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DreamWorks Dragons: Defenders of Berk

A Banished Beast

Chapter 1

The leaves fell from the tree branches, one by one piling up on the forest's floor. One boot and one metal leg shared a rhythmic pattern across the ground, each allowing the other to pass and let pass. The movement was slow, lifeless, controlled even; hypnotized as a servant. The body and mind had no choice but to approach the beast ahead. No fight had occurred because all will had been destroyed.

The beast waited diligently for the boy's arrival, watching his every step as he came closer to his grasp. The wind began to pick up, pushing the young viking closer to the demon dragon before the beast itself began to reach out, the two tentacles on its neck extending toward the boy. Invisible forces pulled him in and the two needle-like tentacles inched their way to his neck, each taking a side, before diving into the flesh.

A sharp pain pricked the boy's body, his eyes closed tight as he winced from the piercing. A small cry escaped his slightly trembling lips, wanting nothing more than to escape the beasts' clutches. He felt himself began to drain away, each part of his body shutting down and dying on him. As his breath began to hitch…

Hiccup's eyes opened suddenly, his breath coming out in small, fast gasps before evening out; his heart beat slowing back down to the usual rate.

His body lied in a dead man's position; flat on his back, head and legs straight and his arms down at his side. Upon realizing this, Hiccup moved himself into a more comfortable, lively position; curling his legs up to his stomach and tucking his arms to his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to go back to sleep and possible have a better dream, but the sound of a coo opened his attention.

Toothless was standing next to his bed, his face at Hiccup's face. Hiccup sighed, knowing that it was probably morning, but smiled and reached his hand out to pet Toothless.

Getting up, he and his dragon went down stairs where his father was waiting with breakfast. Fish for Toothless and an assortment of fruits and vegetables for him and his dad; the variety of foods produced on Berk was beginning to flourish thanks to some trade from Trader Johann.

Hiccup took an apple, bit into it and headed for the door.

"Hiccup." Stoick said sternly, looking up from his meal. Hiccup stopped and closed his eyes, knowing very well what his father wanted. He turned around and sighed.

"Nothing has been working, dad, I don't see why I have to be a guinea pig and risk my life." He walked over to the table again and sat down with a huff. Stoick gave him the wooden bowl of medicine.

"It's not going to kill you, this stuff is common medicine. And until I see that bite mark on your neck go away we're not going to stop trying." Stoick replied. "Once we rule out this stuff, we'll try others."

"And what if the 'others' don't work too?" Hiccup challenged.

Stoick stared at him intently, "We'll keep trying. I don't know what's wrong, but those marks should have healed by now." He stated factually. He moved the bowl closer to him, and Hiccup took it and drank. The liquid came back up into his mouth, his cheeks filling up with it. The look on Hiccup's face probably matched that of his stomach, but the look on Stoick's face told him to suck it up and swallow. And he did, getting an unnerving chill travel up his back and his body shaking from disgust.

"It wasn't that bad." Stoick said, heading for the door.

Hiccup gagged, "You try it then." He said sarcastically.

Gobber was working in his forge when Stoick walked in, the chief baring a frown on his features. Gobber stopped what he was doing and looked at his friend.

"Tough morning?" Gobber asked.

"Hmmm, tough night." Stoick corrected, but otherwise agreed. "I can't seem to get to sleep as easily as I use to." He informed.

"Hiccup?" Gobber asked, though it was rhetorical between the two.

"Hiccup." Stoick sighed. "He keeps… crying out at night, not loud or like he's in pain. Its soft; whimpers, but I can still hear them." Stoick glanced over to his left, "He's still having nightmares."

"I would too, from what I've heard from the twins, that thing isn't no Screaming Death." Gobber stated.

"That's the thing; he hasn't talked to me about it." Stoick said sadly.

"I don't think he's talked to anyone about it." Gobber replied. "Just give him time, he'll pull through."

