“Sweet! This place is epic!” Snotlout shouted only thirty minutes later. “I think I’m going to cry.” He rubbed his eye and grabbed Fishleg’s tunic, blowing his nose in it.
“Ugh!” Fishlegs yelled. “What’d you do that for?” He pulled his tunic free and glared at Snotlout.
He merely shrugged and chuckled nervously, but he did have a point. Instead of the Chamber of Emptiness, they now stood in the Chamber of Mystery. It looked like the ruins of an old castle.
The architecture was incredible. Rows of stone pillars held up the ceiling, and a mighty Viking statue sat on a platform before the group. A staircase was to the left of it and surrounded what looked like a fountain. The sculpture on the fountain depicted a dragon, and the fountain’s water shone an unusual blue color. Only a few lit torches were in the room, and most of the light came from the fountain’s water.
Amazed, Hiccup’s jaw dropped, and he slowly approached Stoick and Gobber. “Dad,” he asked, “what is this place?”
Stoick laughed heartily and put his arm around his son’s shoulders. “I’m glad you asked. Say hello, son, to our ancestors. This chamber is where Berk first started.”
“Really?”
“Yes, son. It's our past, present, and future.”
“Wow.” Along with Gobber and Stoick, Hiccup examined the amazing room up and down. “I never knew a place like this existed so close to our village.”
Just being in a place that vast and mighty, the dragons roared with delight.
Meatlug, Hookfang, Stormfly, and Barf and Belch zoomed by their riders' heads and glided around the chamber.
Down below, Toothless sat like a dog and watched them upsettingly.
Hiccup noticed his distress and asked, “Do you want me to take you up there, bud?”
At the sound of “flight”, Toothless shuffled excitedly and smiled at him. He turned his back to Hiccup and flapped his back spikes at him.
The young man laughed, “All right, boy,” and climbed on his neck into his saddle. Hiccup stuck his feet in the stirrups and urged his dragon upward. “Then we’re off!”
Toothless stood tall and opened his massive wings. He flapped them and shot into the sky, joining the other dragons.
“And twas, he leaves us behind. What a sad day. Right, Snotlout?” Tuffnut asked.
Snotlout, though, was no longer with the group.
They found him before the mighty Viking statue, trying to mimic its gesture. “Beware, Berk!” A huge smile stretched across his face. “Because I am the only Viking this island needs! Thor Snotlout doesn’t mess around!”
“Thor Snotlout?” Ruffnut asked him. “That is the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s nowhere near as good as Thorstonton!” admitted Tuffnut, holding his finger up to the ceiling. “From this point on, this chamber shall be known as Thorstonton II!” As soon as he announced that, he looked up at Hiccup and Toothless and called to Hiccup. “Hey! Table boy! Come down and shine my shoes!”
Hiccup heard him and pulled Toothless to a halt. “Table boy? Oooh! We talked about this, Tuff!” He clenched his fist and punched Toothless’s saddle. “I am no one’s table boy! Like Dragon’s Edge, we will split this chamber among us!” As he said that, images of that terrible time when the twins claimed Dragon’s Edge as their one and only Thorstonton flashed through his brain. Hiccup shivered at the thought of it.
Toothless merely rolled his eyes.
As the two friends exchanged their thoughts, Fishlegs approached one of the pillars and felt it. “Fascinating,” he said to himself. Reaching into the pouch on his belly belt, he pulled out a parchment book and a charcoal pencil.
Fishlegs wrote down every detail he saw on the pillar and thought aloud. “Considering bits and pieces of rock are falling off the pillar, and the images are washed out, I have to say this chamber is at least four hundred years old. Oh, wow. Then it makes sense that this would be Berk’s birthplace.”
Astrid stood between the pillars and the Viking statue and crossed her arms. “This is child’s play,” she mumbled to herself. “Disgusting. Even the dragons are involved.”
“What’s wrong, Astrid?” a voice asked behind her. Hiccup set Toothless down beside the young woman and climbed off. “Do you always have to be so serious?”
Astrid huffed and turned away from him. She blushed when she did and pulled her hair out of her face.
