the neck, the Monstrous Nightmare threw the young dragon onto the ground. With the wind knocked out of him, he could not recover quick enough to avoid the giant claw of the larger dragon pinning him to the ground.

Unable to escape, he was solely at the mercy of a much larger, stronger, and very brutal monster. The young dragon found himself looking up into the jaws of a killing machine. The jaws opened, ready to put him out of his misery. In a move of desperation, he fired a puff of blue flames right down the throat.

The Monstrous Nightmare gagged, leaning back and unintentionally lightening up his pin of the young dragon. It was just enough for the Night Fury to pull himself free from his grip. Wasting no time, he raced back towards the shadows.

Now, the Alpha of the herd was furious. Yes, he was angry about what the puny Night Fury did, but he was even more enraged that all the other dragons only stood there and watched the dragon escape like mindless sheep. Most of them just were no going to think for themselves; didn’t they understand what the consequence would be if they failed to kill the Night Fury?

The Monstrous Nightmare’s focus was on the Night Fury until the Viking, again, struck him up the side of the head with his hammer. “What’s the matter? Night fury got your tongue?”

The dragon was so irate; he nearly set himself on fire. He looked over at Stoick ready to lose all temperament and all self-control. Someone was going to suffer his wrath, and it might as well be this pesky little Viking.

“Hey Stoick!” A voice called out from a distance.

Gobber was returning with his hammer attachment in his left arm. The demeanor of the dragons changes immediately at the turn of events. Now, there were two Vikings to tend with. The dragons had to assume that more were going to come; Vikings always fought in large herds. That meant that there was a good chance more were coming. The last thing they needed was to do battle with a whole army. The queen would be incensed if they entered battle with the Vikings without her consent; there would be hell to pay.

The Monstrous Nightmare had no choice but do something that went against his every fiber of his instincts; he and his heard of dragons had to retreat. It was the only choice they had, and it was one that would have dire repercussions, as well. To return to the queen without killing the Night Fury was admitting failure; something the queen did not accept.

The alpha dragon grunted as he withdrew from island. The other dragons followed blindly and loyally. Just like that, Stoick’s best chance of impressing his father had vanished. His father’s rage boiled up once again and he threw his hammer to the ground. “Loki’s blood!”

Gobber arrived, out of breath, after a long run to try to come to his friend’s aid. A part of him was disappointed that the dragons had taken off. “Hey Stoick, what was that all about?”

Stoick was still steaming that the Monstrous Nightmare had gotten away from him, but it quickly subsided when he remembered the events that led up to his confrontation with the dragon. “Gobber, you missed it! I saw a Night Fury! I saw an honest to goodness Night Fury!”

“No you didn’t.”

Of anything Gobber could have said, this was the most surprising. His response could not be any more befuddling and unexpected. “What do you mean? I saw the beast with my own two eyes. Night Furies are real!”

“Oh, they’re real, alright, but there’s no way you could have seen one.”

“And what makes you so certain?” Stoick’s voice dimmed into a grumble. It was emotional mixture of agitation and expectancy. He sense a crazy, illogical answer coming; an answer that only the mind of Gobber could come up with.

“That’s easy! Everyone knows that no Viking has ever seen a Night Fury and lived to tell about it. You’re still alive; therefore, you could not possibly have seen a Night Fury.”

Stoick’s headache returned in full force; this time is was brought on by his best friend. He rubbed his forehead as he let out a gasp of exhaustion. “Gobber, sometimes your logic just blows me away.”

The jolly young Viking chuckled. His face was showing the first signs of facial hair. A Viking took pride in facial hair; it was a young man’s first step towards manhood. Of course, a young Viking was not allowed to sport a full beard or mustache until they were head of a household. “Ha, now that’s funny. My Paps keeps on saying the same thing.”

Stoick didn’t want to continue the matter any longer; trying to debate a man with this kind of thinking was a pointless exercise. Winning an argument with him was all but impossible. “Well, you got your hammer, so let’s just get going.”

“Oh, silly me, I forgot; your father wants you home immedeatly.”

Stoick’s eyes widen. “What? You ran into my father? Gobber, the point of this journey was not to tell him what we’re doing; hence, the sneaking out of the village!”

“Hey, I’m no idiot. There’s no sneaking around your father; the man has a nose for trouble. I grabbed my hammer from my room, and the moment I climbed out the window, he came outta nowhere to pull me aside to pass along this message. There’s no fooling that man; he’s not the chief for nothing, you know.”

Just like that, his journey had come to an abrupt end. It appeared that Odin was not going to bless his efforts today. Everything that could go wrong had. He had a chance to slay a Monstrous Nightmare and a Night Fury, but ended up empty-handed. Today may have been a bust, but he was not going to give up. He was going to find a way to earn his father’s respect. “Eh, let’s go.”

The two Vikings made their way back home. Watching them from the shadows, the young Night Fury decided to follow them.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Red Death, the dragon queen, had found this island, which was mostly a dormant volcano, and thought it would be the perfect place to make her nest. She could hide out in the volcano and have all her dragons fetch her food. It was the perfect location; there was many different islands teeming with life in a short flight’s distance. Given a few decades or so, this whole region of the world would be ruled by her and her dragons.

This island would be the start of all that, however, she was not the only one laying claims to this ideal piece of rock. Another formidable dragon had found this island as well, and he wasn’t going to give it up so easily. This dragon was unlike any other breed she had ever seen, but had several similar characteristics to the Night Fury. This dragon, however, was at least twice the size of a full grown adult. He was also much more aggressive and violent than his smaller cousins. Red Death had never had a dragon come against her as brazenly as this dragon had. She could not figure out what interest he had with this island; all she knew was that she wasn’t going to let him have it.

She was a behemoth of a dragon; there’s no way she would let a smaller dragon like this boss her around. It didn’t matter that this dragon could turn itself completely invisible. That was where she found herself at that moment. She had flown unto this island and started inspecting for life when this black dragon appeared from nowhere to attack her. He came swooping down at her, shooting a very strong stream of fire into her face, and then vanished without a trace. It took a minute for all six of her eyes to refocus; when the blurriness went away, she cautiously searched for this foolish aggressor.

