Author's Note:
I went back and forth for a long time as to whether or not to split this chapter up, to change the ending, so many things that just had to happen here were in flux. I finally decided on this. I highly recommend you read the section marked with (**) to Decretum, watch?v=A_k9d391eP0\. I always envisioned the fight to that song. This is probably the first 'payoff' chapter I've had, so I'm looking forward to your reactions!
Enjoy, and NINJA-GO!
It was early in the morning when Lulloyd found himself in front of the planning table. For some reason, their first instinct when it came to invasions like this was to make a war room and start working on maps. Lulloyd didn't like the fact he couldn't stick small replicas of vehicles and troops onto the map directly without them falling over, or how the markers that they put on the maps were permanent. It meant they'd have to waste even more maps when the battles started to change again. But he wouldn't have brought that up, even if he was worried about it. It was during this lamenting at a world without studs that someone burst into the room.
"Guys!" Lloyd's breathless voice followed the exhausted looking ninja into the room, "We… we need to. We need to find…" Lloyd shook his head, "We have to find Over!"
"Uh... " Lulloyd blinked, "Are… you alright, Lloyd?"
"I'm… I'm fine," Lloyd rubbed his eyes, showing deep bags under them as he paced into the room and gripped the table to steady himself, "Where haven't we looked, we have to find Over."
"We're looking for him, but, uh," Lulloyd grimaced, "W-We don't know anything more than we knew yesterday or… t-the day before that…"
"What is the reason for your urgency?" Krux' asked as he, too, entered the room. Lloyd turned to look at the Twin, having finally removed his battle armor to put on a simple set of robes that looked far more comfortable. It wasn't lost on him, though, the marks of red on his exposed arms from where the armor had no doubt chaffed him from wearing it so long.
"We… just have to find him," Lloyd dodged the question, "We don't have much time until Prime stops waiting for him. If he comes back here, we can't fight him like that again."
Krux' looked at Lloyd skeptically, attempting to determine what he was really saying. Lloyd didn't say anything back, yet he could feel the source of his guilt and hesitation underneath his gi. The wood of the mask pressed into his chest, leaving a dent felt deeper than any knife right now. He wouldn't tell them about that. If he did, he'd have to explain he was using the mask.
"Wherever he is, I'm sure we'll find him," Krux' stepped forward, "Mage is out helping the Metal Tribe right now, so we won't see him for a bit. We'll just have to keep up the search on our own. I've already sent out scouts again in our territory, but I doubt we'll find anything."
"What about Monty?" Lloyd asked.
"Huh? O-Oh, he isn't picking up," Lulloyd rotated his head, "He's busy helping the tribes too. I… I'm sure that he'll be okay." Had the suspicion not already been thrown right onto Lloyd, Lulloyd was sure his poor delivery would have been enough to throw him under suspicion too. He knew where Monty was, but telling them would likely start a fight.
"For right now," Krux' looked to both of them, "We can just hope that everything will work out. Life has a way of doing that. In the meantime," Krux' stood up, "We should handle our other duties. You two can help with the scouting parties, if you're so so worried about him."
Lloyd and Lulloyd had nothing to say to that. The two of them nodded, leaving the room together quickly. Krux' looked back at the room once the two had left and were out of earshot. He walked over and placed his hands on the map, looking at the massive red dots all over not only his tribe, but the entire World. And with that, he slowly sighed.
"Find him, Mage," Krux' shook his head, "For your sake, and all of ours."
Slowly, Mage stepped towards the ruins of the Amber Tribe.
When his feet touched the ground, he was reminded again of why he hated this place. It was a place of misery and regret, where the World's greatest sin had been committed. Where thousands had been silenced in a single night out of fear for what they could become. It was the night that his own fate as a child never to see the World unless needed had been set, and where Skylar's mother had been sealed away as a last remaining hope for their people. Standing here reminded Mage of why he hated it so much. Why he despised the very ground he walked on with it.
And it was for that reason he was here. It was the one place that he hadn't thought to look. His gut told him that Over had been here in this universe. There was nowhere else Mage could see someone like Over going other than here. If he wanted to get away from where this World's borders lay, from where Mage would think to look for him, the only path from the Time Tribe lay this way.
Behind him, the Firstbourne lowered her head down towards the ground. If Over had been here, it would be easy for the Firstbourne to track him. Over had left no trace of leaving on that day, no trail to follow and no path for them to search. Yet Mage knew this had to be it. If he was going to bring Over back, he would have to do it from here. He held his breath, waiting for his hunch to be correct.
With a mighty exhale, the Firstbourne raised her head and gave a knowing blink towards Mage. The boy looked up towards her not with a face of relief, but one of readiness. Mage wore his golden robes once again, letting his colors shine against the rocks in the sunlight. Aevum in its hilt glowed on his hip, ready to be released. And most of all, Mage had his heart readied for this. He was ready for what he had to do to bring Over back.
With Mage soon mounted on the massive dragon, Firstbourne took off from the ruins and soared low and over the ground. Her nostrils picked up the scent of Over, showing her the way in which he'd gone. She flew so close to the ground her belly almost skimmed it. How she could maintain that, Mage never knew. But he didn't want to question it. His only priority was undoing the wrong that he'd committed.
