Meanwhile, Toothless and Agatha were entering the Dragon Island.
As expected, when they arrived at the place, the loading area was empty. There were some crude wooden boxes left by messenger dragons. The half flooded open cave looked to be hastily abandoned. The two dragons landed at the centre, where it was much clearer to walk.
Alexander Haddock blew off the lantern. He closed the top, before jumping down to the ground. "Thuggory, man the ballista."
"Okay." The burly boy jumped off from Toothless. He crawled up onto the Deadly Nadder, before sitting on the saddle.
The draconic Viking looked around the place. Ignoring their way in, there were two exits from the place.
The one on the left went around the corner, and the right one was blocked by something – it was redacted by the scrambler goggles, presumably a wall of flesh. That left them with only one way to go.
Alex carefully moved to the left. He leaned to check the corner, revealing a long open hallway that led to another place. Gesturing them to follow, the group carefully entered the place. Moving through dimly lit hall, they felt tension in the air.
While passing one of the cave rooms, they heard someone eating something. Toothless peeked through the observer hole. Her scrambler goggle redacted everything, but she caught glimpse of aberrant dragons there.
The group carefully passed the hostile dragons. At some point, a dead body of a pair of Hideous Zippleback heads fell out from one of the cave rooms, before being dragged back into the room.
Toothless felt sick. It was the same medical dragon that treated her long ago. The aberrant dragons were killing and eating everyone at the infirmary. She did not know why they were doing it.
Eventually, they made it out into the main chamber. The place was filled with some sort of redacted black mess. It was making beating sound in rhythm, almost like heartbeat.
Regardless, everyone felt relief after getting out from that place. The scrambler goggles stopped them from seeing whatever was happening at the infirmary.
"Skies above..." Toothless finally breathed out. "Whatever those dragons are doing, I don't want to know."
Agatha trembled. "Gods... I saw them eating a caretaker." She whispered. "I don't see much redacted. I think my goggles are broken."
The black dragoness quickly checked her partner. The scrambler goggles looked fine. "Your goggles are fine." Toothless decided. "We'll check your mind after this is done."
While the dragons were standing next to each other, Alex was checking the map with Thuggory and Camicazi. "… the main chamber is blocked, so we can't get to higher ground." The draconic Viking explained. "We can either get to the lower ground, or get out and try to find another way in."
"Would it make sense for prisoners to be kept in lower ground?" The petite girl suggested. "Dungeons are usually reserved for prisoners."
"Yes. We should check lower ground." Thuggory nodded in agreement. "We can return if we find nothing."
"Lower ground it is."
Heading through the lower ground, the group reached the old base.
Toothless and Agatha were hesitant to land. The place was incredibly dark. The Deadly Nadder took a deep breath, before cast a spell.
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, every candle within the old base were lit. It revealed the place where they planned Lava-Lout Island invasion years ago. Everything was still intact, including Lava-Lout Island miniature, captured ballista, cannon replica, and the Wall of Remembrance.
The place was almost sacred to them.
Eventually, the two dragons landed on the ground. Agatha looked around. "Let's rest here for a second." She decided. "I need to adjust something."
The black-scaled dragoness exhaled her breath. "Go on. We should be safe here."
"Whoa…" Camicazi breathed out. She carefully jumped out from the saddle. "What is this place?"
Toothless willed herself to transform. Her body shimmered as she shrunk into her humanoid form. The repeating ballista on her back collapsed on its own. When the light ended, the black dragoness had turned human. The repeating ballista was collapsed on her back.
The large girl was smiling. "This is the old base where Charcoal's army used to plan." She approached the island miniature. There were small candles on them. "Nowadays, it's used more as a museum for dragons to learn about human contraption."
The small girl recognised the miniature. "This is Lava-Lout Island." She realised.
"Yes. Two years ago, Charcoal was given a mission: destroy Lava-Lout Island. He was given a hundred dragons to fight against over twenty thousand humans." Toothless told the tale. "How did you think it would end?"
"I don't know." Camicazi admitted. "But it sounds difficult."
"It was considered impossible. You need an army fifty times bigger to fight them. Even then, winning that battle is questionable at best." The large girl explained. She seemed reminiscing. "But through Charcoal's leadership, we managed to defeat the army, and destroy the Lava-Lout Island."
Thuggory widened his eyes. "You are responsible for the destruction."
"Yes. It was Charcoal and his army that destroyed them." Toothless nodded, before gesturing to everything in the room. "We did everything to prepare. We learned their weapons; innovate weapons of our own – we did everything we could to win the battle. And we did."
Camicazi smirked. "I knew Hiccup would make a great general." She commented. "He's much smarter than he looks."
