Ch. 1 The Big Black Box from the Future

It was just another day here on Berk, the sun was shining, dragons flying around, and everyone doing their share of work along with the dragon's help…That is…until a weird occurrence happened in the Great Hall. The chief, Stoick the Vast, came as soon as he heard the news from one of the villagers. He made his way into the Great Hall. "What's going on here?!" he hollered and some of the villagers that were already inside parted the way for him. He made his way through, around the fire pit, and paused, not sure what he was seeing. In front of him was a giant flat, black box made out of material he's never seen before. It was wide enough to nearly fill the Great hall but it wasn't tall enough to touch the ceiling. On a closer inspection, the surface of it was reflective making him see himself in a darker hue. Stoick tentatively touched it, feeling the cool glass-like substance. It was as smooth as a polished crystal, black as a Night Fury, glass-like as a spyglass and sort of as cool as ice. Normally, his old self would have smashed it by now with his axe or his fist, but because of his son, Hiccup, he knew that not everything new was evil. "What in Thor's name is this?" he muttered before he heard wings flapping outside.

"Dad!" he turned to see his son and the rest of the teens run in with their dragons at their heels. Everyone in the hall made room for them, knowing that with Hiccup and the others here – along with the chief – they knew that everything would be under control and figure out what's going on. "What's going on? I heard about some kind of—whoa!" the teens stopped in their tracks and stared at the black box in awe. Hiccup was the first to slowly walk up to it. "What is this thing?"

"I don't know, Son; I was hoping you could help me figure it out." By now, everyone in the village, even the dragons on Berk and Mildew, came in to see what was going on and stared at the thing nervously and a bit curious (excluding Mildew of course). Gobber walked over to the chief to discuss about the object while Toothless and Hiccup looked over the black, glass box. Hiccup touched the surface as Toothless sniffed it curiously, mystified by the feel of it. He walked from one end to the other, looking for anything to explain what it was. Even so far as to walk behind it, only feeling a different kind of material. He gently tapped it with his knuckles, causing it to make a thudding noise. "Hiccup!" Stoick called nervously as he and everyone else was watching him inspect it, and became anxious when they heard the noise.

He popped his head from the side. "Sorry, th-that was actually me. My bad." They all sighed in relief, Stoick especially since he thought something had happened to Hiccup. Then Hiccup noticed something on the ground and walked over to pick it up. It was a yellow piece of paper with writing on it. He picked it up to read it, then felt something sticky on the top end behind the paper. He turned it over but saw nothing. He felt the whole back area but only felt the top end was sticky and deducted that the paper was stuck to the object when it first got here but fell off later. Interesting,Hiccup thought as he turned the paper over, figuring it out that it was a note to explain it all, and tried to read it. But when he looked at it, he realized that he couldn't because it was written in a language he's never seen before. Very interesting. "What do you make of this, Bud?" he showed it to Toothless who sniffed it curiously. "Hmm…Hey, guys! I think I found something!"

They walked back around the box to where the others were waiting anxiously. "Well, Son, what did you find?" asked Stoick. Hiccup held up the note for everyone to see.

"I think it's a note. I found it behind the thing on the ground; I think it was originally stuck to the back of it with some kind of clear, sticky adhesive substance but fell off."

"Well, what did it say?"

"That's just it…I'm not exactly sure what it says; it's written in a language I've never seen before."

"Oh! Can I have a look at it?" asked Fishlegs, eagerly. Hiccup handed it to him. Fishlegs examined it this way and that. "Hmm…astounding. Remarkable."

"Uh, would you like to clue us in on what 'astounding' and 'remarkable' means?"

"Duh, easy." Tuffnut piped in. "Astounding means something awesome to blow up— "

"—and remarkable means something that you can mark over and over again." Ruffnut added.

"Duh! And you all thought he was the smart one." Everyone gave them blank looks.

"That's not…exactly what I was meaning." Hiccup drawled out.

"Here, Hiccup, take a look at this." Hiccup walked over to Fishlegs. "Look at these lines and these curls, they each clearly indicate a different kind of letter in this language." Hiccup nodded in understanding.

"Okay, I see where you're going with this."

"And if you put these letters together, they clearly make a word. And this dot right here, I think it means the ending of a sentence."

"Oh, I see now. That is remarkable."

"Blah, blah, blah! Give me that, Nerds!" Snotlout yanked the paper out of their hands, a bit roughly actually.

"Careful, Snotlout! We don't want it to get ripped and we need to interpret what it says without it getting damaged." Warned Hiccup, but Snotlout just brushed him off.

"Pfft! Whatever. I can probably read it just fine." He said arrogantly.

