"So, are you going to tell me where you are going?"

Lloyd winced slightly at Zuki's question. She had every right to ask, of course. He'd asked her for a ride in the middle of the night with no explanation and no solid end goal. He was just telling her when to turn. "You're only asking that now?" They'd already been driving for an hour.

Zuki shrugged. "I'm trying to plan out our gas situation. If you wanted to tell me where you're going, you would have told me already." She glanced over to where he was sitting in the passenger seat. "I'm also getting the vibe you don't actually know where we're going."

Lloyd sighed. "I have… a pretty solid idea." He knew the path directly in front of him, he just couldn't see the destination at the end. "Turn right up ahead."

"Mmhm," Zuki hummed, turning right at a very high speed. She'd only been very loosely following the traffic laws this whole drive. "I do feel the need to warn you that if this goes on too long, you won't be able to sneak back to your ninja friends before they find out you're missing."

"I know," Lloyd said, staring out the tinted windows of Zuki's fancy black sportscar. "I'll… figure it out as I go." Once he'd scouted out what this, whatever it was, was he'd be able to decide what to tell the others. "I'm sorry for dragging you out here like this." Nya had been in the garage and Lloyd had needed a vehicle to cover enough ground in time. A taxi or bus wouldn't follow his strange directions and also risked him being recognized. He'd almost decided to give up on trying this tonight altogether but then Zuki had said yes.

"I'm a night owl anyways," Zuki waved off. "Didn't have any plans for tonight either."

They were coming up to another village, so Zuki slowed her speed back to legal levels. A sprawling forest lay just behind the village, many times bigger than the village itself. Glancing at the map on his phone, he saw the village was called Dorus. He'd never heard of it. The voices were at a pretty steady volume now, just getting quieter if he wasn't going the right way instead of getting louder, and hadn't stopped the whole trip. Maybe because it knew he was following it now? Whatever the case, he was doubtful this village was his end goal.

As they drove through the village though, Lloyd realized the voice was shifting in his ears. It was also getting quieter again. In such a short distance. Did that mean…?

Lloyd looked at the map on his phone again. The forest was large but didn't have a name listed. That must mean it was nowhere important, right? Were the voices coming from the forest or someplace beyond it?

"Hey, Zuki," Lloyd said, "um, let me out here." He'd try to ask around for info first. Someplace had to be open.

"Here?" Zuki repeated, slowing to a stop. "Er, not saying it's not a nice village, very quaint. But this is the middle of nowhere. Why in the realm would you sneak off to here?"

"It's… complicated," Lloyd evaded. He'd never told Zuki about the voices either. He hadn't told anyone.

Zuki frowned. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Lloyd hesitated, heart jumping at the offer. Did he? It wasn't like Zuki would tell. And after how Morro had lured him, this whole thing made him very uncomfortable. But… he wasn't going to do anything. He was just scouting this out. And what if this was… he didn't want anyone to know he was hearing things. No, Lloyd could do this himself.

"No, I'm fine," Lloyd assured. "This is just a… personal thing. You don't have to stick around, I can make my own way back." He wasn't sure how long this was going to take and at this point he was probably going to have to tell the ninja something anyways. "Thanks again for the ride."

Zuki eyed him for one more long second then shrugged. "Sure. I'll probably still be in the area if you change your mind."

He nodded as he stepped out of the vehicle. "Okay. This really isn't a big deal or anything though. I'm not leaving you out of anything, you'd just get bored."

"Ugh," Zuki scowled. "Bored, huh?" She shook her head. "I'll never understand you h-people. Maybe it's the fragile bones or something. Well, see you later."

"Bye," Lloyd returned then shut the door and Zuki sped off.

All right, so, sleuthing. At least as much as a guy could do at four in the morning.

Lloyd didn't want to go straight into the forest blind, but there weren't many people he could ask as this time of night/morning. Pretending to be an early morning hiker, he asked a gas station worker about the forest, but that didn't reveal anything. At least nothing helpful. There was nothing weird going on, the village was peaceful, the forest was pretty, but ordinary. The locals called it the Winding Woods, people went in there all the time.

As unilluminating as the information was, at least it hadn't been bad news. No vanishing people or local monsters or cursed temples or anything. There were even paths, apparently. It didn't seem like a place mysterious voices would come from. The only warning he'd been given was to stick to the path, so he didn't get lost.

So into the forest he went.

It was dark out, but Lloyd was used to moving around in the dark. He could always use his phone or powers if he needed more light. There were no clouds blocking the moon and fireflies were fliting about so it wasn't anywhere near as dark as it could be.

It didn't take long for him to realize the paths only went around the edges of the forest, none of them went deeper in. After only ten minutes he had to leave the path to keep following the whispered calls. He'd be fine though; he had a good sense of direction. And he knew the village was to the east so he could always just start heading that way.