With the speed the two flew at, soon Mage knew they were reaching the border of the Amber Tribe, and the threshold of the World. Beyond that point would be wildlands, ones that the dragons had no dominion over. The Firstbourne gave a small huff to Mage, as though asking if he wanted to go forward. Yet she didn't need his response to know he was determined to keep flying, and so she angled her wings down and allowed the two to rapidly cross the threshold into the wildlands beyond.
The scent that the dragon followed became easier to read the further that she flew. Mage stood up firmly on her back, looking around for Over as they went. They rolled over trees and hills, wild uncharted grasslands and more. Mage wondered what the world out here would be, and if it could be tamed in the way that he was. Yet those questions also led him to wonder what dangers may be out here. What worrying things here may harm those adventurous enough to see it. It urged him to fly faster.
The sheer distance that Over covered was one that Mage both expected and worried over. To think Over had flown this far, gone this out into the unknown on what felt like a whim, it made Mage grip his fists. It reminded him of what he'd said to Over, of how he'd hurt him. And it meant that as the dragon snorted to tell him they were getting close to where the trail ended, Mage readied himself to see Over, to see him in whatever state he could find him in.
Instead, when the Firstbourne landed, she did so at the base of a small hill. There was no marker of their location anywhere. No sign of anything here that looked significant. Mage hopped off of his dragon, looking around to see only a few sparse trees, underbrush, and perhaps a few sparse patches of grass against a somewhat rocky landscape. Yet there was no one else here. No one at all.
"Is… is this is?" Mage turned to the Firstbourne, "This is where his trail stops?" The dragon nodded her head. She gave a small inhale a moment later, then she growled. Mage blinked in confusion as he looked around.
"...Someone else?" Mage got down on his knees. Ash had taught him how to look for the clues of others in the area. The hill had a small patch of dirt that was distrubed, sloping downwards to indicate someone had fallen. In front of the area in which it stopped, a few roots that sprouted from the ground had been flattened. There was someone else here. Yet there looked to be no signs of a struggle or battle.
"...But…" Mage blinked, "Who would…?" He took his time to look around. There was no sign to him of something like Invictus. The mcch left rather substantial signs of it just landing. Nor was the dirt here rippled in waves to indicate something like Ophiod's massive tail. The Vermillion always left clear and distinct square footprints in rows.
"...Oni?" Mage spoke the first name that came to his mind. It was the only other person who he could think to have done this. The only other one who would have any reason to look for Over. And yet to think of his name was to make Mage grip his fist. Oni was the one who had conjured that smoke, who'd shown them all those visions. All that had happened, was because of him.
Slowly, Mage stood up. If the trail ended here, then they had likely jumped universes. Was it a fight? Had Oni made Over flee on sight? Or… had Oni gone and done something to make Over go with him? Whoever it was, it had to be someone. Something here had to have happened.
"If they're not here, then…" Mage inhaled, "...I'm sorry, girl, but I think I know where they are, and you can't come with me," Mage took a step forward towards her, reaching his hand out, "I'm going to bring him back, though. I promise."
The Firstbourne gently lowered her head towards him, letting Mage reach out and run his hand over it. As he did, the dragon leaned forward and pressed her weight against him, almost pitching him over. Mage just gave a small chuckle before nodding his head to her and holding up his wristband.
"I'm coming for you, Over," Mage nodded. With a press of a button, Mage vanished into a portal in the rocks below him.
"Here," Oni nodded his head, "You will wait here while I go and find Prime for you."
Over slowly stumbled his way up onto the top of the rubble in front of him. In front of him was the vast expanse of the broken and ruined world of Ninjago City. The sky was once again a cloudy gray in the land that Prime called his home. Off in the far distance, he could see the faintest hint of the large dome that those who still lived here called their home.
The two figures stood on top of a half-ruined building, long since reduced from however many floors to just the two, with two corners blown out to give them a perch atop them. The climb through the wreckage and rubble of this world had taken its toll on them both. Yet the walk had given Over time to think and reconcile himself. It had given him what he needed.
"Bring him to me, then…" Over reached down and gripped his chest, "It is time I finally face the destiny that I had from the moment, I was created."
"To die, that is?" Oni asked him calmly.
"To fall by the hand of someone worthy to defeat me," Over lowered his head, "Prime's goals… his desire. I cannot deny them. I am nothing but someone who stole a life from the jaws of fate, and now it seems I have finally driven away all those that would stand beside me."
"If Prime were to finish you, then that would be a true example of balance," Oni nodded his head, "It would give his mind peace, his world a chance to be reborn. The re-creation of this place to what it was, reviving it… it would truly be a world that could balance the destruction that your world suffered. Are you prepared for that, Over?"
Over looked down at his hands, taking them in. Taking in his body. He looked back over at Oni, a hard look on his face. Slowly, he took a few deep breaths and held his staff up. He tried to force the thing to solidify, to stop dripping in front of him. He managed to freeze enough of the drops to nod his head.
"You are doing yourself and Prime a good deed," Oni informed him, "I promise, what you have done here will not be forgotten. If you are prepared…"
"I am as prepared as I am… I must," Over shook his head, "This is an end that I can accept."
"Then," Oni held up his Realm Crystal, "I will prepare Prime."
Oni started to open the portal in front of him. Over stepped back, a dull and lifeless look in his eyes. The two men, fusions of things that should never have mixed with humans, were readying themselves for what was to pass.
With a hiss of air, a pebble shot through the air and struck the Realm Crystal. Unprepared, Oni dropped the thing, causing the portal to shut. He turned to look calmly towards the source of the disturbance, seeing something standing in the street in front of the building they were perched in.
