Astrid, Snotlout and Fishlegs were waiting at the Great Hall. The place was empty, which was expected since everyone were outside. The three teen Vikings were waiting for their friends to return. The group were resting at one of the empty tables.
Just on time, Ruffnut and Tuffnut entered the Great Hall. The female twin was the first to speak. "They're leaving soon!" She exclaimed. "Spitelout says children and elderly has to stay at the village."
"Why should we stay here and do nothing?" Snotlout complained. "I want to try the new hammer my dad gave me."
Astrid scowled at that. "As usual, Hiccup wants all the glory by himself." She gave her answer, before standing up from her chair. "Who else coming with him?"
Tuffnut was the one to answer. "Pfft- I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe just him. We left before they could spot us."
"They probably left right about now." Ruffnut added, smirking.
The petite girl smirked back. "Good." She clasped her hands together. "It's time to tame our own dragons!"
Meanwhile, Charcoal, Toothless and Agatha were heading to Helheim's Gate. They could see the fog in front of them, despite being somewhat far. The dragons were carrying humans on their back, except for the male Night Fury.
Despite the peace and quiet, everyone felt anxiety through anticipation. They had never faced anything like that before, especially for Alex.
"Hiccup."
The male dragon glanced to the side. Alexander was speaking to him. The draconic Viking was riding at the back of Agatha the Deadly Nadder. "How do you feel?"
"Hrr…" Charcoal had no answer to that. He looked ahead to Helheim's Gate; anxiety obvious for them. "Anxious. I just hope we're not too late for anything."
There was another pause. The draconic Viking frowned as he observed around him. The dragons seemed anxious, while his two students looked nervous. It was obvious that they were unsure about actually doing it.
"Let's talk about ambient mana." Alexander decided, getting their attention. He would have to distract them from that feeling of impending doom. "You said crystals might not behave like they're supposed to."
"It has to do with the raw mana around us." Charcoal glanced at him. "Do you know how to burn mana circuit?"
"No, but I have some ideas."
"You overwhelm them with raw mana. Utility crystals can be destroyed the same way." The young male dragon answered. "They're meant to be used with dragon mana. When you pump raw mana into them, they dissolve into white dust. It's called burning crystals."
"And ambient mana can destroy them."
"Sort of. Raw mana from the environment can leak into the crystal, accelerating its expiration." Charcoal clarified. "Utility crystals can be made to resist them, but depending on quality, those are usually more expensive."
Toothless, having paid attention to the conversation, decided to speak. "You can always ground the crystal."
"Ground?"
"It's a method to prevent burning. It flows any excess mana into the environment." The black-scaled dragoness explained. She glanced at the draconic Viking. "They're hard to implement. You usually find them in military-grade crystals."
"Huh." Alexander mused. He looked back to the sky, observing their surroundings. "I remember being told that pumping crystals with raw mana would make them stronger."
"That would be supercharging." Toothless elaborated. She focused back on her flight. "Some utility crystals can be designed like that. They can consume raw mana to make their effect stronger or more effective. But of course... it depletes their life cycle much quicker."
The draconic Viking seemed to remember something. "Can you combine them with grounding?"
"You... sort of can." The black-scaled dragoness was hesitant. She looked deep in thought. "If you limit the life cycle consumption per second, it can be supercharged up to certain point before it starts grounding any excess."
Agatha glanced at her. "You know a lot about crystal making."
"I am a crystallographer." Toothless responded. There was pride in her voice. "It's my expertise."
"... there are some crystals in Americas used by deviants against us." Alexander decided to inform. He turned to look at her. "It's rare to find crystal experts here in surface, so we barely checked what they are."
"I can do my analysis... for a price."
The draconic Viking smiled at her. "I'll keep that in mind."
Eventually, the group reached Helheim's Gate. They were very close to the fog. They could feel the ward mentally impulsing them to turn around and leave. It was incredibly strong the closer they were.
The dragons struggled to maintain their will.
"This is where we split up." Toothless spoke up. She glanced at her mate. "I'll erase the memory when you arrive. I trust you to severe the connection."
