Gothi pushed the door open without ceremony and stepped inside.
The moment Lucian crossed the threshold, the air changed.
It was thicker… heavier, as if the space itself held something unseen.
The interior was dim, lit only by slivers of daylight filtering through narrow gaps in the wood and the faint glow of embers beneath a large iron cauldron set to one side. Shelves lined the walls, crowded with books of varying sizes, their covers worn and edges curled with age. Glass containers filled with strange liquids and preserved objects stood between them, some clear, others murky, each one quietly unsettling in its own way.
To the right, the cauldron simmered gently, releasing thin tendrils of steam that curled upward like wandering spirits.
To the left, a mound of sand sat carefully shaped, its surface smooth and untouched, as if waiting.
Hiccup slowed slightly behind Lucian, glancing around. "Yeah… this place never gets less weird."
Gobber scoffed, spitting a bit of who-knows-what onto the ground. "That's 'cause it's not supposed to be less weird, lad! It's Gothi's hut, not a stroll through the village!"
Astrid said nothing, though her eyes moved across everything with quiet alertness.
Gothi, meanwhile, was already in motion.
She moved quickly, almost abruptly, darting from one side of the room to another. Her staff tapped lightly against the floor as she reached for a book, pulled it free, and flipped through its pages with practiced familiarity. Her cloudy eyes scanned each line as if she could still see every word written there.
A few moments passed.
Then she shut the book and moved again.
This time, her hands reached for several items scattered across the shelves and table, small jars, dried fragments, powders wrapped in cloth. One by one, she dropped them into the cauldron. The liquid inside shifted color with each addition, darkening, thickening, releasing a sharper scent into the room.
Lucian watched silently.
Then Gothi stopped in front of him.
He blinked, caught off guard.
She lifted her hand and gestured downward, motioning insistently.
"...You want me to lean down?" Lucian asked.
Gothi repeated the motion.
Lucian hesitated for half a second, then bent slightly to meet her.
That was a mistake.
In one swift motion, Gothi plucked a strand of his hair.
"Hey!"
Before he could react, she had already turned and dropped it into the cauldron.
Lucian barely had time to process what just happened when Gothi stepped back toward him again. This time, she didn't hesitate.
One hand grabbed his face.
The other shoved a wooden spoon straight into his mouth.
"Mmph?!"
Lucian's eyes widened as she scooped something quickly, dragging the spoon across his tongue before pulling it out just as fast.
Gothi turned and returned to the cauldron like nothing had happened.
Lucian staggered back slightly, immediately coughing and spitting.
"What the hell?!" he choked out. "What is that?! That tastes awful!"
Hiccup winced. "Yeah, she does that."
Gobber crossed his arms, the metal of his prosthetic glinting. "Be glad she didn't take blood, eh? A bit of hair's a bargain, trust me."
Gothi ignored all of them.
She dipped the spoon into the cauldron and began stirring, slow at first, then faster. Her free hand lifted and began tapping lightly against the iron rim.
Tap… tap… tap…
The rhythm was steady. Intentional.
Lucian's gaze narrowed slightly.
Something felt… off.
He shifted his focus, looking past Gothi and froze.
Behind her stood a figure.
Faint, green, and tansparent.
A man, broad-shouldered and dressed like an old Viking warrior, his form flickering like a reflection on water. In his hands was a small drum, worn and ancient. He struck it in perfect rhythm with Gothi's tapping, each beat synchronized so precisely it felt like a single motion shared between two beings.
Lucian's breath stilled.
"…What is that?" he murmured.
Gobber followed his gaze, nodded, though not a speck of surprise creased his leathery face. "That'd be one o' ours, that. Hrodgar Stormbane. Fought in the old sea raids, he did. Died out there too, from what I recall. Good lad, for a dead 'un."
Lucian didn't look away. "And he's just… here?"
"Gothi's the tribe's shaman, aye?" Gobber grunted, scrubbing a greasy hand through his beard. "She calls on the ones that came before. Dead folk. They help when they can, mostly."
The rhythm continued.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Then the cauldron erupted.
A burst of thick smoke shot upward, twisting unnaturally as it rose. It coiled in on itself, forming briefly into the shape of a skull before unraveling into nothing.
The room went still.
Gothi's movements stopped.
Slowly, she leaned forward, staring into the cauldron.
Her expression hardened.
Lucian didn't need words to understand.
Something wasn't right.
Without hesitation, Gothi turned and began moving again, faster this time. She searched through her shelves with urgency, pushing aside bottles until she found one she needed. Then she grabbed another book and motioned sharply for the others to come closer.
She moved toward the mound of sand.
The group gathered around.
Gothi knelt and began writing into the surface with the tip of her staff, symbols forming quickly under her hand.
Gobber leaned in, squinting.
"Alright… let's see…" he muttered. "She says… the thing you drank… shattered your mama core—"
WHACK!
Gothi smacked him sharply on the head with her staff.
"Ow! Mana core," Gobber corrected quickly, rubbing his skull. "Not mama."
Hiccup snorted under his breath.
Gobber cleared his throat, a sound like grinding stones, and continued. "Right. Your mana core's shattered Pieces of it are floatin' through your body. That's bad. Real bad, that. Could kill ya, easy, if it stays like that."
Lucian's expression shifted, his earlier calm tightening just slightly.
Gobber jabbed a hook-finger toward the residue. "Good news is, whatever you swallowed before cleaned most of the bad stuff out. That saved your hide."
Gothi wrote again.
Gobber squinted at the parchment, a finger tracing the runes. "This potion'll heal the damage inside. Stuff you can't feel yet, see? But it'll get worse, it will, if you leave it."
She handed both the bottle and the book to Lucian.
Gobber squinted at the next line, muttering to himself, then looked up. "And she says... 'Read that.' Might help ya figure out how to use your magic again, eh? Don't ask me, I just work here."
Lucian stared at the items in his hands.
Before he could say anything, Gothi stood up and waved them toward the door, sharp and insistent.
They stepped outside one by one.
The moment the last of them crossed the threshold.
SLAM!
The door shut behind them.
Hiccup blinked. "Well… that was quick."
Astrid rolled her shoulders, already turning away. "I'm going to train."
She didn't wait for a response.
Hiccup glanced between the others. "Yeah… I should probably—"
Gobber hooked his arm around Hiccup's neck and dragged him along. "Oh no you don't. You're comin' with me. Forge ain't gonna fix itself."
"Come on!" Hiccup protested. "I was gonna"
"Nope."
Their voices faded as Gobber hauled him off.
Lucian remained where he was for a moment, then looked down at the book and the bottle in his hands.
"…Well," he murmured.
He turned and headed back toward his house.
Inside, he sat down on the edge of the bed and opened the book.
The pages were filled with unfamiliar symbols.
Lucian stared at them.
"…I can't read this," he muttered.
He exhaled, then shook his head and decided to open the blind box he got.
The moment it opened, a faint shimmer passed through his vision.
A panel appeared.
[Congratulations! You have opened the Rare Blind Box obtained from Gothi.]
[You have gained a skill: Voice of All Things.]
[Voice of All Things: Grants complete linguistic mastery. The user can understand, speak, read, and write any language, whether ancient, modern, or belonging to non-human species. This includes full comprehension of meaning, context, and nuance.]
Lucian stared at it.
Silence stretched for a second.
"…How convenient," he muttered flatly.