“Astrid?” Hiccup questioned. “You okay?”
“Yeah!” she snapped. “I’m fine! Why do you ask?”
Her reaction caused Hiccup to cringe. Well, someone was in a grumpy mood. He looked to the right as he tried to think of something else to say.
When something came to mind, he smiled. “Astrid, please. You can talk to me.”
“You don’t need to say anything!” she retorted. “Now, leave me alone.” She almost whispered when she added, “Please.”
Hiccup held his hand out to her. “Astrid.”
“Hiccup!”
Hiccup jumped, as did Toothless, and angrily said, “Very well, then.” He scoffed and turned away. “Some hero you are.”
Astrid’s eyes widened, but she refused to speak. There was too much going on in her head right now.
Hiccup clenched his fists and marched toward the fountain.
Toothless followed and listened as he complained about Astrid. “Girls. I only asked if she was okay, and she snapped at me. I swear, what is wrong with everybody today?”
He passed Tuffnut, who asked, “Hey! Table boy! What happened to shining my shoes?”
Momentarily, Hiccup stopped and gave him a mix of a glare and a pouty look, but he went on without even answering his friend’s question.
Before Tuff could call him out again, Toothless growled at him.
“Yikes!” Tuffnut yelled, leaping into Ruffnut’s arms. “Table boy! Your dragon just growled at me!”
Ruffnut sniffed her brother and gagged. “Ugh. You smell like rotten cod with a sprinkle of yak dung on you.”
“Which is the true scent of Thorstonton II!” Tuff announced.
Again, Toothless rolled his eyes. He pulled his attention away from the twins when he heard Hiccup.
“Toothless. Over here.”
“Hm?” the dragon asked. He noticed his friend knelt before the mysterious fountain with his hand in the glowing, blue water. Curious, Toothless crawled down the stairs and joined him.
Hiccup pulled something out of the water and said, “Look what I found, bud. We can add it to our collection.”
Toothless’s eyes widened, and he sniffed Hiccup’s discovery.
He held another light, yellow crystal, except it wasn’t part of a cluster. It was all alone. “This crystal looks exactly like the ones we found earlier, boy,” the young man told his dragon. “There has to be some purpose behind them. But what?”
“What did you find, son?” he heard Stoick ask behind him.
Hiccup leaped ten feet into the air. “Dad!” he sarcastically spoke, hiding the crystal behind his back. “What are you doing here? Boy, isn’t this a coincidence?”
“Whatcha you got behind your back?” Stoick questioned, crossing his arms.
“Behind my back? Oh, gee, Dad. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” As quick as a flash, Hiccup stuffed the crystal in Toothless’s saddlebag, where it joined the others. When he pulled the top back over, he stood and spun in a circle, “See? There’s nothing on me.”
Stoick sighed. “Oh, Hiccup. What am I going to do with you? A chief does not lie to his subjects.”
Ow. That stung a bit. Hiccup’s face dropped, and he lowered his head.
To comfort him, Toothless put the top of his head under his hand.
The dragon and boy stepped aside as the other Riders, Gobber, and the dragons approached Stoick the Vast.
Hiccup plopped down on the top of the staircase and pulled his knees up close.
Stoick glanced at him, but his son looked away.
Hiccup set his chin on his knees, and Toothless growled softly, nudging his head. His eyes rolled to his saddlebag and back to his friend. “No.” Hiccup told him. “Not yet, Toothless. I first want to ensure these crystals aren’t leading us to a trap. If someone is going to fall into one, it’s going to be me. I can’t risk getting the others, especially my dad, hurt.”
Toothless understood, but he still thought it was a good idea for his friend to go ahead and tell everybody about his discoveries. Hiccup, though, still refused.
“All right, Riders!” Stoick announced, placing his hands on his hips. “Now it’s time for the moment you’ve all been waiting for!”
“Yes!” Snotlout yelled, clenching his fists. “I’ve been waiting for this!” Glancing at Astrid, he puckered his lips. “Don’t worry, babe, I'll protect you against whatever evil force comes for us!”