Mage lowered his hand, his eyes fading back from navy. He took a deep breath, then opened his mouth with a booming application of sound:
"You!" Mage shouted at him, "What are you doing with Over?!"
Oni remained perfectly calm. Over, however, was completely frozen to the spot. The dark Emperor looked down at where Mage stood with trembling purple orbs. The gold of his robes stood out starkly against the broken and rubble filled world around him. Rebar stuck up from the ground all around Mage, letting the billowing wind catch his robes on their twisted stems. Mage looked up towards the two of them confidently still.
"I am taking him to meet his destiny," Oni informed him, "What of it?"
"Leave," Mage shouted back instantly, "Whatever you're planning to do with him…"
"I delivered Prime's message to him," Oni shook his head, "What is so wrong about that?"
"His message..?" Mage blinked in confusion, then shook his head, "If you don't leave right now, I'll make you leave!"
"You think you could win that battle?" Oni narrowed his gaze at Mage.
Mage slowly straightened his back, hefting Aevum up and pointing it towards him. The blue rune-engraved blade crackled with power. Oni gazed at Mage. The young boy had his hair flowing behind his head, unkempt and wild, just like the look in his eyes. Yet there was no unsteadiness to his body. His resolve was as firm as it was powerful. Oni looked at how he held the sword. There was no trembling in his fingers. The grasp that he had on it was resolute.
"I will fight anyone that keeps me from what I have to do," Mage glared him down.
"...Fine," Oni took a step back, "...I suppose this outcome is not entirely against the balance. If you intend to divert him from his path, you best be prepared. Do not expect for the path you are choosing to walk to be easy, child."
"My path has never been easy," Mage declared to him, "But choosing to walk it is my decision."
"...Then until our paths cross again, Mage," Oni dipped his head. The chimera of a being stepped backwards, picking up his crystal and holding it in his hand. A few moments later, a portal opened up behind him, letting him step through. Within seconds, he was gone from the barren landscape.
Mage leapt into the air with gravity, landing right in front of Over. The once proud Emperor was tired and ragged. Cuts along his body dripped purple in small seams to mar the image of his power visage. Even now, he had a powerful glow of darkness about his body. Yet as Over looked up, that light didn't quite seem to reach his eyes. Eyes that normally pulsed and glowed with the power of the Overlord himself were now dull and lifeless. His staff began to drip dark matter once again, running down Over's hand and trembling in his grasp.
"Why?" Over growled out, fangs showing from under his lip, "Why would you get between me… and my destiny?"
"Your destiny?" Mage blinked, then shook his head, "I'm not here to change your destiny, Over. I'm here to bring you back."
"Bring me… back?" Over asked, "...Why are you really here?"
"I just told you, Over!" Mage told him, "I…. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I said to you. About, about what I was feeling, how angry I was. I didn't mean for it to hurt you like that. And… and now everyone is worried about you."
Over shook his head, "No… no. Nobody is worried for me. Nobody in this world, this life, should worry for me. They all hate me. If they do not, they should. I am a mar upon the very face of destiny. I am nothing," Over's body slackened.
"That's not true!" Mage stepped forward, "None of that is true. You're not, whatever you say you are. You're Over. You're the Emperor! You have a destiny in front of you, Over! I know it!"
"My destiny was to DIE!" Over slammed his staff into the ground, "The moment that I rescued my father, it was set in stone for me to perish. I stole time from the jaws of darkness, and now they've closed upon me…" Over stumbled forward a step, "I can't even hear the Overlord anymore. I can't hear him. The shadows won't obey me. I can't do anything…"
Over stumbled backwards and away from Mage. As he did, the shadows began to writhe around him. Mage watched them, wondering if what he said about the shadows was even true. Yet Over didn't seem to know he was doing it. Just like when he had become that beast, the shadows were acting without him. Mage tensed.
"Over, nobody is given a destiny to die! And even if they did, we can overcome that destiny!" Mage nodded his head, "We can! I promise that we can! There's nothing stopping us from working to change whatever happened. If you really think that you can't change it then… then you should think about," Mage bit his lip, "Think about what they should have wanted.
"What…. They would have wanted…?" Over parroted. Slowly, he put his hand on his head. He looked around for a moment, trying to think about what he should say. For a moment, that writhing around him from the darkness calmed. Mage slowly took another step forward, trying to get closer to Over.
"What I would have wanted?" Sun's voice whispered around Over's ear. As soon as he heard that voice, Over's eyes widened as he looked up at Mage, his eyes burning a violent purple. He fell down to his knees, his entire body shuddering as he gripped his head harder.
"And what do you know about what they would have wanted?!" Over shouted. The shadows in front of him violently churned up, lashing out towards Mage. The tendrils rung through the air as their razor-thin edges sliced towards him. Mage twisted Aevum up overhead to catch them, holding them off. With a hard shove, Mage thrust the shadows back.
Over raised his head, slowly. He looked down to the shadows, a twisted look of shock in his gaze. As Mage strained against them, Over slowly ran his hands over his head. Since that battle, that day, his ability has been sealed, just like the voice of the Overlord. And now…
"...So…" Over whispered, "Now the shadows listen to me, but only when I am like this…" Over let out a harsh chuckle, "Then… perhaps that is my punishment. For becoming a beast like that, I can only use my power when…" Over raised his head with a delirious smile, "When I am lower than even a child."
