Chapter 2

When Hiccup awoke, he immediately noticed something different.

First, everything seemed to smell stronger. He could smell the Night Fury's scent on him, as well as his father's and Gobber's. Hiccup had never realized there were so many things to smell around him, the smell of the dewy grass beneath his feet, the wild flowers that grew out of the ground, the animals that lived in the trees, and he could even smell the sap from inside the trees.

Second, Hiccup could see in the dark. The moon and stars hung above him when he awoke, yet he could see everything around him as if it was as clear as day. The only difference was that it seemed as though he could make out every little detail around him from feet away. He could see the little veins that ran through the leaves above him, the faint tracks of a bunny that had run across the grass, and he could even see a tiny little caterpillar hiding in a bush.

Lastly, he could hear everything. Oh, great Odin, he could hear everything. The faint snoring of someone in the village, even though he was miles deep into the forest. The scampering of tiny chipmunks in the trees. The trickling of a creek somewhere to his left.

It was incredibly disorienting.

"What in the name of Thor?" He whispered to himself, but it sounded as if he was speaking directly into his own ear.

Why did this happen? How did it happen? Did it have something to do with those visions the Night Fury had shown him?

The questions rolled around in his brain, but he could tell by the position of the moon that it was late. It wasn't yet midnight, but his father was going to start worrying if he didn't get back soon. The last time he had stayed out too late, the Chief had sent out a search party, thinking that Hiccup had gotten himself stuck in a ditch or something.

Hiccup pushed aside his questions and trudged towards the village, knowing that his questions would not get answered just standing there. His feet hit the ground more confidently than they ever had before, because he could see every little groove in the ground, it was almost impossible for him to trip.

It was strange having his clumsiness gone, and though he knew the woods well, he was now completely sure that he was going in the right direction, as he could hear the crackling of hearths inside houses and the sound of mothers singing their children to sleep. It was also strange seeing everything at night. The crescent moon seemed to be emitting some sort of energy, and he could see its rays dancing across the sky, playing with the stars.

As Hiccup walked, he contemplated what excuse he was going to give his father. Maybe he could say he fell on a root and knocked himself out. That was close enough to the truth. There was another thing he needed to tell him, though.

There was no way in Hel he was ever going to kill a dragon.

Hiccup was finally nearing the village, and he found it to actually be quite beautiful at night. Usually if there weren't any dragon raids, the village would be pitch black, the only source of light coming from the moon. But now that he could actually see the village, he couldn't help but appreciate its emptiness. Something about it gave him a bit of solace.

Another thing was that the village was usually quiet at night, but now Hiccup could hear everyone in the village. Though, he would be lying if he said there weren't some sounds he wasn't so sure he should be hearing.

When Hiccup reached the top of the hill his house was on, he stopped just as he was reaching for the newly fixed handle. He closed his eyes, deciding to test his amplified senses. The crackling fire was the first thing he heard, smelling the burning wood second. Then he noticed that there was a slight tapping sound, and then wood hitting wood. Last, he definitely smelled his father. There was no mistaking the smell of wet rocks and burnt wood.

So, his father was tending to the fire. Right in front of the door.

Hiccup slowly opened the door, trying to go unnoticed, but had to hold back a yelp as he entered. It seemed, to his night vision eyes, that the fire was as bright as staring directly into the sun. He covered his eyes with his hands, taking a second before slowly removing them, trying to open his eyes once more. The fire was still super bright, but his eyes seemed to adjust enough so as to not be painful.

Trying to be discreet, he kept his foot steps as quiet as possible, either to respect his father's wishes of ignoring him, or just to go unnoticed. But as he was climbing the stairs, his father loudly spoke.

"Hiccup," he said, making Hiccup wince.

"Dad, uh," Hiccup hesitated, before making a choice, "I have to talk to you, Dad."

"I need to speak with you, too, son."

Hiccup turned to look at his father, who had stood up from the hearth to look at him, clasping his hands together, and Hiccup tried not to squint through the light. He took a deep breath.

"I've decided I don't want to fight dragons," Hiccup said, at the same time as Stoick said something that Hiccup couldn't quite catch.

"What?" They both said at the same time.

"You go first," his father said.