"I will." Charcoal nodded.
The black-scaled dragoness nodded. "Good luck, Charcoal."
The two female dragons break off from formation. They headed to different direction, leaving Charcoal alone. They would be entering the fog from different angle.
Charcoal took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled it. He had to be calm for this one. The young dragon slowed down as he cast mind-isolate spell on himself. A large portion of his mana pool was drained to block the powerful ward. Regardless, this stopped the ward from affecting him.
Concentrating on that spell, he quickly entered the fog.
The young dragon flew a bit further in, before ending his concentration. Charcoal was not affected, because he was already inside. Focusing on the flight, he noted the obstacles around him. He needed to be careful on where he was going.
As expected, some of the pillars and obstacles were redacted by his scrambler goggles. That indicated visuals that would affect his mind.
Regardless, he need to get and keep Furious' attention on him.
Not that he would remember it.
Charcoal slowed down further when he sensed telepathic connection request. He accepted the connection. It was limited to speaking their thoughts; nothing more, nothing less. The young dragon must keep his focus on him.
The connection was silent for a moment. Then, Furious sent his first thought. "I'm sorry."
The male dragon did not respond. Furious sent another thought. "I'm sorry it had to be this way."
"What are you planning, Furious?" Charcoal thought back. "You told me you want to make amend. I was going to leave with my family until you stopped us."
"Is it too late to say them now?"
"No." The male dragon responded. "But you're not going to convince me for anything."
There was silence once more. Charcoal slowly cruised around Helheim's Gate, feeling small breeze from the foggy air. He waited for Furious to respond.
Eventually, he did. "I foresighted something. Something dangerous." Furious began. "... I want you to survive."
"Liar." Charcoal mentally snarled. "Wodensfang know what you did. You want to cover yourself."
"I could never hide or run from him. No one can." The greater alpha dragon responded. There was a hint of fear in his voice. "I'm doing this for you and Barbaric Archipelago as a whole. I thought it could wait; make amend with you and explain everything, but I can't. I don't trust my replacement; no one born in Hidden World have good intention for the surface world."
"What are you planning, Furious?"
There was no response. Charcoal exhaled his breath. "So, you're afraid that I would suffer. You put measures to make sure I don't." He continued his thought. "But in the process, you hurt everyone around you, including me and yourself."
"It was better for us to suffer for you."
"You were so afraid of end the war because you feared what comes after." The male dragon accused. "You've been burned so much; you see every change as wrong."
"And when is it not wrong, Charcoal?" Furious seemed to retort. "If you see what I see, you will make the same decision."
"I would never let it get to this point. You cornered yourself into this situation." Charcoal thought back. "Had you been more honest, this would never happen."
"You barely trust me ever since you destroyed the Lava-Lout Island." Furious sounded bitter. "Even if I was honest, it wouldn't change anything."
" Then why?" Charcoal expressed his frustration. "Why did you do this?"
"I wish to break the cycle that bound our fate." Furious seemed to declare. "You will not understand now, but you will in the future."
"And that is?"
"Preparing you for the future." The greater alpha dragon whispered.
Charcoal angrily severed the telepathic connection. 'A load of nothing from a failed greater alpha.' He thought, before focusing to calm himself down. The young dragon focused back on his flight. '... I hope uncle Alex's friends can get here soon.'
It was known that dragon hatchlings would inherit mutations of their parents. This was how newborn dragons learn how to survive in the wild. The hatchlings would inherit basic and essential parts of their parent's mutations, giving them opportunity to learn from their parents at accelerated rate.
It was easier for the hatchlings to learn spells their parents knew compared to complete beginners. This was why dragon parents tend to teach their hatchlings themselves instead of getting a tutor. What normally took few years would take just few months for hatchlings to learn if their parents knew them when they gave birth to them.
This part was crucial, because it equalised dragons in some way. It gave them equal opportunity to survive.
However, there was some caveat to this benefit. The learning efficiency difference depends on their life expectancy.
