Chapter 10: Dreams
Cole was wandering around a darkened landscape, eyes half-lidded and drooping with exhaustion. He didn't know how long he'd been walking, but it had been a long time. Everyone he passed by had a blurry face draped in black veins, making him think that he'd been infected. "Cole…." a voice called to him from behind. He paused, listening for it again. He wanted to make sure it was real. "Cole….this way…." it called. He turned, walking in the direction of the voice. It wasn't long before he lost it, pausing to listen again. "Cole….follow me…." the voice said. A little blue light appeared in front of his eyes, floating in front of him. It started to float away, Cole weakly following it. "Who are you?" Cole asked. "You know me, Cole. Remember?" the voice said. "I-I don't think so." Cole replied, barely keeping up at his lumbering pace. "My name is Zane. You remember me, don't you?" the voice asked. "Yes, I do. I haven't forgotten you, Zane. How could I?" Cole asked, quickening his pace. "I was taken from you. Garmadon tried to kill me while I was alone. I lost control." Zane said. "Then, how are you talking to me, now?" Cole asked. "We bonded. Actually, our souls bonded together while you were with me." Zane said. "How?" Cole asked. "When my heart began to beat, my magic began to mix with yours as a signal that it wished to bond. Your Earth soul bonded with my Ice soul for a few moments of time….which means I gained a small portion of your elemental magic for a section of time after. I left you not long after you had gone on to complete your mission. Garmadon's warriors had set a trap for me and used an ambush to steal me away from you. I was brought before the Dark Lord himself, Cole, and I have never felt more terrified in the presence of an elemental. He demanded to know the spells I was using to save the soldiers of the Light Army from his corruption….I refused. Having a half monster and half human soul, my actions were considered treason punishable by death. He chose to stab me himself and corrupt my body using the darkest of his magic. When Garmadon stabbed me, I fractured my soul and mentally retreated into it, allowing the infection to take over my current body." Zane explained. "Which is why that other Zane didn't seem like you at all. It's a corrupted taking over your body." Cole said. "Correct. When Garmadon picked up my soul, thinking that sending it back to you would shatter your mental state, he didn't sense the energy it gave off because I transferred it to your soul. Which is why I'm here now." Zane explained. "How do I get to hold you again?" Cole asked, the light pausing in mid air. "If my soul is reunited with a crystalline form of my current body, there's a possibility that I will walk this world again." Zane stated. "And how would you make a crystalline form?" Cole asked, a little impatient. "I would need to go someplace special, someplace that no outsider to my tribe, nor other than a Frostbloom has been before. I need to return to the place of my birth, Cole." Zane replied. Cole stood still, shocked. "You….trust me with this secret?" he asked, the small light bobbing up and down. "You may be new to me, but I hold more trust in you than I could possibly hold in my own tribe's existence. You mean more to me than anything, Cole, and I would find myself ashamed to know that you thought otherwise of yourself in my presence." Zane replied. Cole smiled weakly, remembering his time at the bar with the Ice warrior. "Will you guide me there?" he asked. Zane went silent, the stillness of the dark making Cole uncomfortable. "I will not be able to speak to you. I, however, will find some way to send you signs along the way." Zane replied after a moment's consideration. "Why won't you be able to talk to me?" Cole asked, looking at the light with saddened eyes. "Because I am appearing to you in a dream, Cole. This reality is not valid. You have to wake up and follow my signs. You will see me again, I promise." Zane said. "I'll hold you to that." Cole said, smiling softly. "As I will to you." Zane said, the light fading from in front of Cole's face. "See you later, snowflake." Cole said, his dream body collapsing onto the dreamscape floor. He woke up not long after the silence faded into simple noises of the early morning, similar to when he first joined the Army of Light. He looked down, seeing the little soul still being clutched in his hand, which rested against his heart. 'I am so goddamn lucky that I didn't shatter it when I fell asleep.' Cole thought as he sat up. He dressed himself and pocketed the soul, holstering his scythe onto his back. "First things first, I'm going to kill that other you." Cole whispered to the soul, patting his pocket soothingly. He calmly walked to the Solitary Cells, pausing when a guard wanted to get his attention. "Listen, I saw how upset you were when you left yesterday. I know how hard this is to lose a friend or loved one to the infection. I totally get it, man. I just thought I'd let you know that you're not alone." the guard said, hugging Cole tightly. "Thank you, for your support." Cole said, pulling out of the hug and heading down the hall to Zane's imposter's cell. He carefully slipped inside, watching as the imposter's head swiveled to turn towards him. "Back for more, huh? Wasn't seeing that broken soul enough for you?" the child's voice taunted him. "It was painful, at first. But, I got over it. You corrupted aren't as smart as you look." Cole smirked back. "Don't you dare insult us! We deserve to kill as many of you humans as possible! We struggle to survive everyday! We eat humans like you for breakfast!" the imposter shouted. "That's something I never understood about you corrupted. Why do you base your insults on eating or food?" Cole asked. "We-I-uh….What are you getting at?" the imposter snarled. "You're not him. And you're very low for a corrupted if you can't managed to get fed every day." Cole smiled. "How dare you! I may be short but I am a high commander of a battalion!" the imposter shouted. "I never called you short, you did that yourself." Cole countered. "Dammit! Damn you, you son of a f-" Cole cut the imposter off by chopping off his head. "Faker." Cole smirked, walking out of the cell and back out to his tent. He sat on the bed, pulling the soul from his pocket. "Okay, how do we do this?" he asked aloud, thinking to himself. He looked down at Zane's soul, running his fingers over the many cracks in its surface. 