How To Train Your Dragon- From One World To Another, And Yet I'm Home  

Disclaimer:

The Film 'How To Train Your Dragon', is Copyrighted by DreamWorks Animation and Distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and released on March 26, 2010

The DreamWorks 'Dragons' were directed by Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders and released in 2013- 2018. I only claim Copyright to my characters and some of the elements of the story that are of my own creation.

Chapter Soundtrack(s):

Moomins, Sumio Shiratori. The top Soundtrack will be from the beginning.

And the second Soundtrack begins where you see this (*V) sign)

Author Notes (warnings):

This symbol (*) and a number mean that there's something written about this particular paragraph in the Ending Author's Notes.

*BOF*** means the Beginning of Flashback

*EOF*** means the End of Flashback

...

Chapter 6 What Haunts in the Shadows Unseen

The house in the countryside was a lovely big house with its outside walls painted a brightly coloured red, and white on the window-sills. It had been built with help from Ronja's grandfather's younger brother who was a construction worker by craft.

The house had one small bedroom just opposite of the main doorway, followed by the door to the kitchen area and the first living room. Beside the small living room was a door to the currently occupied guest room. A little further away was the bigger living room with wide glass windows, a large bookshelf, a piano, a sofa and two armchairs of the same material and the door on one end led to the master bedroom of the house. The open hall led from the living- room to a place with a vestibule on one side, a bathroom on the other side and beside said bathroom was a door leading to the basement area of the house.

Down in the basement, there was a washroom area with a nice electric sauna and another guest bedroom on the opposite side to the washroom. The basement itself was somewhat underground as you could see the grass-line hovering at window-level when you peeked outside.

...

One would think all was peaceful, but inside the countryside house, not everyone was sleeping soundly in bed.

A man in his forties with long blond hair that he had been growing over the years, and a rather long beard that he hadn't bothered to cut shorter in months (not since losing another family member), was breathing in and out raggedly as he shifted fitfully from side to side in the throws of a disturbing dream.

*BOF**

A door that leads outside was opened and a young girl slipped out, almost slamming the door shut behind her before bounding down the short flight of dark-green painted steps.

Klaus followed the girl as she ran towards the back of the house where she scaled the uprising terrain that leads to the woods. '' Ronja, where are you going?'' Klaus called out, but she never answered him as her feet cut across the familiar terrain that leads back to the dirt road.

Klaus's heart filled with dread as her daughter jogged up the hill that leads to the house belonging to her second cousin's grandparents house.

'' Where are you going, Ronja?'' Klaus tried to call after his daughter, but it was like she couldn't hear his voice, at all. His heart constricted at the sight of Ronja brushing away the tear-tracks trailing down her cheeks.

Once they had both reached the top of the hill Ronja once again changed her direction and jogged down that dirt road that led back to the path leading towards the woods.

'' Why are you going into the woods?'' Klaus tried once again to get an answer from his daughter but was answered with nothing at all except silence.

...

It was an August day with excellent weather that was neither too warm nor too cold. There was no rain. And as it turned out, just the right temperature in the air to go out in the woods to seek out funnel chanterelles (yellow-foots) in the pine- woods.

'' And an excellent weather for soothing moods,'' Klaus thought as he watched with sad eyes as Ronja breathed in calming breaths.

She had paused to take in the comforting scents of nature around her, enjoying the familiar scenery. The woods had been a neighbour to Ronja's grandparents for many, many years. And a wonderful place to go exploring, and berry or mushroom picking when they were in season.

The area she was currently scavenging was a place someone had conveniently named ''Nurkkakivi''(Corner-rock) as it was the only massive stone landmark in the area. The rock in question was a very large, moss-covered boulder with forest vegetation growing from it. It was so big in fact that it might very well have been a piece of an eroded mountain that had been transported to the said area of the woods long, long ago by the floods created by the melting and flooding of the ice during the end of the Ice Age.

Klaus breathed in a shaky breath as he leaned against the surface of ' Corner Rock' and watched his daughter who continued to add more to the basket that was half full with delicious funnel chanterelles, all the while cursing irritatedly at the small moose- flies flying around her and crawling inside her clothes and in her long hair that she had twisted into a messy braid.

The moose- flies were nasty little buggers which would not leave anyone alone. The creepy crawlies were as nasty looking as the blood-drinking horse-flies and were as irritating as the mosquitoes.

...

It was getting darker in the forest, now, as evening started settling in and Ronja had deemed she had finally had enough of the annoying little bugs. Besides, she had quite the mushroom catch. But when she was about to head back towards the main path that led back to her grandparents' house, she spotted something that caught her childish interest.

Ronja gently dropped her basket of mushrooms on the ground and stooped to pick up the object that turned out to be a quite large, old style metal key that sure wasn't something made in the twenty-first century.

The thing was from her middle finger and down to her wrist in length and the width of four baby- sized fingers on the area that would be inserted into a keyhole.

Ronja turned the key around between her fingers that were in snug leather gloves.

