Chapter 1: Goodbye

AN: I'm back with a new book! I hope you will enjoy this next series!


I turned off the news, pretending that would make all my problems go away. Dark wizards have been popping up left and right, and even the normal people had started noticing. I mean, when your whole plot of land gets sucked into the sky, and snakes flood the city, and time itself starts freezing and speeding up and everything in between, it's not hard to notice something's wrong.

I sighed. Ever since the Overlord came back, things have been going haywire. I couldn't wait to go back to school. Last year, Wu told us to wait over break while he and Garmadon researched a way to take down the Overlord. But I was tired of waiting. I wanted action.

"Kai, you can't go out there!" Nya said for fifth time. "It's too dangerous."

"It's better than sitting here," I bit back. I had spent the whole break holed up in this house and I was sick of it. April couldn't come soon enough for me.

"But you could be hurt or… killed!"

"We'll have to leave when we go to school," I said. "Why can't we just leave now?"

"Because you can't!" Nya snapped. "Believe me, I'm tired of this too, but we have to wait for a little while longer. I'm not going to lose you."

I sighed, but I did what she said. I remembered the last time my sister thought I was dead; I didn't want to do that her again. I lay in my bed and twiddled with my wand, and sighed. I couldn't even practice magic, because the ministry banned underage magic outside of school. There was nothing to do but sit and wait and watch the news. I wish this nightmare would end.


One agonizing week later, I was stuffing the last bit of clothes and books in my suitcase. I took the steps two at a time and joined Nya at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm off," I called.

"Are you sure you want to go?" Karin called back. "I've heard Ninjago City's pretty dangerous right now."

I grimaced. Carl must have told her about the news. But what they didn't know is that Wu's school was one the safest places for us to be.

"I'm sure," I called. "Bye."

Fortunately, Karin was kind enough to let us go, and Nya and I jogged out of the city. It wasn't safe to take our time anymore. Just to our right, cracks split the ground and another piece of Ninjago floated up to the sky to disappear behind the clouds. I craned my neck. I wondered where all those pieces were going.

"Kai look out!" Nya screamed.

I glanced at my sister. Her eyes were fixed on something behind me. I spun around, only to come face to face with a green serpentine. He hissed and spat in my face. I blinked and the world shifted and swirled till I thought I was going to be sick. A gingerbread man loomed over me, and an elf joined him, and another and another. They snarled and came closer and closer.

"There's too many of them! I've never fought little people before!"

"Kai?" Nya called. I couldn't see my sister anywhere. The buildings swayed, and the ground shook under me. Bile rose in my throat and I stumbled back. Nya grabbed my arm and took off. I nearly tripped and fell on my face, but I kicked and pushed myself back up.

Finally we stopped moving and I sat, but more like fell down in the rice field. The world was still spinning, and the sky swirled in lazy patterns.

"Look, at the clouds, Nya," I said. "They're like pinwheels."

I watched as cloud folded in on itself in a swirly haze. It was nice and relaxing. I forgot all about the Overlord and city. I could just sit and watch the sky forever; it was so pretty.

"O-kay, big brother," Nya replied. "Come on, we're almost there."

But I didn't want to move. I was fine right here. Nya pulled on my arm.

"Come on. We have to get to school, remember?"

Right. I pushed, and Nya pulled and eventually I got myself into a standing position. It was hard with the ground being all wobbly, but somehow we managed. Nya broke into a jog again and I let her lead me as we made our way across the countryside. Finally, we stopped at the base of the Mountain, where Nya paused to grab her breath, and say hello to everyone.

"How was your trip?" Jay asked. "I nearly got run over on my way here."

"Terrible. The world started spinning, and then gingerbread men and creepy little elves attacked us," I complained.

Everyone just stared. "Say what now?" Cole asked.

"A serpentine got Kai," Nya said, "and he's been acting like this ever since." She glared at me.

But it was real. I swear it was. Or maybe not. It seemed real to me…but I do remember the serpentine spitting in my face. I don't know. Before long, we were on the move again. I tried to walk forward, but I stumbled left and bumped into Zane.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

Nya grabbed my arm again. Her nails dug into my skin, and I could almost swear I could see bruises welling up under her fingers. She marched briskly up the stairs, and it was hard to keep up. My foot caught one of the steps, and I hit my head on the stone, but Nya hardly slowed down. I guess she was upset at me for some reason, but I didn't do anything.

We got to the front of the line, right as we made it to the school, and my sister headed straight for Mistaké. She tapped the old professor on the shoulder.

"Can you help me? My brother got hit with some serpentine venom."

