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They found themselves staring at a pair of doors. One was so white, that it shone more than the ice sheen at the first riddle, appearing to be covered in glowing dragon scales. The other was crudely made and had sporadically placed, iron-made studs on them. It was the kind of dark, that it seemed to draw you in. Almost like you could fall right into it.
Snotlout walked straight toward it, his helmet smacked into the ebony door. "Ow!"
"Uh. Alright, gang," Hiccup cautioned, "Let's look for a riddle."
"What?" Snotlout was confused. "It's pretty clear what we have to do; pick a door."
"Yeah," Hiccup acknowledged. "But we have no idea what this is."
"Uh, hello?" Ruffnut showed concern. "They're obviously doors."
"I'm sure Hiccup means they could be booby-trapped, or something," Astrid explained.
"Ha, 'booby.' " Ska'i couldn't help a smile cross her face, at Tuff's simple amusement.
Snotlout didn't bother stifling a groan. Then his shout rang out, "Over here!"
"Good job, Snotlout!" Fishlegs congratulated, causing him to beam as he read aloud,
What looks good, may not be true
What looks evil could be good for you
Black or white, white or black
You must choose one, and there's no coming back
"Oooh, that's ominous," Tuff thrilled with a mischievous glint in his eye.
"Yeah," Snotlout snapped. "And it also obviously means that we have to pick a door!"
"But which one?" Astrid pressed.
"Maybe it's the white one," Ruffnut suggested.
"Why that one?" Her twin challenged her.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "It's angelic-looking. Usually associated with good things?"
"It also appears to be covered Flightmare scales" Fishlegs was peering at it closely.
"Or maybe that's exactly why we should choose the opposite one," Hiccup mused.
Ska'i confirmed "He's right. There was a reason why we were all drawn to that door."
"Look, whatever, we have to choose the right one!" Astrid stressed. "The riddle reads that we can't come back if we choose wrong."
There was complete silence as everyone stressed about choosing the right door.
Ska'i spoke, "Back on my island, we had many stories told to us throughout our childhood. And we were raised to obey the lessons they taught, as we grew with the years. One of them is to always trust our gut instinct. All our intuitions screamed at us to take the black door," she concluded. "I say it'd be foolish if we ignored it."
The other Riders exchanged some looks. There was no arguing with that. So Hiccup volunteered to reach for the twisted hunk of grotesque iron that closest resembled a doorknob. He grunted at the weight of it but politely shook off Astrid's help. When he finally managed to open it with a creak, they were peering into a dark, stone hallway.
"What if," Ruffnut suggested. "We open the other door, to see what's behind that one?"
"That is a good idea," Hiccup approved.
"Psh, all my ideas are good ideas," she grumbled, as Fishlegs twisted the other door's flawless marble knob. It reflected the color palette of the ice around them, but as he made to swing it open, it wouldn't give. With a frown, he struggled and leaned his weight against it.
"Hmm, why don't we try shutting this door," Hiccup proposed.
Tuff tried complying, but it refused to shut all the way. Rearing back, he prepared to slam it shut, when Ska'i's ears picked up a click, and Fishlegs jerked out an arm, "Wait, stop!"
"What's wrong?" Astrid asked, and she wasn't the only one confused.
"You guys didn't hear that?"
"Hear what?" Snotlout demanded.
"It clicked," Tuff observed.
"There was a clicking sound," remarked Ska'i simultaneously.
"It sounds like the trapdoor on the ship!" Hiccup recognized, experimenting with trying to close the door. At first, it would, but a type of spring was forcing it back open every time.
"It's like it won't let us," Fishlegs observed.
"Well, the riddle does read 'there's no way back,' " Tuff pointed out.
"It's like its' weight is triggered somehow," Fishlegs explained faintly. "Like the trapdoor."
Snotlout broke the doom in the air, "Great. We have to go through the dark door."
And through it, they went.
It felt like this was the place where the very sun went to die every day. There were too many hallways for this place to be made by nature, Ska'i observed, but she didn't feel the need to voice that quite yet. There was an understanding no one said anything.
"Would be nice if we had some light," Snotlout whispered. "Some Dragonfire, perhaps."
Ska'i nodded, even though no one could see her in this gaping emptiness.
"Shut up, Snotlout," Astrid snapped.
"Uh, I agree with him," Tuff was rewarded with a smack on the back of his head by his twin and a vicious hiss from everyone else. He protested with undistinguished shouts of "Ow!" and "Hey!" But before anyone could tell him to shut up, Fishlegs smacked into the tunnel wall. After some scattered laughs and seeing he was alright, they forgot about being quiet. There didn't appear to be anything else down with them, anyway. It was just eerie, and dark.
"Hmm," Fishlegs pondered. "It doesn't seem right for this tunnel to just dead-end."
The darkness peeled at her eyes so hard she couldn't tell if they were open or closed.
"You're right." Ska'i hardly heard Hiccup, for she was already doing the familiar feeling around the walls. One of them kept going, and when she impulsively turned to alert the rest of the Riders, their voices were a little fainter than usual. "Guys!" She tried getting their attention.
Echos of, "Where's Ska'i?" "Is that Ska'i?" "Ska'i!" "Everyone shut up, so I can hear her!" That last one was Tuff, and once it was quiet again, she called out, "Over here! There's a turn."
"A turn! Yes, of course," Fishlegs gushed that whenever this place was made, it could not possibly have come to a dead-end. Especially with no way out, or without having some type of airflow, and in case a cave-in occurred.
Once they'd rounded the corner, a bit of light shone around another turn. A chorus of resounding relief came up, their eyes adjusting to the light. Ska'i couldn't help but get swept up in the gratuity, refusing to admit the darkness had nearly gotten a firm hold on her as well.
When they emerged, they noticed a pit full of stalagmites, with a sinister gaping abyss above it. "Interesting," Fishlegs noted. "Stalagmites need to have some type of ceiling, to grow,"
"Maybe the ceiling's just higher up," Astrid pointed out.
While he nodded at the possibility, Ruffnut noticed, "That is a big hole."
"I wonder how far it goes," Tuff added.
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