Chapter Text
Even as a young boy, Hiccup was fascinated by his father's stories. He always told him when Hiccup couldn't fall asleep about legends that had happened many years ago.
They were about magic, fighting, war and especially dragons. How the dragons had threatened them and many had burned down their cities. In the end, humans won over them. The last dragon died many hundreds of years ago, however little information about them was kept in books.
His father was Stoik the Vast and his full name was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock. Being the son of the chief of their small village Berk, he was well-known among the people and many had high expectations of him, after all, he was their chief's only son.
Hiccup should learn how to fight and become a great leader, but he much preferred to spend time reading his books, which he had loved since he was a child. Luckily he was only 16 years old and so far he could do whatever he wanted.
Till today.
His father stormed into his room early that morning and threw him out of bed. Literally. Hiccup got used to that. However, he was not used to his father starting an important conversation with him so early in the morning.
"Hiccup, I'm here to talk about your future"
He didn't like where that conversation was going. His vision of the perfect future is not the same as the one his father plans for him. Not in the slightest. Still, he sighed and pushed himself up off the floor, rubbing the dirt off his clothes.
When he felt ready, he looked expectantly at his father to indicate that he could go on, which he did immediately.
"So listen, I've decided to take you to a meeting for the first time. The most important people in the village will be there and even other chiefs from other tribes."
His father looked into his eyes enthusiastically while he stroked his long red beard. Hiccup considered all the options he had. Eventually, he found he had to agree.
After all, this suggestion was better than having him fight other warriors, and perhaps he could glean some knowledge about the other tribes just by listening quietly. So Hiccup agreed and his father walked out of his room happily.
His door was a bit too small for his father, so he banged his head on his door as he walked out. Hiccup turned to his mirror and saw the face of a slim boy with brown hair and brown eyes. Almost all the citizens of his village were much taller and bigger than him, after all, they had to have muscles for fighting.
Hiccup was different and many didn't like that. They didn't appreciate the knowledge he had acquired over the years and this would probably never change. Sighing, he sat back down on his bed and thought about what he could do now.
As far as he knew he still had 10 whole hours until the meeting would start. Everyone in their village was excited, after all, all their allies would be taking part. Of course, Hiccup knew everything about them thanks to his books.
Even so, he still didn't know what to do. He had no friends. Everyone his age was obsessed with fighting and wanted to be great warriors. Not even the fact that he was the chief's child helped him. It just made everything worse
Finally he decided to go to the library to read a new book. The owner is an old woman with two long braids. Hiccup enjoyed talking to her as she is one of the only people who shared his enthusiasm for books and the knowledge they spread.
Time passed quickly and the next time Hiccup looked out of the window, the sun was already starting to set. He immediately put his book back and went to his father, after all, he didn't want to be late for such an important meeting. Especially since it was his first and he should make a good impression in front of the other tribes.
He quickly arrived at his father's hut, who had already been waiting for him. Hiccup even had to change his clothes from his comfortable clothes to warrior clothes. His father said that everyone has to wear them, but Hiccup assumed it was to hide his thin stature.
Shortly thereafter, his father led him into the great hall, where some seats were already taken and others were still free, so they were neither too late nor too early, which made Hiccup sigh with relief.
He took a seat right next to his father in a large chair with some decorations and they waited for all the other important people to arrive. Hiccup looked around the large room. In the middle was a big fire and around it were many chairs, which gradually filled up.
All in all the room was very grand and hanging in the middle of the fire he could see a statue of a dragon that had a sword through its stomach and Hiccup grimaced. Before he could look around any further, his father slammed his hand on the large table to draw attention to himself.
"I'm glad you were all able to come"
His father began his speech with his heavy accent.
"As you all know, these meetings only happen once every four months and we are very honored to be the host today."
At first, Hiccup listened excitedly but quickly realized that the topics were mostly unimportant and boring and lay back in his chair with a sigh. Despite everything, he should still look good in front of the others, so he tried to keep his expression interested.
"And now we come to our main point of the evening"
Just as Hiccup thought he was about to fall asleep, he heard his father's voice again and looked up at him expectantly.
"As you all know, the country in the west has offered us to join our negotiations."
A loud murmur went through the crowd and Hiccup immediately remembered all the books he had read about the country to the west, named black kingdom. It had great fighting power, yet its inhabitants were plagued by hunger. The ruler is a power addict asshole.
"Since we've been in a cold war for several years and this is causing only casualties for both sides, I decided it would be a good idea to start negotiations with them and allow them to enter our territory."
