Ninjago: Echoes of the Fall

by Angsty Bag

There was always a hole in their hearts after Lloyd died, so very far away from home. Like a missing puzzle piece that had fallen out of its box and had been kicked under the fridge by accident. But half a decade later, they realise pieces can be found and the Green Ninja can survive almost anything, wherever they forgot about him or not.

6. A deadly Shriek

Chapter 6: A deadly shriek.

Garmadon's POV

"I don't remember Father saying anything about this place. Let alone this realm." We trudge into the thick forest, the deep aubergine trees seem to get bigger as we move along.

"Neither do I brother, if Father did not tell us about this realm then maybe it was for a reason." A memory replays through my mind of when Father was telling us about the Never-realm. I shake it off and continue walking. Zane's voice is suddenly ringing in my ear piece, I hiss in annoyance.

"Master Wu? Garmadon? Misako? Can you hear me?" He asks

"We hear you loud and clear Zane." Replies Wu, stopping. Misako and I stop and wait for him to finish.

"There's a energy source somewhere in the forest, I doubt it is friendly, so please, be careful."

"Thank you Zane, we will be." I turn around and wander ahead.

"I've never seen something like this before…" Misako whispers. I looked around at the trees, their leaves were a much lighter pastel violet compared to the darker coloured trunks. The grooves in between the bark would glow slowly before returning to a somewhat normal looking tree for a few seconds, before glowing again. I touch the bark with my hand and feel a sense of home from within it. This was definitely one of my father's creations.

"It's like with every breath I take it lights up. Actually, it's as if the tree was breathing…"

"Beautiful." I mutter. "Simply beautiful."

I feel Misako's eyes fall on me and I wonder why and how we were so distant all those years before. I would never give up this for the power of the FSM. My ear piece continues to emit a sharp static sound and Zane's voice is heard once again.

"Hello? Do you hear me? Hello?"

"Zane is that you? Have you found something?"

"The source... close! I've identified... living creature,... caution!" The message crackled in and out.

"You're breaking up! Please repeat whatever you said." Wu urges.

"The creature…front of you! Please…caution! I repeat, with..!" The warning echoes through the once lively forest.

"What the-" I began. The trees are wilting, their leaves falling off the trees before curling up and dying instantly on the floor in front of me. The branches sway before they droop down and sag under their own decay. The bark cracks, peeling away, glowing a wicked red. The trees change colour, going from a lovely deep purple into a cold obsidian black.

"The trees-" Cried Misako.

"We have more pressing matters, Misako." Whispers Wu, getting into a fighting stance and spinning his staff around. I look ahead and see the creature that Zane was telling us about, warning us about. It looked like a walking ink stain, dripping from every point. It had two scarlet red eyes that had no pupils, and what looked to be a massive amount of hair, or at least, what the liquid had shaped. It was humanoid, standing on two meet with a pair of arms. It's tail swished back and forth, splashing the liquid everywhere. It had two horns on its head, and the liquid (somehow defying gravity,) was dripping towards the sky, as well as the mess of hair.

"What do we do..?" I whisper.

"Stand still." Replies Wu. "If it sees that we aren't harmless then maybe-"

The creature opened its mouth, and its sickly tongue rolled out. It let out a ear-piercing shriek before charging forward, it's sharp black teeth shining in the daylight.