Chapter 3
Lloyd was high above the city of Ninjago, his body suspended by invisible forces, gravity tugging at his feet. Dark clouds enveloped the city like a predator's talons gripping it's prey. Structures were torn from their foundations, pieces of the city fractured and swirling in the air around him. Buildings and skyscrapers passed through one another, colliding in geometric, spiraling patterns. Lloyd's head was tilted back, eyes alight with purple fire, enfolded in utter chaos. His scream was everywhere. In the air, in the darkness, in the underground dwellings of the Serpentine.
Where are the Serpentine?
Garmadon tried to reach for his son, but his arms and legs might as well have been made of stone. The shadows wouldn't let him move. He shut his eyes, trying to will the images away from him, but he wasn't in control.
Why aren't I in control?
"Lloyd...!" The desperation in his voice seemed to be the only thing that could reach him.
Why can't I reach him?
When he opened his eyes again, he saw the blurry visage of Lloyd through the burning tears. His face was passive, a faraway look in his eyes. His eyes were a fiery purple, and each time he blinked, there was nothing in them but an endless void.
" Father ," Lloyd's voice echoed in his mind, wounded and cracked, as if his soul were undergoing an eternal battle. " Help me ..."
"Lloyd!" Garmadon's voice caught in a choke as he pulled himself upright in his bed, his forehead slamming against the top bunker. "... Ow."
On the bunk above him, Misako stirred. "Mmm... Garmadon?"
Garmadon let out a pent-up breath, collapsing back into his pillow, arm covering his eyes. "Misako. I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"
"Only for the seventh day in a row," Misako dropped from her top bunk, landing silently on her feet. She slipped into her husband's bed, dragging the covers with her that he'd thrashed onto the floor. The beds on the Bounty were small, only enough for one person, but Misako was much thinner than Garmadon, so she easily fit in his arms. "You've been worried too much about our son lately. He's going to be fine. He's strong and dedicated enough to become the Green Ninja, just as everyone agreed."
Misako had assumed his nightmares were recent. And in a way, she'd been right, despite the fact that the visions had visited him multiple times throughout his life.
Garmadon held his wife close, feeling something familiar and precious to him as the effects of the nightmare faded. "Yes. You're right. But I just can't help but feel..."
He didn't want to cause any unnecessary panic. Perhaps he was overthinking things. Perhaps he'd been overthinking the visions his entire life, and that was why they'd kept revisiting him. Perhaps they meant something, and even if he told everyone, there would be nothing they would do.
Perhaps the coming darkness had to do with Garmadon himself. What if that was why the visions kept visiting him , and not his son?
When Garmadon didn't finish his sentence, Misako held his face. "It's the uncertainty of the future that scares us sometimes. Never truly having control over what will happen. But our son will be great. With his strength and loyalty to his family, he will lead us to a future free of darkness and discord." She met his gaze and smiled. "We raised Ninjago's savior."
Garmadon smiled back, absorbing her words, wanting to believe it so bad.
But the visions had a much stronger hold on him.
Lloyd was with Wu in the First Spinjitsu Master's home in the high mountains, while the rest of the team were visiting a nearby village on the Destiny's Bounty.
After a beat, Misako shifted, sitting upright and stretching. "Lloyd's not far. If anything happens to us, he can reach us."
It wasn't themselves Garmadon was worried about.
The two-story temple stood perched near the edge of a miles-long cliff, overlooking a vast lake below. Tall hills peaked over the white mist stretched out across the ground.
Surrounding three-quarters of the temple was a towering gray stone wall, aged with greenery, moss and vines crawling up it's surface. The air smelled of chrysanthemums, magnolia and incense. The cold breeze rising from the landscape below played pacifying music.
Lloyd and Wu were meditating silently on the edge of the cliff. Behind them, the gates of the temple's walls were open, moving with small creaks in the wind.
Wu was silent, breathing slowly.
Lloyd was struggling. Restless. Trying to find that "pinnacle" that Wu had kept talking about. The moment when you reach true understanding. The moment you find your inner peace, and unlock your true potential.
The words repeated themselves in his mind until they lost their meaning.
Eventually, Lloyd just stubbornly sat in silence. Not thinking. Just staring into the darkness behind his closed eyes.
Staring.
At the darkness.
At the grass.
Suddenly, he was moving through the ground, edges of his vision gyrating with different colors. His body long and thin, slithering through the overgrown plants. Nature's garden.
The temple's walls towered over him, the sunlight blinding.
Then, he saw himself.
As if he were outside of his own body, watching himself meditate from a lower perspective.
He saw golden light moving through his body, radiating from his center, moving through his veins like golden blood.
Such pureness.
Hungry.
Devourer.
Lloyd's eyes shot open and he screamed.
His arm burned with cold fire. He glanced down. A black snake had it's fangs buried in his flesh through his white gi. Black and red blood bloomed across the fabric like a storm cloud materializing in a pure sky.
Wu's eyes flew open, and his gaze darted everywhere, trying to come to his surroundings as if waking from a dream. When he turned to face Lloyd, it was too late.
He had been bitten by the snake that would never stop growing.
The creature his father had warned him about.
He should've remembered. Remembered the dangers that awaited them in their first homes.
"No!" He swung his staff at the snake, but his remained buried in his arm, holding the boy hostage.
Lloyd's face was frozen, his upper lip quivering. He looked to be in shock.
"Lloyd!" Wu screamed. His eyes fell on the device laying in the tall wildgrass. Lloyd's earpiece. The device that connected him to the bounty. Acting quickly, he seized it and buried it in his fist until he hit the emergency button.
" Submit to the darkness ," A voice permeated through the air as the snake's eyes glowed violet.
Suddenly, Lloyd's free arm flew out, grabbing the snake by the neck and squeezing.
" Submit !" The voice grew louder.
Lloyd's lips moved as he spoke in a tone an octave deeper than his own. "I don't submit to the darkness."
Darkness crawled through his veins, inching beneath his skin, extending from the area where the snake had it's teeth sunk in.
Lloyd's eyes lost their color. He squeezed until he heard a satisfying crack from the snake's neck, and he tossed the limp creature aside. "Darkness submits to me ."
Lloyd rose to his feet. The wind stoped moving around them, and everything stood still.
Wu couldn't move. "Lloyd...?"
His eyes. He'd never seen anything like it before. Darkened colors swirled in them like oil and paint in water. But there was still a fading ring of light around where his pupils would've been. A light resisting.
"Wu..." He spoke with two voices. His own, and one Wu didn't recognize. "I can't... breathe..."
A flash of purple light, and Lloyd collapsed into the grass beside the dead snake.