The large girl moved and gestured at the wall with names written on them. "This is the Wall of Remembrance. It's where we carve the names of soldiers that fell in battle." Toothless explained. "Out of hundred dragon soldiers, over thirty remained. We were survivors of that battle."
Agatha smiled at that. "Say the line, Toothless."
"But most of all, these dragons taught us something." Toothless brightly smiled. "Those who dare, wins!"
The two Viking heirs were grinning. The black-scaled dragoness in human form gave a soft smile. "Every candle marks the spot where our dragons had fallen." She explained. "It lets us remember what happened that day."
The smaller girl crossed her arms. "You really appreciate your dead." She commented. "I wonder if there's anything else like this elsewhere."
"Best save that for later." Alex called out as he approached the group. He looked like he had been running. "I saw something couple floors down. We're much higher than expected. Come on."
Everyone rushed to follow the draconic Viking. Upon exiting the place, they carefully peeked down the balcony. Roughly three floors down on the right, the group saw a Night Fury standing there.
He looked like Furious, except... bigger.
Pulling back from the balcony, Toothless focused on her circuit bond with Charcoal. Her mate was unreachable, but this time, she could sense where he was. Charcoal was inside the cocoon-shaped thing, which took up most of the space within the main chamber.
Lowering her voice, the brawny girl whispered. "I see Furious down there." She informed. "I don't see Stoick anywhere."
"He might be held somewhere deeper." Alexander assumed. "Maybe the same place as the ward crystal cluster."
Agatha glanced back. "I know the way."
Back at Berk, the hatchlings arrived at the smeltery.
The dragonsmith room was rather clean, and there was nobody inside. The hatchlings scoured around the place, trying to find what they were looking for. They opened doors, shelves and cupboards – while not necessarily ransacking the place, they did make some mess.
Eventually, one of them exclaimed. "I found it!"
Other hatchlings rushed to where it was. In what seemed to be the storage cupboard, there were plenty of scramble goggles stacked up around the corner.
Each hatchlings went to grab one, before flying to nearby table. They tried to wear them, but the shape alone did not fit their face.
Calian narrowed his eyes, before realising that it was made of dragonsmithing. He pulsed his mana into the scrambler goggles, and it quickly transformed with a pop.
The shape changed to adult dragon size, and it looked like it could fit a Deadly Nadder. While it won't fit them, they considered that progress.
The hatchlings tried many different combinations; Deadly Nadder, Monstrous Nightmare, Gronckle, Hideous Zipplebacks, and even humans. After many attempts, they realised that the goggles had no shape for hatchling size. They were meant for adult humans and dragons.
"I wish I was bigger." Winter grumbled.
"We need to age to grow, but we have no time." Hamish retorted.
"Oh! Oh!" Iris suddenly exclaimed, getting their attention. "Dragonsmithing! We make our own dragon armour. We have material!"
The hatchlings brightened upon hearing that. It was a good idea. Given that they had the knowledge of draconic contraptions from the book, and how extensive it was, they could make the best armour for themselves!
"Yes! Yes!" Hamish was cheerful. It was a good idea. "We must plan. Scramble googles. Weapon. Protection. Everything!"
Suddenly, the back door flew open, revealing Gobber the Belch standing there. "Hmm… hmm… hmm…" The man closed the door behind him. He was singing. "Prepare the ships~ Prepare the-" He froze upon seeing six Night Fury hatchlings in the room.
It was so unexpected; Gobber had no idea what to do.
The hatchlings, however, knew the first thing they had to do. "GET HIM!"
"Kraa!" All six hatchlings rushed to the man.
"AAAH!" Gobber shrieked.
Unfortunately for him, nobody heard the scream.
Back at the cove, Amber returned with the rest of the Light Furies. The female had stupid grin on her face. That was expected, considering she left to have some fun with the puppet male Light Furies. Landing in front of the open cave, she entered to check the hatchlings.
Everyone seemed to be asleep at the charred bed. Amber let out a yawn, before poking them. "Hatchlings, it's time for lunch."
However, her claws passed through them. There was green outline around where her claws were. Eyes wide, she reached for the centre and found a tiny beryl-like greenish crystal. The moment she touched the Logic Crystal, the illusion disappeared.
"Oh no." The female Light Fury felt dread in her stomach. The hatchlings had gone missing. "This is bad."
Amber quickly sniffed the air. She tracked the hatchlings heading out from the cove. However, just as she came out, couple dragons landed at the cove. Four Gronckles, four Deadly Nadders and two Monstrous Nightmares had just landed.
The Light Furies instantly became alert. They could feel something was wrong. Amber turned to face the newcomers. "Who are you?"
The first Monstrous Nightmare moved forward. "We are with the hatchling care from Rookery." He explained. "We've come to pick up the hatchlings."
