Heart of a Berserker: Hope (School of Dragons)

Chapter 11

A/N: We're onto Secret of the Leviathan. This should only take two or three chapters considering the expansion is mostly puzzles.

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"What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him." — Viktor Frankl

Chapter 11

The next couple of weeks passed quickly. I tried to get back into school, but I also needed to help out Hiccup with the new dragon. We were still trying to learn everything we could about him. One morning, I met Hiccup and Valka outside of the Great Hall at Berk at the chief's request.

"Hey, Brennda," Hiccup greeted me. "You know, we rescued that egg from Harald in a whirlwind of adventure and things haven't slowed down. This little guy hasn't stopped growing ever since he hatched. Well, maybe I shouldn't call him 'little'."

I smiled down at the dragon that was already larger than any other baby I had seen. He looked anxiously between the the Vikings. It seemed he was trying to make as much sense out of the situation as we were. Then he let out a sad, curdling noise.

"I don't recognize this dragon species, but he's clearly a Tidal Class dragon," Valka said. "I believe he may one day grow to be a gigantic Class 10 Leviathan, just like the Bewilderbeast! We'll learn so much as he grows and claims his birthright power."

"That is pretty amazing!" I said. Which left me highly suspicious. Why would Harald jut let us have this dragon? He had to know something about him that we didn't. Sure, losing the egg to us could have been unintentional, but I doubted it.

"It's going to be okay, my dear," Valka said to the distressed dragon. "Don't fret... we're here for you. Brennda, pet the baby leviathan and help me soothe him."

I bent down and stroked the dragon along his head. Thankfully, this did seem to calm him, and he relaxed under my touch.

"I just wish I could make him feel better," Hiccup said. "We've given him water and dragon nip, and Toothless even played with him under the waterfall. Nothing's worked! He keeps making that heartbreaking noise... Well, we're not going to figure anything if we just stand around here. Hmmm... I don't remember seeing this little guy in the Book of Dragons, but it's been a while since I cracked the book open. Will you go to the Great Hall and look for it?"

I nodded. "Sure." I smiled at the baby dragon. "I'll be right back." Then I entered the Great Hall, where Astrid greeted me at the door.

"Oh, the little guy followed you here!" she said. I looked down and, sure enough, the leviathan was on my tail. "He must like you. Thanks for helping. I can't find anything in the Book of Dragons that look remotely like our baby leviathan. We've discovered a new dragon!"

"That's always fun," I said.

Astrid nodded. "Fishlegs must be ecstatic, but we need to know more if we want to help. Can you help Fishlegs with the Bork papers? He's stuck upstairs with that mess."

"I'm on it." I climbed the stairs to find Fishlegs at the desk surrounded by papers.

"What a rare treat!" he said. "Have you ever dug into the Bork Papers?"

"I can't say I have."

"It contains all the interesting dragon research Bork didn't put into the Book of Dragons. Frankly, it's fascinating."

"That does sound interesting. Have you learned anything about our new friend yet?"

"I haven't found anything yet... but don't worry! I still have yards of parchment to cover. Shoot, I let the light go out. Can you light it again?"