The Great Beyond

Chapter 3: Imperfect Harmony (Reign)

  "Okay, bud, go ahead."

I smiled as the purple glow bounced off the wall once again. Hiccup and I had called the rest of the gang to his house to show off what we'd learned about the Dragon Eye. Everyone stared in awe, particularly at the symbols in front of us.

"Definitely worth getting up for," Fishlegs marveled.

"Fishlegs, can you make out any of it?" Hiccup asked him. We'd both tried our best, but it didn't look like any known language.

"There are parts of maps and symbols, nothing I've seen before. And there's writing, but it's in a language I've never read before."

"What's that thing?" Snotlout pointed to something that looked like a flaming fist.

"Must be some kind of tribal crest or something," Hiccup deducted.

"Ooh, I like that way better than our tribal crest."

"Tuff, we don't have a tribal crest," I pointed out, crossing my arms.

"Well, we should."

"Yeah, and it should be that." Fishlegs dragged his finger along the map, trying to trace wherever it was leading, if we could even figure that out.

"Hiccup, this map, you realize it..."

"Goes beyond the boundaries of the Archipelago. Oh, I know." He looked up at me with a smile, and I felt my heart melt. His desire for adventure had been driving him lately, and if we could figure this map out, we might finally be able to go out there and discover the world. I reached down and squeezed his shoulder, resting one hand on it.

"So, what's our next move?" I asked, the smile never leaving my face. He patted my hand to indicate he wanted to get up.

"For now, we should get some sleep. But I'm going to present this to the council tomorrow, and hope that my dad will let us go out there and find whatever's waiting for us." Everyone nodded and headed out, and once they were gone, he turned to me. "You still want to stay here?"

"Of course." I reached over and tied up my unkempt mop, so it wouldn't smother one of us in the middle of the night. "Are you even going to be able to sleep?" I teased as we sat down on the bed. "You seem too excited now." He chuckled.

"I'll try my best. At the very least, I won't keep you up." I sighed and rested against his chest, closing my eyes.

"Mm... thank you."

"Look at this!" He gestured his arms widely. "There are maps we have never seen, writings we can't read, dragons we don't recognize. It's-It's incredible! This Dragon Eye—This is proof that there is a whole other world out there, a world that must be explored.

I smiled at him as he turned back around, having presented his case to the council. They all stared at him for a moment, trying to process what they'd just heard, before Gobber spoke up.

"This sure beats normal council business."

"It's all right, lads. You can speak your minds We are a council, after all. That's why we're here," Stoick urged.

And that's when Spitelout let loose.

"We've been at peace for three years. Best years on Berk I can remember. I think you know as well as I do that when you go looking for trouble, you usually find it."