บท 43: Beyond What We Know (Part 3)
Hiccup paced back and forth in the cave as we continued to read through the journal. He was having a difficult time wrapping his head around the fact that he was slowly becoming a dragon.
To be honest, I was too.
"Okay, read that again. H-how does the transformation start?"
I flipped back a couple of pages. "When a human bonds to a Night Fury, the first sign of their transformation is nosebleeds. This is the human's body reacting to the transformation kicking in, in which the body is releasing the human blood in order to make room for the dragon blood. This slows down the further into the transformation the human gets. Going from frequent nosebleeds to a nosebleed every so often as time goes on."
"Okay..so at least we know why I get nosebleeds so much. W-what else?" Hiccup asked, subconsciously checking to see if his nose was bleeding at all as he paced.
"Another sign of the transformation would be the dislike of Vikings or discomfort around Vikings as well as the village the human is from." I read off, looking up at my intended as he paced back and forth in front of me.
"Alright that part makes sense..after seeing you transform I started to feel out of place more than usual..not to mention wanting to hide away from everyone I came across besides you, Gobber, Gothi, and other dragons. What are other signs?"
"As time passes the human leans more towards a Night Fury-like diet, meaning wanting nothing but fish. Although they will not start eating it raw until the transformation is complete. They will start to fall ill from eating eel about two months into the bond and will be affected by any plant that is harmful to dragons as well. They will also become more dragon-like in mannerisms and the way they communicate. Example being growling when angered."
Hiccup taped at his chin as he continued to pace back and forth in front of me. "Okay..all of that has been happening too..does it say how long the transformation takes?"
I flipped through to the correct page and read through everything to find out. "If it is a platonic bond, meaning the bonded never become mates, it takes around eight or nine years to fully transform. If the bonded do decide to mate, the transformation will complete after the mating process."
"So..when we do mate..I'll become a Night Fury?" Hiccup asked as he paused in his pacing to lock eyes with me.
I nodded. "Yes. Are you..upset about this?"
"No! No, of course not. It's just hard to take it all in, ya know?"
I nodded in agreement with a small smile. "It is. I'm struggling with taking it all in as well."
"What are other signs of the transformation?"
I went back to the proper page and skimmed to find where I left off. "Uh..increase in strength, speed, and mobility become more noticeable the further into the transformation the human becomes. Scales do not appear until the transformation is complete, but dragon-like eyes will appear at the halfway mark."
"So if we don't mate just yet I'll get dragon eyes soon? Wouldn't that give it away?"
"It could, but we may have a bit more time."
Hiccup nodded and went back to pacing. "Are there any other signs?"
"Um..it's not fully about the transformation, but it says that the further into the bond the human gets the more protective they become of the Night Fury they bond with. Whether it be romantically or platonically."
"I have been pretty protective of you lately, haven't I?"
I stifled a laugh and nodded. "I find it cute though. It shows you care about me."
Hiccup chuckled. "Yeah I guess you're right."
I smiled at him then went back to reading about the transformation. "Oh here's one that's been noticeable since the start. Apparently humans can be calmed by flying during the transformation process."
"Really? Huh. No wonder I feel safer in the air. I just thought it was because I loved flying."
"Could be both, Hiccup. Doesn't just have to be because of the transformation."
Hiccup nodded with a small smile. "Very true. Are there any other signs?"
I shook my head. "None that we haven't talked about. There may be some that this person didn't figure out though, but there's no way to know for sure."
"Alright. Cool. So I'm slowly becoming a dragon. Totally normal." Hiccup chided nervously.
"Nothing about our lives is normal Hiccup." I said with a small laugh.
"Well..yeah you got me there. Guess this is the icing on the sweet roll, huh?"
"In a way, yeah." I agreed. "Now that we've kinda wrapped our heads around the whole Night Fury transformation, which section should we look through next?"
Hiccup came back over and looked over my shoulder. "How about the area Night Furies are from? I'm curious. I wanna know why we haven't come across any in all these years."
"It is pretty strange, isn't it?" I asked as I flipped through the journal to find the right section.
