Chapter 4: Off the edge

The next day after Hiccup's big discovery with the dragon eye, he took it to Fishlegs and the others to show him what they just found.

"Okay bud, go ahead." Hiccup spoke to toothless who lit the dragon eye up to show the display on the wall.

Fishlegs examined the projection on the wall in awe, unable to contain his excitement. "Oh my Thor! Hiccup, do you understand what this means?! This changes everything we previously thought about dragons!"

"Oh I know fishlegs, everything displayed from the Dragon Eye is far more than what we could imagine, not even the book of dragons has anything compared to this." the one legged viking spoke.

"And according to this map, it shows islands that are outside the archipelago!" His rotund friend added.

"And if we are to find Dagur." Astrid started.

"He must have went over the borders." The brown haired boy nodded.

"So, What are we gonna do?" Shadow asked, he was leaned up against a wall, and had been silent the entire time.

Looking among one another, hiccup knew one thing.

"Look at this, a diagram of a new world far beyond what we're used to. New islands to explore, new dragons to see. This is all proof that there is still more to this world that must be discovered." Hiccup spoke in a meeting with Stoik and others.

"I can see that son." The man said, stroking his beard. "But I don't exactly see how that deals with that lunatic Dagur."

"From out intel, Dagur was heading over the borders of the Archipelago. Using the Dragon eye can help us find him since he needs men and weapons to fight us." His son explained.

"Hmmm." Stoic hummed.

Spitelout, Snotlout's dad decided to speak up. "I don't know about you Stoic, but we're at a time of peace, best years in Berk I've seen in years, so honestly I seem to remember that when you go looking for trouble, you usually find it."

"I agree with Spitelout." Sphin spoke. "If this dragon eye leads to new islands and dangerous dragons, we don't know what to expect, besides, we have enough as it is with those creatures your son brought back to berk. We don't know if there are more out there."

"Another reason to go. If Dagur finds any more of the Xenomorphs that may have landed on the islands, there's no telling what Dagur can do, they are powerful and dangerous creatures if fallen into the wrong hands." Hiccup adds.

"Stoic, If you decide to chime in, we can probably put this thing to rest." Spitelout answered.

"Alright spitelout, I'll put this matter to rest." Stoic said, uncrossing his arms.

"But dad." Hiccup argued.

"Let me speak son, this is as important for you to hear as it is for all of them" The bearded man mentioned as his son sighed and backed away. "Now, Let me ask you this Spitelout, when we had Alvin in our sites, and people said to leave well enough alone, what did we do?"

"You crushed him, that's what you did!" Gobber chimed in.

Stoic looked at the man. "Thank you Gobber, Anyway...Hiccup's life has been about dragons, and always will be with dragons." Hiccup blinked this time as his father approached him. "If there is no stopping him, we might as well support him." He then turned to his son.

"Go son, go and find what ever's pulling at you." Stoic told him.

Hiccup smiled before Gobber spoke. "Ya best get outta here before it wears off and he changes his mind." Hiccup chuckled before running off and whistled to Toothless. Toothless grabbed the dragon eye and followed.

As he ran outside, everyone was waiting for him, then Snowflake and Ebony ran up to him a hugged him. "So, how'd it go Master?" They asked him.

"Looks like we're going to head out and explore over the boundaries of the archipelago." Hiccup smiled.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Snotlout said as everyone mounted their dragons. "Let's go!"

Hiccup smiled as he got on Toothless, but then he realized the Xenomorphs didn't have anything to ride, and with Snowflake and Blizzard, there was not much space on toothless for them to ride.

"Why don't you guys go with one of the other guys? I'm sure they can give you guys a lift." Hiccup offered. "We'll try and find you a dragon later."

"Alright." They nodded as Ebony got on with Hiccup, Shadow got on with Astrid, Blizzard got on with Snotlout, and Snowflake joined Fishlegs.

"Why does fish face get to have the girl ride with him?" Snotlout argued.

"If you'd like, I can freeze your carcass and drive the living torch myself." Blizzard growled, breathing a breath of ice down his neck.

"Nevermind." The boy gulped.

Astrid snickered. "I'm liking these guys."

"Well let's go guys, into the Great Beyond!" Fishlegs said as everyone lifted off the ground.

"Into the great Beyond!" The others cheered as they flew off from Berk.

(Hours later)

"Into the great beyond…"

"Great beyond…." There once high spirits ebbed away the past few hours during their flight.

"Do you think we should find somewhere to land?" Ebony yawned. "I'm tired of flying."

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, a rest stop should do. Toothless?" His night fury nodded and released a screeching sound wave ahead in the dark clouds, but no signal of land.