"Oh yeah, then what's the first word on that, then?" Fishlegs challenged with a smug look.

"Ha! Easy! It says…um…" Snotlout stared at the paper closely, squinting at the word. He glanced around seeing everyone waiting for him with blank looks. "Hold on, I've got this. Uh…just one sec…Hmm…" then he casually hit his head. "Oh, I see what's wrong. I was looking at it upside down, duh!" he cleared his throat. "Now then, it says…umm…" He glanced at the teens who were still giving him unimpressed looks as well as the dragons. "…Well, I said probably! Jeez, I'm not a miracle worker!"

"Uh-huh, you have no idea either, do you?" Astrid said deadpanned.

"Well it's-I…je-he…Shut up, Astrid." Everyone groaned and shook their heads while Spitelout ran his hand over his face in embarrassment.

"Yep, I rest my case." Said Fishlegs with a smug grin.

"Well, uh, you can't read it either!" Snotlout argued back weakly. Then suddenly, Tuffnut yanked it out of his hands. "Hey!"

"Here, I wanna try!" He shouted enthusiastically, but his sister took it from him.

"No! I wanna try!" she yelled.

"No! Me!" he yelled back as he made to grab for it, but someone else did it for him.

"Hey!" the twins yelled indignantly. Astrid just scowled at them as she held the paper.

"Enough, you two! All you both are gonna do is fight over it and get it ripped to shreds, and we can't have that." She said sternly as she handed it off to the chief. Stoick looked it over before walking to Gobber.

"Gobber, can you make out what all this says?" Gobber carefully picked up the note and looked it over.

"Hmm…Ah hah…" He sniffed it. "Oh yes, I see…that is clearly an 'H'…or maybe it's a '4'?" Gobber mumbled to himself.

"Well, Gobber? What does it say?" Asked Hiccup.

"Hmm…No idea." He said bluntly, making everyone groan in frustration. "But maybe Gothi does. Gothi? You in here?" he called out in the crowd. Then a path was made as Gothi made her way to the front. Gobber showed her the paper and Gothi looked it over before writing on the ground with ash.

"Well, what's she saying? Can she read it?" asked Stoick.

"Hmm…" Everyone listened in closely to hear what she says, eh wrote, even the twins quieted down from whatever they were arguing about to know. "…She has no idea either." Everyone groaned.

"Well that's that! How are we going to read something off that stupidnoteIF WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT SAYS?!" shouted Snotlout.

"Calm down, Snotlout." Said Astrid, rolling his eyes at his dramatics. "It's not the end of the world; we'll translate it somehow."

"How do YOU know? You can't read it! None of us can! For all we know, it could probably say it's the end of the world and that THING is going to do it. It's already the end of the world when not even that old bat can read it! OW!" Gothi smacked him with her staff for that.

As everyone continued arguing over the note and the box, making up paranoid suggestions, Hiccup had grabbed the note and looked it over again. He stared down at the weird letters and words, trying to find a way to interpret what they mean. Then something was happening. Hiccup looked at the top left corner, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. But then it did it again, and he realized it. The words and letters were rearranging themselves, morphing into something else! Before he knew it, the first word was translating itself into Norse. Then the next word and the next! Until, finally, he could make out a whole sentence in Norse. It was like the paper, or the person who sent the paper and box, knew what was wrong and translated their language for their benefit. Creepy.

"Uh, hey guys?"

"How about we destroy the stupid thing with the note and be done with it!"

"Uh, guys?"

"Don't be an idiot, that thing and that note could be important!"

"Please, if you just— "

"I say we blast it sky high! It will be totally awesome."

"Can everyone just— "

"Yeah, I'm with you there! BLAST IT! BURN IT TO THE GROUND!"

"Toothless?" at his cue, Toothless gave a loud and menacing roar, silencing the whole room. "Thank you. Now that I have your attention. I would like to direct to you that the note started translating by itself into Norse."

"WHAT?!"

"Pfft! That's impossible. Are you trying to Loki us?" Said Snotlout. Hiccup gave him a deadpanned look.

"…Really, Snotlout."

"What? All I'm saying is that you're making it— "Hiccup shoved the paper in his face. Snotlout stared at the paper, stunned for a moment before he backed away from it and screamed in terror. "AAH! THAT PAPER IS BEWITCHED!" everyone started backing away in fright and began to panic.

"Toothless." He roared again. "Thank you, again. Now then, may I read the note now or shall I wait so someone can go to the bathroom?" he asked rhetorically. Bucket was about to raise his hand, but Mulch nudged him. "No? Good then." He cleared his throat. "It says, 'Dear Hiccup and all of Berk,'" his eyes widened when he read his name while everyone else gasped and started to panic again.

