"Cole."
The voice came without warning to the young Earth Elemental as he stood amidst the knee-deep grass of the meadow he'd found himself in just moments before. He recognized its source instantly. "Master Wu?" he breathed in confusion and wonder.
Cole's hands twitched underneath the covers, and his brow furrowed in confusion as he slept. The vague feeling of Kirby tucked underneath his arm began to fade away as he was pulled deeper into the dream.
Yet it was not just a dream.
It was a message—a call.
"Follow me." the voice rich and deep with love and power commanded.
"Follow you?" Cole questioned, still confused. Why could he hear Master Wu's voice but not see him anywhere in sight?
But there was no answer except for the voice repeating, "Follow me." Cole shielded his eyes at the sudden burst of light that exploded in front of him. When he dared to crack open his eyes again, he suddenly spotted the orb of golden light that he'd lost track of just before getting zapped into the past. It hovered just a few feet from him, giving off a soft humming noise, before slowly drifting away from him.
And then, as if in a trance, Cole began to slowly trail after it.
Tiny feet slid over the side of the bed before softly padding on the floor, and a small, dream-bound figure extended one hand out in front of him as he softly creeped to the other side of the room.
There was a small click and a creak of old hinges as a door slowly eased open and the figure slipped through.
"Do not fear." Master Wu's voice called in reassuring tones. "The dark will not harm you."
The little earth-wielder let out a soft giggle of wonder and excitement, his face lighting up with joy as he continued to trail after the orb, clambering quietly over rocks, roots, and fallen trees. How could he be afraid when his sensei was with him, in spirit if not in presence?
How did no one notice the small figure padding softly past each of their rooms, making no more noise than a cat? Yet not one person woke—not one soul stirred—as a very young earth-wielder sleepwalked straight out the door.
Very soon, the strange orb led Cole to a misty forest clearing—with a circle of mysterious monoliths within the heart of it. He halted shortly afterward, standing silently in its center, his eyes darting all around him as he gazed at each monolith in turn. All had strange symbols carved into their tops. There were seven monoliths in all.
Seven. That seemed important somehow. But Cole couldn't quite pinpoint why. Then Master Wu's voice gave him another command.
"Complete the circle, Cole. Complete the circle." An involuntary shudder rippled through his body, as he suddenly recalled the last time someone had given him that very command.
That instruction—and his inadvertent fulfillment of it—had, to put it lightly, just about ended in disaster.
Definitely one path he never wanted to venture down again.
But he still trusted the voice. His sensei had never steered him wrong before—why would he do so now?
But how could he "complete the circle"? What did he have to do?
As if someone—or something—heard his thoughts, there came a soft hum from behind him. The same hum as the golden lightning bolts that had sent him into the past in the first place. And then he slowly turned around to see one particular monolith that had an unknown-yet-strangely-familiar symbol carved into it.
It only took a few seconds for Cole to realize that it was the symbol for his element.
The element of Earth.
Looking over to his right, he spotted another symbol carved into a different monolith. This time it was the symbol of Fire. The third symbol he spotted—found even farther to his right—he recognized right away as the symbol of Ice. Picking up on the pattern, he shifted his gaze back to the first pillar and slowly turned around in a full circle, counting the symbols as he went. Earth, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Water, Energy, and one other that he was unfamiliar with but for some strange reason was able to identify as Motion.
And then it clicked in his mind what he was supposed to do. Rushing over to the Earth monolith, he called on his Earth Powers. When he touched both hands to its base, his whole body suddenly lit up with a brilliant golden aura, as streams of brilliant sunshine yellow light surged through the rocky natural pillar, making it glow as brightly as the stars above. Carrying the light with him, he raced over to the next pillar. And when he touched its base, once again streams of powerful light washed over it—this time fiery-red in its hue. As he continued to touch monolith after monolith, leaving a wake of light in his path, more colorful streams of light appeared, each one a different color.
Ice, brilliant white.
Lightning, an electric blue.
Water, a gentle sea-blue, slightly lighter in tone than the previous.
Energy, a radiant green.
And Motion, a combined stream of silver and gold.
And then, when Cole came back around to the Earth pillar, that's when it happened.
The ground suddenly began shaking violently underneath him, and he flailed his arms around, struggling to keep his balance. A brilliantly bright flash of golden light exploded all around him, and he squeezed his eyes tightly shut to avoid being blinded by its glare.
There was a strange swirling sensation all around his form, almost like he was being pulled into another world, and even with his eyes closed tightly, an overwhelming sense of dizziness came over him.
And then his senses faded away from him as he collapsed, unconscious, to the ground…
How much time passed after that, he did not know. And as he slowly pried his eyes open, he wondered where exactly he was. He had so many questions flashing through his mind.
But all of them suddenly vanished as he bolted to his feet, gasping in horror at what he saw.
He was standing in the midst of a vast, barren field, scorched, laid waste by battle. All around him, pressing in on him in a smothering haze, was a blood-red light so blindingly brilliant that his eyes watered with hot, stinging tears. When he looked up to seek out the source of the light, his face paled as he suddenly spotted a blood-red moon, swelling with sickly fullness.
