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Astrid pulled herself ashore, grimacing as her burned arm drug in the sand. She looked around for Stormfly, but didn't see the Nadder anywhere.

Astrid limped over to a tree and leaned against it, beginning to cry as she thought of Hiccup.

Suddenly, there was a snap in the forest behind her. Astrid whipped around, wishing her axe was at hand. Then, she saw them.

Huge black, blue, and purple dragons, with no wings, eyes or ears. They had huge nostrils that oozed black snot, and their black tongues hung out of their jagged, rotting teeth. Their paws padded almost silently, if it hadn't been for their single saber-like claw that clicked on the stone ground.

The fifty-foot, five-ton creatures emerged from the forest, their noses sniffling and snuffling. Astrid backed up, knowing not what these were but that they were dangerous.

The dragons stalked forward, panting raspily like congested bloodhounds. The alpha, a huge black creature with a scar over where his eyes should've been, stepped forward.

And, right next to him was.......

A zombified Cinderpaw.

Her skull jutted out on the right side, her flesh hung down from her neck and exposed the bone. Her neck was crooked from Toothless snapping it. Cinderpaw's one good eye was now pale and glazed over, making it look like a Whispering Death's. The skin gradually disappeared the farther you went down Cinderpaw's legs, leaving paws of bloodstained bone. The claws were still flaming, however, as were the demonic reptile's wings and tail.

Cinderpaw grinned. "I told you a demon was impossible to kill," she snarled, the zombification turning her already-raspy voice even more gurgly and disturbing.

Then, she and the Alpha whatever-it-was, leapt forward.

Astrid screamed........

I sat straight up, sweat dripping off my scales. I was panting. It had been another nightmare, and, that scared me, for whenever I had a nightmare, it was usually seeing the future.

I stared at the ground, heaving out terrified breaths. What were those terrible black creatures? I mean, I knew they were dragons, but I had never seen one of those...things, before. And, was this nightmare trying to tell me that Astrid WAS alive somewhere, but that Cinderpaw would return, those creatures in tow? Or was this just another nightmare?

Then I began to feel sick.

I remembered what my aunt had said a day ago.

"I've had another vision, and, it was really cloudy, foggy, I couldn't see what it was. All I knew was something big, horrible, was there.........."

Big and horrible were exactly what those dragons were, including Cinderpaw. I shuddered. Could I be seeing what my aunt had seen, only more clearly, perhaps? I tried not to dwell on the thought. But, what if it was true? I was torn, felt conflicted. I wanted it to be true, so Astrid was still alive, but then I wanted it to be false, so that I wouldn't have to see Cinderpaw again, or those creepy dark menaces.

I looked up at the sky. It was raining. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed. The clouds were dark and and low, swirling in the wind like stormy serpents. I sighed. My entire life had been a storm. A swirling tornado of sadness, trouble, loneliness, confusion, lies. I set my jaw, fighting the urge to cry that I had surrendered to so many times before.

I looked around for a dry spot of dirt and a stick.

I quickly found both.

After a few minutes, I had scribbled something into the earth in hopes that it would be found. My first prophecy, with an illustration to match.

"Lightning will pierce the sky. Rain will pelt the ground. Thunder will rumble, vibrating through the terrified hearts of those who are sought out. Creatures of the darkness will stalk like panthers, faceless demons born from Thor in his anger. They will sniff out any living being, and no one will be left alive. Their claws will shred the victim, their teeth will pierce the weak. Two sides of love will be reunited, but darkness will seek them out and threaten their very existence. Only two friends will shed light on that darkness, a human and a dragon will combine forces to conquer the evil.

And that evil is coming fast......."

This came from the future I had seen. Something told me that a human and a dragon would kill these things when they came, but I didn't know who. I assumed Hiccup and Toothless, but then a thought dawned on me.

Could it be Mist and I? I'd have to wait until the dragons had to be decimated, which I didn't want on my to-do list.

I studied the Norse and dragon-speak translations of this, as well as the rather graphic illustrations, then flew off, searching for my friends.