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Monday, November 4, 2013

Encountering the Frozen Fallen

Alright, Chronicle number two! This one is a good deal longer, and it has some fun character interplay. It will really introduce you to the three main heroes of this world: Hiccup, Toothless, and Link. They are a lot of fun to see together. This Chronicle takes place years after the last one, and these characters are continually growing more powerful in the dimension. Interestingly, in this world, a character does not age over time. They also do not die if they are killed per-se. That gets complicated, but I'll just leave it at that. You don't die when you are killed, you just pop back up at the nearest portal. That is a good thing... and yet it is also a really, really bad thing. Hope you enjoy this one. I rather like it, and you get some HTTYD book references as well 



Dimension Splash Chronicles
Event: Encountering the Frozen Fallen
Pov: Link, Hiccup, Toothless
Time: Year 7 of Hiccup and Link’s existence in the game


     “It. Is. FREEZING!” Link was crouching as close as he could get to Hiccup as they rode Toothless over the ice planes of Frost Burn, and he just had to scream out the obvious. The wind was terrific, and shards of icy snow pelted the trio in the face. Hiccup was hunkered low on Toothless, and all three of them were shivering and miserable. Hiccup knew that it was cold on Frost Burn, he had asked and read and researched about the comet, but even all of his best gear could not protect the three of them from the cold. Hiccup was wearing three layers of clothing, and his fur vest was tucked tightly around him by a leather belt. Link was similarly clad, and his adopted father Stoick had even leant him one of his old fur capes...not that any of it was keeping them from being absolutely miserable...

     “Give us some light, Toothless...Ah, and then fly through it, bud!” Hiccup felt awful for Toothless. He could not think of any way clothe his friend. The dragon had stubbornly disagreed to ALL the odd looking gear Hiccup had offered, and Hiccup smirked now as he thought of the face Toothless had made when he was offered what looked very much like a big hairy sweater with holes in it for his wings. Well, at least this might work. Toothless shot out a bright blast of fire. It rocketed out into the blackness of the blizzard. Hiccup tried to get a view of the surroundings by the light, but all he and Link could see was smooth ice stretching out forever. That was not comforting because they probably would need shelter before the night. It was actually midday by Hiccup’s calculations, and if it was this cold and dark at noon, what would sunset bring? Toothless’s blast left a large ball of heat and flames sitting beautifully in the air, and with a happy yelp the dragon soared through it. The two boys covered their faces, and the heat was so intense after being cold for so long that they stung all over. Still, after the horrible stinging came a washing feeling of warmth, and Hiccup decided that they would definitely be doing that little trick from time to time. It clearly cheered Toothless up. He had been acting pretty bleak for the last half hour. Hiccup was not used to him being so quiet, but after that he was humming cheerily. Still...the ice field that they were flying over was not exactly showing sighs of shelter, and their destination was on the opposite side of the comet. 

      They flew on for hours. Link and Hiccup were both getting worried about the prospect of nightfall. Every half hour or so Toothless would send off another blast and fly through it. This kept him going and warm, and even the Haddock boys enjoyed it, but heat and rest were two different things, and Hiccup knew Toothless was struggling hard against this wind. The poor dragon had been fighting for seven hours straight now. It just was not fair.

     “You want to land, bud?” Hiccup asked.

     “Um...I don’t really!” Yelled Link. He was not all that keen on getting lost in the endless plane of ice. Toothless could soar above the storm just enough to keep things bearable. Worse than the storm were the howls. Link was no coward, he welcomed a good sword fight, but something about those weird noises that screamed out every time Toothless did his plasma blast disturbed him. This was a really foreign world to all of them, and Link was feeling pretty pleased that things had gone smoothly for this long.

     “Is your name Bud?” came Hiccup’s response.

     “Ha! No. We all know your reserve all terms of endearment for Toothless...well except for Milady.” If Hiccup was going to be snarky, Link was going to be snarky back.

     “It is just that Toothless has flown us both for hours, and he’s exhausted. If we land, maybe we can find shelter. After all, we only get to see the ground when Toothless shoots his blast, and we could have missed tons of good spots by now. AND if you deserved a term of endearment you’d already have one!”