"No, you go first," Hiccup argued.

"All right," Stoick sighed. "You get your wish. Dragon training, you start in the morning."

Hiccup's eyes widened.

"Oh, man, I should have gone first," he stuttered, running his hands through his hair, "I was thinking, you know, we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings or small-home repair Vikings?-"

"You'll need this," the Chief interrupted, handing him an ax he could barely hold up.

"I don't want to fight dragons," Hiccup confessed.

"Come on," his father chuckled, "yes, you do."

"Rephrase, Dad, I can't kill dragons."

"But you will kill dragons."

"No, I'm very extra-sure that I won't." Not after the way that Night Fury looked at him.

"It's time Hiccup," Stoick was starting to get angry.

"Can you not hear me?"

"This is serious, son," his father said, his voice hard. "When you carry this ax, you carry all of us with you," the Chief took the ax from Hiccup, showed it to him like he was a dumb dog, and then handed it back to him, almost making him fall over. "Which means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more of this." He gestured to Hiccup.

"You just gestured to all of me," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes.

"Deal?"

"This conversation is very one-sided."

"Deal?" Stoick said, raising his voice.

Hiccup flinched, partly because the slight raising of volume pierced his ears.

"Deal," Hiccup sighed.

"Good," the Chief said, raising a basket onto his back. "Train hard. I'll be back. Probably."

So his father was leaving, presumably to hunt for the dragon nest.

"And I'll be here," Hiccup said. "Maybe."

* * *

Hiccup's eyes returned to normal the next morning, but his ears and nose stayed the same. It had taken him more time than he'd like to admit to stop clutching his ears in pain. The noises of the village were far louder than he had anticipated. Not to mention the smells. Really, why couldn't Vikings just bathe every once in a while?

But it seemed without his sharp eyes, Hiccup's clumsiness came back in full swing. He had tripped on a pebble walking to the dragon training arena. Maybe his eyes would become sharper again when it got dark, as it had last night.

"Welcome to dragon training," Gobber said, lifting up the gate into the arena.

The gate made a loud screech as it opened, seeming to pierce Hiccup right in the eardrums, even though he wasn't even in the tunnel to the arena yet. Thankfully, he was behind all of the other teens. Seeing Hiccup flinch and hiss in pain at the gate opening would be more than a little embarrassing.

"No turning back," he heard Astrid mutter as she entered the arena.

Sighing, he started down the tunnel, immediately taking notice of how sharper his vision got as he entered the darkness. 

So he could see better in darkness. Strange.

Hiccup watched from the tunnel as the other teens walked into the arena, who were staring at the walls around them.

"I hope I get some serious burns," Tuffnut announced.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back," Ruffnut replied.

"Yeah," Astrid agreed, "it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

"Yeah, no kidding, right?" Hiccup said sarcastically, entering the arena, "Pain. Love it."

"Oh great, who let him in?" Tuffnut groaned.

"Let's get started," Gobber interrupted. "The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village." Gobber twisted his hook in emphasis, making Hiccup flinch.

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him? Or," Snotlout said, making the twins jeer.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" Tuffnut joked as the group turned away from Hiccup.

Hiccup stared after them, wondering if a dragon could just kill him right then and there. Though he was fairly used to the painful words, mentioning the Night Fury hit something deep in his core.

"Don't worry," Gobber said, putting his large arm around Hiccup's shoulders. "You're small and weak, that'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead." He pushed Hiccup into the line of teens, next to Fishlegs, and Hiccup glared at the ground as Gobber walked away.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many dragon species you will learn to fight," Gobber started, gesturing to several rattling doors. "The Deadly Nadder."

"Speed eight, armor sixteen," Hiccup heard Fishlegs mutter.

"The Hideous Zippleback."

"Plus eleven stealth, times two," Fishlegs said, slightly louder.

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

"Firepower fifteen."

"The Terrible Terror."

"Attack eight, venom twelve," Fishlegs was starting to get excited.

"Can you stop that?!" Gobber yelled at Fishlegs, stabbing Hiccup's ears. "And, the Gronckle." Gobber finished, placing his hand on one of the gate levers.

"Jaw strength eight," Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup, who gave him a sideways look.