"Damn.." Shadow growled as they flew into the clouds, which was followed by a very loud thunder clash. "Shit!"

"The further we go in, the worse the weather gets!" Astrid spoke up as rain poured on their skin.

"Just a little further guys!" Hiccup called to them.

"Hey! There's light up ahead!" Snowflake yelled, sitting up happily.

The group flew to the light as they passed the storm. Passing through it was a totally new untouched horizon with a few islands they never saw before.

"Now this is more like it." Blizzard sighed, shaking the water off his clothes and hair, which landed on Snotlout and hookfang.

"We actually made it!" Astrid cheered.

"Lets not slap each other's yaks yet guys, we need to find a place for the dragons to rest, meatlugs wings are about to fall off." Fishlegs spoke as his gronckle panted in exhaustion.

"Yeah! And me and Hookfang are getting sick of being sprayed with water from frosty over here!" Snotlout added.

"Watch it boy." The white xeno warned, sharp tail end up to his chin.

"On it!" Hiccup called, looking at toothless. "Okay bud, where should we land?"

"Rar…" Toothless grunted before they heard a melody like screech ahead as it perked the dragons up.

"Whoa what is it bud?" The boy asked.

"It sounds like a call." Ebony spoke behind him. "It's pulling them to that island." She pointed to land nearby.

"Well, guess we should land there." Hiccup shrugged.

As the group landed on the island, everyone stretched and the Xenos cracked their backs. "That was the longest flight I ever went through." Shadow sighed.

"Least you didn't have Monstrous Nightmare spines poking your ass." Blizzard growled.

"Alright gang, let's set up camp for the night and we'll explore the island in the morning." Hiccup suggested.

"So we need some shelter, food, water and fire." Astrid told them.

"Haha, leave the fire to me." Snotlout grinned, a moment did he later pour a green substance before lining it to a bush. "Hookfang, do your thing!" The dragon blew into the slime before igniting the bush. "Monstrous nightmare Gel. Never leave home without it."

"Okay...now all we need is some food and water." Hiccup told them.

"Me shadow and Blizzard will scout the island for food." Astrid spoke.

"Got it, then me, Ebony and Snowflake will get some water." Hiccup nodded. "The rest of you work on setting up this area for shelter." he added to the others.

"Shit…" Shadow spat.

"You said it." Blizzard growled. "Hunting is man's work."

"Come on you two." Astrid spoke as the two teams parted to walk around the island.

As Hiccup and the Xeno girls looked for water, Snowflake looked behind a bush to see if there was a stream, but found a Dragon skull instead. "Huh...weird." The girl shrugged.

Meanwhile, The male xenos and Astrid checked trees or small open areas for Yaks or fruit. "See anything boys?"

Blizzard came back with large armfuls of quartered meat, and Shadow came back with two sacks, one full of fish and another with different nuts and fruit. "Whatever was there." Shadow nodded.

"Wow, you two work fast. I'm impressed." The blonde spoke in surprise.

"Funny thing was there was a huge pile of this stored behind a wall of weird hardened tree sap." Blizzard added.

"Hardened tree sap?" The viking female asked.

"You too? That's what I saw too, and a perfectly preserved Deadly Nadder skeleton." Shadow mentioned.

"A nadder skeleton…" Astris thought before a worried look came over her face.

"Must be an old dragon who keeled over." Blizzard shrugged.

"I don't know…." Astrid spoke.

"Oh you worry too much, Astrid. Besides, you have us to keep you safe." The black xeno mentioned as the two pulled her close to them.

The girl sighed as they walked back to camp, as night fell Everyone ate the meat and fruit, then after they had their fill, the whole group fell asleep. Astrid and Hiccup stayed up a bit longer while they sat at the shores.

"It's really amazing Hiccup, there's still so much to see beyond our home." Astrid smiled.

"Yeah, it really is." Hiccup smiled, putting his arm around her.

Meanwhile, the silent sound of wings flapping was waving through the air as a large shadow swiped to and away from the campsite in a split second.

(The next morning)

"Hiccup, wake up!" The voice of astrid spoke out from hiccups ear.

"W-what is it Astrid?" He asked, waking up.

"The dragons! They're all gone!" She told him, pacing back and forth. "Oh I knew I should have told you about what we found earlier!"

"Astrid what are you talking about?" The boy asked.

"Me, Blizzard and Shadow found a cave stacked full of food, and it was sealed off by some sort of really hard Amber." She told him. "And Shadow found a complete skeleton of a deadly nadder."

Hiccup believed there was trouble if the bones of dragons were found. "Gather the others, we need to find our dragons."