     “Ok, fine. Let the dragon choose our fate. Man, you’d think flying was hard for him the way you pamper! You know he’d fly for hours and hours if you’d let him, and he’d do it just for fun!” Hiccup ignored Link’s remark. Toothless would fly for hours, but Link was clearly ignoring the obvious fact of the blizzard trying to tear Toothless’s wings off with each gust. Toothless would choose what to do next, whether Link gave him approval or not, and Hiccup liked things to be that way. Toothless was not just some steed to him, and if Toothless needed a rest, he had every right to it. Toothless had listened keenly to the conversation. How much he understood Hiccup could only guess. He liked to think Toothless understood his words, but whatever Toothless’s language capabilities were, he could always read people’s feelings and emotions, and now that the conversation was over, Toothless clearly understood that it was his call. The dragon thought for a moment. He was wasted. His wings hurt, and he worried that ice was building up in them. His face and nose stung, and his lungs felt like they were filled with shards of glass. He would happily take a breather, but what of those noises? He did not even want to think of something stalking them in the snow. What if something got Hiccup? What if it rushed off into the blizzard with him? Toothless couldn’t use scent or sonar in this wicked weather, and the thought of those noises really unsettled him. Hiccup could see the dragon weighing the options around in his mind.

     “Whatever you want to do is fine. I just don’t like you having to do all the work, bud.” Hiccup patted Toothless on the neck, not that either of them could feel it properly thanks to the numbing cold. Just then, Toothless had a sharp muscle pain in his right wing. It ached and throbbed, and Toothless struggled to keep it beating in sync. That did it. He was going to fall out of the sky if they did not rest soon, and there was no point in injuring himself by trying to do the impossible. Maybe Hiccup could do something to that wing. The boy was so wonderful. He glanced up at him and saw that he had already noticed the wing problem and was looking worried. That was his Hiccup. No way to keep him from noticing little things, things that others would miss. Link was still looking around intently as Toothless began to descend into the swirling snow. They all landed with a crunching thud. Toothless tried to stand tall, but he was deadly tired and trying to use his legs that had been just dangling for hours was a little too much for him. He slumped and shoved his nose into the snow. Hiccup jumped off instantly and ran around to his head. He tried to speak words of comfort to Toothless, and the dragon did feel a little silly. He’d be fine in just a minute. Still, it was cold, really cold. Perhaps they wouldn’t be fine in a minute.  Link had hopped off the second they had landed. He had seen something move into the shadows of the blizzard as they descended. Hiccup might be preoccupied by pampering his dragon, but Link was going to be on top of things. He drew the Master Sword from its sheath, and the metal blade sung as it was whipped into the dark air. Link held it above his head as Hiccup walked over to inspect Toothless’s wing. The Master Sword soon began to glow with a strong, white light, and now they would at least be able to see. Toothless stood up and shook himself. Maybe that stupid sweater would not have been so embarrassing after all. Link walked quickly up to Hiccup who was strolling alongside Toothless and inspecting his wing.

     “We are not alone.” Link breathed out. He was barely audible over the wind, but Toothless and Hiccup caught his tone. “There’s something out there, two of them I think. I saw a glint when my sword began to glow. They are keeping their distance, but I’ll bet they’ll get curious, hungry, or angry much sooner than we would prefer.” 

