A Fading Star Will Rise Again (A How To Train Your Dragon Fanfic)

8- A Star in the Night

(Artwork by Nightfury4eva)

Esteria

The moonlight made Esteria's scales twinkle as if she was a part of the night sky, speckled with stars. Her wings began to ache, and as she approached a large grassy island she decided that she could take a short rest break.

Esteria folded her wings against her body, retracting her side-spines to dive. At the last possible second, she unfurled her large glittering wings to catch herself and land gracefully in the grass. She allowed the cool breeze to wash over her scales as little glowing fireflies fluttered around her. Peace and quiet, at last.

Not even a second later, a high-pitched scream came from behind her, and then a loud splash as something crashed into the salty ocean water below. Esteria prepared herself for an attack and flew towards the source of the noise to inspect.

"Birdie, Daybreak? What in the world are you doing here?" She asked, alarmed, as a dripping wet Light Howl scrambled onto the beach, panting and pulling Birdie after her.

"N-nothing." Daybreak panted, collapsing to the sand.

"Pfft, yeah, sure looks like 'nothing.'" Esteria said, reaching down and grabbing Birdie to see if she was still breathing.

"Este," Birdie croaked, peeking one eye open. "You have a dead bug on your nose."

Esteria laughed and set Birdie down, using her paw to wipe the firefly off her snout. "Thanks Bird."

The young girls smiled innocently.

"Ah ah, but I'm not letting you off that easy." Esteria's tone was firm. "What in Valhalla made you think you should do this?"

"It was Day's idea," Birdie quickly pointed at the Light howl.

"Hey!" Daybreak said, offended.

"Well it's true." Birdie stated, matter-of-factly. "I had nothing to do with it at all. In fact, I was the one trying to get you to stay back at the Hidden World, but noooo you just had to follow Esteria."

Esteria looked amused. "And why did you tag along, little stowaway?"

"W-well," Birdie stuttered, looking at Daybreak nervously. "I wanted to make sure she didn't hurt herself. I'm still capable of shooting fire blasts at things! Like whales, I can hit whales with fire, and Day here wouldn't be able to stop a whale from eating her without my help."

Birdie proudly demonstrated her fire 'blast' abilities by shooting out a small blue ember onto the sand.

Esteria nodded sarcastically. "Uh huh. Riiiiight." She then frowned as she surveyed their island surroundings. They were on the shore of a populated island, she could see street lamps and homes in the distance. Humans. Esteria shivered.

Asazin- 3 years earlier.

The island seemed calm and peaceful, the only sound coming from the tropical birds hiding among the trees. Asazin walked alongside his mate, Twila. Normally the King and Queen wouldn't both be out, in fear of dying without someone to maintain order within the kingdom.

But the Hidden World was running out of food, and Asazin and Twila were some of the best hunters among dragons.

It was night, and the darkness provided great cover for the royal couple as they walked around in search of possible prey.

The sound of fast footsteps came from nearby. Asazin turned to try and spot whatever had made the noise. It sounded relatively large, not quite dragon-size but not a rabbit.

"Stay here," Asazin instructed his mate. He walked away from her and looked behind a tree to find a human. The man's expression was filled with disgust, and he held a crossbow with a special kind of arrow- the tip was filled with some sort of black liquid.

Asazin jumped away from the human before he was shot. "Twila!" He roared, turning to see his mate collapsed to the ground. An arrow stuck out of her neck and cracks of white had spread through the nearby scales.

She was dead.

Birdie

Esteria was staring off into space, looking at nothing in particular. Birdie knew this because she'd checked, and sure enough Esteria just seemed to be gazing at the sky.

Birdie flopped in the sand, tired from almost drowning and also from the persistent bugging she had been doing. "Day, how are we gonna get Esteria to stop staring into oblivion like she is a future-seer?" She asked.

Daybreak shrugged.

Esteria heard the girls talking and snapped out of her daze.

"Oh my gosh! Day, you did it- Shrugging woke her up!" Birdie squealed, scrambling to her feet and bouncing around Daybreak. "We make the best team ever!"

Esteria laughed. "Sorry girls. So it's too late for me to take you back to the Hidden World, and you mischevious little stowaways will have to stay here for the night. Please try to stay hidden, OK?"

"What!?" Birdie exclaimed, outraged. "You're not taking us with you?"

Esteria hesitated before answering. She sighed. "Well, I really don't want to fly back just to get you home, nor do I want you flying home alone. But you definitely can't come with me." Another sigh. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, please just try and get some sleep."

"Okay. That makes sense," Birdie agreed quickly, turning in circles and laying down. "Day and I will get some hard earned sleep and then we'll wake up and find you all ready to do whatever you want to do."

Esteria rolled her eyes. "Alright. Now sleep. Please stay hidden, don't be, well, don't be Birdie for a minute, OK? I have to scout out this island."

"Mk," Birdie mumbled. "I won't be Birdie. I'll be... Siegfried, which means Daybreak is Roy."

"Why do I have to be Roy!? You're the one who can't even fly!" Daybreak huffed and Birdie cuffed her over the head.

Esteria laughed. "How do you even know about them?"

The two girls giggled mischievously, not answering the question.

Esteria began walking away. "Goodnight, girls. Sweet dreams."

"'Night Mommy!" Birdie called after Esteria giddily. Daybreak made a weird squeaking sound and looked at Bird with a disturbed expression. "It was just a joke," Birdie responded, standing up and stretching her legs.

"Let's go," Birdie hissed at Daybreak once Esteria had disappeared.

"What? But I thought-" Daybreak began.

"I just lied to her so we wouldn't get in trouble! I mean, sure she had a point with the whole nickname thing, I think my codename will be Siegfried, but that's not what we're worrying about. What we need to do is scout out the island too. And Esteria can't do anything about it if we get back here before she does and pretend to be asleep!" Birdie explained.

Daybreak nodded obediently. "But since I'M the oldest I get to be in charge." She said proudly walking after Esteria.

"What!? That's not fair! I'm only a few months younger! COME BACK!" Birdie scrambled after Daybreak, kicking up sand as she ran.