Chapter 132

Hiccups POV:

It's been three days since I left the tribe and begun my flight with Toothless to the lands of the African Savannah and in that time, things have been pretty quiet for us. We saw the occasional leopard and other predators of the jungle but when they saw Toothless they kept their distance and fled after he let out a roar. Now after three days of travelling we'd finally come to the end of the jungle and were now looking out at the golden savannah which I have to admit possessed its own unique beauty. This land was like nothing I'd ever seen before with the endless fields of tall yellow grass with trees that seemed to have flat tops instead of pointed. It was truly a magnificent thing to see and I couldn't wait to see the sunrise over this land since the beauty it possesses must be incredible and something I would love to see. (AN: Speaking from experience, it truly is one of the most beautiful things you can see in Africa so if you're ever in town visit the Savannah and enjoy it for it is an image that can bring a tear to the eye of even the toughest of Viking warriors.)

Presently we were soaring over the savannah looking down on the land and I had to say it was truly magnificent and I was looking forward to exploring the land on foot. I looked up ahead and smiled at the sight of a herd of animals that resembled horses with black and white stripes, all peacefully grazing in the grass. I had to remember to ask the people of this land what they call those animals and possibly gather seeds from some of the plants. It was then I saw a river up ahead and smiled since it would be a nice place to sit down and take a rest while admiring the animals that would no doubt come to get a drink. I'd make sure we keep our distance since the last thing we wanted to do is interfere with the delicate ecosystem by driving the animals from their watering hole. I steered Toothless down and took a deep breath before letting out a sigh as I turned to Toothless and said.

"You know bud, I can never understand it but the air of new environments always smells different from those of our island but to be honest with you, I always enjoy it." He just tilted his head. "It always tells me that we're in a new land with new animals to see, new plants to harvest, new places to explore, new people to meet and although it pains me to say it chances are a new adventure for us to get wrapped up in." He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah I know but hey I get a new trophy and it often leads to us being welcomed into the towns or cities of the land."

He nodded but before I could reply the sound of a cry over the hill caught our attention and I knew this meant there was trouble that we needed to investigate. I activated my ox flame boots and rushed to the top of the hill and looked down it to see what was happening where the scream originated only to see a blur in the river. I immediately activated my eagle eye and focused on what was happening down there and was horrified by what I saw. There was a total of five boys down there who looked to be around fifteen with one little girl but I don't think they were all friends from what was going on. Two boys were holding one by the arms as he struggled while another stood in front of them with a stone in hand while the final one held the little girl who was crying for help. Now I know I may not be too familiar with the customs of the tribes of this land but if there's one thing I recognized when I saw it it's bullying and that is exactly what was happening down there.

I immediately activated my bull flame boots speed mode again and rushed down towards them after the boy with the rock struck the restrained boy in the face with the stone. He raised the stone to strike him again but I reached them before he could and grabbed his wrist that held the stone with my real hand. He turned to face me in shock as I glared at him before squeezing his wrist hard making him drop the stone as he screamed in pain. I twisted his arm behind his back into a chicken wing before his friends seemed to shake out of their shock and let go of both the boy and the little girl who ran to the boy who I knew saw was bleeding from the mouth. I turned to the boys who were charging at me to no doubt help their friend but before they could even get near me I held out my prosthetic arm and released my star sword while having my spider packs legs extend and point at them. They stopped cold in their tracks at the sight as I said.

"Don't!" I pointed my sword at each of them. "Just don't!" They all gulped before a shadow flew over us and landed behind them revealing it to be Toothless making me smile as I pushed the boy into the water. "Toothless, make sure they don't go anywhere while I check on their victims."

He growled and nodded as I walked up to the girl and boy with the girl standing by the boy who was on his knees gripping his jaw in what seemed to be pain but I couldn't blame him. I slowly walked up to them but when they saw me the girl leaned back and stood in front of the boy with her arms spread out to protect him. Seeing this I had the spider legs pull back into place while collapsing my sword back into my prosthetic and then holding my hands up to show her I'm not going to hurt her or the boy she was trying to protect. She slowly lowered her hands but still looked unsure so I kneeled down to her level and said.