"Ya think? If this whole bond thing exists to keep the species from dying out, then why are they in hiding? It makes no sense."
I nodded as I read through the pages. "I agree. It doesn't add up. Why hide if you can easily blend in with the enemy to survive?" My eyes widened when I found what we were looking for.
"What is it Kala?"
"I think our questions were just answered. Apparently there's an island specifically for Night Furies called Night Fury Isles, but it's not a normal island." I locked eyes with him. "It moves."
"Wait what? What do you mean it moves?"
"It relocates to protect the Night Furies that reside on it. Not to mention it has a misty barrier to shroud the island. And somehow the island can reincarnate Night Furies."
"So..does that mean that your family may still be alive?"
"It's possible. But..the island will only reincarnate Night Furies that are known to be dead by members of the island that miss them dearly. I'm not sure I have any family left besides you..so chances of them being alive are slim."
"Hey, at least we know there's a chance they may still be out there right?" Hiccup encouraged with that adorable smile of his.
I smiled back and nodded. "Right."
"So does it say how we can track the island at all?"
I shook my head. "It didn't say. I don't think there is a way to. Probably to keep hunters and trappers from finding the place and killing everyone."
"Back to square one then." Hiccup sighed. "Well at least we know what to look for now. How about we read the rest? We still haven't learned about how Night Furies age or the mating process."
I nodded a bit and flipped through the journal once more. "Okay..so the aging process is a really small section." I explained as I read through the two pages on aging. "It's basically just like humans. Nothing different at all. Although, there are two ways Night Furies can come into the world. Either hatching from an egg, or being born from a human pregnancy."
"Wait. So you could go through a normal pregnancy?" He asked, genuinely curious about the situation.
I nodded. "Seems like it. It all just depends on the Night Fury who carries the hatchlings. They can choose to stay in dragon form or stay in human form during it all."
"Huh. So, it doesn't matter at all how the hatchlings are born?"
I shook my head. "Nope. The only things that are different is how they get their dragon form or human form. It still happens the same way, it would just be a different situation depending on how the hatchling was born."
"Good to know. So uh..mating process next?" Hiccup asked nervously.
I nodded just as nervous and looked through the journal for the proper section. As I read through it all, the color of my cheeks slowly got redder and redder.
'Why would this person go into so much detail?!'
"By the blush on your face I'm guessing this person went into explicit detail?" He questioned, blush creeping onto his cheeks as well.
"Very..very detailed..all I'm going to say is there's a dance we need to do in front of other dragons..at least two others..so we could have Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug and Barf and Belch witness it..and then we actually mate in privacy and mark one another during..o-on the left side of the neck where the shoulder and neck meet.." I explained, not wanting to explain any more details.
"Right..got it..please tell me this person drew out the dance.."
I flipped through the pages then nodded when I found the drawings. "Yup.." I lifted the journal so that Hiccup could see the drawings properly.
The drawings showed three versions of the mating dance. The human-on-human, human-on-dragon, and dragon-on-dragon. Each dance tied into one another in some way.
The dragon-on-dragon dance seemed rather simple. Both intended mates would be in dragon form. One of the intended would initiate the dance by coming up to the other with their wings splayed out, then the initiator would nuzzle the other with their wings flapping and circle around them. Then the both of them would prance around one another in a circle with their wings held high, then they get on their hind legs and take turns roaring to the heavens with their wings flapping. Then it ends with their foreheads meeting.
The human-on-human dance was very similar to the first, but there were some obvious differences. It started out with one of the intended approaching the other with an offered hand. The other would take the offered hand and the two intended would circle one another with the intertwined hands raised, the free hands holding out cloaks or just held out to mimic wings. Then the dance ends the same way as the dragon-on-dragon version. Foreheads resting against one another.
As for the human-on-dragon version, it was a mixture of the others. One of the intended would start it out how the dragon-on-dragon version starts, staying in dragon form the entirety of the dance, and the other would stay in human form the entire time. Each would do the version of whatever form they were in for the dance and end with their foreheads resting against one another just like the other versions.
