I explain everything I can to them; seeing my mom, the alliance of special Vikings, and most importantly, the magic aspect of my ancestors. They stare at me like I'm not real, save for Eret.

"I knew it!" he gasps. "Hermaōr! Oh, that group was pretty well known over in the North. Not the biggest guys out there and yet they were incredibly strong in battle. My mum used to tell me all about them!" His face falls again. "But...Drago knew about them to. Something about how he wished he could've had some of those demons in his army..."

"Seriously?" Ruffnut asks. "Wow...that's so amazing."

They mutter amongst themselves, all buzzing about the new information. I take a deep breath as I prepare to deliver the last piece of news.

"Until Alrek is killed, it isn't safe for anyone here," I say, silencing them. "Now that he knows I'm alive, he'll be tracking me down." I bite my lip, my muscles tensing. "The wedding has to be postponed until it's all over."

"What?!" Astrid shrieks, making Snotlout and Fishlegs jump. "No! You can't! Everyone is so excited about it!"

"I know, but we can't be caught off guard," Hiccup says, moving to my side and taking my hand. I don't shake him away, although that's my automatic instinct. "We will be married eventually, just...not as soon as you imagined."

"I still can't believe there's a whole race of dragons we never knew about," Fishlegs says. "It sounds like their poison is more powerful than usual dragons, which means their fire could be more powerful too-"

"Fish, save us the dragon lesson, please," Snotlout begs, rolling his eyes. His face changes as a grin spreads across his face, his fist landing in his own palm. "If I could kill those demons, oh man..."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut roll their eyes in completely synchronization. Tuffnut looks to me as Hiccup takes his hand out of mine.

"What are we gonna do? If you're the only one who can kill these dragons, how are we supposed to help?" Tuffnut asks.

"Yeah! We wanna help too!" Ruffnut adds.

I swallow. If I'm being honest, I really didn't think this far ahead. The idea that I'm the only one capable of killing the demons has only now just sunk in. Only me, meaning that my friends can't help me.

"I...I don't know," I admit.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Astrid asks. "Didn't your mom tell you how to fight them?"

My face heats up. "No, she just...told me that I had to find the power that's dormant within me and..." I trail off, mentally touching my necklace. I still don't want to tell them about that.

"Wow, what use is a visit from Valhalla if she doesn't tell you anything useful?" Snotlout groans.

I growl. "Hey, watch it. That's my mom you're talking about."

"Thora, calm down," Hiccup says as he rests a hand on my shoulder.

I brush him off. "No, it's fine. I'm going for a walk so I can clear my head or something. Maybe Thor himself with strike me with some lightning and activate my stupid powers," I snap, that anger returning.

"Thora, what's gotten into-" Astrid starts.

"Leave me alone. I'll come back by nightfall," I say, brushing past them.

"Thora, come on! I didn't mean it like that!" Snotlout calls after me.

I ignore him and every other thing that they shout at me. I take off into a run, the aching in my side growing with each stride, but I don't stop until I've left the village and disappeared into the trees.

----------

"Stupid! Why did I think that they'd understand? No one ever understands," I rant, smacking branches out of my way as I stomp through the foliage. "Hiccup did, but I didn't see him jumping in to defend me or anything. Why can't they just get that maybe I don't want them to know everything about me?"

I turn and punch a tree, the bark scraping my knuckles. I disregard the stinging cuts and keep moving, my boots crunching on sticks and leaves and pinecones as I go. I pull my necklace out from underneath my shirt, staring at it.

Ancient magic, that's what my mom said. This necklace holds the last little bit of magic that she managed to save before Hermaōr was destroyed, and yet I can't help but wish that she could've at least given me some sort of idea of how to activate said power.

I stop as I hear trickling water. I look around, focusing around and moving towards the noise. It isn't long before I reach a sunken grotto, moss growing up along the stone walls and a lake rippling below next to a sizeable girth of green space. I can't help but notice that some of the walls have noticeable claw scratches on them. Even so, it looks like the perfect place to relax and hone some ancient skills.

I climb down the moss and touch down on the grassy floor within a few seconds. I look around once more to make sure that there isn't anyone here, then take a cleansing breath.

I slip my necklace off my neck, holding it in the palm of my hand. My sword is still hanging by my hip, but I doubt that the weapon could help me figure this out.

I think back to what my mom said. The Vikings of my village were strong in the mind and less in the body, and yet they wielded their weapons with a power that only they could tap. Enchanted weapons...

I unsheathe my sword and sit down, testing the weighting in my hand. It's perfect, which is surprising considering that this was my dad's and was obviously built for a man. I lay it on the ground, looking to my necklace again. I slip the pendants lower as I grip the black chain, yet as the gem nears the blade, I swear that it glows.

I gasp, pulling the necklace away. The glowing stops. I furrow my brow and carefully repeat my previous action. Sure enough, the blue gem starts to brighten and glow again. My eyes widen.

"I'm on to something," I mutter. "I know I am."

I put the gem in my palm again, ceasing its glowing as I shut my eyes and focus on my task, trying to piece the mystery together. I have to unearth my skill quickly, if I'm going to defeat Alrek.

As I think, the gem seems to warm up. My eyes fly open as my hand unfolds, showing little wisps of blue light escaping the gem; tiny strands of ancient Norse magic. I grin and get to my feet, pumping my fist.

"YES! YES, I DID IT!" I whoop, feeling light and giddy. "This is great!"

I sit back down, focusing enough that the wisps of magic retreat back into the gem. Just as I do that, there's a sweeping sound of rushing air from above that makes me look up. I don't see anything right away, but then another whoosh sounds behind me and a solid form touches down.

I look over my shoulder to see Nightstar, her face more serious than usual as she trots towards me. She sets herself down at my side, then raises her leg and smacks me.

"Ow! Hey!" I whine.

She snorts, as if scolding me for leaving her behind. I sigh and rub my arm before I slip my necklace back on.

"Okay, I'm sorry for ditching you," I mutter. I turn to her with a tiny smile. "On the bright side, I think I'm getting the hang of this magic thing. It's reacting to me a lot better now!"

A soft rumble leaves her chest as she lays down, resting her head on her front paws. I lean against her, tilting my head back to the sky.

"Hey...Nightstar, how about I use some of the magic on you? If you're enchanted, then maybe you could help me kill the demons," I suggest.

She glances at me, her eyes the same colour as my gem. She shakes her head, her ear plates wagging back and forth with the movement. I frown.

"Why not?"

She doesn't make a noise, a sad look coming over her as she flattens her ear plates against her head. She gives me a solid look, one that says, "Just trust me."

I sigh and fiddle with the gem as I slump back against her. "So...what about..." A torch seems to appear over my head as my brown eyes seem to spark. "Hold on...enchantment. If I enchant some more weapons, then my friends could learn to fight with them and then they could help me!"

Nightstar nods and grins. I sit up as a steely look of determination settles over me. It's time to do some crafting.