The shadows continued to writhe and pulse around Over. They didn't move in any way that Mage had seen them before, though. They looked almost more alive, like they listened to only what Over was feeling. Seeing that sight brought a fear inside of Mage. For a moment, he wanted to back away, to run. Yet… he was determined to see this through. He was determined to fight.
Slowly, Mage raised Aevum over his head again, pulsing both the Time Matrix on his arm and the runes in the sword. With a deep breath, Mage lowered the sword to his hip. Mage pressed his foot into the ground and thrust his finger forward at Over.
"I won't let you do that, Over!" Mage shouted, "If you intend to punish yourself, then I will take your punishment on for you! If you think you can't take all the horrible things you've done… then I'll help you bear them!"
Over trembled. The shadows around him bubbled and frothed like angry animals breaching up from the ocean waters, swirling around him and clawing for things. But Over's body didn't move to control them. Instead, he just remained there, hunched over, weakened, hidden away. The shadows cutting deeper around him to hide even more of his body.
"And… by what right do you get to do that?" Over raised his head, "You are not the dead that I have come to pay due to." Mage thought about that. About what he could say. And as he did, a single thought came to his mind that he spoke clearly.
"By the right of Sun's memory," Mage nodded firmly, "By knowing this isn't what he would have wanted for you.
Over's eyes opened. Those white pupils began to form again, and from the trembling inside them, he raised his head high. He looked straight down at Mage. His body tensed. His entire form on edge. The shadows stilled around him.
"...So he truly won't leave me alone…" Over reached up and gripped the side of his head, "He truly won't allow me to rest. I'm… I'm doomed to suffer from a life I stole away from him. This world has chosen my punishment not to die… but to fight the only thing that can remind me of his spirit…."
Mage turned to smoke just as his own shadow shot up in dark spears to impale him. He landed on one foot, looking back at them. The spears turned and launched out of his shadow across the ground, aiming to impale his legs. Mage shot up into the air and landed again, unharmed. When he looked back towards Over, his eyes were wild with a crazed grief. One that Mage took his stance against firmly.
"If this is how… if this is how it must be then…" Over raised his head with a single hiss of rage, "I will do whatever it takes to banish this grief from my memory!"
(**)Over screamed in anger, thrusting his hands out to his sides. The very ground rippled and cracked under Mage, the shadows in the very dirt itself reaching up in clawed, slashing hands to reach up and take hold of Mage. Mage spun Aevum around his body, painting a band of slowed time around him and jumping up into the air to avoid them. He twisted his sword around and landed behind them, only for the ground to break up under him too. A cloud of dust and concrete formed around him as Over's claws reached up and broke up through more and more of the ground, each hand clawing for Mage with a grasp of those lamenting the dead.
Mage pressed his back up against a ruined chunk of wall. Thinking fast, his eyes turned brown as he gripped the wall, hurling several chunks of broken rock towards the oncoming horde. The claws caught them, ripping them apart and breaking the chunks apart. Mage's left eye turned copper as he hovered into the air, landing on the second story of the building through a massive hole in its side. Mage readied Aevum to launch himself forward and try to counter Over again, but instead he turned to see the corner of the broken lounge room beginning to swirl. Mage let out a gasp just before the room was consumed in darkness.
Over held his hand out towards the building, his eyes trembling as his hand reluctantly slammed shut. Mage came flying out into the air, skating across it with wind as he looked down at Over. The darkness of the building and ground lunged up towards him, trying to drag him down towards their endless depths. Mage held his sword forward and inhaled.
"I don't want to fight you, Over!" Mage shouted, "But-"
"If this is my punishment, let me carry it out in peace!" Over shouted in anger, his eyes slamming shut, "Let me suffer upon my throne of agony and bear its brambles in silence!"
Over held his hands out, his entire form shaking as he slowly formed his staff in his hands. He shot up into the air on ripped and torn dragon wings, his eyes flashing as he swung the staff down towards Mage. Mage predicted the movement and swung Aevum down to catch it, only for the staff to split in half at the last moment. Over shouted as he spun his body around, catching Mage's side with one and slamming him into the ground below with a shattering of rubble.
Mage stumbled up onto his hands and knees, only to see the ground rumble under him. Mage blasted flames out of his hands, launching himself through the air. The world around him spun as he hurled himself at Over again, his sights zeroing in on him. Mage swung Aevum with one hand towards Over, only to feel a grip on his wrist. Over brought Mage's face close to his own, letting Mage see his anguished expression before he roared and closed his fist. Mage shouted in agony as his hand was wrenched open, Aevum falling into the darkness below.
The loss of his sword shone in Mage's eyes as fear for a brief moment, only to see Over rearing to punch his gut. Mage turned his torso into metal with gunmetal eyes, the blow still causing his body to quake and a spurt of blood to leave his lips. Mage doubled over, slowly raising his head in pain. When Over threw his next punch, Mage used his free hand to catch it, twisting his hand firmly and swinging his body backwards to bring his legs up to his chest. With a kick, he freed himself from Over's grasp, hurtling through the air and regaining himself with a blast of flaming jets from his limbs.
Over, however, didn't bother to stop himself. He instead let his body crash down into the top of a ruined skyscraper, a building once hundreds of feet tall now reduced to a few measly floors. He picked himself up slowly, not bothering to even steady himself. Instead, his shadows clung to his legs, helping to support him as he looked up towards Mage. He turned his staff into four swords, then dark power began to crackle throughout them. The power arched out through them, firing up and off at Mage.
