Night Fury's Venom

Mistakes of the Past

-Two more chapters after this one! Very, very, soon, the Queen will meet her doom!

Hey, that kinda rhymed!

-NFD

The cold season was practically over, not truly over, but close enough. That meant the night we would leave was very close, and we had no idea if we would come back alive... or with free minds. Hiccup has been training with his Soulmagic non-stop, pushing the boundaries of his mind manipulation more than his other skills.

Hiccup got to be fairly skilled with it, able to push through any resistance we could throw in his way with ease. He also practiced with the basics, pushing Soulmagic into portions of his body to enhance them, and he had all but mastered that.

Hiccup's annihilative Soulfire, however, was quite the spectacle to watch. It was horrifyingly powerful, decimating any boulders or trees he fired at—and we were running low on suitable rocks. The reason why he was practicing it at all was due to its instability. He couldn't contain it into a bolt of Soulfire as I could, not for long, anyway.

The bolt would implode mid-air after a few tail-lengths, resulting in nothing but smoke, or a shockwave of magic that really hurt. The shockwave didn't cause any physical injuries, but it still felt like it was ripping my scales off. The problem was, Soulmagic was wild magic, it wouldn't just obey just any kind of dragon, and even Soulburners could have problems with it.

Anyway, Hiccup's Soulmagic was entirely unwilling to maintain its form after it was released. Astra, Star, Aurora, and I had to take cover every time he attempted to control it again, the shockwave it could release being too painful to bear. Vaskr was safe, having decided to keep our egg warm for us in the den, much to my gratitude.

BOOM!

"Auroon!" Astra shouted, "it's not working, just take a break!" After a moment, we heard a shout of agreement, allowing us to come out from hiding inside the den entrance. The snow around Hiccup was completely gone, evaporated by his continued use of Soulfire.

Hiccup's purple scales and pale patterns were the first things I saw when I ran to him, using my speed to crash into him with an elated yell. We both laughed as we rolled a short distance, holding on tightly while we slowly tumbled to a stop.

"You couldn't have missed me that much," Hiccup purred, nuzzling my head lovingly. "It was only a few hours."

"Still too long," I chirped, "way too long! Can we do something together this time?" 

"Together?" Hiccup warbled, "I thought you were tired of training."

"I am..." I paused, thinking of something. "I did want to ask you something about Blazing, though."

Hiccup rolled out of my hold, shifting to get into a comfortable resting position, then waiting while I did the same at his side. He stayed silent for a moment, watching as Astra and Star leisurely made their way to us, Aurora at their tails. The den was still close by, so we didn't have to worry about someone breaking in and harming Vaskr.

"I thought you wanted to avoid too much Soulmagic usage," Hiccup finally replied, "you said something felt wrong about it."

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk about..." I mumbled uncertainly, "I've noticed... side-effects after my core changed color." Hiccup's head immediately turned to me, worried. "Nothing bad!" I think. "Just... weird."

"Explain 'weird.'"

"Well..." I hesitated, then sighed. "My senses are really strong at night, more so than usual..." Hiccup nodded slowly. "And when I Blaze, it's... cold." He blinked. "I mean, there isn't any released heat."