Everyone started looking for their dragons leaving no stone unturned, which was actually literal in the twins case, because they kept looking behind a set of two large rocks.

"How many time are you two gonna keep looking around there? Barf and Belch are not hiding in that rock." Astrid spoke.

"Ah Ha, Astrid my friend, clearly you underestimate the stealthiness of one Barf and Belch." Ruffnut said, before she started scratching her head. "Wait, or is that two Barf and Belch?"

"Hmmm….two heads, one dragon…" Tuffnut spoke.

"Two brains and one body." Ruff continued, clunking her head against her brothers.

"Two bodies, half a brain." Snotlout quipped, walking to a more open area. "Hookfang!" He yelled Before he froze in fear. "Uh guys?"

The others approached as Hiccup asked. "What is it Snotlout?" He asked before looking ahead and breathed. "Oh my thor…"

There was a huge pile of dragon bones, all piled up neatly. "Is that?" Fishlegs gulped.

"Weird shaped white rocks?" Tuffnut aksed.

"Dragon bones, and lots of them." Hiccup said.

"Hmmm." Shadow said as he picked up the skull of a nightmare. "This might make a good helmet."

"Absolutely not." Astrid spoke firmly.

"Why not?" He asked, putting it on and it fit nicely over his horns. "I think it looks good."

"We don't like the idea of using dragon bones, Shadow." Fishlegs mentions.

"It's a sign we would hunt and kill dragons like some of our enemies, like Dagur." Hiccup mentioned.

"Oh alright." The Xenomorph sighed, throwing the skull down. Then he looked at the ground, finding a few balls of amber. "Huh, it's the same Amber stuff from earlier."

They then heard a loud dragon like roar. "Okay, what, was, that?" Snotlout asked.

"That my friend is a dragon in trouble." Fishlegs answered.

As they tried to follow the sound they were met by rustling bushes. Hiccup made everyone get back before Toothless leaped out of bushes.

"Toothless!" Hiccup spoke in relief as the night fury snarled and yelped while walking around them.

"Okay, either your dragon ate something weird, or he's out of his mind." Snotlout said.

"No no, i think he's trying to tell us something." Fishlegs said.

"What is it bud, is it the other dragons?" Hiccup asked before Toothless grabbed his artificial leg and ran off.

"How far do you think he's going to get before he realizes?" Astrid asked him.

"Hard to say, he seemed pretty committed." Hiccup replied with his leg in the jaws of his dragon.

Toothless turned around and walked back to them, giving Hiccup back his leg.

"Its okay bud, but I love the enthusiasm though." The boy smiled before mounting the dragon. "Me and toothless are gonna look for the dragons above, you guys keep moving."

"Alright." Astrid said. "But be careful."

He nodded flew off with Toothless as they scouted the island for the missing dragons. "Where could they have gone?" He asked before hearing a roar and saw a purple scaled Thunderdrum heading its way to the others.

"Oh no, guys!" Hiccup yelled as he and toothless flew about it. But then the same strange sound rang through the air again. Toothless was drawn to it and started flying to the location before the boy yanked on the saddle. "Toothless no! The other way!"

As they flew towards the thunderdrum, the dragon let out its loud roar at the other Vikings, causing them to hide behind the rocks, but the Xenomorphs were able to close their ears, crouching and leaping at the dragon all at once. The thunderdrum roared and shook before it jumped and flew in the air.

Toothless landed as Hiccup ran up to the others. "You guys okay?"

"What did you say!?" Astrid yelled.

"I can't hear anything!" Snotlout yelled as well.

"Oh thor…" Hiccup spoke. "Okay guys you all stay here and I'll look around." he spoke but got no reply. "I said I will go look around!"

"What?! No way, you're not going alone Hiccup!" Astrid yelled.

"We don't have any weapons or dragons, we're completely defenseless!" Fishlegs added.

"Plus we can only communicate by shouting! Which, although very enjoyable, is not very stealthy!" Tuffnut yelled.

"Okay fine, then I guess we'll all go together." The one legged viking spoke, again no reply. "Oh for...I SAID WE'LL ALL GO TOGETHER!"

"Well why didn't you just say so?" Tuffnut asked.

"This is annoying." Shadow said, ears still closed.

The group headed through the island to look for the dragons before they heard more distant dragon calls. They ran for the source before they were in a canyon of dragons trapped in the hardened sap.

"What is this?" Blizzard asked, looking at a gronkle who was trapped and looked starved.

"Not sure, but can anyone describe what is happening?" Tuffnut asked.

"Yeah. Something is luring the dragons here and trapping them in this amber rock substance to...immobilize them." Fishlegs spoke.

