Under the light of the full moon, Hiccup and his friends zoomed through Berk on their dragons and headed toward the forest. Considering they were the two heroes, Hiccup and Astrid wore satchels over their necks, where they kept the crystals they had found so far. Hiccup, aside from the crystals, also carried the Dragon Eye in case he needed to use it again.
Within five minutes, the teens glided under the forest’s tall treetops.
Hiccup glanced at his friends with his hair waving in the wind and asked, “So, how did you guys find Toothless and me? Surely you didn’t dive in the hole after us, right?”
Astrid, who soared beside him, chuckled and explained, “Of course not. Quite the opposite. Follow us.” She peered into Stormfly’s eyes and patted her neck. “Go, Stormfly.”
Stormfly nodded and moved to the front of the group.
Hookfang, Snotlout’s dragon, flapped his wings and joined the dragon and her Rider.
To Astrid, Snotlout said, “I think somebody should keep you out of trouble, babe. No worries. Hookfang and I are the perfect bodyguards.” Unfortunately, as soon as he said that, Hookfang crashed into a tree, and he and his Rider toppled to the ground. They landed face-first in a puddle of mud.
Fishlegs, Ruff, Tuff, and Astrid burst out laughing, but Hiccup stayed quiet. Their childish behavior did not amuse him or Toothless; their faces said all.
Astrid stopped over the fallen Snotlout and Hookfang and put the back of her hand to her temple. “Oh, Snotlout. However will I survive without you?” The sarcasm in her voice was almost too obvious.
Bubbles popped up in the mud puddle as Snotlout accidentally cursed underwater. When he pulled out his head, mud dripped from his upper body.
Coughing, he blew his nose between two fingers and glanced at them. “Ugh,” he spoke in a disgusted voice.
Stormfly picked him up with her claws and dropped him back into his saddle on Hookfang’s neck.
Barf and Belch appeared beside the Monstrous Nightmare, and Tuffnut said, “Now, my good pupil. Don’t cry. It’s your fault your moral ambiguity has been shattered.”
“You can join our club,” Ruffnut joked. “We specialize in failure.”
“Oh!” Tuffnut gasped. “I’ve always wanted another member for our club! What do you say, Belch?”
Irritated, Snotlout growled and glared at him. His mind shifted back to Astrid, where he devised an excuse for his failure. “The full moon blinded me, Astrid. Why don’t we call the Light Dragon to take it away, too?”
Astrid was only half-listening, but that was because she heard something over the wind. “Shh!” she snapped, holding her hand out to Snotlout. “Do you hear that?”
“Oh, you mean those horrific laughs the twins have?” Snotlout questioned in a sarcastic voice. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Not that.” Astrid suddenly turned her head and peered into the deep, dark forest ahead. “That.”
Toothless soon appeared beside her, and Hiccup asked, “What do you hear, Astrid?”
“Listen,” was the only word that escaped Astrid’s lips.
The teens did, but they heard nothing.
“Don’t you hear it?” Astrid questioned.
Ruffnut suddenly gagged, and she glanced at her brother. “Ugh. Was that you?”
“Hey, watch it!” Tuffnut angrily spoke. “I’ll let you know that the last time I bathed was last week, and I consider that a record!”
“No.” Hiccup shook his head and carefully glided forward with Toothless. “It sounds like a voice.”
As soon as he made that observation, another gust of wind passed through the forest. From it came a female voice.
“Come, my children. Your island. Your people. They are counting on you. Follow me to the Chamber, and I shall share my magic with you.”
“She wants us to follow her,” Hiccup told his friends.
He started forward again, but Astrid stopped him. “Hiccup, wait!” She kicked Stormfly’s sides, and the dragon hurried to the young man. She stopped before him and Toothless, and Astrid asked worriedly, “What if this is a trap?”
“Oh, come on.” Snotlout, who finally heard the voice, groaned. “What harm can a voice that beautiful do to us?”
“We are living in perilous times,” Astrid explained. “We don’t know who we can and cannot trust.”
Hiccup considered her words and peered over his shoulder at Fishlegs, who rode on Meatlug. “Fishlegs, is there anything in your book about an old legend in this forest?” he asked.
“Hm.” Fishlegs flipped through his book and skimmed each page. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“See?” Astrid asked. “If the voice is not a legend, why should we trust it?”
“I see your point,” Hiccup spoke. “Very well, then. We won’t follow that voice.”
“Aw,” Snotlout groaned. “But what if that woman is the woman of my dreams? I mean, next to Astrid, of course.”
“Look,” Astrid elucidated in a stern voice. “With Hiccup in his condition, it’s probably best that we don’t drag ourselves into a situation that potentially has to do with the Light Dragon. We have one goal. Return to the Chamber of Mystery and pick up that crystal he saw.”
***
Twenty minutes later, Hiccup asked, “What is this place?” and halted Toothless.
After flying through a deep, dark forest, the friends finally found something. Well, it was more Hiccup, and Toothless found it. The others already knew what it was.