Mage swerved his body powerfully through the air, each blast arcing off by his body and into the deep gray skies above. He shot down towards Over, rearing his hands back and blasting ice from them. The ice formed a slide in the air he landed on, rapidly surfing down the surface towards him. The dull icy blue was lit up as Over's power blasted hole after hole in it, trying to destroy the thing before he could reach it. Mage reached his hand back and focused, and in turn the rubble around him soared up to form a whip in his hand, swinging it out towards Over.
The rocks cracked against Over's head, opening a gash in it from which his purple blood began to drip freely down his head. The impact, however, did nothing to stop him. Over flung one of his swords down into the ground in front of him, just as Mage landed there. The sword crackled with power and then burst apart, sending a flash of purple energy in all directions. Mage threw his hands in front of him, turning to smoke just before it could hit him. The power, however, suddenly contracted around the smoke, encasing him inside of a shield as soon as he reformed. Over stumbled on his feet as he held his hand up, his pupils trembling as he closed his fist.
Mage roared out in pain as dark lightning from the Overlord's power coursed through his body, sending his very essence alight with it. His body shook as it was wrought with it, coursing in and out of his body. His limbs spasmed out, unable to remain under his control. Blood pooled around Over's right eye as he continued to hold Mage there, even as his entire body felt drained and powerless.
With his body beginning to go numb, Mage focused on his core. He opened his mouth in a pure sonic scream, sound roaring out across the entire structure and blasting the rubble and dust away. The very foundations under them shook as he did. Over tried to withstand the noise, but the sound of Mage's pain was too much for him. His grip over his power lapsed, and Mage dropped from the air onto the building's floor.
When he landed, Mage hit the ground running. He shot straight out for Over, tackling him and crushing his body with an increase in gravity. Over brought his fists down onto Mage's back in powerful blows, each one cracking powerfully against his body. Each one likely to nearly shatter the boy's body apart. Mage hardened his body with metal and took each blow, trying to put Over down. Instead, Over grabbed his sides and wrenched him free, throwing him back as he tried to grab his swords in the ground.
With a burst of speed, Mage shot across the floor and towards Over, his fists now his weapon. He swung blow after blow at him, a flash of white streaks accompanying each other. Over threw up his four arms in a guard that not even those powerful hits could break. Each one simply smashed into his carapace with a simple smack. Over threw his arms apart, making Mage lean backwards and instead lit his fists on fire.
The fiery fist was caught by Over's lower left forearm. Mage gripped his other fist, using form to shift it to look larger and strong. Another arm caught it. Mage opened his mouth and spat poison from it, right towards Over's chest. Over swerved his body out of the way and opened his jaws, showing his teeth as he lunged forward towards Mage with them. Mage spun his body to the right and lit his body up in a flash of light to stun Over. A fist swung up towards Over's head, then with a flash it turned into a hologram and the real one hit his chest. The punch had no damage.
Mage flung into his desperate assault. He flung fist after fist into Over's body. He struck each one against him, each one powerful and fueled with his own elements to keep himself more on his toes. He slammed them down into Over's chest, his arms, his sides, even threw kicks into his legs. Over's lunges and punches came back at him in force. Mage took each blow with a body made of metal. His strength was weakening. His body was slowing down.
The boy threw his weight under one punch from Over, swinging his fist in a fiery uppercut. The attack broke Over's guard and let Mage get in close. He slammed a rock-laced right hook into Over's face, then a water-laced left hook. He leapt back onto his rear leg, then swung his body forward to launch an uppercut up towards Over's torso. The impact made a massive crack. Over's body was weighed down by gravity in turn. Over's punches slowed down.
Over stopped throwing his attacks. He focused, trying to turn his body into the limbs of the Overlord dragon, but he couldn't. Instead, he stared at his opponent. Mage's body dripped with sweat and pain. He flung himself forward again. Swinging into his sides. Swinging into his torso. Swinging into his legs and legs. Wherever his punches could take him. His form slowed down to a sloppy stagger. Over remained standing. Mage desperately shot forward for one last grapple. One more attack to put Over down on the ground. One last strike.
Instead, Over remained standing. His hands, trembling, reached up into the air and clasped together. He brought them down on Mage's back. Mage's eyes widened as he cried out in pain, his entire form crumpling down. The shadows under his body grabbed him, hefting him into the air and striking him with their vicious attacks. They hefted Mage into the air and threw him, slamming him down by the edge of the building.
"Down…" Over muttered out. Mage weakly held his arms up as the shadows struck him.
"Down," Over raised his voice. The shadows gripped Mage's arms and held them apart. Mage's body tried to turn to metal, but a strike into his gut wore him from his power.
"Down!" Over shouted. The shadows pulled Mage into the air, then threw him onto the ground again. The hard concrete of the building's floor sent flashes of light into Mage's vision.
"DOWN!" Over roared out, "STAY DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! STOP FIGHTING ME SUN! STOP TRYING TO WIN A BATTLE YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T! WIN!"
Mage reached his hand up. He gripped hold of the tendril striking him and filled his body with light. Over was stunned into place as the shadows around his body faded, letting Mage stand up on his own two feet. Over held his hands up to try to summon more shadows, but the more he looked at Mage, the more he felt his resolve weakening.
