Chapter 18: The Battle Within

Tempus's POV:


I laugh while I begin to incinerate houses with blue fire and using my limited elemental powers to wreak havoc, leaving a path of destruction, literally. The Scaleless and dragons have grown soft compared to the ancient ones I knew, although this millennia's Scaleless' technology seems more advanced. I glance to my right to see the same Scaleless who interrupted me running towards me with a large battle-ax. I laugh and force him back with a large wave of fire, then I use my power to manipulate the fire to burn the Scaleless. I grin as I see the Scaleless unable to do anything when I feel a large blast beside me. I shake my head, shrugging off the concussive blast damage and I roar in anger. I still see the Scaleless standing, readying his axe but before he could do anything I spit out a stream of fire with lightning speed. Night Furies don't have the ability to use fire-breathing as other dragons, but through magick, much is possible. I laugh, thinking that I finally killed the Scaleless, although it would've been so much easier if I had even half my power. Just as I turn around to continue my destruction, I see a different Night Fury standing in front of the Scaleless.


"What? How..." I begin to say as I manage to extract some memories about this new mysterious Night Fury. "Ah, Toothless isn't it? So-called guardian of the saviour?"


He must have used magick to save the Scaleless. Magick that can stop mine to some extent? This must be my sister's doing...


"Who are you?! How did you take Hiccup's body?" Shouts Toothless in a furious manner.


"Is that any way to talk to your old friend?" I say, giving the best impression of a smile.


"Stop this nonsense! Tell me who you are or else," Replies Toothless, growling in anger.


"If you insist..." I reply with amusement. "I am Tempus, the harbinger of destruction, agent of Chaos."


Before Toothless could respond, I simply focus my magick and gather all the nearby water in the air to coalesce into a sphere. Then I use it to swallow Toothless and the male Scaleless, trapping them into it, slowly drowning them to death. I could speed up their deaths, although it wouldn't be as enjoyable. That's when I notice Toothless staring at me, with a strange expression. It seemed familiar, that's when I realize it must be related to Hiccup's memories, and then I feel Hiccup fighting back. I lose control of the water sphere, temporarily disabled. Hiccup is more resilient than I thought...


"Hiccup! If you're in there, use magick to contain him!" Shouts Toothless. "If you can contain Tempus, then he won't be a threat anymore!"


"SHUT UP! You stupid dragon, do you think it will be that easy to defeat me?!" I scream in rage, simultaneously fighting Hiccup in my mind. "I am older than you can possibly imagine, how can you defeat me with your level of magick?"


I control the air around Toothless to swing him at a tree with such immense force that it breaks the trunk, smashing it into pieces. I smirk as Toothless's body becomes limp, if not already on the brink of death. I laugh as I prepare to launch Toothless into another tree, but before I do, I hear a female Scaleless call out. I turn around just in time to stop an axe from hitting my face.


"It is a good display of valor, but it will not be enough to stop me," I say with another laugh. "What do you hope to accomplish?"


"At least I got your attention!" Says Astrid. "Let's make a deal... so you can end this madness and stop killing everyone."


Hiccup's POV:


I wake up in a void, darkness surrounding me. When I try to move and struggle, something is holding me in place, no matter what I do. Suddenly, Tempus appears in front of me, clearly in his original form, a silver Night Fury with glowing golden eyes. 


"Now you decide to fight back? It's already too late!" Tempus shouts at him, grinning evilly. "It wouldn't have helped you anyway, considering how much weaker you are than me!"


"You think you can defeat me?!" Continues Tempus's taunt. "Even if my sister helps you, you will never come close to defeating me, let alone kill me."


Tempus seems to be growing, seemingly growing much larger or I'm shrinking. If I don't do anything in the next moments, I might just be taunted to death... literally.


"I may not be as powerful as you," I shout back, my voice coming out in a squeak rather than a strong confident voice. "But I have more friends and family than you'll ever have. You. Are. Alone!"


As I say the last three words, I feel myself growing larger, and Tempus seemingly shrinking. 


