The Dragon Eye One Shots

No One Has To Know (Viggo)

Edited as of 15/07/24. Nothing major, just some grammar fixes, a couple of sentences reworked for better flow and some extra sentences added in.

As you stormed out of the clubhouse, you ignored the yells of the other riders, asking you to come back, and headed toward the stables to get your dragon. An emerald Monstrous Nightmare by the name of Envy.

"Come on, Envy, let's go somewhere where we'll actually be appreciated." you said as you led her out of the stables and mounted her. As she leapt up into the air and began to fly away from Dragon's Edge, you could hear the other riders still trying to convince you to come back. You scoffed. Didn't they get it? You were done. After years of being treated as second best and feeling completely inadequate, you were finally done.

Done with them, done with their cause and done with all the self righteousness that came along with it.

You flew for hours. Not particularly caring where you were going, just as long as it was as far away from Dragon's Edge as possible. You soon noticed how tired Envy was getting and directed her down toward a small island.

After landing, you quickly checked the island over for any threats. Once you were satisfied you were alone, you set up camp before spending the next couple of hours throwing and burying your axe into the trees that surrounded the clearing you were in. You had hoped that a session of axe throwing would help get rid of your anger, but somehow you found yourself angrier than ever before. Your mind wouldn't stop going through everything you had put up with over the years with the other riders and how, no matter what you did, you were never really considered a valuable part of the team.

With one more swing, you buried your axe deep within another tree before slumping down on a log by the fire. You looked over at Envy, who was curled up and fast asleep by the fire. It was more clear than ever to you now. She was the only one to truly care about you. Your one true friend. Oh, what you would give to see the other riders torn down from their high and mighty dragons for once. But how exactly could you go about making that happen?

As you thought about how you could teach them all a lesson, there was a sudden rustling that came from the bushes on the other side of the clearing. At first you thought it might be one of the other riders having followed you to convince you to come back, but when Envy awoke from her light sleep and immediately began to growl, you quickly pushed that thought aside. Following your dragon's lead, you got up and pulled out the throwing knives you always carried in your belt.

"Show yourself," you growled. The bushes rustled a little more before finally the person who was apparently stupid enough to try and sneak up on a Monstrous Nightmare and their rider stepped out into the clearing. It was none other than... Viggo Grimborn!? Well, to say this wasn't good was a complete understatement.

Upon seeing him, Envy's signature green flame erupted across her scales and her growls intensified. Despite her threatening display, Viggo payed her no mind and kept his eyes fixated on you. You suspected that the reason for that was because his hunters were currently surrounding the two of you. Their crossbows trained on the clearing, ready to take you and Envy out should you try to harm or kill their leader.

As you stared each other down, his eyes briefly flickered downwards and upon seeing the knives gripped in your hands, he chuckled a little.

"I assure you, my dear. There's no need for those. I'm not here to bring harm to you or your dragon." he plainly stated. Well that didn't make any sense. He was a Dragon Hunter, harming dragons was all he did. You narrowed your eyes at him and tightened your grip on your knives. What sort of game was he playing?

"Then why are you here?"

"I believe we could be of great help to each other. After all, we've both suffered greatly at the hands of the Dragon Riders." What? How could he possibly know what you've been through? "Let's just say, during our last few encounters, the tension between you and the other riders has been more than obvious." he continued, clearly seeing your moment of confusion.

Okay, yeah, you could see how the ever growing tension could be extremely obvious, especially to someone as perceptive as Viggo, but what you didn't get was how he knew where to find you. After all, when you left Dragon's Edge behind, not even you had known where you were going. Your only goal being to get as far away from the other riders as possible

"How did you know to find me on this island?"

"I didn't. I just happened to be in the area when I saw you land." Well, it sounded plausible. Not to mention, you did recall seeing a ship close by when you had landed.

You looked at Viggo long and hard as you thought about what you should do next, in this situation. So far he appeared to be speaking the truth. No harm had come to either you or Envy and you had concluded awhile ago that you were completely alone with him. After all, not only had you not heard the usually heavy footsteps of his Hunters (they weren't the quietest people in the world), or the sounds of crossbows being loaded, but Envy had kept all of her attention trained on Viggo. Which she most certainly wouldn't be doing if there were other people around.

It was quite the risky move he was taking, approaching you alone like this. If you wanted to, you could easily give Envy the order and she'd turn him into a pile of ash, ending this war against the Hunters for good. And as much as you liked the sound of that, you found you couldn't give that order. Not yet at least. You were curious about what he had said. 'I believe we could be of great help to each other.'

Working with Viggo Grimborn? Not only did it sound absolutely insane, but you could easily picture all the ways this could end horribly for you and your dragon. At the same time though, you wanted nothing more than to see the other riders get knocked down from their pedestal for once. But if you were going to be working with him (and Hel, you couldn't believe you were actually considering this), you had to make sure of one thing first.

"Say I did agree to work with you, could you promise that no harm would come to the other riders and their dragons?" As much as you wanted to get back at the other riders, you didn't want to see them injured or worse, killed.

"No harm will come to the Dragon Riders or their dragons, you have my word." The assurance in his voice didn't anything, but assure you. This all seemed a little too easy. At the same time though, with all you knew about the man in front of you, you seriously doubted that he gave his word very often. Let alone to one of his adversaries. So that had to count for something right?

You sheathed your knives and rose a hand to your dragon, signalling to her to settle down. Envy gave you a questioning look, but listened as she stopped growling and the flames dancing across her scales died down. You were probably going to regret this.

"What did you have in mind?"