The boy's body was beaten, bruised, and he was cut in several places. He dripped red as much as Over now dripped purple. Yet Mage's eyes hadn't lost that spark in them. Even now, he looked ready to pitch onto the ground. Over was weak, but Mage was almost powerless. Yet the boy refused to go down. He refused to fall right now. Not yet.
Slowly, Mage held his hands forward. Over's eyes rocked as they stared at Mage, watching him as ice formed in Mage's hands. Ice that formed first, a simple hilt. Then, a beautiful replica of a broadsword. A broadsword that, a moment later, Mage focused the last of his power he had into, to make glow a burning bright yellow.
"It's not about winning…" Mage spat, blood dripping down his body and robes, "It's about… saving the ones… that mean everything to you…" Mage swung his broadsword, "Even if it means… having to fight the one person… you never wanted to… just like him…"
Over's eyes narrowed to pinpricks. With a shout of anguished rage, he held his hands forward, hiding his eyes behind them as the shadows behind him grew up into massive spikes that shot across the roof straight towards Mage. Mage gathered all of his strength, all of the fight left in his body, and he shouted back at him. He dug his heels into the ground and he ran forward. He ran forward into those massive spikes and hurled his body into them. Some struck him, piercing him and knocking his body aside. Some of them slashed cuts across his body. But the glowing light of his sword refused to yield. Over and Mage locked eyes together just as Mage reached where Over stood.
The dark spikes dug into the floor of the building, causing it to crack and shatter. The entire remaining floors of the building rumbled, then they rapidly began to break apart. Slowly, the entire structure came apart. A ripping and creaking noise filled the air as the floor under the two combatants came apart. The two fell into the rapidly encroaching cloud of dust and rubble, surrounding them. The dark spikes of Over's shadows faded away as the two fell down towards the true ground below.
The entire area rumbled as the building came down. The already covered streets were given a brand new layer of dust atop them. Only a few scant pillars now remained of the ruined tower they had once fought upon. Slowly, however, the sky above them began to part, if only for a moment. A small sliver of light that pierced the clouds, shining down over the ruined city. And from that light, the dust cleared in its wake. (**)
There was no movement for a long time. Nothing stirred within the rubble. In the distance, the sound of another building collapsing was little more than background noise for them. The two combatants, however, were lost to it. There was nothing stirring there in those moments, nothing stopping them.
Slowly, however, the winds began to blow. The dust settled. Over lay on his back, his eyes looking up towards the sky. A small pool of purple blood had begun to leak onto the ground below. Driven into his left shoulder was that glowing, flickering icy broadsword. Over's eyes trembled as he turned to see it, and more importantly, the shadow that reflected in those cool, glistening icy depths.
Mage was on his knees on top of Over's body, holding it down. He looked down at Over with eyes filled with exhaustion and hope. Mage opened his mouth to speak, but instead he just gave a hard, terrible shuddering gasp. Slowly, a few drips of red fell to pool against Over's armor. A few drops that mingled with the purple below him.
Then, Mage's eyes shut. The sword melted away into water, leaving nothing behind but the wound. Mage leaned his head up, then fell onto his side. He crumpled onto the rocky ground beside Over, his breathing shallow and his body limp. The light shone down on him, reflecting his bloodstained and glistening golden robes. The light shone down on Over, reflecting his bruised and battered body.
Over looked up towards the sky. He couldn't feel anything. His body was numb to him. He'd let Mage have all of the attacks on him he wanted. He'd let him attack him all he needed. And when he turned to look at the boy, the sight of him, crumpled on the ground like that, brought his body to shake and shudder in a way that made his essence tremble.
"Is this what fate you envisioned, Emperor?"
Over blinked. Standing in front of him was Sun. Only it wasn't Sun. He was a young man. His hair had grown out and begun to curl up around his shoulders in small points. His normally white robes had become a deep red, white and yellow, the colors mingling together in stripes up and down the robes. Said robes looked far thicker. There were no longer any traces of a ninja. His boots were heavy and thick, with small bits of armor on them. His forearms and legs were braced with sleek, shining silver metal that reflected all of the world around him. At his hip was a broadsword almost as long as his entire arm itself, the robes cut in the back just to allow the massive hil to remain there. Those confident features that had once been nothing but a smile to endure the darkness were now turned down in a sad, pitiful frown.
"I am disappointed in you, Emperor," Sun shook his head, even his voice deeper, "You have been given the chance to guide another down his path, and yet you have led him here. What sort of man would let a child fight his battles for them?"
"You… you are not…" Over coughed out, "You… should not look like that…"
"I am what you wished for me to be one day," Sun looked down at Over, the light behind him casting a shadow across the downed figure, "I am what your mind wished that I would truly become. And I am here upon feeling your grief at destiny's grasp having lost its hold on me. I have tried to speak to you like this, yet..." The knighted Sun shook his head, "Until now, your grief has twisted what you wished to truly hear from me."
"I took your life from you.." Over closed his eyes, "I… I forced you to fight me, as my enemy. I forced your destiny to become mine. I… I killed you."
"Perhaps," Sun nodded his head, "Perhaps you did take what was not yours to take. Perhaps, had my life been allowed to flourish, the justice of my light would have blazed past even your darkened empire. Yet to lament what we will never know will do you no good, Emperor."
"N-No…" Over pushed himself up slowly, digging his hands into the rocks to move up, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
"That is a question that only you can answer, Emperor," Sun shook his head, "One that perhaps you will come to understand."