Despite the darkness, the forest wasn't spooky. If Lloyd wasn't so distracted by his rapidly increasing anxieties, he would have thought it was pretty, especially with the fireflies. Now that he was alone like this though, his thoughts were eating at him.

What was he even doing? This was so stupid. Why was he wandering through an unfamiliar forest in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night? Maybe he should have just told the ninja about this. Yeah, they would have called him crazy and forced him to stay in the Bounty even though he was the leader, and they didn't have the authority to do that really and it would have ruined Nya and Jay's wedding discussions and all of them might think Lloyd was…

Lloyd gulped, feeling like his skin, his blood, was crawling. No need to think about that. No way that was what this was. Oni didn't hear voices. And if they did, it would be evil voices, and these voices didn't seem evil. He was fine. There was nothing wrong with him. Just because he'd been angrier lately, even though he was trying SO hard not to be, didn't mean his blood was turning against him. He was imagining it. It was paranoia, it had to be. Once he had proof that these voices weren't Oni related in any way, well, he might tell the ninja about it. Depending on what it ended up being.

A patch of flowers ahead momentarily distracted him from his spiraling thoughts. Black flowers and white flowers bloomed next to each other, mixed together. They were both the same type of flower, but he didn't know their name. Seeing flowers growing in the wild wasn't unusual, but the two contrasting colors along with how many there were really made them stand out. As he got closer, Lloyd realized the band of flowers stretched out into the forest farther than he could see. He would be able to step through it in a few steps but going by wideness the size of it was huge. It kinda reminded him of a garden border. He couldn't tell if someone had deliberately planted them like that or if they'd grown like that naturally. It was probably natural; this would be a weird place to plant flowers.

Lloyd was careful as he stepped through the flowers, not wanting to damage them. As he came out on the other side, he noticed the breeze had stopped. Completely. It made him nervous, but he knew it was just his head messing with him. Stupid Morro…

After two minutes of walking and the forest continuing to be dead still, Lloyd's nerves had crept so high he was on the verge of panicking. Then the breeze picked up again and he let out a sigh of relief. It had just been a lull. Dammit, he'd thought he'd gotten over his fear of wind. Mostly.

He felt like he was getting close now. Somewhere deep in his core he could feel it. And it was exciting. He didn't know why or if he should or shouldn't be, but he was. The increasing voices lifted his spirit and spurred him forwards. It had been a long time since he'd felt like this. Diving into the unknown like this, no one else around. It was… freeing in a way. He had to remind himself to be cautious even though it felt like his heart was soaring.

Beginning to move more stealthily through the forest, Lloyd kept an eye out for… anything, really. His sneaking was made easier by some fog that was forming, though it made it harder for him to see too. Was it fog? Or was it mist? Was there a difference? Zane would know, Lloyd did not.

As he kept moving, the fog eventually thinned, then disappeared. He could now see that some of what he'd thought were tree trunks in the distance were in fact pillars. Their colors had blended them with the pale bark of the surrounding trees. That seemed worth investigating, and that was the direction he was being guided anyways.

The pillars weren't from a crumbling building. They stood alone, hooks sticking out of them with a few of the hooks still having their unlit lanterns hanging from them. It all looked ancient and kicking away some leaves revealed the broken remains of a cobblestone path.

As Lloyd followed the path, the whispers crescendoed to the loudest they'd ever been. He had to be close to… something. The path led to a large open area with a shrine in the center. It was a little wayside shrine, nothing grand, not a building.

Curious, Lloyd approached it, noting the dragon statues in and around the shrine. Seeing dragons and not oni or other evil things did soothe his nerves a bit. When he reached out to touch the still surprisingly intact wood- the voices stopped.

Eyebrows furrowing, Lloyd froze waiting for them to start up again. One minute. Two minutes. Fifteen minutes. But there was no sound except for the now eerily silent forest.

But… this didn't make sense. Confusion overwhelmed all other emotions. He'd been doing what they'd wanted. Ever since he'd started trying to follow it, it hadn't stopped. Why go quiet now? Had he done something wrong? Had something happened?

"What are you doing?!" Lloyd called out aloud, frustration beginning to override his confusion. "I'm here! Isn't this what you wanted? Whether you're good or bad, I'm here, this is your chance! You've been bugging me for ages, you can't just leave now!"

Silence.

Lloyd glanced around for any clues, any signs of life. But he couldn't tell what this place was, or what it used to be. There were letters on the shrine (from the ancient alphabet, not the modern one), but they were so faded, some completely gone, he couldn't read what it said.

Like a switch inside him had been flipped, confusion turned to anger.

Usually, Lloyd would just swallow the anger, ignore the energy burning his blood. He was the green ninja, the hero, the leader of the ninja, he couldn't allow his negative emotions to have power over him. He shouldn't be feeling these things to begin with. Especially when so much of the bad stuff was due to his own shortcomings, things he'd done or failed to do. He couldn't lose his temper, and he definitely couldn't let anyone see him lose it.