Astrid chuckled sarcastically. “I’d sure like to see you try, Snotlout, but you are a bit of a coward.”
“Ah ha, ha, ha!” he laughed. “Did you hear that, guys? Astrid thinks I’m a coward! Can you please tell her what rubbish that is?” However, nobody spoke, not even the twins.
Hiccup sighed and did a facepalm, and Toothless jiggled in his spot and yawned.
“Oh, come on!” Snotlout yelled. “What kind of friends are you?”
“I appreciate the enthusiasm, Snotlout,” Stoick told the young man, “but whatever you say and do will not get Astrid any closer to you. Besides, this is one battle you can’t win alone.”
“So, what is the Light Dragon?” Astrid questioned. “Come on, Chief! Don’t leave us hanging! The sooner we know, the sooner we can figure out what’s wrong with Hiccup.”
“Wrong with me?” asked Hiccup, removing his hand from his face. “Nothing is wrong with me! I feel fine!”
The Riders, though, ignored him and called their dragons.
Meatlug went to Fishlegs, Barf and Belch approached Ruff and Tuff, Hookfang approached Snotlout, and Stormfly went to Astrid. They plopped down and let their riders cuddle against them. Something told them they had to prepare for a long story.
After getting comfortable, Astrid glanced at Hiccup, but he refused to join them. Instead, he stood and headed toward one of the chamber’s pillars. The young man glared and crossed his arms. Toothless tried to join him, but Hiccup heard him coming and said, “No, boy.” He shook his head. “I just want to be left alone right now. You go over and join your friends. Please.”
Toothless whined, but he understood Hiccup’s request. Head lowered, he pranced down the stairs and approached Astrid and Stormfly. He walked in a circle and scorched the rock under him to warm it up. He usually did that when he wanted to get comfortable.
The dragon patted the flames out and lay down. He set his head on the ground and waited for Stoick’s story.
Astrid pressed her back against Stormfly and scratched the top of his head.
***
Gobber started the tale. He pointed his prosthetic hammer arm up to the chamber’s ceiling and explained, “As Stoick said earlier, this chamber is where Berk first started. Four hundred years ago, when Vikings first set foot on this island, they retreated underground so it wouldn’t be easy for the dragons to find them. As the years progressed and the population grew, they moved their camps to the outside world where they built Berk’s first buildings.”
“This all happened at the fall of the Roman Empire,” Fishlegs interrupted, and he excitedly pulled out his parchment book. “And if my calculations are correct, we're in the ninth century. Oh, time goes by so fast.”
“Um, and why do we care?” Tuffnut asked him from Belch’s neck. “Last I checked, we’re talking about dragons. Not the Roman Empire.”
“Hee, hee,” Ruffnut cackled. “Good one, bro.”
“Anyway,” Gobber continued, “soon after Berk’s first buildings went up, a group of Vikings heard about a mysterious island that seemed to appear from out of nowhere on the outskirts of the archipelago.”
Stoick jumped in there. He didn’t want Gobber to have all the fun. “They called that island Telemik.”
***
Even though it looked like he wasn’t listening, Hiccup was. “Telemik,” he mumbled. He started to turn his body toward the Viking and dragon gathering. Hiccup thought about joining them but saw Astrid and backed out. Again glaring, he kept his arms crossed and continued to watch the pillar before him. That was when he saw it—another shimmer. Halfway up the pillar, something sparkled in the rocks, making Hiccup curious. Was it another crystal? Luckily, the first part of the pillar looked like a stair, so he did not have much trouble hopping onto the first platform.
***
Stoick continued the story. “Our ancestors said Telemik was beautiful.”
Gobber jumped in. “They said the grass was as green as a seasick man’s face, and waterfalls, lakes, and lagoons were everywhere.”
“The only thing missing,” Stoick explained, “were the dragons. Or were they?”
Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruff, and Tuff gasped, but Astrid sighed.
“Our ancestors traveled to the island’s heart, where they found a lake like no other,” Stoick continued.
