Chapter 27 - The missing Harmony
Hiccup and I follow behind Harm, our minds boggled. I look back to Hiccup, a zombie look in his eyes. The green seems more intense than before, though there's a deadness to them, like he's a walking corpse.
I shudder.
We follow Mistress Harm through a rocky tunnel, Blade coming up the rear. The dim light of the lit torches casts an eerie orange glow to his skin, making him look more menacing with the scars on the sides of his lips.
We reach another tunnel, at the end a blanket hanging from the roof which is being used as a door.
Harm moves the blanket aside, entering a nicely lit room, which is basically a large cave. A wooden bed in the corner, some chairs, a lit fire and weapons hanging on a rack on the wall.
"Please...sit..." Says Mistress Harm, gesturing to the chairs near the fire.
I softly grab Hiccups hand, warmth rippling through me as I do, and I lead him to the seats where I sit down; him beside me.
Blade looks down the tunnel from where we just came from, before he stands in front of the blanket, folding his arms over his dark, scarred skin.
Mistress Harm clears her throat.
"My real name is Harmony. Harmony Hellion Haddock. Daughter of Stoick the Vast, and his wife, Valka."
Hiccup flinches as she mentions Stoick, and I softly squeeze his hand in reassurance as he does.
"I was a lot like my mother...I loved dragons. Didn't want to kill them. One day, when I was five, dragons raided the village. My father had just captured a StormCutter under a net, and he ran off, to deal with other dragons...I decided to...free the dragon.."
Hiccup's eyes widen slightly, and he whispers. "Cloudjumper...."
"But once I did...the dragon broke into our house...I ran away, and I heard a bloodcurdling scream and I realised that Valka had been taken by the giant beast...I..." She turns away from us, sighing. "I stole a boat and sailed...far, far away..."
She removes her metal helmet, shaking her hair a little before looking at us.
She resembles Hiccup so much. From the freckles, to her round nose, and even the shagginess in her hair. Though, her eyes aren't the forest green of Hiccups.
Hers are a blue.
A bright azure blue.
Hiccup stares at her, but doesn't say anything, probably trying to process everything. I, myself am still trying to process it all.
"I landed here, and was raised by a family who took me in. Our chief was corrupt, and I led a revolution against him; after we overthrew him, I was elected to be the new Chief. I've been the Chief ever since."
I bite my lip, seeing how shocked and confused Hiccup is.
I clear my throat. "Hiccup is the Chief of Berk...his father..."
Harm looks to the ground, fiddling with her fingers. "Uh...I see..."
Hiccup suddenly stands up suddenly, staring at Harm. His eyes a bright green, and slowly, his pupil slits.
I hold my breath.
"Where...is Toothless...and my friends...?" The anger that laces his tone sends shiver down my spine.
Harm widens her eyes slightly, staring at Hiccup.
"A Wildsoul..."
•~••~•~••~•~••~•~••~•~••~•
Harm leads us through another tunnel, hastily moving, her eyes wide. Hiccup and I follow, Blade following.
We enter large cave; it resembles the Great Hall. Vikings litter the hall, drinking, laughing, and generally looking joyful.
The dragon riders sit at a table, all looking anxious and confused. Fishlegs sees us, smiling.
"Gods Hiccup! We thought you were dead!"
The dragon riders get up, all happy to see Hiccup and I. As they all rush at us, Snotlout accidently knocks me over. Swiftly, Hiccup catches me before my head hits the ground, and I smile at him.
He smiles back before glaring at Snotlout.
Harm looks to me; now wearing her metal mask with the painted flames across it.
She leans in closer to me and whispers. "He loves you..."
I turn to her, startled, yet I don't say anything.
"The Dragons are all safe" says Harmony, looking at all the dragon riders. "Blade will escort you to them. I need to speak to Ember. Alone."
My blood suddenly chills as I realise that I never gave Harmony my name.
Gods..
Hiccup gives me a worried look before he follows Blades, along with the rest of the dragon riders. Harmony gestures me to follow her, and she leads me through more tunnels before we enter the room she first brought me and Hiccup to; the one with the bed and lit fire.
Harm strips off her mask, throwing it onto the bed before looking at me.
"Hiccup is a Wildsoul...how...?"
I then explain to her nearly everything. How I'm a Wildsoul, and how Hiccup is too, and how we're both binded to NightFuries.