     This was exactly what they had all feared. In this snow storm, on this comet, and in this dimension, there was NO TELLING what could be stalking them. It could be practically anything. They were in Dimension Splash after all, and then Frost Burn itself was a completely alien environment to all of them. They tensed and waited for the inevitable. Hiccup had gotten latched onto Toothless within moments of Link’s warning. Whatever was out there was keeping its distance, but Toothless could hear strange humming noises circling them. Unfortunately, these creatures certainly had the upper hand here. All they needed to do was wait and be patient, and then these three strangers would freeze to death. Link had already considered this, and he had a pretty good idea of how to keep it from happening; he was going to make them mad. He pulled out his bow and drew it back. His sharp eyes darted around into the swirling darkness. Then he saw it, that shape again, and he loosed the arrow. It whizzed through the air and made an odd cracking sound as it struck its target. The creature loosed a cold, metallic shriek, and then it began to approach the one who had been so rash as to harm it. Link had the Master Sword in hand, and its light made the creature’s form visible now. Hiccup recognized it, but he had never seen one so large. It was an Iceling. These odd, shapeshifting creatures were formed out of particles of ice and snow. They were always aggressive, but Hiccup could never guess why. This one had solidified its body into a huge stooping form. Its forearms were far longer than its legs, and its back bristled with icicle like spines. Its head jutted forward, its mouth gaped open, and its jaws were crammed full of fangs. This whole monstrosity stood at least nine foot high, and it was approaching fast. Link drew his sword back and prepared to fight, and the creature charged him with one clawed arm raised. It reached him and made a sweeping swipe at his middle, but Link leapt over the arm and then came down on the exposed limb with a powerful overhead slash. The Master Sword dug deep into the icy creature, and its arm cracked and creaked. It was a good hit, but Link’s sword was now jammed into the Iceling’s arm, and the creature took advantage of the pause. It turned its fanged maw towards Link and exhaled with massive force. Link lost his grip on the Master Sword and was blow backwards. This blast of breath just kept coming, and Link held his shield in front of him to try and keep the chilling gust from freezing him solid. He could feel his shield and arm freezing as the creature continue to blow. Then there was a bang and a bright explosion, and the blowing stopped. Toothless had shot a plasma blast, and the fire had gnawed a hole straight through the middle of the Iceling’s chest. Toothless was about to fire again when another one of the horrible creatures lurched out of the blizzard behind him. As Toothless turned to engage the new threat, Link stood up from his kneeling position and rushed up to the injured Iceling. He gripped his sword and yanked it back out of the creature’s forearm. The Iceling was still horribly dazed from having its middle blown out, and Link whirled his sword around and slashed it across the face. The creature shrieked and then focused. It lashed out with its clawed arms and  gripped Link’s shield, but the Hylian was not to be beaten so easily. He swung his sword in a wide circle and cut off both the creature’s hands. Link was feeling in the zone now. As the creature drew back its arms and howled in disbelief and anger, Link took another swipe at the Iceling’s forearm where he had damaged before. The sword sliced through and sent ice shards flying. The Iceling fell to its knees, and Link took two good swipes at its neck. With a loud, singing clang his sword shattered through the ice and the creature’s head fell to the ground. Link then turned to Hiccup and Toothless, but Toothless was already clearly winning. The dragon shoved this second Iceling back and then sent another well aimed plasma blast into its open mouthed face. The blast blew the Iceling’s head to bits and it stumbled and fell. Yet as soon as it did, as soon as Toothless shot that blast, the weird howling screamed out from every direction. The two boys’ hearts twisted into odd knots at the sound of this unearthly noise. It was so near yet so distant, and above all it sounded horribly like it was coming from something undead... Icelings were pretty common foes even on the central planet, but Hiccup and Link had never heard anything like this before. 

     “I...I think the noise happens only when Toothless shoots.” Hiccup said nervously. 

     “What do you think it is?” Asked Link as he jogged back up to them.

     “I really have absolutely no idea...but I don’t like it. Toothless, you wanna fly again?”

     The dragon was just about to agree when Link’s sword stopped glowing. That could only mean one thing; night had fallen on Frost Burn. Hiccup and Link both exchanged worried looks, but then to their great relief Link saw something. “Look!” He shouted and pointed off into the snow. There was a cave opening in the side of a very small ridge.

     “Oh thank Thor...we really need that! Come on, bud!” Hiccup pulled Link up onto Toothless’s back and the dragon ran quickly towards the ridge. Upon reaching it they found a low opening into a smooth cavern. It looked pretty perfect. There were no tunnels leading out, and it was the big enough for Toothless to curl up in.