“Covered in plants and rocks.” Gobber brought his hands to his heart and leaned against Stoick’s shoulder. “It rested in a deep valley where the sun and moon met their highest peaks. Oh, if only I were alive then. Then I could have seen that beautiful island for myself. You would join me. Right. Stoick?”
“Uh,” Stoick stammered, stumbling when Gobber pushed his shoulder with his good hand.
“Please, Chief! That island is all I need in life!”
The Riders stared at them, as well as the dragons, but Astrid quickly broke the awkward silence. “Um, excuse me, but I thought we were talking about the Light Dragon.”
“Right.” Stoick pushed Gobber off him and cracked his shoulders. “Where were we?”
***
Hiccup jumped off the pillar’s platform he was on and reached for the next one. The jump, though, was higher. He grasped the platform’s edge but had to climb up the rest. One can imagine that was difficult for him.
Hiccup managed to stick his right foot through a crack in the pillar, but his metal leg slipped, and it wasn’t long until he dangled like a puppet on a string. Seriously? All he had to do was climb onto the next platform, and he would reach the shimmer.
***
Stoick put his hands behind him and started to pace. His face turned stern. “But what the Vikings found in that lake was something beyond compare. It was a different kind of dragon—a light dragon. They called him… Naga.”
As soon as he said that, Fishleg’s eyes widened. “What a minute. Naga?” He pushed his back off Meatlug’s nose and slowly approached Stoick and Gobber. “You don’t mean The Naga, right?”
“Wait, Fishlegs.” Astrid held her hand out to her friend. “You know about it?”
“Yes.” Fishlegs quickly flipped through the pages of his book again. “I read about him in some of the ancient scriptures. Ah ha, here we go.” He stopped on one page and turned to face his friends. “‘Naga,’” Fishlegs read, “‘the greatest threat known to Viking kind; he has the power to plunge all of life, even us… into eternal darkness!’”
“Eternal darkness?” Astrid leaped to her feet and took a step back.
“Whoa!” Tuffnut yelled. “A dragon that can take away the Sun? That’s sick!”
“That is one dragon I’d love to see Hiccup tame!” Ruffnut joked.
***
“Huh?” Hiccup asked from where he hung, but as soon as he asked, the rocks broke under his hand. “Aw, come on,” he groaned.
Hiccup slid down the pillar’s wall and bounced off the first platform. He landed in a heap at the base. No one paid him any attention. Their attention was on Fishlegs, Stoick, and Gobber—not the one-legged boy who had just fallen off a pillar. Even worse, the fall bent his second spare leg. Ugh. Could Hiccup’s day get any worse? This was totally Barf and Belch all over again!
Frustrated, he untied the leg and pulled it off. Hiccup clenched it so tightly that his fist turned white.
***
“Legend has it,” Stoick explained, “if the Light Dragon ever woke again, two Vikings would travel the archipelago and find the missing crystals of his body. Naga lost them when he fought against those Vikings who invaded his island four hundred years ago. When the Two Heroes have all the crystals and construct the Crystal Crown, they shall travel to Telemik and return it to the Light Dragon. Only the Crystal Crown will stop him from dooming all of Berk and mankind to a world we never expected.”
“The Two Heroes,” Astrid mimicked. “Hiccup and I. That’s why we had the same dream last night.”
***
“Crystals?” Hiccup asked himself from where he rested. His eyes moved up to the shimmering light in the pillar again. He learned many legends and stories about dragons he never knew at Dragon’s Edge, but this one beat them all. It was fascinating. He had quite a lot of work to do when he returned to his hut later.
***
Finally, the story was coming to a close, but Stoick wanted to end it with a bang. His eyes landed on his son leaning against the pillar, and he marched toward him.
The others followed. Ruff and Tuff, still riding on Barf and Belch, talked about how awesome the Light Dragon was while Fishlegs flipped through his book some more to see if he had any more information about Naga, and Snotlout nervously chewed his nails.
“Beware though, young’uns. This is a very dangerous dragon we’re dealing with," Stoick explained, stopping before his son. "He is brilliant. Not only does the Light Dragon torture his victims physically.” Behind his back, he hooked his fingers together and bent down to Hiccup. “He also tortures them psychologically.”
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