"There's three? Thor almighty..I mean it makes sense..but jeez.." Hiccup sighed out.
"We could do the human-on-human one." I recommended as I pointed at it. "Seems the best one to do. Would be weird if I was in dragon form when we did this. And we can't really do the other one since you aren't fully a Night Fury yet."
Hiccup nodded as he wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head on my shoulder. "Seems the most logical. They all look rather simple too. Is that common throughout all species?"
"I guess. We've seen quite a bit of mating dances on Berk the past few years and none of them seemed overly complicated." I reasoned and I felt him nod in agreement.
"You make a fair point, milady."
I nodded as I went back to reading and my eyes narrowed, then widened slightly. Hiccup must've noticed because his grip on me tightened slightly.
"You alright, love?"
"Yeah..just..uh..apparently if a Night Fury's mate dies..the other follows after they live through the amount of time they had been mates.."
I saw Hiccup's eyes widen from the corner of my eye as he looked at the journal in shock.
"Seriously? Gods..that just seems cruel.. Does it explain why that's a thing or?"
I read over the page again and nodded. "It's because Night Furies mate for life. This is the species' way of proving that the love was genuine and not just of lust and desire. The time between the deaths is given to the one still alive to prove that they truly loved their mate and want to see them again. If they truly loved their mate, they wouldn't be able to live without them and would do anything they could in the time they had left to prove that love and care for their mate."
"Wow..that's..wow.." Hiccup breathed out, not really sure what else to say about this information.
"Yeah.."
"I mean..that's one way to go about it I guess. Uh..is there anything else in the journal?"
I flipped through the journal again and paused. "There's a whole section about what Night Furies are capable of. Why didn't they mention that when they listed off what will be explained in this thing?"
"Maybe they put this in at the last minute?"
"Maybe. Hmm.." My eyes widened as I read. "You have got to be kidding me."
"What?"
"So you know how my scales can appear in human form to protect me from injury or just to keep my private areas hidden?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"That's not the only thing that can appear. Our eyes can change when we're angered too much, scales dotting around the eyes too. We can also have our wings and tails appear to make us hybrid-like." I explained excitedly.
'Now I wish I knew all of this before. The wings and tail would have come in handy to get away as a human when I was younger.'
"You're kidding. That sounds awesome!" Hiccup exclaimed as he let go of me. "Wanna test it out love?"
"Is that even a question?" I giggled as I handed him the journal and went to the center of the cave for some room.
Before I focused on having my wings and tail come out of hiding, though, I undressed to make sure my clothes didn't get ruined. I then closed my eyes and breathed deeply, calming my nerves and clearing my thoughts to concentrate. I didn't open them until I heard Hiccup gasp and I felt a new weight on my upper and lower back.
I slowly looked behind me and giggled when I saw my wings and tail, my tail swishing back and forth from joy.
"It worked!" I cheered as I flapped my wings back and forth.
"But, you won't be able to fly that way." Hiccup commented as he pointed at my tail. "You still have the prosthetic."
I looked at my tail and opened my right tailfin, the prosthetic staying shut like usual if I tried on my own. "That's alright. At least we know I can use my wings and tail in human form now." I said happily as I looked at Hiccup. "Which means you will be able to as well."
Hiccup smiled. "Still a bit odd to comprehend, but not terrifying."
I nodded as I made my wings and tail hide away once more then got dressed. "We should probably head back to the outpost. The others probably made a huge mess of everything."
"Yeah we probably should." Hiccup agreed as he made his way towards me, but the both of us froze as something fell out of the journal.
Hiccup picked up the fallen item and brought it over to me so we could look it over.
"It looks like a lens..but for what?" I asked.
"From the looks of it, the Dragon Eye. It could be a lens for Night Furies. Although, I have a feeling it just has information that's already in the journal."
"Should we check just in case when we get back?"
Hiccup nodded as he stashed the lens away in the journal again. "We will, but for now we need to make sure the others didn't destroy the place."
~~~HTLANF~~~
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