"Whoa, whoa, wait," Snotlout said, panic seeping into his voice, "aren't you going to teach us first?"

"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber said, pulling down on the lever. One of the cages burst open, a Gronckle with hunger in its eyes blasting into the arena. 

As everyone scrambled to get back, Hiccup couldn't help but smile slightly at Gobber's words. There had been more than one instance when he was younger that he had come home with burns covering his arms because of Gobber's teaching methods. Hiccup still had the scars, but those days had been some of the best of his life. 

Before his inventions hurt people, when just shaping tools had fueled his mind enough. Before Snotlout and twins realized how much they loved to feel powerful. Before everyone started to despise him

"Today is about survival," Gobber announced. "If you get blasted, you're dead."

The Gronckle flew across the arena, and Hiccup looked confusedly at the dragon when it gobbled up some rocks laying on the ground. Did Gronckles eat rocks? How often were they feeding the dragons?

"What's the first thing you'll need?" Gobber asked the group, ripping Hiccup from his thoughts

"A doctor?" Hiccup guessed sarcastically, but it came out more panicked than he intended.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs asked nervously.

"A shield," Astrid stated confidently.

"Shield. Go," Gobber agreed, pointing to the shields laying on the other side of the arena. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield. If you must choose between a sword or a shield, take the shield."

Gobber lifted the shield from where Hiccup was struggling to pick it up, pushing the shield into his chest before pushing him deeper into the arena.

Looking around him, he saw Tuffnut and Ruffnut fighting over a shield, and Fishlegs running from the Gronckle. The Gronckle suddenly changed directions, shooting a blast of lava at the shield the twins were pulling between them. The shield blasted into a million pieces, leaving Hiccup's ears ringing. Hiccup then realized that he had heard the Gronckle building up to strike about five seconds before it happened.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out," Gobber yelled. "Those shields are good for another thing. Noise. Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim."

Astrid started banging her ax on her shield, making everyone follow suit. Hiccup tried his best to do the same, he really did, but the banging seriously felt like stabbing needles into his ears. His feet faltered from where he was standing, and his eyes started to get fuzzy. The dragon seemed to be having a similar reaction to his, stopping mid air and shaking his head in confusion.

Luckily, no one seemed to notice his peculiar reaction, and if they did, they just assumed it was because of his overall clumsiness.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots," Gobber shouted, adding more strain on Hiccup's ears, "How many does a Gronckle have?"

The banging had finally stopped, because everyone seemed to be running scared from the Gronckle.

"Five?" Snotlout guessed.

"No, six," Fishleg corrected.

"Correct, six. That's one for each of you." Gobber said.

Hiccup suddenly heard the lava building up into the Gronckles throat again, and turned to see the dragon shoot a blast at Fishlegs's raised shield. Fishlegs dropped his hammer, and started running away screaming, the Gronckle flying after him.

"Fishlegs, out," Gobber yelled. "Hiccup, get in there!"

Hiccup had been hiding behind a weapons rack, but reluctantly started to come out at Gobber's words. Then he saw the Gronckle flying towards him, a shot building up once again. Hiccup scrambled back into his hiding place, yelping when the shot hit the wall next to him.

The dragon snarled, turning around and flying towards Snotlout and Astrid.

Hiccup cautiously came out from behind the weapons rack, watching as Snotlout pathetically tried flirting with Astrid. Astrid then cartwheeled away from him to escape the Gronckle, landing a couple feet next to Hiccup.

Hiccup couldn't help but feel a little glee when Snotlout's shield was blasted to smithereens, making Snotlout scream and run away.

"Snotlout," Gobber screamed. "You're done!"

"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Hiccup said to Astrid.

"Nope, just you," Astrid responded, running away from Hiccup.

Hiccup realized too late that the Gronckle was about to fire at him, raising his shield just in time. The shield was flung out of his hand, and started rolling across the arena. Hiccup chased after it, fumbling over his own feet.

"One shot left," Gobber alerted the group.

Hiccup realized that the Gronckles buzzing wings were following him, and quickly abandoned the shield to get away from the dragon. He was suddenly slammed into the arena wall, his head bouncing on the stone, stars filling his vision.