"HA! Why would I need family when I've got everything I could ever want?!" Tempus sneers. "I've got power, immortality, and soon, I will be the one to conquer this entire world!"


"Sure, you can have the world, but who will have your back? Who will love you?" I retort, shouting back with much more emotion. "Nobody will care about you, nobody will love you, and nobody will respect you!"


"SHUT UP!" Screams Tempus as he shoots a huge plasma shot at me that I barely dodge. "Who cares about such trivial things?! Love? Love makes you weak! Morals? That'll just stop someone from doing what's necessary!"


I keep on dodging, now that I realize that this isn't a verbal duel... it's also a mental duel. I need to beat him mentally, in order to regain control of my body, and then I need to cast him out of my body. Permanently. I can only move so move so much since I'm starting to become the same size as Tempus.


"Really? If that's how you feel, then you should really take a look back when you got furious when Chrysalis died by your own minion!" I shout, easily dodging Tempus's shots now. "Or better yet, tell Chrysalis how you truly feel about family and love if you're so powerful!"


"How about you DIE!" Screams Tempus.


Tempus stops shooting plasma shots and roars as he tackled me, clawing me and punching me with his forepaw. Tempus may have shrunk from his original size, but he's still twice the size of me. I need him much smaller to take back my body. So I start chanting a spell, and Tempus begins to laugh.


"You learned magick? How interesting..." Tempus muses, chuckling. "Let me guess, Chrysalis taught you some magick?"


Once I finish, detailed intricate circles and symbols of Norse appear around me, expanding. Then it turned golden, momentarily blinding Tempus and golden chains shoot out, chaining Tempus to the circle under him.


"What?! Impossible! You...unless..." Tempus says in shock, wide-eyed. "Chrysalis must've given you some sort of advantage... but how?!" 


"Let's say I'm not going to be underestimated again..." 


Then I continue chanting, the chains slowly dragging Tempus down to whatever place he came from. As he's about to enter the circle, now an orange portal, he roars and uses both his forepaws to claw into the darkness, right at the edge of the portal. 


"I refuse to be beaten by a Scaleless, a boy, especially not a champion that Chrysalis favors!" Tempus shouts, trying to hold on. 


Unfortunately, Tempus is still very large, so he slowly started pulling himself from the portal's grip. This guy just never gives up...


"I. Will. Make. You. SUFFER!" Cries out Tempus in rage, with each word he seethes, he inches out of the portal progressively. 


I start to worry that the spell won't hold long enough to stop Tempus. This is bad, he's not going to be banished at this rate. Just my luck... at least no one will know if I wet myself. 


I sigh and make a last ditch effort. I know from the new knowledge gained from Chrysalis that attempting to perform two spells is dangerous, especially doing this chain exorcism spell. Not only that, I'm going to do it another time, which will probably burn my soul or body. Yay.


I manage to create the second circle, above the head of Tempus, creating beams of light at the outer edge of the circle pushing down on Tempus. I grimace from the pain of the strain on my body and soul, feeling myself growing weaker by the moment. 


"I will see to it that when my body is recreated, I will destroy you..." Tempus says, losing his grip on my mind. "I will send you Scaleless's greatest enemy, your greatest sins against you... I'll laugh when you deal with them..."


And with that, Tempus lets himself get sucked into the portal, pushing his grip on mind away, finally freeing my body from his control. 


I open my eyes, slowly gathering myself up from the ground. Clearly, my battle with Tempus eventually leads to my body to become unconscious. My practically drops to the ground when I see all the destruction in front of me, and my friends lying on the ground, hopefully just unconscious. 


"Hiccup, is that you?" 


"Yeah, it's me. Ugh, I feel terrible." I say, laughing and then wincing when Astrid punches me on the shoulder after throwing her axe right near my face.


"Good, now you've got a LOT of explaining to do..." Astrid says, giving a weary laugh while leaning on me for support. 


"Yeah, if I even live long enough to explain..." I say, slowly blacking out from exhaustion. "I need some sleep..."


And after a few seconds, everything started to fade away in darkness as I see a crowd of Vikings and dragons heading towards me.



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