Chapter 1 - A Crumbling Castle
Merida DunBroch sat on the highest remaining spires of the crumbling castle looking down on the people who were wandering around the remains of what she once called home. Her eyes darkened as a teenage boy kicked the replica throne that almost matched the original. That throne belonged to her mother, her eyes flared bright blue as she restrained the temptation to go down there and roast him. Merida wasn't and ordinary girl and she was hardly ordinary when she was still alive.
She sighed, her loose light blue and gold top slightly swaying in the breeze. Thinking either made her really calm or really angry but she couldn't help it; she was like this in life too, only until the source of her fate led her off a cliff and into the wild ocean almost 1000 years ago. The will o the wisps had chosen her to be their queen, that was her fate and she couldn't deny destiny now that she was part of it. She remembered when the Man in the Moon had called her; she had been buried next to the stone circle and thus, after awaking, found herself there.
She hadn't always been able to look like this: human, any way you looked at her, if anyone could see her that is. She used to be transparent, glowing blue and flicker between a fifteen centimeter tall sprite to a sixteen year old (at least in looks) girl with crazy hair. But now once she had gotten everything under control, including her affinity with fire and warmth, she looked as she once did.
As the sun set below the horizon she looked up at the sky, only to see the moon glaring down at her. She was startled so much that she almost fell off the old brickwork. She glared up at the old man who, in turn, glared back down at her with a blinding light full of secret messages that only the spirits brought back could see.
"What dae ye want?" she started with a flaring temper.
The moon responded with more light flowing and dipping in brightness. Listen Merida, Spirit of Destiny and Queen of the Wisps.
"Yah, what?" Merida crossed her arms, visibly annoyed by the interruption of her private time.
You have been chosen.
"Th- Wha? Fa what?"
For the children.
At that moment a black shape crossed the sky, turned and landed in the now empty castle.
..ooOO00*00OOoo..
Hiccup jumped off Toothless and looked at the ruined castle around him; it was literally a dump aside from the cleared pedestrian walkways and a few areas where benches and signs stood. A man was just locking up at where the main door should have been, instead there was a black metal fence, but Hiccup wasn't worried about that, in fact he wouldn't have worried about it even if the man could see him.
After glancing around for a moment and surveying his surroundings he stared back up at the moon, "Well isn't this place a fun-house." he exclaimed sarcastically, Toothless huffed in reply.
While he stood staring upwards he didn't notice the girl watching him from behind one of the crumbling pillars of rock, nor did he notice when she suddenly glowed blue, turned transparent then shrunk into the size of tennis ball.
"You should really explain yourself sometimes-", Hiccup was starting before he was cut off by a floating hunk of blue fire hovering right in front of his nose. He immediately ran backwards tripping over his own artificial foot and landing on his arse. Toothless came over and stared up at the fire, his throat emitting a low growl before nudging Hiccup back into a proper sitting position.
"Wh- wh- wh- What?" he stuttered shocked by the fire which seemed surreal and hypnotising at the same time.
He became even more shocked when the fire expanded and turned into the shape of a girl before solidifying to reveal a flaming head full of hair that bounce around in the moonlight. She seemed almost ethereal, with her hair floating about her like that, to Toothless however, she was like a threat.
The dragon stretched himself out to his full height and extended his wings casting a gigantic black shadow over almost half of the castle in the moonlight. Hiccup, however, still stared at the girl trying to work out who, or what, she was. The girl hardly flinched, and instead of running away just eyed the boy and his dragon as if sizing them up. Toothless glared at the girl, his green eyes narrowing to only slits as he attempted to scare her off.
"Oi, who- what are ye?" She finally said.
"You, you're not human." Hiccup stuttered in return.
"Nae, how long did it take ye to figure that one out, eh?"
..ooOO00*00OOoo..
The boy in front of her was extremely tall and lanky and when sprawled out in front of her she couldn't help thinking of a tangled up spider that got caught in his own legs. The boy wore a black jacket, a green shirt and brown pants; she guessed if he was hiding in the forest she probably wouldn't be able to see him at all. Merida was also intrigued by his dragon; it towered above her probably 2-3 meters into the air. She wasn't afraid though, she had faced larger things, Mor'du the Demon Bear being one of them (Mor'du the Prince's Spirit happily resided with her wisps in the woods and around his old castle).
The boy finally spoke, calming himself and standing up, "I am Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Spirit of Knowledge, and this is my dragon, Toothless."
Merida snorted, and then cupped her hands over her mouth. "Really? That's yer name? And by the way, ye misnamed yer dragon; he has teeth, quite a lot actually."
"Not, really," Hiccup mumbled, "Who are you?"
"Ach, I'm sorry. M' name's Merida of DunBroch, an' I'm Queen of the Wisps."
At that moment thousands and thousands of little blue fires appeared behind her, Merida turned around and shooed them off, giving one of the wisps, Little Greta, a kiss on the forehead, before turning back and finally asking the question that she meant to ask from the beginning.
"What are ye doing here?"
OOOOoooo.._..ooooOOOO