I glanced around the Dining Hall. It was good to be back. Although, it looked a little different then I remembered, more hazy, like the room was filled with greenish smoke, and the professors looked strange too. Especially Master Wu.

"His beard is moving," I whispered. "Like it's got a mind of its own."

"It's getting really annoying," my sister added.

"Venomari venom," Mistaké diagnosed. "Come with me to the infirmary. I'll see what I can do."

I followed Nya into the infirmary and looked around. There were a lot of students already here with all kinds of injuries.

"So many were attacked by the Overlord's minions on the way here," Mistaké explained sadly.

I felt terrible. I mean, I wasn't even that badly injured.

"Wait here, I'll brew some tea of clarity," Mistaké instructed.

Since there was no cot available, I stood. The ground rolled and I nearly leaned on my sister, until I saw the look on her face. I swayed and tried to keep my balance on my own.

A few minutes later, the professor came back with a steaming cup of tea in her hand. It smelled terrible.

"Do I have to drink this?"

"Yes," Nya answered before Mistaké could answer. "Every last drop."

I sighed. I didn't think I was that bad, but okay. I took a sip. It tasted like earth and grass, and I gagged and sputtered into the cup.

"Drink. It'll help you feel better," Mistaké encouraged.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to swallow. Finally, the cup was drained, and Mistaké was right. The room slowed and finally stopped spinning. I didn't feel like I was going to fall over anymore, my head cleared, and the green blur was gone.

"You good now?" Nya asked, and I nodded.

"Thanks," I told the professor.

"You're welcome," she replied. "I only wish all my patients could be cured that easily."

She looked at all the patients lying around the room, one writhed on the bed, his skin turning to green scales, and another was growing younger by the second, regressing back to a ten-year-old and still going. All of them were suffering, and all of it was the Overlord's fault.

I grit my teeth and worked my way back to the Dining Hall with Nya. When I got the chance, I was going to punch the Overlord so hard for hurting all those people. My sister was quiet the whole way back, but I could tell she was upset too.

Nya went to her house table and I went to mine. I looked around for Lloyd, but I didn't see him anywhere. He usually sat with the Fire House, so he should be around here somewhere…unless he still hadn't recovered from when the Overlord had taken his powers. But it'd been almost six months since the Tri-wizard Tournament. He should be better by now, shouldn't he?

I took an open seat and fiddled my chopsticks. I glanced up at the table. Garmadon was there and so was Wu, which meant that Lloyd had to be around here somewhere. I glanced up and down the table, when I caught a peak of my friend's blond hair. Oh good. Lloyd was here; he must have just been out of sight before. I got up and sat down next to him.

"Hey, Lloyd," I said.

"Hey, Kai," Lloyd replied.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I'm fine," he said. "It's been a long break." He stuffed a dumpling in his mouth and chewed slowly. I frowned. I really wanted to know how he was doing after being attacked by the Overlord.

"Are your powers back?" I probed.

Lloyd glared at me. "Wu and Garmadon drilled me all break long, but no. My powers aren't back yet. Wu gave me some of his energy, but even that wasn't enough."

"I'm sorry." What else was I going to say?

"Whatever," Lloyd muttered, and he went back to his dumplings.

That didn't seem like the friend I knew six months ago. I get that being attacked by the Overlord could change a person, but Lloyd seemed down right cold and rude.

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"I said no."

"But—"

"Oh look," Lloyd interrupted suddenly. "Uncle Wu is giving a speech."

"Welcome back, everyone," Wu began.

I opened my mouth to continue arguing, but Lloyd was staring up at the front, totally absorbed in the old professor. I gritted my teeth. He was ignoring me on purpose. There was definitely something off with him, but I couldn't press him on it, so I turned around and listen to Wu had to say.

"As you know, Ninjago City is under attack from dark wizards," Wu was saying. "It is my duty to protect the citizens, so I will be away for this year to deal with this threat to our safety. Meanwhile, my brother will be in charge." Garmadon gave a wide toothy grin at this.

Murmurs broke out across the hall.

"Wu's leaving?"

"And a former dark wizard is in charge of the whole school?"

"Why can't someone else take care of it?"

I agreed with the others. Why is Wu going off by himself? I thought we were all taking care of this together, because the dark wizards were too powerful to take on alone. It didn't make sense.

"I will be leaving tonight," Wu announced. "Goodbye, everyone."

As he finished speaking, the old professor began to glow. Golden light enveloped him, until he disappeared in a flash.


AN: Things look grim, don't they? If you could, let me know what you think so far! Until next time!