When I get to the part about Astrid, Harmony tenses up and interrupts me.
"Wait. She's coughing up blood?"
I nod. "Yes, and she's got this weird marking up her arm.."
Harm shakes her head in disbelief, siting down across from me. "Oh no.."
"What is it?" I ask slowly.
She doesn't look at me. "She's Titanateing.."
"She's what now?"
Harm removes some armour and strapping from her arm, holding it out towards me. She closes her eyes tightly, and I watch as slowly, an orange, intricate pattern starts to glow on her skin, making me gasp.
When she opens her eyes again, they are no longer blue.
They are orange.
I hold my breath, shocked. And scared. And worried. And a million other things.
"Astrid has the blue gem. It's what makes a Titan. Whatever is within her is powerful and cannot be contained. She won't die. I promise you. It just seems that way."
I sigh, covering my face with my hands. "What do I tell the others..?"
Harm laughs half-heartedly. "I'm surprised you are taking this aboard so quickly."
"Yeah, well. I've had practice."
She nods. "Tell the others that I gave you the golden herb. They'll believe you."
I don't want to straight-out lying to everyone else. Especially Hiccup. But I guess it's for his safety. And Astrid's too.
"What can a Titan do?"
Harm stands, walking over to a sword leaning up against the wall and palming it, staring into it's silver blade.
She sighs. "The world was once full of nothing. Nothing...no life. No death. No trees. no birds. No people. No dragons. Nothing." She swings the sword in her hand, watching and listening to the sounds of it cutting through the air. "So, a mighty white dragon, called Life was placed down on the earth, giving the place life. Then mankind was placed here." She grabs the hilt of the sword, turning to me. "At first, they couldn't survive. Their minds, not yet able to grasp the feeling of life. So Life helped them, growing their minds and showing them the way. So white represents Life and Mind." She grabs another sword, dancing them both between each hand. "But the place was still nothing. No food, no water, nothing. The people slowly started to starve, and White could do nothing. So Nature, a colossal green dragon came. The dragon...brought the nature; trees, bushes, plants, and animals for the people to eat. But, the animals started to turn on the human, and they were weak. So nature protected them." She looks to me again. "Green; Protection and Nature." She puts the swords down before slowly running her finger tips across the cave wall. "The people struggled to catch food; no matter how much help they had from Life and Nature. So Hunter, an orange dragon came." She gestures towards her arm with the orange pattern. "Hunter gave the people the ability to hunt, and they grew stronger. They were able to feed themselves, and able to gather resources. The people started to go crazy with the hunt, so Hunter gave them control, so they could control themselves. Orange; Control and the Hunt." She sits down again, looking down at the fire. "But even with the control, the people had no souls. They had nothing to make them complete, and they would do rash things, even with control. Life could not help with their minds, nor Hunter. So Cold came. A blue dragon. Cold gave them souls, and everything was right in the world. But then, the nature started to wither away. There was no water; the plants could not survive. So Cold gave them ice. Blue; Ice and Soul. But the ice was too hard, and the people started to slowly freeze to death. Nature tried to protect them, but her powers were nothing compared to the ice that now covered the earth. So Chaos came. A red dragon." She looks at me wearily, before continuing. "Chaos slowly melted the ice, and then they had water. But then the people were weak; the hunt could not even help them. So Chaos gave them strength and power. Red; Fire and power. But the people were miserable. They had nothing in their hearts; nothing. The other dragons could do nothing. So along came Earth. A brown dragon. Earth set happiness over the world, along with joy. The people cheered and sang as they felt something in their hearts. There was no longer nothing. There was something. But then the people were bored, nothing to cure their happiness, so Earth made high mountains for the people to climb. Brown; Happiness and Earth. But humans were starting to die out; they couldn't make anymore because they felt no connection to each other. So Love came; a magenta, or if you would rather say "pink" dragon." Harm looks at me for a mere second before looking away. "Love sent a fury of love across the land, and soon, baby humans started sprouting up. They felt something in their hearts, something stronger than ever before. Love. But the people never saw any difference between each other, so Love sent down a sight, that opened their eyes, to see just how different each one of them was. Pink; Love and Sight."
Harms face goes dark, and a sort of darkness casts over her features.
