a·lac·ri·ty əˈlakritē/

brisk and cheerful readiness.  eagerness, willingness, readiness

Tao’s eyes flew open as he heard the first shout of battle cry in his dreams. The Terrible Terror beside him looked up, her eyes blinking lazily. Only Thor knew how many times he woke up with a start dreaming about the future that’s none too pleasant.

A loud roar echoed around the island and he wasted no time in jumping out of bed and sprinting towards the door. He grabbed his wooden staff before yanking the door open. He slammed it closed upon spotting a flying shadow momentarily blocking his view. A mild growl sounded and he found Fleet crouching on the ground, her pupils already narrowing into slits whenever a dragon sensed danger.

“You saw that too, right girl?” Tao asked in a worried tone. Fleet responded by perching on his shoulder and curling her tail around his neck in her usual position, doing a very good job in being his favourite scarf.

Tao eased his door open again and walked towards the edge of his wooden porch, the storm raging around him not affecting him at all. He searched the main island for the rogue dragon he caught glimpses of in his dreams, knowing that this day was going to happen sooner or later. Fleet started growling again, this time aiming it at the sky. Tao followed his gaze and spotted a dark shadow shooting across the sky, barely noticeable in the dark night, the rainy clouds preventing the moon from illuminating it. An electric outline similar to that of lightning appeared in the sky, and Tao sensed it before seeing it.

The Isle of Berk was being attacked by a Skrill.

Fleet sensed her owner’s intentions before unwrapping her tail from his neck. Tao jumped off the edge of his porch and Fleet followed suit. It was a millisecond later that they were flying side by side across the sea to the main island.

He landed in front of the Great Hall, a battle raging around him. He saw the lightning hitting him in the back of his mind and sidestepped it before it even happened. He closed his eyes and searched for the chief in his mind and found Khita on the back of his Stormcutter, Axemoon. They were trying to distract the Skrill before it got a chance to shoot at the island again. A few houses were already on fire, the fire prevention kit that was installed on top of all the houses already burnt out.

Tao sped across the island and noticed a Viking aiming a catapult at the Skrill. He was about to release it when Chen ran over to him yelling desperately, “No, don’t hurt it!”

“Chen, it’ll burn down the whole island if we don’t do something to stop him,” he replied.

“I’ll find a way. Just don’t do anything to hurt it,” he pleaded. He turned around and spotted Tao standing there with Fleet around his shoulders. “Tao, help me stop the people from firing at it,” he said. “I need to find a way to get closer to it.”

Already knowing what was going to happen but deciding to keep quiet about it, Tao nodded silently but firmly.

Chen left Tao moving at blinding speed to stop the catapults, archers, and anybody he could reach. It never ceased to amaze Chen how he could slip through the fabric of time and hover between the past and present.

He found Khita and Axemoon hovering in front of the Skrill, trying their best not to hurt it while fending off its attacks. Thank Odin for Khita and his compassion towards dragons, Chen thought gratefully.

He yelled to get the chief’s attention, but he couldn’t be heard over the Skrill’s lightning shots merged with thunders from the storm. That was what happened when you ended up being one of the few Vikings who still didn’t own a dragon.

He noticed that Khita was at a huge disadvantage for not being able to take the offense in the battle, and it seemed that Axemoon’s wing was hurt as he was struggling to support Khita’s weight and dodge the lightning shots as much as possible. Chen racked his brain for anything that could help Khita.

When he heard Kris shouting urgently for reinforcements behind him, an idea popped into his mind. “Kris!” he cried.

Kris’s head snapped towards the call of his name and yelled back, “What?”

Chen ran towards him and said, “Turn into a dragon.”

“What?” he said again.

“I said—” Chen started to repeat.

“I know what you said!” Kris exclaimed. “Don’t you remember what happened the last time I turned?”

“Oh, just live a little,” he grumbled, exasperated. “I need to get to the Skrill.”

“It’ll blast you to pieces!” Kris continued to protest.

