Mauricious!
Who, who are you?
I am you, the future you, I carry a warning!
He does look worried, even though I can't quite make him out, it's too dark.
Warning of what?
Great danger. Trust...
Trust? Trust who? Trust what?
I must go.
He turns and looks behind him.
Wait, what?
I'm sorry...
Sorry? Sorry for what?
Everything...
...
"Mauri!"
I groan and blink my eyes open. Thekallcius is above me as I groan and sit up. I'm in my normal form again. For a moment, I'm confused. This isn't home. The sky is different, it's another colour, rather than the golden sky at home. This sky is a pale green, like the dragon king's scales...
I suddenly remember and sit bolt upright, almost smacking my forehead into Thekallcius's.
"What, where are we?" I splutter, before collecting myself again.
"I don't know." He replies. I take a proper look around. My mouth drops open.
It's beautiful.
We're in a secluded little valley, the green sky shining above us, a waterfall tumbling down over some yellow rock. The water seems to be streaked with siver. The only side of the area not framed by the rockface or cut off by the river is the edge of a lush forest, the dark green leaves framing the pale brown tree trunks. The trees are different to those back home, shorter maybe...
Then I remember. That is our home no longer.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Thekallcius exclaims, and I nod in agreement.
"I wonder where it is."
"Well, to find out, we may as well explore."
I nod and get to my feet, my future self's words still ringing in my ears. Trust. Trust your brother? Trust yourself? Trust no one? I hope not, I have trusted Thekallcius my entire life and don't intend to stop now.
"Are you sure you're alright Mauri?" He asks. I nod quickly. For some reason, I don't want to tell him about what I heard. It was probably my imagination anyway.
"I'm fine." I tell him. "Actually, no, I'm thirsty. But that can't be resolved."
"Ahem." He says, and gestures to the waterfall. It is true, we have been drinking out of similar streams and springs our entire lives.
"But, we don't know anything about this place." I protest. "We don't even know if the water is safe to drink!"
"Well, we better try it then. It'll go first, then you can make a cure if I get ill." This seemed like a fair deal to me, so I watch as he goes over to the waterfall and cups his hands through the water. He suddenly jumps back in surprise.
"There are fish in the water, come look!" He exclaims. I hurry over, because I do have a passion for animals. He's right, the silver things streaking through the water are tiny silver fish.
"Aren't they amazing?" He exclaims, and I can't help but nod in agreement. He gently tips the fish out of his cupped hands and takes a gulp of the clear water.
"How is it?" I ask nervously. He swallows and frowns.
"Hmm, minty with a slight hint of..." He suddenly gasps and drops to the ground, clutching at his throat.
"Theke!" I scream as he writhes on the ground, gagging and spluttering. "THEKE!"
He makes a raspy choking noise, trying to talk.
"I'll make you cure, I-" But suddenly, the noise stops and he goes limp, his eyes shut, his hands laying limp on his chest.
"Theke?" I ask, dropping to my knees. "Thekallcius?" I can feel tears pricking my eyes, no, not Theke, not my brother, I can't do this alone, I need him...
His eyes pop open and he grins. "Gotcha!"
"THEKE!" I exclaim, quickly wiping my eyes. "NOT FUNNY!" He sits up, laughing his head off. I want to slap him, but hug him as well, just so glad that he's alive.
"Water's safe." He tells me and, scowling I put my hands out to catch the water. I sip, and immediately choke and spit out the fish I've almost swallowed. I hear laughter.
"That wasn't funny either!" I snap crossly at him.
"No, not really. But he seems to think so." I turn curiously, and to my surprise, we're not alone.
At the edge of the forest, there's a creature, a boy, I think. But that's not the most shocking thing, this boy doesn't look like an Oni. Or a dragon.
He looks like us.
"Oh My." Thekallcius gasps. The boy's finished laughing, and he's staring at us curiously.
"Why aren't you dressed proper?" He asks, frowning.
"Proper? What do you mean?" Thekallcius asks. I'm too shocked to move now, this boy actually speaks our language!
The boy gestures to himself and we can see he's wearing some kind of material, over his legs and chest. Me and Thekallcius have never worn things like that, we have our cloaks that our mother says every young Oni should wear, and leather 'harness' over our waists, which our father says every young dragon should wear. But this boy is frowning at our attire like it's something that spat on his feet.
"So, we're meant to wear what you wear?" Thekallcius asks slowly. The boy, still frowning, nods sternly.
"Fair enough." He says, and gives me a nudge. "Mauri!"
"What?" I ask, snapping out of my shocked/confused trance.
"Clothes." He tells me. "Chop, chop!"
"Why?" I ask him. "We've always worn these!"
"We need to fit in with the locals." He tells me, frowning. "We already look them, or this one anyway, and if we're to find our home here, we need to dress like them too."
"Fine!" I snap, and hold my hands cupped in front of me. A small ball of light appears, which grows until you can see threads forming and knitting themselves together. I focus my attention on growing the clothes, feeling bitterness towards this new world, and to my brother for some reason. It's ridiculous, and I know it, he's only trying to help and to fit in with the locals and create our life out of nothing, but I don't totally want to abandon mother and father's culture for something new.
"Done yet?" He asks from where he's stood, he's gone over, closer to the boy, leaving me alone.
"Almost." I call angrily back, then take a deep breath, calming down. Thekallcius hasn't done anything wrong.
"Done now." I call over, and throw him a shirt. It's deep red, like his cloak. My cloak is light blue, mother made them to match our head fur colours. I also throw him a pair of lightly coloured trousers, identical to the boy's, only bigger. We put them on quickly. I keep my cloak on, and after a second's thought, so does Thekallcius.
"So, kid, where's your family?" I ask the boy. He gives a small smile.
"I'll show you." He says, and turns, going back into the forest. Me and Thekallcius shrug, then follow him.
Yeah, so Mauri and Theke have found a new realm (which is not Ninjago, by the way), and they're going to find out more about realm creation and how everyone's human here, next chapter :)
I can reveal that another main character will appear after Ninjago is created, who I'm quite excited about.
Yeah, I don't know when I'll update again.