The Terrible Terror sniffed all along the ground, curiously searching for something interesting to ponder. The forest was always a treasure trove of things like shiny rocks or a weirdly-shaped bug, and having a large area to search usually gave it some form of entertainment from having to steal food from the Viking village for the Queen.

It had been a few weeks since the last raid, and while the other dragons had already gone back to being controlled by the Red Death, the Terror had managed to slip out after being struck by a wildly flailing hammer from a Viking. Rather than go back to the nest, the Terror had stuck around, occasionally eating whatever fish it could find by the shores or in a lake.

Suddenly, the Terrible Terror's nose twitched as it came across a particularly interesting scent. Eagerly, it began to follow it, something that had was sweaty and burnt. It picked up the pace, almost running towards the direction the scent had come from. Coming up over a small hill padded with bushes and trees, the Terror looked over, eyes widening at the figure in front of it, and it squeaked in surprise before diving back into the bushes quickly.

For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of birds cawing and the rustling of leaves as the wind blew. And a frightened, trembling Terror slowly peeked its head out of the bushes, hoping that the huge, sleeping creature in front of it hadn't noticed its entrance. However, upon seeing no reaction from the seemingly asleep being, the Terror cocked its head curiously, then took a few slow steps forward.

The being in question was large and bulky, laying on its back with its arms splayed out on its sides. Upon first glance, the Terror might have mistaken it for a really big human, but as it took in the details, it realized that the greenish color of its skin was actually coming from the scales it had all over its body. Around its mid-section was a piece of clothing, similar to what humans wore, only this was more of a purple and red color, different from the brown and gray clothes that Vikings usually had. Its hands and feet were undoubtedly non-human, with claws and talons on the end of each muscly limb. Each appendage would've been big enough to hold at least three Terrors alone.

But the most distinctive feature of this not-human creature was its face. Rather than being the flat, angry look that Viking humans had, it instead had a large snout that was smaller than a Monstrous Nightmare's, but had the same general shape. Around its head were sharp-looking spikes that were spread out equally, giving the creature the visage of having a spiky spider on its face. It also had a curious pair of fins being used as whiskers around its nostrils, which flared very slightly as the creature breathed slowly.

The Terrible Terror came up beside the being, giving it a small poke with a paw before quickly hopping back and curling into a ball. Upon receiving no reaction, the Terror got back up into its curious stance, wiggled its little rump in the air, and jumped into the scaly thing's chest. The tan colored chest that it had was broad enough for the Terror to move around, and the curious dragon didn't notice how the being's closed eyes flinched a little from the action.

Walking up the sleeping creature's face, the Terror simply stared down at it, taking in the head that was a disturbing mix of dragon and human features. Leaning forward a little more, the tiny dragon just stared at the odd thing it had discovered, not noticing how the arm by the side of the creature's body was twitching. Then, out of a streak of instinctual curiosity, the Terrible Terror closed the distance and gave a tentative lick to the thing's face.

"RAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The inhuman roar that the creature released was deafening, especially towards the Terror, who'd been right in front of the thing's mouth. Using its fast reflexes, the Terror leapt off the creature's chest, onto the ground and ran into the bushes, disappearing from sight.

Meanwhile, a furious pair of blood-red eyes glowed as it sat up and glared fiercely at its surroundings. "DRAGO! Come out and fight me, my coward son!" he yelled, flames and smoke flickering out of the corners of his snout. Leaping up from his prone position, the Eastern demon dragon known as Shendu landed on his feet, talons digging sharply into the ground while the trees around him shook from the impact.

Claws clenched into fists and hunched over in a battle stance, Shendu slowly took in his surroundings, finding himself somewhere in the middle of a forest. After spending a few more moments searching and waiting for his traitorous son to show himself, the demon slowly began to simmer down, the flames in his mouth dying while his eyes lost a bit of their brightness.

"Hmm, it seems my son has decided to leave like the coward I always knew he was." he muttered to himself, satisfaction from the thought tempered by the fact that he would've preferred ripping out Drago's heart with his bare hands and eating it while the traitor was still alive.

Standing up and losing his battle stance, Shendu dropped his arms to his sides and looked around. "Where in the nether realms am I?" he said out loud, bringing a claw up to his chin contemplatively. "I don't recall there being anything more than floating rocks and empty space the last time I was here."

