Chapter 5: When All is Found; Part I
My eyes fluttered open slowly. I was in a dark room. The walls were brown. There were windows but curtains blocked the light from shining through. My body ached. I needed light. Whenever I felt sick back in Ninjago, I would come out of my dark space and embrace any sunlight I could get. I was always ashamed to do it because I felt connected to the dark, but it made me feel so much better.
I was laid on a white bed with a wool blanket. It was course, but warm. I opened the blanket and sat upright. My head was pounding. I dragged my legs off the bed and onto the floor. With my hands bracing on the bed, I slowly stood up. I winced when I stood up since I had major shin splints from walking so much. I dragged myself to the window where the curtains were closed. I ran my hands against the cloth curtain, seeing my fingers starting to sparkle. I grabbed the second curtain and opened both of them at the same time. The light rushed through me, through my head, through my arms, and through my legs. My heart beat was loud and it felt amazing to breathe. The light immediately took away my headache and the pain in my legs. I still was in a little pain, but it wasn't as bad as it was sitting in the dark.
Once I gained the feeling to open my eyes, I gasped. I looked out the window. I was miles in the air. I must have been in a plane. I took a couple steps back. Wu must have brought me here. Did I just get kidnapped by my uncle?
I made contact with a door. It was shut. Afraid I was locked in, I grabbed the side of the sliding door and forcefully pulled on the handle, making the door fly open. "Whoops." I said out loud. "I thought it was locked." I stared out into an empty hallway. Multiple doors were placed down the entire hall, and all were shut.
Before exiting the room to explore where I was, I looked down at my clothes. I wasn't in my baggy jeans with my white tank top anymore. I was in what looked like a gi. It was purple and gold. There was a belt that was black that wrapped around my waist and I had no shoes on. "Where the hell are my clothes?" I whispered. I took a glance around the room and non of my clothes were in sight. I had a ribbon tied around my wrist. Not sure what it was for, I used to to tie up my long blonde hair into a bun. I hesitated at first, but I walked out of the room.
I walked down the empty hallway in hopes to find someone or something. Maybe a phone? Im miles in the sky, theres not going to be a phone. When I got to the end of the hall, there was a second hall that led to an open room. I slowly walked towards the room and realized it was a kitchen. "Im so hungry." I hadn't eaten in so long. I scoured the cabinets to see if I could find anything. I eventually came upon some rice cakes. "Better than nothing." I said scarfing down the cakes.
"What do you mean you beat me in Lord of the Rings on our ps4? Theres no way. My score is too high for even me to beat!"
"I told you I did! And theres nothing you can do about it now!"
I gasped and threw the rice cakes back in the cabinet. I heard voices coming closer. I didn't know what else to do but jump behind the counter. I grabbed a knife from the multiple knives that were just sitting in a drawer next to me.
"Theres no way. Im not buying it! I told you I-AHHH!" One of the voices came into view. It was a guy in a gi that looked like mine but blue.
Then the second voice came in sight. He was in a black gi. "AHHHH!" He screamed.
Then I started to scream. I jumped out from behind the counter and held the knife up to the blue man. "Who the hell are you?!"
"Woah, woah, lets calm down here," The man with the black gi came closer to me.
"Don't come any closer!" I waved the knife towards him.
"Hey! We mean no harm! Please, put the knife down! Cole HELP ME!" The man in blue started to scream.
"He's right, you can trust us." The man in black pleaded.
"Where's Wu?" I asked keeping the knife fixed to the blue man's throat.
"Master Wu? He's upstairs! I can take you to him!" The man in blue let out a nervous laugh.
"Yeah! Master Wu has been training us for years." The man in black said.
"Wait," I let the knife off of his throat. "You actually know him?" I asked backing off the man in blue.
"Uh yeah! We train with him like every day." The man in blue chuckled.
"Oh, I uh didn't know." I shrugged.
"Yeah, so if you could just put the knife down..." The man in black started to put his hands out to me in gesture to give him the knife.
"Stop," I held the knife back up. "I want to see him first." I was focusing too much on the man in blue that I didn't realize the man in the black gi sneaked his way behind me. Quickly, he grabbed my wrist that held the knife and kicked in the back of my knee to make me fall. Before I could fall to the floor, he quickly flipped me face down onto the counter, holding down my neck with his free elbow. (Not going to lie, it felt pretty hot). "What the hell?! Get off me!"