"The hatchlings were already delivered to the Rookery." The female Light Fury answered. It was the truth, since it was where Agatha's hatchlings were. "You can confirm this with the nest alpha."
The foreign dragons looked unsure. The Monstrous Nightmare seemed to frown. "That's not true." He denied. "The Night Furies were here."
"Then you're not who you claim to be." Amber straightened herself. The Light Furies prepared themselves. "Dispel!"
The female Light Fury cast dispel in wide area. It hit the newcomer dragons, revealing their true form. Every dragons had some abnormalities, such as three eyes and additional sets of wings.
It was obvious that they were deviant dragons.
Dragons immediately moved for combat. Three Light Furies rushed to the left, while the other rushed to the right. Amber stayed put to protect the open cave from the intruders.
The deviant dragons moved to attack, but the Light Furies were fast. Before they could react, the Monstrous Nightmares and Gronckles had their throats sliced open. The Deadly Nadders moved to cast some spells, but the white dragons were much faster.
Two deviant Deadly Nadders had their head blasted with plasma. They died before the body hit the ground. The third one narrowly dodged them, while the fourth retaliated by breathing out large streams of magnesium fire.
That forced the male Light Furies back, but they had the superior number. They split once more and run around them for pincer movement. The remaining deviants stood no chance when six claws decapitated their heads and wings, ending their lives.
Five seconds.
It was over when it started.
Amber exhaled the breath she was holding. She felt relief that it was over. "Secure the place." The dragoness ordered. "Search for the hatchlings."
Four Light Furies went into the air to secure the airspace, while the two dragons guarded the ground. Amber sniffed the air around the open cave, trying to find the scent.
It did not take her long to find their scent. They had gone out from the cove a while ago. Realising this, she took off into the air, followed by the male Light Furies. Amber followed the scent of the hatchlings.
They need to find them, and fast.
Charcoal woke up in a strange sight.
Everything was outline of black and white. He was standing at some sort of rocky mountain. The sky was pitch black with nothing on them – not even stars or moon. There was not even sound. It was the strangest thing he had ever seen.
He wanted to know the place, but that feeling of curiosity was overwhelmed by something else.
Betrayal.
"Shite, that actually worked!"
Charcoal turned around face the newcomer. It was a male Night Fury. He was roughly about his size. His golden-green eyes were the only ones that was not monochrome in colour.
The dragon was standing on top of a large crystal. In front of him were floating screen-like texts written in unknown language.
The unknown dragon shooed the floating screen away. He focused on Charcoal, before greeting. "Hi! The name's Mimir!" he introduced himself. "Wodensfang's Most Loyal. Furious' actual son. The ancient dragon that just wants to retire. And the dragon that's been living in you for the past four years."
"… oh good." Charcoal blinked at that. "My hallucination is sarcastic."
"I am not hallucination." The unknown dragon, now known as Mimir, retorted. "I was the one that kept you alive when you died. Twice! What were you thinking?!"
"... what? "
"How could you be so careless?!" Mimir exclaimed, before jumping down. "Skies above, I thought you'd have some sense not to eat random things given by random dragon. And now, you're here!"
Charcoal paused as he processed that sentence. "I died twice?"
"The first time you died was back at Lava-Lout Island. You died pushing your last energy to save Toothless. Mana Exhaustion." The golden-green eyed dragon quickly answered. "The second time you died happens when your own father stabbed you in the heart."
There was another pause. "... I died?!"
"Yes!" Mimir raised his voice. "And you're here again because you're about to fucking die!"
"How am I supposed to know that?!" Charcoal was incredulous. "I barely know what happened! The experts that supposed to say anything aren't even there to help! Why don't you explain them to me, since I know you're an expert?!"
"You're right. I'm the expert. Sorry." The golden-green eyed dragon took a deep breath. He seemed to focused on calming himself. "... I'm still alive when Furious merged me into you. My mind is still functional. I'm still here. When he merged us together, he sealed my mind to prevent potential damages... at least I think that's his reason."
"Then how are we dying?" The forest green eyed dragon questioned. Then, he realised something. "Wait, you're in my mind this whole time?!"
"Yes." The golden-green eyed dragon moved to face Charcoal. "I lived every single second of your life for the past five years. Yes, I was there when you fucked your mate."
"What?!"
"I also noticed your beautiful Light Fury friend watching while invisible." Mimir winked at the horrified Night Fury. "You wouldn't know because you're not trained to see through them. You must've done a good job, because she looked like she wanted to join."
Charcoal seemed to short-circuit. "WHAT?!"
"I know it came as a shock-"
"No. I mean, stop! Too much details." The forest-green eyed dragon interrupted. "You just said I died again."