Terrible Terrors were small with short life expectancy, but they had ten-to-one learning efficiency on learning things their parents already knew, compared to something completely new to them. Monstrous Nightmare had two-to-one, because they could live for about 30 years or so.
Of course, hatchlings could also lose mutations instead of inheriting them. If the parents barely used or never practised what they inherit from their parents, their newborn hatchlings might not inherit them. This created a dragon tradition around teaching their hatchlings as much as they could.
However, this inherited mutation phenomenon was not clearly understood.
Even after millions of years of their existence, there were still mysteries surrounding them. The exact calculation for learning efficiency rate was unknown, and they barely understand how hatchlings could 'lose' their mutation.
There were many theories; half of those were plausible, but only few were proven to be true.
The idea of 'learning efficiency from parents' was one of the true facts.
As such, Toothless and Charcoal were not surprised when their hatchlings inherited a lot of mutations from them. As former dragon soldier, Charcoal had to constantly use everything in his disposal to survive. Toothless often practised crystal making, because it was how she earned her living.
The constant use meant their hatchlings would inherit those mutations.
Because of their incredibly long lifespan, Night Furies have the lowest learning efficiency rate, which was one-to-one ratio. There was no difference between learning things their parents knew and something completely new to them. This gave them flexibility on what to teach their hatchlings first.
This ignored external factors, however. Toothless and Charcoal had drunk the concoction that cured them from the Dreaded Dragon Flu - at least Toothless, anyway. However, the alchemic potions were created from Super Dragon project.
Charcoal claimed it was an alchemical base for other potions, despite not understanding the specifics.
They knew it affected Toothless' birth rate, but they never knew how it would affect the hatchlings themselves.
It was hard to blame them. Toothless was exceptionally skilled in crystal making; mutations had nothing to do with this. She was the smartest dragon in her college. It was natural for her to assume that their hatchlings would inherit this trait.
Charcoal was similar. He was quick to learn new things, and he expected his hatchlings to be the same. However, this expectation ignored other factors, such as being merged with Mimir and drinking the concoction. These things affect the hatchlings they would have.
Because of Night Fury's extremely low birth rate, they had nothing to compare their hatchlings to. They did not know if it was normal for their hatchlings to learn things so fast. They thought this was something normal.
As such, it should not be a surprise that their hatchlings understood what they were saying.
"We need to help mom and dad."
The hatchlings were resting at the open cave inside the cove at Isle of Berk. They were curled up with each other, keeping themselves warm on the charred stone bed they made. Mentally, they were bouncing thoughts to each other.
"How do we help them?" Amelia questioned. "Mom and dad told us to stay."
"We learned everything from books." Hamish responded. "We have knowledge. We can help!"
"We need to plan." Helena pointed out. The female hatchling snuggled closer to them. "Do you have plan?"
The hatchlings paused as the smallest hatchling sent his thought-memory to them. When that was done, they untangled themselves. The group moved deeper into the open cave to hide themselves. Calian flew up and grabbed a small Nature Shard from the table with his maw.
The vibrant forest-green eyed hatchling placed the crystal where they were before. He pressed one of his paws to it and performed some form of mana manipulation.
The Nature Shard began to change colour. Not long after, an illusion of 'six hatchlings sleeping and curled up to each other' sprung up into place.
After adjusting the position, Calian rushed to the corner to meet the others. Iris the emerald-green eyed hatchling moved close to the illusion. It was very convincing, at least until someone tried to touch it. She took a deep breath, then produced a high-pitched distressed roar. "KRA!"
After that, Iris quickly moved deeper into the open cave and hid there. Seconds later, two male Light Furies entered the place, looking around to check what happened. They were focused on the illusion.
While the two were distracted, the hatchlings snuck out from the place, before taking off into the sky. Nobody saw them, since the others were away with Amber. The six hatchlings had finally fled the cove.
Entering the forest, others glanced at Hamish for the next step. "What now?"
"Berk. Viking village." The smallest hatchling instructed. "We need the smeltery for scrambler goggles."
With that, the small flock of hatchlings carefully headed to Berk.
Meanwhile, Agatha and Toothless had just entered the fog.