As Shendu took in his surroundings, the demon slowly began to realize that wherever he was, it wasn't the cursed realm of imprisonment his siblings had spent countless years in. For one, he could feel the cool breeze of air on his scales, something that he'd almost never feel in the stale, stiff atmosphere of the nether-realm. The place was created to be a boring and oppressive prison for demons such as himself, and yet the air flowed freely and the fresh scent of pines and leaves was a welcome surprise for Shendu.

"Am I still in the mortal world?" Shendu said out loud to himself, incredulity present in his voice. "Impossible. Drago attempted to throw me in, and I remember grabbing him before we both fell into it."

It was then that Shendu's red eyes widened as something occurred to him. "I remember us going into the portal...and then darkness." he stated, looking up and seeing the light of the sun shining through the thick branches of the tree.

"Is it possible...am I still free?" he wondered, bringing his arms up and looking down at his claws curiously. Then another more important detail occurred to him. "Wait! The Talismans! Do I still possess them?!" Shendu quickly brought a hand to his chest, searching around inside himself for the true sources of his power.

And then, quietly, he felt it. The warm, comforting feeling of twelve powerful artifacts coming together and endowing him with all of their abilities. Shendu brought his claw off his chest and stared down at it in awe.

"I...I have them..." he whispered to himself, his dubious frown slowly giving way to an evil smirk, his claw clenching into a fist. "...I have them all!"

Shendu's face dropped, and he suddenly looked to the side, staring at a small patch of bushes. His red eyes squinted at it as he focused, and then they brightened intensely as a pair of white beams shot from them. As quick as lightning, the beams hit their target, a deafening explosion taking place and immediately blasting the whole patch apart in a shower of earth and fire.

Looking down at the burning crater he'd just made, a low chuckle escaped Shendu, then it slowly continued to raise in volume as the demon's joy and elation rose in tandem, before turning into loud, undeniably evil laughter.

"Finally!" Shendu cried, "I'm both free and complete! And without those meddlesome Chans to create any more portals," he chuckled lowly, "I'm stuck here in the mortal plane...just as I wanted."

Shendu felt absolutely giddy as he took in the implications of his situation. "No more Drago...no more Chans...no more petty and annoying distractions to keep me from my destiny!" Shendu eyes glowed a bright blood-red as he tapped into the Talismans inside him all at once, while his whole body emitted an aura of power around him.

"I will become the sole ruler of this world! And no one will be able to stop me!"

Shendu erupted into another bout of evil laughter, completely ecstatic at how things had turned out for him. What did it matter that he had no idea what had become of Drago or why he wasn't in the nether realm? It was obvious that some force had managed to keep him in the human world, and while he would've liked to have known what had done this, he found that the more he thought about it, the more he didn't care. What truly mattered was that he'd been given another chance for expressing his dominance over humanity, to turn it into the empire it was supposed to be. Without his siblings or his son to look out for, and no Chi wizards to worry about, Shendu knew that he now had full opportunity to run the world just as he liked it.

Shendu powered down, sighing with satisfaction at his current situation. "Now then," he said as he put a hand over his chin,, grinning madly. "Which part of the world should I conquer first?"

"America's too stubborn to go down easily without me having to put them in their place...Russia's too cold to deal with for my taste..." Shendu thought aloud. "Bah! I shall deal with those countries later! For now, I shall deal with the most classic of my hostile takeover!"

Shendu chuckled to himself. "Taking over dear old China should be most satisfactory thing I've ever-"

*Snap!*

Shendu's ears perked up at the sound of a twig snapping not too far away, his hearing being a lot better than the average human's. Dropping his smile, the dragon turned around for the source of the disturbance, while also internally activating the Snake Talisman within him. Shendu's entire form became invisible as its affects took hold, and he stood there facing the direction where the noise had come from.

As he focused more on his surroundings, the demon found he could also hear footsteps, as well as the sound of a few small grunts, like whoever was making the noise was in distress.

Then, after a few moments of patient waiting, Shendu finally noticed a small form walking in front of him...and almost laughed at the sight.

It was a frail human boy, carrying a basket that was almost half his size. The grunts he'd heard had been this pathetic whelp of a child heaving the thing behind him, making slow progress due to its weight. The youth was also holding another contraption in his side, made up of metal rods and brown leather cloth. Do to his state of having to hold two things with each arm, it was clear the boy was having difficulties.

