The Other-worldly Protector

77. Touching it

In the middle of the clubhouse, the crystal sat atop the backrest of two chairs that faced away from each other. It was the closest thing at hand to the pillar it originally resided on. Kiara approached it hesitantly. Barf and Belch's heads loomed over her, ready to grab her before she falls through. She remembered the weightless feeling she'd felt when the ground gave way to the portal, followed by the gut-twisting plummet. She cringed at the memory. "You guys sure you'll catch me?" she asked. "I really don't wanna go through." The zippleback cawed reassuringly and the riders positioned around the walls of the clubhouse gave her words of assurance. She nodded, mumbling 'okay'. Taking a deep breath, she reached forwards. An excited buzz travelled through her arms.

She lifted the crystal and several things happened at once. The last traces of her missing memory returned and locked into place. For but a moment, she saw riders around her as the fourteen-year-olds who started on this journey. Barf and Belch yanked her into the air by her shoulders, breaking that spell. Gasping, Kiara looked down and saw... nothing. No portal.

"Wh-what?" she whispered, her brow knotting.

Seeing that nothing had happened, Barf and Belch lowered her. She touched her toe down first, testing the wood the way she'd test a pool before jumping in. It was solid. She fell into a crouch and started tapping it with her free hand. "It should have... it should be here." Her low voice grew more frantic. "It's like a ripple, as big as a dragon. It should... why isn't it..." Her breathing became ragged. "Where is it?!" she shrieked.

"Maybe it's late...?" Ruffnut tried.

"No, no, no," Kiara cried, her distress mounting.

"Kiara," Hiccup said soothingly, kneeling beside her. She stumbled to her feet before he could offer words that would fail to comfort. "No!" she screamed, not knowing to who. "This isn't right!" Hiccup stood too and attempted to calm her. "Take it easy, Kiara. We'll figure this out." His words had no effect. She continued to back away, heaving large breaths that did nothing to quell her panic. The crystal that ripped her from her world without warning, the crystal she'd put so much effort into retrieving, the crystal that was supposed to fix everything, did nothing. She felt a knife twisting in her gut. She felt betrayed. She was crumbling. The traitorous gem slipped from her hand and clattered across the floor.

Blinking hot tears from her eyes, she stepped back across the entrance and into the dying sunlight. She turned and ran.

-

Kiara's feet pounded against the dirt and a tear-induced headache pulsed alongside them. Her path was a beeline through grass, shrubs, forest and up an increasingly rocky incline. Her lungs ached but she pushed forth. Her legs burned but she wouldn't stop. Her breaths came in gasps through her mouth as her nose grew clogged. The movement and the resulting torment her body was put through was all that stopped her mind from being entirely consumed by its tsunami of thoughts. The exertion brought her scatter-brained self a silver of focus. With the beat of her feet echoing in her ears, she desperately sorted through everything she found out... everything she felt... everything. The incline steepened further. She stumbled on more erratically, now clawing her way up with her hands as well as her feet. The shadow of a dragon flittered across her. It was ignored.

When she reached a flat platform partway up the mount, her body failed her. She collapsed, falling onto her side. Breathing hard and in irregular gasps, she curled up. Fresh tears renewed her headache. Everything hurt.

There was no breeze. The air was fixed in place, a silent unmoving witness to her shuddering and sobs. But then it shifted. Once. Twice. It swayed with each leathery flap as a dragon descended.