Hiccup couldn't believe what he had just heard. Negotiations? With the black kingdom? He was pretty sure this would end in disaster. However, he remembered his father telling him to make a good impression, so he just leaned back in silence.
Perhaps the negotiations would really work out and they could finally end this unnecessary cold war. Apparently many agreed with his father, as some nodded their heads and others murmured among themselves that this would be a good idea. After all, everyone likes to have an ally who has a large army. Maybe they could even help the residents if the country wants to improve.
Just when his father said they should vote, Hiccup jumped up. Immediately all eyes were on him and his father looked at him expectantly.
"Father, I think this is not a good idea"
Hiccup hadn't thought about what he should say, so he paused and considered the thought that had just occurred to him. About a year ago he had researched the dark kingdom and read many books about them. Also described in the books was the great battle four years ago, which the dark kingdom victoriously won.
However, they didn't just win somehow. They wanted to negotiate with them first, saying that they reformed only to abuse others' trust and win the battle. This was exactly the same pattern and Hiccup couldn't let innocents die.
"They used this tactic a few years ago. They will take advantage of our trust and attack us from behind."
Everyone around him was whispering and kept glancing at him.
"My son. This is a great opportunity to forge an alliance with the Dark Kingdom and strengthen our armies. We cannot let this be marred by ancient tales."
Immediately, the men around them nodded in agreement.
"No father, this will be our certain doom!"
Hiccup's voice got a little louder and more despairing as he realized he probably wasn't going to win this argument.
"Our certain doom? We're not that weak, even if they attack us we're strong enough to defeat them. Right guys?"
He said the last part to everyone else and they immediately started cheering.
"NO!" Hiccup yelled. Desperation rose in him.
"No? You think we are that weak son?"
Stoic his voice became first and stern and everyone around them instantly fell silent again.
"Wait... No... I didn't mean it like that... I-"
"Sit back down. We will now complete the vote."
"You want to let so many innocent people die?!"
Now Hiccup couldn't hold back and yelled at his father in front of everyone. His father immediately turned to him and glared at him. His father looked around and saw everyone glaring at Hiccup and immediately turned back to his son, who still didn't seem to give up.
"I'll say that again. Sit. Down."
Hiccup didn't sit down. He didn't even think about it.
"Get out of this room."
Although Hiccup expected his father to be angry, he was shocked when his father actually asked him to leave. His father had made his decision a long time ago and Hiccup had no chance to change his mind. He didn't even really listen to Hiccup and only saw what he wanted to see.
So Hiccup looked angrily into his eyes one more time, stepped away from him, and went to the big door of the hall, feeling the eyes of the others on him.
Hiccup opened the great door of the hall without giving his father another glance. He didn't want to see his disappointed face. In any case, not yet. Since it was spring, a cool breeze flowed into his face, which he immediately inhaled deeply. Stupid. They are all stupid.
Hiccup briefly considered what to do. He could go home now and wait for his father to come back and yell at him. It was probably good to have friends at moments like this, since he had nowhere to hide.
Without thinking much about it, he went to the forest, which was right next to their village. In his life, Hiccup was often in the forest, so even though it was dark, he didn't have to worry too much about getting lost.
The moon gave him enough light to see everything around him. His shoes grazed through the tall grass and the armor he was still wearing rattled with every single step he took. If he didn't know how expensive this armor was, he would take it off and just walk around in his normal clothes underneath.
Time passed quickly and he kept thinking back to his father's angry words and all the looks from the other men in the room. All those present were great warriors but rather less strategists and this would be their doom. With Hiccup no longer present, they would likely allow the Dark Kingdom to enter their villages.
At that thought, Hiccup kicked a large rock, after which he cried out, as the rock was clearly stronger and heavier than he was. He almost had to hold back a desperate laugh. Even a stone was stronger than him.
Hiccup hobbled on, toes aching, and saw a large rock on which he sat down. He looked up at the sky and saw the moon lit up in a round sphere. He immediately thanked the gods that it was a full moon and that he could see everything well enough. He slowly bent down and ran his fingers through the grass to distract himself from his thoughts.
Just as he was about to get up and felt ready to confront his father, he heard a deep growl behind him, which was clearly from an animal. He quickly went through all his knowledge of animals of all kinds and winced as it was closer than before. Luckily he reached the right page of his inner book and wished he had never opened it. It was a wild boar.
