: A/N - This is just a prologue for a story I want to write. I'm only able to write "Hiccup run's away fics" apparently, so hopefully you people aren't tired of reading those yet. Let me know if I should continue it. :

: This is a fictional tale set in Dreamworks' "How To Train Your Dragon" universe :

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: Hiccup's Journal :

Summery: Hiccup was a strange boy, or so thought to be by his peers and even his father. No one knows how or why, but on the boy's seventeenth birthday, he disappeared, leaving behind only his journal. A journal which held some very interesting facts about dragons not found in the Dragon Manual.

: Prologue – A Muddied Discovery :

I... made a discovery that was, at the time, probably better left hidden. The world I live in is inhabited by one other species that battle the human race for dominance over the world as the superior species; dragons. I was... younger than I am now. So many things have changed since I made my decision to go down the path that isolated me, made people hate me. But, do I regret it? No. I can't say that I do.

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Stoick the Vast was a man not to mess with. He was feared as the most dangerous chief in the archipelago. Compared to the other tribes, Stoick probably also commanded the most powerful army. The Berkians, being so close to the Dragon Nest, made Berk be the island that got raided the most, so in turn, the Berkian soldiers got the most fighting in battling dragons.

It was night time. The moon shown down on an empty village, save for a few vikings keeping guard. A night like so many others, the insanely cold weather freezing the water surrounding the island slowly; Stoick estimated that Berk would be iced in in a matter of days, if the weather keeps repeating itself.

It was a night seeming to fall in line with others; to go on forgotten. Only this one wasn't. This night would be a night that would shape Stoick's future in a big way.

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Two loud knocks sounded on the other side of the Haddock door. Stoick turned away from the stew he was stirring. Grumbling, he slowly got up from his kneeling position.

Another set of knocks.

"I'm coming!" Stoick growled. He swung opened the door, the freezing air spreading out into the household. Stoick didn't bat an eye. In front of him was one of the night guards. He was much smaller than the viking chief, but most people were. His beard seemed to have chunks of ice in it.

The guard gave a quick apology for disturbing the chief.

"Dragons?" he guessed. Stoick could see his breath as he spoke out into the night, dimly lit by torches placed throughout the main village.

"N-No. Not yet, at least," the guard said. "But I do come bearing a find-" reaching into his coat, the guard pooled out a leather book. Looked to be a journal. "-I was scouting the woods, but after that nasty storm a few days ago, the forest looked different. I'm quite ashamed to say that I got lost-" Stoick motioned for him to get on with it. The guard could now see his chief's patients waning. He got to the point. "I stumbled onto a cove and I explored it, looking for a place to take shelter from the cold. Found this poking up from the mud."

He handed the book to Stoick. The chief eyed the book curiously, he had never seen it before and it definitely didn't seem important. He looked back down on the guard with a raised eyebrow. The smaller viking cleared his throat nervously. Stoick hadn't been the same for the past few years, and he made most other people nervous while in his presence.

"L-Look on the side, there are... initials for the owner of book," the guard stuttered. Stoick did as the guard said and tilted the book.

The letters were hard to read due to the elements the book endured out in the forest. But enough filth had been wiped away, presumably by the guard, to just make out three letters; "HHH".

Stoick's heart suddenly felt a hundred times heavier. His son owned this journal. He looked at the man and nodded in gratitude and told him to go home to his family, that he could be done tonight. The guard thanked him for his kindness and let the old chief be.

The door was closed quietly. Stoick sat down on his chair at his table. He looked at the two empty seats. One was for his wife, the other was for his son. Both hadn't been occupied for some time. And now Stoick held in his hands one of the last things his son had possessed, other than a simple note from him telling Stoick the he was leaving and that he was sorry. And that Stoick shouldn't worry about him anymore.

Setting his son's journal on the ground carefully, Stoick flipped open the cover to the first page titled: Dragons – Amazing Creatures.

: A/N - If you want to know a little more about where this fic his headed, I'll give you a little insight to my thinking. It's gonna be a Berk Vs Hiccup kind of thing. And Hiccup isn't going to have a dragon advantage thanks to a little book he wrote... :