The howling wind blew her hair back and away from her eyes as Astrid and Stormfly rode through the raging storm with practiced skill, the only bright side she could find in this mess. The run-in with the force of nature was unintentional, of course. She had been heading towards an allied tribe on a diplomatic mission, but the gods had apparently decided to entertain themselves by dropping this bomb of a tempest on her.

Though Stormfly had little issues flying through storms, hence the name bestowed upon the Deadly Nadder, this one was what people called a doozie. The shieldmaiden was certain they had been blown way off course by now, as they hadn't flown over any of the islands she knew were supposed to be there.

She hoped that the Lava-Louts wouldn't be pissed by the delay in her arrival. After all, it wouldn't do for the heir of the Hooligan tribe, and the tribe itself by extension , to lose face by arriving late to an organized meeting.

Astrid nearly sighed at the thought; Astrid Hofferson, heir of the Hooligan tribe. The memory of the day three years ago, clear as unpolluted water, entered her mind uninvited, and all the emotions that came along with it. The day Hiccup Haddock the III willingly passed on the title to her before leaving Berk... for the second time.

At least it had been much less painful than the day the boy she loved, or man as he was now, had first left his birth-tribe.

The twenty-four year old woman shook her head and refocused on getting out of the storm as quickly and safely as possible. For that reason she had pushed her dragon to fly considerably faster than usual, but Stormfly could take it. She was a well-trained specimen, with speed, endurance and flight skill superior to... well, any other Deadly Nadder in the world. This was a breeze compared to how hard it used to be when the island of Berk had first started training dragons.

She guided the airborne reptile to fly straight, deciding it was best to find a place to rest before figuring out how to get back on course. They had been flying in this speed and direction for several hours already. The two of them were probably way outside any of the mapped trade routes. Berk's heir didn't know how exactly she would solve this problem, but she would concentrate on that when she was in more favorable conditions.

"Hang in there, girl! We'll find a place to land soon!" she yelled over the sound of crashing waves, attempting to sound reassuring, though more for herself than her dragon. Stormfly actually liked venturing through storms, which was the main reason behind the name Astrid had given her.

However, venturing through storms while having a rider on her back had taken some getting used to, for both of them.

A few hours had gone by when the tempest finally subsided, and it was less than an hour later when relief coursed through her being as land appeared on the horizon. To her surprise, the landmass stretched as far as her eyes could see. Had they really flown so far that they reached the mainland? It seemed she needed to work a little on her calculations.

Stormfly thrust her legs into the sea mid-flight and deftly used the claws to catch several fish, dropping them onto the rocky beach before landing. Fishing out some supplies out of the water-proof bags tied to the saddle, Astrid immediately started making camp. Judging by the lack of footprints or anything else that would indicate human or animal presence, she felt safe in setting up her tent and putting one of the fishes over a newly-made fire.

As her first meal in half a day roasted in preparation to be eaten, she surveyed her surroundings with an analytical eye. It was late afternoon at the moment, the Sun beginning to turn orange as it sunk slowly on the horizon.

There was little to nothing documented about the mainland, except the stories from traders. However, all of the traders were of Viking origin so they, unsurprisingly, tended to be of a rather boastful nature, spouting incredible tales of monsters and magic that people learned to take with a grain of salt. In all honesty, she thought the traders themselves would've learned by now, but Vikings would be Vikings; boar-headed and stubborn.

Hell, one of them had claimed that he and his crew had run aground on a land inhabited by man-eating giants. The man had cried and wailed, saying that nearly all of his crew had fallen prey to these creatures. Needless to say, words like 'insane' and 'off his rocker' had been thrown around in the Great Hall that night.

They were just a bit more respectful the next morning when they had found the trader and what remained of his crew hanging by the neck off the sails of their ship.

Astrid had a mixed opinion on that incident. On one hand, she wasn't keen on dismissing the possibility too quickly. After all, Berk trained dragons, which had been a repulsive and incredulous notion before Hiccup had changed that, and they were aware of at least two species that exceeded 300 feet in length.

On the other hand, she wouldn't readily trust the word of a man who could've very well gone mad with terror and grief. His tale sounded a tad too far-fetched, even for her standards. Nonetheless, she couldn't deny a slight feeling of... unease in her gut when she had heard about his experiences, real or exaggerated. It had increased almost to slight dread when their bodies had been found.

Stoick, the chief of Berk, had insisted that none of it was their concern, as it didn't affect them in any significant way. He had been instilling into her the classic leadership traits, like diplomacy and caution and tact, for the past several years, even before she had earned the title of heir. One of the lessons was that leaders, even Viking leaders, should listen more to their head than their gut. Those that do tend to get less trouble and more positive results.

She was brought back to reality when she noticed that her meal was ready. She grabbed the stick that the fish was on and bit into it, savoring the taste as she listened to the wooshes of air leaving Stormfly's nostrils, the Deadly Nadder obviously content that she finally got a chance to rest. The shieldmaiden felt a small pang of guilt, but reminded herself that she had gone through worse when less trained.