The opposite end of Helheim's Gate was no different than any other direction. The two dragons moved rather fast, mostly since they wanted to reach their destination quicker. The Vikings riding them were watching the sky; they were expecting deviant dragons to attack.
Camicazi, who was crewing the repeating ballista on Toothless, spotted something. "There."
Thuggory squinted his eyes. "Where?"
The Bog-Burglar heir aimed her repeating ballista at the fog. She fired couple shots into seemingly nothing. There was some silence, then suddenly, they heard small explosions and distant, pained roar. "Graaa!"
"Good shot." The Meathead heir complimented.
The two dragons heard that. Toothless glanced at Agatha. "They might be everywhere. The Vikings can't see them." She warned. "Do you know a narrow place?"
"Follow me." The Deadly Nadder answered, before speeding ahead.
The Night Fury and the Deadly Nadder turned to the right, before entering a large cave entrance. Flying into the place, the path was incredibly dark. The two dragons could see them just fine, but the Vikings seemed to struggle. It was completely pitch black for their sight.
It was too quiet for comfort. The silence was deafening. Camicazi felt nervous. "I can't see. Do we have a light?"
Alex pulled out some sort of focused lantern. He fitted them right next to his repeating ballista. "Hold on. I got a dark lantern." The man opened the top, attempting to turn it on. "It got its own tinderbox. If I spark this thing…"
There was a spark, and the lantern shined its light to the rear.
"GROAAAAAAA!!!"
Aberrant dragons – Deadly Nadder and Monstrous Nightmares – suddenly became visible for them to see. Their eyes reflected red glare as the light shone their direction. Those dragons were alarmingly close!
"FUCK!" Camicazi panicked as she fired her repeating ballista. Arrows after arrows, her shots hit the target, causing all sorts of injury. The blood was redacted by their scrambler goggles. While that did slow their advance, the dead were replaced by advancing aberrant dragons at the rear.
The draconic Viking also fired his repeating ballista. It would not do well for them to get caught in narrow cave way. "Thuggory! Blast stick!"
The burly boy reached for the bag on the left. He opened it, pulled out a blast stick, before throwing it at the man. "Here!"
Alex caught them. Using the lantern, he lit the fuse, before throwing the blast stick down the crowd of aberrant dragons. One of the dragons opened its maw and ate them. "GROAAA!"
BOOM!
The explosion sent all sorts of viscera flying. Chasing dragons at the rear did not expect the explosion, which caused a large traffic collision. The sight of aberrant dragons were getting distant on each second.
Everything fell silent they turned around the corner.
Toothless and Agatha briefly glanced back to see the ruckus. The Deadly Nadder was impressed. "It's like back in Lava-Lout Island."
"Yeah." The black dragoness sighed in relief. "It does."
After some twist and turns around the cavern, they finally made it out from the dark place.
The two dragons arrived at the rear section of Dragon Island, which typically did not have much dragons roaming around. The fog was not as thick as before.
They felt relief upon seeing this. It was definitely better than before, and certainly better than the cavern they just flew out from. There was no one else but them.
"I think I know this place." Toothless commented as she looked around. "The infirmary's loading area isn't far from here."
"I've never been there before." Agatha questioned. "Is it safe to land?"
"It should be." The black dragoness answered the question. "Dragons don't go there unless they're dropping supplies for the infirmary. It's usually messenger dragons doing their work. It should be empty, since the whole island is closed."
"Alright." The Deadly Nadder relented. She slowed down to tail the Night Fury. "Lead the way."
Back at Berk, the Monstrous Nightmare was let out from his dragon pen. He carefully stepped out into the dragon ring. Astrid, Snotlout and others were there. The shieldmaiden was unarmed, and she had her hand hovering over his snout.
"Easy now…" Astrid whispered, staring at the dragon. She slowly backed off, while the red dragon was walking forward to her.
"I guess this is a bit better." The Monstrous Nightmare rumbled.