     “We’ll stay here for the night. I’ll get a fire started, and then we can all get something to eat.” Hiccup said. Link tossed his heavy gear to the ground and pulled the fur cape snuggly around him. Toothless had already curled up, but his head shot up in interest at Hiccup’s mentioning of food. Hiccup pulled several logs out of his satchel and dropped them in the middle of the cave. He then dripped some sticky liquid from a vial onto the wood. “Would you to do the honors, Toothless?” He asked. Toothless knew what he wanted and spat a tiny fire ball at the pile of wood. It ignited rapidly, and the washing heat and light was wonderful. The two boys scooted in as close as they could bear to be, and then Toothless curled snuggly around them. What a relief this was. Hiccup leaned his head back against Toothless’s rising and falling side and smiled. His head went slowly up and down with the rhythm of Toothless’s breath, and his whole body was finally feeling warm and comfortable. Link elbowed him out of his bliss. “Are we going to eat anything? I’m pretty hungry, and you were the one who brought the food.”

     “Yeah, sorry. I’ll get to that.” Hiccup leaned forward and grabbed his satchel. He then scooted back into that comfy crook in Toothless’s side as the dragon eyed him happily. 

    “Phew, good! I’m starving. I hope it is not any of Dad’s cooking...Well come on! Pull something out!” Link was leaning forward in anticipation. 

    “I’m getting to it; be patient!” Hiccup smirked looking at his adopted brother staring eagerly at the satchel. “You’re a gadget character too, you know. Why don’t you ever pack food?”

     “Me? My inventory is always full. Don’t worry though, it’s important stuff.”

     “Important?” Hiccup pulled out a salted chicken and handed it to Link. It was pretty cold, so he also gave him a skewer. 

     “Yeah. Swords, shields, axes, arrows, armor, bombs, masks...I think I even have those weird lego bricks somewhere in there.” Link yanked a piece of the cold chicken off and began to eat it while he stuck the rest of the meat on the skewer and held it over the fire. 

     “And that is more important than food?” Hiccup pulled out a fat cod and Toothless’s ears shot up in happy excitement.

     “Of course.” Link mumbled with his mouth full. “You can’t eat if you’re dead.”

     “Well if you die of starvation, you won’t really be much use fighting!” Hiccup tossed the cod to Toothless, and the dragon snapped it down and then turned his head back to Hiccup. Toothless knew that one fish wasn’t going to be all he got, right?

     Toothless’s assumption was correct, and Hiccup’s satchel produced fish after fish. The dragon gulped them down hungrily, and each time he finished one Hiccup was handing him another. At about fish twenty Hiccup stopped. Toothless smacked loudly and then continued to eye the satchel. “Sorry, bud. We’re on rations, and I can’t let you eat all of them at once.” said Hiccup. Toothless grumbled a little, but he was feeling much better now, so he gave Hiccup a quick and fairly unwanted lick right across the face and then laid his head down swiftly and acted as if he was trying to sleep. Hiccup coughed and yelped as the warm tongue slimed him and left his face smelling like cod and dragon drool. “Thanks a lot, bud.” he said as he wiped the slippery liquid off of his face with his sleeve, but in a way he almost meant it. 

     Several hours later, Toothless was snoring soundly, and Hiccup woke suddenly from a doze. Link was staring into the fire which had almost died out. Hiccup got up as deftly as he could so as not to wake Toothless, stretched, and then tossed two more logs into the flames. Then he sat back down next to Link. “So...you are not sleepy?”

     “No. You know why I’m staying up.” Link retorted.

     “Yep. Sorry, just trying to make conversation. I know we need someone to keep watch. If you want to rest, I’ll try.”

     “No, I’m fine. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about those noises. Do you have any clue what caused them?” Link looked out into the dark night air through the cave opening while Hiccup pondered the question.

     “No. I really don’t have any solid answer for them. That book you got me from the librarian talked about a lot of things, but I can’t be sure what is making that sound. By the way, thanks for that, the book.” Hiccup meant it too. Getting books from the Hairy Scary Librarian was no picnic.

     “Ah, no problem! It was fun actually! He’s not a bad swordsman. He’s got this really cool technique where he pulls one Heartslicer up to parry and then trusts straight for your chest with his other hand. It took me a while to get used to, but I managed. I found two swift sideways strikes to be affective at first, but then he started to--”

     “Yeah, ok. Anyway, about the noises. All I could gather is that Frost Burn has some sort of curse on it. That is the only thing the book said...Did you hear that?” Hiccup glanced at the door. He could have sworn he heard a moan.