"Humans truly are weak." Shendu snorted to himself. However, he had to admit that the boy's clothing was most peculiar. None of it looked even remotely modern like he was used to seeing, especially after having seen how most young humans dressed. And it was peculiar that what the boy was wearing looked a lot more old-fashioned than that.

Taking a few more trudging steps and grumbling quietly to himself, the boy yelped as his foot accidentally slipped into the crater Shendu had made earlier.

"Gah!" the boy yelled, falling on his back and dropping both the basket and the metal contraption he'd been carrying. As the basket hit he ground, Shendu was surprised when a huge load of dead fish came spilling out, earning a groan from the human when he saw what had happened.

"Great. Just great. The gods truly do hate me. This proves it." the boy moaned, bringing both hands to his face and huffing loudly in irritation. He quickly rolled over to his side and was about to push himself up on his feet, but then paused, looking down at the burnt dirt beneath him.

"What the-" the boy said in surprise, turning his head and realizing that his entire body was currently in a crater. His eyes widened, and he quickly looked around as if afraid something might jump out at him any minute.

Shendu raised an eyebrow as the boy sighed with relief. "Oh thank Odin, no dragons..."

That made Shendu widen his eyes a little. From the boy's clothing and his nationality, it was possible they weren't anywhere near China or Japan, and yet this boy was afraid of dragons? It made the demon narrow his eyes, releasing an instinctual growl at the thought of something intruding on his future territory. If there were more demons already in this land, it would mean that Shendu would have his work cut out for him getting rid of he competition before he could focus on humanity.

The boy's head jerked toward the direction of the low growl he had heard. Steeling himself for something, the young human leapt to his feet, reaching into his vest and pulling out what seemed to be a small dagger. "W-whose there?" he stammered, putting both hands on the knife and holding it in front of him, acting as though it might protect him from whatever he couldn't see. His whole body shook slightly, obviously afraid.

Mentally reminding himself to remain quiet next time, Shendu decided that there was no reason to maintain his invisibility, since the boy already knew he wasn't alone. Crossing his arms together and taking the most intimidating, authoritative stance he could, the demon turned off power with the Snake Talisman.

The boy's eyes and mouth shot open in utter horror as what appeared to be a twelve foot tall dragon-like human thing appeared seemingly out of nowhere, its huge, muscular arms crossed and its eyes glowing a bright red without having any pupils in them. Shendu chuckled at the boy's reaction, pulling the corners of his snout up into a malevolent grin.

"Hello young one." Shendu greeted, smug with satisfaction at how terrified the human looked. "Is that any way to react to your new master?"

...

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third had been through many difficult situations in his life. The latest of which was shooting down a Night Fury, only to end up befriending it and end up trying to both feed and create a new tail for it. Having been chased by a Monstrous Nightmare and managing to tame a Night Fury, the young Viking had figured that nothing could be more outrageous for him by this point in his life.

However, upon seeing this giant dragon-looking monster that walked on its hind legs, possessed red eyes that glowed and had the apparent ability to speak, it was safe to say that this was probably the craziest thing that ever happened in his life.

So he celebrated that fact the only way he could: screaming at the top of his lungs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

*Clink!*

Shendu was abruptly startled when the human's knife was thrown at him, merely bouncing off his touch-as-stone scales and landing on the ground. Looking down at it for a moment, the demon curled his lip in annoyance.

"Now that's no way to-" Shendu cut himself off when he looked up, only to find that the boy was no longer standing in the same place, but rather, had sprinted off as fast as he could in the other direction.

For a brief moment, Shendu felt several emotions running through him. Surprise at the human's pathetic attempt to hurt him with the dagger, amusement from how the human had thought it would actually work, outrage that the boy had even tried and then ran off like a coward...and then finally, settling on simply shaking his head and chuckling.

"Humans. Always giving you a reason to hunt them down." Shendu stated, before tapping internally into the Rooster Talisman.

Hiccup, in the meantime, was desperately trying to put as much distance between him and the dragon as possible. He was running so fast that he barely reacted when he went past a low-hanging branch that scraped across his face, leaving a thin, bloody gash on his cheek.

Looking behind himself momentarily, Hiccup found to his relief that he was now a fair distance away from the creature, which had strangely not made any attempt to follow him.