The Gronckle flew right in front of Hiccup, sniffing him like the Night Fury had done. Similarly to how the Night Fury had acted, the Gronckle seemed to be confused at Hiccup's scent, but then the dragon shook it off, narrowed its eyes, pupils turning paper thin, and reared its head back to shoot.

Hiccup closed his eyes, hearing the fire build up in the dragon's throat, and suddenly lurched forward when the blast landed above him, instinctively clutching his head in his arms. He opened his eyes to see Gobber holding the reptile like a fish, his hook inside its mouth.

"And that's six," Gobber said. "Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage."

Gobber then threw the Gronckle into its cage, slamming the lever to close it.

"You'll get another chance, don't you worry," Gobber said to the group. "Remember, a dragon will always, always," he emphasized, looking directly at Hiccup, "go for the kill."

Gobber lifted Hiccup to his feet, who stared at Gobber walk away in confusion.

* * *

After training, Hiccup had found his way back into the forest. Immediately finding the broken bola by following his left over scent from the night before. He crouched down and picked up one of the bola balls, still attached to the twine.

'A dragon will always, always, go for the kill.'

"So, why didn' t you?" He asked himself, holding the bola ball up.

Hiccup dropped the bola to the ground, deciding to follow the Night Fury's scent. He tracked the faint scent through the forest, coming across a small crack in a wall of stone. The dragon clearly couldn't fit through it, but he could tell that the dragon was somewhere near.

Walking through the crack, Hiccup ducked under a tree root that had grown inside of it. His eyes had sharpened as he walked through the darkness, but as his eyes adjusted to the brightness on the other side, he was met with a magnificent sight.

A beautiful cove met his eyes, covered in vibrant green moss, with a small lake in the center and giant tree roots growing off of the cove's wall, creating a cone-like structure. Hiccup's eyes scanned the place before him, searching for a flash of black scales or acid green eyes.

Hiccup could smell that the dragon was nearby, and he swore he could hear the reptile's breathing. But still, no dragon in sight. Then something shiny and black caught his eyes. On the ground there were what looked like tiny black disks. Hiccup bent down to pick them up, examining them more closely.

Suddenly, a black shadow flew out of nowhere, making Hiccup jump back in fright. The Night Fury was frantically trying to climb up the wall, the sound of its scraping claws making hiccup wince. The dragon finally fell too far down the wall, letting out a roar of defeat and unsteadily flying over the pond and onto the ground.

Hiccup was breathing heavily, adrenaline running through him, and jumped down onto a nearby ledge to get a better look. He watched in fascination as the dragon attempted to get into the air again, but let out an angered and mournful roar as he crashed back onto the ground. The dragon attempted this several more times, and Hiccup took the opportunity to get out his sketchbook, starting to draw the dragon.

The Night Fury wasn't the largest dragon, with sleek features clearly built for aerodynamics, large bat-like wings, a long tail with two fins at the base and another two at the tip, and several long flaps on its head that Hiccup assumed were his ears.

"Why don't you just fly away?" Hiccup wondered, looking closer at the dragon.

It let out a strong, angered purple blast, startling Hiccup. He hadn't even heard the shot build up. Then Hiccup noticed that the Night Fury only had one tail fin on the end of its tail. Using his hand to smudge away one of the tail fins on his drawing, Hiccup looked back up at the dragon with newfound understanding.

Hiccup had knocked the Night Fury out of the sky, and the dragon lost its flight in the process.

The Night Fury tried to take flight once more, and again fell to the ground. The dragon laid down on the ground for a moment, seemingly defeated, when his eyes caught movement in the water. The Night Fury got its feet, limping slightly as it approached the water. Its head shot under the surface, trying to catch a fish, but came back up empty.

Hiccup was starting to feel nauseous. He had single handedly taken away the poor creature's flight, his ability to survive, and then was too much of a coward to put it out of its misery.

In his thought, Hiccup's hand started to loosen around his pencil, and it fell out of his hand, dropping into the cove. The Night Fury heard the pencil drop, and lifted its head up to look at Hiccup.

Again, electricity shot through his system as he looked at the reptile. The dragon stared up at Hiccup in curiosity, and Hiccup stared right back, tilting his head to the side. The Night Fury seemed to copy him, tilting his head to the side as well, ear flaps raising slightly. 

