Naga waited underwater for his target. By the look on his face, it was easy to tell he was angry and frustrated. All he wanted was to get Hiccup alone, and every time he tried, his friends had to “rescue” him.
Due to the lack of sunlight, the ocean was dark. Only the outline of Naga’s body and his eyes lit it.
Mouth slightly open, he growled to himself. His tail waved back and forth with the movement of the current. Frightened fish took off and left the angry dragon alone. No longer was he a hundred feet tall; he was back to his average height. Much like the one surrounding him earlier, a bubble swallowed him, and he closed his eyes.
Naga crouched again to make himself seem smaller and wrapped his crystalline wings around him. One of these days, he would get Hiccup alone, and once he did, he finally would have some good news to return to the Dragon Hunters.
***
Snotlout, Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs, and their dragons stared at the soaking-wet Toothless before them, and their jaws dropped to the ground.
Coughing came from under the dragon’s wing, and Astrid lugged herself out. She crawled on hands and knees toward her friends and coughed seawater out of her lungs.
They continued to stare. Then Snotlout yelled, “Babe!” He hurried to Astrid, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to her feet. “What did that ‘beast’ do to you?” He was not referring to Naga. He was referring to Hiccup.
Astrid had a headache. She reached for her temple and shook like a dog.
From where they stood, the twins chuckled, and Ruffnut admitted, “Tuff and I made a wish when we saw you flying through the sky.”
“Sure did,” Tuffnut laughed. “There I was, staring out at the ocean, and what should come flying toward us? Nothing but a shooting star that resembles a Night Fury. So I put my arm around Ruff, and in my mature voice, I told her, ‘Make a wish, hon.’”
Still shaken up, Astrid wrapped her arms around her body and frightfully admitted, “The Light Dragon overpowered us.”
“Woof, he sure did,” Fishlegs said as he examined her up and down.
“Hiccup and I...” Astrid sobbed. “We didn’t expect Naga to—he grew! Hiccup! Where’s Hiccup?”
Toothless searched his wings but immediately freaked out when he saw Hiccup wasn’t in them. What the—? He thought he caught him! The dragon twirled in a circle and searched every inch of his body.
However, he inhaled a breath of relief when he heard a familiar voice shouting at him and his friends from the cliff the Light Dragon threw them over. “Help!”
At the sound of Hiccup's voice, Toothless, Ruff, Tuff, Astrid, Fishlegs, and the remaining dragons hurried to the cliff and peered over it. There was Hiccup, holding on for dear life halfway down the cliff. He was missing his prosthetic leg, and the rocks slowly cracked under his hand.
“Hiccup!” Astrid yelled, holding her hand out to him.
Ruffnut chuckled and placed her hands on her knees. “Are you having fun down there?”
“You know there’s a path you don’t have to climb,” Tuffnut spoke right after her.
Hiccup peered up at them and laughed nervously. “Now, thinking about it, I’d much rather prefer to climb.” He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth when his hand started to slip. “I thought our legs have a couple of other jobs besides walking!” As he said that, the rocks broke, and he fell back toward the ocean.
Astrid prepared an order for Stormfly to fly down after him, but before she called it, Naga shot out of the ocean and caught Hiccup on his head.
Astrid yelled, “No!” and ran after him down below. “Hiccup! You monster! Bring him back!”
Screaming, Hiccup grabbed one of Naga's crystals as he soared higher and higher into the atmosphere. Before long, Berk’s buildings were nothing but tiny dots below.
Naga soared in an arc before the dimmed Sun, and Hiccup dangled under him. Once right side up again, the dragon dove down to the ocean and skimmed the water with the tips of his wings.
Hiccup gripped his crystal so tightly that his fist turned white. All he could do was stare. Why wasn’t Naga trying to kill him? After all, that’s what he did best.
Continuing to skim the water, Naga twisted his neck and smiled at the bewildered Hiccup. He smiled at him! What the—? Who was Naga? Was he a friend, or was he a foe? Hiccup did not know how to explain him anymore.
The Light Dragon twirled in a circle and headed back to Berk.
Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the dragons stood side-by-side and watched the phenomenon.
Naga’s body dimmed as he approached them so he wouldn’t fry the friends’ eyes. Soaring over the cliff, a gust of wind from his wings blew them back. He dropped Hiccup to his claws and tossed him to the ground. Afterward, the dragon headed back to the cliff and hovered over it.
Stormfly, Toothless, and Astrid leaped up and hurried to Hiccup.