"That's strange..." said the rational part of his mind that wasn't overrun with terror. "It's not even moving. Is it just going to stand there or-"

Suddenly, an invisible force seized both of Hiccup's legs, squeezing them together firmly and making him drop to the ground painfully as a result. He landed hard in his stomach, wheezing all the air out of his lungs, and then yelled when he felt himself being pushed over onto his back. His legs were still locked as though an invisible hand had clamped itself around them. And then, much to Hiccup's horror, he felt himself begin to get dragged back towards the direction of the dragon.

"No! Aah Let me go!" Hiccup cried in in fear, as well as pain from the scraping of his body along the ground. He squirmed and struggled in vain to escape his situation, arms flailing around for anything to grab on to. One of his hands managed to find a thick branch sticking out of a bush. Despite the stinging pain from the thorns it had, Hiccup held on as tight as he could, and for a moment, he stopped moving. But before the Viking could even take a breath of relief, he suddenly felt an immense tug on his lower body, much stronger than last time and one that forced him to let go of the branch.

"Someone help me!" Hiccup yelled desperately, despite knowing full well that rarely anybody came out to this side of the island. He continued to get dragged painfully across the ground, coming closer and seeing the two-legged dragon standing there with what seemed to be a big smirk on its face. No matter how much he yelled, flailed, and squirmed, the mystical force that held him was unrelenting with its grip.

As he came up in front of Shendu, the demon could only sneer at the human's pathetic attempts to free himself from the telekinesis of the Rooster Talisman. Seeing that the boy was still resisting, Shendu brought his hand up and clenched it, and the boy's arms and legs were clenched to his aides as though bound by ropes. He then raised his other hand, and the young human's body was brought up off the ground to float a few feet in front of him, though not without a yelp of shock from the boy.

Shendu frowned when the boy continued to scream and struggle, and he found the human's cries to be more annoying than amusing now. With a sigh and a shake of his head, the demon lord took in a deep breath.

"SILENCE!" Shendu shouted, his voice booming so intensely that it made the human's ears pop and shook the trees around them. The human had ceased his struggles, and was now simply shaking in fear, staring at Shendu with wide, teary eyes, clearly scared out of his wits. A few pitiful whimpers escaped him, and his heart hammered against his chest from the level of terror he felt.

"I found your actions amusing the first time boy, but I am not here to watch you make a fool of yourself." Shendu sneered, his eyes brightening for an instant. The human said nothing, just staring back at the demon with a fearful, intimidated gaze.

"Now then..." Shendu said, a little calmer now that he was in full control of the situation. "...who are you and what is your name?"

Out of everything Hiccup had expected this monster to do or say, it was not that. The fear on his face slowly gave way to utter bewilderment, and his shaking ceased completely. The dragon thing's blunt and polite way of asking that question was unexpected to say the least.

"...what?" Hiccup dumbly responded.

Shendu curled his lip with impatience. "I asked you for your identity human, and I suggest you answer me before I lose interest." he snapped, baring his teeth and letting loose a low growl.

Hiccup felt his fear return, and quickly tried to stammer out his name. "M-my n-n-name i-is-"

"I am not here to listen to your pathetic sniveling boy!" Shendu snarled, eyes brightening further as they glared at the human. Hiccup started at the interruption, but inhaled and took a deep breath before he spoke again.

"M-My name is Hiccup!" he exclaimed really fast, "I'm a Viking of Berk, son to chief Stoic the Vast and overall village screw-up!"

There was a long moment of complete silence between the floating human and Shendu. The demon just stared blankly at Hiccup, with the boy squeezing his eyes shut in the hopes that the dragon wouldn't hurt him.

Then, Shendu snorted once, his mouth curling up into a smile. Then he snorted again, bringing a fist up to the front of his mouth while clenching his eyes shut, almost like he was trying to hold back a cough. And then he couldn't hold it in anymore, erupting into a literal roar of uncontrollable laughter.

All the fear and intimidation that Hiccup had felt by this point was completely shattered by the sight of this muscly, two-legged, talking dragon collapsing down to his knees and struggling to maintain standing from how hard he was laughing. Hiccup's could only look on with a combined mix of amazement, confusion and ever-so-small feeling of being offended by the dragon's reaction.

After a little while though, the dragon managed to cease his laughter. Shaking his head and taking a few breaths, Shendu raised himself back up and settled a look at the boy that was genuinely amused. Hiccup's face fell when the dragon brought him closer, feeling a little of his previous fear coming back.

