Defying The Rules

The Raid

For centuries, Vikings and dragons have fought. Hundreds of Vikings and thousands of dragons, dead, all because of a pointless war. As many dragons as the Vikings have killed, they've kept coming, like ants from an anthill. They never stopped. The sounds, the flames, the broken buildings, they could all make a man go crazy. Well, any normal man that is. As Vikings, we eat up the fight. We take in the adrenaline, we take in the rush of excitement. The fire, the sounds, and the broken buildings.. they just make us push harder. All the factors in the attacks make us stronger. No matter how many die, we continue fighting, because that's what Vikings do. Even if there is no hope, we keep going... We keep living, because we are stubborn that way.

We don't give up, even if our fate is sealed, because, for us, that is just an opportunity to defy the rules. That is just an opportunity for us to make our own. Nothing seems to make sense in our world. Dragons have extraordinary abilities, and we as humans are nothing compared to them. The dragons don't follow the rules of nature, but instead, they make up their own. As the enemies of these flying, reptilian beasts, we need to make our own too, if we are going to have any chance of survival. We can't care how old or how healthy a dragon is. A dragon is a dragon, and it needs to be destroyed. It has no soul and no conscience. They kill for the fun of it. They attack, and we must defend.

Fire rained down from the sky onto the unfortunate village of Berk. Shouts, screams, roars, and explosions echoed throughout the land. All the Vikings on Berk were outside, defending their home.

A teenage boy, only 15, yet standing at a good 5,8", was running around, doing all he could with controlling the fires. The sweat on his brow seemed to only make him feel more exasperated. He lifted buckets of water over the sheep, and over the gates and doors, and dumped them over the fire. Half of the time, a dragon would blast the object again, making his efforts pointless.

The sounds of the dragons and Vikings rang in his ears. He was used to it. At this point, it was music to his ears. The fires lit up the night sky. It could easily fool a man into thinking it was merely an afternoon. Panicked animal sounds carried out, and hoof, claw, and foot beats hit the ground, creating all but a steady rhythm.

"Thalos, get the sheep!" A large, male Viking shouted, running past the boy. Thalos turned and saw a herd of sheep running off into the forest.

"On it!" He said quickly, darting after the sheep. Half of them were on fire, which only made them panic more.

Their bleeting grew louder as a red and green Deadly Nadder landed in the herd. Thalos sped up his pace and pulled out his axe. The second he got there, he shouted and swung at the dragon. The Nadder barely deflected the blow with its spiked "frills."

It gave a loud squawk-like sound and didn't hesitate to blast a stream of fire at the teenage Viking. Thalos jumped to the side, just missing the magnesium spewing from the beast's mouth. He grunted as he hit the ground, but hastily jumped to his feet. He lunged for the dragon again, hitting it in the head with his axe.

The Deadly Nadder bared it's tail spines, immediately firing about five of them at the boy. He moved out of the way, only getting slightly cut by one of the spikes. He would need to deal with the cut as soon as possible, due to the fact it would get infected from the poison if he didn't.

He swung again, this time, the dragon evaded the attack completely. Thalos's heart beated quickly, and his breath was short and quick. He hadn't gone through the dragon killing academy yet, so he was basing his attacks off only what he had seen his father and other Vikings do.

Out of now where, the dragon slammed him to the ground with its head. The beast spread it's splotched wings, about to make the final blow. Thalos's heart beat rapidly out of his chest. Everything was silent. It was as if everything was in slow motion. He couldn't even hear the screams and roars of the rivals closer to the village. His life flashed before him-his family, his friends, everyone. His axe was now out of reach, but he couldn't give up. He was a Viking.

He was snapped out of his trance-like state to the sound of a screaming, female Viking. He recognized the sound immediately. The blonde-haired Viking swung at the Nadder, hitting it right in the side. "Thalos!" She called. "Get the tail! I've got the head!" She said, urgency in her voice.

Thalos didn't hesitate to comply. He got up, the attention of the dragon no longer on him, and grabbed his axe. The black-haired male ran to the back of the dragon and swung his axe down on its tail. The beast shrieked and threw its spines as its tail got deeply cut.

The female Viking took this opportunity to swing at the dragon with her own axe, causing a deep cut in the Nadder's neck. The animal squawked bloody murder and, as fast as it could, flew away from the scene.

The two teens breathed heavily, their now paranoid selves constantly looking around them, expecting another attack. Thalos looked around, swallowing the clump of saliva that had been building up in his throat. "Thank you, Astrid." He said breathlessly.

She grunted a "you're welcome" and nodded in response, continuing to catch her breath. Thalos looked around, and his heart sank as he saw the sheep running farther away. "The sheep!" He said in a panicked tone.

"They're scattering!" Astrid yelled. "I'll get that group, you get the ones going over there!" She pointed with her axe, running to one of the clumps of sheep.

Thalos nodded and ran after the others. When the sheep saw him, all but one ran to join the rest of Astrid's group, almost as if it were an instinct. He watched them for a few moments, to ensure they wouldn't change course again, then went after the stray. Winter was coming, and they needed all the sheep and animals they could salvage. One single sheep was valuable.

Thalos whistled, trying to get the sheep's attention. He heard it's bleeting and followed the sound. After a minute or so, he saw the sheep standing behind a tree, shaking like it was freezing outside. "Hey.." He said, trying to calm the animal down as he approached it. "It's going to be okay.." He said. The poor animal was horrified. Thalos was actually surprised the creature hadn't had a panic attack yet.

He crouched next to the sheep and put his arms around it, looking to do his best to calm it down before actually bringing it back. He pet its wool and made "shh-ing" sounds with his mouth.

Once he decided the animal was calm enough, he stood and picked it up. His eyes widened when the ground started moving. He braced himself and looked around, the darkness around him making it hard to see. His heart sped up as he felt the ground caving in. He started to run, but it was to late. The ground caved in and he fell down, screaming. The sheep gave panicked bleets and they fell a good 20-30 feet before actually hitting the ground.