Chapter Text
“This is Berk, the best kept secret this side of well… anywhere. Granted, it may not look like much, but this wet heap of rock packs more than a few surprises.
“Life here is amazing, just not for the faint of heart. You see, where most folks enjoy hobbies like whittling or needlepoint, we Berkians prefer a little something we like to call… Sky Racing!”
The air shook as demons flew by at top speed and crowds of humans cheered as loud as they could. Apo angled his wings to shoot past the others as the wind whistled behind him. The demons swerved through racing poles and dived below houses standing on stilts. Below, Oeca and Mohwee were standing next to a loaded catapult. Oeca shoved the lever downward and a ball of hay and straw shot into the air. Apo snapped open his talons and grabbed the ball just as he came whooshing by. The crowd erupted in cheers as Apo saw a large wooden ring looming in front of him.
Owen and Bek stood on each side of the ring with flaming arrows loaded in their bows. They let the arrows loose, hitting the ring’s side, causing it to burst into flames. Apo twisted in the air and grazed the ball against the flames and within seconds, the straw was engulfed in fire. A bridge with five colored baskets lay in wait in front of him, but then another wing slammed into him, nearly making him drop the flaming ball as a flash of white hair whisked by. Apo dived just as the demon lashed out again, quickly dropping the ball into the red basket, the flames extinguishing as it hit the net.
“I’m not losing that easily, Rasbi!” Apo shouted over his shoulder. He had the pleasure to see Rasbi’s annoyed face before he turned his focus back to the race. He flew past the crowds of humans all cheering madly with the chief of Berk sitting in front of a banner depicting two demons with their wings spread facing a human’s sword raised into the air.
It’s been two years since the war between the humans and demons, and Berk had grown a lot since then. Now, the demons were the Berkians next door neighbors! Well, except for the demons that decided to move into the human’s little island home, and Apo felt more at home with the humans than anywhere else, after all, who didn’t love a good race?
Apo soared past another row of seats completely filled with the cheering crowd with the other demons right on his tail. Another ball of hay shot into the air, but before Apo could reach up and grab it, Rasbi slammed her claws down on his wings, boosting herself into the air just enough for her to snatch the prize away from him.
Apo turned the corner just in time to see Rasbi dumping the fiery ball into her white basket. Charred black balls of straw sat in every basket, but to Apo’s dismay, his and Rasbi’s had the exact same amount; four. A horn sounded in the distance and reverberated in his ears. Apo narrowed his eyes, determined to focus on nothing else but the matter at hand. There was no way he was going to lose, not this time!
He shot high into the sky, scanning the land below for any glint of gold. Then, a golden rock blanked in yellow leaves and vines shot into the sky. Apo tucked in his wings, feeling the wind whip past him as Rasbi was hastily approaching the golden ball. Her claws closed around it, leaving Apo holding nothing but thin air.
“Later, Apo!” Rasbi teased as she flew past. Apo beat his wings to catch up, his heart pounding. Rasbi’s tail trailed just in front of him, approaching the baskets fast. In a final act of desperation, Apo twisted in the air and dropped just below Rasbi. Rasbi looked down in shock, giving him just enough time to snatch the golden ball from her claws. He dived toward the ring of fire, drenching the leaves in the flames. Another demon slammed into his side as he flew desperately toward the baskets. Another one came at him from the front with a ball of fire ready to fly out from his palms. Apo dived down as the fireball was let loose, hitting the other demon mid-air, causing them to be knocked out of the sky.
Apo flailed his wings and soared back up to the baskets. He quickly dumped the golden ball into the red basket, earning an eruption of cheers from the watching crowd.
“And Apo takes the game!” the voice of Owen’s father shouted over the yells of the crowd. He leapt from his seat and clapped as Apo flew by. He spun in the air and landed on a wide platform overlooking the crowd.
“What was that, your third win in a row?” a voice sounded from behind. Apo whirled around. Owen was smirking at him with his arms folded across his chest.”You really got to give these other demons a chance, otherwise we’ll have to end up dedicating all of these races to you.”
Apo chuckled. “Yeah, seriously Apo,” Rasbi said as she landed on the platform, “Let me win for once!”
“Is that an order or a suggestion?” Apo asked.
“If you end up winning one more time, I’ll make it an order,” Rasbi replied, grinning.
“Alright, now that you two have burned off some steam, why don’t we go have some lunch?” Owen asked. “You must be starving after all that racing.”
Even after two years of living in Berk, the Great Hall still looked impressive. Gigantic fire pits lit each side of the building with torches mounted on the sides of pillars. Four long tables stretched out from one end to the other, each of them slowly filling up with hungry humans and demons. Owen, Apo, and Rasbi sat on the end closest to the chieftain’s chair with Owen’s friends joining them.
Over the span of two years, Oeca and Mohwee have gotten even more reckless and crazy than they have been before, driving Owen crazy almost every single day. Bek has gotten into the art of theatre, or more specifically, stunt performances involving a lot of fire. Kyle had moved on to training the young children of Berk how to defend themselves and he also took in an adopted brother, Acho, a boy with pink hair decorated with white flowers.
And speaking of which, Owen and his family had gladly welcomed Apo as one of their own after the battle with the Dragonborn King. Now that Apo had a new older brother and a little sister who was just as mischievous as he was, he decided to get back into the usual pranks and antics he had once pulled on Will all those years ago; Owen was always so mad at him, and it was so funny.
Soup served them a hearty meal with tons of meat options for the demons and a lot of energy-boosted potions to boot.
“So, what’s been going on in the Kingdom of the Demons?” Owen asked while helping himself to some chicken.
Rasbi suddenly tensed up, then quickly relaxed her shoulders. ‘It’s- it’s being going well,” she said hesitantly. “It’s just… it’s hard to manage a bunch of demons that are complaining to you all the time.” She poked at the meat with her claws.
“Tell me about it,” Owen said. “I swear, these guys complain to me every day.” He pointed to Oeca and Mohwee, who looked as if they had just been betrayed.
“We do not!” Oeca shouted, exaggerating the hurt in his voice.
Owen rolled his eyes. “Sure…” He sipped one of Soup’s potions, the weariness in his eyes quickly fading afterwards.
Apo looked over at Rasbi, who still hadn’t taken a single bite of her food. Was there something going on in the Kingdom? Something that she wasn’t telling them? Apo shrugged; it was probably nothing terribly important.
“So, Apo, you wanna go do that… thing later?” Owen asked with a mischievous grin.
Oh no, not this again. “Last time went horribly wrong,” Apo argued.
Owen shrugged. “Maybe today’s the day!”
“Look, I’m tired, maybe-” Apo was interrupted by Owen tugging on his arm.
“Come on, let’s go!” he shouted, dragging Apo across the Great Hall. He barely caught sight of the chief sauntering in and calling Owen’s name before they burst through the doors and out into the open air. “See, look, it’s a perfect day outside!” Owen said. “There’s no time like the present!”
“Are you trying to avoid your dad?” Apo asked.
“Nope! Nothing like that,” Owen replied, blatantly lying.
Apo sighed. Owen clearly wasn’t going near his father anytime soon. Better get this over with...