"Congratulations human. You've managed to accomplish something that certain group of idiots I know couldn't do at all." Shendu said, his thoughts going back to all those times that Valmont and his brainless thugs would undermine their idiotic doings with the knowledge that they had lost his Talismans in the process.

"Um...thanks?" Hiccup replied cautiously, not knowing whether this dragon was being genuine or not.

However, Shendu's amused expression quickly fell away to a more serious one. "As much as I would love to make you my court jester now though, I would prefer you not to lie to me when I repeat my question this time."

Hiccup's eyes widened a little. "I wasn't lying." he stated automatically, before he could even consider that it might not be best to try and correct what was obviously a very powerful dragon.

Shendu narrowed his eyes, flicking his hand and making the boy gasp as his body was forced to come closer to the dragon's face. "I will not tolerate your lies human...and you are beginning to push your luck by even continuing to do so." he hissed.

"I'm not lying, I swear!" Hiccup cried, heart beating against his chest in fear as the dragon curled its lip and growled, clearly not pleased.

"Then let's find out if you are." Shendu said, raising one clawed hand up and curling each of his digits, until only his index finger was left pointing. Hiccup began breathing hard as the sharp point of it started heading towards his face.

"Wait, don't-!" Whatever Hiccup had been about to say was interrupted when Shendu's finger made contact with his forehead. A warm, paralyzing feeling passed through Hiccup, and his eyes stared blankly at Shendu, whose own eyes brightened once more.

The demon snorted at how easy it was to enter this boy's mind, granting him access to every single thought and memory. It was pitiful how easy a human's mind was to read. Going through this boy's head was like taking down a row of cobwebs, compared to the brick walls that an experienced Chi sorcerer could create.

"Let's name him Hiccup."

"You're gonna be like your father someday, Hiccup. I know you will."

"Stoic!"

"Valka! No!"

You're a runt! And you always will be!"

"Can't blame ya father for bein' angry about those sheep you let loose."

"Ever since your mother was carried off..."

"OK, but I hit a Night Fury."

"Why can't you listen to the simplest orders?!"

"Don't you think the village could do with a little less feeding dad?"

"I have brought down this might beast!"

"I did this..."

"Son...we need to talk."

"I don't wanna fight dragons."

"You'll be needing this."

"And I'll be here...maybe."

"Dragons...always go for the kill."

"So why didn't you?"

"Why don't you just fly away?"

"...and pray it does not find you."

"Toothless...could've sworn you had-"

"I don't have any more!"

"Our parents war is about to become ours! Think about which side you're on."

"A downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Shendu absorbed each and every facet of the boy's mind within a matter of minutes. Hiccup himself had fallen completely silent, face sullen and blank as his mind was intruded by the demon. It felt as though he was both awake and asleep at the same time, not feeling painful or comforting, but just simply there.

Then, Shendu's eyes lost their glow and his hand fell from the boy's head, making Hiccup gasp as his conscious mind was restored to him abruptly. It was made even more disconcerting when Shendu turned off his Rooster Talisman, causing the boy to fall a few feet from the air and onto his chest.

"OW! Ugh..." Hiccup moaned, both his head and his body hurting from the intensity of what had happened for the last few minutes. He slowly rolled over on to his side, eyes shut as his head ached severely from what the demon had done. "W-What did you do?"

Shendu didn't answer. He simply looked down at the human with a curious look on his face, bringing a hand up to grasp his chin. He hummed to himself thoughtfully, thinking over every single fact that had been revealed to him from his delving within the boy's mind.

So he wasn't in modern times anymore? That was the first thing that stood out to him, and it was really discomforting to know that whatever force had saved him from imprisonment in the Nether realm had also sent him back into a different period of time. Or was he in a different world? Shendu knew that there were other mysterious forces besides himself and his siblings, but his knowledge on the subject was severely lacking in several areas.

However, the one thing he did know was that the actual Vikings of the world he had been in had never actually fought dragons in their lifetime. Dragons were a thing of myth to humans besides himself and other demons, but the fact that there were living, flesh-and-blood dragons here in this place was a huge sign that implied something more.

Was he in another world? Most of what the boy's thoughts had revealed was simply directed at his own life experiences, so it was hard for Shendu to know for certain, but it seemed as though this war between dragons and Vikings had been going on for centuries. With such a long span of war between generations, there was no way the world of Chi wizards and Eastern demons couldn't have known about them if it did exist.