     “What?...Maybe it was just Toothless...”

     “Shhh! I could have sworn I heard something.” Hiccup hissed as he craned his ears out into the storm.

     “I hope we don’t get any unwanted--That was definitely a noise!” Link leapt up to his feet and grabbed his sheath off the cave floor, drawing the Master Sword out as he did it. No glow; it was still night. Link’s sudden movement had woken Toothless and the dragon was ready for action in a moment. Hiccup hissed a whisper to the two of them to get away from the entrance. The three of them backed to the furthest reaches of the cave, and as they did so the noise grew into a cacophony of groans and otherworldly shrieks. Right as Toothless and the two boys reached the very back of the cave, shapes became visible in the entrance of the cavern, and these horrible shapes walked, or maybe it would be better to say limped, into the cave. There were dozens and dozens of them slinking in, and as they walked into the firelight, horror filled Hiccup and Link’s minds. What on earth were these things? 

     These things were the reanimated corpses of those poor souls who had frozen in the endless wasteland of Frost Burn. They were known by a few as the Frozen Fallen. Any character who died on the icy plane would appear at nearest portal just like he would normally, but his corpse would remain frozen in the plane. The curse of Frost Burn was very, very real. These dead bodies would then be possessed, and yet they would remain motionless, motionless until they were awoken by the one thing they longed for so desperately before death: heat. The Frozen Fallen were driven by an insane desire to destroy all warmth, for they had felt no warmth in death, and they hated to see others have what they could not. So these horrible creatures were stalking right into the cave where Hiccup, Toothless, and Link had taken shelter, and the Frozen Fallen were perfectly happy to attack and kill a character just for having body warmth

     Hiccup and Link tensed as they saw the strange forms walk up to the little fire. They were in all imaginable shapes and sizes. Some were knights, some were Clone Troopers, several were American soldiers, and one was even some sort of dragon. These monsters approached the the flickering campfire, and stared blankly at it for a moment. Then they let off a blood chilling wail and threw themselves into it. They kicked, stomped, and thrashed until the fire was completely smothered. The poor trio trapped in the back watched in shock as the creatures shrieked and howled in this horrible tangled mass. But when the fire went out, so did the light. Toothless had just about had enough of this. These corpse like creatures were disgusting and frightening him, and he hated to feel cornered. When the fire went out, there was silence again. Hiccup could hear his heart beating faster and faster, and he wished he could make it stop. It sounded so loud, and those creatures were in there standing quietly in the dark. But then the Frozen Fallen turned their pale glowing eyes towards Hiccup, Toothless, and Link. They stared blankly for a moment, and the boys held their breath. Then the shrieking came, and the Frozen Fallen rushed towards the back of the cave groaning and howling in their desperation crush the heat out of these living, breathing bodies.

     And so it began. Toothless was not going to let these horrible monsters get anywhere near Hiccup. He jumped in front of the small viking teen, covered him with a wing, and sent a blast of violet fire right into the charging Frozen Fallen. The light of the fire illuminated the room just long enough for Hiccup and Link to witness several of the Frozen Fallen being blown to pieces as Toothless’s shot exploded. The bodies of the creatures fell to the ground, but the heat excited and enraged the Frozen Fallen even more, and they grabbed what was left of their comrades and beat the remains until all light and heat was gone. It was dark again, and the Frozen fallen continued to come. Link stepped up next to Toothless and began firing arrows into the darkness. Those pale eyes kept coming, and the howls grew louder and louder. Toothless sent out one, two, three more blasts of flame. Each blast lit the room, each blast killed three or four Frozen Fallen at once, and each blast filled the remaining creatures with horrible rage as they stomped out the flames. In the short periods of light Hiccup could just see the cave entrance, and it was clear that they were in serious danger. Toothless’s fire was proving very effective in killing the Frozen Fallen, they were practically half ice after all, but it was also attracting more...hundreds more. Toothless began to whine and snarl angrily as he felt himself running out of shots. The horrible creatures where upon them now, and in this pitch darkness, the Frozen Fallen had a clear and lethal advantage.