"Jay go get help. She's not stable enough to be left alone." He held my wrist behind my back, stretching my shoulder out. I wanted to scream it hurt so badly.
"Stop! You're hurting me!" I tried to scream but he was putting all his body weight on me. I could barely breathe. "Please, I don't want to hurt you but I will." I gasped.
"Sweetheart, you aren't going to hurt me." He smirked.
"Are you sure about that?" I stopped struggling.
"What?" He looked at me confused.
I wiggled my free hand out from under the counter. I made a fist and slowly opened up my hand revealing a ball of orange light. I guess since I was angry it was pure orange.
"What...what the hell is that?" He gasped.
"Payback." I slammed the light against his stomach where I could reach. The room filled with light so bright it reminded me of my light blast in the bar, but more controlled. The rays blew the man in black off of me and it slammed him against the wall of the kitchen. I didn't knock him out but he was clearly in shock. I was out of breath from him crushing my lungs. I was proud of myself. I showed this dick who was boss.
"Cole! I brought them-uhhh..." The man in blue ran back in the room with other supposed students of my uncle.
"What happened?" One in white said.
"She happened." The man in black pointed to me. "Stand your guard, she's dangerous."
"Don't worry we aren't going to let her get anywhere." Another in red said positioning himself in a fighting stance.
"Yeah, don't try anything you'll regret." The only girl in the room besides myself said.
"I don't want to fight you." I said holding my hands out just incase they tried to attack me.
"I'm sure you don't want anything to get messy." The one in white said with a serious face.
"Enough!" A familiar voice yelled behind the group.
"Master Wu she's...she's dangerous!" The man in blue said.
"Only as much as any of you." Wu walked through the group and held him hand out to me. "Maya, don't be alarmed. They will not hurt you anymore." I didn't say anything. I just grabbed his arm and stayed by his side. "Maya is not here to hurt any of you. I told you, she has the elemental power of light. She has no interest in being our enemy."
"Our?" I turned to Wu questioning his words.
"These are my pupils. This is Kai, Nya, Zane, Jay, and thats Cole." Wu pointed to the man still sitting on the ground.
Shit, Cole was kind of cute, not going to lie. Even if he did try to rip my arm off. "Im sorry, Cole, it's just you scared me. I have no idea where I am."
"It's okay. I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have acted so rash." He stood up.
"Now, I want tonight to be special for Maya, she's had a long, tiresome journey. The last thing she needs is to be harassed. Come, lets go somewhere to talk."
Wu led me to what seemed to be his meditation room. I walked in and he shut the doors behind me. "Where am I? The last thing I remember was being in that monastery. I think I passed out. I wake up here and im miles high in the sky on this floating...thing! Tell me what is going on."
"Please calm down. Let me explain. You've been asleep for three days. We've had to provide fluids to you through an iv, thats why you have one in your arm." I lifted the sleeve of my gi and realized that I had an iv in my arm the whole time but no tube was connected to it. "I called my pupils to pick us up from the monastery. This is the Bounty. This is a ship engineered to fly. It's where we travel and I train my pupils. This way I can provide you a place to stay while you can continue your search for your family. Now I can help you complete that journey."
"I don't understand, how can you help me now?" I shook my head.
"Maya, your brother and your mother, they're on this ship. They know about you and why you're here. You need to face them when you're ready."
"What?" I swore I was hearing things wrong. "No thats not...how? I need time I don't know what to say."
"Your brother, his name is Lloyd, he is one of my pupils. And your mother, well she's been with us for a long time. You did right by climbing that mountain." He sipped his tea from his tiny glass.
"What about my father?" I asked.
"You can discuss that with your mother. It's too much for me to say to you alone. I'll give you some time. Find me when you're ready." I started to open his door to leave.
"Wu," I called after him. "Please I'm so scared. I'm never scared, I always am numb. I never get the chance to feel anything. I don't think I can do this." My breath became shaky.
"Child," He walked over to me and placed his hand on my cheek. "When you search for it, courage is found. Not given. Find the words from your heart and you shall receive greatness."
To be continued...