Hypothetically, I've been dead for 5 years; hypothetically, I died in a ring of fire because I saved my best friend Hiccup and his dragon Toothless from being burned alive; hypothetically, my dragon Thunderlight died with me.
Truth be spoken, I'm still alive, safe and sound, along with him. We've been through a lot in the past few years.
Maybe you'd like me to explain how on earth I managed to live in the first place.
Yes, I fell in the middle of the ring of fire, half of Thunderlight's tail got burned, and me? Well, I had really serious burns in both my arms and legs, so it was really hard for me to move but, I still don't know how, I escaped.
Now, you're probably asking yourself why I didn't come back to Berk.
First of all: Thunderlight's tail was burned, and the vikings wouldn't hesitate on burning the rest of him if I stayed; I couldn't take the risk. He was my best friend.
Second of all: I did consider coming back, but then I saw my funeral.
As everyone thought my body was burned, they took some things from my house, placed them on a boat, and set it on fire; an old Berk tradition every time one of us dies. I could see Hiccup in front of the village, his father was saying some words, my friend was crying, Astrid was trying to comfort him, and the image broke my heart. It wouldn't have been appropriate to burst in the middle of the scene, so I didn't do anything.
At least, that's what I told myself. The truth is, I was scared of what they would say so I ran away.
I spent three months wandering on my own with Thunderlight as my only company, until a young couple found me and brought me to their home. Their names were Gabrielle and Noah. They healed my burns; Noah was a blacksmith, so he made Thunderlight a prosthetic tail but due to the accident, he couldn't fly on his own; I had to help him. Not that it bothered me anyway; I really appreciated what they did for us. They even offered to adopt me!
One day, I went out for a ride with my dragon, and decided I would stay with them, but when I came back I couldn't find them anywhere. Instead, I found a note they had left for me saying that I had to grab everything I thought would be useful and ran away, because someone had found them and would come back for me. I didn't know who that someone was, I still don't, but I did as told. Eight months had passed.
Then, I got captured by pirates and spent two years as their prisoner; they wanted to kill Thunderlight and eat him. The only thing that stopped them was a girl called Claire; she told them my dragon could be useful in the future and they agreed. Since that day, she snuck out everyday to bring food and water for my best friend and I; she also brought the news from above. But, one day, they discovered our secret meetings, and she paid the consequences. I was left alone again. She had been a close friend and I needed to run away, because the pirates could do as they pleased with me now that she was gone; when I finally managed to do it, three months from the third year had passed.
Thunderlight and I spent some more days wandering on our own, until we found a village. My only plan was to ask for shelter for the night, but a couple ended up taking me in. I made new friends, and two more years passed until I finally decided it was time for me to go back to Berk.
So there I was, making last minute arrangements on Thunderlight's saddle; packing food, water and that kind of stuff, when someone called for me.
"'Lexi! There you are!" I turned around to find Anna; she is one of the friends I made here in Haustchet. When I first arrived to the village she was seven years old, now she was nine. She had blonde hair and green eyes; she was one of the nicest girls I had ever met. She was kind and cared a lot about others. She was like a little sister to me.
I knelt down to be at her height.
"What's up, Anna?" I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder.
"Your parents are looking for you; they have something for you"
"Oh, thank you! I'll go meet them now!" I got up, wondering what my parents wanted to give me, but she looked at me with sad eyes "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Do you really have to go?" she asked, and I looked at her with kindness.
"This won't be the last you'll see of me" I said smiling "I'll come back to visit you, guys"
"You better do" said a grown-up voice. I looked up to see my best friend Raven; she was the oldest girl in our group, followed closely by me. Behind her were my other friends: Tanner, Rosie and Gunnir.
I'll tell you a little bit about them:
Raven: she was a tough girl. Her hair was chestnut brown, her eyes were blue, and she was twenty two years old.
Tanner: he admitted to have a crush on me the first time I arrived here, but he got over it. He was even dating a girl called Alex, who wasn't there at the moment. He was blonde and had green eyes, every girl's dream, but that doesn't include me, don't get the wrong impression. He was eighteen.
Rosie: she was pure joy and happiness, always smiling. Her hair was black, and she had brown eyes. She was the second young one on our group, as she was fifteen.
Then, there was Gunnir: he was a little bit arrogant and selfish, but inside, deep inside, he had a golden heart. He told me once that he had a crush on Raven, but there was a really big age gap between them. He was eighteen.
They were quite nice and welcoming when I first arrived here, and they didn't have a problem with Thunderlight; in fact, everyone loved him.
I was honestly not at all worried on arriving to Berk with my dragon. From what I had heard of some people who made journeys on exploration ships that sailed near the coasts of the village, it was full of dragons, and no one was attacking them. Actually, most of the people were riding them, so there was nothing to worry about.
Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same about arriving to Berk.
"We'll miss you" Rosie's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I smiled and hugged her.
"Don't worry, you won't get rid of me so easily" I said laughing, and they did too.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Tanner. I looked at him and nodded.