He growled, knowing that the other dragon was nearby. It served as a warning not to try something so foolish again even though she hoped that he did. She would like nothing more than to get her jaws on this dragon—this Shadow Lord. Lifting up her nostrils, she took a deep whiff. The black dragon was close; there was no mistaking the smell. An attack was imminent.

Red Death stopped where she was and stood perfectly still. She knew how fast the Shadow Lord was; being a dragon of her size, speed was not her thing. She was trying to hide any muscle movements of her throat that might give away that she was building up flammable gas at the back of her throat. There was no way she could build it up and fire it in the few seconds the other dragon revealed himself. She also knew that he was not a mindless beast like most of the dragons underneath her. He might think twice of attacking if he knew that she was ready to unleash her hellish Armageddon of flames.

She slowly turned her neck, still sniffing the air as the gas continued to pile up at the back of her throat. She was trying to determine where the stench of the Shadow Lord was strongest. A timely downdraft brought with it a very strong stint of that smell she was looking for. She spun around and swung her neck to look up in the direction the downdraft originated from. Possibly because he realized that nature had betrayed him, the Shadow Lord revealed himself, already with another swooping attack in progress.

She opened her mouth, and unleashed hell’s fury. The stream of flames were so massive, they could engulf an entire large breed dragon with ease. Even the thick scales of a Monstrous Nightmare could not withstand a blast of this magnitude. The Shadow Lord, had somehow surmised that this attack was coming; with his uncanny agility and speed, he ceased his attack and nosed dived. At the right timing, he pulled up and swooped underneath the flames and past Red Death who tried to follow him with the flames. He quickly turned himself invisible once more, and she had no choice but to cease her barrage of flames.

Red Death was now getting annoyed. With the Shadow Lord again going stealth, she was again completely blind to her enemy. The smell of sulfur and smoke lingered after her attack, which temporarily prevented her from smelling the other dragon. There was nothing for her to do now except wait for him to make the next move.

She didn’t have to wait long; the Shadow Lord reappeared behind her and lunged for her gigantic neck. He latched on like an annoying little leach, clenching his teeth into the back of her neck. The dragon queen howled in pain as she stumbled a couple of steps to the right. The black dragon continued to work on drawing blood from her; it was the only way he was going to be able to defeat a dragon of her size. His claws also dug into the massive, but thin layered, wings . He continued to snap into her neck quickly and repeatedly.

Red Death roared as she shook her mane and her neck in an attempt to shake the dragon off. A few times, the other dragon nearly lost his hold, but then would quickly find it again. She shook her neck even more violently, anxious to get him off. Finally, with one last good swing of the neck, the Shadow Lord lost his hold and was thrown, back first, into the side of the dormant volcano.

Stunned by the impact, the Shadow Lord looked up to see Red Death’s round, spiky tail coming at him with a vengeance. He pushed himself off the side of the mountain and flew a safe distance away to avoid certain death. He flapped his large black wings calmly and precisely; this dragon was not afraid of fighting with dragons bigger than him. This wasn’t the first time he had challenged a larger dragon; he had taken down several dragons like this before.

He flew upward into the clouds before spinning in place and commencing in another nose dive. The dragon queen looked to the sky, and narrowed her six eyes to glance at the attacking dragon through the blinding sunlight. The sunlight was perfectly positioned behind the Shadow Lord, making it very difficult to see him, or the stream of fire that was coming directly at her face. She saw it at the very last second and was able to close her eyes as the flames splashed across her face. She swung her neck to get her face out of the flames long enough to be able to open her eyes.

She just managed to get her eyes open when the Shadow Lord pounced onto her face. His extended wings were being used to cover her eyes on both sides. He commenced clawing at her face and biting at her mane. Grunting and quickly losing her patience, she jerked her upward to bounce the menacing dragon off of her face. She jerked her head again to poke him with the horn on the tip of her nose.

Slightly stunned by the jab, the large, black, dragon flapped his wings to try to put some distance between the giant monster and himself. Not willing to let him escape so easily, the dragon queen reached up with her gigantic jaw, full of large jagged teeth, to catch him. She managed to get just enough of his foot to be able to pull the dragon downward. The Shadow Lord looked back and growled. He unleashed a powerful stream of fire into her face, giving her no choice but to let go. With his foot free, he flew upward to get out of her reach.

Red Death quickly gathered as much ignitable gas at the back of the throat as she could and unleashed all the flames she could. Her advisory easily avoided the flames with some swift flying maneuvers. He never pulled off another vanishing act or made another attempt at her. He appeared to be giving up his claim on the island as he continued to fly away in retreat. She could hear his furious roar fading into the distance, but never once did he look back. Victory was hers.

She let out a long, terrifying roar; it was so loud, it served as a warning for those who dared to come to this island for that point on. This island now belonged to her and her alone. All who dared come near the island would do so at their own peril.
Her celebration was cut short as her heard of dragons were coming in for a landing. Growling, she turned towards them; she knew immediately that they had failed by the way the Monstrous Nightmare was reluctantly approaching her, almost crawling with his belly on the ground. The other dragons were backing away, abandoning the alpha dragon to face his fate alone. She stared daggers down at the pathetic excuse of a dragon, her lower jaw quivering as she growled.

The dragon had only one responsibility: to find and kill the tiny Night Fury. That child had to die as penance for the parent’s defiance. Not to mention the fact that Night Furies were a danger to her. All solid black dragons, Furies and Shadow Lord’s alike, were a danger to her. Her just-finished, hard-fought battle only made her more determined. These dragons had to be destroyed... or do they?

That Shadow Lord she just fought had to die; there was no getting around that, but what if she captured a young Shadow Lord or a young Night Fury.? That dragon could be conditioned to become a superior alpha dragon; unlike this pathetic excuse of a Monstrous Nightmare before her. A young dragon could be trained to fear her, and if they learned that as a young dragon, they would never defy her as an adult. Perhaps, she should rethink about killing this young Night Fury, after all.

She was staring down this Monstrous Nightmare, who refused to meet her gaze. He was convinced that she was going to eat him, and she COULD do that; she could swallow him whole, if she wanted to. A new plan was formulating in her head, and if it worked out the way she wanted to, she would own the Night Fury and this pathetic dragon would get what he deserved.

