The Hidden World

The Beginning of the End

Sticky air filled the dark room.
The silence was heavy, suffocating even.
Frantic footsteps echoed in the black hole, from one corner to another. It resulted in his head as horrible screeches, a nasty form of the so called tinnitus.
A guilty knock dragged him out of his world of thoughts, where absolutely no ideas were circling but therefore disappointed insults at his intelligence.
"Come in." The man sighed unnerved, pinching his nose at the bridge of his two eyes. The door opened slowly, cautiously. A big head, bigger than his own peaked in. Internally he breathed out relieved. Any other person he could've killed right now and then.
"Victor?"
Viggo glanced ashamed to the ground, hiding his dark eyes from his opponent. Hearing his birth name instead of his preferred artist name was a very bad sign.
"I messed up big time, didn't I?" He chuckled and pulled out the old coin from his grandfather out of his pocket from his worn out pants. He flipped the lucky penny with his fingers, a hobby he had trained himself in his old orphanage since he had had no one in his age. Everyone was too young, in Hiccup's case too old. They were outsiders, which was one of the many things they had in common.
"I'm sorry." The other man apologized when he had fully entered the room and closed the door. A sizzling sound sounded in the room, followed by a small fire enlightening the room. He used it to put several candles on fire, Viggo observing with his hands hidden in his pockets. Soon they were standing in a warm light. Viggo tried to suppress a yawn that was being created by the comfortable coziness.
"I'm sorry for letting you down. Your plan was perfect." Viggo's right hand elucidated his guilt. Viggo immediately shook his head.
"No it wasn't."
The other man blinked perplexed and searched for Viggo's eyes, checking if he was being serious.
"We both had the element of surprise. His was better." Viggo hissed and clenched the coin in his fist, the penny pushing painfully into his flesh.
"How could've we known he'd be capable of taming dragons? Our enemies!" His opponent cursed, hatred printed in his wrinkles produced by anger.
"That's it. We could've never known. That little piece of shit is full of surprise. Even worse." Viggo growled, walking frustrated to his chair. He was too excited to sit down though, which is why he kept standing and leaned his foot on the wood.
The other man lifted his eyebrow, waiting for further explanations.
"That dwarf saw right through me."
The man laughed deeply.
"Impossible. He's no match to you. No one is."
Viggo's head snapped to his visitor, narrowing his eyes.
"And that is the problem. He is. Hiccup's intelligence scartches mine dangerously. And that with his young years." Viggo realized shocked. And worried. If he couldn't control Hiccup, who could?
"You're exaggerating. That boy's still green behind his ears. He has zero experiences." His opponent claimed, not worried in the slightest. And that was what parted him into a mere follower and Viggo into a leader. To be great and successful you should never underestimate your enemies.
"Maybe by his age. Nevertheless, by life experience he is far older than the two of us combined."
Viggo knew what he was talking about. While spying on this child a whole lifetime he had seen his bad and worst times. There was no place left for good experience or even a little smile. Viggo wondered when Hiccup had gotten to learn to smile and hide the sadness he carried alongside.
His right hand surrendered with a sigh.
"At least we gained the dragon eye." He lifted the right corner of his mouth, his lips twitching into a proud smile. It overcame Viggo, very suddenly and uncontrollably. The man barely dugged and the glass Viggo had thrown in his direction splattered against the wooden door.
"That little bitch!" He roared and kicked down his desk, every document flying through the room, miraculously not catching on fire.
His opponent peered at his leader, worried of another surprise attack. He barely witnessed him this furious.
"That son of a bitch tricked me!" Viggo roared. Upon seeing the chaos he had produced, he took deep breaths to calm down.
"He stole the dragon eye from your bare hands?" His second in command recaptured irritated. He didn't really understand how this was possible in the first place.
"Yes. It's-" Viggo scanned over his loose documents, searching for one in particular. After lifting some with his foot didn't result in a success, he gave up.
"It must've been a Common or Garden. Very small dragon, very good Burglars. It must've stolen it back when I wasn't careful enough." He explained casually.
"At least you got him back by shooting him down. Makes you even-" The man tried again, but was immediately cut off.
"That attack cost me a mass of fully equipped dragon hunter ships! And that after I already lost more than half of my ships! Nothing's even! That attack was a complete disaster!" Viggo roared with his hands trashing around frantically through the air. He groaned exhausted and clawed the sensitive skin on his head, pulling on his dark hair. He felt strong hands pulling his ones down.
"You're wrong. Now we know what to deal with. We underestimated him one time, true. But I know you best. You won't let that boy dance on your nose another time. He will suffer the consequences next time when we meet again."
Viggo eyed the man with big eyes. He was right. He was goddamned right. And Viggo was grateful for that. This speech, that was exactly what he had needed. He was glad this man had managed to reach them before he was transformed into the Hidden World with a bunch of teenagers. Without him he would've been lost. So this is also the reason he did the unthinkable. He took the muscular man into a strong embrace, ignoring how the other male tensed up.
"Thank you brother."
Soon he felt a hand clapping his back awkwardly.
"No big deal little brother."
Viggo knew, Ryker would be there for him, no matter what. Viggo, the brain. Ryker, the muscles. They were the perfect ordinated team and together they could achieve anything!
Viggo clapped Ryker's shoulder and left the embrace. He put his desk back into place and picked up a blank paper.
"Having a plan, brother?" Ryker asked with malicious grin. Viggo copied it. Smoothly he picked up a feather and dipped it into the black shimmering ink.
"First we rebuild our forces." He decided calmly. The feather followed a line, ending into a circle.
"Meanwhile we will gather informations." Viggo decided, new circles catching up to the first big one.
"We need more allies, more information about the eye and this world. We can't fight on our own." He declared. Carefully he dipped the tip of the feather into the thick liquid. His hand jerked in hectic moves, the feather creating wild lines on top of the circles.
"And when we have everything prepared-" He eyed his abstract work of art.
"We will attack!"
The sharp top of the feather met the paper. The ink burned through the material, digging the feather into the wooden table.
"Every dragon will die and the humans will take over our world!" He concluded and stood up. He joined Ryker who viewed at his artwork with a mad grin, joyful towards the dirty blood spilling.
Viggo took a last glimpse at his work on the desk with the feather sticking right through it.
"And he will meet his end as well." He murmured in a breathless whisper, something in his heart breaking.
Both men left the room.
The dark room with the cold candles, flickering around the defaced piece of paper. The light reflecting on the ink, which was formed in a crazy attempt to potray a young human being.
The portrait of a mysterious boy.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock The Third.
With the feather piercing right between his eyes, through the paper.