Blood of a Dragon (HTTYD)

CHAPTER FIVE: AMLETHUS

(song above dedicated to Amlethus; the demon god of dragons)

"We've searched the whole island. Gobber is sure of it. He's not here," Valka said when she hopped off Cloudjumper.

"He has to be here. Somewhere—He needs our help," Astrid said in a panic. They'd been searching for hours and hours on end, Gobber's dragon able to track him by scent. "Where's Toothless?" she demanded.

"Still missing," Valka replied hesitantly, able to stay calm even though she feels just as frantic as Astrid does. "Maybe he's with Hiccup. Maybe he's chasing after the Empire on his own to see what they are up to and why they were here," she suggested, trying to reassure her daughter-in-law.

"Go find Gobber. G-Get him and a search party ready to check everywhere; all surrounding islands. We won't stop. I will find him—go! Hurry!"

She nodded and mounted her dragon.

As soon as Valka was out of sight, Astrid broke down and her fear made tears burn in her eyes. She put her hand on her mouth as her heart sunk with terror for what this could mean. No... she refused to believe that... but she couldn't help but think of the "What if"... and because of that, she sat down on the large log behind her and put her face in her hands, her eyes shut tightly as Stormfly looked at her curiously.

'I should have gone with him. Why didn't I go with him?' Astrid thought as worried tears escaped her eyes. She was so angry she let him leave her sight... she just... hoped to the gods that he was okay. Little did she know that one God indeed was watching over him. He was alive. But she couldn't know it without that connection. So she wept.

Stormfly nudged her and she pet the dragon... before looking up and trying to calm her nerves... "Please find him Toothless..." she said quietly to herself.

Sunlight came into the room as to wake them both. Hiccup opened his eyes to see his beautiful wife lying beside him, already awakened and smiling at him. He reached out to take her hand, her laugh filling his heart with warmth and longing. But before he could touch her, his vision blurred and faded.

It was deja vu for Hiccup, because what he felt was both his arms being held, dragging his body as he slowly regained consciousness. But instead of a stone floor beneath him, he saw blue and his legs dangled in the air. When he was able to be fully aware of where he was, he realized he was flying through the clouds at dusk and his arms were held by dragon's claws.

Not knowing whether it was a friendly dragon or not, he looked up, seeing black cracked scales and blue light between... When he looked around he saw that he was in a hoard of them flying to... where? Where were they?! The fog was too thick to see.

(track: "The Bells" by Ramin Djawadi)

He couldn't speak... He was in too much pain, his body aching from everything that had happened. He hoped he was just dead already. He definitely felt like he was. But alas he was not, for this definitely was no Valhalla.

Looking around, as he could squint to see through the mist... he spotted tons of figures. Dragons. There were no other winged creatures that large. He saw thousands of these monsters flying together through the mist... but... then he spotted something in one of the other dragon's clutches. It was the Arbiter. And from here he looked unconscious... or even dead? He was being carried just as Hiccup was, blood dripping down his left leg that must have been wounded...