Astrid grabbed his right arm and helped him stand. “Are you okay?”
“I think so,” Hiccup admitted. That insane, confusing ride on the Light Dragon left him slightly dizzy. All this was happening so quickly.
Astrid pressed her palm against his chest to keep him steady because he wobbled on one leg. Together, he and she glared at the Light Dragon, unaware they could trust him.
On the other hand, Toothless and Stormfly growled to intimidate him.
Ruffnut, after rising to her feet, cracked a smile and hurried to the edge of the cliff. She held her arms to her sides before Naga and yelled, “Whoa! I can get a tan by merely standing in front of this dragon! That’s it! Keep the light coming, baby!”
However, as soon as she said that, the Light Dragon dove back into the ocean and sprayed her with a wave of water.
Tuffnut laughed and slapped his hands to his thighs as he tried to control it.
Snotlout, also standing up, brushed himself down and said, “Well, I’m out. I’ve got some preparations to make.”
“Preparations?” Hiccup asked from where he and Astrid stood. “What do you mean ‘preparations’, Snotlout?”
“Oh, you know. Just Snotlout things.” That didn’t help, but Snotlout went no further. He snuck away from the group and disappeared into the heart of the village, leaving a bewildered Hiccup and Astrid behind.
Astrid, Toothless, Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs, Barf and Belch, and Meatlug helped Hiccup back to his hut so he could replace his leg. He was running low on them. Now was a good time to call up Gobber, the village blacksmith.
By the time the friends made it to the hut, though, Hiccup was so dizzy he had to sit down. Naga tried to get into his head again, giving him a searing headache. What the heck? He had given him a unique yet confusing ride only twenty minutes ago, and now he was torturing him again?
From where he sat, Hiccup clutched his head, lowered it, and tried to shake the pain away.
With crossed arms, Astrid worriedly paced back and forth before him while Fishlegs flipped through his book, trying to find a diagnosis.
“Did you find something?” Astrid wanted to know. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing’s wrong with me, guys,” Hiccup weakly spoke from his bed. “I feel fine.” However, his body flickered light yellow again when he tried pushing himself to his feet. Falling back onto his bedspread, the little light he had left in his body vanished, and his skin turned snow-white.
Astrid gasped and asked Fishlegs, “Did you see that? His body flickered like that during the battle with Naga, too!”
“I did,” Fishlegs said with a nod, “but I can’t find anything about what it may be.”
“Perhaps our dear Hiccup is tired of being the leader of the Dragon Riders,” Tuffnut wildly guessed. “He can always put the chicken on the throne.”
“Or Barf and Belch,” Ruffnut joked. “They can play Bat the Nut with each Rider every day.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Hiccup said when he saw the worry on his friends’ faces. “Right now, we need to focus on pulling out the Dragon Eye and figuring out where we need to go next for another crystal.”
Fishlegs sarcastically chuckled and shut his book. He nudged Astrid, saying, “We could always take him to the barber-surgeon.”
“What?” Hiccup leaped almost ten feet in the air when he said that. “No way! I don’t want my hair cut!”
“It’s just a joke!” Fishlegs quickly spoke when he saw how frightened he was.
“We’re not going to take you to the barber-surgeon, Hiccup,” said Astrid, “but I think we need to pay another visit to Gothi.”
“Oh! Perfect!” Tuffnut laughed. “We can call her hut the Hiccup Care Center!”
Ruffnut moved right along with his joke. “Or the Chief’s Center, but FYI, you’ll probably find Hiccup Horrendous Haddock in it. We can hang a big sign over the door saying Welcome, Hiccup, my usual client.”
“You guys are unbelievable,” said Hiccup. “When will you understand that I am perfectly fine? There is no need for a Hiccup Care Center.”
“Aw, man,” Tuffnut groaned. “I thought it was a pretty good idea.”
“Well then, you can put together my funeral.” Hiccup brought his hand to his injured arm and clutched it.
“Now come on, Hiccup,” Astrid said with a small smile. “You’re not dying. There’s not going to be a funeral.”
“Aw,” Tuffnut groaned.
Astrid glared at him. “Is there something you’re trying to say? We’re supposed to be encouraging him!”
Toothless approached his frightened friend and set his head down on his lap.
Hiccup scratched his head for comfort as Astrid met his eyes and said, “Fine. If it’s not Gothi, then we’ll get your father.”