Surprising the terrified Monstrous Nightmare, she spared his life by turning and walking way. All of the dragons were surprised by the act of mercy by the dragon who had also been nicknamed Merciless. They had no idea what to do now. They didn’t know if their queen was playing a trick on them and was planning to kill them all later or what. The Monstrous Nightmare wasn’t thinking that far ahead; he was just glad he wasn’t dead right then. He was quick to get as far away from the queen as possible, hopping to intermingle with the other dragons. Still wary that he may be a numbered dragon, they were slow to allow him to intermingle with them.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

What the Night Fury saw, following the two strange Vikings, was breathtaking and astonishing. The forest took on strange new forms that he had never seen before. These two-legged creatures walked out of these strangely shaped trees without leaves or limbs. He assumed that they were nests, but why so big and so many? Not only did they use trees to build their nests, but stones as well. They were so neatly positioned and decorated; it was very mesmerizing to look at. He found himself standing on the outskirts looking in for hours on end.

As he studied this bewildering arrangement, he came to a realization that there were many more of these strange looking creatures than two; to him, they appeared to be as countless as a swarm of insects. They were the most peculiar bunch of creatures he had ever seen. Not only were they funny looking, some of their behaviors, that he was noticing, were just...odd. Not only that, they came in all shapes and sizes. They came in tall and husky to small and thin; even some of the small Vikings were heavyset as well. Besides the pale skins, there were very little common physical attributes that they shared.

One of the tall, muscular Vikings was carrying a large, seemingly heavy wooden log. It was almost funny to watch him move this strange looking object, as he was hugged it to his body. The Night Fury titled his head, trying to figure out what he was trying to do as he walked from one side of the village to another. A slight misstep and the Viking accidently dropped it to the ground, narrowly missing his own tows, and it narrowly tip over. He caught it before it fell, but not before the lid slid off and a whole fish fell out onto the ground.

The sight of that fish lying in the dirt brought a undeniable fact to light: he was hungry. It’s been a while since the Night Fury had his last meal, and now his stomach was starting to protest the neglects it’s been given. Just seeing that fish made his mouth water. His tongue hung from his mouth, as he nearly, inadvertently exposed himself from his hiding spot. When the Viking grabbed the fish and put it back into the container, the dragon came to his senses. The Viking again picked up the barrel and staggered off to continue his job.

The young dragon let out a soft, disappointed moan. He began to wonder if there was a way he could follow him until he put down that barrel. He was seriously contemplating taking the risk of being discovered, until his nose detected a delightful smell. It was a mixture of aromas, with one of them being the strong, husky stint of smoke. The other, had the familiar tint of salt water that usually comes from fish. He sniffed the air to sniff out the direction that smell it was coming from. From the best he could determine, it was coming from the top of a large wooden structure with a wooden walkway leading to the top. At the very top, there was a large fire burning in a fire pit, and two Vikings were sitting on a log in front of that fire. This structure was at the furthest edge of the village, near the edge of the mountain. It was the perfect location for him to be able to investigate the smell without being seen.

* * * *

Gobber sat on his log, and enjoyed the smell of his fish cooking on an open fire. The smell only wet his appetite even more so, and it made him even more anxious for it to be done. He liked his fish slightly blackened, so he took his fish-on-a-stick and poked it into the heart of the hottest flame in the pit. It was the part of the bonfire that was showing the most sign of life, and the flames were dancing wildly. Stick the fish into that part of the fire, and his fish would cook in no time.

He was joined by another Viking sitting on a log to his left, but to him, he still felt as if he had this fire pit all to himself. On occasion, Gobber enjoyed being by himself to unwind. Being on the fire-pit platform, he felt removed from the stresses of the Viking life. Most of the Vikings ate in the Great Hall, and Gobber had no affront in doing so, but there was nothing in life better than a roasted fish over hot, open flames. It was a treat for him that he liked to indulge in once a week or so. Sometimes, he might ever roast a chicken, when the mood ever struck him. It wasn’t really about what he ate, but more about eating alone.

As he was finishing up his fish, neither he or the other Viking noticed a Night Fury’s head pop up behind them. The dragon had followed his nose all the way up to the platform. When he saw the fish cooking in the fire, the dragon could hardly contain his excitement. He licked his lips, or what would have been his lips if he had any.

He ducked his head below the platform when Gobber pulled out his fish from the fire. It was now cooked to perfection. He disconnected his rod attachment from his wrist and placed it, and the fish on the tip of it, up against the log he was sitting on, to his left. He turned to his right to grab his knife prosthetic limb, but it wasn’t where he put it. “Now, where did it go?”

While he looked the other way, the Night Fury raised his head once more and cautiously grabbed the fish with his teeth and took it and the rod back down with him.

“Ah, here it is!” Gobber found his attachment and placed it into his wrist with a snap. When he turned to left... his fish was gone. “Beard of Thor! Where...”

Gobber looked up to see the other Viking on the platform as he took his first bite from his fish which looked a lot like his. His temper flared as he jumped to his feet. “Steel my fish, will you?”

The other Viking sat there dumbfounded, not sure if he was talking to him or not. Gobber charged at him, which quickly got him up on his feet. His Viking rage overtook Gobber and before either of them knew it, they commenced in negotiations in the normal Viking manner: a good ol’ fashioned fist fight.

Down below the platform, the Night Fury reached the bottom of the platform without any of the Vikings seeing him. He spat out the rod onto the ground that he had managed to separate from the fish on his way down. While the scent of the cooked fish was exhilarating, he found the taste to be a little bland. The fire seemed to take away the flavor that the dragon enjoyed when eating fish. From this point on, he figured he would keep to raw fish.

The dragon looked around to see if there any Vikings around so he could continue exploring the village without being seen. A tiny lamb stood had been minding his own business when he saw the dragon climb down the tall, wooden structure. The little lamb, with eyes full of shock, stood there frozen in place, unable to move. The site of the strange little furry creature caused the Night Fury to title his head in curiosity. He had never seen such a funny little fellow before.

“Baaa!” The angry mother sheep came out of nowhere and came charging after the dragon.

The young dragon didn’t know what else to do but to run. At first, he ran in circles, not wanting to be seen by the Vikings, but the angry mother did not seem to care about being inconspicuous. The mother continued to chase him for as long as she could.