"Yeah, And whatever's doing it, is probably eating them too." Shadow added, walking over to a trapped Nadder.

"Oh come on, who would be doing something like this?" Ruffnut asked before they heard a roar. In the sky came a large colorful scaled dragon with frills and horns, and a huge pair of wings.

Everyone hid as the dragon sniffed a terrible terror and picked it up, then flew off.

"That sound, it comes from the dragon, that's what's drawing them in." hiccup spoke when they came out.

"Song wing." Fishlegs spoke.

"What?" Astrid asked.

"That's What we should call it." Fishlegs said. "We gotta call it something."

"Yeah, I'm thinking more of Death Song, cause if you hear the song, your dead." Tuffnut mentioned.

"Okay, Death Song it is." Hiccup said. "Now come on we gotta find our dragons."

The others split up in the grotto to find their dragons before the Death song would come back. Luckily they were able to track them, but they were trapped in the amber substance.

"Hookfang!" Snotlout said as he ran up to his dragon and hugged him. "Oh man I missed you fangster…"

They heard the roar again as Ebony looked up. "It's coming back!" She yelled before toothless growled and ran up.

"Toothless no!" Hiccup yelled to his night fury.

"Scatter!" Blizzard yelled, going invisible suddenly as he dived behind a rock.

"Oh great, had to leave us hanging!" Snotlout yelled before the Death Song screeched and blasted Toothless with melted amber before it sagged the dragon in a hard cocoon.

It continued to stick everyone with the substance, trapping everyone except the Xenomorphs, who were camouflaged from view.

"Well this is a great position we're all in." Snotlout spoke sarcastically while stuck to hookfang.

The death song grabbed a gronkle then flew off. After it was gone, the Xenomorphs came out of hiding. "Hold still." Shadow said as they all inhaled.

"Oh no not that acid spit!" Snotlout yelled, but it was too late, the creatures spat on the Amber, causing it to melt.

"Of course, the amber is hot when the death song spits it and it cools, it becomes hard as any rock." Fishlegs breathed in amazement as the acid did its job and shattered.

The Xenomorphs also walked over to a few of the other dragons, spitting on them as well. "Now, we should probably-" Ebony said before the death song came back. "Go."

The dragon snarled, not liking that its prey was escaping, the other dragons took this as a sign to run as they flew off before it roared its luring melody. The dragons stopped and turned before flying slowly back to the grotto.

"Oh no you don't!" Shadow growled and spat some acid at the melody dragon.

The dragon stopped and flew up in the air. "Araok raok raok!" It squawked.

"Now's our chance!" Hiccup spoke as they mounted the dragons and flew off. The death song snarled and flew after them.

"Hiccup its coming back!" Astrid yelled.

"I got this!" Ebony spoke and spat scid on her hands. When the death song spat the amber at them, she grabbed the melting amber before tossing it back at the melody dragon. It hit the wing as it screeched out and started falling.

But then there was a loud roar, it was the adult Thunderdrum. "Oh look it's our old friend the thunderdrum!" Snotlout shouted.

"Must be after the death song, I saw a baby thunderdrum back at the death songs lair." Shadow said.

"That must be why it's around." Hiccup spoke. "Okay, I'll go back for the adolescent, you guys keep your distance from the thunderdrum."

"That won't be a problem!" Tuffnut said.

"Alright bud, let's help relocate this death song." Hiccup said.

Toothless chirped before flying back where the dragon landed. They saw the Death song trying to get the amber off its wing.

"Now bud, plasma blast!" Hiccup yelled.

Toothless shot his attack at the dragon as it yelped and hissed before running off.

"Alright bud!" Hiccup laughed. "Now, Let's get that Thunderdrum."

The others waited as the adult thunderdrum circled while snarling.

"It's getting impatient." Snotlout spoke.

"Come on guys...hurry up!" Astrid whispered.

They heard a softer cry before seeing hiccup and toothless with a young baby thunderdrum with them.

"There they are!" Fishlegs said as they came their way.

The adult cooed and flew to its youngling as they reunited and nuzzled each other in affection.

Hiccup smiled before turning to the others. "Come on guys, let's get outta here."

"Yeah, And next time we look for an island, let's not let the dragons pick." Fishlegs said as he got on Meatlug. This caused the female gronkle to whimper in disappointment. "Sorry girl, it had to be said."

"Alright guys! Lets go! Into the great Beyond!" Snotlout spoke as he flew off.

"You heard him. Let's go." Hiccup said as all the dragons lifted off the ground. And so they flew off into the distance, into infinity and beyond.