Despite his misgivings though, Shendu smirked to himself. From what he could gather, the dragons were simply feral beasts with no sense of high intelligence. Even his fat sister Po Kong displayed more intelligence than these dragons, and all she could do was complain about her hunger or require help to scratch an itch in her back.

Was he in another world? Most of what the boy's thoughts had revealed was simply directed at his own life experiences, so it was hard for Shendu to know for certain, but it seemed as though this war between dragons and Vikings had been going on for centuries. With such a long span of war between generations, there was no way the world of Chi wizards and Eastern demons couldn't have known about them if it did exist.

Despite his misgivings though, Shendu smirked to himself. From what he could gather, the dragons of his world were mostly feral beasts with no sense of high intelligence. Even his fat sister Po Kong displayed more intelligence than these dragons, and all she could do was complain about her hunger or require help to scratch an itch in her back.

"Thank you Hiccup. You've been very useful." Shendu said courteously, smirking a little at the knowledge of how that ridiculous name had come to be.

Hiccup looked up at the dragon, utterly baffled and upset that the dragon hadn't explained anything. However, he also knew that it wouldn't be wise to provoke the dragon into hurting him even more. His body and head still hurt, and he winced every time he brushed a hand over his cheek, feeling the deep cut from earlier stinging painfully.

"Uh...you're welcome?" he responded, slowly getting to his feet and trying not to fall from the disorientation he still felt. He only lasted for a few seconds before a wave of dizziness swept over him, and he fell to the ground once more.

"Hmm..." Shendu grunted, annoyed at how fragile humans could be. "I cannot wait for you to recover naturally human, so allow me."

Hiccup looked up at the dragon with hazy eyes. "Allow you to wh-?" he started to ask, but was cut off when the dragons brought a clawed hand down and placed it on his head. Before the boy could even think of crying out in fear, Shendu tapped into the power of the Horse Talisman, and directed it through his arm and into his hand, transferring healing abilities of the Talisman into the boy's body.

Instantly, Hiccup felt all his cuts, bruises, aches, and pains disappear all at the same time. It was a unexpectedly pleasant sensation, and Hiccup sighed with satisfaction, before he felt a small tingling on the side of his cut cheek. Bringing a hand up to touch it, Hiccup gasped in surprise when he found that the deep cut he had received when trying to escape had vanished completely, to be replaced by smooth, uncut skin.

"W-what? How did you-" Hiccup tried to ask, but was yet again, interrupted.

"Do not think that was some form of respect or affection from me, boy." Shendu snapped, quelling any thoughts that Hiccup might have had about this dragon being benevolent. "I need you up and healthy for my goals, and now that you're no longer sniveling with pain, I want you to follow my next order without anything other than a 'yes, master Shendu.' Do you understand?"

Shendu leered his tall, muscular form over Hiccup's body, and it took all of the boy's nerve to not start shaking in fear. The dragon had a large, intimidating presence that was similar to Stoic's, although father would've been a kitten in comparison to the dragon. Even Toothless's screech to his face when they first met was nothing to the humanoid dragon's red, pupil-less eyes, glaring down as he waited for the boy's answer.

After finally processing the dragon's words, Hiccup slowly clambered to his feet, and took a few deep breaths. "Yes." he breathed, figuring it might just be best to agree to the dragon's terms.

"Yes..." Shendu growled, waving his clawed hand as if expecting more. Hiccup frowned in confusion for a moment, before a snarl and a curled lip from the dragon made him realize his mistake.

"Yes, master Shendu!" he yelled loudly, nodding his head frantically.

Shendu sneered. "That's more like it...now take me to your dragon."

Hiccup's face went from horrified to gobsmacked, then back to horrified. "What?! How do you know-?!"

"Oh please." Shendu said, raising a hand up in a motion that instantly made Hiccup quiet. "I know everything about you boy. I know of your pathetic and failed attempts to gain respect from a village that doesn't care. I know of your amusing crush on a girl who'd most likely break your arm of you tried holding her hand. I even know about how your father doesn't really see you as a son anymore ever since your mother was taken, and how he sees you more of a burden than anything else."

Hiccup's jaw dropped with shock, before his expression filled with indignation at the dragon's words. But before he could idiotically respond with a few choice words of his own, the dragon's next few words made him freeze.

