I was barely old enough to remember when I first saw dragons.
Mother always described it in vivid detail, but the descriptions could only stir my memory to a point.
She also always told Whip and I about her dragon-riding days, describing the battles against the Hunters in intense emotion. Grandfather always seemed to have a slight soft spot for those stories, and not in an 'I like them' way.
But no matter what stories she told me, no matter what pictures she drew or what scenes she showed me, I couldn't have been prepared when a huge, black creature with icy-dark blue nostrils landed in the center of New Berk.
It had colossal bat wings and sharp white teeth that marked the edges of a cave: A cave with the same icy blue glow at the end of it. It had fins that stood taller than me, also glowing, with two tail fins at the end of its tail. It landed with a spectacular roar that emitted one word that pounded in my head:
Danger.
"TOOTHLESS!" Mother, Father, Hiccup, and Astrid cried. The black thing leaped onto Hiccup, drowning him with vicious licks from a big, slobbery pink tongue. "Hiccup!" Several gasps filled my ears, but I barely heard any of them. My head was pounding with surprise, confusion, and, most of all, fear.
"Toothless!" Zephyr laughed, rushing up to the black thing. Sharp, intelligent emerald green eyes turned to her, curiosity shining in them before changing almost immediately to recognition.
"Mom!" Whip whined from behind me. Normally I would've had a snappy comeback, but I was frozen with fear as the beast changed its gaze to land on me and my brother.
My eyes widened with fear and my gaze flickered to the ground around me. I snatched up a sharp stick nearby and raised it toward the creature, making its dilated pupils thin and a low growl emitted from its throat.
"Woah, woah, woah, easy, Aphira, calm down." Mother quickly rushed up to me and grabbed the stick out of my grasp. "This is Toothless, a Night Fury. Do you remember the Night Furies?" My eyes widened further. Night Furies. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage. Your only chance...hide and pray it does not find you.
Hiding didn't really seem like an option at the moment, nor did praying.
Other beasts with bat wings started landing at the village, crashing into individual Vikings and causing squeals of excitement and happiness within them.
Toothless shook his head with a low burble. "I know, boy, I know." Mother chuckled. "Mom?" Whip said. "Why didn't you tell us the dragons could talk?" I glanced at my little brother in surprise. What was he talking about? "What are you talking about?"
A look of surprise crossed Mother's normally guarded expression, then her gaze softened and she shook her head as if clearing her mind of a shocking possibility. "Here," She said softly, reaching out to us and grasping our hands in hers. She held them up toward the dragon, and I froze, my muscles stiff as my eyes stared at my fingers. I didn't want to lose a limb as Hiccup had!
I shut my eyes tightly, gritting my teeth as I prepared for the undeniable pain that would sear through me, marking the end of one of my hands so early on in my life.
Suddenly, I felt smooth scales brush my skin, and as I slowly opened my eyes, a flash of light hit the edge of my vision, followed by a long, snake-like tail smacking my arm. Toothless shook his head and stumbled back in surprise. I quickly put my hand down and turned to see what was going on.
My brother wasn't standing beside me anymore. Instead, a fat dragon with a snake-like tail and four stump-like legs stood beside me. Small, round, black pupils marked the center of orange eyes. Purple-red stripes marked the creature's four bat-like wings, legs, and head. A horn turned sharply upwards, and a small red forked tongue snaked out from over a sharp, white row of teeth as the beast roared in surprise.
There was a long, salmon scar on the side of the beast. It turned to look at me, its eyes wide with surprise, then faced Mother and several other dragons, although only a few looked like they had seen a ghost.
Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout, Heather, Grandfather, Mother and Father all were staring at the dragon-like they had just seen one of their best friends come back to life. An icy blue dragon, a dark purple-blue dragon, two metal-like dragons, and two ruby-red dragons stared at him in the same way, along with the Riders' dragons.
Mother stepped forward, tears edging her vision. Her voice came out strangely choked as if she wasn't sure the dragon was real. "Whiplash?"
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Fading Echoes - The Echoes, Book 2 - HTTYD Fanfiction
FanfictionAphira had met the dragons when she was very young with her Mother and her brother, Whip. However, she didn't remember it, and not even the stories that her Mother told in vivid detail stirred her memory. But when one day, suddenly several beasts...