Then she shrugged her shoulders and stashed the key in the pocket of her black leather coat before turning to grab her basket of mushrooms. It was then that she managed to spot another nice patch of the divine tasting funnel-chanterelles on the mossy ground near the basket. In a hole next to a wood-stump. Ronja's decision to leave had just been delayed by the edible treasure.

Klaus couldn't help but smile slightly at Ronja giving an enthusiastic cry over such a find.

She began to immediately pick them up to clean the dirt off them with a mushroom- cleaning brush that had a pocket- knife attached to it and her father watched proudly as his little girl then used the knife to chop the very end of the stumps with quick, fluid movements. Not many girls her age could wield a knife with such expertise.

Ronja could be heard humming a quiet tune as she finished cleaning the last of the mushrooms before dropping the morsel into her basket. But after she had finished cleaning off the knife and brush, eyes still wandering around her immediate vicinity for anymore edible fungus, Ronja's good mood was suddenly sunk by a strange sound that could be heard moving along the underbrush.

The sound was like something being dragged along the vegetation and dead leaves. It was as if the someone wore a heavy cloak that was creating the odd slithering sound. Ronja uttered a slightly startled gasp as she slowly stood up, her right hand reaching into the left pocket of her coat for her 'Finnish puukko' knife. She had quickly realized that something was terribly wrong with her surroundings in the forest and whoever had made that sound in the underbrush was coming towards her.

Then the being slowly came into view, a tall male figure with a dark-grey tunic, dark brown breeches, and a long black cloak with a bearskin pelt along the sides. The end of the cloak just brushed the surface of the underbrush. It must have been what had caused the slithering sound. But the man's facial features were in shadow from the hood he wore under a wide-brimmed hat. Only the end of his nose and his long beard, that reached down to the man's waist, were visible to human eye.

And yet Klaus believed he saw the gleam of one lone eye that seemed to glint brightly in the darkening sky around them.

And then the figure whipped back his hood and the wide-brimmed hat and Klaus found himself gasping along with his daughter.

The man standing before Ronja looked ageless, neither young or old; even with his beard and hair, that was very blond of colour. Almost silvery white. He was venerable and his eye bore wisdom, like someone who had ruled over a kingdom for many winters and yet in his hands, was the strength of a warrior in his prime.

But the most striking thing about him was that one eye! An eye that was an icy blue colour and seemed to pierce right into one's soul.

And indeed, as the man stopped in front of the young girl, his lone eye seeming to paralyze Ronja to the spot as she stood there with the basket of mushrooms in one hand and the other holding her 'puukko'.

Klaus looked on with concern as the two seemed to hold a conversation with each other. A conversation which he couldn't hear himself, even though he could see their lips moving. Then the man whipped back his cloak and a long spear with a snowy white blade was unveiled. The handle was black, and yet it hadn't been blackened by human hands.

'' I-is that...G-Gungnir?!'' Klaus exclaimed with widened eyes as the area of the woods suddenly became darker, more oppressive than it had been before; like the shadows were wriggling and moving to touch one's very body.

'' Ahhhhh!''

A scream of fright tore through Ronja's lips as the wriggling darkness seemed to latch onto her skin like tangible, twitching ice cold fingers. She tried to escape the darkness that was holding her hostage, but she couldn't shake it off.

Klaus could only watch in silent horror as the darkness wreathed around the person, making him look even taller than he already was; and this person was no ordinary man.

'' Óðinn (Odin)?!'' Klaus breathed out in shock as the tip of the spear-head seemed to suddenly glow with an inner light that slowly grew to surround the entire spear; before finally a great, extremely bright beam surged from it to surround Klaus's daughter.

'' Arghhhhh!''

A shocking wave of pure heat had leeched into Ronja's left upper arm. She tried to rip herself away from the clutching darkness. But it was futile. The light lingered around the afflicted area for a moment, until slowly fading into nothingness.

But the pain had left Ronja weak in the knees and she sank to the ground, gripping the forest floor with her right hand (with the puukko still clutched in her palm).

Óðinn (Odin) stayed motionless in the same spot, standing over the fallen young girl with his expression infuriatingly impassive. It was enough to make a father feel outraged, but Klaus could only stand there, rooted to the spot with an expression of horror and despair on his face. He was only a ghost in this vision, powerless to aid his suffering daughter.

Klaus had the next big shock of his life when more figures came into view from the woods. Two wolves trotted over to the God's side, their tongues lolling from their mouths as they peered down at the young girl sprawled on her knees.

'' Geri and Freki, Odin's Wolves?!'' Klaus breathed out, before turning his head upon hearing the flap of wings.

Two Raven's swooped down and landed on Odin's broad shoulders, briefly nuzzling the side of his head. Odin reached up to stroke their feathers.

'' Huginn and Muninn, the Ravens who bring him information from all over Midgard,'' Klaus gasped out before his attention was averted back to Ronja when she gave a weak groan. Her face was screwed up in pain, and it was this sight which reawakened Klaus's parental instincts.

He ran over to his little girl to try and comfort her but instead of his hands touching on something that should have been solid, his hands found only air. It was just like his voice; he could hear himself call out to his daughter, but to Ronja, he was not even there.