"I don't want to hurt either of you, I'd just like to check up on his injuries." She slowly stepped aside and allowed me to walk up to the boy but didn't let her eyes leave me as I examined the boy who spit up blood from time to time and shook my head. "You have a fractured jaw which'll take some time to heal but it best that you get it looked at by a healer as soon as you can." He opened his mouth to reply but I held up my hand silencing him. "Don't say anything, it best you avoid talking so you don't aggravate the wound." He nodded. "Now if you can show me the way I'll escort you back to your tribe." I then glared at the ones who inflicted the wound. "And I'll be sure to bring them with to face the consequences of their actions." The one who struck him with the rock then said.

"We don't belong to their tribe."

"Either way you're going to suffer punishment for what you lot did and if you try to run." I had a single spider leg from the top right shoulder and had a single red crystal launch at him but it missed his head by only a few inches and left a shallow scratch on his cheek. "The next crystal I launch will do a whole lot worse than leaving a small cut on your skin." He gulped at this. "Now let's get moving." They all nodded as I helped the boy onto Toothless' back and we began walking.

Fifteen minutes later

The village had come into view and I saw it was similar to the one in the jungle except the roofs of the huts were made of the grass from the savannah and a wooden fence made of large sticks stabbed into the ground around the village. When we made it through the opening in the wall we were greeted by a large crowd of men all hiding behind shields with spears and clubs at the ready. The little girl ran in front of me with her hands waving as she yelled out that I wasn't an enemy. They lowered their shields but I could tell that they weren't going to let their guard down if how they were pointing their spears at us was anything to go by. I looked around at them before I turned back to Toothless who still had the hurt boy on his back and held my hand out to the boy who took it before I helped him off. I turned back to the people and said.

"He has a fractured jaw from a stone being slammed into it." One of the warriors stepped forward and took the boy and the girl behind the crowd while one two of the other men walked up to the bullies and I could tell they were not happy before a man who wore a beaded headband with a single large feather at the back making me assume he was the chief walked out of the crowd and asked.

"Who are you stranger and how do we know we can trust you?" I held up my hands as I said.

"My name is Hiccup Haddock and as for how you know I can be trusted," I pulled off the necklace and tossed it at him. "my friend Kwame told me to show that necklace to the chiefs of this land as proof that I'm a friend." He picked up the necklace and examined it for a few seconds before nodding as he turned to the men pointing weapons at me and Toothless.

"Stand down, he's a friend." They lowered their weapons as the chief walked up to me and offered my necklace back to me. "What happened to my sons' jaw, you said a stone was slammed into it." I nodded as I took my necklace back.

"I was stopping to rest by a river when I heard a scream and ran towards it." He nodded and gestured for me to continue. "I found those boys with one holding the girl, two holding your son and one holding a rock that he was using to smash your boys face in." He nodded. "They said they weren't from your tribe but I figured you might know what tribe they do belong to and can contact their leader to discuss proper punishment." He nodded.

"Wise choice." He turned to three armed men. "Go to the Magoba tribe and inform their chief Mosi to come and collect the boys." They nodded and ran out the gate as the chief turned to me. "They shall be a while but shall return before the sun sets." I nodded. "In the meantime, I'd like to speak with you and get some answers as to what you did to receive that necklace as Kwame is an old friend of mine and I know for a fact that he doesn't just hand tribal necklaces out to just anyone." I nodded.

"Just show me where we can sit down and talk." He nodded before looking at Toothless with uncertainty. "Don't worry, as long as your people don't point weapons or bother him then he won't be any trouble." He nodded. "Do you think I can get your name chief?" He looked at me for a few seconds by I held his stare.

"It's Dakarai!" I nodded before he led me away into one of the huts.

Six hours later

I was once again next to Toothless but this time we were walking to the village that was home of those bullies who tried to smash the face of Dakarai's son with a stone. When the boys' father, Mosi came he was more than just displeased with his sons' actions and actually went so far as to slap his son and push him to the ground while promising severe punishment when they got home. He apologized to Dakarai for his sons' actions and assured him that he did not approve of his sons' actions during these tough times his tribe was going through. When he said this, it spiked my attention and I cut in to that conversation asking what was happening in his village since I had the feeling it was the reason I was called here to the savannah.