“I know, but trust me. I know what I’m doing,” he said firmly. “And we’re running out of time, so hurry up.”

Knowing that arguing with a determined Chen would be futile, Kris let out a resigned sigh and stepped back. He closed his eyes and focused hard before his body started growing. His body glowed before stretching to twenty-six metres long. Chen stared in awe as Kris sprouted wings and his head split into four. He crouched on the ground as his talons started forming and a moment later, the light dimmed and Chen was staring at a four-headed Snaptrapper.

All four of Kris’s heads were staring at Chen expectantly, waiting for him to snap out of his daze. It seemed to happen whenever Kris shifted into a dragon. They all had the same staring eyes and hanging jaw like Chen’s current face. Getting impatient, one of his heads bent down to capture Chen’s tunic between his three jaws and gently placed him at the base of his necks.

Without waiting for a reply, Kris took off. Being the first time airborne, Chen clutched one of Kris’s necks tightly. When Kris dove forward, Chen was pulling his neck to fight against the momentum and the howling wind. The head next to the one Chen was gripping turned around and shot him a narrow-eyed look that seemed to say, Watch the neck, dude.

He loosened his grip that was curling like a vice and mumbled an apology.

A moment later they were witnessing the battle between Khita and the Skrill up close. Just like Chen guessed, Axemoon was injured, and he looked like he couldn’t keep it up much longer. Khita noticed what Chen was riding and exclaimed, “Chen, what in Thor’s name are you doing on Kris’s back?”

“I’m here to help,” he simply said.

“You’ve never met a Skrill before. It’s very dangerous,” Khita protested.

“I know what I’m doing. Trust me,” he insisted and steered Kris to face the Skrill.

Momentarily confused, the Skrill stared at him silently. When Chen tried to reach out to him, it panicked and let out a loud cry. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” he said soothingly, trying to calm it down. He reached into his pelt and took out a little dragon nip he found and held it out for the Skrill. It sniffed his hand suspiciously before Chen noticed its eyes softening and pupils dilating.

He took that chance to reach out a hand to it again, trying to tame it. The Skrill seemed to hesitate a little, but before it got a chance to push forward into Chen’s hand, an arrow whistled past Chen, missing the Skrill by an inch.

Chen barely registered the Skrill’s pupils narrowing into slits again before he noticed Kris’s glowing form and a second later, they were both falling.

Both Chen and Kris screamed, and Axemoon dove through the air to catch them. He managed to catch Kris first as he was nearer compared to Chen, but he couldn’t manage to reach out for Chen as well. Just as Chen thought he would drop into the sea, he felt something grip his torso and he jolted in midair. Curious with what actually stopped his fall, he turned back and was never more surprised in his life.

There was the Skrill, looking down at him with relief reflecting in its eyes. “Thank you,” Chen whispered. As if understanding what he said, it grunted indifferently.

As they reached the main island, the Skrill set him down carefully before landing right next to him. For the third time, Chen reached out a hand to him as an offer of friendship. This time, the Skrill pushed its head into his hand without hesitation.

Loud murmurs echoed among the crowd that had gathered around them, all staring at Chen in awe. That snapped the Skrill out of his trance, and he shook his head and grunted before running off into the Old Forest.

“Wha—” Chen started to ask, but was cut off by Kris.

“According to the Book of Dragons, the Skrill is nearly untrainable, so good luck with it,” he said and gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “Oh, and sorry about before. I couldn’t control it well,” he added sheepishly.

“It’s okay. I probably asked for it anyway,” Chen dismissed his apology with a wave. “Where’s Khita?”

“Lay is healing Axemoon. He’s pretty banged up from the fight,” he answered.

“Oh. Well, guess I’ll have to go look for the Skrill tomorrow then. Want to come with?” he offered Kris, his eyes glinting with excitement at the promise of an adventure.

“Nope. Go bother Baek Hyun for that,” he said quickly before walking away.

***

“I swear I saw this exact same tree just a few minutes ago,” Baek Hyun commented, pointing at a pine tree close to where they were standing.