“Huh?” That was even worse than Gothi! When Daddy discovered what the Light Dragon did to Hiccup, he'd call a Viking raiding party to eliminate Naga.
“Fine!” Hiccup yelled as he hugged Toothless’s head. “Gothi it is! Do not get Dad involved with this! Please!”
“Why not?” Astrid crossed her arms. “What are you hiding that you don’t want your dad to know? I thought you could tell him anything.”
“Affliction,” was the only answer Hiccup gave her.
“Affliction?” A question mark appeared above Astrid’s head. “What do you mean?”
“My spirit is free. I shall sell it to the Light Dragon.”
“What?” The fear in Astrid’s face was insane. “What are you talking about?”
“I think he’s gone a little cuckoo,” Tuffnut observed. “Now we know somebody whom the chicken can make friends with.”
“My spirit is free,” Hiccup repeated. Gently pushing Toothless off him, he rose to his feet and approached his hut’s front door.
Naga lured him toward it. He swam around in the young man’s brain and gestured for him to follow him.
Hiccup did. He headed outside and approached the cliff he had fallen off earlier. Waves crashed on its wall below as the familiar heterochromatic eyes appeared in the water.
Behind, Hiccup’s friends followed close on his tail, and Astrid asked, “What is going on with him?”
“He’s like a zombie,” Ruffnut observed as a smile crept across her face. “I like it.”
Hiccup held his good arm out from where he stood and faced the ocean. Slowly lifting it, he called to the Light Dragon. “Take me with you. My spirit is free.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” Astrid frightfully asked. “Stop! Stop!
Growling, Toothless crouched down and opened his mouth as he prepared another Plasma Blast. First, it was a nervous breakdown, and now Hiccup was under a spell of some sort. He certainly had his hands full.
In the ocean under the cliff, the Erlkönig’s eyes glowed, and he told the young man in a seducing voice, “If you come with me, Hiccup, I will share my island and riches with you. You will never have to worry about anything ever again. After all, you said you didn’t want to become chief, right?”
“Hiccup, stop! Please!” Astrid begged. She hurried to her friend when she saw he lifted one of his feet over the cliff and grabbed his arms. “The Light Dragon is seducing you!”
“Ow!” Hiccup yelled as she pulled him back. Closing his eyes, he fought to free himself from her powerful grasp. “My arm! My arm! You’re hurting it!” Astrid did have a tighter grip on his left arm than his right since it was his dominant arm and hand.
Affliction. What Hiccup said was true. The arm injury was afflicting him, and he thought the Light Dragon had the power to heal it since he had healed his injury during the battle.
“Let go!” the young man cried out. “He can heal me!”
“Heal you?” Astrid questioned. “What do you mean ‘heal you’?”
Tuffnut placed his hands on his hips and sarcastically spoke, “I’ll start making a list of who to invite to his funeral.”
“Tuffnut, that’s not funny!” Astrid sternly shouted. “Something is seriously wrong with him! We need Gothi! Why don’t you and Ruff be useful for once and go get her?”
“Fine,” the twins spoke simultaneously. “If you say so.” They climbed aboard Barf and Belch, mumbling to themselves, and took off.
While Astrid tried to pull Hiccup away from the cliff, Naga used mental and psychic energy to pull him back toward it.
A tug-of-war started between the human and the dragon.
“The Light Dragon is pulling him toward the ocean!” Astrid yelled with her eyes closed. “I need some help!”
“Roger that, Astrid!” Fishlegs saluted and hurried to her. He wrapped his arms around Astrid’s body and started to pull.
Meatlug, Toothless, and Stormfly also helped. Toothless grabbed the back of Fishlegs’s tunic, Stormfly chomped down on his tail, and Meatlug grabbed her tail.
All five friends tugged on Hiccup and pulled him back in the direction of Berk. However, the Light Dragon was not going to give up so easily.
Underwater, his eyes flickered, and an excruciating pain exploded in Hiccup’s head as the psychological torture started again.
SCREEEEEEECH!
“Ahh!” screamed the young man. “Not again! It’s happening!”
“Hiccup, fight it!” Astrid shouted when she noticed his distress. “Don’t let Naga take you! Pull harder, guys!”
Nodding, Fishlegs and the dragons narrowed their eyes and obeyed her.
As they did so, Hiccup clutched his head and shouted, “Affliction! Affliction! Affliction! He can heal me!”
"Let him go, Naga!" Astrid shouted at the Light Dragon.
