The Monsters In Us All

The Discovery

The world is dark and afraid. Afraid that at any moment it could erupt in a fury of war.I hear the horns before I've even reached consciousness, the sound entering into my dreams. I'm shaken to reality by my father's war cries as he leaves the house. "Astrid! Get dressed, lass! The beasts are upon us!" my mother's voice echoes off the walls to me. I slide out of bed, my feet hitting the cold, wood flooring. I pull open my dresser, grabbing a blue shirt, my spiked skirt, and deep blue leggings. Once in clothes, I braid my hair, and swing my axe on to my shoulder. By the time I'm downstairs, I'm the only one home. Fire blazes outside the windows, and I can feel the heat when I fling open the front door. I head out into the square, dodging fire blasts and vikings in my path.

My friends are already at the water cask when I arrive. Fishlegs fills up a bucket for Ruff, with goo0-goo eyes. She takes it, hurrying off in search of a burning building. Tuff takes the next one, so I set my axe in the cart, waiting my turn. I watch the twins as Fishlegs fills my bucket, glad thy are actually taking the job seriously instead on Loki-ing. I jog after them, trying to dowse the highest flames. This is the world. War. Darkness. Fire. The dragons have been a problem for centuries. And there are those feuds that can never be broken. It's just a part of life. I look up, trying to see what time it is, but the smoke makes it impossible to see the sky.

A sudden screeching shatters my thoughts. Vikings around me, glance up too, alarmed. I don't know if it's a war cry or a call to flee, but several Nightmares growl at each other, dropping a few more blasts before escaping the scene. We watch the dragons go, unsure of what to do. Once they are out of our line of sight,we finish putting out the fires. The chief, then orders us to return to our regular jobs.

I snatch up my axe from the water cask, resting it on my shoulder. I head to my post for the Berk Guard. Ruff and I are in charge of the woods. Fishlegs, teaches the children the histories. Tuff has a different job every week, since he keeps chasing his bosses away. last year, he was training with the town officiator, but he jumped off a cliff halfway through Tuff's lesson. Snotlout works with Gobber at the armory. He's the official weapons tester. In all honesty, I'm glad to have a job. It helps keep me from going crazy with boredom.

"So, how's Tuff doing at his job?" I ask Ruff, trying come up with something to talk about. I'm not incredibly close to any of the teens close to my age, so i never really know what t talk about. Snotlout and I are both nineteen, Fishlegs and the twins are eighteen, and the next closest is sixteen. But, that's Gustav. So, my options aren't all that great to choose from. Especially Gustav. Eck. None of us particularly like him. He used to want to be just like Snotlout, though I don't know why anyone would ever want to, I guess because he's next in line to be chief (Odin helps us), since Stoick and Valka don't have any kids. Now, Gustav annoys even Lout. I'd honestly rather spend two full days with Snotlout than an hour with Gustav Larsin.

"He seems to like it. He's working with Gothi this week," Ruff answers.

"I thought he was fishing on the boats with Bucket and Mulch," I say, furrowing my brows.

"No. He kept scaring off the fish," she tells me, rolling her eyes.

We are quiet after that. For me, it's comfortable. I don't really talk unless necessary or I actually feel like putting in my input. Ruff on the other hand, loves to talk, and I can tell she wants to say something, but knows that I'm done speaking for now.

When we reach the imaginary line of our different sectors, we part. I glance over my shoulder that isn't carrying an axe, watching her walk off into the trees, spear over her shoulder, bolas dragging the ground. I face forward again, beginning my guard duty. The job itself is boring, but it gives me something to do. Keeps me moving. Nothings ever out here except the wilderness creatures or kids playing by the stream that leads to the lake in the cove that's in my sector. Though, this one time I did find a fallen bird that had a broken wing. I took it back to Gothi to patch it up. It stayed at my house until healed. I remember the day I released it, wishing I could go with it, just to be able to see from it's vantage point. Maybe then I'd be able to see what made the dragons want to attack us all the time.