Chen glanced at what he was pointing at and replied without hesitation, “I have never seen that tree before in my life.” He grabbed Baek Hyun’s hand and pulled him along in determined strides, Baek Hyun following reluctantly.

“Admit it, Chen. We’re lost,” he said. “Now can I please call my dragon so we could make some progress?” he pleaded, desperation coating his voice.

“No. We’ll find him on foot. You know how your dragon is. He’ll scare him away,” Chen said.

“So it’s a ‘him’ now?” Baek Hyun asked, interested.

“Yeah, Tao said my dragon’s a ‘he’,” he answered, getting excited immediately.

My dragon. Chen never thought a day would come when he could actually say those words. He tried fitting in with the others, but he just couldn’t find one that was suitable for him. There was one day when Baek Hyun decided it was a good idea to find him a dragon from the dragon hangar.

Boy, was he wrong.

The first dragon he tried was a Deadly Nadder, but it got frightened by his lightning power  and almost pierced him with its shooting spikes. Then he moved on to a Monstrous Nightmare, and it almost burned him into ashes. He also tested out for a Gronkle, but that dragon was just too lazy for his liking.

And when Baek Hyun introduced him to his Screaming Death, Chen almost fainted on the spot.

“But did Tao know it was going to be a Skrill, though?” Baek Hyun asked him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “He flew off before I could ask.”

Baek Hyun looked like he was about to say something else, but halted in his tracks. “Look, there’s that tree again!” he exclaimed, exasperated.

“That is not the same tree,” Chen disagreed stubbornly.

Baek Hyun refused to lose this argument again and stomped over to the tree and pointed at a light scratch on the trunk. “See this? I’ve noticed that the first time we came here. And that was four times ago!” he exclaimed. “We’ve been walking for hours, and I’m tired.”

Feeling guilty about dragging Baek Hyun into this and tiring him out, Chen nodded reluctantly. “Okay, you can call your dragon.”

“Thank you,” Baek Hyun said gratefully and brightened up with renewed energy from the anticipation of seeing his dragon again.

Watching Baek Hyun, Chen felt envy in his heart. Wow, he must really miss his dragon, Chen thought. I wonder if that’s what it’s like to own a dragon.

Baek Hyun raised his arm and faced his palm skywards. He felt it heating up before a beam of light shot through the clouds. The beam of light was the start of Baek Hyun’s bond with his dragon. As opposed to his sub-species the Whispering Deaths, the Screaming Death was attracted to light and was unaffected by it. And that was how Baek Hyun signalled for his dragon.

A few seconds later, the boys heard an extremely loud sonic shriek that Baek Hyun was all too familiar with. The sonic shriek of a Screaming Death could disorientate any dragons from flying.

The white body of Baek Hyun’s dragon appeared from above the trees and he dove down to meet his owner. “Polarbeam!” Baek Hyun exclaimed enthusiastically, sprinting forward and throwing himself against the dragon’s face. Polarbeam closed his eyes at the show of affection, though his pupils did not dilate like most of the other dragons, mainly because he didn’t have any pupils to dilate.

“Until now, I still have no idea how you could actually name a dragon like him ‘Polarbeam’,” Chen muttered, but Baek Hyun heard it perfectly.

“I like it,” he simply answered and turned back to Polarbeam. “Chen found a dragon,” he told his dragon. “It’s a Skrill. Do you want to help me find him?” he asked excitedly.

Apparently, at the mention of the word ‘Skrill’, the frightening Screaming Death seemed to be scared. Polarbeam recoiled from Baek Hyun’s touch and roared in Baek Hyun’s face. Chen felt like that roar would burst his eardrums, but Baek Hyun seemed immune to it.

“Whoa, boy, what’s wrong?” he asked, worried. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You’re ten times bigger than the Skrill. You can literally take him down with a flick of your tail. Please...?” Baek Hyun gave his best puppy dog face.