"Right! Right. No, you're not dead. At least not yet. This is the third time you're about to die." The golden-green eyed dragon had decency to look embarrassed. "Well, we are about to die. Furious is trying to supercharge us, but he missed the fact that we're technically still two dragons in one body."
Charcoal paused. He remembered something from couple weeks ago. "I thought Furious finished the job all those weeks ago." The young dragon sounded confused. "I don't feel a second mana circuit anymore."
"That's because Furious sealed parts of our body, like how he sealed our eldritch abilities." Mimir patiently explained. "My body is older than you. That means, my body overwrote some aspects of you, while you got everything of mine. I never took over your mind because my brain is beyond reparation."
"How does that have anything to do with it?"
"That means Furious had to seal hundreds of things to prevent you from using my abilities, let alone knowing it." The golden-green eyed dragon answered. "I have access to just few of them because I'm in your mind. That's how I brought you back from the dead."
"You..." Charcoal took a step back, before moving to sit on the ground. "I need to process all this."
"We don't have time to process all this." Mimir insisted. He took a deep breath, before continued speaking. "Look, I'll summarise it. You got too much major mutations in half a decade. It becomes unstable."
The young dragon was confused. "How can I die from mutation? I'm a Haddock!"
"Just because you're a Haddock doesn't mean you don't die from mutation. Your body and mana circuits need to adjust after every mutation." The ancient dragon patiently explained. "Wodensfang got you stabilised last year, but it's not enough."
"He did?"
"His researchers did. It's where you found Gryphon. They had to inject your circuits with stabilising components." Mimir elaborated. "And now, Furious wants to supercharge us. It'll kick stability right out of our body! We will die, violently, and everything within ten million square kilometres."
The young dragon simply stared. From what he recalled, it was almost as big as the entire North America. "How is that going to happen?"
"The ambient mana this strong meant that this is an eight-planet Conjunction event." Mimir began explaining. "I've seen the sun and moon position from your memories. A full solar eclipse is going to happen this very evening. Never have anything like this happened in all dragon existence!"
"What happens then?"
"Long story short, solar eclipse can act as a massive mana conduit. Kind of like mana circuit. The more the moon covers the sun, the more powerful it gets." The ancient dragon answered. "With two events happening at the same time, you can have unlimited mana reserve pumped into you at an infinite rate... for about 3 to 7 minutes."
Charcoal paled upon hearing that. "Oh."
"Yes. Now you see the problem!" Mimir was satisfied with his expression. "Now, technically, if it were successful, we'll become the strongest dragon in the whole universe. We can literally create new continent in the middle of Atlantic Ocean, or maybe a whole new moon. But no. It's impossible, because there's nothing keeping you stable."
"We're going to explode." The young dragon realised. "And take quarter of the world with it."
"It's much worse than that. It could cause total extinction of all things on Earth." The ancient dragon corrected. Seeing his expression, he continued speaking. "I've reacted to this hours ago. Trust me. I'm mentally healthy."
Charcoal gave him a deadpan look. He decided to focus on how to solve the problem. "What do you want me to do?"
"The process had already started. The solar eclipse is happening. It cannot be stopped." Mimir explained. There was a hint of desperation in his voice. "The purpose of the Heart of Ebonclaw is to pump mana and cause major mutations as much as possible. The Haddock mutation covered us from dying a painful death, but the mutations themselves will destabilise us regardless."
"You haven't told me what to do."
"I need you to help me break these seals before we reach the imbalance threshold. Destroying the seals might trigger the success signal for the heart to get us out." The ancient dragon further explained. "Breaking them is easy in this environment. We have unlimited mana here, so just overwhelm them with it. The problem is searching for them."
Charcoal stared with blank expression. "What is imbalance threshold?"
Mimir stomped his paw on the ground. A large, illusory pressure gauge appeared in the air. It was numbered from zero to ten, and the pointer was at zero. "This should make things simple." He decided. "All you need to know is that you need to break the seals before the pointer gets to ten. It goes down the more you break them."
"... wait." The young dragon paused. "You said the solar eclipse happens only 3 to 7 minutes. Do we have time to break them all?"
"One minute is one hour here." The ancient dragon explained. "Our mind runs faster than time. This is just as fast as our mana circuits can run."
Suddenly, the pointer began to move. It was slowly moving up. Mimir widened his eyes. "It just started!" He exclaimed. "Destroy anything that feels wrong!"
Before Charcoal could ask, the ancient dragon had already took off. He dashed to a direction and disappeared.
The young dragon shook his head. He took off into the air, before heading to opposite direction. He had to search and destroy what Mimir was asking for.
Not much was known about the deeper underground section of Dragon Island.
