Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Spared Once
Sigmund was frozen stiff. Not even a drop of sweat moved along his body.
He felt that one wrong move could cost him his life.
The Skrill fully removed itself from the basket, its razor sharp teeth already bared in Sigmunds direction.
A single gulp was all he could afford as his eyes remained locked with the beasts. A low growl sounded from its throat as it slowly started to circle Sigmund, clearly agitated from his presence.
As it circled him, Sigmund maintained eye contact, fearful that should even an inch of himself move or turn away, he would end up in the dragons maw.
It wasn't long before the dragon had made some distance between the two of them, allowing for a clean attack at any moment.
'It seems experienced when dealing with humans...'
Sigmund had lived through many dragon attacks in his short life, however, his experiences are nothing compared to some of the islands he knew of. Regardless, his knowledge of the Skrill was purely based on books and myths he had been told over the years. However, they all shared one common feature, they expressed the danger and ferocity of the Skrill, and it was one such creature that was baring its teeth at him.
As his mind was racing through everything he knew, he finally realised one important fact about the situation.
"I'm not dead?"
Sigmund mistakenly spoke aloud as he made that realisation. His eyes went wide as he looked at the Skrill intently once more.
A small sigh escaped his sealed lips as he noticed it had not made a move even after he had spoken.
'Screw it...'
With that single thought, Sigmund slowly turned his head to look at the area the Skrill had moved from.
Immediately, something stood out to him.
"That's a lot of blood and it seems like somethings been dragged over to my bag..."
Along the floor was a large blood trail inside what seemed to be a trail made by a heavy object being dragged around.
It wasn't long before Sigmund put the two clues together.
"You're a lot more injured than I thought..."
He mumbled as his eyes inspected the back end of the Skrills body, answering all of his questions.
His mind became clear when he noticed multiple large gashes on the dragons legs and tails, gashes deep enough that it made Sigmund stare in awe at how strong of a beast he was dealing with. It still commanded such an imposing figure despite having no control over its back end.
"What horrifying monster were you going head to head with?"
He thought about what type of marks they were, but from this distance, it was difficult.
Without realising, Sigmund foot shuffled forward slightly, an action that the Skrill did not miss.
Crackling sounded from around the Skrills jaw, waking Sigmund to his subconscious actions.
He stepped back, startled from the reminder of death, however his body could not keep up with his mind, causing him to fall on his arse once more.
With a loud thud, Sigmund fell down, his gaze locked with the Skrill, unable to look away from the jumping lightning within its mouth.
Fortunately, it wasn't death that ended their staring contest, it was the Skrill closing its mouth and turning its head with a pained huff.
"I've been spared..."
With a dry laugh, Sigmund wiped the sweat from his brow as he watched the Skrill lay its head down, with its wings wrapped around it like a shield.
Whilst on the floor, Sigmund decided to put everything he had learned from their brief interactions into order.
'It doesn't seem desperate to kill me, but it doesn't have any issue disposing of me... I love dancing on the edge of death...'
His sarcasm naturally plagued his thoughts before he came to the conclusion that the Skrill had a use for Sigmund, or perhaps was thanking him for his fish?
'Whatever the reason is, I best not push my luck too far otherwise I will end up a scorch mark on one of these walls'
As that thought went through his mind, Sigmund slowly and calmly stood up and walked over to his basket.
Grabbing the basket while dusting it off, Sigmund slowly turned away from the Skrill before leaving for the entrance of the cave once more.
Despite having his back turned, he felt no threat to his life unlike before.
"Huh, you really don't realise how close you are to death until it finally passes"
The strength had long left his body by the time he was out of the cave.
With his heavy body, Sigmund had decided it was the perfect time to call it a day. The sun was still up, however he no longer had the energy to do anything else and hanging around the cave would be pointless.
"I best get up early tomorrow and go fishing, that Skrill isn't gonna feed itself"
He spoke aloud as his axe rest upon his shoulder, an act he was used to, yet felt more exhausting today than ever before.
Sigmund already had tomorrow planned out for himself. He would rise early to stock up on some fish for himself and the injured Skrill, go and see if the beast was still hiding in the cave and wing it from that point on.
Since his village was gone, any sort of chores were just daily necessities to live such as cleaning and hunting, anything else. This left Sigmund with a lot of free time to kill. plus, as far as Sigmund was concerned, finding out about these Trials was his main priority at this moment in time.
Sigmund eventually got back home and didn't waste a second before getting into bed, submitting himself to a deep slumber.
The next day rolled around with Sigmund waking up with an achy body. His body felt stiff, likely from the mental stress of yesterday.
He made his way down to the fishing shore, where his town would throw nets out into the ocean ready for the next morning. This was a passive practice they started to do after a few weeks of unsuccessful fishing runs due to their ships being ransacked by wild dragons. While it was a much slower practice than active net fishing, it at least provided a bare minimum amount of food.
"Let's go an see if our guest has flown the coop"
Sigmund carried his basket once more, however this time, he left his battle axe at home. He had fully decided the approach he wanted to take with this Skrill. His trusty weapon would have only impeded it.
Following the same path as yesterday, he made his way back to the fateful cave, dragging the fishy smell along with him.
With a practiced path, he entered the cave, heading straight to the back.
He heard heavy breaths at the end of the tunnel, reassuring Sigmund as he walked.
"Now then, what mood are we in today?"
Even though they were fine yesterday, for the most part, a dragons temperament was notoriously unpredictable.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Aerix
Aerix Hey guys,
As some of you may have figured out, this will be based on the HTTYD animated series (Excluding the Nine Realms) however, many of the dragons in it will be from the game Rise of Berk. As will some of the mechanics in it, don't worry if you haven't played it, all will be explained when introduced.
Anyways, I hope you're enjoying so far!
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