"SHUT IT!" they all quieted down at the chief's yell. "My son is speaking." He turned to his son with a soft smile. "Go on, Hiccup. Read on."

"Um, thanks, Dad. Now, where were we. 'Dear Hiccup and all of Berk, we apologize for all the confusion and panic that we may have caused for all of you. We're sure you all must be wondering what the black box is and why the note was in this language. Well, to answer the second question (because it's easier), the language that we knew you were gonna try and interpret was one of the languages of the future.'" Everyone made sounds of interest and were all wondering if it's true; it explains why not even Gothi could read it. They all quieted down to let him continue. "'Yes, we know. You all are probably wondering if we're just making it up. Well, we can tell you this, everything we write to you is not a lie. This language and that box are from the future, about over 2,000 years into the future.'" They all gasped, including Hiccup.

"2,000 YEARS FROM THE FUTURE?!" Fishlegs exclaimed out in shock.

"Incredible!" said Astrid.

"Oh! Oh! I have a question?" Tuffnut shouted, waving his hand in the air. "If that note and that box are from the future…what am I thinking about right now?" everyone rolled their eyes.

"You're a muttonhead?" Hiccup retorted blandly.

Tuffnut gasped. "WHOOOA! How did it know that?" the teens, except Ruffnut, face-palmed.

"This is outrageous! A scandalous abomination!" yelled Mildew. "I think this is just a trick those teenagers planted, to mess with our heads! Or better yet, the Outcasts' doing!"

"Ah, nobody cares what ya think, Mildew." Gobber waved off. Mildew grumbled.

"Well then, if it really is from the future…then it's still an abomination! It's unholy and the works of the devil! I'd say we throw it off the edge of the world!"

"Ah, shut it, Mildew." Everyone laughed as Gobber kept brushing off the cranky, old man. "Hey, lad! Is there more on the note?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Everyone shushed each other to hear more. "'Yes, we know. This all must be shocking to all of you and we're pretty sure that old man of yours is probably calling it all an abomination.'" Some gave little gasps while others just snickered, along with the teens. Mildew huffed in indignation. "'Now the language you all saw before, in our timeline is called 'English'. Which is a universal language that originates from a country that hasn't been discovered yet to you.'" Everyone oohed and awed at this. "'As for the box, it is a sophisticated technology that is far beyond your time; it is not magic we assure you. It is simply another technology from another timeline. The reason that we have brought it to your timeline is that my friends and I have read your stories, read all your history and all of your adventures that you all will be embarking soon and are amazed and admire you. And we also had the technology to do this, so we wanted to share with all of you a way for you to see your future.'" Again, everyone gasped in shock.

"Wait, hold on a second! You mean that THING right there, can show us our future?!" Snotlout exclaimed.

"I-I guess so; it says it right here." Stoick frowned in concern.

"I don't know about this. Knowing about the future can be dangerous; you never know what can happen. Unspeakable consequences even."

"Unspeakable wha?" The twins said dumbly. They all ignored them.

"Well, let's just read on before we make any rash decisions." Stoick hesitated, but nodded otherwise and gestured for him to continue. Hiccup cleared his throat. "'Now you all must be wondering; how can a big black box show you the future? Well that is very hard to explain, but all we can tell you is that we had the technology to do so and we simply wanted to show you your future so you can enjoy it as much as we did. Now we know there are consequences on showing or telling someone of their future, but do not fret. We strictly took precautions on this. You will be shown about two to three videos, or 'visions' as you like to better interpret it if it makes it easier, each day. They will be in order by their specific time zone to give you a better understanding of time passing. And once you finish watching a video, you will simply forget all of the ones you have already watched so that way the events in one of the videos you have already experienced will not be tampered with and time will simply move on without any consequences and the black box will simply look like it was never there. When the videos end with a 'to be continued' sign, it means for you to go back to what you were doing before and take a break. Remember, this is all for your enjoyment. It is not to harm you or to scare you; it is simply for your enjoyment, just like how we enjoyed reading about your adventures and how you are an inspiration to all of us. And if you are still suspicious, a photo of us will be shown on the black surface of the box, which is called a 'TV', to show you that we mean no harm after you finish reading this note and it will light up to show you.'" Hiccup saw the black arrow on the bottom right hand corner and turned the paper around, which immediately filled with more words. "'Until then, go about your days as you normally do and take breaks from watching. After all, we have a saying about TVs in our time, 'Too much TV rots the brain.'" Everyone gasped in horror at that. "'It doesn't literallydo that, just to let you all know. It's just a saying to get kids to play outside more and live their lives and it was proven that watching can make you lose brain cells, or dumb is a better way to put it.'" They all sighed in relief at this. "'You will be called when this note glows to let you know of the next showing of videos, so please keep it safe. And to show you how serious we are about meaning no harm, you will also be watching showings of our lives too. And you will know it's us you are watching.Sincerely, your admirers.'"

