The Great Beyond

Chapter 24: A Time to Skrill (Reign)

             The dark, quickly rolling clouds over our heads only allowed small slats of light through, acting as spotlights for the absolute nothingness around us. Dead trees served as their own shadows, but proved no more phenomenal against the grey slate that made up the island. The only flashes of color for miles came in the form of our group of seven, who were spread out and turning over rocks and dried leaves to attempt and find some sort of answer to the sudden mass migration to elsewhere. I ran my fingers along the striped cliffs, looking closely for dents from catapults or nicks from arrows that could confirm the theory we formed before heading out this way; taking such a long trip only to come up empty-handed would just prove to be a waste of time, and I wasn't willing to let that happen.

Our group had been tasked with investigating Outcast Island after scouts from the A-Team spotted what looked like the entire populous fleeing in the opposite direction of their home. The scouting Riders tried to ask anyone on the five ships what they were doing, but everyone just mumbled or spoke panicked gibberish or shouted about running for their lives; Alvin proved no more useful, unable to describe what exactly happened in a comprehensible way.

At first, we assumed it would be Dragon Hunters. Their attacks would explain why the Outcasts were frantic and eager to get away from their island, and I assumed the group had no idea these Hunters existed, which offered explanation as to why Alvin wasn't sure what exactly they'd been dealing with. It felt foolproof, until Astrid reminded us that the Outcasts didn't ride on dragons like we did, nor did they have any on the island for the Hunters to go after. If anything, they would've gone to try and form an alliance, and that's not exactly the sort of thing one flees from.

So, there we stood on Outcast Island, desperately searching for an answer that so far didn't look like it existed.

"Weird." Hiccup turned to me, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't see any arrows or spears."

"No boulders or catapults," Fishlegs confirmed, standing back up.

"This really doesn't seem like a Dragon Hunter attack." I shook my head, more confused than ever.

"Well, whoever did this meant business." Astrid moved away from the downed mast of a ship she'd been studying, still smoldering and releasing tendrils of dark smoke.

"And where did everybody go?"

"Remember, they evacuated," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"What could possibly scare the Outcasts off their own island?" As usual, the twins had to interject with their own runaway ideas.

"Mutton famine?" Tuffnut suggested.

"Bed bugs? Once those things show up, you can never get rid of 'em." I gagged, shaking away that image.

"I think this has something to do with it."

In the time that I'd been focusing on the twins, Hiccup had wandered away, moving over to a different area of search we hadn't reached yet. Once I reached him, I stared up at what he'd spotted, my brows practically furrowing down over my eyes. Strange cracks ran through the stone, creating a very distinct pattern. It almost looked like a bolt of lightning, sent from Asgard by Thor himself.

"These scorch marks... do these look familiar to anyone?"

It took me another moment of staring at them, but when the idea popped into my head, I gasped, already backing toward my dragon.

"Hiccup, do you think it could be..." Hiccup caught onto what I was thinking in a split second. "We have to go. Now." I tried to sling a leg over Shriek's body, but a hand yanked me back.