Chapter Text
“There were dragons when I was a girl.” Luciá spoke as she reminisced. She was nearing eighty years old and thought it better to teach the children of their tribes history. “There were great grim sky dragons that nested on the clifftops like gigantic scary birds. Little white scuttly dragons that hunted rodents in well-organized packs. Preposterously huge sea dragons that were 30 times the size of a blue whale.” Luciá told the children that surrounded her. It had been years since she told this story last.
“Some say they crawled back into the sea, leaving not a bone nor fang for us to remember them by. Most say they never existed in the first place. That they were just a myth and I’m okay with that.” Luciá spoke as the children looked on in wonder.
“Listen close children. Let me tell you the tale of how me and my sister changed not only the minds of our tribe, but learned to befriend our most hated enemy; dragons.”
60 years prior
It wasn’t uncommon for Luz to be woken up in the middle of the night. In fact it would be uncommon if she wasn’t. Tonight was no different as she heard the telltale sounds of a dragon attack. “Uggghhhh.” Luz groaned as she slid her hand down her face and grabbed her helmet and put on her furs. Before she could even get out of her room, Luciá had barged in; already completely dressed with her shield and axe in hand. “Come on Luz. We need to get out there.” Luciá said before pulling Luz through their home and out the door.
It was a hell scene as Luz stepped outside. In all fifteen years Luz had been alive, not one single house hadn’t needed rebuilt. Sure their tribe had settled Myrka over 500 years ago, but every single house was less than three months old. In fact the oldest building left standing was the Great Hall. It has had minor repairs made but it was the only original building left from when Myrka was settled.
Luz looked around at the sights of the village up in flames as Luciá dragged her towards the action. They were separated as a piece of lumber, that was ablaze, fell between them. Luciá noticed it starting to fall and pushed Luz out of the way before jumping away from the still burning piece of wood herself.
“Go to Eda’s, Luz. And stay out of trouble till I can get to you.” Luciá yelled before she took off.
“How much trouble could I really get myself into.” Luz scoffed as she quickly made her way to Eda’s. She was actually fine with this outcome as it meant she could avoid killing any dragons.
Ever since Luz was a babe, she’d been fascinated by dragons. Everything about them was intriguing; especially how there were so many different types of dragons. There were the common dragons like the Gronckle, the Hideous Zippleback, the Deadly Nadder, and the Monstrous Nightmare. Then there were the less common dragons like the Death Song, the Scauldron, and the Skrill. Then there were the rare dragons that were never seen, but were still taught about just because of how deadly they were. They were the Nightfury and the Light Fury, who exclusively mated with each other. Then there was the Evershifter and the Gallshifter, who also exclusively mated with each other.
These were really the only rare dragons as all were thought to be extinct, until recently. It would be on this night when that would change. As Luz made her way to Eda’s, she was being followed silently by an Evershifter disguised as a Terrible Terror. This wasn’t the first time this dragon had watched Luz. In fact Luz refused to kill it when she had it cornered. At the time she thought it to be a Nadder, but she still refused to kill it when she had it cornered in the forest. That memory was fresh in both Luz’s mind and the dragon’s as the fighting raged on.
After being separated from Luz, Luciá “fought” her way through dragon after dragon. She never outright killed any and only attacked those that attacked her first, but she tried avoiding fighting them if she could.
Unlike Luz, Luciá had been raised by both their parents for six years, before that fateful night when Camila was taken away from them. Still Camila had taught Luciá to love and respect all life, including dragons. It was the one thing Manny and her disagreed on as he was raised to slay the beasts. Camila had actually started to change Manny’s mind before she was taken by a dragon during an attack.
Luz had been too young to remember, but both Luciá and Manny did. Manny went fully back to his slaying ways, whereas Luciá entertained them for her father but still believed that them and dragons could coexist. As Luciá was pondering, she was pulled out of the way of falling debris from her father himself.
“Luciá where is Luz?” Manny, Chief of Myrka, asked his daughter.
“We got separated but I told her to go to Eda’s and I’d meet her there.” Luciá relayed.
“Good girl. Now hurry and make sure Luz is staying out of trouble.” Manny said before he turned his head towards the sky. There was a high pitched, shrieking whistle before a massive purple explosion. “Nightfury!!” Someone shouted. Manny turned to Luciá before saying, “Make sure Luz is safe.”, before jumping back into the fray.
Luciá didn’t need to be told twice and doubled her efforts to get to Luz. She crossed through battles with Monstrous Nightmares, Nadders and all sorts of other dragons as every so often she’d hear that whistle and take cover. Soon she had reached Eda’s, finding the shop unattended. “Damn it Luz. What are you doing now?” Luciá asked herself as she started searching for her sister.
As Luz made it to Eda’s blacksmith shop, she was quickly grabbed and pulled in as she was nearly engulfed in flames. “Kid, you really need to be more careful.” Eda, the Owl Lady, said as she set Luz back on the ground.
“Thanks for the save there Eda and I’ll try.” Luz replied bashfully before throwing on her apron and getting to work repairing weapons and sending them back out as quick as possible. It was while the two were doing this that they heard the telltale high pitched, shrieking whistle of a Nightfury. Not certain where it was firing at, Eda pulled Luz to the ground and shielded her with her own body. After a moment, they realized they hadn’t been shot at.
