The Hidden World

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Slowly Hiccup's eyes fluttered open.
He glanced around him, finding himself on the ground of a wild forest. He was laying comfortably on a moss bed, the dragon eye secured in his arms.
"Thank god you're ok." A familiar voice next to him mumbled silently. Hiccup smiled relieved at Ava. He was glad she was here, wherever they were.
"I'm good. What exactly happened?"
Hiccup asked while pressing his exhausted body up with a groan. Ava looked worried at him.
"You tried to break the dragon eye. After it somehow pierced into your hands, everything became a blur." She admitted as confused as he probably was. Hiccup remembered the pain and looked at his open hands. Only the wound of the knife was to be found.
It was like Ava read his thoughts and reached for a bottle of water. He cleaned the wound and wrapped around part of his sleeve he had ripped off.
"Where are the others?" He asked, not looking up from his work.
"Searching for any living soul." She replied indifferent, too focused on observing how Hiccup wrapped his wound.
"And where are we?"
Ava shrugged.
"Dunno. We woke up alone in the forest."
Hiccup finished caring for his wound and looked at his friend.
"You think they brought us here? You know, Viggo and his men."
Ava chuckled dryly.
"We must've been pretty knocked out to be transported this far. And to what use?"
Hiccup agreed with a silent nod. They were solely interested in finding the Hidden World and therefore they needed both Hiccup and the dragon eye.
"You think we..."
"Travelled into the unknown world after activating the eye?" Hiccup finished her sentence. She nodded, he laughed.
"No way. That's just some crazy fairy tale. Hear me out. It's impossible to travel into another world with some kind of magic. We're still on earth, just somewhere..." Hiccup was missing the words.
"How about somewhat lost?" His friend Jorge growled angrily, the whole crew behind him as they appeared out of the woods.
"That's the spirit." Hiccup chuckled and pushed himself up to his legs.
"Did you find anything?" He asked, but they only shook their heads.
"Nothing but these big footprints." Thorsten said and pointed behind Hiccup.
"And when did you thought about, oh I don't know, informing us?!" Jorge overreacted, but Hiccup couldn't know for how long they've been wandering in the dark.
"Ok, listen guys, these footprints are probably the only way to find our way back into civilization."
"What if it is a trap?" Ava asked concerned. Hiccup frowned.
"Then we have no chance but to take it. Look at the sun. In less than a few hours it'll be dark and cold. We need to hurry."
Nobody understood how Hiccup could know so much about surviving alone in the woods, neither did he. It seemed to be in his blood. Nevertheless no one bothered to ask, just listened to him and enjoyed that someone took the lead. So they wouldn't need to carry all the responsibility on their tired back.

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Their hike was arduous and took plenty of time, the sun almost gone by now. To the addition it was unbelievable cold. For a few minutes it even started snowing, but the white mass refused to stay any longer on the ground. Neither way they sometimes tended to lose the footprints, but eventually found them again before desperation devoured them. The prints lead them to a small harbor, though the dock was crowded with ships. Old wooden ships.
"Ok?" Ruth stated confused and spoke for every group member. One of the wooden ships was wrecked, almost burned down. It didn't make any sense. If that happened at the cause of a war, it should be lying at least somewhere out there in the ocean. Not at the harbor. Like it was attacked right here. Hiccup shook his head, ignoring the odds.
"Alright. A harbor means civilization. We might be already close." Hiccup mused with his fingers holding his chin.
"Yeah, like how about up there?" Jorge deadpanned pointing to a village on the hill. Hiccup had nothing else to say. He moved up, excitement pushing through his veins. Was it because they were finally meeting people? Viggo and his men? Whatever it was, the story they had accidentally fallen into would continue with this village, certainly. Still Hiccup couldn't avoid feeling something was dragging him up there. His heart longing for whatever awaited him.
He stopped in front of a great gate, his friends following his moves. The door was open, like an invitation. Hiccup didn't hesitate any longer.
He entered the village. Rough people were finishing their work and securing everything for the upcoming night. The boy followed the path, almost confident in comparison to his nervous friends. They didn't exactly fit in with all the strong and big people.
Men and women interrupted their work, observing the newcomers. They looked rather curious than hostile. Hiccup looked into their eyes and felt a spark of joy enlightening him. What was that feeling that washed over his body?
He made his way through the village, like he lived here since ever. His nervousness was a memory, in his current state the only thing he felt was coziness.
"Hiccup wait." Ava demanded, unable to follow his steps that fast. After hearing his name, the villagers started whispering, eyes wide in amazement locked at him. Hiccup tried to catch one of these glances, in vain.
Eventually he stopped in front of hundreds of stairs, leading to a big door in the mountain.
"Wow." Jorge awed behind him in amazement. Though this wasn't what Hiccup's heart was demanding. He turned to his left, ready to ignore the majestic way and follow the smaller path to a big house on the hill, when a hand stopped him.
Big, strong, heavy, not one of his friend's hands. He turned around and looked up at the intimidating blond man with a hammer in his left.
"Gobber the blacksmith." He explained. Hiccup corrected his former observations. He had a hammer as his left. He gulped when he noticed the man had only one leg.
"Now who are you, stranger?"
No doubt the man had been bugged by Hiccup's confident walk in this village. The boy wasn't frightened of the man unlike his friends. It more felt like meeting an old friend, but neither one seemed to recognize.
The skinny adult smiled softly.
"I'm Hiccup."
The blacksmith scrutinized him carefully.
"You certainly look like one." Was his only comment. Hiccup's mouth slightly fell open.
Hiccup. It's already your name. No one would judge you on the other side.
Viggo's voice echoed in his head.  Suddenly Gobber's stern grin dropped and he revealed a friendly smile and a metal tooth.
"Well young Viking, welcome to Berk." He welcomed him and his friends. Hiccup's heart dropped. Viking? How did they end up in the world of Vikings? Was that still a game of Viggo and his comrades? But again, what goal?
"Mind introducing your friends?" Gobber asked friendly and pointed at his shivering friends. Mostly of the cold. No way Jorge would let someone introduce him. Swallowing his fear he stepped next to Hiccup.
"I'm Jorge-" Hiccup threw a hand on his friend's mouth, but damage was already done.
"Jorge?" Gobber repeated confused, not used to such name. He even pronounced the g wrong, which led Hiccup to an idea.
"Yeah. He's called Jorgensen." He explained, quickly realizing this wasn't a proper name. He looked at his friend and immediately found a name.
"Snotlout Jorgensen, that's his name." He introduced relieved, seeing he pushed the right buttons on the Viking. Not on Jorge though, who glanced at him pretty offended. Gladly he kept his mouth shut, for now.
"These are the twins, Ruth, ahem, Ruffnut and T-Tuffnut." He continued the introduction of his friends. He studied his best friend Finn.
"Fishlegs!" He called and placed his hands on each shoulder of his friend. Finn looked uncomfortable and Hiccup felt sorry to use his hated nickname as a base. He moved on to Ava, where he didn't need to think long of a name.
"And Astrid!" Her eyebrows moved closer and she growled at the boy next to her. He immediately left his spot, back next to Gobber.
"That's us. Small nice group." He smiled at the big man, seeing the man lighten up as well.
"You must be coming a long way by the looks of it. You're freezin!" Gobber noticed.
"Let's get you to the Mead Hall, give you proper clothes and a warm soup." Hiccup smiled brightly, appreciating their hospitality very much.