Dragons rarely wandered there, mostly because there was no point. There was nothing valuable down there, and dragons were not allowed to nest underground. Furious often used them for meetings, meaning most parts of the cavern was restricted.
In one of the large underground cavern, there was a large, dragon-sized crystal cluster at the centre. It was basically different crystals moulded together into a spiky cluster. This one had green, yellow and purple colour, shimmering its glow around the cavern.
There were two aberrant Deadly Nadders guarding it. They were standing in front of the crystal cluster, facing away to observe their surrounding. There was no expression whatsoever.
Clack! Clack!
Two ballista bolts flew out from the darkness, striking the aberrant dragons. They struck the heads and exploded, killing them instantly. The two guard aberrant dragons collapsed on the ground.
Not long after, Agatha the Deadly Nadder walked into the area. It was followed by Toothless in her dragon form, Alexander, Thuggory and Camicazi. They had their weapons drawn, in case they missed a dragon.
"... clear." The draconic Viking softly declared.
Toothless approached the crystal cluster. Careful not to touch it, the black-scaled dragoness cast some spells to identify the nature of the crystals.
The cluster was one part of a large network of crystals, which was scattered around different parts of Dragon Island. The whole network was powered by whatever was above them, and their connection was not based on crystals. It was unknown how.
Overwhelming them with raw mana was out of the question. The clusters were grounded, meaning it was sinking excessive mana into nature. Destroying it would alert other crystal clusters and trigger something dangerous.
Conventional method was not an option.
Toothless opted for caution. She carefully ejected something from her storage mana. A small metal cube appeared and stuck itself onto the crystal cluster. The black-scaled dragoness paused as she focused on TONER aurapex in her mana pool.
She mentally set the timer, before tapping the small metal cube. It briefly pulsed red, then returned dormant. Satisfied, Toothless turned to face the others. "We need to poison the clusters at once. Set 6 hours timer on your TONER. On my mark."
Alexander pulled out his TONER instrument. "Set 6 hours timer." He ordered as he followed the instruction. "On your mark."
Toothless raised one claw. She mentally counted the timer, before swiping down. The draconic Viking began the timer. "Set."
"There are 4 crystal clusters around Dragon Island. It powers every ward in the region, including a barrier to stop anyone coming in and out." The black-scaled dragoness grimaced. "This is not something Furious can hide. I think my father is outside."
"Then we need to destroy the clusters." The draconic Viking decided. "Is this the first one?"
"Yes. This is the first one."
"Then we have 6 hours to destroy the rest." Alexander decided, before looking at Agatha. "Lead the way."
At the Barbaric-Greater Archipelago border, Wodensfang had arrived with his dragon army. The arch alpha dragon was in his smaller form, leading a small army flock. Aymar the Valstrax was following him behind as well.
They saw someone at an empty island right at the border. It was Merciless the Greater Alpha of Greater Archipelago, accompanied by some dragons. The male Night Fury was waving his wings, calling them down. The arch alpha dragon turned his direction. He wanted to see what happened.
Wodensfang landed nearby, followed by his army flock. The arch alpha dragon approached his son. "Merciless." He greeted. "I assume you have something to report."
"Furious barricaded the whole region. There's a barrier all around the border. You can't enter without smacking into them." Merciless explained. He demonstrated by hitting something behind him with his hind-leg. It hit something invisible, like some sort of transparent glass. "This island is right between the border. We don't know how to break them."
The arch alpha dragon approached the invisible barrier. He slammed his paw onto it, pulsing large amounts of mana. The barrier shimmered where it was hit, but faded just as quickly. Wodensfang realised what happened. "It's grounded."
"We need mana expert." Merciless suggested.
"General." Wodensfang glanced at a female Woolly Howl in the flock. She was a brown quadruped dragon with fur-like scales. "Get to work."
"Yes, sir." The Woolly Howl answered, before moving to get the army mana experts.
While they were working on the barrier, the arch alpha dragon pulled Merciless away to talk. They moved away from the others. "How was it?"
"Gryphon and her friends just left this morning. She has the package. They're already inside the barrier." Merciless briefed the situation so far. "The barrier appeared this early evening. Had you been an hour faster, you'd already be inside."
Wodensfang glanced up the sky. He did a double-take as he saw something. "It seems Furious is ahead of us."
The greater alpha looked up. It was incredibly hard to see, but there was something dark heading to the sun. The average humans and dragons, at least those without equipment, would never see them until the event start.
Merciless had seen them before. He seemed to pale. "Is that...?"
"The moon." The arch alpha whispered. "It's happening soon."
Meanwhile, back at Berk, the hatchlings were finishing up their work.