He then heard the sound of stamping feet behind him, and he turned around to see five dark figures closing in on him. The light of the blood moon was too bright for him to make out details, but one thing was for sure—they meant no good towards him. Desperately, he tried to escape the nightmare, to wake up from this horrible dream.
It had to be a dream. It just had to.
But if it was a dream, why couldn't he just wake up?
Then the worst part of all came to meet him in terror and power. A sixth figure materialized in front of him, and his heart quelled as he recognized him instantly.
The sixth one was none other than Garmadon, dressed in strange blue armor, his auburn hair streaked with strange wisps of aqua-blue, a dark-blue wolf mask in his hands. He put the mask on with an evil smirk—before giving a strange hand-signal.
A loud GONG pierced Cole's thoughts, and he went three shades of pale as he spotted the wolf mask suddenly shift into armor. Garmadon's eyes flashed red, and he swept one foot back behind him in a stance Cole recognized well.
He's going to use Spinjitzu! Cole thought to himself. But when Garmadon leaped into the air, it wasn't Spinjitzu that Cole witnessed.
It was something else—something far more powerful, more dangerous.
It was a blood-red tornado, much stronger than even Forbidden Spinjitzu. And it was heading straight towards Cole!
In that moment, the Earth Elemental could watch no more. With a startled shriek, he dashed away from the tornado as quickly as his legs could carry him. But the strange, terrible whirlwind was swiftly gaining on him, growing closer and closer by the second. The voice that had brought him here suddenly sounded again—Beware the Flame of Liara.
But then, a new message was given. Beware the Shatterspin.
Mind reeling in confusion, he risked a look behind him—big mistake! For then he found himself stepping out over the edge of a steep ridge!
His eyes shot open as he tumbled forward, his outstretched foot meeting nothing but air. He let out a shriek of fright as he careened uncontrollably down the rocky ridge, and there was a small cloud of dust as he crashed in a heap at the bottom.
For several minutes, he just lay there, unmoving, groaning in agony from the not-quite-the-best landing. Then, with a small grunt of exertion, he pushed himself to his feet, standing on shaky legs as he struggled to get his bearings. He appeared to be in the midst of a valley, and as he stood there, trembling with fright, he quickly realized that there was no way he was going to make it back up to the top of the ridge on his own.
He was stuck.
Fighting back tears, he staggered forward—only to let out a yelp as a sharp pain shot through his right ankle. He must have sprained or twisted it in the fall. Or perhaps broken it. But he had no time to worry about that right now. He was lost, and he needed to get back home.
But where was home? More to the point—where was he? As if things couldn't get any worse, he suddenly found that the air was filled with a sharp chill, and when he blew on his quickly-numbing hands, he could see his breath coming out in small, frigid clouds of mist. A wheezy cough sent him doubling over in pain as he clutched at his aching chest once again. And when he weakly got up again, his whole body shook with uncontrollable chills.
Suddenly, he found that he was growing incredibly sleepy as he stumbled forward, dragging his injured leg behind him. His eyelids drooped uncontrollably multiple times before he came across a beautiful sight.
A large cherry tree, pink with myriads of blossoms, swayed softly in the gentle breeze, and the night sky twinkled with hundreds of tiny stars. As little Cole crumpled to the ground underneath the tree's flower-covered boughs, he gingerly rolled onto his side, gazing upward at the stars above him. He tried to pick out familiar constellations, but his vision began to blur as he felt even more drowsy than before. A sudden yawn escaped him, and a moment later, he fell asleep with a faint smile on his face. Apparently, there were still some things that didn't change.
He was not alert long enough to notice a cold, white mist closing in on his small, frail form—and a dark figure slowly slipping past his position.
Wu lay fast asleep on a small cot within the chamber that all the flood victims had been placed in. He and Garmadon had already obtained permission from their father to stay and look after those who had been caught in the flash flood. The First Spinjitzu Master had believed it would be good for the two boys to gain some experience in serving the people—an experience that would become important when they took over for their father as Masters of Spinjitzu.
Suddenly, Wu's peaceful slumber was shattered by a strange cry echoing in his mind. Like someone was in grave danger.
Then the Spinjitzu heir's eyes shot open, and he let out a sharp gasp as his mind grasped who was crying out. He staggered out of the cot and made a dash for Cole's room.
But when he got there, he was horrified to find that the blankets were laying in a tangle on the bed, a dragon plushie lay forgotten on the floor, and little Cole was nowhere to be found. There weren't signs of any sort of struggle, but Wu's mind reeled in panic, nonetheless. Where could Cole be?
A horrible possibility arose in Wu's mind, and he barely managed to bite back a scream as he made a beeline for the only door that led outside.
It was ajar.
The horrible truth sunk in a second later, and a startled scream burst out of Wu before he could stop it. An instant later, four sets of feet came dashing towards him from behind, four voices calling his name in panic. He turned around to see Garmadon, Misako, Mystaké, and Maya all crowding around him, frantically talking at the same time. Then the room fell silent, as they suddenly noticed the distress plainly written on Wu's face.
It was then that Garmadon asked what everyone was thinking. "Wu…where's Cole?"
And then the air was pierced by Wu's frightened cry of, "HE'S GONE!"