* * * *

It was a tricky endeavor, but the Night Fury had managed to escape the angry mother Sheep without being seen by the Vikings. He could now continue feeding his curiosity about these strange two-legged creatures, but at the same time, his stomach was still crying for more food. A single fish was just not enough to quench his hunger. These Vikings seemed to like fish as much as he did, so he had no doubt that he would stumble upon another payload. With his inability to catch his own, maybe staying on this island to feed himself was a viable way to survive.

During his search through this group of nests, he made sure that he stayed on the outskirts; it was where the Vikings seemed less likely to look or go. As he searched, he came across a nest with one of those wooden ‘logs’ that he had seen earlier. Last time, it was full of raw, juicy fish; perhaps this one was too. He ventured carefully towards it looking to his left and right to see if anyone was looking. It was perfectly located so he could stay to the side of the nest and not have to come out into the open.

He cautiously approached the barrel and sniffed it; he could indeed smell the scent of salt water all over it. Standing on his hind two feet, the dragon poked at the lid with his snout. It was heavy enough for him to be able to put a little weight on it with his front two feet in order to be able to keep his balance. He was just tall enough for his neck to arch over the top of the ‘log’. The lid proved to be very loose, so it took just a few pokes to unseat it. He then used his snout to push the lid aside and just as he hoped, he found it full to the rim with fish.

He let out a joyous whine before helping himself to all the fish he could eat. The more he ate, the more careless he became until he put too much weight on the round, wooden barrel, and knocked it down, emptying all of its contents onto the ground. At first, he thought this was a good thing; the fish were now easier to get to, but the noise had caused a stirring from inside the nest. He had no choice to race back into the forest to hide.

The door to the hut violently swung open with such force, it nearly fell off of its hinges. “You lousy...Ahhh!”

The Viking stormed out of the hut too far, and had inadvertently stepped on a fish which caused him to slip and fall. Momentarily stunned, he groaned as he sat up. He looked around to see his barrel of fish tipped over and all over the ground. “My Fish! You wretched Vikings of Berk!” He shouted.

Two lone Vikings happened to be walking by when they saw his strange misfortune. The two men bellowed out a monstrous roar of laughter. “What’s the matter, Mildew? You such a clumsy oaf!”

Mildew grumbled as he picked himself and cleaned himself off. “I’ll show you who’s an oaf!” he grumbled underneath his breath.

“Having problems, my friend?” Another Viking asked, walking up to him.

Mildew was too furious for conversation. He hated these Vikings in Berk, especially the chief and his son, Stoick. They were an abomination to all things Viking. They have made his life here miserable and treated him like nuisance. It was on one of their dragon hunts, his wife was killed , and he had never forgiven the Viking chief for that. He killed his wife, as far as he was concerned, and all the compensation he gave Mildew was to treat him like an outcast.

He had no desire to talk to anyone at that very moment; he wished they would all just leave him alone. “Leave me alone, Alvin. I’m in no mood for chatting.”

The heavy set young Viking grinned as he folded his arms in front of him. “I know what you’ve had to endure because of our chief. I know how he has continued to embarrass you and make you the joke of the village.”

“Yeah, so?” Mildew growled. “What do you want?”
“I have a proposition for you; something that will benefit the both of us in the long run of things.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

It was on to a new section of this gigantic formation of nests. The Night Fury could not believe how massive this formation was. Some of the structures were made more of stone than wood, like that round pit-looking one in the heart of the area. It was a very unusual structure, with steel bars and chains completing the dome shape of the construction; it looked like a nest made from rocks and stones. There was something about this structure that sparked his curiosity and desire to see what was inside. The pit had to be big enough to hold at least a dozen large dragons.

A commotion inside of the dome-shaped, further stressed his desire to see what was inside. He cautiously pranced toward a long wooden walkway made of tree logs. There was a definite chance of being seen now that he was out in the open, but fortunately, there were no Vikings walking around at that moment. Most of them were the main concentration of nests. Taking advantage of this, he ran down the wooden walkway and turned right to the side. He didn’t dare look down the main corridor into the structure; someone was inside, and the last thing he wanted was to be seen.

He was barely tall enough to look over the stone section of the wall, so he stepped up to the top with his front two feet and looked through the steel and chain barricade. Inside, there were three full sized, husky Vikings and the young chubby and small Viking. The young Viking was the same one he saw when he first arrived to this strange land mass. He stood by a very hairy Viking. Most of his pale, white face was covered in red hair. He also wore a strange looking helmet with horns on top of his head. The youngling seemed to be submissive to this full grown Viking. The other two Vikings also were taking orders from him, which would make the red-haired one the alpha of these creatures.

The dragon then noticed that the two Vikings had a young Deadly Nadder trapped in some kind of trap. The young dragon was freaking out underneath this strange looking thing that blanketed over him. The Night Fury looked up in the sky to see a mother Deadly Nadder with two other young dragons following her. It suddenly dawned on him that the mother dragon was the same dragon that had helped him survive on the other land mass. The young dragon in the trap was her other child.

* * * *

Stoick watched by his father’s side as the two Vikings made sure that young Deadly Nadder could not escape from the net. He managed to talk his way out of punishment for his little adventure earlier on, but he and his father were not much on speaking terms at the moment. He heard that a young Deadly Nadder had been captured and was being dragged into the arena. The moment the news hit his ears, he grabbed his ax and ran there in hopes that he could convince his father to allow him to be the one to kill it.

As soon as the two Vikings confirmed that the dragon was secure, Stoick raised his ax in front of his chest. Without asking, he slowly approached the dragon to get the kill he’d been itching for all day. “Stay your Ax! I was this dragon locked up; we’ll use her to train new recruits.”

“What?” Stoick dropped his ax on the ground in frustration. “Let me kill the beast! You never let me kill a dragon!”

The frown on his father’s face was blaring. “And that will continue to be so until you’ve learned the meaning of the word: obedience.”

Stoick grunted angrily. He seriously contemplated defying his father and killing the dragon in spite. Everything in his being wanted him to do so. He was a Viking; killing dragons was in his nature. His father had no right to deny him like this. He was about to tell him as such when a shadow caught the corner of his eye. He looked up towards the steel barricade where he thought he saw movement, but there was no one there. There was no one anywhere around the outside of the arena.