Did the dragon recognize him?

Hiccup really wanted to help the dragon, but he didn't know how.

* * *

By the time Hiccup got back to the village, it was already dark. He was actually quite happy that it was dark again, because that meant his eyes were incredibly sharp as he made his way to the Great Hall for dinner. The sky danced as he walked, and he still couldn't understand why the moon was emitting rays of silver. The sky looked like a mosaic, the moon's rays twisting and turning around the stars and across the horizon.

Then it started pouring rain, the clouds coming out of nowhere, blocking out the sky and clouding his vision. Hiccup hurried to the Great Hall as fast as he could, opening the huge doors and taking a moment to adjust his eyes to the firelight.

The Hall was nearly empty except for Gobber and the rest of the teens, discussing that day's lesson.

"Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked, and Hiccup couldn't think of a single reason Astrid had done anything wrong.

"I mistimed my somersault dive," Astrid responded. "It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble."

"Yeah, we noticed," Ruffnut said.

"No, no you were great. That was so 'Astrid'," Snotlout said, trying to flirt again.

"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves," Gobber said as Hiccup picked up the plate set out for him. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

Hiccup tensed.

"Uh, he showed up," Ruffnut said.

"He didn't get eaten," Tuffnut said.

"He's never where he should be," Astrid said as Hiccup silently sat down at an empty table next to them.

"Thank you, Astrid," Gobber said, and Hiccup hunched over, trying to make himself less noticeable. "You need to live and breathe this stuff," Gobber set down a huge heavy book on the other teens table. "The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of."

Thunder rumbled in the distance, making Gobber stare at the ceiling.

"No attacks tonight," Gobber said. "Study up."

"Wait, you mean read?" Tuffnut asked incredulously.

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut finished.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout complained.

"Oh, I've read it like seven times," Fishlegs said, Snotlout turning to glare at him. "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week-"

"Yeah," Tuffnut interrupted. "That sounds great. There was a chance I was going to read that-"

"But now," Ruffnut continued.

"You guys read," Snotlout said. "I'll go kill stuff."

Everyone but Astrid sat up from the table, talking between themselves as they walked out of the Great Hall.

Hiccup moved towards their table, "So I guess we'll share?" he asked Astrid.

"Read it," she responded flatly, standing up to leave.

"Oh, all mine, then. Wow. So, okay, I'll see you," Astrid slammed the door behind her, making Hiccup wince, "Tomorrow."

An hour later, the entire Great Hall was empty with all of the fires put out. Hiccup decided to take advantage of that to read the book of dragons in the dark. He didn't actually know if his night vision extended to reading, but he decided it was a good time to test it out.

Hiccup sat down at the table, flipping open the book. Sure enough, he could still read the words. He could even see the invisible imperfections littered all over the papers, as well as the roughness of the charcoal writing.

"Dragon classifications," he read from the book. "Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class." There were a few other classes, which he skimmed over and stored in his brain for later.

"Thunderdrum," he read, the first dragon in the book. "This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight." Hiccup started to feel uneasy looking at the graphic images on the page.

Hiccup flipped through a couple pages, "Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full-grown trees. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight."

"Scauldron," the next page read. "Sprays scalding water at its victim. Extremely dangerous-"

Thunder boomed outside, making Hiccup yelp and turn around to see bright light flashing through the cracks in the doors. Hesitantly, he turned back to the book.

"Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight," Hiccup quickly flipped through the book, reading off dragon names as he did. "Gronckle. Zippleback. The Skrill. Bone Knapper. Whispering death," more and more fear filled his voice as he read off the names.

He changed his attention to how dragons attacked people, his voice filling with horror with every word he spoke. "Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victims inside out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight," he finally found the page he was searching for.

"Night Fury," Hiccup whispered. "Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: hide and pray it does not find you."

The page was almost completely empty, except for those few words. How could they know so little about Night Furies? Hiccup looked at the empty space where the picture of the Night Fury was supposed to go. He grabbed his notebook out of his vest, opening to the page he had sketched the Night Fury.

Hiccup placed the notebook on top of the empty space, realizing that he may very well be the only person to have ever seen a Night Fury and come out alive.