'' No...,'' Klaus murmured as he watched his twelve-year-old daughter finally lift her right arm to clasp her left one. She was about to stand up when a blue light began to appear over the young girl's body, beginning from the tips of her feet.

https://youtu.be/xHCmBHczjdw

(*V)'' What is happening to me?'' Ronja cried out upon noticing this phenomenon. She sounded panicked, terrified and who could blame her. The light was creeping upwards fast.

'' RONJA!'' Klaus barked out, horrified himself as he tried to touch his daughter's hands, but his palms went right through her. He was but an illusion that no one could hear or touch!

Ronja was staring at the blue light seeking to engulf her entire body.'' Please, Odin, what are you doing to me?'' she cried out to the silent figure just as the light almost reached her shoulders.

Klaus blinked back the tears appearing in the corners of his own eyes as the light swallowed Ronja's whole body. The strange light seemed to flash around his young daughter for several long moments, but in truth, it took less than thirty seconds.

''ISÄÄÄÄÄ (DAAAAAD)!'' Ronja shrieked in fear as a final loud crackle sounded through the air and the light that had kept the human girl entrapped disappeared into nothingness, along with the teenager herself.

'' EI (NO), RONJA!''Klaus cried out despairingly, his hands still reaching out towards his beloved 'little girl'

*EFB**

'' EI (NO)!''

Klaus sat bolt upright on his bed with a strangled cry, breathing heavily and hearing his own heart beating painfully inside his chest. His blue eyes were stinging with tears that he allowed to slip into view and slide slowly down his cheeks to his beard.

It had been months since the day he had hugged Ronja goodbye upon him leaving her at the grandparents' house; a place he had believed she would be safe. Only...

'' Why did you run off like that following that confrontation between Elsa, Annukka and you? And... was that dream for real, Ronja?'' he murmured out loud, brushing a hand over his tearing eyes. Swallowing the thick lump in his throat, the blond-haired man reached for picture-frame sitting on the bedside table.

It depicted the happy time of the last Snoggletog celebration that Klaus ever spent with the whole of his family with him. The day Ronja and Sonja had discovered their mother's true heritage and their own relation to a very prestigious family line on the Island of Berk. Back when the two adorable girls with strawberry-blond hair and myriad shaded eyes had still been together as a family. Back when he still had his beloved wife.

He could well remember Sigrun saying in a joking tone,''And your best friend and your ally in raising our kids.''

Sighing sorrowfully, Klaus pulled aside his blanket and slipped on his slippers before getting out of bed. He put on his black morning-robe over his grey pyjamas before making his way to the door. He opened the door quietly and padded his way to the kitchen, closing the door separating the kitchen from the living-room.

The same dream had been bothering his sleep the past two weeks, and yet until today, he hadn't been able to remember the details of the dream. But what it had always left behind was the ominous feeling that something big was about to happen in the near future.

Klaus padded around the kitchen, setting up the coffee machine and then going over to the top cabinets over the sink to get a coffee mug from the shelf. He would have to make do with coffee for the rest of the night; it was three in the morning and he knew he wouldn't be able to have any more rest. Not with his wife's, and daughters faces ghosting in the surface of his mind.

He stared at the coffee machine that sputtered quietly as it expelled the blessed, dark brown liquid into the coffee pot. Klaus's jaw clenched as the image of his family kept blurring across his vision.

Then he stiffened as a feeling like a sixth sense jostled him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and his spine tingled at the sudden feeling of being watched by someone, or something. Whoever, or whatever it was, gave him the sense that someone was reading his very soul; it made one feel exposed and vulnerable. Even afraid to turn around to see who was watching him so piercingly.

When he finally did switch off the coffee machine and turned around to face the window of the kitchen, he heaved in a sharp breath. The kitchen light pierced the darkness outside and showed the intricate patterns of frozen water floating slowly towards the ground already blanketed thickly with the white, powder-like substance. The trees surrounding the yard, the long granary and the wooden two-sided lawn- glider swing were also thickly blanketed by snow.

But it wasn't the snowfall that had caught Klaus's attention, it was the silent, tall male figure with the very familiar long black cloak with bearskin pelt along the sides framing the whiteness of the snow. The hood and wide-brimmed hat were obscuring the man's facial features but the gleam of his one lone eye that could be seen in the light reflecting from the lights in the kitchen.

Klaus clenched his hands into fists, breathing in and out sharply to control his temper as he stared into the icy blue, piercing eye of the God who had taken his daughter away. His movements were sharp as he strode towards the vestibule that had the main door in and out of the house. He was gritting his teeth as he quickly slid on his winter jacket over the robe.

'' I am going out there to demand answers from Odin as to whether my daughter is safe and well! Even if it ends up as my final deed on the land of Miðgarðr (Midgard)!'' Klaus growled as he slipped on his black and brown snow boots and slammed his palm onto the doorknob.

'' And demand answers as to why she would take her away from me in the first place!''

End of Chapter 6

...

Author's Note: 

Constructive criticism is always welcomed by the Author