* * * *

The Night Fury didn’t dare stay any longer, for fear of being seen. He still wasn’t happy that the Vikings took the young dragon away from her mother. For now, she seemed safe, but who knows what was to become of her if she was not reunited with her mother. Perhaps tonight, when all the Vikings were asleep, he could come back a free her. For now, though, he had to stay unseen. There was still time before sunset, so he was going to continue feeding his curiosity.

One of the things he was extremely inquisitive about was to know what was in one of these nests. He hadn’t had the nerve to look into one before, but his interest had grown too much not to try. He would just have to be extra sure that no one was inside. He would also have to choose a nest in an area that had the least number of Vikings walking around.

He spent time looking in each area that he could from the safe distance of the forest. He carefully watched the traffic in and out of each area to see where most of the Vikings liked to hang out. After an intense study, he found the perfect nest. From what he could tell, there had been two Vikings in the nest at one time for a great deal of time. He waited until those two finally left. As he watched them walk away, he determined that they were heading for the opposite side of the mountain. That would give him more than enough time to just take a peek at what their nests were like.

He slowly made his way towards the wooden structure. There were only a few Vikings in the area, but none of them were looking in that direction and they were all heading in the opposite direction. He ventured to take his first step into the open and when nothing happened, he continued. He made it to the door without being caught, so he decided to see this through.

At first, he had no idea how to open this obstacle in his way. He used his snout to try to push his way in, but it would not budge like it did for the Vikings. There had to be a knack to it that he was unaware off. He looked to the right and saw a square opening in the wall. It wasn’t big enough for him to climb through completely, but it was enough for him to look inside and see what was on the inside.

He climbed to the hole, and used his front two legs to hold him up so he could arch his neck through the square hole. What he saw alarmed him to no end. It was an entire room for of weapons of all different shapes and sizes, but that wasn’t the distressing part. There were several dragon heads mounted up on the wall, along with dragon horns and a pair of dragon feet decorating the nest.

It quickly dawned on the Night Fury that these two legged creature, though small as they were, were a very dangerous lot. They killed dragons and used them for trophies. Only now did he understand just how much he was putting his life in danger by hanging around. He also realized that the young Viking that he had encountered early was most likely only coming to his rescue because he wanted his head mounted with these others.

He knew he couldn’t stay on the island, but he also knew that he couldn’t leave the Deadly Nadder in the hands of these cruel beasts. That youngling needed to be rescued, and he was going to be the dragon to do it. He was going to wait until nightfall, when all the Vikings were sleeping and none would be walking around. It would be much easier to sneak in and free the dragon then.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Night had fallen, but the Vikings seemed just as lively at night time as they were during the day. The Night Fury was quickly losing patience waiting for them to sleep. It wasn’t until it was very late at night when the final few Vikings went into their nests for the night. Just to be safe, however, he waited a little while longer after that to make his move.

Waiting in forest, on the outskirts of what the Vikings called their ‘village’, he occasionally would take a peek around until he was satisfied it was safe to reenter the city. After his last peek in, he had decided to wait just a little bit longer for everyone to fall asleep and then make his move. Well, later had come, and now was the time to make his move.

To make doubly sure things were clear, he peered in once again. Last time, he watched the last view Vikings head to their nests, and this time he expected to find a completely empty community. That was almost the case. What he actually found was a handful of shadows sneaking around through the village in the dark. Now, this was unexpected. They were indeed Vikings, because they were walking on two legs, instead of four, but something was amiss with the way they were going through the village.

The Night Fury decided to find out what was going on. He kept an eye on one of the shadows, and from the outskirts of the village, he followed the direction he was walking in. The shadow had a distinct destination and walked as if he was on a mission. On the way to his destination, he was joined by more Viking shaped shadows. There was at least six grouped together now, all heading towards the same destination. He watched them approach the most predominate looking nest in the village.

When they piled into the nest, the dragon had to know what was happening. Something seemed very off, and despite how dangerous these Vikings were, he could not help but empathize with them. They were a very complex species; he could not figure out why they still fascinated him as much as they did knowing of what they were capable of. This curious behavior had him very puzzled; it almost seemed uncharacteristic. Was this strange behavior going to affect his rescue attempt of the Deadly Nadder?

These were the questions racing through the dragon’s minds as he tried to find a hole in the wall to look into the nest. It seemed all nests had these square holes in them. He surmised they allowed the sunlight and fresh air to enter into the nests. Whatever they were for, they allowed him to stick his head through to look inside. He found one of these hold at the back of the nest. He climbed up and looked into the hole.

This nest was totally different from the last one. The last one had weapons and tools for making weapons along with mounted dragon heads and horns. This nest had very little of that; this one seemed much more what he expected to find in a nest. There was a young Viking asleep in the corner. It was the same Viking that he first encountered when arriving to the island. The segment of the nest was lightly decorated with weapons and other stuff that he was unfamiliar with.

Those strange behaving group of Vikings were tip-toeing into this segment of the nest. Only half of the group was entering the segment; the others must be elsewhere in the nest. The dragon watched curiously as they slowly and quietly walked towards the sleeping Viking. When they revealed their axes and hammers, the Night Fury started freaking out. He accidently released a small out amount of fire as he fell away the window; the nest caught fire by the accidental misfire.

* * * *

No one saw what made that strange noise or what started the fire, but it also served to wake up Stoick. “What the...” He first noticed the fire that had started in the room, but then he noticed the three startled young Vikings in his room. A fire and three intruders in his room, could only mean one thing. “Mutiny!”

Stoick pulled out his hidden hammer underneath his bed; something that none of the three Viking had seen or expected. Still in his sleeping attire, Stoick roared as he charged at the intruders with his full Viking rage. “You’ve messed with the wrong Viking on the wrong night!”

Despite it being three-to-one, Stoick’s fury and his fighting skills more than even the odds. He was a skilled warrior; his father made sure to that. He could wrangle with a Monstrous Nightmare; but his father refused to see that. Taking on these three bozos would hardly be a challenge.

The fight was even easier than usual when the other three young Vikings were more focused on the fire that was starting to spread. As he fought with the goons, he could hear the commotion going on in his father’s room. He too was in a fight with several Vikings. “You think you can take my rule away from me so easily, Alvin! You’re going to regret your mutiny when I show you how vicious I can be!”