Eda quickly got up off the ground and helped Luz up. “Luz I need you to stay here and man the shop. With a Nightfury in the mix, they are going to need all the help they can get.” Eda said as she grabbed her custom made atgeirr and and a shield before rushing out into the fray. Luz nervously continued to repair weapons and sending them back out.
She continued this while the sound of the Nightfury firing shots continued. She ended up with a short lull where something caught her eye. It was shimmering right into her eye, forcing Luz to look in the direction of the shimmer. What she saw was a multi-colored Terrible Terror looking directly at her with its chest on display. With its chest visible, Luz noticed the shimmering scales that were a dead giveaway that this was an Evershifter. Luz, like every young viking in Myrka, had read the book of dragons. It had info and descriptions of every dragon that had been encountered. Not much was known about the four rarest dragons apart from basic descriptions. The problem was that no viking had ever seen the true form of an Evershifter, so the only description that was known was that when it was disguised, it had shimmering scales on its chest.
“What the?” Luz questioned before the dragon jumped up and knocked her helmet off before shifting into a Hobgobbler and flying off with her helmet. “Hey!! Come back here you little runt!” Luz exclaimed as she chased the dragon out the shop and into the forest. “Get back here!!” Luz shouted as she continued to chase the dragon. Every so often it would look back, as if to make sure Luz was following it. What Luz didn’t notice as she had given chase was the sound of Nightfury attacks going quiet.
Luz continued following the dragon as it lured her far away from the village before stopping in a small clearing in the woods and shifting into a Nadder. Luz fell on her ass as she skidded to a stop seeing the dragon shift. The Evershifter gently set Luz’s helmet on ground before nudging it with its nose towards Luz. Luz looked at the dragon confused as she moved to a kneeling position. Luz examined the look on the dragon’s face as she slowly reached for her helmet.
Before she could grab it, the Nightfury that had been attacking the village swooped down between Luz and the Evershifter and growled as Luz fell backwards on her back. The Nightfury stalked over her as the Evershifter shifted into a Nightfury to try and communicate with the Nightfury. Before they could, Luciá jumped from out of the forest in between Luz and the Nightfury. Now intimidated, the Nightfury went to swipe at Luciá, forcing her to dodge and leaving Luz unguarded. The Nightfury’s next swipe was heading right for Luz and Luciá would not be able to protect Luz from it in time. That’s when the Evershifter tackled the Nightfury to the ground.
Now with a bit of breathing room, Luciá pulled Luz over to her as the two dragons were swiping at each other. Luciá was trying to process what just happened as the Evershifter was thrown on its back and the Nightfury started towards both Luz and Luciá. The Evershifter bit the Nightfury’s left tail wing, causing the dragon to howl in pain before thwipping its tail to get the Evershifter to let go. Once free, the Nightfury began to run away and trying to fly. Luciá, thinking quickly, stood up, grabbed her bola and threw it at the Nightfury. Her aim proved true as she heard the Nightfury shriek.
Luciá still wasn’t entirely sure what she had witnessed and looked over to where the Evershifter was, or where it had been. Once the Nightfury started to flee, the Evershifter had shifted back into a Terrible Terror and scuttled away. Seeing no other threats, Luciá turned to her sister and checked her over. “Luz, are you okay?” Luciá asked, getting a nod from Luz. “Good. What the hell were you thinking!?” Luciá exclaimed.
“I-I-” is all Luz could say as she could not fully process everything that just happened. Luciá sighed as she helped Luz up off the ground.
“Let’s get back home.” Luciá sighed as she and Luz made their way back to the village. Luciá was having just as hard of a time processing everything that had happened. Sure she knew dragons weren’t as terrible as their tribe made them out to be, but she had never thought one would actively try and protect someone, especially from another dragon. Luciá made a mental note to go search for the Nightfury the next day.
As the two entered the edge of the village, they saw that the dragon attack had concluded. Luciá saw their father looking everywhere and under everything frantically. Luciá could see that he was looking for her and Luz and called out to him. “Dad, over here!” Luciá shouted. Manny turned his head to where he heard his daughter. Laying his eyes on his two daughters, Manny rushed to them and wrapped them both in a tight hug. “We’re okay dad.”
“I-I was worried when I couldn’t find either of you.” Manny said with tears dotting the corner of his eyes, before he sniffled hard and dried his eyes. “What happened?” Manny asked stoically. Luciá looked down at Luz and saw her shake her head no subtly.
“We can tell you later, but I think we need to go rest.” Luciá told her father.
“Alright. We can talk tomorrow morning. Head home and get some shut eye.” Manny said before hugging his daughters tightly and placing a gentle kiss on both their foreheads. The two sisters made their way home in silence.
Once they were back inside their home, Luciá turned to Luz and was going to ask Luz something, but Luz beat her first. “Luciá, you can’t tell dad what happened. He’ll want to track down the Nightfury and kill it. Please, you can’t.” Luz begged her sister.
Luciá sighed. “We’re going to have to tell him something, but I promise I won’t tell him about anything with the dragons.” Luciá said as she pulled her sister into a tight hug. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”
“Yeah.” Luz mumbled as her mind went back to the actions of the Evershifter. ‘Why were you leading me out there? Were you just trying to get me caught? If so, why did you protect us?’ Luz thought to herself.
The Evershifter watched the two sisters as it heard Luz’s questions. It so badly wanted to answer but decided to wait. There would be a better chance at some other time.