He was alone now though…

Lloyd felt bloated as he staggered away from the shrine to a more open area. Maybe bloated wasn't the right word, he felt like the swirling energy within him was going to explode any moment.

As soon as he was far enough away from the ruins, he just… stopped holding it in. Green energy burst out of him, as did little particles of ice, lightning, and fire, and the rocks around him shook.

Everything awful that had happened over the past few months thundered through his brain.

The grief of his dad's death becoming something somehow worse when his dad came back only for the man, thing, to not really be his dad and the monster attempted to kill his own son. The first girl he'd ever had a serious crush on had turned out to be a lunatic who hated him and tried to destroy everything he loved before trying to kill him. He'd thought his brothers had died and even though it had turned out they hadn't the trauma still scarred him. Lloyd himself had almost died, maybe he had been dead for at least a little while, multiple times. Ninjago had been thrown into chaos by those idiot Garmadon Oni cultists. Lloyd had found out he was part monster; his blood was infected and there was no way to fix it. This stupid voice thing was screwing with him. And that was just the shit from the past few months. Why did this stuff keep happening to him? He knew he probably deserved it but…

Lloyd let out a single shout then flopped to the ground, energy fading. He wasn't sure how long it had been, but he did feel… better somehow. Maybe because his energy was no longer trying to crackle out of his skin.

Turning his head so his cheek rested against the surprisingly intact grass, Lloyd observed the surrounding area for damage from his little… episode. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. The fire had fizzled out before anything caught. And he'd been away from the ruins. There was just a jagged circle of semi-scorched grass around him. Although… Lloyd's eyes shifted downwards. The grass directly beneath him was fine. Huh.

Shame was a different kind of burn than anger was. Even if the damage wasn't bad, it was still destructive. And unlike Oni, he didn't like destroying things, even if it was just some grass.

First Master, he felt tired now. He knew he couldn't lie here all night though. How was he going to explain this excursion to his family? He could just lie… again.

As he lay there, a firefly flew past him, low to the ground and directly in his field of vision. Lloyd's lips quirked weakly, a memory from a couple weeks ago sparking in his head.

Kai and Jay had each been trying to claim the unique bug for their own element; Kai arguing for fireflies and Jason insisting on lightning bugs. A silly argument. Banter really. He didn't think either of them had actually won the debate.

…

Lloyd would tell his siblings about the voices when he got back. They'd worry and maybe call him crazy but so be it. He wasn't making any progress on his own. Even if they did think he was crazy, they wouldn't leave him.

But would they think he was bad?

Sighing, Lloyd stood up, running a hand through his hair. He gave the shrine a final glance before giving up and starting the long walk home. As he made his way back through the forest, he attempted to brainstorm the gentlest, most sane sounding explanation he could give the others.

After a while fog rolled in again, but Lloyd knew he was going the right way. And the fog cleared up pretty fast. There must be a water source close by.

There were the flowers again. He'd be out of the forest soon. The sun was starting to rise though, he wasn't going to make it back before the others noticed he was missing. How long would it take to get back now that he wasn't wandering around?

Pulling out his phone to get a rough estimate, Lloyd frowned when the app wouldn't pull up. His browser wasn't connecting either. No signal. Dammit. Oh well, he already knew he wasn't going to make it in time, no shortcut would change that. It was weird he had no bars though. He was nearly out of the forest and his connection had been fine in Dorus.

About fifteen minutes later, he checked his phone again. Still zero connection… He should have hit one of the paths on the forest outskirts by now. A flicker of doubt entered Lloyd's mind. Was this not the right way? But it had to be. The sun was even up now, he knew he was going the right direction. Maybe he was misjudging the distance, or he was misremembering the map of the paths. His stupid phone wasn't giving him a map right now so he couldn't double check.

Soon, the edge of the forest came into view. Lloyd felt a wave of relief. Good. Weird that he'd never hit a path, but he'd be able to get his bearings once he was out. The town should be easy to spot, or at least a road if he was somehow way off from where he thought he was.

…

None of this looked right at all. He didn't recognize any of this.

Lloyd gazed out at the unfamiliar landscape, baffled. That was a mountain over there. That hadn't been there before. This wasn't even the same type of environment. The terrain around the village had been very flat and these weren't the same type of plants and trees and there was no sign of civilization.

Annnd of course his phone still wasn't working. What in the realms was going on?

Exiting the forest fully, Lloyd spun around, trying to figure out where this was. This didn't make sense. Even if he'd somehow popped out nowhere near the village, he would've seen the mountain on his way in. Mountains didn't spring out of thin air and the sun hadn't suddenly decided to change directions…

Scowling, Lloyd stalked towards the nearly half a mile away cliff face. A better view might help him out. That or he might at least get a better signal for his phone.

Lloyd was only halfway there when he tripped on seemingly nothing. As he stumbled, he looked down to see that a root that had been firmly buried in the ground just a second ago was now hovering an inch above the dirt. He looked up again just in time to see a wall of teeth lunging towards him.