So, Alvin was behind the mutiny, he should have known. The young Viking had always been over ambitious. His parents had been killed by dragons several years back, and since they he’d been hanging around the wrong group of Vikings. He and this group of young, mischievous Vikings were always causing troubles around Berk. Stoick’s father always gave them leniency because he had much respect for Alvin’s father. This, however, was not going to go unpunished, and know his father, the consequences would be dire.

* * * *

The Night Fury took off before any of the Vikings could come after him. He wasn’t sure if he they had seen him or not, but he didn’t want to take a chance. The village had more shadows walking around. One was coming in his direction, cutting off his path back into the forest. He was forced into the heart of the village, where he needed some quick thinking and some fancy maneuvering to avoid being seen. His quick thinking caused him to climb a wooden structure to avoid a group of three shadows walking towards him.

He made it to the top platform and he ventured a glance downward to see if they might have seen him. The three shadows walked right past the platform and onward without looking back or up in his direction. He let out a moan of relief as he stepped back from the ledge. He failed to see that something was behind him, and when he backed into it, it made a very loud clanging noise.

The noise was more to startle and panic the dragon, but adding to his terror as the fact that it was loud enough for the entire village to hear. He had no idea what he backed up into that caused this terrifying noise. It was neither made of wood or stone. Whatever it was made of, it appeared to be very heavy. It was hollow in the center except for a strange rod-looking thing with a round ball at the end. It too was made of the same material.

The Night Fury did not stick around to study it; he took flight as fast as he could as lights started flickering on through all the nests of the village. One voice cried out, “We’re under attack!” Another voice shouted at the top of his lungs, “The Chief’s hut is on fire! Everyone wake up!”

As the Vikings started pouring out of their nests, it wasn’t long before they all realized what was happening. “We have a mutiny!”

The Night Fury made it back to the forest without a problem. Any attempt to rescue the Deadly Nadder was now gone. The whole Viking village was at an uproar. He ran deep into the forest and stayed there for the night. There was no chance he was going to go back to village this night.

* * * *

The Night Fury tried to sleep, but couldn’t. His heart was racing in his chest and he could still here all the commotion in the village. Most dragons hearing were always superb. He knew that he was a safe distance away , but the sounds of the upheaval was still unnerving.

He had no idea how long had passed, but the night still had a strong grip. The noise, after awhile, finally managed to subside. The quickness that it did had the dragon curious: had they fallen asleep again? Was he going to get a second chance as saving the Deadly Nadder?

His nerves were on end, and fear had overtaken him, but he still had to know for sure. If there was a second chance as saving the dragon, he had to take it. The Nadder’s mother had done so much to help him stay alive; it was the least he could do to repay that generosity. So, fighting against better judgment, his fear, and his nerves, he cautiously made his way back into the Viking village.

When he arrived, fires were lit all around the village, lighting it up in a brilliant glow of orange. He could a Viking speak, and he knew that they had not gone to sleep. To confirm his fear, he leaped onto the rooftop of one of the nests and ducked as he peered down into the village.

The village was indeed teeming with life. Every single Viking was present in the center of the village. There were about twenty Vikings being encircled by the rest. The alpha Viking was there confronting those twelve.

* * * *

Stoick watched as his father passed judgment on Alvin and those who participated in the coup d'état. He had never seen his father this angry before in his life. He was acting like it was Stoick who was the one who had tried to overthrow him. For all purpose, he had thought of Alvin as a second son. “I have cut you a lot of slack over the seasons, but you’ve crossed a line this time, Alvin. I cannot overlook your treachery. “

“Well, they don’t call me Alvin the Treacherous for nothing,” he replied smugly.

That remark did not buy him any points. The snort Stoick’s father made showed that the remark had only made him angrier. “You and your friends have been found guilty of mutiny. Is there anything you want to say before I sentence you?”

“Enjoy being chief now, because there’s coming a day when I’ll take what’s rightfully mine. You and Stoick don’t deserve the mangle of Viking chief. You’ve got the blood of too many Vikings on your hands.”

Stoick’s father was about to respond when he noticed Alvin was not looking at him. “What are you looking at?” He followed his line of site and his eye was immediately drawn to Mildew. He appeared disgusted as he turned to Mildew. “Are you apart of this?”

Mildew appeared to be genuinely surprised by the sudden accusation thrown at him. “Who, me? I’m just as surprised by this as you are!”

“Hmmm,” the chief did not seem to be totally convinced. “Make sure he stays there! I deal with you in a moment.”

Two tall and bulky Vikings stepped behind Mildew to prevent him from running off. He did not appreciate this move and continued to play innocent. “This is preposterous! I haven’t done anything!”

Stoick would not be surprised by Mildews being a part of this. It would be just like him to try something like this and try to weasel his way out of trouble. The moment he denied the accusation, Stoick noticed a slight attitude change from Alvin. For a brief second, he appeared disturbed and betrayed. That expression was there for a split second before his smug look returned. He wasn’t sure if his father caught the expression change or not, but somehow, he didn’t really think it mattered.

His father returned his focus back on Alvin and his band of misfits. “I sentence you and your followers to banishment on Outcast Island.” He stuck his face into Alvin’s with a look of uncompromised determination and viciousness. “Pray that I don’t see your face ever again. Take them to the boats!”

As Alvin and his young men were escorted down the mountain towards the docks, Stoick’s father returned his attention to Mildew. “I trust you as far as I can throw a dragon. I may not be able to prove it, but I suspect you had something to do with this. Fortunately for you, our laws require solid evidence to excommunicate a Viking. Therefor, as of this very moment, you will no longer be allowed to live in Berk. There is a small cottage with good fertile land outside the village limits. That is where you will live from now on. The land is plenty big enough to grow your own food and raise your own herd flock of sheep. The less I see of you around here, the better everyone’s life will be.”

“That’s not fair! I haven’t done a blasted thing!” Mildew protested.

“And I’d like to make sure that remains the case,” he replied sharply.

The tense situation was suddenly interrupted by a Viking shouting out a single word in warning. “Dragons!”

All eyes looked to the sky to see a red and black Monstrous Nightmare fly over the village. It was the only visible dragon they could see, but they always had to assume where there was one dragon, there would be others.

“Vikings, grab your weapons! We’re going to have ourselves a late night dragon hunt!”