From what she could gleam, right behind the boundaries of the beach began a cluster a trees that gradually grew in height, to the point that they far surpassed even the tallest trees that grew on her island. She imagined there was plenty of game in there to catch, in the probable case she decided to head further inland.

There was little she could solve if she remained here, and just heading straight out in the open ocean would probably get her even more lost. If there was a town or a village deeper in the woods, perhaps they had maps that could help, or directions to a port town. She hadn't seen one when nearing the landmass and she'd rather not have fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner in a possibly fruitless search for one.

"Where the fuck am I?"Astrid asked no one in particular before yawning suddenly, unable to resist the urge any longer. She was more exhausted than she had first thought. Knowing she wouldn't make any important discoveries with her mind tired as it was, she crawled into her tent and settled herself into a comfortable position, laying her two trusty, Gronckle-iron axes by her side just in case.

"Good night, Stormfly!"

A sleepy squawk was the dragon's response.

After breakfast, the Viking heir packed her supplies and began venturing deeper into the mainland. She was astounded as Stormfly had to fly higher and higher, due to the trees getting taller and taller. She was certain a few odd ones were well over a 150 feet tall.

The height and the thick leafage made it impossible to see what was on ground level, but it wasn't all that important since they probably wouldn't be making any stops until they reached a settlement, and surely even trees like the ones they were flying over couldn't hide an entire village. Although, she did feel a seed of doubt gnaw at her insides when noticing a complete lack of roads, wondering if any people she'd encounter, if she'd even manage to be that lucky, would actually know anything about any port towns.

Or about the ocean itself, incredible as the thought was. Hopefully, the trees simply hid the roads from the bird's-eye view.

She was both relieved and confounded when she saw what looked to be a line of white appear in the distance over the edge of the trees. She urged her dragon to climb higher, to avoid spooking anyone if people happened to be present. Approaching nearer and taking out her spyglass to get a closer look, she realized it was a wall.

And what a wall it was, she thought as she openly gaped in wonder.

For starters, it was nearly 200 feet high and divided into segments. The smaller one was U shaped, attached to the bigger segment of the same height that extended straight east and west in a somewhat circular formation. She couldn't guess its exact shape properly because she wasn't able to actually see an end to it.

More than that, a town was encased within the walls.

What in Midgard could actually convince people to build it? Either the residents were threatened by an enemy powerful enough to warrant the construction of such a thing, or they were the most paranoid fuckers in the whole world. Looking at the massive construct, Astrid seriously doubted anyone was that paranoid.

And that left the first option, which did nothing to soothe her nerves.

Focusing her sight on the U shape, she didn't see any people on top of it or around the suspiciously jagged entrance, which looked like the Red Death's tail had smashed through it. Despite the architectural monstrosity defending it, the town seemed oddly deserted. Commanding her dragon to steadily lower down while still observing with her spyglass, the sight slowly became more familiar, and yet, simultaneously not.

It reminded her of the times when Berk was still raided by dragons; wrecked homes and various objects lying on the paths in pieces. There was even an inexplicable, sullen atmosphere that blanketed the place. The main difference was there were no burn marks or signs of any sort of dragon fire. More odd were the several great stones, the same white as the wall, that lied around the settlement.

Deciding to investigate, Astrid guided her dragon to where one of the stone pieces happened to be. Not foolish enough to let her guard down, she took one of her axes off the harness while climbing off of Stormfly. Her eyes widened in surprise and fear when she saw the huge rock up close.

It was lying on what were obviously the ruins of what used to be a wooden house, as if it had been dropped on top of it from the sky. The fact that it was a piece of the wall when inspecting it from up close made her gulp nervously. She didn't like the possible implications.

Steeling her nerves, she walked into what probably used to be a home to some family. Looking around, she noticed a set of stairs leading downwards. Hoping to find any sort of information on her current whereabouts, she began walking towards them. The floorboards creaked ominously as they were stepped on, the sound reverberating like a clanking of a hammer in the silence. She stopped when a nasty and frighteningly familiar scent hit her nose. Turning her head to the side, her face paled.

A pair of half rotten legs, human legs, were lying in a pool of dried blood.

She took a quick step back, her grip on the axe tightening. The sight, though not the first gruesome one in her battle-ridden life, made her feel a bit sick. Just as she was about to leave the wreckage and return to Stormfly, a small tremor shook the ground.

"Stormfly!" she yelled while taking out her other axe, running outside to meet her dragon. Whoever did these demented acts was definitely not friendly. A few more tremors had occured by the time she reached Stormfly.

The reptile was squawking, but she wasn't looking at her rider. She was looking to Astrid's left instead. Turning her gaze in the same direction, she nearly dropped her axes at the sight of a naked, 40-foot giant trudging down the road towards them.

After the appropriate emotions of fear and astonishment, the first coherent thought that registered in her mind was what she'd later admit was a very unexpected one.

I guess that crazy trader was telling the truth, after all.