The chieftain who I now know to be named Mosi was hesitant to even talk to me until Dakarai informed him that I could be trusted and that I'd helped Kwame's people in the jungle with Shara he was open to telling me of the trouble his tribe had been having. Apparently, some of his tribes' members have been disappearing only to be found a few days later with their heads smashed in on rocks while their bodies were left for the hyenas and vultures, the savannahs scavengers. The two tribes had apparently been on thin ice with each other for a few weeks now after one of the members of chief Mosi's tribe was found killed with a stone knife from Dakarai's tribe but nothing was ever discovered to show who killed the man.

This however led to Mosi's son getting the idea that Dakarai's tribe was to blame for this so he came to avenge his tribe mates using what he believed were the same methods used on those that were lost. Mosi said he felt there was something more to this than meets the eye but there wasn't any way for him to prove it which is why I'm with him now. After everything I'd been through in my life I knew chances are there was more to it than meets the eye and with my luck it was most likely something of the supernatural kind. I shook my head knowing it was best I keep my guard up around the tribe since I'm not sure they can be trusted but also come up with a plan for tonight since according to Mosi the disappearances only happen at night when everyone's asleep. This at least gave me time to think of a plan or get an idea of what was happening and find out a bit more about the people of the village since this could be a set up by one of the tribes' enemies or one of the tribe members themselves for some reason. All I know is that I was going to find out what was happening and bring an end to it before any more people lost their lives to whoever or whatever was killing them.

Nightfall

Night had fallen over the savannah and I was the only one awake in this village who was still awake aside from Toothless but that's because I was hoping to get an idea on what was attacking. Presently I was sitting in the center of the village staring into the flames of the bonfire they keep lit to keep predators at bay and away from their huts. As I stared at the burning flames I went over everything I'd learnt about this tribe, the disappearances, the victims, the bodies and how it best to handle this. This of course led me to where I am now since all the disappearances happened at night I decided it best I act as bait for the creature by watching the fire and being the only one out at night I was a prime target and I hoped that whatever it was would take the bait. To make sure it believed me to be an actual member of the tribe Mosi leant me a tribal blanket to cover my body since those who watched the fire always wrapped themselves in it due the fire often not being enough to keep them warm during the cold African nights.

I stared at the flames picking up a stick and gently prodded at the flames keeping the burning blaze alive since I needed to make it look like I wasn't waiting for whatever it was and was just tending to the fire. It was then the sound of a growl caught my attention and I looked around since that growl did not sound the least bit friendly. The night was dark so it would be hard for any normal person to see what was happening but I was not normal since with 'the eye of the dragon' I could see as if it were day time. I looked around to try and find the source of the growl but before I could even get a good look around I found myself scooped up into what seemed to be a large basket. Next thing I know I'm being bounced around inside it as whatever this thing was ran out of the village towards the savannah but as I was carried I saw we were closing in on a tree and held out my prosthetic hand before launched out my prosthetic hand.

I smiled when it latched onto one of the branches before I began reeling it back in lifting me up out of the basket and into the tree before I swung up into the branches while looking down at what had scooped me up. I was more than shocked by the sight of what looked to be a hyena but it was then I noticed its head was not that of a hyena but the basket I was scooped up in when the thing attacked me. I'm guessing it realized I was no longer in its basket since it came to a screeching halt and turned to face the tree I was currently sitting in and glared up at me before it began circling the tree with its eyes never leaving me. As I looked down at it I knew I was going to have to ask Mosi if he had any idea what this thing was when I get down from the tree and take it down but for now I needed to figure how to take it down.