A very angry boar. His hand immediately went to the place where he always kept his knife and hissed. Weapons were forbidden at the meeting and no one was allowed to carry one, including him. Hiccup went through all his options in his head, which got smaller with every single second.
Ultimately, he decided that running was the best option. So he jumped off his rock and ran in any direction. He didn't know where he was running, but at that moment it didn't matter. Thanks to his knowledge of the state of the stars and the plants around him, he was sure he could always come back to his village.
He could even just walk to the sea and follow the beach to his village, so all that was left was to survive. He wasn't very fast due to his heavy armor, not that he would have been the fastest even without it.
His highest chance of surviving was to find a small cave or crevice where the huge animal behind him could not follow. The loud footsteps behind him came closer and closer and he tried to gather all his strength to run faster. Hiccup wouldn't die here, no matter what.
Again and again he looked around, looking for a cave. With every second that passed, he felt his heart beating faster and his feet weakening. But before he could give up, he saw a very dark purple light in the distance.
It was a miracle that he noticed the light in this state of stress, despite which he turned right to the light without thinking about it any further. Hiccup was lucky because moments later he saw a small gap, just big enough for him to get through, yet too small for the animal behind him.
Stumbling, he went through the crack and a few yards later onto the ground to take a deep breath. Moments later, he heard the animal run into the crevice and was thrown back. Relieved, Hiccup exhaled and laid his head on the cold stone floor beneath him, and closed his eyes.
The last few minutes came back to him all at once and his whole body began to ache after the adrenalin drained. His feet hurt the most, but he couldn't ignore the pain in his chest either.
After a few minutes he opened his eyes and had to blink a few times to be able to see something again. The light of the moon still shone a little into the cave, but it was much too bright that it could only come from the moon. Immediately, Hiccup looked behind him and saw a purple light coming out of the cave.
Before he could do anything stupid that he would regret, he turned back to the entrance and saw the huge animal still sitting in front of it. Hiccup took a deep breath. It seemed like he couldn't leave the cave until the animal gave up.
He slowly got up and found that he could stand on his feet again. Without realizing it, he turned back to the purple light. He felt the light pull him towards him. Hiccup didn't know if it really did, but he walked cautiously toward the light anyway.
Luckily it wasn't too far away and he didn't have to go too deep into the cave. When he turned around the next corner, he was startled. Hiccup had expected a lot, but not this.
In front of him was a beautiful lake with many gems around it. The walls were high and everything seemed like a dream, but he still felt the pain so it was all real.
Hiccup's gaze swept from corner to corner, absorbing everything he saw. He had been in the forest many times before, but he had never seen anything remotely resembling it. It was just so beautiful.
He cautiously stepped closer to the lake to get a better view of the landscape in front of him. However, he saw something that didn't go with everything else. Something stuck out. The closer he got, the better he saw what was sticking out.
It was human. A man with dark skin and black hair was lying on the ground just in front of the lake. His eyes were closed, but Hiccup saw his chest rise and fall, which meant the man was still alive. The person was only wearing oversized black pants and no shirt, which allowed Hiccup to see his muscles.
Hiccup stood stunned for a few minutes, staring at the man. Many questions buzz through his head at the same time. Who was he? Why is he in a cave? How long has he been here? Hiccup knew everyone in the village, so it couldn't be any of his folks.
Step by step he approached the sleeping man, more and more questions rising in his head. But when he was only a few feet away, he hit something with his nose and he staggered back. He immediately put his hand on his nose and closed his eyes in pain.
When he opened his eyes again he saw... Nothing. What had he bumped into when there was nothing in front of him? He looked around confused, but nothing had changed. He carefully stretched out his hand, which after a few moments settled on something. At that moment, a purple-glowing wall appeared in front of him, taking up his entire field of vision.
You could still see through the wall, but everything was colored purple. Hiccup's eyes widened and he just stood there, his hand on this thing he'd never seen before.
"Hello?" he asked in a trembling voice to the man who was still lying there without moving. He didn't hear him. Just as Hiccup was about to put his second hand on the wall, he saw rays of sunlight fill the cave. Shit, it was already the next day and his father was going to get even madder if he didn't find him after what Hiccup did yesterday.
Hesitantly, he took a step away from the wall and turned around to walk away. This was all new to him and he probably should be afraid. However, curiosity almost consumed him, since he had never wanted to ask one person so many questions at once. Never.
Just as he was about to exit the cave and saw that the creature from last night was gone, he turned around and looked back into the cave. He would come back.