With a grunt of defeat, Polarbeam bent his head for Baek Hyun to saddle up and reached down to offer a hand to help Chen up. Chen’s eyes widened at Baek Hyun’s suggestion and he shook his head vigorously. “I’m not flying on him. My first flight was on Kris! And look what happened,” he pointed out.

“Polarbeam’s fine. He won’t hurt you, right bud?” Baek Hyun bent down and patted his dragon at the side. Polarbeam only grunted in response.

“Yeah, that’s reassuring,” Chen commented sarcastically.

Exasperated, Baek Hyun asked, “Do you want to find your dragon or not?”

“Okay, okay,” Chen responded and quickly climbed onto the Screaming Death. He wrapped his arms around Baek Hyun’s waist tightly and sealed his eyes shut, but before he could say anything, Polarbeam took off.

Chen heard Baek Hyun roar with laughter at the thrill of riding his dragon, but he still didn’t dare to open his eyes. “Do you feel this, Chen?” Baek Hyun yelled over the whistling wind.

“Feel what?” he managed to squeak.

“The wind in your face, the howling of the wind...” Baek Hyun trailed off. “This is what it’s like to be a dragon.”

Still keeping his eyes shut, Chen replied, “Nope, still not feeling it.”

Baek Hyun laughed. “Come on, open your eyes. You’ll love it.”

Slowly, Chen inched his eyes open. When he could finally see what was around him, he stared at everything.

They were above the trees, soaring right below the clouds. Chen reached up hesitantly and sifted his hand through the clouds, feeling the moisture in the fluffs. He looked below and saw the vast sea, stretching out over the horizon. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Wow,” he breathed.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Baek Hyun asked. The moment was interrupted by another one of Polarbeam’s sonic shrieks. Baek Hyun snapped up and informed Chen, “Hey, I think we found him.”

Chen gazed at the direction of Baek Hyun’s eyes and found a cave with lightning beams shooting out of the mouth of the cave. Polarbeam hissed from underneath them and Baek Hyun soothed him by caressing his side before steering him to land.

Chen hopped off of Polarbeam immediately once he got low enough to jump and ran towards the mouth of the cave. His reward was a shot of lightning aimed right at him, probably not on purpose. Chen reacted instinctively and absorbed the lightning before releasing it in another direction.

He ran inside the cave and Baek Hyun had to chase after him with Polarbeam right at his tail. “Chen, you can’t just—whoa!” Baek Hyun was cut off by another lightning beam shooting through the path he was just running on before Polarbeam pushed him aside with a flick of his tail. “Thanks, boy.” Baek Hyun recovered from his stagger and continued chasing after Chen.

He found Chen standing in front of a Skrill cautiously as he turned around a corner. He walked towards the Skrill slowly, hands up to show that he wasn’t a threat. The Skrill hissed immediately when he saw Polarbeam behind him, and Baek Hyun quickly pushed his dragon back, his eyes never leaving the Skrill. “Go, go, and stay outside. We’ll be fine,” he said reassuringly. “I have no idea what it is between the both of you.”

Polarbeam seemed reluctant to leave his rider behind, but he did it nonetheless. Baek Hyun approached the Skrill slowly and stood next to Chen. “So this is your dragon, eh?” he asked casually.

“Yeah,” Chen said. “I mean, it might not look like much compared to yours, but—” he started quickly, but was interrupted by Baek Hyun.

“I think he’s perfect for you,” he answered with a genuine smile.

Chen responded by grinning widely himself, proud of his accomplishment. “It’s going to be hard training him, though,” he stated.

Baek Hyun snorted. “Please. Your dragon is stated ‘nearly untrainable’ in the Book of Dragons, so it’s still possible. Mine was written ‘untrainable’ until I came along and changed the facts.”

Chen gave a look that said he wasn’t impressed. He then turned to the Skrill and said, “Come on. Let’s go home.” Of course, the Skrill didn’t even move from his spot and just stared at Chen. He sighed. “I guess it starts now.”

Baek Hyun just burst out laughing.