When Hiccup finished, they all looked at the black box—which was now called a "TV"—and waited for it to light up like the note said. After a minute, it lit up and what they saw shocked everyone along with the dragons. On the screen showed exactly why they could trust them.

"Hiccup…are you seeing…" Astrid trailed off.

"Uh-huh, I see it, Astrid." Mumbled Hiccup.

On the screen showed a picture of the teens, or more correctly, their descendants! Judging from their strange clothes and lack of helmets and different footwear, along with some weird colorful earmuff things around their necks that have the teens' dragon symbols on them. They were all standing in front of what looks like a house and in the background behind them are the dragons, or more specifically theirdragons'descendants.

"Beard of Thor…they all look just like ya." Gobber exclaimed.

Suddenly, Fishlegs looked up at the top corner and his eyes bulged.

"Guys! Look at the year on the timestamp." Everyone looked up and paled.

"2017?!" Snotlout shouted.

"Hiccup! Those are— "

"Yes, Astrid. Those are our descendants."

Gobber exhaled a breath. "I need to sit down."

"So do I." Said Stoick.

"Guys! Do you know what this means?" inquired Snotlout.

"Uh, that we know we can trust them and that they really are from the future?" suggested Hiccup.

"No! It means, even in the future, me and my descendants are still gonna be handsome!" he shouted in glee, making the teens groan and shake their heads; Astrid pretending to gag.

"Hey, who's that handsome fella'?" Tuffnut asked, making everyone face-palm.

"You're such an idiot." Said Ruffnut.

"No! You are!"

"No! You are!"

"No! Yo— "

"Do you guys have to argue now?" said Hiccup, annoyed.

"Fine…"

Hiccup sighed before turning to face everyone. "Well, I guess there's no harm in watching, since our…descendants said they took precautions and I believe them. Dad? Everyone?" everyone was silent as they turned to each other. This was a big decision to make, being able to see the future. Their future. Even with the precautions there's no telling what will happen.

"Well," Gobber patted his knees, "I've lived this long and I've got nothing else better to do. Why not? I trust the future lads. If they say they got everything under control, then I believe it. After all, one of them is Hiccup's descendant so he can't be any different from our Hiccup." Before they knew it, everyone started muttering agreements. After all, it is Hiccup's descendant and they trust their Hiccup, so why not.

"All right, all right. We'll give it a shot and watch these…uh, what was that word they used, Hiccup?" asked Stoick.

"Uh…Videos."

"Right…so, lets get on with it. If anyone else is busy, do it now before we start." Most began to congregate inside while others went out to do some last minute business or went to bring something to snack on while they watched. Hiccup decided to keep the note in his vest where it would be safe and joined the other teens with their dragons. They sat at a table towards the front where the fire pit wouldn't be in the way and they wouldn't have to look over peoples' head or be too close to the TV, so that way they wouldn't have to strain their necks. All the teens and their dragons were staring at the photo of their descendants in a trance-like state.

"Amazing…" mumbled Hiccup. Toothless crooned to Hiccup. Hiccup smiled and rubbed his head. "Look at that Toothless, you have a descendant too. So it means you're not alone anymore and will have a family someday. You're not the only Night Fury, after all. And we have proof rightin front of us." Toothless purred at the thought of not being the last of his kind.

"It is amazing, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Totally cool…"

"Awesome…"

"It's incredible! And they really do look like us."

"Except for the clothes— "

"—and the lack of helmets."

"Guess it's what they wear in that timeline. Not surprising, really, since as times change, styles tend to change too."

"Wonder what they're like and what their names are?"

"Guess we'll find out later after watching all of our videos." Then Hiccup pulled out the paper and looked down at it. "And this paper, even this is futuristic. It feels way different then the parchment paper we have here. Not to mention this adhesive stuff on the back of it used to stick it on the TV. It's like nothing I've ever seen before." They all continued staring at the photo, still in disbelief as well as the timestamp. After everyone came back in, along with all the dragons on Berk who perched themselves either on the ground or in the rafters, they shut the doors and found some seats with their friends and family and settled in. Stoick and the council deciding to sit behind the teens to better observe and make judgement. Soon enough, the picture faded and the video started.