DRAGONS~Your Story

~The Academy~

Using the sounds of destruction as a guide, you, Hiccup, and Toothless ascend a ramp leading towards an arena. Hiccup says, “If I know the angry yells of my fellow Berkians, and I like to think I do, then you may want to let me do the talking. This one tends to throw axes when she’s upset!” Hiccup says sounding amused. You walk cautiously towards the towering metal gate as you can feel immense heat on your skin. You raise the arena’s gate, revealing an open top fenced by a web of heavy-duty chains. Fire dances on their metal links, causing them to drop down upon… “Astrid!” Hiccup calls out over the chaos as if nothing’s the matter. “We were just talking about you!” he yells out again over the crackling fire and burning wood. Astrid cocks an eyebrow and instinctively steps aside, narrowly missing more flaming debris. “Let me guess,” she says “You wouldn’t happen to be running after a runaway baby dragon, would you?” she says sarcastically. Toothless gurgles as Hiccup looks around at the damage done to the arena: overturned, training targets, splintered barn doors, and flaming blast marks still smouldering the walls. “That hatchling did all of this to the Dragon Academy?” Hiccup says in awe almost impressed. Astrid points to a pair of twins running behind her with the seats of their pants on fire, followed by their two-headed dragon. “Ruffnut and Tuffnut may have helped…” Astrid chuckles nervously. “That baby has some serious firepower…and some seriously good aim” Ruffnut exclaims as she tries to pat out the flames on her pants. “Yeah! But in your case, it had a pretty big target!” Tuffnut chuckles until Ruffnut socks him in the arm “OW!” Tuffnut exclaims in pain as he clutches his sore arm. Hiccup asks “Ruff, Tuff. Did you or Barf and Belch get a good look at the hatchling? The twins trade a confused look. “Not really, all I know is, I want it!”, Ruffnut says. “No way, I saw it first!” Tuffnut retorts, “Did not!” Ruffnut scowls back, “Did too,” says Tuffnut. “I saw it first because you saw it second, which means I saw it first! Case closed.” Tuffnut folds his arms in satisfaction and smiles smugly. Ruffnut slugs Tuffnut in the arm again, “OW!” You lean closer to hiccup so your lips are just a centimetre away from his ear and whisper “Are they always like that?” Hiccup rolls his eyes. “Sadly, yes. I’d like to say you get used to it, but-” Astrid levels a suspicious gaze at you. Her spiked dragon does the same, perfectly mirroring her posture. “And who, exactly, are you?” “Uh, we’re still working on that,” Hiccup interjects just in time. “But Toothless and I can vouch for our new friend here. She helped us hatch that baby dragon.” “And look how well that turned out,” Astrid quips. “How are Stormfly and I supposed to run practice drills with all of these distractions? What if Dagur attacks Berk again and we’re unprepared?” Before Hiccup can answer, Toothless swivels his head towards the direction of the sudden crash. “Toothless and I will take our nameless pal to investigate…uh…that,” says Hiccup. “Astrid you and Stormfly-” “We’ll scout the island and see if we can track down the little rascal,” Astrid says, finishing Hiccup’s thought and blowing him a kiss. “Um…” Hiccup says nervously to you after Astrid has left, and gives you a warm charming smile. Hiccup unfolds his map and asks, “Okay, where to next?” Tuffnut butts in and says, “Hey, wherever you go, can you bring us back some new pants?” “Um…sure thing” Hiccup says nervously.

-Journal-

Which are more dangerous on Berk: The dragons...or the Vikings?

I’ll admit, the dragons made me pretty nervous at first. I mean, Toothless couldn’t be friendlier, and Grump wasn’t awake long enough to even come close to being scary. But it’s hard to shake my first impression of dragons after that Seashocker tried to, y’know, eat me.

And then there’s Stormfly. The way she looked at me…it was almost like she could see right through me. Like she could see into my past…

Hiccup says Stormfly stares so much because she’s a tracker class dragon. Apparently, Deadly Nadders used to be in the Sharp Class, but Hiccup and someone named Fisheggs (I think?) recategorized them on account of their incredible eyesight and sense of smell. Part of me wishes that I just hatched was a deadly Nadder so that it, could help me track down where I come from. But Hiccup says that isn’t likely since Nadders hatch out of spiked eggs, and mine was smooth as Toothless’ scales.

 I’d ask Astrid if Stormfly could help me, but Astrid’s stare made me even more uncomfortable than her dragon’s! The way she blew him a kiss! I could smell jealousy in the air… Astrid’s strong and fast and, to hear Hiccup tell it, she sure knows her way around an axe. But I don’t think that’s what makes her seem so tough.

No, what makes Astrid more dangerous than any dragon on Berk is how ready she seems. Ready for challenges, ready for battle, ready for anything. I can’t even remember my own name for Odin’s sake! But Astrid knows exactly who she is and what she needs to do in any situation. And if Astrid’s worried about someone named Dagur, then he has to be bad news.

Wait. Dagur.

Why is that name familiar?

Did Astrid mean Dagur…the deranged?

Chief of the Berserkers?

Survivor of the Skrill?

Heir to Oswald the Agreeable, who met a pretty disagreeable fate at his own son’s hands.

HOW DO I KNOW THIS? How could I recognize Dagur’s name but not my own?

Where does all of this random information in my head come from? And will this knowledge make me helpful to Hiccup and the others? Or will it make me more dangerous to any Viking or dragon alive?