Sun turned his back to Over, "My life has ended. You cannot change what has come to pass. I am but a fragment of your memory, the only traces that I had ever lived. Yet there is one who has a chance to seek what time will give him. If you cannot change the past… let it be your charge to affect the future, Emperor."
The figure of Sun took several steps forward. He silently walked away into the light in front of him. Over's eyes focused on it, wanting to call out, to tell him to return. Yet his lips would not call out to him. Somehow, Over knew he had no right to ask that of him. Soon, the image of Sun that had tormented him, reached to him from the depths of his grief, faded away into the small rays of light that shone on him.
Over heard something. A gasp of air, a stirring. He turned his head to see Mage pushing himself up onto his hands and knees. He tried once, then fell forward and groaned out in pain. Seeing it brought Over a burst of emotion that made him want to scream and cry all at once.
"Mage…" Over's body shook, "You… you should not move. You are injured…"
"Mhm…" Mage coughed, "S-So are you…" He reached up to grip his chest, heaving to force air into his likely broken body, "Looks like… looks like it worked…"
Mage slumped over again. Over felt a jolt of fear in his body. He pulled himself over, on top of Mage. He reached down to pull Mage up against him, hefting the boy's body onto his own. He reached down, searching for injuries, life threatening or otherwise. The bruises all across his body were too many to count.
"Why…" Over lowered his head, "Why would you… after all that I have done to you…" Over coughed up a small trail of blood himself, "Why would you risk your life for me?"
"I already told you…" Mage shook his head, "I'll always fight to save my friends…" Mage coughed, "Especially when they weren't being themselves…"
Over watched as Mage shook in his grasp. His lips trembled, "I… I am not your friend. I never have been. As far as the world that I left behind is concerned… I never, ever, truly existed. I never was apart of that world. I… I held onto that world by clinging to someone that was meant to be there. I forced myself back into it, to force the darkness of my despair upon all of Ninjago. It… it would only be fitting, that the void should claim me when my time had come."
"That's not true," Mage frowned, "Everyone… everyone has a right to live. Even the most horrible people… we all only have one life."
"Do we?" Over shook his head again, "I do not. This is a life I stole from another being. I am the Overlord… I am Over. I stole his title. I stole his life. Our souls are joined. I am him and he is me. And yet… now, there is nothing left of the promise we made to each other on that day, but regret, and memories."
"Sun should be here, where I stand," Over hissed out, "It is he who should have gone on living! He had so much to live for. So much to grow into. He was but a shadow of the knight that he could have been. I made myself into his ultimate enemy to one day have someone to truly test my powers against. I let my own selfish whims drive forward the path of another man's life. And now, I have no chance of ever seeing what path that would have led him on! I let them die, and let my anger consume everything that I am…"
"Over…" Mage gasped, "I hardly knew Sun, but I've met men like him before. Men that… will do anything to fight for a cause. I know them, I fought alongside them… and I watched as Chen made them fight…" Mage closed his eyes, "And I know someone like Sun… would not have wanted you… to die like this…" Over tensed up.
"I know them… because that's me, Over," Mage gripped Over's arm as hard as he could, now just a weak clasp, "I hated Chen. I hated everything about him. I saw how he twisted Skylar into someone who couldn't feel love… I watched the people I befriended die because of him. But when it came to it, I knew I couldn't kill him. I couldn't bring myself to take his life. Because I knew that… I knew that…" Mage's grip loosened, "If I did that, then I would be saying that I wasn't strong enough to do what I should do."
"My world was not as ideal as yours…" Over's voice rang hollow, "It was a corrupted world. Seeing the lives that you all have led… as filled with strife and hardship as they are, they are a far brighter echo of the one I made."
"It doesn't matter what your world was like… it doesn't matter what you've done," Mage's grip continued to slide off, "Whoever you are, whoever you were, we all have a chance to do the right thing. We all have the right to be people that deserve the lives we're given."
Mage raised his head. With a trembling glance, Over turned to look at him. Over expected there to be rage, anger, hatred in those eyes. Instead, he saw eyes that were filled with tears. Tears born of a fight the two had been in for far too long. Tears for a man that he was trying to stop from doing something stupid. Tears showing his attempts were breaking him down further, and further.
"Just… just say it, Over…" Mage sniffed out, "Just say you miss them! Just say that you're sad! Don't hold that in. Don't act like you can't say it. Show us what you feel! You've already shown us your anger… and… and you took it out on them… But now you have to admit it!" Mage shouted, his voice raising up, "Just tell me how much you miss them!"
Mage felt his voice dying on him. His words were spent. He had nothing else to give. No other words he could use to convince Over. Nothing else that would bring him to heel. He let go fully of Over. He let his arms drape to his sides. He knew he couldn't stop Over from this. He waited for Over to push past him, to walk into an oblivion of his own making.
Instead, something hit Mage's head. Mage blinked, looking up. A tear, stained purple, had fallen to his head. When he looked up further, Over's face was twisted with anger. Purple tears streaked from his pupiless eyes. Then, slowly, the white around the edges came together. Slowly, they formed up the iris to make his eyes appear, for the first time, truly human. His expression of rage softened to instead be one holding back the anger inside him. His hands clenched tightly.
"…Of course I miss them!" Over shouted, "But the dead must have their due! I was meant to be among them, Mage! I should have gone into that darkness with Sun! With my father! With all of the ones whose lives I ruined and took from! For all those men that I made into my servants and all of those whom I tried to make their lives greater than they could have been! I am an Emperor with no subjects!"
