Chapter 1

I am Lace, a rouge ninja. I've travelled the sands for what feels like eternity. Walking. Never riding, never driving, never flying. I envy those ninja who have all those vehicles and flying ships. They probably have no clue what walking hundreds of miles across deserts is like. Well, deserts, swamps, volcanic tundras, and snowy tundras with not a single defense against the winds' fury.

I kept walking, ignoring my irritation and envy. But eventually I found my location.

An ancient ruin, fabled to house powers even the Golden Weapons would bend the knee to. But as well as great power, it's rumored to house even greater trials. And only those deemed fit for the weapons can survive the daunting trials.

I mustered my courage, threw off my scarf and goggles, then took a deep, sandy, breath. "I will pass your trials. And I will wield one of the weapons." I lept down into the pit, listening as the magic stones sealed the entrance behind me.

The wind whistled in my ears as I fell at breakneck speeds. The only light in the cave came from my lantern I had strapped to my thigh before I'd st out on my journey.

BOOM!!!!!

I hit the ground and dust flew out in all directions from my landing spot. Thanks to my training, the fall did no immediate damage. But I knew I'd have to do something about it later or I'll have a broken leg.

I shook off the landing shock and looked around at my surroundings.

A dimmly-lit corridor with outright terrifying inscriptions in the chiseled stone walls. They depicted a large darkness consuming the island. It depicted four weapons, a pair of shurikens, a sword, a scythe, and a pair of nunchucks. But amoung them was a fifth weapon. And it's obvious color difference suggested a darker, maybe Obsidian, weapon. I knew deep down that I was playing with fire with this place, but I wanted that weapon. And the riches alongside it was my main goal. The weapon was just a benefit.

I needed the gold within because I could sell it for a small fortune. And it takes just the same fortune to save my sister.

To explain, my sister is actually older than me. But when our parents ran away after amassing debt with some shady groups and a man named Ronin, they decided we inherited their debt. Ronin told me he'd half the debt if he could take my sister as 'collateral'. I refused and told him to wait half a year and I'd have more than enough to pay him and the groups, which I discovered he lied about to put more pressure on me.

"Oh I'll pay you alright. But you'd better not touch her. Or I'll take your arms as payment." I growled as I trudged through the corridor.

After a few minutes of walking, I found myself at a crossroads. To my left there was a passage that went down into a dark cave. And to my right, there was another corridor that looked exactly the same as the one I'd come from.

I kneeled and slid my bag off my back, and then reached for a leather-bound book I'd kept any notes of this place in. I flipped through the pages until I found a old moldy parchment with some strange incantation written in an ink that looked like blood. And to the right was a translation I'd exchanged my arm for in a different ruin.

"The Sun's Light Fades as the Darkness Rises, Only the Wielders of the Five and the One can Stand Against the Doom's Herald. Grant my passage to become the One's Wielder!!" I yelled the last line, which I didn't mean to.

But the incantation, though wary and foreboding, worked it's magic as the wall in front of me crumbled, revealing a hidden passage that's been untouched ever since the civilization that resided here had disappeared.

I sling my bag back over my shoulder and closed the journal. "Here I come." I smirked, imagining Ronin's face when I approached him with the bags of gold and a legendary weapon on my back.

I slowly made my way down the hidden passage, unaware of the visitors that had just arrived outside the permanent entrance down the right corridor.

"Why did Sensei send us all the way out here? It's hot!!" a ninja outfitted in blue garb and a blue mask complained, slumping over his bike.

"Quit complaining Jay. It's not that bad. Though I will admit, I can feel the heat, too." a ninja in matching clothes, but a red color instead of Jay's blue.

A silver man climbed off his own high-tech bike and moved his joints. "If you can feel the heat, Kai, I'm worried about my own metal skin."

A ninja in a black outift with really shaggy black hair emerged from the ground. He grumbled and shook the sand from his hair and clothes. "Sensei Wu had better have a good reason for sending us out here. We'd better get inside, I saw a dust storm brewing right behind us."

Kai, the obvious leader here, nodded his head, "Right. Let's get inside and figure out what's going on here. Also, you have any records of a ruin being here, Zane?"

The silver man, who was actually a robot, thought for a moment, it's glowing ice-blue eyes shimmering. "None. It appears as if this place never existed. Maybe there's been no one to return from here with substantial evidence of it's existence."

Jay laughed nervously, "H-hey guys, can't we just y'know...not go into a place that we have no idea had existed?" He uneasily got off his bike and followed behind Kai who had already went down the sand dune toward the unearthed entrance to the ruin.

The others followed Kai into the ruins. And each one was just as nervous as Jay, but they hid it to try to comfort him and make Kai's job easier. A great team, through and through.

I stood at the feet of a collosal statue. It's entire body was covered in armor. Only it's eyes could be seen, and it's eyes were the most unsettling part. They were made of giant rubies that seemed to stare at you as you walked around it.

"You got something to say? You've been here for eras. Stretch the muscles a bit, eh?" I grabbed a broken stone and sat before the statue, a decent distance away in case it collapsed.

The statue's eyes slowly blinked and it stared at the small form sitting casually in front of it. "You are not frightened by the sight before you?" The statue struggeled to speak, as its been silent for thousands upon thousands of years.

"Not at all. You're here to guide seekers. Why would I be frightened of a guide?" I asked the statue, unwrapping a granola bar and taking a bite.

The statue glared at me for a few more moments, then it unexpectedly bellowed in laughter. "You're a funny one! But you are not wrong. Let me step aside and allow your passage, just for hoots. But a warning for you, the axes are not of mortal material. Therefore they don't respond to anyone but their Chosen Wielder. I suggest claiming your reward and leaving the axes, they've drove many a man insane with lust and greed." The statue dislodged it's massive greatsword and stepped to the side, revealing a stairway into yet another dark corridor.

I nodded my head, hopping off the stone. "I thank you for your decision. When I return, let me know if you want anything. I will do anything in my power to make it happen." I grinned at the thought of throwing a bag of gold at Ronin and then burying a sword into his-

BAM!!!!

"What are you doing?!? Sensei Wu didn't say to blow up the place!!" a voice screamed from the corridor I'd come from.

"Oh shut up, Jay!!" another, much deeper, voice complained as it's owner, a man wearing black ninja clothes and black shaggy hair stepped from the new hole in the wall.

Behind him followed a man in a red variant of the same armor, a guy wearing a blue variant, and finally, another man with silver skin and silvery ninja armor.

"Hey! Who's that?!" the blue one pointed at me and yelled at his companions.

Oh crap. I thought as I ducked into the passageway and began to sprint as hard as I could.

I chose this dang place cause no one else knew about it! Who in the Spinjutsu Master's Name are these people?!?

I hit the dirt and slid under a trap, perfectly avoiding the spiked stone pillar. Then I nearly got cleaved in half by a falling statue's sword.

"Catch that guy!!" the deep voiced one from before yelled as I felt a rumble in the ground.

I kept running as hard as I could, so much so my abs were hurting. Hurting bad enough I couldn't breathe.

DONK!!!

I didn't see the handle of the black ninja's scythe until I was already on the ground and falling unconscious.