Once Astrid reached the others, she grabbed Snotlout by his hand. "Wait!" The burly teen was extremely reluctant. "What are you-"
"Relax. It's okay… it's okay." The petite girl whispered as she raised his hand onto the dragon's snout. The hand hovered over the dragon. After some time, the red dragon closed his eyes and pressed his snout onto his hand.
The others breathed out relieved sigh. Snotlout let out a nervous smile. "Oh- hah…" He noticed that Astrid had went off running to elsewhere. "Wait, where are you going?!"
The petite girl had grabbed several ropes from the side. "You're going to need something to help you hold on."
There was a huff. The others looked to the side. The three other dragons were all out from the cages. The Deadly Nadder, Hideous Zippleback and Gronckle were staring at them, curious as to what they were going to do.
Charcoal entered the Dragon Island. There was no dragon anywhere, but the place was covered with all sorts of pillar-shaped thing. He did not know since his scrambler goggles redacted them.
Landing at the main entrance, he realised something massive was occupying the main chamber. It had the shape of a cocoon.
The male dragon reached his mate through their circuit bond. He mentally sent what he saw. "I'm here." He thought. "The main chamber is blocked."
Toothless entered his mind and erased his memories involving their plan and whereabouts. It was much easier and simpler when both parties fully consented for such thing. When that was done, the mother dragon pulled out of his mind. "Good luck, Charcoal."
Charcoal took a deep breath, before casting some spells to himself. It severed his connection between Toothless, Gryphon and his hatchlings. He could no longer feel or sense them.
The opposite was not true, however. They could sense where he was. They would have to see him again to mend the connection.
It would prevent Furious from reaching them through him.
When that was done, Charcoal walked into the place. He moved to the centre, before speaking. "Furious." He called out. "I'm here. Where's my father?"
Not long after, Furious stepped out from behind a pillar. "He's here."
Something began to move at the main chamber. The young dragon widened his eyes. Stoick was being held suspended in the air. Parts of his bodies were connected with something. He could not see because of the goggles.
Stoick was naked as he was born. He looked half-conscious as he stared at Charcoal. "Hiccup..."
"Dad…" Charcoal was hesitant. He glared at Furious. "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing, for now." The greater alpha dragon answered. "We've been talking about what I planned."
"No. Don't do it..." The captured Viking breathed out. He looked stubborn and desperate. "Hiccup, leave. I don't want you here."
The young dragon was confused. Regardless, he focused on the dragon in front of him. "Let him go."
"The only way for me to let him go... is for you to take his place." Furious revealed. The captured Viking was lowered to the ground. "If not, he's going into the heart."
Charcoal straightened himself. He could not see the heart, since it was probably redacted. The young dragon realised his intention. "You're trying to use the Conjunction event."
For a brief moment, Furious was surprised. He quickly schooled his expression. "You can feel the ambient mana in the air." The greater alpha dragon spoke. His voice echoed throughout the chamber. "This is the strongest Conjunction that ever happened."
There was a pause. The young dragon realised Furious was not going to tell. "Let him go first."
The greater alpha dragon obliged. Stoick the Vast was thrown to him. Charcoal jumped and caught his Viking father. The moment he did, the young dragon used jet-pulse to dash for the exit.
Unfortunately, his leg was caught by an unseen tendril. Charcoal was immediately pulled back to Furious, who instantly wrapped him around with other tendrils. Stoick the Vast was dropped half way the cave exit.
The young dragon cursed under his breath. The scrambler goggles redacted the tendrils, preventing him from seeing them. He could feel those things sinking into him, mixing with his mana.
His mana circuits were fighting back in response, but overpowered by the overwhelming eldritch mana. Charcoal could feel them. Furious had complete control over him once more.
"That's not very honest of you." Furious sounded disapproving. He slowly took off Charcoal's scrambler goggles, allowing him to see.
It was the familiar entrance hall of Dragon Island. Everything was covered in black flesh-like material. The pillars were definitely ones. Charcoal noted massive vein-like tendrils on the ground and ceiling.
The main chamber, however, had something enormous. It was some sort of fleshy cocoon thing made of the same black flesh-like material. The thing seemed to move, pulsing like heartbeat.