I looked down at my prosthetic and mentally went through my arsenal of god made weapons before an idea formed in my mind on how I could both capture this beast while also clearing the name of Dakarai's tribe. I released my crystal spear and threw it with the crystal end at the front of my spear and watched as it landed fifteen feet away impaling itself into the ground. The creature tilted its head in confusion before a fifteen feet tall wall of glowing green crystals burst from the ground and began circling around the tree forming a walled area trapping this thing with me. It was then I noticed flaming torches in the distance caught my attention and using my eagle eye mixed with my 'eye of the dragon' I was able to see it was the warriors of the tribe being led by Toothless and Mosi. I smiled before I looked down at the beast only to see it jumping up towards me but I quickly pulled my legs up and stood on the branch to avoid its sharp teeth. I watched as it fell back to the ground and knew if it got any higher it would reach the branch so I climbed higher until I reached the top of the tree before I spread my wings and jumped off, gliding over the crystal wall to meet the warriors. When I landed Toothless immediately ran up to me and crooned making me smile and rub his head as I said.

"Don't worry bud, I'm alright." Mosi then reached us and asked.

"Hiccup Haddock, we were all woken up by the rumbling of the land and the sound of cracking earth only to find glowing crystals in the land." He gestured to the wall behind me. "What is going on?"

"Don't worry chief Mosi, I am responsible for the crystal wall that I formed to trap the creature that abducted me and I'm sure is responsible for the killings." He stared at me.

"Can you describe the beast?"

"It looks like a hyena with a basket for the head." He shook his head as he hummed before he muttered.

"It couldn't be." This peeked my interest. "It's just a made-up story to scare the children into obeying their parents."

"I take it you know what this thing is?" He looked back up at me.

"The creature you are describing is an isitwalangcengce." (AN: Hard to spell and harder to say.) I cocked an eyebrow at the name since it was a mouthful. "I thought it was just a made-up creature used to scare children into staying in after dark." I sighed.

"With all due respect chief, I've been to many different lands and most of the creatures the locals label as made up to scare children are creatures I end up fighting to save the people." He sighed as he looked down and shook his head before looking back up at me.

"Are you sure the beast you trapped is an isitwalangcengce?"

"I can't be sure since I don't know much about the beasts of this land but I do know whatever it is it is not friendly." He looked at the crystal wall and placed a hand on it before turning back to me.

"This crystal wall shall hold the beast as long as my spear remains imbedded in the ground the crystals will hold." He nodded. "We can't keep it in there forever though since I will need my spear back and when it comes out of the ground the crystals will shatter into dust."

"Keep it in the ground till morning and then we shall deal with the creature since some of my tribe will need to see it to truly believe it." I nodded.

"Can you arrange for some of your warriors to watch over the cage to ensure this thing doesn't escape." He nodded.

"My warriors shall ensure it does not go anywhere." I nodded.

"Just to be safe I'll summon some of my own warriors to help them." He raised an eyebrow but before he could ask anything I held up my hand. "Just watch!" I bent down and placed my prosthetic hand on the ground before saying the words that summoned my Anubis warriors and summoned a total of twenty warriors who immediately bowed to me. "Watch over the crystal wall and the beast inside it and whatever you do don't let the beast inside the crystal wall escape." They nodded before theyran and surrounded the crystal wall while I turned back to Mosi who was staring at me in shock. "A gift from the gods of Egypt for my services to their people but that is a story for another time and for now just know that they'll help make sure your tribe doesn't lose any more of its people." He nodded before we began our walk back to the village where my tent was set up.

Morning

I was grateful that my evening was uneventful after I captured the beast since it meant I was able to get a comfortable night's sleep in my tent without being bothered but just to be safe I had my ninja wait outside in the shadows to be safe. Earlier this morning while I went through my morning rituals the tribe had some ladders moved against the crystal wall to get a look and I could tell some were shocked by the beast. I know this since when I walked out of my tent in my desert armor since the savannah was rather hot and the color of my armor matched the landscape, a small group of the people waiting outside to ask me some questions about not only the beast stuck in the crystal walls and the ones guarding the crystal walls. I answered their questions the best I could with what was happening with the village but all of this brings us to where I am now. Standing on top of a ladder with Mosi looking down at the creature who was glaring up at me most likely out of anger for trapping it like this. I looked around at the other tribe members looking over the crystals down at the isitwalangcengce that they were all shocked at the sight of the beast proving that most of them, like Mosi assumed it was a made-up story to scare the children. I was brought out of my thoughts by Mosi placing his hand on my shoulder bringing making me turn to him as he looked me in the eye and said.

