Mysteries Beyond (Dragons RTTE Fanfic - Sequel to Deception)

Chapter 18

Great, so you had a dragon eye lens, but no dragon eye. What now then? Last time you saw them, Hiccup had both dragon eyes. Knowing him, you assumed he must have destroyed them by now. Like he had always said, the dragon eye in the hands of the wrong person was dangerous, and could possible trigger the demise of the entire Archipelago and all the dragons within it. And it was true - you'd almost witnessed it.

'Viggo might know more about it...' you remarked. Ugh, why was it that every time you thought about anything, Viggo always came to mind? You hadn't even been away long, and you could have sworn you'd thought about him almost more than the quest you were on. Was that normal? Probably not, but you yourself weren't very ordinary either, when you thought about it. And now, you were getting side-tracked. You dragged yourself back to reality again, but it felt like rolling a giant boulder up a mountain. You tried to focus your attention on the riddle instead.

Reveal your desire

Well, what did you desire? That should have been an easy question. Answers, Viggo, Ember...you looked down at your sword strapped to your belt...a family...Taking your sword and unsheathing it to its full length, you studied it carefully, looking at the intricate design of a Changewing you had carved into it when you had first met Ember. Looking down at Amethyst, you still couldn't understand why she looked different to any other Changewing you had seen. You didn't know how frequent it was to find a Changewing like Amethyst. After all, Changewings were very elusive dragons. Still, you couldn't help feeling that there must be some reason why Amethyst was different. Some reason that was just on the horizon of your mind, but one that you still could not quite grasp nonetheless. Feeling bored and slightly annoyed at your lack of understanding of the mysteries that presented themselves to you, you flicked your sword into it's knife structure, before quickly flicking it back into it's full-length sword structure again. You continued fidgeting with it, switching it back and forth from a sword to a knife, hearing a small click as it folded and unfolded each time, slashing it from side to side through the clouds every now and then. You steadied your eyes on your reflection in the blade, the frustration plain on your face. If your father had been here, he would have known what to do, that was for sure. You clamped the sword down into a knife again. However, your anger apparently got the better of you, as the mechanism jammed. You gave a small sigh, lifting it up to eye level to inspect the damage. You held the handle to your eye, to look down the length of the knife. You couldn't help thinking that the heptagonal shape of the handle was strange to say the least. It had always struck you as odd, but now even more so, as you inspected it from this angle. There was only one other place you had ever observed that particular shape...dragon eye lenses!

'That couldn't possibly mean that...? No...Surely...'

Taking the dragon eye lens, you held it up beside the handle of your sword. Sure enough, the dragon eye had the same seven-sided shape as the handle of your knife. The indent of the dragon eye lens seemed to have a complementary shape to the end of your knife's handle. Carefully and slowly, you brought the two unique objects together, pressing the dragon eye lens to the end of the handle of your knife with your left hand, whilst your right steadied the blade. A spark ignited within you, when you heard a high-pitched click, as the dragon eye lens connected to the end of the knife, and it remained fitted to the end, as you removed your left hand. The dragon eye lens you had now inserted seemed to act as a small extension to the end of the hilt. Holding the sword in your right hand, you knew what came next...

You found the nearest cave you could in record time, not even bothering to see if there were any dragons inside or not (you hoped not!), and directed Amethyst to a rock that jutted out from the floor. She carefully shot a small blast of acid onto the rock's peak. Next, you cautiously held the knife down to the level of the rock, the end with the lens attached, just a few inches in front of the glowing, green acid.  For a few seconds, you held your breath as nothing happened. But then, from out of nowhere, you saw a faint, green tinge illuminate the length of the blade, and expand out to a crisp, green glow, which projected itself onto the rock at the far end of the small cave. It was just dark enough for you to be able to make out the pattern displayed in front of you. You gaped, realizing that what lay in front of you wasn't just the usual ancient markings and information found on dragon eye lenses - this was a map! A map to answers! Scrambling to find a piece of parchment and a pencil in your pocket, you scribbled down the map as quickly as you could, taking down every detail. The island you had found the lens on was easily recognizable by the large peak at the centre of the small island, the volcano. Then, there was an arrow pointing  further west to a group of islands, which were circled. Another arrow then directed you eastwards again, back towards Valka's mountain. You pondered it deeply. Why would the map send you so far west, to then return to practically where you had started? Was there something particular that you needed from those islands? There had to be - there was no other logical explanation.

Your mind began to drift again as you remounted Amethyst, heading west. You didn't know where else to go. Right now, the map was the only motivation you had to keep going - you had to follow it. What would Viggo think? Would you even ever see him again? All the questions whirring around in your mind felt like a spiraling Typhoomerang. You passed the volcanic island that you had found the lens on, and continued flying west. It was approaching dusk now and, if the proportions on the map were correct, you figured you'd reach the group of islands by about dawn. From what you could remember, the islands looked at least partly forested, with a few streams, so hopefully it would be a good place to catch your breath too. You weren't quite sure the last time you'd slept. It must have been when you were with Viggo. But, how long ago was that? The last few days all seemed to have merged into a single length of time.

And your sword? Apparently containing some sort of mechanism similar to the dragon eye? What did that mean? You had no idea, and it startled you that you had never considered that before. But then, why should you? Apart from the intricate shape of the end of the hilt, which you had always assumed was an aesthetic feature, there was nothing to suggest it was any different to any other sword. The only reason it had always seemed special to you, was the sentimental value it carried - the fact that your father had made it and given it you, nothing else. Well, that ignited a whole new array of questions in your head...

A/N: I had to do a LOT of explaining this chapter, so sorry if it wasn't that interesting. I also realize it's quite complex. I tried to make it as clear as I could, but let me know if you need to me to clarify stuff. Anyway, yeah, that's it for now - hope you enjoyed! :)