The young dragon had never seen anything like it.
"What can I say?" Charcoal snarked back. "I learned from the master."
"Masters don't tell lies." Furious simply responded. He commanded the tendrils to bring Stoick back to them. "We tell half-truths, and sometimes, say nothing at all."
"So you admitted it."
"I admit what I did. I never rejected it." The greater alpha dragon confessed. The Viking was brought in front of them. "Now, watch."
Charcoal stared as black tendrils sank into Stoick's body. They moved up and suspended him in the air. The young dragon felt something build up behind him.
Ba-thump!
The fleshy cocoon had pulsed like a heart. Something red was glowing from inside, which pulsed through the tendrils into Stoick's body. The young dragon realised that it really was a massive eldritch heart.
Ba-thump! Ba-thump!
With each pulse, Charcoal saw his human father change. Stoick began to grow black scales. Then, his size and shape started to turn draconic. The black eldritch tendrils kept him suspended as they witnessed the transformation.
It did not take long for the young dragon to realise what happened.
Stoick was changing into a Night Fury. It happened right in front of his very eyes. Charcoal could only stare when the now-dragon Viking were moved closer by the black tendrils. He was less than half of their size.
The eldritch heart stopped pulsing when he had fully transformed. Furious approached the newly formed dragon. "I have learned many things about the curse." He began. "It was sophisticated and ancient. But curses can be overpowered."
The now-dragon Stoick was hanging inches off the ground. The greater alpha dragon continued speaking. "The Conjunction is at the strongest in all history of dragons." He revealed. "On this day, nothing can hold against the Heart of Ebonclaw."
'So, that's what it was called.' Charcoal realised, glancing back at the eldritch heart thing. 'Heart of Ebonclaw.'
There was a pause. Furious stared at the young dragon. "You don't need to make a choice." He decided. "... we've already made them for you."
The young dragon widened his eyes. "What?"
Furious' body turned into black flame, before flowing to envelop the recently-turned Night Fury. They turned into a sphere of black flame. Charcoal stared in horror as the one he care about were taken by the greater alpha.
The sphere then took shape into a Night Fury. The tendrils detached themselves from the target. When it was over, Furious stood where Stoick had been. There was a hint of green in his eyes, indicating what he had done.
Furious had taken Stoick as part of him.
"I can feel our mind becoming one." The greater alpha dragon whispered. "The one true father..."
Charcoal was horrified. "You're fucking insane!"
"We are all insane in our own ways, Charcoal." Furious whispered as the black tendrils returned and sank into him. "Let me show you what Haddock mutations can do."
Ba-thump!
The eldritch heart pulsed once more. It pulsed some sort of red into Furious' body. The greater alpha began to grow in size; his scales became thicker, and he was gaining bulk in strength. The heart kept pulsing and empowering him.
Charcoal could only watch with fear. When the heart stopped pulsing, Furious had grown two times his original size. The tendrils disconnected from the body. The yellow-green eyes snapped open, staring down at the restrained young dragon.
"You..." The young dragon wondered how it was possible. It was definitely not deviant activity, since the process did not feel like that. It was not mana perversion, either. There was only one answer. "You absorbed flesh without perverting them. The heart is the one that produces the flesh."
This was exactly what Charcoal feared. There was a reason why it was called dragon forging. The mana within their victim must be twisted- no, perverted to lessen the chance of major mutation.
It was why they call them mana perversion.
"We don't need flesh to empower ourselves. The Heart of Ebonclaw creates the mana." Furious whispered as he leaned down to him. "Haddock and Ebonclaw mutations are... dangerous combination."
"You want to be more powerful." Charcoal realised. "You want to defeat Wodensfang."
"We could never defeat him. His power is far beyond anything that exists." The large greater alpha whispered. "But we can plant that into you."
As Charcoal was slowly pulled into the eldritch heart, he noticed how Furious spoke. He referred to himself in plural. His father must be still in there. Taking that gamble, he mustered the best expression he could. "Dad."