"Absolutely. We've been hiding for too long" I patted my dragon's neck "And besides, I really want to see Hiccup" I didn't have a problem on telling them about my best friend, I honestly think they got tired of listening to my stories about our adventures "And no matter how much time I spend in any other place, Berk is my home. It's where I grew up, you have to come back home at some point in your life" they all nodded and Raven then hugged me, which took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting it; she was a tomboy, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, she just wasn't so keen on showing affection.
"Take care, okay?" she said in my neck. I nodded and hugged her back, before breaking apart.
"And send our greetings to that so called Hiccup you talk about all day long" said Gunnir smirking. I nudge him in the arm playfully.
"Shut up" I said laughing. I gave them a last hug before rushing to my house with Thunderlight behind.
"Mom? Dad?" I called peeking through the door; they were sitting at the table. When they saw me, their faces brightened up.
"Lexa!" said my mom approaching me. Okay, let me explain:
Lina Kay was my adoptive mother and Duncan Strain was my adoptive father, they were the ones who took me in when I arrived to Haustchet. My real parents died when I was fourteen, I had to take care of myself since then.
Although they weren't my biological parents, I had the same love for them as I had for my other parents. They were always there for me, and they supported me through all of my decisions. No one could ask for better adoptive parents.
"How are you feeling, daughter?" asked my dad.
"I'm a bit nervous to be honest" I didn't know how Hiccup would react when he found out I was alive...Screw that, I didn't know how the village would react. Would they be mad at me? Would they be happy to see me? Would they throw me to the dungeons for faking my own death? There were millions of different possibilities.
"Lexa, you'll be fine" said my mother as she grabbed me from the shoulders "You are an all grown up women, I'm sure you can handle this"
"I know, I know" I said rolling my eyes, but the feeling didn't go away "Anyways, Anna said you had something for me?" I asked them, and my father nodded.
"Yes, indeed we have" he said, as he grabbed a black cloth from the table they were sitting at minutes ago and unfolded it. My eyes shone.
The piece of cloth revealed a beautiful sword. It had a black handle, and the blade looked as if it had been sharpened recently, it had a silver sparkle, and I loved it! I took hold of it, and it fitted perfectly in my hand. Almost as if it was made for me.
Oh, wait.
"Dad, whoa..." I looked at it in awe "This is just..." I didn't have the words to explain how amazing it was "Thank you" I said simply, and hugged both of them tightly.
"We'll miss you" said my mother "And when you find Hiccup, make sure to bring him here. We want to meet him" I blushed.
Alright, I may have gotten a little bit out of hand while talking about a certain viking. I didn't think there was a single person in that village who hadn't heard about him.
"I will" I nodded and hugged them one last time, before hopping on Thunderlight and flying north.
Back to Berk. Back home. Back to Hiccup.
"I think we are lost, bud" I sighed trying to locate where we were, but nothing seemed familiar. We had been travelling for two days, and currently we were in the middle of the ocean, literally; that was all I could see. Miles and miles of an ocean that seemed never ending. A few dragons were flying next to us, but nothing else was at sight. That was until I spotted something moving below us.
We dived down, and saw a Night Fury gliding above the surface.
"Huh?" I looked at Thunderlight, who just shook his head, meaning he didn't know what was going on either "Well, he sure is going somewhere" I said. Maybe he could lead us to a village or something, you know, a place with actual people "Let's follow that dragon, pal!" and so we did. But man, it was fast! It was hard to keep up with him; I lost sight of him several times "Thunderlight faster!" I said. My dragon roared and increased his speed, so now we were a few meters behind him, and I could see the dragon wasn't alone; he had a rider.
We flew up, Thunderlight went faster, so now we were just above the Night Fury and his mysterious rider whose face I couldn't see, since they were wearing a helmet; I wondered if they were talking to the dragon, it seemed like it. We flew down, close enough for me to hear their conversation.
The mysterious rider grabbed the handholds of the saddle and swung them back.
"What do you think bud? Wanna give this another shot?" the voice was muffled by the helmet, but it was certainly a man's voice. The dragon made a sudden move and growled softly. The rider said something else, which I couldn't hear because of the wind blowing in my face. Being so close to them made me realize something: the man was wearing an armor with a strange symbol on its shoulder, and the dragon had a prosthetic red tail with the same one.
The man unhooked himself from the saddle, sat straight, and asked his dragon:
"Ready?" the dragon made another sound while still gliding, and I gasped when the man leaned to the side and let himself fall off the creature who took straight after him, but the guy didn't even touch the ocean much to my surprise.
I opened my eyes wide: he was just...There, gliding through the air like the Night Fury next to him, although I couldn't see them clearly from where I was.
"How does he do that?" I asked looking at my dragon; he shook his head "C'mon, Thunderlight! I want to take a closer look" I said gripping the handholds tightly; we rushed towards the dragon and his rider, who seemed like having a lot of fun.
Finally, I could see how he managed to stay in the air: the leather on his suit acted like a glider, and attached to his back was another leather fin. I was out of words.
"Who is that guy?"