'Maybe I can get Nya to heal it for me.' he thought, standing up and gathering a few things in his bag. Hauling the carrier onto his back, he sauntered off to find his female friend, locating her at the Infirmary. She stood when she saw him, looking over his packed form for a second before nodding understandably. "You need something?" she asked, Cole nodding off to the side. They walked to the side of the Infirmary Tent, Cole pulling the soul from his pocket. "Can you heal this for me? Just a little or a lot? Just, whatever you can do, really." Cole asked, Nya taking the small object from him and looking over it suspiciously. "Where did you get this?" she asked, curiously. "I found it, on the battlefield. It was still alive, so I thought that maybe one of the corrupted dropped it. I wanted to see who it was, so I kept it." Cole replied, knowing well that it was a lie. "I don't believe you. A corrupted wouldn't walk around with this and it wouldn't be without a body. Tell me the truth." she demanded, fingers closing around the small object. "Be careful with it!" Cole snapped, reaching out instinctively for the soul in his friends' hand. "So, its someone special, huh?" she asked, a warm blush crawling onto Cole's face. "Yeah. It's Zane's." he admitted sheepishly, rubbing his arm. Nya's face switched from excitement to horror. She reached up and grabbed the front of his shirt, yanking him down to her level. "What the hell happened to him? How is this his? Is he alive? Did you let him die? Where is he?" she cried, hand tightening around the soul she held. "He's fine, Nya! Calm down! That faker in the solitary cells had this. He was told to give it to me. It was some plan of Garmadon's to shatter my mental state or something. He is fine, okay?" Cole cried back, Nya relaxing her grip on him. She took a breath, looking down at the soul, slowly turning it over in her hands. "There's a lot of damage. It'll take time, but I can do it." she finally said, Cole hugging her gently. "Thank you." he said, smiling softly before pulling away. "Where are you heading, anyway?" she asked, looking over his backpack. "Someplace secret." he replied snarkily, walking away. She flipped him off as he left the scene, waving goodbye as he walked out of camp. He knew it would take time to go wherever Zane wanted him to be, but he had yet to receive a sign of the direction and whatnot. For starters, he aimlessly wandered the woods to the east of the camp, tramping across small creeks and rock bridges until he came to the border to the area. A sign greeted him as it jutted out of the snow: WARNING! AREA 45 BORDER! He stood in front of it for a few moment, staring at the wood before he noticed a small symbol carved neatly into the center of the "o" in the word "border". He leaned in, brushing the excess snow off to reveal the Frostbloom symbol. 'Damn. Barely noticable.' he thought, lumbering off into the area. He passed by a large lake that had been frozen the week before, the Earth warrior pulling his coat tighter around him to block out the increasing cold. The trees were tall yet bare of any life, varying little from pine or aspen. He froze at the sound of twigs snapping to his right, darting behind a tree for cover. When no voices nor other sound could be heard, he peeked out into the clearing. A gigantic creature lumbered across the area, its body resembling the color of aspens painted with snow, yet its shape looking more of a four legged spider without its antennae. Large teeth sat in the creature's mouth, its red eyes scanning the whiteness for prey as it lumbered along peacefully. "What are you?" Cole asked aloud, watching in awe as the creature passed by his hiding spot, amazed by its size and grace. He allowed it to walk fully out of sight before continuing, finding himself standing at the entrance to what once was a village. The archway had been scorched a long time ago, the Earth warrior surprised that the wood still stood in its state. He stared at the letters for a long time, trying his luck in reading the name of the village: CRES_NT M_O_, M_Y PE_CE _E U_ON YOU_R _OUL. "Crescent Moon. This was an old Ice tribe village. I visited it once or twice when I was little." Cole said aloud, though he wasn't sure if he was speaking to anyone. Again, a mark was placed on the archway, but down at his eye level on the post. He continued into the village, looking amongst the burned homes and markets with saddened eyes. 'This was your birthplace? I'm so sorry, Zane.' Cole thought as he approached the burned library. His eyes glazed over the dozens of volumes scattered in the snow, searching for something of importance. His gaze focused on a small book clothed in cyan, a strange symbol on the front. He bent down, picking the small object up. He turned it over in his hands, eye catching on the Frostbloom symbol engraved on the front. "Interesting." he said aloud, slipping it into his coat pocket before seeing a pair of knives sitting in the snow not far from the resting place of the book. He ran towards them, scooping them up gently in his gloved hands. The cold metal greeted him, a small smile curling against his lips. "You were here. You were here." he whispered, running his fingers over the blades. He looked up from the knives, seeing the bear traps, dozens of footprints and corrupted bodies sprawled on the ground. "Zane, what happened to you?" he whispered.