"Your catch, your kill!" I knew he meant that the job of killing the isitwalangcengce fell to me since I was the one who captured it and I had no problem with it so I nodded and turned back to the isitwalangcengce that was still glaring at me.

"I understand, don't worry I'll make sure this thing never hurts another person again." He smiled.

"Good luck my friend." I nodded before I climbed over the crystal and jumped into the walls with the isitwalangcengce glaring at me and letting out a growl.

"I've been up against a lot of monsters in my time and killed far worse than you so do you can think we can save everyone a lot of time with you just promising to leave the people alone from now on or do you want to do this the hard way which ends with you dead and me walking away with a new trophy." It just let out a growl and leapt at me but I side stepped avoiding its pounce and sighed. "Why do you guys always want to do things the hard way."

I turned my prosthetic into its dragon claw form as I unfolded my eagle shield but before I could release any of my weapons the isitwalangcengce pounced at me again and this time I wasn't able to dodge. I pushed me to the ground pinning me to the ground but with my eagle shield I was able to push its body back and avoid its teeth sinking into my throat but it was still mere inches from my face so I had to push harder so I could keep my throat where it belongs in my neck. It snapped at me again but this time I was able to get my feet underneath its body and kicked my legs up throwing it off my body and a good ten feet away from me. I quickly stood up as the isitwalangcengce got back up glaring at me while I released three of my scimitar throwing knives into my prosthetic hand as I said.

"Let's see you dodge these."

I threw all three of them at the isitwalangcengce and smiled as it readied to dodge them only to step back in surprise when my knives lunar mirage ability activated turning three knives into fifteen. The isitwalangcengce immediately tried to run to the left out of the way of the flying knives but it wasn't fast enough to avoid all of them and four of them imbedded themselves into its body with three in the waist and one in the back-hind leg. The isitwalangcengce roared out in pain as it came to a screeching halt and turned to glare at me but I just smirked at it as I said.

"There's more where that came from." Ireleased my star sword. "So, bring it on beast."

The isitwalangcengce let out a roar and charged at me but with a limp in its step that did nothing to slow it down in its charge towards me. When it pounced I held my ground and held my shield in front of me when it jumped at me but when it did I pushed my shield against the isitwalangcengce before lifting the body of the beast and throwing it over my head and into the crystal wall. The crystal actually cracked at the strike when the isitwalangcengce's bodies slammed into the wall but the damage quickly repaired itself making it look as if the damage was never there. The isitwalangcengce immediately got back up growling at me before it once again charged at me but I raised my sword making it jump to the left in its charge as it jumped into my side and pushing into my shield. I stumbled slightly to the side but quickly regained my balance and glared at the isitwalangcengce who returned my glare before a light shining off my sword before I know how to give me the chance to end this. I smirked at the beast before I said.

"Come on you've taken down some of the villages greatest warriors but I suppose you only succeeded in doing so by catching them by surprise since you're too weak to take me on directly." It growled at me as I held my sword in front of my chest. "This sword has helped me kill many an evil beast and through this time it has gained multiple new powers." I then smirked. "Here's one of my favorites."

I then tilted the blade so it reflected the sun right into the eyes of the beast causing a large flash temporarily stunning the isitwalangcengce in place unable to move. This was an opening I was all too happy to take and used my ox flame boots speed mode to rush up to it and stab my sword right into its stomach, lifting it up as I did so as my blade went right through it. The surrounding crowd cheered for me as I lowered the beast down to the ground and pulled my blade out of the body as the creature coughed but before I could do anything I heard a weak voice that was barely above a whisper say.

"It wasn't meant to be this way." I looked around at the people but only saw smiling faces that were cheering before a cough caught my attention and I looked down at the isitwalangcengce.

"Was that you?" It coughed up some blood before much to my shock said.