The armour they made were metallic with the same colour as their scales. Unlike most armour, they were rather dull in shape and colour, as if they were made for utility instead of show.
It covered their paws, tails and even front part of their wings, with some lines separating them. Only their tailfins and wing membranes were not covered.
They were even wearing some sort of helmet, which completely covered their head. It looked like they could not see, but considering they were moving and flying just fine, they were unhindered in their sight. The hatchlings were busy helping Hamish fitting his helmet.
"There." Calian finally spoke. His voice was muffled from the armour. "Try now."
Hamish blinked as the darkness disappeared. He could see through the helmet he was wearing. The smallest hatchling was happy that it worked. "The design works!" He mentally exclaimed, looking at his siblings. "Much safer than scrambler goggles."
The smallest hatchling willed the armour to vanish. It quickly disappeared, revealing his black scales. However, Hamish still felt them covering his body. "Everything works…" He breathed out as he moved around the place. His voice was normal. "Very flexible. Invisible. I feel safe."
Others vanished their armour as well, except for Calian, who was experimenting with his movement. Winter bumped his wing with the smaller hatchling. "You designed them." He seemed to smirk. "Of course it works."
"Everyone! Look!" Calian exclaimed, getting their attention. Suddenly, a pair of small barrels popped out from under his wings. They seemed to be part of his armour. "Plasma cannons!"
"NO!" The hatchlings immediately stopped him.
"They are powered with Amethyst Scales." Hamish quickly explained. "It is full power. Adult Night Fury. It can make really big explosion."
"Harr…" Calian faltered. The cannons sheathed back into his armour. "I want to try them."
"We will. Soon." The smallest hatchling assured. "Dragon Island. We need to help mom and dad."
Suddenly, they heard the door opened once more. The hatchlings were prepared this time. They scrambled away as they vanished into thin air.
When the door was fully opened, Astrid and Snotlout was sneaking into the place.
The two teen Vikings looked around, searching for movement. Once it was clear, they entered the place. "Come on." Astrid gestured others to follow. "We need to find the scrambler goggles."
They entered the place, followed by Fishlegs, Tuffnut and Ruffnut. The five Vikings searched around the place for something to protect themselves from cognitohazard. While they were searching, Astrid heard something from a slightly opened cupboard.
Before she could do anything, they heard Snotlout exclaiming. "Here it is!"
Rushing to the table, there were five scrambler goggles that could fit four different dragons. At the other side of the table were five more goggles intended for humans. Astrid quickly grabbed them. "Let's go."
"This is kind of convenient, don't you think?" Ruffnut pointed out, before grabbing her own.
"Of course it's convenient. The whole village is already at the warships." The petite girl retorted. "Come on. We don't have time."
While they were rushing out, Snotlout was smirking. "Dragon Island, here we go!"
The door was left open on their way out. The wind was pushing to close the door when something invisible knocked them open. There were sounds of wings flapping around.
Then, the place fell silent.
Roughly an hour later, Amber the Light Fury barged into the smeltery. She entered the place, along with the six Light Furies. There was nobody inside, but she could smell the scent of the hatchlings. "Find them."
The Light Furies moved to search the place. The male white dragons searched around the dragonsmith room.
They definitely caught the scent of the hatchlings. It was all over the place. They seemed to be doing something there. There were other scents mixed in as well.
Amber caught the scent of five humans, one of which she recognised. "Astrid Hofferson." The female white dragon realised. "… she was here an hour ago. Most likely with her friends."
Suddenly, they heard something from the nearby cupboard. The Light Furies froze as they took on their fighting stance. One of the male dragons carefully approached the partially opened cupboard. Then, he quickly slid them open.
It was Gobber the Belch. The blacksmith was bound and gagged tight with a strong rope. Amber leaned in to confirm who it was. She cursed under her breath. "They're definitely here."
"Mmmf!" Gobber attempted to yell, but it was all for naught.
The female Light Fury grabbed and pulled him out from the cupboard. She raised her claws and swiped the ropes, releasing him from his bounds. Amber took a step back as the blacksmith removed the gag on his mouth. When that was done, Gobber stood from the ground. "Oh, Thor's hairy ball-sack. That was painful."
Amber showed one of her claws, before carving something on the floor. She was writing something in Norse. Gobber looked down to read them. "Where is…" He stroked his beard. "The hatchlings?"
"Hrr." The female Light Fury nodded.
"Hiccup's hatchlings? They were here. They knocked me out and shove me at the cupboard!" The blacksmith exclaimed. He looked annoyed. "If yer wondering, I haven't heard anythin' since an hour ago."
Amber moved to write something else. I SMELL ASTRID HOFFERSON.
"Aye, I heard her voice." Gobber nodded. "They took somethin' and talking about headin' to Dragon Island. I should report that to Spitelout before they sail off."