Over raised his hands up, planting them over his face. Still, those purple tears continued to streak down from his face. He dug his palms into his head. But nothing would stop them.
"How am I to live when it is I who must carry the burdens of the infinite dead?!" Over fell to his knees, "How am I to move on when I know that I will forever be stained by the curse of ambitions, they will never get to fulfill? How will I live, knowing I deprived Sun of seeing the dawn he so desperately wanted, and that he died because I was not strong enough?! How…"
Over caught Mage's eyes again. Those trembling, white irises fixed on him. The tears flowing freely from the rims of his eyes. As Over was forced to meet those eyes, the warm, soft glow of Mage's own, the tears only grew stronger.
"Live for yourself, Over…" Mage whispered, "Live to do what only you can do. That's what my dad told me," Mage leaned back into Over's embrace, "And I think it's what you need to hear."
Over's expression tightened. He tried to hold back his tears. He tried to pull away from the embrace. But the embrace was too much. The feeling of a hug from someone that truly cared for him. The feeling of someone, willing to give him the chance to allow himself to fully show his grief. And for the first time since he had seen it, the Emperor threw his head back as he wailed for the dead. He wept for those that had gone. He wept for all of those that he had failed. His wails were full of sorrow and grief, of regret and despair, and all the while the boy in golden robes held onto the dark Emperor, holding him through each and every sob until his clothes were stained with dried tears and the man's throat was hoarse enough he could only sob.
Among the wreckage and ruin of the world that Prime called his own, Mage and Over walked. Mage's left arm was completely limp and his right wrapped around Over. Over carried Aevum in its hilt, the boy too weak to carry it. Even now, the two of them could barely stand from where they were, their battle having pushed them both to seemingly the limit of their abilities.
"...When we return, I will be there to stay," Over whispered, "I will not allow for my own grief to hold me back any further. I am not ready to accept all that I must, but I am willing to continue forward."
"That's… all that we can do, right?" Mage huffed out, "Alright… alright. Let's just… let's just sit down."
As the two slumped down to the ground, Over looked around. He took a long moment to breathe in, getting his air back into his body. Mage closed his eyes and shook himself a bit, doing his best to assess which injuries needed the most work. He was sure he would need a full reversal healing treatment when he got back, if the pain in his leg was anything to go by.
"We must get back…" Over groaned out, "Are you rested enough now?"
"I'm.. doing okay…" Mage nodded, "I guess, we should go ahead and get back…" Mage and Over both raised up their watches, ready to use them to once more jump in universes. They both set their coordinates to the Time Tribe, readying themselves to go.
Mage's arm, however, wouldn't move to activate the jump. When he turned to see why, his eyes widened in panic. Both of his arms, along with that of all four of Over's own, were surrounded in an orange magic. As soon as they saw it, they tried to break free. Over yanked on it with all his strength, while Mage tried to call upon earth. Neither of them, however, could break it.
"Finally…" Ophiod's voice, the one they knew to be there yet hated to hear, dripped out from behind a nearby rock, "Finally, my chance has arrived."
The two watched as Ophiod slithered out from behind the rock. The Viper was holding his staff, orange power arcing from the scroll and into his body. As he used it, his arm shook, trembling as though just holding the thing was making him weak. Yet the rest of him showed no hesitation.
"You…" Over spat out, "What are you doing here?"
"You be quiet!" Ophiod hissed out, "You… you nearly took him from me…" Ophiod shook his head, "It was your actions that made it so Skales is still asleep! Everything that's happened is your fault!" Mage expected Over to cower. Instead, the man held his look firmly on the serpent.
"So, you waited for us to be at our weakest to capture us?" Over asked.
"Capture?" Ophiod looked to them both, then he shook his head, "No. I do not intend to do that. Nor am I here to fulfill the wishes of the Twins. I am here because my own heart has told me I must," Ophiod narrowed his gaze at Over, "And I must make you pay for what you have done to Skales, and to my friend."
"Your friend?" Mage asked. Ophiod hissed at him. He twisted his hand, causing the arms that held their wristbands to yank forward. Before either of them could stop it in their weak state, the snake snatched them away, flying them through the air and into his own fist.
"When I first attempted to free my father, I came across a spell… a spell that will remove the influence of another mind upon the body," Ophiod raised his head, "The venom that my father carries has no mind. Yet what that thing has inside of him…" Ophiod pointed the scroll towards Over, "...I believe it will work perfectly upon you."
Mage yanked his body again, but nothing would get him free. Over coldly stared Ophiod down, refusing to give him any sign of despair. Ophiod hissed out in anger as he began to chant harshly, the scroll glowing. His arm covered in symbols once again, each one burning and hissing against him as though drawing deep from him. Ophiod kept chanting, causing a massive spark to form on the tip of his staff.
"Mage?" The wristband in Ophiod's hand spoke up in Lulloyd's voice, "What's your status?"
"LULLOYD!" Mage shouted, "OPHIOD IS ATTACKING US, WE'RE IN PRIME'S-"
Ophiod let the spell loose. Suddenly, the entire area was enveloped in a blinding harsh light. As Over was consumed by it, Mage felt as though the air itself was burning. The last thing that Mage heard was the sound of Over letting out a noise like no other, a noise born of pain and agony that echoed through the air and lulled both him and Mage off into the void of unconsciousness.