    Toothless felt cold hands clasp around his face and hold his jaws shut. He slammed his claw into the figure, but another leapt on and took its place. Link was slashing back and forth frantically in the dark. He could feel his blade making contact, hear the sickening sound of  metal cleaving through bone, but to his horror he then began to feel his sword meeting metal and even being parried. Surely these creatures could not use weapons...could they? Link felt something gasp around his ankle. He sliced at it and felt his sword sever clean through his enemies arm, but as he did so another wave of bodies threw themselves onto him. Toothless was doing no better. He was desperately moving from side to side clawing and hitting. Every time he paused another group of freezing cold bodies would latch onto his wings, arms, tail, and head. Then he heard it; Hiccup screamed. Toothless had tried so hard to fend them off, but it wasn’t enough. The Frozen Fallen had tugged and lured him a few feet away from Hiccup, and that was all they needed to do. Three of them were upon the boy in a flash, and Toothless could just make out their forms leaping onto him in the dark. The dragon tried to roar, tried to get to him, but another Frozen Fallen grasped him firmly around the head and slammed him to the ground. 

     Hiccup was gasping. One of the creatures, apparently the frozen corpse of an unfortunate American soldier, had him by the throat. It pushed its weight down into him and held him to the floor its cold eyes staring lifelessly into him. Another second and Hiccup would pass out and suffocate, his mind raced, but it looked hopeless. When he looked to the door, he could see row after row of pale glowing eyes flooding in. They couldn’t hold out much longer. He couldn’t even hold onto thought for much longer as those icy fingers dug into his throat and pushed down with dreadful pressure. His mind was swirling now, and all he could feel was cold, not even fear, only a heart stopping chill...

     Then came a bright flash, almost blinding, and a high pitched ringing sound. The Frozen Fallen stared for a moment as the Master Sword ignited in a magnificent, sunlight-like glow. Morning had dawned and the legendary blade had awakened. The light gave Link and Toothless a critical second of time, and Toothless used his claw to swipe the legs out from under the his captors. He then lurched his head free and sent a plasma blast straight toward the Frozen Fallen who was kneeling over Hiccup’s body. It blasted the horrible creature away and left its burning body smoldering about ten feet from Hiccup. Link was slicing his way through the waves of enemies, and he just made it to Hiccup in time to pull him away from the next mass of foes. Toothless was still struggling, but his blast had temporarily distracted the Frozen Fallen, and they were busy mutilating their dead companion. Hiccup gasped as Link pulled him to his feet. “You ok?” Link asked with genuine concern. 

     “Yeah. For now...We have to get out of here. The front entrance won’t work, we need to blast our way out the back.” Hiccup wheezed. He was trembling and weak, but he tried to stand up firmly and drew Endeavor. He was a pretty pitiful sword fighter, and he knew it, but he had a plan, and they needed to give Toothless time.

     Toothless had used the much welcome light and temporary distraction of his own flames to wrench himself free of the cold forms that had latched onto him. He clawed, bit, and slashed them in bestial rage, and they fell before him and laid motionless on the ice in ghastly heaps. He then leapt to Link and Hiccup’s side flattening two more of the Frozen Fallen in the process. Hiccup turned to him and spoke, “Toothless, blast a way out through the back! We’ll hold them hear!” Toothless did not like that idea at all. Those creatures would trample Hiccup in an instant while trying to extinguish Toothless’s own blasts. Could he actually willfully put Hiccup in harm’s way? He snarled at the thought of himself wasting fire, attracting foes, and putting Hiccup in peril. “Toothless, do what I ask! Link will protect me, bud. We’ve got to make another exit!” Just as Hiccup finished speaking, Link was forced to cut down two more of the Frozen Fallen. Toothless bottled his own desires and shoved them back into his chest. If Hiccup said to do it, if Hiccup thought this was best, then he would obey, even if his loyalty to the boy screamed against the idea. Toothless turned and bounded quickly to the back of the cavern, lifted his head, inhaled deeply, and blasted into the roof. It began to crack, but one shot would not be nearly enough. Toothless took one more nervous look back and saw the two boys standing against the mass of foes, and his heart twisted, but he turned and fired again and again into the roof. He had to make a way out, he had to follow Hiccup’s orders. 