"And I even know about your little secret." Shendu said, a smirk on his face. "Despite all your weaknesses, I have to say that I'm impressed that you of all people could have managed to tame an otherwise dangerous creature."

"He's not a creature!" Hiccup yelled at the dragon, not even considering his fear anymore with the existence of his friend at stake. "He's...he's my friend..."

"Bah! Like any feral animal would know about anything about friendship. You shot him down, crippled him, and now you want to delude yourself into thinking that you can make things right by giving him this."

Hiccup watched as Shendu raised a hand and lifted his newly-built mechanical tail-fin off the ground, floating it over to them.

"Such a crude time to live in, and yet you managed to be the only one with any sense of innovation when it comes to your village. It makes you...somewhat unique."

The dragon flicked his hand, and all of Hiccup's work from last night flew violently towards a tree, and Hiccup winced as the prosthetic fin slammed against the thick trunk of the tree, bending the metal and shredding the leather beyond repair. Hiccup groaned at this, but kept his complaints to himself, knowing that it wouldn't matter by this point.

"However, I see great possibilities with both you and your dragon Hiccup, and I will find him, whether you want me to or not." Shendu hissed, his fist clenching as his eyes glowed threateningly.

Hiccup's shoulders slumped, and his head hung in resignation. "Fine, I'll take you to him." he said, seeing no other option.

Shendu grinned. "I figured as much."

"But you better not hurt him!" Hiccup exclaimed suddenly, his eyes creased in anger as he glared up at the demon. Shendu looked a little taken aback from the boy's sudden change from cowardly to demanding, but quickly shook off his surprise and snarled. Before Hiccup could even react, the demon bent down and brought one incredibly strong arm forward, gripping the boy's entire chest in one hand.

Hiccup would have yelled if not for the dragon's tight grip on his body, making it hard for him to breath. The dragon was squeezing so hard the boy felt as though he'd angered the dragon so much with his outburst, that it was going to literally crush him to death with one hand.

"I'll forgive your transgressions for now boy, but let me make one thing clear: I am your master now, and in turn, that means your Night Fury works for me." Shendu loosened his grip slightly, just enough for Hiccup to feel the pressure ease off to allow him to breath. "As such, I will have no reason to kill you as long as you remain useful to me. And your dragon will be safe from harm as well...as long as he learns his place.

Shendu narrowed his eyes and brought Hiccup close to his face. "But you hear me now boy...if I see even one attempt to disobey or, dare I say, betray me..."

Shendu's eyes glowed bright red, and Hiccup could only stare fearfully at the pools of red that were so close that their light enveloped in his face.

"I will personally make you feel agony beyond your comprehension, and I will make sure your dragon friend watches every second of it...before I do the exact same thing to him."

Shendu tightened his hold on the boy hard enough that he could feel the human's bones begin to creak slightly. Hiccup's face became strained, barely able to breath by this point. For a moment, he thought he'd surely die from being crushed to death.

Abruptly, the claws holding him relented, and then the boy felt that familiar healing energy go through him as Shendu activated the horse talisman yet again. Before Hiccup could even get his bearings, the dragon suddenly dropped him to the floor, and as Hiccup scrambled to his feet, Shendu gave him a forceful shove in the direction he'd been walking. Apparently, the dragon had remembered where the boy had been walking.

"Now move!" Shendu exclaimed forcefully, his tone making no room for argument. Hiccup said nothing, but took one tentative look behind him before following the dragon's command. As he took his first few steps, he heard Shendu trudging close behind him.

"Do not think of this as enslavement, Hiccup." Shendu said after a moment of silence as the two walked. "Think of it more as an achievement."

Hiccup's head perked up in bafflement, but stared straight ahead as he followed the path that would lead him to Toothless. "An achievement? For what?" he asked.

"You always wanted to bring great change to this village." Shendu said, and while Hiccup wasn't facing the demon, he could tell that the dragon was smirking behind him. "Befriending that Night Fury was only your first step."

"And the second?" Hiccup asked.

"You found me." Shendu responded simply, chuckling evilly.

Hiccup didn't answer that time, because if he had, there would've been no way he'd be able to keep the boiling rage within him otherwise. Shendu however, raised a brow and smiled when he saw the boy's fists clenching at his sides.

"I think this is the beginning of a great master-slave relationship." Shendu thought to himself.