That seemed to work. The tendrils stopped moving. Charcoal continued speaking. "Dad, please." He pleaded. "Let me go. You don't want to do this."
Furious was hesitant. He slumped his wings a bit, before speaking. "I've already seen the future." The greater alpha admitted. His voice sounded familiar, as if Stoick was speaking as dragon. "You need this... Charcoal. Please."
"I just want to live a normal life." Charcoal pleaded once more. "I don't want any of this!"
"No, Charcoal." Furious hardened his expression. "You need this."
It felt eerie for him that the greater alpha felt like his Viking father. The young dragon took that as a sign; Stoick could be in control. "No. I don't need this."
"Charcoal." The greater alpha sharply spoke. "I know what you're going to do next."
"I want to leave to Hidden World!"
"You want to end the war!" Furious raised his voice.
Charcoal stared at him with confused and fearful expression. The greater alpha dragon sat on his hindlegs. His eyes were turning familiar green; the yellow were fading. "Furi- I... I saw the future. He showed me his memories." 'Furious' whispered. "He let me see the future. I was terrified."
"No." The young dragon whispered. His voice was shaking. "He's lying."
"I know when he's lying, Charcoal." 'Furious' answered. He looked sombre. "... I've talked to him. I want to take your place. I don't want you to take the burden, but he's not convinced."
"You're just Furious speaking my father's voice."
"We could never become one without my consent." The green-eyed greater alpha dragon carefully explained. "... I have mana circuits. I can't use them, but it protects me from many things. It would kill us both if I didn't consent."
"He manipulated you into agreeing with this." Charcoal hissed. He felt betrayed that his human father suddenly went against him. "He's the one responsible for this. He's the one who kept the war going. He can stop this anytime he wants!"
"No, Charcoal." 'Furious' shook his head. "It's not that easy."
"Y-"
"War doesn't end just because we want them to end." The green-eyed greater alpha dragon interrupted. "There are grudges, greed and pride in every being fighting this war. They can't be easily quelled, and peace will make things worse."
Charcoal stared with wide-eyed expression. 'Furious' continued speaking. "Every peace effort failed because of this. Humans and dragons hate too much to make peace." He softly explained. "Hiccup the First was killed by dragons that wanted to restart the war. Hiccup the Second died at his own father's sword."
The green-eyed greater alpha dragon shuddered his breath. "... there can never be peace until those who profit from war can no longer profit." He whispered, staring down at the young dragon. "There can never be peace until grieving families can move past their revenge."
"Until one side is thoroughly beaten into the dirt; they have no choice but to accept responsibility." 'Furious' finished. "And take the everlasting shame and horrors on their shoulder."
For the first time, Charcoal understood. Dragons were not allowed to win, because it meant humans would see them as a threat and invade their home. Dragons were not allowed to lose, because it meant the end of their place in the surface world.
The young dragon did not know what to say. "You're talking as if extermination is the only path for this war." He whispered. "You're saying the only way to end the war is for one side to win."
"If it were up to me, I would choose the side of humans. Furious sided with the dragons." 'Furious' continued speaking. "We would never agree if we make that choice. We want you to choose."
"What if I don't want to choose?" The young dragon almost snarled. "What if I just want to leave it all!"
"Then leave. After this, you are free to go." 'Furious' simply responded. "We will fight Wodensfang... and die trying. If you don't make that choice... he will."
Then, 'Furious' eyes returned back to mostly yellow. Furious had taken back control. He simply stared as Charcoal was pulled into the eldritch heart once more. There was no word from him, only look of pity.
Charcoal was shaken, but understood. The choice he made had far more power than what he thought. The more he remained indecisive, the more victims the war would claim. Furious had been preparing him to make that choice, and now, Stoick the Vast.
Just as the young dragon was fully absorbed into the eldritch heart, he realised they never really told him what they were doing. While it was implied, he feared what would they do to his memories.
His own human father had betrayed him. He had come to save him, but he had gone against him.
He wanted to strike them for betraying his trust. He wanted to curse them for what they did; say what he really think about him.
But he couldn't. They wouldn't care.
His fathers were no different, after all.