The female Light Fury was horrified. Of all places where they could be; Dragon Island should never be one of them. She turned to face the male white dragons. "Get out and search this island!" The dragoness barked her order. "Make sure no Night Fury hatchlings made it out!"
The six white dragons rushed to leave the place through the door. While that was happening, the blacksmith decided to speak. "Maybe check the dragon ring?"
Amber gave him a deadpan look. Suddenly, Gobber found himself lifted off the ground. "Whoa!" He yelped as the white dragoness grabbed him by his collar. "Where are we going?"
The female Light Fury did not answer. She rushed out from the back door, before flying up into the sky, holding the blacksmith on her paws. They need to check the dragon ring.
Spitelout was confused.
It was a new feeling. Whenever something unusual happened, such as running out of milk too early for no reason, he usually run to his brother – Stoick the Vast – to report.
While the chief dealt with pressing matters, such as rationing food and planning war strategies, Spitelout was there to deal with smaller things, such as organising Vikings to construct new houses, and dealing with logistics.
However, considering the chief was missing, and everyone was preparing to head for Helheim's Gate, Spitelout had nowhere to go.
The adult Jorgenson was standing inside the dragon ring. He was staring at the five open dragon pens, all of which were empty. There was one that was closed; it was where they kept the Terrible Terror – small dragon, that is. However, the most unusual part was the lack of any damage.
'Someone opened the dragon pens.' Spitelout pondered. 'But who? Why would anyone do such a thing?'
"Spitelout!"
The adult Jorgenson turned around. Gobber had just entered the dragon ring, followed by a certain Light Fury behind him. Spitelout widened his eyes as he took a step back. He did not expect a dragon to enter the place. "Gobber, what are you doing?!"
The Light Fury began sniffing around the place. The blacksmith stopped in front of him. "Hiccup's hatchlings caught me at the forge. They've gone missing since." Gobber explained the situation. "She's been looking for 'em everywhere around the island."
Spitelout jerked his thumb to his back. "Someone opened the dragon pens."
"I heard Astrid and her folks talkin' about heading to Dragon Island. The hatchlings must've followed them." Gobber further explained. "We're tryin' to figure out if they're still here or not."
The second-in-command felt dread in his stomach. It did not take him long to figure that out. His son might be riding dragons to Dragon Island.
The man quickly went to the box near the weapon rack. Opening them, he saw some bolas, but the ropes were nowhere to be found.
"The ropes were missing." Spitelout whispered. He closed the box, before checking the weapon rack. "… some weapons are gone. All the shields are gone. Magni's tits, they've gone off the island!"
"Kar!" Amber lightly roared, getting their attention. She tapped the ground where she wrote some Norse. The two Vikings moved closer to read the content.
ASTRID AND FRIENDS WERE HERE
FIVE DRAGON SCENTS FLY OUTSIDE
THE HATCHLINGS FOLLOWED
"They've gone to Dragon Island." Spitelout repeated. He was utterly horrified. "By Thor's thunder, they rode dragons to get there."
Suddenly, they saw some dragons landing outside. Gryphon the young Valstrax had arrived with the deviant hunters. The three hunters were still at the back of their dragons. Amber quickly approached them. "Gryphon!"
"Amber. What's going on?" The Valstrax responded. She was confused. "I can't reach my dad for some reason."
"Furious got Stoick. We were attacked while you were gone." The female Light Fury quickly explained. "Charcoal and five others went in first ahead of everyone. The warships are sailing out soon."
"Did he tell you about their plan?"
"They're trying to save Stoick and bring down the ward around Helheim's Gate." Amber rambled. "The hatchlings were missing. The cove was attacked by deviants after we found out. The hatchlings are heading to Dragon Island!"
The Valstrax almost cursed. This was the worse case scenario. She faced the chief second-in-command and spoke with language she had practised before. "We're coming with you. We'll lead you through Helheim's Gate."
Everyone was surprised to hear her speak Norse. "You can talk!"
"I'm Charcoal's dragon companion. Of course I can talk." Gryphon seemed to huff. She looked concerned. "They're not supposed to leave until we come back. We barely knew the plan!"
Suddenly, they saw something. In the sky, they could see something black passing the sun. It shadowed the world under them. The Valstrax widened her eyes. "A solar eclipse!"
"[English] Oh." Arda the silver dragon whispered, getting their attention. He looked pale at the sight. "[English] I think I know what Furious is planning."
BOOOOOM!!!
Massive red-green beam suddenly shot out from the west. It was followed by powerful shock-wave that knocked everything within vicinity. The group were not hit because the dragon ring was under the surface level.
