A/N: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon.

This is another short work that I wrote. I am currently working on chapter 4 of "Run, Hide, Pray," which should be going up some time in the next couple of days, sorry that it has taken me so long to get the next chapter out, I just started drowning in school work, and that has taken up my time recently.

Warnings: Mentions of bullying and death.

All humans have been afraid of the dark at some point in their lives, but only a few of us know why. Most people say that it is fear of the unknown or that we cannot see, but those of us who walk in the shadows know the real reason. We can see what lurks in the darkness, monstrous beings that belong only in the realm of nightmares. My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third, heir to Berk, and I am one of the few who call themselves shadow walkers.

My story begins when I was five years old, when I first saw movement in the shadows. At first, I tried to see who was there, but soon found that there wasn't a person in sight. I tried to tell my dad how the shadows moved, but he didn't believe me. As I was only a child, the things I saw lurking in the dark gave me nightmares. I would often wake up in the middle of the night, screaming as I saw the same things in my room as in my nightmares. It was sometimes hard to tell if I was awake or not.

When I was ten, I found out more about my abilities, learning that there was more to it than just being able to see what lurked in the darkness, but also to fade into it myself. I made this discovery soon after Snotlout, my cousin with an ego the size of Stoick's gut, and the twins, the two most destructive forces on Berk, began to bully me.

At the time, I was still terrified of the dark, but I was forced to hide from my tormentors. One day, as I was running from them, I stepped into the shadows, praying for them not to see me, and it seemed to have worked. When they came around the corner, they stopped and looked around, not noticing me standing next to them.

Over the next couple weeks, I discovered that I had faded into the darkness that day, and I spent my time mastering it, and using it to escape the trio of tormentors. Soon, I discovered that I could not only vanish into the shadows, but bring creatures out of them.

One day, when I had failed to escape from Snotlout and the twins, I felt my anger rise, then heard their screams. When I looked up, I saw one of the nightmarish inhabitants of the shadows approaching. As my peers ran and my anger faded, I was astonished to find that the creature did too. After that, I began to experiment with this new ability, but I soon learned the consequences of my foolishness.

I was thirteen at the time of the incident, and I had become less scared of what lurked in the dark, thinking that I could control the monsters, but I was wrong. In retrospect, I probably should not have tried to summon anything from the shadows that night. It had been a hard day for me, and when I practiced that night, I lost control of the creature and it bolted.

I raced through the village, trying to find the being before something happened, but when I turned a corner I knew I was too late. I saw tendrils shoot from the dark and grab a viking, dragging him into the dark. Then the screams started. As soon as I could, I banished the creature back to the shadows, but it was too late. The next morning, they found the scattered pieces of the man's body, a look of sheer terror on what was left of his face. To this day, I am still haunted by the sounds of the man's screaming and what the body looked like. After this incident, I made a promise to myself not to summon anything ever again, but I broke that oath only two years later.

It was the second day of dragon training, and we had just faced off against a Deadly Nadder when Astrid snapped at me. When she snapped, I felt the last strand of my sanity snap too. At that moment, I let it all out. All the anger I had held in over the course of my life; the anger at my peers, my father, and my tribe, I just didn't care what happened anymore.

#

Gobber and the teens all stumbled back from Hiccup as they saw his stony expression and icy gaze, then they saw the tendrils of dark mist coming off of his body, the chill of death in the air. They heard whispers coming from the shadows and felt the frigid touch of the growing darkness.

They screamed out in pure terror, trying to stop what was happening, but Hiccup coldly stated, "I have had enough of the suffering and the torment, you have all made my life Hell, now it is time for me to return the favor."

They turned to run, but they froze in place when they saw the fearsome creatures between them and the exit, coming closer with each passing moment. Astrid spun and called out, fear coating her voice, "Hiccup, please stop! Please don't do this to me, I never meant to hurt you!"

Hiccup calmly replied, "Is the mighty Astrid Hofferson scared? Just like her poor uncle Finn who froze in battle."

Astrid's anger spiked when she heard his words and was about to speak, when Snotlout got there first, "That's no way to speak to my girl Useless!" before charging at him.

Snotlout lunged forward, his hammer poised to take off Hiccup's head, but it went right through. Hiccup let out a chuckle that quickly became a laugh that sent chills down their spines before he stated, "You cannot hurt me anymore, I have had it with all of you, with all of Berk, you should have thought before you acted! Now you will all suffer the consequences of your actions."

Just then, Gothi arrived at the arena, seeing the creatures that were moving forward on the poor group, and she intervened, forcibly banishing them from this world before hobbling into the arena, whacking Hiccup with her staff to snap him out of his trance. Once she saw him starting to regain control, she began to write on the floor.

Gobber translated, "'iccup, ye shouldn't have brought those heirs, ow… horrors into this world."

Hiccup stood there for a moment before asking, "Gothi, can you see what lurks in the dark too?"

She replied, "I can, I too am a shallow, ow, crazy old lady, ow… shadow walker, and I am stoppin' you from makin' the same mistakes that I have."

Hiccup looked ashamed of himself as he saw the looks of terror in the eyes of those around him before being reassured by Gothi.

She simply said, "Just be glad that ye didn't hurt them 'iccup."

#

Since that day, my life has gotten better, and the bullying has stopped. All it took was nearly killing everyone on Berk with monsters from the shadows to get their respect.

Never again did I summon a nightmare, on purpose or by accident after Gothi trained me on how to control my powers over the shadows. I am grateful that she was there that day to stop me from killing them all, for saving Astrid, who is now my loving wife. Even now, I am afraid of the dark. Everyone should be afraid of what lurks in the dark, even if they cannot see it.

A/N: I think that this short work is on of my better ones, feel free to let me know what you think.