The tug-of-war went on for a while, but Naga finally gave up when he feared he was about to snap Hiccup's body in half.
Astrid, Fishlegs, Toothless, Stormfly, and Meatlug flew backward when he let the young man go. Astrid lost Hiccup, and he rolled a good couple of yards away from her while she, Fishlegs, and the dragons fell on top of each other.
Back in the ocean, the Erlkönig’s eyes glowed red, and steam puffed out of his nostrils. It looked like a volcano was about to erupt from his head.
He screeched into the ocean, scaring fish and a few other Tidal Class dragons who lived close to where he was. The sound waves traveled throughout the sea and reached the surface. They were loud enough for the entire village of Berk to hear them.
Naga had had enough of this! He was going to get Hiccup, and once he did, everything would change. From then on, Hiccup was nothing more than a puppet dangling from the Erlkönig’s strings, whose fate would be decided by the Light Dragon himself.
***
“Fishlegs. You’re squashing me.” Astrid puffed out her cheeks and tried to lug herself out from Fishlegs.
“Oh! Sorry, Astrid!” Fishlegs quickly got off her, but as soon as he did, the dragons moved under them and caused both teens to roll down their wings. They landed with a plop on the ground below.
Astrid wasted no time. She jumped to her feet and hurried to Hiccup, who struggled to sit. Toothless went after her while Fishlegs, Stormfly, and Meatlug shook out their heads.
“Hiccup!” Astrid knelt beside her friend and grabbed his forearms. “Can you hear me? Please tell me you can hear me!”
“Affliction,” Hiccup mumbled under his breath. He reached his right hand back out to the ocean, almost poking Astrid’s eye in the process, and called for the Light Dragon. He was not very alert. It sounded like the only word he knew now was “affliction”.
Astrid set her friend down on the ground and rose to her feet. As Fishlegs, Meatlug, and Stormfly approached him, she marched to the cliff edge. Pulling her axe off her back, she smacked the ground with it and shouted at the Light Dragon, “Monster! Don’t you dare let him die! Give him back his light!”
Naga did not show himself. He didn’t need Astrid alone—he needed Hiccup.
Just as Astrid was getting ready to chuck her axe off the cliff, hoping she could wound Naga, she heard a voice behind her. “Son!”
Stoick the Vast. Barf and Belch touched down behind Astrid, and he slid off Barf’s neck, followed closely by Gothi.
The twins actually did something right for once. They exchanged glances at one another, not saying a word, and then focused their attention on Stoick and Gothi.
“Chief!” Astrid tightly gripped the handle of her axe and sprinted to the crowd surrounding the chief’s son.
Stoick held Hiccup and said just one thing: “The Light Dragon is going to pay.”
“Light Dragon?” Astrid wanted to know. “What do you mean?” She did not realize how much her voice shook.
Fishlegs pointed to Hiccup’s left arm and explained, “His arm. He’s got a Light Dragon-infused injury.”
That was when Astrid noticed Hiccup’s sleeve was up, and his gnarly wound showed itself to everybody, like a bad day of show-and-tell.
Fishlegs, who had pulled off the binding, pointed at the light-yellow infection. “Any injury caused by the Light Dragon is fatal.”
“Fatal?” The axe fell from Astrid’s hand and landed only an inch away from her foot. “What do you mean ‘fatal’?”
At that point in the conversation, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Barf, and Belch joined the gathering.
Tuffnut lightly punched Ruffnut’s arm and said, “It means I can start putting together the list of who to invite to his funeral.”
“He can’t be dying!” Usually, Astrid could hold herself together, but the fear was too great. She burst into tears and begged Gothi, “Gothi, please! You have to do something!”
“The Light Dragon is going to pay,” Stoick repeated. He tightly clenched his fists and moved away from his son as he looked for something to throw.
In the meantime, Gothi gripped her staff with both hands and sighed. She knew she was the best Healer in Berk, but this was one diagnosis she wasn’t sure she could heal.
“Please, Gothi,” Astrid begged. “Please try.”
Toothless attempted to convey the same message to the Elder. His pupils widened to the point that he gave her the puppy face.
Fishlegs flipped through his book and begged that there was still at least some hope for Stoick’s son.
It took some intuitive thinking, but Gothi finally decided that she would try to find a way to save him. She knew she could figure something out. After all, she was Gothi, and Hiccup was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.
28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ80BKd5dsSP
End of Novella #1!
Final Word Count: 34,070
ns 18.68.41.179da2