"It wasn't meant to be this way." It looked up at me. "I was told I'd have no problems getting humans from this village."

"Wait, are you saying that someone actually had you choose this village?"

"I was told that should I attack this village I'd be rewarded with a monthly sacrifice when the tribes' man who made the deal with me got what he wanted."

"Who sent you here?" The isitwalangcengce coughed a bit of blood up.

"He didn't give his name but I will tell you this." The isitwalangcengce coughed once more. "I am not the only mystic beast he has at his command."

Then it was no more as I sighed knowing this meant something was going on and it was bigger than I originally thought but one thing was for sure and that's Mosi's tribe was in the center of it. I knew I needed to tell Mosi about this since he might have an idea on who's behind this or at least give me a warning of what kind of creatures I might go up against next. I looked around at the people and let out a sigh knowing that I was going to get a whole lot of attention from the people of the tribe who will no doubt have questions but from experience I know it was best to just get it over with. I walked up to my spear as everyone got down from the ladders before pulling my spear out of the ground and watched as the crystals shattered and turned to dust. Not even ten seconds passed before I was swarmed by the people all bombarding me with questions though some of the women asked questions that made me a little uncomfortable such as asking if I was looking for a wife, if I was single, if I planned to move to Africa and other such things. Fortunately, I was saved by Mosi yelling out.

"ENOUGH!" Everyone turned to him. "IT IS TRUE WHAT HICCUP HADDOCK HAS DONE FOR US TODAY IS A TRULY REMARKABLE DEED THAT WE SHALL CELEBRATE TONIGHT BUT FOR NOW GIVE HIM SOME SPACE AND TIME TO REST FROM THIS TRIAL!" Everyone backed up making me smile since it meant I could actually breath and hear myself think as Mosi walked up to me smiling as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Hiccup, I cannot thank you enough for what you have done today for my tribe and I will eternally be grateful knowing that from now on my tribe members will be able to sleep safe at night with the isitwalangcengce no longer a threat." I sighed and shook my head.

"I wish I could agree with you but I'm afraid there's more going on here than meets the eye."

"What do you mean?"

"Before it died the isitwalangcengce told me that someone made a deal with it to attack your village and in return when that someone got what they wanted then it would get a sacrifice every month."

"So, your saying that someone brought the isitwalangcengce to the village on purpose?"

"Yeah, and from what it told me whoever did it has more creatures at his command so in other words this isn't over yet."

"If this is the case then I hope I can count on your help in taking these beasts on to protect my people even though I know you have no ties to us and no reason to help."

"If innocent people are in need then I will help them even if they have nothing to offer in return since it's what I do and besides." I smiled. "It's not a true vacation for me unless I end up going up against some bizarre mystical creature to protect the local people." He raised an eyebrow.

"You've done this before?" I shrugged

"You'd be surprised!"

"Do the gods hate you?"

"To be honest I have no idea but I wonder the same thing every time I go up against a monster in a new land." I shrugged. "Not like I'm not paid well enough for my work though since their gifts more than make up for it."

"We clearly have a lot to talk about."

"That we do."

With that said we began making our way back to the village but as we did I couldn't help but think of what the isitwalangcengce said and wonder who it was working with. I knew from past experiences that when these things happened it meant only one thing and this one thing was something that I knew would give me a headache. The thing this meant is that this adventure wasn't over, it was just beginning and if I was right then I'm going to have a major headache when it's over if I survived.

AN: Hey all I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will review kindly but if you're wondering why I chose the isitwalangcengce cut me some slack as there are few mystical beasts of the African Savannah. I do have enough of them for the next chapter but what they are you shall have to wait and see. Also, if you're wondering who sent the isitwalangcengce to the village to begin with don't ask who they are or why they do it because I'm not saying. By the way keep in mind that after Africa is the trip to China where Hiccup shall finally find his first love and don't worry I know the majority vote is harem so she'll just be the first. Till next time have a nice day and stay safe during these tough times and don't forget I still need one idea for gifts from gods besides the new weapon and island piece so if you come up with something send me a PM and keep in mind no black panther stuff.