     Hiccup and Link were now having their own problems. The Frozen Fallen were swarming into them with a vengeance. These creatures desired to extinguish Toothless’s flames with a mad fury. Link and Hiccup sliced as quickly as they could, but Hiccup’s blade was soon knocked from his hand by the clumsy sword strokes of a frozen knight. Link got in front of him just in time to parry an oncoming strike. He swirled his sword around with swift elegance and disarmed the knight before chopping him to the ground. They were loosing ground fast, but an idea sparked into Hiccup’s mind. He reached into his flight harness, pulled out a phial of Zippleback breath and shouted, “Link, get your fire arrow ready!” Link responded with incredible speed, and Hiccup tossed the phial into the air towards the front of the cave. Link only owned one of these arrows, it took a Fire Gem to activate, but he aimed carefully and then let the arrow fly. A billowing explosion of flames ignited the entrance of the cave as Link’s burning arrow shattered the phial in midair. Link drew his sword again and protected his adopted brother who had been grabbed as soon as his guard was down. The flames were still licking the ceiling at the entrance of the cave, and Hiccup tossed two more phials of the explosive chemicals into the burning heat as soon as Link had freed him. Both exploded into bright balls of flame, and the screeching groans and howls of the Frozen fallen became so horrible and so loud that the two boys fell to their knees and held their ears. It sounded as if an army of the creatures were howling outside the entrance, and the noise was unbearable. Then came a whistling blast, a cracking thud, and Toothless broke through the roof. “GO!” Yelled Link, and he pulled Hiccup, who had just managed to crawl and reclaim Endeavor, to his feet. The two boys  jumped onto Toothless’s back and the dragon leapt through the hole he had made in the roof. Cold hands brushed against them as the rocketed skyward in a vertical take off, but nothing would stop the Night Fury. As they rocketed into the swirling blizzard, Hiccup and Link looked back to see a slow, horrible, marching army of icy bodies staring back up at them and letting off their unearthly howl. Toothless roared furiously back at them, and then flew quickly into the stormy air. They were safe, safe for now. 

     “Thank Hylia that is over!” said Link. He rubbed his arm and realized it was bleeding badly.

     “Yeah...Ah...Man.” Hiccup was lost for words. “Glad your sword lit up when it did!” Hiccup rubbed his throat, and then looked down at Toothless. “Great job back there, bud. Thanks.” The dragon looked back up at him and hummed softly. They were back in the roaring storm, but at least Hiccup was safe for the moment, and that is what mattered to Toothless.

     Hours and hours later, exhaustion was setting in. Hiccup, Toothless, and Link were all freezing, all tired, all wounded, and all just about to give up any hope of survival. Then Toothless yelped. His eyes had spotted something in the storm. He swooshed down beneath the clouds and soared towards it. “What is it, bud?” Hiccup asked. Then he saw it too: light. Not just any light, warm light, firelight. Link and Hiccup’s hearts both leapt and sank. If this was a group of fellow travelers, this fire would attract the monsters that the trio had just barely escaped from, but if this was a native to the comet, if this was someone who knew how to survive, perhaps they could find rest and warmth. Much to all their relief, the light turned out to be more than they could have hoped for. It was a small, eighteenth century, holiday village. It was well protected, and the Frozen Fallen never dared enter, and more than that it had the the wonderful habit of accepting any and all visitors. The three exhausted travelers were met with food and warmth, and their stay in this small sanctuary was one of their happiest times in Dimension Splash. They went from a struggle against wickedness and cold embodied in fallen corpses to a festive village of warmth and merriment. Hiccup, Toothless, and Link were finally safe from the horrible chill of Frost Burn, and by the time they left the winter village they were amply prepared for the challenges ahead. They would reach their goal, the Byfrost Site, and in doing so access one of the most incredible areas in Dimension Splash: The Realm of Asgard. 

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