Beyond the Sunset | HTTYD (Discontinued)

Chapter Seven

Flying above the clouds cannot be done justice in the simple, brief words of the English language. It has a beauty more beautiful than the most stunning diamond and a freedom more free than escaping a dark cell. It felt like I used to be blind and could finally see, or dead and now came back to life. 

We swooped in and out of the clouds, the wind tangling through our hair. I whooped with pure joy as we coasted just above the clouds. My screams of both fear and excitement were stolen by the wind as we rushed towards the shining ocean. I felt the warm sun on my skin and ran my fingers through the mist of the clouds.

Between the thrill of every dive and the wonder of the sky, I had never thought in my wildest dreams that flying would be anything like what it actually was. 

"Was that awesome or what?" I cheered as we landed back on the boat. 

Deav only nodded in agreement before sitting down on the side of the boat. 

"We have to go get the others," I continued, "then we'll actually have dragons and--"

"What about the Hidden World?" Deav asked.

"What about it?"

"Shouldn't we go see if it's real?"

"Well, considering Ri is here, it probably is, but sure." Deav took his place once again behind me and we soared into the air on Riona. 

Before long, a mighty waterfall claimed our entire line of vision. Hundreds of years ago, it was said to be the end of the world. I understood why.

The mist from the crashing waves soon drenched us as Riona flew through a maze of rocks. She obviously had been there before. 

This isn't what I expected, I thought to myself. 

"I thought it would be more... like a paradise," Deav whispered, voicing my thoughts. 

"Yeah, and... woah," I trailed off as the walls around us lit up with a fiery light that seemed, well, alive. 

"Are those dragons?" Deav asked, pointing to the specks of light around us. 

"Yeah," I whispered. "Nanodragons, fireworms, and electrisquirms, from the looks of it."

Our conversation grew quiet as more and more dragons came into view, flying near us on all sides. I found myself identifying them from the old sketches, their descriptions, or their flight patterns. There were very few in the cavern that I couldn't identify or, at least, name a close relative.

Riona flew us straight into the center of the cavern where a crystal-like structure sat. She nudged us off her back, although we were now in plain view of some very deadly, very ruthless dragons. 

"Riona," I half-hissed, half-whispered, "last I checked, dragons and humans don't get along great. I would prefer not to be murdered this soon after finding out dragons really exist."

Her only response was to nudge the top of her head under my arm so I could nervously scratch her head. 

Suddenly, a bigger dragon flew down from the top of the cave and landed in front of us. It growled softly at Riona and glanced at Deav and I. 

"What kind of dragon is that?" Deav breathed. 

"Strike class, Fury relative," I replied, as loudly as I dared. "Most likely descended from a Night or Light Fury."

It growled in a tongue I faintly recognized. 

"What?" I asked. 

"Do you understand my language?" the dragon repeated. 

"I do," I said, "but I cannot speak it back to you."

"That will not be an issue."

"If I may ask, who are you?"

"I am the Alpha of the dragons. The one who brought you here is my sister," he explained. "You are?"

"Merica. How do you know the language? It was said that the dragons no longer spoke it."

"It is a gift passed down from Alpha to Alpha." He circled the three of us calmly, as one who knows he is better than everyone else but humble about it does. "Why are you in my kingdom?"

I chose my words carefully. "I believe it may soon be safe for humans and dragons to coexist once again. Much of human society has been left in ruins, leaving only the strongest alive."

When he didn't kill me on the spot, I continued. 

"I propose a slow start. I have a small group of a couple hundred people living on the Isle of Berk. The island was built for a human-dragon alliance, so it would be perfect to reintroduce your people back into the world."

"My ancestors lived on Berk," he mused. "I accept your offer as a representative of my people, but each of us must individually volunteer to ally with your... clan. Fly back to the island and wait for us there." He growled at Riona, who nodded in a very dragon-y fashion. 

I bowed my head to the Alpha before leaving the cavern as we had come.

"Do you really think this will work?" Deav asked when we reached the blue sky. 

"I hope it does," I said as we landed back on the deck of the small ship. "Can you stay down here and navigate? Riona and I'll catch up."

He nodded and jumped onto the deck as we flew off, soaring up and away, high into the clouds. 

"Alright, Ri," I said, "let's see what you can do."

She took off at such a high speed that I fell off, luckily onto the grass of a nearby islet. 

"Riona?" I called. 

A half-invisible, smiling dragon face popped up from the tall grass, bounding towards me and knocking me to the ground. 

"I'm fine! I'm fine," I laughed, wriggling out from under the dragon and standing up, wiping the dragon spit from my clothes. "I'm pretty sure that doesn't wash out."

Riona dragon-laughed and nudged me until I got back in the saddle and took off into the sky. 

A second later, I heard the telltale sound of her about to fire, although there was nothing to aim at in the empty sky. 

"Ri? What are you doing?"

She fired and a wave of heat rushed back at us, obscuring my vision for a moment. When the wave subsided, a completely different island came into view. This one had a boat docked at one of its beaches. 

"Is that...?" New Berk?

It took a moment, but it eventually dawned on me. 

"Riona, you can teleport!"