However, they felt strong pressure in the air. It was that feeling dread they could literally feel in their bones. There was power in the air, and it was repressive. The sky turned dark when the moon cast shadow over the region.
Everyone ran out from the dragon ring. They could feel powerful wind blowing around them. Looking at the west, the red-green beam came from there. It went all the way up to the moon, which was eclipsing the sun.
It was terrifying.
Gryphon turned around to face the others. "We need to go. Now!"
"Well, shite."
At the island bordering two archipelagos, Wodensfang and Merciless were watching it unfolding. The enormous red-green had shot up into space, went through the moon, then continued to connect with everything on its path.
In this case, the sun and all eight planets behind it.
From their observation, the beam was funnelling unfathomable amounts of mana into Barbaric Archipelago. It ended at the general direction where Dragon Island was located. Whatever Furious was doing, it was incredibly powerful.
Potentially godlike.
After some silence, Merciless decided to speak. "It should last for about... 7 to 10 minutes." He hoped. "Hopefully it ends before then."
There was another pause. Wodensfang narrowed his eyes when he recognised something. "No." He whispered. "The ritual had frozen their position. Both events will not end until the ritual ended."
"Then what is Furious doing?" The greater alpha dragon questioned. "Is he going to flood the market with cheap crystals?"
"No. He's supercharging himself."
Merciless snorted at that. "He's going to kill himself."
"There are three Haddocks in Barbaric Archipelago." Wodensfang elaborated. He was still staring at the sky. "Charcoal, Alexander and Stoick the Vast. Their seal and curse are not designed to endure brute-force against this much mana."
"So, Furious is breaking the curse and seal."
"Yes, but I think he did more than this." The arch alpha dragon darkened his expression. "Ebonclaw has a little known ability to merge with other dragons. Under condition of consents, two or more dragons can merge into one, combining their mutation."
Merciless felt nervous. "I think all three of them knows about Furious." He reasoned. "None of them would be willing."
"Stoick the Vast is the most reasonable candidate." Wodensfang glanced at him. "Regardless of what Charcoal is, Stoick cares for him. Furious is willing to do anything for Charcoal, even against his own will. They will do anything that they think is best for him."
It was left unsaid, but they could be working together.
The greater alpha dragon cursed. "Fuck!" Merciless cussed the sky. "I'll call in my favours. We need every mana expert in Hidden World!"
Merciless took off into the air, heading for Hidden World. The arch alpha dragon stayed put. He was staring at the red-green beam with thoughtful expression.
While his theory on Furious' motive was sound, there was another theory that concerned him.
Furious knew his time was running out. He would never rule Barbaric Archipelago ever again. Every arch alpha in Hidden World would turn against him if he were successful in this effort. No matter how much power he have, he would die facing them all.
That left him with someone else.
Charcoal.
They had done their analysis one year ago. According to Hubert the Alatreon, and his group of researchers at Révélation, Charcoal's body and his mana circuits were unstable. It was caused by too many major mutations occurring in such a short time.
Normally, dragons would die from mutation before reaching the point of instability. However, because of Haddock's unique physiology, death from mutation would be from instability. Their mana circuits would collapse, leading to their inevitable, potentially explosive death.
Wodensfang remembered his best friend going through the same thing. Hiccup the First, or known as Marduk before his sacrifice, almost died for pushing himself too much. No one noticed until he reached critical point. They had to get dragons to alter his mutations to save him.
Hubert and his team stabilised Charcoal last year. It took them weeks to get that done. Even then, they were not sure if it was enough.
There was no telling what would happen with this much mana.
Or how big the explosion would be.
"Sir!" The Woolly Howl general called out, getting his attention. He approached the arch alpha dragon. "The barrier is supercharged. We have no resource to breach them."
"Don't bother. It's probably fed from the ritual." Wodensfang decided. "We need professional doctorate specialised in this. Aymar!"
The Valstrax heard him. He quickly approached them. "Yes, Arch Alpha."
"I need you to fly to Aldinnveröld layer as fast as you can." The arch alpha dragon instructed. "Tell the guards that Wodensfang is calling the favour on the High Aetherologist. We have a possible world extinction event involving Haddock Night Fury happening at the surface. Be sure to tell them everything you know of this situation."
Aymar mentally noted the messages. "... I will deliver the message."
"Good. Now go."
BOOM!
The Valstrax instantly took off into the sky. After reaching certain altitude, he went full thrust to the Caldera. The fate of the world depended on him.
After he disappeared, the Woolly Howl general was concerned. "What should we do now, sir?"
"Well... there's nothing we can do for now." Wodensfang looked back at the red-green beam. "Secure the perimeter. Make sure we don't have any deviant surprises when we breached the barrier."
"Yes, sir."