Stoick was more than ready to go dragon hunting, but when he turned around, he became even more excited. He saw the Night Fury standing on the rooftops of one of the huts. He was busy looking upward at the approaching Monstrous Nightmare. The dragon looked back down at them and quickly realized that he had been spotted.

“You’re mine, black devil!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

He had stayed on the island way to long, and now the Night Fury was on the run for his life. Not only was he certain that the Vikings were coming after him, he also knew that the Monstrous Nightmare was there to kill him as well. There was no way he could stay on this island any longer; he had pushed his luck too far and now it had run out. The fear was overwhelming as he ran as deep into the forest as he could. If he could hide from the dragon’s sight up in the sky and escape from the Vikings there on the ground, he could perhaps find a way to leave this island. Taking flight right now might solve only one of those problems; he was certain that it would not help him escape the Monstrous Nightmare and the other dragons that probably were following.

He weaved through the trees until he came until a small opening in the forest. He was going to use this opportunity to take to the sky, hoping that he could get far enough away from the island before the other dragon realized he had left, but that idea was laid to rest when the Monstrous Nightmare plowed through the tree tops and landed in front of him. The Night Fury nearly fumbled trying to come to an abrupt halt to avoid running into the larger dragons. He had cut him off so sharply, that it took a few agile dodges to avoid the jaws of the larger dragon.

Once he regained his footing, he ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could. The other dragon continued his pursuit on foot. The Night Fury, was fortunately the faster runner, and was successfully putting distance between them, when he saw the young Viking coming towards him with a hammer. He was now caught in the middle of two creatures who wanted him dead. Turning around and taking on the Monstrous Nightmare was out of the question; that left one option open to him.

The Night Fury bore his teeth as his pupils turned moon-slit thin. He spat out a blue puff of flames which landed in front of Stoick, who was thrown back by the sudden explosion of flames. Stunned by the attack, the Night Fury leaped through the flames and used his head to plow through the young Viking.

Stoick was thrown to the ground as the young dragon continued to run for his life. He grunted as he barely looked up in time to see the charging Monstrous Nightmare coming straight for him. He rolled to the right and narrowly avoided being trampled on by the beast’s massive claws. He was just lucky that it didn’t stop to attack him; its focus was strictly on the Night Fury.

As the Night Fury ran, he knew that he had to think of something fast. He was heading straight back for the village full of angry Vikings who were most assuredly on their way towards him. As it turned out, he had even less time than he had hoped. The sounds of an angry mob of Vikings were getting louder, and he could see the illumination from their torches quickly draw near.

He stopped running and looked behind as the Monstrous Nightmare continued to stalk him. The dragon knew that he had him trapped. This time, the large dragon was confident that he had the young dragon just where he wanted. At least, he could make up for his failure and put himself back in good graces with the queen.

As he was about to attack the young dragon, a war-cry scream had him on alert and looking behind him. Stoick, the young Viking, was back on his feet and charging towards both dragons. He didn’t care which dragon he killed; he was going home with one of their heads. With his hammer posed to strike, he had nothing to lose but to charge at them.

While the Monstrous Nightmare may have been distracted by the Viking, the Night Fury had kept his focus on him. The moment he looked away, an opportunity had presented itself and the young dragon pounced on it. He spewed a puff of blue flames into the face of the Monstrous Nightmare. He immediately leaped to the sky and flapped his wings as hard as his immature muscles would allow him.

Outrage by the assault, the Monstrous Nightmare had started returning his gaze towards his target when he got the fire shot in the face. The sneak attack momentarily blinded him, forcing him to shake his to clear out his vision. When he COULD focus his vision, he saw the Night Fury had taken flight and was well on his way to leaving the island.

Before he even had a chance to react, Stoick came in, with his hammer, and smashed it across his face. “Okay beast, this time... you’re mine!”

“There’s the dragon! Capture it before it gets away!”

The arrival of the rest of Berk could not have come at a worst time. He was this close in killing the dragon and finally proving to his father that he was worthy to be the next chief of Berk. The thought had flashed across his mind to go ahead and kill the dragon before the other Vikings could arrive, but what would be the point? He would only encourage his father’s wrath once again.

Stoick dropped his hammer to the ground as he faced the Monstrous Nightmare head-on. “Alright beast, it’s just you and me.” The Monstrous Nightmare was expecting a punch or a quick grab for the hammer, but instead, the crazy little Viking tackled his neck.

He wrestled with the dragon until he was able to pin his neck to the ground, he quickly climbed and slid on top of his head and wrapped his arms around his jaw in order to prevent him from spewing out flames. The dragon tried to break free and almost did if another Viking hadn’t joined him on top of him to pin him to the ground.

The two Vikings managed to keep the dragon contained until the others arrived. They quickly tied the dragon’s snout to make sure he could not spew his magma-like fire or set himself ablaze. After they tied his snout, they threw a net over the dragon, which was heavy in of itself, but was also weighed-down by even heavier rocks. The dragon was not going anywhere.

When the dragon was secured, everyone relaxed after a long, strenuous fight with the dragon. It ended up being short lived when Stoick’s father approached with his torch still in hand. His face remained unreadable as he stared down at the captured dragon. “Who’s responsible for this?”

The Vikings all looked at each other with stunned looks on their faces. Out of fear, they all stepped away... all except Stoick. He stood there, expecting his father to find something new to blame him for. That was how things went for him as of late; everything he did was wrong in his father’s eyes. At first, the look on his face appeared that this was going to be another one of those times, but then he spoke. “Not bad, son. Perhaps we can make a Viking chief out of you yet.”

The compliment caught Stoick off guard; he almost didn’t know how to process it. After it finally sunk in, he allowed himself to crack a smile and feel good about himself for once. Perhaps, this would be the beginning of an improved relationship with him. All he wanted to do was to prove that he could be a good Viking chief one day.

The chief’s attention quickly moved on to the dragon that they had captured. “Are there any other dragons?”

“No, this was the only one we’ve found,” another Viking replied.
“Good. Take him to the arena. We’ll add him to our collection of devils so we can train new Vikings.”

* * * *

The Night Fury had put the island behind him. Now, flying over the wild waves of the body of water, he was off in search for another land mass. Perhaps the next one would be a little more peaceful with an abundance of food. Right now, he was just glad that the other dragon was not following him.