A pile of Bork's notes were dropped onto a table in the Great Hall, Fishlegs and Hiccup standing over them.

"Alright Fishlegs, you search this pile and see if you can find anything remotely similar to what me and the twins encountered. I'll look through this stack." Hiccup stated, earning a respectful nod from his friend.

"Got it," Fishlegs replied, picking up a book and skimming the lines. Hiccup also picked up a small paperback and looked through it. His eyes widened when he remembered the images drawn on the pages, those unsettling pictures of Bork's neighbors. He shivered and then flipped the page and skimmed through the writing.

"Well, well, well; look what we have here." Astrid said as she entered the Great Hall and walked up to Fishlegs and Hiccup. "Let me guess, you're trying to figure out what that thing is?"

"Any information would be good." Hiccup replied, only glancing up once from his reading.

"And you think it might be in Bork's notes?" she questioned.

"It's a start," Hiccup replied once more. Fishlegs put down the book he was reading and picked up some pieces of paper.

"You really think Bork ran into this creature?" Astrid asked, she didn't doubt Hiccup, she was just as curious as he was.

"I don't know,"

"Hiccup…" Fishlegs said, staring at one page, his eyes going back and forth through the text.

"What is it, did you find something?" Hiccup asked, getting closer and looking at the page himself.

"Yeah, listen to this. It's a journal page of some sort; it talks about Bork and some of his friends going out during the night and walking in the forest. One of his friends mysteriously disappeared, no sound was heard nor did they notice until they stopped and rested, finding out that they were one short in their group. They tried looking for their friend for weeks until they came upon a cave. Inside the cave they found him, wrapped up in some sort of white sticky substance that secured him in place." Fishlegs reads the text word for word,

"We found Ol' Pete stuck to the damp, rocky wall; his face as white as the substance that kept him there. On his neck were two small puncture wounds, one on each side, like someone had shoved an extremely thing stick straight through his neck. He was dead, cold as the winter's snow and limp to the forces around us as falling rain. Strange enough, he almost looked like a ragdoll…

We tried to get him down, but his arm was stuck. The only option we saw was to chop it off and burry his body without the arm. Upon cutting him free, my eyes expected there to be blood, as there always is, whether dead or alive. But upon releasing him from the prison, his arm was dry. Nothing spilled out, nothing dripped. I shared a feared glance with my mates, looking down at a body that was sucked dry of all any blood. He was like a hollow suit of his former self…"

Fishlegs and Hiccup shared a stare, Hiccup knowing very well that this was the creature they were looking for. The memory wasn't pleasant for Hiccup though.

"Was Ol' Pete awake when… that thing…?" Astrid didn't want to finish her question.

"…yeah, he was." Hiccup replied, knowing the answer because he was when the creature was feeding on him.

"Okay, I've heard of many ways to die, but being awake while something sucks the life out of you is by far the worst." Fishlegs stated. Hiccup spoke up, wanting to change the subject.

"Does it say anything else, a name, habits…?"

"Uh…" Fishlegs searched through the other pages. "No, I don't see anything."

"We'll keep looking, I'm sure if Bork had that written down, and then he must have searched for more answers to his friend's death." Astrid reasoned.

"That's what I'm hopping." Hiccup agreed.

The light was still up in the sky, shining its rays down at the exit of the cave; a strong barrier between the creature and its food. It rested just behind the shadows, laying down on a flat rock as it listened. Many noises came from the village, but the creature was trying to home in on one particular. An unsuccessful attempt, it was too noisy during the day.

The thing crept up the wall and hung upside down from the ceiling, closing its eyes and waiting for nightfall. It had to feast on other, simpler animals to regenerate its strength and heal, but now that it was at full strength, it'd be able to hunt for its prized possession once more.

Come nightfall, it'd feast once more.

A.N.

Alright, I expect this story to be quite long, hopefully 15 chapters at the most. I have a lot of things planned for these chapters!

Thank you!