"But there was too much happiness and love. The world can not thrive if there is too much good; the scales are tipped. The world was unbalanced. So along came a purple dragon; Fear. Fear set storms all over the world, shielding away the sun. Fear sent lightning and wrath on the world. But Fear put fear on the world to keep humans safe. So they could fear what they should fear. Purple; Fear and Storms. The world was balanced, and all was right in the world. But then, there were too many humans. The world was getting crowded, and people were severely injuring themselves. So along came Death, a black dragon.
Death put a limit on humans. Made them have a shorter life span, and took away their immortality. Death also sent down pain, so that humans could know when they were hurt. Black; Death and Pain."
Harm looks down, before back at me, the darkness somewhat gone yet still there. "These Ten dragons all had a purpose in the beginning. They lived with humans peacefully. But; the dragons starting fighting. And Chaos starting stepping out of line. Using fire as destruction. That's where we got the word Chaos from. Humans saw this. They saw the dragons as demons, so they attempted to destroy them. The dragons could not protect themselves, and they were eventually all slain. Their hearts were melted down into ten gems stones, containing the powers of the dragons. Whoever possesses a gem, possesses the powers of the dragons. Used correctly, and they can do so much good..."
I sit here, taking it all in. At first, I didn't know what to think, now, for some reason, it makes sense.
But now Astrid has some power inside of her? And Harm has this too?
I sigh. "Whoa."
Harm says nothing. I sneak a glance at her, and she looks almost pain-stricken. Her eyebrows furrowed, trembling bottom lip, pain filled eyes...
"So this is bad then?"
Harm looks up at me and smiles a little. "No. Just...make sure no one else finds out about it. The less people know, the more safe she'll be."
I smile back a little, and we both stand. She puts back strapping and armour on her arm, and in the blink of an eye, any traces of orange on her arm or eyes is gone.
"Thanks Harm...you have no idea..."
She laughs softly. "Yeah, but sorry about the tying you up thing. Too many people threaten this place. It's beautiful. And the herbs are too precious. We can't just boot people off the island. We have to punish them so they won't return; brutal, but necessary."
I nod. "I understand."
We both walk out of the room, and towards where I think the dragons are.
"What's wrong with Hiccup?" Harm asks as we walk; her mask back on.
"Um...well..."
"Well...?"
"Everything...him knowing what he is, he's not taking it well. He almost killed Astrid at one stage, and nearly me. He's just so...depressed. He hardly sleeps or eats...and Astrid can't help him."
"Why Astrid?" She asks as we pass through the main-hall area where we met up with the other dragon riders before.
"Oh. Um. She's his girlfriend."
Harm looks at me puzzled. "But he loves you."
I blush, my eyes widening slightly. "I...uh, no, no, she--"
"Don't deny it Ember. He does love you. And you love him."
"Wait--how do you know my name?" I ask a little suspiciously.
Harm looks away from me, looking saddened. "I know who you are. I've heard about you. About your Tribe. Your parents. I took one look at you and knew who you are. Glowing violet eyes, and blood red hair; you are Ember."
I am about to reply when I hear a roar. I turn and see Ruthless, surrounded by the other dragons and their Riders. I can't help but smile.
"Come here girl!"
She bounds towards me, knocking me to the ground and covering me in saliva, but strangely, It's comforting.
"I missed you Ruthless."
'I missed you too...'
Harm laughs softly, helping me up off the ground. "You best be off then. I have a village to run, and you have to give that herb to Astrid."
I nod, my guy twisting, before I mount Ruthless. The others mount their dragons.
I look to Harm and wave, before looking to Hiccup. He gives me a quizzical look.
'We need to talk. Later' I say very softly in dragonic, but I know he heard me.
I look back at Harm one last time, Blades standing next to her. My gut twists again, and this time, I know that something awfully bad is going to happen.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"So we aren't telling Valka?" sighs Hiccup.
We are back on Berk now. When we got back, I pretended to give Astrid the Golden Herb. Gothi understood why, and Dallen just went along with it. I've been home for a few hours and Hiccup just came over. Well, snuck over. He still isn't really allowed to be seeing me.
"We can't Hiccup. Harm wouldn't want that. She has a village to look after; an island. It won't kill Valka not knowing."
Hiccup sighs, siting down on the edge of my bed. "What are we gonna do now..?"
I sigh. "I don't...I don't know..."
Hiccup looks up at me as I stand before him, smiling slightly, like he's trying to say that everything is alright.
But I know it's not.
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It's been so long! Sorry!!!