As he flew over the rapid body of water, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful his surroundings were. It was a clear night, so the full majestic powers of the stars were radiating tonight. The reflection of the moon echoed back into his face from the water. There was a chill in the air that only seemed to make the night feel magical. Closing his eyes, he let his tongue loose to flap in the chilly air. With his wings fully expanded, he glided through the night sky.

His dragon instincts told him that he needed to open his eyes, but he was ready to ignore his instincts—just this once. He reluctantly opened his eyes to see that he was about to fly straight into a blinding, low-lying fog. He ceased his glide and again started flapping his wings. He looked to his right in preparation to fly around the fog, but a two-headed Zippleback was flying besides him. He let out a threatening hiss, warning him not to try anything funny.

The Night Fury looked to his other side and an orange and black Deadly Nadder was there, preventing him from flying in that direction. Soon, a whole heard of various species of dragons were surrounding him. They had him trapped. He had no choice but to go where they wanted him to go, and it appeared that they were taking him straight into the fog.

As soon as they entered the grey mist, it was nothing more than swerving left and right around strange rock formations sticking out of the water. After what seemed like a long and winding maze through the fog, they pierced through the mist to find a tiny island that was mostly made up of a giant mountain. There was no life, animal or vegetation, anywhere to be seen. It was as if this was where death, herself, dwelled.

Upon pressure from the heard of dragons, the Night Fury landed on the strange, rocky surface. Afraid for his life he desperately looked around to find a way off of this island. All the dragons were flying in all directions; none of them were coming near him. However, the randomness of their flight patterns was more than enough to intimidate him from escaping the island.

The ground shook under his feet, and the dragons quickly scattered away. A giant dragon, unlike anything the Night Fury had ever seen came stomping through the darkness. She was the biggest dragon he had ever seen, almost seeming as big as the mountain itself. Her pointed teeth were nearly as long as he was as she could easily swallow him whole if she so chose to. Her six eyes had death in them as she stared down at the young dragon. As she approached, he could do nothing but cower before her presence.

He was utterly at her mercy now. She could do anything she wanted with him and there was nothing he could do to fight back. How could anyone fight against such a monstrosity? She towered over him; her six eyes bored into the dragons soul to tell him what he had pretty much already surmised. YOU BELONG TO ME NOW, NIGHT FURY!

EPILOGUE

Many years had gone by. Life for the Night Fury had not been easy. Now, a fully grown dragon, he had been groomed to become the Alpha dragon of the heard. He no longer had the childish fear of his youth; the only thing he was trained to fear was the dragon queen, herself. It was he and his dragons that had to bring food back to her or else they, themselves, would be eaten. He had seen more than a dozen of good dragons suffer that fate, and it always served to remind him of the consequences of failure.

He had spent most of his life in this harsh servitude; it was the only life he had ever known. It wasn’t really all that hard; he forced the other dragons to do the work for him. If they got into trouble or needed his help, then he would come in to help. He was more or less the enforcer who made sure things went as they were supposed to. That was what he was groomed to do. He was to show now mercy to any incompetent dragon, but no matter how server Red Dragon’s training was, he could not show such disdain towards any of his fellow dragons. He was more interested in protecting them, but as long as it appeared that he was acting as an enforcer rather than a guardian, then things would be alright.

Various missions were easy to get ample of food; some were not so easy. Their missions to Viking villages were among the toughest, but they had no choice but to do them. If they didn’t ransack the Vikings, the dragon queen would start to question his commitment to her. He tried to do as few of those kinds of missions as possible but Red Death was determined to drive out the Vikings from the region.

This time, there had been no choice but to hit a Viking village. He had gone too long trying to avoid them that the dragon queen was getting suspicious. To get her off his case, he chose a very familiar Viking village to ransack; one that he had been in as a child. At first, things had been going alright, but then the Vikings started using catapults and throwing large boulders at them. Upon seeing that, the Night Fury had to take action and take out those wooden contraptions while taking advantage of the darkness of the night to allow him to move in stealth.

That was when it all went wrong. He had just taken out one of those wooden structures when something strange began to entangle him. His wings were being prevented from flapping, and most of his mobility had been taken from him. Without his wings, he could not sustain flight. His body arched downward towards the ground. He hit the ground at such an angle that after hitting the ground his slid through the thick bristle of the forest. He slid up a small hill before it gave way to another small drop. He was air bound for about a second before his breath was taken away by the impact he made with his ribs hitting the ground first.

Entangled by this strange material, he fought to break himself free. He was fairly uninjured by the fall, except for his tail; the tip of his tail was quite sore. He wiggled and jiggled, trying to slide out of this trap, but the more he resisted, the tighter they entangled him. It didn’t take him long until he realized that trying to escapes was futile. He was stuck there, on the ground, helpless against any ground predators that might be leaking through the forest.

As he laid there in the dirt, he was forced to watch as his heard of dragons flew off to bring their loot back to Dragon Island. Not one of them came looking for him. Their fear of the queen was such that they had no problems abandoning him and leaving him for dead. He dropped his head to the ground, refusing to waste any more energy keeping his head up. There was no escaping this situation so all he could do was lay there until he drifted off asleep.

There was no telling how long he had slept, but without opening his eyes, he knew that dawn had arrived. What was the point of opening his eyes when he was as good as dead laying there in the middle of the forest? However, the noise that had awakened him had him at full alert. It started off with the sound of faint bristling of brushes. Something small had stumbled upon him. There was a very familiar scent to it, though there was also something different about it.

“Oh, wow... I-I did it! Oh, I did it! This-this fixes everything! Yes! I have brought down this mighty beast!”

It was after he touched him was when he opened his eyes. It was just as he thought, it was a Viking...but not the same Viking as before. He had a very similar scent to the Viking he had first encountered on this island, but his appearance was a lot difference. This was the most pathetic looking, scrawny, little Viking he had ever seen. Yet the order told him that this boy was related to the Viking he once knew.

Staring him in the eyes, he could almost see himself. As much as the boy wanted to pretend he was brave, deep down inside he was scared and lost as he was. The Night Fury could see something deep within the tiny Viking that made him trust him. Although his appearance was less than impressive, his scent told him that this boy was going to change not just the Night Fury’s life, but the entire world. There was something about this unassuming young boy that made the dragon feel that life was about to change for everyone.

THE END