All dragons and Riders hovered in a vast clearing where the full moon shone down on what looked like an old ruin. Surrounding them were old, broken-down wooden huts and a trench. Over the years, the trench walls caved in, so now it was nothing more than a narrow opening in the ground. A human could fit through it, but not a dragon.
Hiccup and Toothless landed on a platform and studied their surroundings.
“We’re in a ruin of some sort, bud,” Hiccup told his dragon friend.
Toothless nodded in agreement.
Astrid landed beside them and nodded. “That’s right. Stoick and Gobber said this was the first village Berkians built when they moved their settlement from underground to the outside world. They did this because they wanted to prove to the dragons they weren’t scared of them.”
“Wow,” was all Hiccup said. He pulled his feet from Toothless’s saddle stirrups and hopped onto the platform. With his hands on his hips, he asked Astrid, “So this is where you, Gobber, Dad, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruff, and Tuff entered from when you came looking for Toothless and I?”
“Yes,” Astrid said with a nod.
Hiccup and Toothless broke off from the group of Riders and dragons and explored. Once again, Hiccup’s curiosity had hit a home run.
He and Toothless walked through the hut frames, checking if the villagers had left anything behind (such as a crystal). They also made their way to the trench and felt around in the mounds of dirt surrounding it.
“See anything, bud?” Hiccup asked his dragon.
Toothless shook his head no. Even his sniffer didn’t track down anything.
Hiccup refused to give up. “There has to be something. If this village dates back at least 400 years, there must be a crystal somewhere.”
Toothless wasn’t sure. He just followed his Rider in case someone or something ambushed them, and he had to jump in to protect him.
The friends followed the trench briefly, but then they heard it. The voice. Nice and clear.
Astrid heard the same voice on the Riders’ way to the ruins. That wasn’t the only thing.
A mysterious, light blue figure accompanied the voice. The mystical being stood near the end of the trench with her hands at her heart, seeming to stare at Hiccup and Toothless. While she didn’t have a clear face, Hiccup did not need one to tell that she was beautiful. “Come, my child,” she said with her hands still at her heart. “One must use one’s strength to lead the way.”
“One must use one’s strength to lead the way?” What did she mean by that? It only got more confusing from there.
“I have a gift for you, but you must prove yourself to me to receive it.”
Huh? Hiccup was so confused. He had to be dreaming. There was no way the beautiful, supernatural oracle existed.
“I am afraid,” she continued. “I feel there is a calamity just around the corner. My gift will help you on your quest to recover the Crystal Crown.”
Before Hiccup could open his mouth to ask her a question, the rocks under his feet shattered, and he fell into the trench.
Up above, Toothless roared with panic, but there was no way he could join his friend. The trench’s opening was too small. He clawed at the walls and swished his tail back and forth.
Dust, stones, and scraps of old buildings showered down on Hiccup, who sat and shook his head. As quick as a flash, he looked up at Toothless and yelled, “I’m okay, Toothless!”
While Toothless stopped clawing at the wall, there was still fear in his big, green eyes.
Down in the trench, Hiccup rose to his feet and brushed himself down. He checked his satchel to ensure he still had the crystals and sighed with relief when he saw he did.
Suddenly, the oracle appeared before him.
Her appearance startled Hiccup so much that he stumbled back and ended up on the ground again.
Since her body was primarily light energy, the oracle still did not have a clear face, but she could still somehow talk in her mesmerizing voice.
“Welcome, my boy, to the other side of the Chamber of Mystery. Now, I will take you to where you shall receive your gift. This is something you must do alone. Your friends can help, but they are not the chosen ones. You are the one. The one meant to save us all.” Then, just like that, she disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared at the end of the chamber, that time underground with Hiccup.
Thousands of questions rushed through his brain, but he was curious about the “gift” the oracle mentioned. He inhaled a breath of air and approached the mysterious, luminary figure at the end of the trench. If what she said was true, then perhaps there was some hope for Hiccup and Astrid’s battle against the Light Dragon after all.
***
The incredible, full moon covered the still ocean surrounding Berk with a luminous, white light.
Deep in the sea slept Naga. A faded, light yellow bubble surrounded him as he floated over the rocky seabed.
Something, a feeling of some sort, pulled him out of his dreamlike state, and he slowly opened his heterochromatic eyes.
A telepathic message whipped through his brain, and the bubble popped around him.
“Welcome, my boy, for you are close to your goal but still quite far away,” he telepathically answered to whoever communicated with him. The dragon unwrapped his enormous prism wings around his body and flapped them. Pebbles and sand polluted the watery atmosphere as he took off for the shore. His dim body splashed out of the ocean, and he made his way to the Isle of Berk. Before reaching it, he changed his course of action and shot straight up.
With another flap of his enormous wings, he approached the full moon.
“Follow me,” he telepathically said as the moon glowed brighter and brighter the closer he came, and then—!
ns 15.158.61.48da2
